NOTE: I'm back in the saddle, folks. It's been a year, but I'm finally back to working on this story. I'm posting this chapter now, but it may be a bit before the next chapters because I've actually been working on chapters that are, chronologically, a bit far ahead. So I have to write about 3-4 more chapters before I get to what I've been working on now. I'm starting those interim chapters now.

The Last Officers

Chapter 3: Troubles

By JagdPanther

Kino Makoto could tell that something bad was about to happen. She slowly turned around and saw the ugly multicolored face of the daimon hovering behind her. Before she could react, it grabbed her wrists and prevented her from moving. Haruka and Michiru made an attempt to help, but Mako knew that they couldn't do anything against something like this. She yelled, "Get out of here! Just go! You'll get hurt, too!"

Obediently, Haruka nodded her head and took Michiru by the arm, leading her back and away from the daimon with Mako in its clutches. Unfortunately, the daimon managed to throw a ball of energy at the two, knocking them down and into the bushes a short distance away.

"No!" screamed Mako, trying to wrestle away from daimon. "What did they do to you? I'm the one you want!" Try as she might, Makoto just couldn't break the grip and Kaolinite ordered the daimon to take Mako's heart crystal. Stripped of her vital life essence, Mako collapsed to the ground. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune popped out of some bushes nearby and tried to snatch the heart crystal from the enemy.

"Hey, that's mine! I extracted it!" Kaolinite ordered the daimon to attack the two Sailor senshi and prevent them from getting the item vital to her master's work. As the fighting raged on around her, Mako lay on the ground thinking that Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were disgraces to the name, as they had just sat idly by watching Haruka and Michiru getting beat up. It was then that she realized that she couldn't forgive them, no matter what they did.

Chris had already been off work for an hour. The bayside park was just a short walk from where he usually had an early evening dinner if he got off early. The sounds of combat drew his attention, but more importantly, he had the feeling that someone under his protection was in trouble. He sprinted towards the source of the sounds, breaking out into the open just in time to see Mako go down, her heart crystal absent from her body. He spat out a string of curses and ran up to Mako. He noted that his sister and Neptune had things seemingly under control. 'Well, she's perfectly fine, just comatose,' he thought. 'Since I define that to be fine, and all.'

He picked her up by her arms and dragged her out of the general area to prevent her from becoming collateral damage. Now came the interesting part. Get the heart crystal back and at the same time see how the senshi would react to a police officer, namely Chris, barging in on their little engagement. Hopefully he wouldn't get hurt doing this, but it was best, he thought, to not reveal himself just yet. If not for observation and experimentation, then for the sheer entertainment, whatever entertainment value it had. He ran back out to the small flat area where the daimon was, drawing his pistol in the process, and shouted, "Freeze! Police! Don't move!"

Sailor Neptune dodged an attack, back flipping, landing near him. The sudden presence of Chris startled her, causing her to almost lose her balance. She noted the absence of Makoto and figured that Chris must have moved her. "Sir, I think you might not want to be here right now."

"Look lady, I don't know who you are, and I really don't care, but I've got a comatose girl on my hands and someone here is the culprit. Now sit your butt down and get your hands up before I get angry." He motioned for her to get her hands up with his pistol. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the daimon getting ready to attack him.

Uranus, thinking it was after Neptune, turned to warn her, but was astonished to see her brother holding Neptune at gunpoint. "Neptune, forget about him and get away!" A shout of "police!" from Chris didn't stop her, despite her heart's sinking feeling that she was sacrificing her brother for the mission at hand.

An energy ball lanced out from the daimon but never made it to Chris. A Burning Mandala shot from Sailor Mars knocked it out of the air while Sailor Venus tackled Chris. Chris pretended to take a hard fall, knocking his head into a rock. He immediately regretted it, but bit down on his tongue to keep from passing out. Venus snapped off a quick, "Sorry!" before jumping away to take up formation with the other senshi. Chris kept one eye slightly open to observe what went on.

The two older senshi discovered that Mako's heart crystal wasn't the one that they were looking for. When Sailor Moon asked, they gave it back and stood idly by again as Sailor Moon returned Mako's heart crystal to her.

As things progressed, Chris couldn't shake something nagging at him. 'What on Earth was she doing? Was she honestly going to sacrifice me in order to get the heart crystal that she needed? Wow, that's low. She really has the 'only the mission' thing in her head way too deeply. And let's not fail to remember that I'm her brother! You've got to be kidding me. That was ridiculous.' But that wasn't the only surprise for the day, he saw. With the daimon defeated, Sailor Jupiter decided that Uranus and Neptune couldn't go on unpunished for standing idly by while the daimon attacked Haruka, Michiru, and the police officer who'd helped.

Jupiter challenged Uranus with a fighting stance. "Wait! I don't know the reason, but you always come to steal the pure heart like a thief. You're the same as the daimon."

Uranus was going to let it go, but her ego got the better of her, as it usually did. The two charged at each other. There wasn't much contest; Uranus was just too strong. Jupiter crumbled to the ground. Chris noted, though, as Uranus and Neptune retreated, that Uranus was favoring something. 'She's hurt. Jupiter got something on her. Good girl, Mako-chan. Don't worry; I'm going to have a 'talk' with her about her conduct, somehow.' The rest of the senshi retreated for a second, too, to power down before locating Haruka and Michiru in the bushes and helping the downed police officer.

Chris stirred slightly as Minako ran up to him.

"Chris-san! Are you all right?" Minako knelt down beside him. "Are you hurt? Can you move?"

Chris rubbed his head. Actually, yeah, he was hurt. Stupid move, he realized, actually taking the fall instead of faking it. He slowly tried to stand up, wavering a bit in the process and aided by Minako. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be fine, rather. I have one heck of a headache. I need some aspirin. How's Makoto? I was able to get her out of the way, but I got knocked down by someone before that thing hit me. Whoever she was, she saved my life."

Minako giggled. "Wow, you don't know anything about this city, do you? Those were the Sailor senshi. They help people who're in trouble, unlike the police."

Smirking, Chris shot back, "Hey, I resent that. I said I didn't like the police, either, but that doesn't mean that I don't work hard to make a difference."

She accepted that one, smiling. "Okay, maybe some of the police are fine. Can you walk?"

"Yes, I think I can. Where's Makoto? Is she all right?" He added a little bit of a woozy stumble for effect.

"She all right, she's over there helping someone else who got hit by that thing." Minako supported Chris a little so that he didn't collapse or something. She silently cursed herself for having tackled him so hard, but she had to just in case Mars missed her mark, which wasn't often. "Well, since you don't know anything, the two that were here when you arrived were Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus. The blonde one was Uranus. She's a jerk. Well, they both are. And the one that tackled you was Sailor Venus. She's the coolest, I think."

'Oh, she slipped up! Time to have a little fun with her!' Chris smiled to himself. "How did you know that?"

"Everyone does."

"No, I meant that those two were here when I arrived. Where were you?" 'Come on, Minako; show me how well you can B.S.'

'Oh, Damnit!' Minako realized instantly that she'd said too much. She'd been a little too self-promoting on that one. "Um, I actually just figured that they were here first because we saw you take Mako-chan in the bushes away from danger. We didn't see any of the fight until Venus tackled you away from the energy ball and Mars hit that away."

Chris had to fight to keep from laughing. "Uh huh, is that so?" 'Okay, Minako, that was relatively believable. But a good officer needs to not make those mistakes to begin with. I did not avoid court-martial by spilling my guts to people about my pranks in the military. Ah, someday I'll tell you all this.'

'Whew,' thought Minako. "Yeah, we heard the fighting and came running. It's so weird that that thing would go after Mako. I don't know what they want with people." Minako led him over to where Makoto was tending to the wound on Haruka's shoulder.

"Haruka!" shouted Chris, upon seeing his sister bleeding. "What are you doing here? Did that thing get you?" He looked back to Minako. "You didn't say that that 'other person' was Haruka!"

Haruka winced. "I'm fine, Chris. I just got clipped. It's just a scratch."

Chris stared hard at her. "You're bleeding. Scratches are just red. That's not a scratch. What happened, those two they that were fighting that thing didn't help when it attacked you, either?"

Makoto responded for Haruka, saying, "Of course. They always sacrifice people so that they can get what they want. It's despicable. They did nothing to help me, either."

Chris shook his head, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to ask. Are you all right, too, Makoto? I had no idea what was wrong with you, but I just had to get you out of the way."

She smiled, and nodded. "I'm fine. Thanks for saving me there. The Sailor senshi did the rest, but you got me out of the way. I hope your head is all right. Ami told me that Venus hit you pretty hard." Makoto winked at Minako when Chris rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I got clocked pretty good, but I'll survive. I'm just pissed at those two that were already here. They let both of you get hurt?"

Makoto nodded in agreement. "It's terrible. Jupiter tried to hit Uranus because of what they did, but she couldn't do it. Uranus is too strong. But Jupiter isn't the kind to back down; she'll eventually make them both pay." She hoped that she'd chosen her words carefully enough to not really get any fingers pointed at her.

Grimacing, Chris shook his head. "I don't know. No soldier should ever do something like that. Yeah, they usually say the mission comes first. Oh, and you sacrifice innocents to accomplish it? They aren't worthy of any 'soldierly' title." Chris tried not to look directly at Haruka and Michiru as he was saying this. 'You two; as soon as I feel the time is right, we're having a little talk. I cannot believe that you two did that. That's ridiculous. You sacrificed Makoto? Wow. Just wow."

Haruka tried not to look away from Chris in shame and anger as he was saying this. 'He just doesn't understand. There's no way that he could. Look, I'm sorry for Makoto here, but I cannot risk failing the mission because of one girl. She's nice, but the mission does come first, Chris. This isn't Malden. This is something completely different. You have no idea what you're talking about.'

After everyone had been mightily codependent and asked if everyone else was all right once more and asked if they needed help getting along their way, the group split up into Haruka and Michiru, Chris, and the inner senshi. Chris walked back to the restaurant where his car was parked, got in, and wished he had some aspirin in the glove compartment. 'Wow, got to remember to come up with a better plan next time. Can't go losing brain cells in this little charade.'

It was bothering him greatly that his sister had just gone and done what she did. 'That's not right. She'll fail if she keeps doing it. No, Haruka and Michiru, neither of you understand what fighting is all about. You're nothing more than two stubborn, loner teenaged girls right now. You both need to learn what fighting, teamwork, and the mission REALLY mean.' Driving home, he realized that Haruka and Michiru had changed. The White Moon Kingdom sister and friend he'd known were real soldiers, not these terrible excuses.

What had she given up to be a senshi? There was the lack of a boyfriend, for one thing. She'd given up her most favorite thing in the world, volleyball. She thought she was just deluding herself into believing that she could continue trying to become an idol. She'd given up chance after chance to do things she'd always wanted to do, places she'd always wanted to go, people she'd always wanted to meet because of her duties. That morning, when Asai had asked her why she'd given up volleyball, it all came to her. Maybe she should just get it over with already. So it was settled. That afternoon she'd tell everyone. "Maybe I'll quit being a Sailor senshi for a while."

Dead silence.

"There's just so much that I'm missing from my life. I can't stand it any more. I think I need some time off to salvage what's left of my former life. I'm sorry; I just don't feel like it anymore." Minako quietly gathered her things and walked out of Rei's room. No one dared speak nor follow her. Even after she had left, there was a complete absence of movement and sound.

Artemis went to follow her after a minute, but Rei put her hand in front of him. "No. People need to be alone, sometimes. This is one of those times."

Minako was already well away from the Shrine. Stressed out, depressed, and feeling generally miserable, she went to the only place she had left in her life that she could lose herself in. It took her just a little while to get to the Crown Arcade. Inside, she found her driving game and began playing.

After a few crashes, she realized that even this wouldn't work today. There was a deep hole inside of her and it wouldn't go away. Nothing was going to work, she figured. 'Maybe it really is a good idea to quit for a while. Maybe it's just not worth my sanity anymore. If I can just get back to doing the things I'd always enjoyed doing before all this was dropped on me, I may be okay.' Suddenly, a drink appeared in front of her eyes.

"Hey. You look depressed. Are you depressed, Minako?"

Minako's head jerked up and around at the source of the voice. "Chris?"

Chris was smiling, holding out a drink in one hand, sipping from another drink in his other hand. "Guilty."

"Thank you," she said, accepting the cup of soda. "What are you doing here?"

"I noticed you walk by on the street. I was just walking down to a music store when I saw you go by. You looked kind of sad. Is there something wrong?"

Minako cast her gaze down at the seat of the racing game. "Not particularly…. No, yes, there is a lot wrong."

"Want to talk about it?"

She pondered the offer for a second. "Nah, it's girl stuff. You wouldn't want to talk about this stuff."

"Well, try me. You'd be surprised. I have a rather wide range of knowledge. Let's take a little walk." He offered his free hand to her to pull her up.

'Well, I guess I could generalize it to fit him. I really do need someone to talk to right now, and especially not any of the girls. Plus, if nothing else, it's good English practice,' she thought to herself. Minako managed a faint smile and took Chris's outstretched hand. "Thanks."

They walked out onto the street and headed in a random direction. It really didn't matter where they were going. "So, what's the problem?"

Minako figured that phrasing it for a guy wouldn't really make a difference in the answer, so she asked in English, "Chris, have you ever had a girlfriend?"

Chris was taken aback by the question at first. His head recoiled a little bit before he smirked. "Well, no, I don't suppose I ever have. Sure, I've been close friends with a lot of girls but never close enough to be a couple, no. Why ask? Having boy trouble? I'm sorry, I can only speculate if that's the case."

She was shocked. "You've never had a girlfriend? How? Weren't you really popular at Penn State? I mean, there had to be girls that wanted to be something more with you. You were a star on the football team."

Chris realized that he shouldn't underestimate her ability to shock him. "How'd you know I was on the football team? Heck, how did you know I went to Penn State?"

"I absolutely love sports, remember? I even know a little bit about American football. I know that you were on your college team and went to the National Championship and won on a last second interception." Minako felt rather proud of herself for having remembered all that.

Feeling quite famous, Chris smiled. "Why, yes, I was. But to answer your question, yes, I guess I was. I was popular, but that didn't equal relationships with girls."

Now Minako was intrigued. "Why do you think you never had a girlfriend?"

"Well, for a lot of reasons I suppose. One, I guess I felt that I wasn't ready for that sort of commitment. A successful relationship is a lot of work, Minako. Between the Honors College work, football, ROTC, and general studies, I really didn't have the energy or time left to make a relationship really work. I saw guys and girls alike that had their lives consumed keeping their relationships stable and afloat. Trying to work a relationship would've made me lose sight of the rest of my goals and dreams in college, I think. Secondly, I guess that I just never met 'her.'"

"'Her?'" asked Minako.

"You know, the one girl for me." Chris didn't subscribe to perfection in intelligence, so he took a shot in the dark. "Let me guess, you're wondering why you don't have a boyfriend and why it's possible to be so unsuccessful in love."

Minako glanced down at the sidewalk as they continued to walk aimlessly. "Yes, that's a major part of it." Chris laughed at her response. Hurt, she snapped, "Hey, I didn't tell you that to be laughed at."

Chris killed the laugh, but continued smiling. "I'm sorry, but it's just that you're funny."

Becoming angry, Minako furrowed her brow and growled, "And what did I do that was funny?"

"You tried to tell me that you're unsuccessful, depressed, and lost without having ever had a boyfriend."

She was getting angrier. "What's wrong with that?"

"Minako, you're 15," deadpanned Chris.

"So?" She didn't quite get it yet.

"So? It is what it is. You're 15." Seeing that he wasn't getting through, Chris elaborated. "Minako, you're 15, moving on 16. I just told you that I, at 22 and moving on 23, have never had a girlfriend. I haven't had one for several reasons. My parents didn't meet each other until my mom was 27 and my father was 34. I know people that didn't have significant others until their mid-30s and are the happiest people in the world now that they have found their 'one person' just for them. Have you ever considered that just maybe you're expecting too much? Give yourself some time. Maybe your special someone won't come around for another decade. Who knows? At such a young age you can't expect to meet the one person that you know more than anything else you want to spend the rest of your life with. Plus, you're in, what, junior high? I always get confused by the Japanese school system. Anyway, you're in junior high. Junior high is the same the world over. It breeds catty girls, moronic guys, and many other things very detrimental to successful relationships. I can almost guarantee that if you found 'someone' today, you'd not be with them this time next year no matter how hard you tried to convince me otherwise, Minako. Trust me; I'm more experienced than you. I've been through junior high, high school, and even college. I may not have been in relationships, but I've seen them. Relationships hate those years of your life. In time, you'll learn about all this. I just want to prepare you for problems that I know you will face."

Minako slowly dropped from angry back to plain depressed. "I get what you're saying. But still, I just wish that I could find someone who at least makes me happy."

"You mean a guy? Because you seem plenty happy around your friends."

"Yes, I do have great friends. But you're right; I do want a guy to make me happy, too."

"What did you mean by 'major part of it' earlier, Minako? What else is bothering you?"

She tried to explain her way out of it. "Um, it's just that I feel that I've given so much up in my life like volleyball and some of my most important dreams for the benefit of others." She rethought her choice of words before saying, "That's kind of arrogant. I mean, I just always try to put others before myself and over the past few days I've come to realize just what I have given up. I love making other people happy, and when I see that I've done that, it makes me happy. Just the same, I just sometimes feel… empty."

Chris's heart felt heavy at her words. 'Time for a little lesson in leadership, Minako.' He sighed. "Well, this may sound somewhat arrogant, too, but… I've always considered myself a good leader in whatever I do; football, school, the military, etc. Being a good leader requires you to make a lot of sacrifices. To be a good leader means that you have to serve others, first. But you know what? I always made time for myself. You can't lead your entire life thinking of others. You need to put yourself first once in a while. Do something you want to do. Why would you give up volleyball entirely? I think you should take it back up again. What's to lose?"

Minako wished Chris could understand. "I… I… I just don't have time for it. I love playing so much, but I just can't."

'Minako, you'll go crazy if you do this to yourself.' Shaking his head, Chris responded, "Just think about what I said, Minako. Maybe not now, but before you go to sleep tonight, think about it. Make some time for yourself. I know that you can. It'll make you feel a lot better, trust me. And don't worry about the boy thing. It'll all work out in the end. I haven't given up hope on finding that one special girl for me, yet, and I'm much older than you." He cracked a big smile. "Trust me."

Minako looked at her watch and seriously thought about what Chris had said. 'Maybe Asai is still at practice now. If I hurry, I can still catch him. It won't be a 'young lady won't you go out with me tonight?', but it will do.' Figuring out where she was in the city, Minako realized that school was close by. She thanked Chris for the drink and for talking to her before racing off. Maybe some things could change.

"You know, he had a girlfriend. It really hurt her." Artemis was curled up next to Chris on a park bench.

"Ah, well, I warned her about problems. Not that one specifically, but problems nonetheless. That's really sad. She is going to go crazy if she doesn't find an outlet for herself. Lord knows that I went through the same thing she did. I almost lost my mind in high school. I was the same way, wanting to make others happy before myself. Had to realize that I'm important, too. I have dreams, aspirations, and feelings, too. She needs to see that. So what did you do?"

Artemis explained about giving Minako the roses and telling her what she had wanted to hear. At least it cheered her up a bit, but she was still fairly depressed.

Chris laughed at Artemis's little stunt. He leaned back and watched the leaves rustle in the wind.

"Chris."

"Yeah?"

"Why are you doing this?"

Chris looked at himself, trying to see if he was doing something he shouldn't have been. "Doing what?"

"This."

Still confused. "What?"

"I mean lying to them. About who you are. Why don't you just tell them that you're their guardian? What harm would it do?"

He smiled. "The last thing they need in their lives right now is another person from their past lives. I feel content just to watch over them for now, out of sight, out of mind. They don't need to know about me."

"Are you sure?"

Chris fished around in his pocket for a piece of gum before saying, "Why ask? Something wrong?"

Artemis stood and stretched his back. "I think that they could all use someone to confide in."

Confused, Chris said, "But I would think that they are best for that, no? They're five girls each with the duty of saving the world. I think that they'd rather speak to each other than to the older guy who doesn't know them, at least not their current forms, nearly as well."

Shaking his head, Artemis responded, "That's just the thing. They are each afraid of offending each other by singling out one over the others to talk to. They need a third party that they can talk to about who they are, someone that knows them and cares deeply about them. That's you."

Munching on a piece of peppermint gum, Chris thought for a bit. "I suppose I could end it shortly."

"I think you should. Luna is growing rather tired of it, too. She and I think that you should just get it over with. You've had enough fun. It's time to stop being a child and get to work," said the smirking white cat. On a more serious note, he added, "I think Minako really needs you. You really understand what she's going through. She's the leader and she's questioning herself. That could be deadly for her and for the others."

"Aren't you better than me to be talking to her about her personal problems? I mean, you're her talking cat and all." Artemis blankly stared at him. Chris smiled and nodded. "Fine, fine. I'll end it shortly. There are just a few last things I want to investigate before I break my cover to them."

"All right. Thank you." Artemis jumped off the bench and began walking away, but he stopped short and looked back. "Chris, don't do anything stupid, all right? They need a guardian, not another casualty."

Laughing, Chris replied, "Get going already. Minako will be worried over where you are." As he watched the white cat disappear, Chris sighed. He'd have to reveal his identity to them. 'I can have some fun with this, even so.' Smiling, Chris made his way back home. 'Yeah, but first I have to figure out some more about these people that want the heart crystals. Setsuna is getting worried enough to begin thinking about revealing herself, too.'

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