AN: I put up this second chapter by accident the first time and then took it down because it wasn't finished, so any of you who have read it may want to scroll down and finish it or the third chapter won't make sense when it gets put up.
A bright light filled the darkened forest and suddenly five girls landed roughly on the ground. "Well.. we might as well have woken up the whole neiborhood with that light show.." a raven haired girl mumbled sarcastically.
"Actually from what we could tell there isn't much of a population in this area so likely anyone who saw us in the sky will think it's just a shooting star. That's why we had to come at night. Besides with the full moon it should have blocked some of the light display," Ami explained.
Minako was looking around though checking their surroundings. "It seems it went alright... but we'd better get out of our senshi outfits before someone does happen to come along. They'll know who we are otherwise... and Ami we're going to have to do something about your hair.."
Ami almost looked like she was going to pout at that suggestion, she fully understood why but... at the same time she really liked her hair color. "There's not much we can do about it now.. I'll put a scarf over it." She answered then detransformed. Her senshi uniform faded away leaving her in a long blue skirt and white blouse. She took out a blue scarf from the pocket and tied it over her head.
The rest of them detransformed as well and were in similar outfits, the skirts were all about the same length but were in each of the girls favorite color. "Why didn't you dye your hair before we left..?" Makoto, the tall brunette of the group asked.
The blue haired girl shook her head, "I tried and it set in alright too but then we transformed for one last training session and it just changed back. I thought maybe it would turn black again if I let my transformation fade but it didn't."
Serenity, the Moon Princess, nodded her head. "Hai, I cut my hair really short before we left too like Minako-chan suggested but it just..." she pointed at the bun style, it had grown back.
Minako sighed, "We can probably just change the style of Sere-chans hair later too, for now take it out of those buns. Remember from this point on we refer to each other in our code names."
Having taken the buns out of her hair, the blonde spoke up, "I don't really think my name is..."
"We've been through this already Sere-chan. Nobody called you that name in public, so therefore we can use your nickname as you're code name. Besides we couldn't figure out a color name for you."
"You don't think calling ourselves Emerald, Topaz, Ruby, Sapphire and Sere is going to sound a little strange while we're travelling in a group?" Mako asked.
Rei seemed to think about this, "Well we probably look foreign, they'll probably just think the names are that way too and as for if someone happens to ask I'm sure we can come up with an excuse at the time."
"That's right," Mako added, "Whose really going to ask such a question anyway?"
Two men were nearby, riding horses along the path that ran through this forest. The lightshow earlier had caught their attention from the castle but as far as they could tell there didn't seem to be anything out here, at least until they came close enough to hear what sounded like possibly a conversation going on between three or more people.
"Hey, do you hear voices?" A man with long platinum hair asked.
"You think someone is hunting on this land again without permission?" Another man asked, this one had long blond hair held back in a ponytail.
"I suppose.. but they sound female.."
The other quirked an eyebrow. Women out here in the middle of nowhere? That made little sense. "I suppose we have to investigate further then."
Ruby began helping Sere put her hair in a braid. At least it would keep it somewhat under control. The raven haired girl could never understand how her friend could manage hair at this length. Certainly her hair was long too but it didn't go all the way down to her ankles.
"Alright," began Topaz, "We know our mission?"
All the girls nodded but Sapphire who was hovering over her little computer didn't look happy, "We have to move, now!" she whispered. They all looked to her and she could sense the question through their gazes, "We aren't going to be alone much longer. Our calculations must have been off when we set out. We're a good ten miles from where we were suppose to have landed. There's a village nearby, we need to hurry or-"
Everyone became silent. No one moved and no one spoke. They could hear them.. a creature of some sort was making its way to where they all were. Horses.. but that meant. Topaz looked pissed, they had to get out of here but if they ran now they'd be found out for certain.
Ruby stepped forward, "All of you go, I'll provide the distraction," she hissed. Emerald went to protest but got stared down hard, "I can find you again if I have to, now go. Keeping her safe is our top priority."
They all nodded and began to run off in a direction, Ruby meanwhile hide their retreating steps with a very loud scream. This was not a scream of terror or fright, rather it seemed a scream of anger perhaps even a warcry of sorts. This was not usually her style but it got the wanted effect. The horses that had been making their way to her location spooked and back up. This was followed by the whispers of two men trying to calm them and push them forward to find out what the heck was going on, and Ruby waited for them to come.
There were two reasons she had been the one to volunteer to be the distraction. One was of course because she could find the others again if she had to by finding their spiritual energy but the other was because if something were to happen she could incinerate all evidence along with herself. Of course this was not exactly a desired option but it was one she could use. She would give the others as much time as she possibly could to get to the nearby village, then she herself would disappear from whomever was coming now.
"Apparently we have a banshee haunting this land," a plantinum haired man spoke, looking at the girl not at all amused. "What is it you are doing here?" he questioned.
The other man came up behind the first but said nothing watching the girl as well.
Ruby smirked, men... they were all the same, those of Earth were just more evil. Finding a girl in the middle of a forest.. where would their thoughts and actions lead? Somewhere sinister likely, she would be happy to punish them for their evil thoughts. Her eyes clashed against the dark grey of the first man but she said nothing. They didn't need to know anything.
"Your banshee is suddenly silent." the blonde spoke, "perhaps she doesn't know speech?" his green eyes were quick. There had been others here, they knew but they had only found one. So they must have been heard.
"What is it you are doing here?" the question was repeated and only recieved a piercing glare, "Answer me!"
Her hands came up in front of her making a symbol and preparing to fight, "I will not give answers to those who deserve none," she bit back angrily.
Grey eyes met green and a silent communication passed between the two men. They dismounted in unison. "Come now, at least a name then?" the blond asked.
Ruby didn't move from her position, "I will give my name only if I hear of yours first." she countered. Never give out your name to those you didn't know, that was a strict rule she kept to. A name had meaning and couldn't simply be given out like it was worth nothing at all. That was a dangerous thing to do. She smiled inwardly, they'd be getting a fake name in return anyway but at the moment that was her name so even though it wasn't her true one she would not treat it so cheaply.
"A fair exchange I suppose. I'm Zoicite, this is Kunzite. Now will you not tell us who you are and what you are doing here?" Zoicite asked trying to negotiate a little bit as they inched closer to her.
Her smirk turned to a frown.. those names.. she knew those names. These were some of the very people they were trying to keep away from. These people were dangerous and would certainly kill her if they knew who she truly was. "Ruby." She replied curtly ignoring the second question. She began to back up a few steps. She couldn't fight these two alone but she could still provide the needed distraction and get away she was certain of that. All she had to do was run and double back so she could catch up with her friends. They would definately have to get farther away then just that village after that though.
"You seem unhappy with us, what is it you were doing? If you are stranded you should be happy that aid has come." Kunzite spoke, very quietly his mouth not seeming to move gave the illusion that he hadn't spoken at all.
"Aid? From the likes of you?" Her eyes narrowed, "I need help from no man." Her tone took on an anger of a personal level now and she kept slowly taking steps back as they advanced, keeping the distance between them.
Zoicite sighed and looked to Kunzite, a silent question between them. Kunzite gave a slight nod and the blonde approached slightly faster. "I hate to have to do it this way but you really aren't giving us much choice on the matter."
Before she could blink he was gone, cherry blossoms left in his place. Not giving her the room to think the platinum haired one rushed her. She dropped to the ground rolling out of the way of the one rushing her, violet eyes scanning looking for the other. She couldn't feel his prescence any longer but he had to be there! 'He's blocking it somehow...' Feeling the other she dodged again, jumping against a tree and into another one. Something was behind her, she leapt to the ground but that was a mistake. Her eyes widened at the realization that he wasn't behind her, but somehow under her and she was practically jumping into his arms. Not much she could do with gravity pulling her down. She tried to shift her weight to change her direction but this only led her into the arms of the other one.
Kunzite appeared emotionless as he caught her, though the edge of his mouth almost seemed to ever so slightly go up, "Your a fast one but- AHHH!" he was letting her go and jumping back in a hurry.
Ruby fell to the ground with a thump. It wasn't something she had planned on doing, using their abilities was a bad idea while they were on this planet. It would only make people wonder about who they really were but getting captured was not on her agenda today either. She'd burnt him with her flames. Nothing big though, just enough to feel the heat of the fire and release her though she must have turned it up higher than she thought, the way he screamed. Minako, or rather Topaz now was the only other of the senshi who had come to realize they could use their abilities if they really wanted to without transforming. The transformation merely made it easier to access their abilities. Strong emotions could also make them easily accessible but with some training they could be brought out and with much more control.
She went to move but was taken hold of by the blonde and her eyes went blank as she was looking inward on herself. "Get your dirty little hands..." the last of the sentence was lost in a growl as she turned her focus completely inward.
Zoicite blinked, taken back that she could tell what he was up to but nevertheless continued. She had a lot of walls around her and she was conciously fighting him as well. If he could just pass through, without creating too much of a mess to clean up afterwards. His hands shifted on her back, he was very much aware of her inner attacks. She kept trying to burn his connection but he kept moving, keeping out of her reach. He'd be lucky if he didn't get out of this singed. There! He'd found it, his hands shifted once more and Ruby became completely limp, falling to the ground. Zoicite followed but only went to his knees.
"Are you alright?" Kunzite asked a hand on his friends shoulder.
The blonde nodded closing his eyes, "I'm alright... she just put up more of a fight then most." He pulled up his hands and the palms of the gloves he wore were burnt away. "Most don't do any physical damage like this when they fight.. we may need to watch her more closely."
The other man nodded, reaching down and picking the girl up. "We'll take her back for now and post guards for the time being. You my friend are going to have to get some rest. I can watch the rest of the night on my own.
"I'll be fi-"
"You'll get some rest. I won't have you falling asleep from lack of energy."
The blonde relented, "Alright then, but I want to be there when we question her."
"Min"
"Topaz."
"Topaz? Are you sure we should have left Re-"
"Ruby." Topaz corrected again.
"Are you sure we should have left Ruby like that?" Serenity finally got out without being interupted by the senshi leader.
"She'll be alright, we couldn't have all stayed. We didn't know how many there were and to be taken when we've just arrived wouldn't have helped matters." Minako told her.
"Don't worry Sere-chan. We'll see Ruby-chan by morning." Saphire added trying to comfort their princess.
"Yeah you know she wouldn't miss a chance to bug you about sleeping in," smiled Emerald. "She doesn't get up early for nothing you know."
"You're not serious?" Serenity asked, completely sure that was why Ruby got up so early in the morning.
"Well no not really. She gets up early to meditate but she likes to be there to bug you a little too so I suppose it might be for both reasons.." Saphire thought logically.
"Are we there yet?" pestered Serenity.
"No." Topaz answered.
"Are we there yet?"
"No, not quite yet." Saphire spoke quietly.
"Are we there yet?"
"Not yet.." Emerald grumbled, absolutely hating the game their princess seemed to have chosen to amuse herself.
"How about"
"NO!" A collective shout was heard and then they were all silent, looking around wondering how many, if anyone, had heard them.
Saphire cleared her throat, "Soon Sere-chan, soon," and then they were all silent once more.
AN: I hope you liked this chapter.. anyway while I get working on the next chapter review this one.
