S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya. All
other characters were thought up by me. Well, its true, isn't it?
Part Four
There is no Law
The young woman in the black dress stepped through the long,
dark marble halls of the Sacred House, unaware of the passing of
time. For her, time had long been a meaningless concept.
She had lived and breathed the darkness of these halls for
the vast majority of her life. Only recently was she being allowed
the pleasure of an outside life. A life in the light of day. Even
then, she was restricted from spending too much time in the sun.
The damaging rays was especially harmful to her delicate
constitution.
"And where might we be going this good evening?" She turned
to face the figure that stood within the shadow. A slow, deliberate
turn, for she recognised the voice immediately.
"I am to meet with my father, Sherrie, if it is of any
business to you."
The figure emerged from the dark. Another young woman, with
wavy fire-red hair, dressed in a complicated black-leather
minidress, wound around with a multitude of straps and lace. Her
fingernails were especially long and sharp, like the claws of a
predatory beast. In fact, everything about her read predatory.
Rumiko knew better.
"I see you have emerged from your sleep."
"What a pain." Sherrie stepped alongside Rumiko as she
continued on her way. "I hate the after-effects of the medication.
It leaves me feeling so drained."
"I do understand this. We must all tolerate this bane of our
existence, unless we are to give in to our impulses."
"Impulse schmimpulse." Sherrie threw her head back, crossing
her arms behind. "I still have the desire. I want to go out and
kill some..."
"Shhhh!" Rumiko grabbed Sherrie by the shoulder. "Not so
damn loud, you fool. You know this place has eyes and ears. If any
of the elders hear you speaking that way, they may reconsider your
place amongst us."
"I know, I know. Jeez, its not like I'm gonna go out and kill
anyone anytime soon." Sherrie huffed. "Besides.. They still need
me for my bloodline."
Rumiko nodded and they continued.
"Have you been paired, yet?" Rumiko asked, simply. Sherrie
frowned at her, shaking her head.
"Not yet. They have made some suggestions, but I'm holding
out for the time being. I'm not going to allow myself to become a
baby-making plant."
"We all have a destiny to fulfill, Sherrie. As women, we were
born to have babies. Its a basic aspect of our physiology"
"Not in my world." Sherrie sniffed. Rumiko rolled her eyes
and sighed, sadly.
"They'll pair you off one day. And you'll give birth to the
inheritors of your house."
"Only after I'm finshed with it." Sherrie looked at Rumiko,
touching her long, dark hair almost tenderly. Rumiko looked aside,
nervously.
"Not here. Not now." Rumiko whispered as they approached a
set of heavy, carved wooden doors. Sherrie put down her hand and
looked away.
The doors opened automatically, bringing into view the lighter
grey-marble shrine room beyond. In the centre of the room, a set of
stairs led up to an altar, where an effigy of a strange but humanoid
creature could be seen. Characters, written in a strange language,
were marked across the top and bottom of the effigy.
In the middle of the stairs, kneeling upon a rug, was a man
who looked as young as both Rumiko and Sherrie. For a few moments,
he stayed silent as the pair awaited their permission to enter.
Slowly, he half-turned to them, noticing their presence.
"You both smell delightful today, children." He said, softly.
"Please, do come in. I have been waiting for an audience with you
both."
Rumiko turned to Sherrie, who nodded.
"Thankyou, father." Rumiko bowed, followed by a less
submissive gesture on Sherrie's part. The pair wandered up to the
lower steps and knelt as Tani Genzaburo turned to his daughter and
friend.
"So, my child, you are now of the age of 21. An adult in the
eyes of the elders."
"Yes, my father."
"I have been told you have progressed well in the use of your
powers, and of the suppression of your desires." He turned to
Sherrie. "You have been of great support, Sherilyn Meehan."
"Ah, it was nothing. She was never going to act the rebel."
Rumiko winced at Sherrie's forthrightness. Gen was, however,
amused, chuckling. Now, at 65, and looking not a day older than
his own daughter, he had become used to the brusque nature of the
European breeds like Sherrie.
"You asked me here for a reason, father." Rumiko didn't have
the patience for idle chat, like her old man did. He sighed. There
was a lot she had yet to learn.
"Have either of you heard the name Kikotsuka Aoi?"
"Yes. She's a member of the SIU, correct?" Sherrie cocked
her head slightly.
"The one we've been watching for the last couple of months."
Rumiko was not to be outdone by Sherrie.
"Correct. Now, answer me this... Do you know WHY we have
been watching her?"
"Because she presented as a potential member of the house?"
Sherrie looked at him questioningly. "That was why the surveillance
began."
He nodded. "Yes, that is how it began, but now is a very
different situation. Being a member of the SIU, she was
investigating the activities of the Sailorsenshi."
"Something both she and the rest of the unit weren't very good
at." Rumiko smiled darkly. Her father wagged a finger at her.
"Now now now, don't be so hasty with your criticisms. Yes,
they haven't discovered the identites of the Sailorsenshi, but then,
neither have we, and we have had a great deal more in resources than
they ever had."
"That aside, what has changed?" Sherrie raised an eyebrow.
"You would not have asked us here unless something has changed in
our operation."
"The death of one of the Sailorsenshi, that is what."
Both Rumiko and Sherrie looked at each other, then back at
Gen. "This is for certain? I mean, it IS one of the Sailorsenshi?
We've had people masquerading as them before...." Rumiko queried.
Gen shook his head. "I'm afraid not. All the members of the
unit have confirmed that the victim involved was, indeed, a
Sailorsenshi."
"Victim?" Gen looked at Sherrie.
"Yes. Initially it appeared to be a suicide. But now it
appears the scene was nothing more than a setup. The members of the
SIU are experts in identifying the Sailorsenshi from the numerous
photographs and witnesses' artist impressions.... All of them
positively identified her."
"Which one was it? Which one was killed?" Sherrie punched a
fist in her other hand.
"Now now now... There have been some conflicting reports from
the police involved in this investigation. It would seem someone is
attempting to fudge the issue somewhat. Why, I'm not certain.
Perhaps in the identity of the senshi lies a clue to the identities
of the others, and those who oppose us don't wish for us to find out
quite so quickly."
"But nobody has ever been able to identify them from even the
best of photographic evidence... Why should things be any different
now?"
"Well, for a start, we've long believed that their real-life
identities have been suppressed by some form of magic. This is why
nobody has been able to put two and two together. Not even those
who have studied their senshi likenesses intensely, like the SIU.
However, one particular member of the SIU has qualities that set
her apart from the others."
"Kikotsuka Aoi, in other words." Gen turned to Rumiko and
nodded.
"Yes.... She is different, for the same reasons we have been
watching her all this time. She is one of us. A cross breed. And
a particularly esoteric one, at that."
"A Mind Predator." Sherrie looked down. "One of the reasons
we've had to be careful in our observations. If she so much as
discovered their presence, she might have unwittingly wiped them."
"Indeed. Now what do you think would happen when this woman
comes face to face with a force of magic trying to stop her mind
from interpreting the identities of the Sailorsenshi...?"
"That magic would be erased." Rumiko warmed to the subject.
Gen nodded.
"The magic would indeed be erased. And almost instantaneously
the identity of the Sailorsenshi would be stripped before her eyes."
"So why hasn't it been, up to now..." Sherrie moved with
irritation. She hated these long, drawn-out explanations.
"Because she would have had to have seen the senshi in her
real-life form to make a comparison, or seen them on the street.
Only then would her abilities have kicked in."
"So? The dead sesnhi was still in her senshi form. Unless
the senshi changed back after her death, the status quo would have
remained."
"But the magic protecting her identity would weaken. And,
within a very short space of time, the Kikotsuka woman's abilities
would break through. And with that will come the revelation of, if
not the victim, then one of the others. Almost like she would be
drawn to finding that identity..."
"So where is she now? Has she found the identity of one of
them, yet?" Sherrie smiled, rubbing her chin.
"It would seem so, if the reports from our people on the
street are anything to go by. Right now, she is in Juuban. We can
only guess at what she hopes to find there...."
The Atashi Apartments were a small complex of about thirty or
so. Well, small for the Juuban area... There were some mightily
big complexes here of up to 1,000 places, mostly fronting the main
roads. The Atashis were, however, off the beaten track. If one
could describe somewhere in Tokyo as being off the beaten track.
She'd parked across from the entrance to the apartment
complex's carpark. As to be expected at this time of the morning,
everything was pretty quiet, although there were one or two people
up... What with the working day rush only two hours away, some
early birds were already planning their assault on the public
transport system.
Aoi must have watched for at least half an hour, totally lost
in thought as misty rain fell against the windows of her car. How
was she going to go about this? Wake up the owners of the
apartments and ask them to let her into the girl's unit? Hardly.
Perhaps simply break in... That sounded more her cup of tea.
She opened the door to her car and stepped out into the rain,
pulling her jacket tighter around her. She closed and locked the
car behind her and slowly stepped through the darkness to the
entrance of the apartments.
The girl's place was on the upper level of the complex, at the
far end corner.... Fairly private. Aoi raised an eyebrow. Just as
well, all things considered. Slowly, and quietly, she made her way
up the staircase and along the pathway to the last door.
Looking around, she pulled out a set of keys from the pocket
of her jacket. These had come in handy during her time.... Keys to
open any lock imaginable, even electronic locks.... Thanks to one
of the city's leading Yakuza family bosses... For "service
rendered", so to speak. Sometimes, even in doing no more than your
job, you end up handing others what they want on a silver platter.
After trying a half dozen keys, there was a satisfying click
in the locking mechanism. Slowly, she opened the door. No chain
hitched up to stop the door. Well, not that she expected there to
be.... But still.
She pushed the door wide open and stared into the darkness
within. She was greeted with silence, bar the humming of what had
to have been a refridgerator. She took a breath and stepped in.
Closing the door behind her, she scanned the room. A small
entrance with step up to leave shoes, followed by a loungeroom.
Off to the left was a doorway to the kitchen, and a second to the
bathroom/laundry. On the right was a door to the bedroom.
She stepped over to the open doorway of the bedroom and peered
in. Empty. The bed was untouched. She turned back to the doorway
to the kitchen and padded over. She could smell the lingering aroma
of freash cooking. Sitting on the table were an assortment of small
cakes, left to cool after being taken from the oven. She picked one
up and sniffed it. A nice, sweet smell entered her nostrils. Well,
she knew one thing about this girl... Apart from being a
Sailorsenshi, she was a damn fine cook.
Aoi bit into the cake and munched on it appreciatively as she
wandered back into the loungeroom. It was then she noticed the
flashing light on the answering machine, sitting on a small table on
the side of the room.
She stepped over, taking another bite out of the cake, and
pressed the message button. It beeped four times, then began to
rewind.... So, four messages, eh? Aoi pulled out a notebook and
a pencil, and stood a short distance away, where she could catch
some of the streetlight coming in through the front window. She
considered turning on the lights, but she didn't want the attention,
yet, so left things as they were.
"Hi, you've reached Mako-chan's phone. I'm sorry, but I can't
answer at the moment. So can you please leave your name, your
message and a contact phone number, if required, after the tone.
I'll get back to you as soon as possible."
*BEEP*
"Mako-chan, this is Usagi-chan. Don't forget the meeting
tonight, after your college courses. We really need to talk to
you about things. About what happened yesterday between Setsuna
and you. Please... I don't like to see any of you fighting. Well,
seeya then."
Usagi-chan... Rabbit? Jeez, what a name. Well, whatever
the case, it was interesting that there was going to be some
meeting yesterday... Between the Sailorsenshi? Or something more
domestic. From what she'd heard, it sounded like a domestic kind of
squabble going on.
*BEEP*
"Mako-chan? This is Kensuke. We have got a delivery in for
you. See us after college tonight. Don't be late."
Oh, now THAT was interesting. A man's voice this time.
Young, too. As young as those who had been seen hiring the hotel
room where the senshi's body had been found. She wondered about
that one. She jotted down the name underneath Usagi.
*BEEP*
"Damn!"
Well, nothing like keeping things short and sweet there. A
woman's voice, kind of soft, too. She bit her lip and thought about
it as the next message came through.
*BEEP*
"Mako-chan, its Usagi again. Where were you? And, for that
matter, where was everyone else? The only people who showed up
tonight was myself and Rei-chan. What the hell is going on bewteen
you all? I can't even get in touch with Ami-chan, Mina-chan,
Haruka-san and Michiru-san.... The only one I COULD get in touch
with was Setsuna-san.... She was held up because of her work. But
you...? Please, Mako-chan.. Call me... I'm really worried, now."
Hmmm... Interesting. A fall-out between the Sailorsenshi?
And if so, over what? She bit her lip and replayed that message so
she could get all the names written down....
She sat down on the lounge suite and rubbed her chin,
thinking. So, now there was a possibility that the other
Sailorsenshi could regard one of their member's no-show as an act of
defiant petulance, in which case, it was exceedingly unlikely that
any of them knew she was dead.
Except, maybe, Pluto. She thought about it hard. That third
message.. The soft voice of a woman, could have been her. She
stood and replayed that simple, one word message.
*BEEP*
"Damn!"
She stopped the machine, rewound it, and played it again.
*BEEP*
"Damn!"
She closed her eyes as the exclamation played through. Then
she felt an image flash through her mind.... An image of Pluto,
holding a phone, a young girl with dark hair standing behind her,
looking worried. "Damn!" Said the woman, and put down the phone.
Aoi opened her eyes and stopped the machine before the fourth
message played through. She felt pretty elated. The woman had....
Dark green hair.... Just like Pluto. Had to have. And the girl
who was standing behind her... Had to have been that weird Saturn.
Aoi rubbed hr head. What the hell was going on here? How did
she know this? What the hell had happened just then?
she was about to sit back down on the lounge suite, when the
phone rang. She stood there, looking somewhat confused. What to
do, what to do? The answering machine wasn't going to answer this
time.
In a fit of madness, or some divine drive, she picked up the
receiver. "Hello?" She said in a voice so constrained that it was
barely a squeak.
"Ah, hello. I've been expecting you." A woman's voice.
"Who is this?" Aoi asked, no less nervous than before.
"Silly. I thought that would have been obvious. To you, at
least." The woman chuckled.
"Pluto...." Aoi frowned. "So, you do know what has
happened?" She kicked herself. The woman chuckled at the other
end.
"Know what? What has happened? I'm sorry, but I..."
Aoi became angry. "So, Pluto, how did you know I was here,
eh? Did you foresee my being here, eh?"
At first, Aoi thought the woman's silence was mischievous.
But the voice that replied was genuinely confused. "I... I did
see you... in my mind.. just then..."
"Hmm...." Aoi nodded. "Are you trying to feed me a line?"
"N.. No... I... I'm not.."
"Oh, spit it out, woman! I haven't all day."
Pluto hung up. Aoi stared at the receiver, stunned. Well, of
all the nerve! What was the purpose of her calling in the first
place? To tell her she knew what was going on? Well, she didn't
exactly present the most confident front, if that was the
purpose....
She thought about it a bit more as she put the receiver down.
Pluto was a master manipulator. From what little evidence that had
been gathered on her dealings with those outside the senshi, she was
skilled in psychological manipulation and intimidation. That was
what that phone call had been about.... An attempt to intimidate
her out of investigating any further into the Sailorsenshi, or an
attempt to place suggestions into her mind, to get her to find the
killer of her comrade....
She shook her head. It was as if these surmisings were being
fed into her mind from an outside source. She steadied herself and
tried not to think too hard.
So, if that had been Pluto's intention... Something which she
had failed to do... What was next on the cards? She knew,
immediately. Personal intervention!
Aoi threw the pad and pencil into her pocket and raced for the
door, throwing it open. She stared around the complex for any sign
of a figure. She saw nothing. Quickly, she shut the door and
locked it, a procedure which took longer than she'd anticipated
since she had to find the right key, first.
After that, she ran along the pathway and down the stairs.
She couldn't be damned if anyone heard her. The last thing she
wanted to do right now was meet Pluto, face to face.
She ran across the street and unlocked her car, throwing the
door open. It was then that she felt the hairs on the back of her
neck stand. Slowly, she looked to her left.
She was silhouetted in the streetlight, but there was no
argument who the figure was. Aoi let out a panicked yelp and
jumped into the car as the figure began to step forwards. She
slammed the door and jammed the keys in the keyhole.
She turned the keys, and nothing happened. She turned them
again and the car turned over. She selected a gear and looked in
the mirror. The figure wasn't there. That could only mean...
There was a tap on her window, and she looked up into the dark
eyes of a shadowed face. She let out a cry and jammed her foot on
the accelarator. The car sped off, skidding, the figure having to
back away from the car as the rear tailed towards her.
Aoi watched as the figure disappeared into the distance. The
figure, dressed in that senshi fuku, holding the large staff that
bore an amazing resemblance to a large key. She began to breathe
easier as she turned to her left.
That was TOO close, she thought. If I'm gonna face them, its
gonna be on MY terms, not theirs.
After several minutes, she pulled the car up at a set of
lights, and collapsed over the steering wheel, breathing heavily.
She began to chuckle to herself, unable to believe her blind luck.
Slowly, she looked back into the rear-view mirror. Nothing there.
Well, Pluto would have to be DAMN good to follow a moving object
around with those transportation powers of hers.
So where should she go now? Back to the SIU office? If there
was anywhere she could expect Pluto to follow her, it was there.
But where else was there she COULD go?
The lights turned green, and she pulled away. The lights had
a soporific effect on her, calming her stressed mind. She looked
into her rear-view mirror again, her naturally high-strung nervous
state not allowing her quite the rest she really needed after that
kind of experience.
There was somebody in the back seat!
Oh SHIT!
She spun her head to look at the figure. The first thing she
noticed was that it wasn't Pluto. Second, the girl was smiling.
"Hello." The girl said. "That was a nice getaway. I
couldn't have done it better myse... Hey, keep an eye on the road!"
The girl pointed forwards, and Aoi looked around. She was
approaching a T-junction at some speed.
She let out a short cry and jammed on the brakes. Her head
flew forward and hit the steering wheel, solidly enough for her to
see stars. The car came to a sudden stop, missing a guardrail by
inches.
The girl opened the rear left door and stood from the car,
rubbing her head with embarrassment. "Uh, I guess she took that
worse than I expected." She looked into the car at the semi-
concious Aoi.
"What am I going to do with her?"
END OF PART 4
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net
24th Feb 1998
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya. All
other characters were thought up by me. Well, its true, isn't it?
Part Four
There is no Law
The young woman in the black dress stepped through the long,
dark marble halls of the Sacred House, unaware of the passing of
time. For her, time had long been a meaningless concept.
She had lived and breathed the darkness of these halls for
the vast majority of her life. Only recently was she being allowed
the pleasure of an outside life. A life in the light of day. Even
then, she was restricted from spending too much time in the sun.
The damaging rays was especially harmful to her delicate
constitution.
"And where might we be going this good evening?" She turned
to face the figure that stood within the shadow. A slow, deliberate
turn, for she recognised the voice immediately.
"I am to meet with my father, Sherrie, if it is of any
business to you."
The figure emerged from the dark. Another young woman, with
wavy fire-red hair, dressed in a complicated black-leather
minidress, wound around with a multitude of straps and lace. Her
fingernails were especially long and sharp, like the claws of a
predatory beast. In fact, everything about her read predatory.
Rumiko knew better.
"I see you have emerged from your sleep."
"What a pain." Sherrie stepped alongside Rumiko as she
continued on her way. "I hate the after-effects of the medication.
It leaves me feeling so drained."
"I do understand this. We must all tolerate this bane of our
existence, unless we are to give in to our impulses."
"Impulse schmimpulse." Sherrie threw her head back, crossing
her arms behind. "I still have the desire. I want to go out and
kill some..."
"Shhhh!" Rumiko grabbed Sherrie by the shoulder. "Not so
damn loud, you fool. You know this place has eyes and ears. If any
of the elders hear you speaking that way, they may reconsider your
place amongst us."
"I know, I know. Jeez, its not like I'm gonna go out and kill
anyone anytime soon." Sherrie huffed. "Besides.. They still need
me for my bloodline."
Rumiko nodded and they continued.
"Have you been paired, yet?" Rumiko asked, simply. Sherrie
frowned at her, shaking her head.
"Not yet. They have made some suggestions, but I'm holding
out for the time being. I'm not going to allow myself to become a
baby-making plant."
"We all have a destiny to fulfill, Sherrie. As women, we were
born to have babies. Its a basic aspect of our physiology"
"Not in my world." Sherrie sniffed. Rumiko rolled her eyes
and sighed, sadly.
"They'll pair you off one day. And you'll give birth to the
inheritors of your house."
"Only after I'm finshed with it." Sherrie looked at Rumiko,
touching her long, dark hair almost tenderly. Rumiko looked aside,
nervously.
"Not here. Not now." Rumiko whispered as they approached a
set of heavy, carved wooden doors. Sherrie put down her hand and
looked away.
The doors opened automatically, bringing into view the lighter
grey-marble shrine room beyond. In the centre of the room, a set of
stairs led up to an altar, where an effigy of a strange but humanoid
creature could be seen. Characters, written in a strange language,
were marked across the top and bottom of the effigy.
In the middle of the stairs, kneeling upon a rug, was a man
who looked as young as both Rumiko and Sherrie. For a few moments,
he stayed silent as the pair awaited their permission to enter.
Slowly, he half-turned to them, noticing their presence.
"You both smell delightful today, children." He said, softly.
"Please, do come in. I have been waiting for an audience with you
both."
Rumiko turned to Sherrie, who nodded.
"Thankyou, father." Rumiko bowed, followed by a less
submissive gesture on Sherrie's part. The pair wandered up to the
lower steps and knelt as Tani Genzaburo turned to his daughter and
friend.
"So, my child, you are now of the age of 21. An adult in the
eyes of the elders."
"Yes, my father."
"I have been told you have progressed well in the use of your
powers, and of the suppression of your desires." He turned to
Sherrie. "You have been of great support, Sherilyn Meehan."
"Ah, it was nothing. She was never going to act the rebel."
Rumiko winced at Sherrie's forthrightness. Gen was, however,
amused, chuckling. Now, at 65, and looking not a day older than
his own daughter, he had become used to the brusque nature of the
European breeds like Sherrie.
"You asked me here for a reason, father." Rumiko didn't have
the patience for idle chat, like her old man did. He sighed. There
was a lot she had yet to learn.
"Have either of you heard the name Kikotsuka Aoi?"
"Yes. She's a member of the SIU, correct?" Sherrie cocked
her head slightly.
"The one we've been watching for the last couple of months."
Rumiko was not to be outdone by Sherrie.
"Correct. Now, answer me this... Do you know WHY we have
been watching her?"
"Because she presented as a potential member of the house?"
Sherrie looked at him questioningly. "That was why the surveillance
began."
He nodded. "Yes, that is how it began, but now is a very
different situation. Being a member of the SIU, she was
investigating the activities of the Sailorsenshi."
"Something both she and the rest of the unit weren't very good
at." Rumiko smiled darkly. Her father wagged a finger at her.
"Now now now, don't be so hasty with your criticisms. Yes,
they haven't discovered the identites of the Sailorsenshi, but then,
neither have we, and we have had a great deal more in resources than
they ever had."
"That aside, what has changed?" Sherrie raised an eyebrow.
"You would not have asked us here unless something has changed in
our operation."
"The death of one of the Sailorsenshi, that is what."
Both Rumiko and Sherrie looked at each other, then back at
Gen. "This is for certain? I mean, it IS one of the Sailorsenshi?
We've had people masquerading as them before...." Rumiko queried.
Gen shook his head. "I'm afraid not. All the members of the
unit have confirmed that the victim involved was, indeed, a
Sailorsenshi."
"Victim?" Gen looked at Sherrie.
"Yes. Initially it appeared to be a suicide. But now it
appears the scene was nothing more than a setup. The members of the
SIU are experts in identifying the Sailorsenshi from the numerous
photographs and witnesses' artist impressions.... All of them
positively identified her."
"Which one was it? Which one was killed?" Sherrie punched a
fist in her other hand.
"Now now now... There have been some conflicting reports from
the police involved in this investigation. It would seem someone is
attempting to fudge the issue somewhat. Why, I'm not certain.
Perhaps in the identity of the senshi lies a clue to the identities
of the others, and those who oppose us don't wish for us to find out
quite so quickly."
"But nobody has ever been able to identify them from even the
best of photographic evidence... Why should things be any different
now?"
"Well, for a start, we've long believed that their real-life
identities have been suppressed by some form of magic. This is why
nobody has been able to put two and two together. Not even those
who have studied their senshi likenesses intensely, like the SIU.
However, one particular member of the SIU has qualities that set
her apart from the others."
"Kikotsuka Aoi, in other words." Gen turned to Rumiko and
nodded.
"Yes.... She is different, for the same reasons we have been
watching her all this time. She is one of us. A cross breed. And
a particularly esoteric one, at that."
"A Mind Predator." Sherrie looked down. "One of the reasons
we've had to be careful in our observations. If she so much as
discovered their presence, she might have unwittingly wiped them."
"Indeed. Now what do you think would happen when this woman
comes face to face with a force of magic trying to stop her mind
from interpreting the identities of the Sailorsenshi...?"
"That magic would be erased." Rumiko warmed to the subject.
Gen nodded.
"The magic would indeed be erased. And almost instantaneously
the identity of the Sailorsenshi would be stripped before her eyes."
"So why hasn't it been, up to now..." Sherrie moved with
irritation. She hated these long, drawn-out explanations.
"Because she would have had to have seen the senshi in her
real-life form to make a comparison, or seen them on the street.
Only then would her abilities have kicked in."
"So? The dead sesnhi was still in her senshi form. Unless
the senshi changed back after her death, the status quo would have
remained."
"But the magic protecting her identity would weaken. And,
within a very short space of time, the Kikotsuka woman's abilities
would break through. And with that will come the revelation of, if
not the victim, then one of the others. Almost like she would be
drawn to finding that identity..."
"So where is she now? Has she found the identity of one of
them, yet?" Sherrie smiled, rubbing her chin.
"It would seem so, if the reports from our people on the
street are anything to go by. Right now, she is in Juuban. We can
only guess at what she hopes to find there...."
The Atashi Apartments were a small complex of about thirty or
so. Well, small for the Juuban area... There were some mightily
big complexes here of up to 1,000 places, mostly fronting the main
roads. The Atashis were, however, off the beaten track. If one
could describe somewhere in Tokyo as being off the beaten track.
She'd parked across from the entrance to the apartment
complex's carpark. As to be expected at this time of the morning,
everything was pretty quiet, although there were one or two people
up... What with the working day rush only two hours away, some
early birds were already planning their assault on the public
transport system.
Aoi must have watched for at least half an hour, totally lost
in thought as misty rain fell against the windows of her car. How
was she going to go about this? Wake up the owners of the
apartments and ask them to let her into the girl's unit? Hardly.
Perhaps simply break in... That sounded more her cup of tea.
She opened the door to her car and stepped out into the rain,
pulling her jacket tighter around her. She closed and locked the
car behind her and slowly stepped through the darkness to the
entrance of the apartments.
The girl's place was on the upper level of the complex, at the
far end corner.... Fairly private. Aoi raised an eyebrow. Just as
well, all things considered. Slowly, and quietly, she made her way
up the staircase and along the pathway to the last door.
Looking around, she pulled out a set of keys from the pocket
of her jacket. These had come in handy during her time.... Keys to
open any lock imaginable, even electronic locks.... Thanks to one
of the city's leading Yakuza family bosses... For "service
rendered", so to speak. Sometimes, even in doing no more than your
job, you end up handing others what they want on a silver platter.
After trying a half dozen keys, there was a satisfying click
in the locking mechanism. Slowly, she opened the door. No chain
hitched up to stop the door. Well, not that she expected there to
be.... But still.
She pushed the door wide open and stared into the darkness
within. She was greeted with silence, bar the humming of what had
to have been a refridgerator. She took a breath and stepped in.
Closing the door behind her, she scanned the room. A small
entrance with step up to leave shoes, followed by a loungeroom.
Off to the left was a doorway to the kitchen, and a second to the
bathroom/laundry. On the right was a door to the bedroom.
She stepped over to the open doorway of the bedroom and peered
in. Empty. The bed was untouched. She turned back to the doorway
to the kitchen and padded over. She could smell the lingering aroma
of freash cooking. Sitting on the table were an assortment of small
cakes, left to cool after being taken from the oven. She picked one
up and sniffed it. A nice, sweet smell entered her nostrils. Well,
she knew one thing about this girl... Apart from being a
Sailorsenshi, she was a damn fine cook.
Aoi bit into the cake and munched on it appreciatively as she
wandered back into the loungeroom. It was then she noticed the
flashing light on the answering machine, sitting on a small table on
the side of the room.
She stepped over, taking another bite out of the cake, and
pressed the message button. It beeped four times, then began to
rewind.... So, four messages, eh? Aoi pulled out a notebook and
a pencil, and stood a short distance away, where she could catch
some of the streetlight coming in through the front window. She
considered turning on the lights, but she didn't want the attention,
yet, so left things as they were.
"Hi, you've reached Mako-chan's phone. I'm sorry, but I can't
answer at the moment. So can you please leave your name, your
message and a contact phone number, if required, after the tone.
I'll get back to you as soon as possible."
*BEEP*
"Mako-chan, this is Usagi-chan. Don't forget the meeting
tonight, after your college courses. We really need to talk to
you about things. About what happened yesterday between Setsuna
and you. Please... I don't like to see any of you fighting. Well,
seeya then."
Usagi-chan... Rabbit? Jeez, what a name. Well, whatever
the case, it was interesting that there was going to be some
meeting yesterday... Between the Sailorsenshi? Or something more
domestic. From what she'd heard, it sounded like a domestic kind of
squabble going on.
*BEEP*
"Mako-chan? This is Kensuke. We have got a delivery in for
you. See us after college tonight. Don't be late."
Oh, now THAT was interesting. A man's voice this time.
Young, too. As young as those who had been seen hiring the hotel
room where the senshi's body had been found. She wondered about
that one. She jotted down the name underneath Usagi.
*BEEP*
"Damn!"
Well, nothing like keeping things short and sweet there. A
woman's voice, kind of soft, too. She bit her lip and thought about
it as the next message came through.
*BEEP*
"Mako-chan, its Usagi again. Where were you? And, for that
matter, where was everyone else? The only people who showed up
tonight was myself and Rei-chan. What the hell is going on bewteen
you all? I can't even get in touch with Ami-chan, Mina-chan,
Haruka-san and Michiru-san.... The only one I COULD get in touch
with was Setsuna-san.... She was held up because of her work. But
you...? Please, Mako-chan.. Call me... I'm really worried, now."
Hmmm... Interesting. A fall-out between the Sailorsenshi?
And if so, over what? She bit her lip and replayed that message so
she could get all the names written down....
She sat down on the lounge suite and rubbed her chin,
thinking. So, now there was a possibility that the other
Sailorsenshi could regard one of their member's no-show as an act of
defiant petulance, in which case, it was exceedingly unlikely that
any of them knew she was dead.
Except, maybe, Pluto. She thought about it hard. That third
message.. The soft voice of a woman, could have been her. She
stood and replayed that simple, one word message.
*BEEP*
"Damn!"
She stopped the machine, rewound it, and played it again.
*BEEP*
"Damn!"
She closed her eyes as the exclamation played through. Then
she felt an image flash through her mind.... An image of Pluto,
holding a phone, a young girl with dark hair standing behind her,
looking worried. "Damn!" Said the woman, and put down the phone.
Aoi opened her eyes and stopped the machine before the fourth
message played through. She felt pretty elated. The woman had....
Dark green hair.... Just like Pluto. Had to have. And the girl
who was standing behind her... Had to have been that weird Saturn.
Aoi rubbed hr head. What the hell was going on here? How did
she know this? What the hell had happened just then?
she was about to sit back down on the lounge suite, when the
phone rang. She stood there, looking somewhat confused. What to
do, what to do? The answering machine wasn't going to answer this
time.
In a fit of madness, or some divine drive, she picked up the
receiver. "Hello?" She said in a voice so constrained that it was
barely a squeak.
"Ah, hello. I've been expecting you." A woman's voice.
"Who is this?" Aoi asked, no less nervous than before.
"Silly. I thought that would have been obvious. To you, at
least." The woman chuckled.
"Pluto...." Aoi frowned. "So, you do know what has
happened?" She kicked herself. The woman chuckled at the other
end.
"Know what? What has happened? I'm sorry, but I..."
Aoi became angry. "So, Pluto, how did you know I was here,
eh? Did you foresee my being here, eh?"
At first, Aoi thought the woman's silence was mischievous.
But the voice that replied was genuinely confused. "I... I did
see you... in my mind.. just then..."
"Hmm...." Aoi nodded. "Are you trying to feed me a line?"
"N.. No... I... I'm not.."
"Oh, spit it out, woman! I haven't all day."
Pluto hung up. Aoi stared at the receiver, stunned. Well, of
all the nerve! What was the purpose of her calling in the first
place? To tell her she knew what was going on? Well, she didn't
exactly present the most confident front, if that was the
purpose....
She thought about it a bit more as she put the receiver down.
Pluto was a master manipulator. From what little evidence that had
been gathered on her dealings with those outside the senshi, she was
skilled in psychological manipulation and intimidation. That was
what that phone call had been about.... An attempt to intimidate
her out of investigating any further into the Sailorsenshi, or an
attempt to place suggestions into her mind, to get her to find the
killer of her comrade....
She shook her head. It was as if these surmisings were being
fed into her mind from an outside source. She steadied herself and
tried not to think too hard.
So, if that had been Pluto's intention... Something which she
had failed to do... What was next on the cards? She knew,
immediately. Personal intervention!
Aoi threw the pad and pencil into her pocket and raced for the
door, throwing it open. She stared around the complex for any sign
of a figure. She saw nothing. Quickly, she shut the door and
locked it, a procedure which took longer than she'd anticipated
since she had to find the right key, first.
After that, she ran along the pathway and down the stairs.
She couldn't be damned if anyone heard her. The last thing she
wanted to do right now was meet Pluto, face to face.
She ran across the street and unlocked her car, throwing the
door open. It was then that she felt the hairs on the back of her
neck stand. Slowly, she looked to her left.
She was silhouetted in the streetlight, but there was no
argument who the figure was. Aoi let out a panicked yelp and
jumped into the car as the figure began to step forwards. She
slammed the door and jammed the keys in the keyhole.
She turned the keys, and nothing happened. She turned them
again and the car turned over. She selected a gear and looked in
the mirror. The figure wasn't there. That could only mean...
There was a tap on her window, and she looked up into the dark
eyes of a shadowed face. She let out a cry and jammed her foot on
the accelarator. The car sped off, skidding, the figure having to
back away from the car as the rear tailed towards her.
Aoi watched as the figure disappeared into the distance. The
figure, dressed in that senshi fuku, holding the large staff that
bore an amazing resemblance to a large key. She began to breathe
easier as she turned to her left.
That was TOO close, she thought. If I'm gonna face them, its
gonna be on MY terms, not theirs.
After several minutes, she pulled the car up at a set of
lights, and collapsed over the steering wheel, breathing heavily.
She began to chuckle to herself, unable to believe her blind luck.
Slowly, she looked back into the rear-view mirror. Nothing there.
Well, Pluto would have to be DAMN good to follow a moving object
around with those transportation powers of hers.
So where should she go now? Back to the SIU office? If there
was anywhere she could expect Pluto to follow her, it was there.
But where else was there she COULD go?
The lights turned green, and she pulled away. The lights had
a soporific effect on her, calming her stressed mind. She looked
into her rear-view mirror again, her naturally high-strung nervous
state not allowing her quite the rest she really needed after that
kind of experience.
There was somebody in the back seat!
Oh SHIT!
She spun her head to look at the figure. The first thing she
noticed was that it wasn't Pluto. Second, the girl was smiling.
"Hello." The girl said. "That was a nice getaway. I
couldn't have done it better myse... Hey, keep an eye on the road!"
The girl pointed forwards, and Aoi looked around. She was
approaching a T-junction at some speed.
She let out a short cry and jammed on the brakes. Her head
flew forward and hit the steering wheel, solidly enough for her to
see stars. The car came to a sudden stop, missing a guardrail by
inches.
The girl opened the rear left door and stood from the car,
rubbing her head with embarrassment. "Uh, I guess she took that
worse than I expected." She looked into the car at the semi-
concious Aoi.
"What am I going to do with her?"
END OF PART 4
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net
24th Feb 1998