*Running Against the Wind*
-Chapter Five | Sailor Soldiers-
Bright chatter and laughter lit the atmosphere of the glorious campus estate; glittering halls and glistening chandeliers were lavishly decorated with posters of the elegant Kaiou Michiru. A small girl with fluffy pink hair tied up in twin pigtails held her loose fist up to her lower lip, looking in astonishment at one of the posters.
'That's the woman who took me home in the helicopter! She's a violinist.' The thoughts mused in her mind evaporated the instant she heard a familiar voice gasp, "Chibi-Usa? Mamoru?"
Looking over her shoulder, Chibi-Usa grinned, sticking her tongue out cutely. "Konban wa, Mako-chan!" she chirped and Usagi stared in shock at the child as well as at raven-haired Mamoru.
"What are you guys doing here?!" she finally burst.
"Miss Kaiou gave me two tickets, so I invited Chibi-Usa to come along. You already had tickets, I believe, courtesy of one Ten'ou Haruka," Mamoru replied quietly and Usagi blushed, fingering a curl twisting about her ear.
"Come along, minna-san! The concert must be starting!" Ami busily interrupted, moving as swiftly as she could in her blue gown.
Pushing aside any feelings of jealousy Usagi had--truthfully, she was surprised by the lack of them--in her mind, the petite blonde smiled brightly at the others. "Shall we?" she chirped happily, before following in the blue-haired girl's path.
Unseen by her companions, Minako snuck away, fingering a compact she had used when she went as 'Sailor V.'
*
"You look beautiful," he had told her gently, mussing her sea green hair lightly. Oh, how she had wanted to ask him how many times he had said that to *her*! But she was content with the free affection he gave her that he gave no others, excluding *her*. As long as she had his love, she would be satisfied, complete.
It was with these thoughts that Kaiou Michiru checked her reflection one more time, insuring that, indeed, her pearl earrings were in place and her make-up wasn't smudged or layered too thickly.
Picking her slender violin up with one equally slender hand, she exhaled slowly before setting her shoulders and walking--no, floating--onto the stage.
As she set the violin to her shoulder and rested her chin on it, pressing the bow to the strings and loosing the waves, she scanned the crowd for her lover and she saw him in a corner, aloof and alone, the wild, uncultivated wind in a room of the blank, docile elite.
*
Usagi listened rapturously to the sweet melodies of the violin, brought into an unpredictable sea of music, lost in the current.
[["You just have to listen to Michiru once to get hooked."]]
She blinked and glanced unbidden about the immense room, seeing the richly dressed men and women all about, unwilling to admit to herself that she was looking for the recognizable face of Haruka. 'What is this hold you have over my thoughts?' she asked plaintively of him as her eyes sought him out, found him all alone in a corner by the exit, his eyes coolly watching Michiru's performance, a sad sort of resignation hanging about his person.
'Oh, Haruka…you must be lonely in the corner…'
Sighing, barely audible, she returned her gaze to the stage, feeling Chibi-Usa shift excitedly in the seat next to her as the music swiftly changed from peaceful to thunderous.
Usagi never felt his eyes linger on her before sweeping back to Michiru.
*
A young man outfitted in the Mugen Gakuen uniform slyly joined the noisy crowd filling a separate auditorium, each and every person inside of it awaiting the first song of the one and only Hanyu Mimi. He smiled to himself, thinking happily, 'I am *so* glad I came!' amidst the screams and laughter.
Mimi giggled joyfully into her microphone, waving prettily at the audience. "Arigatou, minna-san! Mimi is soooo happy to perform for her very special college!" Curtsying in her miniskirt for the benefit of the gawking males in front, she winked at a chosen one, who immediately fell prey to teasing for his instantaneous blush from his friends.
"I love Mugen Gakuen and each of you. I'd love to give my all to the college! Wouldn't you?"
A loud, raucous affirmative rose forth from the audience.
The young man who had arrived late narrowed his eyes in sudden suspicion, reaching into his pocket for a strangely decorated pen…
"Then everyone close your eyes and listen quietly to this special song I wrote just for *you* all."
'Why do I feel tired?! Is Mimi…' He turned and began pushing his way through the obedient crowds, forcing his mind to its limits so he could ignore the oddly alluring song.
"Give your heart and soul to the Master, Pharoah 90!"
'No! Hanyu Mimi is the enemy!' he thought desperately, averting his eyes as he climbed toward the exit so as to not see the apparitional forms drifting up out of human bodies, moving to Mimi's evilly grinning form.
"Hey, you! Where do you think you're going?" another young man cried angrily, eyes glowing demonically.
"The toilet!" the escapee-to-be replied frantically.
"No one is permitted to leave the hall during a concert!" the second snarled and the young man barely escaped into the hall, ripping a henshin pen out of his pocket, throwing it into the air, letting the words explode from his lips.
"Venus Planet Power, Make-up!"
*
Just as Mimi--Mimete--was about to take the souls, another microphone was put into use and another feminine figure appeared on the stage.
"Don't listen to her! Behind that cute façade and that beautiful voice is the personification of evil! Don't be fooled!"
"Who's that?!" Mimete screeched, whirling dangerously around.
"With the blessing of Venus, the planet of love, Sailor Venus, Senshi of Love, is HERE!"
*
A bolt of warning shot through both Michiru's mind and Haruka's.
A screech blew from Michiru's violin and the curtain descended quickly, startling the viewers.
Usagi, stunned and receiving an itchy-crawly feeling on the back of her neck, flickered her ocean blue eyes over to where Haruka had been, only a little surprised to see he wasn't there.
And then the persistent beeping of her Senshi communicator/watch broke through her haze. Glancing downa t the screen, she read the words quickly.
//Usagi! Hanyu Mimi, that teen idol, is the enemy!! Get down here right away!//
The other four Senshi had received the message as well and Mamoru, being by no means a dull man, picked up the general feel.
In a half-minute's time, they had left the auditorium.
*
"Open your eyes! Come *ON*; it's not too late!" Growling and spitting out a vehement curse, Sailor Venus wielded the chain she wore often about her waist, crying, "Venus Love Chain!" to transform it into a deadly weapon that lashed above the heads of the 'zombie-fied' students, snapping them out of the trance.
"Get outside!" she screamed into the mic, and the melee obeyed…albeit confusedly.
"Sailor Venus, I Mimete, at level 40, shall defeat you! CHARM BUSTER!" Mimete's eyes flashed viciously as she leapt across the stage to face Venus.
"Venus Wink Chain Sword!" the golden-haired Senshi defended, lashing the evil woman in the face with both attacks.
"Venus!" a chorus of voices broke into the premature battle and Venus exhaled, relieved.
"Wonderful to see ya, everybody!"
Mimete screeched. "Kaori Night, lend me your power, I beg of you!"
In her underground chambers, Kaori frowned coldly. "The Daimon eggs are too young to be hatched successfully, you fool!" she spat, "But I suppose there is nothing we can do about that!" Sighing irritatedly, she blew evil into the water mirror.
Two girls trying to flee the room tripped over their feet and one glanced at her companion, a scream of revulsion and pain ripping from her throat. A foul growth of rotten putridness bubbled forth from both their backs, the Daimons squalling and raging as they came into existence.
A boy of about thirteen years underwent a similar regression in the back of the room.
Desperate, Sailor Moon cried, "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" And the two Daimons pulled back, too late, disintegrating into a messy nothing.
Unnoticed by the Senshi, the third Daimon approached Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Chibi-Moon from behind, the stench of it blown away from them by the still-functioning air conditioning.
Sailor Venus was grinning from ear-to-ear when she happened to turn, seeing the forgotten Daimon.
"Tuxedo Kamen! Sailor Chibi-Moon!"
The two in peril moved too slowly and the Daimon loomed dangerously above, ready to pounce, as it were…
"Deep Submerge!"
A thick, brutal tidal wave thundered *through* the Daimon, annihilating it and smashing cruelly into a horrified Mimete.
Chibi-Moon stared intently at two silhouettes on a balcony, and she knew the others were doing the same.
"World Shaking!" the masculine one of the two smirked and Mimete wasn't granted even a dying scream.
Her remains smeared the stage cheerfully.
"Who…?" Sailor Moon managed to whisper into the stunned silence following the explosive earthquake.
"With the blessings of the Planet of the Sea, Neptune; the Senshi of Depths, Sailor Neptune…" She was tall and graceful, sweepingly beautiful with a sea-green trimmed fuku that fit her hair color perfectly. "And…," she continued, leaving her silver-armored companion to finish.
"With the blessing of the Planet of Wind, Uranus…the Senshi of the Skies, Sailor Uranus…" He was outfitted in a sleek, form-fitting sort of steel armor, glittering with a band about his head and thickly soled boots, a cold, martial look on his face.
"Are here!" the two cried in unison.
Shocked exclamations from the surprised Senshi of the Inner System littered the air, including a rather loud, "Sailor Senshi?! But I don't know them!" from Venus.
"You don't need to know us," Neptune snapped coldly, holding a fancy mirror in one hand.
[["This is a Talisman," the woman told her with a graceful, benevolent smile.]]
Chibi-Moon gasped. "That hand mirror is a Talisman!" she blurted before she could stop herself, unable to help it.
'Talisman?!'
Sailor Neptune smiled, almost emotionlessly. "So we meet again, little bunny."
'Kaiou Michiru is Sailor Neptune?! Why was she so kind when she's acting so mean now?'
Sailor Mars scowled darkly, something she was practiced in, and demanded, "Are you the ones who sent us the nightmares, the visions, about the God of Destruction and the Talismans?"
"So you feel it, too. The premonition of doom. The danger of destruction," Uranus half-smirked, his eyes flickering momentarily to where a confused Sailor Moon stood.
"If you know something, tell us!" Mars insisted, her ebony mane rippling as she shifted dangerously.
"We will not work beside you," Uranus coldly retorted. "Ever."
"You're not…our allies?" Sailor Moon asked weakly, feeling something inside of her chest snap.
He seemed to hesitate for a heartbeat before finishing, "I…*we* never said we were allies."
"Wait!" Mercury interjected, having stayed silent throughout the entire exchange, "We are fighting the Death Busters as well! Why can't we work together? Please tell us!"
Neptune lifted a polished brown object, cocking it on her shoulder, beneath her chin, and began playing a bow across it.
'It' was a violin.
"Kaiou Michiru?" Tuxedo Kamen wondered softly, gazing at the regal Senshi in surprise and wonderment.
"My head!" Mercury cried out suddenly, clutching at her temples.
"It's splitting!" Jupiter moaned, falling to her knees and trying to force the music Neptune was playing out of her head.
'These two Senshi with their Talisman…could they…destroy us?!' Mars thought with the tiny portion of her mind that wasn't being driven insane, then surrendering to the agony, crying.
Uranus looked at Sailor Moon where she was curled up, crying inconsolably at the grating, intense pain.
"Cease, Michiru," he ordered quietly, laying one gauntleted hand on her shoulder, sensing rather than seeing the flicker of a displeased frown on her face.
It was interesting how their personalities and very roles, it seemed, would reverse when it came to the welfare of Sailor Moon.
"Let us leave," he continued and she nodded gently.
"Wait!" Tuxedo Kamen. Sailor Uranus gritted his teeth and tensed. "Why are you doing this? Are you the ones who will lead us to destruction?" When all he got was a cold, uncaring look from Uranus and an indifferent one from Neptune, he yelled in outrage, "Answer me!!"
Uranus let his emotions ride over his senses and raised one hand, palm facing outward and fingers rigidly pointing upward. The corners of his lips twitched upwards once as he glared at Tuxedo Kamen and he said in a dead voice, "World Shaking."
Sailor Moon heard the pained cries of her friends and the torn sob she recognized as her own.
'Haruka…'
She was falling backwards and it seemed so very slow…
'Sailor Uranus…'
She was on the ground, prostrate and hurting all over physically, but wounded even greater inside.
'He attacked us.'
Her heart beat thickly.
'A Sailor Senshi attacked us.'
She surrendered her mind to a blurred unconsciousness.
PallaPlease.
March 24, 2001.
-Chapter Five | Sailor Soldiers-
Bright chatter and laughter lit the atmosphere of the glorious campus estate; glittering halls and glistening chandeliers were lavishly decorated with posters of the elegant Kaiou Michiru. A small girl with fluffy pink hair tied up in twin pigtails held her loose fist up to her lower lip, looking in astonishment at one of the posters.
'That's the woman who took me home in the helicopter! She's a violinist.' The thoughts mused in her mind evaporated the instant she heard a familiar voice gasp, "Chibi-Usa? Mamoru?"
Looking over her shoulder, Chibi-Usa grinned, sticking her tongue out cutely. "Konban wa, Mako-chan!" she chirped and Usagi stared in shock at the child as well as at raven-haired Mamoru.
"What are you guys doing here?!" she finally burst.
"Miss Kaiou gave me two tickets, so I invited Chibi-Usa to come along. You already had tickets, I believe, courtesy of one Ten'ou Haruka," Mamoru replied quietly and Usagi blushed, fingering a curl twisting about her ear.
"Come along, minna-san! The concert must be starting!" Ami busily interrupted, moving as swiftly as she could in her blue gown.
Pushing aside any feelings of jealousy Usagi had--truthfully, she was surprised by the lack of them--in her mind, the petite blonde smiled brightly at the others. "Shall we?" she chirped happily, before following in the blue-haired girl's path.
Unseen by her companions, Minako snuck away, fingering a compact she had used when she went as 'Sailor V.'
*
"You look beautiful," he had told her gently, mussing her sea green hair lightly. Oh, how she had wanted to ask him how many times he had said that to *her*! But she was content with the free affection he gave her that he gave no others, excluding *her*. As long as she had his love, she would be satisfied, complete.
It was with these thoughts that Kaiou Michiru checked her reflection one more time, insuring that, indeed, her pearl earrings were in place and her make-up wasn't smudged or layered too thickly.
Picking her slender violin up with one equally slender hand, she exhaled slowly before setting her shoulders and walking--no, floating--onto the stage.
As she set the violin to her shoulder and rested her chin on it, pressing the bow to the strings and loosing the waves, she scanned the crowd for her lover and she saw him in a corner, aloof and alone, the wild, uncultivated wind in a room of the blank, docile elite.
*
Usagi listened rapturously to the sweet melodies of the violin, brought into an unpredictable sea of music, lost in the current.
[["You just have to listen to Michiru once to get hooked."]]
She blinked and glanced unbidden about the immense room, seeing the richly dressed men and women all about, unwilling to admit to herself that she was looking for the recognizable face of Haruka. 'What is this hold you have over my thoughts?' she asked plaintively of him as her eyes sought him out, found him all alone in a corner by the exit, his eyes coolly watching Michiru's performance, a sad sort of resignation hanging about his person.
'Oh, Haruka…you must be lonely in the corner…'
Sighing, barely audible, she returned her gaze to the stage, feeling Chibi-Usa shift excitedly in the seat next to her as the music swiftly changed from peaceful to thunderous.
Usagi never felt his eyes linger on her before sweeping back to Michiru.
*
A young man outfitted in the Mugen Gakuen uniform slyly joined the noisy crowd filling a separate auditorium, each and every person inside of it awaiting the first song of the one and only Hanyu Mimi. He smiled to himself, thinking happily, 'I am *so* glad I came!' amidst the screams and laughter.
Mimi giggled joyfully into her microphone, waving prettily at the audience. "Arigatou, minna-san! Mimi is soooo happy to perform for her very special college!" Curtsying in her miniskirt for the benefit of the gawking males in front, she winked at a chosen one, who immediately fell prey to teasing for his instantaneous blush from his friends.
"I love Mugen Gakuen and each of you. I'd love to give my all to the college! Wouldn't you?"
A loud, raucous affirmative rose forth from the audience.
The young man who had arrived late narrowed his eyes in sudden suspicion, reaching into his pocket for a strangely decorated pen…
"Then everyone close your eyes and listen quietly to this special song I wrote just for *you* all."
'Why do I feel tired?! Is Mimi…' He turned and began pushing his way through the obedient crowds, forcing his mind to its limits so he could ignore the oddly alluring song.
"Give your heart and soul to the Master, Pharoah 90!"
'No! Hanyu Mimi is the enemy!' he thought desperately, averting his eyes as he climbed toward the exit so as to not see the apparitional forms drifting up out of human bodies, moving to Mimi's evilly grinning form.
"Hey, you! Where do you think you're going?" another young man cried angrily, eyes glowing demonically.
"The toilet!" the escapee-to-be replied frantically.
"No one is permitted to leave the hall during a concert!" the second snarled and the young man barely escaped into the hall, ripping a henshin pen out of his pocket, throwing it into the air, letting the words explode from his lips.
"Venus Planet Power, Make-up!"
*
Just as Mimi--Mimete--was about to take the souls, another microphone was put into use and another feminine figure appeared on the stage.
"Don't listen to her! Behind that cute façade and that beautiful voice is the personification of evil! Don't be fooled!"
"Who's that?!" Mimete screeched, whirling dangerously around.
"With the blessing of Venus, the planet of love, Sailor Venus, Senshi of Love, is HERE!"
*
A bolt of warning shot through both Michiru's mind and Haruka's.
A screech blew from Michiru's violin and the curtain descended quickly, startling the viewers.
Usagi, stunned and receiving an itchy-crawly feeling on the back of her neck, flickered her ocean blue eyes over to where Haruka had been, only a little surprised to see he wasn't there.
And then the persistent beeping of her Senshi communicator/watch broke through her haze. Glancing downa t the screen, she read the words quickly.
//Usagi! Hanyu Mimi, that teen idol, is the enemy!! Get down here right away!//
The other four Senshi had received the message as well and Mamoru, being by no means a dull man, picked up the general feel.
In a half-minute's time, they had left the auditorium.
*
"Open your eyes! Come *ON*; it's not too late!" Growling and spitting out a vehement curse, Sailor Venus wielded the chain she wore often about her waist, crying, "Venus Love Chain!" to transform it into a deadly weapon that lashed above the heads of the 'zombie-fied' students, snapping them out of the trance.
"Get outside!" she screamed into the mic, and the melee obeyed…albeit confusedly.
"Sailor Venus, I Mimete, at level 40, shall defeat you! CHARM BUSTER!" Mimete's eyes flashed viciously as she leapt across the stage to face Venus.
"Venus Wink Chain Sword!" the golden-haired Senshi defended, lashing the evil woman in the face with both attacks.
"Venus!" a chorus of voices broke into the premature battle and Venus exhaled, relieved.
"Wonderful to see ya, everybody!"
Mimete screeched. "Kaori Night, lend me your power, I beg of you!"
In her underground chambers, Kaori frowned coldly. "The Daimon eggs are too young to be hatched successfully, you fool!" she spat, "But I suppose there is nothing we can do about that!" Sighing irritatedly, she blew evil into the water mirror.
Two girls trying to flee the room tripped over their feet and one glanced at her companion, a scream of revulsion and pain ripping from her throat. A foul growth of rotten putridness bubbled forth from both their backs, the Daimons squalling and raging as they came into existence.
A boy of about thirteen years underwent a similar regression in the back of the room.
Desperate, Sailor Moon cried, "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" And the two Daimons pulled back, too late, disintegrating into a messy nothing.
Unnoticed by the Senshi, the third Daimon approached Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Chibi-Moon from behind, the stench of it blown away from them by the still-functioning air conditioning.
Sailor Venus was grinning from ear-to-ear when she happened to turn, seeing the forgotten Daimon.
"Tuxedo Kamen! Sailor Chibi-Moon!"
The two in peril moved too slowly and the Daimon loomed dangerously above, ready to pounce, as it were…
"Deep Submerge!"
A thick, brutal tidal wave thundered *through* the Daimon, annihilating it and smashing cruelly into a horrified Mimete.
Chibi-Moon stared intently at two silhouettes on a balcony, and she knew the others were doing the same.
"World Shaking!" the masculine one of the two smirked and Mimete wasn't granted even a dying scream.
Her remains smeared the stage cheerfully.
"Who…?" Sailor Moon managed to whisper into the stunned silence following the explosive earthquake.
"With the blessings of the Planet of the Sea, Neptune; the Senshi of Depths, Sailor Neptune…" She was tall and graceful, sweepingly beautiful with a sea-green trimmed fuku that fit her hair color perfectly. "And…," she continued, leaving her silver-armored companion to finish.
"With the blessing of the Planet of Wind, Uranus…the Senshi of the Skies, Sailor Uranus…" He was outfitted in a sleek, form-fitting sort of steel armor, glittering with a band about his head and thickly soled boots, a cold, martial look on his face.
"Are here!" the two cried in unison.
Shocked exclamations from the surprised Senshi of the Inner System littered the air, including a rather loud, "Sailor Senshi?! But I don't know them!" from Venus.
"You don't need to know us," Neptune snapped coldly, holding a fancy mirror in one hand.
[["This is a Talisman," the woman told her with a graceful, benevolent smile.]]
Chibi-Moon gasped. "That hand mirror is a Talisman!" she blurted before she could stop herself, unable to help it.
'Talisman?!'
Sailor Neptune smiled, almost emotionlessly. "So we meet again, little bunny."
'Kaiou Michiru is Sailor Neptune?! Why was she so kind when she's acting so mean now?'
Sailor Mars scowled darkly, something she was practiced in, and demanded, "Are you the ones who sent us the nightmares, the visions, about the God of Destruction and the Talismans?"
"So you feel it, too. The premonition of doom. The danger of destruction," Uranus half-smirked, his eyes flickering momentarily to where a confused Sailor Moon stood.
"If you know something, tell us!" Mars insisted, her ebony mane rippling as she shifted dangerously.
"We will not work beside you," Uranus coldly retorted. "Ever."
"You're not…our allies?" Sailor Moon asked weakly, feeling something inside of her chest snap.
He seemed to hesitate for a heartbeat before finishing, "I…*we* never said we were allies."
"Wait!" Mercury interjected, having stayed silent throughout the entire exchange, "We are fighting the Death Busters as well! Why can't we work together? Please tell us!"
Neptune lifted a polished brown object, cocking it on her shoulder, beneath her chin, and began playing a bow across it.
'It' was a violin.
"Kaiou Michiru?" Tuxedo Kamen wondered softly, gazing at the regal Senshi in surprise and wonderment.
"My head!" Mercury cried out suddenly, clutching at her temples.
"It's splitting!" Jupiter moaned, falling to her knees and trying to force the music Neptune was playing out of her head.
'These two Senshi with their Talisman…could they…destroy us?!' Mars thought with the tiny portion of her mind that wasn't being driven insane, then surrendering to the agony, crying.
Uranus looked at Sailor Moon where she was curled up, crying inconsolably at the grating, intense pain.
"Cease, Michiru," he ordered quietly, laying one gauntleted hand on her shoulder, sensing rather than seeing the flicker of a displeased frown on her face.
It was interesting how their personalities and very roles, it seemed, would reverse when it came to the welfare of Sailor Moon.
"Let us leave," he continued and she nodded gently.
"Wait!" Tuxedo Kamen. Sailor Uranus gritted his teeth and tensed. "Why are you doing this? Are you the ones who will lead us to destruction?" When all he got was a cold, uncaring look from Uranus and an indifferent one from Neptune, he yelled in outrage, "Answer me!!"
Uranus let his emotions ride over his senses and raised one hand, palm facing outward and fingers rigidly pointing upward. The corners of his lips twitched upwards once as he glared at Tuxedo Kamen and he said in a dead voice, "World Shaking."
Sailor Moon heard the pained cries of her friends and the torn sob she recognized as her own.
'Haruka…'
She was falling backwards and it seemed so very slow…
'Sailor Uranus…'
She was on the ground, prostrate and hurting all over physically, but wounded even greater inside.
'He attacked us.'
Her heart beat thickly.
'A Sailor Senshi attacked us.'
She surrendered her mind to a blurred unconsciousness.
PallaPlease.
March 24, 2001.