Sailor Moon Revealed
Chapter 2
Hino Amuro paced the front entrance of the Hikawa Shrine nervously as it approached two o'clock. His gaze kept flicking between the watch on his right wrist and the long flight of stairs that led up from the street to the shrine grounds themselves. At a quarter to two a little of his tension began to fade when a bus pulled up and disgorged several passengers, including Dr. Mizuno Ryoko. The doctor was an attactive woman, in a bookish sort of way. She dressed casually in a pair of slacks and a pale blue blouse and as she walked up the steps Amuro noticed that while her face held no outwards sign on what she was thinking, one hand fiddled nervously with the heavy braid that was thrown forward over one shoulder, while the other hand reached up to adjust the oval lensed wire frame glasses perched on her nose.
"Ah Mizuno-sensei," he said, walking over to her as she reached the top step. "Welcome, welcome. Would you like to step inside for a cup of tea and I will join you momentarily. I've taken the liberty of inviting Usagi and Minako's mothers as well, if you have no objections. What I have to say is very important and it would be best if you all heard it at the same time."
Ryoko smiled slightly. "I shall defer to your judgement in this case Hino-san," she said. "Though if you don't mind I would prefer to wait outside with you as well."
"By all means, though I fear I shall be poor company."
Ryoko nodded, but made no further comment. She seated herself on the step of the shrine as Amura continued to pace, one hand constantly fiddling with her braid, though her face was outwardly calm and pleasant. The silence did not last long though, for another bus soon followed the first and disgorged both Tsukino Ikuko and Aino Sumire. Ikuko looked and dressed the part of a typical Japanese housewife and though she and Usagi resembled each other around the face and eyes, the contrast between Ikuko's dark wavy hair and Usagi's blonde odangos was so great that at first glance you wouldn't take them for mother and daughter. On the other hand it was immediately obvious that Minako got her looks from her mother and it was also obvious what would happen to those looks if she didn't look after herself. Like Minako her hair was long and blonde, but whereas Minako's was soft, thick and luxurious, Sumire's was limp and dull. It was also quite obvious that she was using make-up to hide the effects encroaching effects of age, brought on prematurely by too many years of smoking. She was still attractive, but in a brittle, artificial way that spoke of a desperate attempts not to let go of youth.
"Ah, ladies," Amuro said with his most winning smile. "I'm glad to see that you could both make it on time. If you and Mizuno-sensei could follow me inside, I will explain what I have asked you all here to discuss."
He led the three women inside not into the shrine itself, but into the part of the residence that he used as his office, grateful of the continuing privacy. He sat behind his desk where he had assembled his evidence in seiza, feet tucked up underneath him and gestured for the women to sit as well. Both Ryoko and Ikuko sat down in seiza stance as well, pausing only to adjust clothing that was not really suited that style of seating. Sumire also sat, but it was also obvious that she was grumbling about the lack of western style seating, and instead of sitting in seiza stance she sat with her legs crossed loosely before her. She was also the first to speak. "So what is this all about exactly?" she asked, her tone bordering on the impatient.
"I will explain in a moment," Amuro said, extracting three of the police sketches from his collection and handing one to each of the women, pausing briefly to confirm that the right sketch went to the right person. "First I would like for you to identify the person in the sketch."
Sumire glanced at the piece of paper in her hand and shrugged as she dropped it back on the desk. "It's my daughter, so what?"
"Mine's Usagi," Ikuko agreed, attempting to hand hers back, though Amuro gestured for her to keep it.
"And mine is Ami," Ryoko said, "though I would like for you to tell me what my daughter is doing in a police sketch." Amuro raised on eyebrow at her in surprise and she shrugged. "I was required to aid the police in questioning an injured witness during my emergency war rotation when I was a student," Ryoko said with no embarrasement. "The occasion was rather memorable."
"Since you all seem to be in agreement, then I would ask you to look again more closely and please note the names at the bottom of each page."
Ikuko and Ryoko did so and Amuro stifled as smile as their eyebrows rose in surprise. "What is it?" Sumire demanded.
"If you will examine it more closely Aino-san you shall see for yourself," Amuro said gently, handing back the discarded sheet of paper.
With ill disguised imaptience Sumire took the sheet back again and her eyebrows came down in confusion when she looked at the name. "Sailor Venus? What is this?"
"This is what I wished to speak to you all about," Amuro said. "I assume you are familiar with the stories of the Sailor Senshi that have been circulating around Juuban for the past several years. Firstly I can assure you that they are not simply urban legends but are indeed real. I have a made a few friends in the police force over the years and they assure me that whatever they are the Senshi are more than figments of out collective imagination and they have the eyewitness accounts and the physical evidence to prove it. What their intentions are, they seem to relatively benign, as most witness describe them as saving people from various creatures that fall under the general category of what might be describes as a monster. This being the case, the true mystery has always been who the Senshi really are and I believe I finally have the answer."
"Your not seriously suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you?" Ikuko asked as Ryoko looked thoughtful and Sumire's frown deepened.
"I am," Amuro said. "Those sketches have been assembled from over a hundred eyewitnesses and while most of them are in too poor a condition after what they have experienced to provide much detail, when put together their desriptions have been remarkably consistent. These sketches are flimsy evidence on their own I admit, but you're initial identifications would tend to bear out my hypothesis. There is another piece of evidence, but I must first ask how willing are you to accept that there are things… beyond the physical realm of existance?"
"I am a doctor by training," Ryoko said a several moments of silence from everyone. "I am trained to deal with the physical parts, a patients flesh, blood and bone. But I have seen patients suffering from terminal illnesses survive for weeks, even months after their bodies should have failed. I have seen cancer paitents who fight and refuse to give up go into remission and live normal, prosperous lies while others who give up succumb and die within months. I have read documented cases of patients whose hearts suddenly restart even after the dotors had given up hope. I can't help but hear of these and not think that there might be something beyond us, something immaterial that is part of what makes us who we are. So I must answer yes."
"I don't suppose I can disagree after a speech like that," Ikuko said with a slightly impish smile.
"Yeah, yeah, so all this mystical stuff might not be such a big fake after all," Sumire said. "So what is this other evidence."
"This," Amuro said, placing the used ofuda on the desk. My family has run this shrine for a long time and we have developed a great many traditions. Among them is creating ofuda in to aid in the banishment of harmful spirits, either from people or places. The Senshi known as Sailor Mars has also been known to use ofuda on occasions and the police have recovered several. I taught Rei everything she knows about ofuda and I know her creations almost as well as my own, and this is one of hers. Furthermore my family has been gifted with certain… abilities for as long as can be remembered. It is more than just the style, I can sense the power that went into making this and it is Rei's.
"I offer as even firther proof, beyond the physical resembelance and beyond the ofuda. How many times have you called the home of someone here where your daughter has told you she will be and discovered that she is not here. I have had this happen to me on more than once occasion and I am confident that I am not the only one. Am I correct Tsukino-san?"
Ikuko nodded, a slightly beweildered look on her face. "I thought that Usagi was just being a normal teenager, but when put together with everything else…"
"So my duaghter is supposed to some superhero running around Tokyo in a miniskirt? This sounds like the plot of a bad anime or sentai show. I've wasted enough time here. You two can listen to this fairytale all you want, but I'm leaving."
"Wait!" Amuro said, rising to his feet, ignoring the protests of aged joints at his sudden movements. "At least ask Minako about it. See her reaction first and then make up your own mind. If you still don't believe me, I won't bother you about it again, but if she is, you need to know about it. If they really are the Senshi, we don't know what sort of trouble they could get into. They may have just been lucky up until now and if something happened to them that you could have helped prevent, will you be able to live with yourself knowing that you had the chance but did nothing?"
Sumire paused for a moment and then continued on her way. "I'll ask," she said as she opened the door, then left, not even bothering to close the door behind her.
"I will ask as well," Ryoko said. "Ami says that Minako has occasional flashes of brilliances when it comes to acting so we and if she, Ami and the others are indeed Senshi and Minako can fool her mother and warn the others, we may never get to the truth. I would not wish to put this evidence before a court as proof, but I find is strangely compelling and the only place to get the truth is straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. If you have nothing else to share with us Hino-san, then I too must be taking my leave of you. I know that you would not have said anything about this if you did not believe it yourself and I thank you for sharing this informaiton."
"So do I," Ikuko added. "This is a lot to think about, but I'll ask Usagi as well." A faint smile tugged at her lips. "Usagi's a terrible liar and I think I can surprise the truth out of her."
Amuro chuckled slightly. "I'm sure you can Tsukino-san. If you don't mind I'll escort both of you to the bus stop."
"We'd be honoured," Ryoko said.
"Oh no, the honour is all mine," Amuro said as Ikuko. "It's not that often that two ladies as charming and beautiful as yourselves visit this shrine. It's the least an old man can do."
He kept up the flirting banter all the way down the shrine steps and to the bus stop. Ikuko was flattered by the compliments he showered them with, even if some of them did stretch the truth rather thin and it was all in harmless fun. Ryoko on the other hand was rather amused by the whole act and responded with equally lavish compliments, a grin on her face and a laugh in her eyes. They rather pointedly ignored talking about their previous discussion for the whole time until the next bus arrived, almost as pointedly as Sumire ignored their presence. They all left with open invitations to visit the shrine any time they felt like it, even Sumire and finally Amuro slowly made his way back up the shrine steps. They weren't an easy jounrey, even for a young man, and besides a small part of him wanted to put of the confrontation with his granddaughter as long as possible. He just knew that it wasn't going to be pleasant. Still it was something he had to do and he squared his shoulders as he reached the top of the steps. He would find out the truth, one way or another in a few hours and that would be worth it.
He hoped.
Author's Notes:
Well that's two chapters and the prologue. The next four chapters are going to focus on one of the Senshi and their family as the truth comes to light. I'll be working in the order of the astrological bodies distance from the sun, so Mercury, Minako, Usagi and then Rei. At least that's the plan at the moment ^_^. Poor Mako-chan misses out, because as I've said before, she lives on her own with no apparent guardian, so no one to hear the news and react. Still, she will appear, I promise that much. I can't write a Sailor Moon fic and not let my favourite Senshi appear!
As always C&C are appreciated, especially any information about Ami and Minako's parents.