American Senshi! A Mysterious New Villain Appears!
Authors note: This story has some changes to character profiles. Don't be alarmed if you find any. Also, my good friend, Kiandria Toryka helped with the creation of this. You can send any comments to her or myself
Plane engines roared as two girls stood in the waiting area of the Narita airport. Both were easily identified as foreigners. One girl had pale blonde hair up in a bun. Her blue eyes scanned the area. Next to her, a girl with reddish-brown hair in a braid was looking through a handbook of some sort.
"Well, Peiti, what does it say?" the blond asked. The brunette, Peiti, shrugged.
"Jirian, the letter said six o'clock. It's only six thirty now. They're probably just late."
" 'Just late,' she says," came an irritated voice from a pet carrier. Peiti knelt down and undid the latch. A small red fox walked out and jumped onto her owner's shoulder.
"Sorry, Elara. I forget how cramped it gets in there for you." She smiled, her green eyes dancing.
"Oh, it's all well and good for you. You weren't the one in there," the fox said.
"I said I was sorry, Elara. What more do you want?"
"Food. Where's Puck?"
"Oh no you don't!" Jirian exclaimed. "You leave him alone!"
"I was just teasing," Elara said as she nibbled daintily on a piece of jerky.
"You better have been joking, you over-grown fur-ball!" The squeaky voice emitted from one of Jirian's shirt pockets. A purplish-grey monkey-mouse poked its head out.
"Quiet, you two, they're coming!" Just then, four people, two adults and two teens, showed up. The man had dark brown hair and glasses and the woman had long blue hair. One of them, the girl, had long blond hair in pigtails with odangos. The boy had light brown hair.
"Konban wa! Forgive us; we forgot that your plane came in today." The man bowed then held out his hand. "Tsukino Kenji. This is my wife, Ikuko, and my children, Usagi and Shingo."
"It is our pleasure to meet you. I am Karekaneru Peiti and my pet, Elara." She motioned to the fox.
"And I am Bosaratsu Jirian. This is Puck." Here she pointed to the animal on her shoulder.
"Cool! What kind of animal is that?" The girls giggled a little at Shingo.
"He's a monkey-mouse. They're very unique."
"Well, shall we be going, then?" Kenji and Shingo each took two bags and started out to the car. The three girls and Ikuko picked up the remaining bags.
The trip to the Tsukino home was mostly spent chatting about what was the norm around the house and things like that.
"I think that tomorrow I'll introduce you two to my friends. Some of them might be hard to find, but you'll meet then all eventually." Usagi grinned at the girls.
"That should be fun." Peiti smiled as she looked over Usagi's head at Jirian. She smiled back.
(Cut)
"You two will be staying up here. When Chibi-Usa, my...cousin, visits she usually stays up here, but we adjusted for you two. Just give a yell if you need anything."
When Usagi was gone Elara jumped on the bed. "This should be a nice vacation for us, ne?"
"Vacation? Elara, you know we can't afford to relax completely." Peiti sat next to the fox. "We can't just say, 'I'm on vacation, so I'm going to ignore the fact that my job is to stop evil powers from growing.
"Tch, I know that. But for now at least you can be normal girls." Jirian sat down on her bed.
"I guess you have a point. Perhaps we should unpack? I don't know about you, but I want a bath and then sleep."
"I agree." Peiti smiled. "Let's hurry up then and stop worrying about being Sailor Soldiers." Jirian nodded and they began to unpack.
(Cut)
"Well, Luna, what do you think? They seem very nice to me. Especially for not being from Japan." Usagi hummed a little as she brushed her hair.
"I'm not sure, Usagi. There's something different about both of them, but it doesn't feel evil or bad. Maybe Artemis or Rei-chan can figure it out when they've met these girls." Usagi nodded.
"I'll be sure to mention it." Usagi yawned. "I'm going to bed. Good night, Luna."
"Good night, Usagi-chan."
(Cut)
The next morning, after breakfast, Usagi, Jirian, Peiti, and their pets, went down to Hikawa Jinja of Sendai Hill to meet Usagi's friends. Eight young woman stood together, talking.
"Mina-chan!" Usagi waved excitedly. All the girls looked up. Calls of Usa-chan, Usagi-chan and Odago came from the crowd.
"Mina-chan, these are the foreign exchange students from Burlington, Vermont." She pointed first to Jirian then to Peiti. "This is Bosaratsu Jirian and Karekaneru Peiti. Peiti-chan, Jirian-chan, this is Mizuno Ami, Aino Minako, Hino Rei, Kino Makoto, Tomoe Hotaru, Tenoh Haruka, Kaioh Michiru, and Meioh Setsuna." She pointed to each girl in turn.
"Ohayo Gozaimasu," both girls said in unison.
"Peiti-chan, you know, you look kind of like Mako-chan. And Jirian-chan, you look like Haruka-san," Ami commented.
"Hai, they do. Strange..." Rei shrugged then. "It's probably just coincidence."
"Hai, coincidence." All the girls laughed then, dissolving the slight tension that had built.
"Why don't you come inside?" Rei invited, smiling at the girls. "I'll show you around and then we can have some of Mako-chan's famous cookies. She's the cook of the group," she added, leading the girls into the shrine.
After the tour, the group settled into the front room for tea. The girls chatted about this and that, getting to know one another.
"Where did you find your monkey-mouse, Jirian?" Minako asked, giggling and petting the small creature.
"He was a gift for my birthday."
"Is that where you got your fox, Peiti?" The brunette nodded, smiling.
"Yup. Our parents tend to think alike since Jirian and I spend so much time together." The girls laughed.
(Cut)
"So, should we be suspicious of these girls?" Haruka asked the group after Usagi and the two exchanged students had left.
"I don't think so," Rei said. "They both have a strange aura around them, but I don't think it should be any cause for concern."
"They seem to be very nice," Michiru said, sipping her tea. "It's nice to meet a fellow musician."
"And nice to meet someone else who likes karate as much as I do," Mako-chan said, snatching up the last cookie before Minako could get it.
"All in all, I think they are nice," Ami agreed with a little nod of her blue head. There were nods all around.
"Of course, we can't tell them who we REALLY are," Setsuna spoke up. The scouts all nodded their complete agreement.
(Cut)
"I hope their school isn't as big as ours," Peiti said as the two girls got ready for bed.
"Don't worry about it, Peit. You'll do fine," Jirian said, tuning her guitar. "Personally, I think it will be lots of fun to meet some new people."
"You would." A loud squeak/scream interrupted their conversation. Puck came dashing in, closely followed by Elara. He scrambled up Jirian's leg and onto her shoulder, squeaking angrily at the fox.
"Elara!" Jirian cried. "Quit trying to eat my monkey-mouse!"
"He bit my tail!"
"That's because SHE was making fun of my ears again!"
"Knock it off, you two," Peiti said, rolling her green eyes as she scooped up her guardian animal. "Elara, stop trying to eat Puck and Puck, stop biting Elara. Is that better?" The two animals made faces at one another in reply.
"One of these days, Puck, I'll toss you out the bloody window." Jirian set him on the bed.
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Try me, you demonic animal."
Peiti laughed and crawled into her bed, setting Elara on her extra pillow.
"Good night. And don't wake us up again with your stupid fights, you two."
"We'll try," was all Elara and Puck would promise. The girls sighed and quickly fell asleep.
(Cut)
"So, Usagi-chan, where exactly are we going today?" Usagi grinned at the girls.
"It's a surprise. I promised I wouldn't tell." Peiti sighed.
"You know, I think we just found someone worse than you." Jirian glared, but didn't comment. Usagi led the girls to a tall building resembling the Eiffel Tower in France.
"Oh! The Tokyo Tower! Are we going up there?" Usagi nodded.
"That's neat. I've read lots of neat facts about it." Peiti dug out her camera. With the angel of the morning light, it would be a perfect picture. She took a few steps back and bumped into someone. "Oh, gomen! I am so sorry. I didn't see you." A young man with very short blonde hair shrugged.
"That's alright. I didn't notice you either." He blinked his amber eyes at her, then turned and walked away.
"Oh, how rude!"
"Peiti? Are you all right?"
"Yes. I'm fine, Usagi. Just a jerk." When she looked at his eyes she had felt something...not quite right. It wasn't quite human... "Jirian..."
"Ne?"
"That man...Something about him is not right. We need to keep an eye out." Jirian nodded.
"Yeah, I agree."
"Hey, you two! Hurry up! I don't want you to get lost!"
"Hai!" They ran forward.
"My mother would kill me if I lost you guys," Usagi said, smiling at the two girls. They laughed.
"Let's just hope you aren't going to try," Jirian said, digging though her bag for her own camera.
"Of course not! Oooooh! A cake stand!!" Usagi changed directions abruptly, heading for a sweet stall not far away. The two Americans exchanged amused glances, following. "I love cake!" Pigtails bouncing happily, Usagi bought a big piece of chocolate cake and offered some of it to the girls.
"Cake!" Peiti took the offered bit, munching happily.
"No thanks. I've got my eye on those cookies!" Jirian pounced on two of the chocolate, peanut butter chip cookies. "This is what I love!"
"Well, Buns-head, looks to me like you've found two soul mates." Haruka, with Michiru on her arm, walked up to them, smiling a little. Jirian and Peiti blushed a little, but Usagi, who was used to the comments by now, grinned happily at her.
"Hai! Anyone who loves chocolate or cake is a friend of mine!" Haruka and Michiru laughed at that one.
"Where you guys heading to Tokyo Tower?" Michiru asked in her soft, mild voice.
"Yup," Jirian piped, finishing her cookies.
"It's got a beautiful view," Haruka spoke up. "One of our favorite spots."
"I thought the beach was our favorite," her girlfriend teased, smiling.
"That too." Everyone laughed.
"I think I'd like to go somewhere to exercise today if we have time. I'll turn into a blimp if I don't work off those cake calories!" Peiti commented when the laughs had subsided, causing more laughs.
"Well, it's true for you, Peiti." The girl glared at her friend before taking a swing at her.
"Even more for you, Jirian!"
"That was cheap!"
"Girls, perhaps, we should take the argument else where?" The friends looked up, startled, then they laughed.
"Oh, sorry. We never actually mean it when we fight." Peiti laughed again and they continued on with Haruka and Michiru joining their group.
"So, how long are you two girls staying here in Tokyo?" Haruka asked as she slid an arm around Michiru.
"For about a year. We've got this year of High school and next, then we'll be done. We thought it would be fun to come here. We've fallen in love with everything from here since oh, what was it, sixth grade?"
"Fifth, Jirian. Fifth." The girls laughed. "We took an introductory course to Japanese and finished it with college classes last year. We got hooked."
"Well, it is a nice place here."
"Yes, lots of natural beauty," Haruka commented, gazing at Michiru. The three others giggled softly and Peiti took out her camera to take more photos. But as she did so, she was reminded of the man she bumped into. What made him so different? So...wrong?
One thing was for sure: she and Jirian had to keep on their toes.
(Cut)
"Point!" Jirian stepped back and took off her fencing helmet, smiling at her opponent. "Good game." The two shook hands.
"Well, Jirian, for a newcomer, you're doing quite well," the instructor said, smiling at her.
"Thank you, sir."
"Who's next?" No one raised their hands. "Oh, come on, you guys. She's been here a week and already has the top spot. Don't any of you want to challenge that?" Still no hands.
Then...
"I'll try." Everyone turned to see a man with pale grey hair pulled back in a long ponytail standing there, a helmet under his arm. His light green eyes sparkled as he smiled at Jirian. She felt her heart skip a little and a faint flush crept into her cheeks.
"Yaten, it's good to see you here."
"I've been busy with college."
"Understandable. So, you want to fight?"
"Of course. If she doesn't mind, that is." Jirian quickly shook her head.
"Nope, not at all." She plunked her helmet back on her head, mostly to hide the color that had risen to her face. The man, Yaten, put his on as well and strode forward.
"Get ready...GO!"
The two people leapt forward, their swords crashing together. The fight that ensued was long and harsh; the clang of metal against metal blended into one long sound, and all that anyone could make out was two white and silver blurs. The other students watched, dumbfounded that two young people could have such talent.
Then, as suddenly as it began, it was over.
Yaten knocked aside one of Jirian's thrusts and his blade bent at her heart. "Point!" The two backed off, both panting a bit from the exertion. She pulled off her helmet, shaking out her hair.
"Good game." She extended her hand which he took while removing his helmet.
"And you as well. It's been a while since I've fought against one as good as you." Jirian blushed at his praise.
"Thank you, Yaten-san." Jirian bowed to him and went over to her duffle bag, digging around for her water. Fencing continued behind her and she assumed Yaten was fighting the next opponent. That's why it was such a shock when he appeared next to her.
"Where are you from exactly?" he asked, leaning casually against the wall. Jirian swallowed water quickly.
"Burlington, Vermont."
"You're American."
"Yes. My friend and I are staying with the Tsukino family." Yaten laughed.
"Ah yes, good old Usagi-san. I haven't seen her in a while." He looked down at her. "How long have you been fencing?"
"Since I was old enough to pick up a sword. My father taught me the basics before I was in grade school and I've been doing it ever since." She stood, her bag on her shoulder. "I'm afraid I have to go. I'm meeting my friend at the skating rink."
"Do you want me to walk you?"
'Yes!' "That's not really necessary. Thank you for the offer though. I'll see you around." She turned to go.
"Hey, wait! I don't know your name!"
"Jirian! Bye!" She ran out.
(Cut)
Peiti glided across the ice. She closed her eyes and began spinning, going faster and faster. People stopped to stare as she suddenly stopped, going back to gliding, then jumped, doing a triple axle. She continued doing moves as she opened her eyes, gliding along, oblivious to the stares. She took a deep breath, then began spinning again, this time, in the opposite direction. AS she pushed out to go backwards, she lost her balance and fell...
to be caught by someone from behind. Shaking a little, she straightened herself and the hands let go. "Arigato, I—"She stopped when she saw who had caught her.
A tall young man with dark green hair loosely held back from his face smiled down at her, his gray eyes warm. "Are you okay? I hope I didn't startle you, but I didn't think you'd like being hurt."
"No, I'm okay. Arigato. I usually can do that move at home, but I must've hit a rough patch."
"Well, if you figure it out, thank it for me. I've seen you here a couple times, but I've never been able to talk to you before." Peiti blushed a little.
"Oh."
"Oh, how rude of me! I'm Sesshou. I just moved here a few months ago. I live with my cousins, Taiki, Seiya, and Yaten."
"Never heard of them. I'm Peiti. I've been here for about a week. I'm originally from Vermont."
"Oh, an American!" She blushed, nodding.
"Hai. I'm staying with Tsukino's."
"Oh? I believe my cousin's are acquainted with an Usagi Tsukino."
"That's probably the one I'm staying with." She smiled. "Shall we go sit? My ankles are starting to go numb. My friend is supposed to be coming soon anyway."
"Oh yes, of course." Sesshou led her off the ice and helped her change her skates.
"I'm quite capable, you know."
"I'm sure you are, but I'm a gentleman, and a gentleman always assists a lady." She smiled again, blushing darker. Her hair fell into her eyes and she pushed it back as they walked to a table.
"So, Sesshou, do you go to school?"
"Hai, one of the colleges here." She nodded.
"I'm here as a foreign exchange student. Me and my friend are loving it here."
"My friend and I," he corrected.
"Oops, sorry. I haven't done that in a long time."
"Then perhaps you were overdue for a grammatical error." She giggled and nodded.
"I suppose." He laughed a little.
"Peiti!" Jirian ran up to her friend. "You are not going to believe who I just met!" She stopped short when she saw the man sitting across from her friend. "Oops. Sorry. I didn't realize you were...entertaining." Peiti blushed.
"It's quite alright. You must be Peiti's friend." Sesshou stood, holding out his hand.
"Yes, I'm Jirian." She shook his hand, grinning at her friend.
"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you. And you as well, Peiti. I hope to see you around." He waved and went off. Jirian burst into giggles, sitting down in the seat he had been occupying.
"Well, it looks like I'm not the only one who met a stud-muffing today."
"What do you mean?"
"At fencing club, I met this REALLY cute guy named Yaten."
"Yaten?" Jirian nodded and Peiti laughed.
"What?"
"It seems our studs are related." When Jirian gave her a puzzled look, Peiti explained what Sesshou had told her.
"So they're cousins?"
"Yup."
"Wow..." Jirian fell back in her seat. "This is...wow..." Peiti rolled her eyes.
"You're just so articulate, Jiru." She stood up, tossing her skates over her shoulder. "Come on. Our animals are probably starving to death."
"Wimps, the both of them." The blond stood, stretching. "I just hope I DO see Yaten again." She smiled dreamily. Peiti laughed, dragging her friend out of the rink.
(Cut)
"You two took forever!!!!" Peiti rolled her eyes as she set a bowl of chopped up chicken on the floor for Elara.
"Here, your majesty. Just don't eat so fast you choke."
"I never choke on my food." Elara daintily chewed on her chicken bits.
Jirian rolled her eyes as she fed Puck some sunflower seeds. "Liar. You choked on it yesterday." Peiti stifled a giggle.
"Well, in any case have either of you seen anymore of that one man?" Both girls shook
their heads.
"Not one sight. And we would feel it if he was around. So wrong and definitely not human." Peiti shivered. "Jirian, did you feel something different about Sesshou?"
"Not really, why?"
"Just wondering. I thought I did, but...now, I'm not sure." Jirian shrugged.
"I felt the same with Yaten. I'm sure it's just that we thought they were cute."
"You're right."
"Well both of you still need to be careful!"
"The rat is right. You don't know much about the people around here. You need to look out for each other."
"I'M NOT A RAT!"
"Hush!" Just then Usagi came in.
"Hi! Do you two want cookies or anything?" The girls smiled.
"Sure!" They jumped up and went to the door.
"Both of you, stay put!" They followed Usagi into the kitchen.
"Hello girls!" Ikuko chirped, putting some more cookies on a plate. "Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies."
"Yay!" all three girls cried at once, diving for the plate. Ikuko laughed brightly and turned back to the stove.
"Just make sure you brush your teeth well tonight. Don't want you girls getting cavities. RIGHT, Usagi?" Ikuko glared at her daughter over her shoulder. Usagi laughed a bit.
"Right, Mama." Her smile returned and she went back to baking. "So, did you two have fun today? Sorry I couldn't be around, but I had...uh..." Usagi glanced at her mother. "I was doing some extra credit work," she said loudly then whispered to the girls, "detention."
"That's alright, Usagi-san. We kept ourselves busy. You have a lot more to do here than back at home," Jirian said, popping another cookie in her mouth.
"So what did you do?"
"Well, I went to that ice skating rink Mako-chan showed me and Jirian was at fencing club."
"Peiti met a cute guy!" Jirian burst out causing Usagi to grin and Peiti to turn bright red.
"Jirian!"
"Well you did!"
"Who was it?! Come on, Peiti, you can tell me!"
"His name is Sesshou," Jirian spoke up for her friend. "He's got green hair and is TOTALLY cute. Just perfect for our little Peiti here."
"What about YATEN?" It was Jirian's turn to blush.
"You've met Yaten?" Usagi asked, he blue eyes a little wide. Jirian nodded.
"Hai. He beat me in fencing."
"That sounds like him." Usagi smiled at her two new friends. "Well, we just might have to have a little get together with the three lights and this mysterious Sesshou." Her look went sly.
"Next time, Jirian, keep your mouth shut."
(Cut)
The girls were walking to the Hikawa Jinja again to meet with the others when they heard shouts of terror and fright. All three looked at each other then ran ahead. A large, dark brown scaly youma was standing amidst a group of five whirlwinds. They noticed that each whirlwind had a person trapped within it.
Jirian and Peiti stared at each other. "Usagi, run!" They pushed the girl away so the throng of rushing people carried her along.
"Callisto Lunar Power, MAKE UP!"
"Oberon Lunar Power, MAKE UP!"
Peiti and Jirian henshined into two sailor soldiers, Sailor Callisto and Sailor Oberon respectively. Callisto was clothed in a green fuku with navy blue bows and Oberon in a blue one with silver bows.
"Hey, you!" The youma looked up at them. "How dare you destroy this beautiful day with your ugly creations of dust and wind! Guardian the realm of the planet Jupiter, keeping watch beautifully from one of its moons, I am Sailor Callisto!"
"Guarding the realm of the planet Uranus, keeping watch beautifully from one of its moons, I am Sailor Oberon!"
"And in the names of our moons, we'll punish you!" The youma just blinked in confusion. Apparently, it hadn't understood a word they said. They both sighed.
"Your turn or mine, Oberon?"
"Yours." Callisto nodded and jumped up, hanks crackling with lightning energy.
"Callisto Thunder and Lightning Call!" Bolts of the electric energy streaked down upon the youma. It cried out in pain and the whirlwinds slowed a bit before picking up speed again.
"So much for that," Oberon said, stepping forward. Let me take a whack at it. DIAMOND HAIL!" Bright shards of ice flew from Oberon's gloved hands, striking the youma in the side. It let out a bellow of rage, flinging a huge cloud of dust at the scout. She let out a little scream and flew backwards, slamming into a nearby building.
"Oberon!" Callisto's eyes flashed as she faced the monster. "Now you're in trouble! Callisto Rainbow Beam Spray!"
This time the youma threw up a shield of dirt and grime, bouncing the attack back at the scout. Callisto barely got out of the way in time.
"Callisto..." Oberon struggled up, battered and a little bruised but otherwise unhurt.
"Oberon! You're okay!"
"I'm fine! Worry about me later!"
"She just bounces the attacks back at us!"
"We'll combine our attacks then. It's time to find wind with wind! Use your Emerald Fury and I'll use my Wind Cyclone. It's time to blow this piece of trash back to where it came from!"
"Right!!"
"Callisto Emerald Fury..." Callisto spun in a circle on her toes and a globe of emerald colored energy formed in her hands.
"Oberon Wind Cyclone!" Oberon spun as well, a blue and silver cyclone forming around her.
At the last moment they release both of their attacks and the emerald globe and the blue-silver cyclone combined to flatten the youma. It stood until the cyclone was gone, then whispered "Funjin..." and phased out. An old man, worn through the years of his life, dropped to his knees. The five people captured by the whirlwinds dropped too. Callisto knelt to check the bodies.
"They'll be alright." Oberon nodded and the girls dehenshined in a flash of each of their primary colors. Jirian gasped a little and started to fall, but Peiti caught her. "Are you alright?" She nodded.
"I'll be fine. Let's go find Usagi."
"Yeah..." The two girls trudged off in search of the Japanese girl.
(Cut)
"I am sorry, my lord." Nishi, general of the west, bowed to the man seated on a dais in front of him. "I did not expect them to show up."
"There is no excuse for your failure." The voice that rolled over him was deep and filled with a suppressed anger. The man, who sat in shadow, raised a gloved hand, palm up. "Give me the crystal."
"Yes, my lord." Nishi took a smoky grey crystal from a pocket and held it up. It floated out of his hands and into the waiting one of his master. A grayish mist floated from the gem, disappearing into the shadows.
I will give you another chance, Nishi, only because you have always served me faithfully. But if you continue to fail, you will go back to the abyss. Do you understand me?"
"Perfectly, my lord."
"Good. I want that Silver Crystal, Nishi."
"And I will get if for you."