Brilliant orange light surrounded Sailor Venus for a fleeting moment as she once again became the normal school girl Minako, but she was far from feeling normal. The light from the setting sun set her features aglow with a fiery look of determination.
"That traitor!" she hissed, whipping her hair she spun so fast. "I really thought she was on our side! I wanted her to be one of us! But she turns around and does this - how dare she!" Minako clenched her fists so hard, her nails dug into the soft flesh of her palms. She didn't notice at first, the rising well of frustration and anger eased just a bit by the unconscious act. She at last let her hands relax, opening and closing her aching fingers. The unsettling event had really gotten to her, causing her to be disappointment in herself as well as the villain Soldier. Although Sailor Kitty being a fraud made more sense than the alternative, deep down she had hoped and believed Renée was really one of them.
"Minako, please calm down for a moment," Ami spoke with assertion, "I know how you feel; she betrayed us all..."
"Yeah," Makoto said in a low growl, "But we're gonna have to put our anger to use if we are going to catch her."
"Yes," Ami said thoughtfully, her head lowered as her fingers rested against her chin. The sun's strange angle hid her face from her friends, but her sigh reflected her feelings. "We must be level headed if we are going to beat the enemy," Ami spoke softly, still hesitant to using the word 'enemy' while referring to Renée. It seemed like the person they had just encountered was completely different from the girl she remembered; but at times it did appear as if Renée had a dark side.
"I bet she went back to the temple," Makoto jeered, though her tone was underlined with concern, "if she catches Rei off guard, who knows what she'll do!"
Minako gave a sharp nod of agreement, "Let's go then, quickly!"
Minako hammered on the door, at last arriving at Rei's temple. Rei opened the door to see her friends, all three of them exsausted and distraught.
"What the hell happened?!"
Minako tried to answer, but she was hunched over her knees, trying to catch her breath. She tried to slip in the words between gulps of air.
"Sailor Kitty…. Evil….. attacked…. Mako….."
Rei felt the beginnings of dread turning her insides to lead from unbearable guilt. If Minako spoke the truth . . . Rei's eyes narrowed sharply with concern, but she wasn't going to believe them that easily. Her voice thick with doubt, she addressed Makoto instead of the gasping girl before her.
"What is she talking about?"
"Doubt us if you want, Rei," Minako said with more ease as oxygen finally reached her lungs, "but Makoto's got the scratches to prove it."
Makoto held her forearm over Minako's still slumped figure to show Rei one of her bleeding wounds.
"We all saw her attacking people, Rei," Ami said in an apologetic tone, "all of us."
Rei felt the inside of her stomach fall out – the nightmare she had dismissed as just that had become a reality. It seemed everything had stopped, even the wind, to hear what pitiful excuse she had for what she had done. The first day Renée had arrived Rei had sensed that something might be wrong. The feelings had gone away, but what they had been warning her about hadn't. If only she had gone with her first instinct and sent the monster away! Now her friends were hurt, and it was all her fault. She was the one who trusted Renée she was the one who let Renée become part of the group, and now she was responsible for her friends' pain. Rei had no one to blame but herself.
Everyone was starring at her, waiting for her response and hers alone. She could feel their eyes boring into herself, knowing she had done something terribly wrong. She couldn't, however, find the words to form a response. She stood in silence, punishing herself, until at last she could put weak words to her maelstrom of thoughts.
"It was her… it had to be her… she hasn't been here all day," Rei bowed her head in shame as she physically acknowledged the truth.
The girls looked on with a mixture of surprise and sympathy. They knew Rei thought highly of Renee; they knew this truth was a painful one for the young priestess to bear. They had not expected her to name Renée as the culprit so quickly however. They had expected to argue relentlessly over the fact for some time to come. With eyes sad for their fellow warrior, the girls watched her put thoughts to softly spoken words.
"She's been gone all day," Rei repeated softly to herself, "I can't believe this…"
"Oh my god, she could have been attacking innocent people all this time!" Minako spoke what they were all thinking, straightening up at last.
Rei's heart was sinking fast. She had been betrayed; after all she had done for Renée. From inviting her into Rei's home, putting up with her, and defending her! She didn't want to believe it, but she had no choice…
How could it be? How could she have been so wrong? Because of Rei's foolishness, three of her closest friends had been forced into battle, and now one was hurt. How could she have been so wrong?
The priestess of flame's eyes narrowed, her blood boiling, her body tensing and her soul freezing over with the icy fire of realization as she finally got a grip with herself. She was loyal to her friends; the one who had tricked them all, who had lied to her own face would pay for this.
Renée would pay for Rei's pain.
"We've got to get her before she does anything else," Rei said quietly, almost under her breath, but with purpose and rock hard solidity that dared anyone to challenge her.
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Much earlier that day, Renée had left the temple with the art supplies Rei had given her as a gift the day before. Renée was very grateful for them, and was eager to put them to use. After training to move her right hand's fingers without pain the night before, she packed everything in a bag Rei had loaned her and set out. Renée sat by the lake, on a park bench just off the cement path that went in between the forest and the lakefront. Probably the same forest her first battle with the Sailor Soldiers took place in, she thought with a shiver. Letting herself flop onto the bench, Renée carefully set up everything perfectly before she started, not leaving a pencil without a place.
However, no matter how hard she tried, everything she drew, or tried to draw, came out completely wrong. She had been sitting by the lake since nine, and it was now eleven.
"Oooh, lunchtime," Renée realized, a small amount of contentment finally flowing through her after two hours of complete frustration. Extreme frustration, Renée noted as she rubbed her sore jaw - it seemed to have been clenched ever since she had started. It was then she finally took note of all the balled paper around her and decided it might be best to clean up her mess.
One had rolled into the lake, she discovered, as she began her task. A family of ducks was curiously picking it to bits. Renée watched it slowly sink, a bit dismayed with herself. It seemed no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get better at drawing.
Renée retraced her steps to the temple. There were so many little shops, stores, clinics and restaurants along the way; she found a new one she hadn't spotted before every 5 minutes. Luckily for her, the window-shopping was, as planned, taking her mind off her drawing failures.
There were toy stores with such tempting displays, she nearly found herself in the store itself. Many of the clothing places with faceless mannequins wearing the latest fashions had her snorting in hidden envy. Lastly, a tiny place with a big window trimmed in a brilliant blue and gold caught her attention.
Renée stopped to inspect this store as it had paintings set up on easels in a neat arrangement in the front store window - gorgeous paintings.
She was completely in awe of the beautiful works of art - five in total. Most of them were elaborate landscapes of the ocean, with the water dancing in such a way that it morphed the boring landscape into a picture of a living soul. The one that caught her eye the most, however, was the one of a young woman who seemed to be able to control even the restless waves of the sea, standing on a rock amidst an ocean of blue, green and purple glimmering water.
Renée's face completely pressed up against the glass, not being able to rip her eyes off that painting. Wow, that's amazing! Geeze, what I'd give to be able to do that!
She scanned the window front for the name of the artist. There it was, in gold lettering in both Japanese and English.
Name in gold, I want my name in gold! To have your paintings held in a gallery, for sale, how lucky! How talented! How incredibly unfair! Life why must you laugh at me? She glanced back at the nametag. To be making a living off this talent, wow. Michiru Kaioh you are my new idol!
A tapping noise tore Renée from her thoughts. A woman in a business suit was tapping the glass from the other side, a look of discontent deepening the lines in her face.
"Get off the glass!" Her voice was heard, muffled, through the window. Renée rolled her eyes before pushing herself off the glass.
"Psh, she just lost herself a customer," Renée grumbled.
Usagi groaned audibly, not being able to see beyond the grocery bag she held in front of her face. She also had two other very heavy bags hooked onto each wrist, as she tried to carry the third using both hands. "This is a lot harder without Chibi-Usa to help…" she muttered with a tone that showed her dislike for the brat but also hinted that Usagi really missed her.
"Just a few more blocks," she tried to go as slowly as she could without losing her balance, so as to not hit anyone. However, her planned failed as she tripped, stubbing her toe on a particularly high slab of concrete the city passed off as a sidewalk. Usagi might have caught herself at the last minute, if there hadn't been another girl in front of her. "Oomph!" someone cried out as Usagi collided right into her. "WHAAAAA!" The other girl stumbled backwards as Usagi went down, face first into the concrete, the first two bags still looped around her arms. The last one, however, was missing; it had fallen from her grasp when she had attempted to save her face. When she looked up to apologize, she found a very startled Renée with a bad grip on Usagi's third grocery bag.
"Hey, Renée! I'm so sorry about that, I can be a bit clumsy sometimes," She giggled, her arm behind her head in embarrassment. "Hey, nice catch!"
"Bag, Bag, BAG!" Renée said rapidly, her hand burning in pain as she tried to keep her delicate grip on the now-so-precious grocery bag.
"AH, right!" Usagi freed Renée by taking the load of the grocery bag upon herself and gently setting it on the ground. Usagi jumped up, brushing herself off before greeting Renée at last.
"So nice to see you," she smiled. "Where were you off to?"
"Ah, I was just heading back to Rei's temple for lunch. And you?"
"I was trying to get all these groceries home," Usagi's face fell from cheerful to depressed as she let her head drop and shoulders slump, "another new chore added to my list from Mom to make more money, since I spent my months allowance in one trip to the comic book store."
Suddenly Usagi realized what she said and clasped both hands in front of her in a plea. "Please don't tell Rei that lil tidbit of information! She'll let me have it for being 'irresponsible' again! Even though she'll probably borrow all those comic books in the end, I'll have you know!"
Renée laughed. "Don't worry, Usagi, your little mistake is safe with me. Lord knows there's a few things I wouldn't want Rei to know, in fear of getting the boot," Renée looked away innocently, her arms behind her back like a child trying to avoid the gaze of an angry mother. It was Usagi's turn to laugh.
"She can be so bossy sometimes, but I know she means well," Usagi stated as she tried to pick up the demon grocery bag again after hooking her wrists through the rings of the other two. Renée took it from her grip, drawing Usagi's gaze again.
"This thing's a beast! Let me help you with it," Renée smiled, trying to hold on to it.
"Thank you!" Usagi sighed with relief. "It's not that far to my house, just a couple of blocks that way. You should come over for lunch! My Mom bakes tons of goodies all the time, and unless you don't like deserts you'll love it. Do you like pie?"
Renée was overwhelmed with the prospect of sugary goodies; at last someone who understood the greatness of desert! Living at Rei's meant she didn't always get her daily requirement of junk.
"Do I? Ha! Man, I could really use anything sweet right now!"
"Alright then! Afterwards, maybe I can take you to the arcade! Minako and I go there all the time. There's a pretty cute guy that works there, too," Usagi elbowed Renée, smirking.
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Renée stepped into Usagi's quiet house. It was adorable, completely spotless and everything in it's place. It reminded Renée of a dollhouse, really.
"Hello Usagi! I have lunch ready, so- Oh, who's your friend?" Usagi's mother asked politely, peeking around the corner to greet her daughter with lunch.
"Her name's Renée! She comes from- where do you come from again, Renée?"
"Canada," Renée smiled. Her mother seemed so genuine and kind, she couldn't help but smile around her.
"Ah, right, Canada! I knew it was an English country, and somewhere in North America…"
"Usagi!" her mother cried out, in pure amazement, "if you knew that, how in heavens name did you manage to fail your geography test?"
"Heh heh heh, I have to show Renée something in my room before she has to go," Usagi lied as she grabbed Renée's wrist, pulling her down a hall to her room. Once she had shut the door, she laughed again. "Yeah, my grades aren't the best, but I'm passing with them and that's all that matters!"
"Usagi, don't worry, you aren't alone," Renée grinned and waved her hand, shooing the previous event away. "You're in high school by now, right? Maybe you guys could help me as well, once I get back into school."
"High school? Are you kidding? I'm only 14! Here we start high school when we're 16. I don't want to think about it – entrance exams, yuck!"
Renée knitted her brow, a little confused. "You start at 16? Then if I started school, and I'm 15, would that mean I would have to write the entrance exams? Or would I be starting the year before high school, to prepare for them?"
Renée pondered it for quite some time, the constant expression of those who are pretending to look like they are thinking clearly plastered on her face.
"Oh, what's the use!?"
"That's the way I look at it!" Usagi exclaimed her agreement, lying over her bed now and looking at a comic book cover. "Heh heh, this was sooo worth it! Wanna read some?" she asked, tossing Renée a first issue, "they are so funny, and romantic too!"
"Ech, romance, keep it away. Just pass me the funnies!" Renée grinned, catching the next one Usagi tossed.
Usagi was already deep into her story by the time that Renée began to study the front cover, and finally opened the book after its front had been approved. Suddenly, she was lost. Renée flipped through the book, watching the pretty artwork flash by before she reached the other side. Realizing she had it backwards, Renée opened the book from what western folk would consider the back, and attempted to decipher the storyline from the pictures alone. This, however, resulted in a very frustrated Renée very quickly. Looking up and seeing how entranced Usagi was in her story, Renée decided to continue on, not wanting to bother her.
Usagi was snapped out of her trance, being forced to glance over at Renée when she heard audible growling noises from the teenager. Something was wrong.
The thought of her last official meeting with her fellow soldiers darted across her mind, causing a bit of guilt to pool in her stomach. This proves it, Usagi optimistically decided, there's no way I could hang out with her like this if she was linked to the enemies. How dare we even think like that… poor Renée…
Usagi studied the foreigner quietly. She's all the way from Canada, Usagi pondered, that's pretty cool. I wonder how she can speak our language, though. That's a little weird. Of course, she's a bit weird… not in a bad way! Still, sounds like she's having trouble over there.
"Something wrong?" Usagi piped up, deciding to lend a hand.
Renée slumped, exasperated. At last giving up her charade, she flopped the book along with her hand to the floor.
"I love pictures and all but I can't tell what's going on… I can't read Japanese. I've never read a comic book before, so I don't even know if I'm reading it right!" She rambled off, afraid of the ridicule that might come upon her after the truth was revealed.
"Never read a comic book?!" Usagi gasped in horror, "that's horrible! Get over here, right now! You are going to read this comic book, even if I have to read it out loud!" Usagi ordered, pounding her fist into the mattress. Renée slowly made her way over, resting her head and her arms on the bed like a lonely puppy. Usagi cleared her throat.
"So, why can't you read Japanese?" She asked, taking the opportunity to possibly answer some of the things she'd wondered about just moments earlier.
Catching Renée completely off guard, she replied with a "huh?" She was expecting Usagi to read a hilarious story, not to start some personal investigation. She didn't really blame Usagi for being curious; Usagi hardly knew anything about her. She just hadn't been ready for it.
"Well you speak it so well, with a cute accent and all," Usagi teased, "but you can't read?"
"Or write, obviously," Renée added. "Yeah, the only reason I can speak it is that I had a friend who was Japanese back in Canada, and he taught be bit by bit since we were really little. It kinda became our secret code."
"Why did you leave Canada?" Usagi pressed on.
"That's a bit of a long story…" Usagi nodded to Renée's short reply, after she had trailed off. Usagi could sense the tension and decided to start reading the book.
After about seven outbursts of unexplained laughter coming from down the hall, Usagi's mother had given up.
"Usagi," she said as she opened Usagi's door, "lunch has been ready for a while! I don't know what's so funny, but you can come back to it later! Go eat lunch!"
Usagi snickered, closing the book, and causing Renée to snicker. Finally the two made a return trip down the hall towards the kitchen, at last getting something to eat.
"Oh WOW, that looks so good…" Renée drooled.
"Wait until you see desert!" Usagi busted with excitement, but Renée was already scarping things down. "What, don't they feed you at Rei's?!"
"Mmmmphmmm," Renée said before swallowing. "Yes, but it's not as good as this, and there are no forks either. I can't use those things… who would have thought a comic book could be funny? Can I borrow it? It was hilarious! Even if I can't read it, I can look at the funny pictures! And if all else fails, I can try to get Rei to read it to me…" Renée rambled on, making the most out of her pause between eating. She looked at Usagi, pleading.
Usagi nodded, starting to laugh again. "Yeah, that drawing with the rock was pretty funny."
"What's so good about them? I don't see why you girls find those so funny," Usagi's mother criticized. She had been at the sink the whole time, her back to them, but had listened in on their conversation regardless.
Usagi and Renée looked up at each other, sharing glances, as if sharing an inside joke. Just then, they burst out in short snorts of amusement, their mouths full of food barely being held in.
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"Oh, it's getting late," Usagi decided, looking at the afternoon sun. She had been giving Renée the tour of her city, trying to get the stranger more familiar with the land, especially the hot spots like the Crown Café (they both had two sundaes – each, not in total), the toy store, and the comic book shop (Usagi looked longingly at the ones she didn't own for at least half an hour, until the owner kicked them out, yelling "This is a bookstore, not a library!"), not to mention the park, the mall, several streets that provided great window shopping and a boutique (the owner was not too pleased after Usagi tried a wedding dress on, scamming an employee to believing she was a bride-to-be. "Well, I WILL be a bride one day!" was her excuse, and the two were removed from the store with a scene Renée was quite proud of).
"We still haven't been to the arcade! That is THE best place ever. What a way to end today, right?"
"Oh Usagi, please just let me sit! I'm so outta shape," Renée joked, finding her way to a rail she could lean on. She had put her jacket on since it was surprisingly windy and cool that day, even though the sun had been high in the sky all day long. Leaning casually against the cold metal, she started fumbling through her pocket out of habit, finding something in there unexpectedly pleasant.
"Ooo, Smarties!" she exclaimed, taking out the box of chocolate. "I forgot I had these!"
"What are those?" Usagi asked curiously, peering over her arm.
"Just the greatest candy ever! Candy coated chocolate in all the colours of the rainbow," she quoted the box with enthusiasm, with a bit of adlibbing, "Do you eat the red ones last?"
"I don't get it."
"Neither do I. Oh well, screw the red ones. Want some?" Renée offered her find to Usagi.
"Sure! Umm, wait, candy from Canada… how long have they been in your pocket?"
"At least three months."
"Good enough for me!" Usagi swiped the box from Renée's hands, but she didn't notice. Something had caught her eye by the hotel a block down the street.
"Hey, these are pretty good! Even after three months!"
"Un huh…"
"Whatchya looking at?" Usagi crunched, her attention partially absorbed by the candy.
"Nothin', Usagi."
"K."
Usagi continued to crunch, shaking the box to look at all the colours. Renée remained attentive to whatever it was in the distance.
She could of sworn she saw something, no, someone, that was familiar to her - very familiar. She blinked, trying to regain her focus on reality and to tell herself that she was going insane. It could not be a person she knew. She knew no one.
But I could have sworn…"Renée, ready to head for the arcade?" Usagi asked, tossing the empty box into the garbage pail, missing it by a mile.
Renée snapped back to reality. "Sure, Usagi, I'll gladly go beat you!"
"Oh, you are on!" she challenged, jogging toward the Crown Arcade.
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE!!?" Renée hammered the keys, trying to relay the finishing blow to the boss. The snake-like demon bit her head off for the seventh time, causing the universally infamous Game Over to flash on and off the screen, her last life taken away from her.
"SON of a-"
"Renée, calm down!" Usagi said, bumping Renée out of the way. "I'll get her! Hah!"
"The keys are sticky, Usagi, it wasn't my fault! Plus, I'm handicapped!" she declared, pointing to her cast, "C'mon let me have another turn-"
"You lost fair and square," Usagi made a gesture with her fingers that created lopsided square in the air, "Besides, you said you are able to move your fingers just fine now. Be patient!"
Renée grumbled as she leaned up against the machine beside Usagi. It was getting pretty late by then, so they were the only people in the Arcade besides a handful of others.
Renée stared out of the darkening front window, checking her watch when the streetlights went on, and pretending to be interested in a group of children that ran from one end of the window to the other.
"Darn it! I can't lose! That's not right! You're right about that sticky key-"
"Usagi, I meant the one on the right, not the left."
"…. Let's just say they were both sticky. I think it's time we go home, dinner! Want to come to my house again?"
"Nah, no thanks Usagi. I best be headin' home."
It was weird to call the temple home; it had come out of her mouth so easily. Was it really her home?
Usagi pulled on her coat as they left the building, both starting out in the same direction. They talked about random things they saw on the way home, the bubbly Usagi laughing at nearly everything. Renée would usually join her in the pointless outbursts, but something was bothering her. She kept looking over her shoulder.
"What are you looking at this time, Renée?"
Renée forced a chuckle, "I just like to space out sometimes, no big deal."
"Oh, ok!" Usagi continued, beginning an autobiography about the adventures in spacing out that had occurred during her life.
Renée kept giving paranoid 'over the shoulder' looks to whatever was behind them, the random backward glances becoming more frequent as they made their way home.
Renée was ultimately rewarded for her efforts when suddenly, her breath catching, she spotted a darting shadow behind them.
"Usagi, I'm gonna walk all the way to your house, if that's ok, since I think I forgot my bag there."
It wasn't a complete lie – her bag really was in Usagi's room.
"Really? I was planning on dropping it off at Rei's tomorrow. It's kinda late, you sure?"
"That's really nice of you, Usagi" Renée complimented, completely sincere, "but I may as well get some exercise if I'm going to try and keep up with the rest of you guys," Renée faked another chuckle.
Usagi shrugged, oblivious to the possible stalker that was quickening the beats of Renée heart.
Renée waved goodbye to Usagi, thanking her for the day of entertainment before briskly putting one hand in the pocket of her jacket, slinging the other that held her bag over her shoulder, and walking away. However, instead of starting on the path that led towards the temple, Renée ended up walking down the sidewalk she and Usagi had just trekked, looking for the shadow that had followed them. She was sure she saw something, so Renée looked for the non-living things that might have caused the ominous shadow she thought she had seen following them. She tried to convince herself it was nothing, and if it were something, it would not have been an object that could breathe. No matter how she tried, though, at the back of her head the irrational fear grew and caused her to be jumpy.
Finally ending her quest at the newly darkened arcade, she couldn't find anything that matched what she had caught a glimpse of. It may have been her imagination stretching the truth, but whatever had happened was over now. At last she left the haunting game centre, its deserted belly quite the opposite to what she had left it as.
Suddenly a clatter came from behind her, and she saw something jump at her from the corner of her eye.
She ducked to avoid whatever had been swung at her, and swiftly turned as she prepared to give a kick in the face to her offender.
The eerily silence came upon her as she watched an alley cat run in the opposite direction.
She felt her face blush in the dark, discovering the cat was easily 10 feet away. To know she had let that freak her out to the point of attacking air was embarrassing.
"I bet you, Renée, it's that damned soldier stuff that's causing you to go off the deep end here," she rationalized to herself, putting both hands on her head. She took a few breaths to regain her nerves and started to head 'home'.
She walked a few good steps with herself convinced that nothing was there. When something poked her in the back pretty hard, she let her bag slip off her shoulder, the abiotic object her main suspect.
The bag had been on her left shoulder. Something poked her in her right rib.
"Hey," a male voice said from behind her, causing her to reel around and whack her assassin right in the ribs with her bag. In defence, the attacker covered the mouth of the now-squealing-in-attempt-to-roar girl and spun her around once again so that her back was against his chest.
Renée felt a panic button go off inside her, the situation all too familiar. The reaction caused a sudden rush of adrenaline, giving her the speed and strength to bombard the man's ribs again with the elbow of her good arm, while in the meantime biting and breaking the skin of the hand that held her silent.
Ecstatic with her victory and the taste of freedom, Renée whipped around when she had bolted a safe distance from the now slumped figure that clutched his hand to his chest, and made the dumb mistake of becoming cocky in her glory.
"Bastard! Don't make me go Sailor on your ass!!" she exclaimed in her native language unconsciously, pointing her index finger of her coated right arm at her assailant.
"Oh God, what the hell was that for?"
The familiar voice sliced through Renée, the English response even more unexpected.
Renée could have mistaken the voice; she could not mistake the language.
Renée stood silent, not daring to blink in case the figure disappeared – what was going on?
"Oh God I've really gone insane," she whined in partial fear, streaking her fingers through her hair and over her head as she sank to the ground, leaning against the nearest wall.
"Oh God, Oh God."
She rocked back and forth, trying to grasp what was happening to her mind.
"Hey! Renée?" The now obvious teenage boy approached her, clearly worried.
Renée raised her previously lowered head to look right into the eyes of her former attacker. He was a fairly tall 16 year old; considering his ethnic background, which was clear from his cute almond shaped eyes, he was still taller than her. A shock of brown hair fell into his deep chocolate eyes - unsettling familiar eyes.
"Are you real," Renée asked in a very flat voice as if her soul had been sucked out of her. She wasn't even looking at him anymore; she was looking straight ahead with her hands tightly wrapped in her hair.
"Of course I am! Maybe you did go nuts," he smiled faintly, a little afraid of what she could do.
He had the right to be afraid.
Her head snapped up back to him, her eyes wide and her teeth barred as she rose quickly to stand before him.
"How DARE you! You asshole! You Bastard!" she shouted, taking a few steps closer to him.
"Whoa, ok, Renée calm down a bit and just tell me what's wrong."
"What's WRONG?! What's wrong, eh? Well, why don't you tell me how the hell you got here, how did you find me, why did you stalk me, when did you get here, who do you think you are, how long have you been holding out on me, why did you leave me, how could you have done this to me, and why aren't you dead?!"
Renée just rambled it all off, advancing on him until she was close enough to poke him hard in the eye; she was clearly daring herself to do so with the way she held it threateningly.
She looked as if she could strangle him. Renée might have, too, if he hadn't taken a few steps back in turn.
"You want me to be dead?" He asked, his voice higher than normal in an attempt for pity.
"YES! Wait…. NO! But you are supposed to be dead!" She stomped.
"Dead?"
"Yes, De-e-e-ead!" Renée jumped up and stamped her feet on the ground, forcing the word to come out with a rhythm.
"…Why would you want me dead?"
"Because I thought you were! Hey, when someone's shooting at you, you usually end up dead!"
"Heh, nah, not me," the cocky side of the teenage boy returned once the emergency was over; or at least he believed it to be.
"So, why did you run away?"
"Run away?" she growled, "Run away?! Why the hell not! You're the one who dragged me into all that crap! I'm quite happy living here as a refugee, thank you very much! Or would that be a fugitive?!… alien?" Renée slowed down, the confusion causing calm to return to her. "Oh who cares…"
"Where are you living here?"
"Oh no, first you answer questions, jackass!"
"All of them?!"
"Some of them at least!"
"Ok……" he reluctantly agreed, not sure if he could remember them all, "Here goes. I got here on an airplane, since I had money from working. I found you by luck; you were with some cute blond chick, wandering around the hotel I am staying in and I shadowed you the rest of the day. By the way, you'll have to introduce me."
Renée's eyes seared through his own until there was a hole in his skull.
"Right, anyway, I 'stalked' you so I could talk to you alone - didn't mean to freak you out,"
"Well you did dumbass," she seethed, but quickly regained her composer, "But continue."
"I got here a few days back, I think I am the greatest male of this species on the earth, I never held out on you and after that I'm lost."
Renée stood there for a moment; an elegantly arched eyebrow examined her subject, and after an eternity, decided to let him pass.
"Fine, let us move on with our lives. One last thing, though; how in hell's great fiery name did you know I was actually in Japan?"
"Oh, that's easy," the boy boasted, "I saw the boat you ran onto, memorized the name and tracked it down using the records at the harbour."
Renée let her entire head slump, exasperated. "There just is no stopping you, is there?"
She didn't bother to look up at his smug grin and arms folded with pride, for she knew they'd be there. She gave a strange groan and half patted, half slapped him on the back.
"Fine, but try not to do anything to piss me off, because you'll need to pay me back for a long time after all this. Sorry about your hand dude. Let us move on. Get your stuff; I'm taking you to my new friends place. We can pretend you're homeless, too. It may be mooching, but I can't afford to lose track of you once again. I might end up biting your finger off the next time you hunt me down."
The three artificial soldiers stood in a row; all of them clearly uncomfortable. The one of medium height and orange skin squirmed on the spot, shifting her weight and tapping her foot against the ground quietly. The shortest and the tallest ones flanked her, both of them just as upset, but partially because of another reason. The one of purple flesh scowled down to orange-girl, not daring a move, however, due to the situation they were in.
The yellow one looked up and did dare; when the squeamish nature of the middle one became unbearable, she slapped the wiggler upside the head and literally hissed as a sign to stop.
"That will be enough, Windfish," Urufu commanded, but in an extremely rare tone. It was quiet, sighed out, and almost flat; a voice after defeat or surrender would have sounded the same.
Despite the unusual atmosphere, the three straightened their posture and became perfectly still as he graced their presence.
"Do you know how long it took me to create you," the rhetorical question came out partially slurred by depression and substance abuse.
"Approximately 1,874 hours, Master!" Thunderbird, the creature in the middle barked out with the over-pep of a stereotypical cheerleader.
"Ugh," he grunted, not really wanting or expecting an answer. "You are surprisingly right, but there was no need to answer. It really doesn't matter anymore."
"But, Master, aren't we your greatest creations? Was it not worth it? We are great accomplishments of science!" Windfish put on a fanfare, trying to remind her creator of a greatness that would hopefully bring up his foul mood.
"You'd think that," he said, his back now turned on them. With his eagle-like gaze shifted from them for even the slightest moment, they all took the chance to shift their stance a bit.
"It doesn't really matter," he repeated, taking off his leather and tossing them aside.
"The clones aren't working out," he turned again, getting back to business. He paced the floor slowly. "We're taking the risk and sending you out next time."
Two of the three started to object, stammering over themselves and each other.
"But the clones are nearly the same strength!" Windfish pleaded.
"We might die!" Thunderbird whimpered, causing the other two to shoot a look of disgrace.
Urufu stopped, starring at Thunderbird for a short moment. In face of his silence, the pause seemed like an eternity. Thunderbird had already begun to shrink in fear, preparing for the worse, but he said nothing. He pivoted and continued to send light tapping noises to echo off the walls of the enormous room.
It was the same room the monsters used for cloning, and the same room where he kept all his information. It was his room, his laboratory, and his equipment – so why did he feel like he was completely out of control at the moment? He knew why, he just didn't like the answer.
"You'll do fine. You are guaranteed a success – you are all going out together."
"What!" It was Shadowolf's turn to protest. She snapped out her rebuttal through her teeth, not expecting such an atrocity. It was very out of place for her to move, let alone speak.
"You're practically sisters, Shadowolf – its time you finally get along and work together."
"Ooh, ooh, me and Windfish already did that!" Thunderbird said as she bounced, to the horror of Windfish herself.
Urufu sent his glare of death to Windfish. "What do you mean by this, Thunderbird?" he drawled out slowly, looking at Windfish and knowing she was really responsible for anything.
"Me and Windfish went out to do better than Shadowolf – we didn't get the key, or kill anybody, but we did find the 'secret identity'" Thunderbird waved her fingers with delight as she announced those two words, "of two of the soldiers! Plus, we turned at least 3 of the soldiers against the big purple one!"
"So you went out without my permission?"
"Yeah! Well, no, wait….. Oh." Thunderbird slumped as the truth came to her, "Umm, better to ask for forgiveness that permission, right? Heh, heh heh…" She swallowed nervously, "Well, we did good! We got more information than grape face over there could ever rake up in her life time!"
"Yes," Windfish jutted in, hoping desperately this was a window of escape. "We did get new information and we did attempt to cause some chaos in their own rankings…"
"Would that explain the unfamiliar mutated part animal part girl record in the machine," Shadowolf asked coldly, breaking her code of silence. It seemed to be a bizarre day; besides Thunderbird, everyone was acting quite out of place. Shadowolf thought she might as well take the opportunity and get away with things she could not usually.
"Yep! We went into the morgue and found your latest failed clone. Windfish was smart enough to look for and find a hair from that weird girl; since she killed you and all," the orange beast said with pride. "We used it in the cloning machine!"
"You what!" Shadowolf pounced at the outrageous comment, wringing the neck of the wriggling monster. "They are there for a reason, idiot! One day we might be able to revive them and create an army! Tampering with them or anything," she growled, knowing Thunderbird's nature all to well, "might ruin everything!"
"Kah, You're the idiot – they're dead, which means they really sucked. KAH!" Thunderbird choked out, her attacker pressing even harder on her throat by the end of the sentence.
Urufu did nothing. He eased the pounding pain in his head by rubbing his right temple. He tried not to explode at his creations. They had to be well enough to go out and fight, and after all the work he put into them, he could not slaughter them himself. Although, he was beginning to change his mind – it would not be such a loss, especially now that he knew his creations had developed personalities on their own.
"We didn't harm your precious clones, Shadow," Windfish snorted, crossing her arms, "although I find Thunderbird is quite correct with her reasoning."
"Oh don't talk to me like that, you water-logged prick," Shadowolf tossed her victim aside, closing in on the yellow creature.
"Enough!!" was all Urufu had to say to cause them all to return to their original positions, terrified as usual. Whatever had changed his attitude before made no difference now, as he returned back to his commanding self.
"You are all working together next time to get the key. You'll most likely attract the Sailor Soldiers; you are going to kill them. No clones; that is the end of this discussion. Windfish and Thunderbird-"
The two nearly shrivelled at the demanding call of their names.
"Record that information somewhere immediately other than the regular tape. I don't want it lost among the other junk. However, no matter how successful your little escapade might have been, never dare do it again."
With that, he left the three to work amongst themselves - causing chaos to ensue.