Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, or any other Anime. And if ya wanna use idea's I've got running around here go for it, just tell me cause I wanna read your story too!

Moon Cats: Fearful Symmetry

Chapter Five

"Ah ha!" Detective Shimaka crowed, holding a black address book over his head.

"Where the heck did you find that?" Artemis asked, flipping his long braid back behind him as he rose from searching under the bed. Shimaka, Artemis and most of the rest of CAPPA's central staff had been searching the apartment of Hung Mien for several hours. Mr. Mien is the first and only suspect in what the team had started calling the 'Circle Killings' had escaped but not with everything, already Reika had a stack of occult texts to try and translate from at least three languages. The address book was a bit of a shock, just the same.

"Out on the fire escape. He must have dropped it on his way out."

Hibuki, who had come out of the hallway where he had been speaking to the building manager, drawn by Shimaka's cry. He shook his head and muttered "Nothing I like better then a clumsy crook." He took the small journal and paged through the book. "Alan Le, Gian Hesein, and Kathy Jun. They all have weird symbols beside their names and their names sure don't sound Japanese to me. How much you want to be these are our players?"

"No bet." Artemis replied. "Anyone else interesting in there?"

Hibiki paged through. "I didn't see... Wait." Under L in the American made book Himeko Lenore's name and address were written down, with "Fire" in the notes in English. "Well look at this."

Artemis took the books, and paged through him self. "All the victims are in here..." He continued flipping, scanning every entry. "Yes!"

Shimaka read from over his shoulder. "Risa Mamano. Life."

"The next victim." Artemis said grimly.

Hibuki was dialing his cell phone before Artemis even finished the last sentence. "Captain Makata, this is Hibuki. We need people picked up from these addresses." He quickly grabbed the book and rattled them off. "I don't have the manpower."

"Right, who are they?"

"Our Killers. They might know we're coming, so tell the boys to keep sharp. I also need a patrol car at... Five five one north street. Their next victim is most likely a Risa Mamano. I'm on my way there now."

"Got it. Go Lieutenant."

"Already gone." He slapped the flip phone shut. "Artemis, Shimaka, your with me. Mamoru!" Reika and Mamoru both looked out of the other rooms. "You're in charge here. Find out why they are doing this and why they decided to do it in Japan!"

He didn't wait for responses as the leader of CAPPA disappeared out the door, the two men behind him. They burst out of the building moments later, and Hibuki threw open the door to the police cruiser he drove to the site. "I'll drive!"

Minutes later, they were howling through the streets, the lights on the cars roof bathing the evening streets in blue and red. "All units in the vicinity of 551 north street are advised we have a residential alarm. All cars please respond."

"Damn it!" Artemis yelled. "They've gone for her already."

"We're only a few minutes away. We have time!" Shimaka yelled.

Hibuki just growled and jumped a curb as he slammed down harder on the gas. Minutes that seemed like hours passed before they slid to a stop next to two other black and whites.

What they saw on reaching the door didn't comfort them.

"Sergeant, report!" Hibuki barked, above the weeping of the girl's mother as she held her bleeding husband. The man tried to comfort his wife but his own terror covered his face more then the blood from the forehead gash he'd suffered.

"Four people with a van just burst in here and grabbed their little girl, sir." The uniformed officer said, not even demanding ID in face of Hibuki's commanding tone. "They were gone before we got here."

Artemis looked at the distraught father, the mother beyond questioning. "Sir, this is very important. What did they say, anything?"

The scared man looked at the white haired, trench coat wearing Neko-jin with wide eyes. "They said 'We have to do it tonight! We might not get another chance." He choked back his horror and tears. "Please... Help my Risa! Save my little girl!"

__________________________________________________________________________________

"We found Mien's notes, but at least half of them are in that old language." Mamoru's voice, slightly distorted by the Radio's speaker, barely rose above the din of the racing engine. "It also doesn't give a location for the next killing for sure. However Reika thinks they are summoning some type of elemental creature or creatures."

"What for and why Japan? They're all exchange students you said!" Artemis yelled into the radio's mike.

"We don't know why they did it here. The goal, we think, is to use the creatures against the government of Vietnam." Mamoru broke off for a moment. "Mien has all sorts of anti-communist literature so that's the best bet we have."

"Great." Hibuki growled while he expertly weaved the cruiser through traffic.

Shimaka yelled from the back seat of the car, where he was using his own handset radio to coordinate. "We have patrolmen in just about every park now."

"Any vans?"

"They're looking."

Hibuki nodded. "Tell the crew at the 'wooded walk' that we're only one minute out."

"Right."

Seconds of relative silence passed after Shimaka relayed the message. "Unit three, come back." More silence. The car slid to a stop, suddenly, as Hibuki slammed on the brakes when the other radio car came into view around the corner.

A white cargo van had rammed the car, and both officers were visible crawling out of the wreck, neither one steady or on their feet.

"Crap!" Shimaka yelled. "This is CAPPA unit one, on location! Officers down, we need an ambulance!"

Even as he yelled, Hibuki and Artemis were diving out of the car, the cat wrenching open a door from the back for Shimaka. The two men ripped open the vans rear doors, looking in the back only to find it empty.

One of the injured cops, who were still aware of his surroundings, yelled "they went of that way! They have the girls with them!"

"Shimaka, stay with them!" Hibuki yelled as he took off running, Artemis hot on his heels.

"Did you hear him?" Artemis called. "He said girls...Plural."

Hibuki just nodded, pouring more speed into his legs. They quickly came to a fork, the sign pointing towards the wooded walk guiding Hibuki as he started to veer that way, only to have Artemis grab him and drag him towards the observatory.

"What the hel..." Hibuki started yelling, before his eyes found what had already captured the cat-mans sharp attention. A young girls shoe lay in the mud of the other, unfinished footpath. "Damn it!"

They charged up the hill, the human Hibuki ignoring the pain in his side. They reached the huge glass doors of the almost completed observatory, and saw into the lobby.

The four were already working, one of two young girls pinned to the ground by two of the men her clothing shredded while another was held standing and struggling by a large man, a woman waving a golden knife around her apparently chanting.

Artemis grabbed the doors and tried to open them but the lock held. The noise of the doors being tugged drew their attention, and the killers started to visibly hurry.

"Step back!" Hibuki yelled, and snapped out with a savage kick. The plate glass shattered around the police lieutenant who didn't even pause as he charged through. He took only a few steps into the building when a sharp flash of light momentarily blinded him.

When his eyes cleared, the girl being held was now free and holding the knife. She was slowly stalking forward toward the other, still struggling girl. "STOP!" Hibuki yelled, causing the girl to look back. What met his eyes caused him to freeze for just a moment, as the sickly green glow in her eyes startled him.

That pause was all the time Hibuki got as the larger killer, who had been holding the now possessed girl, tackled him while driving a fist into the cops head. "Artemis! Grab her!" Hibuki yelled as he rolled with the punch and a tackle, delivering a knee to his playmates stomach.

Artemis, familiar with the signs of possession was already after the knife-wielding child. The one woman among the students tried to tackle him, like her partner had Hibuki, having several inches on the white haired man. She received a palm to the face mid leap, the Neko-jin not even slowing down with the impact.

He quickly reached, then grabbed the girl by the shoulder. "Whoa there!" He yelled. He gasped in pain when the handle of the large knife was driven into his stomach, the demonic strength filling the girl sending him across the lobby and into a wall.

Hibuki meanwhile had managed to roll on top of his big but unskilled opponent and delivered a savage right hook to his jaw. He jumped up even as the man slumped and ran across the room.

Diving in his own version of a running tackle, he took the demon-girl at the knees. They fell together into a pile, with Hibuki struggling for the knife, his large hands warring with the girl's powerful, petite hands.

"Hold her!" He heard one of the foreigner's yell, and fought harder knowing he was coming after him. Growling in rage the cop took the only course of action he could think of.

He bit the girl's wrist, just as the man came into view.

She released the knife suddenly with a howl of pain. Hibuki's own powerful wrench turned into a slash as he tried to disable the newcomer from his position on the floor. He smiled maliciously as he felt the metal bite into flesh.

"NO!" The howl of horror shocked Hibuki, but no where near as much as the soul wrenching howl of pain that followed it out of the mans mouth. Hibuki looked on in horror as blood fountained from the minor gash, pouring out of the mans shin like a faucet had been turned.

The demon wasn't bothered, even as the mans blood covered her. She drove a fist down into Hibuki's chest causing the cops howls to replace the dieing man. "You shall die for interfering!" The dry growl of the possessed girl's voice said as she lifted her fist for one more, final blow.

A flash of metal proceeded a loud "CLANG!". The girl slumped and Artemis looked down at her, the metal pipe he'd hit her with slightly bent from the impact. At Hibuki's horrified look he said "One plus to possession is it gives the victim a very hard head."

Hibuki nodded, rolling her off of him and climbed to his feat. Turning to find the last killer, he discovered him also on his feet, with the other girl held in front of him with his arm around her throat. "Both of you stay back!"

Hibuki slowly walked closer, hands up and non-threatening. "Look. You aren't getting away. Give up now, please, and it'll be a hell of a lot easier on you."

The arm tightened, choking the fear-paralyzed girl as Hibuki reached arm length distance. "No. I'm leaving, or she's going to die."

Hibuki sighed, and looked over the mans shoulder. "Take him."

The mans wild eyes darted behind him as he turned to look for his attacker giving Hibuki a clean shot to his temple. As the man slumped to the floor Hibuki rubbed his knuckles. "It never ceases to amaze me how often that works."

________________________________________________________________________________

"Thank you, Mr. Hino." Lt. Hibuki bowed stiffly around the tape binding his ribs. "Your skills with evil spirits are better the rumor suggested."

Grandfather Hino smiled, and shook the mans hand in a western fashion. "I was surprised when the call came. The police don't usually use my talents after all. I wonder how you even heard of me." His smile turned to a frown as he looked into the room he had just left, the formerly possessed girl weeping on Luna's shoulder. "What of her?"

"She was a ward of the state, and had run away from the orphanage about four months ago." Hibuki's eyes returned to the old priest. "Amazingly the Mamano's are taking her into their home, in spite of what happened."

"I suspect, Lieutenant, that it's more 'because' of what happened then 'in spite'. Sometimes the only way to banish the darkness is to deny it." The priest smiled. "I met them on y way in, and am sure they are good people."

"I have no doubt." Hibuki said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a ton of paperwork to do."

"Of course, Lieutenant. I need to reassure my grand daughter that the thirteen-year-old didn't hurt me. She seems to think she has to protect me for some reason." He chuckled. "If you need my help for anything again, just call."

"Thank you, I'll hold you to that."

Hibuki walked stiffly through the old station house, and entered his office with a sigh.

"Long day?" A woman's voice asked from behind him.

The old cop spun around, ignoring the pain as he dropped into a combat stance. His eyes widened as the settled on the sight of an amused Sailor Pluto. "Well...I haven't met you before."

"Oh, but we will again, Ichiro Hibuki, I guarantee that. I just wanted to meet you."

"Do I get a real name, or just Pluto? Artemis and Luna are both kind of closed mouth about you."

"Setsuna is my first name. Will that do?"

"Fine. Is there anything I can help you with, Setsuna?"

"Oh, you are, though if I hadn't spoken to myself I might have thought the opposite." The green haired guardian of time smiled. "You've changed the course of history, and our futures simply existing."

"From what the cats told me, I wouldn't think you would be this civil about that."

"Well, I wouldn't be if your potential future wasn't better then the one I thought would be." She frowned then. "But it COULD be worse."

"How do I avoid that?"

"At the risk of being enigmatic and cliche, 'Stay the course.' is what my future self told me to tell you." She looked at his desk. "What are you going to do with that knife, out of curiosity?"

Hibuki looked at his blotter, where the deadly blade sat wrapped in thick plastic. "What about..." When he looked back, she was gone. "I hate it when that happens."

________________________________________________________________________________

Akuma Hagisaki strode through the dreary gray halls of the fortress that had become his home over the past months. The ebony armor and self assured step declared to the Youma he passed that he was no longer the scared human who had first come to the Negaverse. Now he was one of its masters.

Calmly he entered the fortresses Ruler's inner sanctum, stopping at the door so he didn't risk bumping a boiling vial in the vast laboratory. "You have new's Akuma?"

"Yes, Prince Adrian. My pawns have failed on the eve of completing the final ritual. A group of policemen stopped them."

"I am not surprised." Adrian replied, not even looking up from his alchemical work. "You even said it was unlikely this plan would meet with even the success it did. We were lucky it got this far, and the Senshi were demoralized. That in it's self satisfies me for now."

"It is worrisome that it was normal human police that stopped them, however."

Adrian chuckled, and stood. "I'm not so surprised. The common folk of this time are far more willful and talented then in my time. I expected them to eventually start fighting back." The Aqua haired prince gestured at the four large tubes, which dominated the center of his lab. Inside the forms of four girls were visible only as silhouettes. "And I doubt police will be able to handle THEM when I am done!"

AN: Ya thought I forgot about Akuma and Adrian didn't I. And what's this? A SMART villain who doesn't punish underlings? This CAN'T be good.