ATTENTION! There is some swearing in this chapter.
Chapter 4
Sunrise.
often the lonliest time of night. A time to reflect... A time to forget. A time to cast all doubts to the wind and start anew. Gods if only she could!
It had been years since she last stood on this planet. It was so foriegn, so alien, it was difficult to believe it was hers... Once. But she cast it aside; forgotten it.
She could no longer.
Standing there... watching the golden sphere rise further into the heavens and the wash of color fade to blue, she started to remember. A long-lost memory of a day she should never have forgotten had, at last, resurfaced.
She cried.
"Archer, snap out of it!" the hiss from her partner tore her away. She quickly wiped away long-unshed tears and set her mind to the task at hand: capturing a wanted criminal.
"Sorry, Griever." she muttered. Her partner's plum-colored eyes narrowed before her long, violet bangs hid them. Archer sighed, working with Griever was a pain. But Fighter wouldn't let her go solo. Layoc was a dangerous criminal. A single Starlight was no match, but two...
"I'll be glad when this shit is over." Griever sighed, shifting uneasily. She was tense; ready.
"Can't wait to get back to work with your old partner?" Archer asked, sinking into a crouch. Griever scoffed, but didn't answer. "At least you get to work alone..."
"You couldn't handle it." Griever spat. "You're too easily distracted and you're overly friendly."
"You're right. But there's a difference between a lonely person... and a rogue."
"You think I've gone rogue?" Griever snorted at the thought. "I just miss Slayer."
"She'll be out of the Regen Tank in about a week or two." Archer said quietly. "She'll be fine. You'll see."
"Shut-up." Archer needn't be told twice; she sensed it too. Their target was close. She detached her bow from her backpack, strung it, and knocked an arrow.
They were ready...
"Where the Hell are they?" Amara shouted as she paced the top of the Shrine stairs. "We've been waiting here for almost three hours!"
"Shhh... Amara." Michelle pleaded, grabbing her lover's arm. The sandy blonde looked at her and sighed.
"Do they even know where we are?"
"I'll garuntee it." Mina said with a wink. Amara and Michelle looked at her in suprise. "After all... Yaten couldn't resist the Goddess of Love."
Michelle giggled. Amara sighed. "You never give up, do you?" came a laugh. The three soldiers turned to see a very feminine Seiya bounding up the stairs. Behind her, Yaten, Taiki and, three new faces waited.
"It's about time you got here!" Amara shouted, moving toward the Starlight. Seiya stopped on the top step and raised her hands in defence. "And who the Hell are they?"
"Calm down, Uranus." Seiya answered looking from her teammates to the Outter Soldier. "We had a few things to take care of before we came. But it'd be easier to explain everything to all of you at once. That way, I'm not repeating myself."
"She's right, Amara." Mina said, walking past her older teammate. She grabbed Seiya's arm with a smile. "I'll take you inside. The others are waiting."
"Come on, guys!" Seiya called back to her team as Mina lead her inside. Amara watched as the Starlights filed past her. Taiki nodded her head as if in thanks and Yaten glared at her. The last one, a girl with long, black hair and violet bangs paused.
"Tread softly. Not all of us are cowards." she whispered, then proceded onwards. Amara watched as she disappeared into the shrine.
"That was..." Amara was at a loss for words.
"Unexpected?" Michelle offered. Her lover smiled. "Shall we go inside?"
"I guess. They're probably waiting for us." Amara said, taking Michele's hand in hers. The two Outter Soldiers entered the shrine to see everyone welcoming back the Starlights with hugs and handshakes. Then Seiya moved to the center of the room, quieting everyone with a raised hand.
"I'm sure all of you are wondering who our teammates are, so I'll have them introduce themselves." Seiya said, catching Aamara's gaze and holding it. The Outter Soldier looked away. Sieya smirked and left the center of the room.
"They call me Sailor Star Archer." a brunnet with gold bangs took Seiya's place in the center of the room. She smiled warmly; her dragon green eyes scanning the faces of everyone in the room. "I'm not sure what you want to know about me, so I'll start with the basics. My real name is Terra Onyx, though I haven't heard the name in years. I am... twenty-three years old now and I'm the second-best bow sniper of the Starlights."
"That's impressive." Mina said, flashing Terra a thumbs up. Terra smiled and bowed her head in thanks.
"Who's the best?" Raye asked.
"Sailor Star Sniper." Taiki replied with a chuckle. "I don't remember her real name..."
"Luca Accnu." Seiya interupted, glancing back at Raye. "Thank you, Terra."
"You're welcome, Lord Star Fighter." Terra bowed and left the center of the room. All of the Earth Soldiers looked at Seiya in confusion. She smiled.
"I'll explain THAT later. Griever, why don't you go next?"
"Fine." answered the black-haired girl with purple bangs as she took a step forward. "I am Star Griever, also known as Shazza Hoshino. I am twenty-two and my weapon of choice is the Buster Sword."
"You don't want to be on her bad side." Terra said with a knowing smile. "And you also don't want to be on the receiving end of her sword."
"You can say that again." Yaten muttered causing Seiya and Taiki to snicker. Mina looked at Yaten in concern, but the Starlight didn't react.
"I guess it is my turn to make an introduction." announced the last Starlight. She stepped into the center and ran a hand through her long, greying turqoise hair. Her lavendar eyes caught Serena's and held them. "I am known as Sailor Star Seer or Lady Zahana Yaweta. I am Star Fighter's Second-in-Command and Star Healer's Psi Teacher. I currently have forgotten my age and my weapon is the Oracle Mirror."
"What is an Oracle Mirror?" Lita asked.
"Simmular to Neptune's Aqua Mirror, but quite a bit stronger." Zahana smiled at Michelle's suprise. "I'm called Star Seer for a reason."
"Like me, she's and Empath. She's also psychic and telekinetic to some extent." Yaten answered the question on everyone's tongues. "But she's not supposed to scan people..."
"I do not need to scan any of the Earth Senshi to know who they are, Healer. Back when I attended the Academy, I had to write a paper researching this system and its Senshi. To this day, I still retain most of that information." Zahana replied, keeping eye contact with her student. "That is one of the reasons Star Fighter requested my presence on this mission."
"Why ARE you here?" Amara asked, crossing her arms. Seiya cleared her throat and took a step forward.
"First of all, let me explain why Terra called me 'Lord' when I'm obviously a female..." Seiya looked down at her belly shirt, cut-off shorts and sneakers. She gave everyone a weird look before continuing. "The truth is... I'm going to regret saying this... I sent a message here last week explaining what was going on and it WAS recieved..." Seiya eyed Amara, "but aparently it wasn't passed on."
"I wonder why." Yaten muttered, crossing her arms and glaring at Amara through her silver bangs. Amara glared back.
"I'm engaged to be married." Seiya smiled widely. Everyone's jaws dropped in suprise. She laughed and continued. "And since the person I'm marrying is a true female -- meaning she can't switch genders like me -- I am her husband and therefore officially a male..."
"With bad mosquito bites and a hole in the plumbing." Yaten finished, causing everyone to laugh. Seiya glared at her for a moment, then joined in the laughter.
"So, who's the lucky bride-to-be?" Amy asked and watched bemused as Seiya turned red.
"Well... um... she's... her... her name's..."
"Kakyuu." Yaten bluntly answered.
"WHAT!" Everyone shouted simmotaneously. The Starlights laughed as Seiya turned even redder.
"How long have you been with Kakyuu." Serena asked quietly. Seiya looked at her in concern.
"Actually... a little over three years."
"So you two were together before you even met... us?" Seiya caught Serena's hidden question and nodded solemnly.
"I'm sorry. I could never tell you because... well, because our Senshi wouldn't let us talk."
"You were in love with her!" Amara shouted in anger. "You were screwing up the future we took so long to build!"
"Enough!" Yaten shouted, stepping between Amara and Seiya. The small Starlight sighed and looked her teammate in the eye. "Why don't you explain to everyone why we're here? They have a right to know."
"Know what?" Lita asked, backing away from Amara to sit in a safer spot.
"We've actually got two missions to complete here." Yaten answered after a long silence. "First and foremost: the capture of three wanted criminals."
"What kind of criminals?" Amy asked, sounding a bit nervous.
"Dukont was wanted for his attempt to murder Fighter. Layoc is a mass murderess and sex offender; both of them have been caught. Valadri is a Dakun Daju and he, however, remains loose." Taiki explained, keeping eye contact with Amy as she spoke. Finally they looked away from eachother.
"What is a Dakun Daju?" Mina looked to Yaten for the answer.
"Do you know what Necromancy is?" Yaten waited as Mina slowly nodded. "Valadri is a well trained assassin that uses Necromancy, a forbidden black magic, to kill his targets. That is a Dakun Daju."
"An assassin?" Raye's voice broke in her nervousness.
"One Dakun Daju is a hard match for five Starlight Elites." Zahana said quietly.
"It's a good thing there's six of us." Terra winked at Raye as if trying to comfort her. "Plus there's you guys here. So there's really no need to worry."
"Valadri is nocturnal, so since the sun's up, we've nothing to worry about." Seiya said, glancing outside. "It also means that we can't hunt him."
"So the six of us will sleep through the day and start the hunt for him again tonight?" Shazza inquired, looking at Seiya.
"That's the plan."
"What's the second part of your mission here?" Serena asked suddenly.
"Kakyuu wanted to thank you for your help with Shadow Galaxia, so she's sent us to help you find the last three Sailor Senshi of your team." Seiya said with a smile. The five Inner Soldiers looked at her in utter suprise while Amara and Michelle glared at her.
"You have NO RIGHT to do that!" Amara yelled, pointing a finger at Seiya angrilly. The Starlight raised an eyebrow in response.
"Wait a second!" Serena exclaimed, standing up. "You KNEW we were three short and you never said anything?"
"Your Senshi keep many secrets from you." Yaten replied catching Serena's eyes.
"What do you mean by that?" Mina asked, stepping into Yaten's line of sight. The Starlight smirked.
"That we will save for later."
"The point is, we are here to help you find Sailors Earth, Apollo, and Charon... and give you all an upgrade." Taiki smiled. "But you'll have to wait for those until later.
"How come?" Raye asked, her disappointment obvious.
"Because Kakyuu hasn't brought them yet." Seiya smiled.
"You mean Kakyuu's comming here?" Serena looked up at Seiya for an answer. She nodded. Serena swallowed the lump in her throat. "That's cool. Maybe we can get to know eachother better."
"I would love for you to get to know her." Seiya said with a smile as she moved to embrace Serena in a tight hug. "Because we want you to be the Honor Maid."
Serena was in shock. "Really? You want me to... Wow!" Seiya laughed and Serena hugged her even tighter.
"Maybe you should tell her now?" Yaten said with a smirk.
"Tell who what?" Amy asked, looking from Yaten to Taiki to Seiya.
"Not yet." Seiya replied with a sly smile. She glanced at Amara and Michelle, then turned to Serena. "It's a suprise that can't be revieled yet. Not with them so near."
"Are there any more questions?" Shazza asked impaceintly.
"Just one that I can think of." a smile broke out on Serena's face. "When's the wedding?"
Seiya laughed and shrugged. "You'll have to ask Kay that one. I'm not sure, but she could deffinitely use some help planning it."
"Um... Are you three going to be singing again?" Amy asked, her cheeks turning red. Taiki chuckled.
"That remains to bee seen. We do need some way to support ourselves while we're here, but since we don't know how long that will be... it's uncertain whether we'll see a stage again."
"Aw... I was hoping you guys would get back together." Mina pouted. "I need some friendly competition."
"Competition?" Seiya raised an eyebrow.
"You made it?" Yaten asked with a smile. Mina nodded, flashing her victory sign and smiling broadly.
"My new song, 'Silver Dreams,' has been number one on the lists for... going on five weeks now."
"That's great, Mina." Yaten winked at her. "I'm glad to see your dreams became reality."
"I had your help in it." Mina blushed.
"Enough of this mushy shit." Shazza said, brushing past Mina on her way out. Mina frowned, then caught Yaten's look.
"Please forgive her." Seiya apollogized for her teammate. "Her partner and lover was involved in an accident a while back and is still recovering."
"That's gotta suck." Serena said looking at the exit Shazza took.
"She's taking it pretty hard... Depression." Yaten explained. "Just give her some time. And when Slayer's out, Shazza will be back to her usual, gothic self."
"I have to agree with her though. We're all tired." Terra hid a yawn. "We should sleep so we can hunt tonight."
"Agreed." Seiya hid her own yawn. "If you guys don't mind, the lot of us are going to call it a night."
"Do you have a place to stay?" Mina asked, looking at Yaten with hopeful eyes. The silver-haired Starlight smiled and turned to follow her teammates out the door.
"Until we can find an appartment, room 1036 at the Tokyo Grand Hotel is where we're staying." Taiki said, getting up to follow Yaten. "Come see us sometime."
"We'll do that." Serena said, hugging Seiya goodbye.
"Until next we meet." Zahana bowed her goodbye, then followed the rest of her team out of the Shrine. Mina rushed out after the Starlights and managed to grab Yaten by the arm, spinning her arround.
"What?" Yaten asked, concerned, but not angry.
"I never did thank you for your support at the idol scouting."
"That's why you ran after me? To thank me?" Yaten sounded dubious, but smiled anyway. "Well, you're welcome... but I didn't do anything special. It was all you, Mina."
"You were there. That's all I needed." Mina smiled. "And it was then that I realized just how much you ment to me."
"Mina... what are you saying?" Yaten smiled at Mina's hesitance. She was taken by suprise when Mina suddenly kissed her passionately.
Mina broke the kiss and whispered gently into Yaten's ear, "I love you."
Author's note : What a sweet ending...
Anyway I have to go or I'll be late for work. Please R/R/F!