I DO NOT OWN SAILOR MOON!
Late morning and prayers
She awoke slowly as she felt the sun-rays caressing her face. She first acknowleged the soft sheets and the huge bed that she found herself in. It was king-size and made aut of a metal she didn't recognise. The mattress was soft too, and the pillows were clad in the same silky blue sheet.
The next things she noticed were her surroundings. She was placed in a big room with high painted walls but indefinite ceiling. For all the light that entered through the three high windows, the ceiling remained as black as the night's nebula.
That was odd, she reasoned, but there were other odd things as well, like the form of the room; it looked more like a huge cavern with primitive paintings on it. There wasn't much furniture, only a triangular stone table with a round and low chair and a huge bookcase covering all of the eastern wall. The bookcase was actually carved in the stone of the rooms'walls and reached high to the ceiling.
It took some time for her to process all of the acquired information so, when she got aut of the warm bed, she was hit by a wave of chilling air. That was when she noticed that she had on only her undergarments, meaning only her light blue bra and pants.
„ Well, well.. you're up already.", a known voice came to her ears and she suddently felt a kilogram on her back, traveling through all of her spine before reaching her legs and making them weak.
He was behind her, she realised, and the intimacy of the whole moment made her blush deeply and immediately cover herself with her hands.
His chuckle was light but she heared it anyway.
„ Oh, I've seen women dressed in even less than you", his tone was a little mocking, „ but I must admit that you could probably surpass them in… many thing..".
After he spoke, he came closer, making her back collide with his chest pulling her close by using his left hand on her waist. His other hand, though, was placed on her right arm and he felt the goose-bumps and her cold skin.
She couldn't see his frown, but she heared it in his tone while he caressed her arm and warmed it:
„ You're cold, ne!..Hmm, I should have known it. Anyway, let me make you warm."
The implications of what he was saying, combined with his soft but comanding tone clinked an allarm in her mind. She went from being deep red by the blush that covered almost all of her body to being livid white at his insinuation, and trying hard to cover herself more.
„ I won't hurt you!..Not like that, anyway..", he reassured her and sighed lowering his head to her silky hair and inhaling deep in her perfume.
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„ Where is she!", a frustrated Rei asked for the fifth time in about five minutes.
Amy was late, and though they had left her a message yesterday on her cell phone, she hadn't answered back for confirmation.
They were all starting to get worried, especially Rei. She was pacing back and fourth in front of the high temple and looked like she'll have a nervouse break-down soon.
„ We tried calling her again but she didn't answer. Even more, the operator said that she's aut of tha calling area. This is really weird..", Makoto tried to put thing together in order to solve „the Amy mystery"-as she called it. But she couldn't, this whole thing was atypical for Amy's character. She was always punctual; even more so than Rei herself, and would always call back to confirm on a senshi meeting or to notice them if she couldn't make it that day.
„ We need to go to her house and talk to her personally, or to her mother..", Rei suggested eagerly but she was cut off by Mina, who hadn't spoken for the entire time:
„ Her mother's out of the country. Remember Amy-chan told us about how she had to go to England for a week, at an important conference about the Oriental medecin."
Minako was visible lost in thoughts and she havent even raised her eyes from the ground.
The next time she spoke, her ver voice was softer and, this time, she raised her head to look at the two of them:
„ We've all been wondering about why she hadn't answered our messages and phone calls, right?…Maybe she's not in danger at all, maybe she just feels like she want's to be left alone.. for a while."
Mina sighed and raised herself signaling that the meeting was over and so was their discussion.
„ Give her time, Rei-chan. It's hard for everyone..in the current circumstances."
Those were Mina's last words before she proceeded in descending the stairs of Hikawa Jinja.
„ Damn it, she's in trouble! I can feel it. Amy's in trouble. Can't you see it, Mako-can!"
Rei was overly angered by their leader's handling of the situation, but Makoto knew better. She didn't answer Rei's question, only stared after Minako with a frown. Makoto knew that Mina was trying hard to hideher feelings, to hide the deep disappointment in herself and in her lack of power to solve thing aut. And not just the on with Amy.
Helplessness is one of the most dangerous feeling a leader could experience!
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Only a minute had passed but for Amy it felt like an eternity. She was still in his arms, but she felt more at ease with the situation, she was calmer now and felt the warmness coming from him. If she closes her eyes now, she would surely fall asleep.
„ Better now?", he asked quietly and rose his head from her hair.
He could have fallen asleep if he had staied like that a little while longer. Her scent was calming and fresh, and he found himself enwrapped by her petite form and strange power emanated from each pore.
She only gave him a quiet „Yeah", almost inaudible as he felt her slowly relaxing and heading to „sleep-land".
He was very tempted to give into his momentary feeling and let her fall asleep in his arms..again. That way he could stay with her for… a little while longer and prolong the state of contempt and cala that he found himself in, by her side.
Oh, but reason hit him hard and got his mind down from whatever high cloud it was in; he had duties that could not be post-poned. As general of DK, life was utterly exhausting, even for a demon like himself.
And above all of that, he still hadn't figured out what to do with this girl, his so-called „enemy".
One look at her and one could tell that this petite human couldn't be anyone's enemy. She had a calming aura and emanated a spft blue light that couldn't harm a fly. Even ine her Sailor Mercury form she wasn't a threat; she was just trying to protect herself. He found absolutely no reason to harm her in any way.
She hadn't harmed him, atough she could have… And now, she was here, in his world, in the „lion's cage"- as it is often called. But, aside for the initial fear, she hadn't made any moves to attack or to run away.
What a „dangerous" enemy she turned out to be…!
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„ I know you care for her, but maybe she really needs some time-off", Makoto broke the thick silence settled between her and Rei after Mina's departure. „ Plus, I think that she could take care of herself just fine if something happens. We've trained ourselves well, you just need to trust her, Rei-chan!"
„ She's capable of taking care of herself! Are you crazy?", Rei exploded and clutched tighter onto her broom. „You think that we are well trained! How can you be so naive, Makoto!".
She was seething with rage and her eyes sparkled dangerously: „ She is ALONE! Do you UNDERSTAND? ALONE! If anything should happen to her, if she is faced with a youma all alone… she'll die.."
This time Rei's voice craked a little and Makoto swallowed hard. „You know very well that neither of us can defeat a youma alone. We need each other for that to happen. And I'm talking only about a minion…but what if she meets one of their leaders! What then, Makoto? Tell me!"
Rei's deep amethyst eyes filled with unshed tears, but she managed to keep them off her face.
Makoto knew, or rather, realised the sort of extreme situation they found themselves in for a year and a half. Only now she understood the reality they were living and the imminent danger they found themselves in evey day. It was like Rei's words raised a thick veil from her mind and made her see things clearly.
She now understood Mina's actions as a leader, the disappointment in herself, the hard tries to hide her emotions as a senshi and even as a civilian, but she understood Rei's fears too.
She understood now and prayed to Kami-sama for Amy's safety. All alone, each of them could be easily defeated.
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„Stay here. I'll go get you something to eat"
He finally decided to break away from her and the spell they were in. It was hard, but not impossible.
She opened her sleepy eyes again as she fet herself being turned in his arms. He was turning her to face him.
She was beautiful when she was sleepy, she had a childish sensuality to herself.
She almost yawned before fully awakening and looking at him. Deep green collided with sleepy blue!
She remembered him now, she remembered the whole thing from yesterday afternoon. He was still looking HOT, she concluded with a tiny blush, but also more authoritative and intelligent green eyes that hid something deep. Her world was spinning around and she couldn't form a reasonable thought in her mind.
He must have noticed it too, because he asked her about it:
„ Do you remembe anything from yesterday?"
„ Umm..yes..I do.", she answered awkwardly and saw him smile a little.
„ How much?", he asked smirking and lowering his head until their noses touched.
„ Enough to know that I'm in big trouble!", she spoke a little hard ad turned her face away.
He chuckled fully and said in a mocking tone:
„ Yes, you are! „Big trouble" has your name on it, miss…", he waited for an answer but it never came.
She still had her head turned away from him, but she felt him move closer to her ear:
„ You don't want to get into BIGGER trouble now, do you?". His voice sounded light, but a hint of a threat lingered there.
„ Mizuno..Amy"
He had an evil smile on his face: „SO, she isn't as passive as I thought..interesting.", he told himself.
„ Now, lady Amy, what would you like to eat this morning?"
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Rei was still angry, but calmed herself a little after Makoto promised her to ge to Amy's house later if she doesn't give them any signs at all.
This whole deal affected her a lot. Even if she would never admit it to anyone. She didn;t know if she could handle loosing any on her friends. Her whole anger was actually a mask well placed so that the others wouldn't see her fears, her weaknesses.
This whole „ saving the world " thing was starting to get to her. It was hard to admit it even to herself but maybe, just maybe, she wasn't really that strong and needed herself support from someone else. Maybe she needed to be the one protected and not the other way around.
With this in mind and a heavy burden on her heart, she started walking to the entrance of Hikawa Jinja. She needed to do some serious meditation, maybe she'll find something about Amy. Because she was certain that her friend was in trouble. Her instincts told her so.
She entered the temple and went straight to the meditatin room, without even checking for her grandfather.
It was odd, her instincts were screaming at her that something wasn't right; a dark energy filled the air as she got closer to the meditation room.
She blamed it on her heavy mind and on the fact that she had been too preoccupied with Amy; maybe her instincts were too tired. This was a temple after all, it couldn't have any evil energy, right!
She found her answer in the meditating room, sitting in front of the fire, dressed in a black and red shinto kimono. Blond, male and definitely WRONG!
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He'd left her there, all alone, with only a white rose that he somewhat managed to materalise by drawing some weird symbols in the air. It was actually a beautiful rose and if had an intoxicating perfume.
She sighed deeply and tried to think about her current situation. It wasn't a good one, but neither a bad one.. He head was still too dizzy to process and analyse this facts, so she decided to clear her head for a while.
The sun-rays that entered the large windows got her attention and she headed to the large one in the centre, the one with a balcony.
She didn't even had time to look at the sky because the huge head of a dragon appeared in front of her.
It was the typical dragon head, only this one had deep black eyes and a deep-blue armour covering him. And it was huge, almost as big as herself.
She immediately let aut a frightened scream and backed away from the balcony. Unfortunately, the dragon followed her in; entering only his head and some of his lizard-snake like body.
„ Memerink! Where are your manners, my pet!"
She heared him and, for the first time, she was glad the her was there. He came behind her and glared at the now guily-looking dragon.
„ You shouldn't have scared lady Amy like that. She might have had a heart-attack.. You know how fragile humans are."
His tone was not angry, just preaching. It was like a teacher scolding his pupil for doing something wrong. And the ferocious dragon looked like he wanted to crawl somewhere far fro his master' glare.
„ Leave him alone. He didn't hurt me. I just got scared..a little", she almost pleaded him.
And it was the truth; Memerink didn't hurt her and he looked so sweet now, with his head bowed and ready to retreat as fast as he could.
She sided with his pet, now that was indeed a surprise. Memerink was there to protect the castle and his master, along with three other dragons who belonged to the other generals.
He had been probably surprised to see a human woman in his master's chambers and decided to check it out.
Zoicite knew that, but he didn't expect for Amy to understand and even more to defend the „guilty" dragon.
It looked like Memerink was also surprised, because he raised his head a little while after hearing what the human told hs master.
„ You may retreat now.", Zoicite finally ordered and the dragon was only too happy to oblige. He immediately disappeared outside.
„ Turn around!", he ordered her and, as she followed his order, he drew again some strange signs in the air and then touched her shoulders.
In an instant, on her materialised a long light blue dress. It framed her body perfectly, being sleevless and backless, having only a deep V-neck. She felt her feet being clad in something as well, and when she looked to see what it was, she found that she had on some sort of graeco-roman sandals made from silver fibres.
Thay were comfortable and she wanted to thank him.
She found him sitting on the bed with a silver tray next to his side. The tray had two tea cups and some sandwiches on a plate.
„ Like it?", he asked after she finished checking her clothes out.
„ Yes", she answered happily.
„ Hungry?"
„ Yes"
„ Then eat!", he motioned for her to sit by his side and take some sandwiches.
„ You first.", she shot back while heading for the bed.
„ I'm not gonna poison you", he told her annoyed," If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it alreay!"
„ I'm not eating alone."
Boy, did she have some nerve, he thought. Just a while ago she was a passive and meek human, and noe she gives HIM orders.
„ We don't need food. Just energy.", he answered and hoped that she'll leave it alone.
„ Then how did you get this food?", she asked with a frown.
„ I'm a demon. A powerful demon. How do you think I got it? I stole it from an inattentive human."
He said it so casualy, like it was a normal thing to do. It left her mouth wide-open.
„ What! You stole it!", she gave an unlady-like yelp of surprise.
„ Oh boy, this is gonna take a while", he told himself an groaned inaudible.
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„ Who the fuck are you and what the Hell are you doing in my meditation room!"
Unfortunately for Rei, her anger resurfaced at the sight of the „intruder" sitting in her place by the sacred fire.
Only this time her anger was ten times higher than the one before.
The intruder didn't seem too fazed about it, more so, he didn't even seem to acknowledge her presence, nor to dignify her demandings with an answer.
It was a known fact that Rei Hino wasn't a person to be ignored; she didn't like it at all. You had to be either stupid or crazy to ignore her, especially when she was boilling with rage. Only her friends could do that, an he wasn't one of them!
„ Are you deaf? I asked you a question: what the fuck are you doing here!"
Frustration got the best of her and she started yelling at him and demanding an answer.
„ Rei Hino, what in Kami-sama's name is going on in here! Why are you screaming like that?"
Her grand father came rushing in and scowled his niece for her lack of manners.
He understood right away what the problem was, when he saw the young blond in front of the fire.
„Rei", her grandfather signaled for her to be quiet and listen :" Jad Himitzou, a travelling priest. He had recently returned from a spiritual pilgrimage in Eastern China's temples. We are most fortunate to have him here as a spiritual guide, for ourselves but also for the people who come in here."
„ But, Oji-san.. you didn't tell me anything…", Rei tried to say something but she was shortly cut off.
„ Be quiet, niece! Himitzou-sam will stay for as long as he wants to. He is welcomed in this temple, and I expect you to have the same respect for him like you would have for a superiour."
Her grandfather's tone was deffinite and she had no other option than to oblige.
„ Yes, Oji-san. I will.", then she turned to the blond priest and kneeled humbly:
„ Please accept my humble appologies, Himitzou-san. I wasn't aware of your status and got carried away."
„ Appologies accepted, Hino-san, and no offence taken. Young ones are most likely to get „ carried away" as you put it."
The strange priest spoke for the first time; his baritone was low and his voice confident, having some sort of superiority in it.
„ Hino-dono, it is my greatest pleasure to be here and to aid you and the people coming here looking for spiritual help. My deepest gratitude for the warm welcoming."
„ Oh, no need, my son. We are equally glad to have you here. Ne, Rei-chan!"
„ Yes, Oji-san. Of course!", she answered almost mechanically.
Her grand father looked pleased and exited the room, but not until telling Rei to help Himitzou-san with whatever he needed.
Remaining only the two of them, Rei got to her normal self but still spoke politely.
„ Can I help you with anything, Himitzou-san?"
„ Not at all. You can go in peace, I must really concentrate now."
He dismissed her rather abruptly, but she couldn't shoot back anything nasty. All she could do was to tighten her fists by her side and answer in a forcefull politenss:
„ Of course, Himitzou-san. As you wish."
She raised herself proudly and looked at him with barely contained anger.
She wasn't expecting what happened next; he raised his head and eyes from the sacred fire and stared straight into her amethyst orbs.
She was startled; seeing his eyes for the first time.. they were an indeffinite blue, steel-like. She caught her breath, suddently, because she realised that she had seen them before.
„ But where?", she wondered helplessly.
„ You may go now, Hino-san.", he ordered her this time, and turned his eyes back to the fire.
Rei left abruptly, leaving behind, in the sacred meditation room, the blond priest who let out an evil laugh. His eyes became even more sharp than before.
The fire let out a deep cracking sound and turned into a black flame that reached high to the ceiling.
„Such a passionate and temperamental human… Beautiful. Too bad I'll have to take that all away!"
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Hy guys,
Sorry for not keeping my promise to update weekly, but you know how it is…Life, school, homework, lack of inspiration ..etc. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, it took me a whole day to write it. About the whole grammar and spelling mistakes I'll tell you one thing: English is NOT my first language, Romanian is! But I'm trying really hard so.. wish me luck!
Thank you for the reviews!
Bye guys and ENJOY!
And again: SAILOR MOON DOES NOT BELONG TO ME!