--------------------------------------------------------------------
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 and Silent Mobius are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Kia
Asamiya, Michitaka Kikuchi, Bandai, Studio Tron, Kadokawa and
Kodansya. All other characters were thought up by me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"....And just where do you think she has gone?" Midan
whispered as he lounged back against the sofa, staring at the
ceiling.
"It is possible that she has made for the Hikawa Shrine, where
Nakano was sent, to kill Mars.... We have not heard from her,
although, one must admit, that's not necessarily surprising.... She
is a normal girl, in the truest sense of the word, regardless of
your opinion of her. Against Mars, a gun might not nearly be
enough." The aquamarine-haired woman's soft, almost silky tone
belied her disgust of the man she was talking to. Midan was no
fool. He had not survived this long without learning the technique
of reading into the way people spoke to him.
He turned to the woman and smiled. "You place a lot of faith
in your one-time comrades." He chuckled as she shifted with
irritation. Michiru hated the formality that Midan demanded, and
was uncomfortable kneeling on the hard floor of his private den. He
sipped the claret from the glass he was holding, allowing the
dryness it the hard and unforgiving red wine to roll around in his
mouth before allowing it to flow into his throat. For all the
intrinsic foreign-ness of the beverage, foreign things being
anathema to his state of mind, he found something in claret that was
almost.... sympathetic. It resembled him, in many ways, and he
liked the synergy that created. "I seem to remember your telling me
that she would be far too scared to stand against even the simplest
of killers we sent to deal with her." He studied the wine as he
addressed Michiru.
"I also seem to remember telling you that that was not
necessarily a good sign.... I'm not the world's best reader of
minds. Mars might react in a very explosive manner, no pun
intended, to the perceived threat."
"Yet you were more than able to deal with Jupiter, were you
not?" Midan shook his head. "Jupiter was, very much, a greater
threat to you than Mars, was she not? Her powers, given the free
reign of one not quite in their right mind, letting fly in the
middle of the city...." He sat up, suddenly, turning to Michiru
with sharp eyes. "She should have been able to polish the city with
your remains. Yet she fell to you within minutes. Perhaps you'd
like to explain why....?"
"I... cannot say.... Her state of mind was... chaotic. She
was, as much, fighting herself as she was us. That virtually halved
her abilities and concentration. We took advantage of that."
"And delivered her into the hands of my loving daughter."
Midan swirled the wine around the glass, considering it for a few
moments. "My loving daughter. It is a pity about her, don't you
think?" He stood and started to pace the room. "As weak a link in
the organisation as her mother was." He rubbed his eyes. "Of
course, it matters little to you. You have only infiltrated my
family in the hopes of destroying it."
"That my partner and I have never denied." Michiru watched
him, warily. "Everything we have done has been to bring you down,
to destroy you...."
"Even at the cost of your comrades."
"Yes." Michiru said simply. "Our role has never really been
to protect... To protect our honored one.... But to protect the
Kingdom. I know that may sound strange to you.... A Kingdom
without a monarch...."
Midan laughed. "It really doesn't matter very much to me.
Nor should it. THIS is my kingdom.... It might not be the kind of
Kingdom you fight for, but it is a Kingdom, all the same. I have
the power I want. I don't need any more. What makes you think
anyone deserves more than what I have?"
"It's not the power you wield, but what you do with that
power." Michiru sniffed. "You have already killed your wife with
that power. I now feel that you intend to do the same with your
daughter."
"You know she wishes to usurp me. She and that bitch she
loves. That gutter trash slut, Nakano...." He pointed at Michiru.
"Women who love other women disgust me, be they my blood or
otherwise. That is something you have taught me in your time here."
And, waving his hand at her, he collapsed back onto the sofa.
"Begone, trash. Deal with my daughter as you see fit. Kill her
with impunity. If she leaves the comfort of the home I have given
her for someone who is as worthless as Nakano, then I do not want
her in my house."
If looks could kill, Michiru's gaze would have evaporated
Midan, then and there.
----o
Part Thirtytwo
Conjoining Truths and Untruths
----o
Miki was silent for several moments, mulling over her
thoughts. "What is the purpose of bringing me here? How did I come
to be here, anyway?"
"You're not actually here. I merely looked through your
memories, and found this featuring rather largely amongst them."
Miki turned to Makoto. "Where am I, then?"
"In a hospital. The doctors are trying to revive you after
my old Heart Crystal inserted itself into you."
"Your Heart whatsit did WHAT?" Miki stared at Makoto, open-
mouthed. Makoto sighed, stepping around the policewoman with her
arms folded behind her head.
"My Heart Crystal.... What used to be MY Heart Crystal, fused
with yours. For whatever reason, it would appear that your body was
the most compatible.... On a basic, genetic level.... Don't ask me
to explain it, I don't really understand it, myself, lest I begin a
long lecture on the spiritual power schematics of the Heart Crystal,
the Dream Mirror and the Star Seed...."
Miki's eyes were spinning. "The what and the what? I take it
that you mean the crystal they removed from your chest, when you
talk about the Heart thingummy.... But what the hell are those
other things? Just how many little dooflickies are in us that are
necessary to make us run?"
"Dunno.... There seemed to be a new one every time an enemy
turned up.... Don't know what they expected to do with them all....
Had mine ripped out a couple of times.... Guess that they weren't
all important, otherwise you would have had them shoved into you, as
well...."
"Is that legal?" Miki put a hand to her chest. "It sounds
slightly obscene...." Makoto facefaulted.
"Don't ask me.... I wasn't in control of the thing when it
decided to slip inside something more comfortable...."
"It SOUNDS obscene when you put it that way." Miki swallowed.
"Are you Sailorsenshi perverts, or something?"
----o
Ikuko watched as her husband put down the receiver of the
phone and sigh. "They don't have any idea where she might be,
either....." He muttered, softly. "And there is STILL no reply
from the shrine or the Mizuno household...."
Ikuko's face fell into her hands as she lowered herself into
a loungechair. "Something terrible must have happened to her.....
She's NEVER been out this late, before." Kenji turned to his wife
with a mixture of sympathy and annoyance.
"Yes she has.... Remember the time...."
"We KNEW where she was, that time.... You heard what her
lecturer said.... She didn't turn up for her classes today. Usagi
might have been many things in her younger days, but she has ALWAYS
attended her lectures, unless she had a good reason not to."
Kenji sighed again and stepped away from the phone, placing
his hands on Ikuko's shoulders. "I know how you feel, Ikuko-
chan.... Usagi is.... Usagi is my little girl. I would do
anything to protect her. But there comes a stage in one's life when
you have to learn to trust your own children. A stage where you
feel they are more than capable of looking after themselves...." He
lifted Ikuko's face with a gentle finger under her chin. She stared
at him with eyes filled with tears, meeting the soft, reassuring
smile that had been his trademark since they'd met in Junior High.
"We KNOW, better than anyone else, perhaps, outside her personal
circle of friends, what she is capable of."
"But with the death of...." Ikuko began to say, silenced as
Kenji placed a gentle finger across her lips.
"Her.... passing was.... perhaps, a blessing in disguise. She
had passed the point of no return, a state of self-destruction....
Even though what had happened to her was terrible.... Nobody should
die that way, she had opened herself up to the scrutiny of others,
and paid the price." He stood back and stared into space. "Long
ago, when she was a child, we knew that her true identity should
remain a secret, lest those with other plans use or destroy her....
We were CHOSEN, Ikuko. Chosen to bring up the Messiah, no matter
our feelings, now that she has reached adulthood, I grieve for those
who dare to cross her path...."
Ikuko swallowed, shaking her head. "But still, don't you
think it may be worthwhile to call the police?"
Kenji facefaulted.
----o
"I take it the death warrant has been signed?" Haruka stared
out at the lights of the courtyard, outside of the southern wing of
the Shiranui house. Michiru had entered as quietly as possible, but
the duology that existed between them was too strong for her to hide
her presence.
"He most certainly won't win the father of the year award."
She folded her arms across her front, clasping her hands together.
Haruka didn't turn from her musings. "I almost sympathise
with her.... If he had been my old man, I'd have killed him a long
time ago."
"So what stopped you from killing the tyrant you grew up
with?" Michiru slowly paced across the floor of the darkened room,
towards the outer door against which Haruka was leaning.
"There are many different private hells we must endure.... I
had to endure one that could only be described as lesser when
compared to that which Shiranui Kimi has faced." Haruka shoved a
hand into her jacket. "Even though she is a twisted child, she
doesn't deserve to die."
"You're too forgiving." Michiru leaned against Haruka. "She
is the one who had us kill Ju...."
"Hush...." Haruka turned, placing a hand across Michiru's
mouth. "Remember, it was not we who pulled the trigger." Michiru
sighed, moving aside Haruka's hand.
"Is that supposed to absolve us of the guilt. We were the
ones who captured her. We might not have actually committed the
act, but we are guilty by association." Michiru stepped forward,
staring into the lights. "Even though what we did was, ultimately,
right.... We shall not be forgiven by the person who matters most."
"Then we must die." Haruka shrugged. "From the start, we
knew that that would, probably, be the way it would end for us."
She paused. "Perhaps the only way to control the monster that rages
within our bodies...."
"Death." Michiru allowed the word to float in the air. "Such
a horrible truth to face. But eternity stretches before me, and I
find that a more frightening concept. Perhaps this is for the best.
For us, and for Shiranui Kimi."
----o
"Look...." Makoto sighed. "I didn't get to choose where my
Heart Crystal went.... It made that decision, all by itself. And
believe me, being in such close company to a rampant moron, such as
yourself, gives me no pleasure whatsoever." Makoto stepped over to
the nearest monument and kicked it. The cement tablet exploded into
dust, confirming the fact that none of what they were experiencing
was real.
"What did you call me?" Miki clenched a fist. "I'll have you
know that I am a University graduate."
"Thus confirming my suspicion that you are a moron." Makoto
chuckled. "Honestly.... I don't know WHY I'm talking to you....
I'll let you find out the way I died, all by yourself."
"I'd rather not, thankyou very much." Miki leant against her
father's monument. "I'd rather wake up from this dream and return
to the world of the living, if you don't mind?"
"Oh, you would, would you?" Makoto sneered at Miki. "What if
I didn't give you a choice, eh? Do you know how painful it was, to
die in the manner I died?" She advanced on the shorter policewoman.
"The disorientation and the sheer, unadulterated terror.... Of both
KNOWING you are going to die, and the people who are killing you....
That is a pain you could never understand." Makoto threw her arms
wide, bitterness showing in every line of her face. "I trusted
those people.... I thought they'd be there if anything happened to
me, to help me out when things got tough.... But they turned out to
be my greatest enemies of all.... They didn't want to know about my
problems.... Instead, they chose to put me to death...." Tears
started to run from the corners of her eyes. "I asked for help,
more times than you could imagine.... Things were happening to me
that I couldn't understand, and I tried to suppress it. The
emotions, the fearful visions.... I did everything to make them go
away.... I withdrew myself from people.... I even started taking
things to numb the sensations.... Greater and greater quantities,
until my body's immune system had just about collapsed under the
strain, and still, the monster inside wanted MORE."
----o
"Unit Three to Control Central.... Confirmation that the
Security System is down. Over."
"Control Central to Unit Three, what is the status of the
ground troops? Over."
"Ground troops are minimal.... It's total chaos in there,
sir. Over."
"Control Central to Unit Three, begin your move into the
grounds.... Eliminate all within your allotted sector. Over."
----o
A dimness had entered the eyes of Gigelf Liqueur.... Not the
dimness of age, for that was yet to come.... But a dimness brought
upon by those eyes seeing more than their owner had wanted to
see.... Horrors, not even possible to imagine.... Deeds, committed
in the name of belief.... As the Grand Mage of the Coven of
Atrocity, Gigelf Liqueur had long learned that there was no such
thing as right and wrong choices in life.... Merely varying, and
sometimes frightening, shades of gray.
Choices. They seem so simple, yet, can have terrifying
consequences. When the High Council of the Coven had met, so many
years ago, in an emergency meeting to decide the actions that should
be taken, upon facing a second potential group of rivals in the form
of the Sailorsenshi, he had voted with the rest to have them
eliminated.... It seemed like such an easy choice to make, for they
were an enemy whose bias in the affairs of the Coven could not be
predicted.
No matter, it still came as a shock when the news arrived upon
the death of the first of those senshi.... A young woman, perhaps
younger than he. As he stood before the ceremonial altar in the
Grand Hall, the thought of the young woman's terrifying last moments
weighed heavily upon him....
For it had been several years since he had made that decision,
and he no longer felt as sure about what it was the Coven stood for.
Did freedom for his kind, from all forms of oppression, really
justify the killing of someone who was, at the time of her death, no
longer capable of being a threat....
Political manipulation had seen the foundation of the SIU, as
a cover for the Coven's activities. It had failed to uncover very
much, other than a great deal of information about what the
Sailorsenshi could do.... That was not what the Coven wanted. They
required identities.... And the Sailorsenshi had been very good at
concealing those.... So it came as a gift from Heaven, when the
senshi made their first big error....
In attempting to bring down a particularly heinous Yakuza
family, the Shiranui, they had made connections, and exposed
themselves to the scrutiny of the paranoid criminal scene.... It
wasn't long before elements within the Diet, the Japanese
parliament, had made deals with Shiranui Midan.... The Coven wasn't
the only group concerned about the activities of this new, and
potentially powerful, group of rivals.
Power meant financial security. The insider information that
the Diet had at their fingertips was a surefire ticket to financial
salvation. Even those who had fallen in the various scandals that
had wracked the Diet for years continued to benefit by what they
knew.... The desire to protect that regime was immensely powerful.
When a threat to that power came to pass, they would eliminate
it, not through the organ of war, but through financial takeover.
The reason the Coven had survived this long was due to the capital
that had been invested in it by business and members of parliament.
Some of them even began to believe in what the Coven stood for, but
they were few. Financial input was not an automatic rubber-stamping
of ideology.
However, the Sailorsenshi proved to be something new and
unusual for the Japanese powermongers. They liked to remain hidden
from the scrutiny of the outside world, and were, therefore, a
threat that couldn't be controlled in the traditional sense. So
they resorted to not thinking things through, and going for the
throat. For the doddering old fools that ran the nation of Japan,
imagination was something that had, already, been stretched paper
thin.
"Master...." Gigelf turned as the crisp tones of Lysithea
Caprice echoed through the Grand Hall, disturbing his train of
thought. He stepped back from the altar, pushing aside his
voluminous ceremonial robes. He looked down from the dais at his
light-haired servant, standing in the middle of the dark and empty
hall, holding the unconscious form of Carey West. He shivered at
what her presence meant.
"I see you were.... successful..." He took a breath and
started to make his way down from the dais, via a small steps, set
to one side. Lysithea watched him, smiling.
"It took... some time.... The distraction... you set up...
worked. But I'm afraid Nobuhiro and Michelle have been captured in
the process...." He paused. "As for Pagan.... I'm not sure."
"They shall be subjected to the psychological manipulation of
the House...." Gigelf sighed. sadly. "It is a pity to waste the
talents of three such as they. But our plans cannot be stopped...."
It was a pity to waste the life of one like Carey West, too, he
thought to himself. Another body to add to his growing
collection....
It was amazing, how easy it had been to convince Shiranui
Midan, to allow the Sailorsenshi access to his organisation.
Manakuto, the Dietman who had come closest to entering into the
trust of the Coven's High Council, was a master diplomat, with
protection for Midan, even at the cost of his wife and daughter,
being arranged.
Allow the Sailorsenshi to complete the task which they had
begun.... Then ensnare them within the organisation, enough to give
someone reason to want to kill them.... That way, the finger of
blame would not point at the Coven, the Diet or even the Shiranui
Yakuza.... It would be.... just one of those things....
It worked, but in a messier way than had been forseen.... For
several members of the Sailorsenshi had seen through the plan, and
had aligned themselves with the Shiranui.... Not as part of the
plan to bring the Shiranui down, but true alignment, for what it was
worth.... Midan never trusted them, but that was only to be
expected. Nobody trusted Midan. Everything evens itself out, in
the end.
They proved their worth by offering to help Midan's daughter,
Kimi, in killing their one-time comrades.... Or, at the very
least, one of them. It made Gigelf sick to the stomach to think
that the petty internal politics and powerplays that existed within
the Coven, also existed within a group that had traditionally fought
to preserve what was, essentially, good, and right, and pure.... If
such concepts were really, truly workable.
As he stepped away from the dais, he took a breath and clapped
his hands together. "Did you manage to throw their security system
into chaos in the process of taking West?" At this question,
Lysithea began a long, soft chuckle. Gigelf found the sound rather
displeasing. "What is so funny?"
Lysithea shook his head, smiling, and gently lowered Carey to
the cold stone floor. After considering Carey's face for a few
seconds, he stood, facing Gigelf, clasping his hands in front of him
in an effeminate manner. "You should have seen it.... So simple,
so easy.... As soon as I removed her from the grounds, the alarms
went into full panic mode.... There were people, running everywhere
across the grounds.... And I managed to leave Sailormoon and
Sailorpluto in the middle of that Chaos.... It was just
marvelous..."
"They relied too much on West...." Gigelf swallowed. "You
know, of course, of our plans to deal with the House, as soon as she
was removed...."
Lysithea nodded. "Of course, master.... There could be no
better time...."
No better time, thought Gigelf.... No better time to forever
go down in history as a butcher of one's own kind. A butcher or a
savior.... Depending on who lives to write the history books....
----o
"MORE AND MORE..... IT ATE AWAY AT MY SYSTEM.... A CREATURE
THAT I KNEW TO BE MYSELF, AND YET I TRIED TO DENY IT.... THAT WAS
WORTHLESS, TOTALLY WORTHLESS!" Makoto slammed her hands onto the
monument, either side of Miki's head. Her eyes were red and puffy,
tears running down her cheeks, and her bottom lip was curled up as
if she were about to explode into either rage or a fit of bawling.
It frightened Miki too much to want to comfort her.
"Wh.... What was it?" She managed to croak.
"WHAT WAS WHAT?" Makoto bellowed, staring the young woman
down. Miki ducked underneath Makoto's arm and stepped away, turning
to face her. Makoto didn't move.
"The monster, what was it? What was it that was eating away
at you?" Miki wasn't sure if Makoto was about to collapse or lash
out at her. She took a couple of steps further back, just in case.
She wasn't going to escape the dead Sailorsenshi, locked together in
the same mind and body, she reasoned, so there was no point trying
to run away in a world that had been constructed by the person she
was trying to run away from.... Better to try and talk it out.
"The monster?" Makoto asked, softly.
"Yes.... What was the monster that forced you to dope
yourself to the eyeballs to suppress?"
"The monster.... The monster was...." Makoto lifted her
hands from the monument and turned to Miki, a strange smile on her
face. "The monster was ME."
----o
The train conductor had seen many sights in the years he'd
been working the Tokyo suburban lines. The girl, dressed in the
thick kimono, wet and bedraggled, had to be one of the more
interesting ones, if only because she was so attractive. Probably
BECAUSE she was so attractive, she was garnering the attentions of
one of the line's better known salaryman perverts.
The girl seemed rather distracted, at first.... An air of
desperation on her face. It didn't occur to him to actually check
if she had actually bought a ticket.... Of course, you're not
supposed to be able to get onto the platform of most stations
without having bought one, first, but the girl looked as if she'd
just run onto the train, straight out of the pouring rain.
Whatever the reason for her desperation, it was enough for her
not to register Amaki's presence before the creep was leaning up
against her, giggling inanely. The girl looked up at him, slowly,
only just barely registering his intentions. The conductor thought
it was time to intervene, as he had done on all the previous
occasions Amaki had tried it on with unfortunate female passengers
who would board his train, to and from work.
It all happened in a matter of seconds. Amaki had placed both
of his arms around the girl and tried to lick her ear, when his arms
fell onto the floor in a spray of blood. The girl was standing back
from him, holding a pair of bloodied fans, a vicious expression on
her face. It was a couple of seconds before both Amaki and the
conductor realised that the unfortunate pervert no longer had any
arms.
Before Amaki could scream out in pain and terror, the girl had
taken his head clean off, watching with satisfaction as it bounced
off the seat and rolled onto the floor. Amaki's body continued to
stand for a few seconds more, fountaining blood from the stump of a
neck, before it fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut. With
a flourish, the girl slapped the fans shut and whipped them back
into the sleeves of her kimono. She then looked up at the conductor
and smiled, leaving him in no doubt as to what he SHOULDN'T do at
that point.
She picked up Amaki's briefcase, still standing against the
seat where he had left it, and handed it to the conductor. "So
terribly sorry to have messed up your train, but I'm in a bit of a
hurry, and I truly cannot abide by perverts. What about you?" She
stared at the man, smiling sweetly as he failed to answer, not
really knowing how to answer in such a situation. "Ah, yes, I see
you're not one used to such violent behaviour. I apologise if I've
upset you, or anything. It was my upbringing, you see...." She
giggled and turned her head to the windows as she saw the approach
of a station. "Ah, this looks like my stop." She turned back to
the conductor and bowed, slightly. "Konbanwa."
"K... konbanwa." The conductor replied as the train came to
a halt at the station. The girl trotted over to the door and waited
as they opened up to the platform. She then alighted and
disappeared into the night.
Yes, the conductor had seen many things in his years of
service. This one was going to make, at the very least, an entire
chapter, if he ever got round to writing up his memoirs.
END OF PART 32
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Chapter - "Purity of Blood"
_________
/ @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)
/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@internode.on.net
/\
\/ \/
\___________/
/_/ \_\ PU
Version 2.0 - Tuesday October 27th 1998
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 and Silent Mobius are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Kia
Asamiya, Michitaka Kikuchi, Bandai, Studio Tron, Kadokawa and
Kodansya. All other characters were thought up by me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"....And just where do you think she has gone?" Midan
whispered as he lounged back against the sofa, staring at the
ceiling.
"It is possible that she has made for the Hikawa Shrine, where
Nakano was sent, to kill Mars.... We have not heard from her,
although, one must admit, that's not necessarily surprising.... She
is a normal girl, in the truest sense of the word, regardless of
your opinion of her. Against Mars, a gun might not nearly be
enough." The aquamarine-haired woman's soft, almost silky tone
belied her disgust of the man she was talking to. Midan was no
fool. He had not survived this long without learning the technique
of reading into the way people spoke to him.
He turned to the woman and smiled. "You place a lot of faith
in your one-time comrades." He chuckled as she shifted with
irritation. Michiru hated the formality that Midan demanded, and
was uncomfortable kneeling on the hard floor of his private den. He
sipped the claret from the glass he was holding, allowing the
dryness it the hard and unforgiving red wine to roll around in his
mouth before allowing it to flow into his throat. For all the
intrinsic foreign-ness of the beverage, foreign things being
anathema to his state of mind, he found something in claret that was
almost.... sympathetic. It resembled him, in many ways, and he
liked the synergy that created. "I seem to remember your telling me
that she would be far too scared to stand against even the simplest
of killers we sent to deal with her." He studied the wine as he
addressed Michiru.
"I also seem to remember telling you that that was not
necessarily a good sign.... I'm not the world's best reader of
minds. Mars might react in a very explosive manner, no pun
intended, to the perceived threat."
"Yet you were more than able to deal with Jupiter, were you
not?" Midan shook his head. "Jupiter was, very much, a greater
threat to you than Mars, was she not? Her powers, given the free
reign of one not quite in their right mind, letting fly in the
middle of the city...." He sat up, suddenly, turning to Michiru
with sharp eyes. "She should have been able to polish the city with
your remains. Yet she fell to you within minutes. Perhaps you'd
like to explain why....?"
"I... cannot say.... Her state of mind was... chaotic. She
was, as much, fighting herself as she was us. That virtually halved
her abilities and concentration. We took advantage of that."
"And delivered her into the hands of my loving daughter."
Midan swirled the wine around the glass, considering it for a few
moments. "My loving daughter. It is a pity about her, don't you
think?" He stood and started to pace the room. "As weak a link in
the organisation as her mother was." He rubbed his eyes. "Of
course, it matters little to you. You have only infiltrated my
family in the hopes of destroying it."
"That my partner and I have never denied." Michiru watched
him, warily. "Everything we have done has been to bring you down,
to destroy you...."
"Even at the cost of your comrades."
"Yes." Michiru said simply. "Our role has never really been
to protect... To protect our honored one.... But to protect the
Kingdom. I know that may sound strange to you.... A Kingdom
without a monarch...."
Midan laughed. "It really doesn't matter very much to me.
Nor should it. THIS is my kingdom.... It might not be the kind of
Kingdom you fight for, but it is a Kingdom, all the same. I have
the power I want. I don't need any more. What makes you think
anyone deserves more than what I have?"
"It's not the power you wield, but what you do with that
power." Michiru sniffed. "You have already killed your wife with
that power. I now feel that you intend to do the same with your
daughter."
"You know she wishes to usurp me. She and that bitch she
loves. That gutter trash slut, Nakano...." He pointed at Michiru.
"Women who love other women disgust me, be they my blood or
otherwise. That is something you have taught me in your time here."
And, waving his hand at her, he collapsed back onto the sofa.
"Begone, trash. Deal with my daughter as you see fit. Kill her
with impunity. If she leaves the comfort of the home I have given
her for someone who is as worthless as Nakano, then I do not want
her in my house."
If looks could kill, Michiru's gaze would have evaporated
Midan, then and there.
----o
Part Thirtytwo
Conjoining Truths and Untruths
----o
Miki was silent for several moments, mulling over her
thoughts. "What is the purpose of bringing me here? How did I come
to be here, anyway?"
"You're not actually here. I merely looked through your
memories, and found this featuring rather largely amongst them."
Miki turned to Makoto. "Where am I, then?"
"In a hospital. The doctors are trying to revive you after
my old Heart Crystal inserted itself into you."
"Your Heart whatsit did WHAT?" Miki stared at Makoto, open-
mouthed. Makoto sighed, stepping around the policewoman with her
arms folded behind her head.
"My Heart Crystal.... What used to be MY Heart Crystal, fused
with yours. For whatever reason, it would appear that your body was
the most compatible.... On a basic, genetic level.... Don't ask me
to explain it, I don't really understand it, myself, lest I begin a
long lecture on the spiritual power schematics of the Heart Crystal,
the Dream Mirror and the Star Seed...."
Miki's eyes were spinning. "The what and the what? I take it
that you mean the crystal they removed from your chest, when you
talk about the Heart thingummy.... But what the hell are those
other things? Just how many little dooflickies are in us that are
necessary to make us run?"
"Dunno.... There seemed to be a new one every time an enemy
turned up.... Don't know what they expected to do with them all....
Had mine ripped out a couple of times.... Guess that they weren't
all important, otherwise you would have had them shoved into you, as
well...."
"Is that legal?" Miki put a hand to her chest. "It sounds
slightly obscene...." Makoto facefaulted.
"Don't ask me.... I wasn't in control of the thing when it
decided to slip inside something more comfortable...."
"It SOUNDS obscene when you put it that way." Miki swallowed.
"Are you Sailorsenshi perverts, or something?"
----o
Ikuko watched as her husband put down the receiver of the
phone and sigh. "They don't have any idea where she might be,
either....." He muttered, softly. "And there is STILL no reply
from the shrine or the Mizuno household...."
Ikuko's face fell into her hands as she lowered herself into
a loungechair. "Something terrible must have happened to her.....
She's NEVER been out this late, before." Kenji turned to his wife
with a mixture of sympathy and annoyance.
"Yes she has.... Remember the time...."
"We KNEW where she was, that time.... You heard what her
lecturer said.... She didn't turn up for her classes today. Usagi
might have been many things in her younger days, but she has ALWAYS
attended her lectures, unless she had a good reason not to."
Kenji sighed again and stepped away from the phone, placing
his hands on Ikuko's shoulders. "I know how you feel, Ikuko-
chan.... Usagi is.... Usagi is my little girl. I would do
anything to protect her. But there comes a stage in one's life when
you have to learn to trust your own children. A stage where you
feel they are more than capable of looking after themselves...." He
lifted Ikuko's face with a gentle finger under her chin. She stared
at him with eyes filled with tears, meeting the soft, reassuring
smile that had been his trademark since they'd met in Junior High.
"We KNOW, better than anyone else, perhaps, outside her personal
circle of friends, what she is capable of."
"But with the death of...." Ikuko began to say, silenced as
Kenji placed a gentle finger across her lips.
"Her.... passing was.... perhaps, a blessing in disguise. She
had passed the point of no return, a state of self-destruction....
Even though what had happened to her was terrible.... Nobody should
die that way, she had opened herself up to the scrutiny of others,
and paid the price." He stood back and stared into space. "Long
ago, when she was a child, we knew that her true identity should
remain a secret, lest those with other plans use or destroy her....
We were CHOSEN, Ikuko. Chosen to bring up the Messiah, no matter
our feelings, now that she has reached adulthood, I grieve for those
who dare to cross her path...."
Ikuko swallowed, shaking her head. "But still, don't you
think it may be worthwhile to call the police?"
Kenji facefaulted.
----o
"I take it the death warrant has been signed?" Haruka stared
out at the lights of the courtyard, outside of the southern wing of
the Shiranui house. Michiru had entered as quietly as possible, but
the duology that existed between them was too strong for her to hide
her presence.
"He most certainly won't win the father of the year award."
She folded her arms across her front, clasping her hands together.
Haruka didn't turn from her musings. "I almost sympathise
with her.... If he had been my old man, I'd have killed him a long
time ago."
"So what stopped you from killing the tyrant you grew up
with?" Michiru slowly paced across the floor of the darkened room,
towards the outer door against which Haruka was leaning.
"There are many different private hells we must endure.... I
had to endure one that could only be described as lesser when
compared to that which Shiranui Kimi has faced." Haruka shoved a
hand into her jacket. "Even though she is a twisted child, she
doesn't deserve to die."
"You're too forgiving." Michiru leaned against Haruka. "She
is the one who had us kill Ju...."
"Hush...." Haruka turned, placing a hand across Michiru's
mouth. "Remember, it was not we who pulled the trigger." Michiru
sighed, moving aside Haruka's hand.
"Is that supposed to absolve us of the guilt. We were the
ones who captured her. We might not have actually committed the
act, but we are guilty by association." Michiru stepped forward,
staring into the lights. "Even though what we did was, ultimately,
right.... We shall not be forgiven by the person who matters most."
"Then we must die." Haruka shrugged. "From the start, we
knew that that would, probably, be the way it would end for us."
She paused. "Perhaps the only way to control the monster that rages
within our bodies...."
"Death." Michiru allowed the word to float in the air. "Such
a horrible truth to face. But eternity stretches before me, and I
find that a more frightening concept. Perhaps this is for the best.
For us, and for Shiranui Kimi."
----o
"Look...." Makoto sighed. "I didn't get to choose where my
Heart Crystal went.... It made that decision, all by itself. And
believe me, being in such close company to a rampant moron, such as
yourself, gives me no pleasure whatsoever." Makoto stepped over to
the nearest monument and kicked it. The cement tablet exploded into
dust, confirming the fact that none of what they were experiencing
was real.
"What did you call me?" Miki clenched a fist. "I'll have you
know that I am a University graduate."
"Thus confirming my suspicion that you are a moron." Makoto
chuckled. "Honestly.... I don't know WHY I'm talking to you....
I'll let you find out the way I died, all by yourself."
"I'd rather not, thankyou very much." Miki leant against her
father's monument. "I'd rather wake up from this dream and return
to the world of the living, if you don't mind?"
"Oh, you would, would you?" Makoto sneered at Miki. "What if
I didn't give you a choice, eh? Do you know how painful it was, to
die in the manner I died?" She advanced on the shorter policewoman.
"The disorientation and the sheer, unadulterated terror.... Of both
KNOWING you are going to die, and the people who are killing you....
That is a pain you could never understand." Makoto threw her arms
wide, bitterness showing in every line of her face. "I trusted
those people.... I thought they'd be there if anything happened to
me, to help me out when things got tough.... But they turned out to
be my greatest enemies of all.... They didn't want to know about my
problems.... Instead, they chose to put me to death...." Tears
started to run from the corners of her eyes. "I asked for help,
more times than you could imagine.... Things were happening to me
that I couldn't understand, and I tried to suppress it. The
emotions, the fearful visions.... I did everything to make them go
away.... I withdrew myself from people.... I even started taking
things to numb the sensations.... Greater and greater quantities,
until my body's immune system had just about collapsed under the
strain, and still, the monster inside wanted MORE."
----o
"Unit Three to Control Central.... Confirmation that the
Security System is down. Over."
"Control Central to Unit Three, what is the status of the
ground troops? Over."
"Ground troops are minimal.... It's total chaos in there,
sir. Over."
"Control Central to Unit Three, begin your move into the
grounds.... Eliminate all within your allotted sector. Over."
----o
A dimness had entered the eyes of Gigelf Liqueur.... Not the
dimness of age, for that was yet to come.... But a dimness brought
upon by those eyes seeing more than their owner had wanted to
see.... Horrors, not even possible to imagine.... Deeds, committed
in the name of belief.... As the Grand Mage of the Coven of
Atrocity, Gigelf Liqueur had long learned that there was no such
thing as right and wrong choices in life.... Merely varying, and
sometimes frightening, shades of gray.
Choices. They seem so simple, yet, can have terrifying
consequences. When the High Council of the Coven had met, so many
years ago, in an emergency meeting to decide the actions that should
be taken, upon facing a second potential group of rivals in the form
of the Sailorsenshi, he had voted with the rest to have them
eliminated.... It seemed like such an easy choice to make, for they
were an enemy whose bias in the affairs of the Coven could not be
predicted.
No matter, it still came as a shock when the news arrived upon
the death of the first of those senshi.... A young woman, perhaps
younger than he. As he stood before the ceremonial altar in the
Grand Hall, the thought of the young woman's terrifying last moments
weighed heavily upon him....
For it had been several years since he had made that decision,
and he no longer felt as sure about what it was the Coven stood for.
Did freedom for his kind, from all forms of oppression, really
justify the killing of someone who was, at the time of her death, no
longer capable of being a threat....
Political manipulation had seen the foundation of the SIU, as
a cover for the Coven's activities. It had failed to uncover very
much, other than a great deal of information about what the
Sailorsenshi could do.... That was not what the Coven wanted. They
required identities.... And the Sailorsenshi had been very good at
concealing those.... So it came as a gift from Heaven, when the
senshi made their first big error....
In attempting to bring down a particularly heinous Yakuza
family, the Shiranui, they had made connections, and exposed
themselves to the scrutiny of the paranoid criminal scene.... It
wasn't long before elements within the Diet, the Japanese
parliament, had made deals with Shiranui Midan.... The Coven wasn't
the only group concerned about the activities of this new, and
potentially powerful, group of rivals.
Power meant financial security. The insider information that
the Diet had at their fingertips was a surefire ticket to financial
salvation. Even those who had fallen in the various scandals that
had wracked the Diet for years continued to benefit by what they
knew.... The desire to protect that regime was immensely powerful.
When a threat to that power came to pass, they would eliminate
it, not through the organ of war, but through financial takeover.
The reason the Coven had survived this long was due to the capital
that had been invested in it by business and members of parliament.
Some of them even began to believe in what the Coven stood for, but
they were few. Financial input was not an automatic rubber-stamping
of ideology.
However, the Sailorsenshi proved to be something new and
unusual for the Japanese powermongers. They liked to remain hidden
from the scrutiny of the outside world, and were, therefore, a
threat that couldn't be controlled in the traditional sense. So
they resorted to not thinking things through, and going for the
throat. For the doddering old fools that ran the nation of Japan,
imagination was something that had, already, been stretched paper
thin.
"Master...." Gigelf turned as the crisp tones of Lysithea
Caprice echoed through the Grand Hall, disturbing his train of
thought. He stepped back from the altar, pushing aside his
voluminous ceremonial robes. He looked down from the dais at his
light-haired servant, standing in the middle of the dark and empty
hall, holding the unconscious form of Carey West. He shivered at
what her presence meant.
"I see you were.... successful..." He took a breath and
started to make his way down from the dais, via a small steps, set
to one side. Lysithea watched him, smiling.
"It took... some time.... The distraction... you set up...
worked. But I'm afraid Nobuhiro and Michelle have been captured in
the process...." He paused. "As for Pagan.... I'm not sure."
"They shall be subjected to the psychological manipulation of
the House...." Gigelf sighed. sadly. "It is a pity to waste the
talents of three such as they. But our plans cannot be stopped...."
It was a pity to waste the life of one like Carey West, too, he
thought to himself. Another body to add to his growing
collection....
It was amazing, how easy it had been to convince Shiranui
Midan, to allow the Sailorsenshi access to his organisation.
Manakuto, the Dietman who had come closest to entering into the
trust of the Coven's High Council, was a master diplomat, with
protection for Midan, even at the cost of his wife and daughter,
being arranged.
Allow the Sailorsenshi to complete the task which they had
begun.... Then ensnare them within the organisation, enough to give
someone reason to want to kill them.... That way, the finger of
blame would not point at the Coven, the Diet or even the Shiranui
Yakuza.... It would be.... just one of those things....
It worked, but in a messier way than had been forseen.... For
several members of the Sailorsenshi had seen through the plan, and
had aligned themselves with the Shiranui.... Not as part of the
plan to bring the Shiranui down, but true alignment, for what it was
worth.... Midan never trusted them, but that was only to be
expected. Nobody trusted Midan. Everything evens itself out, in
the end.
They proved their worth by offering to help Midan's daughter,
Kimi, in killing their one-time comrades.... Or, at the very
least, one of them. It made Gigelf sick to the stomach to think
that the petty internal politics and powerplays that existed within
the Coven, also existed within a group that had traditionally fought
to preserve what was, essentially, good, and right, and pure.... If
such concepts were really, truly workable.
As he stepped away from the dais, he took a breath and clapped
his hands together. "Did you manage to throw their security system
into chaos in the process of taking West?" At this question,
Lysithea began a long, soft chuckle. Gigelf found the sound rather
displeasing. "What is so funny?"
Lysithea shook his head, smiling, and gently lowered Carey to
the cold stone floor. After considering Carey's face for a few
seconds, he stood, facing Gigelf, clasping his hands in front of him
in an effeminate manner. "You should have seen it.... So simple,
so easy.... As soon as I removed her from the grounds, the alarms
went into full panic mode.... There were people, running everywhere
across the grounds.... And I managed to leave Sailormoon and
Sailorpluto in the middle of that Chaos.... It was just
marvelous..."
"They relied too much on West...." Gigelf swallowed. "You
know, of course, of our plans to deal with the House, as soon as she
was removed...."
Lysithea nodded. "Of course, master.... There could be no
better time...."
No better time, thought Gigelf.... No better time to forever
go down in history as a butcher of one's own kind. A butcher or a
savior.... Depending on who lives to write the history books....
----o
"MORE AND MORE..... IT ATE AWAY AT MY SYSTEM.... A CREATURE
THAT I KNEW TO BE MYSELF, AND YET I TRIED TO DENY IT.... THAT WAS
WORTHLESS, TOTALLY WORTHLESS!" Makoto slammed her hands onto the
monument, either side of Miki's head. Her eyes were red and puffy,
tears running down her cheeks, and her bottom lip was curled up as
if she were about to explode into either rage or a fit of bawling.
It frightened Miki too much to want to comfort her.
"Wh.... What was it?" She managed to croak.
"WHAT WAS WHAT?" Makoto bellowed, staring the young woman
down. Miki ducked underneath Makoto's arm and stepped away, turning
to face her. Makoto didn't move.
"The monster, what was it? What was it that was eating away
at you?" Miki wasn't sure if Makoto was about to collapse or lash
out at her. She took a couple of steps further back, just in case.
She wasn't going to escape the dead Sailorsenshi, locked together in
the same mind and body, she reasoned, so there was no point trying
to run away in a world that had been constructed by the person she
was trying to run away from.... Better to try and talk it out.
"The monster?" Makoto asked, softly.
"Yes.... What was the monster that forced you to dope
yourself to the eyeballs to suppress?"
"The monster.... The monster was...." Makoto lifted her
hands from the monument and turned to Miki, a strange smile on her
face. "The monster was ME."
----o
The train conductor had seen many sights in the years he'd
been working the Tokyo suburban lines. The girl, dressed in the
thick kimono, wet and bedraggled, had to be one of the more
interesting ones, if only because she was so attractive. Probably
BECAUSE she was so attractive, she was garnering the attentions of
one of the line's better known salaryman perverts.
The girl seemed rather distracted, at first.... An air of
desperation on her face. It didn't occur to him to actually check
if she had actually bought a ticket.... Of course, you're not
supposed to be able to get onto the platform of most stations
without having bought one, first, but the girl looked as if she'd
just run onto the train, straight out of the pouring rain.
Whatever the reason for her desperation, it was enough for her
not to register Amaki's presence before the creep was leaning up
against her, giggling inanely. The girl looked up at him, slowly,
only just barely registering his intentions. The conductor thought
it was time to intervene, as he had done on all the previous
occasions Amaki had tried it on with unfortunate female passengers
who would board his train, to and from work.
It all happened in a matter of seconds. Amaki had placed both
of his arms around the girl and tried to lick her ear, when his arms
fell onto the floor in a spray of blood. The girl was standing back
from him, holding a pair of bloodied fans, a vicious expression on
her face. It was a couple of seconds before both Amaki and the
conductor realised that the unfortunate pervert no longer had any
arms.
Before Amaki could scream out in pain and terror, the girl had
taken his head clean off, watching with satisfaction as it bounced
off the seat and rolled onto the floor. Amaki's body continued to
stand for a few seconds more, fountaining blood from the stump of a
neck, before it fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut. With
a flourish, the girl slapped the fans shut and whipped them back
into the sleeves of her kimono. She then looked up at the conductor
and smiled, leaving him in no doubt as to what he SHOULDN'T do at
that point.
She picked up Amaki's briefcase, still standing against the
seat where he had left it, and handed it to the conductor. "So
terribly sorry to have messed up your train, but I'm in a bit of a
hurry, and I truly cannot abide by perverts. What about you?" She
stared at the man, smiling sweetly as he failed to answer, not
really knowing how to answer in such a situation. "Ah, yes, I see
you're not one used to such violent behaviour. I apologise if I've
upset you, or anything. It was my upbringing, you see...." She
giggled and turned her head to the windows as she saw the approach
of a station. "Ah, this looks like my stop." She turned back to
the conductor and bowed, slightly. "Konbanwa."
"K... konbanwa." The conductor replied as the train came to
a halt at the station. The girl trotted over to the door and waited
as they opened up to the platform. She then alighted and
disappeared into the night.
Yes, the conductor had seen many things in his years of
service. This one was going to make, at the very least, an entire
chapter, if he ever got round to writing up his memoirs.
END OF PART 32
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Chapter - "Purity of Blood"
_________
/ @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)
/ / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@internode.on.net
/\
\/ \/
\___________/
/_/ \_\ PU
Version 2.0 - Tuesday October 27th 1998