Special Note: Oh fuck the metric system.
"Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize y'awl's neighborhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpse's shell
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller"
- Vincent Price, from Michael Jackson's "Thriller"
Twisted Prophecy - Chapter 5
From: Kabal Saotome
To: Brigadier General Tina Kurosawa
Subject: Having fun in Japan
Att: me and the miko.hpx
Tina-Chan,
How are you doing up there? Figured I'd mail you.. Joshua gave me this "Pocket Secretary" thing and I thought it was just for storing data on runs. Lo and behold, I can send mail to anyone else on it! Neat shit I made it to Japan OK. It was lean times a bit there for me. They use Nuyen here as well, but shit's a lot more expensive. I finally picked up a job at the local Shinto Shrine as a guardian/janitor/martial arts teacher. The attached holo is of myself and the Miko I met there. her name is Rei Hino and she's real nice... when she's not being an extreme bitch. She's got a friend named Usagi, whom she is really bitchy towards all the time. I'm not entirely sure, but I think that Usagi's cat talks. ::shrug:: Considering I turn into a girl with cold water, I'm not one to throw stones about weird stuff.
Speaking of weird stuff, check this out: I noticed that crystal I always wear.... it flashes red when I'm around Rei, and of late the hue and intensity of it has increased. It blinks white when I'm around Usagi, green when I'm around their other friend Makoto (and real bright and intense for her, a bit more than Rei's color I'd say, and the one time I was around Usagi's mother I could swear it was doing a purple flash. I figured it might be some kinda thing about women, but it only seems select women. Usagi's friend Naru has no effect, nor their friend Ami. I saw a blonde chick with them once, and in her presence I got a yellow light. I went to a singles bar and tried hitting on women, and the crystal doesn't react at all.
This place has been real good for me. Rei's given me a lot of guidance, and she's helped me work out my issues with the past. I'm not really so angry and hurt anymore. I'm still gonna find and kill that damn centaur.. he killed my wife, you know, but it doesn't haunt my dreams every night. Guess what? I found the old Tendo Dojo. It's a museum now! And I'm in line to inherit it! Ick, not my style, but it's something to keep in mind if you ever decide to move to Japan. I'll be back in a coupla weeks or so, or ya'all can come visit me. You'll have to sneak in, but hey. Or just have a concert! People love you here. Wouldn't they be surprised to know how well I _really_ know 'Ariana Saotome', eh? They speak some pretty fucked-up excuse for Japanese here, but it's so easy even I picked it up.
Love Always,
Kabal Saotome, your Ran-Chan
(This first part just begged for it's own quote)
"Oh the female sex has a lot more class, unless we're lookin at a male stripper's ass..."
- Unknown, "The Woman Song"
"007?" Rei called. She was still saying it 'oh oh seven'. Kabal, fresh out of the shower, popped his head and upper body into the room where Rei and several of her friends were talking. "Yes, Rei-chan?" he responded. "Can you bring us some hot tea?" Rei asked. "As you wish." Kabal said and left the room. Makoto wet her fingertip and placed it against the tabletop, making a hissing sound and jerking her hand away from the table as if burned. Usagi giggled at her, "Yeah, I know! Did you see those pecs?" she clasped her hands over her heart, "Could just sweep you up and carry you off into the sunset with those!" Makoto shook her head, "The only thing he'll be doing with those arms is using them to hold me up while I fuck the hell out of him!" Rei looked at Makoto, somewhat shocked, "Wow Mako-chan, I've never heard you say something like that before. I thought you'd just compare him to an ex-boyfriend of yours." Usagi gigled again, "Yeah but with that muscle tone, I bet he could last all night.!" Rei decided to abandon propriety, "Yeah, well I 'accidentally' walked in on him one morning, and you know what happens to all men in the morning." Usagi squealed, laughing at the same time, "Oh give up the goods Rei, how is it?" Makoto turned to her as well, attention rapt. Ami shushed all of them, as Kabal was returning.
Kabal placed the tray on the table, and began divvying out the tea cups, then pouring for them. "Excuse me, 007?" Rei said. "Yes Rei-chan?" Kabal answered. "Can you go over there and pull the blinds open for us? It's a beautiful day outside and we wish to see it." Kabal nodded, "As you wish." He reached up and pulled the blinds for them, then turned around. "Anything else, Rei-chan?" he asked. "Yes, go fetch us something to eat." she said. Kabal bowed lightly, "As you wish." and left towards the kitchen.
Makoto made vague grabbing motions toward's Kabal's backside on the way out. "Would you just LOOK at that ass?" she cried. "And those arms uhhhh! Thanks for having him reach for the blinds Rei." Usagi said. "Yeah," Rei retorted, "Don't say I never did anything for you now." "Weren't you discussing the length of his manhood earlier?" Ami asked. The other girls turned to her, "Ami! You of all people!" Ami took her reading glasses off. "No, I really want to know, because the average male does not acheive that sort of build without chemical enhancement, and that generally stunts the male member's growth. I'd be interested to know what the effects of that are." Makoto nodded at her, "Yeah. What that all amounts to is you wanna know how big it is, too." "For entirely academic reasons." Usagi added, trying to hold a straight face. Kabal, about to walk out of the kitchen, clearly heard the last part, and with a snicker decided to choose a different snack food to serve them instead.
"You see," Rei said, "It's not exactly the type of thing a man likes made public, and after all.. everything that goes on in a shrine is held in the utmost of secrecy by a priestess." "Oh cut the crap Rei!" Makoto said. "Really!" Rei said, "It's a law! Anything he says or I see cannot even be extracted from me by a court!" "Oh come ON Rei!" Usagi said. "No!" Rei said, picking up a ruler. "A trusted Miko does not spread nasty gossip about her 'parishoners', and I've had it up to about HERE," she indicated the 9 inch mark, "with you girls trying to subvert that!" "Holy shit that's unnatural!" Makoto said. Usagi crossed her arms and harumphed. "My Mamo-chan has a foot at least!" she said. "You ever _seen_ it?" Rei asked. Yeah!" she said, "He left the bathroom door open when he was taking a piss." she said. The other girls, including Ami, looked at each other uncomfortably, then broke out laughing. "What? What's so funny?" Usagi asked. Rei, holding back tears, tried to say something else, but bursted into heavy laughter again. "Usagi-sama, " Ami said, "A man is not erect when he's pissing, they are just not built that way." "Yeah!" Usagi said, "That means it gets bigger when he's excited. I got me a whole lotta man, I do!." Ami shook her head, "If it were 12 inches long flaccid, it could be anywhere up to 30 inches long erect. He would not be able to get that erect without passing out." "In other words," Rei said, "Not only are you full of shit, but you're stupid, too." "Hey that was really mean Rei! I'm not stupid!" Usagi cried, and the waterworks began. At the same moment, Kabal walked out and served their snack.... long Italian sausages, each with two sugar odango balls at the base. All the girls, Ami included, started howling and laughing anew. Kabal, knowing his duty was done here, went to the dojo room and began practicing.
Kabal came out of meditation several hours later, after a strenuous workout. The sun was just about to dip under the horizon, and it bathed the interior of the practice room in a soft red light. The door slid open behind him, and he heard Rei quietly enter. "Yes, Rei-chan, do you need anything?" he asked. There were a few moments of silence before Rei spoke up. "Yes. How do I look, 007?" Kabal did not get up from where he was kneeling, just pivoted. When he saw her, he was glad he had not stood up, because he'd have found his knees weak. She was clad in a red kimono with a floral pattern on top and flame on bottom. It hugged her curvy form ever so slightly, emphasizing the shape of her hips. She wore 6 inch high heeled sandals, open with straps about the ankles, and one around her big toes. Her feet were held at a sharp downward cant by the design of the shoe, and Kabal found that particularly fetching. Her toenails were painted a deep crimson red, and she wore a golden anklet on her left leg. His eyes raised, up over her form, to her face. She was wearing little makeup, only a touch of dark eyeshadow to offset her purple eyes, and her hair was beautifully combed out, with a braid at each temple, tied to each other across the back of her head. To top it all off, that smile was upon her lips.
"Your beauty at this moment is making all women that are, were, or ever will be jealous." he said, as it was the first thing to occur to him. It was her smile, he concluded. When she smiled, nothing could compare to her. Too bad her smile was so rare. "Why thank you 007! You flatter me too much!" she said, blushing. Kabal finally stood up. "Wherever are you going that you grace with your beauty?" he asked. "It's my school's Sadie Hawkins dance." she responded. Kabal clapped his hands, "Well, whoever's the one you're going to ask, he's a lucky guy." Rei shuffled her feet, "Stop that 007! You're embarassing me." "The truth embarasses you? Take your compliments, drop the Miko humility with people, and go fetch your guy; he'd have to be blind or gay to turn you down." he said back. Rei turned a shade of red to almost match her kimono, and shyly stammered out, "So.. a-are you gay or blind?" she asked, then mentally slapped herself because that sounded incredibly stupid. Kabal, not the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to matters of emotion and subtlety, laughed, "Of course not! If you were asking me I'd go in a heartbeat. Now go FETCH the poor sod!" he said, holding the door open for her. Rei looked down at her feet and bit her lower lip. "What're you waiting for?" Kabal asked. "Little bit of jitters? Don't worry Rei, you look utterly heavenly. Crikey, you want me to go snag the dude and drag him here?" he continued. Rei took Kabal's hand and placed it upon the waist of his own Hakama pants. "Th--there.. ugh. You uh.. snagged him." she was staring hard anywhere but at him.
Kabal's amazing field of oafish stupidity was finally pierced by that.
"You're asking me to go, Rei-chan?" he said, to clarify. Rei nodded slightly. He grinned, and dropped to bow in a fully European style. "As you wish. I must go get dressed."
He appeared again 10 minutes later, slipping a black kung-fu jacket with red ties over his sleeveless kung-fu shirt, which was red with black ties. He was wearing loose martial arts pants tied at the bottom, and leather kung-fu shoes to match. His hair was hanging down loose, and he was brushing it as he approached Rei. "I can take my mask off, if you want, but I'll need to wear an abvious nose-filter." Rei shook her head, "It's OK. It's a costume ball."
They arrived to Rei's private school not long thereafter, Rei presented the doorman with their invitations and he waved them inside. Kabal quickly saw that he was surrounded by astounding snobbery, and as such shut his brain off to let himself get through the night. He concentrated instead upon Rei, giving her the full benefits of his attention. At some point, Rei noted that Kabal was less than enthusiastic. "You're not having a whole lot of fun, are you?" she asked. "It's not you, Rei," he said, deciding to pull her close to him during their dance, "I just don't have a lot of fun at places like this. This is not my style." Rei nodded her head against his chest, and asked, "Then why did you come?" "Because," he said, "You look absolutely radiant tonight, and I couldn't pass on the opportunity to have a date with you. I'm sorry, I'll try to liven up a little, I know you're having fun." Rei looked up at him, trying to look into his eyes through the mask, "Are you kidding? This kind of crap bores the hell out of me. I just thought you'd want to do something... sophisticated." she said. "What made you think I was sophisticated in any way Rei?" he asked. "Good point, you've never given me any reason to believe you like stuffy affairs like this. I just..." she trailed off. "Just what?" Kabal prompted. Rei buried her head back on his shoulder, "I just didn't want you to think of me as a little girl." Kabal thought 'With a body like yours I still think you were lying when you told me you were 14!', but did not say that, "I never thought of you that way, Rei. You're every bit a woman, and you've taught me a lot about life, and myself." Rei looked back at him, "I... I wonder if you-" there was a beep from Rei's kimono sash. "Oh shit why now?" she mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Would you excuse me I gotta go powdermynose." Rei said as she dashed off to the bathroom.
Less than a minute later, Rei ran past him full tilt. "I gotta run, had a wonderful time meet me back at home for drinks!" she yelled to him. Kabal's adrenaline boosters warmed up, and his optical implants informed him that she was flushed and scared. Kabal decided that he would, indeed, go home. To pick up some weapons so he could help Rei with whatever.
Sailor Jupiter lowered her arms down, having completed the lighntning strike. Some of the people stayed down, burnt quite crispy, but others got back up and continued shambling towards her and her friends. Sailor Mercury was attempting to remain stoic about all of this, until she saw one of the people missing half of it's face, jaw dangling loosely. Upon that, she threw up. Sailor Mars arrived, and looked over the mass. "Unholy. Unclean. Those people are dead, and they are walking." she said. Sailor Venus nodded her head slowly, "Yep, Night of the Living Dead." "What are we gonna do now?" asked Sailor Moon. Tuzedo Mask landed next to her and surveyed the encroaching mass. "If we had some guns, we could pop em in the head." Venus said. "Mina!" Moon chided, "These were PEOPLE you're talking about like that." "Key word being 'were', Moon." Venus said. "They look like they'd burn well." Mars said. Jupiter and Venus looked at each other, then Venus said, "Jupes and I will do what we can, but we'll mostly have to rely on our Karate." Mars, looking over the size, agreed, "Me too. I can't burn all of them, I don't have that much in me." "What about me?" Moon asked. Jupiter looked at her, "There's not really much you can do with these. Hang back on this one eh?" she said. Tuxedo Mask looked at the rose in his hand and wondered if it would be of any use. He offered encouragement, "Well, stick together Sailor Scouts, and with your combined power no foe will stand before you." The zombies were finally close enough to them to be taken seriously. One lurched towards Mars, one bloody hand held high towards her. She prepared to attack.
It's head exploded, spraying a bit of ichor upon her. "Rei!" came a voice from her left. Kabal stood there, overjacket off. He was carrying a shotgun of some kind, a pistol on his waist, and a Bo staff in the off hand. "007!" she screamed joyously, as Kabal launched to the attack. He exhausted his shotgun quickly, and threw it far behind him.. along with a box of shells. The zombies threatened to surround him, but with twirling Bo staff he kept them at bay. After he grouped them at a distance, he ran into their midst, striking deadly. A kick to break a spinal column here, a punch destroying a skull and leaking brain out there. Kabal was, amazingly enough, holding them off almost as fast as they were coming. Almost. He was slowly losing ground as the horde approached, filling positions he had just abandoned with dozens.
"How did he know who you are, Rei?" Mercury asked. "I don't know." Mars said. Venus brushed past them, saying "While you guys are fucking around, I'm going to help him." She approached Kabal, and took the pistol off his belt. He was a bit surprised, but didn't care much when he saw she knew how to use it very well. Before running out of ammo, she had killed 15 of them. One with each shot. She held out her hand and a length of heart-shaped chain appeared in it, which she used to do battle with. "Makoto!" Kabal yelled, "Give Ami the shotgun and get over here and help us!" Tuxedo Mask grimaced. "Well, he apparently knows who all of you are. But, great warrior though he is, he cannot do this all himself. Move it Scouts!"
Tuxedo Mask took a crowbar from a nearby toolbox and joined the battle. Mercury haltingly operated the shotgun, while Mars also entered the fray, throwing as much fire as she could muster. Moon simply stood back, knowing that there was nothing she could do to help her friends right now. Kabal twisted a zombie's head clean off, then slid over to Venus. "You've killed before." he said, "A lot." "I'm a Sailor Soldier." Venus responded. "We fight for love, and justice. Sailor Senshi do not kill if it can be avoided." Kabal chuckled, "I didn't say anything about Sailor Senshi, I said _you_ have killed." Venus nodded, "Yeah.. it's in my eyes, isn't it?" she asked. "That," Kabal said, "and the fact that you fight like a Spetsnatz soldier who learned Tiger Style." Venus sighed, "Yes I was trained by some of the best." "You a 'runner?" he asked. She shook her head. "Who do you work for then? MI6? KGB?" he asked. She glared at him while stomping on a spinal column, "You know I can't tell you that." Kabal looked at her, then on a whim slipped down to look up her skirt. "Hey!" she screamed. Kabal kicked up and smashed in a zombie's face. "You're one of them new M.A.M.A. clones we've been hearing about." "What the fuck are you talking about?" Venus asked, "I work for M.A.M.A. yeah but I'm no fucking clone. And just how the fuck did you know that anyway?" "Vulgar, vulgar." he said, "I did a run against their England headquarters for Renraku. They had a bunch of clones on ice." "What's that got to do with me?" Venus asked. "You're one of them." he said. "Am not!" she said, "And what makes you think that anyway?" "Your ass. I saw the asses on those clones and I really wanted to wake one of them up. I'll never forget that ass." he said, as he bounded away to assist Jupiter.
She had suffered some injuries, but was still fighting strong. She had a look of disgust and despair on her face, however. "What's the matter, Makoto?" he asked. She headbutted a zombie to the ground and sent a small bolt of lightning into it's face. "These things.. these are dead people." "Yes," Kabal agreed, "They are." "This doesn't bother you at all? These aren't like monsters I fought before, these were once _people_." she said. Kabal chuckled, "Search yourself Makoto. They are your enemy. Do you really care what they were? They are not people now, and they're trying to kill you." Makoto's eyes hardened shortly after that. "You're.. right." she said. Kabal, felt a strong, and thankfully brief, desire to hold her to him and kiss her. "It gets easier, Makoto. Don't worry." He jumped off of a zombie's head, and met with Tuxedo Mask.
Tuxedo Mask was doing his best out of his element, trying to bash in skulls with the crowbar. Kabal saw his light step, his slow reactions, and the grimace on his face. Kabal sized him up quickly, and decided to be careful with this one. He was, to put it bluntly, a pussy, but he didn't seem to know it. He seemed to be fighting half-hearted, almost as if finding it somehow unfair that he had to put forth this much effort, but with too much ego to stop fighting. A man like that could turn out in two different ways. "Come on man, hang in there," he said. Tuxedo Mask gave him a cordial smile. Kabal decided a quick ego stroke would increase his fighting capacity. "With your help I'm sure we'll pull through this allright." Kabal was correct, Tuxedo Mask fought harder now.
At this time, the Japanese Self Defense force landed choppers which unloaded troops (mostly female, of course; though led by men). The battle did not last long after that, and the individual Sailor Senshi actually dropped out of sight one by one before the battle was ended. As the last zombie took a grenade round to it's chest; Kabal decided it would be a good time for him to leave as well.
He caught Sailor Mercury not too far away, she was trying to disassemble the shotgun. He took it from her and said, "Ami, those were not typical zombies." he said. She looked at him somewhat blankly, "I'm used to seeing things called 'Ghouls', but they're faster and stronger. And they were grouped a coupla dozen. Ghouls attack in small packs." Mercury continued staring at him, but he could tell she was remembering this information. "I understand." she said. "If I may ask, how did you know who we were?" "It was actually kinda odd," he said. I could _feel_ it was Rei and Makoto and Usagi, and Venus was that blonde chick I met before. I couldn't physically recognize any of them right away. It took a while for my mind to reconcile itself. Part of me was trying to say that you all were absolute strangers, but another part of me KNEW." "That's interesting there, " Mercury said. "Further interest for you: I'm not sure you're Ami: I'm just guessing based on the fact that you have blue hair and you're hanging with them." Mercury nodded, "I am Ami... you did not know me like the others?" she asked. Kabal shook his head. "That is interesting." she said, feeling vaguely left out somehow. "Now I gotta go home, I'm pretty sure Rei could use a little support about now."
Rei was kneeling in front of the fire, divining images of the future from it. Though she could never be absolutely certain of what she saw, it was usually pretty clear. She went through the proper hand motions and prayers. What she saw shocked her greatly. She sat for a long time, trying to see how she could accept it all. She felt a pang of jealousy, she would not be the bride, but that subsided quickly as she knew that her own role could easily be considered greater.
Kabal banged into the shrine loudly, and Rei heard him grabbing a bottle of Sake. She stood up, turned to her right, and changed back from Sailor Mars into simply Rei Hino. She smoothed out her kimono, touched up her hair, and walked towards the kitchen, to speak with the man whom she would in the future be concubine to, and in the present....
"Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize y'awl's neighborhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpse's shell
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller"
- Vincent Price, from Michael Jackson's "Thriller"
Twisted Prophecy - Chapter 5
From: Kabal Saotome
To: Brigadier General Tina Kurosawa
Subject: Having fun in Japan
Att: me and the miko.hpx
Tina-Chan,
How are you doing up there? Figured I'd mail you.. Joshua gave me this "Pocket Secretary" thing and I thought it was just for storing data on runs. Lo and behold, I can send mail to anyone else on it! Neat shit I made it to Japan OK. It was lean times a bit there for me. They use Nuyen here as well, but shit's a lot more expensive. I finally picked up a job at the local Shinto Shrine as a guardian/janitor/martial arts teacher. The attached holo is of myself and the Miko I met there. her name is Rei Hino and she's real nice... when she's not being an extreme bitch. She's got a friend named Usagi, whom she is really bitchy towards all the time. I'm not entirely sure, but I think that Usagi's cat talks. ::shrug:: Considering I turn into a girl with cold water, I'm not one to throw stones about weird stuff.
Speaking of weird stuff, check this out: I noticed that crystal I always wear.... it flashes red when I'm around Rei, and of late the hue and intensity of it has increased. It blinks white when I'm around Usagi, green when I'm around their other friend Makoto (and real bright and intense for her, a bit more than Rei's color I'd say, and the one time I was around Usagi's mother I could swear it was doing a purple flash. I figured it might be some kinda thing about women, but it only seems select women. Usagi's friend Naru has no effect, nor their friend Ami. I saw a blonde chick with them once, and in her presence I got a yellow light. I went to a singles bar and tried hitting on women, and the crystal doesn't react at all.
This place has been real good for me. Rei's given me a lot of guidance, and she's helped me work out my issues with the past. I'm not really so angry and hurt anymore. I'm still gonna find and kill that damn centaur.. he killed my wife, you know, but it doesn't haunt my dreams every night. Guess what? I found the old Tendo Dojo. It's a museum now! And I'm in line to inherit it! Ick, not my style, but it's something to keep in mind if you ever decide to move to Japan. I'll be back in a coupla weeks or so, or ya'all can come visit me. You'll have to sneak in, but hey. Or just have a concert! People love you here. Wouldn't they be surprised to know how well I _really_ know 'Ariana Saotome', eh? They speak some pretty fucked-up excuse for Japanese here, but it's so easy even I picked it up.
Love Always,
Kabal Saotome, your Ran-Chan
(This first part just begged for it's own quote)
"Oh the female sex has a lot more class, unless we're lookin at a male stripper's ass..."
- Unknown, "The Woman Song"
"007?" Rei called. She was still saying it 'oh oh seven'. Kabal, fresh out of the shower, popped his head and upper body into the room where Rei and several of her friends were talking. "Yes, Rei-chan?" he responded. "Can you bring us some hot tea?" Rei asked. "As you wish." Kabal said and left the room. Makoto wet her fingertip and placed it against the tabletop, making a hissing sound and jerking her hand away from the table as if burned. Usagi giggled at her, "Yeah, I know! Did you see those pecs?" she clasped her hands over her heart, "Could just sweep you up and carry you off into the sunset with those!" Makoto shook her head, "The only thing he'll be doing with those arms is using them to hold me up while I fuck the hell out of him!" Rei looked at Makoto, somewhat shocked, "Wow Mako-chan, I've never heard you say something like that before. I thought you'd just compare him to an ex-boyfriend of yours." Usagi gigled again, "Yeah but with that muscle tone, I bet he could last all night.!" Rei decided to abandon propriety, "Yeah, well I 'accidentally' walked in on him one morning, and you know what happens to all men in the morning." Usagi squealed, laughing at the same time, "Oh give up the goods Rei, how is it?" Makoto turned to her as well, attention rapt. Ami shushed all of them, as Kabal was returning.
Kabal placed the tray on the table, and began divvying out the tea cups, then pouring for them. "Excuse me, 007?" Rei said. "Yes Rei-chan?" Kabal answered. "Can you go over there and pull the blinds open for us? It's a beautiful day outside and we wish to see it." Kabal nodded, "As you wish." He reached up and pulled the blinds for them, then turned around. "Anything else, Rei-chan?" he asked. "Yes, go fetch us something to eat." she said. Kabal bowed lightly, "As you wish." and left towards the kitchen.
Makoto made vague grabbing motions toward's Kabal's backside on the way out. "Would you just LOOK at that ass?" she cried. "And those arms uhhhh! Thanks for having him reach for the blinds Rei." Usagi said. "Yeah," Rei retorted, "Don't say I never did anything for you now." "Weren't you discussing the length of his manhood earlier?" Ami asked. The other girls turned to her, "Ami! You of all people!" Ami took her reading glasses off. "No, I really want to know, because the average male does not acheive that sort of build without chemical enhancement, and that generally stunts the male member's growth. I'd be interested to know what the effects of that are." Makoto nodded at her, "Yeah. What that all amounts to is you wanna know how big it is, too." "For entirely academic reasons." Usagi added, trying to hold a straight face. Kabal, about to walk out of the kitchen, clearly heard the last part, and with a snicker decided to choose a different snack food to serve them instead.
"You see," Rei said, "It's not exactly the type of thing a man likes made public, and after all.. everything that goes on in a shrine is held in the utmost of secrecy by a priestess." "Oh cut the crap Rei!" Makoto said. "Really!" Rei said, "It's a law! Anything he says or I see cannot even be extracted from me by a court!" "Oh come ON Rei!" Usagi said. "No!" Rei said, picking up a ruler. "A trusted Miko does not spread nasty gossip about her 'parishoners', and I've had it up to about HERE," she indicated the 9 inch mark, "with you girls trying to subvert that!" "Holy shit that's unnatural!" Makoto said. Usagi crossed her arms and harumphed. "My Mamo-chan has a foot at least!" she said. "You ever _seen_ it?" Rei asked. Yeah!" she said, "He left the bathroom door open when he was taking a piss." she said. The other girls, including Ami, looked at each other uncomfortably, then broke out laughing. "What? What's so funny?" Usagi asked. Rei, holding back tears, tried to say something else, but bursted into heavy laughter again. "Usagi-sama, " Ami said, "A man is not erect when he's pissing, they are just not built that way." "Yeah!" Usagi said, "That means it gets bigger when he's excited. I got me a whole lotta man, I do!." Ami shook her head, "If it were 12 inches long flaccid, it could be anywhere up to 30 inches long erect. He would not be able to get that erect without passing out." "In other words," Rei said, "Not only are you full of shit, but you're stupid, too." "Hey that was really mean Rei! I'm not stupid!" Usagi cried, and the waterworks began. At the same moment, Kabal walked out and served their snack.... long Italian sausages, each with two sugar odango balls at the base. All the girls, Ami included, started howling and laughing anew. Kabal, knowing his duty was done here, went to the dojo room and began practicing.
Kabal came out of meditation several hours later, after a strenuous workout. The sun was just about to dip under the horizon, and it bathed the interior of the practice room in a soft red light. The door slid open behind him, and he heard Rei quietly enter. "Yes, Rei-chan, do you need anything?" he asked. There were a few moments of silence before Rei spoke up. "Yes. How do I look, 007?" Kabal did not get up from where he was kneeling, just pivoted. When he saw her, he was glad he had not stood up, because he'd have found his knees weak. She was clad in a red kimono with a floral pattern on top and flame on bottom. It hugged her curvy form ever so slightly, emphasizing the shape of her hips. She wore 6 inch high heeled sandals, open with straps about the ankles, and one around her big toes. Her feet were held at a sharp downward cant by the design of the shoe, and Kabal found that particularly fetching. Her toenails were painted a deep crimson red, and she wore a golden anklet on her left leg. His eyes raised, up over her form, to her face. She was wearing little makeup, only a touch of dark eyeshadow to offset her purple eyes, and her hair was beautifully combed out, with a braid at each temple, tied to each other across the back of her head. To top it all off, that smile was upon her lips.
"Your beauty at this moment is making all women that are, were, or ever will be jealous." he said, as it was the first thing to occur to him. It was her smile, he concluded. When she smiled, nothing could compare to her. Too bad her smile was so rare. "Why thank you 007! You flatter me too much!" she said, blushing. Kabal finally stood up. "Wherever are you going that you grace with your beauty?" he asked. "It's my school's Sadie Hawkins dance." she responded. Kabal clapped his hands, "Well, whoever's the one you're going to ask, he's a lucky guy." Rei shuffled her feet, "Stop that 007! You're embarassing me." "The truth embarasses you? Take your compliments, drop the Miko humility with people, and go fetch your guy; he'd have to be blind or gay to turn you down." he said back. Rei turned a shade of red to almost match her kimono, and shyly stammered out, "So.. a-are you gay or blind?" she asked, then mentally slapped herself because that sounded incredibly stupid. Kabal, not the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to matters of emotion and subtlety, laughed, "Of course not! If you were asking me I'd go in a heartbeat. Now go FETCH the poor sod!" he said, holding the door open for her. Rei looked down at her feet and bit her lower lip. "What're you waiting for?" Kabal asked. "Little bit of jitters? Don't worry Rei, you look utterly heavenly. Crikey, you want me to go snag the dude and drag him here?" he continued. Rei took Kabal's hand and placed it upon the waist of his own Hakama pants. "Th--there.. ugh. You uh.. snagged him." she was staring hard anywhere but at him.
Kabal's amazing field of oafish stupidity was finally pierced by that.
"You're asking me to go, Rei-chan?" he said, to clarify. Rei nodded slightly. He grinned, and dropped to bow in a fully European style. "As you wish. I must go get dressed."
He appeared again 10 minutes later, slipping a black kung-fu jacket with red ties over his sleeveless kung-fu shirt, which was red with black ties. He was wearing loose martial arts pants tied at the bottom, and leather kung-fu shoes to match. His hair was hanging down loose, and he was brushing it as he approached Rei. "I can take my mask off, if you want, but I'll need to wear an abvious nose-filter." Rei shook her head, "It's OK. It's a costume ball."
They arrived to Rei's private school not long thereafter, Rei presented the doorman with their invitations and he waved them inside. Kabal quickly saw that he was surrounded by astounding snobbery, and as such shut his brain off to let himself get through the night. He concentrated instead upon Rei, giving her the full benefits of his attention. At some point, Rei noted that Kabal was less than enthusiastic. "You're not having a whole lot of fun, are you?" she asked. "It's not you, Rei," he said, deciding to pull her close to him during their dance, "I just don't have a lot of fun at places like this. This is not my style." Rei nodded her head against his chest, and asked, "Then why did you come?" "Because," he said, "You look absolutely radiant tonight, and I couldn't pass on the opportunity to have a date with you. I'm sorry, I'll try to liven up a little, I know you're having fun." Rei looked up at him, trying to look into his eyes through the mask, "Are you kidding? This kind of crap bores the hell out of me. I just thought you'd want to do something... sophisticated." she said. "What made you think I was sophisticated in any way Rei?" he asked. "Good point, you've never given me any reason to believe you like stuffy affairs like this. I just..." she trailed off. "Just what?" Kabal prompted. Rei buried her head back on his shoulder, "I just didn't want you to think of me as a little girl." Kabal thought 'With a body like yours I still think you were lying when you told me you were 14!', but did not say that, "I never thought of you that way, Rei. You're every bit a woman, and you've taught me a lot about life, and myself." Rei looked back at him, "I... I wonder if you-" there was a beep from Rei's kimono sash. "Oh shit why now?" she mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Would you excuse me I gotta go powdermynose." Rei said as she dashed off to the bathroom.
Less than a minute later, Rei ran past him full tilt. "I gotta run, had a wonderful time meet me back at home for drinks!" she yelled to him. Kabal's adrenaline boosters warmed up, and his optical implants informed him that she was flushed and scared. Kabal decided that he would, indeed, go home. To pick up some weapons so he could help Rei with whatever.
Sailor Jupiter lowered her arms down, having completed the lighntning strike. Some of the people stayed down, burnt quite crispy, but others got back up and continued shambling towards her and her friends. Sailor Mercury was attempting to remain stoic about all of this, until she saw one of the people missing half of it's face, jaw dangling loosely. Upon that, she threw up. Sailor Mars arrived, and looked over the mass. "Unholy. Unclean. Those people are dead, and they are walking." she said. Sailor Venus nodded her head slowly, "Yep, Night of the Living Dead." "What are we gonna do now?" asked Sailor Moon. Tuzedo Mask landed next to her and surveyed the encroaching mass. "If we had some guns, we could pop em in the head." Venus said. "Mina!" Moon chided, "These were PEOPLE you're talking about like that." "Key word being 'were', Moon." Venus said. "They look like they'd burn well." Mars said. Jupiter and Venus looked at each other, then Venus said, "Jupes and I will do what we can, but we'll mostly have to rely on our Karate." Mars, looking over the size, agreed, "Me too. I can't burn all of them, I don't have that much in me." "What about me?" Moon asked. Jupiter looked at her, "There's not really much you can do with these. Hang back on this one eh?" she said. Tuxedo Mask looked at the rose in his hand and wondered if it would be of any use. He offered encouragement, "Well, stick together Sailor Scouts, and with your combined power no foe will stand before you." The zombies were finally close enough to them to be taken seriously. One lurched towards Mars, one bloody hand held high towards her. She prepared to attack.
It's head exploded, spraying a bit of ichor upon her. "Rei!" came a voice from her left. Kabal stood there, overjacket off. He was carrying a shotgun of some kind, a pistol on his waist, and a Bo staff in the off hand. "007!" she screamed joyously, as Kabal launched to the attack. He exhausted his shotgun quickly, and threw it far behind him.. along with a box of shells. The zombies threatened to surround him, but with twirling Bo staff he kept them at bay. After he grouped them at a distance, he ran into their midst, striking deadly. A kick to break a spinal column here, a punch destroying a skull and leaking brain out there. Kabal was, amazingly enough, holding them off almost as fast as they were coming. Almost. He was slowly losing ground as the horde approached, filling positions he had just abandoned with dozens.
"How did he know who you are, Rei?" Mercury asked. "I don't know." Mars said. Venus brushed past them, saying "While you guys are fucking around, I'm going to help him." She approached Kabal, and took the pistol off his belt. He was a bit surprised, but didn't care much when he saw she knew how to use it very well. Before running out of ammo, she had killed 15 of them. One with each shot. She held out her hand and a length of heart-shaped chain appeared in it, which she used to do battle with. "Makoto!" Kabal yelled, "Give Ami the shotgun and get over here and help us!" Tuxedo Mask grimaced. "Well, he apparently knows who all of you are. But, great warrior though he is, he cannot do this all himself. Move it Scouts!"
Tuxedo Mask took a crowbar from a nearby toolbox and joined the battle. Mercury haltingly operated the shotgun, while Mars also entered the fray, throwing as much fire as she could muster. Moon simply stood back, knowing that there was nothing she could do to help her friends right now. Kabal twisted a zombie's head clean off, then slid over to Venus. "You've killed before." he said, "A lot." "I'm a Sailor Soldier." Venus responded. "We fight for love, and justice. Sailor Senshi do not kill if it can be avoided." Kabal chuckled, "I didn't say anything about Sailor Senshi, I said _you_ have killed." Venus nodded, "Yeah.. it's in my eyes, isn't it?" she asked. "That," Kabal said, "and the fact that you fight like a Spetsnatz soldier who learned Tiger Style." Venus sighed, "Yes I was trained by some of the best." "You a 'runner?" he asked. She shook her head. "Who do you work for then? MI6? KGB?" he asked. She glared at him while stomping on a spinal column, "You know I can't tell you that." Kabal looked at her, then on a whim slipped down to look up her skirt. "Hey!" she screamed. Kabal kicked up and smashed in a zombie's face. "You're one of them new M.A.M.A. clones we've been hearing about." "What the fuck are you talking about?" Venus asked, "I work for M.A.M.A. yeah but I'm no fucking clone. And just how the fuck did you know that anyway?" "Vulgar, vulgar." he said, "I did a run against their England headquarters for Renraku. They had a bunch of clones on ice." "What's that got to do with me?" Venus asked. "You're one of them." he said. "Am not!" she said, "And what makes you think that anyway?" "Your ass. I saw the asses on those clones and I really wanted to wake one of them up. I'll never forget that ass." he said, as he bounded away to assist Jupiter.
She had suffered some injuries, but was still fighting strong. She had a look of disgust and despair on her face, however. "What's the matter, Makoto?" he asked. She headbutted a zombie to the ground and sent a small bolt of lightning into it's face. "These things.. these are dead people." "Yes," Kabal agreed, "They are." "This doesn't bother you at all? These aren't like monsters I fought before, these were once _people_." she said. Kabal chuckled, "Search yourself Makoto. They are your enemy. Do you really care what they were? They are not people now, and they're trying to kill you." Makoto's eyes hardened shortly after that. "You're.. right." she said. Kabal, felt a strong, and thankfully brief, desire to hold her to him and kiss her. "It gets easier, Makoto. Don't worry." He jumped off of a zombie's head, and met with Tuxedo Mask.
Tuxedo Mask was doing his best out of his element, trying to bash in skulls with the crowbar. Kabal saw his light step, his slow reactions, and the grimace on his face. Kabal sized him up quickly, and decided to be careful with this one. He was, to put it bluntly, a pussy, but he didn't seem to know it. He seemed to be fighting half-hearted, almost as if finding it somehow unfair that he had to put forth this much effort, but with too much ego to stop fighting. A man like that could turn out in two different ways. "Come on man, hang in there," he said. Tuxedo Mask gave him a cordial smile. Kabal decided a quick ego stroke would increase his fighting capacity. "With your help I'm sure we'll pull through this allright." Kabal was correct, Tuxedo Mask fought harder now.
At this time, the Japanese Self Defense force landed choppers which unloaded troops (mostly female, of course; though led by men). The battle did not last long after that, and the individual Sailor Senshi actually dropped out of sight one by one before the battle was ended. As the last zombie took a grenade round to it's chest; Kabal decided it would be a good time for him to leave as well.
He caught Sailor Mercury not too far away, she was trying to disassemble the shotgun. He took it from her and said, "Ami, those were not typical zombies." he said. She looked at him somewhat blankly, "I'm used to seeing things called 'Ghouls', but they're faster and stronger. And they were grouped a coupla dozen. Ghouls attack in small packs." Mercury continued staring at him, but he could tell she was remembering this information. "I understand." she said. "If I may ask, how did you know who we were?" "It was actually kinda odd," he said. I could _feel_ it was Rei and Makoto and Usagi, and Venus was that blonde chick I met before. I couldn't physically recognize any of them right away. It took a while for my mind to reconcile itself. Part of me was trying to say that you all were absolute strangers, but another part of me KNEW." "That's interesting there, " Mercury said. "Further interest for you: I'm not sure you're Ami: I'm just guessing based on the fact that you have blue hair and you're hanging with them." Mercury nodded, "I am Ami... you did not know me like the others?" she asked. Kabal shook his head. "That is interesting." she said, feeling vaguely left out somehow. "Now I gotta go home, I'm pretty sure Rei could use a little support about now."
Rei was kneeling in front of the fire, divining images of the future from it. Though she could never be absolutely certain of what she saw, it was usually pretty clear. She went through the proper hand motions and prayers. What she saw shocked her greatly. She sat for a long time, trying to see how she could accept it all. She felt a pang of jealousy, she would not be the bride, but that subsided quickly as she knew that her own role could easily be considered greater.
Kabal banged into the shrine loudly, and Rei heard him grabbing a bottle of Sake. She stood up, turned to her right, and changed back from Sailor Mars into simply Rei Hino. She smoothed out her kimono, touched up her hair, and walked towards the kitchen, to speak with the man whom she would in the future be concubine to, and in the present....