Chapter 5 "The Princess and the Thief"
It was a normal Saturday in Crystal Tokyo. People drove along in their hover crafts, cruising lightly above the traffic that echoed the same hustle and bustle of the past millennium as the ever present pedestrians went about their own businesses. On one of the many wall-sized screens displayed on the sides of buildings were various news agencies, reporting the morning's headlines.
"Good morning Crystal Tokyo, I am Miho Domoto with the top stories of the day. First off is the dramatic encounter with the illusive KaitouKun last night at the Arts and Humanities Museum." The news anchor's attractive voice announced, attracting the attention of a few onlookers who looked up at the giant screen. "Police confirmed the report that the thief made contact with the sailor senshis, and although details have yet to be released, we do know that the object of the heist, the Russian Faberge egg the White Lily has been retrieved. However it seems the mysterious phantom thief escaped yet again after trapping the newly initiated Sailor Quartet in a trap that had been set up by the police." A picture of the Quartet being helped out of the laser trap was shown, drawing giggles and disappointed head shakes from the crowd "The police say that they will do everything they can to capture the enigmatic outlaw. Whether this will mean they will continue to ask for the aid of the Sailor Senshis should there be a future robbery is unknown."
Back in the palace, servants hurried down hallways and corridors, minding their own duties. However a heavy atmosphere was hanging over the normally cheerful crystal residence. The reason was apparent, the newly trained senshis' attempt to catch the phantom thief KaitouKun had failed and even though the princess was able to recover the Faberge egg, the Sailor Quartet felt they have been completely humiliated by their unplanned disaster.
The girls have sealed themselves up in Chibi Usa's room, sulking amongst themselves. Cere-Cere sighed heavily as she sat in a beautifully upholstered chair and leaved through the newest edition of a teen magazine and looked disinterestedly at the article regarding popular rumors and theories flying amongst teenagers regarding KaitouKun.
"What a shame, we got all worked up but I never got a good look at him." She lamented regretfully.
Jun-Jun look up from where she laid on the bed and gave her sister a dark look "Yeah, like totally embarrassing ourselves on our first mission isn't a real shame"
"Now the whole world thinks we're a bunch of useless wannabes who don't know what they're doing." Ves-Ves moaned as she sat listlessly in the chair beside Cere-Cere, her elbows on her knee and her face cupped in her hands.
Palla-Palla looked up from where she sat on the ground, apatheticly coloring a picture book and said "Palla-Palla didn't like catching phantom thief-san but Small Lady-sama did get the pretty egg back." She said optimistically.
"Yeah, but we still lost face in front of everyone, and when I say everyone, I mean every living person on this planet!" Jun-Jun sat up and fumingly chucked the pillow she had been leaning on against the headboard. "If Chibi Usa hadn't gotten the egg back things could even be worse for us, don't you think so Chibi Usa?"
When no reply came, Jun-Jun looked towards the girl in question and saw the princess lying flat on her back on the bed, her hands behind her head. Chibi Usa didn't reply right away. Instead, she sighed lightly and pushed herself up.
"Jun-Jun's right," Chibi Usa admitted, addressing the Quartet as a whole "but we've got to salvage our reputation because we have to let the people know we're not a bunch of 'useless wannabes'. We may be inexperienced as a team but we are senshis, no one can contest that."
However the speech didn't seem to have inspired any influx of confidence as the Quartet continued with their gloomy silence. Chibi Usa shook her head and was about to sulk with them when a knock came from the door. Uncurling herself from her cross legged position, Chibi Usa went and opened the door to find Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury standing outside.
"Hi guys" Mercury said tactfully, noting the heavy atmosphere hanging in the bedroom "Are you guys feeling okay?"
An unanimous moan answered her, making Mercury frown in worry.
Mars looked to Chibi Usa who was still standing by the door "Have you tried to talk to them?"
Chibi Usa sighed for the hundredth time since she woke up today and nodded "I just did and it didn't work; I think we all feel pretty bad to some degrees about this whole thing."
Mars patted her encouragingly on the shoulder "Don't worry, it'll all work out. At least this guy is only a thief, not like the evil overlords we use to..."
Chibi Usa waited for Mars to finish what she had to say but it never came. She turned to look at the older senshi and found her staring raptly at her left hand. "What is it Rei?"
The senshi of the rusty red planet blinked, as if pulling herself out of a trance when her dark brows drew together and she looked at Chibi Usa seriously "Small Lady, have you been to any sacred shrines or temples lately?"
Mystified by Mars' question, Chibi Usa shook her hand "Why do you ask?" By this time the Quartet had heard their conversation and congregated around Chibi Usa and Sailor Mars.
"I asked because I'm feeling strange vibrations from your left hand. Have you touched anything unusual with that hand?"
"Umm..." Chibi Usa was about to shake her head when she remembered something and blushed "sort of...not really...you see, when I was confronting KaitouKun yesterday when he suddenly kissed my left hand..."
"He did that?!" Cere-Cere echoed. Her face, along with Jun-Jun, Ves-Ves, and Sailor Mercury's all flushed while Mars stood by the door way, running this information over in her mind. "What did he look like? Was he cute?" Cere-Cere fired questions quicker than an automatic rifle as Chibi Usa put her hands up and smiled wearily as she faced the barrage. After a moment longer Mars spoke and Ves-Ves put her hand over Cere-Cere's mouth so they could hear her.
"That would explain why he's so elusive..." Mars looked directly at Chibi Usa, and the senshi of fire's gaze made the princess gulp before the information she imparted almost made her faint "I don't' think KaitouKun is human; I think he's a ghost."
"Eh?!" went Mars' chorus of bystanders
"Small Lady, did he say anything to you that you find peculiar or strange?" Mars asked, ignoring the amazed gawks from the Quartet.
Chibi Usa reflected then nodded slowly "Now that you brought it up, he did talk like he wasn't familiar with this era. Oh, he also said that he thought the idea of white foreigners kissing the hands of women which was a strange thing and hoped I wasn't offended. He also said his dream is yet to be fulfilled and he won't allow himself to be caught yet."
Nodding thoughtfully to herself, Mars let out a faint knowing smile "Good, that means my hunch was probably correct. He's unfamiliar with western customs which means he's probably from the Tokugawa era in mid 19th century when Japan reopened its doors to the West. Wandering spirits often drift the earth because they have some unfulfilled wish and his unaccomplished dream seems to fit that pattern. Since there has been no wandering spirits in Crystal Tokyo for years I'd say he might have escaped from a shrine in or near the city proper."
"That's great, but how are we going to catch a ghost?" Jun-Jun asked with a raised eyebrow "So what if we know he's from the Tokugawa period, how are we going to get him is the main problem."
Everyone went silent until Mercury suddenly spoke up "Actually I have an idea." She turned towards the Quartet and Chibi Usa "if it's because of an unfulfilled desire, if we can find out what that wish is then we'll know what his goal is and figure out something from that. And since Rei says he might be an escaped spirit from a shrine then there should be some records of him and we might find something useful."
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's search the digital archives and see what we can find!" Ves-Ves was about to walk off towards the computer station when Mercury halted her.
"It's not that easy Ves-Ves. If what Rei said is true then his records, if they even exist, would be too old to have been dug up and detailed in the archives. I think you'll have to go through the temples records manually."
Ves-Ves stared at Mercury in disbelieve, her mouth hanging open for several seconds before she said blankly "You mean we have to got through all those centuries of files by hand?!"
Mercury nodded helplessly.
(A while later)
A cloud of antique dust rose as Mars dumped a tall stack of old manuscripts onto the largest table in the library. Chibi Usa and the Quartet coughed, waving their hands in front of their faces. Sailor Mars sighed and stretched her sore arms "That's all the preserved temple records in the old Tokyo era. Hopefully we'll be able to find something useful."
Ves-Ves looked at the pile of more than 200 books disdainfully, her lip twisted in an unwilling frown. "Hopefully..." she said before sitting down with the others as they began going through the material.
(A long while later...)
The grandfather clock ticked rhythmically, accompanied by the shuffling of thin, yellowed leaves of paper. A bored yawn punctuated the morgue-like silence of the room as the sound of turned pages continued.
"We've been here for nearly three hours and after seeing enough old dusty papers to fill a whale we still haven't found anything useful!" Ves-Ves complained as she slammed her volume of text onto the table, raising another miniature cloud of dust.
Palla-Palla, with eyes half open, moped as her hands listlessly held a book, her chin resting on the table's edge. "Whale...oh, Palla-Palla wants to eat Unadon...so hungry..." her stomach stressed that point with a loud growl that echoed in the library.
"Don't complain, finding out something about this thief is more important than..." at this point Cere-Cere's stomach also growled, making her blush before she finished her sentence "food..."
Chibi Usa shook her head and looked away from the volume she had been scanning through, leaned back and stretched her sore back. "I think we should take a break, we might miss something important if we're too tired to concentrate." A tired moaning consent was heard and everyone else began putting down what she was reading.
"I'm so tired...my eyes hurt!" Jun-Jun groaned and she slouched down in her seat. Even Mercury, who has been known to study none stop for hours, had strains under her eyes as she took off her glasses and sighed.
"Good idea, reading while you're tired decreases your level of concentration." She said in a weary tone.
A light knock came from the door, followed by Sailor Venus as she poked her head in and smiled brightly. "Are you guys taking a break?"
"Yeah, the girls are all pretty tired. But we've still got about 1/3 to go." Mars said
Venus stepped in and winked "Good, because we've brought some treats for you!"
So saying Sailor Jupiter stepped into view, a tray with seven little bowls in her hand. "I thought you guys would be hungry and it's almost time for lunch so I made you some of my special Unadon."
Hearing this, Palla-Palla rushed from her chair to Jupiter's side, her eyes sparkling when she saw the delicious warm steam come off the freshly prepared eel. "Oh, thank you so much Jupiter-san! Palla-Palla loves you so much!" she gave Jupiter a huge hug, to which Jupiter laughed and set the tray down on the table.
"You're welcome Palla-Palla-chan." She looked to the others "I made enough for all of you so go ahead and chow down!"
A round of cheers came from the Qaurtet as they each indulged in Jupiter's excellent cooking. Mars and Mercury smiled and joined picked up a bowl as well. Chibi Usa smiled faintly, but decided to finish the passage she had been looking at first when two words caught her attention
"Kaitou...?...!" quickly, she returned to the beginning of the page and reread it just to be sure before calling out to her companions "Hey guys, I've found something!"
"What is it?" Cere-Cere inquired as Palla-Palla struggled to have a look while eating at the same time.
"Listen to this 'It was a time of turmoil and chaos, and in that chaos was a man who wanted to be the king of shadows, the kaitou who moved like the wind. He has robbed many a noble family of their riches before succumbing to the hand of fate, suffering an illness from which he could not recover from. And so it was that he was discovered by the law and locked in the recesses of prison until Death took him before the gallows did. Yet Death took not his soul, for it was restless and unwilling to be reincarnated. Instead his ghost roamed the dark corners, seeking the weak-willed upon whom he could prey and do his biddings as if he were alive. It was not until some two decades later that the priest of our shrine, Sumeragi-sama, was able to seal his unsettled spirit away inside our shrine to which he will remain 'til the day he is able to relinquish his earthly pride and desires.'"
Chibi Usa looked to the cover of the book and said "The book is dated from the early Meiji era, so Rei's hunch was correct after all."
"And the reason why his soul is still around is because he wanted to be the king of thieves, which explains why he performed all those risky heists in Crystal Tokyo" Jun-Jun deduced.
"So now what do we do? We know this much about him-" before Mercury could finish, the door creaked open and Diana flashed into the room, her tiny lungs out of breath from running.
"Small Lady-sama, we have just received word that KaitouKun is going to perform another heist tonight, and-and the target is inside the crystal palace!"
Chibi Usa's eyes flew open "Inside the palace?!"
"Yes," Diana continued, jumping into her mistress's arms "and the queen has already asked the police to let you and the new senshis handle it."
"But-but..." Chibi Usa sputtered but was interrupted by Mars' thoughtful voice.
"Don't panic Small Lady, I have an idea...and I think it will catch our mystery man for sure..."
That night the moon was hidden behind a thick cloud that blocked out its white light. The crystal palace stood, watching the city in which it resides as the bright rainbow lights of the evening are turned on like a field of flowers blooming in unison. The many facets of the tall crystalline towers were diffracted a different color, from soft azure to bright yellow, creamy lime to velvet lavender and everything in between. From the center of the shimmering city, the peak of the palace reached into the dark, pointing eternally at the stars, covered now by the blanket of dark blue-gray clouds.
Inside the crystal palace, the royal gallery contained some of the most exquisite art works from all around the world, from old world masters to modern 30th century artists. Many were presents from private or public museum collections that had been presented to the queen in the early days of her reign. But the queen was no art critic so she decided instead of going through the laborious effort of organizing and displaying all the paintings and statuaries through out the palace, Usagi decided to simply build a museum inside the palace and opened it to the public.
A dark figure glided into the pristine marble hallway which was eerily pale compared to the new arrival. KaitouKun looked around, his glasses watching the spare light of a display lamp before sliding soundlessly into the nearest patch of shadow. The police had once again wasted their energy in trying to stop him, KaitouKun thought smugly to himself. There were plenty of shadows for him to hide in and the police uniform he used to gain access was also very helpful.
I wonder if the princess will come today? He thought lightly to himself. It's such a pity that such a lovely creature is doing something as abhorred as prancing around in pursuit of a highly skilled criminal. Slipping into a corridor, KaitouKun smiled when he saw what he come for hanging on the wall at the end of the hallway. The medium sized painting was illuminated by soft lamps that hanged over the oil painting. The picture was, as its name implied, that of an angel. Done in a neo-classical style, the feminine figure of the winged emissary was so life like that one would have mistaken it for a photograph has it not been for the solemn umber colored background. Pale white robes reached all the way to its toes and its fair hands were outstretched towards the world as if the angel was beckoning to the viewer to join her.
Calmly he leaped around the intricate laser lines guarding the painting and within a matter of seconds was standing face to face with the angel. Deftly he removed the painting from its frame and rolled it up before tying a sturdy string around it and secured the item across his back. An item housed in the most secure building in the world, and here it is in my hands...KaitouKun thought pleasingly to him self.
"And just where do you think you're going with that painting might I ask?" A female voice suddenly called out. KaitouKun did not show his surprise outwardly, but was shocked inside when he saw Sailor Juno standing a few feet away from him, her arms crossed and a smug smirk on her face.
KaitouKun smiled from beneath his veil and answered "Out of here of course" so saying he dashed towards Juno who quickly stepped to the side to avoid a collision. But before he could make a clear get away Pallas and Ceres stepped out from the blind spots by the hallway entrance. KaitouKun flipped over them only to be intercepted by Vesta as she threw a series of punches before the thief found a loop hole and dashed down the hallway towards the nearest museum exit with the Quartet following closely on his tail.
Just then the phantom thief noticed that the window at the end of the hallway was open and knowing it would get him out of the palace faster than the usual exit, KaitouKun jumped through it despite the vertical drop down. Landing in a neat cat-like crouch, KaitouKun looked up to see the Quartet who was looking out the window at him. He waved to them and began to walk away a sharp sting went through his body and a circle of ofuda charms became visible as the moonlight undressed itself from the clouds.
At this time Neo Sailor Moon walked out from the shadow in front of him, a charm held between her index and middle finger. It turned out Sailor Mars' plan was to let the thief take the picture so his defenses would be down because of ego and then herd him to the ofuda circle the miko prepared before hand. "Evil spirit be gone!" Neo Sailor Moon threw the charm and it landed on the ground before the phantom thief, causing a great column of light to flood around him, followed by the howl of a soul being delivered to its rightful place in the afterlife.
Ken fell with a lumpy thud to the ground as Neo Sailor Moon ran next to him, propping him up in her arms. "Hey, you okay?" she asked the boy with the milk-bottle glasses as the hood slipped off his head, revealing his rather tumbled black hair. Somehow this person struck Neo Sailor Moon as being familiar, like someone she's seem many times but can't place her finger on it.
Little spirals rolled for a few seconds in Ken's eyes before he finally blinked and hazily looked around him. "Where am I? The last thing I remember was being at the shrine and breaking that urn..." when Ken looked up and saw who was sitting beside him he screamed and crawled away.
"Ahh! Princess-sama! I-I-!" Ken stuttered endlessly, not knowing what to say or how to react since the situation came upon him so suddenly and blushed a shade of red so deep that it made his face look like a Chinese lantern.
A bit surprised herself, the princess stood up and smiled awkwardly "There's nothing to be afraid about, uh..." She paused, realizing she doesn't know his name.
Ken realized this as well and he muttered almost inaudibly "I-I'm Ken, er Ken Kinoshita...I uh...I go to the same school as you, your majesty..."
The light bulb lit up in Neo Sailor Moon's head as she recalled the boy from gym class "Oh I remember now, you were that boy from gym class who fell off the rings that day." Ken nodded embarrassedly as she sat down beside him "But how is it that you became possessed by that ghost?" she inquired, causing Ken to blush even redder than before.
A midnight breeze blew across the palace, helping to cool Ken's burning cheeks as he hesitantly spoke about his inadvertent encounter with the ghost. "I was going home that day and I stopped by a shrine that I passed everyday to-to pray for a wish...but I accidentally broke an old urn that was in the back of the shrine and I heard a voice telling me it will help me grant my wish. After that I don't remember anything and I ended up here..."
Neo Sailor Moon nodded and said to herself "So it's just as Rei predicted..." She turned to Ken who adverted his eyes as she laughed "Sorry about the scare we must have put you through, finding yourself on top the crystal palace in the middle of the night probably isn't good for anybody's health. But now that the matter has been taken care of I think we should leave this place and get you some of Mako-chan's hot chocolate to warm you up. Let's go then, come on!" So saying she offered a hand to Ken who looked at it but instead of giving his hand to her, he reached for the painting that was slung behind his back and opened it.
He wrapped his hands gently around the canvas and whispered "...there is something I have to tell you Princess-sama..." Neo Sailor Moon looked at him inquisitively but remained silent.
Ken paused for a long time, trying to organize the words he had wanted to say for such a long time "I'm telling you this now because I could never get near enough to you before and after tonight, I probably won't have the courage to say anything anymore. I-I like you a lot!...To me you're the most wonderful person in the world, more beautiful than the angel in the painting even...and-um, even though this might not be a good time to ask but I have to know..." Ken felt his voice skip and gulped before he pushed the last and most important part of his confession out "...I wanted to know what you honestly feel about me..."
A white gloved hand touched Ken's hand, and when he looked up he saw Neo Sailor Moon smiling at him. "I think you're a great guy Kinoshita-kun. You may be shy but I can tell your feelings are true and anyone who is true to himself is someone I would want as a friend." Ken's hope rose at this but she closed her eyes and shook her head "However, I can't return your feelings because I..." the pink haired princess opened her eyes "I already have already found someone. I'm sorry if I've hurt your feelings but I think it's best to be honest if we're going to be friends and that is my honest answer to you."
"I see..." Ken nodded slowly and pulled his hand away from her. He scratched his head and said "It's strange but I don't actually feel that bad." Neo Sailor Moon smiled at him and accepted the picture that he handed over. Ken sighed "But I don't think I'll ever find a girl who would be interested in me, guess I just don't have the luck..." he said hopelessly, taking off his glasses and wiping them on the costume.
When he noticed the look of sheer shock and disbelief on Neo Sailor Moon Ken gulped nervously "What's wrong...?" What was wrong was the fact that Neo Sailor Moon had just met one of the handsomest boys she'd ever seen in her life! Behind the dorky glasses were two attractive pale blue eyes. Combined with his rather messy black hair and his slender frame there was no denying the fact that Ken was a "grade A" bishounen.
After a few moments Neo Sailor Moon snapped herself out of her trance to face a very confused Ken, who was still holding his glasses in one hand. "I think a change of cloth and a pair of contact lenses is all you will need Ken-kun..." she said with a Large sweat drop hanging over her head.
Ken only blinked a few times, oblivious and perplexed
"Small Lady-sama!" Pallas' voice called as the Quartet finally made their way down to the roof the two had been standing on. "Did you catch him? Did you catch phantom thief-san?"
"Well, sort of..." Neo Sailor Moon scratched her head and laughed "I used the ofuda charm Rei gave me and banished him and we did manage to rescue the host." She turned to Ken who blushed once more when he saw the Quartet. "And this is Ken Kinoshita, a new friend I've just made. Ken, these are my friends, Palla-Palla, Cere-Cere, Jun-Jun, and Ves-Ves."
Ceres raised an interested eyebrow and whispered to Neo Sailor Moon "I sure wouldn't mind being his friend."
Neo Sailor Moon giggled and Ken smiled awkwardly as the girls laughed and helped him down since Ceres wouldn't let him put his glasses back on.
The late hour news stations were all struggling to cover the story of the attempted robbery in the crystal palace, knowing that this was going to be another top story. One of the people watching the news was Takako, who was sitting on the living room couch, wearing her plain light-blue pajamas. She sat with her glasses on, her back so straight that it didn't even touch the back of the couch. Behind the round glasses she wore, no light from the flat television monitor was reflected in her dull eyes.
"That princess is one tough cookie; gonna be a handful if you ask me." A male voice asked into the dim room
A light chuckle was heard coming from behind the couch where Takako sat. Two shadows emerged, "She does take after her mother, always wanting to reach out to other people." The second character complemented.
The first figure snorted, leaned forward slightly, allowing the pallor light from the television to illuminate his face for a few second as he ran a hand through spiky straw colored hair. "Only you would say something like that, nii-san." His thin, narrow face flashed a slightly crocked smile. "Anyways, so do we need this girl anymore? Have to say she doesn't look like the best candidate to keep tabs on the princess, albeit she's easier to control than some of the others." He remarked as he rocked back into the shadow of the room.
His companion shook his head once "Yes, we have seen enough for now. You may have a short break Dolus, but I'm afraid there will be more work to do soon." He said good-humoredly while Dolus replied with a piff.
"Yeah, yeah... come on, let's go. I wanna see if there's a ramen shop open somewhere around here, I'm hungry!" so saying he turned around and phased out of the room without a sound.
The other figure remained for a moment longer, looking down to Takako who was oblivious of their existence, her eyes still watery and glazed over. "Thank you for performing this important task for us Ohashi-san. You have been released; rest and forget about what had transpired," he said gently. So saying, Takako's eyes closed and she soon slumped across the couch into a deep sleep.
The figure turned back to the TV screen and saw a picture of Chibi Usa and her family that appeared on the corner of the screen. It was a picture of the princess in her formal gown, apparently taken during some past public ceremony she attended. The anchor was talking to an analyst regarding the role the royal family played in the KaitouKun incident.
"We shall meet one day soon Princess, and then we will see just how similar you are to your mother..." With that said, he walked away and disappeared.
A/N Waaahhhhhhhh!!! I can't believe how excruciating my life was while writing this chapter! I had no time to write and when I did I was so tired from college Chemistry that I had no energy to even put my finger on the space key! I'm not that familiar with Japanese history so I just randomly put KaitouKun's era in the late Tokugawa period to early Meiji. I wish I could make the history of KaitouKun more interesting but I have no time to do research! Grrr! By the way, I don't know if anyone had noticed but the person who sealed away KaitouKun is named Sumeragi, the same last name as Suburu Sumeragi who appeared in CLAMP's "X" and "Tokyo Babylon". I used his name because I couldn't find a fitting name for a good exorcist, so yeah... (Sweat drop). By the way, "nii-san" means big brother in Japanese, and I also changed the name of one of the characters from the original I had used to Dolus, and it's mainly due to the Greek mythological background tied in with that name. Hopefully I haven't royally confused anyone. (sweatdrop) Anyways, hopefully the next chapter will come out soon (cross finger) and let's hope I won't be so drained of energy that I crumble into a pile of dust in front of the computer. Ja ne!