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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Kimi had been left, sitting alone in the darkness of her room.
Those bitches thought they had been smart, trying to infiltrate her
family with the intention of bringing it down. Those two girls....
Hoist by their own petard. It amused Kimi to think about it.
Trying to win their way into her father's affections, only to become
involved in the murder of the Sailorslut! Oh how she despised them!
They would all pay for her mother's suicide!
All of them. Every single one of those stinking, inferior
shits who DARED to besmirch the name of Shiranui! She would
pleasure herself, tearing out their hearts and their minds with her
bare hands, crushing their very souls and feeling them run between
her fingers. Her fingers.... Her fingers....
She only realised then that she was shivering. She stared
down at the palms of her hands as they quivered. Have to control
herself... Please regain control....
Sweat ran down her face as she felt tears trickling from her
eyes. She couldn't be dead. Not her mother. Not HER mother. Her
mother was never that stupid.... Stupid enough to get caught up in
the machiavellian machinations of the Sailorwhores..... And yet,
she had been....
Mustn't cry. Refuse to cry. Miyuki never cried.
She took a breath and felt calmness wash over her body.
Slowly, she stood from the table in the centre of her room and
wandered over to the window, wondering how Miyuki must be at this
time.
She hated sending out Miyuki on cold, wet nights like this.
Miyuki was the only person who truly understood her. Miyuki was the
only person who would sit and watch her performances with any sense
of appreciation. It was the almost death-like calmness that Miyuki
posessed....
She stared out at the rain and smiled. It fell in a nice,
happy pattern. Lost children, falling to the ground. Both she and
Miyuki were lost children.... The rain felt like kin. She reached
out her arms, stepping through the doorway, onto the verandah that
overlooked the stone garden.
Soft lights illuminated the rocks and plants that filled the
garden, their glow extended and refracted by the droplets that fell
from the sky. Fall, little children. The energies of the past,
present and future shall see you reborn....
Then she turned and outstretched a hand, imagining herself to
be a puppeteer....
She wiggled her fingers, seeing the puppet dance across the
floor. Then she outstretched another hand and repeated the measure
with that one.
Then one of the puppets died, falling to the floor, its
strings severed by her will.
Death is what becomes of all those who defy that will.
----o
The duty sergeant sat at his desk, tapping the end of a pen on
a small clipboard as he watched a prisoner being escorted through
the arrivals area from one of the cell blocks. He almost fell out
of his seat when he heard the gunshot.
"What the hell...?" He stood as the officer with the prisoner
turned, looking at him, blinking. The duty sergeant swallowed.
"Was that a gun discharging?"
"Either that or someone is playing with firecrackers in the
station." The officer shrugged.
"HEY! HET! WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE? WHO FIRED THAT THING?
HEY! I'M FEELING SCARED IN HERE!" The duty sergeant could hear
Kensuke shouting from his cell. Stepping over to the entrance to
the holding cell block, he noticed a shaft of light, cast across the
floor of the corridor, coming from an open door.... from one of the
cells.
Doctor Mizuno's cell.
----o
Kimi giggled as she imagined the body of the puppet on the
floor of her room. She then turned to her other hand, still
outstretched.
"What are you going to do, hmmm?" She gently wiggled her
fingers, as if the puppet was responding....
----o
"Hmm? You want to have the haul tested?" Abe, the senior
sergeant of the drugs squad blinked at Shimazaki's request.
Shimazaki nodded. He'd made the request after after thinking
things over. There had been a large amount of illegal narcotics
pumped into the body of Sailorjupiter shortly before she had been
killed.... Ironic that, less than 24 hours later, there should be
a large drugs haul involving Yakuza.
"Well, I suppose so, though I can't see how a connection could
be found between that found on the SJ murder scene and what we've
got in here."
"You know, better than I do, that each shipment contains
impurities that can be traced back to the same source."
"Yeah, but still.... The amount you had found on the scene
was so small...."
Shimazaki didn't get an opportunity to answer that. Katarin
entered the small Drugs Squad office with a pale expression on his
face. Abe and the two other DS officers stared at him with
surprise, enough to make Shimazaki turn.
Katarin leaned against the doorway, breathing heavily. "For
Kami's sake, why did you run off like that?"
"Why? What's up?" Shimazaki put his hands in his pockets,
sniffing. It was unusual for Katarin to be so worked up over
anything.
"Doctor Mizuno...." Katarin took a long breath. "Somebody
has shot her.... She's dead!"
----o
"She's dead!" Kimi said as she made gestures with the
imaginary puppet. "And very soon, the rest of them shall follow.
Those Sailorsluts and their families. They will know my PAIN!"
----o
Part Twentythree
Nothing Sacred Nothing Savoured
----o
"Hello, Minako-chan, is it?" Doctor Bartholemew stared
through the partition in the wall of Minako's room.
Minako herself had been sitting, shivering, on the bed in the
middle of the room, staring around at the high, dark walls with
fear. She couldn't remember much of what had happened not too long
before, but for some reason, she was now Sailorvenus, and that
didn't bode well, especially as it seemed she was incapable of using
her powers for the timebeing.
When she heard Bartholemew's voice, she leapt from the bed and
almost collapsed, her legs obviously not quite ready to take her
weight. Regardless, she soldiered on and collapsed against the
glass, pressing her hands and face into it so she could get a better
look at the owner of the voice.
"Who are you?" She stared at the woman. "Where am I?" She
then looked at the partition. "Wait a minute.... This wasn't here
just a few moments ago...." She turned back to Bartholemew,
panicking. "What's happening? What's happening to me?"
"Don't worry, Minako-chan.... We won't hurt you."
"You know my name?"
"Yes." Bartholemew nodded.
"How?"
"Never mind that. We know your name is Aino Minako, and we
know where you live and who your relatives are. Don't worry, they
have been notified of your situation and are being counseled at this
very moment...."
"That doesn't tell me how you knew my name."
Bartholemew rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter how we found
out, does it?"
"It might."
"Wouldn't you prefer me to tell you why you are in this
holding cell?" Bartholemew sighed as she sat down on the seat in
the small observation booth, clutching her clipboard with large
fingers. Minako eyed the woman suspiciously. She was middle aged
and fairly well built. Obviously caucasian, with red hair that had
specks of grey running through it. The woman wore a simple business
dress underneath a white labcoat. Minako didn't like the way she
looked, and decided to play dumb.
"No, actually. I'd rather you tell me how you know my name."
Bartholemew dropped her clipboard and facefaulted. "Oh, for
the love of...." She picked up the clipboard and leaned forward.
"Look, you told us your name when we asked you."
Oops, Minako thought....
----o
"What the hell do you mean, dead?" Shimazaki managed to blurt
out after retrieving his jaw from the carpet.
"I mean she's dead. Someone's wandered into the holding cells
and shot her." Katarin was, by now, seated in the nearest chair
that Abe could find for him. He still hadn't quite caught his
breath.
"Oh that's just great." Shimazaki threw his hands into the
air and started to rant and rave as he kicked various objects that
happened to cross his path during his venting process, including one
of Abe's meeker subordinates. Katarin and Abe sweatdropped as they
watched him.
"He really gets into his job, doesn't he?" Abe whispered to
Katarin. The Major Crime detective rubbed his face, tiredly.
"It's been a long day, and getting longer by the moment."
Katarin rubbed a handkerchief he'd pulled from his pocket across his
forehead.
He felt sick to the stomach, and it was due to more than the
death of Doctor Mizuno.
----o
"Mars.... Mars.... Please. Oh Kami.... Please still be
with us." Hotaru held Rei in her arms, hidden amongst some bushes,
off to one side of the Hikawa Shrine. She tried her best not to
look at the horrific wound in the unfortunate girl's chest as rain
filtered down through the branches, soaking the four hidden figures.
Hotaru brushed her wet hair from her face, only then realising
that there was blood on the glove. She swallowed, trying to ease
the nausea she felt. Her own physical health was not good, and the
combination of the conditions and the stress were beginning to tax
her. Most of all, she wondered why she wasn't just blazing away at
their attacker with every little spell she had up her sleeve.
Because Rei was wounded, that was why. Wounded in a place
that should have been a sanctuary from the violence of the world.
But it was more than that. Something about the attacker was
holding her back. Even though she could feel nothing from them, and
even that seemed to remind her of somebody she once knew.
Rei's eyes had become glassy, staring into space, and her
complexion had gone white. However, she was still breathing. A
deep, rasping breath, but it was still there. Hotaru did her best
to ignore everything she'd learnt about the "death rattles", as
Rei's mouth started to form soundless words.
"What is it, Mars?" Luna, who was sitting on the other side
of Rei, absolutely and positively tortured by the unpleasant
sensation of the rain on her fur as all good cats would attest to,
leaned an ear close to Rei's mouth.
"A...mi..."
"What? What about Mercury?" Luna placed a paw on Rei's
shoulder, trying to will the girl into continuing.
"Will.... They... will..." Blood ran from the sides of Rei's
mouth as she started to hack and cough, her chest seemingly seizing
up. A look of fear and horror crossed the faces of both Luna and
Artemis as they looked up at Hotaru.
"No... I can't..."
"You've got to, Saturn.... Your powers of healing are all
that will save Mars. We can't take her to a hospital, lest her
identity be exposed, but we can't let her die." Luna's gaze became
stern. "We must know who this enemy is that frightens her so
much.... And to do that, we must assure her a continuing life."
"And that enemy is probably stalking us right now." Artemis,
who was standing some distance away, looked back into the shrine
grounds, nervously. The dim glow of the city lights, reflecting off
the thick clouds and rain gave the darkened shrine an eerie
appearance, as if all life had been stripped of it. "We can hide
here, but we daren't stay here for long."
"Whatever the case...." Hotaru lowered her right hand over
Rei's wound. "I'm using this power under protest. I hate the way
it makes me feel...." She shivered as she started to channel her
healing powers into Rei. "It's like having slugs slithering along
my every nerve. I hate to think what it's doing to me."
Luna watched with fascination as a pink-orange glow emerged
from Hotaru's hand, entering Rei's body through the wound. Then
Hotaru took hold of her right wrist with her left hand as the
channeling started to affect her.
"Oooohhh Kami.... Oooohhhh I hate this...." Hotaru closed
her eyes and lifted her head back. Her body started to quiver and
she let out soft moans of discomfort.
Artemis stepped up beside Luna as they watched Hotaru. "I
never knew her healing powers caused her this much distress." He
whispered softly.
"It's been getting worse with each passing year. Kami knows
why. The power itself is.... Well.... It's hard to say, really.
I'm not sure whether it is connected to her powers as Saturn or
not." Luna turned aside to him, frowning.
"Your saying the power is independant?"
"I'm saying that it may not be part of her complement." Luna
turned back, ignoring Artemis's questioning expression.
He shook his head and turned back to the shrine grounds. "Uh,
guys.... I think we might be in a pretty pickle here."
Luna turned, annoyedly. "What is it now?"
"Rei's Grandfather and Kumada-san.... They've just returned
to the shrine.
Luna sweatdropped.
----o
Miyuki watched the pair return to the shrine grounds, both
pondering on the darkness within. No thoughts ran through her mind.
There was nothing to think about. Merely more to add to the final
bodycount.
She watched as the taller one opened up the main residence and
switched on the lights. He was kind of scruffy.... No waste there.
And the other one that followed him in, carrying a couple of
bags.... Well, he was old. His time was up.
She shook her head, wondering why she was even bothering to
justify killing them. She hated it when these little threads of
morality shot through her cerebrum. It hurt, sometimes.
She checked her position, then clambered down the hillock,
towards the group of trees and bushes that the quartet had opted to
hide in. Grabbing a small elastic strip from the pocket of her
jacket, she tied back her hair. The rain had made it damp, and it
was clinging to her face, which was a distraction.
She could see a glow within the bushes as she finished.
Cocking her head to one side, she felt the glow to be familiar. For
some reason, she felt a strange attraction to the glow, like it was
drawing out of her some emotional response.
She didn't acknowledge the response. It meant accepting the
illogical dreams of past lives that she'd had since childhood....
Dreams were a waste of time trying to interpret, as were the
emotions that came with them.
She continued on into the outcrop.
----o
"How could you even THINK of doing that, you bastard! What
kind of freakin' pervert are you?" Aoi had Pagan backed up against
her bedroom wall, hands either side of his head, leaning forward and
baring her teeth. Pagan didn't know whether to accept this as a
comfortable situation or not.
"It was just a joke, okay?" He could feel her breath blowing
into his face....
"Some fuckin' joke.... One moment you're clamping your mouth
over mine, in what can't even be vaguely described as a kiss, within
the ladies room at the Tokyo Metro, the next you're stickin' your
hand up the skirt I'm wearing...." He winced as he felt a momentary
stab of pain went through his head. Opening his eyes, he decided to
use attack as defence.
"Hey, don't blame me that the Coven chose to match us..."
Pagan managed to push Aoi aside and stepped over to her bed, sitting
on it. After a couple of pats, he smiled and looked back up at her.
"Hey, comfy. Care to join me?"
Aoi rolled her eyes. "Don't start that up. I've had enough
of this brood mare crap already. Both from you and those two girls
from the Sacred House."
"Which two girls?" Pagan frowned at her.
"Yes...." Mhaere stepped forward, having been silently
watching the proceedings with much amusement. "Yes indeed. What
two girls might these be?"
Aoi looked from one to the other. "Didn't I tell you,
already?" They shook their heads.
----o
In the loungeroom of Aoi's apartment, Ami sat up from the
lounge suite and stared at her surroundings. For some reason, her
head felt clearer than it had been, before.
She turned to her left and saw a young, light haired caucasian
girl, sitting slumped in a lounge chair. Her initial reaction was
to help her, but some niggling little thought from the back of her
mind told her not to.
Quickly and silently, she stood up and smiled. The house
looked nice and neat, and so very liveable. So much better than the
overwrought mansion house that was her home. Anyway, her mother's
job paid for that, and her mother was a crook. She giggled softly
and stretched, feeling amazingly refreshed. It was almost as if an
aspect of her had come to life for the very first time....
----o
"Hayakawa Arisa and Maria Firenze." Pagan shook his head and
lay back on the bed, chuckling. "Yes.... Nobuhiro and Michelle had
been keeping an eye on them, to the best of their ability." He
gestured in the direction of the loungeroom. "Gwen Wright is their
partner. I guess they won't be too pleased about what you did to
her."
Aoi took a breath and shook her head. "None of that matters.
I don't care what your people at the Coven of whatever it's called
think, I'm not like you and I don't have any powers of my own. I've
never displayed any such powers and never will."
"So who was it that was controlling your flight when Gwen was
unconcious?" Mhaere stepped right up to Aoi, staring her in the
face, giving her a bit of her own medicine back. "A Mind Predator,
I think, is the term they used for you."
"How would you know?" Aoi stared back at her.
"Ouch." Mhaere retreated, holding her forehead with a hand.
"I forgot what it can feel like when an MPred questions you so
directly at such a close range...."
"What she says is correct, Kikotsuka." Pagan crossed his
arms. "If she is telling the truth, since I didn't see it.... But
if you had managed to knock Wright unconcious, and the Mizuno girl
was already out of it, then there was only one person with the power
to generate your flight capabilities."
"Or, at the very least, tap into Wright's abilities and give
them motivation whilst she was in lala land." Mhaere added.
"It also explains how you were capable of using Jupiter's
henshin pen. Your powers merely tapped into the pen's henshin
instructions, despite the fact you are, clearly, not Sailorjupiter.
I sincerely doubt you have been chosen to be her successor."
Aoi shook her head, disbelievingly, gesturing to the green and
white senshi fuku she was wearing. "Oh yeah.... Well if I'm not
Sailorjupiter, who the hell is?"
----o
Miki felt rather silly, wandering along the street, making for
the rail station. Silly, because she knew, at the back of her mind,
that she had her own bloody car, probably sitting in the multi level
carpark at the Tokyo Metro building.
She stopped in the middle of the footpath, almost having
people run into her. She didn't care. Staring at the ground, she
thought things over.
Where was she when this began? In the observation room. The
observation room of the autopsy theatre, sitting in a chair.
Sitting in a chair, with Akunatsuka Kaji standing next to her. And
then there was an explosion. And then something struck her in the
chest. And then....
"Yo." She didn't hear Haruka's voice at first, and wondered
why the woman's face appeared in her view. "Earth to Kino-san."
Miki snapped her head up in surprise. Before her stood
Haruka, leaning forward, and Michiru. "Who...." Her voice croaked
and she stopped as Haruka stood up, hands in the pockets of her
slacks.
"Are you alright, Kino-san? You appear very pale." Michiru
took Haruka's arm. Miki put a hand to her head. Why did she know
their names? Why did she know that Haruka was a woman, not a guy,
as she appeared to be? Other than that, they were the perfect
couple.... They WERE the perfect couple. Just not the kind of
perfect couple Miki was used to.
"Kino-san?" Miki blinked. "I'm not.... My name is..." She
felt a moment of sheer illogical fear and brushed past them,
quickly.
They watched her go, blankly.
"Do you think she's finally losing her mind?" Haruka looked
aside at her partner.
"It would seem so.... Perhaps she was not that bad a choice,
after all. We'd be doing her a favour." Michiru's face dropped.
"Still, we'd be going against everything we stood for."
"Our duty has never been about protecting the other senshi.
It's about protecting the kingdom, and bringing about its
resurrection. As long as the Princess is safe...." Haruka's voice
faltered.
Miki felt this entire conversation within her mind, as if she
had been standing next to them. That wasn't possible. She shook
her head, painfully, as she approached the entrance to the rail
station. Kino-san.... She knew the name. She knew it.... Where?
----o
The horror had smothered her.
Usagi opened her eyes and found herself lying under the thick
covers of an extremely comfortable bed.
The horror had flowed over her body and smothered her.
She felt clean.... Like she had been cleansed of something.
Her head was still a little hazy, but that was clearing. It was an
incredible haziness, too.... Trickling down from the top of her
scalp, down through her neck and flowing into the rest of her body.
It was warm and comfortable, and it weighed down her limbs. That
was alright by her.... She didn't want to move them.
"How are you feeling?" Said the soft voice of the young,
dark-haired girl who was sitting on the edge of the bed, next to
her. She recognised the girl as the one who had been chasing her
through the corridors of the Sacred House compound, the one who
had taken Minako.... She turned and did her best to smile at the
girl.
"Not bad. I've felt worse." She was surprised by how soft
her voice was. It was then she noticed that, not only herself, but
the other girl were completely naked.
"That's good." The girl smiled and giggled, then leaned down
and kissed Usagi on the lips.
Usagi was surprised to find that she couldn't muster the
energy to resist.
So she didn't.
END OF PART 23
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Woah.... Incipient lemon scenes in SIU.... ^_^ Stay tuned to see
if anything actually happens.... ^_^;;
Next Chapter - "Dreams of Succulence"
DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page) ayanami@internode.on.net
Version 1.0 - 6th Jun 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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Kimi had been left, sitting alone in the darkness of her room.
Those bitches thought they had been smart, trying to infiltrate her
family with the intention of bringing it down. Those two girls....
Hoist by their own petard. It amused Kimi to think about it.
Trying to win their way into her father's affections, only to become
involved in the murder of the Sailorslut! Oh how she despised them!
They would all pay for her mother's suicide!
All of them. Every single one of those stinking, inferior
shits who DARED to besmirch the name of Shiranui! She would
pleasure herself, tearing out their hearts and their minds with her
bare hands, crushing their very souls and feeling them run between
her fingers. Her fingers.... Her fingers....
She only realised then that she was shivering. She stared
down at the palms of her hands as they quivered. Have to control
herself... Please regain control....
Sweat ran down her face as she felt tears trickling from her
eyes. She couldn't be dead. Not her mother. Not HER mother. Her
mother was never that stupid.... Stupid enough to get caught up in
the machiavellian machinations of the Sailorwhores..... And yet,
she had been....
Mustn't cry. Refuse to cry. Miyuki never cried.
She took a breath and felt calmness wash over her body.
Slowly, she stood from the table in the centre of her room and
wandered over to the window, wondering how Miyuki must be at this
time.
She hated sending out Miyuki on cold, wet nights like this.
Miyuki was the only person who truly understood her. Miyuki was the
only person who would sit and watch her performances with any sense
of appreciation. It was the almost death-like calmness that Miyuki
posessed....
She stared out at the rain and smiled. It fell in a nice,
happy pattern. Lost children, falling to the ground. Both she and
Miyuki were lost children.... The rain felt like kin. She reached
out her arms, stepping through the doorway, onto the verandah that
overlooked the stone garden.
Soft lights illuminated the rocks and plants that filled the
garden, their glow extended and refracted by the droplets that fell
from the sky. Fall, little children. The energies of the past,
present and future shall see you reborn....
Then she turned and outstretched a hand, imagining herself to
be a puppeteer....
She wiggled her fingers, seeing the puppet dance across the
floor. Then she outstretched another hand and repeated the measure
with that one.
Then one of the puppets died, falling to the floor, its
strings severed by her will.
Death is what becomes of all those who defy that will.
----o
The duty sergeant sat at his desk, tapping the end of a pen on
a small clipboard as he watched a prisoner being escorted through
the arrivals area from one of the cell blocks. He almost fell out
of his seat when he heard the gunshot.
"What the hell...?" He stood as the officer with the prisoner
turned, looking at him, blinking. The duty sergeant swallowed.
"Was that a gun discharging?"
"Either that or someone is playing with firecrackers in the
station." The officer shrugged.
"HEY! HET! WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE? WHO FIRED THAT THING?
HEY! I'M FEELING SCARED IN HERE!" The duty sergeant could hear
Kensuke shouting from his cell. Stepping over to the entrance to
the holding cell block, he noticed a shaft of light, cast across the
floor of the corridor, coming from an open door.... from one of the
cells.
Doctor Mizuno's cell.
----o
Kimi giggled as she imagined the body of the puppet on the
floor of her room. She then turned to her other hand, still
outstretched.
"What are you going to do, hmmm?" She gently wiggled her
fingers, as if the puppet was responding....
----o
"Hmm? You want to have the haul tested?" Abe, the senior
sergeant of the drugs squad blinked at Shimazaki's request.
Shimazaki nodded. He'd made the request after after thinking
things over. There had been a large amount of illegal narcotics
pumped into the body of Sailorjupiter shortly before she had been
killed.... Ironic that, less than 24 hours later, there should be
a large drugs haul involving Yakuza.
"Well, I suppose so, though I can't see how a connection could
be found between that found on the SJ murder scene and what we've
got in here."
"You know, better than I do, that each shipment contains
impurities that can be traced back to the same source."
"Yeah, but still.... The amount you had found on the scene
was so small...."
Shimazaki didn't get an opportunity to answer that. Katarin
entered the small Drugs Squad office with a pale expression on his
face. Abe and the two other DS officers stared at him with
surprise, enough to make Shimazaki turn.
Katarin leaned against the doorway, breathing heavily. "For
Kami's sake, why did you run off like that?"
"Why? What's up?" Shimazaki put his hands in his pockets,
sniffing. It was unusual for Katarin to be so worked up over
anything.
"Doctor Mizuno...." Katarin took a long breath. "Somebody
has shot her.... She's dead!"
----o
"She's dead!" Kimi said as she made gestures with the
imaginary puppet. "And very soon, the rest of them shall follow.
Those Sailorsluts and their families. They will know my PAIN!"
----o
Part Twentythree
Nothing Sacred Nothing Savoured
----o
"Hello, Minako-chan, is it?" Doctor Bartholemew stared
through the partition in the wall of Minako's room.
Minako herself had been sitting, shivering, on the bed in the
middle of the room, staring around at the high, dark walls with
fear. She couldn't remember much of what had happened not too long
before, but for some reason, she was now Sailorvenus, and that
didn't bode well, especially as it seemed she was incapable of using
her powers for the timebeing.
When she heard Bartholemew's voice, she leapt from the bed and
almost collapsed, her legs obviously not quite ready to take her
weight. Regardless, she soldiered on and collapsed against the
glass, pressing her hands and face into it so she could get a better
look at the owner of the voice.
"Who are you?" She stared at the woman. "Where am I?" She
then looked at the partition. "Wait a minute.... This wasn't here
just a few moments ago...." She turned back to Bartholemew,
panicking. "What's happening? What's happening to me?"
"Don't worry, Minako-chan.... We won't hurt you."
"You know my name?"
"Yes." Bartholemew nodded.
"How?"
"Never mind that. We know your name is Aino Minako, and we
know where you live and who your relatives are. Don't worry, they
have been notified of your situation and are being counseled at this
very moment...."
"That doesn't tell me how you knew my name."
Bartholemew rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter how we found
out, does it?"
"It might."
"Wouldn't you prefer me to tell you why you are in this
holding cell?" Bartholemew sighed as she sat down on the seat in
the small observation booth, clutching her clipboard with large
fingers. Minako eyed the woman suspiciously. She was middle aged
and fairly well built. Obviously caucasian, with red hair that had
specks of grey running through it. The woman wore a simple business
dress underneath a white labcoat. Minako didn't like the way she
looked, and decided to play dumb.
"No, actually. I'd rather you tell me how you know my name."
Bartholemew dropped her clipboard and facefaulted. "Oh, for
the love of...." She picked up the clipboard and leaned forward.
"Look, you told us your name when we asked you."
Oops, Minako thought....
----o
"What the hell do you mean, dead?" Shimazaki managed to blurt
out after retrieving his jaw from the carpet.
"I mean she's dead. Someone's wandered into the holding cells
and shot her." Katarin was, by now, seated in the nearest chair
that Abe could find for him. He still hadn't quite caught his
breath.
"Oh that's just great." Shimazaki threw his hands into the
air and started to rant and rave as he kicked various objects that
happened to cross his path during his venting process, including one
of Abe's meeker subordinates. Katarin and Abe sweatdropped as they
watched him.
"He really gets into his job, doesn't he?" Abe whispered to
Katarin. The Major Crime detective rubbed his face, tiredly.
"It's been a long day, and getting longer by the moment."
Katarin rubbed a handkerchief he'd pulled from his pocket across his
forehead.
He felt sick to the stomach, and it was due to more than the
death of Doctor Mizuno.
----o
"Mars.... Mars.... Please. Oh Kami.... Please still be
with us." Hotaru held Rei in her arms, hidden amongst some bushes,
off to one side of the Hikawa Shrine. She tried her best not to
look at the horrific wound in the unfortunate girl's chest as rain
filtered down through the branches, soaking the four hidden figures.
Hotaru brushed her wet hair from her face, only then realising
that there was blood on the glove. She swallowed, trying to ease
the nausea she felt. Her own physical health was not good, and the
combination of the conditions and the stress were beginning to tax
her. Most of all, she wondered why she wasn't just blazing away at
their attacker with every little spell she had up her sleeve.
Because Rei was wounded, that was why. Wounded in a place
that should have been a sanctuary from the violence of the world.
But it was more than that. Something about the attacker was
holding her back. Even though she could feel nothing from them, and
even that seemed to remind her of somebody she once knew.
Rei's eyes had become glassy, staring into space, and her
complexion had gone white. However, she was still breathing. A
deep, rasping breath, but it was still there. Hotaru did her best
to ignore everything she'd learnt about the "death rattles", as
Rei's mouth started to form soundless words.
"What is it, Mars?" Luna, who was sitting on the other side
of Rei, absolutely and positively tortured by the unpleasant
sensation of the rain on her fur as all good cats would attest to,
leaned an ear close to Rei's mouth.
"A...mi..."
"What? What about Mercury?" Luna placed a paw on Rei's
shoulder, trying to will the girl into continuing.
"Will.... They... will..." Blood ran from the sides of Rei's
mouth as she started to hack and cough, her chest seemingly seizing
up. A look of fear and horror crossed the faces of both Luna and
Artemis as they looked up at Hotaru.
"No... I can't..."
"You've got to, Saturn.... Your powers of healing are all
that will save Mars. We can't take her to a hospital, lest her
identity be exposed, but we can't let her die." Luna's gaze became
stern. "We must know who this enemy is that frightens her so
much.... And to do that, we must assure her a continuing life."
"And that enemy is probably stalking us right now." Artemis,
who was standing some distance away, looked back into the shrine
grounds, nervously. The dim glow of the city lights, reflecting off
the thick clouds and rain gave the darkened shrine an eerie
appearance, as if all life had been stripped of it. "We can hide
here, but we daren't stay here for long."
"Whatever the case...." Hotaru lowered her right hand over
Rei's wound. "I'm using this power under protest. I hate the way
it makes me feel...." She shivered as she started to channel her
healing powers into Rei. "It's like having slugs slithering along
my every nerve. I hate to think what it's doing to me."
Luna watched with fascination as a pink-orange glow emerged
from Hotaru's hand, entering Rei's body through the wound. Then
Hotaru took hold of her right wrist with her left hand as the
channeling started to affect her.
"Oooohhh Kami.... Oooohhhh I hate this...." Hotaru closed
her eyes and lifted her head back. Her body started to quiver and
she let out soft moans of discomfort.
Artemis stepped up beside Luna as they watched Hotaru. "I
never knew her healing powers caused her this much distress." He
whispered softly.
"It's been getting worse with each passing year. Kami knows
why. The power itself is.... Well.... It's hard to say, really.
I'm not sure whether it is connected to her powers as Saturn or
not." Luna turned aside to him, frowning.
"Your saying the power is independant?"
"I'm saying that it may not be part of her complement." Luna
turned back, ignoring Artemis's questioning expression.
He shook his head and turned back to the shrine grounds. "Uh,
guys.... I think we might be in a pretty pickle here."
Luna turned, annoyedly. "What is it now?"
"Rei's Grandfather and Kumada-san.... They've just returned
to the shrine.
Luna sweatdropped.
----o
Miyuki watched the pair return to the shrine grounds, both
pondering on the darkness within. No thoughts ran through her mind.
There was nothing to think about. Merely more to add to the final
bodycount.
She watched as the taller one opened up the main residence and
switched on the lights. He was kind of scruffy.... No waste there.
And the other one that followed him in, carrying a couple of
bags.... Well, he was old. His time was up.
She shook her head, wondering why she was even bothering to
justify killing them. She hated it when these little threads of
morality shot through her cerebrum. It hurt, sometimes.
She checked her position, then clambered down the hillock,
towards the group of trees and bushes that the quartet had opted to
hide in. Grabbing a small elastic strip from the pocket of her
jacket, she tied back her hair. The rain had made it damp, and it
was clinging to her face, which was a distraction.
She could see a glow within the bushes as she finished.
Cocking her head to one side, she felt the glow to be familiar. For
some reason, she felt a strange attraction to the glow, like it was
drawing out of her some emotional response.
She didn't acknowledge the response. It meant accepting the
illogical dreams of past lives that she'd had since childhood....
Dreams were a waste of time trying to interpret, as were the
emotions that came with them.
She continued on into the outcrop.
----o
"How could you even THINK of doing that, you bastard! What
kind of freakin' pervert are you?" Aoi had Pagan backed up against
her bedroom wall, hands either side of his head, leaning forward and
baring her teeth. Pagan didn't know whether to accept this as a
comfortable situation or not.
"It was just a joke, okay?" He could feel her breath blowing
into his face....
"Some fuckin' joke.... One moment you're clamping your mouth
over mine, in what can't even be vaguely described as a kiss, within
the ladies room at the Tokyo Metro, the next you're stickin' your
hand up the skirt I'm wearing...." He winced as he felt a momentary
stab of pain went through his head. Opening his eyes, he decided to
use attack as defence.
"Hey, don't blame me that the Coven chose to match us..."
Pagan managed to push Aoi aside and stepped over to her bed, sitting
on it. After a couple of pats, he smiled and looked back up at her.
"Hey, comfy. Care to join me?"
Aoi rolled her eyes. "Don't start that up. I've had enough
of this brood mare crap already. Both from you and those two girls
from the Sacred House."
"Which two girls?" Pagan frowned at her.
"Yes...." Mhaere stepped forward, having been silently
watching the proceedings with much amusement. "Yes indeed. What
two girls might these be?"
Aoi looked from one to the other. "Didn't I tell you,
already?" They shook their heads.
----o
In the loungeroom of Aoi's apartment, Ami sat up from the
lounge suite and stared at her surroundings. For some reason, her
head felt clearer than it had been, before.
She turned to her left and saw a young, light haired caucasian
girl, sitting slumped in a lounge chair. Her initial reaction was
to help her, but some niggling little thought from the back of her
mind told her not to.
Quickly and silently, she stood up and smiled. The house
looked nice and neat, and so very liveable. So much better than the
overwrought mansion house that was her home. Anyway, her mother's
job paid for that, and her mother was a crook. She giggled softly
and stretched, feeling amazingly refreshed. It was almost as if an
aspect of her had come to life for the very first time....
----o
"Hayakawa Arisa and Maria Firenze." Pagan shook his head and
lay back on the bed, chuckling. "Yes.... Nobuhiro and Michelle had
been keeping an eye on them, to the best of their ability." He
gestured in the direction of the loungeroom. "Gwen Wright is their
partner. I guess they won't be too pleased about what you did to
her."
Aoi took a breath and shook her head. "None of that matters.
I don't care what your people at the Coven of whatever it's called
think, I'm not like you and I don't have any powers of my own. I've
never displayed any such powers and never will."
"So who was it that was controlling your flight when Gwen was
unconcious?" Mhaere stepped right up to Aoi, staring her in the
face, giving her a bit of her own medicine back. "A Mind Predator,
I think, is the term they used for you."
"How would you know?" Aoi stared back at her.
"Ouch." Mhaere retreated, holding her forehead with a hand.
"I forgot what it can feel like when an MPred questions you so
directly at such a close range...."
"What she says is correct, Kikotsuka." Pagan crossed his
arms. "If she is telling the truth, since I didn't see it.... But
if you had managed to knock Wright unconcious, and the Mizuno girl
was already out of it, then there was only one person with the power
to generate your flight capabilities."
"Or, at the very least, tap into Wright's abilities and give
them motivation whilst she was in lala land." Mhaere added.
"It also explains how you were capable of using Jupiter's
henshin pen. Your powers merely tapped into the pen's henshin
instructions, despite the fact you are, clearly, not Sailorjupiter.
I sincerely doubt you have been chosen to be her successor."
Aoi shook her head, disbelievingly, gesturing to the green and
white senshi fuku she was wearing. "Oh yeah.... Well if I'm not
Sailorjupiter, who the hell is?"
----o
Miki felt rather silly, wandering along the street, making for
the rail station. Silly, because she knew, at the back of her mind,
that she had her own bloody car, probably sitting in the multi level
carpark at the Tokyo Metro building.
She stopped in the middle of the footpath, almost having
people run into her. She didn't care. Staring at the ground, she
thought things over.
Where was she when this began? In the observation room. The
observation room of the autopsy theatre, sitting in a chair.
Sitting in a chair, with Akunatsuka Kaji standing next to her. And
then there was an explosion. And then something struck her in the
chest. And then....
"Yo." She didn't hear Haruka's voice at first, and wondered
why the woman's face appeared in her view. "Earth to Kino-san."
Miki snapped her head up in surprise. Before her stood
Haruka, leaning forward, and Michiru. "Who...." Her voice croaked
and she stopped as Haruka stood up, hands in the pockets of her
slacks.
"Are you alright, Kino-san? You appear very pale." Michiru
took Haruka's arm. Miki put a hand to her head. Why did she know
their names? Why did she know that Haruka was a woman, not a guy,
as she appeared to be? Other than that, they were the perfect
couple.... They WERE the perfect couple. Just not the kind of
perfect couple Miki was used to.
"Kino-san?" Miki blinked. "I'm not.... My name is..." She
felt a moment of sheer illogical fear and brushed past them,
quickly.
They watched her go, blankly.
"Do you think she's finally losing her mind?" Haruka looked
aside at her partner.
"It would seem so.... Perhaps she was not that bad a choice,
after all. We'd be doing her a favour." Michiru's face dropped.
"Still, we'd be going against everything we stood for."
"Our duty has never been about protecting the other senshi.
It's about protecting the kingdom, and bringing about its
resurrection. As long as the Princess is safe...." Haruka's voice
faltered.
Miki felt this entire conversation within her mind, as if she
had been standing next to them. That wasn't possible. She shook
her head, painfully, as she approached the entrance to the rail
station. Kino-san.... She knew the name. She knew it.... Where?
----o
The horror had smothered her.
Usagi opened her eyes and found herself lying under the thick
covers of an extremely comfortable bed.
The horror had flowed over her body and smothered her.
She felt clean.... Like she had been cleansed of something.
Her head was still a little hazy, but that was clearing. It was an
incredible haziness, too.... Trickling down from the top of her
scalp, down through her neck and flowing into the rest of her body.
It was warm and comfortable, and it weighed down her limbs. That
was alright by her.... She didn't want to move them.
"How are you feeling?" Said the soft voice of the young,
dark-haired girl who was sitting on the edge of the bed, next to
her. She recognised the girl as the one who had been chasing her
through the corridors of the Sacred House compound, the one who
had taken Minako.... She turned and did her best to smile at the
girl.
"Not bad. I've felt worse." She was surprised by how soft
her voice was. It was then she noticed that, not only herself, but
the other girl were completely naked.
"That's good." The girl smiled and giggled, then leaned down
and kissed Usagi on the lips.
Usagi was surprised to find that she couldn't muster the
energy to resist.
So she didn't.
END OF PART 23
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Woah.... Incipient lemon scenes in SIU.... ^_^ Stay tuned to see
if anything actually happens.... ^_^;;
Next Chapter - "Dreams of Succulence"
DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page) ayanami@internode.on.net
Version 1.0 - 6th Jun 1998