"So... You'll join us?" the young man asked.
"Yes... But on one condition."
"Name it."
"Touch me again and I'll castrate you with my bare hands."
"Deal." The young man took his hands off of Yukiko's shoulders. She crossed her arms, waiting for him to do something.
Another lengthy silence passed between Mr. Motorcycle and Yukiko.
"Well?"
He unwrapped the blood-stained white bandages around his right hand and tossed them into a corner. This revealed a pentagram carved with a knife onto his palm. Yukiko raised an eyebrow and stared at it. He held his hand up toward the sky and darkness spiraled into his hands. It seemed to cloak the entire room in shadow, drawing the light from the kitchen and the light over the stove.
"What the hell's going on?" Yukiko asked impatiently.
"Hn," was the only reply she got to her inquiry.
She stumbled forward a few steps, feeling herself involuntarily drawn to the darkness.
"H... Huh?" She pulled against it, but both eventually went hurtling into a black void in the center of her living room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"ITAI!" She landed with a thud on a cold stone floor. The girl stood and dusted her clothes off.
"Welcome to Lady Lilith's castle, Fuyumiya," he said, leading her down a blood-red carpet dimly illuminated by winged creatures carrying silver flames in their talons. On either side of the long carpet were bones, some perfectly human and some horribly misshapen and bent out of place, but not broken. It was rather disgusting to think about what death the misshapen ones had died. Yukiko took great pleasure in doing thus as she strode behind him.
"So where is 'Lady Lilith's' castle exactly?" Yukiko put air quotes around "Lady Lilith."
"Hell," he replied calmly. The two came to a giant wooden door with a barricade pulled across it.
"Hn! Then how come I've never seen it? I live in hell," Yukiko said, her usual smirk replacing the look of confusion on her face.
"That is but your opinion, onnako. You have paradise compared to my life," he said coldly, pulling the barricade from the door and hurling it into the darkness.
"That's impossible. Nobody's life could possibly be as bad as mine," she said.
"Come on." He grunted as he pushed the door open.
"Hn." The girl wandered in, crossing a threshold made of a human spine. She crossed her arms and leaned against the door.
"Lady Lilith, I have returned with Sailorpolaris," the young man said, walking in a little further and bowing on one knee before a darkened throne. Two more of the winged creatures from the hall fluttered in and perched on the shoulders of a tall, pale-skinned woman. She was dressed in crimson and wore a black mantle around her shoulders.
"I see. You have done well." She smiled rather eerily in the dull gray light and turned her head toward Yukiko. "Is that she?"
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
"What are you two talking about?" Yukiko demanded.
"What is your name?" Lilith asked in her soft, calm voice.
"Fuyumiya Yukiko. What did you want me for, anyway?" she snapped.
"Because, my dear, you are part of an important prophecy," Lilith replied.
"Me, important? What a bunch of bull," Yukiko snorted. (No pun intended.)
"Just listen to her, Fuyumiya-san," the young man said, turning and glancing at her quickly. "Remember what I said about vengeance?" The smirk grew on Yukiko's face.
"Yes, I do."
"You can have anything you want if you help me. You can have money, love, revenge, anything, if you just do my little favor."
"How little?"
Lilith closed a fist and also her deep green eyes. A pale blue glow emanated from her hand, casting the room into sharp shadows. The bones on the floor looked like they were placed under a blacklight, and the white shirt the young man wore glowed. Yukiko stared, slightly fascinated.
"Take this... and become Sailorpolaris." A winged creature floated off of Lilith's shoulder, took something from her palm, and carried it over to the girl. She caught it and examined it in the dim light. It was a small blue wand with a snowflake-shaped silver object on top, encased by a golden star.
"What the hell is this thing and what am I supposed to do with it?" she asked, staring at Lilith with a 'you've got to be kidding me' look.
"Why, it's your henshin." The woman said this as if it were quite obvious.
"Henshin?"
"When you feel threatened, raise it in the air and call the phrase that comes to mind. It will be of great use to you."
"Another question. What exactly are you trying to do?" Yukiko asked, stuffing the wand into her jacket pocket.
"I simply want the world to be equal. You know how it feels to be treated unjustly, to be called names and treated wrong simply because you are different. Would you like your children to be treated that way?"
"I seriously doubt I'll ever have children, and I don't give a rat's ass about the rest of humanity," Yukiko said icily.
"Well... Why did the one you loved die?" She blushed.
"Hey, how do you--"
"I know everything, Miss Fuyumiya. Yamino Yorusuke-san died because the girl he loved found someone that was better than him. He was tortured by this, so he killed himself and left you all alone. You could prevent that from happening, should you ever find friends again."
Yukiko said nothing.
"Yukiko-chan, I'll be your friend. How would you like it if I died because I was treated so unfairly that I couldn't take it anymore?" the young man asked.
"I wouldn't care, because I don't like you," she answered coldly. She advanced toward Lilith.
"What would you have if you joined me?" Lilith asked.
"I want humanity to pay for its injustice. I want the power to silence those who oppose difference and change. Can you do that?" Yukiko asked.
"Certainly. That's the kind of person I want to help... One who would change the world," the lady in red said with a smile.
"It's a deal, then."
"Thank you very much, Miss Fuyumiya. I will make you happy beyond imagination once I change the world through the Eclipse."
"Come again?"
"The Eclipse... The gate to power is a lunar eclipse. My younger sister Nephrenia narrowly missed achieving her goal through one, but was destroyed by the power of Mangetsu. I need the four celestial bodies of them on my side... Shingetsu, Mangetsu, Taiyo, Chikyuusei, and Polaris."
"Chotto matte, the North Star isn't part of an eclipse. It's just the moon, the Earth, and the sun." Yukiko's best subject was science.
"Not in the scientific world. In the prophecy, it is. The Princess of Polaris is needed to speak the spell to forge the Eclipse."
"I see." She turned to the young man, who was still bowing before the throne. "What part do you play?"
"I am the Shingetsu no Knight, the carrier of the darker power of the moon and avenger of hatred," he said solemnly.
"You people are all crazy."
"Think whatever you like. Now go forth! Change the world and dissolve the hatred in it!" the dark queen said.
In a whirl of black winds, Yukiko landed with a thud back in her own apartment. There was a second thud, and the Shingetsu no Knight landed next to her.
"Out." She pointed at the door immediately.
"No, I don't think so. I rather like it in here." He got to his feet and strode lazily over to the couch, flopping down and stretching out once again. Yukiko's left eye twitched in anger.
"I'll have you arrested for trespassing, you stupid bastard! Get out of my house, NOW!" she ordered. He merely glanced up at her.
"I'm trying to take a nap. I've had a long day, and I need to train you still," he said calmly.
"Look here, Mr. Motorcycle, I have school tomorrow, it's late enough as it is, and I don't need a freeloading ass in here! I have enough trouble trying to support myself," she snarled, pulling the couch pillow from under his head and letting it hit the wooden arm of it.
"Itai! Onnako, I have nowhere else to sleep." He swiftly drew a dagger from his pocket and pointed it uncomfortably close to her neck. She was careful not to even swallow, as even this would slit her throat.
"Uhm..."
"Now did you have anything else to say?" he inquired.
"Yeah. What's your name, and when are you going to go out and get a job?"
"I don't have a name."
"Hn. Oyasumi." She shook her head and walked into her bedroom, mumbling incoherently.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Fuyumiya-sempai! You're late! Where have you been?" Hanako asked worriedly as the black-haired girl dragged in drowsily, braiding her hair.
"Hn," she grunted, schlepping toward her seat and missing it as she tried to sit down. The class chuckled and snickered as she got back up and sat.
"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Yukiko," the teacher said dryly, marking her in the attendance book and turning to the board with a piece of chalk. Yukiko's head slowly slid from its position on her hand and onto her biology book.
"Fuyumiya-sempai?" Hanako gently poked her with a pen. She stayed fast asleep, drooling on the book.
"OI! FUYUMIYA!" a red-haired girl shouted in her ear. Yukiko immediately shot up, awake and alert.
"God dammit, why did you wake me up?" she snarled loudly. The teacher cleared his throat and hovered over her, glaring angrily. She glanced up at him and chuckled nervously, swallowing hard.
"Fuyumiya, no more outbursts! Detention after school." He stormed off, resuming his lesson at the front of the class.
"Sorashirou, see what you did? I'm going to kill you!" Yukiko whispered, glaring at her.
"You couldn't lay a finger on me!" the redhead hissed.
"Fuyumiya-sempai, Sorashirou-sempai, just calm down... I'm sure Hoshi- chan is sorry about waking you up like that," Hanako said, trying to settle it down.
"Nope! Not a bit," Hoshi replied, leaning back in her chair and putting her feet on the desk.
"Sorashirou-sempai, that's not ladylike! Your panties are showing!" Hanako said, blushing and reaching to pull the skirt down.
"Give it a rest, Kiba," Yukiko said, glancing up at the teacher.
"But--"
"Shut up!"
"Fuyumiya-sempai--"
"Shh!"
There was silence for the rest of the class period between the three.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Yukiko-chan!" Mr. Motorcycle's voice called. The black and red bike purred to a stop next to her as she settled on the pavement next to the cafeteria to eat her lunch.
"What do you want?" Yukiko snapped irritably, biting into an apple.
"I want a word with you."
"Well, you'll just have to wait. I have detention after school." She chewed another bite of the apple and swallowed.
"It's about your training as Sailorpolaris," he said.
"Hn." She threw the apple core toward the dumpster. It bounced off of the front with a soft clang.
"I'll meet you after school in Aoyama Park," he said, kissing her on the forehead and kicking the motor to life. She blushed and hurled a balled- up empty lunchbag at him as he roared away.
"Yes... But on one condition."
"Name it."
"Touch me again and I'll castrate you with my bare hands."
"Deal." The young man took his hands off of Yukiko's shoulders. She crossed her arms, waiting for him to do something.
Another lengthy silence passed between Mr. Motorcycle and Yukiko.
"Well?"
He unwrapped the blood-stained white bandages around his right hand and tossed them into a corner. This revealed a pentagram carved with a knife onto his palm. Yukiko raised an eyebrow and stared at it. He held his hand up toward the sky and darkness spiraled into his hands. It seemed to cloak the entire room in shadow, drawing the light from the kitchen and the light over the stove.
"What the hell's going on?" Yukiko asked impatiently.
"Hn," was the only reply she got to her inquiry.
She stumbled forward a few steps, feeling herself involuntarily drawn to the darkness.
"H... Huh?" She pulled against it, but both eventually went hurtling into a black void in the center of her living room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"ITAI!" She landed with a thud on a cold stone floor. The girl stood and dusted her clothes off.
"Welcome to Lady Lilith's castle, Fuyumiya," he said, leading her down a blood-red carpet dimly illuminated by winged creatures carrying silver flames in their talons. On either side of the long carpet were bones, some perfectly human and some horribly misshapen and bent out of place, but not broken. It was rather disgusting to think about what death the misshapen ones had died. Yukiko took great pleasure in doing thus as she strode behind him.
"So where is 'Lady Lilith's' castle exactly?" Yukiko put air quotes around "Lady Lilith."
"Hell," he replied calmly. The two came to a giant wooden door with a barricade pulled across it.
"Hn! Then how come I've never seen it? I live in hell," Yukiko said, her usual smirk replacing the look of confusion on her face.
"That is but your opinion, onnako. You have paradise compared to my life," he said coldly, pulling the barricade from the door and hurling it into the darkness.
"That's impossible. Nobody's life could possibly be as bad as mine," she said.
"Come on." He grunted as he pushed the door open.
"Hn." The girl wandered in, crossing a threshold made of a human spine. She crossed her arms and leaned against the door.
"Lady Lilith, I have returned with Sailorpolaris," the young man said, walking in a little further and bowing on one knee before a darkened throne. Two more of the winged creatures from the hall fluttered in and perched on the shoulders of a tall, pale-skinned woman. She was dressed in crimson and wore a black mantle around her shoulders.
"I see. You have done well." She smiled rather eerily in the dull gray light and turned her head toward Yukiko. "Is that she?"
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
"What are you two talking about?" Yukiko demanded.
"What is your name?" Lilith asked in her soft, calm voice.
"Fuyumiya Yukiko. What did you want me for, anyway?" she snapped.
"Because, my dear, you are part of an important prophecy," Lilith replied.
"Me, important? What a bunch of bull," Yukiko snorted. (No pun intended.)
"Just listen to her, Fuyumiya-san," the young man said, turning and glancing at her quickly. "Remember what I said about vengeance?" The smirk grew on Yukiko's face.
"Yes, I do."
"You can have anything you want if you help me. You can have money, love, revenge, anything, if you just do my little favor."
"How little?"
Lilith closed a fist and also her deep green eyes. A pale blue glow emanated from her hand, casting the room into sharp shadows. The bones on the floor looked like they were placed under a blacklight, and the white shirt the young man wore glowed. Yukiko stared, slightly fascinated.
"Take this... and become Sailorpolaris." A winged creature floated off of Lilith's shoulder, took something from her palm, and carried it over to the girl. She caught it and examined it in the dim light. It was a small blue wand with a snowflake-shaped silver object on top, encased by a golden star.
"What the hell is this thing and what am I supposed to do with it?" she asked, staring at Lilith with a 'you've got to be kidding me' look.
"Why, it's your henshin." The woman said this as if it were quite obvious.
"Henshin?"
"When you feel threatened, raise it in the air and call the phrase that comes to mind. It will be of great use to you."
"Another question. What exactly are you trying to do?" Yukiko asked, stuffing the wand into her jacket pocket.
"I simply want the world to be equal. You know how it feels to be treated unjustly, to be called names and treated wrong simply because you are different. Would you like your children to be treated that way?"
"I seriously doubt I'll ever have children, and I don't give a rat's ass about the rest of humanity," Yukiko said icily.
"Well... Why did the one you loved die?" She blushed.
"Hey, how do you--"
"I know everything, Miss Fuyumiya. Yamino Yorusuke-san died because the girl he loved found someone that was better than him. He was tortured by this, so he killed himself and left you all alone. You could prevent that from happening, should you ever find friends again."
Yukiko said nothing.
"Yukiko-chan, I'll be your friend. How would you like it if I died because I was treated so unfairly that I couldn't take it anymore?" the young man asked.
"I wouldn't care, because I don't like you," she answered coldly. She advanced toward Lilith.
"What would you have if you joined me?" Lilith asked.
"I want humanity to pay for its injustice. I want the power to silence those who oppose difference and change. Can you do that?" Yukiko asked.
"Certainly. That's the kind of person I want to help... One who would change the world," the lady in red said with a smile.
"It's a deal, then."
"Thank you very much, Miss Fuyumiya. I will make you happy beyond imagination once I change the world through the Eclipse."
"Come again?"
"The Eclipse... The gate to power is a lunar eclipse. My younger sister Nephrenia narrowly missed achieving her goal through one, but was destroyed by the power of Mangetsu. I need the four celestial bodies of them on my side... Shingetsu, Mangetsu, Taiyo, Chikyuusei, and Polaris."
"Chotto matte, the North Star isn't part of an eclipse. It's just the moon, the Earth, and the sun." Yukiko's best subject was science.
"Not in the scientific world. In the prophecy, it is. The Princess of Polaris is needed to speak the spell to forge the Eclipse."
"I see." She turned to the young man, who was still bowing before the throne. "What part do you play?"
"I am the Shingetsu no Knight, the carrier of the darker power of the moon and avenger of hatred," he said solemnly.
"You people are all crazy."
"Think whatever you like. Now go forth! Change the world and dissolve the hatred in it!" the dark queen said.
In a whirl of black winds, Yukiko landed with a thud back in her own apartment. There was a second thud, and the Shingetsu no Knight landed next to her.
"Out." She pointed at the door immediately.
"No, I don't think so. I rather like it in here." He got to his feet and strode lazily over to the couch, flopping down and stretching out once again. Yukiko's left eye twitched in anger.
"I'll have you arrested for trespassing, you stupid bastard! Get out of my house, NOW!" she ordered. He merely glanced up at her.
"I'm trying to take a nap. I've had a long day, and I need to train you still," he said calmly.
"Look here, Mr. Motorcycle, I have school tomorrow, it's late enough as it is, and I don't need a freeloading ass in here! I have enough trouble trying to support myself," she snarled, pulling the couch pillow from under his head and letting it hit the wooden arm of it.
"Itai! Onnako, I have nowhere else to sleep." He swiftly drew a dagger from his pocket and pointed it uncomfortably close to her neck. She was careful not to even swallow, as even this would slit her throat.
"Uhm..."
"Now did you have anything else to say?" he inquired.
"Yeah. What's your name, and when are you going to go out and get a job?"
"I don't have a name."
"Hn. Oyasumi." She shook her head and walked into her bedroom, mumbling incoherently.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Fuyumiya-sempai! You're late! Where have you been?" Hanako asked worriedly as the black-haired girl dragged in drowsily, braiding her hair.
"Hn," she grunted, schlepping toward her seat and missing it as she tried to sit down. The class chuckled and snickered as she got back up and sat.
"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Yukiko," the teacher said dryly, marking her in the attendance book and turning to the board with a piece of chalk. Yukiko's head slowly slid from its position on her hand and onto her biology book.
"Fuyumiya-sempai?" Hanako gently poked her with a pen. She stayed fast asleep, drooling on the book.
"OI! FUYUMIYA!" a red-haired girl shouted in her ear. Yukiko immediately shot up, awake and alert.
"God dammit, why did you wake me up?" she snarled loudly. The teacher cleared his throat and hovered over her, glaring angrily. She glanced up at him and chuckled nervously, swallowing hard.
"Fuyumiya, no more outbursts! Detention after school." He stormed off, resuming his lesson at the front of the class.
"Sorashirou, see what you did? I'm going to kill you!" Yukiko whispered, glaring at her.
"You couldn't lay a finger on me!" the redhead hissed.
"Fuyumiya-sempai, Sorashirou-sempai, just calm down... I'm sure Hoshi- chan is sorry about waking you up like that," Hanako said, trying to settle it down.
"Nope! Not a bit," Hoshi replied, leaning back in her chair and putting her feet on the desk.
"Sorashirou-sempai, that's not ladylike! Your panties are showing!" Hanako said, blushing and reaching to pull the skirt down.
"Give it a rest, Kiba," Yukiko said, glancing up at the teacher.
"But--"
"Shut up!"
"Fuyumiya-sempai--"
"Shh!"
There was silence for the rest of the class period between the three.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Yukiko-chan!" Mr. Motorcycle's voice called. The black and red bike purred to a stop next to her as she settled on the pavement next to the cafeteria to eat her lunch.
"What do you want?" Yukiko snapped irritably, biting into an apple.
"I want a word with you."
"Well, you'll just have to wait. I have detention after school." She chewed another bite of the apple and swallowed.
"It's about your training as Sailorpolaris," he said.
"Hn." She threw the apple core toward the dumpster. It bounced off of the front with a soft clang.
"I'll meet you after school in Aoyama Park," he said, kissing her on the forehead and kicking the motor to life. She blushed and hurled a balled- up empty lunchbag at him as he roared away.