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The Senshi huddled together in the fire room at Rei's temple, where there was not a dry eye or a nose that wasn't running. Chad had thoughtfully brought them a trash bin and kleenex when they first arrived, six hours earlier. He had since gone to the store for a flat of bottled water, seven family size boxes of kleenex, and an industrial size garbage can.Only four people had been witness to the unbelievable event, and the fourth was hiding in his apartment with a bottle of whisky as company, no doubt. Reeling still from the shock of a death that was almost too clean and quick appearing, the three leftover witnesses curled into the arms of the ones who were not there to see the Hime fall backwards, her eyes open and wide with a feeling they'd never seen on her face. Understanding, peace, serenity, and a subtle dash of fear. Rei, Ami and Makoto still sobbed while the others had lost the will to do more than sniff a couple hours ago.
"Who would murder Koneko?" Haruka demanded in a harsh, raspy whisper as her fingers ran a broken course through azure hair and teal hair. Her lover jerked her head up, her mouth open in a small 'o' of blankness that had even settled in her eyes. Trying to bury herself away from the pain and loss in Minako's arms, Makoto testily relayed the event with the police questioning her, "They wanted to know if she had enemies... Usagi-chan, enemies? That's like asking me if Q and U go together. But enemies who used guns? I couldn't think of any human being who would have wanted to reach in Usagi's chest and extinguish her special... spe..cia...lllliiiighhhttt..." The last words came out in a wail as Makoto's tears refreshed themselves aplenty on Minako's once favorite orange silk shirt with Mandarine collar.
Rei lay on her back, her head in Setsuna's lap while she just stared at the ceiling. The Timekeeper didn't like the blank look on the young miko's face, it frightened her deep inside. Mamoru and Rei, more than anyone, would be the ones to feel Usagi's death. Because Rei and Mamoru escorted the police to the Tsukino household, and it was Rei and Mamoru who choked down on their tears as they told a mother, a father and a little brother that their blonde clutz was never coming home again. Hotaru was infront of Setsuna, turned to the side with her hands on Rei's face. It was as if she was trying to heal the hurt that ran too deep, the pain that even the healer couldn't fix.
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Heero Yuy wasn't the oldest of the Sons of Hell, but he wasn't the youngest.
Had anyone been forced to pick out the leader of the small group, they would have picked him. With his shaggy brown locks and burning Prussian blue eyes, Heero just radiated danger. He was someone that only one person deemed safe to mess with, and that person got his dues at night. Said person was wrapped around Heero at the moment, his head buried in the crook of his older boyfriend's neck.
Though all five Sons were in the car, not one of them opened their mouth and let their vocal cords strum enough for a single sound to escape. This was the 'danger time', this was where they all relaxed and let the feelings from the mission wash away with mere thought control. In unison, they seemed to hold their breath as Trowa drove them through the tunnel, and their American loudmouth opened his trap and started talking the instant they were out of it. Safe.
"That was really interesting, ya know? What're we going to do now? Arcade, movies?"
Duo shifted on Heero's lap, lifting his head to stare at each Son in turn, and Quatre quietly replied to him, "I need to go over our accounts and books again." The driver glanced away from the empty road to his blonde boytoy, eyes squinted for a second before he nodded in agreement and looked back to the road. Duo let out a long whistle, "That means Trowa's helping... hey, uh, Wu, what are you doing?"
The Chinese man winced and looked down at his feet in an empty stare as he measured his words. He had wisely chosen the far back of the SUV a long time ago, letting Quatre and Trowa take front, and the polar opposites take the middle. Looking up, Wufei narrowed his glare so it was aimed only at the brash American staring at him, "Is it any of your business?" The verbal attack didn't phase him whatsoever, he just grinned hugely and nodded, "Hell yeah!"
Wufei felt more than one set of eyes on him, boring into him hard. He knew they'd find out later, if not through torture, because as odd as they were, they were a ragtag family. His breath hissed out in relunctance, and he shook his head, "I've got to write a letter home." That was right, a letter had come for him just the other day. Together, Duo and Heero faced forward and ignored Wufei like he wished.
"Well, whatever anyone's doing should be done by this evening, right?" Duo asked in his nagging childlike way, and the entire group chorused a worn out 'yes'. The American grinned broadly, and then pumped a fist into the air, "Good! Just because we're working right now doesn't mean we can't go out and have fun! I say we go hunting!" As he finished his sentence, a deadly gleam worked it's way into his indigo eyes, and Heero let the muscle twitch happen, felt his lips curve upward at the corners.
"Sounds like fun."
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It was midnight, and all the Senshi plus Mamoru were gathered together in the temple, cradling tea that Rei's grandfather insisted they drink.Setsuna brought hers to her lips, and just as the warm steaming liquid hit her lips, she brought the cup down. Garnet eyes bored into the group of restless insomniac Senshi, and she finally put the tea down on the table, pushing it away from her. Maybe it was just her tired senses playing tricks on her, or maybe her tired senses were working right.
Minako sniffed and wiped her nose again, looking rather ungraceful as she toppled over towards the table where the tea perched percariously. "Are you going to drink that, Setsuna?" The normally bubbly blonde asked as she considered how soothing the tea was for her throat, and at Setsuna's nod, Minako straightened up and lifted the cup.
The breath in Setsuna's body froze and she waited with a strange tingling in her nose as Minako brought the cup to her lips. Slowly, in a sip, the soothing liquid slid into her mouth, and in a small swallow, found it's way to her throat and down. With the lack of manners Minako normally had, she downed the entire cup after a few seconds, and sat there savoring the taste afterwards. Glancing at Setsuna, she mumbled hoarsely, "Tasted kind of bitter..."
Her breath eased out slowly, her senses had been wrong. There was nothing wrong here beside the aftermath of a death, and she quietly acknowledged Minako, "I'm sorry, perhaps you drank the dregs, Minako?" Shaking her head, the blonde poured hot water into the cup, letting the weariness of the day catch up with her. Impatiently, she picked up a tea ball and dropped into the cup just as the tingling sensation came back full force with Setsuna. Her eyes went wide as she realized what was wrong, and while Minako brought the cup to her face to enjoy the smell of the tea, Setsuna screamed at the rest of the group to cover their noses.
Before their eyes, hands over their red and raw noses, Minako fell dead.
All chaos ensued, and gingerly, Setsuna walked towards the fallen cup of tea, and lifted the steaming tea ball. Her nose was well hidden from the smell, but it all hit her hard as she whispered outloud the cause of death
"Cherry pit tea."
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AT: Hmm.. that was fun. For those who don't know, cherry pits contain arsenic. When boiled, they let out a poisonous vapor.
