THE PERSON I LOOK UP TO

Chapter 8: "Might Makes Right"
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

It took a while to search the entire area, but it wasn't like Sailor Moon had anything else to do. Her mother was hard at work tutoring Shinrin and unless another one of those Ceelot things came storming through there was no need for a guard.

"Probably no need anyway, since she can do anything," Sailor Moon thought.

Finally her search proved fruitful. She found Lada playing with some other girls her age. As she approached, the girls quieted and looked her over. They weren't openly suspicious of her. They just had that familiar wariness girls in packs had when someone approached.

"Glad I found you, Lada," Sailor Moon said. "I've been looking for you."

"You are the Sailor Moon?" one of the girls asked. "The one who helped save Rakee?"

"Uh huh."

The other girls looked at Lada. They were clearly impressed.

"Can I ask you something, Lada?" Sailor Moon asked. "Um, it's about Shoko."

Instantly taking the hint, the other girls moved off. Lada seemed distressed at the mention of Shoko, but didn't shy away.

"Lada, I know this is way late and it's probably going to sound weird," the pink senshi began, "but is there any way I can get a look at Shoko's body?"

"It's by the stream," Lada whispered. "My father and Danro Ganjou are preparing it for its return to the soil. I don't know if they will allow it."

"Can we try?" asked Sailor Moon.

"Why do you wish to see him? Did you love him that much?"

"Um" Sailor Moon grimaced, "it's not anything like that. I just - - I wanted to see if he'd been in a fight with anyone. You said his death wasn't an accident. I thought I could find a clue of some kind."

Reluctantly, Lada led Sailor Moon to the spot. It was upstream from the settlement, in a thicket of trees. Sailor Moon could see Danro and another man bending over something. She also noticed other mounds in the ground nearby, dotting the tree-laden terrain. This was some sort of burial area. Just then, she realized Lada shying from the area.

"Lada?" she asked.

"I-I do not want to go any further, Sailor Moon," the young girl grimaced. "I do not wish to see my brother this way." The girl seemed on the verge of tears.

"I understand," Sailor Moon said softly, stroking the girl's shoulder. "Thank you for taking me this far. I'll go the rest on my own."

As Lada quickly moved off, Sailor Moon walked up to the two men. Upon hearing her approach, the pair looked up at her. While there was a racial similarity to them, Danro was far more handsome and muscular. Sailor Moon recalled his subduing the Ceelot unconsciously.

"Konju," Danro said, "this is the queen's guest, Sailor Moon."

"You're one of the ones who found my son," Konju said, subduing his anguish just enough to speak. "I am in your debt for that."

"You don't have to be," Sailor Moon replied, nervously brushing at her pink hair with her hand. "I, um, wanted to look over Shoko's body - - if that's all right. I was hoping to see something that might tell me who killed him or why he was killed."

"Look as long as you will," Konju sighed heavily. "Shoko's spirit has returned to the Mother Forest - - and his flesh no longer feels, so it cannot be embarrassed or put upon."

Reluctantly, because the rigid, pale white corpse that had once been Shoko made her skin crawl, Sailor Moon looked the body over.

"It is my opinion that Shoko drowned," Danro told her as the senshi examined the body. "Would that Shintoru were here. She would know better than I."

"Who's Shintoru?" Sailor Moon asked.

"Our departed Sailor Eichi. Shintoru was the clan's healer. She was a brilliant mind. I have tried to fill the gap she left, but I am neither the healer nor the mind she was."

"What happened to her?" Sailor Moon asked as she looked over the corpse before her.

"She left us in the last attack," Danro related sadly. "The same attack in which Sailor Kokoro was killed. The attack in which I would have died had it not been for my Shinrin."

"Was that what caused her to ascend?"

Danro smiled warmly. "I lay dying, a spear in my abdomen. I felt so cold. Then I felt arms around me and a warm lap cradle me. I looked up and found Sailor Hayashi cradling me. The fear in her eyes as she looked down at me - - I have never seen such fear in her. Never. The tears poured down her face and she begged me not to go. I wanted to reach up to her, wipe away her tears and thank her for gracing me with her love. I tried to speak it, but I was too weak."

Sailor Moon had stopped examining the body. She and Konju stared enraptured by the reminisces of Danro.

"Then Sailor Hayashi began to glow a deep emerald," Danro continued. "At first I thought I was delirious from my wounds. Then," and he paused, momentarily overcome by the memory, "then I no longer felt cold. I felt her - - felt her soul touch me and caress my wound. And when her soul touched me, it sparked a power within me as well, a power beyond what I had as Kamen Irori. I-I began to heal from our combined power." He glanced over at them. "And my Sailor Hayashi became Queen Shinrin on that day."

"And the Torgus?" Sailor Moon asked.

"The battle ended. Shinrin had lost Eichi and Kokoro, and nearly lost me. She had no taste for battle for a while." Danro looked back at the corpse of Shoko. "But trouble is starting anew. And it won't end until the Torgus are brought back to the light."

"Yeah," the girl said, turning back to Shoko's body. She glanced over it and focused on an odd bruising pattern. "There are marks on him," Sailor Moon pointed. "These deep bruises around his middle. What do you think caused them?"

"Perhaps Shoko's empty shell struck a rock in the swift current of the river," Danro suggested.

"All around his middle? And the bruises aren't random - - and the skin isn't broken. It's too big and wide for just hitting a rock. It seems like a giant hand grabbed him around the waist."

"But there are no such things. It couldn't have happened that way," Konju gasped.

Sailor Moon frowned. "Oh yes it could."

"Then - - my son was killed by another?"

But Sailor Moon had already walked off, intent on her mission.

Searching the forest, Sailor Moon found her mother and Queen Shinrin in a glade. The two were levitated four feet off of the ground. Shinrin's legs were crossed. Serenity's was close, because she'd never managed to master the lotus position. She said it was because she had tight joints.

Luna said it was because she had fat hips from eating too much candy.

"Open your mind to everything around you, Shinrin," Serenity said. Both women had their eyes closed and were concentrating within on their power centers. "Don't reach out. Instead, let the world flow into you."

"Yes, Serenity," Shinrin mumbled.

"What do you feel?"

"So many emotions are swirling around me."

"That's the immediate area," Serenity told her. "You're feeling everything that your clan is feeling. You are one with your people."

"The happiness of the children," Shinrin whispered, smiling ever so faintly. "The love of a woman for her mate. The love of a child for his father. I feel - I feel anger - joy - ambition - wonder - frustration - security."

Suddenly Shinrin's head came up. She turned slightly and looked directly at Sailor Moon.

"Suspicion," Shinrin said. Sailor Moon suddenly became very uncomfortable.

Serenity looked up. "Sailor Moon, did you want something?"

"Yeah, Mom," the senshi said, trying to ignore Shinrin's stare. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Will you excuse me, Shinrin?" Serenity asked and glided over to her daughter. "Yes, Usa, what was it?"

Sailor Moon glanced over at Shinrin again.

"Mom, I'm even more sure now that Shoko was murdered," Sailor Moon related.

Serenity looked down. "The Torgus say they didn't kill him. I want to believe them!"

"I believe them, too," the pink senshi declared. "There were bruises around Shoko's middle like he was grabbed by a giant hand."

"A giant hand? Is it possible that some sort of animal exists on this world that would have a giant hand?"

"Who says it had to be a real one, Mom? You can create platforms and bridges and stuff by using the crystal to make the air molecules solid, can't you?"

"Well, yes."

"And if you were trying to grab someone like Shoko, you could maybe make an invisible hand the same way, couldn't you?"

"Yes. You don't think I grasped him too hard when I pulled him out of the river, do you?"

"No. But suppose someone grabbed him and drowned him in the river."

Serenity looked at her daughter blankly.

"Someone who has powers just like yours," Sailor Moon said through clenched teeth.

Serenity was about to gasp in shock, but Sailor Moon stilled her with a hand on her arm. Sensing a presence, Serenity turned and found Shinrin behind her.

"Is there a problem, Serenity?" Shinrin asked.

"Um, no," began Sailor Moon.

"Sailor Moon tells me that there was bruising around Shoko's middle," Serenity told her. "She thinks it points to - - to Shoko being murdered."

"I will trust your judgment in this," Shinrin replied calmly. "I saw nothing, but I am not wise in these matters."

"I don't think there's any doubt that Shoko was deliberately killed," Sailor Moon said, almost as a challenge.

"Then justice must be done," Shinrin replied, to Sailor Moon's surprise. Shinrin bowed her head. "You told me that the obligation of those with power such as ours is to protect the innocent and give them justice, did you not Serenity?"

"Yes, I did, Shinrin," Serenity said warily. "The powerful are obligated to secure justice for those less fortunate, to provide for their protection when they can't and secure for them the opportunity for a long and happy life. I believe it's why we were given this power."

"Then I will make you proud, Serenity. Thank you for all you have taught me. I go to bring justice for the family of Shoko and for all others who have suffered." And Shinrin headed proudly for the center clearing of the clan's woods, while Serenity and Sailor Moon exchanged perplexed looks.

"Doesn't she even realize what she's done?" Sailor Moon asked. "SHE'S the one who killed Shoko! She has to be! Nothing else fits!"

"Oh, dear," fretted Serenity. "I don't think she understands."

Serenity hurried off after Shinrin, with Sailor Moon running behind. As they ran, they heard a large horn echo through the woods. Moments later they found Shinrin standing in the center of the small clearing, flanked by Danro and surrounded by the entire clan. They stopped just outside the gathering as Shinrin solemnly stood before her people.

"I have grave news, my people," Shinrin announced. "You all know of the death of our own Shoko. To compound the tragedy, I am now told he was killed, not by accident or by forest predator, but by the hands of another. It is sad and shocking, but I believe it to be true."

"Is she confessing?" Serenity whispered.

"Maybe she's a split personality," Sailor Moon whispered back. "Now I wish you HAD brought Aunt Ami."

"This cannot go unanswered," Shinrin continued. "Such things are an abomination in the eyes of the Mother Forest and all she provides to us. The Mother Forest has seen fit to grant me power in which to act and I can do no less. I protected you as Sailor Hayashi and I shall protect you as your Queen Shinrin. I go, my people, to the Torgus, to bring the holy word to them. They will see the light, I promise you - - or they will not menace us again."

"See the light how, Shinrin?" gasped Serenity, pushing through the crowd toward the queen. "What are you going to do?"

"You have taught me well, Serenity," Shinrin smiled. "My power is enough to exact justice upon the non-believers in the Torgus clan. Surely you were guided here by the great Mother Forest. I thank you."

"No! No, Shinrin, this is not what I taught you! Justice and vengeance are two different things! Don't dishonor yourself and your power this way! Don't dishonor the spirit of the forest!"

"Why do you protest?" Shinrin asked. "All you have taught me has been directed at helping. I am helping the Torgus by bringing them away from their evil ways and back to the light of truth. In this way, they will no longer be a threat to themselves or to my people." She looked down. "Naturally there will be those who resist. I will try to bring them to the way, but if they will not turn, I must neutralize them to protect my people."

"Shinrin, don't do this, please!" Serenity pleaded. "Having the power isn't about killing and vengeance! It's about helping others and making a better life for everyone so they can live together in peace and harmony! You can't use your power to force someone else to believe as you do! What you're doing will only destroy that dream!"

"You said yourself that my mission is to protect others," Shinrin countered. "I am protecting the way of the forest, which has been spurned by the Torgus. I am protecting my clan, so they are not killed as Shoko was killed."

"The Torgus didn't kill him! You did!" roared Sailor Moon. A horrified gasp rose up from the crowd. "Why? Why did you do it?"

Shinrin looked at Sailor Moon, stunned.

"You side with them?" she asked incredulously.

"We're not siding with anyone!" Serenity cried. "Shinrin, it was an accident! It had to be! Tell them!"

"Even you, Serenity? I thought you were my friend."

"I am. I understand what you're going through, believe me. Shinrin, the power can be scary and intimidating. You can very easily lose control, especially in the beginning," Serenity said. "It can also be seductive. You can do so much. You can accomplish everything you want just by wishing it. It becomes easier and easier to think you know best for everyone . . ."

"The Mother Forest would not grant me such power if she didn't mean for me to use it to spread her word and bring everyone to her ways," Shinrin said.

"NO! Shinrin, you mustn't think that your power gives you the right to force everyone to believe as you do! It's wrong! It's a trap! You can lose your soul in it!"

Shinrin grimaced. "It grieves me, Serenity, that you could betray me like this." Her features hardened. "I go to bring the wayward Torgus back to the one truth. Nothing you can say will stop me."

Serenity expelled a resigned sigh. "Then I'll have to stop you another way."

And from out of nowhere came a brilliant streak of green. It barely registered in Sailor Moon's vision, but was quickly forgotten when Serenity recoiled and crumpled to the ground.

"MOM!" Sailor Moon gasped. She knelt down, cradling Serenity in her arms. To her and her mother's mutual horror, a leaf was embedded stem-first in her chest. Sailor Moon's eyes bulged. She looked over at Shinrin and Danro, and saw Danro's arm extended, his eyes cold and merciless. "Mom, are you hurt? Say something!"

"Not hurt," Serenity replied, woozy and disoriented. "Can't focus."

"Do not oppose me, Serenity," Shinrin told her, her voice echoing through the forest. "I grant mercy in exchange for the kindness you previously extended to me. But the Torgus will come to the light of righteousness or they will fall. The Mother Forest has ordained it and I am her vessel of choice."

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!" bellowed Sailor Moon. "Wasn't Shoko enough for you? How many people do you intend to murder?"

The crowd looked on uneasily. Some were confused, while others looked at Sailor Moon and Queen Serenity with growing hostility. Sailor Moon saw none of it. Her vision and her anger were focused solely on Shinrin.

Shinrin's featured hardened. In response, she cupped her hands above and inches away from her chest. Space began to warp around her where her hands were cupped, then glow a brilliant emerald green. Sailor Moon saw an emerald crystal emerge from the warp and hover between her hands. From experience she knew what this meant.

Shinrin was bringing her crystal's power directly into play.

Continued in Chapter 9