Chapter 10
Silence...
Except for the waves rolling in with the tide, on a beach far from the shores of Tokyo... there was complete silence. Sprawled out on the beach, half doused from the incoming waves, lay a figure on her back, wrapped in a dull pink cloth that once could have been called a dress...
Akutenshi's eyes opened wearily as she felt the ocean tides roll across her skin. She gave a low groan and covered her face with her hands, half to block the sunlight and half to make her head stop spinning.
'I'm alive...' she thought, still returning to full consciousness. 'The storm's over...'
She turned over on her stomach for more support when she would attempt to fully stand up, but stopped in surprise, seeing crystalline pieces of glass scattered across the beach. She gave a look of confusion, but the thought was lost as a powerful wave smashed into her from behind, causing her to fall forward.
She screamed in pain as one of the jagged glass pieces was rammed into her hand, leaving a deep wound that only hurt worse when the water washed over it, infecting it with salt.
Akutenshi quickly scrambled to her feet, somewhat surprised that her shoes were still on her feet, and moved quickly across the sand to avoid more stabs from the shattered pieces. She sighed in relief as she sat back down, further up the beach. Pain shot through her spine and she quickly just back up to see what had pinched her bottom.
"A crab..." she muttered out loud. The crab seemed to glare at her, then quickly scurried away. Akutenshi sighed as she watched the crab move. "Must have woke up on the wrong side of the seashell this morning... What a crab..." Akutenshi giggled at her own joke and sat back down. She yelled in pain and jumped back up again, rubbing her bottom to dull the new pain.
"Now what?!" she asked angrily. Her anger vanished and she gave an exasperated sigh. "Speaking of seashells..." She reached down and threw the sharp edged seashell to the side, then carefully inspected the area before sitting again.
"What more probable thing to sit on at a beach then a seashell..." she muttered to herself. Her humor was set aside for a moment as a pain was felt in her hand. She raised it to eye level and grimaced at the sight of her own blood as it fell from the center of her palm, trickling down her arm.
She glanced down at her dress which was tattered beyond compare, some rips coming up to her knees. "Well... It's already a mess..." Akutenshi reached down and torn off what remained of the bottom seem part. She carefully wrapped it around her hand, mainly the palm, the blood slowly leaking through the pink cloth.
She sighed. "Now what do I do?"
"Now... you obey my every command and answer my questions... Unless that is... you want to be dead..."
Akutenshi gasped and swerved around to see the blonde haired man who had been trapped in the crystal coffin, palm raised towards her as if ready to attack...
« Z «
Kusanagi gave a long sigh as she looked out the window of the moving bus. The past few days had been really stressful... Minako sat beside her, hands behind her head and resting peacefully. Everyone was so confused and upset about Akutenshi, no one really knew what to do. Or how to un capture her from the Negaverse. Ami, and Amamizu were working on it, but there didn't seem to be a way. And if they destroyed the main control point, even without touching Akutenshi, then Akutenshi would be dead. But yet, there had to be a way out . . . but what? The bus pulled to a stop and Kusanagi and Minako got off. They looked at each other and sighed.
"Here we go again." Said Minako with a slight smile. They were going to meet everyone else at Usagi, and Mutashi's house to talk some more about how to get Akutenshi back. When they arrived at the door Usagi flung it open with a huge smile.
"We've figured it out!" She screamed.
"Really?!" Asked Kusanagi excitedly, her and Minako's eyes were open wide with surprise. Mutashi walked up behind Usagi with a sad smile on her face.
"No, not really, we just thought it would be better to give you some cheerful news for once, even if it wasn't true. Come on in." Mutashi and Usagi stepped back as Kusanagi and Minako entered the room. It was empty, so they sat in the chairs closest to them.
"Just don't do that when Makoto comes, she would have been very upset by that." Said Kusanagi. Mutashi sat down on the chair next to her.
"Yah, we know, ugh! I just wish we could get this over with." Said Usagi with a sigh.
"We will . . . soon . . ." Just then they all heard a loud "THUMP"
"What was that?!" Screamed Usagi.
"I don't know, why don't I go check?" Asked Minako. Everyone nodded their heads with a frightened look on their faces. Minako just rolled her eyes. The noise appeared to be coming from the kitchen. Minako looked around the corner, and there to her amazement she saw . . .
With one foot stuck in the window, the other steadying the figure on the countertop, Kan Meimou, Akutenshi's ex-boyfriend stood with a look of pure guilt as he saw Minako. And on the ground, recovering from his fall through the window was Okasii, Koneko's ex-boyfriend, looking up and muttering an 'uh-oh' under his breath.
Usagi, Mutashi, and Kusanagi all peeked into the kitchen curiously. "What are you two doing here?!" Mutashi asked storming up to the two placing her hands on her hips angrily. Minako walked over calmly, lifting the window letting Kan's foot loose, though apparently he wasn't expecting it for he fell forward, off the counter and right onto the still recovering Okasii.
After the two stood up and re gathered their pride, Mutashi asked again. "Well?! What are you doing here?!"
"Well we came to see how Akutenshi and Koneko were doing..." Okasii explained.
"Are they in another fight?" the shorter of the two asked curiously.
"Not like it's any of your business... but no..." Kusanagi answered. "It's a little bit more complicated than that..."
"Well we saw Akutenshi a few days ago and she acted like she didn't even know us, and acted as if she wasn't Akutenshi..." the taller said, elaborating the situation. "And when we asked Koneko about it she got all upset and started ranting about stuff we didn't understand and stormed off..."
"And how does that give you the right to climb into my house through the kitchen window?" Usagi asked, slightly annoyed at the two. The two gave nervous laughs.
"Well if Koneko was over here she would've kicked us out and told us to mind our own business and Akutenshi would probably still act if she didn't know us... so we thought..." Okasii trailed off, not finishing his sentence.
"Well you thought wrong and dimwitted!" Mutashi said, frowning deeply, crossing her arms. Minako agreed, and copied Mutashi's posture and the two gave solemn nods.
"It's wrong to enter people's houses uninvited..." Minako added.
"It was his idea..." Kan said simply, pointing to Okasii, who flinched slightly.
"Does it matter? You still went along with it!" Usagi said, joining in on the punishment. Kusanagi gave a small laugh and turned to Okasii and Kan.
"You two might want to leave before they decide that knives work better than words..." she muttered. With small gulps, the two agreed. "But this time go through the front door..."
As the two men exited out the front door, the twin sisters Rei and Koneko were walking up to the house. Both paused their worried discussion and watched silently as Okasii and Kan, who were smiling nervously. Koneko blinked curiously as they passed the twins with small nervous 'hellos' and nods and went on their way back home.
"What were they doing here?" Koneko asked curiously.
"Nothing that we couldn't handle..." Mutashi said from the doorway of the Tsukino household.
"With the thought of ex-boyfriends in mind... It brings up a question..." Rei mused. Koneko turned to her sister, tilting her head curiously. "What happened to Yukai? I haven't heard from him in a while..."
"D-Yukai...?" Slowly but surely, Koneko's face went from curious to pure horror. "OH MY GOD! I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT HIM! I HAVEN'T CALLED HIM IN A WEEK!"
A chorus of exasperated sighs and sweat drops.
Koneko sprinted up to Mutashi. "Can I use your phone!?" she asked frantically. Mutashi took a step back.
"Don't let me stop you..."
"THANK YOU Mutashi!"
And with that Koneko went shooting down the hall towards the phone.
« Z «
"Now..." the mysterious blonde haired man said, his blue eyes peering down into the fearful brown ones. "Who are you....? And why have you brought me here?!"
Akutenshi was able to let a nervous laugh escape before boosting her confidences, setting a smirk on her face. "I'm the girl who just saved your butt! That's who!"
"Why?!"
"Oh I don't know..."
He thrust his hand forward more, as if he were really planning on shooting her with an energy blast that would kill her. Akutenshi frowned.
"I really don't understand you..." she muttered, crossing her arms. "You should be praising the ground I walk on... Not many can break an eternal sleep seal..."
The man gave a low grown, his frown seeming to grow with hate. "I could have gotten out of there..." he said, glaring at the young girl. Akutenshi frowned again.
"From what I've seen... Not in this millennium..." she replied dryly. The man arched his arm back and swung it around with out trying, striking her in the face with a harsh blow and sending her to the sanding ground. Akutenshi coughed up some sand that had entered her mouth and stood up wearily, amazed my his strength.
She raised her hand to the side of her face and held it softly, scowling slightly at the stinging pain in her cheek. "You jerk..." she hissed. "Ungrateful-" She stopped in mid sentence as a realization came over her. A realization of why he hadn't killed her... Why he had slapped her instead of blasting her...
"You can't use your powers... can you?" Akutenshi asked, looking at him carefully. The blonde haired man scowled, narrowing his icy blue eyes once more. Akutenshi gave a smile. "That means you can't kill me!"
"I can kill you with or without my powers..." he said coldly. Her smile turned into a smirk.
"Prove it..."
In a swift movement, the man lunged at her, fist arched back, and he swung it forward to bring the over-confident girl down. Akutenshi quickly pivoted to the side and dodged the attack, the man stumbling forward to a stop, cursing for missing such an easy target.
"What to try again?" Akutenshi asked with a mocking tone, still smirking. The man swung his fits again and Akutenshi ducked to escape it, then jumped as the man made a swift movement to try and kick her legs out form underneath her.
The moment Akutenshi's shoes touched the hot sand again, she sung her fits forward and impacted with the man's stomach. The man gave a strong groan at the punch and blinked in surprise. Akutenshi smirked once more. She took a step back and kicked her foot upwards, her heel hitting his chin and sending him flying backwards and into the sand.
The next thing the man was conscious of was that Akutenshi was standing over him, one foot on his chest, smirking down at him. "How lame..." she muttered, her brown hair falling over her shoulders. "A big man like to loosing to a little girl like me... You need to work on your fighting skills..."
The man tried to get up, but Akutenshi's foot pushed him back down. "Not so fast..." she muttered, frowning. "You are going to have to be a little more patient until I find a way off this island... And you'll obey my every word... or else... that clear?"
Silence fell between them.
"I said... Is that CLEAR!?"
"Fine..." he muttered with a curse. "Now do you mind telling me who you are...?"
"You can call me Akutenshi..."
"And I presume you can call me-"
"I already know your name..." Akutenshi interrupted. "Your name is Jadeite... First general under the rule of Queen Beryl... Am I right?" The man looked up shocked at Akutenshi.
"How do you know such things?!" Jadeite asked in anger.
"I know a lot about you... And let me tell you... a lot has chanced since your imprisonment... Nephlyte... Kunzite... and Zoicite are all dead... Queen Beryl and the Negaverse, destroyed by the Sailor Senshi..."
Jadeite listened in shock a what Akutenshi had to say, while she looked down at him with such a calm look on her face. "You're the only survivor..." she finished, still leaning her foot on the General's chest.
"And you freed me...?" Jadeite said, meaning it as a question. Akutenshi nodded. "Why?"
A smirk spread across her face. She raised a single finger to her lips. "That is a secret..." she replied. Jadeite couldn't help but smirk himself.
"You may be secretive about your purpose..." he mused. "But not about a certain something else..."
Akutenshi grew confused, then noticed her position that she held and made a realization... She was standing, one leg on his chest in a dress... A very tattered dress at that... Her face immediately grew red and she took a few steps back and kicked him in the side with tremendous force.
"YOU PERVERT!!!"
"OWE!"
Silence...
Except for the waves rolling in with the tide, on a beach far from the shores of Tokyo... there was complete silence. Sprawled out on the beach, half doused from the incoming waves, lay a figure on her back, wrapped in a dull pink cloth that once could have been called a dress...
Akutenshi's eyes opened wearily as she felt the ocean tides roll across her skin. She gave a low groan and covered her face with her hands, half to block the sunlight and half to make her head stop spinning.
'I'm alive...' she thought, still returning to full consciousness. 'The storm's over...'
She turned over on her stomach for more support when she would attempt to fully stand up, but stopped in surprise, seeing crystalline pieces of glass scattered across the beach. She gave a look of confusion, but the thought was lost as a powerful wave smashed into her from behind, causing her to fall forward.
She screamed in pain as one of the jagged glass pieces was rammed into her hand, leaving a deep wound that only hurt worse when the water washed over it, infecting it with salt.
Akutenshi quickly scrambled to her feet, somewhat surprised that her shoes were still on her feet, and moved quickly across the sand to avoid more stabs from the shattered pieces. She sighed in relief as she sat back down, further up the beach. Pain shot through her spine and she quickly just back up to see what had pinched her bottom.
"A crab..." she muttered out loud. The crab seemed to glare at her, then quickly scurried away. Akutenshi sighed as she watched the crab move. "Must have woke up on the wrong side of the seashell this morning... What a crab..." Akutenshi giggled at her own joke and sat back down. She yelled in pain and jumped back up again, rubbing her bottom to dull the new pain.
"Now what?!" she asked angrily. Her anger vanished and she gave an exasperated sigh. "Speaking of seashells..." She reached down and threw the sharp edged seashell to the side, then carefully inspected the area before sitting again.
"What more probable thing to sit on at a beach then a seashell..." she muttered to herself. Her humor was set aside for a moment as a pain was felt in her hand. She raised it to eye level and grimaced at the sight of her own blood as it fell from the center of her palm, trickling down her arm.
She glanced down at her dress which was tattered beyond compare, some rips coming up to her knees. "Well... It's already a mess..." Akutenshi reached down and torn off what remained of the bottom seem part. She carefully wrapped it around her hand, mainly the palm, the blood slowly leaking through the pink cloth.
She sighed. "Now what do I do?"
"Now... you obey my every command and answer my questions... Unless that is... you want to be dead..."
Akutenshi gasped and swerved around to see the blonde haired man who had been trapped in the crystal coffin, palm raised towards her as if ready to attack...
« Z «
Kusanagi gave a long sigh as she looked out the window of the moving bus. The past few days had been really stressful... Minako sat beside her, hands behind her head and resting peacefully. Everyone was so confused and upset about Akutenshi, no one really knew what to do. Or how to un capture her from the Negaverse. Ami, and Amamizu were working on it, but there didn't seem to be a way. And if they destroyed the main control point, even without touching Akutenshi, then Akutenshi would be dead. But yet, there had to be a way out . . . but what? The bus pulled to a stop and Kusanagi and Minako got off. They looked at each other and sighed.
"Here we go again." Said Minako with a slight smile. They were going to meet everyone else at Usagi, and Mutashi's house to talk some more about how to get Akutenshi back. When they arrived at the door Usagi flung it open with a huge smile.
"We've figured it out!" She screamed.
"Really?!" Asked Kusanagi excitedly, her and Minako's eyes were open wide with surprise. Mutashi walked up behind Usagi with a sad smile on her face.
"No, not really, we just thought it would be better to give you some cheerful news for once, even if it wasn't true. Come on in." Mutashi and Usagi stepped back as Kusanagi and Minako entered the room. It was empty, so they sat in the chairs closest to them.
"Just don't do that when Makoto comes, she would have been very upset by that." Said Kusanagi. Mutashi sat down on the chair next to her.
"Yah, we know, ugh! I just wish we could get this over with." Said Usagi with a sigh.
"We will . . . soon . . ." Just then they all heard a loud "THUMP"
"What was that?!" Screamed Usagi.
"I don't know, why don't I go check?" Asked Minako. Everyone nodded their heads with a frightened look on their faces. Minako just rolled her eyes. The noise appeared to be coming from the kitchen. Minako looked around the corner, and there to her amazement she saw . . .
With one foot stuck in the window, the other steadying the figure on the countertop, Kan Meimou, Akutenshi's ex-boyfriend stood with a look of pure guilt as he saw Minako. And on the ground, recovering from his fall through the window was Okasii, Koneko's ex-boyfriend, looking up and muttering an 'uh-oh' under his breath.
Usagi, Mutashi, and Kusanagi all peeked into the kitchen curiously. "What are you two doing here?!" Mutashi asked storming up to the two placing her hands on her hips angrily. Minako walked over calmly, lifting the window letting Kan's foot loose, though apparently he wasn't expecting it for he fell forward, off the counter and right onto the still recovering Okasii.
After the two stood up and re gathered their pride, Mutashi asked again. "Well?! What are you doing here?!"
"Well we came to see how Akutenshi and Koneko were doing..." Okasii explained.
"Are they in another fight?" the shorter of the two asked curiously.
"Not like it's any of your business... but no..." Kusanagi answered. "It's a little bit more complicated than that..."
"Well we saw Akutenshi a few days ago and she acted like she didn't even know us, and acted as if she wasn't Akutenshi..." the taller said, elaborating the situation. "And when we asked Koneko about it she got all upset and started ranting about stuff we didn't understand and stormed off..."
"And how does that give you the right to climb into my house through the kitchen window?" Usagi asked, slightly annoyed at the two. The two gave nervous laughs.
"Well if Koneko was over here she would've kicked us out and told us to mind our own business and Akutenshi would probably still act if she didn't know us... so we thought..." Okasii trailed off, not finishing his sentence.
"Well you thought wrong and dimwitted!" Mutashi said, frowning deeply, crossing her arms. Minako agreed, and copied Mutashi's posture and the two gave solemn nods.
"It's wrong to enter people's houses uninvited..." Minako added.
"It was his idea..." Kan said simply, pointing to Okasii, who flinched slightly.
"Does it matter? You still went along with it!" Usagi said, joining in on the punishment. Kusanagi gave a small laugh and turned to Okasii and Kan.
"You two might want to leave before they decide that knives work better than words..." she muttered. With small gulps, the two agreed. "But this time go through the front door..."
As the two men exited out the front door, the twin sisters Rei and Koneko were walking up to the house. Both paused their worried discussion and watched silently as Okasii and Kan, who were smiling nervously. Koneko blinked curiously as they passed the twins with small nervous 'hellos' and nods and went on their way back home.
"What were they doing here?" Koneko asked curiously.
"Nothing that we couldn't handle..." Mutashi said from the doorway of the Tsukino household.
"With the thought of ex-boyfriends in mind... It brings up a question..." Rei mused. Koneko turned to her sister, tilting her head curiously. "What happened to Yukai? I haven't heard from him in a while..."
"D-Yukai...?" Slowly but surely, Koneko's face went from curious to pure horror. "OH MY GOD! I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT HIM! I HAVEN'T CALLED HIM IN A WEEK!"
A chorus of exasperated sighs and sweat drops.
Koneko sprinted up to Mutashi. "Can I use your phone!?" she asked frantically. Mutashi took a step back.
"Don't let me stop you..."
"THANK YOU Mutashi!"
And with that Koneko went shooting down the hall towards the phone.
« Z «
"Now..." the mysterious blonde haired man said, his blue eyes peering down into the fearful brown ones. "Who are you....? And why have you brought me here?!"
Akutenshi was able to let a nervous laugh escape before boosting her confidences, setting a smirk on her face. "I'm the girl who just saved your butt! That's who!"
"Why?!"
"Oh I don't know..."
He thrust his hand forward more, as if he were really planning on shooting her with an energy blast that would kill her. Akutenshi frowned.
"I really don't understand you..." she muttered, crossing her arms. "You should be praising the ground I walk on... Not many can break an eternal sleep seal..."
The man gave a low grown, his frown seeming to grow with hate. "I could have gotten out of there..." he said, glaring at the young girl. Akutenshi frowned again.
"From what I've seen... Not in this millennium..." she replied dryly. The man arched his arm back and swung it around with out trying, striking her in the face with a harsh blow and sending her to the sanding ground. Akutenshi coughed up some sand that had entered her mouth and stood up wearily, amazed my his strength.
She raised her hand to the side of her face and held it softly, scowling slightly at the stinging pain in her cheek. "You jerk..." she hissed. "Ungrateful-" She stopped in mid sentence as a realization came over her. A realization of why he hadn't killed her... Why he had slapped her instead of blasting her...
"You can't use your powers... can you?" Akutenshi asked, looking at him carefully. The blonde haired man scowled, narrowing his icy blue eyes once more. Akutenshi gave a smile. "That means you can't kill me!"
"I can kill you with or without my powers..." he said coldly. Her smile turned into a smirk.
"Prove it..."
In a swift movement, the man lunged at her, fist arched back, and he swung it forward to bring the over-confident girl down. Akutenshi quickly pivoted to the side and dodged the attack, the man stumbling forward to a stop, cursing for missing such an easy target.
"What to try again?" Akutenshi asked with a mocking tone, still smirking. The man swung his fits again and Akutenshi ducked to escape it, then jumped as the man made a swift movement to try and kick her legs out form underneath her.
The moment Akutenshi's shoes touched the hot sand again, she sung her fits forward and impacted with the man's stomach. The man gave a strong groan at the punch and blinked in surprise. Akutenshi smirked once more. She took a step back and kicked her foot upwards, her heel hitting his chin and sending him flying backwards and into the sand.
The next thing the man was conscious of was that Akutenshi was standing over him, one foot on his chest, smirking down at him. "How lame..." she muttered, her brown hair falling over her shoulders. "A big man like to loosing to a little girl like me... You need to work on your fighting skills..."
The man tried to get up, but Akutenshi's foot pushed him back down. "Not so fast..." she muttered, frowning. "You are going to have to be a little more patient until I find a way off this island... And you'll obey my every word... or else... that clear?"
Silence fell between them.
"I said... Is that CLEAR!?"
"Fine..." he muttered with a curse. "Now do you mind telling me who you are...?"
"You can call me Akutenshi..."
"And I presume you can call me-"
"I already know your name..." Akutenshi interrupted. "Your name is Jadeite... First general under the rule of Queen Beryl... Am I right?" The man looked up shocked at Akutenshi.
"How do you know such things?!" Jadeite asked in anger.
"I know a lot about you... And let me tell you... a lot has chanced since your imprisonment... Nephlyte... Kunzite... and Zoicite are all dead... Queen Beryl and the Negaverse, destroyed by the Sailor Senshi..."
Jadeite listened in shock a what Akutenshi had to say, while she looked down at him with such a calm look on her face. "You're the only survivor..." she finished, still leaning her foot on the General's chest.
"And you freed me...?" Jadeite said, meaning it as a question. Akutenshi nodded. "Why?"
A smirk spread across her face. She raised a single finger to her lips. "That is a secret..." she replied. Jadeite couldn't help but smirk himself.
"You may be secretive about your purpose..." he mused. "But not about a certain something else..."
Akutenshi grew confused, then noticed her position that she held and made a realization... She was standing, one leg on his chest in a dress... A very tattered dress at that... Her face immediately grew red and she took a few steps back and kicked him in the side with tremendous force.
"YOU PERVERT!!!"
"OWE!"