A.N. Hey everyone! Again, I'm REALLY sorry about all the delays. Unfortunately... *pause*... There will be many more delays to come. I have decided to focus more on my schoolwork, and since I'm going to have to go to summer school, I won't be able to write much even during the vacation. I'll try my bestm though! Oh, by the way, if a delay is particularily long, then please check my FF.net author bio; I always make sure that I put up excuses and explanations for various delays.
Anyways, enjoy the fic!
~~~ =change of scene
*...* =thoughts
Chapter Seven:
Serena groaned and tried to turn around. Almost immediately, she was granted a sharp flash of white hot pain in her left arm.
"Shh, don't move." A familiar baritone voice soothed her. A strong, cool hand lay itself on her forehead, and Serena couldn't help but relax. She blinked several times to clear her blurry vision, and saw a handsome face with stormy blue eyes and ruffled ebony hair over her. "Mamo-chan?" she asked, trying to see his face better.
Mamoru smiled gently. "Are you feeling better?" He continued to caress her face tenderly with his hand.
"Now I do," Serena murmured, enjoying the comfort of his touch. Soon, she felt his lips brushing against her own in a soft kiss. "Kami-sama, I missed you!" she exclaimed after the short bout of kissing, as her memories came flooding back to her. "Did you manage to take care of that youma?"
Mamoru's smile was wry. "Actually, Sakura turned it into a card," he said lightly. His eyes deepened into concern. "Do you know how worried we all were about you?! We'd thought that you wouldn't make it, but we got here just in time. Dr. Heathe was kind enough to let me take charge of your care."
Serena suddenly realized that her boyfriend was garbed in a white doctor's coat with a badge with his name on it. She wrinkled her nose and remembered that just before she'd been in the car accident, Mamoru had called her with the news that he had just gotten his degree. "Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that you're an M.D. now," she explained. "But, still, what a feat! You were two or three years ahead and managed to get your degree at the age of twenty! I'm so proud!"
They were interrupted when Setsuna, dressed in a hospital gown, stepped in. "I hope I haven't interrupted anything," she said to Mamoru, "but I wanted to talk to the princess. Everyone's dying to see her, but they will only let us in one by one."
"Sure," he said warmly. To Serena, he said, "I'll be right outside. Just give a holler if you need me."
After Mamory left, Setsuna pulled out the bedside chair to sit on and smiled warmly at Serena. "So, how are you?"
"A little stiff, and my arm is still rather sore," she admitted. "Otherwise, I'm fine." Serena put on a dreamy smile. "Having your boyfriend as your doctor is GREAT!"
Setsuna laughed, and then turned serious. "Serena," she said, "I think we have a new enemy."
"Oh, I knew this was too good to be true," Serena mumbled obscurely. "Let me guess: this enemy's even worse that all the others."
"Well, I'm not exactly sure how much power this new enemy has, and what it's purpose is. The only thing I know for sure is that whoever is behind this, has a very long hand. They know our every move, and I have no idea how they do it. They must have planted spies pretty much everywhere, so we have to be cautious. We tried using Michiru's mirror, but all that came up was smoke. This person is well protected, and evidently doesn't want their identity known."
Serena frowned. "If they don't want their identity known, that must mean that they must lead an at least normal life in the human world."
"Exactly. This is very unlike the other forces we've encountered. Normally, we fight evil that doesn't mix with mortals and doesn't bother to keep their identity from us; this is different. Amy's been hacking around the computers, but there's no result. This means that the enemy has the money to support advanced technology that can even keep Sailor Mercury from finding out things about them."
Serena's usually happy face was grave. "So we're going to pitch into another magical war."
"I hope that our alliance with Syaoran and Sakura will be enough. There is enough to deduce that this enemy is truly deadly."
~~~
Syaoran lounged comfortably on the soft leather couch in his luxurious, newly-bought penthouse. "Oh, stop fussing around, Sakura," he said lazily. "Why don't you stop tiring yourself uselessly and come and entertain me with a game of cards?"
Sakura had been pacing to and fro for the past couple of hours. Her emerald eyes were anxious. "I'm worried about Serena," she burst out. "Not only that; also about the weird things happening."
Meilin rolled her eyes; she had been sitting down in her favorite armchair sipping mugs of green tea. "Why not just ask Eriol-kun about it?" she suggested. "I'm sure he would know."
Syaoran raised a dark brow. "The question is not whether he knows; it's whether he wants to share or not."
Sakura had brightened up, though. "Still, it's worth a try," she said sensibly. "Where's the phone?"
Meilin gestured to the table in the corner. "It's there. Oh, and speaking of phones, I have to call Tomoyo. I have to let her know that we found you. She must be worried out of her wit's end by now. You can use this phone. I'll use the one in Syaoran's room." She put down her cup and bounded to her cousin's room.
Sakura picked up the cordless phone (which was green, of course) and dialed Eriol's number in England. After three rings, she heard a click, and Eriol's quiet, cultured voice sounded at the end of the other line. "Why, hello, Sakura," he said pleasantly.
*Someday, I'll have to ask him how he does that,* she mentally noted to herself.
~~~
Meilin eagerly punched Tomoyo's number on the phone and waited for her answer. Almost immediately, Tomoyo answered. "Moshi-moshi?"
"Tomoyo!" Meilin screeched. "We've found Sakura!"
"WHAT?! Where?!"
"She's in the next room from where I am!" babbled Meilin excitedly. "I'm so sorry! In the flurry of things, I totally forgot to tell you!"
"How is Sakura?" demanded Tomoyo. "Has she been eating well? What flurry of things? Has something been happening? Have you guys had adventures without me? How did you find her? What--"
"Tomoyo!" Meilin protested. "One question at a time, please!"
"Well?" Tomoyo sounded expectant.
"Sakura's fine," Meilin reassured her. "Yes she's been eating well. Flurry of things is... a lot of things!" she added, sweatdropping. "It's a long story! By the way! Sakura can transform youmas into cards!"
"What's a youma?"
"Have you heard about the Sailor Scouts?"
"Of course. I read about them in the newspaper."
"Well, they fight forces called youmas. They're demons, I guess." Meilin shuddered. "Nasty looking, too!"
"You DID have adventures without me!" Tomoyo wailed. "And I didn't get to tape this! This is HORRIBLE!"
"Don't worry," Meilin reassured her. "You can tape the other adventures once you get here--"
"Which will be right now!" Tomoyo interrupted. "Where are you?"
"Er... You know that famous band, the Starlights?"
"Yes...?"
"Well, Sakura's staying with them. Right now she's with us, though, in Syaoran's penthouse. It's very close to where the Starlight brothers live."
"Kami-sama! The Starlights! You guys really must have had a lot of fun without me," Tomoyo accused.
"Actually," Meilin commented with a cough, "Once you get to know them... they're a bit... queer..."
"Queer?"
"They're connected to the Sailor Scouts, too."
Tomoyo widened her eyes. "Really? How? Aren't the Sailor Scouts supposed to be girls???"
Meilin sweatdropped. "That's the creepy thing; they turn INTO girls when they... er... what was that word again? Oh, yeah! When they morph."
"Huh? What? You mean... they're Sailor Scouts?"
"Nooootttt exaaaacccccttlyyy..."
Tomoyo sighed in frustration. "That's it! Fill me in RIGHT NOW on everything that happened!" Her eyes started to sparkle. "I can make more new fantastic outfits for Sakura's heroic adventures! I'll need to know everything to make just the right theme..." Tomoyo said blissfully.
Meilin collapsed, sweatdropping. *Why am I not surprised...* she thought to herself sarcastically.
"Oh, and another thing!" Tomoyo exclaimed. "Tell me about Sakura and Li-kun's current love situation!"
Meilin collapsed again.
~~~
When Sakura returned, Syaoran asked her expectantly, "Well?"
Sakura frowned. "It's not very good news. Eriol-kun said that this new ennemy is likely to be very powerful if they could summon a youma like that. He said he'd look into it." She looked up confidently. "But I'm sure he'll find out what this is. After all, he is Clow's reincarnation!"
Syaoran sulked at the mention of Eriol's name. He narrowed his slanted amber eyes and stomped out.
"Huh?" Sakura blinked quizzically at a suddenly gone Syaoran.
"What's eating Syaoran-chan?" Meilin asked, coming in.
"Hoooeee...." Sakura said with puzzlement. "I was just talking about my conversation with Eriol-kun, and he got mad!"
Meilin giggled inwardly. *Syaoran, you big baby!* she thought to herself. She glanced at Sakura. *And Sakura, you big idiot! Hmm... what a pair! An overgrown baby and a big idiot...* Meilin giggled.
~~~
"Wow, that was fast," commented Meilin while helping Serena into Mamoru's car.
"One of the more useful parts of being a Sailor Scout," replied Serena mysteriously.
Yaten snorted rudely. "Besides being an absolute pig, you mean?" he added, sticking out his tongue.
Before Serena could lunge at him, Seiya intervened. "Save your energy, Serena. You and Sakura have school tomorrow." He thought for a moment, then said, "You too, Meilin, Syaoran."
Syaoran moved his breathtakingly fierce amber eyes to him. "Who told you we were on first name basis, Lights?" he said coldly.
Seiya was taken aback by Syaoran's sudden change. Frowning, he demanded, "What's wrong with you?"
Syaoran's smouldering eyes narrowed. "None of your business."
Sakura put her hand on Syaoran's arm and tugged worriedly. "Syaoran, maybe you should sit down..."
Wordlessly, Syaoran vanished in a soft flash of deep green. Yaten gaped openly at the spot where he had been. "W-what?! Huh?!"
Sakura and Meilin sweatdropped. "Sorry," apologised Meilin. "Syaoran doesn't exactly have the sweetest temper in the world."
"He recently developped the power of translocation," explained Sakura, "and he tends to use it a lot nowadays. Especially on himself."
"Translocation?" Taiki asked, surprised. "Very impressive. An Elder-level Sorcerer, then?"
"Hai."
"And he's only, what, fifteen? That's incredible!"
Meilin turned her face sadly. "He's always been too focused on his magic and studies. No time for..." She trailed off and silenced herself.
As Sakura and Meilin refused to speak further despite the growing curiosity of the senshi, they entered the cars and left. None of them noticed two dark figures with waving blood red hair and forest green eyes standing in the shadows of the corner of the hospital street.
Tadane removed her dark sunglasses and Atemi did the same. Their indentical voices rang out softly. "Check... mate."
~~~
A.N. *cough* Er, I'm really sorry for this pathetic, short, inexcusably idiotic chapter. I haven't written for so long that I thought it would have to do. I'm using this chapter as a build-up for tension. Anyways, review!
Anyways, enjoy the fic!
~~~ =change of scene
*...* =thoughts
Chapter Seven:
Serena groaned and tried to turn around. Almost immediately, she was granted a sharp flash of white hot pain in her left arm.
"Shh, don't move." A familiar baritone voice soothed her. A strong, cool hand lay itself on her forehead, and Serena couldn't help but relax. She blinked several times to clear her blurry vision, and saw a handsome face with stormy blue eyes and ruffled ebony hair over her. "Mamo-chan?" she asked, trying to see his face better.
Mamoru smiled gently. "Are you feeling better?" He continued to caress her face tenderly with his hand.
"Now I do," Serena murmured, enjoying the comfort of his touch. Soon, she felt his lips brushing against her own in a soft kiss. "Kami-sama, I missed you!" she exclaimed after the short bout of kissing, as her memories came flooding back to her. "Did you manage to take care of that youma?"
Mamoru's smile was wry. "Actually, Sakura turned it into a card," he said lightly. His eyes deepened into concern. "Do you know how worried we all were about you?! We'd thought that you wouldn't make it, but we got here just in time. Dr. Heathe was kind enough to let me take charge of your care."
Serena suddenly realized that her boyfriend was garbed in a white doctor's coat with a badge with his name on it. She wrinkled her nose and remembered that just before she'd been in the car accident, Mamoru had called her with the news that he had just gotten his degree. "Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that you're an M.D. now," she explained. "But, still, what a feat! You were two or three years ahead and managed to get your degree at the age of twenty! I'm so proud!"
They were interrupted when Setsuna, dressed in a hospital gown, stepped in. "I hope I haven't interrupted anything," she said to Mamoru, "but I wanted to talk to the princess. Everyone's dying to see her, but they will only let us in one by one."
"Sure," he said warmly. To Serena, he said, "I'll be right outside. Just give a holler if you need me."
After Mamory left, Setsuna pulled out the bedside chair to sit on and smiled warmly at Serena. "So, how are you?"
"A little stiff, and my arm is still rather sore," she admitted. "Otherwise, I'm fine." Serena put on a dreamy smile. "Having your boyfriend as your doctor is GREAT!"
Setsuna laughed, and then turned serious. "Serena," she said, "I think we have a new enemy."
"Oh, I knew this was too good to be true," Serena mumbled obscurely. "Let me guess: this enemy's even worse that all the others."
"Well, I'm not exactly sure how much power this new enemy has, and what it's purpose is. The only thing I know for sure is that whoever is behind this, has a very long hand. They know our every move, and I have no idea how they do it. They must have planted spies pretty much everywhere, so we have to be cautious. We tried using Michiru's mirror, but all that came up was smoke. This person is well protected, and evidently doesn't want their identity known."
Serena frowned. "If they don't want their identity known, that must mean that they must lead an at least normal life in the human world."
"Exactly. This is very unlike the other forces we've encountered. Normally, we fight evil that doesn't mix with mortals and doesn't bother to keep their identity from us; this is different. Amy's been hacking around the computers, but there's no result. This means that the enemy has the money to support advanced technology that can even keep Sailor Mercury from finding out things about them."
Serena's usually happy face was grave. "So we're going to pitch into another magical war."
"I hope that our alliance with Syaoran and Sakura will be enough. There is enough to deduce that this enemy is truly deadly."
~~~
Syaoran lounged comfortably on the soft leather couch in his luxurious, newly-bought penthouse. "Oh, stop fussing around, Sakura," he said lazily. "Why don't you stop tiring yourself uselessly and come and entertain me with a game of cards?"
Sakura had been pacing to and fro for the past couple of hours. Her emerald eyes were anxious. "I'm worried about Serena," she burst out. "Not only that; also about the weird things happening."
Meilin rolled her eyes; she had been sitting down in her favorite armchair sipping mugs of green tea. "Why not just ask Eriol-kun about it?" she suggested. "I'm sure he would know."
Syaoran raised a dark brow. "The question is not whether he knows; it's whether he wants to share or not."
Sakura had brightened up, though. "Still, it's worth a try," she said sensibly. "Where's the phone?"
Meilin gestured to the table in the corner. "It's there. Oh, and speaking of phones, I have to call Tomoyo. I have to let her know that we found you. She must be worried out of her wit's end by now. You can use this phone. I'll use the one in Syaoran's room." She put down her cup and bounded to her cousin's room.
Sakura picked up the cordless phone (which was green, of course) and dialed Eriol's number in England. After three rings, she heard a click, and Eriol's quiet, cultured voice sounded at the end of the other line. "Why, hello, Sakura," he said pleasantly.
*Someday, I'll have to ask him how he does that,* she mentally noted to herself.
~~~
Meilin eagerly punched Tomoyo's number on the phone and waited for her answer. Almost immediately, Tomoyo answered. "Moshi-moshi?"
"Tomoyo!" Meilin screeched. "We've found Sakura!"
"WHAT?! Where?!"
"She's in the next room from where I am!" babbled Meilin excitedly. "I'm so sorry! In the flurry of things, I totally forgot to tell you!"
"How is Sakura?" demanded Tomoyo. "Has she been eating well? What flurry of things? Has something been happening? Have you guys had adventures without me? How did you find her? What--"
"Tomoyo!" Meilin protested. "One question at a time, please!"
"Well?" Tomoyo sounded expectant.
"Sakura's fine," Meilin reassured her. "Yes she's been eating well. Flurry of things is... a lot of things!" she added, sweatdropping. "It's a long story! By the way! Sakura can transform youmas into cards!"
"What's a youma?"
"Have you heard about the Sailor Scouts?"
"Of course. I read about them in the newspaper."
"Well, they fight forces called youmas. They're demons, I guess." Meilin shuddered. "Nasty looking, too!"
"You DID have adventures without me!" Tomoyo wailed. "And I didn't get to tape this! This is HORRIBLE!"
"Don't worry," Meilin reassured her. "You can tape the other adventures once you get here--"
"Which will be right now!" Tomoyo interrupted. "Where are you?"
"Er... You know that famous band, the Starlights?"
"Yes...?"
"Well, Sakura's staying with them. Right now she's with us, though, in Syaoran's penthouse. It's very close to where the Starlight brothers live."
"Kami-sama! The Starlights! You guys really must have had a lot of fun without me," Tomoyo accused.
"Actually," Meilin commented with a cough, "Once you get to know them... they're a bit... queer..."
"Queer?"
"They're connected to the Sailor Scouts, too."
Tomoyo widened her eyes. "Really? How? Aren't the Sailor Scouts supposed to be girls???"
Meilin sweatdropped. "That's the creepy thing; they turn INTO girls when they... er... what was that word again? Oh, yeah! When they morph."
"Huh? What? You mean... they're Sailor Scouts?"
"Nooootttt exaaaacccccttlyyy..."
Tomoyo sighed in frustration. "That's it! Fill me in RIGHT NOW on everything that happened!" Her eyes started to sparkle. "I can make more new fantastic outfits for Sakura's heroic adventures! I'll need to know everything to make just the right theme..." Tomoyo said blissfully.
Meilin collapsed, sweatdropping. *Why am I not surprised...* she thought to herself sarcastically.
"Oh, and another thing!" Tomoyo exclaimed. "Tell me about Sakura and Li-kun's current love situation!"
Meilin collapsed again.
~~~
When Sakura returned, Syaoran asked her expectantly, "Well?"
Sakura frowned. "It's not very good news. Eriol-kun said that this new ennemy is likely to be very powerful if they could summon a youma like that. He said he'd look into it." She looked up confidently. "But I'm sure he'll find out what this is. After all, he is Clow's reincarnation!"
Syaoran sulked at the mention of Eriol's name. He narrowed his slanted amber eyes and stomped out.
"Huh?" Sakura blinked quizzically at a suddenly gone Syaoran.
"What's eating Syaoran-chan?" Meilin asked, coming in.
"Hoooeee...." Sakura said with puzzlement. "I was just talking about my conversation with Eriol-kun, and he got mad!"
Meilin giggled inwardly. *Syaoran, you big baby!* she thought to herself. She glanced at Sakura. *And Sakura, you big idiot! Hmm... what a pair! An overgrown baby and a big idiot...* Meilin giggled.
~~~
"Wow, that was fast," commented Meilin while helping Serena into Mamoru's car.
"One of the more useful parts of being a Sailor Scout," replied Serena mysteriously.
Yaten snorted rudely. "Besides being an absolute pig, you mean?" he added, sticking out his tongue.
Before Serena could lunge at him, Seiya intervened. "Save your energy, Serena. You and Sakura have school tomorrow." He thought for a moment, then said, "You too, Meilin, Syaoran."
Syaoran moved his breathtakingly fierce amber eyes to him. "Who told you we were on first name basis, Lights?" he said coldly.
Seiya was taken aback by Syaoran's sudden change. Frowning, he demanded, "What's wrong with you?"
Syaoran's smouldering eyes narrowed. "None of your business."
Sakura put her hand on Syaoran's arm and tugged worriedly. "Syaoran, maybe you should sit down..."
Wordlessly, Syaoran vanished in a soft flash of deep green. Yaten gaped openly at the spot where he had been. "W-what?! Huh?!"
Sakura and Meilin sweatdropped. "Sorry," apologised Meilin. "Syaoran doesn't exactly have the sweetest temper in the world."
"He recently developped the power of translocation," explained Sakura, "and he tends to use it a lot nowadays. Especially on himself."
"Translocation?" Taiki asked, surprised. "Very impressive. An Elder-level Sorcerer, then?"
"Hai."
"And he's only, what, fifteen? That's incredible!"
Meilin turned her face sadly. "He's always been too focused on his magic and studies. No time for..." She trailed off and silenced herself.
As Sakura and Meilin refused to speak further despite the growing curiosity of the senshi, they entered the cars and left. None of them noticed two dark figures with waving blood red hair and forest green eyes standing in the shadows of the corner of the hospital street.
Tadane removed her dark sunglasses and Atemi did the same. Their indentical voices rang out softly. "Check... mate."
~~~
A.N. *cough* Er, I'm really sorry for this pathetic, short, inexcusably idiotic chapter. I haven't written for so long that I thought it would have to do. I'm using this chapter as a build-up for tension. Anyways, review!