Moon of Destiny

by Lord-Mandrake

Post Galaxia, The Senshi learn the history of the universe before the Moon Kingdom. Powerful enemies and Allies awaken, and destinies are fulfilled

11. Retaliation

Chapter 11: Retaliation

She struggled futilely at the glowing bands that bound her. The darkness had long ago lost its ability to frighten her. After spending nine terrifying hours stuffed under her own bed bound hand and foot, and even gagged, little concerns like lack of light became only mildly annoying.

She had briefly entertained hope of salvation when her quasi-daughter had interrupted her attacker's plans, they were however short lived. Chibi- Usa and her advisor had been dealt with so quickly they hadn't even been able to scream for help. The pink haired girl and the Mau were bundled up together and stuffed unceremoniously into the closet.

She was glad that Luna wasn't there when the attack occurred. She knew it was getting close to daybreak, and her mother would come in to wake her for school if she wasn't seen soon. Usagi prayed that Luna would return before that happened. She didn't want her mother to find her like this. There would be no telling how she would react, other than badly.

"Usagi?" a voice called from the general area of the window. Relief swelled within her at the sound of Luna's voice. She couldn't answer her of course, the gag was very effective and even after hours of trying to chew her way through it she had accomplished nothing.

"Usagi? Luna repeated slightly frantic. More than likely Luna had noticed the obvious signs of a struggle, and was worried about her. With great effort she managed to squirm her foot out from underneath the dust ruffle. Luna voiced a squeak of surprise at seeing the protruding appendage.

"Usagi what in the world are you doing?" She hissed irritatedly. When her charge failed to answer with more than a feeble wiggling of the protruding foot Luna moved to investigate further.

"Kami-sama!" The Mau exclaimed when she finally managed to squirm her way into the tight quarters beneath the bed. Usagi was nearly completely immobilized with slightly glowing red bands of energy. Her nightclothes were covered in sweat and dust, and there was little doubt that she had been there for hours. Her eyes were puffy and reddened, she looked like the definition of abject misery. The Mau crawled out from underneath the bed and used her newly augmented powers to quickly assume her human form. It took quite a bit of struggling, but she managed to pull her princess out from underneath the bed. The bands of magical energy dissipated almost instantly after she touched them. Once released from her bonds Usagi quickly removed the gag from her mouth and ran towards the closet. She yanked open the door to reveal their children, bound as she was and unconscious.

"Usagi-chan," Luna began gently once the others were unbound, "what happened?"

********

Usagi had serious reservations about Luna's plan to deal with the situation. Luna recommended to her that she go to school as always, and make contact with the Senshi there. It would be nearly as quick as calling them on the communicator, and didn't risk exposure by them all missing class.

Usagi pointed out to her that it was pointless to worry about risking exposure after what had happened, but there was no changing Luna's mind. Usagi quickly got dressed, making very sure that she kept a close watch on Chibi-Usa, who would be joining Hotaru's class now that Setsuna had had sufficient time to fabricate the necessary paperwork, and she, Chibi-Usa and two cats dashed towards the school.

They were nearly late, as Chibi-Usa was in nowhere near as good a shape as Usagi was. She hadn't spent the last several years making the mad dash to school as her mother had. They arrived scant minutes before the final bell, and just managed to get the attention of Setsuna before classes began.

"Setsuna!" Usagi shouted to her as she dashed into the room. "You have to call everyone down here! It's an emergency!"

Setsuna took one look at the still rumpled appearance of the girls, and noted the pale, dry tracks that their tears had left on their faces. She noted the rumpled state of their clothing, which though hardly unusual for Usagi, was certainly odd to see on Chibi-Usa. Mostly though she saw that both of the girl's advisors were with them, in school, it took her less than a second to hit her intercom button and begin to inform the secretary of the list of students she needed to see.

Fifteen minutes later all of the Senshi and were gathered in the room. Setsuna hadn't bothered to ask for the Primarchs. After what had happened yesterday it would have been ludicrous for them to return to the school, for that reason she was extremely startled to see the three boys walk into the room. They nodded casually to her and quickly seated themselves with their significant others, as usual. She was just beginning to regain her composure when Lor appeared seated on her desk. He winked at her roguishly before schooling his expression into its customary blank look. Before she had even moved to sit down Usagi began to speak.

"Minna we have a serious problem. I was attacked last night. Iria knows who we are." There was no response to her words. She had expected there to be an outburst, pure chaos, everyone talking at once, fear. Instead she faced expressions ranging from resignation to stunned disbelief. Nodding at the girls to assure them that she was serious she began her tale.

********

"Mamo-chan why don't you want me to come back to your apartment?" She whined softly. Mamoru looked down at the upturned face of lovely young woman he held in his arms and tried his best to make her understand.

"Usagi-chan, it's nearly ten, you and I both have class in the morning, and it's been a very long day. I love you, but I need to get to sleep."

"But Mamo-chan."

"No Usagi. I'm sorry, but I just can't, not tonight. Now come on, I'll walk you home."

Mamoru and Usagi began the short walk back towards her house. It only took them around fifteen minutes, but to their tired bodies it seemed much longer. He walked her to her door, and gave her a chaste kiss goodbye. He waited until she had closed the door behind her before he began to walk away. She dashed up the stairs, despite her tiredness, and watched him walk away until he disappeared behind the buildings.

"Hey Odango!" Chibi-Usa called out to her from the hallway. "Open up!"

Usagi growled low in her throat at being called Odango by anyone but her Mamo-chan. She stalked over to the door, jerked it open and sent her best glare at the pink haired teen.

"What?" she growled. Chibi-Usa actually flinched at the menace in her voice.

"I was just coming to ask you how it went." Chibi-Usa said in a lost sounding voice. The tone did much to assuage Usagi's ire at being called Odango.

"It was bad," she replied gently. "It was really bad. The things were everywhere. We all had to split up and try to stop them. Mamo-chan got hurt by some kind of shadow things. I don't know very much about the other girls, all they said when they called in was that they got them."

"Shadow things?" Chibi-Usa repeated worriedly. Her look of fear for Mamoru had Usagi quickly explaining everything she knew. It took several minutes but when she was done Chibi-Usa was much relieved. "At least everyone's ok," she said finally.

Usagi gathered her pyjamas and headed in to the shower. She was putting her hair back into its traditional style when her mother's scream drew her attention. She ran towards the sounds of horror and found her entire family gathered around the television in the front room. Shingo stood with mouth agape. Her father had paled dramatically and looked to have trouble standing. Her mother on the other hand had apparently half fallen onto the couch. Tears ran freely down her face at the devastation prominently displayed on the television.

". once quite neighbourhood was rocked tonight with what were apparently explosions. As you can easily see there is almost nothing left of this once affluent community." A map appeared in the upper right corner of the screen, carefully placed as to not interfere with either the view of the scene or the reporter. It showed the Juuban Ward with the effected area coloured red. The area was a rough almost rectangular section encompassing close to a square kilometre. "Once this neighbourhood housed close to fifteen thousand of Japans most affluent citizens, now it holds only the dead. Reports coming in from emergency crews all over the sight all tell the same thing. There have so far been no survivors found, and the death toll continues to climb. Currently rescue workers have found over four hundred bodies, with more being reported constantly. The cause of this calamity is still unknown, but several unconfirmed reports from residents outside the devastation claim to have seen a large reptile doing battle with people they describe as the oft rumoured Sailor Senshi. Officially the Government continues to deny the existence of the vigilante group, but this reporter admits to being stumped as to find any other rational explanation for tonight's catastrophe."

Usagi was horrified. That was where the Outers had been. They had called in to tell her that they were all right, and had mentioned that there was something they had to speak to her about, but she was interrupted by Makoto's and Rei's report. Usagi had completely forgotten to get back in touch with them. Her communicator was still up in her room.

She scampered up the stairs, frantic with need to talk to the older girls. She burst through her door and slammed it shut behind her. It was when she was digging through her purse for the communicator that she noticed she wasn't alone. Usagi spun around to tell off the brat that followed her up and nearly fainted in shock. Iria was standing in her room bouncing with excitement.

"Hello Sailor Moon." The red haired Ulterran said in greeting. Usagi knew immediately that denials would be pointless. Iria didn't simply suspect who she was, she knew it. Usagi attempted to summon her Henshin Rod but it was too late.

"There will be none of that." Iria chided, and pointed her hand at Usagi. She whispered something too low for Usagi to hear and a purple beam of light batted the Rod out of the blonde's hand. Usagi knew better than to chase after the fallen Rod. Iria was far to fast for her.

"Why are you here?" Usagi said as calmly as she could.

"You know why, little girl. You have something I need and I'm here to collect it." Iria replied pleasantly.

"You can't have it." Usagi responded firmly. There was no way she was going to admit to this woman that she no longer had the Crystal. There was no telling how she would react. "I have kept it safe from your kind before." Iria laughed at Usagi's forced bravery. The sound would have been beautiful under other circumstances.

"Little mortal, there are none of my kind left. In the last five thousand years I have only met four other Ulterran, and of them only Zeryn still lives."

"Five." Usagi said coolly. At Iria's apparent confusion she clarified. "You have met five other Ulterran. I am one."

Iria laughed again, but cut off suddenly as something grabbed her attention. She peered intently at the blonde girl. The look she gave her carried something odd just on the edge of Usagi's perception. Usagi shivered slightly from the weight of the stare. A cold chill ran up her spine.

"/Meethay sothrin dundae Lunari?/" Iria asked in wonder.

"I don't understand." Usagi replied softly.

"Oh you poor child," Iria said with tears in her eyes. "You have no idea about your heritage. Oh the horror, you've spent your entire life surrounded by Mortals." Usagi did her best to keep her anger out of her expression. "I am so sorry for you." Iria continued. "It's ok now. You're not alone any more."

"I wasn't alone before." Usagi replied. Only the slightest amount of heat leaked into her words. "The 'Mortals' and I have defended this world for years, defended it from people like you."

"You have nothing to fear /serril/ Zeryn will help you. He needs the Crystal though. He wants to bring our people back, but he can't do it alone. He needs us to help him. He needs the Avatar Gems. Once he has them he can save our people. Please give me the gem."

"No," Usagi replied once again. "I can not allow you to threaten or harm the people of the Earth. The demons you have been summoning."

"Nexus creatures," Iria corrected automatically. "Demons are just weak half-breeds."

"Anyway," Usagi continued despite the interruption. "The creatures you have summoned are a threat to the people I am sworn to protect. I can't allow you to continue." She finished bravely.

"Then give me the Crystal. Once Zeryn has all of them we can leave. I promise you we won't stay here. We really want nothing to do with the Mortals."

"I can't give you the Crystal either." Usagi replied.

"You know, we won't stop until Zeryn gets what he wants. The longer you keep the Crystal from him the greater the chance that someone you really care about will get hurt or killed. You would probably be really upset if the Mortals that think they're your parents got caught in the crossfire, wouldn't you?"

Usagi knew a threat when she heard one. She was, generally speaking, a pacifist. She would much rather try to convince an enemy to leave rather than harm them. She had proven on multiple occasions that kindness would usually prevail over violence, but in this case she was happy to make an exception. Iria threatened her family. Nobody threatened her family. Her response wasn't even a truly conscious decision. Before Iria had even finished her words, Usagi was reacting. She didn't know exactly where the knowledge to do what she did had come from, but the results were satisfying.

Usagi raised her right arm, the arm that now held the crystal bracelet that the Primarchs had made for her. It made a high pitched ringing sound and something leapt from it. The effect was a ring of distorted air, a vibration travelling forward towards Iria at eleven times the speed of sound. It crossed the two metres separating the two girls in just over five picoseconds. A human eye takes around sixty pictures per second and transmits those to the brain. The process is very quick, and highly efficient. Iria was an Ulterran, a powerful one. She was nearly thirty times faster than a human. The distortion ring struck her before even she could have seen it.

It tore through the feeble basic defences that her ribbon-like dress offered as if it were nothing. The distortion struck her full in the chest, snapping her sternum and shoving two of her ribs into her lungs. The leftover kinetic energy tossed her into the wall hard enough to nearly push her through it. Iria collapsed to her knees and vainly tried to suck air into her punctured lungs.

Usagi nearly gave into the temptation to make some sort of triumphant speech before continuing to attack the Sorceress, but the memory of how foolish Chibi-Usa had sounded held her back. That omission probably saved her life. More quickly than Usagi would have believed possible a few short months ago, Iria stood despite the obvious pain caused by her wounds and returned fire. If Chibi-Usa's actions hadn't embarrassed her, Iria's spell would have caught her totally unprepared.

"Quishii Hallou!" Iria hissed, and a grey-black bolt of energy streaked towards the blonde.

Usagi hardly had any chance to react at all despite her caution. She had moved only a dozen centimetres or so when the bolt struck. Instead of hitting her in the chest as Iria had intended it struck her in the shoulder. The force of the impact picked her up and spun her in the air like a top. She flew backwards and landed in a heap on her bed. As she groaned and attempted to shake the newly formed cobwebs out of her head before Iria got the chance to do anything else, she heard the sound of her door opening.

"What are you doing Odango?" She heard Chibi-Usa ask from the doorway. Obviously the sounds of the battle had carried to the spare bedroom. "Oh Kami!" The pink haired girl exclaimed once she had taken in the entire scene. Instantly she summoned her Henshin Rod and began her transformation.

"Moon Eternal Make Uhhh." She never stood a chance. Of course Iria was far from stupid enough to allow Chibi-Usa to complete her transformation. She was interrupted by a highly unlikely attack by the petite redhead. Iria balled up her fist and punched the younger girl in the stomach with more than enough force to make Chibi-Usa retch. Once the transformation was derailed, Iria took more effective steps in neutralizing her.

"Gierss keendrn Kalrah!" Iria spoke quickly. A brief flash of blue light later Chibi-Usa and her advisor, who thought she had remained undetected in the confusion, were safely asleep. With the interruption safely handled she once again turned her attention to the girl trying to regain her feet despite the immense pain she was in. She pointed at the blonde and whispered yet another incantation.

"Yamell Dunith." With those words an unbelievable weight pushed down on Usagi pinning her to the bed despite her greatest efforts.

"Don't go anywhere /st'nor/. I'll deal with you in a moment." Usagi could do nothing but watch as Iria bound Chibi-Usa and Diana together with bands of magical energy that she quickly summoned. Once they were completely immobilized she opened up the closet door and roughly stuffed them inside. "Now back to you." Iria said with a cruel smile.

"You know, I really hate it when people attack me. I hadn't done anything to you, but you saw fit to try to kill me. That makes me very upset. Because of your little show of defiance, I'm not going to be quite so nice anymore. Give me the Crystal."

"No." Usagi managed to gasp out despite the crushing weight on her chest.

"Did you tell me no?" Iria asked in disbelief. "Well we can't have that can we? /Aglon Tinnor./" Iria said in a snappish tone of voice. Usagi nearly bit her tongue in half at the sudden surge of pain that engulfed her. They waves of agony continued for what felt like hours before Iria ended the spell. "Are we feeling more cooperative?"

"No." Usagi again managed despite her pain and tears. She hardly had time to brace herself before the agony returned. It lasted for another eternity before it once again abated. She choked back her sobs and glared at the redhead with all her will.

"Do you feel more inclined to answer me yet?"

"Never." Usagi said through her tears. Once again Iria applied the torturous magic. The pain was so intense that Usagi honestly felt she was going to die from it. Her bones felt as if they had broken. Her skin felt afire. Every nerve in her body was seemingly stabbed and twisted simultaneously. The tears ran freely down her face and her breath choked in her throat. She was in too much pain to even scream. The spell was strained to keep her conscious. Close to fifteen minutes later Iria once again allowed its power to lapse.

"Done being stubborn?" Iria taunted in an overly sweet tone.

"Go to hell." Usagi managed to gasp out in between the aftershocks of her pain. Iria frowned and yet again reapplied the pain inducing magic.

"I think it's time you learned a bit of a lesson. You're far too weak to hide anything from me. So, since you seem unwilling to simply give me the Crystal, or tell me where you've hidden it, I'll just take what I need." Iria grinned at her in a way that sent shivers down her spine even in the throes of agony. "This might be unpleasant." Iria said in passing, and a white hot needle of psionic force shoved itself into her consciousness.

Some time later a pale and slightly shaking Iria withdrew from the rapidly fading consciousness of her foe. She had learned far more than she had needed to complete her mission. Iria was somewhat surprised and impressed that the little girl had withstood as much punishment as she had, and for no reason. She didn't have the Crystal anymore. Iria's mind skittered away from the knowledge of just who had it now, that was something to deal with later. More important was she had learned the location of not one, but three of the others. She had no idea of where the Chaos Prism was, but Zeryn had mentioned that he already knew its location.

The Silver Crystal was currently out of her reach, as was the Garnet Orb. The Nemesis Crystal was floating in deep space, guarded only by some fool calling himself Wiseman. Since the little chit's memory clearly showed him manipulating its energies, it was clear that he was yet another lost Ulterran. Too bad for him he was male, Zeryn didn't tolerate competition. She could go collect the Nemesis crystal at almost any time, so there was no rush there. The Gold Stone was another matter entirely. She needed to act now, before the Mortals became too frightened and gave it back to Mordaki.

She came to a quick decision about how to proceed. Her idea was as much motivated by revenge against the little Lunari as it was by expediency. The blonde deserved to suffer, and she knew just how to do it.

"Listen carefully /st'nor/. You hurt me, and for that I will have my revenge. If it weren't for Zeryn's restrictions against killing female Ulterran, you wouldn't be alive when I leave. Instead I am going to hurt you in a way the will make you suffer forever." Iria's red aura became visible once again as she began to chant softly in Aleph. The feeling Usagi had of being pressed into the mattress faded, but escape was still an impossibility. The pain didn't abate, and her arms twisted themselves behind her back. She could feel some sort of binding appear around her wrists. She levitated up off the bed, and despite her struggles, found herself lowered to the floor.

"When the full implications of what I am about to do to you finally settle into your simple little mind, remember this. It didn't have to be this way. Your stubbornness, your rudeness, your decision to attack me made this happen. I hope you choke to death on the misery you have caused yourself." With that Iria made a pushing motion with her hands and Usagi was stuffed painfully into the small cluttered space under her bed. The pain causing magic ended some time later.

********

".and finally Luna came home and found me." Usagi finished with fresh tears in her eyes.

There was very little need for the Senshi to speak their feelings. All of them wore identical expressions of murderous rage. Iria had crossed lines not even Galaxia had dared to. The idea that she had tortured their Princess was more than enough to assure her death.

Most of the Primarchs took a more pragmatic view of the situation. Yes, Usagi had suffered, but she was still alive and relatively unharmed. More importantly, Iria had failed in her mission. The Silver Crystal was safely in Neko's possession. There was no way Mori could imagine Iria getting it from him.

Neko on the other hand was livid. He was nearly apoplectic with rage. Ami was busy trying to calm him as best as possible, but his aura had already begun to make the wooden arms of the chair he sat on smoulder, and the paint on the wall behind him was peeling away.

"Usagi-chan," he asked with the utmost compassion in his voice. "I know you've been through something terrible, but it might not be over. You said she threatened to make you suffer. I think we had better take it seriously." He looked her directly in her tear filled eyes. The golden- brown eyes of his Konjou appearance carried an equal mix of rage and gentleness. "I need to make sure she didn't do anything else to you."

He stood up and walked slowly and carefully over to the shaken blonde. He stopped within reach of her, and ignored the slight flinch she made when he reached out to touch her. Soft silver light filled the room centred on them. It lasted for close to ten minutes, only Mori and Mordred understood just what that signified. Neko had used all of the power at his disposal as the Master of Will Magic. If there were any unpleasant magical effects placed on Usagi he would have found them. The light faded and Neko stepped away with a sigh of relief.

"It's ok Usagi-chan, she didn't do anything else to you. I know how bad what she did to you hurt, but there are far worse things she could have done."

The girls exchanged worried looks over that information before hesitantly nodding in agreement. No one felt quite like returning to class yet, so Setsuna recommended that they discuss last night's conflicts. Quickly Ami began explaining about her battle with the Yugoloth. It served the dual purposes of breaking the ice so to speak, and to get everyone's mind off of Usagi's torture.

Once Ami was done, Usagi told the story of her and Mamoru's battle. The tears in her eyes once again fell when she talked of the horror of learning the civilians laying on the ground were dead. She had tried to bring them back, but despite the fact that her bracelet had shone like the sun, the dead did not stir.

"Laira," Mori said with disgust. The other Primarchs nodded in agreement. When the Senshi looked at him quizzically, he clarified. "Laira are better known as Shadowthieves. They're fairly nasty little things, really. As Usagi realized, they attack and kill people's shadows. It's long been believed that your shadow is the reflection of your soul. I won't comment on that, but what the Laira do seems to work. They can also control almost anyone by possessing their shadows. You were lucky to spot those three so easily Usagi."

Mori sat back down and Haruka took the floor. In the quietest, most shaken voice anyone had ever heard from her, she described the battle with the large Draconid. Neko looked impressed at the beginning, but an expression of shame and disgust soon claimed him. Mordred also looked somewhat abashed by the time Haruka finished her portion. The girls, most especially Setsuna, were highly curious about just what Hotaru had done, but curiosity took a distant second place to horror.

"We have to do something to fix that." Usagi said woodenly. Her expression told just how badly she was affected. She had simply seen too much too fast to be able to take it all in. "Minna," she said looking at the Primarchs scattered around the room, "We have to fix it."

"We can't." Neko said shaking his head softly.

"We have to." Usagi repeated emphatically. "It's all our faults. You and Mori made us this strong, and we're the ones who did it."

"Usagi-chan, you don't understand. It's not a matter of whether or not we want to. It's not like we're afraid of breaking some kind of rule. We just can not bring those people back." Lor and Mori nodded in complete agreement with Neko, and Mordred looked somewhat sad and ashamed.

"But, you brought other people back!" Usagi protested shooting a quick glance at Rei and Makoto that neither girl missed.

"It's not the same thing Usagi-chan. There are other things involved this time."

"But."

"Trust him Usagi." Mordred spoke up for the first time. "All of us together couldn't bring back anyone that died last night, in any of the battles."

"But why?"

"Because it's impossible, I'm sorry." Mordred genuinely looked sorry, but the Senshi just looked worried. Every one of them wanted to know one thing. Just what could prevent the Primarchs from bringing the people back? "I know you do not want to hear this, but the three of you did much better than you had any reasonable expectation to. You faced an Akulin, one of the greatest creatures of the Nexus. I have personally seen one tear through magical defences that would give Mori trouble. They are nearly immune to most types of magic, and they regenerate faster than any other Nexus creature. Only Entropy magic can truly kill them. Congratulations Hotaru, your decision s...saved uncountable lives." At the end of his speech he seemed somewhat overcome by emotion.

There was silence for a few moments before Mina began her tale. She knew how the other girls saw her. She, like Usagi, was regarded as somewhat comical. She knew she would have to use that to help lift the pall that had settled over the Senshi. Mina quickly talked of her and Mori's arrival on the scene. She described the large worm like thing in intricate, graphic detail, playing up its unintentional comical aspects. She got to the point in her story when the ground under their feet caved in, and broke off blushing.

"Well?" Rei asked curious. Like the majority of the Senshi she had been coaxed out of her depression by Mina's antics. Mori smiled gently and raised Mina's chin with a finger. He kissed her on the nose and continued the tale where she left off.

********

"Oh shit." Mori said as the ground beneath his feet caved in. The drop was so quick he didn't have time to counter the affects of gravity before he hit the ground. Of course dropping ten metres into a subway terminal was anything but pleasant. Luckily for the residents of Tokyo, the entrance to this terminal was very close to the scene of the attack, and like usual the area was completely deserted. The two enormous slabs of concrete that Venus had inadvertently severed from the street above them lay in a heap, one partially elevated on the long line of ticket booths, the other flat on the ground.

The bus had landed flat on the level slab, much to the good fortune of its occupants. It was still dissolving from the acid cloud the Wyrm had belched onto it, but for the moment at least they were safe. The two halves of the Wyrm had landed separately, one near the bus, the other closer to the street access stairs. Both portions of it were already beginning to show signs of recovering from its disorientation.

Mori felt a moment of panic when he couldn't readily see Venus. His fears were quickly ended however by the shrieks feminine outrage coming from above him. He looked up and spotted the love of his life in a humorous predicament. When the concrete had broken away, in the area that Venus had not inadvertently severed, it exposed several of the long pieces of rebar that helped strengthen the street. Venus's fall had been arrested when her skirt caught on one of them. She dangled helplessly eight metres above him by the back of her skirt, consequently giving him, the Wyrm, and the people trapped in the bus the ultimate panty shot. Mori's lips twisted into a smirk despite all his efforts to the contrary. Venus was not amused.

"Arhh. get me down from here!" She demanded in a growling tone. That was the final straw, Mori dissolved into helpless laughter. "Mori, this is so not funny!" Venus' legs kicked futilely and her attempts to free herself by either unhooking or tearing her skirt from the errant piece of iron were equally unsuccessful.

Mori levitated up to just underneath his trapped lover still grinning at her predicament. The force of her glare was staggering, but had no affect whatsoever on his mirth. Mori casually traced the fingers of his right hand up the inside of her leg, drawing a hiss of surprise, irritation, and desire from her. He ignored the lethally powerful kicks she dealt out in her continued attempts to free herself and placed a kiss on the back of her knee. She paused in her struggles for the briefest of instants before jerking her leg away from him as best she could. She succeeded in escaping the shockingly intimate kiss, but both of his hands lightly caressed her thigh in a manner completely unacceptable for public viewing.

"Mori, this is not the time." She said tightly, trying to convey complete seriousness.

"I have to disagree," Mori said lightly. "It's always the time, especially when these lovely legs of yours are so deliciously and provocatively displayed." He ignored her glare and once again trailed his lips over her legs. She almost melted at the sensation, and likely would have completely forgotten just exactly where she was, and how much on display their activities were, when the forward half of the bisected worm reared up to strike at them.

The attack was lightning fast. The Wyrm struck forward with titanic might, and ran into a force field a few centimetres from them. It reeled back, staggered from the impact. The failed attack did, on the other hand, manage to bring Venus back to her senses. She threw her weight to the side, spinning in her trapped position to face the Wyrm. Ignoring the catcalls a few of the men trapped in the bus made at the view she now presented them, Venus struck out at the cause of her predicament.

"/Telekinetic Forcebolt!/" She screamed, and a metre wide ray of pure force leapt from her outstretched palm. The beam carried more raw kinetic energy than a falling meteor, and given that it was magically created it was quite capable of injuring the Wyrm. The back half of it that she had targeted ruptured under the force spraying the area with a putrid yellow substance that immediately began to evaporate.

The front half of the Wyrm reacted instantly to the death of its counterpart. It shot off down the tunnel as fast as it could, which was an impressive speed considering that it was a giant worm that had been recently bisected. Before Venus could reorient herself for a shot at it, it was completely out of sight. Venus growled her frustration and resumed her efforts to get free. Mori's continuing mirth did nothing to decrease her agitation.

"Do you mind?" She snarled. "You could be doing something useful, like killing that. whatever it was, or even better getting me down from here!"

"But Venus-chan, you look so cute like that." Venus threw a kick at Mori and snarled in penultimate frustration when he floated out of the way. She twirled in a half circle before spinning back to face him.

"Are you going to do anything useful, or just float there and ogle me?"

"Float here and ogle?" He asked hopefully.

Venus had had enough. She was caught by her skirt and the worm thing was getting away. Plotting vile vengeance on Mori for both his mirth and lack of assistance, she escaped the only way she could. She reached down and, after much difficulty, managed to unbutton the skirt which was thankfully one of the few parts of her outfit that could be removed. She immediately fell the eight metres to the ground and took off down the tunnel following the bloody trail the creature had left.

Mori quickly reached up and dislodged the orange cloth from where it hung. Once he had it secured in one of the many subspace pockets he had access to he quickly followed his love down the tunnel, pausing only to neutralize the acid the Wyrm had used on the bus. The pleasant sight of her running flat out in only the tight, white bodysuit and high heeled shoes almost had him whimpering aloud. The view was spectacular.

Venus quickly caught up to the creature. It had bashed through the wall of one subway tunnel into an older, and now abandoned line. It had stopped moving and was apparently trying to rest and heal its wounds. It had already regrown a few centimetres of its total length, the new flesh was easily identifiable by its shiny appearance.

"Shh, Venus-chan. It's in a sort of trance. If you're quick and quiet you'll be able to get the Wyrm before it wakes up." Mori whispered directly into her ear. She jerked away from him, her anger at him only increasing with the revelation of just how much he knew about this thing. He chuckled lightly at her action and brushed a kiss across her temple.

"I recommend you use one of your kinetic based Senshi attacks. I'm sure you've realized what the Wyrm is capable of. It's a pretty worthless proto-dragon, but it could do some damage if we let it recover." He rubbed her shoulders as he spoke.

She had planned to finish the thing off with a Rolling Heart Vibration, but she refused to take his advice right then, instead she sniffed pointedly at him and studied the creature more carefully. It was hideous, but to be brutally honest she had seen far worse. Her perusal was careful enough that she noticed several things about it that she hadn't earlier. Primarily was the fact that its mouth was hinged in three places, rather than the two places typical of most creatures. More interesting however was its skin. Instead of being fleshy like she would have expected, close examination proved it to be made up of millions of tiny scales, their miniscule size and uniform colouration made them invisible from more than a few feet away.

"What is this thing?" Venus asked Mori softly.

"A Wyrm."

"A worm?"

"No, Wyrm, a proto-dragon. Remember when I told you that all sentient life was descended from the various forms of Ulterran?" He waited until Venus nodded before continuing. "That wasn't exactly true. There are a handful of exceptions to that, and Dragons are the most obvious. This thing is the ancestral form of a True Dragon."

"Is it a Nexus creature?"

"No, it's a proto-dragon." He said with just a hint of exasperation.

"What can hurt it?"

"Just about anything really. I mean if you cut it into small enough pieces they wouldn't be able to regenerate. It doesn't have a Dragon's resistance to magic or anything. About the only thing I can think of that wont hurt it are toxic substances. It's pretty much inert to acids, and its chemical reactions are esoteric enough to make poisoning it pretty pointless."

"So you're saying it's easy to kill?"

"The Inner Senshi could have stopped one of them alone with minimal danger before you met me."

Venus didn't ask any more questions as she thought about how to handle the Wyrm. Simple contrariness kept her from taking Mori's advice, but she needed to do something soon. The Wyrm had regrown almost half a metre of its body since she severed it. She found it difficult to keep her mind on the task of dealing with it though. Memories of Mori's inappropriate and embarrassing behaviour kept intruding, derailing her train of thought. Irritation at her distraction, and the man who caused it, began to swell within her.

Mori watched Venus carefully. He didn't know why she hadn't finished the Wyrm off yet. She was more than capable of doing it without the slightest risk to herself. He briefly wondered why Iria had bothered to summon something as weak as a Wyrm, but the thought was cut off when Venus began to glow.

Mori knew beyond the shadow of any doubt that his lover was easily the most beautiful woman that had ever lived, but the sight of her standing tensed for combat, her long golden hair waving slightly in the breeze moving through the tunnel, glowing softly as her aura manifested around her, took his breath away. The fact that she was missing her skirt and he could see every centimetre of her wonderfully toned legs didn't hurt in the least. He stepped towards her almost entranced by the unintended seductiveness she radiated.

Mori felt an odd stirring at the edge of his perception. Venus raised her hand imperiously and pointed at the Wyrm. She didn't speak a word yet tiny motes of brighter light began to whirl around her inside her aura. Mori's senses screamed and the lights around Venus blurred. The Wyrm ruptured as jets of plasma burst from its skin. The stone fusing power of nuclear flame poured furiously from the already dead Wyrm. Within a matter of seconds there was nothing left.

Mori dashed up to Venus ignoring the continuing warning his enhanced perception was giving him. A chill ran up his spine when her gaze fell upon him. Her eyes were vacant of their normal compassion. She stood poised like a warrior goddess, ready to condemn the foolish to eternal damnation. Despite his nervousness he held her gaze for several long moments until slowly, finally the woman he loved returned to herself. She blinked to clear her eyes, looked up at him perplexedly and finally spoke.

"What happened?" She asked in genuine confusion.

"Once again you did something I thought was impossible."

"Really? What?"

"You just used the same power over natural forces that I have. Without using any magic whatsoever, without the knowledge of how to, and despite the fact that all of the other Primarchs together couldn't have done it, you just created a half metre across ball of nuclear fusion inside the Wyrm. You made a very small star, Mina." Neither of them knew just how to react to that.

********

Everyone was appropriately shocked and impressed by Mina's accomplishment. It was obvious to everyone that neither Mina nor Mori had the slightest idea how she had done it, but judging by Mori's expression he was going to find out.

The humour Mina's tale had returned to the gathering lightened the mood, and even Usagi managed a smile. It was in the new brighter atmosphere that Makoto and Rei began their story. Everyone listened carefully at Rei's description of the feeling of evil she followed. The initial description of the plant creature drew odd looks from the Primarchs, but the revelation of its true form made Mori and Neko exchange irritated looks, while Lor's mouth curled in revulsion.

"Kilthor." He said disgustedly.

The girls continued their story until they told of the Kilthor capturing them. Rei became silent and Makoto continued alone. She talked of her fears and desperation that led to her decision to electrocute herself. Her smile at the result was all teeth.

"Well girls, I hate to disappoint you," Neko said with a sarcastic grin, "but the Kilthor wasn't interested in your virtue. Now, I have to agree that it wanted your bodies, but lovely as they are it didn't want them in that way. A Kilthor has very little power on its own. What it does is crawl inside some other creature and uses it like a puppet. It has the ability to modify its host to suit its needs. Of course it prefers to use female hosts in mammalian creatures, you have a prefect place built in for it to put its core, but it can possess just about anything."

His explanation was just graphic enough for even Usagi and Chibi-Usa to understand exactly what he meant. All of the Senshi, especially Setsuna, wore ill expressions. It took almost a full minute of silent shivering before Makoto continued.

Makoto returned to her story, and Setsuna's face darkened when she mentioned the shadow that distracted the Kilthor. She knew of only one person capable of that trick that might possibly have had any reason to aid the girls, and he was supposed to be dead. She was so deep in her thoughts she almost missed Makoto's revelation.

"I was so caught up watching the Shadow Warrior that I missed the tentacle swinging at me. Of course Nephrite saved me, but I'm sure you know all about that right guys?" She said pinning an accusative stare on Mori and Neko. Everyone that didn't already know the truth followed her glare to them.

For Rei the revelation was like a bolt of lightning. All of a sudden everything made sense. The guilty looks on Mori's and Neko's faces, and the slight blushing of Ami, Mina and Usagi, made everything click into place.

"You! You did it. You brought them back." Makoto had already gotten that far, but Usagi's next words gave her the rest of the solution to the puzzle.

"But Rei-chan, they did it for you."

"D..Did it for me?" The Miko sputtered in maniacal rage. Her mouth worked frantically before she regained enough control to begin to get any answers. "And just how is it for me that you brought back two of the most sadistic enemies we've ever fought?"

"Four," Usagi said quietly.

"And just what have I done wrong to. four? Did you say four? You brought them all back? What were you thinking?" She shouted. Makoto had long ago given up trying to say anything. Rei seemed to have all of the complaints under control, besides she was scary when she got this angry. Setsuna alternated between looking pensive and glaring at Mori and Neko. She knew they were the ones at fault. The girls had neither the power, nor foolishness to do something like this. Haruka frowned, but said nothing. It had taken her a few seconds to understand what the inners meant as neither she nor Michiru were around when the Senshi had battled Beryl's Generals. In her opinion they were no threat. If the Inners alone had been able to deal with them when they were weak and inexperienced, then doing so now would be laughable. Michiru watched the three embarrassed Senshi closely. There was more to this than they were letting on, and if her guess was right, Rei would be even more angry as soon as she figured it out.

"Well," Mina said with an obviously false, hesitant smile. She tapped her index fingers together hesitantly and continued so quickly it was difficult to hear her. "We-were-sort-of-thinking-that-you-and-Makoto- were-sort-of-depressed-about-being-the-only-Senshi-that-didn't-have-anyone- that-loved-them-and-we-didn't-want-you-to-be-all-hurt-and-depressed-so-we- sort-of-asked-the-guys-to-help-find-someone-out-there-that-you-could-fall- in-love-with-that-would-love-you-back." Mina gulped in air and continued in the same nearly incomprehensible speed. "Of-course-we-didn't-know-that- they-would-bring-back-the-generals-but-they-sort-of-looked-inside-all-of- our-minds-and-found-out-about-how-you-were-engaged-to-them-back-during-the- moon-kingdom-and-by-the-time-we-knew-what-they-did..."

"Wait, wait, wait, are you saying you were trying to set Makoto and I up on some sort of blind date," the girls nodded, but she didn't even seem to notice, "with some of the biggest psychopaths that ever lived?" Usagi was still nodding not realising the implications of continued agreement. "Just whose bright idea was all of this?" She asked in a deceptively calm voice, despite being purple with rage.

No one was fooled by her false calm. Everyone knew exactly how upset she would be at the person responsible. Without prior consultation and all simultaneously, everyone pointed at the person she was least likely to actually try to kill, or be successful if she tried.

"Gee thanks," Mori said sarcastically to his co-conspirators all of whom, including Mina, were pointing at him. Makoto seemed oddly passive about the entire idea, but of course Rei more than made up for that. By the time Mori looked back at her she had begun quivering to go along with her purple flushed skin. It was only a matter of time before her self control broke down.

Mori had never been considered to be what anyone would call tactful. In point of fact, his blunt way of speaking had more than once provoked people into all manner of foolish decisions, and even on one occasion ruined decades of careful peace negotiations. It wasn't that he was incapable of putting things gently, he just didn't care. Rei got a dose of just how blunt he could be.

"What are you complaining about Rei? I've been inside your head. I know exactly just what kind of hentai thoughts you've had about Jadeite, and if we take the past into account you did a lot more than think. I mean I know exactly who it was that got caught naked in the temple with one of the military leaders of a planet you were practically at war with. Or I could bring up why the palace staff thought one of the corridors in the south wing was haunted. Jadeite was always good with invisibility spells wasn't he, and the poor maids had no idea what else it could have been when moaning came out of empty rooms."

"You did that?" Usagi asked Rei with a gasp, she clearly remembered the incident. Rei made no comment other than the promise of death her eyes held for Mori.

"Usagi," Mori continued heedless of the obvious threat Rei's body language was giving. "You remember her reaction to your mother's request don't you?" Mori's face took on a very Rei-like serious expression, and his voice slipped into a mocking falsetto. "'As you wish your Majesty, but I do not believe your problem lies with ghosts. Those rooms have already been exercised, still if it is your desire I will of course exercise them again.' And boy did you exercise them." The miscommunication was obvious, and intentional.

Rei stopped quivering, her face returned to its normal colour, and all signs of anger and hostility disappeared from the Miko, only Mori missed the obvious threat that implied. The Senshi hastily backed away from the imminent explosion. Even Neko found the excuse of following Ami to get away.

"Mori?" Rei asked oh so gently. She looked him directly in the eyes and spoke straight from her heart. "Die!" she screamed as Mina's missing Moon Sword materialized in her hand. She dived towards him with the obvious intent to carve out vital portions of his anatomy but quickly found herself restrained by her fellow Senshi.

"So that's where that went." Mina said in wonder as she retrieved her missing sword from the snarling Miko.

********

Ten minutes after they had finally managed to calm Rei down to something less than homicidal everyone finally made it to their classes. The impromptu meeting had taken over two hours, and they made quite a stir when they wandered into the class as a group. Usagi of course smiled cheerfully while handing the Sensei her excuse. She spent far too much time holding buckets not to be happy to be exempt this time. Of course the Sensei reacted strongly to the entrance of Konjou and Tenjin clearly remembering the reason that school let out early the day before, but Konjou handled that problem instantly.

Konjou frowned at the sputtering middle aged man and snapped his fingers impatiently. A surprised expression quickly passed over the Sensei's face before he turned his attention back to the class. Much to the shock of the rest of the students he continued his lecture as if there had been no interruption. Several students had their mouths wide open, and even more seemed ready to dash towards the door before he once again reacted.

"What?" He asked defensively, and in a very loud voice. The Sensei again failed to react to the interruption and the stunned students took their seats. Ami shook her head at her boyfriend's antics and slapped him on the back of the head on her way to her seat. He took the hint and quickly found his own desk. Despite the terrified looks from their fellow students, class continued as normal.

Lunch brought about the only other surprises for the day. As had been done since the revelation of the Primarchs identity to the Senshi, Ami and Konjou sat a little ways away from the rest of the group. They were still close enough to be easily included in whatever conversations went on, but were reasonably far enough away to avoid further provoking Makoto. Much to their dismay right after they sat down Makoto came over and joined them. Ami watched her carefully, genuinely confused as to her intent.

"Ami, I think its time we talked, don't you?" Her expression was pleading, and clearly she wanted to speak without Neko's presence. Without even the slightest hesitation she shooed Neko away and waited for Makoto to begin

"Ami, first I want to tell you I'm sorry." She quickly held up her hand to forestall any interruption by the smaller girl. "I knew as soon as I found out what happened that you didn't do it to hurt me, and I'm sorry that I treated you so badly about everything. You always think of everyone else before you think of yourself, I know that. You're a lot like Usagi in that way. But when I saw you with him it hurt, it hurt bad. I loved him, I still love him in a way. He was the first guy besides Shinozaki to look at me like a person." She smiled kindly at Ami before continuing. "He wasn't afraid of me, of course I know why now, and he respected me enough to take my feelings into account. He didn't look at me as just a body, he looked at all of me. It hurt when I realized I lost him, and seeing you happy with him hurt even more. I know how he makes you feel. I wanted that feeling back."

"Makoto."

"No, let me finish. I resented you for having something I didn't. I resented you for winning his love, which I never had, I know that. I hated you for loving him, and that was wrong. I can't blame you for falling in love anymore than I can blame myself. He's the type of guy all of us need, strong, intelligent, compassionate, slightly crazy, and of course there's his body." The last two were said with a wicked grin. "Of course there's all the problems being with him will cause that I most definitely don't envy you for. Like glowing in class, or having a boyfriend a million times more confusing than most boys. Or there's the ruthless temper and trying to explain to your parents that yes in fact your boyfriend is a twelve billion year old alien god. But, I think you still came out ahead. I hope you can forgive me for treating you badly."

"There's nothing to forgive Makoto." Ami said with tears in her eyes. "I'm just sorry that you had to be hurt for me to find love." The girls pulled each other into a tearful, poignant hug that lasted until the tears stopped. When they broke apart Ami looked deep into Makoto's sad eyes and did her best to lift her friend's spirit. "Don't worry Makoto, I know your soulmate is out there. All you have to do is open your heart to him."

"Ugh, don't say things like that. Right now the only guy that wants me is Nephrite, and that's just wrong. Hey, by the way just why did those two bring the Generals back?"

"That's sort of a long story." Ami said evasively.

"Okay, better question. Did you ever find out what Neko's allergen is? I could really use that right about now. He so needs a beating for trying to set me up with Evil Incarnate."

"Umm."

"You do know!" Makoto exclaimed loudly. "You have to tell me! You just have to!"

"Hmm hmm hmm hmm" Ami made vague sounds, absolutely refusing to meet Makoto's eyes.

"Oh come on, how else am I ever going to get revenge Ami-chan?"

"Umm, don't?" Ami asked hopefully.

"Yea like that's gonna happen. Ok fine if you won't help me with Neko maybe you can put that brain of yours to work helping me deal with Nephrite. Have any advice?"

"Make love not war?" Ami said with a smile. At Makoto's sour expression she giggled and tried again. "Can't we all just get along?" She giggled and dashed away from Makoto's startled expression.

"Okay now you have to die." Makoto said jokingly and the two giggling girls ran back towards where their friends were gathered.

A short way away from where the girls were gathered Konjou and Tenjin discussed their concerns.

"/Are you sure you can handle it alone?/" Tenjin asked.

"/Yea, even injured it won't be difficult. The only real problem is the time./"

"/And my assistance wouldn't speed that up?/"

"/No, it can only be layered so fast, and I can still outpace that./"

"/Okay, I don't like it, but I sure as hell couldn't do any better. I say we don't tell them until its ready./"

"/Agreed, they'll be upset as it is. Its probably better to let them have a few more days of peace./"

"/Mina is going to be so pissed at me./"

"/At least I don't have that worry anymore./"

The rest of the school day passed quickly and easily for most of them. Only Usagi had any difficulties, and for once it was entirely someone else's fault. The history Sensei Inishie-san refused to believe that she had done as well as she had on the quiz he gave out without cheating. His loud and scathing accusations quickly reduced the already traumatized girl to tears. He was just in the process of dragging her down to the office when Konjou had finally had enough.

"Do you have any proof that she cheated?" He asked completely ignoring proper protocol. The Sensei gaped at the gall of a student not only speaking to him in that tone, but questioning him as well. "Well do you?"

"Now see here. I will not tolerate you." He never got a chance to finish. He fell to the ground flopping like a fish screaming and crying in agony.

"Unless you have evidence of Usagi-chan cheating, I suggest you apologize to her and get back to your job. Understood human?" He took Inishie-san's convulsive twitching as agreement and ended the spell. Dead silence covered the room as the whimpering Sensei returned to his desk and tore the disciplinary note to shreds.

Of course that didn't quite end the situation. Once again Konjou found himself the centre of attention. All of the students except for Tenjin and the Senshi watched him warily. It continued for several minutes before it finally became too much.

"What?" He asked again. His loud and harsh tone of voice made everyone jerk their heads away from him. Until the final bell no one would even glance in his direction for fear of making him mad.

Konjou and Tenjin didn't bother with pretences once school ended for the day. As soon as the girls gathered their books and were ready to leave, Konjou teleported the entire group to the apartment. From there he sent Rei to the Jinja and Makoto to her own apartment saving everyone quite a bit of time.

Usagi grinned and dashed out the door and down the stairs after giving everyone a hug goodbye. Balancing her books in one arm she knocked on Mamoru's door still grinning. She hardly waited for him to pull it open before dropping everything and throwing herself into his arms. He gave her a warm smile and pulled her deeper into his embrace.

"Hey Usako, how are you feeling?"

"I'm felling much better now than I was earlier. Last night was really rough."

"You mean the battle right?" Mamoru asked looking somewhat stricken.

"No the battle wasn't the terrible part. It was afterwards that was bad."

"But Usako, you said you liked it."

"No Mamo-chan, I don't mean when you walked me home. You know I love you. I mean after you left. When I got inside everything went wrong. From the minute you left until Luna came in this morning was the worst day of my life."

Mamoru honestly looked like he was going to cry. Last night Usagi had given him more pleasure than he had felt in two lifetimes, and now she was describing it like a torture session. He couldn't understand what went wrong. When she teleported away she had seemed very pleased with him. It just didn't make any sense.

"But Usako, what about when you came back over?"

"Huh?"

"What about when you came back. It was around ten thirty or so." He began patiently. "You said you couldn't stand to be alone and wouldn't take no for an answer, not that I was really complaining. Usako it was the most wonderful experience of my entire life, in fact both of them. Please tell me you don't mean that when you say last night was terrible for you."

Usagi's eyes were filled with tears. She had a very good idea what must have happened, and Mamoru's attempt to compliment her by saying that it was the best experience of both his lives was killing her. Still she needed to make sure.

"What else happened?" She managed to say far more steadily than she would have expected.

"You convinced me to see reason about the Golden Crystal."

"What?" Usagi asked in a sick tone.

"What's going on here Usagi?"

"Please Mamo-chan I need to hear the rest of it. I'll explain in as soon as I understand."

"Fine, you told me that we couldn't keep the Crystal for now. You said we were in danger because Iria would do anything to get it. When I agreed you took the Crystal and teleported up to Mori's apartment. Does that help you remember?"

Usagi gave out a tortured cry and ran out of the room. Mamoru got over his shock in time to follow her up the stairs to the penthouse foyer. She pounded on the door and Mina answered before more than a handful of seconds passed. Mina took one look at her tearful friend and pulled her inside. Mamoru just managed to get his foot in the door before Mina slammed it closed.

"Mina, what's going on? What happened to Usagi?" Mamoru heard Mori ask from behind the door.

"I don't know." She responded. "She went down to Mamoru's and came back crying."

"You realize that if he hurt her Neko is going to kill him, slowly."

"He's at the door. He followed her up here."

"Good, then I can find out exactly what happened."

Mamoru debated running before Mori opened the door the rest of the way. Then he remembered that Mori could find him no matter where he went, and running would make it appear that he knowingly did something wrong. He steeled his nerves and awaited yet another interrogation. Inside he mused happily that nothing the Primarchs did could hurt as bad as what he went through yesterday.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

It took Mina and Ami close to half an hour to calm Usagi down enough to talk. In that time Mori had been able to get in contact with all of the other Senshi and get them to the apartment. Mamoru hadn't figured out yet just what was wrong, but he had a very bad feeling.

Neko stalked out of the room that Ami had tugged Usagi into and impaled him with a glare. Mamoru once again debated the merits of fleeing, only his need to understand what happened to make Usagi so upset kept him there in the sea of hostility. Neko obviously knew what was wrong, and just as obviously he didn't feel like sharing that information. Mamoru had had enough.

"Why don't you do something useful and instead of glaring at me like an idiot, tell me what the hell is going on." Mamoru seethed.

"You want me to do something useful? Okay, I'll do something useful." Neko flared silver for a brief instant and everything changed.

The most obvious difference was the enormous field of vision, of course his depth perception sucked now, but he could see everything within about a two hundred ninety degree arc. This of course led to the next difference. He could see his sides, his white fluffy sides. He turned his head to get a better look and screamed at what he saw in the mirror behind him. White fluffy puff ball of a tail, check; Large pink wide set eyes, check; Small quadruped body, check; Huge floppy ears, check. Everyone that hadn't already noticed the happenings turned towards the sound. Ami, Mina and Usagi came running into the room looking for the source of the sound. Even Mori appeared from wherever he had gone to once the girls showed up. The bloodcurdling 'squees' of a terrified rabbit echoed in the room.

"I still say it was appropriate." Neko said sulkily a few minutes later. Mamoru alternated glaring at him with shivering in terror. Mori and surprisingly most of the Senshi had laughed at the transmogrified prince. Luckily for him Usagi hadn't thought it was funny at all. She had quickly demanded that he be returned to his real form. Neko refused, but after one last chuckle Mori changed him back.

"Does anyone feel like explaining just what in the hell is going on? Why is Usagi so upset?" Mamoru demanded once he was restored to his humanity.

"I think you should probably wait on that a moment, Mamoru." Mori said mildly. "See, there's a lot more happening here than you understand."

"So tell me so I can."

"I think I'll let Usagi explain it to you, but first why don't you tell us exactly what happened after the battle last night." Mori said with a small grin.

"No." Mamoru said. Last night was the most wonderful experience of his life. There was no way he would cheapen it like that.

"Well," Neko said, "you can either tell us your side, or I'll just tap into your head and show everyone your memory, your choice."

"You wouldn't."

"Your right, Mamoru," Ami interrupted before Neko could prove him wrong, "he wouldn't, because I'll do it first."

Everything receded from Mamoru's vision save for Ami's eyes. They became the centre of his entire world. Her voice echoed in his head as the white hot lance of pain filled his skull.

"~You hurt her again, Mamoru. We warned you last time what would happen. You might possibly be innocent of any wrong doing, but you're going to have to prove it. The choice is yours, tell us or I'll show them myself~"

Mamoru was bewildered. He'd had no idea that Ami could do anything like that. The realization was sobering. No matter how much more powerful he was now, she was far beyond him. He swallowed his pride and did as he had been told. The reactions varied among the Senshi. There was still some anger, but almost without exception the anger seemed focused on someone other than him. The exception was Haruka, who would never be satisfied with any explanation that someone gave for making Usagi cry.

The reactions of the Primarchs though were considerably different. Mori appeared resigned. There was no doubt in Mamoru's mind that something had gone wrong. Mori obviously didn't have the Golden Crystal and that worried Mamoru. Mordred looked somewhat like Setsuna used to. The difference was that Mordred looked sorry about his foreknowledge. It made not hating him for keeping secrets much easier. Neko on the other hand was looking at Mamoru like he was some kind of repulsive thing that had crawled into his apartment. The irritated long suffering expression he wore made Mamoru want to try to wipe it off his face, fortunately he was smarter than to try that.

"Well, I told my side now what happened to upset Usako?" He demanded of the gathering.

Everyone started talking at once which of course made everyone unintelligible, soon though through simple respect everyone save for Usagi quieted. She told her story haltingly but in a clear voice. She pressed on through her tears and despite her pain she shrugged off any attempt to comfort her. Finally she told of her rescue and let the results speak for themselves.

Mamoru felt truly small. His honest attempt to compliment his love for last night was the greatest mistake he had ever made. His uninformed error had torn deep wounds into his love's heart and soul. One look at her face was enough to convince him that approaching her right then would only hurt her more, so instead he tried to understand how Iria had done it.

"How?" He asked without elaboration.

"Iria is of Clan Soren. One of their family abilities is the power to shapeshift much like I can." Mori answered. "It was a very common power among the Ulterran, some were limited to altering their appearances, and some could only assume a handful of forms, but the people of Clan Soren could nearly match Neko and I." Mori said sadly.

"And the rest? How did she know Usagi's basic mannerisms? How did she know our names, what we call each other?"

"She learned it from Usagi. Once she was bound probing her mind would have taken her less than a minute, especially if she only bothered gathering surface thoughts. A light probe like that could have been done without Usagi even feeling it, and believe me you're always in the front of Usagi's mind."

That statement mollified Mamoru somewhat and gave him the reassurance he needed to continue to try to understand. Usagi on the other hand could still not even look at Mamoru. The pain he had inadvertently caused her was too fresh, too raw for her.

Mina empathized with her princess. Learning of Mori's lingering attraction to Rei had made her feel that her heart was literally being ripped out. She imagined that Usagi felt much the same. Luckily for Mina she now had the ability to solve her own problem. Usagi didn't have that luxury. She had no way to simply become, even temporarily, what she needed.

"I have to go." Usagi said suddenly, and before anyone could say another word she was out the door. Mamoru moved to follow her but found himself floating for his troubles. He turned a glare on Neko and began to give him a piece of his mind.

"Excuse me." He said harshly. "Do you mind? I need to."

"You're hissing at the wrong cat, human. Unless you want to spend some more quality time as a bunny I suggest you take it up with the right person." Neko returned hotly.

"Well if it isn't you then."

"That would be me." Mordred said politely. "It would be counterproductive for you to go after her right now. She's hurt, badly and unlike normal for her what she needs is time to come to grips with her pain. She knows there was no way for you to see through Iria's trick, though I personally believe you should have noticed the errors she made. Iria used you to punish Usagi for her wilfulness and as she believed there was nothing else that could have done this kind of damage, especially coming on the heels of Setsuna's situation. Trust me Mamoru, she will recover. When she is ready she will come to you. All you can do is wait, and love her."

Mamoru's anger deflated and he seemed to sag in mid air. Convinced that Mamoru understood, Mordred allowed the young man to sink to the ground. Once there he nodded to Mordred in both understanding and thanks and left.

The group made small talk for a while as everyone tried to come to grips with what they had learned. Ami found it strange that Mori didn't seem to have reacted to the theft of the Golden Crystal. Also, she had several questions about Iria and Zeryn to ask. It disturbed her that no one seemed to take the initiative to learn what they could about their adversaries, and she still hadn't given up on learning why the Primarchs could or would not restore last nights victims.

"You say Iria can shapeshift like you. What else can she do?" Ami began.

"Well, Clan Soren's abilities were Shapeshifting, a minor form of ancestral memory, and the ability to intensify magic that they cast. I have no idea what her lesser abilities might be." Neko said authoritatively. "Ulterran have two distinct sets of powers, greater and lesser. The greater are all shared by the Clan, the lesser vary from individual to individual. Sorry, that's all I can tell you."

"But you said she was psychic." Makoto objected.

"You're a mammal." Neko countered.

"Huh?" Makoto said. Most of the other girls obviously shared her confusion, judging by their bewildered expressions. Ami on the other hand quickly made the connection.

"What he means is all humans are mammals, and all Ulterran are psychic, it's intrinsic."

"There are a few exceptions." Mordred cut in. "Of the uncountable numbers of Clans there were a few that were psionically dead. We couldn't even read their surface thoughts. They are actually the reason that verbal communication ever came into widespread use. Before then we only spoke to invoke the most powerful magics."

"I still don't understand." Haruka admitted sheepishly.

"Okay, I'll try it this way." Neko Explained. "Almost every Ulterran is psychic. Every one of them is capable of using magic to some degree. Most of them, with notably few exceptions, could channel hundreds of times more magical energy than any human could have hoped to. All Ulterran share a few basic defensive properties. No form of mind control has ever successfully worked them. I know about Chibi-Usa's problems but that was Mordred's Crystal, I'm willing to concede that he can probably do anything he wants, and the Crystal probably invalidates several things I consider holy writ." Mordred smiled at the counterpoint.

"Magics that suppress life force don't work on Ulterran of great power. That means of course that Iria and Zeryn are both protected against almost all Entropy and killing magics, with the notable exception of the Eye of Daharu. Any Ulterran you find will likely be at least ten or fifteen thousand years old, with all the incumbent ability that would entail. To make a point, imagine how good you'd be at using your Senshi abilities after a few millennia of practice."

"Also greater Ulterran can use magic without speaking, or in fact casting a spell at all. The can simply will the effect into being. The more powerful the effect, the more energy it takes. It quickly becomes more difficult and expensive than its worth. Mori over there almost knocked himself out sending that first message to Humanity about the Power Taps. It would have been impossible for him to send the second message about the loss of fossil fuels without Ritual Magic, in fact he would have passed out trying to do it any other way, which is why I did it."

"Now I am confused." Michiru spoke up for the first time. "I thought you said Mori was the stronger of the two of you. Why would he have been unable to do what you did easily?"

"Michiru?" Mori asked politely. "Would you do me a favour? I want you to cast a Dead Scream, can you do that for me?"

"No of course I can not. My magic does not work that way."

"Exactly my point, my abilities are different from Neko's or Mordred's or Lor's or Jander's. My powers are elemental and nature based, energy to matter transmutation and its reverse, command and control of natural forces, and of course transmutation of all kinds. Neko on the other hand is the best at Will Magic. He can do things that I can hardly dream of. Its true that our abilities often overlap, and most of what I can do he can mimic with magic and vice versa, but there are many things that one of us can do that the other can not. These powers are not our greater or lesser abilities though. Those are unique to us, or at least they used to be unique. Mina seems to possess a small amount of the same control of nature I have. I would also be willing to bet that Ami either has already or will soon demonstrate some of Neko's enhanced will magic."

"So you're saying that any Ulterran can use magic, and the more powerful ones can skip the power translation step of actual spellcasting." Ami clarified.

"Exactly Sprite." Neko said with a large smile.

"Okay, would I be correct in assuming that the Silver Crystal allowed Usagi to use a form of Will Magic?"

"Yes, in fact that was the only way it functioned. Even its secondary powers were a result of the stone trying to fulfil its wielder's desires."

"So when Usagi brought us all back to life it was with Will Magic, something that any of you can easily accomplish."

"Yes."

"Then why can't you do the same thing for the people that died in last night's battles?" Ami finished. She was quite proud of her logic trap.

Neko glared at the woman he loved. It hurt and angered him that she wouldn't let it drop. She should have known that had there been any way for him to help those people he would have done so. He couldn't tell the Senshi why he couldn't. There had been no discussion with Mori or Mordred about keeping them in the dark, it was unnecessary. Everyone on the planet with even the faintest glimmers of true magical abilities had to have felt Hotaru open the Eye of Daharu. It would be weeks before the astral vortex ended. Anyone who died in that time was simply gone. Their souls would be instantly consumed completely, oblivion awaited them. Over thirteen thousand people had already been annihilated and more were surely to come. He couldn't lay that kind of a guilt trip on a fourteen year old girl.

"Because I can't." He replied acidly. There was no question that he was angry, no question that Ami had somehow crossed a line she hadn't even seen. Even so, she refused to let it go, there were thousands of people to think about.

"You just said that you could though!" she countered hotly.

"Ami, drop it."

"No I won't drop it. I am a Senshi, it's my job to protect the people of earth."

Under normal circumstances Neko would have seen her argument with a certain sense of humour, but along with the several thousand humans that died in the attack, nine of his newly transformed Mau had also been in the area and were of course now dead. It wasn't her fault, in fact it wasn't even Hotaru's fault, but Ami's stubborn refusal to accept his answer had crossed the line. He did too.

"It looks like you girls didn't do too good of a job last night." He said bluntly. The Senshi reacted instantly and as a group.

The sound of the girls gasping in both surprise and anger at the gibe echoed in the room. More than one of them moved to take a more hands on approach to expressing their disapproval, but Ami didn't have to move to do it. She quickly swung her hand at him with every intent to smack some tact into him and vent her pain, but as she expected he intercepted it before it landed.

Mori leaned a little farther from his long time companion having learned eons ago that even being just shy of invulnerable meant little when an outraged woman was involved, as he did so he kept a tight hold of Mina who was just as displeased as the rest of the Senshi. He could easily see that Ami was straining quite hard to free her hand from Neko's grip. It was interesting to him that despite her brilliance she had yet to consider simply using her newfound power of shapeshifting to escape. It was probably just a matter of conditioning. She had, after all, only been capable of it for less than three days. Regardless of the reason, she failed to utilize her new powers and instead opted to try to physically overpower Neko's grip.

Ami strained as hard as she could. Neko's hold of her wrist was incredibly strong but surprisingly gentle. It didn't hurt her. It simply kept her from smacking him like he so richly deserved. Again she tried to jerk her wrist free with similar predictable results. She could feel the muscles burn in her shoulder and forearm from the exertion. Suddenly her strength seemed to give out. Her vision wavered and blackness took her.

Neko grinned internally at Ami's attempt to match his strength. No matter how much power she had absorbed from him he doubted she would ever accomplish what she was trying. He was a Primarch for Enkil's sake. She levered her arm again twisting to put all of her force against his thumb. Like all of her previous attempts to free herself it was unsuccessful. He watched as her expression darkened, then her eyes widened in surprise.

Neko felt it this time. He was in physical contact with her, there was no way he could have missed it. The life energy she held within her simply vanished.

His senses were wide open. The energy hadn't been drawn out of her. It hadn't dissipated into the air, nor had it went anywhere else as far as he could determine. It was just gone. He caught her in his arms before she even began to fall, and instantly teleported the pair of them to his room. She needed help, again.

Mori's eyes widened in shock at what had happened. Even paying as close attention as he had been to Ami and Neko he had nearly missed it. As the rest of the Senshi turned their angry questioning gazes at him, he wondered just how in the world he could explain it.

********

Usagi unlocked the front door and stepped inside her home. The locked door only added to her misery as it meant that her parents weren't home, which meant she was on her own for finding something for dinner. Further adding to her suffering was the horrid sounds coming from upstairs. A nauseating screeching passing itself off as music, which Usagi personally believed sounded like the noises of some animal being turned inside out, seemed to fill the house. Interlaced in the noise, and thankfully almost buried by it, was the sound of Chibi-Usa's voice. Usagi would never claim that she could sing, but she was an idol compared to that.

Trepadasciously she climbed the stairs seeking the source of the noise. She frowned at the door when she realised her destination was her own room. She nearly wept at the abuses that her wonderful stereo was obviously being subjected to. Quickly she pulled open the door and cringed at the now fully bare sound that assaulted her. Her teeth ached at the volume in her room and once again the horrifying song went into its chorus, with Chibi-Usa's off tune screeching just out of sync with it.

"If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends, make it last forever friendship never ends. If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give, taking is too easy, but that's the way it is!" Chibi-Usa sang tunelessly. "So here's a story from A to Z, you wanna get with me you gotta listen carefully.Hey!" Chibi-Usa shouted as the music abruptly cut off. She spun and glared at Usagi, who stood poised angrily with her finger on the stop button on the CD player.

"Stop that! Noise police citizens arrest!" Usagi chanted in a superior tone.

"I was listening to that!" Chibi-Usa objected.

"No, you were badly mangling an already terribly noise with your mistimed and off key parroting. Besides, you're too young to even think about the things that song was mentioning."

"Too young?" Chibi-Usa sputtered completely ignoring the insults for the moment. "I'm almost sixteen and I know for a fact you were doing a lot worse than thinking by the time you were my age."

"When were you born?" Usagi asked her shortly.

"That hardly matters!" Chibi-Usa objected.

"I disagree." Usagi countered primly. "You're not sixteen, you're not even born yet. You are far too young to be listening to that, and as your mother it's my responsibility to keep young impressionable children like you away from it." Usagi finished smugly.

"This is so unfair!" Chibi-Usa yelled at her mother. "Talk about a total double standard!" With that the pink haired girl stomped out of the room, obviously enraged.

Usagi pressed the eject button and carefully removed the offending disk from her stereo, holding it with the very tips of her fingers as if it were something foul. She dropped it and its case into the trash can and with a tiny flare of her will shattered the offending object into infinitesimal pieces. Casting one last look at the now ruined picture that had once graced the front of the CD case, Usagi snorted in derision.

"And people think our skirts are too short," she said to herself. Usagi grinned and flashed a V sign to her reflection in the mirror. "That handles that. Usagi one, Spore nothing."

With silence again filling the room Usagi sat down on her bed, pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She leaned her face against her legs and rocked slowly as she fell into deep contemplation, trying to figure out how everything had gone wrong.

********

".And another thing. Why in the name of the Moon did you not come to us with your suspicions? You know quite well that mind control magics do not work on us."

"But. But mother, what could I have done. She refused to listen to reason."

"Do you honestly believe that my charge has always listened to reason? You would be sadly mistaken if you did. I will have you know I have spent more time trying vainly to talk sense into our Princess than you likely ever will. I have had to watch her go through her teenage years not once but twice, and even then I have never failed her as badly as you have failed your charge. She could have died Diana. What do you have to say for yourself?" Luna demanded scathingly.

"Mother, I tried my best to get her to listen to me. She was completely fixated on the idea of everyone being under some form of mind control. I even tried to get her to pick any other target rather than Mordred, but she just would not listen!" Diana complained bitterly. She had tried her best, and felt it was completely unfair of her parents to blame her for Chibi-Usa's stubborn foolishness.

"You should thank the gods that she did not listen to you about that!" Luna screeched. "The only reason your charge is still alive is because she chose him as a target. Any of the others would have killed her outright! Do you have any idea how bad that would have been?"

"Yes!" Diana replied indignantly, "I am not stupid you know."

"With what you have shown me so far I have my doubts. I do not believe you truly understand just what repercussions your failure could have had. If Chibi-Usa would have attacked Mori or Neko-sama it would have lead to her death. When they killed her, Mamoru and Usagi, not to mention most if not all of the other Senshi would have turned on them. The best case scenario of that would be the total destruction of all of the Senshi other than Ami, Hotaru, Mina and Setsuna. Even worse would be if somehow the Senshi were able to kill any of the Primarchs. Those four girls need their lovers to survive. If Chibi-Usa had attacked Mori, and the girls managed to kill him, Mina would slip into a coma and die within a week."

"But.that is not how it was." Diana complained. "The Senshi never needed them before."

"Diana, the timeline you came from is gone. Almost everything you think you know is worthless. You simply must adapt to the truth of the situation."

"Fine." The grey cat answered huffily.

"Now, as for your failure, I think I have the appropriate punishment for you."

"Punishment?" Diana exclaimed.

"Yes, as it seems that Neko-sama has seen fit to try to rebuild our race, there are now several thousand Mau on the planet with us."

Diana's eyes lit up at that. Other than her own parents she had never seen another of her race. Several thousand Mau meant at least a few hundred males. Diana nearly swooned at the idea of finally meeting a boy.

"Since you obviously need to learn some responsibility and forethought you are hereby grounded from talking to or coming into contact with any of the males. I will of course consider ungrounding you once you demonstrate sufficient maturity."

Diana felt like crying.

********

Iria gilded down the hall her every movement seductive, beautiful, and entrancing. Her poise was innate, as intrinsic to her as her ability to shapeshift. It was also completely wasted on the deserted passageway.

Despite her own personal power, which was quite impressive, Iria was quite a bit afraid. She had done something that had directly led to the deaths of every one of her predecessors. She had failed. True she had succeeded in accomplishing several other tasks, but she had failed the mission that Zeryn had given her. She had not recovered the Silver Crystal. Worse, it was in the hands of one of the few beings she doubted she could trick. She whimpered in fear at the thought of Zeryn's probable reaction. She didn't want to join The Mindless.

Shivering slightly at the thought of that particular punishment she approached the enormous rune carved mithril doors that barred the passage to Zeryn's personal rooms. She quickly flared her aura to identify herself to both the multitude of defensive magics and to her lord within the chamber. When the wards flickered in response she phased through the doors and knelt before her master.

The room was opulent beyond the ken of mortals. The walls were comprised of Uru and coated with Ephemran making it both nearly indestructible and very beautiful. The Ephemran was enspelled to shift colour with Zeryn's moods. Even the gems that acted as focus points for the multitude of spells changed with the Ephemran. Iria was happy to note that the walls were blue with brilliant green emeralds inlayed at the foci. Zeryn was pleased at the moment. It might just make the difference between pain and joining The Mindless.

Zeryn himself reclined casually on the bed. His emerald silk shirt was untied at the throat and breast exposing most of his chest as it lay open. One of The Mindless, a truly breathtaking blonde just past the age of maturity lay curled up against him like a kitten, doing her very best to draw his complete attention. It was obvious to Iria what she was interrupting, but from his expression Zeryn seemed unmindful.

"Zeryn-sama I bring news of my mission." She intoned.

"Go ahead Iria, tell me your news."

Iria withdrew the Gold Stone from subspace and presented it to him. It shined in brilliant golden contrast to the walls and drew the eyes of The Mindless like a magnet. Iria waited unmoving as Zeryn summoned it to him, when it lay in his hand she continued.

"I was unable to secure the Silver Crystal for you Zeryn-sama. The Gold Stone was still in the possession of a foolish Mortal, but the Silver Crystal has been given to a powerful guardian."

"And why haven't you disposed of the guardian as I ordered?" He returned politely. Iria wasn't fooled by his apparently calm tone, she was walking the razor edge of a fate infinitely worse than death.

"Zeryn-sama, I can not destroy its guardian."

"And why not?" His tone was considerably less pleasant now, and the walls were darkening rapidly.

"Zeryn-sama, the Avatars have awoken, the Will Avatar has reclaimed his Crystal."

Iria had no time to wonder how her master would take the news. Nearly before she finished her statement she was hurled back into the door, waves of unbearable agony coursing through her. For several long minutes she held back the screams trying to tear themselves loose from her throat. Zeryn hated loud noise and the punishment would only get worse of she made any.

"How do you know this?" He continued as if he never struck her.

"From the .. From the mind of the Lunari, Zeryn-sama. He took the Crystal from her a few short days ago. According to her memories he felt she was too immature to wield it." She managed between silent sobs.

"Lunari?" He questioned harshly

"Yes my lord. The last descendants of Lunari lead the guardians of this world."

Iria feared his reaction to learning that. Lunari was the only woman he had ever lusted after that he had been denied. Zeryn didn't take well to being reminded of her, in fact several of his former allies had joined the legions of the dead for speaking her name.

"Are you certain that she is correct?" He asked almost politely.

"She believes it my lord. Not only that but the Crystal abandoned her for the being she believes is Niccolai."

"This is most distressing. With the addition of the Gold Stone we now have two of the five Avatar Gems. We are as of yet unready to come into conflict with such powers." He said thoughtfully. "What of the other Ulterran you sensed. What clans do they represent?"

"Zeryn-sama, from the memories of the Lunari there are only she, her daughter, a male Earryn, and the Avatars. She knows of no others despite the fact that her aura shows close contact with four of them."

"So, there are four Ulterran on the planet strong enough to hide themselves from the senses of a Lunari? Hmm, very well I have a new task to add to what you already must do. You will discover the identities of these rogue Ulterran and if any are female and of sufficient power you will bring them to me. Do you understand?"

"Yes Zeryn-sama." Iria said bowing even lower.

"Begone."

Iria quickly left the room despite the pain still lingering in her. She knew beyond the shadow of any doubt that though he had not mentioned it, Zeryn would not tolerate another failure. She thought back to the time before Zeryn, when her clan had been highly placed amongst Mori's servants. The power and prestige they had wielded had been immeasurable. Only the Earryn stood higher in his service and not by much. Had things been slightly different her father would have been entrusted with the Gold Stone and her clan would have never suffered under the rule of Zeryn.

She clearly remembered the day in which Soren had been defeated. His death had led to the total enslavement of all the survivors. There had really been no point in resisting. Zeryn was a hundred times more powerful than any of her sisters. Her brothers were executed within the first hour. She did her best not to think about her sisters. All of them had at one time or another held her position as herald. All nine of those still alive were now among The Mindless. She would not survive another failure. Death was preferable.

Without further delay Iria teleported back to the small blue world that had so recently became the centre of the conflict. While deep inside of her a part she had almost forgotten wept for her clan.

********

Neko floated over the roof of the Nobara apartment glowing brightly in complete defiance of his and Mori's previous caution. With grand gestures he carved runes of fire into the air. His voice echoed in the magic saturated air around him. With a final slashing motion he severed his direct connection to the long rune chain and, with a supreme act of will, bound the construct to the building beneath him. A purple dome flashed briefly into visibility at the instant of contact. Neko smiled and began yet another incantation.

It was somewhat amusing to him just how far they had changed their activities in the last two days. Gone was any attempt at all to blend in, save for their continued use of their mortal disguises. Of course everyone in the entire school, and likely most of the city by now, knew who they really were but their disguises kept people from thinking too hard about the girls.

His thoughts returned to the hideously complex warding he was placing on the apartment. The sheer power of the wards would stand out like a supernova. Anyone with even the slightest magical ability anywhere in the solar system had to be feeling him place these wards. Of course, it wasn't like Neko cared what people knew anymore. He would not allow Ami to remain in danger and now that Iria had proven that she knew who the Senshi really were it was time to take more direct defensive measures.

The wards he put up would prevent anyone with Ulterran energies other than the girls and the Primarchs themselves from entering. It couldn't actually stop someone like Zeryn from coming through if he really wanted to, but he wouldn't do it easily and Neko would have plenty of warning. He almost hoped Zeryn would try.

Neko thought about the layering of the wards and agreed with his original estimate. Given how long it took for each one to settle before he could place the next it would be completed just after midnight tomorrow. Tomorrow would be a busy day, he mused. Assuming that nothing went wrong He and Mori would need every minute of free time that they could find. Luckily tomorrow was Saturday and the only had a few hours of school to attend.

********

Operation Raiden T-60 Hours:

The hastily assembled but carefully picked men crowded the briefing hall. The nearly one thousand men of the Gunshin Division occupied the vast majority of the room, leaving little space for their fellow soldiers on the Tate Armoured Division. All told there was very close to two thousand people in the auditorium when one counted all of the necessary support staff. The podium was the only area not jammed with chairs, there was no need, they would only hear from one speaker.

General Yamakazi Kazushigi was well known in the JSDF. His story was nearly unbelievable, and unlike most officers the troops actually admired him. The reason was very simple, he had earned his rank the hard way. General Kazushigi had possessed no political connections, no vast wealth to draw from to support his rise through the ranks. In fact he was an orphan like so many others created during the Second World War. When he came of age in the early nineteen sixties he made a highly unusual choice. He chose to turn his short mandatory stint in the JSDF into a career. He served in several small domestic skirmishes, and even had the distinction of having trained with several of the elite international units. Like most of the modern soldiers he had never actually served in a time of truly armed conflict, but Tokyo itself spawned more than enough hotspots to keep him from being idle. His true fame though came from his troops' capture of over one hundred members of Aum Shinri Kyo. Several more of the cultists had been killed during the raid, yet Yamakazi never felt the slightest pang of remorse.

General Yamakazi strode to the podium amidst the din, and drew the complete and total attention of everyone instantly. He stood a completely unimposing one hundred forty centimetres, but respect for his reputation quieted the room. His frowning expression seemed to impale anyone who caught his gaze to their seats. Without any preamble whatsoever his hugely amplified voice crashed over the assembled men.

"You men have been hand selected for what is perhaps the most dangerous mission that has ever been assigned. The kamikaze pilots of the Great War had better odds."

********

Saturday seemed to last forever to Mori. If he wasn't completely certain that it was impossible, he would have sworn that Lor had slipped a few extra hours into the day. The short four hours of school seemed to stretch into what felt like at least twenty. At one point his boredom grew so great he seriously considered, going so far as to begin tossing plasma balls between his hands, incinerating something. Only the direct threat in Mina's eyes stopped him. When the final bell rang the terrified teacher left the room faster than any of the students.

"Mori," Mina said with quiet anger, "you really need to control yourself. How long do you think its going to take for everyone to figure out about us girls if you keep reminding them who you are?"

"I don't really know." Mori admitted sheepishly.

"Well just think about it before you do anything like that again."

"Fine, fine," he said dismissively while ignoring her continued expression of irritation.

After looking around to make sure that everyone had left he smiled disarmingly at her and teleported both of them to the apartment. The unexpected transport caught her by surprise, which was exactly what he intended, and before she could catch herself she was in his arms. Her expression was a curious mixture of pleasure and irritation at his antics.

"How would you like to go somewhere special tonight?" He asked before she had a chance to speak.

"Where?"

"It's a secret, but I'll give you one tiny little hint. It's not the kind of date that you worry about dressing up for."

She contemplated his words for a minute then shrugged in surrender. She couldn't even begin to guess what he meant by that, and truthfully she didn't care. Simply being with him was more than enough.

"Alright, but I have to go home for a little while. My parents haven't seen me in almost two days, other than right before school. I'm sure my mother has probably jumped to all kinds of weird conclusions. If I don't go play her "Darling Mina" for a few hours she'll probably call the police or something."

Mori winced at the thought but stayed silent. Fairly soon, he knew, that would cease to be a problem. His only real concern was whether or not Mina would kill him for it.

Several hours later Mina dashed through the door looking out of breath and very harassed. She had changed out of her school fuku into a short very attractive orange skirt and dress shirt. She had a light jacket just a shade or two darker than the rest of the outfit in her arms, obviously a concession to the possibility that the date might well last long enough for the night to grow cool.

She sighed in pleasure at once again being at the Penthouse. The relief of not having to deal with her mother was profound. Of course escaping had cost her today. She had been forced to agree to bring Mori to meet the rest of her family tomorrow. She only hoped that her cousins didn't embarrass her too badly.

Following the sound of voices she entered the kitchen to find Neko and Ami waiting with Mori. All of them were dressed casually and it became obvious to her that Mori's and her date would have company.

"Mina," Mori said taking her hand and drawing her onto his lap for a kiss. "You're just the person we were waiting for."

She looked at the others and quickly came to the determination that Ami was as in the dark about their destination as she was. They shared a confused and slightly hesitant look before turning their attention back to the guys.

"So," Ami asked with a slightly exasperated tone, "are you going to let us in on your little secret yet?"

"Yea," Mina interjected, "I mean where in the world are we going that's got you two so smirky."

"Funny you should put it like that." Mori said with a smile.

********

She sat in on her bed in her room staring sightlessly at the wall. Ideas rapidly played through her head in how to deal with her problem, Mordred. She had been at it for hours but had yet to come up with one idea that had any chance at all of success. There was just no way for her to catch him off guard and he was too noble for anything blunt. It was frustrating to say the least.

"Hotaru-chan," Michiru called from the doorway.

"Yes Michiru-okasan?"

Michiru came in and sat down next to the brooding youth. They had so much to talk about. Yesterday had been a day of change and revelation. She wasn't sure how to approach her daughter any more. One look at her daughter's pensive face broke the tension.

"Oh Hotaru-chan, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." She began.

"Oh do not give me that." Michiru chided gently. "I can see those busy little thoughts whirring around inside your head. I also have a reasonable idea what it is about. When a young girl has that look there is usually a boy to blame." She finished with a smile.

"Mother." Hotaru returned in the mortified tone that every teenage female knows so well.

"Well, it is true is it not?"

Hotaru blushed all the way to her toes and hid her face in her hands. "It's not what you're thinking."

"Hotaru-chan, how would you know what I am thinking?" Hotaru responded with a very flat stare that stated clearly that she wasn't stupid.

"I saw Haruka-otousan's face when Mori said I had Ulterran energies."

"Oh, well I guess that would give you a little hint would it not? So do you feel like talking about it? I promise to be neither intrusive nor judgemental."

"I haven't slept with him." Hotaru stated emphatically. "He hardly even lets me kiss him."

"My, that is odd. You always seem to be in his arms." She finished dubiously.

"I know, but that's all he ever does. He never kisses me, I have to start them. He has never once touched me anywhere that Haruka-otousan would be angry about. In some ways he treats me like such a child. It's frustrating."

"Have you considered that he just wants to make sure that you are ready? You are only fourteen."

"I'll be fifteen in less than three months." Hotaru returned flatly.

"Even still Hotaru-chan, you are very young. Perhaps he is simply trying to be patient and responsible."

"I don't want responsible." She complained.

"Then perhaps you should look elsewhere. Mordred is considerably older than you," she commented not appearing to notice the look of incredulity on Hotaru's face, "and his duties have forced him to be the man he is. Maybe you need to find someone closer to your own age if you want someone not quite so controlled."

Hotaru stared at Michiru as if she had grown another head. The idea of trying to flirt with one of the boys at school was insane. She briefly wondered how that would go. Probably something like. 'Gee I know you've been making my life a living hell for the last four years, and you think I'm totally creepy, but would you like to go to the movies?' Even better would be trying to explain just why she had to break a date. 'I'm sorry dear but I just had to go change into the skimpiest outfit imaginable and run around with my friends for a couple of hours. No, no I'm not cheating on you, I just have parts of my life I can never tell you about.' Besides, not like she wanted to but, how would one go about breaking up with the Avatar of Entropy? That sounded like a remarkably bad idea.

"Michiru-okasan, I don't think that would be a very good idea."

Any further comment she would have made was interrupted by a knocking at Hotaru's door. Hotaru called out permission to enter and was highly surprised by the arrival of Chibi-Usa. Michiru excused herself and left the two teens alone. They hadn't spoken since Usa's abortive attack on Mordred and she was very curious why the pink haired girl chose now to show up.

"Hotaru," Usa began politely. She was the Princess of an entire solar system. She had begun being taught poise and diplomacy before she could read. Her very existence proved that she was in the right. All she had to do was convince her best friend. This wasn't going to be easy.

********

"Sugoi!" Mina screamed. She had been to a lot of strange places, some wonderful, some terrifying but nothing had prepared her for floating three thousand light years away from her home looking back at the Milky Way in all its unrivalled splendour. She Ami Mori and Neko looked on from thirty degrees above the plane of rotation.

"This is a most wonderful experience. It will be centuries, if not millennia before the human race has the capability to get to where we are." Ami commented.

"Ami-chan, do you ever just. you know turn off the brain and look at something for its beauty."

Ami cast a quick glance at Neko and blushed to her toes before answering. "Yes Mina, sometimes I do but this is something that has to be appreciated on all of its many levels."

Mina rolled her eyes and once again allowed herself to be drawn into the wonder of the tableau before her.

"Ready to see something else Mina-chan?" Mori asked gently.

"Yes." She said still with her eyes glued to the titanic disk beneath them.

Neko nodded at Mori indicating that Ami too was ready to go. Mori quickly checked the rings he and Neko had made. They were still completely intact and glowing a brilliant blue. Ami and Mina would be fine as long as they wore them. With a quick slashing motion he opened another portal, this one to a place just a little more dangerous.

********

"Why can't you believe me Hotaru?" Usa complained bitterly.

"Because you're wrong?" She ventured scathingly.

"Arhhh. How many times do I have to point out the obvious? If my timeline was gone than I wouldn't exist."

"Actually Mordred already explained that little quirk. For all intents and purposes you are from an alternate dimension."

"What?"

"The only way to actively resolve a paradox without unravelling all of time-space is the introduction of a separate timeline in which the paradoxal events take place."

"You mean this isn't my timeline?" Usa asked aghast.

"Not entirely. This is the true timeline in which the paradox of your existence is resolved by your never having been born."

"Then how do I get back to my timeline?"

"You can't."

"Can't Pu just send me home?" She asked hopefully.

"No, right after your arrival it seems that Lor erased the time loop that your existence created. There will never be a Crystal Tokyo as you knew it."

Usa's eyes filled with tears at the idea. She didn't want to believe it, but even Diana insisted Hotaru had been telling the truth. No one could control a Mau and all three of them insisted that the Senshi were free as well. She still had her doubts but they were fading fast.

"Hotaru."

"Shhh, its ok Usa." Hotaru said pulling her friend into a hug. "We're all still here. We all still love you. Things will just be a little different than you remember."

"Why Hotaru, why?" Hotaru knew that the question wasn't about the changes in the future. It was far more personal. She knew Usa wanted to know about her defence of Mordred.

"Because I love him." She answered simply.

Usa was at a loss. It was official. Crystal Tokyo was gone. She knew first hand about the limits of Mind Control. It was very powerful if done right but it had one serious limitation. It couldn't create love. Usa believed that Hotaru was in love Mordred, therefore Hotaru wasn't under control. Hotaru would never allow someone to harm Usagi which meant she was also free and Crystal Tokyo was dead.

"Tell me about him." Usa said softly.

********

Ami looked down at the swirling disk of luminescent plasma and couldn't contain a shudder. Below her was the most destructive object in existence, a Super-giant Black Hole. It sat in the centre of the galactic cluster that her own galaxy belonged to. It's inconceivable web of gravity held the cluster together. The Quasar at the event horizon was the only visible warning sign and by the time it was visible it would have been almost too late for anything to escape. They had seen many wondrous and beautiful things tonight but the thing beneath her feet would feed her nightmares for weeks.

She looked over at Mina and goggled at the expression on her face. Mori had explained to her what the disk was, and what caused it, but she didn't seem to share Ami's revulsion to it. She seemed entranced by it. Ami admitted it was awe inspiring, but its beauty was like that of a snake. Interesting but not something you wanted anywhere near you.

"She's starting to worry me." Ami commented to Neko in a whisper.

"Don't, she's not seeing quite the same thing that you and I are."

"What?"

"She's beginning to see things the way Mori does. Where you and I see only the Quasar, they can see the entire web."

"Oh."

"No Mina, Don't do that." Mori's voice carried over to them. "If you play with the field like that you might cause the singularity to spin. That would be a Bad Thing."

"Why?" Mina questioned curiously.

"Because if it starts to spin it could destabilize the cluster, or almost as bad you might cause it to point its particle emission at something important, like an inhabited world."

"Sorry," she said quickly.

"Mori, I think its time we got on to tonight's main event." Neko called out to them.

"Yea, good call." Once again he checked the girl's rings and once satisfied that they were still in good order he opened another portal.

********

"Oh Hotaru," Usa said gently. "I thought you said you two had been well. together."

Hotaru actually squirmed with embarrassment, for several moments she couldn't meet Usa's eyes. Finally, after dodging Usa's inquisitive looks for a minute or so, she sighed and began trying to explain her most intimate activities.

"Mordred is psychic."

"Okay.." Usa began leadingly.

"You don't it get do you."

"Nope."

"There are ways to be intimate without touching."

"Ummm."

"Fine, okay, just fine. He comes into my mind and we sort of share a wet dream okay?" Hotaru nearly shouted at Usa. She quickly realised her mistake and squeaked in fright at the thought of any of her parents overhearing her. She dashed to the door jerked it open and quickly looked around for eavesdroppers. Once she was satisfied that her announcement hadn't been overheard she returned to sitting on the bed with Usa.

"Wow," Usa said once Hotaru returned. "That's sugoi, all of the fun and none of the worries. So is it as good as the real thing?"

"I don't know." Hotaru growled.

"Right sorry, it's just that I'm jealous. I mean in Crystal Tokyo I'm the Princess. Sure there are lots of guys trying to get my attention, but all they really want is to be the royal consort. They don't want me, they want power. Daddy has been so protective of me that none of the boys have even had the chance to steal a kiss, not that I wanted to kiss any of those losers, but still." She trailed off for a moment a distant look in her eyes. "You on the other hand know that Mordred likes you for you. Don't take this wrong but, you're the princess of a dead world. You aren't going to inherit the Silver Crystal and everyone has always been afraid because you're supposed to bring the silence."

"Thanks." Hotaru said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry it's just with all of that going against you, you know that he likes you for you, not who you are. You're very powerful, but I don't think that he's interested in trying to gain power through you." Hotaru laughed outrageously at the thought of Mordred using her in that way. If there was anyone that could be said to have too much power it was him.

"Hotaru, are you sure you want to change your relationship with him like that? I think it's very romantic that he's waiting for you to be ready."

"I am ready."

"Are you sure he's the one?"

"Very."

"Then what we need is a plan, something to convince him that you're old enough to make those kinds of decisions."

"And just how could I convince him. There's no way to win an argument with him."

"Well, he is the personification of destruction. I kind of doubt that he's ever had a beautiful young woman come on to him."

"Let me get this straight, you want me to try and seduce him," Hotaru said disbelievingly while Usa nodded her head. "With what?"

"Hotaru-chan, you're very pretty. You could do it." She halted her compliment at the sound of Hotaru's mirthless laughing.

"Usa, maybe, just maybe, if I was built like Makoto or Michiru I might be able to pull it off. But Mordred is right about one thing, no matter how much I've lived through physically I'm just a kid. There's just no way I could seduce him like this." Something flashed in Usa's eyes while Hotaru was talking. In anyone else it would have been called an evil glint, a devious idea, but no one had ever thought of Usa and evil in the same sentence.

********

Elios' astral form fled as fast as he could from the room. There was no way in hell he was sticking around with what was going on. Following Usa around and watching her was one thing but if Mordred even thought he was peeping on Hotaru. He was nearly ill with fear at the idea.

He still wasn't completely sure why Usa had taken Mordred by surprise the other day but hopefully it was a one time incident. With what those girls were planning Mordred needed all the forewarning he could get. Again he shivered at the memory of what he had seen.

There was one good thing that came of following Usa today though. Listening to Hotaru's confession of how they were intimate he had found a solution for his frustration with Usa. He was the prince of dreams after all.

********

Ami wept silently at the sight before her. Never had she imagined that anything could hurt as bad as this. Mariner castle lay in ruins. It looked like a sand castle stomped on by an angry child. There was no trace of any of the outbuildings. The reflecting pools resembled nothing more than just another impact crater.

The city the castle had once overlooked was even worse. Not a single building remained. Not even the slightest trace. The broad thoroughfares were completely erased. The enormous royal library that was the centre of the city was gone. The library once held the sum total of human knowledge. It had likely held irreplaceable bits from the time of the Ulterran, now a radiation baked crater marked its location.

Neko cradled her in his arms and gently smoothed her hair. There was no embarrassment, no humiliation at having her pain soothed like a child. Her memories of Mercury had just recently begun to return and now she could see what it had become. Beryl's attack on Mercury had left no survivors, and she hadn't even been there to try to aid her people.

"Why did she do it Neko-chan?" Ami asked tearfully despite knowing he hadn't even been awake at the time.

"I don't really know Ami-chan. This, like so many other atrocities, was meaningless. Metallia didn't need to destroy Mercury to get the Crystal. She probably did it just because she could. The only person that might really know is Mordred and he never talks about things like this."

Mina looked around the dead world and fought to keep from retching. She remembered what Ami's home had been and she felt the loss almost as keenly as Ami did. It wasn't the lost knowledge or the destroyed buildings she saw, but the gentle forest that once lay just outside the city and the multitudes of people that once live loved and died here that tore at her heart.

Mori leaned over and brushed a light kiss on her forehead before stepping away from her. She reached out to him in need but he gently made a motion for her to wait. With a small ripple of light Mori's clothing morphed into the uniform she had first seen him wear. His amber staff materialized in his outstretched hand and began to softly glow.

With a stabbing motion he jabbed the butt of the staff into the hard packed dirt at his feet. Mina could feel the shifting of the ground beneath her as it was displaced. Mori closed his eyes and the glow around him began to rise like mist. He seemingly began to hum lightly and the ground vibrated in sympathy.

"This is when the neat stuff starts to happen." Neko said unnecessarily. Ami briefly tore her eyes away from the odd spectacle before her to give Neko a wry glare. "Mori has never done anything like this before so we don't know if it will work quite the way he's planning."

"Don't know if what will work?" Ami asked.

"You'll see. Just watch, you're probably about to see a miracle."

The glow around Mori continued to increase until it rivalled the sun. His hum began to oscillate in pitch and everyone could feel the ground roll beneath their feet. Mina wasn't sure what was happening but she could feel what Mori was doing. This wasn't magic. This was Mori's true power, and it echoed within her.

His eyes snapped open and he began to speak quietly. His words carried over to them despite the distance and lack of air. Ami was sure that he wasn't talking to them, but to something else. "Awaken my child, swift guardian, your time of sleep has passed. No longer shall you be ignored. No more shall you miss the feel of life upon you. Your hurts shall be soothed. Your paths once again trodden. Awaken!"

The light of his aura seemed to pour down his arms into the staff he held. For the briefest of instants no one could see. The staff glowed brighter than a supernova robbing even Neko of direct observation. A ring of light flashed out from the staff screaming across the ground at unbelievable speed. It disappeared over the horizon and was quickly followed by another. Ten times the staff flared until finally Mori fell to one knee. Mina rushed over to help him, but he quickly levered himself up with the help of his staff.

"Neko, if you would please?" He said appearing out of breath.

Nodding in acknowledgement Neko quickly flared his aura and the four of them instantly reappeared a hundred miles above the surface of the planet. The girls watched in amazement as the surface turned molten. Enormous geysers of magma erupted into the air. It was like watching a computer simulation of planetary evolution. Quickly the crust cooled and water began to fill the shallows. Large seas quickly divided the proto- continents, and blue water once again flowed on the tiny world. Amazingly while they watched green began to spread across the black ground until the entire planet seemed covered by vegetation.

Neko nodded to Mori and clenched his fist. A titanic disk of black metal appeared situated between the planet and the sun. Its diameter was just larger than the corona as visible from Mercury. Directly in the centre of the disk was a huge hole, its function was obvious to Ami. The disk would limit the amount of sunlight reaching the planet to the same that the earth received. If she were correct it would maintain its position and create a near perfect illusion that the sun was further away. Depending on its construction it would also serve to lessen the lethal particle rain that Mercury received.

As a last gift, Mori, with a smile on his face reached a hand out towards the surface of the planet and made a small pulling motion. She watched in joy as a large shape pulled itself up from the ground at the edge of the continent directly beneath them. Despite the distance she knew that shape. Mariner Castle had returned.

Ami squealed in elation and pulled Mori into a hug. Without the slightest bit of hesitance she kissed him full on the mouth earning a cough from Neko and a glare from Mina.

"Hey Sprite, where's mine?" He asked with a hurt expression.

********

Mordred sat in the silver room of Mori and Neko's apartment where he had been staying. He considered once again redecorating it to more his taste and again rejected it. He honestly didn't plan to stay here that much longer and it simply wasn't worth the effort minimal as it was. Tomorrow he would move into his own apartment. Hotaru would enjoy making the selections for all the decorating, not that he didn't know exactly what she would choose, but the simple act of letting her do it would please her.

Of course Haruka was going to be a problem, there was no doubt about that, but he knew he could convince her. There was no doubt whatsoever that it would remain entirely platonic for now. He knew very well that he wouldn't touch Hotaru until she was older. As soon as Haruka understood that, he and Hotaru could begin cohabitating.

That thought led to his greatest problem. Hotaru wasn't there with him right then. He had waited a very long time for her. From the very first instant of his awareness he knew that she would someday arrive. Unlike his fellow Primarchs he hadn't passed around his affections. He had waited for her. Now that the time was so near, now that she had arrived, he was finding it difficult to hold back. If Hotaru knew how close he had came to losing control she would likely have run in fear. He was terrified of scaring her off, oh he knew for certain that it wouldn't happen but whether or not that was the result of his restraint was a risk he wasn't about to take.

Once again he tried to shake off the urgency, of need, that thoughts of her provoked. If he hadn't been so preoccupied he would have recognised the slight tingle that went through him as a paradox surge. As it was his first indication that something strange was going on was when she appeared in his room.

********

Hotaru was giddy-terrified but was doing her best not to show it. She caught their reflection in the mirror and once again was surprised at her own appearance. Only Usa, whose dream had always been to become a beautiful lady, could have come up with a plan like this.

"But Hotaru, think about it. You and I both know what that's like. We've been there. Now you have the power to do it yourself."

"Usa!" Hotaru screeched. "That's just. just wrong!"

"Do you want him or not?"

"I want him."

"Then it's time for drastic measures." Usa finished dramatically.

It had taken Hotaru half an hour to remember what the spell had felt like. Fifteen minutes after that she remembered the chant that she and only she had heard. After that it was a simple matter. It just took courage. Almost an hour later she finally worked up the nerve to begin.

In the meantime Usa had snuck into Michiru's room for her and liberated a few of the things she would need. There was no way one of Michiru's bras would fit but really one couldn't be worn with the dress they had borrowed. She had briefly considered not wearing anything but the dress but the slit running up the side would be indecent without some sort of panties.

Once everything was assembled Hotaru took the plunge. The spell was excruciating but she had felt worse. A moment of vertigo later and it was done. She now had the weapons needed to win the war against Mordred's willpower.

"Oh Kami-sama." Usa said in wonder. "I am so happy I'm not trying to compete with you."

Hotaru smiled in thanks and quickly dressed in the borrowed clothing. She gave Usa a hug absently noting that the silk dress rubbed rather pleasantly over some embarrassingly sensitive portions of her anatomy when she did. "Wish me luck." She said in a sultry alto.

"Luck." Usa responded, and Hotaru teleported away to Mordred. The poor boy wouldn't know what hit him.

********

Hotaru appeared in the room like the popping of a soap bubble. Her eyes immediately sought and found Mordred. She nearly swallowed her tongue in nervousness at his expression of fear and wonder. His eyes raked her from head to toe. It took nearly all of her will to keep from blushing and to keep her knees from shaking.

Mordred stared in shock at the woman before him. He knew for certain it was Hotaru, he was just trying to figure out how. She stood almost as tall as him, close to Haruka really. Her formerly short ebon hair now hung a little past her shoulders. The long black silk slip dress accentuated her slim but curvy body. Though she didn't pack quite the curves of Makoto, she easily put all of the other Senshi to shame in sheer attractiveness. He wasn't looking at a girl. He was staring at a woman in the full bloom of her beauty and he didn't have a clue what to do about it. The most changed yet the most the same was her eyes. The familiar violet orbs held a knowing expression and a hunger that he had never seen.

"Hotaru-chan," he began breathlessly before she sauntered across the short distance between them.

"No no Mordred, now is not a time for words."

"But."

"You said you wouldn't touch me until I was physically mature enough. I think you'll agree that I am."

Mordred found himself nodding emphatically before he realised it. He shuddered and tried vainly to bring himself back under control. It was far more difficult than he expected. In fact it was impossible.

"Hotaru-chan, you. you're only fourteen." He pleaded.

"No, I was sixteen when the Moon Kingdom was destroyed. I'm almost fifteen now. All added up I'm more than old enough."

Mordred began to whimper. Under normal circumstances he was quite certain that he could have come up with several convincing arguments to dissuade Hotaru from doing something like this. This however was anything but normal circumstances. The room was correct, her dress was correct, even the hungry look in her eyes was right. His vision of their first time was coming true but he was certain that this wouldn't have happened for several years. He could think of no way that Hotaru could have altered herself like this without him knowing about it well in advance. Until he remembered who her closest friend was.

Hotaru closed the distance between them and held her hands out to him. He quickly took them and pulled her into his arms. As close as they were in height now he didn't have to bend down to kiss her. The feel of her soft lips parting and tongue taking tentative little dips into his mouth was the final straw. His last coherent thought for several hours was 'Dahak bless Chibi-Usa'.

********

Mina looked down at the world that had once been hers and watched as the toxic clouds continued to swirl inwards. Mori had explained that it would be far more difficult to fix what was wrong here than it was for Ami's world. Mercury had been almost completely destroyed there was nothing to undo really. He just had to revive it. Venus on the other had had simply gone mad. Whatever hell had been visited upon it had turned the world against itself. Mori swore that he could fix it, but it would take days. He had started the process and it would complete itself if she gave it time.

Mina's heart ached for her one time home. Its beauty had been beyond compare. Not even the capitol city on the moon had ever held a candle to her home. She silently pleaded with her home to remember its former glory, to remember the majesty it had once been. She wished with all her heart that its return would be quick, and almost imperceptibly her aura flickered and the clouds swirled faster.

*******

Makoto sat outside on the postage stamp sized balcony attached to her apartment. She took a small sip of her o-cha and grimaced at it's cooled state. She hadn't realised that she had been outside that long. She couldn't shake the feeling that something had changed.

There was something in the air tonight a feeling of expectation that had been met. She didn't know what it was about but it made her feel somehow more alive. It had definitely kept her from sleeping. Not that she really wanted to sleep anyway. Her dreams hadn't given her any peace since the Primarchs awoke, and in the last two days they had been even worse.

Her memories of the time of the Moon Kingdom had been steadily resurfacing for the last several weeks but in the last two days they had been exclusively about her relationship with Nephrite. Her body still felt aflame when she remembered her dreams from the night she had been changed. Whether it had been a result of what she had felt during the conversion or from finding Nephrite alive and as flirtatious as ever she had no idea but she knew beyond the shadow of any doubt that she would never ever be able to touch a bottle of chocolate syrup again without blushing madly.

She was sure of something else now that her memories were returning as well. The Nephrite she had known back then would have died before betraying her. It was next to impossible for her to reconcile the Dark General with the man she once knew. She shook her head violently trying to dispel the warm feelings that arose in her heart at her memories of him. He betrayed her, he had to have. Despite how much her head argued, her heart refused to listen.

There was no obvious sign of it but suddenly Makoto knew she wasn't alone. She whipped her head around and found him floating a few feet away in the darkness. He faced her directly his eyes offering no challenge but not shying away either.

"Nephrite," She said as coldly as she could, which wasn't half as cold as she would have liked.

"Lady Jupiter," he replied bowing formally.

He was once again wearing a uniform though it was different from that he had worn in Beryl's service. It wasn't quite what he had worn as Endymion's guard but it was close. His dark blue side buttoning dress shirt and loose fitting pants couldn't disguise his powerful build. A silver cape fluttered in the light breeze. Makoto sucked in a tight breath at the feelings the sight invoked.

His dark brown eyes were soft with obvious pain. She could tell from long familiarity just by his stance that he was here to apologize. Unlike when she had done battle with him back then this Nephrite displayed all of the correct subtle little body language clues. It was confusing to say the least.

She wasn't dumb enough to have misunderstood Mordred's declaration the night of the battle. Mordred had as good as said that Nephrite was her soulmate and she wasn't about to question him. There had to be something she didn't know about what had happened to Nephrite. She didn't want to think that Neko had brought back the monster that Nephrite had become.

"Lady Jupiter is long dead Nephrite."

"Forgive me Kino-san, I meant no disrespect."

"Why are you here?" She asked in a carefully controlled tone.

"The truth?" He questioned. At her nod he raised a single eyebrow wryly and replied with a milimetric smile. "I needed to see you. I half hoped that you would notice me and force some kind of confrontation."

"What in the hell do you mean by that?" She questioned harshly.

"Just exactly what it sounds like. After our meeting the night before last I have felt a need to end the subterfuge that Mori and Neko have forced upon us. I have missed you."

"You don't even know me."

"I think I do. Do you want me to tell you what I see? You stand there looking defensive with your hands slightly clenched at your sides. You are not exactly set to fight but you are prepared to defend yourself if I come any closer. Even with all that you speak to me without assuming your power. Your questions have been polite even though your voice is tight. You're intrigued by my arrival. You know that one on one you could easily take me now, so you're not afraid. You have reason to hate me but you know there is something odd about what happened. Further you were nearly Neko's lover and you doubt that he would hurt you like this. Do you want to know the truth Kino-san?"

"What makes you think I would trust you to tell me the truth?"

"I don't think you would. I expect you to confirm it with the Primarchs at the first opportunity. You lack of trust hurts me Kino-san but I understand it."

Makoto felt about an inch tall. She knew she should be frying his flying butt right then but she just couldn't work up the anger. He was right and there had to be another explanation. She needed to hear it from him.

"Tell me," she said walking over to the sliding door and with a slight motion of her hand invited him to follow her inside.

********

Mina rolled over and barely opened her eyes into the brightness of the dawn. It took her just a second to remember where she was before the full memories of last night settled on her. After returning to the Penthouse she had been exhilarated. The date had been unusual but amazing. The things she had seen were beyond her ability to adequately describe. After thanking Mori in the most glorious way she could she had felt more tired than she had since the transfusion. For the first time since then she had slept more than a few hours. The comforting feel of Mori's arm across her made waking up a pleasure rather than a chore.

"Good morning Mina-chan."

"'Morning." She whispered looking back over her shoulder at him.

"We need to get ready, today is gonna be very busy Mina-chan."

"About today." Mina began sheepishly. "I kinda promised my family that we would come over for a get together." She said tapping her index fingers together nervously.

"That's a good idea. We already needed to talk to them today anyway."

"Mori you don't understand. It's not just going to be my parents. There will be aunts, uncles and cousins all over the place. My mother wants my entire family to meet you. I'm sure you were able to see what she is like. It's going to be a nightmare."

"Ouch, ok that's going to make this a lot worse than it has to be."

"Make what worse Mori?"

"Let's get cleaned up then I'll tell you. I'd rather not be forced to run screaming while naked."

An hour or so later Ami, Mina, Mori and Neko knelt around the table. The two girls wore identical expressions of horror, though Ami seemed to be recovering slightly. Neko had never been happier that the apartment was warded as heavily as he could possibly make it. He wasn't entirely sure that it would still be standing later otherwise.

"You want us to what?"

"It's not a want Ami-chan." Neko began diplomatically. "Iria knows who you are. How hard do you really think it would be for her to teleport house to house and just wipe you all out when you're alone? Almost as bad, she could just as easily take your families hostage. I know you have no qualms about sacrificing your own life for the greater good but could you sacrifice your mother's? What about you Mina? Could you let Iria torture and kill your parents?" The answer was obvious.

"Fine, I can understand that part but why do we have to tell them?" Mina asked petulantly.

"Do you really think I could convince them to all move in without using magic? Do you honestly believe that your parents would let you stay here with me without knowing the truth?" Mori added.

"Yes." Mina replied. "At least my mother would." She qualified after a second.

"There are more Senshi than just you two though. Makoto and the Outers will be easy to deal with. Rei and especially Usagi are going to be much much harder."

Ami glanced down at her watch and frowned. Her mother would leave for work in less than an hour. If Neko wanted to try to convince her to move, and allow Ami to move in with him he had better talk fast. "Neko if you want to catch my Mother before she leaves for work we have to go now." She said. He reached out to take her hand and in a flicker of light they vanished.

A few minutes later while Mina sat dreading talking to her family, Mordred staggered out of Neko's hallway. He looked like hell. He wore only the pants to his usual outfit. His eyes were completely bloodshot and he shivered every couple of seconds. While she watched he cast a fearful look back down the hallway and hurried into the kitchen.

"Kami-sama what happened to you!" She exclaimed when he fell onto the cushion Neko had recently vacated.

He looked at her with glazed eyes and a trembling half smile. His expression was disturbing to say the least. He had just opened his mouth to speak when someone from her darkest nightmares stepped into the room. Mistress Nine strolled in like she owned the place wearing only a silver sheet held loosely around her willowy form. It was far beyond disturbing to see the smile on her face. She sat down directly in Mordred's lap and pulled him into a scandalously deep kiss, almost losing her sheet in the process.

Mina's brain had temporarily shut down at the sight before her. She tried to make sense of what she was seeing but it was to no avail. Mistress Nine giggled like a school girl and readjusted herself on Mordred's lap drawing a half pain half pleasure groan from him.

"I have to go Mordred. Michiru-okasan will be in to wake me up in a minute and I don't think I want to try to explain this just yet."

Mordred nodded emphatically but whimpered in loss when she stood up.

"I have to change back and find something to wear home. Don't forget to fix that dress." She said with a smile that screamed naughty. Before Mina's eyes Mistress Nine shrank back into Hotaru and giggling dashed back down the hallway.

Mordred groaned lightly and his head thumped hard into the table as he leaned forward. After just a few seconds he once again raised his head to meet Mina's still stunned gaze. He seemed torn between being ashamed and grinning from ear to ear. Shame though was obviously winning the argument.

"If the gods have even the slightest say with us I'll have you know I'm going straight to hell for this." He said ardently before allowing his head to slam back against the table. Mina simply nodded, desperately hoping that she hadn't just seen what she had seen. Mori on the other hand was still staring at Mordred with an expression of profound shock on his face, the eggs he had been frying having long since turned into char.

********

Convincing Mizuno-san was far less difficult than it really had any right to be. Of course given that it was to protect both her and her daughter Mizuno-san readily agreed. The bonus of not having either rent or utility bills and living in one of the most upscale neighbourhoods in Azabu- Juuban didn't hurt either. Neko also promised her that the termination of her lease on the current apartment would be a snap. So what Ami had expected to have been a hard fight was handled simply in a matter of minutes. Joi even had time to grill Ami about not coming home last night before leaving.

Knowing Usagi like they did they decided to first deal with Makoto. It was still before nine in the morning and not even Ami was optimistic enough to believe that their princess would be happy to see them if they arrived. Neko once again teleported them to the front door of Makoto's apartment complex. As they walked up the stairs to Makoto's floor Ami made note to start running every day. With as much teleportation as she did she would quickly become out of shape if she didn't take steps to correct it.

When they arrived at Makoto's door Neko frowned at it. Ami shrugged at his antics and rang the bell. She could easily track Makoto's progress through the apartment as she came to answer the door. First was the very proficient cursing at being awoken. The there was the sound of something heavy hitting the floor, likely Makoto herself rolling out of her bed. The sound of her footsteps approaching the door brought a smile to Ami's face.

Makoto pulled the door open, and glared at Ami. She sighed in frustration at the fully awake and cheerful look on her face. She was obviously still in her pyjamas and definitely not ready to face the day. She had a very brief surge of shyness at Neko seeing her in her sleepwear but shrugged it off quickly. He had seen her in far less.

"What brings you people here at this hour of the morning" she said stepping aside to invite them in.

"Oh, just a little proposition for you." Neko said with a smile.

For a fraction of a second hentai thoughts ran rampant through her mind. They died a violent death at the thought of what Ami would do to them if they were to enact any of them. She released a long suffering sigh and waited for them to get to the point. They entered the front room and Makoto remembered something very important about last night.

Ami frowned at Neko for bating Makoto like that. She was still likely a little sensitive about their relationship. It just wasn't nice of him at all to tease Makoto like that. She followed her friend into the front room and all her thoughts ground to an instant halt. Nephrite was sleeping on the couch.

"Uhhh. ummm. you see." Makoto stuttered.

"Masaka." Ami swore softly.

"It's not what you think!" Makoto nearly shouted defensively. Nephrite rolled over and pulled the throw pillow he had been laying on over his head.

"Really?" Neko asked with an ear splitting grin.

"Yes!" Makoto said loudly, again causing Nephrite to burrow deeper under the cushion.

"So you did do something ecchi. And here I thought you just spent the night talking things through."

Makoto's mouth opened and closed soundlessly like a fish pulled from the water. Her eyes were as wide open as they could possibly be. Her hands clenched and unclenched spasmodically. Finally she managed to get her voice back.

"That is exactly what we were doing!" She shouted defensively. Nephrite rolled to face them and forcibly opened an eye to glare balefully at them.

"I know that." Neko replied calmly.

It was at that point that Makoto realised what was going on. "Quit reading my mind!" She screeched in indignation.

"But Mako-chan I wasn't trying to read your mind. You were shouting your thoughts at me." He countered.

Makoto gave up any pretence of dignity and fled to her room. Ami sighed, bopped Neko lightly on the head and with a muttered "Baka" she followed after her friend to try to explain the current crisis.

Nephrite got to his feet and watched Neko warily. He had disobeyed so many of Neko's orders and broken almost every restriction Neko had placed on him that he wouldn't be too terribly surprised if Neko killed him.

"So Nephrite, did you sleep well?" Neko inquired politely.

Nephrite wasn't fooled in the slightest. Neko couldn't possibly be that calm. There was absolutely no doubt that he had disobeyed Neko. He only hoped when the punishment finally came it would be over quick.

"Yes Neko-sama."

"I find that difficult to believe. Couches are notoriously uncomfortable." Neko paused for a moment. He looked at Nephrite strangely for an instant before continuing. "I think we both know what you've done wrong, correct?"

"Yes Neko-sama."

"Are you prepared for your punishment?"

Nephrite swallowed nervously. He had been there to try to assist Zoicite when he had been caught spying on Mercury. It hadn't been pretty. He prayed that his punishment wasn't as bad. Unfortunately he had little hope of that. Zoicite had only watched, he on the other hand had interacted. He had spent the entire night explaining his side of the story, desperately trying to make the woman he loved see the truth. He must have fallen asleep but he couldn't remember when. Jupiter must have brought him a blanket afterwards, it spoke well for his future chances, assuming he had a future that is.

"Yes Neko-sama."

"You realize that I could quite easily destroy you for this?"

"Yes."

"Do you have anything at all to say in your defence?"

"Nothing that would change your mind, Neko-sama."

"Try me."

"The only defence I have is the same defence Zoicite had. I love her. It was more than worth the risk of you finding out to spend time with her. I told her the truth and I think she believes me a little."

"Is that it?" Neko said harshly. Nephrite nodded glumly and tried to prepare himself for agony he couldn't even imagine. Neko reached out and grabbed Nephrite's hand. He lightly smacked him across the knuckles and chided him in a parental tone.

"Bad Nephrite." With that he followed where Ami had gone leaving a very confused sorcerer standing right where he had left him.

********

They started at the Jinja. They weren't expected at Mina's until early afternoon and neither of them were exactly in a hurry to get there. Rei was very surprised to see them. When they simply appeared at the top of the stairs she almost dropped her broom.

"Good morning!" She said formally but with a friendly twinkle in her eyes. Mina dashed over to her and gave her a quick friendly hug.

"Good Morning to you too Rei-chan!" Mina chirped.

Rei was happy to see them. She was finally beginning to get used to seeing Mina completely coherent before noon. There was something slightly odd about Mori but she couldn't quite pin it down, until she realized just who she was looking at. Mori was out with Mina, not in his Tenjin disguise. That set off all kinds of warnings for her.

"What happened?" She asked quickly glancing around to make sure that no one, especially her grandfather, was watching.

"We have some important news and you're probably not going to like it." Mori said apologetically.

"What do mean?"

"We really need to talk this over with your grandfather." Mori replied.

"Oh my god you got Mina pregnant!" Rei said in horror.

A curious expression crossed Mori's face for a moment before he began to laugh. Rei stared at him in confusion and Mina just shook her head. After a few seconds Mori pulled himself back together and shook his head negatively.

"No Rei-chan it's not that. That's actually impossible. From ummm. exhaustive research during the time of the Ulterran we determined that we Primarchs couldn't have children." At Rei's flat expression he clarified. "If it was even a remote possibility it would have happened a long time ago, trust me."

Rei nodded carefully and sent Mina an apologetic look. It hurt her a little to think about Mori's past. She didn't even want to imagine what it made Mina feel like. It was also a little depressing to think that Mina would never know the feeling of being a mother. She had confessed more than once that she loved children.

"I'll go get him, but don't you want to change your appearance?" She asked bluntly.

"No, it's not going to be important for that much longer." Rei was very disturbed by that statement.

Ten minutes later her grandfather sat shaking like a leaf trying his best to remain calm in the presence of a being whose spiritual power he could feel without even trying. To a priest as experienced as he was there was no mistaking Mori's fully bared power. It was like sitting in the presence of a god. The fact that the god was being polite and even respectful did little to allay his fears.

"Would you please repeat what you said Mordaki-sama?" He requested as politely as he could.

"Certainly. You and your granddaughter are in mortal peril. As I am quite certain that you already know your granddaughter has more than a few secrets. Some of which should be quite obvious to a man with your skills." The guuji nodded quickly doing his best to keep Rei from noticing. "Since you already know that much this will not come as much of a surprise. Her enemies have penetrated her identity. It is simply impossible for any of you to go on as you have been." Mori ignored Rei's sputterings of outrage and sent Mina a mental request to try to calm her friend.

"Neko has warded the building where we reside as strongly as it can possibly be. Though the spiritual defences of this Jinja are powerful they wouldn't even begin to even slow down the forces she now faces. For her safety and your own I implore you that you come with me. We have an apartment already prepared for you and of course we would take care of all the mundane concerns such as bills."

The guuji crossed his arms over his chest and lowered his head against it. After only a few moments he returned his gaze to the being in front of him. It was abundantly clear that he would refuse.

"I am truly sorry Mordaki-sama but I cannot abandon this Jinja. My clan has tended this shrine for over four hundred years and I will not shame them by shirking my duties."

"Hino-san I understand and even respect your dedication to duty, but the forces I speak of will kill you and your granddaughter before even I could cross the distance to here. With some of the dangers death wouldn't even be the worst part. Some of these enemies would devour your soul slowly for the rest of eternity. Surely you understand the danger."

"Yes I'm afraid I do understand. I recognise and accept the risks I take in remaining, Rei on the other hand will be going with you."

"Ji-san!" Rei screamed in defiance.

"No Rei, listen to me. For three years now I have known about your special destiny. I have watched proudly as you used your training to aid your friends. Your dedication to them has always been a bittersweet blessing. I have known from the first day your abilities awoke that you were destined for other things than tending this humble Jinja. You will leave here today. I seriously doubt that the enemies you face with bother themselves with one old man if you're not here to fight them off." He said with a sad smile.

"Ji-san, I can't leave you here alone."

"You can and you will. I did fine on my own for years before you came here. I can do it again." He didn't look half as confident as he sounded.

"Hino-san I can not stress strongly enough how vulnerable you are here. I thank you for your decision with Rei, but what would happen to her if you were taken. She loves you very much. It would destroy her."

"If that event should come to pass I would ask that you kill me rather than allow them to use me to hurt her." His expression was totally serious and unwavering. Rei sucked in a breath at the intensity.

Mori stared hard at the little old man that had single handedly raised Rei to be the woman she was. He was more than a little impressed by him. The strength of character it had to taken to do what he had done was amazing. After nearly a minute of staring, during which time the guuji never flinched from his gaze, Mori nodded in agreement.

He turned to Rei and handed her a small stick. It was less than twelve centimetres long and no more than two thick. She stared at him in confusion before he explained.

"Rei I want you to go around and tap that against anything you want moved to your new apartment." She glared defiantly at him for a moment before silently leaving the room. Mori knew beyond any doubt that he hadn't heard the last of this from her but if keeping her safe made her hate him forever he would gladly accept it. At least she would be alive to hate him.

"Hino-san I thank you for your hospitality." He said formally.

"You are very much welcome."

Once that was said Mina and Mori stood and quietly left the room. As soon as they exited the building they vanished moving on to their last stop before Mina's, The Outer's house. Once they were gone Hino-san sat down wearily and sighed at the death of tradition.

"Ji-san?" Rei said tentatively from the doorway.

"It's ok Rei-chan, really. I've known for a long time that you probably wouldn't be able to continue on here forever. It hurts but we have to face the truth. Besides, just because you're leaving the nest doesn't mean you can't come by and help out when you have time." He smiled gently at her when he spoke.

Rei rushed over to him and enveloped him in a tight hug. She didn't want to leave but her presence would put him at unacceptable risk. She cried at the loss of the only place she had ever called home, and vowed then and there to make Iria and her master pay for this.

"Rei-chan."

"Yes Ji-san?"

"Can you do an old man one favour?"

"Anything you need Ji-san."

"Can you have your little friends come by in those little outfits? It keeps a man young seeing pretty girls dressed like that."

Rei seriously considered stuffing him into the sacred fire.

********

Mina had been dreading this moment for a full day. She stood just a few steps from her front door tightly clutching the hand of Mori who was currently in his Tenjin persona. The visit to the Outers had gone as easily as they had expected, though both Mina and Mori had a bit of trouble not staring at Hotaru. Likely by now all of the girls' possessions and been transferred to their new apartments. Michiru and Haruka had at first complained and even rejected the idea that Hotaru would be with Setsuna and they would have an apartment to themselves until it was pointed out that they would literally be right next door and it would be impossible to fit everything they owned into just one.

Reluctantly they agreed but they had made some not at all veiled hints that Hotaru would not be taking advantage of the situation and getting away with anything they wouldn't allow. Mori had almost swallowed his tongue trying to keep from laughing.

She looked at Tenjin with a pleading expression and with a prayer for strength opened the door and walked inside. All noise cut off abruptly as the gathered family members took in the sight of Mina and Tenjin. They could almost feel the weight of dozens of stares. It was all Mina could do not to squirm under the attention.

"Mother, Father, I'm sure you remember Tenjin." Mina began shakily. "Tenjin allow me to reintroduce you to my parents, Aino Toku and Aino Aijin." Tenjin bowed formally and with the flare of a stage magician presented a very formal guest gift. Aijin's eyes widened in surprise.

"Thank you very much for inviting me into your home."

All around the room relatives goggled at the formality of the young man before them. More than a few of Mina's female cousins began to weep bitter tears of envy. Mina drew confidence from their jealousy and soon everything was going to plan.

Three hours later Tenjin was getting ready to kill people. He had never in his life been involved in a family gathering and he couldn't for the life of him understand their incessant need to drag out each others most embarrassing moments and tout them about. Worse for him was the constant invasion of his personal space. With Mina and the other Senshi it was one thing but Mina's family seemed to delight in crowding him. He was beginning to get positively twitchy.

Mina watched as her cousin Megumi once again step a little to close to Tenjin for her taste. A sliver of worry entered her heart at the brief flash of anger that crossed his face. She stole a glance at the clock above the television and could hardly repress a shudder. They were supposed to meet up with the rest of the group in less than an hour. Tenjin undoubtedly knew the time so it wouldn't be long before he made his announcement.

Almost as if her thoughts had triggered it Tenjin began making his way towards where her parents were seated lightly tugging her along with him. Never in her life had she so wished to be anywhere else as badly as she did right then. She did not want to cross the room. She did not want to try to explain the truth to her parents. Mostly though, she did not want to see that look of disappointment in her mother's eyes again.

"Aino-san," Tenjin said addressing her father but seeming to include her mother as well, "may we have a word with you in private? We have something rather important to discuss with you."

Aino Toku seemed slightly taken aback by the request, Aijin on the other hand reacted amazingly fast, right after leaping to the wrong conclusion.

"Oh my baby's getting married!"

Mina wanted to crawl under the rug and just die.

Mina and Tenjin sat together on one side of the small office room. The loveseat they occupied was a relic from the time the Aino family had lived in England, as in fact was most of the furniture in Toku's office. Mina clutched Tenjin's hand in a grip that would have easily turned the bones in any mortal's hand into powder. Nothing, absolutely nothing Mina had been able to say had shaken Aijin's conviction that Mina was getting married.

Toku stared hard across the room at his future son-in-law. The boy was undoubtedly a good match for Mina looks wise and he seemed both polite and intelligent but there was something off about him. Toku couldn't quite put his finger on it but it was there somewhere.

". And of course I really thought you should have waited until at least after you finished your education, but love comes to us in its own time I guess." Aijin continued talking despite the fact that no one even realized she was speaking.

"Excuse me." Tenjin began as politely as he could. Once he finally had the attention of both of Mina's parents he cast a quick glare at the door making the room completely sound proof much to the disappointment of Mina's other relatives who were currently stealthily pressing glasses to the wall and door in an attempt to eavesdrop.

"Well boy," Toku said, "go on."

"Right, sorry. Before this got out of hand Mina and I," Tenjin carefully ignored Mina's growl of dissention, "felt it was past time for you to know the truth."

"The truth about what?" Toku said neutrally.

"My baby is pregnant!" Aijin squealed.

"Umm, no." Tenjin quickly interjected. "It's just that she has been keeping a secret from you for quite a long time.

Mina growled at Tenjin and took over the explanation. "Mother, father do you remember when I got Artemis?"

"Yes." Toku said shortly. He never really liked the cat despite how well behaved it was.

"Well Artemis isn't just an ordinary cat."

"Yes Mina-chan," Aijin said pleasantly. "Artemis is a very smart cat. He's always been so good about going outside to make his little messes and he's never coughed up a hairball on the floor or shredded the drapes or any of the normal little kitty pranks."

Mina knew this was going to take a while. Tenjin on the other hand displayed his usual total lack of tact. She tried to stop him but by the time she realised it, it was far too late.

"No Aino-san." He said speaking to Aijin. "What she means is Artemis is actually an alien being called a Mau and four years ago it awakened her to the knowledge of who she really is."

Toku didn't particularly like the direction this conversation was going. That nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right about Tenjin intensified dramatically. He half wanted to ask the boy to leave but something inside of him needed to hear what the children were talking about.

"What do you mean, boy?" He asked gruffly. Mina really, really, really hoped that Tenjin didn't take offence to her father's tone. She squeezed his hand even harder in both comfort and warning.

"I'll answer that father." She replied. "I am Sailor Venus." She watched her parents' faces for a moment. Her father's frown deepened as he tried to take in what he had just been told. Her mother on the other hand simply laughed.

"Oh Mina you're so funny. Leave it to you to say something like that to make your father and I laugh. No we really must get back to discussing your wedding plans."

"Venus Crystal Power, Make Up!"

A brief light show and a flash of skin that no father ever wants to see of his teenaged daughter later, Sailor Venus stood head held high facing her parents. Her mother seemed glued to her seat her eyes were as wide open as they could possibly be. For years she had secretly followed the exploits of the city's fuku clad defenders and now here in front of her was her daughter a part of them. She squealed in delight clutched her hands under her chin and practically danced in her seat. Toku on the other hand was not amused.

"Mina for Kami sakes put some clothes on!" He demanded loudly. "Do you have any idea what that outfit looks like?" He glared at Tenjin. "Cover your eyes boy!" Once again he returned to his tirade at Mina. "Please tell me you don't do that changing thing in front of other people! You're naked when you do that! What are you trying to do Mina, give me a heart attack?"

Toku returned his glare to Tenjin. He was justifiably beyond irate but something within him knew that provoking the polite seeming boy would be a mistake. With great effort he modulated his tone to something less than belligerent and continued the interrogation.

"And just who are you then? Are you that fool that runs around in formal wear tagging along after them like a lost puppy?" He snarled. Tenjin's face pulled up like he had eaten several rotten lemons.

"Please," He said with a horrified expression, "let's try to keep this polite." Mina absently bopped him on the head for his treatment of Mamoru.

"Well if you're not that Tuxedo whatever guy then just who are you?"

Mina watched the dawning horror on her fathers face as Mori resumed his normal form. The sight even managed to cut through the 'happy fog' that had so enveloped her mother. Mori bowed while remaining seated and answered him with a smile.

"My name is Mori. Pleased to meet you."

It took a few minutes before Mina was able to calm her parents enough to continue the discussion. Of course Toku had considerably more difficulty dealing with the situation, but that was just because that he, unlike his beloved wife, was sane.

He had of course started off a bit harsh. "Mina I absolutely forbid you to see this person!" But he soon moderated his stance a little. "If he even thought about touching you I'll cut his." That too eventually gave way until they reached a compromise. "You better not hurt her mister. I can promise you that I'll be watching you like a hawk."

Mori of course took the whole thing in stride. "Zzzzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzzzzz"

"Mori stop that!" Mina yelled embarrassed. "We both know you don't sleep." She fought a grin despite her mortification when he pretended to stretch and yawn himself awake.

Finally they got around to discussing the real reason they were there. The Ainos didn't like the idea of moving one bit. The thought of leaving the home they were struggling to buy didn't sit well with either of them. Only the certainty in their daughter's voice that their survival depended on it made any impression.

"And what makes you think you can stop these Ulterran from doing whatever they want if we lived in that apartment?" Toku questioned roughly. He quailed slightly when Mori's aura manifested. A deafening roar just outside the window drew his attention to a solid column of lightning that had formed in his back yard. It extended to a sky black with roiling storm clouds that had been less than a few minutes ago completely clear.

"That." Mori said calmly. "Well that and the fact that Zeryn is mortally terrified of annoying me. He might possibly have the guts to strike at a target that would hurt Mina, but not right under my nose. That would be suicide." Toku couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"Does this mean you're not getting married?" Aijin asked sounding heartbroken.

"Ehhh, no. Sorry." Mori said looking a little put off. Mina frowned at him.

********

Ami and Neko arrived at the Tsukino residence just a little before noon. They had decided to kill some time after dealing with Makoto and had whiled away more than an hour just walking through the park. It was rare for Ami to go there without fighting a demon of some kind. As Haruka had once said only couples and pigeons went there, somehow she had of course forgotten Damians, Cardians, Youma, Droids, Phage and Mirror Dollies.

Ami pressed the doorbell and waited patiently for someone to answer. She was amazed when Usagi herself answered only a few seconds later. Even more startling was the fact that Usagi looked wide awake, not exactly happy but awake. She motioned them inside and trudged towards the stairs. Luna, who had been curled up in the sunlight on the back of the couch, came to immediate attention when Neko passed by. She nipped Diana awake and the two of them quietly joined the procession.

They found Usa sitting on Usagi's bed obviously seething. It was quite evident that something was going on between the Princesses and it wasn't good. Usagi pointedly ignored the pink haired girl and quickly took a seat on the floor.

"So what's up?" She asked sounding irritated.

"Usagi, we have a very big problem." Ami began.

"Nope, we can't have any problems. We have too many problems as it is, there's just not room for any more. It will just have to wait it's turn."

Ami could hear the humour in Usagi's voice but contained within the humour was an obvious request. If they could possibly hold off trying to deal with whatever they needed Usagi would appreciate it. Ami wished she could have complied. Unfortunately this was too important. It was literally a matter of life and death.

"I'm sorry Usagi-chan, but this is very important."

"No."

"What?" Ami said bewildered.

"No, it's not important. I can't take any more Ami-chan. I just can't." Usagi said with tears filling her eyes.

Ami had been afraid of this. It had been building for a good long time. Usagi had always been a little more fragile than the rest of them but she had borne up well during all of their many troubles. Ami had always secretly believed Usagi's optimism was rooted in her assurance that everything would be alright in the end. The death of Crystal Tokyo had shaken that foundation. With no guarantee of the future and the staggering amount of troubles they now faced Usagi was beginning to break under the strain.

"It's ok Usagi-chan." She said trying to calm her now crying friend.

"Yea Odango grow up, we have work to do. Sitting around crying about it won't fix what's broken." Usa added disdainfully.

"Shut up!" Usagi snarled wheeling around on her quasi-daughter. "I thought you I told you not to speak until spoken to!"

"What kind of a mother are you!" Usa cried.

"The only one you'll ever have." Usagi returned wearily. "In case you can't tell I'm having a little trouble of my own here." Usagi said not looking at them, her voice dripping with poorly disguised pain.

"Usagi, dealing with this new problem will help a lot with some of the others." Ami said gently.

Usagi turned a hopeful look at Ami. Her expressive blue eyes were still half filled with tears but some of the pain was gone. She looked at Ami as if she were her only salvation. Ami only wished the solution wasn't going to be as painful as she knew it would be.

*********

"You want me to what?" Usagi said in disbelief.

"You have to Usagi. I don't think we could convince them without knowing the truth. Besides all of the other parents know by now so it will not be long before yours find out no matter what." Ami replied.

"This is your idea isn't it?" Usagi accused Neko bitterly.

"As a matter of fact it is. Mori and Mordred agreed with me instantly when I brought it up but the initial plan was mine."

"Why can't we just stay here."

"Iria."

The name caused both Usagis and the grey Mau to shiver. Spending the entire night tied up never knowing if you would live to see the dawn would tend to leave a lasting impression. Usagi still looked ready to argue though.

"How would this help with anything else. It will just make all my problems worse."

"First, you would be immeasurably better defended. You would know for certain that she isn't coming back. Second, you would be much closer to Mamoru. In fact it just might be possible for you to stay with him instead of your parents. It's not like you would be far away from them and they have to know by now just how deeply involved you two are. Third, you would know beyond the shadow of a doubt that your family is safe. Living there they would all be under the protection of not one but three Primarchs."

"Four." Neko countered gently.

"Four?" Ami asked.

"Lor, he lives down on the fourth floor."

"Oh ok, four Primarchs. No one is stupid enough to go up against that."

"Especially with Mordred as one of them." Neko said with a very serious expression.

Usagi felt beset at all sides. She didn't want to move, she liked her home. Even the thought of staying with Mamoru meant considerably less when it meant leaving like this. She almost didn't agree until she remembered how helpless she had felt in Iria's power. There was no question that Iria scared her, and she wouldn't risk letting Iria get a hold of her family.

As a group all of them, including Usa, walked down to talk to Usagi's parents. Kenji and Ikuko were somewhat startled to be confronted be such a gathering. Of course that would turn out to be nothing compared to hearing what Usagi had to say.

"Mom, dad there's something I have to tell you."

Much later the Tsukinos would learn to laugh about what happened that day, at the time though it was chaos. Throughout Usagi telling her tale her parents went through the entire gamut of coping. They began with denial which quickly moved on to depression then anger until the first glimmers of acceptance began to surface.

That lasted until it was explained just exactly who Chibi-Usa was. Kenji was all for castrating Mamoru on sight but Ikuko looked on the pink haired teen with new wonder. They were both understandably upset with the amount of deception that had gone on beneath their noses yet in their eyes dawned a new respect of their daughter. Her difficulties in school became much more understandable when the obstacles in her life became known. They stood staring at her with pride at the end of the tale.

".And that's why we have to leave." Usagi finished.

"I don't understand Usagi-chan." Ikuko began

"I don't either." Kenji agreed with her. "It seems you've been doing this for years and nothing has happened to us. I would have been upset if I had known back in the beginning but you certainly have proved that we have nothing to worry about."

"That's just it Tsukino-san," Ami began, "you do have to worry about it now. This is nothing like it was before."

"Nonsense. None of your other enemies have ever tried anything like that. We can't just give up our home because some lunatic may someday decide to attack."

"Their other enemies were weaklings and fools Tsukino-san." Neko spoke up for the first time. "You have no conception of the power that their enemies wield. Beryl was for all her evil merely a human. Her generals were the same. Ali and Ann were pathetic dryads. Like Beryl the people of Nemesis were just that, human. The servants of Pharaoh 90 were little more than minor demons. Only Galaxia of all the threats they have faced possessed even a glimmer of true power. Iria and Zeryn are Ulterran Elders. They are several orders of magnitude more dangerous than all of their previous enemies combined. If sufficiently provoked Zeryn could scour this entire planet of life in an instant. The defences your daughter has always enjoyed that protected her identity are meaningless against that kind of power."

Ikuko was convinced, she more than anyone wanted to protect her children. The house that Kenji had worked so hard to afford was simply that, an object. It was easily replaced but her family was another matter. She looked at her daughter and with new eyes at her granddaughter. She couldn't lose them and that's exactly what would happen if they didn't take this seriously.

"Anata, I think we should do what they say." She began.

"I will not be ordered around in my own home!" He shouted. Before he even got the chance to finish whatever he was saying he found himself and his entire family, including Shingo who had been visiting a friend, standing in the front lawn.

"Under other circumstances I would try to be more diplomatic with you Kenji," Neko said abruptly, "but to tell you the truth right now I just don't even care to try." Neko imperiously pointed a hand at the Tsukino home and it exploded. "Usagi, Usa all of your families things have already been moved to the apartments. You and Usa will be staying with Mamoru for now, your parents and Shingo have their own. I expect you to have your parents there in no less than three hours. Do you understand?"

"Hai." Usagi said eyes wide in shock.

"Oh Kenji, don't bother trying to order her around. As the head of her clan I outrank you, and should you give me no other choice I'll come up with another solution. Usagi is my forty something great granddaughter, she matters to me, you don't." Neko's glare stayed in Kenji's mind long after he disappeared, and the implied threat would last a lifetime.

********

Rei sat down on her bed and looked around her new room. In many small ways it looked much like her bedroom at the shrine had but it didn't feel like home. She had been moderately surprised to find that she and Makoto actually shared the apartment, but given their position as the only single Senshi it made sense.

It was a little hard to come to terms with the idea that all of the other Senshi, including both Hotaru and Chibi-Usa, had someone in their lives. She half smiled at Chibi-Usa's original reaction to being set up. Once everyone calmed down though, Usa had admitted to all of them that she didn't mind at all. As the Princess of Crystal Tokyo she had always expected to have an arranged marriage. It was only the shock of it actually happening that caused the outburst. She was also very pleased with who they chose. Of course even Rei admitted that Elios was attractive.

Rei was halfway across the room before she even realized that she had stood up, and almost on autopilot she made her way to Makoto's door. She really needed someone to talk to and Makoto was very close. Hopefully she wasn't busy. She was the only person Rei felt like she could identify with right then.

Rei knocked on the door to announce herself and walked into her roommates room. She stopped and looked on in total disbelief at the sight revealed to her. Makoto sat on her bed leaning against the wall with her knees tucked to her chin laughing while Nephrite sat on the floor facing her. He was also laughing though not nearly as much as Makoto.

The scene was completely innocent and yet felt like a complete betrayal to Rei. Rei knew that there had to be something she didn't know about the past but that had little effect on her feelings. She remembered the pain of seeing Jadeite arrayed against her. She would never forgive that.

"Sorry," Rei said quickly before ducking out of the room. The privacy wards that sealed off every apartment meant that occasionally people were going to get nasty shocks like that. There was no way for them to prevent it. They weren't telepaths like the Primarchs were. Rei and Makoto had already discussed that little problem and decided to be mature about it. If one of them walked in on something private, or something they didn't want to know, they would simply do their best to forget about it and smack Mori and Neko later.

Feeling even worse than she had been, Rei threw herself on the couch and stared out the sliding door to the balcony. There were six apartments per floor and like the rest of the Senshi she lived on the fourteenth floor. She and Makoto's apartment was on the same side of the building as Mamoru's she knew that if she walked out on the balcony and leaned out past the dividing wall she would just be able to see onto Mamoru's. If she looked down she would be able to see directly onto the Generals'.

Her mind was caught in a loop. Everyone had someone but her. No matter what else she tried to think about everything led back to that. All of her friends were with their significant others, with the possible exceptions of Setsuna and Chibi-Usa. She briefly considered calling on one of them before dismissing the idea. She had so little in common with Setsuna that they would likely just sit in silence, something that was far too conductive to the types of brooding thoughts that she was trying to avoid. Usa on the other hand would babble on about how wonderful Elios was, and how lucky she was to have someone like him. In short it would be like talking to Usagi about Mamoru. Drinking a few litres of paint thinner sounded more pleasant.

Over time the warm sunlight and her own depression conspired against her. She found herself slipping lightly into sleep, and like every time she had slept recently the dreams came.

Once again he spun her around while she laughed. They flowed smoothly around the dance floor completely unaware and unconcerned with the other couples that shared the space. He dipped her dangerously far back but she had no fear that he would drop her.

"You dance well Lady Mars." Jadeite commented.

"As do you Lord Jadeite. I find it strange that a man who supposedly spends all his time preparing for war would be quite so proficient in something so peaceful."

"Ahh Lady Mars, there are more places to wage war than on the battlefield." He replied with a disarming smile. "One would agree it would be far simpler to conquer a world by conquering its princess's heart."

"Is that what you do here?" She questioned just a bit coldly.

"Not in the least. It has been said it would be far easier to conquer Mars itself than capturing its lady's heart." His eyes flashed laughter and again their steps led into a twirl. This time it was a bit faster and she found herself deep in Jadeite's embrace his arms wrapped around her from behind holding her crossed hands as it ended.

"You are very brave. Few men would dare take such liberties without permission." She said looking flirtatiously over her shoulder at him. Her eyes burned with invitation.

"Then most men are fools. There are some women worth any risk." He leaned forwards just a bit and brushed his lips across her neck. The breath caught in her throat at the feeling. No man had ever dared as much. The thrill of his forbidden liberties was enticing.

This was the first time in almost a decade that the Earth had sent a peace delegation to the Moon. The two worlds weren't actually at war, but they had never been friendly either. There were ancient laws still enforced that made it a crime for the Earthlings to be here without specific invitation. She didn't know the origin of those laws, but they would be much harder for her to enforce now that she had met one of these Earthlings.

She gasped when one of his hands, hidden from direct observation by his swirling cape slid down her side brushing fearlessly over parts of her most men were afraid to dream about. Her nipples tightened painfully at the near caress. He pulled her a little tighter to him and she could feel his firmness pushing against her through their clothing. Her knees went weak at the feeling and she could do little more then trust in his strength while he held her close.

"You're a lovely armful Lady Mars." He said still swaying to the music. Her face and neck had turned as red as the sky of her world. He held her in such a way that no one could tell that he was practically making love to her right there on the dance floor. Her heartbeat rose until she was sure that her entire body was pulsing with it.

"Please Lord Jadeite, I. I." She breathed heavily.

"What do you want of me my little firebrand?" Jadeite knew this had gone much too far.

Originally he had complained when Endymion and requested that he accompany him to the Moon. He had no interest in playing the diplomacy game with the infamous snobs of the Lunar Royal Court. His reluctance was proven well founded by the majority of the nobles. Few of them could see through the thick cloaks of self importance they wrapped around themselves. This ball was more a chance for the snivelling sycophants to see and be seen. That was until the Royal Wards had arrived.

It was well known on the Earth that one of the major ways the Moon kept it's stranglehold on the rest of the solar system was its holding hostage of the crown princesses of all of the other inhabited worlds. From their eighth birthday until whenever they took the throne of their homeworlds themselves the little girls became wards of the Moon Queen. It kept the parents in line quite nicely and allowed the Lunar Royal Family to indoctrinate the little girls to their way of thinking. Jadeite was beginning to question whether or not what he had always been told was the truth. Lady Rei didn't seem like anyone's fool.

From the moment he spotted her amidst the cluster of little Princesses he had been drawn to her. At first he had only intended to talk with her but as he approached the giggling gaggle of young ladies something strange happened. Instead of striking up some totally inane and pointless conversation he had asked her to dance. He hadn't let go of her since. His actions were completely scandalous. He was single handedly monopolizing the Royal Princess of Mars and he didn't feel the slightest bit of shame. The fact that she seemed to share his delight in each others company wasn't hurting in the least.

"I think I want you to kiss me." She said breathlessly once again peering over her shoulder at him with those vivid lavender eyes. He could have no more refused her than he could simply stop breathing. The kiss deepened until it was far too intense for public viewing.

"Lady Mars," Jadeite said out of breath. "I don't believe I can take much more of this."

"Nor can I Lord Jadeite." She looked around quickly and came to a decision. "Follow me." She strode as quickly as decorum allowed out of the ball room and towards the temple. She was the High Priestess, no one would dare question her right to enter. No matter whom she had with her.

Rei awoke with a start, her body aching for the conclusion to her dreaming activities. She couldn't even begin to bring herself under control. Even the thought of trying to ignore her body's demands was painful, and she knew that the release she craved could never be sated on her own.

Staring out the glass balcony door she wept in pain at her body's betrayal. She was so caught up in her misery that she almost missed him standing just outside staring back at her. One look at her tear streaked face brought him to her side despite the innumerable dangers.

Rei didn't even react when Jadeite teleported into the apartment. She didn't react when he knelt at her side. She didn't even react when he spoke softly to her, pleading with her to tell him what was wrong. When he gently touched her face she attacked him.

Jadeite almost didn't get out of the way in time. Her fist passed through where his head had been a fraction of a second before with enough force to dent a fifteen centimetre thick steel wall. A simple graze would kill him.

"Mars, calm down!" If anything his words only made it worse. For almost five minutes she attacked in a blind rage. She was too angry for any of her hard earned skills to shine through. Had she retained those skills Jadeite would have been a dead man, as it was a half blind child could have avoided her attacks. Once she had worn herself down he caught her and held on tight, both in an attempt to comfort her and to keep her from killing him.

"I hate you." She whispered. Her words cut him deeper than any blade ever could.

"I hate you Jadeite. Kiss me."

"Mars?" He whispered.

"Don't you dare talk to me. Just kiss me." Jadeite complied and once again gloried in the feeling of the woman in his arms.

One kiss led to another and soon their hands were all over one another. Jadeite began carefully walking them towards the open door to her bedroom giving her plenty of opportunity to change her mind. Once they were through the door she closed it with her foot ending any doubt that she knew what she was doing. Moments later they were both naked and he laid her down gently on her bed. He tried to move slowly, to give her time to decide but she reached out and pulled him down onto her.

"I know that you're thinking of the Lady Mars you knew so long ago Jadeite." She said once he was fully inside her. "I don't mind. You can think whatever you want to make it through the day." Her words hurt in almost direct counterpoint to the rising bliss he felt.

"I've learned that hard way not to fight destiny Jadeite." She said in gasps. "You can think of Lady Mars because it doesn't mater, I'll think of a man worth a million of you, don't mind me when I call out Mori's name."

********

School on Monday was interesting to say the least. Konjou and Tenjin spent the vast majority of the day sending telepathic messages to the Senshi while still trying to appear to be paying attention. They had no problem but it caused a few tense moments for the girls. Laughter at inappropriate times was highly frowned on and Makoto beginning to cackle madly during a history review of Nazi Germany was considered in very bad taste. Only the Sensei's fear of Konjou and Tenjin kept her from detention.

Near the end of the day Konjou complained of the sounds of large vehicles several times. Ami too thought she heard something but it was so hard for her to concentrate on just one sound among the multitude that she could hear that she wasn't sure. When the final bell rang Hikage appeared in the room with all of the Outers save Setsuna. The fact that the door was still closed and no one had yet left their seats was not lost on anyone.

"Stay in your seats." Hikage commanded softly. No one moved. "Mori, Neko you have a few visitors outside that you should see to before the classes release."

"What?" Mori asked assuming his normal appearance.

"Look outside."

Mori and Neko ran to the window and found the source of noise he had been hearing since just after lunch. A full infantry and armour division guarded the exits of the school ground. Neko actually managed to look offended.

"What in the hell do they think they're doing?" Neko asked Mordred.

"Killing you I'd assume."

Neko actually laughed out loud. "With what?"

"Lots and lots of very big guns and if that doesn't work they will like try less conventional methods.

"Mori?" Neko asked.

"Yea, I think we outta go nip this in the bud. This could way too easily get out of hand."

The horrified students watched as the beings that spoke so casually of taking on the most elite forces of the JSDF teleported out of the building to the courtyard below. Every window on that side of the building quickly became crowded with faces and students that had found themselves locked in their classrooms watched the face off between their government and beings able to put the Senshi down.

********

General Yamakazi had briefed his troops well. The fact that they didn't flee in panic at the first sign of their quarry flouting the laws of physics was a good sign. They had spent a full day reviewing every piece of surveillance footage that any camera anywhere on earth had of the targets. No one was sure about the extent of their powers but one thing was certain, if they waited for the aliens to strike first then it would be too late.

"Mordaki! Niccolai!" General Yamakazi called out using the names they had identified themselves as during their apparitions. "You are ordered to surrender yourselves to the authority of the Government of Japan. You will lay down on your stomachs immediately and place your hands behind your heads."

Mori looked at Neko and the two of them bust into laughter. There was no way in hell that any amount of mortals could make them do anything.

"No thanks," Mori said still smiling, "I'd rather not. My shirt's all so nice and clean and well it just isn't worth the hassle for me to get it dirty like that. Besides do you really think you can make me?" Any further comments he would have made were drowned out by the continuous rolling reports of nine hundred sixty American made M-16 A2's concentrating fire into a space less than two metres square.

The horrific cacophony lasted thirty seconds as men ran their weapons dry again and again changing clips until they were through half of their supply. Nothing should have survived. The Teflon coated bullets could punch through five centimetre thick Kevlar body armour. That many rounds striking that small of a space could have torn a hole in a battleship. The rounds still floated in the air before their targets. Not one of them got any closer than a dozen centimetres. The result of so many rounds impacting on each other almost created a lead wall in front of the Primarchs.

"Do you think they get the point?" Neko asked in a loud voice once the echoes cleared.

"Nope."

"I didn't think so either. Next time I get to stop the bullets, okay?"

"If you think it will do any good, personally I think I should give them their bullets back."

"Now now Mori, you're always warning me about being too bloodthirsty. It's not these humans' fault they were ordered out here."

"Fine do it your way, but I still think a few examples would handle the problem."

"Mori, one 'example' would trigger a massacre."

"Like I care. They're only humans."

The assembled troops lost quite a bit of moral between the complete ineffectiveness of their primary weapons and the totally fearless and casual way their enemy talked of killing them. General Yamakazi though was made of sterner stuff. He keyed the mic to his hand held radio and ordered the second team to fire.

Ten nineteen eighties constructed M-60 main battle tanks fired their turrets at the pair and six AH-64 attack helicopters came out of quite mode from behind nearby buildings to open up with Vulcan cannons.

Neko had the same amount of difficulty dealing with this new threat that Mori had dealing with the first, none. The only thing the JSDF managed to accomplish during that short period of time was waste an incredible amount of money in ammunition and frighten the students of Juuban behind their targets. The pointless stalemate lasted until one nervous helicopter pilot's hand slipped on the stick and an AMG 114 Hellfire AT missile was accidentally launched at the school.

Had that small slip not happened many fates would have been different. Neko dealt with the missile as soon as he became aware that it wasn't aimed at them. His counterattack batted the Apache out of the sky in a ball of flaming wreckage. Instantly the firing orders of the entire strike force changed. The Primarchs were for some reason protecting the school, which meant it had to be destroyed.

Hikage felt the shift in the thoughts of the soldiers. He had known that it would come to this but he had still hoped that he was wrong. Without a second thought he erected a barrier around the entire school that Lor would have trouble breaking. It would suffice for the external threat but there were already assassins in the building. They had orders to take the humans that had been consorting with the Primarchs, he wouldn't let that happen.

The instant Mori noticed where the tanks were changing their turret facing to he acted. The ground beneath the tanks became a thick mud. They sank almost instantly all the way to their barrels. Once they were immobilized he once again solidified the ground. They were no longer a threat but he would finish them off in a moment.

Neko snarled in pure hate. The other five AH-64's lifted straight up as fast as they could, trying to get out of range of whatever he did to the first one. There was no where they could run and they were too slow to flee. Neko willed five spheres of flame into existence and sent them after their targets at twice the speed of sound.

Three kilometres from the war zone four MLRS had sat waiting for orders. When the targeting coordinates came through none of the crew even batted an eye. This was a war for the survival of the human race and they knew the meaning of acceptable losses. As one the eight six centimetre thick blast doors opened and the MLRS crews fired their full spread at the doomed school.

Kindness wasn't even in Mori's vocabulary at the moment. He reached out to the elemental forces under his command and arched a single lightning bolt through an entire company of the Gunshin division. In an instant two hundred forty more souls were fed to the astral vortex caused unknowingly by Hotaru's spell.

"Make them stop!" Usagi cried in horror at the carnage going on in the courtyard below her.

"Who?" Haruka asked coldly. She had once again allowed her emotions to submerge beneath the icy exterior of duty. Unlike Usagi she wasn't blinded by her innocence, she knew what started the killings. Given the opportunity she would be down there with the Primarchs, and Kami help the JSDF.

"I can't look." Mina said weakly. The thought of what was happening down there made her knees weak. Mori, the man she loved, was perpetrating a wholesale slaughter. She could feel the energies he wielded echoing within her. In a very real way she was a part of every strike. Mina almost reached out to stop him until she felt his rage. The person down there bore little resemblance to the Mori she knew. That was the Mori whose name in Aleph translated to Stormbringer. It was no coincidence that Mordaki and Mordred began with the same sound. In Aleph the word Mor meant destruction, and Mina had never felt it was a more apt description.

Ami cringed as the feeling of raw magic crawled over her skin. She could taste Neko's hate with every spell. The seeking fireballs he made to chase the helicopters had no business being that slow. He had made them that way to give the crews time to feel terror. He had gone beyond defending the innocents and slipped deep into punishing those he felt were guilty. She fell to the ground and retched weakly when she felt Neko flash boil all the fluids inside a solider that pointed a rocket launcher at the windows. He exploded an instant later into a shower of gore.

She didn't even blink at the sight before her. The sounds of men screaming and dying made no impression at all. Everyone involved knew the risks they had taken when they accepted this job. She had no remorse for fools that would blindly follow orders into a completely hopeless suicide mission. Hotaru's violet eyes never even blinked as she watched a few more souls become silenced.

Mordred turned around and faced the door into the classroom. Any second now they would arrive and it would be time to do his part. He absently wished that there was another way to do what had to be done but he knew better than to question destiny. He walked away from the girls and placed himself in front of the door.

Ten seconds later everyone in the room heard a high pitched whine as the capacitors on the shape charge attached to the door powered up. An instant later the door disintegrated into splinters that bounced harmlessly off a barrier directly in front of Hikage. The fire team rushed through the now shattered doorway and found themselves face to face with a waif like boy that despite the uniform couldn't have possibly been old enough for high school. He wasn't any of the people they had been instructed to subdue but he was in the way of the ones that were.

"Everyone down on the floor!" The platoon leader yelled. Most of the students instantly moved to comply but the scrawny kid didn't move a muscle. They really didn't want to hurt him but if the brat tried to make any trouble one more body wouldn't bother them in the least.

"You really don't want to do this." The little boy said sounding completely unafraid of the people coming through the door with automatic weapons.

"Get out of the way kid." One of the fire team said and made a move to push him to the ground. He waited until the man's outstretched hand touched him before grabbing it and twisting hard enough to tear every tendon in the offending limb.

"I said get down on the floor!" The platoon leader yelled again, pointing his weapon at the only other people not on the floor, the Senshi. He hardly had time to even register the movement before the barrel of his MP-5 bent double. He stared stupidly at his destroyed weapon for a second before the cause settled in.

Hikage released the barrel of the small automatic weapon and shook his finger at the frightened man in a chiding motion. The boy began to glow in the manner of a blacklight and the fire team knew they were in trouble.

"I warned you nicely against trying to hurt anyone. You really should have listened to me. I don't understand why you humans have such difficulty doing things that are in your best interest." When he finished talking he simply changed, where a little boy had stood before now stood something from those darkest most primitive nightmares of humanity.

It was humanoid, vaguely, but no human had ever looked like that. Its body seemed comprised of solidified shadow. It stood close to two and a half metres tall with enormous wings on its back. Long claws thrust from the end of its hands and its shadowy substance seemed to drip off it evaporating just before striking the floor. No one in the room could even move they were so afraid. Even the Senshi were paralyzed with gibbering horror. The creature moved gracefully forward in an eye wrenching manner that made observers doubt that it interacted with the universe in a normal way.

It slashed out with a clawed arm and the leader of the fire team fell back screaming. For just a moment there was a flicker of the shadow creature holding a translucent duplicate of the fallen man. The body hit the floor and turned to ash in seconds. eight more times the shadow creature struck and every victim suffered the same gruesome fate.

Finally only one member of the team remained. The shadows rippled and once again Hikage stood before them. Everyone quickly found themselves able to move again but few did unless it was to faint or vomit. Hikage walked directly to the remaining solider and spoke quietly though all of the Senshi were easily able to hear him.

"You would not have killed anyone. Gunning down innocents was not how you wanted to serve your people. Your compassion is why you live. You will tell your superiors what happened, they need to learn their place. The time of the humans is over, adapt or become yet another fossil."

The man ran away obviously having lost control of his bladder. He was hardly the only one in the room to have suffered that fate though. Most of the students that had witnessed the event would never be the same again.

"Kami-sama Mordred, what did you do to them?" Haruka asked in horror. Other than Hotaru she was the only one to so far regain the power of speech.

"The same thing that any other demon would have. You must have realised that that even the creatures of the Nexus were made by our fathers. Who do you think they represent?"

Dead silence filled the room safe for the noises coming in from the carnage outside.

While Mori was somewhat occupied dealing with an infantry platoon, by simply returning their bullets to them at just under one hundred thousand kilometres an hour, Neko took notice of a tank that had somehow managed to not quite sink as deep as the others. He marvelled at his good fortune and clenched his fist. The entire tank imploded spraying gore five metres into the air. The approaching high pitched whistle warned him something was going on seconds before the first of the forty eight rockets slammed into the defensive barrier surrounding the school.

Neko came unglued. There were no other words for it. He could tell easily who had put up the barrier and he admitted that he owed Mordred big for it. He left the rest of the humans to Mori he had something more important to do.

Neko grabbed a white hot piece of one of the missiles that had ineffectually struck Mordred's shield. With it he knew exactly where to find the object that launched them. He focused his will hard on the effect he desired. The spell itself was difficult beyond the ability for anyone else to have done this way, he made it harder still by focusing its effects. The area would be frighteningly limited but it would be many times more powerful for it.

Three kilometres away four MLRSs disassociated in to far less than their components when the magnified cataclysm spell created a hundred metre diameter pillar of quantum disruption fifteen kilometres tall. For a brief instant there was quite literally hell on earth.

Neko was brought back to awareness of the battle around him an instant later by an inhumane cracking sound followed by hoarse screaming. It took no imagination to understand what was happening, Mori had the guy in charge of this little parade and was expressing his displeasure. Neko almost felt sorry for the human until he remembered hearing him change the firing orders of the strike force.

The humans had made several mistakes but assuming that orders passed by radio would be secure was one of the worst. Neko's hearing was many times better than a human's, in both range and sensitivity. It was a very simple matter for him to extend it into the FM band. Mori was the Primarch of Nature, what in the hell did they think radio waves were anyway?

The breaking sounds grew louder and even Neko had to say something. He looked over and saw Mori holding a small flesh coloured cube. Neko was afraid to even think of the implications of that observation. Pissing off the Primarch of Form was a really bad idea.

"Is he dead?" Neko asked cautiously.

"No, he'll starve to death in a few days but until then he gets to enjoy life as a Rubix Cube."

"That's sick Mori. That's really sick."

Hikage appeared and quickly assumed his Mordred appearance. He made a sad face at the carnage around him and all of the organic remains save for the living cube disappeared. He raised an eyebrow at Mori and all other evidence, again save for the cube, vanished.

"Thank you, you know your father told you to clean up your messes."

The force field around the school flickered and was gone all of the doors unlocked and the terrified students slowly and cautiously made their way to their homes. There was none of the panic people would have expected, they we so far beyond panic that they were calm.

Nine students and one councillor did not leave with the rest. It was very clear to them that they had been abandoned by their own people. The assault team that had hunted for them in the school had brought home to them that they were considered the enemy now. Their alternate identities were pointless as they were more than certain that whomever decided that simple schoolgirls were valid targets would have no qualms whatsoever of attacking the Senshi as well.

The girls simply stood staring listlessly at one another for several moments. Finally Rei looked up tear tracks highly evident on her face. She pulled gently on Mori's arm to get his attention.

"Can we go home now?" She asked just barely above a whisper.

"Sure Rei-chan. Let's all go home." He replied softly. Neko returned everyone to the penthouse a fraction of a second later. From there they all split up to return to their own apartments.

Mina lay down on the couch and curled into a ball. She wished desperately that she could cry but the tears wouldn't come. Her lack of sorrow hurt worse than watching the massacre had. Ami stood staring out over the balcony. She shrugged gently away when Neko put a hand on her shoulder.

"Please don't Neko." She said in apology. "I have to be alone for a little bit."

Ami teleported to the park where she and her friends had defeated so many evil creatures. She walked aimlessly around for a few minutes before coming to a halt on the opposite side of the lake from the docks. Deep in her growing despair she watched her reflection in the rippling water, seeing a frightening parallel to her life. She could no longer clearly see where she was going, and she didn't even know who she was anymore.

She thought back to the strange illness she had somehow contracted. No one seemed to have any idea what was wrong with her, but four times she had nearly died from what the guys called energy crash. So far it had happened exactly twenty eight hours apart ever since Neko was wounded. If she was right about the timing it would happen again in about twelve hours. She was already dreading it.

She didn't even feel the pulse of magical energy before it knocked her unconscious.

End Chapter 11

This is a bit of a teaser for chapter 12, have fun

".There is nowhere he can hide from me if I have to I will burn the fucking universe to the ground!" Neko screamed in rage. Zeryn had made a huge mistake. This made trying to kidnap Lunari look like nothing. Neko lashed out in rage and 1.3 billion kilometres away, Iapetus one of the larger moons of Saturn, vanished in a cataclysmic explosion.

"This is not a good thing." Mori said softly. There was no way to stop Neko short of killing him.

"No, this is most definitely a Bad Thing." Mordred replied.

A few authors notes.

First, after exhaustive research into the matter it has become evident that NOWHERE in ANYTHING are ANY of the SM parents named save for Usagi's. As such I have decided to name the parents myself continuing Ms. Takeuchi Naoko's obvious pattern.

Second, several of the Primary characters (and almost ALL of the secondary ones) have gained some flavouring from other sources. Good examples are Mina having just a dash of Buffy for zest. Mrs. Aino's personality I have based off of Mihoshi (I can easily imagine a Mihoshi like personality spawning the Mina we see in both CN:SV and SM. As Mina has a dash of Buffy so Ami has a dash of Willow. It fits, end of story.

Third, I know I'm going to catch hell for the Rei stuff. To put it bluntly she's broken. She's taken way too many emotional hits to come out clean. I won't promise that she will come out alright wither, expect more character suffering on all fronts before this is over.

Fourth, you all are finally getting to see how the Primarchs behave in their natural state. You might question how the Senshi escaped getting mowed down in the beginning, I'll give you an answer. They consider humans with sorcerer(ess) potential to be above normal humans, they were willing to cut them some slack. They even gave the mundane humans more than enough chances to flee, it was when they threatened the school (and by extension the girls) that things went south with a quickness. Expect more killings, lots of them.

For those of you who have been long waiting for more info on secondary characters like oh. Zeryn, Iria, Jander, Lor, The Mindless, Zoicite, and Kunzite hang on the next chapter should answer some of your questions.

Finally a few words on the Primarchs themselves.

Lor. The eldest being in the universe. Sphere of Influence: Energy and Time. Normal Physical Appearance 2.3 Metres in height 85 Kilos Ash blond hair pale blue eyes. Personality: Prankster. Background: Lor was the first thing to come into existence when the universe was made. He can actually remember when the other Primarchs appeared. His only duty was to create and guard Time itself. He has been known to have more than one of himself in existence during the same timeframe and the laws of physics be dammed.

Mori. Actually the Third oldest despite his title. Sphere of influence Nature and Form. Appearance: Irrelevant. Personality: Constantly in flux. Like the elements he commands Mori is constantly in flux. He is very unpredictable and highly chaotic. Background: Mori's main job is to hold together the balance of forces in the universe. As such he tends to be highly reactive. Of all of the Primarchs he has interacted the most with the sentient races and often loses his impartiality through his caring. He is ruthless in defending those he likes and very very vengeful.

Neko. The youngest. Sphere of Influence Sentience and Magic. Appearance: Irrelevant. Personality: Think of a cat, hedonistic playful and violent when irritated. Background: Neko is the replacement for the original Primarch of Will. He has worked hard over the eons to become accepted by his peers. It was his idea originally to shelter the mortals though he had no place to put them. He is the only Primarch to have ever claimed a family as his own.

Jander. The despised. Sphere of Influence: Corruption and Decay. Appearance: 1.9 metres 120 kilos Violet hair and viridian eyes. Very muscular and usually smirking about something he's done. Personality: People expect the worst from Jander and he positively delights in exceeding their expectations. He isn't evil per say, more he seems to really REALLY enjoy his job. Background: As the Primarch of Corruption Jander has from the very beginning been subjected to the darker side of things. Throughout his existence his job has led him into direct conflict with every Primarch save Mordred. As such he is usually shunned even by his fellows. In all of history the only time he has ever actually worked together in total agreement with all of the others was during the creation and dispensation of the Avatar Gems. His rivalry with Neko knows no bounds.

Mordred. The second oldest. Sphere of Influence: Entropy. Appearance: Irrelevant. (but don't tell Mori he can shapeshift) Personality Slightly introverted but polite and surprisingly friendly. Background: Mordred is everyone's worst nightmare. When it's time for the Universe to end he's the guy who turns off the lights. Unlike his fellows his power isn't linked to the normal universe, it IS the Nexus, as such he truly possesses no limits. As entropy is the final state of all existence, Mordred can see the path that all things take to it, giving him unparalleled precognitive abilities. Mordred has been forced into combat less often than any of the others.