7 | Heating Up

For her, it was a peaceful scene to lay across the rooftop and stare into the early-morning sky. She enjoyed the solitude of her perch and the baying of the stiff breeze as it wove through the trees. The act of peering into nothing more than a solid mass of thick, grey clouds, while depressing for most other people, seemed to ease her stress. And what stress it was. Her mind strained under the weight of all she had to contemplate, as though the entirety of her universe pressed down upon it and upon her soul. As though her fate depended on each tiny decision she made. However, so long as she had that rooftop to herself, nobody could interrupt her—

"Hey! Yeah, you! Just who th' hell are you and what'd you think you're doing on my damned roof?"

The colossal tremor that shot through her entire body revealed volumes about how much she anticipated just such a circumstance. After several tense moments and a few raucous deep breaths, she shifted to her knees and bent her head over the edge of the gray tiles. Gravity pulled her blond hair across her eyes as they locked onto the green counterparts of an older woman. That person was almost seventy years old, she assumed, and was either the owner of the house or someone related to him or her. What was blatantly obvious to her was the woman's palpable irritation. In the end, all of that was irrelevant compared to the fact she was spotted. However, she had a plan to deal with that nuisance. It was not the best plan she could construct on the spur of the moment, but it had to do. She mentally cursed herself while plastering a sickly sweet smile onto her face.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you, ma'am. You haven't seen any strange people running around here, have you?"

"That has nothing to do with you being on my roof and causing a ruckus." The woman's already stern visage seemed to become even harsher. "Now, tell me who you are already before I call the cops to drag your butt down from there."

An exasperated Sazaratha pulled herself upright so she could both empty the blood that had rushed to her head and sigh loudly in frustration. She ensured her annoyance was well hidden as she addressed the woman once again.

"Okay, okay. No need to get violent. I'll leave your roof if you promise to answer a few simple questions for me. It's very important for an ongoing investigation I'm conducting."

"Investigation my ass. I know you're not a damned cop." She began to leave the windowsill, and Sazaratha could barely hear a reference to something about a shotgun as the woman departed.

"Well, that went splendidly." The blonde righted herself and sat on the roof, idly staring off into the distance while running a hand through her hair to partially untangle it. She then smirked as a tiny spark of flame ignited between the fingers of that same hand. "Well, it looks like I'll have to do Plan B after all. Sucks to be her."

The old woman knew nothing of that plan when she jogged out of her bedroom and into a nearby closet. Inside was her trusty old pal, a twin-barreled shotgun that she normally used for hunting and protecting her property. It was that second task that she had set her mind to when she grabbed a box of twelve-gauge shells and expertly slid one into each barrel. It only took her a few seconds to complete that action, after which she ran down the stairs. However, she did not get much farther than her living room. She felt her heart leap straight into her throat when she saw the rooftop intruder out of the corner of her eye. That younger woman's casual pose as she sat on the sofa, with her arms spread out and her legs loosely crossed in front of her, was something she found very off-putting. How she ever managed to break into her house without detection, or without even opening the locked front door, added to her perturbation. But, that did not stop her from rounding about and aiming the muzzle of the shotgun squarely at the blonde's chest.

"That looks like a really nice shotgun. I've seen one of those before." Sazaratha gave the woman a mischievous grin. "I'll tell you what. Since you don't seem to be in the mood to answer any of my questions right now, I'll give you a free shot at me. But, I warn—"

Not in the mood to answer questions was a vast understatement. The woman did not even let Sazaratha finish her wry statement before pulling the trigger. A sharp blast assaulted her ears, ones accustomed to hearing the explosion of such a weapon through earmuffs. She lurched backward, a result that was the combination of the shotgun's recoil and the disorientation brought on by the sound pressure. The bright yellow light that flashed before her eyes added to her momentary misery. It only took her a few seconds to recover, but in those few seconds she realized she had placed a sizeable hole within what used to be a perfectly good sofa. At the same time, as she stared at the mangled white strands of urethane and polyester that littered her floor, she felt that very same heart sink deep into the pit of her stomach.

"I'm sorry."

Her voice was more mocking than remorseful as Sazaratha wrapped one arm around the woman's waist and the other around her neck. She felt her prey squirming and straining to escape her grasp, but she knew the effort would have been futile. Her lips hovered barely an inch from the woman's ear, which made her whisper sound all the more threatening.

"I guess I won't be hearing any answers to my questions from you. So sad."

A few minutes later, Sazaratha emerged from the basement, nonchalantly shrugging as she crossed the threshold into the kitchen. She was very much alone.

"Well, that's not the best way to begin, but that idiot woman had to be a complete pain in the ass. Thankfully the old hag was a widow, as I don't want to create too much noise here."

She carelessly plopped onto the remains of the sofa and unhurriedly gazed at the fixtures that surrounded her. Despite her half-hearted attempt to drag the process out, it only took her a minute to fully investigate the living room and some of the chambers directly adjoining it.

"Eh, it's not much. In fact, it's utter shit. But it'll have to do. And it's somewhere that fake queen will never suspect I've gone, which is perfect as far as I'm concerned." A light sigh preceded the smirk that twisted her lips as she pushed her body up from the sofa. "Oh well. I guess I'd better hurry up and do what I need to do here, because I don't want to be late for my next engagement. I do hope that our dear Sailor Mercury doesn't mind a bit of unannounced company."

—|1|2|3|—

The sun was on the precipice of sliding under the horizon, but there was still more than enough light to see without the aid of the streetlamps. The park in Katsushika, the largest in the twenty-three special wards of Tokyo prefecture, was still quite inhabited despite the late hour. Among the patrons were two men who stood near the tree line and watched a pick-up football game play out on a makeshift pitch. One of the men, a rather average-looking individual with blond hair, smiled as he saw one of the competitors dance past a defender and kick the ball past the goalkeeper into the back of the net. He clapped in the same way that the small audience closer to the pitch did upon noticing the goal, though his motivations were very, very different. That fact was noted by the man standing next to him, a slightly taller person with tightly curled black hair and a heavier, more-athletic build.

"It was that good, eh? Or, is it more the case you're just happy everything's going according to plan so far?"

A grin tugged at the other man's lips. "Both. Though, I was never really a fan of the sport, which is understandable given the fact that I never had any time to partake in it."

"When do we ever?" His chuckling would have sounded strange to any bystanders given his deep baritone, but there were none within earshot. "Anyway, I have to wonder how much energy we could obtain from this scheme. I mean, if anything were to happen to either the ball or the so-called ref, then a full twenty percent of our scheme just collapses into shambles."

"I understand that, but it's your job to make sure that doesn't happen." His smile disappeared as the blond-haired man, Jadeite, turned to face his companion. "Now, so long as the senshi don't find out about this then things should be fine for you."

That companion, Major Grayson, slowly nodded. "True. And, I don't mean to suggest a lack of trust in Rocha's plan, especially since I signed off on it. It's just, seeing it in person, it's a little unnerving. Besides, the senshi aren't even the sole problem this particular part of the plan might face. What if someone steals the ball or the youma somehow loses it? I'm not saying it's going to happen, but it might."

"Those are valid concerns, but they also have easy solutions. It's not very difficult to find a new ball, even if we do have to sacrifice a day's worth of energy gathering."

"I suppose you're right about that."

Jadeite turned away from Grayson and from the ongoing game and started a slow walk along the path leading to one of the park's exits. "Anyway, we should return home," he said as he departed, prompting his subordinate to follow him.

For them, home was a pair of rather tiny two-story houses in Adachi that sat immediately adjacent to one another. Even then, that was not nearly enough space for the group that was stationed there. It might have been sufficient if the eight officers were the only personnel necessary to run the operation, but each had underlings who also required housing. Those unfortunate people, which numbered a few dozen in total, had to occupy rooms in nearby hotels. The task of ensuring that the disparate groups efficiently traveled from one place to another nearly sent Captain Maldonado into a conniption fit. Nevertheless, it was all they could obtain in the short amount of time they were there, though they had plans for more expansive accommodations in the near future.

Along the way, Grayson held his stomach with one hand after hearing it grumble. "I guess I'm getting a bit hungry after all. I hope you don't mind if we stopped over at a nearby restaurant to get something to eat."

"I'm not really in the mood to eat anything right now, but you can go on ahead if you'd like." Jadeite expelled a soft sigh with a slow shake of his head. "I'll probably just head back to main camp instead and catch a nap before getting something to eat there."

"With all due respect, sir, I'm worried about your sudden lack of energy. You weren't anything like this a few days ago."

"You're not the only one who's told me that, but I assure you I'm perfectly fine." His eyes narrowed as he began to glare at Grayson, his irritation starting to get the better of him. "Now, you should probably go eat before you end up lacking any energy."

"Yes sir."

He opened his mouth to say something else, but the intensity of his superior's glower forced him to change his mind. Instead, he merely nodded before turning down one of the side streets. He figured Jadeite could easily take care of himself, occasional bouts of fatigue and all.

Though he had never before visited the place in person, he knew the path he took lead to a small restaurant there. Prior investigation of the place revealed that it mainly served noodles, though other types of traditional Japanese food was served there as well. He was not a connoisseur of that style of cuisine, and in fact he had never eaten any such thing in his life, but his curiosity drove him to at least have a go at trying some. Besides, it only made sense if he was going to be staying there for months on end.

It only took him a few minutes to arrive at the restaurant, at which point in time another patron of the establishment nearly barreled clean over him. He pushed himself upright and was about to complain loudly when he saw who the perpetrator was. There were two benefits to his predicament. The first was that the person was nice enough to stop and apologize for knocking him over. That alone might have been good enough, but his mind blatantly ignored that fact. Instead, it proceeded directly to the second good thing, which was the fact that the person who had run into him was a woman, and a fairly attractive one at that.

"Oops. I'm so sorry for knocking you over." She extended a hand to help him regain his balance, which he took eagerly. "I don't often run into people like that, but I've had quite a busy day and I didn't see you there until it was too late."

"Believe me when I say that I truly don't mind." He turned a friendly smile to her, one that was only partially reciprocated. "It's actually a good thing you've run into me."

Whatever grin her lips held at the time swiftly faded. Her sudden intense stare, along with her act of snatching her arm away from his grasp, momentarily caught the man off guard.

"Really? This had better not be the start of some lame pick-up line, as I'm seriously not in the mood."

"It's nothing like that," he said, shaking his head emphatically.

"That's good to hear." Strangely, she smiled again, and the fact it was at full force only further confused Grayson. "So, I imagine the reason for your presence here is something more mundane."

"Well… eating is a mundane act, if that's what you mean." His shrug punctuated his nervously-delivered words.

The woman nodded. "Indeed. Fortunately, you've come to a fairly decent place to do just that." She turned toward the door and was about to pull it open, but was surprised to see him already reaching for the handle.

"No, allow me."

"Thank you, but I can assure you I'm more than capable of opening doors myself." Nevertheless, she did not hesitate to walk through the entrance, with a perplexed and upset Grayson following close behind.

"I'm fully aware of that." He clenched his hands into fists as he stared at the back of the woman he found both alluring and inscrutable. "I was just being a good gentleman."

"And, I fully appreciate it. Honestly, I do. Chivalry is a dying art in this day and age." She stopped just before the hostess and turned to face him, her fierce gaze conveying absolute seriousness. "But, at the same time, maybe it deserves to disappear as it's clearly outlived its usefulness."

All he could do was shake his head in defeat. "I-I'll keep that in mind."

She turned away and approached the hostess. The smell of the food being cooked was delicious and the ambiance was inviting, but he had second thoughts. Maybe he would revisit the place under less stressful circumstances. The woman he had just met certainly was beautiful, but his initial interaction with her had unnerved him, to say the least. Because of that, he quickly surmised the chance that she would accept dining with him to be approximately zero.

"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come along and join me at our table?"

No matter how casually he tried to act in walking behind the woman, he knew full well that she recognized his initial stupor and subsequent shock. It had to be expected given everything that had transpired beforehand. She seemed to take it all in stride.

"Now, I'm sure this is your first time here, but the food here is really good."

Grayson nodded in amazement. "How could you guess?"

"Just call it intuition." She covered her mouth with one hand to stifle her giggles as she grabbed the menu with her other hand. "Also, it's the fact you're clearly not from here. You certainly don't look Japanese, and your speech seems to carry quite the American accent."

"That's because I am American." He looked askance as he spoke, but despite his concerns and his lack of preparation for such a scenario, his words were not false.

The woman exhaled a weary sigh. "It's a very interesting country that I would like to visit again if I had the free time. The problem is that I don't see myself having such a luxury in the near future."

"I'm sorry to hear that." The low tenor of his voice expressed sympathy. "I assume it is your work that keeps you so busy."

"It's not the worst thing in the world as I absolutely love my profession, but breaks are few and far between."

"What is it that you do?"

She shook her head in apparent disappointment and hesitated for a few seconds before finally giving him an answer. "I'm sorry, I probably should have introduced myself earlier if I was going to talk so much about myself." A nod and genuine smile substituted for a more formal bow, but she figured he wouldn't mind. "My name is Meiou Setsuna, and I'm a doctor at a nearby hospital."

He finally found an opportunity to smile at her since the incident at the door, and he took full advantage of it. "I'm very pleased to meet you, Meiou-sensei. You can call me Grayson."

"Just Grayson?" One of her eyebrows lifted as her confusion became quite evident.

"Everyone I know and associate with calls me by that name."

"What about your family? Your parents had to have given you another name besides Grayson."

He froze stiff at the mention of family. As far as he knew, his brethren within the Dark Kingdom were his family, though he also was vaguely aware that he had a life before his recruitment by them. The problem was that he didn't remember much of it. He could not recall what his mother or father looked like, or if he had any brothers or sisters. For much of his time there he did not need to think about such distractions. His priority was and remained the utmost service of his queen and the resurrection of her rightful kingdom. Yet, that was not to say he did not know the answer to her question.

"Hello?"

"It's Emmanuel. You can imagine why I don't use it a lot."

"Fair enough." She grinned, and it seemed to put him at ease, at least for a short while.

For more than an hour the pair just sat there and talked. Their conversations spanned topics ranging from mundane to wildly esoteric. All the while a pleasant atmosphere remained between them, one that convinced Grayson that maybe he had an honest chance with her. Despite lacking any real time for serious dating given his mission or his impromptu back story of working as a businessman for an international corporation, feelings of optimism swelled within him. It seemed possible she would not oppose seeing him a second time. In fact, she might even want such a thing, given her status as a single woman. The difference in age between them, with Setsuna looking no older than twenty-five while he was in his early forties, did not appear to be a hindrance. Thus, he asked the question on his mind and listened with confidence as she gave her reply.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not interested in going out with anyone right now." Her tone was moderately compassionate, but not to the extent that he didn't get the hint right away.

"So… um…" Words failed him, and his poise was on the brink of a spectacular collapse. Fortunately, she came to his rescue just in time.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm certain we'll see each other again." She momentarily shifted her gaze away from his and sighed with either trepidation or expectation—he wasn't entirely sure. However, a playful grin graced her lips when she turned to him once again. "In fact, it'll probably be sooner than you think."

With that parting statement, she pivoted and walked away. Short of him chasing after her, which was an act of desperation he wanted to avoid, she did not give him an opportunity to say goodbye. Instead, he began to stroll in the direction of the house that was both his home and field base for the foreseeable future. It was far from his perfect ending, but he had avoided a much worse fate. That tiny seed of hope buoyed him for the rest of that short journey, and as he walked a single thought passed through his mind:

I really do hope so.

—|1|2|3|—

Nobody paid any attention to the woman who stood across the street from the large and stately house. No part of her features or dress appeared out of the ordinary save her pink hair. Even then, it was more an oddity than a reason for suspicion. There was no reason for any bystanders to believe she didn't belong there, let alone figure out she truly wasn't the college student she professed to be. Besides, Sazaratha knew that anonymity was essential to the success of her mission, and the only way she could effectively disappear was to be as nondescript as possible. She let her eyes fall to the dainty silver watch that dangled from her left wrist. According to that timepiece it was six-thirty that evening, and the sun was already slipping below the horizon, leaving behind a dark-blue canvas fortunately devoid of clouds.

She searched for any hint of light coming from the windows but found none. It meant that her target likely was away from home for the moment, which was unusual for a Sunday night given the onset of classes the following morning. However, an equally valid interpretation was that curtains blocked any light normally emanating from within. That prevented passive observation of the residence from a distance, which was a small annoyance at best. Sazaratha lacked no confidence as she crossed the street and stopped before the main entrance, appearing to knock on the heavy wooden barrier. However, she had other plans before making her presence obvious. She knew she could detect the energies of the senshi and the princess from a distance, and that was what she attempted to accomplish first as she closed her eyes and slipped into deep concentration.

Okay, where are you, you silly little girl? I certainly hope you're home so I can get this done quickly.

Seconds later, she opened her eyes and shook her head in disappointment. From her vantage point she had failed to perceive any semblance of the girl's aura. Granted, the house was large and solidly constructed, decreasing the effective range for which she could accurately distinguish Mercury's energy signature. A further complication was that she likely would not be able to sense a normal senshi from any more than ten feet away.

"Dammit," she muttered. "There's no way I'm going to be able to merely sense whether this bitch is at home or not from the outside. I guess I'll just have to go inside and search from there."

Easier said than done. No way would Mercury's mother have just let her inside, especially not after the girl's strange disappearance and even stranger reappearance. She swiftly decided upon a more drastic method of entering the house, one that employed a fair amount of shock value when done correctly. Of course, the move was incredibly risky. Immediate death potentially awaited her if lacked intimate knowledge of the interior layout or the location of her greeting party.

Clearly, standing before the front door was a waste of time and gave her zero new information. Her best bet was to find a window, preferably one not shrouded by curtains. She worked to maintain a casual attitude as she searched for such an object, lest any nosy neighbors suspect her as a burglar. Eventually she wound up at the back of the house, having walked up a curving driveway that terminated at a two-vehicle garage. That's when she hit the proverbial jackpot.

Ah ha! That's exactly what I'm looking for. Finally.

In an instant, she disappeared from the driveway, leaving a ferocious blast of yellow light in her wake. She just as quickly materialized in the middle of the dining room about twenty feet away from where she once stood. Assuming she wasn't alone, she dropped into a fighting stance, scanning her immediate vicinity for any threats. The darkness hampered her search, yet that same difficulty also brought about a revelation.

Okay… where is everyone? Her eyes widened, as much a result of shock as it was physiology. I would have expected somebody to be home, either Mercury or her mother. This is strange.

Strange, yet not entirely unexpected. After allowing her eyes to adjust, she carefully walked through the dining room and into the living room. Again, she found herself alone.

I'm getting this feeling that there's nobody here, at least in this part of the house. The bedrooms may all be upstairs though. If so, she could be up there studying as she seems to do all the time, and completely oblivious to my presence. A wicked smirk came to her lips as she considered that possibility.

She found the stairs leading to the upper floor to her left. Only a foolish amateur would bother with climbing them, however. Teleportation was the answer, especially when she could see exactly where her feet would land—assuming she ever touched the floor.

The Shitennou had frequently used levitation as a part of their espionage missions. It allowed Kunzite to learn the princess's untransformed identity, the greatest intelligence-gathering victory the Dark Kingdom had ever achieved. Many reconnaissance youmas used levitation in limited scenarios to quickly reach the rooftops of tall buildings or to scan parts of the city from an elevated location. Most of the time levitation was a dangerous maneuver as it required the practitioner to have extremely detailed knowledge of their surroundings in all dimensions. Furthermore, they had to be careful when and where they levitated and the altitudes they attained. However, Sazaratha used levitation for a more mundane yet tactically smart purpose: footsteps were loud, so why bother?

After the typical golden flash, she stood at the top step of the staircase and hovered an inch above the hardwood floor. Four doorways were nearby, one adjacent to the stairs and three others attached to a short hallway. Those three doors were already open, flooding the upstairs with a complete lack of light.

So… there's nobody upstairs either? The hell?

A soft thud emanated from the spot where her feet impacted the floor. Her eyes wandered to the darkened room immediately next to her as she chose that as the first target for investigation. As there was no need for caution, she didn't hesitate to draw a flashlight from her purse. The furniture and decorations adorning the space told her that it was not the room of a fourteen-year-old girl, even for one as mature as Ami. She shook her head and returned to the hallway.

Clearly her mom's room. Drab, sterile, and utterly utilitarian, just like its owner. No wonder her husband divorced her.

The next room she checked was the bathroom, an American-style that joined the bath and toilet. She saw nothing that usually indicated a person was living there. No soap, toothbrushes, shampoo bottles, or any other toiletries were visible. A quick check of some of the cabinets found them mostly deserted of frequently used items.

It almost looks like they've left on a vacation, but it's the end of March.

Ami's bedroom provided the ultimate substantiation of her hunch. Large furniture such as her bed, dresser, and writing desk remained, but many other expected items seemingly had disappeared. Nothing rested on the desk's smooth glass surface, atypical for someone who uses it daily. The bed was made, but the ruffles in the surface of the sheets suggested that a heavy object once was placed there. Then there was the bare closet. Some random garments still hung on the rod, but there were far more unoccupied hangers than made sense. She darted from the closet to the dresser and opened one of the drawers, only to find it and others completely empty.

When the hell did they leave? Sazaratha nearly threw her flashlight to the floor in a fit of rage but caught herself at the last second. How could we lose track of one of the senshi as well as the princess? I certainly hope my oh-so-illustrious queen had a youma or two covering the house, or it's going to be a pain in the ass figuring out where she ran off to, especially given who we're talking about.

Time and several deep breaths vented her frustration. The recollection that she still had a tremendous advantage over the senshi also helped matters.

I guess I'll have to refocus my plan on a different one of those morons. It'll take more planning and work than I'd like as they're a lot stronger than Mercury, but I think I can pull it off.