Author's note:

Wow. I can't believe how much good publicity this story's recieving! Thank you all for your reviews and don't forget to spread the word! If you haven't re-read the notes at the top of page 1 yet, it would be a good idea to do so before continuing since the storyline has changed slightly. And nope, I still don't own any of the things on page 1.

Chapter IV: Eternal Flame

Mark opened the door of the cottage as Raye came through to greet him. She was wearing a long, thin red dress with a slit down the right leg, red stilettos and what looked like rose-shaped ruby red earings, all of which perfetly contrasted her long, flowing black hair. Her beauty was no less than stunning, much to Mark's delight.
"Hi." Raye looked at Mark in sheer bliss as he walked over towards her. "These are for you." He held forward the tulips, which she gladly accepted.
"Oh, you shouldn't have. These are my favourites!" She placed them on the table beside her before hugging Mark. "I'll put these in water later. Would you like to make your way to the lounge please? I'll bring the meal through to you in a moment." It was clear that she had recovered from the ankle injury earlier that day, although she did have a slight limp in her step.
"Oh, thank you." Mark made his way down the corridoor to the lounge, which was lit by three candles placed in the middle of the low table in the middle of the room. Some quiet jazz music was playing in the background.

Mark sat down on the floor in front of one of the small empty bowls. He wondered whether this candlelit dinner was more than just a way of saying "thank you" for helping Raye earlier. Soon enough Raye made her way into the lounge carrying a big bowl of rice and a bowl of beef in black bean sauce, carefully placing the bowls down on the table before returning to the kitchen to carry throught the other sauces. Mark offered to help, but Raye insisted that he should stay put.

A few minutes later Raye had brought everything in. The aroma of the many dishes was breathtaking. If the food tasted anywhere near as good as it smelt Mark knew he was in for a real treat.
"Well, tuck in." Raye smiled as she and Mark reached for the scoop in the rice bowl, only to meet each others' hand.
"Sorry." Raye blushed slightly as Mark moved his hand away, allowing her to fill her bowl with rice.
"No, it's okay." Raye scooped some of the sweet and sour chicken dish onto her rice while Mark reached for the rice and the black bean dish. "So, whereabouts in the world do you come from then?"
"Oh, I come from England. I lived in Southampton, although I originally come from near Liverpool." Raye looked into his eyes, which seemed to sparkle in the candlelight. "I flew here from Heathrow airport about 48 hours ago, and I live just across the road in those apartments." He took his chopsticks and started to eat a few pieces of beef. Raye raised her eyebrows in interest as she continued her meal. "Wow. This is the best chinese meal I've had in years!" Raye tried her best to look modest.
"Oh, it's nothing. Chinese is my favourite type of food apart from Italian, so I enjoy cooking it. Speaking of England, one of my friends lived in London for a while. I don't know if you saw her earlier, but she was the one with the long blonde hair."
"The one holding a white cat?"
"Yeah. That's her. Have you ever been to London?"
"Only once. I went to see an orchestral performance at the Albert Hall to help with my A level music." Raye looked up at him again in great interest.
"The Royal Albert Hall? Wow. That's one of the places I want to visit if I ever go to England. I love British orchestral music!" Her eyes lit up at the thought of Edward Elgar and Benjamin Britten.
"Same here. I'm studying music at south Tokyo University this year."
Raye felt almost ecstatic upon hearing that he was studying the same subject as her.
"No way! I'm studying Music at south Tokyo as well! We're so alike!"
"Cool. I guess I'll be seeing you in the seminars, then." Mark had a broad smile on his face.

Both Raye and Mark decided to eat a little more of their food in front of them before Raye spoke again.
"Wine? It's Australian mild white." She started to unscrew the cork.
"Please." Raye poured the wine into the glasses. "Shigeru 39 told me somthing about a concert you put on every year."
"Oh yeah, that." She took a quick sip of her wine. "That's basically just a showcase of songs I've written over the year. It was just meant to be a one-off at first, but because it was so popular I guess I just kept running it. I'll give you a CD of some of my songs later."
"Thanks. He said something about a giant fish attacking everyone near the end of the first one though..." He hoped he didn't just ask a stupid question.
"Ah, that thing..." Raye paused for a while as she scratched her shoulder blades. "Some mermaid-type creature decided to put everyone to sleep, and ended up ripping up most of my work. I just ran for cover and hoped it didn't put me to sleep." She paused, taking another sip of her wine. "Luckily Sailor Mars came along and sorted it out. She and Sailor Moon turned it into monster scampi!" She gave a small laugh. "I did manage to recover one piece called 'Oh Starry Night' though, which I performed at the end of the concert. It's track 12 on the CD. It's a ballad I wrote when I was in love with some guy that used to work here."
"Can't wait to hear it."

The night wore on as the pair told stories about their previous experiences and jokes. Mark even helped out with the washing up, claiming that he was "simply being a gentleman." Soon enough though, it was time for Mark to leave. The night was clear, and all around the stars shone brightly. Raye and Mark were admiring the night sky as they were about to bid each other farewell.
"It's a beautiful night. I can't thank you enough for tonight." Raye's glamourous indigo eyes seemed to be glowing in the starlight, while the gentle breeze seemed to bring her hair to life.
"Oh, as I said, it's the least I could do to thank you." Raye was still fixated on Mark's beautiful face. It seemed like a dream to her. Here she was with the man she loved most under a beautiful starry night sky. Even though she had only just met him, she had to make him hers. The moment was just right.

They began to embrace each other, their arms slowly reaching around each others' back. Slowly they began to close their eyes as they moved their heads closer together. Raye could feel his warm breath on her face as she agonisingly longed for the moment that their lips would meet. However, it wasn't to be, at least not for the moment anyway. Mark moved his head towards the side of hers as they began to hug each other.

Raye felt a sudden surge of disappointment at the prospect of not being kissed by her new love, but she knew that he was rather shy and probably didn't want ot express his true feelings on their first date together. She knew that this was going to take time.
"I don't know why, but just looking at the stars in the night sky just makes me feel good. It seems to bring images from millenia gone by to my head, strange as it sounds." Mark smiled as he held he in his arms, looking towards the sky.
"Yeah. Tonight just seems so beautiful. It just seems like the perfect night for new beginnings." Raye looked back into his eyes while he pondered what she had just said.
"New Beginnings?" Mark had realised what she may have meant. "She's making a move for me! Just don't ask her out too soon, though..."
"Indeed." Mark let go of Raye. "Well, I guess it's goodnight then. Thanks for everything." He turned away, walking back towards the road.
"Goodnight. Enjoy the CD." Raye closed the door behind her as she entered the kitchen before sliding down it with a slightly disappointed look on her face. "Don't be too disappointed. Perhaps he just wants to take things one at a time..."

"Hey! Welcome back Romeo!" Jack was making slight fun of Mark's fortune.
"Yep, yep." Mark crashed down on the sofa.
"So, er, how'd it go?" Jack was very eagar to hear the gossip.
"Good. Big test of my Japanese, but I think it went very well." He looked around. "No Chad?"
"Oh, him. He's hit the sack. Says jet lag's majorly worn him out." The only thing that seemed to interest Jack was the date. "By the way, I forgot to ask you earlier, who's Juliet?"
"I presume you mean my date?" A smile appeared on his tired face. "It's the priestess from the temple opposite this place. Her name's Raye Hino." Jack's jaw dropped in awe.
"I don't believe it! You get all the luck! I've heard she's one of the most wanted girls in the area!" Mark began to look slightly smug.
"I'll be seeing a lot more of her as well." Jack snickered slightly, trying not to be heard by Mark. "I didn't mean THAT, you pervert!" Mark turned slighlty angry while Jack tried his best to stop laughing.
"Sorry man, it's just the way you said it." he chuckled.
"What I meant is that she's going to be studying music in the same group as me." Mark smiled once more.
"Oh." Jack sounded slightly sarcastic as he raised his eyebrows.
"Anyway, we aren't going out with each other, at least not yet anyway. I've only known the girl for about 12 hours." He sounded distant. "I'm gonna go to bed now. I just hope Sarah doesn't wake us up again..." Mark shuddered as he thought of the prospect of Sarah's dance music playing at full-blast again.
"Heh, don't worry about that, mac." Jack winked as Mark retired to bed.

Mark was treated to a lie in the following morning all thanks to Jack hiding Sarah's collection of CDs. However, the plan had slightly backfired on Jack when Sarah dumped the contents of the ice cube tray onto him while he was sleeping, revenge for hiding her precious CDs. Chad was up at about eight and was in the bathroom freshening up from his long flight. Mark was the last up, making his way into the lounge from the kitchen at about half eight eating a bacon sandwich he had just cooked.
"How long's he gonna be?" Sarah was getting anxious about the fact that a guy was taking more time in the bathroom than she usually did.
"Durro. I onry rust gorrup." said Mark, chewing his breakfast. "Owrongs ee been inner?"
"A good half hour. I haven't washed my hair yet!" Sarah was starting to get increasingly frustrated.
"He's probably just taking a shower." Mark had swallowed his bite. "It must take him ages to wash that mop on his head." Sarah snickered as Jack entered the room.
"Morning." Jack looked shattered as he moped his way to the kitchen.
"What's up with him?" Mark looked slightly suprised at the fact that Jack was walking around like a headless zombie.
"I think he just got himself pissed as usual." Mark smirked at Sarah's comments.

A creak could be heard from the bathroom as Chad emerged from a plume of steam. Immediately Sarah rushed to claim the bathroom before anyone else did.
"I think I'll just check my email, then..." Mark slowly walked back to his room and booted up his laptop, before opening his email program.
"Let's see what we got here... A load of crap." As usual he had recieved a ton of junk mail, the usual stuff about loans and insurance that you don't care about at all. However, at the end of it all he noticed something that was relevant - an email with a video clip of his mum, dad and sister attached, wishing him well. "Wow. They finally got the cam working without me." he chuckled as he opened the movie and listened to what was being said.
"Nice family, dude." Chad had come up behind him.
"Morning Chad." Mark turned around to face Chad, wearing a towel, his face completely covered by his soaked hair.
"Just came to ask where the hairdrier is." Mark didn't have a clue.
"I dunno. Try askin' Sarah. She's the madonna around here. Sorry."
"Okay, dude. Laters." Chad turned away to find Sarah. Mark suddenly noticed the CD on his desk which Raye had given him the night before. He plugged his headphones into the laptop before inserting the CD and playing it, starting on track 12 - "Oh Starry Night", the one song which she talked about so vibrantly that night. As the synthesizers finished their intro, a sudden feeling of total relaxation and serenity came over Mark as she started to sing.

"I've waited all my life,
For the day when love appears,
Like a fairytale in days gone by,
He will rescue me from my fears.

And now, I feel him standing close to me,
And how can I tell him what he means to me?
My heart stands still, has he come?

Oh Starry Night,
Is this the moment I dream of?
Oh Starry Night,
Tell me, is he my own true love?"

"Wow. That's one helluva good singer!" Mark couldn't help but think of holding her under the beautiful night sky, those glistening stars above. Yet again he was bewitched, this time by the magnificence of her voice.

"Every night I think of him,
Here in my lonely room,
Waiting for my prince to come,
Wondering if he'll be here soon.

As I sit patiently, waiting for a sign,
And I hope that his heart longs for mine,
He calls my name, is he the one?

Oh Starry Night,
Is this the moment I dream of?
Oh Starry Night,
Tell me, is he my own true love?

Oh Starry Night,
Is this the moment I dream of?
Oh Starry Night,
How Will I know? Will his love show?
Is he my own true love?"

Mark was no less than moved by this song. He noticed inside the cover that this song was written over six years ago, when she was only 14.
"Wow. This girl's a genius! This is tons better than anything I've composed!" He was about to listen to the beginning of the CD when he was interupted by a shout by Chad.

"Dude! Look what's on the news!" Chad sounded slightly anxious. Mark rushed into the lounge.
"What's up?" Mark sounded anxious himself.
"Some monster's, like, attacking people in the electric district!" Mark seemed suprised.
"Did you just say monster? I thought Godzilla was just a movie?" Chad frowned slightly.
"Dude, this is serious. A few years ago Tokyo was attacked by some, like, evil dudes almost every week, sometimes even every few days. It says the scouts haven't turned up yet, and that's very bad news."
Mark stared at the TV screen in dismay as pictures of the district in ruins appeared, shops seemingly being destroyed by what looked like coloured bolts of energy.
"Holy shit..."

Ext. Tokyo Electric District shopping centre - September 19th 2002, 11:40 am.

Chaos was the only word that could describe the situation of the Electric District at that time. Scores of innocent shoppers fled for their lives as shop windows shattered from the explosions of energy around. From the dust and the smoke emerged a tall man, donned in a black General's uniform laced with gold. He looked rather pale and had his long, black hair tied back into a short ponytail. A wide, evil grin appeared on his face as he admired the damage he had just caused.

"And I thought the Japanese were always punctual. Perhaps those absent-minded girls are not used to this anymore." he chuckled to himself as he blew up a few more TVs. Several more minutes passed and the man had left a total wake of destruction behind him as dead bodies and rubble lay in the street. Soon enough though, the inevitable returned.
"Hold it right there, whoever you are!" Another, more sinister smile emerged on his face as he slowly turned round to face four young women donning white sailor fukus, rather short skirts and a golden tiara on each of their head. It was the one in the blue skirt with the two bunches atop her hair that had spoken.
"Ah. So the 'legendary' sailor scouts of Tokyo aren't just a myth. It is truely an honour to meet those who had the guts to stand up to the likes of Queen Berryl, Wiseman and Prince Diamond." The scouts raised their guard as he slowly approched them.
"Who do you think you are, ending the lives of many innocent people so terrifyingly?" The woman in blue spoke toughly, stepping forwards slightly.
"I'm simply a messenger, here to tell you to expect a very nasty suprise within the next week. I am from the Earth - United States of America branch of the Negaverse, which has successfully managed to revive two of your greatest foes from Earth - Japan branch and is in the process of bringing back the whole party." All of the women except for the one in red with the long black hair were clearly shocked. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more damage to cause." As quick as a flash, he threw his arms forwards and unleashed a devistating golden bolt of energy at the woman in blue.
"SAILOR MOON!!!" the other girls shouted in horror as the woman was propelled several metres backwards screaming in agony. The woman in orange rushed to help her as the other two stared at the messenger in total rage.
"Heh. Guess I don't know my own strength." the messenger chuckled. It was all too much for the woman in red.
"You've got some nerve!" She clasped her hands together to make a gun shape. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!" She unleashed a large fireball at the messenger, who managed to dive out of the way, much to her disbelief.
"WHAT?!" Not many enemies had ever been quick enough to dodge even her most basic attack. Her shock had made her vunreable, much to the messengers advantage, as she was swiftly sent flying towards the unconscious Sailor Moon with another blast of energy. The woman in green turned back towards her nemesis, clearly horrified. She was frozen to the spot.
"And now for the next one." The messenger was preparing to launch another blast when he suddenly burst into flames. The next moment he was launched into a nearby wall. As the woman in the green skirt and tied back brunette hair looked around in confusion the messenger teleported away, scared as to why he was attacked by fire when he knew he had knocked the senshi of fire out cold. The woman continued to look around and try and find who had just saved her, but there was no-one except normal, panicking civilians.

Int. Hiwaka shrine - 19th September 2002, 1:30 pm.

"I just can't believe it! They're bringing back the entire Negaverse army from the dead and knock Serena and Raye out cold!" Lita felt unusually angry about the whole situation which had just unfolded in front of her.
It had been nearly an hour and a half since the attack. Raye and Serena were stretched out on cushions laid down on the floor of the lounge, plasters covering their wounds. A small black cat with a strange golden crescent symbol upon its forehead had just emerged.
"News from central is that it's official. The scouts of New York knew nothing of this plan and were too late to stop it. Now we face an onslaught of all of our previous enemies." said the cat in a very saddened tone of voice.
"You mean there are Sailor Scouts in New York, Luna?" Mina looked astonished at what the cat had just said.
"Senshi yes, but technically not Sailor Scouts. There are four main groups of senshi on the Earth protecting the Negaverse's four main Earth targets: Tokyo, New York, London and Berlin. The majority of the New York senshi are male, so they have a slightly different dress code." Luna sounded slightly more upbeat talking about the other senshi group.
"Yeah. Somehow I don't think anyone would take a guy dressed in a sailor fuku seriously at all. They'd probably think he's got a serious screw loose." joked Lita while checking Raye's pulse.
"Indeed." Luna giggled. The thought alone of a guy in a sailor fuku was enough to send her into a laughing fit. "They opted for a more millitary-esque style. Somehow they didn't see running around the big apple in coloured Tuxedos as a particulary good idea." Mina and Lita giggled at the thought. "Still, we mustn't forget what just happened here. Lita, have you called Amy yet?"
"Yes, but she says she's unable to fly back here because she doesn't have enough money for a plane to Tokyo, she can't afford to miss medical school and that Berlin's been having a few Nega-problems of its own. She sends her deepest apologies." The trio looked very downhearted.
"This is very bad..." Luna looked down at the floor before looking over towards the unconscious Serena. "All we can hope for is a miracle..."

It was then that Lita remembered what had exactly happened in that battle. The way the messenger had just burst into flames for no apparant reason before being blasted into the wall by another fireball.
"What about that... something... that made that guy go up in flames?"
"No-one knows at the minute, but central's looking into it." The trio stood silent as they watched over Raye and Serena, knowing that this may be the hardest campaign they would ever run against the Negaverse.

End of Chapter 4