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 Six
Concerto for a Rainy Day
Usagi had had a pathetically miserable morning, but somehow
managed to convince a great many people she was still cheerful.
*click* *reeee*
After getting up early... a newfound responsibility having
entered her lifestyle.. after all, with as much on her plate in her
life, one would expect her to start being a good role model at some
stage (that's what she thought, anyway)... she had opened her
windows on the new morning to see that the sun might as well not
have come up at all.
*click* *reeee*
Thick, dark grey clouds. So dark, some of them looked a
peculiar shade of purple. It made her feel even more miserable
after the events of the previous day, where she had failed to make
contact with most of the people she considered to be her friends.
*click* *reeee*
Things had gone very strange amongst them over the past few
months. There had been arguments that she was not personally
involved with between certain members, culminating in something
close to an all-in brawl between Makoto, Minako, Haruka and Setsuna
a couple of days ago.
*click* *reeee*
She had to intervene that time. Neither Rei nor Ami seemed
willing to, and she wasn't surprised. Hotaru, as usual, had
remained aloof. Either she was as much in the dark over what these
arguments were about as Usagi was, or she just didn't care.
*click* *reeee*
The only one who had even tried to help her pull the idiots
apart had been Michiru, more because she was concerned for Haruka's
safety than anything else. After all, the both of them had to drag
the unfortunate tomboy from a headlock provided courtesy of Minako.
Usagi never knew Minako was capable of that kind of thing, and
certainly not on Haruka.
*click* *reeee*
After that, their meeting went to pieces. And Usagi had only
just arrived! It was somewhat inconsiderate of them. They didn't
even tell her what the fight had been about when she demanded
explanations from them.
*click* *reeee*
With Mamoru overseas on a post grad study tour, she had been
left alone to deal with the problem herself. She demanded, using
her position as Princess Serenity, that they all meet once more the
next day to explain what was going on. The only people to show up
were Rei (unsurprisingly, since it was held at her shrine) and
Setsuna, who seemed unwilling to explain anything unless the others
were there. (How surprising that Setsuna was unwilling to explain
anything, thought Usagi dubiously). Despite all her best efforts to
contact the missing participants, she had not received any replies.
*click* *reeee*
And now, here she was, skipping her own college classes that
she'd managed to fluke to get into, standing out the front of
Makoto's apartment block, wondering why the hell she should be
doing this kind of thing.
*click* *reeee*
And she had the strangest feeling she was being watched.
Well, whatever the case, she was going to get answers, even if she
had to threaten them with bapping the Ginzuishou over their heads!
She stormed in through the front entrance and up the stairwell,
along the path to the door to Makoto's apartment.
And the door was open.
Not wide open. Just ajar. And she could hear voices within.
She shivered for a moment. She could feel something was wrong,
here. Slowly, she put her hand on the door and pushed it open....
"Usagi?"
"Princess?"
Hotaru and Setsuna turned to her, blinking. They stood in the
middle of a loungeroom that had been comprehensively demolished.
"Wh... What are you two doing in here?"
"We came to speak with Makoto. This is what we found."
Hotaru said simply, gesturing around the room. "I take it you had a
similar idea?"
"Umm..." Usagi stepped in slowly. "Where is Mako-chan?"
"Don't know. There wasn't anybody in here when we got here."
She shrugged and bent down to pick through the wreckage of the
furniture on the floor. "Aww... Its that vase she made in her
pottery class... it was so nice, too." She picked up pieces of
glazed ceramic, staring at them sadly.
Usagi levelled her gaze at Setsuna, who looked as if she'd
just been struck by high energy laser beams. "Setsunaaaa!"
"It wasn't me, Princess. I'm not the sort to do this kind of
thing." Usagi looked at her dubiously.
"It's rather ironic that I find you here so soon after the pair
of you tried to throttle each other."
Setsuna sighed. "I came here after I sensed someone with
magical powers trying to scan my mind whilst I was asleep last
night. It came from Makoto's apartment, so I rang here, and a woman
answered. She has... Strange powers." Setsuna bit her lip. "She
almost caught me off guard, like her thoughts were feeding off mine,
so I decided to come here to meet her, face to face. But she got
away. I left to bring Hotaru along, but when I got back..." She
gestured to the room, helplessly.
"So, this woman was involved in trashing Mako-chan's place?"
Usagi wandered in, looking around. Setsuna shrugged.
"I'm not sure. It seemed that someone was looking for
something. There are quite a few items missing. Not to mention
Makoto herself. Where she might be, I have no idea. I still
haven't been able to contact the others."
"Same here." Usagi looked worriedly. "Could something have
happened to them?"
"I'm not sure. If it has anything to do with what was going
on between them..." Setsuna cleared her throat, turning away as if
she'd said too much. Usagi grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Setsuna..." She muttered, threateningly. "Are you trying to
hide something from me?" Hotaru watched the both of them as Setsuna
closed her eyes, sighing.
"We had a fight because I'd confronted them.... They had
been... When we were involved in breaking up the Yakuza family,
we'd made some connections... I thought they'd break off those
connections once that was over... It seems I was wrong."
Usagi frowned... "What does THAT mean?"
"It means we could all be up shit creek." Hotaru turned as
Usagi stared at her. She continued rifling through the debris as if
nothing was happening.
Aoi sat on the railings that lined the front steps of the SIU
office next to Kaji. The both of them were staring, absently, at
those steps.
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? For that matter, why
didn't you tell the Chief?"
"Do you think anyone is going to believe me?"
"Well, considering that it appears the Senshi are involved,
somehow, it might be possible...." He shook his head. That was
enough of a sign for Aoi.
"I only told you because you used to look into these kinds of
groups. Have your ever heard of one called the Sacred House
before?"
"I've heard the name mentioned in passing, although I've not
heard anything about their activities. Not negative ones, anyway."
Aoi sighed. "And are there any groups who may be opposed to
them?" Kaji shrugged.
"As I said. I know next to jack about them. All I've heard
is that they were a kind of old world religious cult, going back a
very long way. That and the fact that they're not strictly
Japanese, even though they had their roots here." He chuckled.
"Well, I never thought anyone would be looking in your direction
as future candidate for Magic Girl of the Month."
"Don't be stupid, Kaji. I'm kinda freaked out about all this.
I mean, I've got some weirdo group looking up my family tree cos
they think I might be good breeding stock for them, with the
possibility that they have enemies with less scruples who are doing
the same thing." She put a hand to her face and Kaji looked at
her worriedly.
"Well, now you've told me, what are you going to do about it?"
Aoi raised her head and thought, then turned to him. "We go
to Major Crime and use their system to check up on these names...
I'm quite sure we shall be able to find someone to match them up
with."
"Won't that be playing into the hands of the Sacred House.
After all, the real reason they are following you around might be
because you're on the SIU and closer than ever before to finding
out the identities of the Sailorsenshi."
Aoi glowered. "No. They won't find out. Nobody is going to
know but me." She stood and turned to him. "I want the
satisfaction of knowing them. That is all. I'm not going to let
anybody use them for... breeding stock." She sniffed distastefully.
"It reduces human life to the same level of cattle or any other
farm-bred animal."
Kaji stood from the railing and nodded, and the pair of them
wandered over to his car.
"So that's her...." Sherrie leaned against the railing,
staring down from the top of the building. She turned to Rumiko,
who stood next to her. The dark-haired girl now wore a wide-brimmed
hat, as if trying to cover herself from the effects of the weak
sunlight.
"Not much of a person, I must say. Almost 29 years old and
trying to send herself to an early grave." She shrugged.
"Do not underestimate her, Tani." The deep baritone of the
man who stood nearby made them both turn.
"Ah..." Sherrie smiled. "So, you have decided to join us on
this operation, have you Joachim?"
Joachim Schneider was a man in his eighties, yet you could
have sworn his build was that of a wrestler in his early thirties.
The only thing that gave him away were his white hair and goatie
beard. He wore, as always, the expansive black coat that covered
his dark grey business suit. This was completed with a dark hat
and walking cane. He was the kind of person one couldn't help but
notice, and it was amazing how many people did just that, mostly
because of the lifestyle he lived.
He had joined the Sacred House long before the likes of
Sherrie and Rumiko had been born, and was now a senior member of the
organisation. But he much preferred the personal touch when it came
to operations like this. After all, it was because of Joachim that
a great many members of the Sacred House had joined. Sherrie had
been one of them.
"Naturally." Joachim bowed slightly. "I am not so old that
I cannot take an interest in your pursuit of the Kikotsuka woman."
"Just like me, eh? Can't help but pursue the pretty ones."
"It makes the job interesting." He smiled warmly, which was
reassuring from someone of his size. He turned to Rumiko and nodded
a greeting to her.
"My greetings to you, Rumiko. Your father is well?"
She nodded. "Yes, he has not been better."
He then turned to the third member of their trio. A short
young woman with equally short, dark brown hair and dark eyes. She
was staring into space, distantly.
"I see you have managed to get Keiko out and about, today."
"Her father decided to release her from the sanctuary. She
has been... Much better, lately."
"Yeah, with the help of a stack of pharmeceuticals. If
they're not careful, they'll blunt her powers." Sherrie sniffed and
looked over at Keiko. "Hey, Keiko... Say hello to Mister
Schneider."
"Hello, Mister Schneider." Keiko said, without turning.
"That's good, Keiko. Go back to what you're doing." Sherrie
waved at her, cynically. Joachim clicked his tongue.
"Now now now, Sherrie, there is no need to treat Keiko with
such contempt."
"I'll treat her less that way when I get a decent line of
conversation out of her." Sherrie turned and looked back down at
the SIU station. Joachim shook his head. He knew, despite her
words, that teams such as Sherrie, Rumiko and Keiko were picked not
only to balance out their powers, but also for their capacity to
look after, and care about, each other. There was no doubt in his
mind, due to past experience, that Sherrie cared about Keiko.
"Has there been anything interesting since Team One made
contact with the Kikotsuka woman?"
"We reported in, not long ago.... Pagan Lacey was watching
over her." Rumiko said, dutifully.
"Lacey?" Joachim raised his eyebrows. "Strange that the
Coven should have only him watching Aoi closely...."
"Maybe they're shortstaffed." Sherrie snorted.
"Hardly." Joachim rubbed his chin. "Are our information
processors going over his records?"
"Hai." Rumiko nodded. "They think the Coven may be intending
to match Lacey with Kikotsuka. As bloodbonds go, it is as close to
a perfect match one could find."
"So Lacey is not yet bonded? Interesting." He turned to
Keiko. "We have our family of Mind Predators, but the Coven do not.
At least, nothing like the Yokuro clan. Nothing like Keiko, here.
Maybe they can see, in Kikotsuka, the chance to take some of that
Yokuro blood for themselves...."
"From reports of her powers, it appears her blood is more than
a match for a Yokuro." Rumiko turned to Sherrie. "Sorry, Sherrie,
looks like he's given up on chasing you about."
"Damn!" Sherrie snorted derisively.
Rumiko turned back to Schneider. "I guess, now he's been
redirected, he finds Kikotsuka's blood more attractive."
"The question now is..." Joachim paused. "...Will she
respond to his blood?"
"What do you mean, there are groups after us?" Usagi stared
at Setsuna as she checked the door, noticing how badly the locking
mechanism had been damaged.
"One has to expect there to be people with their own personal
powerbases in a nation like Japan. Now, take that and transfer it
to an international perspective. Each and every little country on
the face of the planet has similar factions and groups, all of whom
are pursuing their own agendas. Somehow, we have to set up the new
Kingdom amidst all of that. Even with my foresight, its impossible
to judge, sometimes, who may be with us and why, and who might be
against us and why."
Usagi's eyes spiralled with information overload. "But surely
anyone who stands for what is right shall help us?"
"A simplistic response to an all too complex situation,
Princess. This isn't the Silver Millenium. There aren't just the
few occasionally feuding principalities and kingdoms there were
then. We have a plethora of groups, from international
conglomerates, to political and religious extremists and even
smaller cultural groups who would regard any attempt to exercise the
ways of Crystal Tokyo over them as an act of cultural and racial
genocide. Every way we turn, we are going to be looked upon by
someone as the enemy, even if we mean well."
Hotaru sniffed. "People just want to make things difficult
for you, don't they? We risk our lives to save them and this is the
thanks we get." She shrugged.
"So just who are these groups who are after us, right now?"
"Well, firstly, there are the Yakuza families. I don't think,
with our powers, that we should be so concerned about them for the
time being. Then there are the various factions within the Diet,
the Japanese National Parliament. There are... some very active
nationalist, royalist and right-wing groups in there who will regard
our imposition of a royal matriarchy as a threat to their preferred
order." She lowered her face, still staring at Usagi, who slowly
seemed to be taking all this in. "And then, there are the major
megacorporations for whom the almighty profit is more important than
the rights and lives of individuals, and that includes attempts to
silence inquiry into their less than savoury activities."
"Come on, Setsuna. Be more specific than that. If anyone
knows who is after our butts, its you." Usagi crossed her arms.
Setsuna sniffed. "Its often not that easy, Princess. They...
Sometimes there are groups within groups, pushing their own little
agendas. And sometimes these groups within groups can be allies
even though the organisation, as a whole, is an enemy, and vice
versa."
"But who are we most in danger of facing, right now?"
"Well, there are three particular Yakuza families who want
our heads. I'm quite sure of that. Then there are two quasi-
religious groups that have often worried me. One is called the
Sacred House, and the other is the Coven of Atrocity. The both of
them were formed in Japan over 3000 years ago."
Usagi and Hotaru stared at her. "3000 Years?!?!" They said
in unison.
"What do you think of her, Pagan? Does she match your
expectations?" Pagan Lacey heard Lysithea's soft voice drawl from
the other side of the table in the inner-city coffee shop. He
turned from his blank musings through the window to the effeminate
blond-haired man.
"Umm... yes, I think you could say I'm rather intrigued."
"She is a pretty one, although a little plain for my tastes."
"Plain because she makes herself look that way." Pagan turned
back to the window.
"Whoo, do I detect someone who has it bad already?" Lysithea
giggled and picked up his cup of coffee with unusual poise. Pagan
turned aside.
"You're just jealous because I've been more interested in
women than you."
"Thankyou." Lysithea sipped his coffee. "It is a waste,
however, that someone as pretty as you should have no interest in
me." Lysithea smiled and ran his eyes along Pagan's long brown
hair. Pagan rolled his eyes.
"And so, how are we doing with Takiro, then?"
Lysithea sighed and shook his head. "Takiro Takiro Takiro.
There are times when I could strangle that man."
"That bad, huh?"
"He's so obsessive, sometimes. And demanding. But then, I
suppose you should expect it from him. He is the least settled of
the pair of us."
"Yeah, you could say that. Just don't start telling me about
his bed habits, that's all."
Lysithea giggled. "Oh, if only you knew." Pagan put a finger
to his mouth and made gagging noises. He stood.
"I better go. I'm getting this little voice in my head that
things have just become interesting at an apartment block in
Juuban." Lysithea smiled.
"You'll pick up the tab, of course?"
"Don't tell me you came without money, again?"
"Hey, you can never be too careful on the streets, these
days." Pagan sighed, shaking his head. He pulled his wallet from
his pocket and opened it up, letting out a couple of moths.
"Uh... yeah... I think that might be possible."
"Hop to it, then."
There were times when Pagan could strangle Lysithea. This was
one of them. It was a pity they were cousins. Their family would
be so upset....
Usagi leaned against a wall, rubbing her forehead. Setsuna
was rather impressed with her capacity to take in this kind of
information. In days gone past, her brain would probably have
exploded before Setsuna was capable of getting past the second
syllable of an explanation. Hotaru, as usual, had slipped back
into what Setsuna would describe as "cruise control". The info
was going in, but was being placed somewhere in her head for later
retrieval.
"So... Is this Sacred House on our side, or what?" Usagi
looked up at Setsuna. "From your description, their objectives
seem similar to ours."
"Hmmm... you could say that on a very simple level. Yes,
they will defend humans against such threats. There have been
times, when we have fought various enemies, that the Sacred House
has been cleaning up things around us, making our fights rather
easier than they should have been." Setsuna paused. "But then,
the Coven has also been doing this. It depends on who they see
as a threat to what they stand for."
"So why were these groups formed?"
"Well, you see, some 5000 years ago, after the collapse of
the Silver Millenium, a race of beings who called themselves the
Others, arrived on Earth. During their visitations, they interbred
with humans, thus spawning a large variety of halfbreeds who were
shunned or killed by fullblooded Others and Humans. Those
halfbreeds who survived the purges formed groups to defend
themselves from further attack. Eventually, these groups coalesced
with others that had similar philosophies, and thus the Sacred
House and the Coven of Atrocity were born... One that took the
side of Humans, and the other that took the side of the Others."
"And they want us because our magic might be useful to them?"
"Indeed. Depending on which camp we fall into, I'm afraid
our fate is to be no better than that of brood mares."
Usagi thought for a few moments. "Could it be possible that
the others have been snatched by one of these groups?" She gestured
to the room.
"I don't know if it could occur, since I've done my level best
to hide our identities from their various prisings. But this has me
worried. As I said, the woman who was in here had a strange power
about her... And the fact that Makoto is missing...." Setsuna
turned back to the door. Then stepped forward, quickly. "Princess,
Hotaru... Take my hands, quickly."
They both stared at her. "Why?" Usagi blinked.
"Don't argue, or we'll be in trouble."
The both of them nodded mutely and did so. In a flash, all
three disappeared from the apartment, just as the door was pushed
in, revealing three figures. A burly Japanese man with a short
haircut that made him look remarkably like a sumo wrestler, which
was very much the case, stepped in and peered around. He gestured
to the other two. Pagan was the first to enter after him.
"Bummer. Looks like they got away." Pagan turned back to
the third figure, a blond-haired woman who was dressed in a simple
blue dress, camera gear hanging around her shoulders. "Why didn't
you call me sooner, Michelle?"
"I tried. You were too busy lusting after the Kikotsuka
woman. And besides, Nobuhiro here took forever to arrive, as well.
I wasn't likely to charge in here on my own."
"I have my commitments." Nobuhiro turned, flipping his arms
into the sleeves of his beige and black kimono.
"Oh well... At least I got some good shots of the blond chick
with the silly hairstyle."
Pagan smiled. "Hmm... Should make interesting viewing." He
looked around the apartment. "Whoo, nasty. Who did this?"
"Dunno. I just followed the Kikotsuka chick here and was told
to wait and looksee. Could have been anyone."
"But you didn't see anyone come or go?"
"Nope. Not a person." Michelle shrugged. "Must've been
someone like us. Might be the House is on the Senshis' tails as
well."
"In which case, they might have a head start on us." Pagan
smiled. "I think it's worth making another visit on our intrepid
policewoman...."
END OF PART 6
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net
4th Mar 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 Six
Concerto for a Rainy Day
Usagi had had a pathetically miserable morning, but somehow
managed to convince a great many people she was still cheerful.
*click* *reeee*
After getting up early... a newfound responsibility having
entered her lifestyle.. after all, with as much on her plate in her
life, one would expect her to start being a good role model at some
stage (that's what she thought, anyway)... she had opened her
windows on the new morning to see that the sun might as well not
have come up at all.
*click* *reeee*
Thick, dark grey clouds. So dark, some of them looked a
peculiar shade of purple. It made her feel even more miserable
after the events of the previous day, where she had failed to make
contact with most of the people she considered to be her friends.
*click* *reeee*
Things had gone very strange amongst them over the past few
months. There had been arguments that she was not personally
involved with between certain members, culminating in something
close to an all-in brawl between Makoto, Minako, Haruka and Setsuna
a couple of days ago.
*click* *reeee*
She had to intervene that time. Neither Rei nor Ami seemed
willing to, and she wasn't surprised. Hotaru, as usual, had
remained aloof. Either she was as much in the dark over what these
arguments were about as Usagi was, or she just didn't care.
*click* *reeee*
The only one who had even tried to help her pull the idiots
apart had been Michiru, more because she was concerned for Haruka's
safety than anything else. After all, the both of them had to drag
the unfortunate tomboy from a headlock provided courtesy of Minako.
Usagi never knew Minako was capable of that kind of thing, and
certainly not on Haruka.
*click* *reeee*
After that, their meeting went to pieces. And Usagi had only
just arrived! It was somewhat inconsiderate of them. They didn't
even tell her what the fight had been about when she demanded
explanations from them.
*click* *reeee*
With Mamoru overseas on a post grad study tour, she had been
left alone to deal with the problem herself. She demanded, using
her position as Princess Serenity, that they all meet once more the
next day to explain what was going on. The only people to show up
were Rei (unsurprisingly, since it was held at her shrine) and
Setsuna, who seemed unwilling to explain anything unless the others
were there. (How surprising that Setsuna was unwilling to explain
anything, thought Usagi dubiously). Despite all her best efforts to
contact the missing participants, she had not received any replies.
*click* *reeee*
And now, here she was, skipping her own college classes that
she'd managed to fluke to get into, standing out the front of
Makoto's apartment block, wondering why the hell she should be
doing this kind of thing.
*click* *reeee*
And she had the strangest feeling she was being watched.
Well, whatever the case, she was going to get answers, even if she
had to threaten them with bapping the Ginzuishou over their heads!
She stormed in through the front entrance and up the stairwell,
along the path to the door to Makoto's apartment.
And the door was open.
Not wide open. Just ajar. And she could hear voices within.
She shivered for a moment. She could feel something was wrong,
here. Slowly, she put her hand on the door and pushed it open....
"Usagi?"
"Princess?"
Hotaru and Setsuna turned to her, blinking. They stood in the
middle of a loungeroom that had been comprehensively demolished.
"Wh... What are you two doing in here?"
"We came to speak with Makoto. This is what we found."
Hotaru said simply, gesturing around the room. "I take it you had a
similar idea?"
"Umm..." Usagi stepped in slowly. "Where is Mako-chan?"
"Don't know. There wasn't anybody in here when we got here."
She shrugged and bent down to pick through the wreckage of the
furniture on the floor. "Aww... Its that vase she made in her
pottery class... it was so nice, too." She picked up pieces of
glazed ceramic, staring at them sadly.
Usagi levelled her gaze at Setsuna, who looked as if she'd
just been struck by high energy laser beams. "Setsunaaaa!"
"It wasn't me, Princess. I'm not the sort to do this kind of
thing." Usagi looked at her dubiously.
"It's rather ironic that I find you here so soon after the pair
of you tried to throttle each other."
Setsuna sighed. "I came here after I sensed someone with
magical powers trying to scan my mind whilst I was asleep last
night. It came from Makoto's apartment, so I rang here, and a woman
answered. She has... Strange powers." Setsuna bit her lip. "She
almost caught me off guard, like her thoughts were feeding off mine,
so I decided to come here to meet her, face to face. But she got
away. I left to bring Hotaru along, but when I got back..." She
gestured to the room, helplessly.
"So, this woman was involved in trashing Mako-chan's place?"
Usagi wandered in, looking around. Setsuna shrugged.
"I'm not sure. It seemed that someone was looking for
something. There are quite a few items missing. Not to mention
Makoto herself. Where she might be, I have no idea. I still
haven't been able to contact the others."
"Same here." Usagi looked worriedly. "Could something have
happened to them?"
"I'm not sure. If it has anything to do with what was going
on between them..." Setsuna cleared her throat, turning away as if
she'd said too much. Usagi grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Setsuna..." She muttered, threateningly. "Are you trying to
hide something from me?" Hotaru watched the both of them as Setsuna
closed her eyes, sighing.
"We had a fight because I'd confronted them.... They had
been... When we were involved in breaking up the Yakuza family,
we'd made some connections... I thought they'd break off those
connections once that was over... It seems I was wrong."
Usagi frowned... "What does THAT mean?"
"It means we could all be up shit creek." Hotaru turned as
Usagi stared at her. She continued rifling through the debris as if
nothing was happening.
Aoi sat on the railings that lined the front steps of the SIU
office next to Kaji. The both of them were staring, absently, at
those steps.
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? For that matter, why
didn't you tell the Chief?"
"Do you think anyone is going to believe me?"
"Well, considering that it appears the Senshi are involved,
somehow, it might be possible...." He shook his head. That was
enough of a sign for Aoi.
"I only told you because you used to look into these kinds of
groups. Have your ever heard of one called the Sacred House
before?"
"I've heard the name mentioned in passing, although I've not
heard anything about their activities. Not negative ones, anyway."
Aoi sighed. "And are there any groups who may be opposed to
them?" Kaji shrugged.
"As I said. I know next to jack about them. All I've heard
is that they were a kind of old world religious cult, going back a
very long way. That and the fact that they're not strictly
Japanese, even though they had their roots here." He chuckled.
"Well, I never thought anyone would be looking in your direction
as future candidate for Magic Girl of the Month."
"Don't be stupid, Kaji. I'm kinda freaked out about all this.
I mean, I've got some weirdo group looking up my family tree cos
they think I might be good breeding stock for them, with the
possibility that they have enemies with less scruples who are doing
the same thing." She put a hand to her face and Kaji looked at
her worriedly.
"Well, now you've told me, what are you going to do about it?"
Aoi raised her head and thought, then turned to him. "We go
to Major Crime and use their system to check up on these names...
I'm quite sure we shall be able to find someone to match them up
with."
"Won't that be playing into the hands of the Sacred House.
After all, the real reason they are following you around might be
because you're on the SIU and closer than ever before to finding
out the identities of the Sailorsenshi."
Aoi glowered. "No. They won't find out. Nobody is going to
know but me." She stood and turned to him. "I want the
satisfaction of knowing them. That is all. I'm not going to let
anybody use them for... breeding stock." She sniffed distastefully.
"It reduces human life to the same level of cattle or any other
farm-bred animal."
Kaji stood from the railing and nodded, and the pair of them
wandered over to his car.
"So that's her...." Sherrie leaned against the railing,
staring down from the top of the building. She turned to Rumiko,
who stood next to her. The dark-haired girl now wore a wide-brimmed
hat, as if trying to cover herself from the effects of the weak
sunlight.
"Not much of a person, I must say. Almost 29 years old and
trying to send herself to an early grave." She shrugged.
"Do not underestimate her, Tani." The deep baritone of the
man who stood nearby made them both turn.
"Ah..." Sherrie smiled. "So, you have decided to join us on
this operation, have you Joachim?"
Joachim Schneider was a man in his eighties, yet you could
have sworn his build was that of a wrestler in his early thirties.
The only thing that gave him away were his white hair and goatie
beard. He wore, as always, the expansive black coat that covered
his dark grey business suit. This was completed with a dark hat
and walking cane. He was the kind of person one couldn't help but
notice, and it was amazing how many people did just that, mostly
because of the lifestyle he lived.
He had joined the Sacred House long before the likes of
Sherrie and Rumiko had been born, and was now a senior member of the
organisation. But he much preferred the personal touch when it came
to operations like this. After all, it was because of Joachim that
a great many members of the Sacred House had joined. Sherrie had
been one of them.
"Naturally." Joachim bowed slightly. "I am not so old that
I cannot take an interest in your pursuit of the Kikotsuka woman."
"Just like me, eh? Can't help but pursue the pretty ones."
"It makes the job interesting." He smiled warmly, which was
reassuring from someone of his size. He turned to Rumiko and nodded
a greeting to her.
"My greetings to you, Rumiko. Your father is well?"
She nodded. "Yes, he has not been better."
He then turned to the third member of their trio. A short
young woman with equally short, dark brown hair and dark eyes. She
was staring into space, distantly.
"I see you have managed to get Keiko out and about, today."
"Her father decided to release her from the sanctuary. She
has been... Much better, lately."
"Yeah, with the help of a stack of pharmeceuticals. If
they're not careful, they'll blunt her powers." Sherrie sniffed and
looked over at Keiko. "Hey, Keiko... Say hello to Mister
Schneider."
"Hello, Mister Schneider." Keiko said, without turning.
"That's good, Keiko. Go back to what you're doing." Sherrie
waved at her, cynically. Joachim clicked his tongue.
"Now now now, Sherrie, there is no need to treat Keiko with
such contempt."
"I'll treat her less that way when I get a decent line of
conversation out of her." Sherrie turned and looked back down at
the SIU station. Joachim shook his head. He knew, despite her
words, that teams such as Sherrie, Rumiko and Keiko were picked not
only to balance out their powers, but also for their capacity to
look after, and care about, each other. There was no doubt in his
mind, due to past experience, that Sherrie cared about Keiko.
"Has there been anything interesting since Team One made
contact with the Kikotsuka woman?"
"We reported in, not long ago.... Pagan Lacey was watching
over her." Rumiko said, dutifully.
"Lacey?" Joachim raised his eyebrows. "Strange that the
Coven should have only him watching Aoi closely...."
"Maybe they're shortstaffed." Sherrie snorted.
"Hardly." Joachim rubbed his chin. "Are our information
processors going over his records?"
"Hai." Rumiko nodded. "They think the Coven may be intending
to match Lacey with Kikotsuka. As bloodbonds go, it is as close to
a perfect match one could find."
"So Lacey is not yet bonded? Interesting." He turned to
Keiko. "We have our family of Mind Predators, but the Coven do not.
At least, nothing like the Yokuro clan. Nothing like Keiko, here.
Maybe they can see, in Kikotsuka, the chance to take some of that
Yokuro blood for themselves...."
"From reports of her powers, it appears her blood is more than
a match for a Yokuro." Rumiko turned to Sherrie. "Sorry, Sherrie,
looks like he's given up on chasing you about."
"Damn!" Sherrie snorted derisively.
Rumiko turned back to Schneider. "I guess, now he's been
redirected, he finds Kikotsuka's blood more attractive."
"The question now is..." Joachim paused. "...Will she
respond to his blood?"
"What do you mean, there are groups after us?" Usagi stared
at Setsuna as she checked the door, noticing how badly the locking
mechanism had been damaged.
"One has to expect there to be people with their own personal
powerbases in a nation like Japan. Now, take that and transfer it
to an international perspective. Each and every little country on
the face of the planet has similar factions and groups, all of whom
are pursuing their own agendas. Somehow, we have to set up the new
Kingdom amidst all of that. Even with my foresight, its impossible
to judge, sometimes, who may be with us and why, and who might be
against us and why."
Usagi's eyes spiralled with information overload. "But surely
anyone who stands for what is right shall help us?"
"A simplistic response to an all too complex situation,
Princess. This isn't the Silver Millenium. There aren't just the
few occasionally feuding principalities and kingdoms there were
then. We have a plethora of groups, from international
conglomerates, to political and religious extremists and even
smaller cultural groups who would regard any attempt to exercise the
ways of Crystal Tokyo over them as an act of cultural and racial
genocide. Every way we turn, we are going to be looked upon by
someone as the enemy, even if we mean well."
Hotaru sniffed. "People just want to make things difficult
for you, don't they? We risk our lives to save them and this is the
thanks we get." She shrugged.
"So just who are these groups who are after us, right now?"
"Well, firstly, there are the Yakuza families. I don't think,
with our powers, that we should be so concerned about them for the
time being. Then there are the various factions within the Diet,
the Japanese National Parliament. There are... some very active
nationalist, royalist and right-wing groups in there who will regard
our imposition of a royal matriarchy as a threat to their preferred
order." She lowered her face, still staring at Usagi, who slowly
seemed to be taking all this in. "And then, there are the major
megacorporations for whom the almighty profit is more important than
the rights and lives of individuals, and that includes attempts to
silence inquiry into their less than savoury activities."
"Come on, Setsuna. Be more specific than that. If anyone
knows who is after our butts, its you." Usagi crossed her arms.
Setsuna sniffed. "Its often not that easy, Princess. They...
Sometimes there are groups within groups, pushing their own little
agendas. And sometimes these groups within groups can be allies
even though the organisation, as a whole, is an enemy, and vice
versa."
"But who are we most in danger of facing, right now?"
"Well, there are three particular Yakuza families who want
our heads. I'm quite sure of that. Then there are two quasi-
religious groups that have often worried me. One is called the
Sacred House, and the other is the Coven of Atrocity. The both of
them were formed in Japan over 3000 years ago."
Usagi and Hotaru stared at her. "3000 Years?!?!" They said
in unison.
"What do you think of her, Pagan? Does she match your
expectations?" Pagan Lacey heard Lysithea's soft voice drawl from
the other side of the table in the inner-city coffee shop. He
turned from his blank musings through the window to the effeminate
blond-haired man.
"Umm... yes, I think you could say I'm rather intrigued."
"She is a pretty one, although a little plain for my tastes."
"Plain because she makes herself look that way." Pagan turned
back to the window.
"Whoo, do I detect someone who has it bad already?" Lysithea
giggled and picked up his cup of coffee with unusual poise. Pagan
turned aside.
"You're just jealous because I've been more interested in
women than you."
"Thankyou." Lysithea sipped his coffee. "It is a waste,
however, that someone as pretty as you should have no interest in
me." Lysithea smiled and ran his eyes along Pagan's long brown
hair. Pagan rolled his eyes.
"And so, how are we doing with Takiro, then?"
Lysithea sighed and shook his head. "Takiro Takiro Takiro.
There are times when I could strangle that man."
"That bad, huh?"
"He's so obsessive, sometimes. And demanding. But then, I
suppose you should expect it from him. He is the least settled of
the pair of us."
"Yeah, you could say that. Just don't start telling me about
his bed habits, that's all."
Lysithea giggled. "Oh, if only you knew." Pagan put a finger
to his mouth and made gagging noises. He stood.
"I better go. I'm getting this little voice in my head that
things have just become interesting at an apartment block in
Juuban." Lysithea smiled.
"You'll pick up the tab, of course?"
"Don't tell me you came without money, again?"
"Hey, you can never be too careful on the streets, these
days." Pagan sighed, shaking his head. He pulled his wallet from
his pocket and opened it up, letting out a couple of moths.
"Uh... yeah... I think that might be possible."
"Hop to it, then."
There were times when Pagan could strangle Lysithea. This was
one of them. It was a pity they were cousins. Their family would
be so upset....
Usagi leaned against a wall, rubbing her forehead. Setsuna
was rather impressed with her capacity to take in this kind of
information. In days gone past, her brain would probably have
exploded before Setsuna was capable of getting past the second
syllable of an explanation. Hotaru, as usual, had slipped back
into what Setsuna would describe as "cruise control". The info
was going in, but was being placed somewhere in her head for later
retrieval.
"So... Is this Sacred House on our side, or what?" Usagi
looked up at Setsuna. "From your description, their objectives
seem similar to ours."
"Hmmm... you could say that on a very simple level. Yes,
they will defend humans against such threats. There have been
times, when we have fought various enemies, that the Sacred House
has been cleaning up things around us, making our fights rather
easier than they should have been." Setsuna paused. "But then,
the Coven has also been doing this. It depends on who they see
as a threat to what they stand for."
"So why were these groups formed?"
"Well, you see, some 5000 years ago, after the collapse of
the Silver Millenium, a race of beings who called themselves the
Others, arrived on Earth. During their visitations, they interbred
with humans, thus spawning a large variety of halfbreeds who were
shunned or killed by fullblooded Others and Humans. Those
halfbreeds who survived the purges formed groups to defend
themselves from further attack. Eventually, these groups coalesced
with others that had similar philosophies, and thus the Sacred
House and the Coven of Atrocity were born... One that took the
side of Humans, and the other that took the side of the Others."
"And they want us because our magic might be useful to them?"
"Indeed. Depending on which camp we fall into, I'm afraid
our fate is to be no better than that of brood mares."
Usagi thought for a few moments. "Could it be possible that
the others have been snatched by one of these groups?" She gestured
to the room.
"I don't know if it could occur, since I've done my level best
to hide our identities from their various prisings. But this has me
worried. As I said, the woman who was in here had a strange power
about her... And the fact that Makoto is missing...." Setsuna
turned back to the door. Then stepped forward, quickly. "Princess,
Hotaru... Take my hands, quickly."
They both stared at her. "Why?" Usagi blinked.
"Don't argue, or we'll be in trouble."
The both of them nodded mutely and did so. In a flash, all
three disappeared from the apartment, just as the door was pushed
in, revealing three figures. A burly Japanese man with a short
haircut that made him look remarkably like a sumo wrestler, which
was very much the case, stepped in and peered around. He gestured
to the other two. Pagan was the first to enter after him.
"Bummer. Looks like they got away." Pagan turned back to
the third figure, a blond-haired woman who was dressed in a simple
blue dress, camera gear hanging around her shoulders. "Why didn't
you call me sooner, Michelle?"
"I tried. You were too busy lusting after the Kikotsuka
woman. And besides, Nobuhiro here took forever to arrive, as well.
I wasn't likely to charge in here on my own."
"I have my commitments." Nobuhiro turned, flipping his arms
into the sleeves of his beige and black kimono.
"Oh well... At least I got some good shots of the blond chick
with the silly hairstyle."
Pagan smiled. "Hmm... Should make interesting viewing." He
looked around the apartment. "Whoo, nasty. Who did this?"
"Dunno. I just followed the Kikotsuka chick here and was told
to wait and looksee. Could have been anyone."
"But you didn't see anyone come or go?"
"Nope. Not a person." Michelle shrugged. "Must've been
someone like us. Might be the House is on the Senshis' tails as
well."
"In which case, they might have a head start on us." Pagan
smiled. "I think it's worth making another visit on our intrepid
policewoman...."
END OF PART 6
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net
4th Mar 1998