S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)
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.
Don't sue me for this, please. I'm not really a ripoff artist. I
leave that to professionals, like Anya Romanov. ^_^
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep, things certainly seemed to be getting out of hand, here.
Arisa looked down upon the scene. Watanabe Nobuhiro standing,
staring into the docking shed, Keiko lying in a pit of sand, playing
with the wet and sodden mixture in her hands, and Rumiko lying
underneath a stack of splintered wooden boards that once used to be
a pair of doors.
On top of that, somwhere around twenty dock workers were
spread throughout the docking shed, having fallen victim to the
creature Sherrie had become. Arisa shivered. She couldn't see the
creature, only a distant outline of something tearing its way
through the body of one of the dockworkers. A couple of times, it
would turn and look a Nobuhiro, as if saying "you're next", but
obviously whoever it was eating had a good flavour....
Arisa chided herself for that thought. She turned and looked
over the other side of the water tower. Nobuhiro certainly wasn't
going to get any help from his partner, Michelle Fitchner. Maria
and the members of Team Three had dealt with her. Not permanently,
of course, they just knocked her one over the noggin as she vainly
tried to follow Nobuhiro's pace. Funny that someone so big should
be so quick on his feet. Well, that was the Other blood for you.
She lifted up her transceiver. "Looks like everything's as
messy as I expected it to be. Gonna be a media circus when someone
spots this little charnal house...."
"Great...." Maria's voice crackled over the speaker. "Are
you ready to release her?"
"On it now..." Arisa put the transceiver aside and clasped
her hands together, mouthing an incantation.
----o
Aoi had died and gone to Heaven.
She danced and pranced through the gardens of cigarette bushes
and coffee trees, wondering if life could get any better than this.
Of course, this couldn't be real, so she had to be dead. Nothing
else could explain the sheer beauty of this place.
The warm sun. the blue skies. The aroma of burning tobacco
and freshly brewed caffeine. Ah yes, there was nothing like it.
"Excuse me." She felt someone shaking her shoulder.
"Go away." She said, softly, in a daze. "Leave me with my
cigarettes." She pulled one off a bush and drew on the end,
allowing the superfragrant smoke to enter her lungs. The taste,
and its effect on her, was like nothing she'd ever experienced
before.
"Look, I know you might find cloud nine a pleasant place to
be after smacking into a brick wall at close to thirty miles an
hour, but sleeping in a muddy puddle is not the best place to get
there." The annoying voice continued. For a moment, Aoi considered
turning around and poking the cigarette in the person's face.
"Leave me alone...."
"I can't. There are a couple of young women in a bad way,
here, and you're the only person in a sufficiently healthy state
who is benevolently acquainted with them. Maybe"
Aoi turned and looked up at the face of the young woman with
wavy red hair. Her light face contrasted starkly with the darkening
skies. She blinked a couple of times and wiped her sweaty face.
Only it wasn't sweat she was wiping away.
She stared at the blood on the palm of her hand for a few
moments. "I'm...." She began, with encroaching panic. "I'm..."
----o
Part Sixteen
The Break of Dusk
----o
"It's just a shallow cut on your forehead. Nothing to be
overly concerned about. Of course, if you've got concussion, that
can be a problem. But it isn't very likely, since you had a couple
of girls to soften your impact." The young woman offered Aoi a
hand. Aoi took it, groggily, and was helped to her feet.
She heard the sound of water running off something, and looked
down at her clothes. "Aww shit. I'm all...." She turned up her
nose at the mud and filth that was plastered all over her skirt and
jacket. She had been, as the young woman had said, lying in a muddy
puddle. "This was such a good suit, too."
"Never mind your bloody clothes." The young woman said,
holding onto Aoi's arm. "How are you feeling?"
"A bit dizzy, but I suppose I'm alright." Aoi turned to the
young woman. She was dressed in a thick black coat, which covered
over a black shirt, skirt and boots. The first thing that entered
Aoi's mind was.... "Who are you?"
"Hmm? Me? Oh, just your average, everyday magic user who
happened to be passing by and saw you and this pair fly into this
wall, here." The young woman first gestured to the still forms of
Ami and the blond-haired girl who had tried to kidnap her, then to
the wall that they had struck. Aoi looked up at the wall, blinking.
"Shit.... The old government records office...." She turned
back to the two forms on the ground.
The blond-haired girl was looking frightfully pale, her simple
dress covered in mud. But Ami looked worse. Lying on her front,
there was blood running from her nose and mouth. Even her ears.
Aoi stepped over to Ami's side, aided by the young woman, not even
batting an eyelid to her 'magic user' comment. She'd seen and heard
too much today to let something like that distract her.
She kneeled down and put a hand to the side of Ami's throat,
checking for a pulse. "Well, she's alive. I can say that, at
least."
"For how much longer, though? She looks in a bad way."
"It's a haemhorrage. I'd say she hit the wall, face-forward,
and split the mucas membranes." Aoi gently ran a finger along the
back of Ami's neck, from the base of the skull, running down her
back. "I don't think she's got any vertebral damage, but she's
going to need medical attention, and quickly. The haemhorrage could
be worse internally.... The last thing I need is to have my
sailorsenshi die of brain damage caused by an intracranial
haemhorrage."
"Your Sailorsenshi?" The young woman frowned, then shrugged.
"What about the other one?"
"What about her?" Aoi turned to her.
"Doesn't she rate a mention, or something?"
"Hardly. She tried to kidnap this girl. She can die, for all
I care." The young woman seemed genuinely surprised by Aoi's
comments.
"Doesn't life hold any value to you?"
"My life holds value to me. But that's about all, really."
She paused for a few moments. "Oh, and Ami's life, of course."
"Ami?"
"Yes, this girl here." She pointed. "She is my ticket out of
the SIU and into a better posting."
"I don't understand." The young woman shook her head.
"Hmm.... My name's Kikotsuka Aoi. I'm a member of the
Metropolitan Police. Part of the Sailor Investigation Unit office.
It's my job to investigate the activities of bitches like her." She
nodded to Ami. "And she is the first one I've ever caught. The
last thing I need is for her to die." Aoi began to fumble through
the waterlogged pockets of her jacket.
"So the only reason her life has any value is because she is
important to your promotional prospects?"
"Of course. Should there be another reason?" Aoi huffed.
"Who are you, anyway?"
The young woman sighed. "My name is Meehan. Mhaere Meehan.
I'm a visitor to Tokyo, and an ex-member of a group called the
Sacred House. Although, considering you were using a form of magic
just now, you'd already be acquainted with them."
"The Sacred House?" Aoi looked at her, closely. "You're not
involved with...."
"I said ex-member. They.... had me put away, for some time."
"I see." Aoi looked down at the other girl. "And what about
her? Do you know who she is?"
"Her name is Gwen Wright. She is a member of the Sacred
House." Mhaere paused. "An intelligence gatherer and stealth
operative."
----o
The large glass containers were like the display cabinets one
would find in a museum. And Usagi wasn't too keen on what they were
displaying.
Dead human bodies. At least, most of them looked human. In
truth, the majority of them were warped and mutated, some beyond
recognition. And they had all been perfectly preserved upon the
moment of their deaths.
"What are they all?" Usagi felt ill as she passed by the
naked figure of a six year old girl with the head of an arachnid,
resplendant with her eight eyes and large mandibles. Usagi was
happy she was dead. "Where in hell did all these.... these
people... things come from?"
"Hell would be a pretty good place to start." Lysithea
touched the glass of one of the displays. "This is what happens
when the mixing of human and other blood goes wrong."
"Mixing of human and other blood?"
"Yes. The Others were a race of beings for whom magic was a
natural form of defence in their world. As common as the elements
themselves. They came to Earth many thousands of years ago, and
interbred with human beings. When this breeding went right, it
created magic users like myself. But when it went wrong...." He
gestured to the cabinets. "I'd say a great many of these died by
natural causes. The Sacred House would have been caring for them
until their deformitites grew too grievous for them to be
sustained."
"These.... poor people...." Usagi felt a sense of sadness,
despite the horror of what was before her.
"Poor, yes. But also dangerous. They couldn't be allowed to
exist in the outside world. Not only would people reject them, they
would also give in to their darker desires...." He touched the
glass again, staring at a man who was half-feline.
"They are carnivorous...." Usagi frowned. "I thought you
said the Sacred House was an evil organisation."
"Hmm?" Lysithea turned to her. "They are. Why do you ask?"
"What are they doing, looking after people like these?"
Lysithea shrugged. "Taking care of their own, I suppose."
Usagi frowned and watched as Lysithea continued on, along the
pathway between the displays. Giving the arachnid-girl one last
glance, she continued on.
----o
Doctor Mizuno sat in her office, rubbing her forehead as she
filled out notes on one of her patients by hand. It would have been
quicker to do it by computer, but she had a love-hate relationship
with the infernal machines, and left the transcribing of the notes
to the clerical staff.
They didn't all love her for it, either.
For some reason, she found it difficult to concentrate.
Things were running through her mind at a breakneck speed, and not
the things she should have been concentrating on.
How did she get herself into this mess? How did she allow
herself to be used in this manner? What they made her do... it
was... Wrong. It was so, so wrong. But they threatened Ami. She
would do anything to protect her child.... Anything....
But why did it have to be that? Why did it have to be....
She tried to compose herself. She'd started to write rubbish
all over the page. She looked at her hand, and realised it was
shaking. She dropped the pen and took hold of her hand. A cold
sweat ran down her forehead....
A drink! That was what she needed. She reached into the top
drawer of her desk and pulled out a small bottle and a glass. The
bottle was half empty. She'd used it just a little too often,
lately.
Slowly, she opened the cap and poured some of its contents
into the glass.... She swigged the fluid down, screwing up her
face. It was all to save Ami. She was justified in doing what she
did. They had threatened her child....
There was a knock on the door to her office, and she swung
around, putting on a calm expression. "Haiii...."
The door opened and her secretary peered into the office.
"There are a couple of young women here to see you, Doctor."
"Young women?" Her blood ran cold.
"Yes, they said you were expecting them." The secretary
opened the door wide and allowed the two young women into the
office.
"Hello there, Doc." Said the taller one. "Long time no see,
eh?"
Doctor Mizuno wanted to scream.
----o
Setsuna moved through the hallway like a hunted animal, having
leapt from the open grille of the air conditioning unit, set high
in the wall. She hated using such uncouth methods of entry and
traversal. It would have been much easier to have transported
herself in, but that risked early detection.
She knew, sooner or later, that someone would come looking for
her. She'd never been through the Sacred House Compound without
causing some distress to the locals. It was only a matter of when
they woke up to her presence. But she wasn't going to afford
herself the luxury of caution. Her mission was of utmost importance
to her.
Regardless of what the others felt about her motives and
actions, she remained the most loyal of her Princess's servants.
She had never done anything, in her incomphrehensibly long
existence, that wasn't related in some form or another to the
servitude of her position. And upon the downfall of the Kingdom,
its incipient recreation.
Her Princess was in danger. She knew Lysithea Caprice better
than anyone, even Lysithea himself. She knew who he had been, in a
previous existence. That didn't change the person he was, today.
Lysithea was in the presence of her Princess, and that was enough to
drive Setsuna to consider his execution....
Not that she wanted to kill him. She slipped into the
shadows, behind one of the columns that lined the vast hallway. She
stared up at the ceiling, impressed with the plaster motifs that had
been moulded there by the artisans who designed the Central Hall of
the Sacred House. By some divine providence, the Hall had survived
the firebombing of Tokyo in the Second World War. It was one of the
very few large buildings that had.
She sighed. Lysithea.... There were things that she had
shared with him.... Things that nobody else knew.... that nobody
else would get an oppotunity to know. Why did it always come down
to this? Why were they always being made to fight, to kill, those
who had once been their allies?
Simple. Nobody can hurt you as badly as someone you have
allowed yourself to get close to. Setsuna should have known, back
then, the kind of person Lysithea would become. But love has a
tendency to make you blind.... And there are times when you feel
the greatest attraction.... to those who are totally unlike you.
She also should have known he was not to be the kind of person
to reciprocate her affections. She should have seen it, in the way
he talked and carried himself.... He was not a ladies man, and very
obviously so, but.... he was just so damned PRETTY.
"Hello, Setsuna." She almost jumped at the soft, silky voice,
whispered across her shoulder. She turned to come face to face with
the last person on the Earth she wanted to see, right now.
"Konbanwa, West-san." Her expression oozed contempt.
Carey smiled.
----o
"Hmm.... I expected as much." Aoi watched as Mhaere knelt
down beside Gwen, checking her pulse. "I knew she had to have been
with one of these psycho groups that are after the Sailorsenshi.
Well, I've had enough warning about them, anyway."
"Hmm...." Mhaere said, not really listening.
"Is she alive?"
"Yes. And not in as bad a shape as the other girl, I'd say.
Gwen was always a resilient one."
Aoi looked around, noticing they were behind a series of thick
bushes, blocking their presence from any casual viewer. She felt
the occasional sprinkle of rain on her head and looked up at the
darkening sky.
She reached into the pocket of her muddied jacket, feeling
around for her mobile phone. What she pulled out was a half-
shattered, half soaked piece of mangled plastic and wires.
"Oh well, that takes care of that."
"What?" Mhaere looked up at her. Aoi showed her the phone.
"We're going to have to use a public phone to call an ambulance."
"What do you want to call an ambulance for? I've already
found someone capable of healing this pair."
"Who?" Aoi frowned. "Wait a minute.... What do you mean by
'healing', precisely?"
"Exactly how it sounds. Someone with healing powers."
"Ano...." Aoi scratched her soaked hair with a muddy hand.
"Where would someone find a person like that?"
"You'll be surprised." Mhaere smiled, and snapped her
fingers. All four disappeared into thin air.
----o
Shimazaki sighed as the traffic crawled along the expressway.
he turned to Katarin, who was driving, tapping his fingers on the
steering wheel.
"I knew it was a bad idea, coming this way during the rush
hour." Shimazaki sighed in frustration. Katarin looked aside at
him.
"She won't be going anywhere. Just be patient."
"How do you know? She might be on her way home right now."
"She isn't on her way home." Katarin continued to tap his
hands on the steering wheel, and now started to whistle a soft tune.
Shimazaki stared at him, nonplussed, then shook his head, switching
on the radio.
"You know, I hate having the radio on when I'm driving."
Katarin growled. Shimazaki looked away.
"Anything's better than listening to your performance."
----o
"And how can I help you, Meiou-san?" Carey sneered as she
stepped around Setsuna's form. The elder senshi didn't take her eye
off the white-haired woman for a single moment.
"Help me?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow, trying to hide her
amusement. "Since when have you ever tried to help me?"
"You wouldn't come here for any other reason, now would you?"
Carey shrugged, stopping in the middle of the hallway, hands in
pockets.
"I am here for a very specific reason. I'm sure you know
what."
"No, actually, I don't. Care to enlighten me?" Carey shook
her head, her mouth extending into a wide smile. Setsuna hated
Carey's smile. It never carried anything remotely like warmth. But
then, Carey had never been the warmest of individuals. At least not
around her.
"Use your imagination, West-san.... Oh, I'm sorry.... You
don't have one. I should have remembered." That wiped the smile
off the bitch's face, giving Setsuna a few moments of pleasure.
"Well, let's see.... It has something.... to do.... with your
Princess. Am I right?" Carey stepped forward, stopping in front of
Setsuna. The elder senshi said nothing. Carey continued. "She is
here, somewhere, within the bounds of the Sacred House Compound, in
the presence of someone who is a threat to her life."
"If you know that much, why haven't you done anything about
it?" Setsuna sniffed. Carey stared into her eyes for a few
moments, making Setsuna feeling uncomfortable. "What?"
"Why do you try and hide their identities from me? Whenever
we've met, you put the walls up in your mind."
"Because I know the kind of person you are. The kind of
person you REALLY are. They don't. To allow the likes of you into
their lives is something I'll never be able to forgive myself for."
"Do you really think that lowly of me?" Carey sneered once
more. "I'm not really that bad a person, you know. Once you get to
know me."
"I do know you. You won't be able to discover the identities
of the Sailorsenshi from me."
"But you beloved Princess, I dare suggest, won't have the
fortitude of mind, will she?"
Setsuna shivered for a moment, then composed herself. "You
might find it more to your advantage to ignore my Princess and deal
with a more immediate danger to your own person."
"Like what?"
"Lysithea Caprice."
Carey's eyes opened wide with surprise. "Lysithea.... Now
there is a name I have not heard in a long time."
"I'm quite sure you'll get rapidly reacquainted. He's here,
with MY Princess, in the Sacred House."
"Ah. I see." Setsuna was surprised by Carey's cool reaction.
She was expecting a little more.
"You seem somewhat less than awed by this news."
"Your perception only. I am, naturally, somewhat disturbed to
think that he is in here, somewhere, whilst I have been walking
about unawares. But apart from that...." Carey paused.
"Apart from that?" Setsuna looked at her, quizzically.
"Apart from that, there isn't much he can do with me if he
were to find me. Except kill me, of course. There is always that
option."
"One I'm sure he'd not be too keen to indulge, considering his
motives for coming here."
"I take it he used your Princess's powers to get through the
Security?"
"What else would he be with her for?"
"Interesting. I wonder why he hasn't thought of doing this
before?" Carey put a hand to her chin. Setsuna shrugged.
"My guess is he's been biding his time."
"For what reason?"
"Preparations."
"Ah. Yes, of course. I forgot about that. It won't do him
any good, though."
Setsuna blinked, surprised. "Why? What do you mean?"
Carey smiled wagging a finger in Setsuna's face and clicking
her tongue. "Oh Meiou-san.... Honestly." Carey stepped away,
staring into space. "To achieve what he wants to achieve, he needs
two of our kind.... One Bestial and one Ethereal. He can only have
one, now."
"You mean you've...." Setsuna frowned, then shook her head.
"I didn't think you'd go through with an elaborate plan of that
kind."
Carey chuckled. "In a few minutes, there won't be a Bestial
on the face of the Earth capable of matching his requirements."
----o
It seemed as if the creature had tired of its meal. Slowly,
it started to pace over to where Nobuhiro was standing, transfixed
by the scene. It even stomped over the wooden boards which Rumiko
was lying under. Well, thought Arisa, as she continued her
incantation, there was one good aspect to being bowled over in such
a fashion....
Then the creature made a deep-throated cackling sound, and
made to pounce. Arisa could see its outline crouching. AT that
moment, she ended her incantation. "RELEASE!" She cried at the
top of her voice.
There was an explosion of light, and the creature's form came
into full view as waves of magical energy struck it from the side.
It turned to see a glowing figure stand up. Nobuhiro, stunned by
this turn of events, fell onto his rump, wide-eyed.
The creature shivered, its bestial growl forming a word....
"Kei....ko...."
Yokuro Keiko stood tall, holding her hands before her in a
praying stance.
"Now, Sherrie..." She said in a voice that echoed across the
yards. "I shall release you from this horror...."
END OF PART 16
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Chapter - "Nocturnal Index"
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net
Version 1.0 - 5th May 1998
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)
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.
Don't sue me for this, please. I'm not really a ripoff artist. I
leave that to professionals, like Anya Romanov. ^_^
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep, things certainly seemed to be getting out of hand, here.
Arisa looked down upon the scene. Watanabe Nobuhiro standing,
staring into the docking shed, Keiko lying in a pit of sand, playing
with the wet and sodden mixture in her hands, and Rumiko lying
underneath a stack of splintered wooden boards that once used to be
a pair of doors.
On top of that, somwhere around twenty dock workers were
spread throughout the docking shed, having fallen victim to the
creature Sherrie had become. Arisa shivered. She couldn't see the
creature, only a distant outline of something tearing its way
through the body of one of the dockworkers. A couple of times, it
would turn and look a Nobuhiro, as if saying "you're next", but
obviously whoever it was eating had a good flavour....
Arisa chided herself for that thought. She turned and looked
over the other side of the water tower. Nobuhiro certainly wasn't
going to get any help from his partner, Michelle Fitchner. Maria
and the members of Team Three had dealt with her. Not permanently,
of course, they just knocked her one over the noggin as she vainly
tried to follow Nobuhiro's pace. Funny that someone so big should
be so quick on his feet. Well, that was the Other blood for you.
She lifted up her transceiver. "Looks like everything's as
messy as I expected it to be. Gonna be a media circus when someone
spots this little charnal house...."
"Great...." Maria's voice crackled over the speaker. "Are
you ready to release her?"
"On it now..." Arisa put the transceiver aside and clasped
her hands together, mouthing an incantation.
----o
Aoi had died and gone to Heaven.
She danced and pranced through the gardens of cigarette bushes
and coffee trees, wondering if life could get any better than this.
Of course, this couldn't be real, so she had to be dead. Nothing
else could explain the sheer beauty of this place.
The warm sun. the blue skies. The aroma of burning tobacco
and freshly brewed caffeine. Ah yes, there was nothing like it.
"Excuse me." She felt someone shaking her shoulder.
"Go away." She said, softly, in a daze. "Leave me with my
cigarettes." She pulled one off a bush and drew on the end,
allowing the superfragrant smoke to enter her lungs. The taste,
and its effect on her, was like nothing she'd ever experienced
before.
"Look, I know you might find cloud nine a pleasant place to
be after smacking into a brick wall at close to thirty miles an
hour, but sleeping in a muddy puddle is not the best place to get
there." The annoying voice continued. For a moment, Aoi considered
turning around and poking the cigarette in the person's face.
"Leave me alone...."
"I can't. There are a couple of young women in a bad way,
here, and you're the only person in a sufficiently healthy state
who is benevolently acquainted with them. Maybe"
Aoi turned and looked up at the face of the young woman with
wavy red hair. Her light face contrasted starkly with the darkening
skies. She blinked a couple of times and wiped her sweaty face.
Only it wasn't sweat she was wiping away.
She stared at the blood on the palm of her hand for a few
moments. "I'm...." She began, with encroaching panic. "I'm..."
----o
Part Sixteen
The Break of Dusk
----o
"It's just a shallow cut on your forehead. Nothing to be
overly concerned about. Of course, if you've got concussion, that
can be a problem. But it isn't very likely, since you had a couple
of girls to soften your impact." The young woman offered Aoi a
hand. Aoi took it, groggily, and was helped to her feet.
She heard the sound of water running off something, and looked
down at her clothes. "Aww shit. I'm all...." She turned up her
nose at the mud and filth that was plastered all over her skirt and
jacket. She had been, as the young woman had said, lying in a muddy
puddle. "This was such a good suit, too."
"Never mind your bloody clothes." The young woman said,
holding onto Aoi's arm. "How are you feeling?"
"A bit dizzy, but I suppose I'm alright." Aoi turned to the
young woman. She was dressed in a thick black coat, which covered
over a black shirt, skirt and boots. The first thing that entered
Aoi's mind was.... "Who are you?"
"Hmm? Me? Oh, just your average, everyday magic user who
happened to be passing by and saw you and this pair fly into this
wall, here." The young woman first gestured to the still forms of
Ami and the blond-haired girl who had tried to kidnap her, then to
the wall that they had struck. Aoi looked up at the wall, blinking.
"Shit.... The old government records office...." She turned
back to the two forms on the ground.
The blond-haired girl was looking frightfully pale, her simple
dress covered in mud. But Ami looked worse. Lying on her front,
there was blood running from her nose and mouth. Even her ears.
Aoi stepped over to Ami's side, aided by the young woman, not even
batting an eyelid to her 'magic user' comment. She'd seen and heard
too much today to let something like that distract her.
She kneeled down and put a hand to the side of Ami's throat,
checking for a pulse. "Well, she's alive. I can say that, at
least."
"For how much longer, though? She looks in a bad way."
"It's a haemhorrage. I'd say she hit the wall, face-forward,
and split the mucas membranes." Aoi gently ran a finger along the
back of Ami's neck, from the base of the skull, running down her
back. "I don't think she's got any vertebral damage, but she's
going to need medical attention, and quickly. The haemhorrage could
be worse internally.... The last thing I need is to have my
sailorsenshi die of brain damage caused by an intracranial
haemhorrage."
"Your Sailorsenshi?" The young woman frowned, then shrugged.
"What about the other one?"
"What about her?" Aoi turned to her.
"Doesn't she rate a mention, or something?"
"Hardly. She tried to kidnap this girl. She can die, for all
I care." The young woman seemed genuinely surprised by Aoi's
comments.
"Doesn't life hold any value to you?"
"My life holds value to me. But that's about all, really."
She paused for a few moments. "Oh, and Ami's life, of course."
"Ami?"
"Yes, this girl here." She pointed. "She is my ticket out of
the SIU and into a better posting."
"I don't understand." The young woman shook her head.
"Hmm.... My name's Kikotsuka Aoi. I'm a member of the
Metropolitan Police. Part of the Sailor Investigation Unit office.
It's my job to investigate the activities of bitches like her." She
nodded to Ami. "And she is the first one I've ever caught. The
last thing I need is for her to die." Aoi began to fumble through
the waterlogged pockets of her jacket.
"So the only reason her life has any value is because she is
important to your promotional prospects?"
"Of course. Should there be another reason?" Aoi huffed.
"Who are you, anyway?"
The young woman sighed. "My name is Meehan. Mhaere Meehan.
I'm a visitor to Tokyo, and an ex-member of a group called the
Sacred House. Although, considering you were using a form of magic
just now, you'd already be acquainted with them."
"The Sacred House?" Aoi looked at her, closely. "You're not
involved with...."
"I said ex-member. They.... had me put away, for some time."
"I see." Aoi looked down at the other girl. "And what about
her? Do you know who she is?"
"Her name is Gwen Wright. She is a member of the Sacred
House." Mhaere paused. "An intelligence gatherer and stealth
operative."
----o
The large glass containers were like the display cabinets one
would find in a museum. And Usagi wasn't too keen on what they were
displaying.
Dead human bodies. At least, most of them looked human. In
truth, the majority of them were warped and mutated, some beyond
recognition. And they had all been perfectly preserved upon the
moment of their deaths.
"What are they all?" Usagi felt ill as she passed by the
naked figure of a six year old girl with the head of an arachnid,
resplendant with her eight eyes and large mandibles. Usagi was
happy she was dead. "Where in hell did all these.... these
people... things come from?"
"Hell would be a pretty good place to start." Lysithea
touched the glass of one of the displays. "This is what happens
when the mixing of human and other blood goes wrong."
"Mixing of human and other blood?"
"Yes. The Others were a race of beings for whom magic was a
natural form of defence in their world. As common as the elements
themselves. They came to Earth many thousands of years ago, and
interbred with human beings. When this breeding went right, it
created magic users like myself. But when it went wrong...." He
gestured to the cabinets. "I'd say a great many of these died by
natural causes. The Sacred House would have been caring for them
until their deformitites grew too grievous for them to be
sustained."
"These.... poor people...." Usagi felt a sense of sadness,
despite the horror of what was before her.
"Poor, yes. But also dangerous. They couldn't be allowed to
exist in the outside world. Not only would people reject them, they
would also give in to their darker desires...." He touched the
glass again, staring at a man who was half-feline.
"They are carnivorous...." Usagi frowned. "I thought you
said the Sacred House was an evil organisation."
"Hmm?" Lysithea turned to her. "They are. Why do you ask?"
"What are they doing, looking after people like these?"
Lysithea shrugged. "Taking care of their own, I suppose."
Usagi frowned and watched as Lysithea continued on, along the
pathway between the displays. Giving the arachnid-girl one last
glance, she continued on.
----o
Doctor Mizuno sat in her office, rubbing her forehead as she
filled out notes on one of her patients by hand. It would have been
quicker to do it by computer, but she had a love-hate relationship
with the infernal machines, and left the transcribing of the notes
to the clerical staff.
They didn't all love her for it, either.
For some reason, she found it difficult to concentrate.
Things were running through her mind at a breakneck speed, and not
the things she should have been concentrating on.
How did she get herself into this mess? How did she allow
herself to be used in this manner? What they made her do... it
was... Wrong. It was so, so wrong. But they threatened Ami. She
would do anything to protect her child.... Anything....
But why did it have to be that? Why did it have to be....
She tried to compose herself. She'd started to write rubbish
all over the page. She looked at her hand, and realised it was
shaking. She dropped the pen and took hold of her hand. A cold
sweat ran down her forehead....
A drink! That was what she needed. She reached into the top
drawer of her desk and pulled out a small bottle and a glass. The
bottle was half empty. She'd used it just a little too often,
lately.
Slowly, she opened the cap and poured some of its contents
into the glass.... She swigged the fluid down, screwing up her
face. It was all to save Ami. She was justified in doing what she
did. They had threatened her child....
There was a knock on the door to her office, and she swung
around, putting on a calm expression. "Haiii...."
The door opened and her secretary peered into the office.
"There are a couple of young women here to see you, Doctor."
"Young women?" Her blood ran cold.
"Yes, they said you were expecting them." The secretary
opened the door wide and allowed the two young women into the
office.
"Hello there, Doc." Said the taller one. "Long time no see,
eh?"
Doctor Mizuno wanted to scream.
----o
Setsuna moved through the hallway like a hunted animal, having
leapt from the open grille of the air conditioning unit, set high
in the wall. She hated using such uncouth methods of entry and
traversal. It would have been much easier to have transported
herself in, but that risked early detection.
She knew, sooner or later, that someone would come looking for
her. She'd never been through the Sacred House Compound without
causing some distress to the locals. It was only a matter of when
they woke up to her presence. But she wasn't going to afford
herself the luxury of caution. Her mission was of utmost importance
to her.
Regardless of what the others felt about her motives and
actions, she remained the most loyal of her Princess's servants.
She had never done anything, in her incomphrehensibly long
existence, that wasn't related in some form or another to the
servitude of her position. And upon the downfall of the Kingdom,
its incipient recreation.
Her Princess was in danger. She knew Lysithea Caprice better
than anyone, even Lysithea himself. She knew who he had been, in a
previous existence. That didn't change the person he was, today.
Lysithea was in the presence of her Princess, and that was enough to
drive Setsuna to consider his execution....
Not that she wanted to kill him. She slipped into the
shadows, behind one of the columns that lined the vast hallway. She
stared up at the ceiling, impressed with the plaster motifs that had
been moulded there by the artisans who designed the Central Hall of
the Sacred House. By some divine providence, the Hall had survived
the firebombing of Tokyo in the Second World War. It was one of the
very few large buildings that had.
She sighed. Lysithea.... There were things that she had
shared with him.... Things that nobody else knew.... that nobody
else would get an oppotunity to know. Why did it always come down
to this? Why were they always being made to fight, to kill, those
who had once been their allies?
Simple. Nobody can hurt you as badly as someone you have
allowed yourself to get close to. Setsuna should have known, back
then, the kind of person Lysithea would become. But love has a
tendency to make you blind.... And there are times when you feel
the greatest attraction.... to those who are totally unlike you.
She also should have known he was not to be the kind of person
to reciprocate her affections. She should have seen it, in the way
he talked and carried himself.... He was not a ladies man, and very
obviously so, but.... he was just so damned PRETTY.
"Hello, Setsuna." She almost jumped at the soft, silky voice,
whispered across her shoulder. She turned to come face to face with
the last person on the Earth she wanted to see, right now.
"Konbanwa, West-san." Her expression oozed contempt.
Carey smiled.
----o
"Hmm.... I expected as much." Aoi watched as Mhaere knelt
down beside Gwen, checking her pulse. "I knew she had to have been
with one of these psycho groups that are after the Sailorsenshi.
Well, I've had enough warning about them, anyway."
"Hmm...." Mhaere said, not really listening.
"Is she alive?"
"Yes. And not in as bad a shape as the other girl, I'd say.
Gwen was always a resilient one."
Aoi looked around, noticing they were behind a series of thick
bushes, blocking their presence from any casual viewer. She felt
the occasional sprinkle of rain on her head and looked up at the
darkening sky.
She reached into the pocket of her muddied jacket, feeling
around for her mobile phone. What she pulled out was a half-
shattered, half soaked piece of mangled plastic and wires.
"Oh well, that takes care of that."
"What?" Mhaere looked up at her. Aoi showed her the phone.
"We're going to have to use a public phone to call an ambulance."
"What do you want to call an ambulance for? I've already
found someone capable of healing this pair."
"Who?" Aoi frowned. "Wait a minute.... What do you mean by
'healing', precisely?"
"Exactly how it sounds. Someone with healing powers."
"Ano...." Aoi scratched her soaked hair with a muddy hand.
"Where would someone find a person like that?"
"You'll be surprised." Mhaere smiled, and snapped her
fingers. All four disappeared into thin air.
----o
Shimazaki sighed as the traffic crawled along the expressway.
he turned to Katarin, who was driving, tapping his fingers on the
steering wheel.
"I knew it was a bad idea, coming this way during the rush
hour." Shimazaki sighed in frustration. Katarin looked aside at
him.
"She won't be going anywhere. Just be patient."
"How do you know? She might be on her way home right now."
"She isn't on her way home." Katarin continued to tap his
hands on the steering wheel, and now started to whistle a soft tune.
Shimazaki stared at him, nonplussed, then shook his head, switching
on the radio.
"You know, I hate having the radio on when I'm driving."
Katarin growled. Shimazaki looked away.
"Anything's better than listening to your performance."
----o
"And how can I help you, Meiou-san?" Carey sneered as she
stepped around Setsuna's form. The elder senshi didn't take her eye
off the white-haired woman for a single moment.
"Help me?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow, trying to hide her
amusement. "Since when have you ever tried to help me?"
"You wouldn't come here for any other reason, now would you?"
Carey shrugged, stopping in the middle of the hallway, hands in
pockets.
"I am here for a very specific reason. I'm sure you know
what."
"No, actually, I don't. Care to enlighten me?" Carey shook
her head, her mouth extending into a wide smile. Setsuna hated
Carey's smile. It never carried anything remotely like warmth. But
then, Carey had never been the warmest of individuals. At least not
around her.
"Use your imagination, West-san.... Oh, I'm sorry.... You
don't have one. I should have remembered." That wiped the smile
off the bitch's face, giving Setsuna a few moments of pleasure.
"Well, let's see.... It has something.... to do.... with your
Princess. Am I right?" Carey stepped forward, stopping in front of
Setsuna. The elder senshi said nothing. Carey continued. "She is
here, somewhere, within the bounds of the Sacred House Compound, in
the presence of someone who is a threat to her life."
"If you know that much, why haven't you done anything about
it?" Setsuna sniffed. Carey stared into her eyes for a few
moments, making Setsuna feeling uncomfortable. "What?"
"Why do you try and hide their identities from me? Whenever
we've met, you put the walls up in your mind."
"Because I know the kind of person you are. The kind of
person you REALLY are. They don't. To allow the likes of you into
their lives is something I'll never be able to forgive myself for."
"Do you really think that lowly of me?" Carey sneered once
more. "I'm not really that bad a person, you know. Once you get to
know me."
"I do know you. You won't be able to discover the identities
of the Sailorsenshi from me."
"But you beloved Princess, I dare suggest, won't have the
fortitude of mind, will she?"
Setsuna shivered for a moment, then composed herself. "You
might find it more to your advantage to ignore my Princess and deal
with a more immediate danger to your own person."
"Like what?"
"Lysithea Caprice."
Carey's eyes opened wide with surprise. "Lysithea.... Now
there is a name I have not heard in a long time."
"I'm quite sure you'll get rapidly reacquainted. He's here,
with MY Princess, in the Sacred House."
"Ah. I see." Setsuna was surprised by Carey's cool reaction.
She was expecting a little more.
"You seem somewhat less than awed by this news."
"Your perception only. I am, naturally, somewhat disturbed to
think that he is in here, somewhere, whilst I have been walking
about unawares. But apart from that...." Carey paused.
"Apart from that?" Setsuna looked at her, quizzically.
"Apart from that, there isn't much he can do with me if he
were to find me. Except kill me, of course. There is always that
option."
"One I'm sure he'd not be too keen to indulge, considering his
motives for coming here."
"I take it he used your Princess's powers to get through the
Security?"
"What else would he be with her for?"
"Interesting. I wonder why he hasn't thought of doing this
before?" Carey put a hand to her chin. Setsuna shrugged.
"My guess is he's been biding his time."
"For what reason?"
"Preparations."
"Ah. Yes, of course. I forgot about that. It won't do him
any good, though."
Setsuna blinked, surprised. "Why? What do you mean?"
Carey smiled wagging a finger in Setsuna's face and clicking
her tongue. "Oh Meiou-san.... Honestly." Carey stepped away,
staring into space. "To achieve what he wants to achieve, he needs
two of our kind.... One Bestial and one Ethereal. He can only have
one, now."
"You mean you've...." Setsuna frowned, then shook her head.
"I didn't think you'd go through with an elaborate plan of that
kind."
Carey chuckled. "In a few minutes, there won't be a Bestial
on the face of the Earth capable of matching his requirements."
----o
It seemed as if the creature had tired of its meal. Slowly,
it started to pace over to where Nobuhiro was standing, transfixed
by the scene. It even stomped over the wooden boards which Rumiko
was lying under. Well, thought Arisa, as she continued her
incantation, there was one good aspect to being bowled over in such
a fashion....
Then the creature made a deep-throated cackling sound, and
made to pounce. Arisa could see its outline crouching. AT that
moment, she ended her incantation. "RELEASE!" She cried at the
top of her voice.
There was an explosion of light, and the creature's form came
into full view as waves of magical energy struck it from the side.
It turned to see a glowing figure stand up. Nobuhiro, stunned by
this turn of events, fell onto his rump, wide-eyed.
The creature shivered, its bestial growl forming a word....
"Kei....ko...."
Yokuro Keiko stood tall, holding her hands before her in a
praying stance.
"Now, Sherrie..." She said in a voice that echoed across the
yards. "I shall release you from this horror...."
END OF PART 16
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Chapter - "Nocturnal Index"
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net
Version 1.0 - 5th May 1998