Chapter 10 Goku walked along the sidewalk for a while, then crossed the street. Practically all of the stores were closed, and those that were open had no customers inside. An elderly man wearing a brown trench coat who was walking his dog passed Goku and Luna. The dog, a brown mutt that barely came up to Goku's knees, started barking at the black cat. She held her ground and kept quiet as the man tried to calm his dog.

"Cookies, calm down. No Cookies! Heel!"

Cookies seemed to obey, but when his master took a step forward, he longed at Luna. Luna knew she was safe on Goku's shoulder, so she didn't move far. The elderly man, on the other hand, lost his balance and fell, letting go of the leash. Cookies used this opportunity to jump at Goku, barking all the way at Luna.

"This is getting out of control!" Luna thought frantically to herself. "I'm getting out of here!" She catapulted herself off Goku's shoulder and hit the ground running.

"Meta, wait!" Goku called over his shoulder.

Cookies tried to chase Luna down, but Goku slammed his boot over the dog's leash. Cookies yiped when he ran out of slack, and his owner started to get up. Goku bent down to pick up the leash for the man as Cookies continued barking in the direction that Luna had run.

"Are you okay, sir?" Goku asked the man.

"Yes, Yes, I'm fine. Nothing's broken," The man smiled at his own joke. "And you?"

"Oh, I'm okay, it's my cat that I'm worried about," Goku glanced down the street, then turned back to the man. "Here's your dog."

Goku extended his hand with the leash, letting the man take it from him. Cookies had stopped barking.

"Thank you, young man, and I'm terribly sorry about your cat. Cookies just gets exited about certain things and I can't always control him, especially on a day like today when the sidewalk is all wet. Listen, I'm really sorry it all."

Goku shrugged, "Don't worry about it, no one was hurt. Now, if you'd excuse me, I have to find my cat."

"Sure, I don't mind. By the way, what's your name?"

"Uh, mine?" The question came as a surprise to Goku, "Goku, my name is Goku, and my cat's name is Meta."

"Goku, that's an interesting name. And your cat is Metra?"

"No, just Meta, without the 'R.' "

The man nodded, "I see, interesting. Anyway, I'm sorry about what happened."

"Don't worry about it. See ya 'round."

Goku waved over his shoulder to the elderly gentleman and jogged off after Luna. He turned the corner and slowed to a walk when he saw someone else walking on the sidewalk. Because he had momentarily forgotten to "work," and because of the fat gray clouds that blocked out the sunlight, Goku didn't notice that the young lady was Rae until he was almost passing her. She wasn't even paying attention.

Goku halted suddenly and addressed her, "Rae, is that you?"

Rae stopped with a jolt and spun to face Goku, "Goku? Goku! How nice to see you!"

"Hey! What brings you out on a day like today?"

Rae fidgeted, drawing her coat closed, "Well, there was nothing to do at my house, and I was a little worried about Amy, so I decided to come and see her when the rain had stopped. By the way, what are you doing out?"

"Work," Goku chuckled, "what else?"

Rae blushed, "Oh, right, I should have known. Silly me." She turned to leave, "Care to walk with me?"

Goku quickly looked down the street where he thought Luna had gone, then turned to Mars, "Sure, things are pretty slow to day, if you know what I mean."

"I do," Rae started walking with Goku flanking her, "Say, how exactly do you work? You don't actually remove the Heart Crystals to check them, do you?"

"No, no. Vegeta and I can sense other people's energies by channeling our own. In this case, we not only have to find the Red Heart Crystal's energy, but we have to 'dive,' in a sense, past the body's aura to find it. It takes a lot of time, and that's going to be our downfall if Garlic Junior gets here before we find it."

Rae was staring at Goku, "And what are you going to do with the Red Heart Crystal once you find it?"

"Bring it to Dende`, like I told you yesterday."

"Let me say that again," She rephrased. "Are you going to bring the actually Crystal to Dende`, or are you going to take the person with the Crystal in his/her heart to Dende`?"

"I . . . I'm not sure," Goku confessed, but didn't say anything else.

Rae decided to let it drop and picked a new subject along a similar subject line.

"Mr. Goku?"

He turned his head, "Yes?"

"Do I have the Red Heart Crystal?"

"No, luckily for you."

"What about Amy and Serena? Do they have it?"

"Nope."

Rae sighed with relief, "What about Darien?"

"He doesn't have it, either."

Rae pondered this information for a moment, "Man, you guys sure have your work cut out for you; I don't think I know of anyone with purer hearts that those three."

"I didn't say we were looking for pure hearts," Goku's fixed his gaze straight ahead, though he knew Mars was watching him. "The Red Heart Crystal is just that: Red. It's powers differ from pure hearts, which makes it even more important, and more difficult to find."

She could tell that Goku was serious, but she still had questions, "What's so important about this one crystal, anyway? I mean, what's the big deal?"

"The 'big deal' is that Garlic can absorb the crystal and feed off of its energy, making himself stronger," a hint of a smile crept onto his features, "to tell the truth, it might actually be fun if Garlic absorbed it."

Rae wasn't sure if she wanted to know what Goku was talking about; luckily for her, they had arrived at Amy's house.

"Here it is. I guess I should say good-bye for now," Rae stopped to face Goku, clasping her hands in front of her.

Goku had other plans, "You could, but I'd like to say hi to Amy, too."

"Really? What are you going to tell her parents?"

Goku shrugged as though it was no big deal, "The truth, or a fraction of it, anyway. I'm going to say that I helped her up after her fall."

Rae smiled, "Smart."

She knocked on the door, with Goku at her side. Amy's dad answered the door. "Hello?" He turned his gaze to Rae, "Oh, Rae, did you come to see Amy?"

Rae bowed respectfully, "Yes, so did Mr. Goku."

"Who?"

Goku followed her example, yet he folded one arm behind his back and the other in front of him, "Hello, I'm Goku, and Rae has informed me that it was your daughter that I helped after her terrible fall. I only came with to see how she is doing."

Amy's dad stepped aside from the doorway, "Oh, yes, I remember now. Amy told me about how nice you had been to her. Come in, come in, both of you." Rae and Goku stepped inside. "Rae can lead you to Amy's room, Mr. Goku."

The two went to Amy's room and found that Serena, too, was there.

"Hey, Rae! Nice to see you!" Amy greeted Rae. "Mr. Goku . . ? Wh-what brings you here?"

"Well, I ran into Rae here, and she said that she was going to see you, and she asked if I could spare the time to see you, so I did," Goku responded meekly.

Serena butted into the conversation, "That was sweet of you."

Rae moved to the side of the bed. Goku followed, but didn't stand too close to the girls.

"So, Amy, how's your leg? Is it feeling any better?" Rae asked.

"A little. The doctor says that I should be well again in a week or two. Ugh! I can't believe I'm going to have this on for the next two weeks!" Mercury motioned to her bandage.

Rae attempted to cheer her friend up, "Don't worry about it. I'm willing to help you in any way possible, so if there's anything you need, you can count on me!" she tapped her thumb to her chest for emphasis.

"Me too!" Serena mimicked her friend's action.

Amy almost blushed, "Aw, thanks guys." Then, she changed the subject, "Mr. Goku, Rae, have either of you seen Luna lately?"

"No, I haven't," Rae shook her head slightly.

"Who's Luna?"

Serena decided to cover this answer, "She's . . . my cat. Luna's my cat, and she's been missing since last night, and I'm afraid that something bad could have happened to her in that storm."

Goku raised his eyebrows, "Well, what does she look like?"

"That's right, you haven't seen her. Anyway, she's black," Serena waved her hands palms-down in a motion of totality and finality, "completely black, exept for a moon-shaped mark on her forehead."

The corners of Goku's mouth pulled back, "Hmm, I may have seen her."

"Really?!" Serena stood up with excitement, "Shall we go now?"

"Sure, unless there's something else you guys want to talk about," Goku looked to Rae and Amy.

"No, I don't think so; besides, finding Luna is probably more important than anything we might have to say right now," Rae reasoned.

"Right," Amy nodded. "And I can always use Rae to keep me informed."

Goku stood up straighter and placed his hands on his hips, "Okay, then, we can get going," he turned to Serena. "Ready?"

"You bet!" She grabbed Goku's arm and attempted to pull him out the door with no success, "C'mon, what're you waiting for?"

Softly, but firmly, Goku responded, "I'm waiting for you to let go of me."

Serena blinked a few times at Goku's remark. Then, she dropped his arm and put one arm behind her back and the other hand over her mouth, "Oops! Sorry, I guess I just got a little excited!"

"That's okay. Come on," Goku lead the way.

After they had left, Rae commented to Amy, "That Goku is one heck of a guy."

Eventually, Goku and Serena made it to the road where he had run into Cookies, and by this time, the clouds were breaking up to reveal an early evening sun. Goku explained that the cat he called Meta could really be Luna, and how the dog had scared her off his shoulder and down the street.

"Luna!" Serena shouted as she walked along the sidewalk. "Luna, where are you? Come out here!"

Goku decided to use a gentler method, "Here kitty-kitty-kitty. Here Meta. Come here kitty."

Luna, who had heard and recognized Serena's voice, came running to her. With a mighty jump, the cat threw herself into Serena's arms.

Serena shrieked with joy, "Luna! There you are! Oh, Luna, I thought that something really awful had happened to you!" She held her out at arm's length, "What were you doing out last night in the middle of that storm? Shame on you!"

Goku came up and ruffled Luna's hair, causing it to stand on end, "Silly kitty." He plucked Luna from Serena's hands and addressed her, "Relax, she was fine. I took good care of her."

"That's what Amy said," Serena mumbled a little too loud.

"What?" Goku asked while handing Luna back.

Serena blushed and tried to hide behind Luna, "Nothing, I'm just thanking Amy." Luna's eyes were tiny dots behind her half closed eyelids when Sailor Moon lowered her away from her face. "Amy said that someone was probably taking care of her during the storm, and I was just giving her a mental 'thank you,' out loud, for her optimistic attitude."

Goku put his fists on his hips, "That's nice of you to think about your friend for what she's done. Hey, do you want me to walk you home?"

"Sure!" Serena smiled sweetly from ear to ear. "Here, my house is this way."