Author's note: Yay! It's my birthday on Saturday (30/11)! Just letting y'all know. Things begin to step up a gear between Chad, Mark and Raye in this chapter, so hold tight, this is gonna be highly explosive. I don't own any of the things mentioned on page 1 blah, blah, blah....

Chapter VII: Envy.

"Serena. Serena! Come in, goddammit!" Raye had managed to hide herself in the small storage cupboard near the pit. She didn't get the time to find out who had just demolished down most of the back wall of the music hall, but she was almost certain that it was a Nega-creep judging by the reaction of the students.
"Raye? What's up?" Serena answered her communicator. As usual she sounded alert upon answering.
"Nega trouble. The university's music department's being attacked. I've tried to contact Lita and Mina, but they're in their lessons. Just get yourself and Darien here as fast as you can!"
"Roger that. See you there." With that, Serena hung up while Raye peered through the vent to try and catch a glimpse of her opponant.
"MARK! What're you doing?!" She gasped in horror as Mark found himself about to be blasted away by Zoicite. As she grabbed her pen and began her transformation Zoicite sent a thin bolt of concentrated enegy towards Mark.
"MARK!!!" She screamed as she burst out of the cupboard as Sailor Mars. She dashed into the pile of dust expecting to trip over his corpse, but there was nothing but shattered pieces of the piano. She stepped out of the dust cloud to address the evil General.
"It's been six years, Sailor Mars. Six whole years since your princess sent me to my untimely death. Judging by the fact that you are standing before me now, I guess that her majesty Queen Metallia's plans failed." A pained smirk emerged on his face.

"Your little organisation was nothing compared to what we defeated over the following two years. You were just a bit of handy training for us. You lot are nothing but weak, pathetic saps." The smirk faded from Zoicite's face. Sailor Mars was trying to act tough, but the uncertainty of whether Mark had just been turned to ash ate away at the back of her mind. "You're just pawns in this new, major plan. Why else would you be the first of the revived to attack us?" Zoicite was becoming angrier by the word. Sailor Mars got her left hand ready to call her sniper attack. Zoicite was long gone before she had even attempted this attack, so she would try and suprise him. "You're just pathetic. You were defeated so easily last time, and you will go down easy again. MARS FLAME SNIPER!!!" A bow and arrow consiting completely of fire formed in her hands. She took aim and let rip with a screaming bolt of fire. Zoicite's reflexes were top notch as he dived to his left trying to avoid the arrow. However, the arrow ripped through the the top of his right calf, staining his black trousers with a fair amount of his blood.
"Damn. Missed again." She may have caught his right leg, but she had still missed her target. Ever since she transformed for the first time in four years the previous week her aim had beed very much off target. Zoicite clinged onto one of the chairs as he tried to pull himself up. Just at that moment a voice of a man screamed out from behind Sailor Mars.
"PHOENIX BOMB!!!" She looked above her to see a huge fireball assuming the shape of a large bird flying. As Zoicite looked above the fire bird locked onto him and dived towards him. Much to Sailor Mars' suprise the bird crashed into the helpless Zoicite engulfing him in a column of flames. Sailor Mars looked behind her to see a tall man donned in black with a red stripe down either side of his clothing. He had short, straight black hair while his sunglasses shielded his identity. He raised a salute to her before seemingly bursting into flames and disappearing into thin air. Zoicite was now nothing but a large pile of ash. As she slowly made her way towards the ash a red rose embedded itself into one of the chairs. Sailor Mars simply groaned and shook her head.

"You're too late guys! Crisis over!" Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon jumped down in front of her.
"You mean you defeated this guy on your own? I thought that the scouts always needed me to turn the trash into dust." Sailor Moon seemed very bemused as Sailor Mars transformed back into Raye.
"No. Not on my own. Some other guy helped me. Don't forget that I can turn the trash to dust myself if I hit'em good." Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon transformed back into their civilian forms with confused looks on their faces.
"Some other guy?"
"Yeah. My sniper aim was a little off target so I ended up shooting Zoicite in the leg. I'm still not quite used to these fukus and stilettos again after the four years out. Just as he tried to get up this giant bird made of fire crashed into him and by the looks of things completely turned him to ash. It was awesome!" Darien took a step forward.
"Did you see what he looked like?"
"A bit. He was tall, a fair bit taller than me. He had dark hair and was wearing sunglasses. He wore black clothes with a red stripe down both sides. He didn't look japanese." Darien was concentrating, trying to see if he had ever seen someone of that description, but to no avail.
"Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry. I'll ask Luna when we get home." Raye suddenly remembered something very important.
"MARK!!! I gotta find him!" With that, Raye dashed out of the room to try and find him.

Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - September 23rd 2002, 11:10 am.

All students from the music group had been sent home that day due to the lack of an avalible teaching space, as well as to allow students suffering from shock to recover. Mark was in his room programming while Chad was strumming his guitar along to rock songs on the TV. Chad turned the TV volume down as he got up to answer a knocking at the door. It was Raye.
"Raye. What are you doing here?" She eyed him very sourly.
"That's none of your fucking business Chad. Is Mark in?" Chad looked hurt by what she had just said.
"Yeah, like, he's here. He's in-" Raye barged her way past him. "Raye! Wait!"
"Don't you ever tell me what to do Chad!" She turned away from him. "Mark?"
"Raye?" replied Mark from his room. He emerged from the hallway into the lounge. Raye ran over and hugged him.
"Thank god you're alright! I thought you were destroyed by that guy's laser!" Mark put his arms round her. Chad was confused as to what exactly was going on. He was confused as to why Raye would embrace Mark in such a way even though he had supposedly only met her on her own once.
"I managed to dive out of the way just in time." He jumped when Raye ran her hand down his left arm.
"Oh, sorry. Are you okay?" She immediately moved her hand away.
"Yeah. I've got a few cuts and bruises from the piano shrapnel, but I'm-" He was promptly interupted by Raye pulling his head towards hers and passionatley kissing him - all in front of Chad. Mark broke out of it immediately after realising that Chad was still in the room. Raye let go of him before walking towards the still-open door.
"See ya later, Mark. You know where I am." said Raye in an extremely sexy tone of voice as she looked behind at Mark before smugly smirking at a shaking Chad as she slammed shut the apartment door behind her. "That, Chad, was a lesson in how to take your chances while they're still avalible." she thought to herself, pleased that she got one back on Chad while claiming Mark for her own.

"Dude, you have some serious explaining to do." Chad's voice was clearly quivering. What he had just seen was a complete system shock to him. He was not used to seeing Raye with another man, and he remembered how he had exploded in front of Darien when he found out about Raye's relationship with him two years ago. However, this was far, far worse. This was his new best friend.
"Chad... My guess is as good as yours. I never knew she liked me..." Mark was telling the truth. She had dropped hints on their date, but she never actually said anything. Chad wasn't buying it.
"Dude, cut the crap. Why did she come here just to kiss you?" Mark was slightly intimidated by Chad, but he knew he had to stand his ground.
"I'm telling the truth damnit! Anyway, what's it to you?" He clenched his fists.
"I don't want her to be messed around by some idiot she falls for who, like, doesn't have a clue about what she wants." Mark took serious offence.
"You're tellin' me that I'm an idiot that doesn't know how to treat a lady?! Look at yourself mate! You had your chance, and what do you do with it? You sod off to Los Angeles leaving her so heartbroken that she tries to take her own life." Mark noticed a tear rolling down Chad's left cheek. "Don't you even see why she treats you like shit? You broke her heart big time. Just let it go, mate. Stop chasing things that you can't catch. You'll feel much better for it in the end." Chad was ready to seriously hurt Mark, but decided not to. It was useless trying constantly to win back Raye's attention, but he still hung on to that hope.
"Dude, I'm going to my room to chill out. Don't disturb me and tell the other dudes not to either." Chad slowly walked away, his head hung low. Mark grabbed a beer and lay down on the sofa, reflecting upon this new situation.

Int. Chiba residence - September 23rd 2002, midday.

"How'd it go?" Luna greeted Serena and Darien back from their callout.
"Turns out we weren't needed." Luna looked very suprised at Darien. "Mars was helped out by some other guy who turned Zoicite to ash. We were hoping you would know who it was that helped her if we gave you a description."
"Fire away." Luna was hoping that he was about to describe the missing Mars senshi from London.
"She only caught a split-second glimpse of him, but he's fairly tall, has short black hair, wears sunglasses and dresses in black with a red stripe down either side of his clothes." Luna smiled.
"I know who that is. That's the Mars knight, the english eqivalent of Sailor Mars. The English branch of Central is complaining that he left England without informing them. Artemis has been trying to track him down. I'll tell him as soon as I see him."
"Shouldn't you inform central that he's here?" Serena sounded slightly anxious.
"Yes, but I'll tell them to leave him alone. He has some very powerful and devistating attacks so he would prove a very valuble ally in this coming war. If what you're saying is true in the sense that Zoicite was turned to ash, I'm presuming that he used Phoenix Bomb, and extremely powerful attack. We need people like him if we are to even stand a chance." Serena looked very suprised.
"Woah. This guy sounds awesome!"
"Not only that, but he can also take the place of Amy as well. The Mars Knight carries around a pocket computer that he uses even in his civilian form. We don't know its specifications though. We're not even sure if it even uses the standard MoonOS system." replied Luna.
"So, who is this Mars Knight in his civilian form?" asked Darien, hoping that this guy wasn't another gender-shifter like the starlights.
"I don't know. We've been unable to contact London for the past few days. All I know is that he is male in his civilian form." Darien breathed a sigh of relief. He was always slightly freaked out by the starlights. "We mustn't forget that even though he has the one powerful attack, the Japanese sailor scouts are THE major fighters with powers unsurpassed by any other division since they are the reincarnations of the princesses of their respective planets. The other senshi scattered throughout Earth all had ties with the royal families of their planet in some way or another, but are not as powerful. I do believe that the Mars Knight was a prince from one of Mars' moons. I can't remember which one though." She turned away from the pair. "Anyway, I'd better go and see Artemis if he hasn't followed Mina to the university." She swiftly headed to the kitchen to leave through the cat-flap.

Int. Hiwaka Shrine - 23rd September 2002, 1:15 pm.

Raye had allowed Mr. Yakama to leave early as she took over the duties of the temple once more. She was feeling very proud of herself for dealing a major blow to Chad. As she meditated in the main fire-reading room a cool breeze rippled her long, dark hair. She had always been fed up over the years of the men always making the move for her, so she had decided to play things differently. She had sensed from the start that Mark had feelings for her, so she used that to her advantage.
"Raye. We need to talk." She smiled as she slowly got up and turned around to see Mark.
"Nice to see you again, my friend." She slowly but very sexily walked towards him. Mark stayed focussed on her face.
"That kiss earlier. What exactly was that for? Was that just to get back at Chad?" Mark looked deadly serious as she approached him further.
"Isn't it obvious?" She stopped right in front of him. "I think you're cute, very cute Mark Davison, which is a huge honour considering that I dispise most men." Mark was becoming increasingly nervous. He was madly in love with her, but it was her that was making all of the moves.
"Then why did you kiss me in front of Chad? The guy went mental afterwards!" Raye's smile turned into a devilish grin.
"Just showing him what he's missing out on. Stop trying to play the innocent, Mark. I know all too well about your true feelings for me. The way you're acting nervously at this very moment. The way you embraced me under the stars last week. I can tell what you're thinking at this very moment." Mark was about to speak, but Raye simply shushed him as she put her finger over his lips. "You're thinking 'How does she know all this?'" She wrapped her left arm over his sholder and put her right hand behind his head. "Your answer," She pulled his head closer to hers. "I just do." With that, she kissed him once more. This time Mark didn't shake her off, instead he deepened the kiss. At that moment Raye had felt that she could finally say that she had a true love of her own. She could sense it. Mark, still very much suprised by it all, shared the same feeling. Somehow, even though he had known her for a very short time, he thought that her kiss felt all too familiar. It was seriously bugging him, but he simply shook it off before breaking the kiss.
"So I guess we're official now, then." He had a greatful smile on his face.
"I guess so, tiger." Raye still had her arms wrapped around him.
"So, er, you wanna catch a movie this weekend, then?" He looked into her magnificent indigo eyes.
"Sure. There's quite a few flicks I'd love to see."
"Hey, sure. I'm buying the tickets if you're buying the snacks." Raye giggled, thankful that Serena wasn't coming along. She'd probably need a truckload of snacks just to get throught the movie.

The couple spent the next couple of hours in each others' company as they got to know each other better. Raye explained to Mark about Serena and her other friends and how she first met them, taking care not to let slip of her true identity. She edited some of her stories, especially about the time she first met Serena, because she had no doubt that there were some things that Mark would never believe in a million years, such as the busses disappearing into portals.
"Don't get me wrong. Sometimes Serena can be a royal pain in the ass, but she's a very good friend that's always there for me, and she has a boyfriend that would do absolutely anything to keep her happy." Mark nodded his head in interest as Raye recalled anecdotes of herself and her eight friends.
"What about that Lita? Is she always as weary to people as she was with me?"
"Yeah, kinda. She's always had a lack of trust for some people, a bit like how I distrust most men. She's a lot like Amara, except she isn't a lesbian. No need to worry yourself, she'll probably grow to like you in time." chuckled Raye as Mark smiled.

"So, er, who is this Amy I keep hearing so much about, exactly?" Mark took his Palmtop PC from out of his pocket and booted it up as Raye began to speak.
"Amy Mizuno. She's a very good friend of ours. As I said, I met her six years ago. She's a very intelligent girl, she always used to get top marks in all her subjects in school, well, maybe except for resistant materials, but you can't have it all." Raye paused and took a sip from her glass of water as Mark tapped the screen of his computer a few times. "She flew away to Germany about six months ago to train to become a doctor in Berlin. Her boyfriend, Greg, proposed to her a couple of weeks ago and they're thinking of returning to Tokyo for the wedding." She noticed the small hand-held computer that Mark was tapping.
"Cool." replied Mark. Raye had recognised the design of it from somewhere before, but wasn't sure where. It looked similar to Amy's tiara computer console, but the colours were very much different. She had remembered Amy going on about it at one time, saying that the operating system for it was MoonOS or something like that. Technology had always confused Raye, so she didn't pay much attention to Amy.
"Mark? Hope you don't mind me asking, but what does that computer run on?" She knew she sounded vague.
"It runs on a battery." Raye looked slightly confused.
"No, I didn't mean that. I meant what program does it run?" Mark raised his eyebrows in understanding.
"Ah, the operating system. This baby runs a little-known system called MoonOS. This one's got MoonOS version 4.1 Mars." Bells started ringing in her head. MoonOS? She would definately have to double check on that. Raye stood up and smoothed down her top.
"Cool. I just need to visit the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes." She walked out of the room, not going towards the bathroom but instead picked up the phone before dialling a German number.
"Come on Amy. This is important..."
"Urawa und Mizuno." Greg had picked up the other end. He sounded rather tired.
"Hey, Greg. It's Raye." She took the phone into the kitchen so that Mark couldn't hear. "Is Amy there please? It's quite urgent."
"Hey, sure. I'll just wake her up now." Raye could hear Greg put the phone down on the bedside table. "Amy? Wake up."
"What is it?" Amy sounded pretty much exhausted like Greg.
"Call for you. It's from Raye."
"I only just got to sleep..." groaned Amy as Greg handed her the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey Amy. I hope I wasn't just disturbing you two at all."
"Nah. I'm just trying to get to sleep." Amy sounded embarrased. "Anyway, that's none of your business. It's quarter past one here."
"Oh, sorry. I guess I never think about time zones." Giggled Raye quietly.
"It's okay. I'm getting used to friends calling me in the early hours of the morning. Anyway, why did you call?"
"A quick question about Sailor Mercury." There was a slight pause before Raye heard the clicking of a door in Amy's apartment.
"Sorry about that. I just don't want Greg to hear. He's been a bit stressed because of the Nega problems here. He thinks that they're after him again. What d'ya want to know?" whispered Amy.
"What operating system does your tiara computer use?" Amy seemed surprised by Raye's sudden interest in technology.
"MoonOS, of course. That's the standard issue operating system for all Moon Kingdom alliance computers. I've recently upgraded mine to version 4.42 Mercury." Raye's suspicion began to grow. "I don't mean to be intrusive, but why do you ask?"
"Nothing much. A new senshi's turned up on the block and we don't know his civilian identity." Raye paused before lowering her voice considerably. "I think I've just found him though."
"I presume you're not talking about a Japanese Sailor Scout seeing that your new friend is male."
"Yeah. I only caught a glimpse of the senshi, so I can't be certain where he's from. He's definately not Japanese though." Amy yawned once more.
"Well, I can't go doing any research at this time of night, but keep our eye out. Don't drop yourself in it either though. If the guy you suspect turns out to be a normal civilian I can't bear to think about what will happen. Play it carefully."
"Hey, thanks Amy. You go get your sleep. I'll try and call you earlier next time."
"Yeah... anytime." Amy hung up before returning to bed. Greg had already fallen asleep in those few minutes she had been talking to Raye. Amy simply kissed him on the cheek before finally turning the lights out.

End Of Chapter 7