Hikari-No's Promise
Chapter Seven
"The Third Age began with the completion of the formation of the Galactic Republic. The Age of Preparation has come to be the longest of the Ages of the Galaxy, baring the First Age. None will ever come to last as long as this.
"During it's progression, the people of the Galaxy have forgotten about the Senshi and the Sapphire Millennium, placing their faith and hope in the Republic and the Jedi Knights, those who have the ability to use echoes of the power of the Senshi, which they call the Force.
"However, the prophecies state that the time of the beginning of the Fourth Age is near, and will occur sometime in the next ten generations. The Fourth Age will begin with the finding of that which has ever been concealed, and then the dawning of the new Sapphire Millennium will take place.
"It is the duty and the destiny of we, the Guardians of Mau, to wait and watch for the return of the Queen, so that we may advise and protect her, as is traditional.
"When the time is right, we will train the New Senshi and teach them the old ways. For only the power of the Queen and her protectors will be able to defeat the evil that is gaining strength."
- From the Third Book of the Song of Ages, Mau.
Ura-Giri smiled at Hikari-No over the mathematics notes, delighting in answering the question correctly. She smiled back shyly, not sure about meeting his eyes. For the past few months they had been meeting most afternoons following their classes for extra study.
It was not always class work either. Some afternoons they sparred together, she teaching him many of the techniques that she had learnt in her own free time. In return, he showed her some of the extra skills he had acquired on Ishta Three. The fighting and lightsaber style of the far-off world were more aggressive then Hikari-No expected of a Jedi, and so she found them hard to master. But she tried hard, spending many of her few remaining free hours practicing, in the gymnasium and the apartment, when she was not fighting the Dark Kingdom.
After the first few terrible days, the frequency of the attacks had lessened, coming now only every few days. It had seemed that they were at in impasse, for every time the Dark Kingdom managed to steal some small amount of energy from the innocents of Coruscant, she would then kill one of their youmas. Although she and Palomene had tried to trace the youma and discover the location of the Dark Kingdom's base, they had so far found no useful leads.
The Guardian was Hikari-No's constant companion, and they spent much time talking together. Hikari-No had yet to track Palomene's thought and discover where she really was, and now she rarely even appeared before Hikari-No in a visible form. It was commonly accepted that Hikari-No was strange, for she was always distracted in class now, as she talked with the Guardian and they discussed new strategy for fighting the minions of the Dark Kingdom. Despite Hikari-No's efforts, Palomene had volunteered no more information about Hematite, and he had only shown himself three more times to Sailor Coruscant, each time from a distance taunting her and promising her a swift death when the time was right.
It seemed that she was always tired now too. Her days were spent in lessons, and her nights travelling the planet's surface to arrive at the site of the latest attack to stop it. She slept whenever she could, and although her marks were not suffering, she knew that if she fell asleep in class again Master Haruna would speak with her Master about it, and that she could not afford. Still, at least she would probably get to sleep in her own bed tonight. She was using the Force to keep herself awake now, and knew that if she did not get some real sleep soon she would make herself sick.
Ura-Giri glanced away, to the timepiece on the wall of the library, and started to collect his books. "I'd better go. The Council said that they wanted to speak with me today, and I'd best get up to see them before the sun sets." She was amazed at how close he was coming to defying the Council openly, by not coming immediately when they called him, but could see no fault in his reasoning. Maybe things had been different on Ishta Three, it certainly seemed that his Master had not been your average Jedi. Nothing Ura-Giri ever did was usual.
He smiled down at her as he stood, her blue eyes meeting his green for the first time that day. "I will see you tomorrow, and we'll finish off this then", he said, "Sleep well, Little Miko." She wondered how he knew that she had not been sleeping properly. Then again, she had been yawning a fair bit this afternoon.
"Sleep well, Ura-Giri", she whispered to his retreating form. She glanced down at her book for an instant, before looking back up to catch a final glimpse of him as he walked out of the library. Why could she not stop staring at him? It was hardly proper. Her thoughts kept drifting towards him throughout many of her spare moments, and she wondered again what exactly was so special about him that he occupied her mind so frequently.
"You know he'll only break your heart", came a familiar voice behind her. Startled, Hikari-No pulled her gaze back to her book, pretending to study for a long moment as she hoped that it was not someone she knew, before she recognised the voice that had spoken to her and looked up in surprise.
Dressed in a pretty gown of pale yellow, Catherine looked every inch a princess visiting friends in the Jedi Temple. At once Hikari-No was amazed and worried. What would bring Catherine all the way from Domus Prime?
Not that it really mattered. She embraced her friend warmly, amazed at the changes that had been wrought in the four years since they had last been together. Catherine was now fourteen, same as Hikari-No, but she looked more mature, and there was a sadness in her eyes that had not been there before. She looked as if she had not laughed in weeks, and although there was still a sparkle in her eyes, it seemed partly diminished.
Somehow her friend had been able to hide it from her all those times they had spoken. Hikari-No felt her sorrow and worry, and reached out a hand to Catherine. "What has happened? Is there anything I can do?" she asked.
The last of Catherine's resolve crumbled, and she started crying in Hikari-No's arms. It was then that Hikari-No noticed the two girls who had followed Catherine into the library, probably some of the Princess' handmaidens. They were worried about Catherine, but made no move to go to her. Both kept their faces expressionless, and one closed her eyes in her effort to ignore the girl's pain.
'So cold', Hikari-No thought. She realised that they were creating quite a stir in the library, and so asked Catherine if she would like to go outside, who nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
Once on her balcony, Hikari-No sat Catherine down, and neither girl moved from there, watching the sunset. After a while, Catherine stopped crying, partially because she was trying to contain them and not show any weakness, but mostly because Hikari-No was using all her influence to sooth the other girl.
The handmaidens were still there in the background, watching over Catherine. Hikari-No was amazed at how they kept their distance from the girl, even though both seemed to know her and understand her feelings. The younger of the two was openly weeping, but would not move from where she was standing.
'Hikari-No, we need to talk', Palomene's thought came to her, but she shook it away as Catherine reached up one hand to wipe away a final tear.
'Not now, Palomene.'
'But I think I have found something in the prophecies that will help us find the Princess.'
Hikari-No thought about it for a moment, knowing of the Guardian's lifelong quest, before sighing softly, and making her choice.
'I cannot help you. My friend needs me.'
Palomene did not reply.
Hikari-No felt like crying, so keen was her sense of betrayal. She was so lost in her remorse and worry that she almost missed it when Catherine spoke, little more than a whisper.
Hikari-No drew her knees up in front of her and wrapped her arms around them, looking over in surprise as what Catherine said became clear to her.
"Domus Prime has gone to war."
Sometime later she had heard the entire story, and understood that Catherine was on Coruscant to plead with the Senate, asking them to intervene. It seemed as though the girl had been intending to come to the planet to study interplanetary politics anyway, but now she had to participate. It seemed a cruel task to place upon the shoulders of a fourteen-year old girl, but she had said that the Princess was unwell.
At least Hikari-No had been able to put Catherine's fears about her own safety to rest. That was one less thing for her to worry about. Catherine had noticed and commented on her locket, saying that it looked somehow familiar. She had promised to try and find the time to research the strange emblem on it when she returned to Domus Prime.
She had also explained the presence of the two handmaidens. They had been sent along as her bodyguards, along with an entourage of the Royal Forces of Domus Prime, to protect her from her enemies on the opposing side of the war. Although Domus Prime was normally peaceful, they understood that Catherine's trip to Coruscant would not be without risk, although she did say that she would die to protect her people.
The two girls walked together back to Hikari-No's rooms, for Catherine wished to pay her respects to Master Shinwa. Together they gossiped and laughed, sharing memories and hopes, each pretending to put their personal fears aside to cheer the other.
Hikari-No felt a flash of premonition, and looked up in surprise. The long hallway was empty, save for one Jedi Padawan who was walking towards them. She thought she recognised the girl, a little older than her, with blond hair, and pretty blue eyes. She remembered that she had been sent away from the Temple at one point, but could not recall why. But she could not recollect her name. Page? No, of course, it was Pai-Gan. Hikari-No could not remember her last name, but it did not matter.
As the girl approached them, Hikari-No smiled and gave a small bow. "Welcome back, Pai-Gan", she said, and was surprised when the older girl started. For an instant, her eyes looked as though they were black, but Hikari-No knew that it was not possible.
She thought to smile and ask about where the girl had been for so many years, but Pai-Gan looked away, and muttered softly, "I do not have time to talk right now."
"Of course" Hikari-No nodded, "You must have a lot to do, now that you are back in the Temple."
"That's true enough", Pai-Gan muttered, before continuing on her way without looking back.
"It was nice to see you again", Hikari-No called, before shrugging her shoulders at Catherine and walking down the hallway. The two handmaidens exchanged a glance and replaced their weapons in the concealed holsters.
Sometime later, Catherine had to leave and return to the apartments of the senator from Domus Prime, with whom she was to stay during her time on Coruscant. The next day she would go before the Senate, and both girls hoped that they would be able to spend some more time together after then.
Hikari-No was seated in her room, a book in one hand, as she tried to study and focus her thoughts. She was unable to concentrate though, her mind tracing circles as she tried to think about anything but what was happening on Domus Prime. How could something like this have been allowed to happen? Surely the people involved had better sense than that. But the Princess was old, and it was entirely possible that there were people on Domus Prime who had taken to making decisions for her, caring only for their own personal wants and needs, rather than what was good for the entire planet and its people.
'Why are people like that?' she wondered, wishing that Palomene had an answer, even a sarcastic one. But there was only silence in her mind.
Both Hikari-No and Catherine got very little sleep that night, as each girl pondered the nature of people of all kinds in the galaxy, and how anyone could chose the path of warfare over the choice of peace.
"What's wrong, Little Miko?" Ura-Giri asked her quietly, stealing a moment when Master Haruna's back was turned to whisper to the girl beside him. Hikari-No shook her head.
"Nothing important. I am just worried about a friend." He could understand that. Master Haruna turned back to the class, and Ura-Giri quickly changed the topic, asking Hikari-No if she could check over his formation of the sentence 'would you like to go out for dinner?' in Huttese. As usual, his language work was flawless, and she wondered why he had even bothered to ask her to read it. Still, it was not until he scribed the word 'tonight' next to his question that she understood, and her eyes widened.
'Of course' she wrote back. Although the words looked harsh and unemotional, her heart had suddenly started beating faster, though she did not know why. She smiled softly, looking down at her notebook, not glancing up for the rest of the class, for fear that her face would betray her delight.
She was distracted all day, and in their afternoon sparring session he managed to knock her to the floor three times before she was able to concentrate enough to block all his further attacks. Fortunately, he did not notice, or if he did, he said nothing.
"What?" He looked up suddenly distracted. Hikari-No landed a kick on his chest, and he fell to the floor, completely unprepared. She apologised quickly, but his eyes were not focussed, as though someone was speaking with him telepathically, and she wondered who would be so rude. A flash of anger burned in Ura-Giri's eyes and for a brief moment Hikari-No thought that he was a different person, one who did not know her.
She took a step back without realising what she was doing, raising one hand to her face as though she had been slapped, and she could feel on the outskirts of her mind that a youma was attacking again. She closed her eyes to help her focus as she tried to locate it, at the same time wondering why Palomene had not contacted her. 'The Senate?' her mind whispered in shock, horror, and sudden realisation, 'Catherine.'
She tried to think of an excuse, to tell Ura-Giri that she would have to leave now, and that she probably would not get to see him again until tomorrow, when she realised that he was standing up, and brushing down his robes.
"I'm sorry", he apologised to her, "but I have to go. The Council wishes to speak with me again."
She smiled lightly, he had given her an easy way out, and she thanked him softly in the recesses of her mind. "They monopolise your time more than that of any other Padawan, I wonder why?"
He laughed softly. "I'm just lucky, I guess. I'll talk with you tomorrow, Little Miko."
"May the Force be with you, Ura-Giri", she said softly as he turned and walked away. Though she tried to call out to Palomene, there was no answer. Leaving the gym through a different door, she tried to think of the fastest way to the Senate Building.
Some time later, she entered the building to find that everyone, from the security forces to the senators themselves, were lying asleep where they had been when the youma attacked. She reached out a questioning thought, and was relieved to find that Catherine's thoughts were fine, if a little shaken. Hikari-No decided that she could not afford to risk being identified by her friend, and so she reinforced the youma's compulsion on Catherine to sleep. Hikari-No fed Catherine's faltering energy with her own, and smiled slightly when she realised that Catherine was now out of danger, or would be, once the youma was destroyed.
She had transformed before her arrival, and was looking for the youma, a seemingly impossible task in a place this big. But, unlike its predecessors, the creature seemed to waste energy almost as rapidly as it captured it, expending vast amounts in a pyrotechnics display that shook the foundations of the eternal city. She could sense it generally by what the youma was doing, but it was not until the creature seemed to find a target for its anger that she could actually tell that it was on one of the lower levels of the Senate Chamber.
She ran as quickly as she could down to such a point where she would be able to confront the creature and find out why, all of a sudden, the Dark Kingdom had changed its style of attack.
The youma called out a challenge, demanding that someone worthy come forth and fight it.
"Hold it right there, daemon", a new voice called, and Sailor Coruscant looked up in surprise, turning away from the object of her observations. She had been about to attack the youma, but now she paused, and she knew that the moment would slip away as she tried to sense who would challenge the creature.
The youma itself looked surprised, and turned around, seeming to pinpoint something in the shadows, on the same level as it. It growled, and shot off a thread of water into the darkness there. The phantasm against the wall leapt into the air, and the energy crashed into the wall behind her, causing it to crumble into dust.
The youma tried to shoot at the girl as she moved through the air, but she was too quick. Even though she could not see her features, Sailor Coruscant recognised the uniform the girl was wearing: it was almost identical to her own. As this imitation Senshi stepped into the light, she could see her clearly for the first time, and for a moment thought that she recognised her.
The other girl appeared to be taller than her, her hair tied in a strange style, two chestnut-coloured buns with long streams of hair trailing from them. On each was a dark green clip, the same colour as her skirt, front bow and boots. Her sleaves and the back bow were a light violet colour, and the collar of her fuku was dark purple.
Sailor Coruscant took a few steps forward to get a closer view, knowing that neither of the two facing off below her would notice. They were too busy to take their eyes off each other.
The girl - Senshi, she supposed - held in her hands a long staff, which she waved menacingly at the youma. Sailor Coruscant wondered who this one was who dared to dress like that voluntarily. The youma called out that question, even as Sailor Coruscant dared to think it. She blinked in surprise. Had she just?- No, it was not possible, just a coincidence.
The girl started defiantly, before grinning, turning around to announce her presence to the world. "I am Sailor Star, the defender of justice. For beating up the chosen representatives of the people, and terrorising the politicians of this galaxy, I will punish you!" She finished dramatically, pointing her staff at him, then dropped it. Flushing, she bent to pick it up, and the spray of water that the youma sent at her sailed over her head.
Sailor Coruscant rolled her eyes, wondering how long it would be before the youma actually managed to hit this girl, who seemed to have amazing luck. Still, she should probably interfere. She brought her hands together and summoned a blast of energy that crashed into the ground near the youma's feet.
Nimbly, she jumped to the ground in front of 'Sailor Star', and whispered softly, "Go now, while I destroy this thing."
The other Senshi's eyes widened. "Wow", she breathed, "you're Sailor Coruscant, aren't you?" She did not respond, but the other girl kept on talking, not moving, or even preparing to run. "I've heard so much about you, I can't believe I am actually standing here. You've saved my life so many times and I haven't ever had the chance to say 'thank you'."
There was a lulling quality to Sailor Star's words, and she found herself turning her eyes from the youma in shock and amazement. Taking advantage of her distraction, the youma threw a wave of water at them both, and it struck Sailor Coruscant hard, and she flew through the air backwards, to land unconscious on the floor.
Atop the Council Spire, thirteen Jedi Masters sat in meditation. One smiled wryly, and wondered if he should collect on his bets with the others yet, or wait until the present crisis was past.
'And then there were two', he projected smugly.
Despite having had her energy drained, Catherine managed to gather the strength to stand, at least for a little while. Although the still unconscious forms around her worried her, the sounds of some sort of battle down below caught her attention. She looked down to where she saw some sort of alien creature was fighting two young girls, one of which looked slightly familiar in a way she couldn't place. Her exhausted mind for a brief instant made the connection, even as she saw the shorter of the two girls was blasted with what looked like a stream of water.
"Hikari-No", she whispered, before fainting again.
Sailor *Star looked over at Sailor Coruscant in sudden horror, as she realised that the more experienced Senshi was not going to get up.
'Now what?' her mind-voice whispered in fear.
'Fight back.' The answer was so obvious, but how was she to do that? If Sailor Coruscant couldn't defeat this thing, how could she? Still, she did have her nice new Jenova Staff, surely that would count for something. She only wished that she had taken Hikari-No up on her offer of lessons in using the archaic-style weapon.
The creature threw another blast of water at her, but she held her Staff out in front of her, and the water divided, each half going to one side of her. She smiled, as a series of words came into her mind unbidden.
"Shiva Aqua, Evervesance!", Sailor *Star screamed at the top of her lungs, her own energy going into the attack, which did little, but caused the monster to step backwards in surprise. She knew that her power had not affected the creature seriously, but at least now she would be able to fight back.
Sailor *Star smiled.
Hikari-No drifted in darkness, enjoying the peace that she found there. It was so quiet here, and she could sleep at last. Nothing affected her here, there was no worries or pain. Only silence.
She wondered idly if she had died.
'Of course not, you silly girl.' Even now that she was dead, Palomene mocked her.
'I thought you had given up on me.' If Palomene could afford to tease her, she would not oblige her by taking offence.
'Of course not. I just went and found outside assistance. You're going to need it if we are to find the Princess.'
'Why are you always so cryptic?'
'It's my nature. When you're as old as I am, you get used to never giving anyone a straight answer.'
'What did you want to talk about yesterday?'
'I found something in the prophecies. To find the Princess, we need to find her protectors first.'
'You mean there are other Senshi?'
'Naturally. So, I went and found Sailor Durillion, although she seems to prefer being called Sailor Star, for some reason. I thought you could use the help.' As Palomene pronounced the Senshi's name, Sailor Coruscant got the impression that she was rolling her eyes. She knew the feeling.
'She does not know how to fight the youma.'
'Which is why you are going to train her to be a Senshi, so that when we find the Princess she has bodyguards who can protect her. You two will have to work together, so I suggest you wake up now.'
'Wake up? But I am dead.'
'You're not dead, little Jedi. Believe me, when you're dead, you'll know it.' There was a bright flash of light, and Hikari-No reacted instantly, throwing up a hand to protect her eyes, even as understanding dawned on her, and she felt rather foolish.
'Oh', was all she said.
Sailor Coruscant opened her eyes, feeling an aching pain in her chest, and was amazed to see Sailor Star holding the youma at bay.
"Silver Star, Streak!", she cried, pointing her Staff at the youma and causing a bright flash of light to pass from the end of it. It scored the youma's left arm, drawing pale green blood to the surface.
As she got to her feet Sailor Coruscant wondered where the weapon had come from, and why she did not have one. If she remembered her vision from Domus Prime correctly, she should have one, she remembered seeing a warrior carrying a Staff.
It did not matter, she had to fight, she had to help Sailor Star destroy the creature. "Force Blast", she called the power to her hands, and then shot it past the other girl into the youma who stepped back, startled but otherwise unhurt. She wondered what it would take to stop this thing.
The energy it had gathered from the members of the Senate must be augmenting its own power, that was the only explanation, unless the Dark Kingdom had started sending stronger warriors against them. Which would mean that they were afraid.
Sailor Star turned around, as Sailor Coruscant stepped forward to join her. "We can defeat him together", she said, smiling reassuringly at the newest Senshi. Sailor Star held out a hand to her, and she gripped it firmly, as she readied another attack.
Hematite appeared in the air above them, levitating on a swirl of red light. But his attention was centred on the youma, he barely looked over at the two Senshi.
"What are you doing?" He demanded irritably of the youma, "Your orders were to gather energy for our Queen and then leave before the Senshi could show up. Do you dare defy me?"
The youma flinched before his harsh words, and Sailor Coruscant decided to wait and see what was taking place before attempting to stop the youma or Hematite. She placed a restraining hand on Sailor Star's arm, and the other girl nodded.
"General Hematite, I only wished to please you", the fawning tone in the youma's voice was almost comical, yet Sailor Coruscant suddenly understood. The youma were the forefront of the Dark Kingdom's attack because they had little real value in the eyes of their overseers. Hematite did not care for any of them, they were pawns to be sacrificed as necessary to achieve his goals. Hematite would continue to send the youma against the Senshi in increasing numbers until they were dead, and the Dark Kingdom would be free to destroy all life in the Galaxy. She wondered if Hematite was of any real importance to his Queen, and how long she would suffer the failure of his minions before deciding to punish her General.
All unnoticed, Sailor Star had slipped up behind Hematite, and before Sailor Coruscant could warn her, she swung her staff in a wide arc, so that it connected with his head with a sickening crunch sound. Hematite swayed on his feet, then fell to the ground.
The youma looked over in surprise. "You", she snarled, a look of pure malice on her face. "For that, you will die!" She leapt towards Sailor Star, water streaming from her fingertips towards the Senshi.
The chestnut-haired girl looked up too late to dodge the blast, and time seemed to slow down for Sailor Coruscant, who knew that unless she acted to save her, Sailor Star would die. She closed her eyes, and reached out for the staff that she knew she possessed, making a small gesture with one hand behind her back.
'The Crystal Staff?' Palomene gasped.
When she opened her eyes again a second later, in her hand was a beautiful staff, that seemed to be made of clear crystal. It was long and slender, and fitted to her hand like it had been made for her. She knew it's balance, and she knew how to fight with it. The staff was taller than her, so she held it on a diagonal. She held it in front of her with both hands, one sliding up towards it's finely crafted spear-like point. At the top shone the same sign as on her locket, a pure white heart on a black circle. The staff flickered with blue light as she thought of how to release the power that it contained.
"Destiny Shield", Sailor Coruscant called, and from the tip of her staff began to shine a blue light, that increased in size, becoming a glowing sphere that sped towards Sailor Star and the intense stream of water that threatened to engulf her. 'Please', her mind whispered.
The blue energy met the water in a crackle of electricity, and the water was absorbed by Sailor Coruscant's shield. She felt the shifting in the Force as the power was joined by her own strength, and the two combined to crash through the youma's defenses, and it drowned in it's own water energy. It's body crumbled to dust, which was swept away by a wind that could not have existed in the Senate Chamber. She felt a shifting in the Force as the remains of the energy it had taken from the members of the Senate was returned.
Hematite got to his feet, a little unsteadily, and Sailor Coruscant wondered how it was possible for him to have recovered so quickly. There was so little that she knew about the Dark Kingdom, especially how they managed to manipulate the Force in such a manner. Although she knew that it was the Dark Side and should therefore be avoided, she felt a strange curiosity about this General that she wished to satisfy. How was it that the Dark Queen had the power to turn people to her allegiance so that they lost all memory of who they were before, leaving only a shadow of their past life whilst they fought for the powers of evil? Was it possible that such a power could be used for the Light?
Sailor Star grinned at her, and flashed her a 'victory' sign. However, she did move to stand with Sailor Coruscant, flanking her as she moved to confront Hematite.
"Thank you", he said, and she blinked in surprise, not knowing how to respond. "That youma was a danger to our Kingdom. But I owe you no debt, Sailor Coruscant, I would have destroyed it myself had your little friend here not interfered."
She nodded her head, understanding. She readied her staff to fight him, and he grinned at her, sending a blast of dark energy towards her that swept her off her feet. Before she could respond, Sailor Star had raised her hands above her head, crying, "Infrit Brimstone, Surround!" He leapt over the top of her attack, and the flames that Sailor Star commanded dissipated and died before they could destroy anything. Sailor Coruscant was surprised at her control.
"Let's not fight anymore little girls. We all know what the outcome will be", Hematite said, reclining in midair. He gave a short, angry, laugh and disappeared.
"I really wish he would not do that", Sailor Coruscant said, finding that her legs failed her and sitting down before she could fall, "There is something about him." Without realising exactly what she was doing, she reached out and put her Staff back to the place where she had received it from. She knew now how to call it back to her whenever she needed it, and she wondered what else she could keep in that place.
She was lost in her thoughts, not noticing as the members of the Senate began to find the energy to stand and look around them. She sensed their dazed thoughts, but would not act, all her thoughts being on Hematite, and why he seemed so familiar to her. She supposed that it was because she had met him on the field of battle so many times that she was starting to get to know him, but when she tried to send out a questing thought to him, she could not find the Dark Kingdom General. Not that she had expected to.
"Hey SC, don't you think we should get out of here?" It was Sailor Star, intruding in her silence. Sailor Coruscant looked up in surprise, suddenly remembering where she was. She looked up at the taller girl, and took her hand to be helped to her feet.
"What did you call me?" she asked, wondering what Sailor Star had done with her staff. Was she also able to hide things in an invisible 'pocket'?
"SC. It's a lot easier on the tongue than Sailor Coruscant." It seemed so logical, and the earnest expression on her face made Sailor Coruscant smile.
"I suppose it would be. Come along then, Sailor Star. Let us go away from this place to somewhere a little more quiet to talk."
She smiled up at the taller girl, and decided that she would trust her newfound ally. They ran outside, to where she had left the air speeder she had checked out. Sailor Star looked it over questioningly.
"You're a Jedi?" she asked, a small smile dancing on her face. There was something familiar about her voice, yet Sailor Coruscant could not place it.
'I told you, the magic protects your identities.' She smiled at Palomene's words, as she got into the speeder, making sure that Sailor Star was fine before she took off.
"I told you that you never explain anything."
Sailor Star laughed at the chagrin in her voice. "You hear Palomene too? I was beginning to think I was crazy, hearing voices in my head."
'The Force speaks to us in many ways', Palomene's smug superiority was starting to annoy Sailor Coruscant.
"Oh, shut up", both she and Sailor Star chorused, before exchanging a glance and starting to laugh.
"So, where to?" she asked the other Senshi.
"The Temple, of course."
Sailor Star was a Jedi? She took her eyes from the passage, her hands piloting the speeder without needing her full attention. As though a veil suddenly lifted from her eyes, she looked at Sailor Star and suddenly saw two people there. She recognised the other.
"*Star?" she whispered incredulously.
Sailor Star raised a hand to the locket on the front of her uniform, which melted back to her normal Jedi robes. "None other", she grinned, "Who do I have the honour of addressing?"
"It's me. Hikari-No." She let her own transformation fall, and smiled back at her friend. For a time, *Star just stared at her in silence, shaking her head. Then she started laughing.
"The perfect disguise. No one would think that little Hikari-No was the sailor- suited warrior of love and justice, Sailor Coruscant. This is just too rare." She was laughing so hard that for a time Hikari-No wondered if she was going to fall off her seat. "I only have one question", she said after she had regained her composure.
"Only one?"
"How was your date with Ura-Giri?"
She started laughing again before Hikari-No could hit her in mock anger.
They spent most of the night talking in Hikari-No's apartment, for her Master was once again off with the other Jedi Masters, leaving her alone to amuse herself.
Her dreams were full of nightmarish creatures and a darkness that threatened to overcome her. In the place where they were keeping her, the Force did not exist, only anger and hatred and the Dark Side. Then the dreams shifted, and she was back on Coruscant. But she was alone, and she was fighting Hematite. *Star was not there, and she could no longer fight on her own. She was dying.
When she awoke, she could remember little of her premonitions.
In the morning they went to class, and Hikari-No promised that although her afternoons still belonged to Ura-Giri and her sessions with him, each evening she and *Star would train together so that they could defeat the Dark Kingdom's youma and, eventually, Hematite.
The entire Temple was in an uproar that morning, for in the night, someone had killed the Jedi Master, Lynn-Gie, one of the twelve members of the Council. The usual rumours of Sith and the Dark Side abounded, and his Padawan had yet to be found. Some of the Padawans whispered that it was Darth Ravage returned to finish the job that he started six years ago when he had killed fully half the Council, but everyone knew that there was no substance to the rumours. Although the Masters tried to quell the curiosity of the students, it seemed that they would not be turned from their speculations.
The Temple was thrown into mourning, but only a few would attend his cremation the following day. When Jedi Master Mi-Rai Shinwa was asked to be present to grieve for his friend, it was accepted by all that he would be invited to take Lynn-Gie's place on the Council.
Catherine left the next day. Hikari-No had tried to speak to her, to ask about what had happened and to tell her friend what was taking place around her, and why she would be safer on Domus Prime, but for the first time in their friendship it appeared as if a wall had come up between them. Each girl was lost in her own thoughts, and neither knew exactly where to begin to repair things.
In the end, they embraced warmly, each crying, and neither wanting to talk about her own problems. Catherine swore privately that she would never tell anyone what she had seen, she was not even sure she believed it herself. Hikari-No knew that everything would be all right, even though the Senate had not been able to promise anyone assistance, refusing to take sides in the conflict.
When she had tried to talk to Ura-Giri about what had happened between them that night, he shrugged off what she was saying, telling her that it was his fault they had been unable to spend very much time together, and that she "should stop apologising all the time, Little Miko."
Little Miko. From anyone else she would have been insulted, but there was something about the way Ura-Giri said his pet name for her that always made her blush.
He was so nice. She wondered idly if *Star was right and if she was developing a crush on the older student. For the first time since she met him, Hikari- No decided privately that maybe the answer was yes.