Green Eyed Monster
Chapter 8: "Lone Sentinel"
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
"Didn't we just do this a couple of days ago?" Sanjuro quipped.
Makoto rolled her eyes and shook her head. Usagi laughed loudly and completely out of proportion to the joke, while Ami and Minako smiled politely. They were seated around the dinner table in the apartment of Sanjuro and Makoto Ikegami, along with their infant daughter Akiko who was in a crib near the table. While happy to see them, Sanjuro sensed the tension of the approaching mission among the senshi and tried to lighten the mood.
"Forgive my husband," Makoto jabbed. "He thinks he's a comedian."
"Usagi liked it," Sanjuro replied.
"Yeah, but Usagi laughs at the phone book," Minako added.
"So? There are funny names in it," Usagi pouted.
"Why didn't you bring Mamoru along?" Makoto asked.
"He's on shift tonight," Usagi sighed. "In a way, I'm kind of glad this mission came up. Sitting in our apartment with just Luna for company is no fun. Although this has really put me behind on my pages for Baishaku-san!"
"If I know Marie, she'll cut you some slack," Minako smiled.
"I wonder where Rei is?" Ami commented in between bites.
"I don't know. She probably found some stranger who needed to be bossed around," Usagi cracked, drawing a snicker from Minako. "And she doesn't know what she's missing! Mako-chan, this is wonderful!"
"Yeah, if I had a steady diet of this, I'd be too fat for anything besides character parts," exclaimed Minako.
"Thanks," Makoto demurred. "I just do what I can with what I have."
"Whenever I do that, it always turns into cold cuts," Ami admitted in self-deprication.
The gathered continued to eat.
"So what exactly do we have to do tonight?" Usagi asked. She noticed the impatient looks from Ami and Minako. "Well I'm nervous!"
"Don't let it bother you," Sanjuro smiled. "I'm nervous, too - - and a little curious."
"From what Rei told me, we're going to track this demon down by using Usagi's sensitivity to it," Ami explained. "Then Rei will perform the binding ritual described in the scroll she found and bind the demon to Earth and neutralize it."
"I assume we're bodyguards?" Makoto asked.
"That would seem logical," Ami nodded.
"Didn't you see the scroll?" Minako asked.
"Not a lot of it. Rei was very guarded about the contents."
"Really?" Minako asked, an eyebrow arched.
"What is it?" Usagi asked.
"Well," Minako began, considering her words, "don't think this is the whole jealousy thing acting up, because it's not. At least I hope not. But how many times has Rei gone off on her own or kept things from us when she thought it might be dangerous for us?"
The silence of the group was telling.
"Maybe you should call her," Sanjuro suggested.
"Maybe we should," Ami nodded and produced a cell phone. She noticed Usagi gawking at it. "Mother gave it to me. When I become a doctor, I suppose it will be indispensable. "
"Know what you mean," Minako grinned and waved hers.
"How can you afford that? Aren't you a struggling - - whatever you are?" Makoto asked.
"I prefer 'yet to be discovered superstar'," sniffed Minako, "and in my business these are essential. You never know when that last minute audition is going to pop up. My agent needs to be able to reach me twenty-four/seven."
"There's no answer at the shrine," Ami reported.
"Call her 'celly'," Minako suggested.
"Rei doesn't have a cell phone," Makoto told her. "She's a struggling priest."
"Maybe she's just late," Usagi offered.
"Maybe," Minako scowled. She pulled out her senshi communicator. "Artemis, can you get me a quick trace on Rei?"
"Why?" he sighed through the communicator.
"Because I'll be severely displeased if you don't," Minako replied through a frozen grin.
"Whatever," was the cat's response. "She's close to your location."
Everyone relaxed.
"Headed away, though - - west-southwest toward the park."
Everyone tensed again.
"She wouldn't," Usagi squeaked.
"Would and did," Minako replied. "I think we better go after her."
"Sorry, Mako-chan," Usagi apologized.
"Can't be helped," Makoto shrugged. "Can you clean up, San-San?"
"This IS an emergency if you're letting someone else clean," he quipped and pecked her on the lips before she could reply. She just gave him a bemused cynical look.
"I'll drive us," Ami offered.
"Borrowed your mom's car again?" Minako asked.
"Um," Ami grimaced, "actually she - - bought me one - - as a graduation present."
Everyone stared at her agape.
"Ask your mom if she wants to adopt a baby sister for you," Minako said.
Rei felt her senshi communicator vibrate, notifying her that one of the senshi was paging her. She didn't answer. She figured they'd tumbled to the fact that she was facing Meshiwokuu Eiji alone and were trying to stop her. Only she wasn't going to be stopped.
Once the priest realized that Usagi was in mortal danger should they confront this demon together, Rei knew what she had to do. Racing back to Hikawa Shrine after parting from Ami, Rei had retrieved a special picture from her dresser. It was a picture of her and Usagi clowning together on a beach. It had been taken when they were seventeen and the picture had special meaning to her. Their friendship had deepened on that trip and looking at the picture always reminded her of those days. Rei bit her lip as she stared at the picture. Then, resigned, she got up and walked into the room where her fire pit was.
The fire was roaring in short order. Rei knelt before it, head back and arms extended. But instead of her usual chant to invoke the kami of the fire, she held the picture. It was her way of trying to channel Usagi's connection to the demon into her and give her a means of locating it. When her initial attempt failed, Rei began to chant, adding her pleas to the extended picture. The heat in the room rose, as it always did. The skin on the underside of her wrists began to bake, as it always did. A bead of perspiration hesitated at the base of her throat tentatively, then took the plunge and skittered down her breastbone. The chanting continued. The young priest slipped into a trance. Many minutes passed.
Suddenly the picture burst into flames. Rei felt the heat of the fire lick at her fingertips, but she held onto the picture. Emotion screwed her features up and a tear trickled from her eye,but she continued to chant. Then, like a burst of light, the connection was made. She could sense the demon as plain as day.
Rei's soul recoiled. The hunger of the demon was all-consuming. It demanded over and over again to be heard and assuaged. A creeping nausea formed in the pit of her stomach. Rei struggled to maintain her chant, maintain the connection, until the nausea swept over her. She stopped, dropping the charred remnants of her prized photo, as her hands pressed to her mouth and she bent double to keep from vomiting. She lay doubled over for several minutes, simply breathing and searching for the strength to move. Finally enough strength returned and she got to her feet.
Before leaving, Rei paused in her grandfather's bedroom. The room had been untouched since his death, almost as a shrine to his memory. Silently, lest she wake his sleeping spirit, Rei tiptoed into the room and up to his dresser. She opened the top drawer and brought out a metal box. Inside the box was an omamori talisman, a special one that her grandfather always kept with him as a protective ward against evil spirits. Reluctant at first, Rei finally reached in and took the omamori in her hand. Then she headed for Juuban Park, when she now knew the demon was resting.
"Can't you drive any faster?" Usagi frantically demanded of Ami. She, Makoto and Minako accompanied Ami in her brand new 2004 blue Honda mid-size as it raced through the streets of Tokyo's Juuban district.
"Artemis," Minako said simultaneously into her senshi communicator, "what's her location now?"
"Relax, Usagi," Makoto advised calmly, covering up the worry in her heart. "We don't have a siren - - and it's not like Blondie's behind the wheel after all."
"Hey!" Minako snapped.
"Don't slam them for telling the truth, Minako," Artemis called back over the communicator. "She's stopped at the moment. Triangulating - - hey, it looks like Juuban Park."
"Ami," Minako began.
"I heard," Ami replied with cool determination. She turned at the next side street and headed for the park.
"Think you can get down there just in case, Fuzzy?" Minako inquired.
"I'm out the door now," was his reply.
"Mako-chan," Usagi squeaked. Makoto looked over at Usagi from the back seat they shared. Usagi looked pale and distracted.
"What is it, Hon'?" Makoto asked her.
"I'm getting that funny feeling again," Usagi murmured. Instantly Minako turned around in the front seat and looked at her anxiously.
"Like at the hospital?" Minako asked. Usagi nodded.
"What is it?" Makoto asked.
"The last time she got that feeling was when we first tumbled to this demon," Minako informed her. Makoto instantly tensed.
To the people in the park, she was just another priest. The only thing remarkable about her was the fact that she was a female priest - - for while not unheard of, female priests weren't common.
Well, that and her striking beauty - - that wasn't terribly common, either.
Intent upon her mission, Rei ignored the glances. She was concentrating on the demonic aura of the infant eater Meshiwokuu Eiji. It was plain as day in the park. She might have noticed it even without the ritual connecting her to Usagi's ability to sense it.
It was a powerful aura. Rei felt her nausea rise the closer she got to it. The demon had a formidable presence to it. She sensed no evil intent, though. It did what it did not out of malice, it seemed. The demon existed only to feed and sleep and feed again. The only thing that made it evil was its choice of food, that being the life force of healthy young infants. It was nothing more than a demonic parasite.
But Rei didn't let its lack of malevolence lull her. This demon had been powerful enough to conceal itself from her sight. That spoke of its prowess and the danger it posed to anyone who might try to stop it. That was why she'd taken the omamori as added protection.
Stopping in the middle of a grassy section between the lake and a patch of trees cast in shadow by the last vestiges of the setting sun, Rei prepared to do battle. She could sense the demon was close by. Scanning the area with her eyes, the priest searched for a sign of it.
"What are you doing, Sensei?" a little girl asked, tugging on Rei's robes. Rei looked down. The girl was about seven, with large brown eyes and shoulder-length black hair. Near by, two other girls about the same age watched.
"This isn't a good place to play right now, honey," Rei replied, trying not to snap at the child. The tension of the mission and her exertions had made her nerves brittle. "Please go play somewhere else."
"Why?" the girl asked.
"This spot is dangerous. Go find your mother," Rei told her. The child remained rooted to the spot. "QUICKLY!"
That did it. The children grew wide-eyed and broke into a run toward the front gate. A man sitting by the boat dock looked up curiously. Rei ignored him and resumed searching. In moments, she found the demon. It was perched up in the limb of a tree, staring straight down at her.
It was vaguely humanoid, vaguely male, though with a spirit trail for a lower torso. Its fingers were long and tapered like talons. Its features were elongated on its face as well. The more striking parts of its features were an almost obligatory pair of fangs sticking out of the mouth - - and glowing green eyes. They were eyes with no pupils, eyes that seemed to suck you up inside of them, unearthly eyes. Its skin was pale, and scalloped, bat-like wings began to unfold from its back.
Determination overwhelmed her unease and Rei produced one of her wards. Sensing her intent, the demon stood up on the branch. Unmindful of this, Rei pressed the ward to her forehead and energized it with the sacred chant, then let it fly toward the demon. The ward streaked through the air straight and true as it usually did. But at the last moment, the demon thrust up into the air, avoiding the path of the ward. Rei stared in astonishment. She never missed - - never.
Then the demon swooped down toward her.
If it ever intended to strafe her Rei never found out. She ducked and pivoted, producing another ward. Energizing it, the priest let fly straight and true. However, the demon seemed to possess a sixth sense of its own and veered out of the way of the ward at the last moment. Undaunted, Rei produced five and flung them all at once. One was bound to hit and, once hampered by the sacred ward, the demon would be weak enough to bind to a rock or tree.
Unexpectedly, the demon turned in mid-air. A wing shot out and slapped several of the wards away while it avoided the rest. Instantly the demon howled up into the heavens, stung by contact with the sacred piece of paper. It wasn't what she had hoped for, but Rei pressed her advantage. Again the sky was blanketed with sacred wards in hopes that a machine gun spray would hit where precision fire had failed.
But the demon had other ideas. Flying in between the wards like a twisting snake, the demon charged Rei dead on. On the ground, Rei gave several steps. This wasn't working like the priest in the scroll had described it. Sadly, Rei suspected why it wasn't working to form. She'd made that choice, though, and would have to live with it - - or die with it.
With the demon almost upon her, Rei produced the omamori and jammed it in the demon's face. She could hear it howl in agony, but the impact bowled her over and sent the talisman flying. Rei landed on the ground hard, momentarily disoriented. Finally realizing that she no longer possessed the omamori, she frantically searched the grass around her. Spotting it roughly twelve feet ahead of her, Rei scrabbled along the ground trying to reach it. The rush of wind behind her was her only clue that she wouldn't make it.
The demon landed on her back with the force of a hammer. Rei pitched to the ground and felt the weight of the demon settle down on her back. It wasn't that heavy, but then its talons dug into her shoulders. A wave of putrid nausea flooded over the young priest. Rei felt deathly ill, suddenly bereft of energy. Gnashing her teeth, she turned over onto her side, the demon's talon fingers still dug into her shoulders.
"I'M NOT ON YOUR MENU!" Rei snarled and backhanded the demon.
There was no danger of the demon consuming her life force. She was too old. But Rei sensed that the contamination of her life energy by the demon's essence could do her great harm, perhaps even kill. Was that perhaps what killed the maiden five hundred years ago?
Rei crawled several feet toward the omamori, then sensed the demon lunge again. Whirling on it, Rei jammed a ward into its forehead, directly between the eyes. The demon fell back as if shot and rolled on the ground, clawing at its face. Rei sucked in a gulp of air that didn't seem nearly enough, then headed for the omamori again.
For she knew that the ward wasn't strong enough to hold for long. The contamination of her energy was still working its way out of her system. The omamori was stronger. She could use the omamori to pin the creature down, then bind it with the binding ritual and trap it. If only she could get to the omamori before the demon shook off her ward. Rei scrambled across the grass on all fours like a toddler, the talisman seemingly a million miles away.
Then a force impacted her in her side, knocking her away. Rei rolled to a stop and knew that she was too late. Meshiwokuu Eiji stood over her, its green eyes glowing in a face obscured by shadow. The demon reached down and closed its long fingers around Rei's throat. Straightening up, it held her limp body away from the ground as it contaminated her spirit and choked the life from her.
The car barely had time to stop before Usagi was out and running. Minako and Makoto had no idea why she was running in this particular direction, but they each figured Usagi knew so they followed. Ami just took time to turn off the engine and lock the car before she was in pursuit as well.
"I think we better transform!" Minako yelled to Makoto.
"I think you're right!" Makoto yelled back. While Usagi kept sprinting, the other three produced their henshin sticks and transformed on the run, to the surprise of several people in the park.
When they got to the lake, they all saw it. Usagi stopped in shock, her hand flying to her mouth. The others caught up to her and gaped in astonishment.
Rei was unconscious. Hovering over her, its hands around her throat, was the physical manifestation of what had previously been fiction to be laughed at or squealed at in movies or books. Mercury's mind momentarily reeled, while Venus and Jupiter prepared to lunge forward into the fray.
What stopped them was the demon suddenly looking from Rei to them. It had unearthly green eyes, eyes that seemed to hunger, eyes that seemed to want to drain you.
And it was looking directly at Usagi.
continued in Chapter 9