Phantom

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or Gundam Wing, nor do I own The Phantom of the Opera. No money is being made from this fic. Please do not use this fanfiction without permission.

"The angel sees, the angel knows . . ." – Mme. Giry

Usagi shifted nervously as she was marched down the hall to the gym along with her class. As if P.E. wasn't bad enough, now it would be enforced with firearms. Brilliant.

Usagi noted that another class was joining theirs: Ami was among the quailing teenagers in that group. Their eyes connected for a moment, and they gave each other slight nods, confirming that they were all right.

Though she had acknowleged Ami to allay the genius' fears, Usagi was still worried, and justifiably so.

The classes were split by gender and forced into the locker rooms; Watanabe told them to be out in ten minutes. Once the doors were closed, there was a general scramble for the girls to find their friends and take comfort. Ami made a beeline for Usagi.

"Daijoubu ka?" Ami asked worriedly. Usagi nodded.

"Hai. Just a bit worried."

"Just a bit?" Ami asked incredulously. "We have every reason to be huddled in a quivering heap in the corner." Ami's eyes darted to a younger girl who was doing just that. "This is so wrong… like concentration camps, almost."

"Concentration camps? What are those?" Usagi asked, eye brows knitting together.

Hiiro resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Usagi's comment.

Ami sighed. "It doesn't matter, Usagi. We have to get out of here as soon as possible," she continued. "This can't be legal."

"I don't think they care," Usagi pointed out. Ami nodded, pale.

"That's the scariest part." The girls nodded to each other and parted to find their lockers.

Duo Maxwell shifted uncomfortably in his new uniform, wondering for the sixty-seventh time how he had allowed Quatre to talk him into playing along with this ridiculously pathetic idea.

He then reminded himself that this was the only idea they had, and if they wanted to bring this upstart faction to its knees, there was no other way to do so.

"So," said the woman behind the desk, looking at Duo over her glasses in a fashion that uncomfortably reminded Duo of Une in the days when she was after his head, along with the rest of OZ. "Ensign Maxwell, is it?" Duo nodded, smiling with a cordiality he did not feel. Maxwell was a common enough name that he had not felt the need to use an alias, although he had switched his first name to John for the time being, to avoid suspicion. The woman-behind-the-desk continued.

"Well, Ensign Maxwell, I do believe we have a position for you," she said. "Although you are quite young yourself, we feel you are qualified to teach children at a high school level… The fact of the matter is, we have recently gained administrative control over a high school in Tokyo." Duo's eyes flashed imperceptibly. He had last heard from Hiiro when the Perfect Soldier was in Tokyo, and the possiblity of finding him there was a bonus to this mission.

"We found that the current teachers are… less than adequate to allow us to give these students a proper education," the woman-behind-the-desk said carefully. Duo nodded in mock-sympathy. The woman-behind-the-desk loosened slightly at Duo's indication of approval. "So, Ensign Maxwell, we will be sending you to Tokyo to teach math, science and English. Your flight leaves Tuesday at eight in the morning. You will arrive by the end of the day, and I fully expect you to begin work on Wednesday."

A slight beeping alerted Hiiro to the changes in the school database. He snapped his attention to the offending console and began typing at the keyboard connected to it, his eyes darting across the screen as new information flashed before his eyes.

"Maxwell, John," he muttered to himself. "Assigned to mathematics, science, and English…" Hiiro's eyes widened almost imperceptibly as the new teacher's statistics were pulled up. "So, they've already started to retaliate…" Hiiro pondered this in silence before resolving to contact his protegee once again.

Usagi was home before the rest of her family, quite drained from the trying day at school. She let herself through the front door and into the empty house.

… At least, she thought it was empty. Hand placed itself over her mouth, causing Usagi to give a muffle yelp of surprise and start to struggle.

"Relax, Tsukino-san," said the owner of the hand in monotone. "It's just me. I'm not going to hurt you, so don't scream." Usagi nodded emphatically and the owner of the hand freed Usagi, allowing her to turn around and face her captor.

"Hiiro-san," Usagi breathed, relieved that he wasn't some serial rapist out to get her. (Then again, Usagi thought to herself, You don't know that for sure.) "Don't you know it's illegal to enter someone's house without permission?"

Hiiro stared at her blankly.

"Uh… right," Usagi said awkwardly. "So… who exactly are you? I mean, you knew my name without me having to tell you!"

Hiiro stared blankly once again before sighing. "Tsukino-san, your school has a ghost story, does it not?"

Usagi blinked. "Of course… but what's that got to do with anything?"

"A ghost that's more like a phantom. A ghost who knows everything about the school and it's inhabitants. A ghost who is not at all happy with this new UESA faction taking over his school. Do you catch my drift, Sailor Moon?"

Usagi paled.

"Yuh — you —" Hiiro sighed inaudibly.

"You — you — you—" Hiiro prepared for the inevitable 'you know my secret identity!'

"You're a ghost!"

Yet another miscalculation Hiiro had made on Tsukino Usagi's part. He was getting rusty.

Before I do anything else, I must deal with the dispute taking place among my reviewers.

Lena, Transcendent, and Usa-neechan: While I appreciate that my story is indeed causing contraversy, I must ask you to stop this argument. If you continue to dispute this in your reviews to this fic, I will be forced to report this to the FF.N admins for review-abuse. Transcendent, if I receive another flame from you, I will report you for abuse even if it has nothing to do with this argument. You say in your profile that you are intelligent and have a good knowlege of the English language, but clearly you underestimate me in mine. Your attitude toward flaming other people speaks of an immaturity that overrides any amount of knowlege you claim to have. Lena, thank you for your support.

Usagi Asia Maxwell (Hoi:glomp: Luckily, there have been no others yet… I'm taking pride in being the first and only one, for now. :grin:); Dark Universe; blackrosebunny (Well, I'm not quite in hell yet… more like purgatory.); confusing soul; Saris Yui; Kawaii Usa; Usa-neechan(Yay! Does this mean we'll be seeing more Kamereon very very soon:'D); Lena; Sloane Miette (Oh yeah, gotta love the musicals. XD My best friend is actually playing Christine for our high school when we go to the Fullerton Drama Festival, so I'm really stoked. Hehe, yes, I quite like that line myself… Oh, you will be seeing quite a bit more of the pilots very soon…)