Chapter Seven – The Bruised Heart Beating

"Why do you keep doing that?" a very weary Michiru asked. For an hour now, she had been watching Haruka peer back over her shoulder and glare into the compounding darkness brought on by the waning sunset in the distance to the West. They were both walking south.

The concert had been mediocre, with the music drawing a great critique from a disappointed Michiru and Haruka spending nearly the entire evening peering around the audience for something. Michiru had noticed then as well and stared at her beloved with an impatient glance, something hardly standard for the beautiful young woman. Haruka was just as peculiar. Her attitude had been vigilant and her face had not yet even broken from the fastidious glancing about that had settled over her at some unknown point in the day. Even now, Haruka merely grazed Michiru with her sight before looking back forward with no less alarm.

"Because," she said, "something is off tonight. There's an odor in the air or the like, but something is definitely wrong."

Michiru ignored the odor temptation and took her own look around, also somewhat aware of a lewd sensation lingering in the cooling night air. With no small amount of disregard, she said, "What do you think it is?"

"Kage!"

Michiru's head snapped forward just in time to see Kage standing before them both, a dire, demon glow in his eyes and his lips torn into a sneer. Haruka and Michiru had only a moment to let their breaths seep away before Kage's body tensed and his right fist reared back like it was being suspended by elastics. He said nothing to either of them. He simply widened his sneer just as he threw his fist forward.

Haruka felt the impact ripple through her body and a metallic air filled her nose.

There were others in the city who were distressed at the unapparent air lingering over Tokyo like a silk cloth draped over its face. Night was the time of sin and sanctity, but there was something else that was keeping Makoto on her balcony, her forlorn glancing feeling like it was being absorbed into the air or reflected right back at her. For some time now, she was not able to sleep or eat well. Her mind was a tumult because of Kage and she hated him for it. She hated the storybooks for telling her of perfect love and then let her be torn apart by reality. Most of all, she hated the fact that she could not stop caring about Kage or the fact that everything should have been putting them together when, in truth, everything was splitting them apart. Yet, it was impossible to let him go. He hurt her, rejected her and even ignored her, but it was the simple look in his eye, that malevolent sense of loneliness and deep agony that sent her forward in this inane quest to make him love her.

She was tired of rationalizing her feelings towards him. She was tired of being tired of him.

Resolve was burning in her eyes as she stared out into the night, her chest rising and falling wildly against her hand and the locket trapped under it. He was the greatest fool! How could he just ignore her feelings for him? Why did he make such an effort to treat her with such disdain? Why could he just love her?

By now, her teeth and her hands were clenched over the intense feelings of hurt, determination and convoluted love that were burning through her veins more vividly than anything she had ever felt before. Everyone had spoken to her, but it had all felt like stones being cast against the walls of Rome. There was far too much hesitation in her to amiably allow her to accept her task. Until now.

"I'm going to do it. I have to..." she said, her fist clasping around the locket in her neck. With a single push, she leapt over the balcony of her apartment and fell towards the ground, the wind blasting through her hair and clothes in an exhilarating rush of clarity. As her clothing fell away into sparkles, a soldier's thread tied around her, marking her last resort in bringing down the wildly waning heart.

She was in disbelief as she stood now, facing the friend she had fought and found, but was herself the revered victory. There had been a certain level of pride in her friendship with this Scion, if only for the fact that he turned everyone away with his hard-edged ego and vicious manner. There was also pride in knowing that Kage chose his friends carefully as well.

Now, all of that seemed surreal. Kage was a different animal than before and Sailor Star Uranus was reeling in the wake of his change. Her mouth was bleeding, her knuckles were raw and her eyes were burning in an assortment of pity and anger towards him. It had only been ten minutes since his initial attack on them, but already he had revealed himself as the new person he was, or the lack of the person he used to be. After only ten minutes, she was disgusted with how their fight was going. "Giving up already? You have to pay for your little sucker punch, Kage-chan," she said bitingly, running her tongue over the inside of her lips where it was broken open.

Kage was in far worse shape. Something also different about him was another change in his appearance. His uniform had changed from the one Eve had given, for now it was simple and elegant. Like a reflection, it was nothing more than a kimono with a pair of gray hakama. With his hair pulled back, he looked like something right out of the Warring States Period. One side of his kimono was left to drape down his back, leaving his shoulder and arm bare but she also had noticed it was the left side and not the right, as if to cover the deep scar she knew was on his right shoulder. Although his new uniform was strangely fitting, it too was in dilapidated form. She had taken out her revenge on him and it showed in his face, his stance and his breathing. At the hands of Sailor Uranus, two of his ribs were broken, his mouth was thick with his own blood and she had popped his left shoulder out of joint. Each breath sent a spike of sheer pain through his body and that fact that blood was still coming up through his throat informed him of the extent of his injuries. The fight had been short, but very vicious as she had easily been dominating him.

He could not understand why. "Maybe I'll get serious and really start putting the hurt on," he snarled back, taking a moment to spit blood out onto the ground.

As powerful as it sounded, Sailor Uranus smirked and loosened her stand a bit. "Now that's really pathetic. You can barely stand up and it's only been fifteen minutes. You're not even fighting like yourself, much less sounding like yourself. You're as dangerous as a little noisy dog on the street now," she said. The remark made Kage yell an expletive at her before charging once more, using his powerful upper body to throw wild punches at her. She easily avoided them. With a resounding kick, Kage was put onto the pavement yet another time, his face leaving a bloody puddle under his gasping breaths.

Sailor Star Neptune was not going to stand around anymore and ran to him, letting her judgment be impaired by the fact that she did not want to see her friend beaten to a pulp, even by her lover. With a consoling hand across his back, she looked to Sailor Uranus and yelled, "Stop, Haruka! Kage, you have to stop doing this. You're not well."

"Don't be absurd." Sailor Uranus replied, looking at him with a scowl. "That's not even Kage anymore. He's just some pathetic fool who can't do anything but hate and fight. He can't even use his Ryushuuken anymore. He's just an animal." Sailor Neptune was shocked at the level of anger in Sailor Uranus, but even more as her hand was simply slapped away by Kage as he turned over and glared back at Sailor Uranus through each seething breath. There was no attempt to attack either of them for the moment, but rather a very wretched look in his eyes as he stared back. Sailor Uranus continued to speak, "Look at you. Your offensive attack was a punch. You can't even balance yourself anymore or use your legs in that beautiful Ryushuuken style. All you do now is make a lot of noise and a lot of mistakes, a complete departure from the Kage I came to respect. I look at you now and all I see is just another worthless enemy trying to prove he is a match for us. You disgust me."

There was a truth in what she was saying and Kage knew it, though there was no world in existence where he would simply give up and accept his shortcomings. In all of his tidings of revenge, he could feel himself slipping away into the void he was creating within. It scared him. It was so frightening that he could not find a way back and just fell further and further into it. Throughout his life, he had always had something that was keeping him anchored, away from the dark places that the monks had always told him about. That thing was Mika, but she was gone. With nothing to keep him safe, he slipped closer and closer to black puddle and no matter how hard he screamed and threw his arms about in futility, he was just draping closer and closer to the surface of the black water. These things became the essence for his insanity and provided him with the only solace in a dying man's struggle; chaos.

"I'll kill you for underestimating me!" he howled and leapt towards her, much to the surprise of Sailor Neptune. Sailor Uranus was instantly waiting for his heretical punch, but something else shattered the night air like a siren on rocky shores.

"Kage!"

Sailor Uranus looked to Sailor Star Jupiter, but Kage was far too engrossed in his rage to be distracted. Even though she had looked away to see the voice that had called so passionately to the Scion, Sailor Uranus looked back in time to parry his punch, flipping him head over heels to the ground and pinning his arm to the ground harshly. It was a move that Kage had actually taught her, which only furthered her disgusted expression.

There was no way to describe the feelings Sailor Jupiter felt when she saw two people she cared for fighting each other, but the instant reaction was to run towards the struggling Kage. He was beaten and weak and Sailor Uranus was holding him sternly to the ground and held no reservations about letting him stay there. There was the expectation that Kage would simply break his own arm to get out of the hold, but he was either too weak or unwilling to achieve such a feat at the moment. Sailor Jupiter only felt her heart race faster as she stopped before them both and beheld the object of all of her suffering. Flustered, she cried to Sailor Uranus, "Don't hurt him, Haruka! He's already in bad shape!"

"This isn't the same Kage, Sailor Jupiter. He's a fake – not even worth saving," she replied, looking down to the weakened Scion.

"But," Sailor Jupiter protested, "you said we were still going to try! I can't give up on him! There is still some good in him, I know it!" Sailor Uranus scoffed at her a moment, but soon released Kage's wrist and stood straight, taking a few cautious steps backwards to let him have some room.

"Fine, I won't fight him anymore. It's not even a challenge anyway."

Sailor Jupiter's face lightened considerably and she looked down to Kage, kneeling and saying, "Kage? It's Makoto. Are you okay?"

Kage was barely moving and laid his face against the ground to his utter shame. It was true; he had lost the ability to use his sacred martial art and could only fight like all of those thugs he used to despise. He was now no different than them. It made his face burn and his hands shake, but only because Haruka was the one who had been right all along. His pride was gone, his mind was fading and his body was aching with every breath. The only sanctuary was the soft voice piercing his ears and the warm touch on his arm. The darkness was coming so fast now. He was being pulled in with no chance of escape. There was really only one thing to do.

"Fight me." he growled, barely audible enough for her to hear him.

"W-what?" she asked.

He growled again, this time deeper and with more volume, "Fight me now!" This time, his body sprung like a cornered animal and his back of his hand caught her across her cheek. The force was so sudden that Sailor Jupiter yelped and reeled backwards, her cheek reddened by the strike and her eyes pressed closed. The two other senshi were barely able to register a gasp before Kage sprung up, moving languidly right at Sailor Jupiter again, his eyes ablaze in shame and anger and his teeth bared like a tiger's. "Fight back!" he howled again, not giving her time to respond before he struck her in the opposite side of her face, sending her head snapping back the other way and her throat shrilling once more.

Hitting the ground, she looked up at him with betrayed eyes once more, as if she should have expected this again but thought he was past his own selfish hatred. There he stood, looming over her as if to renounce her once more. It was more than she could bear. "Why, Kage? Why are you –"

"Quit talking! I want you to fight me!" he screamed, this time finally using his legs as he sent his left foot into her midsection. Sailor Jupiter was sent spiraling away from him with a yelp, the tears that had formed in her eyes being flung from her like a sparkling mist. Kage too was beside himself in emotion, his face feral with fear and loathing. No sooner had he punished her once more did Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus grab him and try to stop this vicious attack on someone who wanted nothing more than to love him and be loved.

"Kage! What are you doing!" Sailor Uranus yelled as she held him.

"Have you gone insane?!" Sailor Neptune added as he struggled in her grasp.

By this time Kage was nothing more than a thrashing beast, his actions unknown even to him and his eyes moving all around in an attempt to see everything all at once. His mouth, blood-stained and gaping, was muttering the most insane things in untamed tones and tambour. It was really frightening the two holding him. "I'll kill everything! I want flowers! Give...me...flowers!" he roared, exerting a surge of energy from his body that was distinctly not from the power of Jupiter. Both of the senshi were thrown from him violently and sent a good distance away, leaving a panting and ranting Scion to marvel at the needle-like sensation all over his body.

It only took one punch to put him on his back and end his incoherent rambling. His head ringing, Kage opened his eyes slowly and saw his attacker. Sailor Jupiter's fist remained where it had struck him, a testament to the truth in the matter. One cheek was red, the other was slightly bruised and her eyes were inflamed with the accumulation of the entire discourse of their history. The strike was the catalyst for her heart; the focal point of her pent aggression and emotion. It was easy to see how one punch had put him on his back so easily.

"Are you going to finally fight?" he asked, sitting up weakly but with a renewed look of stability in his eyes.

There was no answer for a moment, but rather a silent response in her eyes. The tears that had fallen like rain were still in her eyes, but they were waiting for something; waiting for the right time to fall. There came a point when any woman in love had to stand up and take the thing she wanted most. There had been enough talk about her feelings towards him to fill ten of her romance novels, but it would be this silent dialogue that would force the resolution of the festering question that had existed since the arrival of the Scion.

Makoto was about to win or lose in the game of love, but there would finally be an end to her misery. She had been waiting too long, heard too many rationalizations and fallen under too many pretenses. If Kage wasn't able to love her like she loved him, then he would become the villain he had been portraying and fall under the unmerciful wrath of not only a senshi bound in her duty, but a girl who had been scorned and forsaken in the labors of love.

"Yes, I am."