NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI
Chapter 4: "Lurking"
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
"Junko's not with you, is she?" Michiru asked over the phone. Haruka heard it, but a surge of adrenaline had her mind racing.
"No. She didn't call?" Haruka asked.
"I called her about four," Michiru reported. "I told her everything we'd learned today. My hope was that something might jog a memory that she hadn't thought of before. She asked if we'd checked the marsh or looked into any possibility of that local myth being real. When I told her that we were eliminating other possibilities, she got a little angry."
"I bet. She is my sister," Haruka sighed.
"You don't suppose she went out on her own, do you?"
"That's probably just what she did," Haruka concluded. "And given how obsessed she is with this Numachi No Kyuketsuki, I bet I know where she went. Get over here as fast as you can. I'm headed over to the marsh. There's no telling what's in there. There may not be a predatory yokai, but there could be mamushi in there."
Haruka closed the phone and headed for the marsh at a dead run. Once she was past the Chinese restaurant, her henshin stick appeared in her hand.
Not stopping for possible traffic, Sailor Uranus bolted across the street toward the fenced off marsh. Springing from the sidewalk, Uranus vaulted over the fence with room to spare. She landed on the soft, wet ground, crouched and looked around.
The marsh was overgrown with plants. It was dense and further shielded the area from what little light there was at eight twenty p.m. Uranus listened, both for some sign of Junko and for some sign of something lurking in the thick brush. She didn't call out just yet, not without judging to see whether or not something was watching her. There was no sound other than the soft hum of the street light on the other side of the fence. Uranus glanced up at the light. Moths danced around it, hypnotized by the light. Her gaze returned to the marsh. Dried foliage hung from the trees and bushes, muffling the sound of the breeze blowing through the leaves and making the trees and brush eerily motionless.
"Nothing," Uranus thought. "Not even a cricket. It's like all of the animals have enough sense to steer clear of this place. Why?" She looked around uneasily. "Is there something in here?"
A sound struck her. It was soft and muffled, and kind of juicy. Making her way along the fence, a fence that could be vaulted at the first sign of trouble, Uranus headed north. The overgrowth was thick near the fence, but she could see that the growth thinned out the closer it came to the water. As she walked, her boots oozing into the ground with every step, the Senshi could see there was about fifteen to twenty feet of shallow water with grass growing up out of it about four to five feet tall. Another sound, just like the first, caught her ear. It was like someone or something was trying to walk in the oozing mud and the suction of the mud pulling away from limbs was betraying their presence.
Then she heard a soft but very vulgar curse. Uranus smiled. A few more feet along the fence and the Senshi hit a small open patch in the dense foliage. There, about twenty feet from the fence, Junko was trying to walk through marsh. She was sunk up to her ankles, the bottom hem of her jeans wet and smeared with mud and leaves. Sensing she wasn't alone, Junko looked up and spotted Sailor Uranus.
"Uranus!" she gasped, her mood a mixture of guilt and elation.
"I ought to tan your hide!" Uranus growled, shoving through the small clearing and marching toward her.
"Well, somebody had to check this place out!" Junko spat back. "Poor Kasumi could be in here, hurt or dying - - or being eaten by that . . .!"
"So naturally you had to do it!" Uranus snapped back.
"I wasn't going to wait for you or Sailor Neptune to 'get around to it'!" Junko fumed. "Besides, this . . .!"
"SHHH!" Uranus said, holding her hand up to Junko's face.
The Senshi looked around cautiously, suspiciously. Junko smothered the remainder of her protest in her throat, her eyes growing wide. An eerie silence descended on the marsh. Neither woman moved. Junko felt her heart begin to pound in her chest. She wanted to ask Uranus what she'd heard, but kept silent in deference to the Senshi she idolized. A moment passed, then two, then three. Junko felt a slight breeze waft across them.
Suddenly Uranus lunged at Junko. She pulled the girl up out of the muck, slung Junko over her shoulder and bolted for the fence. The sucking mud of the marsh slowed Uranus down, to her frustration, but the Senshi poured on every last ounce of speed she could muster. When they reached the chain-link fence, Uranus braced her free hand on the top pipe and vaulted over. Landing on the sidewalk, her momentum carried her out into the street. A car jammed on the brake, stopping a foot from them. The driver angrily honked his horn at her, then drove on.
"What was it, Uranus?" gasped Junko as the Senshi put her back on her feet. "Was it Numachi No Kyuketsuki?"
Uranus stared back into the marsh. Junko waited for an answer. While she waited, Michiru pulled up to the curb, driving the Reventon.
"Uranus?" Junko persisted.
"I don't know," Uranus replied softly. "Something is in there. Something I don't like the feel of. Whether it's your marsh yokai, I don't know." She fell silent and listened for a few moments. "It's gone now, whatever it was."
"We've got to go back! It's probably got Kasumi!" protested Junko.
"You don't know that!" barked Uranus. "You don't know Kasumi is in there and you don't know what is in there! And if you just go charging in there, you're liable to get your head handed to you!"
"So we just leave her there?" Junko demanded angrily.
"You don't know if she is there," Uranus countered. "If someone else has her, wasting time in that marsh is just going to delay finding her. And if some predatory yokai does have her, well - - it's probably too late for her anyway."
Junko burned with rage.
"I know it's not what you want to hear," Uranus continued, "but it's something you got to listen to in order to keep yourself safe and free to track down where your friend actually is and be able to help her."
"I realize it's frustrating, Junko, but Uranus is right," Michiru told her. She glanced at the Senshi. "We've attracted an audience."
Uranus glanced over. There was a crowd of fifteen people gathered on the opposite side of the street, watching. Among them, Uranus recognized several of the homeless men from the book store lot. Michiru recognized two of the students she'd talked to earlier. Uranus also noticed people looking from the windows of the homes that lined the street. Among them was the local she'd talked to on her morning jog.
"Please get in the car, Junko," Michiru said. "There's nothing more we can do here tonight." Junko scowled but began to comply.
"Uh," Uranus grimaced, "but - - take those shoes off, first." Michiru rolled her eyes.
The Reventon parked in the lot behind Junko's apartment complex. Michiru had driven, mostly because she didn't want Haruka driving and chewing Junko out at the same time.
And she knew her love wasn't going to abdicate giving her sister a piece of her mind.
"Stupidest thing you've ever done in your life!" Haruka spat as she and Junko disembarked. "And I don't even know what you did the first sixteen years of your life!"
"I was just trying to help!" Junko fumed back, not backing down an inch. Michiru sighed. If anyone still needed proof that these two were related, here it was.
"How is getting yourself hurt going to help?" Haruka persisted, storming after Junko as Junko stormed into the apartment building. Michiru paused to drape the tarp over the Reventon, because she knew Haruka would insist.
"Right! I should just leave it to the big, famous, know-it-all Senshi and sit and wait," Junko shot back, "as she fritters away her time pretending she's a cop or Sherlock Holmes!"
"How else am I supposed to find her?" demanded Haruka. Junko whirled on her.
"You change into your hot shot Senshi form, go into that marsh and clean out every supernatural creature hiding in it!" snapped Junko. "And that way there won't be anything left to hold onto Kasumi! And if it is too late," and the girl swallowed emotionally, "then she'll be avenged!"
"That's how wars get started," Haruka replied cooly.
"The war's already started," Junko hissed. "It started the minute something grabbed Kasumi." The elevator door opened and Junko entered. A look from her told Haruka that she wasn't welcome to share the ride. Haruka stared as the elevator door closed. She felt Michiru's hand on her shoulder.
"Listening to her just now," Haruka mused with soft bitterness in her voice, "she kind of sounded like Mom and Dad. No matter how open-minded she is, no matter how independent of them, they raised her and she can't help but be influenced by them."
"She's frustrated and upset," Michiru counseled, "and she's lashing out." Michiru stroked Haruka's hair and smiled. "It's a family trait."
"That sounded like a shot," murmured Haruka. But she wouldn't look at her love.
"So what did you sense in that marsh?"
"It's like I told Junko; I don't know," Haruka frowned. "It was an instinct more than anything. I got that feeling. If you face danger long enough, sometimes you can sense it when it's near."
"Yes," nodded Michiru.
"And then the wind told me to haul ass, so I did."
"You think Numachi No Kyuketsuki is real?" the green-haired artist asked.
"I don't know," Haruka sighed. "It could have been a bear or a mamushi or something. They can be just as deadly as a yokai with a bad attitude. But I'm beginning to wonder. Pair this with what that homeless guy told me tonight, and maybe Junko is right."
"What did he say?"
"He saw Kasumi at the corner of that street between the restaurant and the stop," Haruka said, staring out the entrance to the apartment building. "He looked away, then looked back a few seconds later - - and she was gone. And this other guy told me he saw a demon grab her and pull her into a shadow. I thought he was lying - - but what if he's not?"
"It seems a little far-fetched," Michiru told her, "but I'll consult with Rei. Meanwhile, maybe you should call it a night."
"I don't want to," Haruka admitted. "The longer this drags on, the less likely it is that we'll find Kasumi alive. And that's really going to hurt Junko."
"The police are working on it," Michiru advised her. "It won't be like the search has been abandoned."
Haruka expelled a breath. "Yeah, you're right." And she headed for the door to the parking lot.
"Where are you going?" Michiru asked.
"I'm going to sleep in the car," Haruka replied. "I don't think I'm too welcome upstairs tonight." And she was out the door.
Michiru opened the door to the apartment and found Junko sitting on the sofa, a pillow pulled to her chest and her legs pulled up against it. The girl glanced up at her.
"Where's Haruka?" Junko asked, traces of anger still in her voice.
"Sleeping in the car," Michiru smiled. "I think she's just trying to let things cool down."
"That's so stupid," grumbled the young blonde.
"It's a family trait," Michiru said wryly. Junko shot her a glance. "She's been known to let her emotions cloud her common sense. And it's a way of avoiding another fight. She doesn't want to fight with you, Junko."
"Yeah," Junko frowned, but the words had touched her.
"But what you did was pretty risky,"Michiru added.
"Maybe," Junko sighed. "It's just that I get so frustrated. Kasumi is who knows where with who knows what happening to her, and I can't do anything."
Michiru watched her as she spoke.
"I-I just wanted to help," Junko muttered.
"It must be hard for you," Michiru offered, "being as close to Kasumi as you seem to be. And being the sister who doesn't have the ability to turn into a heroic figure."
Junko stared at her and Michiru knew she'd pierced the girl's defenses.
"Ever since I found out about Haruka," Junko said softly, "it's like - - she's everything I'm not. She's a famous race car driver. She's got a really fantastic girl friend who loves her more than anything. And she can become a super warrior. And she's so independent. She doesn't take anything from anybody." Junko sighed. "She's . . . the greatest person on the face of the Earth. And I'm going to be a school teacher. How do you compete?"
"There's nothing wrong with being a school teacher," Michiru said.
"Michiru," Junko began, looking at the woman with just a hint of desperation, "what if you couldn't be a famous artist or a famous violinist? What if all you could be was a school teacher - - but you still wanted to be a famous artist?"
"Junko, we all contribute," Michiru told her, sitting down on the sofa next to her. "It's OK to have aspirations, but we have to temper those aspirations to our abilities. As long as we contribute to the common good, how we do it is nothing to be discouraged or ashamed about. And denigrating yourself because you're not someone else is wrong and counter-productive. No one expects you to be Haruka except you. You can't be Haruka. You can only be the best you that you can possibly be. And achieving that is something to be proud of."
"Yeah, Pep Talk 101," sighed Junko. "We learned all about it in the sociology class I had to take last year."
"And that was my best one," pouted Michiru. Junko glanced at her and saw the woman smile. "But I meant what I said. Junko, you may not be able to win a Formula 1 title or change into a Senshi, but I know for a fact that Haruka could never inspire a classroom full of young minds to learn and grow. If you can do that, you're one up on her. We all have our strengths."
"Yeah, OK," Junko surrendered. "Michiru, be honest with me. Do you think we'll find Kasumi alive?"
"We have to keep hoping."
Sleep was one of those lonely things Michiru had to endure when Haruka was not there. She'd done it every year when Haruka was touring on the Formula 1 circuit and had hated every moment of it. Feeling Haruka's arm possessively over her waist as they slept back to front was something she'd come to love and depend on. And she missed it.
Then there was the mystery of where Kasumi Nobumura was and was it connected to whatever was living in the marsh near campus. Wondering about that didn't contribute to her ability to sleep, either. Finally the woman sighed and glanced at the clock by the sofa she was sleeping on. It said five twenty-two a.m. It was a little early, but Michiru decided that she wasn't going to sleep anymore. Maybe she could use the time to try searching again with the Deep Aqua Mirror and actually learn something valuable this time.
As she rose from the sofa, though, Michiru realized that someone was walking around in the dark. Years of experience kicked in and Michiru scanned the room to locate the person. Once located, she concentrated on trying to determine who it was and if they were a threat.
"Junko?" Michiru asked. The figure stopped and turned to her. It clicked on a light on the wall and Michiru confirmed her conclusion.
"Sorry if I woke you," grimaced the young blonde.
"Where are you going?"
Junko grew embarrassed. "I, uh, was just going down to, um, invite Haruka up," she replied haltingly, "to breakfast. She's probably hungry. And I know she'll want to get her running in first."
"I think that's a wonderful idea," Michiru smiled. "Hopefully you won't have to help her up. Haruka's not getting any younger and I don't imagine sleeping in a car all night does much for your back."
"Yeah," Junko sighed. Then she straightened. "Well, it's her own fault if she is."
Michiru giggled to herself as Junko exited the apartment. As long as she'd known Junko, it still amazed her how many similarities she and Haruka had. The woman got out of bed and dressed casually. When she exited the bathroom, her first thought was to head over to the kitchen and select some things to cook. Not knowing how accomplished a cook Junko was, the woman decided that it might be safer for her to do it.
The rice was started and Michiru was mulling over how to prepare some eggs when Junko burst into the apartment.
"Michiru!" the young woman gasped out anxiously. "Haruka's gone!"
"She's not in the Reventon?" Michiru asked.
"No! Do you think Numachi No Kyuketsuki got her?"
Continued in Chapter 5
