When All The Good Angels Sleep

by Blue Jeans

Life had never been better for the Sailor Senshi team. They had defeated their enemies, are finishing high school and looking forward to a new future. But what awaits them there may be more devistating than anything they have ever imagined. Post SS/AR

5. The Fifth Sheep Named Truth

A Note to the Readers: All contents in this story is under an artistic license. Fact and
fiction will be clomped together in one huge blob. In other words, don't bother me about
debating whether some conversations in this fanfic is truly based on fact... as Naoko
Takeuchi has done many times. Truth, after all, is an elusive thing! ^-~. Enjoy!

When All the Good Angels Sleep
******************************
.blue.
blueweber@hotmail.com

"No te engano la primavera "Did spring never deceive you
con besos que no florecieron?" with kisses that didn't blossom?"

--Pablo Neruda
("The Book Of Questions")


"And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
and his name that sat on him was Death."

--Bible: New Testament
(Revelation 6:8)



The Fifth Sheep Named Truth
---------------------------

And, after all, what is a lie? 'Tis but
the truth in masquerade.
--Lord Byron
("Don Juan")

"You want to know how I make my decisions?
I don't! You think the gods would ever
trust the power of past, present, and future
in the hands of a mere human, no matter how
old and wise she had become! You have read
too many romantic novels Serenity. I have
no such powers. But that is alright with me.
After all, I can't tell you the little that I
do know! And sometimes, you're too young to
understand that the knowledge I do hold may
be no more than a passing dream. There is a
difference between knowing the future and
building a future, and I have little of the
former and none of the latter. I am only
here to make sure you do not stray from the
path you've chosen too easily, and to
accomplish my part in a destiny that I will never
have access to. That is my duty, Serenity, and
that is why you would never understand the irony
that I was born with powers I have never
requested and that I hold as the bane of my life,
so long as I shall live."

--Sailor Senshi Pluto
("Letters To the Queen")


The revelation came upon her as the lights around her faded, faded until she was
surrounded only by empty noir. Her eyes widened, for before her was a city ravaged. Dark
and smoldering backed by a blackened sky, dyed red. A sky of red? A sky of blood. Her
mouth opened in surprise, in screaming terror, but the words never came. For before her,
the broken pieces of the Tokyo Tower stood. A white light shone upon it while a path of
rainbow and white led toward the bright beacon upon the broken tower. There were angels
still, with faint and transparent wings that somehow allowed their bodies to float in the
air. Their dress was completely white. And there, before the blackness, before the
shadows that rose like monsters of the night, were these small and fragile angels who
stood and fought the evil with their fragile light. That light, it felt familiar somehow.
She wanted to be nearer so that she could identify their faces. Their faint and ghost-
like faces that looked pale and gossamer like. Sadness clouded those distant eyes,
determination deep in their souls to not lose against the darkness, all of this, she knew.
Somehow she had discovered the truth.

Thump.

Beautiful.

Thump, thump.

So very beautiful.


* * *


Drip. Drip. Drip.

That sound. Where is it coming from?

He opened his eyes as light fell upon him with a mystic blindness. The spray of the
drops spread and collapsed.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Suddenly it was gone, shrouded in mists. "Na ni?" His voice echoed off unseen
walls.

Another step forward before a brilliant light flashed over him, he turned toward
that bright and distant light, like a star, its light warm and strong, surrounding him and
calling to him. So he moved forward, as if pulled by the unseen strings that connected
him to his destiny. There, he found himself, before a goddess shining in ethereal white.
Yet, that was not who he was searching for...

She stood beside him, head looking up to that beauteous creature before them. A
smile of pure joy and devotion shining in her eyes. And then she looked at him, with that
same look, with that same smile, reaching her hand out for his. "Are you ready Hiketsu?"
She asked as her long lustrous hair flew in the breeze that wrapped its fingers around
them, waiting patiently for his reply.

He didn't know what to say, but her hand reached out and held his, her face never
changing yet, Hiketsu knew that she was different now, another person he never knew to
exist till now. "Are you ready Hiketsu?" The stranger asked again. A warrior of light.
Dressed in armor of red and white. Her eyes still gentle, still kind and loving. Eyes
that searched his for answers that he did not know himself.

All he knew was that this was a stranger.

"Where's Rei-chan?" He demanded.

"I am your Rei-chan." She replied. Calmly. A little confused at his sudden anger.

"No you're not! What did you do with her?" He wrenched his hand away from her,
though she never fought him nor held him too tightly. The force he used to break free
overwhelmed him, like the fear that suddenly slammed into his heart. It sent him reeling
a few seconds, making him stumble back awkwardly before he finally found his balance
again.

The sky blackened, yet the light of the goddess still shone brightly before him.
Only, now, it no longer hugged him, nor did it hug her. "Hiketsu, I love you!" She
called to him, as if he was miles away. Her eyes now seemed desperate and sad as she
reached out for him.

What for? A part of him asked.

To save him? Another answered.

To save him from what?

He was confused by the images he saw, by the emotions he felt drowning him in pain.
Pain? Where did this pain come from? This guilt and this regret, when did they take root
in his heart, squeezing his breath away and breaking it to pieces?

He could not reply to the stranger's call even now, there wasn't enough time for him
to comprehend what she meant. Nor did he comprehend who she was before the darkness
swallowed her whole, took her from the light of the goddess, even as her hand stretched
out toward him. And then, just a brief moment before her face was totally engulfed, those
familiar onyx eyes, misted in tears, stared back at him with a question that he understood
but could not answer. They closed and she was gone.

'Are you ready Hiketsu?' A voice repeated the question to him in his dreams as the
light exploded around him completely, sweeping him away. 'Are you ready?'

Then there was no more light.

No more Rei.

And no more Hiketsu.



The tower lay broken upon the horizon of the bloody sky--

Drip.

A splash of infinite, luminous, shattering red.

Crimson world unending.

Life collapsing into pieces upon the black surface.

Drip.

All is silent but the dark--


* * *


There is no telling what the times would bring. She closed her eyes in sadness.
All throughout the meeting they had avoided this subject. The one subject that no one
wanted to remember, not even Luna and Artemis who choose, for once, to research instead of
join them at the temple. The things they all desperately wished had never happened, all
of them trying to forget.

Makoto's betrayal.

The Outers coldness as they left.

The guilt that lingered like a sore wound festering on the exposed skin.

The rift that's now between them.

"What are you thinking about, Usako?" His breath touched her ear lightly and she
shivered. There was so much security in that warmth without touch, and so much memories.
She closed her eyes to the night to contemplate within her own eternal darkness.

"Mamo-chan," she breathed, "what are your dreams?"

Startled, midnight eyes searched her upturned face, lashes closed over eyes that
could never hide anything from him when they are opened, until now. "Usako?" She did not
answer his question that contained so many unspoken words, and he relanted at last. "My
dreams, huh?" He asked in a lighter tone, a crooked smile upon his lips. "Well, my dream
is to be a doctor, you know that Usako."

She smiled, "Hai." She opened the blue of her eyes and turned to him.

"Why do you ask?"

She pulled his head down, so that their lips were but a whisper apart. "Because, I
like to know that there are still some things that will never change." She answered, and
then he saw all the pain she had hid from him beneath the moon. So many shadows there
that he was startled by the contrast between light and dark within those eyes that seemed
so much older than before.

"Usako," he closed himself from the pain and breached the distance between them.

He felt it then, her soul, bright and shining next to his. Heart to heart. "Mamo-
chan," she whispered against his lips and pulling back. "I love you."

He smiled, "Hai," he answered, "believe in that, Usako." He rested his forehead
against hers once more. "For that will last onto eternity."

The moon glimmered brightly within the midnight sky.


* * *


He raised the coffee cup to his lips. The dark and bitter liquid agitated his
spirits, but he needed that. The darkness inside him did not need to be fed and he could
live on the power this darkness gave him, but he wouldn't last long with this body. If he
wanted to stay the way he was and not like one of those idiotic skeletal shadows he'd take
care of the flesh he possessed. The coffee burned its way down his throat and he smiled
at the pain, feeling the darkness feed upon it like it would later on human life and human
blood. That day of reckoning was coming soon, he was growing in power and soon he'd be
able to release the sleeping god of destruction.

He flexed the fingers of his right hand slowly under the white glove he wore. His
fingernails were turning black and half of his body was already solidifying into a hard,
yet flexible, black crystalline armor. He smiled as he took another sip of the bitter
drink. Ah, yes! He had acquired this armor when he first took the soul of that foolish
Hino and it grew with every other man and woman he killed. He relished the horror and
understanding in the eyes of Hino best of all his victims, when that foolish man realized
exactly who it was that he was dealing with...

Doko licked his lips in appreciation at the lingering taste of fear he still could
conjure up in his last victim, but none had realized his powers except Hino. Hino... that
name held much meaning in it. A cruel smile came upon his face as he began to toy with
the necklace around his neck. The broken-angel winged ring hung on the silver chain,
flashing, as his fingers twirled it under the well-lit room.

Doko thought back to the things that had been happening in the world. His dark soul
grins each time he hears that another country has fallen to disease. Yes, his sisters and
brothers in arms are hard at work in spreading the venom in their blood and into the very
air they breathed. Soon, the time will come for the master to enter this dimension again.
Soon, the humans will be too weak to fight while master ruled, while master destroyed
these pathetic structures that will not stand against his wrath.

A knock on the door snapped him out of his pensive mood before opening. A dark head
emerged from the crack as the hesitant secretary looked around the office before her eyes
came to him, "Fujimia-san!" She cried out in relief. "There's a fax for you from the
Prime Minister, he has asked to consult you about the latest events. He knows that you
are knowledgeable about foreign affairs and wishes to seek your advice about how to deal
with the situation right now." The woman told him nervously. "There seems to be
something up..." She trailed off, looking slightly suspicious and slightly guilty at being
suspicious at her own government. The Japanese had trained their workers well, he thought
sardonically.

"Thank you for the information," he said with a half smile that sent the woman
blushing before she left and closed the door behind her. Humans were such stupid
creatures, he thought wistfully. If only he could have a worthy opponent. Yet, it was
people like these who bow and swoon for power and those who possessed it that made them
easy prey, easy to possess. Weak and pathetic! He thought with disgust. He
unconsciously flexed his hand again. So, the Prime Minister wanted to see him, did he? A
dark smile crept across his face.

Good.

He glanced at the newspaper that was placed upon his desk earlier that morning.
Pushing some of the paperwork aside, he reached to grasp it. This human body had its
advantages and disadvantages. He couldn't trust the others to help him slowly take over
the Cabinet of the Prime Minister, so he had to be the one arranging lunches and ordering
the secretaries personally. He had to do all the paperwork and he needed to check most of
the work others did. Also, his magic powers were dormant, if he wanted to use them, he
would have to wait till the crystalline armor was in place and by then he better be in
political power...

A smile crept across his face seeing that Germany had fallen. So far Italy,
England, France, Spain, Africa, the Americas, and most of Asia were infected. Germany was
only another pawn on the chessboard that went with lowering the morals of humans and
killing hope. Let the children die, let the old, and then let the adults fall sick. Let
them see healthy people become haggard and thin skeletons of what they once were. Let
them watch the skin turn yellow and bleed and then become a black crisp that would fall to
ashes upon touch. Let their eyes burn and then fade, destroying vision in a month's time.
Let them rot before he plunges the world to hell so that all that survived up to now, all
those that thanked whatever God or Gods they believed in at this moment, wished they were
dead by the time he was through with them. By the time that Master was through with them!

He chuckled darkly as he flexed his hand again. He could almost taste the darkness
and power that his Master offered! He was almost able to touch the utter chaotic mess,
the need for destruction. He bared his teeth in a feral snarl as he dampened his need to
massacre and destroy. He must keep his cool for now. He must wait patiently for his
turn. Doko grinned as he flexed his hand with mounting tension and his face became a
frown of pain as the darkness inside him screamed for release. 'Shut up you fool, do you
want this or not?' His mental powers demanded as he clamped down painfully within his
mind against the rising tide of resistance. His humanity still fought bravely once in a
while. 'If you do, you shut up and let me take care of this!'

The darkness subsided slightly and roared one last time, nearly bringing him to
unconsciousness before it disappeared. A warning. The armor grew. 'I'm powerful, more
so than you.' The darkness seemed to say and he couldn't argue with that, but this beast
within him and his own humanity made his plans difficult. He flexed his hand, only this
time in pain. The growth of the armor bit into his flesh and made his inside turn cold as
parts of him crystallized and others turned to ash. He grimaced, biting down the pain.

"I will meet with him, soon, I hope you keep to yourself till the meeting is over.
There will be sacrifices, but we must keep that poor fool alive till the end." The pain
lasted another minute, a torturing minute longer, before it was gone. "Thank you." He
bit out sarcastically but the darkness didn't respond this time. It too bided its time
and when he is alone again tonight, it will come back with a vengeance. For now he pushed
back his sweat streaked hair and whipped away the evidence of his earlier battles with
himself. This would be an interesting day, for after all, it isn't every day that Japan
will close its ports.

He reached for the phone and dialed a number as he listened patiently at the
ringing. Plans were already spinning in his mind as he started to work on more of the
paperwork before him. The Prime Minister will have to wait his turn, it would be his
reward to be a little more patient. The Emperor though could be savored more slowly for
now. He grinned as the dark chaos in his soul stirred malevolently at the thought.

He will meet with the Prime Minister.

He shall help this country for now.

But when the time comes, he shall stab this country into the darkness he was born to
and to the immortal death every country fears.

It would be sweet.


* * *


A glitch in his system startled him. He never had one of those before. It was a
small bug and hardly noticeable but he found it, like the persistent itch on the body of a
living being, this little bug bothered him inside his mind while he searched for the cause
of his agitation. It was no different than any other bugs that were so common on the net,
and he approached it without much thought, wanting to squash it fast so he could get back
to his work. What he didn't expect was that the bug suddenly expanded and tried to bite
back. Annoyed, he swapped at it and tried to destroy it. He missed but the bug sure
didn't! So he ended up glaring in frustration and irritation at the bite marks on his
hand. 'Damn it!' He thought furiously. Outsmarted by a bug!

He clutched his wounded hand and called forth the damage control. Yet, before he
knew it, he was slammed into a world that was not of his own making. 'Who the hell did
this?' No one has yet been able to beat him at his own game, except Ami's computer, which
he couldn't hack into no matter how hard he tried...

'Hello, Core. I believe you have been searching for me on the web. You realize
that your search if futile. It would be to both our interests if you stopped looking for
me and concentrate on finding the cure for this virus. I'm sure that your little friend
Sailor Senshi Mercury is more than ready to help you and she will make up for those that I
have taken away from you for my own needs. You will not find me through tracing, nor will
you find me period. My advice Core is that you keep in your territory while I keep in
mine. Please, don't tempt me to use drastic measures because I have the power to do so.
Meanwhile, I think there's a little something you might be interested in.' The image of
the beautiful dark-haired woman with sparkling blue eyes smiled, giving off an aura of
predatory ferocity that would've scared many. Core glared at the messenger in agitation
as a file popped up from before him and started to download itself without his permission.
Evidently, he couldn't stop the download either. 'Don't worry, it's not a bomb and I have
no intentions of giving you a virus. Just a friendly little reminder to stay out of my
way. Bye sweet-pea!' Then the image was gone as soon as the downloading was complete.
The bug disappeared and he looked in wonder at what had just happened. Against her
warnings, Core did a tracing anyway, and just like Alyssa had promised, he came up with
nothing. Hesitantly, he opened the package she left in his memory and unraveled the
'gift' she sent him.

Files upon files of information he never knew existed popped up, if he hadn't been
so surprised and suspicious he'd be rejoicing! All the information that he had been
missing had finally been found, all the things that he hadn't been able to locate...

He frowned. What did she mean by Sailor Senshi Mercury being more than willing to
help? He thought that the Sailor Senshi were just a silly myth in Japan. A myth to give
Japanese children positive role models to look up to, or at the very least another way for
the authorities to place blames on the bombings and damages in property that they were
never able to solve on their own. Core was slightly annoyed at the thought that Alyssa
had mentioned Sailor Senshi Mercury, how could that be? The only two people that he was
seriously working with in Japan were Fuma and Ami!

Ami.

He nearly scrambled some of the files he was looking through. Ami?! What the hell
kind of thought was that? Ami was gentle and caring and didn't have a violent bone in her
body! Ami who called herself Mercury when they first met...

He paused, reviewed his facts with a slightly disturbed smile. It couldn't be,
could it? The files poured in. Her school records, videos and phone calls, times spent
with friends, when she was reported missing or any of those things. Every time she
disappeared or could not be found on his computer it coincided with the time that reports
of the Sailor Senshi arrived or showed up wherever it was! He frowned in frustration and
anger. How did he miss it? How did he miss such big hints! Who else but Ami asked about
genetic mutation -- probably because she herself was so strange! Who else but Ami
questioned him on strategy in battles, ranging from the hand-to-hand combat to weaponry
that hasn't been seen in war for at least a thousand years! Who else but Ami had a
computer he couldn't crack?

Sailor Senshi Mercury, huh? He was intrigued. He hadn't expected that his contacts
were all powerful, geniuses yes -- some whose brilliance was never noted -- but not super
heroines from myths! He frowned deeper. How in the world did this Alyssa Smith know?
How did she know he was checking up on her? Trying to trace her. How did she know so
much about him as to place a bug in his presence to get his attention and yet make it
disappear so he could never do a thorough search for her?

Who the hell was Alyssa Smith, anyway?

Slowly and methodically, Core relaxed his mind, and once again began to pull the
puzzle pieces before him to solve the greater mystery. Alyssa had warned him not to trace
her, so, he won't. He'll find out everything about the people she kidnapped and then
he'll have to have a little chat with both Fuma and Ami -- separately of course! And find
out how to deal with the blue-haired girl who had matched him in every way up until now!

Core had much to work on and so little time! Time passed -- he lost track of it
already -- and the cure for the virus was still hanging out on the back burner. Kalic
hadn't called in while, but that's okay, he was sure that the two weeks aren't up yet.

Core rubbed his eyes as he stretched slowly, physically he knew that his body
wouldn't be responding to this but he didn't care, he just wanted the answers. He wanted
them fast. After all, life isn't forever and it's looking particularly bleak and death-
like now, now that the virus is spreading rapidly!

Ami. Alyssa. Those two women fascinated him! He wondered if he would ever really
meet any of the two in person. That thought was pushed aside as he prepared once more to
find the solution to this new global problem.

How do you find a cure to death?

He wondered if that's what those searching for miracle cures in the 1300 had thought
when they had to deal with the Bubonic Plague. Except it wasn't at such a global scale
back then, the transportation wasn't as good. He grimly looked over the reports again as
he read over the 'gift' that Alyssa Smith had left for him through her little bug. It
will help. Information always helps.

He clicked through the barriers and passed the 'gift' to Ami, or Sailor Senshi
Mercury, whoever she was. And waited. Ami will know what to do with it without
instructions, and after a cure is found, he'll talk to her about her role as a senshi
then. For now, though, he'll worry only about the disease and how to wipe it out as
thoroughly as it had done for 1% of the global population! For now, he must concentrate
on the virus.

For now he must forget that sometimes Core was a man and not just a machine out to
find the answers of the world that others would never be able to discover.

The answer to eliminating CHAOS.


* * *


Minako paused before window of the store at downtown Tokyo. Behind her a blond-
haired man glanced nervously about and stepped aside from the glass pane. She had been
having a wonderful night. After her talk with Rei the day before, she arrived home to
receive a phone-call from "a boy" as her mother had put it. It was Kuragari Fuma himself!
And he was not just a mere boy as her mother had thought him to be. When he came to pick
her up the next day she was ready in her turtleneck black dress and white jacket, ready to
knock the guy off of his feet (after all, she 'is' the senshi of love and justice!). He
smiled at her warmly the moment he saw her and boy was she surprised that he offered her
his arm and then walked her down the steps to an empty drive way. She was just glad she
wore white sneakers instead of heels because her feet would be killing her by now if she
didn't! "Let's save the environment and take the subway." Fuma suggested with a grin and
not a blush in embarrassment for his lack in the wheels department. It wasn't that Fuma
didn't know how to drive -- after all, he was the one who used to be able to do the
dangerous turns that make hot little cars purr in satisfaction -- it was just that when
you're dealing with a machine like that, you actually need substance to move the wheel.
Whereas if you take the sub, as long as the doors don't close on him, he'd be fine!

"Where are we going for dinner than?" She asked, a little skeptical about the night
that was to come.

"To this wonderful restaurant near the Diet Building, and as much as those places
close to the government are busy, this place is definitely worth it!" Fuma told her with
an enthusiastic smile. Yeah, definitely worth it since it's so expensive too! Fuma
grumbled in his mind, but who was he to complain? He had no other uses for the money they
had for him in the bank.

By the time they reached the station, Minako was having second thoughts. She had
never gone on a serious date, not like this. Oh, she had dreamed about it, planned and
plotted and schemed for what it would be like to fall in love! To 'date' the man of her
dreams, to run away in the middle of the night to forbidden rendezvous! What normal
teenage girl wouldn't? But, never had she dreamed that this is where she'd end up when
she found someone who might be Mr. Right, as the Americans were so fond of calling, a name
that her old school mates in England used to tease her about.

Here she was, on the subway, on her way to the heart of Tokyo -- not to mention on
foot up to now -- and nothing going as she had planned! No hot sport car to pick her up,
no fancy dress-shirt to impress her, not even a few roses or at least a daisy to show a
sign of woeful love! If she had originally thought that this 'date' would be romantic,
she was seriously having doubts now! Minako sighed in distress, why couldn't she be the
one with the thoughtful and sensitive lover that Rei had -- even if Rei was unwilling to
accept it -- why did she have to be stuck with this blond, handsome, insensitive,
brilliant, arrogant, beautiful...

She gave up! She had tried to rationalize that this young man, who called himself
Kuragari Fuma was bad news from the moment he suggested that they 'walk' to the subway and
'walk' to the restaurant, instead of driving her there, but it didn't work! Why did she
keep adding so many nice, wonderful, charming adjectives whenever she thought about him,
no matter how irked she was at his behavior? This confounded her and confused her to no
ends. Not once, has she ever fallen...

She paused, with a sheepish grin at the thought. Okay, so maybe she was in this
type of a situation a few times, falling for a boy without thought! But, never had she
actually stuck around long enough to catch a date -- so what if the boy never asked? --
she couldn't believe that this was how her 'dream-date' turned out! What agitated her
even more was that Rei would probably be laughing away if the dark-haired girl ever caught
wind of this -- along with the other senshi! She'd be mortified!

"Minako?" Snapping out of her dark thoughts, she snapped her angry eyes to him.
"Daijoubu-yo?" Fuma asked uneasily. She had been so silent through the entire time they
walked. It was unlike her to be so, she was bright and sunny the day he met her and
reports had told him that this was true, yet the angry cloud that hung over her startled
him. Was he the cause of this? Fuma frowned at this though, before deciding against
being too obvious.

She opened her mouth to retort in sarcasm but then stopped herself abruptly at the
worry in his eyes. 'Minako-chan, you're always over-reacting.' The voice of Rei echoed
in her head. 'Why can't you be serious for once about anything instead of just boys,
Mina?' Artemis once asked her in exasperation as he clung to her shoulder while they
raced down the streets to get to her school on time -- joined by Usagi on the way, of
course!

I can be serious! I can avoid over-reacting! I can appreciate this first date even
if it has nothing to do with what I have been envisioning since I was but a child! She
was determined to prove to everyone that she can handle her 'childishness'. "I'm fine."
She said with a grin that melted away the darkness in his eyes. "Just thinking..."
Brilliant comeback, Minako! She almost scowled again, but stopped herself in time.

The train stopped then and as they stepped onto the stone platform Minako was having
her doubts come back full force. What if this Kuragari Fuma really was a weirdo? What if
he's trying to kidnap her? Well, she'll show him who he's dealing with! No one can try
to--

They paused when he put a hand on her shoulder, startled she turned around, ready to
fend him off. Fuma looked to her slightly amused, "We are here." He told her with a
raised golden brow that sent her blushing in embarrassment.

She turned and her mouth dropped open in surprise. The "restaurant" he mentioned
was 'the' restaurant that famous politicians usually went to. It's elegant sign was
sprawled in elegant kanji "Rain Tree", Rei's restaurant, the one that the dark-haired girl
shared with the infamous Kagemi Kaidou. Rei's first love and her last it had seemed,
until the appearance of Kaidou's brother -- whom she never even knew existed until the day
before -- Kagemi Hiketsu. "That's the restaurant you're taking me to?" She asked in
surprised bewilderment, as she stared at him and then the restaurant in disbelief.

Sighing in confusion at her behavior so far, he shrugged in slight agitation, "No,
it's the one across the street." He replied sarcastically.

She turned her blonde head to survey the surrounding buildings and gaped at him once
more, "You're going to take me eating at McDonalds?" She exclaimed in surprise, though
slightly pleased. In Japan, the American fast-food industry was thriving, even though it
cost a lot more than it would've overseas.

"No!" He sighed in exasperation before gripping her just below the elbow and
turning her toward Rain Tree. Upon entering, Minako finally pulled her gaze away from the
enticing sign of the American fast-food restaurant.

"Na ni yo, Fuma-kun?" She complained. "Why can't you make up your mind on which
restaurant to go to?"

Fuma glowered a little as he reached the reception. "Kuragari, table for two." He
grumbled to the startled waitress behind the desk who nodded enthusiastically in
affirmation before leading them down the aisle.

Minako, finally realizing her error, turned bright red in embarrassment. She wanted
to apologize for her earlier behavior but didn't know quite how to phrase it without
making herself look like an idiot. 'Too late now, Minako-baka!' Her conscience told her
mockingly. After thoroughly beating that part of her mind into submission and silence,
Minako viewed the restaurant around them with a sense of awe. "So, this is where Rei-chan
went on her birthdays with Kaidou-san." She muttered to herself.

"Hmm?" Fuma asked, finally speaking to her again after the silence of their arrival
at the table.

Okay, so maybe it was not qualified as a word, but he grunted a response, didn't he?
Minako smiled relieved, "I was... well..." she stumbled and then took a deep breath under
his amused gaze. "Gomen nasai!" She finally blurted out and then blushed bright red at
her own outburst.

"For what?" Fuma asked, though she was sure that he was purposely doing this to
humiliate her. Sighing in defeat and knowing she deserved it for the way she's been
acting in the last hour, she mumbled a reply. "Na ni? What did you say?" Fuma asked as
he leaned over the table, though his sensors caught every word that she's been saying.

"Look, I'm sorry for acting like a baka for the last hour. When you suggested that
we take the subway to downtown Tokyo, I thought you were going to take me to somewhere...
urrr... you know." She began to mumble again.

Smiling slightly at her blush and her mumbled apology, he reached over the table and
grasped her hands. "Daijoubu-yo Minako. I understand." He told her with a soft smile.

Immediately she perked up at the genuine warmth of his expression, her whole
personality seeming to change from gloom to humorous submission. "I was a baka wasn't
I?" Minako asked with a laugh. Her whole face lighting up with a mega-watt smile.

Fuma blinked, startled at the sudden change of mood, before his smile returned and
he held her hand tighter. "Hai, but a beautiful one." She blushed again at the comment
and was saved from replying because that was when the waiter came to take their order.

Sighing in relief she watched Fuma order and ask the waiter questions about some of
the meals offered on the menu. A smile of gratitude fell upon her lips as she studied the
man before her. True, he had made her blush more in one day than any boy had done in the
last year, but that didn't mean anything, did it? Yet, her smile stayed on her lips
throughout the dinner and when he returned her gaze she felt her heartbeat accelerate and
her face flush. No longer was she sure if she was so red this evening because of her
embarrassment or her pleasure. But she won't forget this night for a long time to come,
since it was the beginning of her first love with a man who had found her to be
irresistible!



Minako sighed as she leaned against her bedroom door. She had sneaked into the
house but moments ago. It was past eleven and she still had the memory of his warm hand
on hers. There was an acceptance and understanding in his eyes that she had not found in
anyone else, except the senshi. Artemis was already curled up in a ball at the foot of
her bed, asleep. That cat had gotten a lot lazier than he should in the last few years
and now he slept like the dead! She could slip into bed without him even noticing! But
who was she to kid? Artemis had been so busy these days with Luna at Central Control, and
the research those two were doing was draining for them both. Every night, Minako would
find Artemis trudge back to her house exhausted and not very conversational, drop onto her
bed and fall asleep as if there was no tomorrow! When she woke up in the morning, he
would be gone, not bothering to see if she'd wake up in time for school. It bothered her,
but she couldn't complain. They were all stressed and working to find the answers to what
had been going on lately and not all of them were available anymore.

The Outers.

She narrowed her eyes slightly at that, refusing to let her guilt be her guide this
time. True, they should've told them sooner, but contact between them had been scarce and
the Outers had avoided giving them information before! They never split the team because
the Outers won't give them any information! This will make them weaker and she hated them
for it.

Minako sighed and shooked her head. No, no, she shouldn't blame them for
everything. The blonde sat down beside her window to look at the stars above. Tomorrow
is another day and maybe Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna and Hotaru would return to them. Maybe
they will be able to change things tomorrow. She shouldn't think like this, for these are
the thoughts that will tear them apart. Smiling slightly, she remembered the few hours of
distraction that Fuma was able to provide for her, the hours that allowed her to get
passed her own stubborn pride. "Thank you." She whispered to the one star that she had
been wishing on since childhood.

She headed for bed with the image of his smile bidding her goodnight and just before
she closed her eyes she remembered the promise she made to Ami to tell their secrets to
their closest relatives and friends. Tomorrow. She thought. Tomorrow I will tell okaa-
san and outo-san what I have become. Before she could think further, she fell into an
exhausted sleep.

A shadow fell back from the shade of the tree outside. Stepping out into the
moonlight, his golden hair gleamed under the pure white light. "Till tomorrow, love-
child." With that, he vanished into the light.

Goodnight.


* * *


Her legs dangled from the tall building. Below her the lights of the city shone,
breaking through the night. She could see many of the apartment buildings, offices, and
the people and cars that milled beneath her. Once, this place was her sanctuary and now
she returned to its familiarity, to think and not to escape her troubles. Michiru,
Setsuna and Hotaru would be waiting for her at home, or perhaps they had already left
Japan. She clutched her fist in anger as she thought about the decision they had put upon
her.

How dared they make her choose between her loyalty and her duty! How dared they?
She trembled as she brought her black-gloved hand to her face. "Michiru." The aqua-
haired woman gave those gloves to her as a Christmas present. She knew! She knew and she
still-- Haruka shook with rage and pain. "How could you?"

There was a distant buzz and whipping her head up startled she saw those same aqua
eyes bore down at her. "Leave me alone!" She screamed as she waved her hands for the
other to leave. Yet, the helicopter approached her and she shook as she gripped the
nearest rail tightly. How did Michiru know where to find her?

She should've known that she could keep no secrets from her lover, and Michiru knew
all the right buttons to push. Her hand gripped harder on the rail, unsure if she was
trying to keep steady at the force of the wind that the helicopter was creating or from
keeping her body from flinging itself toward the other. Her free hand shielded her face
as her clothing whipped around her, viciously responding to the raising wind. Before her
was the one woman that could ask her to choose to lose everything that she had been
building all of her life -- over all of the morals she ever fought under -- and still
possess her heart entirely. Her free hand clenched into an unforgiving fist. "Damn you,
Michiru!" She whispered. The helicopter roared past her and onto the launch pad a few
meters away. The air around her calmed slightly, but the buzzing of the helicopter and
the slight push of the winds on her back told her that Michiru had not left her, that
Michiru was waiting.

Haruka stood upon the tall building, contemplating if she should jump down to the
millions of people below. Fall into them and no longer be possessed, no longer be trapped
by her love. She couldn't do it. Michiru needed her now. She was still useful to the
team. Bitterly she stayed there, her eyes turning hard into icy-blue at the thoughts that
churned in her heart, making her feel the anger of betrayal over and over again. Yet,
with Michiru so near, the feeling ebbed, slowly fading away to numbness. Stubbornly, she
refused to turn to the inviting arms that would await her and called to her from the
hypnotic buzz of the helicopter engine. The minutes ticked by and only the sound of the
wind now whispered to her ears, the great noise of the city faded and Haruka's own eyes
clouded slightly with tears and memories. She made her choice a long time ago on who it
was she would follow, and who it was that she loved.

The tall blonde turned from the edge of the building and descended onto the platform
of the roof and headed for the machine that held the one person whose loss would mean her
death. "Michiru." Her voice was husky and filled with pain and anger. Pain at the
choice she was about to make and anger at herself for making it. "I will come with you."
She finally said when she reached the other woman.

Michiru did not smile, only searched her eyes with earnest sadness that surprised
her. "I'm glad." That was all the other woman said before she threw Haruka one of the
communication headphones. Turning, Michiru's aqua-hair swirl around her shoulders like
waves lapsing onto the beach.

She was glad.

For now, Haruka was content with that as the only reward for her sacrifice.


* * *


Minako paced in front of the living room, feeling the silent eyes of her mother
staring into her back. Her mother, the burden of her life, how will she tell this woman
the one thing that she knew the other would never be able to understand? After all, elder
Aino didn't approve of Minako's goal to become a super star, elder Aino didn't approve of
Minako's grades, and elder Aino especially didn't approve of Aino Minako in general.
Maybe it was because she klutzed out as many times as Usagi was likely to do. Maybe it
was because of her laziness that she had acquired after leaving England. Maybe it was
Artemis, the cat that her mother was forever complaining about. Maybe it was because they
were in Japan and her mother would rather return to England...

Too many maybes and her mother was getting impatient. But what would mother know?
She was a housewife after all. She didn't have the dreams of independence that Minako
had! She wouldn't understand! The door clicked open as a tall blond man walked in.

"Tou-chan." She whispered, her face turning ashen.

She should've told mother about her identity sooner. Now, there were two adults to
tell her secrets to instead of just one! "Hoto-chan, our daughter apparently has
something to tell us. Though she has been wearing a hole in the carpet for the last five
minutes before you arrived." Her mother said with a sigh and a roll of her own blue-eyes.

Hoto smiled as he walked in and patted his daughter on the head. "What is it that
you wish to tell us Minako-chan?" Her father asked with a good-natured grin.

Why was she dreading this? Because, no matter how much she hated to admit, she
wanted her mother to accept who she was and had become. She wanted approval and love from
her parents, even when she was annoyed at them at levels that cannot be expressed! She
wanted-- she wanted them to be proud of her! Was it so much to ask? She stepped back
from under her father's hand and looked to the ground. "There is something that I must
show you." She told them solemnly.

"Minako-chan?" Her father was now worried at his daughter's serious tone. Minako
was always so happy nowadays, he hadn't seen her this serious since the day she came home
with that cat and told them that she was going to keep it. There were moments, yes, when
he thought he caught a glimpse of Minako in pain or despair, but they never lasted nor did
his memories of them ever being there. "What is it?"

She suddenly faced them. There was a strained smile on her face as she clutched her
hands behind her back. "I'm a Sailor Senshi!" She told them all the while smiling.

"Minako-chan, what are you trying to pull?" Her mother asked surprised and a little
more exasperated at her daughter than she usually was.

"But, I am a Sailor Senshi, I used to be Sailor V before I met the others! Now, I'm
Sailor Venus, leader of the senshi!" She exclaimed.

"I don't see a difference..." Hoto said confused.

"What are you trying to pull, Minako?" Elder Aino asked, now getting very angry.
"Does this have to do with that boy you've been seeing? I'm telling you now you are not
to see him again if he's such a bad influence to you! Not only have your grades dropped
but--"

"I am Sailor Senshi Venus and I'll prove it to you!" Minako screamed angrily as her
hand grasped around the wand behind her back. She extended her hand and they saw the
strange hilt. "Venus Crystal Power, Make-UP!" The light engulfed her and burst into
golden array of colors.

Her parents stood gaping at her once the lights disappeared and their before them
stood a woman, not their little girl who got stars in her eyes when she talked about boys,
or the innocent blonde who tripped over invisible cracks in the ground and messed up her
room. "Who are you?" Elder Aino gasped finally.

Sailor Venus blinked back the tears that she had in her eyes as her face hardened at
the question. "I am a soldier and a protector of her highness Queen Neo-Serenity, and of
the new era Crystal Tokyo." But when the words were out, her strength broke. With that
she ran with inhuman speed, out to the back of her house, through the yard and jumping
over rooftops until she finally stopped when she was miles away from her home. She panted
as she leaned against a wall of the alley she was in, before finally giving in to the
tears that she had been hiding inside since her parents called her crazy and then a
stranger. Why couldn't they understand who she was? Who she had become? Why couldn't
they be proud of her for one time in her life? There were no answers to her questions,
only the sound of her rapid gasps of breaths and the splashing of her tears onto the dull-
grey pavement.

And she hated herself because now she was questioning all of her dreams and all that
she fought for throughout the years of her teenage days.

Was it worth it, Minako-chan? To lose everything?

She had no answer to the secret question within her heart, and all she could do was
weep in angry despair at the choices she had to make and the consequences she had to face.
Not my choice she wanted to scream to the world, but the world never listened.

Ashamed, that's what she was. Ashamed to think such dirty thoughts. When did she
sink so low as to want to believe in a lie? But which was the lie? The question scared
her and she pushed it away violently. For Aino Minako didn't know the answer, and that
scared her more than anything else she had ever had to face.

Her secret darkness.

'Who are you?' Her mother's voice echoed in her head and in that moment, she wanted
to answer with all her heart the one thing that she knew would always be true no matter
who she becomes and who she ever will be.

"I'm your daughter, okaa-san."

And then the tears begun to cascade down passed her hands that covered her shamed
face, falling through the cracks of her fingers. Tell me, she pleaded to the invisible
Venus in the sunlit sky, that I'll always be Aino Minako, your daughter.



Makoto stood, leaning against the wooden beams of the gazebo. Her emerald eyes
gleamed under the dimming sunlight as she watched the night approached with a dark-blue
cloak, sparkling with infinite stars. Her one hand rested on the slender rail that
supported her weight as she gazed into the night. "Sempai..." she whispered to herself as
she looked to the sky. Here was where she always came to when she needed time to herself,
here was where her memories lay buried after all these years. Here was where he had left
her in the rain with a goodbye in her ear and a last kiss on her lips.

A boy, he was no more than a boy then, and he had left her for reasons he had never
explained. Her friends were always so exasperated whenever she mentioned him, but how
could she help it? She saw him everywhere, and whenever she came here to remember, to
hold the pain and the love so much closer to her heart, she would see him and feel his
breath on her ear and his kiss on her lips. The others didn't understand this, but she
didn't mind. They wouldn't understand this from her, not even Usagi. The odango-blonde
had Mamoru after all and so how could she know what it was like to long for a dream lover,
who appeared and then quickly disappeared from your life at the time you were most
vulnerable? How could she describe to them the one thing that she, herself, did not
understand?

Sighing, she closed her eyes and for once longed to have someone to share her
secrets with. A flutter startled her out of her revery as she saw a white dove regard her
with black eyes that seemed almost intelligent. She smiled at the beautiful creature, her
eyes lighting in amazement and joy. "Kawaii!" She whispered in amazement under her
breath.

The dove ruffled its plumage and smoothed back whatever feathers had strayed before
returning to gaze back at her. Shaking her head, and knowing herself to be crazy, she
opened her hand to it. "Komban wa, little one. I'm Sailor Senshi Jupiter. A protector
of Earth, a champion of justice and a senshi in the court of High Queen Neo-Serenity."

The dove's only reply was a soft coo before expanding its wings and landing onto her
shoulder, rubbing against her cheek. Laughing in delight, Makoto held it in her hands,
giggling all along. "Daijoubu, daijoubu-yo, little one! It's nice to meet you too!" She
continued to giggle and for the first time in a long while, she added another memory to
the ancient structure of the gazebo she resided within.

One day, I will return here and it will bring me you, my other family. Yet, for
now, the coo of the dove relaxed her and she remembered the smile of her father and the
touch of her mother's dry hands on her feverish cheek. The smell of fresh cinnamon filled
her mind with memories and the soft, unfamiliar song of the call of the dove lulled her.
The stars were coming out and she looked on into the night with a sigh on her lips.

Someday, my star will come and make all my broken memories into dreams again. And
maybe, just maybe, they'll come true too.



If someone had told Ami that she would be doing this today, of all days, she
would've told her that they were crazy. If Luna came to her before she met Usagi, she
would've thought herself crazy for responding to a talking cat at all! She, Mizuno Ami,
outcast since she started school, had become so desperate that she hallucinated a cat
talking to her during cram school. She would've written it off as stress and never taken
a second look back!

Yet, she didn't do any of those things when Luna did indeed talk to her. Whether it
was because she had seen Usagi turn into Sailor Moon before her very eyes, or simply
because there was a monster ready to split her head from her shoulders, she wasn't sure.
Maybe it had to do with the burning sensation on her forehead that reminded her of a
feeling of longing for--

"Ami-chan? What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Her mother asked her
worriedly. Apparently she had stayed silent too long, and her stalling techniques were
more than rusty.

"Kaa-san," she paused, trying to find the words to tell her mother that her timid
and studious daughter was a warrior. And not just any warrior, a Sailor Senshi -- Sailor
Mercury to be exact -- the stuff of legends and children's fantasies! Her mother nodded
in acknowledgement, waiting for her to continue. "I- I have to..." she trailed off again
and shook her head with a bitter laugh. "I came up with this idea and 'I' can't even
carry it out!"

Her mother looked more confused and worried than ever. "Carry out what Ami-chan?
What plan did you come up with."

Seeing that there's no graceful way of telling the truth, Ami rose from her seat and
walked to the window. "Kaa-san, do you remember when I was little and I came home from
school after a bad day, you'd stay behind and bake cookies with me?"

Startled, the older woman could only nod her head at Ami's back. "Hai, Ami-chan.
What does that have to do with anything?"

As if she hadn't heard her question, Ami pushed on. Praying that she didn't lose
her courage before the truth came out into the open. "You used to say, 'Ami-chan, you're
special no matter what anyone tells you, don't you forget that! Because no matter what
anyone thinks, you're my daughter and, to me, you'll always be special.'" Ami sighed at
the memories, leaving her mother confused and startled that her daughter still remembered
days that the older woman thought only she could cherish, alone. "I hope, after tonight,
you will still think that of me, kaa-san. I hope you will..." Ami didn't know what else
to say.

"What is it Ami-chan? What's wrong? Talk to me mon petit poisson!" Her mother
urged. She stiffened at the nickname, okaa-san seemed to be using it more and more these
days. Ami still wasn't sure why, or if the older woman already guessed.

"Mother I'm--" she cut herself off again and finally turned to her mom after closing
the curtains to the window. Here was the one person who had been there for her since her
father abandoned both of them, the first person to have loved her so unconditionally, even
before she met the other senshi. She felt her wand weigh heavily in her hands like it had
not done so since she first became Sailor Senshi Mercury. It was a burden, she realized,
that she must bear. "Let me show you my secret." Ami finally said as she brought forth
the wand of Mercury and called forth her transformation.

Her mother gaped as her daughter was engulfed by fog and water. Tears misted her
eyes as she watched the blue-haired little girl who had always been so silent and studious
turn into the woman that she had always known Ami had within herself to be. "Ami-
chan..." she whispered when the powers died down and contained itself within the fragile
little body that was her daughter's. The fragile body and soul that must have kept a
million secrets from her! Why? That was the first question that any parent will ask when
they discover that their children had grown and changed. That here was a stranger and
yet, a soul so close to the heart, it was hard to reject this stranger. Mizuno dampened
down her sense of betrayal and instead let the joyful and proud smile light her face. She
banished the ghost of her feelings of mistrust and stood, stumbling slightly without her
usual grace before she reached her daughter. Overwhelmed with emotions unspoken, she did
the only thing that a mother knows how. She reached out and clasped the girl before her
who had those uncertain fearful eyes of worry, like she had held her when she first gave
birth to her little daughter and whispered the words she whispered those years before
because it was true than and it was true now, more than ever. "I love you."

Sailor Mercury's eyes widened in surprise before they too misted, turning into
infinite azure depths. She clasped tightly to her mother and wept the tears that she had
been holding back, the tears that cleansed all of her doubts and fears that she had been
hiding. "I love you too, kaa-san."

The two women held each other tightly, crying in relief. For, after all, each had
come close to losing the other and relief can be just as overwhelming as pain. Yet, it
was for the best for both of them, since mother and daughter had never been so honest and
so close since the day Mizuno Ami's father walked out, both so fearful of rejection that
they had grown distant. And now, having revealed her secret identity, Mercury had finally
closed the widening gap between them and for the first time in years, she cried in her
mother's arms in joy.



Rei knocked softly on her grandfather's door before hearing his soft voice come
through the papered screens. "Come in!" He called. Hesitating slightly before she
pushed the door open, she saw her ojii-san sitting at the low table, sipping tea and
reading over some books on budgeting.

"Ojii-san." She said, bowing respectfully before rising.

Surprised, the blond-haired man blinked at her. "So serious today are we Rei-
chan?" He asked with a grin as he beckoned her to join him.

She did not sit on the other side of the low table as she had often done, instead
she knelt before him and bowed in a bow of the deepest respect, almost shame. "Rei-chan!
What ever are you doing that for?" Her ojii-san exclaimed in displeasure as he reached
forth and brought her up to eye level once more. "I don't like how you are abasing
yourself like that in front of me!" He scowled at her.

Rei smiled at her ojii-san as she gently removed his hands from her shoulder.
"Daijoubu yo ojii-san, I have come to ask for your forgiveness."

"Forgiveness?" Taken aback by her enigmatic statement, the blond-haired man looked
intrigued and motioned her to her usual place at the table. "For what?"

Rei settled and looked at her grandfather from across the table, her hands on her
lap gripped her miko robes, crumpling the material beneath her fists. Yet, her face
remained calm and sad as she forced herself to say what she had hidden from him all these
years. She felt ashamed, especially after all the things her ojii-san had done for her
after her father's abandonment of his own child at the temple steps, that she had kept
such a big secret from him. Her ojii-san. Who always acted cheerfully and mischievously,
flirting with the girls that frequented the temple grounds buying charms while acting like
a silly old hentai. She owed him so much, is this how she will repay him for all his
kindness?

She took a deep, slow breath, releasing it as she desperately tried to calm her
racing heart. "Ojii-san," she paused as she tried to find the words to speak the truth.
He looked back at her expectantly. She never thought this day would come, a day when Hino
Rei would be afraid to speak her mind and tell the truth. Deception was not something
that she was good at, but she had kept her secrets and now, she must let them go. She
closed her eyes to the clear-grey eyes of her grandfather and tightened her hold on her
robes. "I am a Sailor Senshi. I have been one for the past four years and have been
destined to be one for eternity." She looked away to the opened window of her
grandfather's study, only to see the expectant eyes of Phobos and Deimos. Her guardians
silently encouraged her to tell all to the one man in her life that had never let her
down. "I am the resurrected soldier of a kingdom long ago, known as the Silver
Millennium. It was a kingdom of peace before the war of an evil Sorceress came to destroy
us all. She was power hungry and corrupted by an evil entity known as Metallia. They
ravaged the kingdom before the High-Queen Serenity banished their forces and sealed them
away. In her last act, Queen Serenity sent her children to the distant future, to Earth,
so that we may know peace." Rei paused as she finally turned to the solemn eyes of her
ojii-san. "I am known as Hino Rei on Earth, but I am also the soldier of Mars, Sailor
Senshi Mars, and a protector of High-Princess Serenity..."

"You are Rei, the little girl who came here at age six to start grade-school. Who
was a mystery the moment you were born. The little girl who your mother doted on and your
father scorned because you are the image of the woman he could never have again." Her
ojii-san interrupted. "You are Hino Rei, the essence of the flames. Who found friends in
two crows and could speak to the ancient and sacred fire. You are my granddaughter, who
has lost her way along the many battles you have fought to get here. And most of all, you
are a miko who has learned the secrets of the Earth and her beauty, who can understand the
wonders of the world. I have always known that you did not belong to me, my little miko.
I had known one day you would fly away to where you belong, because that is your destiny.
But somewhere along the line you have forgotten who you are, and your destiny -- as well
as your past and future -- confused you on who you have become and who you wish to be."
Rei blinked in surprise as her grandfather reached across the table and lifted one of her
hands from her lap. He looked into her eyes as he spoke words that she will never again
forget. "You are Hino Rei. Yes, a Sailor Senshi. Yes, a protector of Earth and her
peace. Yes, a miko and a priestess. But you are Hino Rei. A girl who is growing to a
woman, and a woman who is learning to be strong. You are Hino Rei, and you will become a
woman who no longer fights only in the name of love, but one who is no longer afraid of it
herself, who is no longer afraid of love."

Tears came to her eyes as she tightened the grip on her grandfather's hand. "I am
no such woman, ojii-san." She said softly in reply.

"Ah, but you are, my Rei-chan. You are a woman who will find your way again. You
are a woman who holds love like a fiery flame in her heart if only she would realize that
such a flame will never truly burn unless given the chance to shine. A woman who wants a
man who will not be timid about the ways of the flames and will not flinch when burned and
will not leave when scorned! You are Hino Rei, who is the woman that your mother could
have been and never became." Her grandfather's calloused hands, hardened from years of
hard labor and care of the wooden walls that surrounded her, brushed away the tears that
fell from her onyx eyes. "You are the mysterious flame, bold and free, forever longing
and forever demanding those longings to be met with satisfaction."

"But," she sighed. "I am fearful of the future and fearful of love. I cannot
possibly be any of those things."

"I have watched you since you were but a child and now, I can see those flames in
your eyes. Rei-chan, you would've made your mother so very proud! I know, because at
this moment, I would not wish for any other granddaughter than one as you." Rei looked to
those grey eyes, eyes of mist and rainy days, eyes that have seen much and expressed much
more.

She smiled as she opened the palm of her other hand, grasping the jeweled hilt of
her transformation pen. "Let me show you a secret." She told him, her eyes sparkling
with light. Soon the fire engulfed her as her ojii-san watched with eyes amazed at the
blazing flames that will never die in the heart of the child he loved. There before him
stood a woman dressed in white and red, fire burning in her eyes as the air seemed to
crackle with heat in her presence. "I am Sailor Senshi Mars, Hino Rei." She told him
with a smile before falling to her knees beside him and hugging him fiercely. "Arigato,
ojii-san. For understanding."

He smiled as he returned the hug, emotions finally spilling from his own eyes as he
thought how much she really did look like her mother. And how much she obtained the fire
in her heart that her mother had never been able to keep alive.

My daughter, if only you could see our little miko now! How proud she has made me,
how proud she has made us all!

"No, Rei-chan. Thank you."

For being the essence of the flames... my other daughter.



Usagi clutched onto Mamoru's hand tighter, making the dark-haired prince wince
inwardly in pain. He said nothing, knowing that Usagi needed his presence to comfort and
calm her, though he'd wish she wasn't putting a death grip on his poor and innocent hand
so that he could at least try to flex his fingers again! "Daijoubu Usako?" He gasped
out, trying desperately not to wince.

"Hai, hai!" She replied nervously.

"Don't lie," Mamoru answered with a frown as she gasped in surprise, turning to him
with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not lying!" She told him, tightening her grip.

Mamoru didn't even think it was possible that Usagi could tighten her grip anymore
without crushing a few bones, but he was wrong. She could without breaking a bone in his
hand. Only, he couldn't vouch for his nerves and the condition they would be in by
tomorrow! There goes his free time! At this rate he'll never gain enough sensation to
finish the paper work he had on his desk at home, at least not without being in serious
pain! "Yeah, tell that to the hand you're crushing." Mamoru muttered sarcastically.

Usagi had the grace to blush before dropping his hand as if it were diseased.
"Don't tease!" She told him haughtily.

"You know Usako, we should go into your house. We've been standing at the gate for
at least half-an-hour now and I think you're father's been giving me the evil eye since he
came to the window to spy on us." Mamoru sighed as he leaned against the brick wall that
lined the entrance to her house.

"Na ni?" Usagi asked surprised as she peered over the fence to see a glaring
Tuskino Kenji who was looking past her at Mamoru. Embarrassed, Usagi laughed nervously at
the display of displeasure between the two most important men in her life. "I guess we
should go in then."

Mamoru sighed, slightly exasperated, but decided that Usagi had a right to feel this
way. She dragged him all the way here from the park so that she wouldn't feel alone when
she revealed her secret to her family, but she was pushing it now. Kenji had wanted
Mamoru's head on a platter the day he caught them kissing at the gates. Now, Mamoru was
walking on eggshells whenever he came in the presence of the older man.

For all the youma, generals, and evil-doers of the universe, there was no one Mamoru
feared more than Tuskino Kenji, who returned the feeling! "Usako, you'll be fine," he
told her softly. She turned to him and smiled, now the distance between them became so
close that he only needed to...

"Chiba Mamoru! You kiss my daughter before me now, and I swear I'll make sure those
lips won't be there by tomorrow morning to touch another human being ever again!" Kenji
yelled from the front door, as his exasperated wife held him back with a scowl on her
face.

"Tuskino Kenji, if you yell any louder, the neighbors will wonder what's going on.
And let me tell you mister, that if you dare lay a finger on that boy you'll never set
foot in 'our' bedroom, again! Got that?" Tuskino Ikuko asked with a sweet and forceful
smile that had Kenji sweating. Usagi's mother was still recovering from her bout with the
'flu' of Tokyo, but she was getting better at asserting her firm control over the family
once more.

'And so the proud man falls.' Mamoru thought in amusement but did not smile,
knowing that it would only lead to very unpleasant situations. "Mama, Papa!" Usagi
called out finally and stepped from through the gate of her home. "I have something to
tell you! I'm--"

"Not here Usako!" Mamoru interrupted her, as he set a hand on her shoulder.

The young blonde blushed prettily and led him toward the house. Kenji stood against
the taller prince and told him coldly, "Don't think you can set foot in my ho--"

"Kenji-kun." Ikuko interrupted her husband's ranting with a sweet, yet threatening
voice that immediately shut up her husband, though it didn't stop the other from glaring
at Mamoru.

They walked in tense silence into the Tuskino's living room where the two couples
sat down opposite one another. "Where's Shingo-ko?" Usagi asked just as the brown-haired
teenager walked in to see two solemn couples staring up to him in surprise.

"Na ni? What's with all the gloomy faces?" Shingo asked with equal surprise.

"There's something I have to tell you, all of you." Usagi said softly.

Shingo raised a brow in amusement as Mamoru laced his fingers with Usagi in silent
encouragement. "Did you get pregnant or something?" Shingo asked in suspicion.

Usagi and Mamoru blushed considerably. Ikuko looked startled but not too upset,
though her husband looked as if he was ready to load the shotgun and blow a casket -- or
in Mamoru's case, the dark-haired man's head... "No!" Mamoru exclaimed. "We're not
doing that until we get married!" The dark-haired prince suddenly fell silent and turned
a considerable shade of red.

Shingo grinned sarcastically. "Yeah right!" Before a look from Ikuko froze Shingo
as well from going further. "Shish, didn't need to get worked up about it!" Usagi's
brother muttered under his breath.

"This isn't a joke, Shingo-ko." His sister told him with a glare as she rose.
"This is important and I'd like it if you didn't leap to such conclusions."

Shingo blinked in surprise. No tongue-sticking, whining, or even one out-burst came
from his usually melodramatic sister. It was only a glare and a hard scowl on her lips
before she turned from him. "Whatever got into her?" He muttered again. Of course,
Usagi heard him, but for the first time in a long time, she ignored his jibe and went on
without noticeable acknowledgement. He glanced around only to see Luna, Usagi's cat
lurking the shadows.

"Mama, Papa... Shingo-ko," Usagi looked over to Mamoru who nodded at her. "I want
to tell you something that I've been keeping to myself for some time now." Kenji looked
suspiciously between Mamoru and Usagi. Ikuko looked confused, unable to decide whether to
be worried or relieved. Shingo waited impatiently for his sister to just say whatever it
was she had to say. "You know those monsters that have been reported to be around
Tokyo?" Usagi asked. They all nodded. Yes, the newspaper had been mentioning them
again, though it had been pretty quiet for the last two or so years before these recent
incidents. "Well, I--" Usagi looked very uncomfortable as she glanced down at her hands,
one that was laced with Mamoru's. She muttered something.

"Na ni Usagi-chan? I didn't hear you?" Ikuko interrupted.

"She said, 'I am Sailor Moon'." All heads turned to see the agitated Luna perched
on the window.

"Was it just me, or did the cat just talk?" Kenji asked surprised. Shingo pinched
himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Ikuko was blinking in surprise and amazement.

The cat had spoken!


* * *


The meeting at the temple a day later was somewhat of a strange and uncomfortable
event for everyone. Nobody really wanted to talk about what had happened when they told
the people that they loved who they were, even those that found it had gone surprisingly
well. It was almost embarrassing to admit to each other how much they feared telling who
they truly were to those closest to them.

"So, how did it go at your house, Usagi-chan?" Makoto asked.

Usagi grinned, "My parents got over the initial shock after I told them the truth."

"After 'you' told them the truth?" Luna huffed. "You mean, after you mumbled it
and 'I' told them the truth, ne?"

"In that case, the only reason why they still haven't blown a casket yet is probably
because Luna talked!" Makoto joked.

They laughed at this before falling silent once more. "Yes, that's very good.
Surprising how all of our parents took it in their stride, ne? Even okaa-san took it
surprisingly well. After I transformed before her eyes she had evidence enough to support
my claim, so I did not need to go into detail about it." Ami smiled in quiet happiness.
"We've never been closer."

Usagi laughed at this, "Mamo-chan told me later that he was just glad 'I' didn't
transform in front of my dad. Something about getting his head blown off, though I'm
really not sure what he means by that... tou-chan was never that violent, he's all bluff
and nothing but a softy on the inside!" Rei rolled her eyes at this as did Artemis, while
Luna hung her head in exasperation.

"Why don't you tell that to your dead boyfriend once you 'do' transform in front of
your dad with Mamoru-san in the house?" Rei said sarcastically. "Then let's see how much
your 'tou-chan' really is bluffing!"

Usagi blinked at Rei innocently before sticking out her tongue in protest. "Spoil
sport!" Everyone laughed again.

Minako kept herself from grimacing at the happy atmosphere, though Artemis
immediately noticed the difference in her countenance he could say nothing. Minako was
usually the first to make an outrageous joke or gesture, yet today she was unusually
silent, sparing a smile only when attention was bestowed upon her. When he and Luna had
parted earlier that day, after checking up on the mall and trying to see what could be the
cause of these new attacks, he went home. Only this time, Minako wasn't there and her
parents were very tense about something. Setting out to find her, Artemis finally saw her
when she stepped out of an alley in full Sailor Senshi fuku. Her eyes looked red from
crying and her stance looked defeated, but she did not flinch when she saw him. He had a
strange feeling that she had known that he was there long before she made her presence
known to him. "What about you Minako-chan?" Makoto asked with a grin.

Minako did tense then, but only slightly. Enough for both Luna and Artemis to blink
in surprise though some of the others might have missed it. "It went fine." Minako said
coldly. Rei widened her eyes slightly. The raven-haired priestess had sensed that her
blonde friend was acting strange, but this was different...

All the senshi blinked. "Minako-chan? Daijoubu?" Usagi asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Minako forced a smile on, but they all knew she was lying.

"What is it Minako-chan?" Ami asked worriedly.

"I said, I'm fine!" Minako growled through gritted teeth.

"We all know you're lying through your teeth, Minako-chan!" Rei scowled evenly when
the others fell silent.

Minako sighed as she looked down at her tea. "I have nothin nothing to say to your
accusations."

"What accusations?" Rei asked agitated.

"Mina?" Artemis stood then and looked to his charge with worried green eyes. He
knew he should've been there when she revealed her secret identity to her parents but he
was needed at Central Control, and with Luna off with Usagi. Artemis cursed silently at
missing the meeting between Minako and her parents, missing the moment that she needed him
most.

"Min'na, let's not fight!" Ami intervened worriedly.

"Ami-chan's right, it's best we stay calm about this." Makoto nodded in agreement.

Minako sighed but a hand rested on her shoulder, "Minako-chan," blue compassionate
eyes met her own with smiles as Usagi knelt down next to her. At that moment Minako saw
her princess of a long ago past staring back at her. "They love you, your okaa-san and
otou-san, that much I do know." And before Minako could protest, Usagi gently shooked her
head but her smile never wavered, "When this is all over, I want you to think about what
was said. You don't have to face them yet, but I want you to know this, Minako-chan, as a
friend, I know that loving you is easy and that no matter what you may think, your parents
love you. You're the Goddess of Love, Minako-chan, and your strength reflect the strength
of that of which you were born to represent." Blue eyes met blue, compassion met
gratitude and uncertainty.

"Usagi-chan," Minako smiled then, a real smile. "Arigato." Usagi brightened and
hugged her friends with a sigh as the others soon joined. "Arigato, min'na!" Minako
whispered, "Arigato!"

"We're here for a fire reading, why don't we begin now?" Rei cut in at last. All
of them nodded at once when the meaning set in, pulling back, each rising to go to the
fire room as a sudden graveness fell upon them once more.

Luna and Artemis looked to each other hesitantly. "We must leave you." They all
turned back startled at the cats.

"There is much to do! Inform us of what you find, but Central Control might have
something by now." Artemis agreed.

"We've wasted time here, it would be best we return to where our presence could be
of use." Luna sighed.

Usagi looked ready to protest, but Rei cut in. "I understand Luna, Artemis." The
look that Rei gave to Usagi prevented the odango-blonde from saying more.

"Gambatte ne!" Usagi called out as they left, though her voice wavered, the blonde
meant it. The cats nodded before turning and disappearing from sight.

Minako remained unusually silent through this, and it worried all of them. Usually,
Minako was one of the first to wave goodbye to the cats and she always said something
cheerful by now, at the very least she'd have teased Artemis about one thing or another!
Yet, there was not enough time for that now. The air was charged with urgency that was
never there before. It was tense and anxious, filled with startling unease.

They turned once more to the hall behind them and followed Rei down the wooden
corridors before they had reached the fire room. No one commented on any of the
strangeness that had been surrounding the events to this day. The bad luck was running
pretty high by now, but there were enough moments to keep them all silent and doubtful of
their doubts. Sometimes more from a need to avoid confrontation than anything else.
Still, the circulation of information and clear communication between the usually close
Inners dropped. They should've seen the peculiar situation and asked what was wrong, but
no one did and so it slipped away into forgetfulness. Back and forth it went, but never
acknowledged it vanished once more into oblivion.

Rei calmly slid the door of the fire room open and stepped in to the hot atmosphere
without blinking an eye and headed straight for the crackling flames. Ami grimaced
slightly as she stepped through last. Out of all the senshi present in the room, she felt
most out of her element here. It was too hot, too stuffy, and too brightly lit by the
flames of the sacred fire. Yet, Ami squashed down the feelings of discomfort, for, after
all, this was a holy place and she must not think so harshly of it.

They arranged themselves out before the sacred fire, Rei closer to it than anyone
else. That girl didn't even seem to sweat under the oppressive heat of the room, though
the rest of them sure did! Ami was especially aware of the pulse of the heated flames
licking at the fires before them. That was when the images came.

It wasn't as if they expected it. Rei was doing her usual chanting to the flames to
concentrate, her low murmuring that was soothing to hear in a language that they were born
to but had long forgotten the meaning of. Those purple eyes were closed, hiding the fire
that burned within them as the rest of her friends watched on. It was almost routine now,
but still the fire's roaring and hypnotic pull was fascinating to watch. Yet, something
was different today. A draft had wafted through the closed room. There was a presence
that was stifling, a presence that screamed for attention. A presence that could not be
ignored except for the horrid show that suddenly splashed and roared into life before
them!

This startled Rei, who backed away with a gasp of surprise on her lips just before
she tried desperately to regain her concentration. "Aku Ryo," the fire roared in response
to its mistress's call to banish the evil that inhabited the room. "Tai--" the power
struck so fast that Rei had no time to react at all.

'uh uh uh little one!' the voice laughed. It was slippery and golden, dark and yet
light. 'we can't have you ruin a reunion now can we?'

"Rei-chan!" Usagi rose. Her blue eyes wide with worry.

"Who the hell are you?" Makoto followed, arms stretched before her princess. Green
eyes glaring coldly at the hovering spirit before them, flickering her gaze every now and
then with worry at her fallen comrade. Transparent, yet still shining with magnificence,
the golden woman laughed from within the fire. Her laugh was cold, even though her eyes
were as red as the sacred flames, those eyes did not burn but froze and fought and roared
with a different light, a darker light.

"I am the prophet." Ami's eyes widened as she too rose to stand beside Usagi. The
dark hair of the raven-haired priestess masked her face, and her voice was hers, yet it
did not sound like Rei either. Ami blinked in confusion at this thought.

"Rei-chan!" Usagi cried out in relief, yet there was fear in her voice for she
heard the same darkness in the dark-haired priestess's tone.

"What did you do with Rei-chan?" Minako cried out with emotions that surprised all
of them except the ephemeral god-like woman before them.

'I did nothing. She is only a vessel to tell what should be told. To warn who must
be warned.' The god-woman spoke with a menacing smile.

"You have no right to be here, evil spirit!" Minako spat out.

"I? A spirit?" Rei rose, they all took a step back, except Usagi. Poor, poor
Usagi. Rei laughed out loud before she opened her eyes, and Usagi was the first to see,
she was the first to freeze in terror at what she saw within those eyes of fire.

Those purple-onyx eyes of warmth and mysteries were gone. Now there lay red, red
like the god-woman within the fire. Red as the blood of the dead; red as death! "Rei-
chan--?" Usagi gasped.

For a moment Rei's eyes returned to the deepness that was her own. The red took
control again. The girl clutched her head in confusion as the spirits within her body
warred for dominance. "Rei-chan?" Minako reached out uncertain. Makoto had already
taken a hold of the shaken princess and pulled her back to the group. That was when Rei
lifted her head up with such speed and ferocity that Minako stumbled back in surprise at
the redness that burned cold in her heart. The cloth of the miko gown ripped at the
raging winds as power fought power. The paper windows were torn to pieces as the shredded
paper scattered around them and into the hallways of the temple. Sunlight poured in but
the darkness rose within the girl they once was called Rei. The wind continued to grow
like a crouching serpent that slithered with impatience inside the room of holiness,
sometimes lashing out and sometimes circling its mistress of the shadows.

Someone was screaming, the blonde-odangles bobbed up and down as she struggled to
pass the others who fought to keep her back, screaming out the name of her friend.
Confused blue eyes of Minako was forced to turn away, yet she continue to look behind her
now and then at her best friend as she tried desperately to restrain her princess. The
green eyes of a warrior shone determined, unwilling to show weakness to the darkness.
Yet, there were haunted memories in the shadows of those eyes, memories of being
possessed, of betrayal, and of shame that grew to make the stubborness grow. Blue eyes of
a scientist, a healer, looked on with worry and uncertainty, wanting to help and not
knowing how.

"Beware the warrior of light! She is the one!" The dark hair of the priestess
swirled around the miko's form. And a silence fell upon the room as those red-white robes
remain tattered and torn. The sacred fire roared to reach the roof, engulfing the room as
a golden senshi stood within the light, parting from the flames that bore the golden
senshi's form. Those rouge eyes, unforgiving and menacing, glowed as her figure tore from
the flames to assume her own form. "Beware the warrior of the LIGHT!" Rei screamed as
her hand pointed to her friends who stood paralyzed by the power within the room, too
shocked to move any further. "Betrayer of senshi! Betrayer of the world! You have
forsaken your place!" The fire roared even higher as the golden woman rose behind Rei,
hand extended toward them, but those red eyes -- eyes of the possessed -- stared only at
one person. Minako turned her back to her princess, arms outstretched before the odangle-
blonde as she shielded the other, battle stance ready as she faced down her best friend.
"Beware!" Rei warned again.

"Please don't do this Rei-chan! I don't want to hurt you!" Minako begged, her blue
eyes misting with tears before she blinked them back. This was not her Rei-chan, if this
woman dared to harm Usagi, their princess, their only light, Minako would be forced to do
the inevitable. No. Her Rei-chan would understand. Her Rei-chan would do the same in
her place, wouldn't she?

Minako's hands shook as she brought out her henshin, as she readied herself for a
transformation.

Rei took a step forward. Her once amethyst eyes now seemed to be a menacing color,
a color of the boldest crimson -- the blood of fire. The essence of the flames rose in
her voice that seemed to overwhelm them with a heat never experienced before. "Kolk doru.
Sukata diro gara! GARA qa miro v'i!"

"What is she saying?" Makoto demanded, panicking slightly as she pulled Usagi
forcefully behind her tall body when the other will not stop trying to reach Rei. Ami
typed furiously at the keyboard, the woman in the fire came toward them, right behind Rei,
following the very path the raven-haired priestess led. The golden feet took a step when
Rei took a step, those eyes of red blinked when the dark-haired woman blinked.

"The betrayer. She will destroy our destiny! Destroy the heart of the galaxy!"
Ami whispered softly to them. Her computer clicking as it processed the information it
received.

"Uno ez tr'xy na--!" Rei stopped before them and advanced no more, as if there was
a barrier that contained her. Her hair streaked behind, creating a dark-fire in itself.
"Face your fate without the light." Ami translated. And then, as if struck, the deep
purple of her mysterious eyes returned with force and her face became a frown of stubborn
determination. Rei fell into unconsciousness at their feet, fighting the darkness that
threatened to dominate her body and her soul.

"Kuso!" Makoto whispered. The fire still roared as the golden senshi stood before
them. Beckoning to them, her eyes fixed on the quivering form of the one they have all
sworn to protect. Those burning eyes of rouge, rouge that Rei seemed to possess but a
moment ago, mockingly laughed at them all. It was truly a chilling laugh that sent
shivers down the spine of every senshi there.

'Come little one. Fear not your fate. I shall rule with you beside me. We shall
win the heart of the prince we've lost, and chaos shall be no more. Instead, it shall be
us who rule over chaos! Follow me little one, follow me to your chosen path.' Usagi took
a step forward unknowingly. Her blue eyes seemed glazed and her mouth curving slightly in
a sleepy smile.

Minako, unaware, looked down at her friend that lay at her feet. So seemingly
innocent, unharmed and possessing none of the powers to hurt her. "Rei-chan?" She
whispered as she reached forth, "Daijoubu-yo--"

"Na ni, Usagi-chan! Don't go!" Makoto grabbed the blonde's arm. Fear and doubt
clouded her eyes as she glanced between the golden senshi and their princess. "Wake up
damn it! This is no time to daydream!"

Minako snapped as she turned sharply around to face the princess, but already she
knew they were too late. "I must follow my path," Usagi spoke, turning to Makoto. That
voice froze the brunette in her place. It was such an empty voice, devoid of feelings and
of love. The younger blonde tried to advance toward the illusion once more, but she
couldn't break from Makoto's frantic grasp that suddenly tightened as those emerald eyes
narrowed in suspicion.

"Who are you?" Minako demanded in anger, as Makoto had done but moments before.

Rei suddenly rose from the ground again, her eyes, now, black as night, "The
princess has chosen." Slim white hands snaked passed Minako before she could whirl around
to face her true enemy. Those same hands that used to calm the blonde when she was weak,
when she cried, now reached forth like claws towards Makoto and Usagi. Now, the barrier
was visible and black eyes turned completely to rouge as the priestess and the barrier
collided. Burning like the fire behind her as the barrier roared into life, tearing the
sleeves of the tattered robes as Rei pushed forward. Minako was knocked off her feet when
the contact of power against power collided. Yet, the fires that stopped Rei were
different from the fire the dark-haired woman wielded. It was a cool blue, with a hidden
power that at first seemed weak and easy to destroy, but it only delayed the progress that
the dark-haired priestess was making.

With each advancing step the girl took, they backed away. Minako rose again and
came before Usagi and Makoto, unwilling to hurt her best friend, torn between love and
loyalty. All the while, Makoto still tried to restrain Usagi who also started to act
strangely to the events before them, while Ami analyzed the situation, typing furiously at
the computer.

"What the hell can we do?" Minako demanded as she bumped into Usagi as they backed
away, Makoto having to practically drag the princess back with each step.

"One more seal will do the trick," Ami finally said softly. Her face pale with
thought.

Minako grimaced. Rei-chan won't be happy with this when she gets back to being her
old self again. The other was mad at her for a while the first time she used the charms
of Mars, the second time... well, let's just say that Minako shouldn't have told Rei
exactly what happened in the mall. This time, there was no more choice. It must be done
or the princess will be in danger. "Aku--"

"Aku Ryo Tai San!" A male voice interrupted Minako's chanting as wards from out of
nowhere flew toward the barrier, toward Rei. Powerful wards, wards that Minako could only
compete with in her Venus form and she could not produce half as much as those that raced
toward the dark-haired girl.

The barrier roared into life and Rei screamed in frustration and pain before the
force of the wards knocked her onto her back completely and she fell unconscious onto the
ground once more. The fire rose still and the golden senshi reached forth, her image
already fading but not yet gone. She stopped before the barrier and smiled menacingly at
them all, turning her gaze to the frightened and worried odango-blonde who suddenly became
aware of her surroundings once more.

'I'll see you on the shores of the galaxy my pet. And we shall conquer earth and her
prince together. Don't worry, it's only a matter of time before you become who you were
born to be. I'll be waiting... Serenity!' The image left and disappeared, fading away
like that menacing laughter. Yet, her image stayed burned into their minds for longer
than any other ever did.

The scuffles of footsteps turned them all back into reality. "Rei-chan? Rei-
chan!" They turned to see a frantically worried Hiketsu run to the fire room and drop
down next to the dark-haired girl, cradling her prone form in his arms. It was only then
that they saw what powers had been residing in the room, as the old wooden doors lay in
pieces behind them, splintered and broken. "Rei-chan talk to me! Shimatta! Talk to me!
Oh gods, what were you doing?" He gasped as he shook her slightly before clutching her to
him, his form shaking.

Ami was the first to approach. Slowly the blue-haired girl reached across Hiketsu's
blond head and tested Rei's pulse. "She's alive. Her pulse is faint but the effects
aren't fatal." The coolness of a professional doctor seeped into Ami's speech, but her
shaking hand showed that she was as affected by this as the rest of them.

"Should we take her to the hospital?" Usagi asked, voice weak from her own
possession. Timidely, she stepped from behind Makoto's protective stance, her eyes
unfocused as if waking from sleep.

"No, she'll need some rest, that's all." Hiketsu said softly as he carefully lifted
Rei from the floor. "The possession was unstable, she fought it from the start -- when
she got over the initial shock, that is. That thing must have been powerful to have come
in so strongly, and through all of my barriers, combined with Rei's own barriers too.
What were you guys trying to pull?" There was only a hint of accusation in his voice, but
it made Makoto stiffen and Minako grimmer than ever.

"None of your business!" Makoto told him with a glare. Her eyes were clouded with
memories and shame, for now she knew that she must have fallen like that, fallen by the
attack of a fellow senshi. Fallen like a weakling! The words escaped her mouth before
she knew what came over her and she blushed slightly at what she said, but the anger did
not leave, the shame remained to goad her.

"It is very well my business! You damn well better tell me what the hell you five
have been up to, to get her in this state! It's not safe and somebody could've been
seriously hurt, somebody could've died!" They all paled. Rei had said something like
this once to them, as a warning, almost a joke. But now, with their first taste of
possession, they feared it, and Minako knew with good reasons too!

"I apologize," Usagi felt one single tear slip pasted her eyes. "Gomen nasai," her
lips trembled as she looked to Rei, torn and seemingly broken, lying once again in
another's arms. "Gomen ne, Rei-chan," she whispered.

"I don't care for apologies. I need Rei in her room and I need to know what you've
been up to. I don't give a damn if it's some Sailor Senshi business or not! Save the
world if you want to but don't risk her life to find some measly information you probably
have no use for! Rei isn't built that way, her life's too precious to sacrifice for a bad
reading."

Usagi gasped, her hands covering her mouth to stop the sob that rose in her throat.
"Gomen nasai!" She cried out softly before turning to run. Run away. That's what she
always did when she couldn't face reality. She was not worthy to protect Rei-chan, or
Mamo-chan, or any of her friends. Not worthy to protect the world! Not worthy to be the
Queen of a distant and beautiful future that was to be...

Rei-chan, I'm so sorry! Usagi thought as she raced down the steps. I'm so very
sorry!

"How could you do that?" Minako nearly screeched at Hiketsu. Something dark within
her rose, though the blonde knew not what, but the words were out of her mouth before she
knew what happened.

Those empty blue-grey eyes of the blond-haired man turned to her. "You would have
done no more differently if I had hurt Rei and were a stranger. You are not my friend but
hers. I respect that, but this... I cannot forgive you for this!"

"I cannot forgive you for hurting Usagi-chan!" Makoto retorted darkly.

"Even now you think of that girl, and not the one who's done everything to protect
all of you! By fighting openly with a demon spirit within her own body, Rei was risking
everything, even losing her soul, and all you can think about is your precious princess?"
Hiketsu glowered in dark anger, anger that would've scared Minako if she were not feeling
so righteously angry herself.

"You have no right to stick your nose where it is not wanted!" Ami joined in. Blue
eyes widened when she realized what she said, but the angry eyes of Hiketsu did not
forgive her for the comment.

"I did nothing of the sort!" Hiketsu exploded, "Your presence simply threatened the
very soul of Rei's and all you can think about is the hurt feelings of another, whose pain
can be healed much more easily than what has already happened here!" Hiketsu glared, but
he was getting tired of this. Rei needed rest and his arms - though he wished he could
comfort her forever -- could not give her the comfort of her bed and some cool towels to
wipe of the sweat, especially since it was the only physical evidence of her excursion
with the dark-soul.

Ami blinked, unable to take the pain that was being hurled by either side and
herself. "Gomen ne, Hiketsu! We have to stop this! Rei-chan would never have wanted
this to have happened--"

"What do you know of possessions?" Makoto screamed in anger. All the brunette's
fears and hatred and doubt about herself came rushing through as rage. Green eyes
darkened in rage, in shadows that has yet to be expelled.

"I have it in my blood." Hiketsu said calmly. "It is the blood of the Kagemi. It
is in my brother's blood. It is what draws the light to us, wanting to heal our pain. It
is what makes us hate the light and long for it, a want that exists all at once. It is a
shadow that is not known but always present. I have felt the darkness in my soul, and I
have felt yours, too. But mine is deeper. Mine had been with me since birth. I will not
lose the one woman who can heal that darkness, or at the very least seal it. I will do
anything!" This time Hiketsu did not raise his voice, having gotten himself under control
once more. But his tone was threatening and it scared even Makoto. She, however, will
never admit to it, there was much she didn't understand and she had no wish to concede to
this.

"Wh--" Hiketsu didn't stay to hear what the tall brunette had to say. In a moment
he had already passed her and was walking down the hall. Past the broken doorway and the
room once holy. He noticed nothing except the urgency in his heart to keep Rei away from
them, from the danger they posed to her. "Hey! Come back here you bastard, and face me
like a man!" Makoto shouted as she ran out into the walkway but a firm hand on her elbow
stopped her.

Hiketsu turned when he heard what Makoto yelled outloud, there was a darkness in his
smile that froze whatever words that Makoto was going to say to the blonde behind her.
"You are not the only one with tricks up your sleeve." Hiketsu brought the prone body of
Rei closer to his chest before turning towards the dark-haired girl's room.

"That bastard has no right to hurt Usagi-chan!" Makoto began again.

"I wonder what he meant by tricks..." Ami pondered out loud.

Minako stayed silent, her hand went limp on Makoto's arm as she released the other,
watching the retreating back of Hiketsu with grave sadness. Gomen ne, Rei-chan. Hiketsu
was right. We were only thinking about Usagi and not once were we worried about you on the
same level as Hiketsu had worried. Perhaps it is built in our system. No, that is only
an excuse. I made a choice for caring. Only, I should've cared more about both sides,
should've thought more of Rei's health. Minako flipped back her layers of blonde hair
with a wistful sigh. The day was not yet over yet and already a crisis, she wondered how
long they would last till the real war.

'The betrayer is here.'

Minako shuddered, closing her arms around herself.

Did Rei mean herself?

Minako wasn't sure, because Rei was just one more suspect to add to the list that
was already growing. All who were on this list were of senshi origins and 'that' was what
scared Minako more than anything else!

We're insignificant, Hiketsu, didn't you know that? We're so very insignificant.

If Minako had tears to spare for herself, she would've cried out in self-pity. But
how could she? She was not worthy of such tears, for she was not the one who risked her
soul for Usagi, after all. Yet, that did not explain the hot trails that ran down her
face, and even after Ami pointed them out to Minako, she was unsure whom it was she was
crying for.

Are these tears for Usagi? Or, are they for Rei? Because, I know, that someday, no
matter how close we are, we are senshi, and that makes us expendable.


* * *


The woman stood upon the rooftop of the tall house. Her wind blown hair floated
like waves within the push and pull of the unseen breeze. Eyes dark and mysterious stared
down, watching and waiting, patient and silent.

The slumped figure appeared at last, the dark streetlights highlighted her hair as
she passed them by. Golden hair showed as she walked on, head bowed in defeat.
"Serenity, a Queen should never let the burden show for all to see." The woman scolded
the girl lightly when the other finally reached the gates of the house.

Golden hair swirled as the girl stared up in surprise. Serenity. Such an ancient
name that was long forgotten, from a tongue long dead and a language forever lost...

"Sailor Senshi Pluto!" The girl gasped in surprise.

Pluto bowed before jumping agilely down the roof. "I have been waiting for you,
Serenity." Pluto said when the girl stepped through the gates to greet her. Perhaps to
greet her for the last time as a senshi to a girl -- not yet a woman. Yes, this would be
the last time Pluto would find her a girl and not a warrior, a Queen. "Why?" The girl
asked in surprise. Blue eyes saddened at the memories that weariness had caused her to
forget. The events of the day had also set her mind to other things than the betrayal of
the past.

"It is our last night here and I have come to say goodbye," Pluto smiled sadly at
her future Queen. "For all of us." They both knew who 'our' and 'us' were referring to,
and even though the reference was indirect, it still left the golden girl uncomfortable
with what was to come.

"The others aren't here then?" The girl sighed in disappointment when Pluto shook
her head at the question. "I don't know whether or not I should be surprised, or if I
will later remember this night as bitter or sorrowful." The girl turned from Pluto and
headed for the front door of the house. "It seems that someone will always be regretful,
ne?" The blonde asked absent-mindedly as she climbed the steps.

"Serenity, you will always have my loyalty and that of the others, as well. It is
just not our fate here, destiny has another course for us." Pluto held her own sad smile.
"Gomen ne, but this was the only way. You must believe me!" Pluto hid her own surprise
at her outburst. A weary smile appeared upon Pluto lips when she realized the desperation
that must have been evident in her usually calm voice. The princess did not seem to
notice and Pluto was thankful of this, thankful that her future Queen will never
understand them.

Never.

The girl, though, looked on in surprise. "Setsuna?" She did not miss the outburst,
though she did miss its origins.

Pluto shook her head and turned to the shadows. "That woman is only a name. I am
Sailor Senshi Pluto!" Pluto smiled as she shifted her weight from her staff and stood
tall, using all of her height and hiding her heart. "Ja ne princess. Until the next time
we meet again! Sayonara." The mysterious senshi bowed one last time to her past
princess, her present leader, and her future queen. Then, like the shadow that she had
learned to become over the centuries that she had watched over, she disappeared into the
quiet night without further warning, leaving a distraught young girl behind.

'Gambatte, Serenity, gambatte ne...'




.blue.
blueweber@hotmail.com


It seems that not everyone knows what the word "noir" means. It means black, one of many
words borrowed from the language of romance, French.

*mon petit poisson - my little fish ( Don't ask where I came up with this, I've agonized
over putting another stupid nickname in but finally gave up! -_-;; ) Anyway, Ami-chan
LIKES fishies, read the manga :p so like it's not TOO far a stretch. ^_^;;



.blue.
blueweber@hotmail.com


A tribute to...
A. L. a Campo (my editor)
His Lordship Chaos,
Ken Wolfe, &
Angus MacSpon.

For Don, who was one of the first to
believe in me and this project that
took a life of its own.

And everyone who had helped & encouraged
me during my trials and my errors ^-^;;

Thank you for every dream and every
inspiration...

Thank you for everything.


.blue.
blueweber@hotmail.com