Among Friends, Part 5
Sailor Isis
By Taerir

All Sailor Moon references are the property of their respective owners. Any concepts, characters, world names, plotlines, and so on not found in the Sailormoon television series or manga are the property of the author, Taerir, copyright 1999. No duplication is permitted without written permission from the author.

"The museum..." Elina trailed off as she watched Nuru go. She turned an embarrassed smile toward Asami. "Maybe we should go there too. The ancient civilizations exhibits sound like a good place to talk." She laughed.

Asami bit her lip for a moment in thought. "You're probably right. Maybe it will be helpful for other reasons too." She paused. "That girl we just ran into... did you feel anything different about her?"

The other girl frowned for a minute. "Different? Well, it did seem like I should know her from somewhere. But that's impossible, because I know I've never seen her before, unless..." Elina trailed off, and sudden recognition of what Asami was actually asking dawned. "Could she be one of us?"

"It's possible," Asami nodded. "It's too coincidental that we both got that feeling. If I read her expression correctly, she was getting a similar feeling too..." She smiled. "Maybe we'll see her again at the museum."

Elina agreed, grinning ruefully as they began to walk. "It would be nice if she was one of us. I feel a little strange, being new to this and everything. I'm not really sure what I'm doing yet, even though the memories are starting to come back."

Asami laughed. "Sometimes I think I still don't know what I'm doing. But I'm sure you'll do fine. It would be nice to have another of us, though. It would make me feel more comfortable, while we're getting targeted by this new enemy." She sighed.

"Do we really know anything about this enemy?" Elina asked, suddenly curious. "I know I don't, since yesterday was my first fight."

Asami sighed again. "That was the first time I'd ever seen anything from them, either. They're very good at brainwashing, from the way they took a random human and turned them against us. They also haven't been around very long. That's all I know."

There was silence as Elina mulled over what Asami had said. As they entered the museum, she grimaced. "I guess we'll find out more sooner or later, if she comes back. Judging from the stories, they don't usually go away after one try anyway, do they?"

"Not usually, as far as I've seen," Asami replied, shaking her head. The two girls paused in front of a museum map. "So where to, first?"

Elina grinned shyly. "Ancient Greece, if that's okay with you..."

"Of course," Asami affirmed, and the two set off.

A few hours later, Asami and Elina had managed to wear out their feet and sat in a small museum café to eat dinner before heading home.

Nuru walked into the museum café and settled herself down with a huff. Work at the museum seemed to last forever, and she hated wasting her time there. Stupid school administration... What makes them think that dusting mummies will make me stop telling them when they're wrong?

Grumbling, she ordered and waited for her food. She frowned as she spotted Asami and Elina, but dismissed it as a strange coincidence.

Nuru glanced up in annoyance at a commotion nearby. It figures... The sight that greeted her wasn't the group of screaming small children she'd expected, though. Instead, something large, inhuman, and very definitely ugly seemed to have emerged from the kitchen to terrorize customers.

"What IS this?" Nuru yelled in frustration. "Why can't I even have a peaceful dinner?" Grabbing a table knife, she glared at the creature and hurled the knife at it. "This is your fault!"

Asami and Elina had already jumped to their feet, and Asami decided that Nuru must be a senshi. Everyone else in the restaurant seemed to be blinded by terror, and Nuru was the only one who had acted. And with those beads... There was only one Gate Senshi that Nuru could be. Without another moment to consider, Asami had called a henshin wand to her hand, tossed it to Nuru, and mindsent the transformation phrase before ducking out of sight to transform into Taerir Guardian.

Nuru stared after Asami as if the older girl was insane, but shrugged.

"Isis Gate Power, Make UP!" she yelled, transforming in a flash of dark blue-tinted light. She glanced down at her fuku dubiously. This HAS to be the weirdest day I've ever had...

She glanced back up at Taerir, who had returned along with Sailor Ilia. "My turn first, huh?"

The hint of a wry smile played on Asami's face, despite the serious look in her eyes as she stayed on guard and circled the youma. "Well, if you want revenge for getting your dinner ruined..."

Nuru nodded, and turned toward the youma. "You picked a bad day to mess with me... Isis Wind Storm!" The enemy faltered, surrounded by strong winds, which succeeded in knocking it backward.

While the youma was still off-balance, Sailor Ilia stepped in. "Ilia Earth Crumble!" The youma lost its footing completely and toppled backward, dragging tables with it. Taerir closed her eyes and surrounded the enemy with high-level forces. When the dust cleared, the youma lay motionless.

The three rushed to surround the youma, and Taerir knelt beside it. Another human mind seemed to be inside, so she placed a hand on it's forehead and healed it, as she had with the last one. In the youma's place now lay a young waitress, and the senshi helped her to her feet, reassured her that everything would be alright, and then disappeared from the café.

After detransforming, Asami smiled at Nuru. "I think we've met before. I'm Ikeno Asami, Taerir Guardian, and this is Aono Elina-- Sailor Ilia."

Unknown to the girls, Nami glowered in the shadows, masking her presence. As if it hadn't been bad enough before, now there were three of them. Each one would make her plan harder. But then, perhaps she could weave a little dissention into this little group...

She focused on a girl with black, beaded hair. You don't really think Asami should be the leader anymore, now do you? she thought. How do you know it wasn't just favoritism in the first place? And you're jealous... You're the tactician; you should have been the leader. She laughed and sent the feelings to Nuru, and then disappeared.

Nuru turned to glare at Asami. "Nice warning you gave, there. It's a good thing I took you at your word." She crossed her arms. "So you're the first of us to reach Guardian, huh?"

Asami nodded, her expression concerned at Nuru's sudden display of hostility. "Nuru, are you alright?"

Nuru stared icily at Asami. "I'm fine, but why am I not surprised? You were always first to do everything. That's what happens when people think you can do no wrong. Tell me, did you get help being leader since you worked so hard at being everyone's little darling?"

Thanks to Pisces again, for help with the attack name and with all of Nuru, of course.