"Darien! Darien why won't you answer me! Tell me what's wrong!" Serena cried as she pounded on Darien's door. "We were supposed to stay together forever? Why did you break up with me?" Her loud cries echoed through the building. Serena's eyes were puffy and red from all her crying. "Why?" She sobbed.
With a soft click, a sandy haired man shut the door. "Hey, you okay?" He asked. Serena spun, staring at a tall young man with sandy blonde hair. His face was thin and slightly craggy, with warm lines etched around his eyes. It was hard to tell in the gloom of the hallway, but Serena thought she saw his thin lips curling into a slightly sardonic smile. Embarrassed, she felt her face growing hot as her clear blue eyes met his laughing blue ones. She thought it was odd the way his bangs fell across his eyes obscuring them from view.
"Ye…Yes." She said.
"That's good." He said, walking over. "Someone goofy looking like you shouldn't be crying." Poking her forehead, he leaned close to her face. "Cheer up, meatball head."
Serena's face went beet red. "Jerk!" She said. 'What a…what a…what a stupid inconsiderate lowlife!' Serena stalked away from Darien's door.
Serena wandered down the street in a bit of a daze her mind filled with thoughts about the man she had seen by the door. She was knocked out of her daze when Rini kicked her square in the shin. "Ouch! That hurt you little maggot!" Serena shrieked.
Rini glared at her, her small red eyes flashing. "That's what you get! For bothering Darien so much!" She yelled, and she ran towards the building. Looking over her shoulder she called back. "And don't think for a moment that I'm sorry!"
'What am I going to do?' Serena wondered sadly to herself sadly her eyes filled with tears but they weren't falling now. 'What about that guy?' a small treacherous voice murmured in the back of her mind, 'what would he think of you falling all over yourself like a dolt?' Serena answered the voice, 'Darien never thought I was a total ditz falling all over myself, what does the guy have to do with anything!' Serena started to run home.
In Sayuri's ApartmentIn her small cramped apartment, Sayuri sat on her couch, fiddling with bandages, ready to listen to what her brother had to say. But he was silent. His clear eyes were far away, as he sat across from her, deep in thought. 'He's been like that ever since he told the wailer to be quiet, it's like he's in a daze.' "Hey noodle-brain! I'm waiting." Blankly he looked up at her. 'I just want to know what's going on.'
Katsu sighed, sitting down on the edge of the table. "I knew it." He said. "I should have told you earlier."
"Damn right." Sayuri said, glaring at him from across the room. "Last thing our parents told me was that you were still in Long Beach." With a long sigh, she stared out at sleeping Tokyo. "Tell me, what are you doing here?" She asked. Far off, one by one, the lights of apartments and houses were disappearing, like little stars winking out of the night sky.
"I always knew you weren't very bright, Sayuri." Katsu said. "But I never pegged you as an idiot."
"What's that supposed to mean!"
"If you used your brain you'd already understand!" He said. Standing, he walked across the hard wood. Dodging the unpacked cardboard boxes still strewn across the hardwood floor, he slid into the kitchen. "Tea?"
"No!" Sayuri snapped. "Well, maybe I don't want to!"
"Sayuri!" Katsu shouted, slamming his hands onto the ceramic countertop. "This is important!"
"Yeah?" Sayuri said. "Well this is my life we're talking about! No one said you could just waltz in here and take over!" Her eyes narrowed. "Who gave you the right?"
"Destiny." He said. Reaching into the cupboard, he grabbed the electric kettle. Turning on the faucet, he filled the plastic container and plugged it into the wall. "We're Sailor Scouts Sayuri! We have a duty. You can't run away from that." He sighed. "No matter how far you go." Grabbing a green clay mug from the drying rack, he dropped in a tea bag, and set it by the kettle.
Sayuri looked up at the sky. The stars were gleaming proudly despite the power of the artificial light. Her eyes fell on the moon, it was full hanging low on the horizon. "The moon is rising." She said, pulling off her shirt. "I have to take care of these." She said, indicating the scratches. "Talk."
"Okay." Katsu said.
Looking over her shoulder at her brother, Sayuri asked. "Did you come to bring me home?"
"In the beginning, you may have noticed the transformation problem." Silently Sayuri nodded. "Well it was the same with me and…" The electric kettle beeped, and Katsu poured the steaming water into the cup. "Surprisingly, we have a job to do here."
"I never wanted this." Sayuri said. "None of it." Sighing she walked away from the window, and sat down on her emerald green couch. Wincing, she tied the bandages around her waist. Biting her lip, she asked. "Why do we have to fight, Katsu?"
"You fought today." He blew the steam away, and took a sip of his tea. "This is good." He said. "Where did you find it?"
"A friend of mine gave it to me." She said. "That was a one time thing, and you didn't answer me."
"I don't spend time on what ifs." Katsu said, taking another sip. Leaning on the counter he sighed. "It's not possible, we have to fight. It's our duty."
"Yeah? You keep saying that." Sayuri said. She winced internally, knowing what was coming next. 'He's going to ask me to help him. We'll have to fight, face death, the usual. I'm not doing it. He has to realize that. These last few times were a fluke, I just want to be normal.' "Just what is this new "sacred" duty?"
"We have to protect the Earth Prince."
"Lovely." Sayuri sighed. Sinking deeper into the leather of the couch, she closed her eyes. "How exactly are we supposed to do that?"
"By finding him." Katsu took another sip from his cup. "It'll probably be very hard."
"Not to mention dangerous." Sayuri muttered.
"That too." He agreed, putting the cup down.
Sayuri stared up at the ceiling. "I didn't realize how many holes are up there." She mused. "I wonder if I should call the manager." Sitting up, she looked over at the phone. It was sitting in the middle of bubble wrap and packing popcorn on the floor, plugged into the jack. "How much would it cost to fix it?" She asked. "Could you give me a quick number crunch? Katsu?"
"Sayuri!" He snapped.
"What?" She asked.
"We're discussing something important!" He said. "This isn't the time to be thinking about your ceiling!"
"It's the perfect time." She said. "If I die tomorrow, I want to die knowing that my ceiling got fixed."
"Right, the little things."
"They're important."
Katsu sighed loudly. 'She's always like this.' He thought angrily. 'Stubborn. Why doesn't she just accept her duty?' The countertop beneath his fingers was incredibly dusty. There were chopsticks, spoons, and forks drifting around in the soapy water in the sink. "I know. But we need to protect the Earth Prince, the Golden Crystal, and the Earth, it's why we came here."
"That's why you came here." She retorted. "I came here to study in Japan."
"Oh yes, you certainly wanted that." He snapped. "That's your excuse. Don't give me that crap about you wanting to study here. You left because you wanted to get away from being a Sailor Scout. You didn't want to be Sailor Sun. You abandoned everything! Get this through your head! I'm not here for you. I'm here to do my duty, and by God I'll make you do yours."
"You never could." She yelled. "I did it because I wanted to! Not because of you or anybody else!"
"What about Soren?" He asked softly.
Sayuri froze, her hands clenched onto the armrest. Biting her lip, she stared at the picture on the table. The three young people at the San Diego Zoo, leaning together, all smiles. In the center between a young boy with sandy blonde hair and the young girl with blonde white hair and icy eyes, was a tall young man. His arms wrapped around each of them, a big grin on his face. His short dirt brown hair hung over his forehead, and murky brown eyes crinkled warmly. "What?" She whispered.
"You heard me." He said. "What about Soren?"
"This has nothing to do with him!" She exclaimed. "Nothing."
"No." Katsu said. "I'm sure it doesn't."
Sayuri sighed sadly. "He was the heart of our team. I always felt like I could do anything. There was no way we could fail. No way."
"I know I felt the same way." Katsu said, walking over to her. He paused for a moment. "Soren made me believe that we were invincible. We could defeat any enemy." He sat down beside her. "So long as we put all our trust in him."
"Older brothers have a way of doing that." Sayuri smiled. "Remember, how he used to rub that same spot behind his ear. He always did it when he was nervous."
Katsu nodded. "Yeah. I do." Putting his hand on Sayuri's shoulder he said. "It wasn't your fault you know. It was an accident."
"It was." Sayuri whispered. "No matter how many times you say it wasn't, doesn't make it true. If I'd…" 'If' I'd just been a little faster…he'd still…' "It was my fault he died."
"It was nobody's fault 'Yuri." Katsu said, rubbing her shoulder. "Soren made a choice, he was the leader. He sacrificed himself so we could beat the Negaverse."
Sayuri shook her head. "I was so close, his fingers and mine brushed before he got sucked in. If I'd stretched a little farther... We wouldn't have lost everything…the crystal…and you know what he said…right before he…" Tears slipped down her cheeks.
"What did he say?"
"Don't cry…isn't that just like him." She laughed, wiping her cheeks. "We'll never see him again, and he was worried about me."
"You were his little sister, he would have given more than his life to protect you." Katsu said, holding onto her shoulder. "It was his choice. You can't give up on being a Scout because of that. It's not what he would have wanted." He pulled her around to face him. "You know that."
"I guess." She whispered, meeting his eyes defiantly. "Why are we doing this?"
"Because it's the right thing to do." Katsu said. "Our brother gave his life to protect this planet. To protect the people he loved. It would be a crime if we gave less than him. We need to find and protect the Earth Prince, it's our duty."
"Yes, you keep using that word." Sayuri said. "Duty. Who says this is our duty?"
"Soren did." Katsu said. "He said the reason we siblings of the sun had been reborn was to protect our Prince. This time we'd protect him. That's why we're here Sayuri. It's fate. He's in Japan, Sayuri I can feel it. You can't deny Soren's last wish, 'Yuri. We have to find him and protect him."
"There are only two of us now." She sighed. "We can't even transform apart from one another. There's no way we can do this." From his pocket, Katsu pulled out a golden watch. The rim of the watch and the dials were pure silver, and beneath the glass it was black with white numbers in roman numerals. At the center of the three hands was a simple ruby stone. It gleamed in the dark. Sayuri gasped. "That's…"
"The transformation item of Sailor Solis." He said.
"Where did you get that?" She whispered. "How…"
"It reappeared shortly after you left, along with a note telling us to find the Earth Prince. The handwriting was Soren's…and this means…" Katsu said, looking down at Sayuri.
"There's a new Sailor Solis…" Sayuri sighed. "We just have to find him."
"We will." Katsu said, putting the watch back into his pocket. "But this is something that we have to do. It's destiny, Yuri!"
She looked down at her hands. "Okay." She said softly. "If it's for Soren, I'll do it." 'If it's for Soren, I can't deny anything.' For the rest of the night the two sat next to each other. Both were deep in thought, remembering the past, and worrying about the future.