Cosmic Warriors
Disclaimer: All non-original characters in this story are copyrighted to Naoko Takeuchi and Toei respectively. I also do not own the mythological beings you'll read about throughout the story.
Note: Thank you Criminal 1412, ericaphoenix16, and LoveIntheBattlefield for reviewing. Criminal, I don't know when, but I do know Ami will be the last to awaken in this story. Enjoy!
Chapter Thirty Seven - Blood Diamond 1
Tuesday October 27th 4:29 am
The overbearing smell of copper and something foul brought Naru out of her dreams. She awoke with her face already scrunched, the stench had pervaded into her sleep, filling her dream of rainy streets and shifting clouds with trashcans of overflowing excrement and rotting roadkill. Out of curiosity she buried her nose into her blouse sleeve, inhaled and did the same for her pillow and sheets.
She shot up in bed, the smell was getting worse. She threw her covers off and was about to slide out of bed when something lying on the floor startled her.
"Oh, Masato!" she cried before she fell to the floor in front of him. "Nephrite." she said as the memory of the previous night hit her. She slowly inched herself way from him and rested her hands at her side. The sense of urgency ate away at her, the man she up until recently cared deeply for was... dying? before her. Nearly every fiber of her body was telling her to rush to the bathroom, the way Usagi rushes to school, to get the first aid kit. But a fragment of her wanted to sit here and watch him die, to let him suffer.
After running through the options in her Naru rose to her feet and decided that neither option would win today. She crawled across her bed and stood before her mirror. She grabbed a rubber band and fixed her hair up into a messy ponytail. Satisfied with the result she then rubbed her sore and puffy eyes, the products of a night of crying. She then made her way to the bathroom and grabbed the first aid kit from under the sink along with several towels and small cloths.
She threw the armful down onto her bed before she ventured into her mother's room and found a few large men's dress shirts bawled up in the corner. She sniffed them, selected the one that smelled the least worn, and brought it back to her room.
After much difficulty and groaning she managed to scoot her bed to the side, and position herself beside Nephrite. She carefully undid the buttons on his jacket and cut open his undershirt with a pair of scissors from the kit. It took some time but she managed to get him topless and lay him facedown on a layer of towels. She cut away at his pants as well, starting at the ankle to reveal a chunk of flesh that seemed to be missing, almost cleanly cut out of his thigh.
Naru cupped her mouth as she got a full whiff of the gore. She could see a glimmer of bone in the wound on his thigh and the gash along his back was deep, both had somehow stopped bleeding, but they were still far from healing.
Tentatively she pressed down onto his back and the man groaned as a vacant response. As rivulets of blood started to rise from the wound Naru wrapped her hand in tissue and dabbed along the long cut. She then fished around in the box for ointment that she spread down his back.
"Should I, sow him up?" she asked herself as she recalled a few things Ami had taught her about first aid. She got to her feet and went to her phone and quickly dialed in Ami's number. "Shoot!" she squeezed the phone in her hand as the ringing started. "It's almost five in the morning, there's no way she'd be awake on a school night!"
The ringing continued for several minutes before an answering machine picked up to take her message. She swore and slammed the phone down only to pick it up and try several other numbers. After four more calls she was faced with the fact she was on her own.
Naru then laid down beside her bed and fished out a large leather bound book from underneath along with a clay pot filled with supplies, all give to her by Rei. "Usagi won't answer, neither will Rei, Mako, or Mina." she said as she flipped through the book after looking in the index. "I'll have to do this on my own."
Naru flipped desperately through the book, scanning the titles of healing spells, all requiring items or time that she didn't have on hand. "There has to be something I can do!" she rasped as she flipped and tore the page. She paused on one with a short list of ingredients and scanned the page.
After memorizing the instructions, scribbled down on the worn and cracked pages, Naru pulled a chunky blue candle from the pot and placed it to her right. She sat beside Nephrite again and placed her hands over his back. As instructed she focused on her hands, on the air around her, the smell of the wound. She focused it all into a point under her hands and in her mind she watched a green light envelop her hands.
Reaching over she grabbed the candle and began to run her finger down its length four times. She then rubbed the wick between her fingers before lighting it and replacing it at her side. She replaced her hands over Nephrite's back wound and continued to focus on her hands until she was breathing in nothing but the candle's aroma.
She tried her best to focus on the wound now, the long and deep jagged gash running from his neck down his back. "With green I make it clean. Heal Nephrite with the energy taken from me, so make it be."
A rush of warmth spread through her body, starting at her core and ending at her finger tips. Naru opened her eyes to a pleasant and soothing emerald light surrounding her hands and creeping up through the cut on Nephrite's back. Naru gasped and breathed her disbelief as she started a pattern of moving her hands from his neck to the end of the cut and then back up.
She continued that rhythm until the light coming from the wound faded and she moved her hands over his thigh and cupped the wound.
When she finished the wounds seemed to be looking better, at least to her. She finished the spell by holding the handle near the wounds, until the flesh grew warmer, before she blew it out. After that tapped gauze and tissue to the wounds and hoisted Nephrite onto her bed. With the floor clear she did her best to clean up the blood, but a faint tint remained behind.
When all was said and done Naru dumped the bloodied towels into her hamper and collapsed at the foot of her bed. "5:58." she said with weary eyes. "Kami, I have school..."
At the Tsukino home Ikuko poked her head into her daughter's room. Usagi was nearly on the floor with half of her body hanging out of the bed, one good roll and she would fall onto Makoto. The brunette was laying stiff as a board with arms clamped down at her sides.
She waited there until her daughter's alarm clock went off. She'd always wanted to see just how her daughter reacted to an alarm clock and was rewarded with the sight of Usagi jolting up in bed and swinging around to slap the clock off.
"Mama!" Usagi squealed, noticing they weren't alone in the room. "Why - why are you standing there?" she asked groggily.
"I was waiting for you to wake up." she said as she stepped in. Her eyes fell onto Makoto who was slowly entering the state of waking. "You girls can stay home from school if you like."
Usagi went wide eyed. "Stay home, really?"
Ikuko nodded. "You girls had a late night and I'm not really comfortable sending you off until I know more about what happened with that convict from the department store."
"Thank you mama!" Usagi cried as she bowed on the bed to her mom.
Makoto struggled to sit up and bobbed her head to Ikuko. "Thank you Mrs. Tsukino."
"If you're feeling up for it, your father got us tickets to an event tonight in the city. A foreign princess is supposed to be showing off a diamond, Shingo's excited to go." Ikuko said before she left.
Once Ikuko was out the door Usagi fist-pumped around her room. "How totally awesome is this?" she sang. "No school, we can relax all day! I wonder how big that diamond will be? Ooh, I should pick out a dress!"
"Call Luna." Makoto strained to say.
"No way, we're not bringing her." Usagi scoffed.
"Usagi!" Makoto croaked. "Call Luna."
Usagi turned to the girl. "Why?" she asked as she noticed Makoto seemed to be breaking out in sweat and was trembling.
"The event tonight... it's not just an event, it's a mission for us." Makoto panted hard before she was able to speak again. "The princess could be our Princess, and her diamond might be the Silver Crystal, did you forget?"
Usagi rubbed the back of her head. "I think I did... Aww man," she sighed as she dropped the dress she was holding onto the bed. "this sucks. Mako, are you okay, you look like you're in pain."
"Part of me is in pain." Makoto laughed abruptly before she laid back down from her sitting position. "But we need Luna, I can't feel my legs."
Usagi gawked and rushed to her friend's side. "What does that mean?!"
Makoto laughed again. "I can't feel my legs, you know what that means Usagi."
Usagi squealed in panic as she dove onto her bed and fished her cell phone out from he pillow case. "Luna, pick up, pickuppickuppickuppickuppickuppickup! LUNA!" she cried as the call connected. "I need you to come over to my house right now, Mako's in pain, hurry!" she said and ended the call before the woman could even in even one word.
Usagi stared at the clock for sixteen minutes before Luna appeared on her balcony. "What's the emergency?" she asked as she stepped into the room.
"Mako can't feel her legs!" Usagi cried as she fell down beside her friend. "Help her! We need to get her to the hospital!"
Luna tried to drown out the girl's bawling as she removed the covers from over Makoto and observed her legs. The normally pair skin was black, purple, and spotted in various places. "How did this happen?"
"I tried using a technique last night, to make me run faster." Makoto breathed. "I think this an aftereffect."
"We have to take her to the hospital, I'll call an ambulance." Usagi said as she grabbed the house phone.
"No." Makoto said. "We need Dr. Mizuno."
Luna raised a questioning eyebrow.
"She was the one that told me about the technique, well the science behind it. She should know about this." Makoto said as she looked at her legs for the first time, the discoloration stretched from her feet all the way up her thighs.
There was a thud near the window and Usagi turned to see Artemis perched on her balcony railing. The man waved before he stepped into the room and surveyed Makoto.
"Where's Saeko today?" Luna asked as she stood up.
Artemis crouched down beside Makoto and ran his fingers up her legs slowly. "Headquarters, she's on call at the hospital though." he said grimly.
"We need to get Makoto to her right away." Luna said as she opened Usagi's door and peered down the hallway.
"The car is downstairs," Artemis said. "we can take her out the window."
Usagi gawked at the idea. "The window?"
"Yep." Artemis said as he slid his arms under Makoto's knees and her back and began to lift.
"Artremis, no, stop!" Makoto warned as she struggled in his arms the best she could before she was completely off the ground. She gawked at the man with the look off bewilderment the kind a large dog has, unfamiliar with being carried in the arms of its master.
"I'm stronger than I look." Artemis said with a smile as he effortlessly carried her onto the balcony.
Luna shut Usagi's door and turned to the blonde who was watching the window as Artemis and Makoto dropped out of sight. "You should get ready for school."
Usagi grinned. "Mama said I don't have to go, so ha!"
"Excellent, then you can come to headquarters with us and prepare for tonight." Luna said as she led her towards the window.
"Wait wait, my dad got us tickets to the diamond showing tonight." Usagi said. "I think I have to go with them."
"That's not what we've planned."
"I know! But things aren't that great with my parents right now. If I'm gone all day and show up tonight, but get in without using the ticket from my dad, it won't help anything." Usagi said as she glanced down onto the street. "Just, call me later with the details and let me know how Makoto is doing. I'll call you back when I get there."
Luna sighed as she straddled the railing. "Fine, but get some rest. There's no telling what might happen tonight." she said before she dropped out of sight.
9:08 am - Keio University
After a few hours of prescribed healing by Luna and Artemis, the colour of Makoto's legs had returned to normal. Following the session she met with Saeko again for another examination.
"You seem to be doing fine now, Makoto." Saeko said as she set down her clipboard. The doctor turned to the girl who was shrugging back into her sweater on the observation table. "But I wouldn't recommend using that technique again."
Makoto's head popped out of the neck hole in her sweater and she gaped at the doctor. "But! I was so fast, I bet I'm stronger too!"
"Without a doubt you would be, but the risk too great right now." Saeko said sternly as she pulled off her gloves. "You're lucky the technique stopped itself when it did. You sustained only minor bruises, but if you had kept going the muscles in your legs could have shredded under the pressure."
"There has to be something I can do." Makoto said as she slid off the table and wobbled to stand.
"There is." Saeko said before she grabbed a bottle of pills from the counter at her side. "Take two of these, twice a day."
Makoto eyed the container before she took it and tried to pronounce the name. "Will these make me stronger?"
"No, they'll take the pain away and make the healing process go by faster." Saeko shook her head disapprovingly at the girl. "I'm not kidding, do not use that move again, it may cost you your life. I would advice you not to participate in the mission tonight, you're not ready for battle as you are."
"But they'll need me tonight!" Makoto protested.
"We need you alive. You will sacrifice this single mission for the greater good of the Guard."
Makoto sighed heavily, without much of an argument Saeko had decided she wouldn't be at the showing tonight. "But the technique, what if I toughen up? Train my body to be stronger, would I have a better chance at using it then?" she asked hopefully. "You told me all about the technique and what it could do for me, you must have known I could do it."
"I did." Saeko said. "But that was without knowing the aftereffects or the full extent of your physical condition. As you are you're too weak to use the technique for prolonged periods of time."
"Then I'll get stronger and train it." Makoto said with determination as she pocketed the bottle.
10:11 am
Usagi sat cross-legged in the living room, her father was at work, Shingo at school, and her mom had left to buy a new dress for the event tonight. The same event Usagi was tuned into the news channel listening about.
"Welsh Princess Daiya's personal airplane has just landed in Haneda Airport. All of Tokyo has been looking forward to her visit and the unvieling of her famed diamond. The princess' gem currently holds the record for most robbery attempts at 47, quite a daunting number. The princess will be showing off the diamond in her first ever visit to Japan tonight. The reception will be held in the Tokyo Tower's Observation Reception Hall. Jewel fanatics from all over the city will be present tonight to get a glimpse at the gem. On the list of attendees is Osaka Mayumi, the owner of the Jewerly OSA-P, who supplied jewelry to the wedding dress contest earlier this month is said to be in attendance tonight."
Usagi tensed as the news reporter continued on. Not only would her parents be there, but Naru's mother as well.
5:54 pm - Tokyo Tower
Black cars and black tuxedos rolled through the lot below the Tokyo Tower. Couples stood side by side in front of flashing camera bulbs while men from across the city gather to shake hands for the cameras.
A man dressed in a black suit with slicked back blonde hair raised his wrist to his mouth. "This is Group S inside FootTown, Princess Daiya just arrived, she is heading to the elevators now." he said
"Roger. Make sure no one but her security board with her." a man cracked over his earpiece.
The blonde man nodded as he gave the group escorting the princess a once over. "Understood..." he paused as he watched a woman with long red hair dressed in a flowing black gown enter the elevator behind the princess. "Hmm, maybe she was with the security team. But she didn't look anything like the other guards." The man brought his wrist up again. "This is Group S. I need eyes on a woman that entered the elevator with the princess. She is wearing a black dress and she has long red hair"
"Roger. We'll have someone track her when she gets off on the observation floor."
In the elevator the woman checked her watch before she glanced to the light panels above her. Her lips moved as she mouthed off the seconds that had passed since the elevator started running. Her counting then stopped and her mouth fell into a hard line as the lights switched off, flooding the box into darkness.
Immediately the princess gasped and her guards tightened their circle around her. Free to move under the cover of the darkness the woman pulled at her hair, tugging the wig off her head, revealing much shorter blonde hair.. She then unzipped her gown from the back of the neck and stepped out of it, leaving behind a tailored black tuxedo.
As the mutters of the princess and her team started to rise in fever the woman folded the wig and dress up into a square and slipped it inside her inner breast pocket. On cue the lights flickered back on a soft voice came on over the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen we apologize for that, we had a slight mishap with the controls. We assure you the remainder of your accent to the observation hall will be without issue."
"That was scary..." Princess Daiya said.
The woman in the back of the elevator narrowed her eyes on the girl, she was dressed in a long and puffy red grown that reached the floor. Resting atop her near-bowl cut hairstyle was a gold tiara and from the back she could see the chain her famous diamond was hung from.
As promised the rest of the ride went by and they arrived at the observation hall to a circular room filled with bustling waiters and socializing socialites. As they exited the elevator another guard dressed in a black suit scanned the group.
"Black dress... red hair..." the guard muttered before he raised his wrist to his mouth. "There was no one fitting that description on the evaluator with the princess, just a bunch of men."
The woman in the suit smirked as she watched the guard wander off aimlessly. She then moved towards the bathroom and ducked inside. She ditched the dress and wig inside a trash can and reached under the countertops which the sinks were set in to retrieve an item wrapped in cloth.
She eyed the cloth before unraveling to reveal a short sword, only about three feet long from hilt to sheath tip. "Hmm..." she slid the sheath up slightly to reveal a double-edged sword within.
"Did you find your present?" a voice in her earpiece asked.
She smiled and pressed it. "Yes, it's impressive. Thank you, Mani."
"I'm glad you like it. Now head to the outside railing, you'll find a glider there." Mani said.
"A glider?" the woman said as she sheathed the sword and slipped it inside her tux jacket.
"Yes. I need you to create a distraction in the sky." Mani said calmly. "It shouldn't be too hard for you, after all you are the Agent of Flight, right Agent Tenou?"
"Right." Haruka checked outside the bathroom to make sure no one was approaching before she stood on the counter and pushed aside one of the ceiling tiles. She then hoisted herself up into the ceiling and replaced the tile.
"What do you mean our tickets aren't good?!" Kenji snapped at a guard who was refusing to let him past.
Ikuko pinched the bridge of her nose and glanced around the guests who were giving them odd looks. "Honey, I thought you said you got the tickets at work?"
Kenji waved the four tickets in the guard's face. "I did!"
"Sir, these aren't official tickets, I can't let you inside." the man said as he pushed Kenji's arm out.
"How can they not be official?" Ikuko asked as he wrapped the shaw of her black dress around her shoulders.
"People often create fake tickets when it comes to things like this, same with concerts. They sell them last minute to people for high prices. It's called ticket scalping sir."
"This sucks." Shingo said as he dug out a wedgie in his suit pants.
Usagi was standing a few feet back from her family with her head tilted back so see as far up the tower as she could. She could have sworn she saw something flying around near the upper level.
Kenji fumed in frustration. "Can we at least go into Foot Town? We'd like to eat!"
The guard shook his head. "No can do sir, the entire tower and its stores have been bought out for this event. No ticket, no entry."
"Gah!" Kenji grumbled before he stormed off.
Ikuko sighed and rested her hands on Shingo's shoulders. "Let's go kids, we can go to McDonalds." she said she walked with Shingo towards the car.
Usagi was having trouble tearing herself away from staring at the sky, she was sure she'd seen something flying and was insistent on waiting for it to appear again. Suddenly a hand rested on the small of her back and was leading her towards the door.
"Huh?" she gasped as she tilted her head up. Guiding her towards the door was the man of her fantasies, Tuxedo Mask. "No way! Tuxedo Mask, how are you—what are you—?" Behind them he could hear the indistinct shouting of her mother and father.
Mask smiled as he flashed two tickets to the guard and strode past with Usagi on his arm. "Would you care to be my date for the unveiling of the jewel?" he asked as he thumbed the elevator button.
"Sure!" she chirped.
They then stepped into the elevator together and were sealed off from the rest of the event as they traveled up. The silence only lasted a moment before Mask turned and held his hand out to her. "Would you like to dance with me?"
Usagi flushed and glanced around them in the tiny box. "Here? Now?"
Mask shrugged and smiled. "Why not? We have music." he said under the smooth jazz playing around them.
She'd never really danced before, and making a fool out of herself was the last thing she wanted, but for some reason she found herself taking his hand regardless. His smile stretched from ear to ear as he took her hand and they swirled around the elevator to the slow swelling music. Usagi managed not to step on his toes as they moved back and forth, side to side, following Mask's leading movements.
Carefully she was spun out and the brought back in, tight, into his arms and she felt herself go weak in the knees as his breath brushed across her face. Again she got to peer into those deep blue eyes, ones like the ocean she could see herself wading in.
While still captivated by his eyes she failed to notice the doors of the elevator had opened and they danced right out onto the reception floor into the center of the crowd. The change in music was sudden, but it hadn't been a problem for Mask to adjust. The song was louder now, more sullen and haunting. The reverberating movement of a woman yearning for the return of a long lost love moved with the dancing pair. The duo moved flawlessly across the space, commanding the attention of everyone in the room. They swayed, moving in small circles, and were locked onto each other.
Usagi spun out and ended up in the path of server carrying a tray of food. The two collided and the clatter of the tray hitting the floor snapped her out of her trance. Usagi panicked, realizing they weren't alone anymore and that she'd been dancing for a room full of people. The waiter was apologizing furiously at her feet, but she ignored him, gathered up her dress and darted off into the crowd
"I can't believe I was dancing with him like that!" she cried as she stopped by a long while clothed table. She patted her cheeks, they were warm to the touch. "I didn't even know I could dance like that! But it felt so easy, like I'd done it before... Ooh, snap out of it!" she said as she shook her head and grabbed a glass from the table. In it was a bright red drink that she gulped down. She grimaced at the strong taste and smacked her lips before she reached for another. "Needs more sugar..."
6:02 pm Keio University
"This is always my favorite Division to visit!" Neit said eagerly as he slapped his hands onto the double black doors before him. "I'm here ladies!"
Pushing the doors open, Neit exposed Makoto to an expansive dim room, illuminated by a single large ring of lights that hung from the ceiling. Entering the room the girl was led down a long, downward-slanted, walkway that stopped at a raised platform in the center of the room.
Makoto glanced around the room in awe, letting her hands graze against the cold metal railing that flanked the walkway. The platform they walked onto was raised about three feet off the ground, with small steps located around it, leading to the ground floor. Spread across the platform, in arced rows of four, were computer stations. In each station were four computer monitors, built into the white terminal, sitting behind each of station were two women all dressed similarly in grey uniforms.
To the far left, at the end of the platform, was a solitary station with only one computer. Behind the station sat Ilargi, leaning back in her oversized chair with a cigarette hanging between her fingers. At the sight of her visitors the woman shifted up in her seat and gave them all a lazy wave.
"Welcome to my command center, my office within the Division of Science and Research." Ilargi said. "Neit, stay away from my girls!" she warned, watching the boy dart across the platform, stopping at each station to greet the women.
"What's the point in having an all female staff if you don't let them have any fun?" Neit groaned, scratching the back of his head. "I could show these girls a fun time."
Ilargi sighed, blowing out a stream of smoke. "The only thing you can give a woman is a headache and a disappointing surprise.
From the ground floor, moving away from one of the computer stations there, Iah stepped up onto the platform. "Unfortunately, this isn't an all female staff, I work here as well." he said pleasantly.
Neit groaned again. "How could I forget."
"Makoto, glad you could join us." Mani said from beside Ilargi. The man stood from his squatted position and removed a headset.
Makoto sighed, but forced herself to smile as she hobbled to him. "Dr. Mizuno said I wasn't allowed to be in the field for this mission, but I still want to help."
"And you will." Ilargi said as she gestured the girl to an empty chair beside her. "We've just finished synchronizing the Tower's control system with our own and the control room for the Tower failed to notice us tampering around."
"Okay, so what can I do?" Makoto said as she eased down into the vacant chair. All of the flashing screens and clicking on keyboard was so foreign to her.
"That," Ilargi said as she spun Makoto around to the direction of a large black screen. After a moment of staring at it a square of light blipped onto the screen followed by several more. "we're receiving the security camera feeds from within the Tower right now. Once we have them all we can start." Ilargi replied.
"Start what?"
"We'll act as the eyes of the Tower. We'll be able to see everything going on inside. We'll watch the target." Ilargi said as she gestured to a square in the top left. In it Princess Daiya was shaking hands with a group of women. "Of our agents." she said as she pointed to another area that showed Haruka moving jogging a hallway. Ilargi's hand dropped as she spotted something on the screen. "And of course, our enemies."
Mani's expression hardened as he tried to follow the woman's eyes. "Where?"
Ilargi shifted in her seat before she looked absently off to the left. "Chia, bring up screen 28."
There was an indistinct response from the side of the room before one square on the large screen blew up and a clear view of a man wearing a cape came up. He was moving around what looked to be an outdoor deck that ran around the Tower's upper floors. He was crouched and dragged his hand across the floor.
"Freeze it." Ilargi commanded and a small box appeared within the original that captured a moment in time of the life feed. "Search his image in our database."
Makoto stared in awe, the capture managed to get the man in the split second his face was in view of the camera. Still, he was far from the camera and it was dark, only illuminated by the lights on the Tower's body. Nevertheless the room was quickly alive with typing and mutters before a girl off to the right shouted something and two boxes appeared on the large screen.
On the left was the screen capture they'd just taken and on the right was a flashing montage of images, faces. Makoto watched as what seemed like hundreds of faces went by before it froze on one. A man with long silver-white hair, the kind Makoto had only seen in pictures of unicorns, with pale fawn skin.
"Who's he?" Makoto asked after noticing Ilargi and Mani seemed distraught by the man's face.
"Kunzite." Mani replied. "He's an associate of the Dark Kingdom and Agency, the leader of the Shitennou."
"I didn't realize he was alive as well." Ilargi said. "All four of them managed to make it then, I wonder if any others did. The Shidaitennou?"
"Who're they?" Makoto asked.
Mani's jaw trembled and he walked closer towards the screen, as if to study the face. "They were a large group that followed in Beryl's footsteps towards the end of the Silver Millennium. The strongest of them; Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite, were given the rank of Shitennou to set them apart from the rest."
Back on the screen Kunzite crouched over a dead body as he dragged his finger across the flooring. In the trail of his finger a white line was etched into the metal, completing an intricate circle. He stood and kicked the body out of the circle before he stood in the center and formed a hand sign.
"Shit." Ilargi muttered as several tuffs of smoke appeared around Kunzite.
6:14 pm - Tokyo Tower
Inside a bathroom on the ground floor Rei broke a hand sign of her own and her eyes snapped open at the spike in power she felt rush through her. Minako was leaning against the door tossing around a rubber band ball she'd brought from home.
"They're here." Rei stated as she hopped off the counter.
Minako snatched the ball out of the air and rolled it in her palm. "Who?"
"Most likely the Dark Kingdom." Rei said as she got to her feet. "I felt something, coming from above us."
"How many?" Minako asked urgently as she pressed onto her earpiece.
"Just one—six?!"
Minako scoffed. "Which is it?"
"It's—It's six, for sure, but there was only one a minute ago!" Rei stammered.
Minako nodded. "Venus reporting in, Agent Hino says there are six, energies, in the Tower."
Mani's voice crackled back through her earpiece. "We see them. All active Guard members, we've received visual confirmation Kunzite of the Shitennou has arrived in the area. He has just summoned five other beings with him, one being Zoisite. The others all appear to be Youma of some kind. No word on any other enemies in sight, but we you must proceed with extreme caution from this point forward. Until we can determine if Princess Daiya is our Princess or not her safety is our number one priority."
Five figures shifted around Kunzite at different points in his transmission circle. He observed the four bodies around him before he turned to the fifth at his back. "Go Zoisite."
Zoisite closed his eyes as his body sank through the flooring and transported him through the tower to the observation room. Several pairs of wandering eyes caught his feet emerging through the ceiling before his whole body was in sight and he landed.
"Where did he come from?!"
"Who is that?"
"He came out of the air!"
"Get behind me dear."
Zoisite scanned the room, amused at the shocked expressions the guests were giving him. "Normally I would milk this moment for all the energy it's worth," he said. "but tonight I only have one objective." His eyes scanned the room again before they found a young girl in a long red dress. "You must be the princess."
Princess Daiya touched a hand to her chest in fear and shuddered under the man's menacing gaze. "What do you want? Who are you?"
"I need you to come with me." Zoisite said as he took a step toward her.
As soon as his foot fell there was a shuffling about the room and he was lit up with red target laser beams from rifles that had appeared from the shadows. Heavily armed and armored SAT members had stepped out from the rooms along the hall and were inching closer to Zoisite, all guns aimed at the man. In slower response, the Princess's guard moved in to protect her.
One the members raised his wrist to his mouth, to a small communicator strapped there. "Target is in sight, proceed?"
In the far corner of the room, watching the scene from afar, Kalla strained his eyes before he brought his own communicator to his lips. "Negative, too many civilians. "Warrior Venus." he said into his communicator.
"Yes?"
"You faced Zoisite yesterday, you said you slipped through his body."
"Yeah, it was like he was, intangible."
Kalla furrowed his brow. "Standby." he muttered.
"Well if no one is going to make a move, I will." Zoisite said as he took a step closer to the princess. In respond the SAT tightened in on him. Kunzite, send the reaper in. Zoisite commanded mentally.
A moment passed before a ghastly figure, draped in dark grey rags and strips of fabric soaked through the ceiling before he hovered behind the princess. Frail and boney arms stretched out of its darkness and rested on the girl's shoulders. It slowly began to float back and the princess stepped back with it, merging with the wall before they were out of sight.
"The princess is gone!" one of the guests gasped.
"Time to have some fun." Zoisite sneered as he turned his sight on the nearest SAT member.
"I hope that doesn't land on anyone..." Mask said as he watched Usagi toss her latest glass over the edge of the Tower.
"Whosecares!" Usagi slurred as she slumped forward into the man's arms. She broke out into a fit of laughter at an untold joke before she nearly collapsed backwards.
"Are you sure that was punch you chugged earlier?" he asked as he saved her from hitting her head on the railing.
Usagi straightened up and waved a hand in his face. "I didn'tIdidn'tdrink anything... okay?" But you know, I have—I have a secret!" she chimed. "To tell, you!" she said as she meant to poke his nose, but missed and settled for his cheek.
"A secret for me?"
"Yah! But you can't tell anyone, okay? Cuz it'sasecret!" she giggled.
"I won't tell."
"You promise?!" she pouted.
Mask grinned. "Promise."
"Okay, okay!" she beamed before she draped her arms onto his shoulder and leaned close to his ear.
"I am—Iam... I am. I have... what do I have?" she muttered to herself. "I have—Ihave THE biggest crushonyou!" she giggled before falling against him. "I think youare great... reallyreallygreat!"
Mask laughed nervously as he tried to help her stand on her own. "I think you're great to, a little danger prone, but still great." he laughed.
"What do we have here?"
Mask spun around the sudden sound of another voice and kept Usagi behind him as Kunzite and several Youma stalked towards them from the shadows.
"Tuxedo Mask." Kunzite said quickly. "I've heard of you from Jadeite, you were the one searching for the Silver Crystal, is that why you're here?"
Mask smirked. "Is that why you're here?" he fired back.
"I'm here for many reasons, the Crystal being one of them. Who is that behind your back?"
"Hiiii!" Usagi sang over Mask's shoulder. "Are you all looking for the Crystal?"
Mask tensed and threw a look over his shoulder at her. "You know about the Silver Crystal? Who are you?"
Kunzite raised his hand and a Youma far behind him flew into the sky. "It doesn't matter, you'll both die up here. Ziz!"
Something flew into the path of the moon, creating the shadow of a large birth over the tower and began to flap its wings. With each flap the wind picked up and grew colder atop the tower. In almost no time thunder began to roll in the clouds and veins of lightning could be spotted in the distance. Kunzite lowered in his and on cue an unnaturally large bolt of lightning bolted from the clouds and struck the ground beside the tower.
A roar of thunder followed, that and the wind were more than enough to send an unstable Usagi staggering backwards and over the railing. Her gloved hand slipped easily off the metal and she dropped fast.
Mask didn't hesitate to leapt off after her, he tucked his arms in tight by his side as the wind assaulting his face as he dropped down to her. Once he was in range he snaked his arms around her waist and activated his glider. Using his already immense speed and the power of the wind the two of them soared over the Tower's lot and off towards the city.
End of Chapter Thirty Seven
Next, Kunzite displays why he is the leader of the Shitennou as he easily defeats one of the Protectors. Mask confides in Usagi and Nephrite decides to help Naru in any way he can. As the mission at Tokyo Tower comes to an end Zoisite takes matters into his own hands to finish off Nephrite. What lengths will he go to to stay on Beryl's good side? Find out next time.
Chapter Thirty Eight - Blood Diamond 2