Forgotten Feelings

Chapter 35

Battles

ENJOY!

"Too late, fools! I already have what I came for! Better luck next time!" the Youkai chortled as he went away. Cosmos glared at him as she was let go from the thick green vine that had been holding her down to the tree. She gripped her staff tighter as the two Knights came to her.

"This Youkai has better weapons than the last few," Meiyo said. Cosmos let out a sigh as she started to walk away.

"Why not stay and chat a bit, Sera Senshi?" Marine called out with a small smirk on his face. Cosmos stopped and turned to face them.

"You learned something about me, then," she answered, her head tilted a bit and her eyes slightly narrowed. The two Knights nodded. Tranquility walked closer to the girl.

"That's right, we know of you and your companion."

"You say you do, but so far I have yet to hear my name," Cosmos said.

"Why isn't Sailor Saturn with you? She's been gone for many weeks now. We can tell that this has an effect on you," Meiyo responded, appearing to be ready for the question the warrior had posed.

"You are Sailor Cosmos, holiest of the Nine Holy Warriors. You are the one who had to live alone for thousands of years. Your friends, the other eight warriors, died in the battle against your only nemesis, Chaos, and gave you their strength so you could banish him away. You have the ultimate power: the power to save everything and the power to lose everything. Such a task presented to you must have had its negative effects quite successfully," Tranquility added, answering her question fully.

"You… you don't know anything," Cosmos said as her voice threatened to waver. She stared at Tranquility's eyes until the sadness in them became unbearable for her to see. She closed her eyes and jumped into the night, spreading her wings to fly away.

'He doesn't know anything,' she thought to herself. She tried to control herself, tried to keep the volcano of foreign things under tight lid. What had caused her to leave? What had caused her to be like this?

The sadness in his eyes

The sadness meant for her.

"I refuse to succumb to him," she said through gritted teeth. With this in mind, she headed for home.

"Hey, Serenity!" Yugi called. Serenity had just come out of a room after de-transforming. She nodded to him as she went to him.

"What is it, Yugi?"

"I just wanted to say hi. And that Hotaru just fell asleep. But, if you want to see her, you can. I'm going to my room, so if you need anything…"

"Thank you, Yugi. Good night," Serenity said as the youth left. She let out a sigh once more and headed towards Hotaru's room, seeking something she could not elucidate.

"Hotaru?" she called as she opened the door.

"Hime," came the soft response. Serenity closed the door and promptly headed to the girl in bed.

"Hey, Hotaru. How are you feeling?" Hotaru turned her head to see her clearly.

"I'm okay, but a bit bored."

"You fooled Yugi into thinking you were slumbering, I see," Serenity said. Hotaru let out a laugh.

"If I hadn't, he wouldn't have left until I really did fall asleep and that means you would not have come to see me."

"Don't be absurd. I would have come to visit you. I have some news to report."

"What happened? Did you get rid of the Youkai?"

"No, I could not. Hotaru, do you remember the initial Youkai we met that was concerned with the Millennium Captor?"

"You mean the one who attacked Yugi's grandfather? Yes, I do. Why?"

"Well, it looks like we did not slay him."

"He was the Youkai who showed up?"

"Hmm-hm. The Knights and I tried to stop him from taking the Soul Flower, but he managed to escape. The enemy is unquestionably not taking any more risks with us. He was to a large extent more prepared than last time to face us and his knowledge on fighting greatly swelled. It looks like we're going to have an authentic challenge on our hands soon."

"What did he say his name was?"

"If I remember correctly, his name is Taric. I do believe we have found our first real challenger."

"That's not fair. I want to fight him… What did the Knights say to you this time?" Hotaru asked, turning away from her pouting.

"Well, it appears they did their research. They know about us now. They called us by name. What's more, they know about me, so they must know about you as well," Serenity said as she looked away.

"That's not good. Do we have any more information about them?"

"I will look into that as soon as you surrender to sleep," Serenity said as she looked back to Hotaru. Said girl groaned.

"You're mean," she sulked. Serenity shook her head.

"I am not, dear one. Now, rest your psyche and drift off." Hotaru tried hard to fight off Serenity's calming magic and failed miserably. Within the time span of five minutes, she was sleeping. Serenity looked at her friend for a while longer before leaving the room. She stayed outside the door for a moment and then made her way to the library.

Once there, she went to the back of the vast room and entered one of the many mini-rooms used to study in comfort. She noticed the fire in the fireplace was crackling.

'Someone was here before me,' she thought vaguely. With heavy steps differing greatly from her well calculated ones, she walked to the center of the room. She grasped her head in her hand as whispers began to emerge.

'This has to stop. I cannot be like this right now. I cannot afford this!' she mentally told herself. She let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes.

'I don't want to remember them… I… I don't want them back… I don't want anything to do with feelings… I'm better this way…'

"Something wrong?" a deep voice asked near her ear. Serenity tore open her eyes and spun around to see Yami standing there. She cursed herself.

'Idiot, letting down your guard. Only the justly feeble ones do that! Imbecile! How could you forget?'

"Something's on your mind, I see," Yami noted as he walked to the table and placed some books down. Serenity looked away.

"What are you doing here?" Yami continued, not really caring if she answered or not.

"I just came to read," she answered. Yami chuckled.

"Funny, you'd think you'd need a book for that, but you don't have one."

"I was going to get one," Serenity replied.

"And when was that going to be?"

"Just as soon as I found a room not being occupied."

"What will you do now that you saw this room is occupied?" Yami asked as he sat down and looked at her. Serenity was about to open her mouth to answer when her senses smacked her mercilessly in the face.

'He is no one I should answer to.'

"That is none of your business. I apologize for intruding on you. I'll leave you know," Serenity finally answered, regaining her cold personality. She was about to fully open the door when a strong arm closed it shut.

"Did you need something?" she asked him, impassive by his action.

"Yes, I want answers. I am not very patient with my questions," Yami answered. Serenity narrowed her eyes.

'That is not right… Yami is always patient…' She swiftly kicked him away. Yami grunted as he got up from the floor.

"What was that for?" he asked. Serenity took a fighting stance.

"You're not Yami. Who are you, masquerader?" Yami looked at her as if she was crazy. When he saw she was serious, he let out a chuckle.

"You saw through it. Damn, I was really hoping you wouldn't. Come on, don't tell me you don't remember me," said the forged Yami. Serenity scowled.

"Answer my question, filthy Youkai," she said with disgust.

"Oh, now that wasn't very nice," he said. Serenity barely had time to react before she was pinned to the ground. She knew better than to struggle and allowed the Youkai the pleasure of having her pinned.

"It's me, Taric," the youth said as he transformed into an attractive youth of seventeen. He had gorgeous green eyes and dark brown hair held back with a white bandana that failed to restrain his bangs, making his left eye be obscured from the world. Serenity was beginning to hear her body demand to kick off the extremely near presence of the Youkai.

"Let go of me," she said in a dangerous low voice.

"No, I don't think so. You're a bit surprised, aren't you?"

"I do not feel surprise, no," Serenity answered. Taric grinned and tightened his grip on her. Serenity could tell her magic was screaming to be let out to kill the Youkai, but… she needed the information he possessed.

"Does it hurt at all? I doubt it does. After all," he placed his cheek on hers, "you are the legendary Sailor Cosmos." Serenity's face remained still.

"You can't fool me, Cosmos. You hate showing emotion. It's definitely you in your human form. I guess Master Laint was right about you. Your Soul Flower should be enough to power the Millennium Captor alone. I do hope you said your good-byes to it, gorgeous, cuz it's gone." Taric raised a hand with sharp nails above her chest. Serenity grunted.

'Not this time, fool.'

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," a very familiar voice said. Serenity glanced around before her eyes met with a previously sad pair of eyes.

"Knight Tranquility," Taric said, taking the words out of Serenity's mouth. The Knight emerged further from the shadows and into the warm light of the fire. He rested a hand on his wickedly sharp blade.

"Let go of Cosmos," he commanded. Taric scoffed.

"As if." He lunged away from Serenity and straight for Tranquility, who dodged and unsheathed his sword.

"Are you ok, Cosmos?" Tranquility asked. Serenity slowly raised herself from the floor.

"You can't be so surprised that I figured out your true identity."

"I think you should worry about him right now," Serenity said as she ran out of the way, trying to keep Tranquility out of her business for the moment. Tranquility followed, barely being spared from the dangerous assault of poison barbs Taric had thrown. Serenity was about to run out of the rather small room when Taric stopped her.

"Going somewhere, Cosmos?" he drawled out. Serenity scowled.

"You know, you are really stupid." The sole of her shoe met the chin of the Youkai. Taric fell back. Tranquility appeared by her, sword inches away from Taric's throat. Said Youkai was glaring at the pair.

"This isn't the last you'll see of me." He disappeared in a flurry of poison gases. Tranquility took his cape and draped it around the two of them as a shield against the noxious gases. Serenity found herself in his hold. She sheltered her mouth as she smelt some of the gases penetrate through the cloak of the Knight. She coughed a few times and waited until Tranquility finally lowered his heavy barrier. Upon doing so, she walked out of his grasp.

"You didn't inhale any did you?" he asked. Serenity shook her head.

"Good; I would have been surprised if you had." Serenity turned to look at him only to find herself in another outlandish position. Tranquility had her trapped against the wall with all her exits blocked out. Serenity drew in a breath. How often did men need to do this?

"You're going to have to answer my questions one night or another. Meiyo and I only want to become your friends." Serenity frowned.

"Before you go telling me this, I need an answer."

"You want to know how I figured it out."

"Precisely. Why do you think I am someone I am not?" She could let no one know of her secret, not yet. She needed to protect Hotaru…

"You are Cosmos. You look so much alike her, it's frightening."

"Yet, I am not her," Serenity said as she turned her head to the left, but her eyes focused on him. Tranquility frowned.

"You are her. You have to be her."

"Oh? And why must I be her?" Tranquility gazed into her eyes.

"You have to be her, because if you aren't the-"

"What do you do now, Tranquility?" a voice asked. Tranquility and Serenity turned to see a silhouette of a girl standing nearby, in the shadows. The outline was clearly of-

"Sailor Cosmos…" the Knight murmured. Serenity looked to him.

"Did I not say you accused me wrong?" The silhouette gave out a scoff and took off. Tranquility was about to go after her, but looked back to Serenity.

"Sleep well," he bid. Serenity looked at him with empty eyes before suddenly becoming prey of Sleep…

CosmosAngel1

Let the inner star shine