Disclaimer: I d-don't o-wn a-n-nything! I said, I-I-I don't ow-own a thing! I don't own anything, please believe me! (She falls to her knees trembling).

A/N: I just feel so damn depressed now, damn! Just reading Katlin Grace's summary for "Through a Child's Eyes" made me feel so sad inside. Damn she's good with words!

Anyway, here's the new chapter.

Enjoy!

Chapter Eight: A Flower's Awakening

Saying the Asteroids and co. were happy wouldn't quite describe it. When they saw who it was that was heading towards them, they were ecstatic. Sailor Juno kept smirking with a hand on her hip, watching the infinite troops of fairies, dream-elves and other magical creatures coming to their aid with the certainty that this was what was needed to safely guard Hope City. Vesta smiled in relief, supporting Palla-Palla while the younger Asteroid waved her arms excitingly and called again and again "Here! We're in here!" and Ceres felt herself overwhelmed with relief.

"Seems you guys could use a bit of help" a boasting and cheerful Peruru asked from the air above them while waving his flute about, his huge rainbow-like wings wide spread in the wind, scattering little tiny sparks of lights and colours all around him, like the widely known fairy-dust.

"Took you long enough!" A blue-haired female protested, huffing up at him.

Peruru blinked at her amusedly.

"Is that how you thank your saviours, Fish-san?" he teased.

"You little brat! Just wait till I come up there!" Fish-Eye roared, ticked off. The little brat always got the best of her!

"Tdwehehe! Sure! See you later 'Oh-Fish-Sama'!" he waved goodbye and flew off to join the others, who were currently aligning the length of her liquid magical net so as to help her make it much more resistant to the demons' claws and keep it raised high against the enemy.

"And it's MISS Fish-EYE to you, gayish fairytale little git!" Fish-Eye demanded after him, but never knew if Peruru heard her or not.

Tiger-Eye and Hawk-Eye just looked at each other and snickered.

Meanwhile CereCere, feeling suddenly very exhausted, allowed herself to fall on her hands and knees. A few unrestrained tears managed to escape her eyes, before she felt a hand come to rest on her shoulder. Turning around, she met with the understanding eyes of Vesta.

"I'm sorry I lashed out at you like that."

Ceres shook her head.

"Don't worry about it, we're all quite shaken still" she directed her gaze towards the farer demons who had dodged Fish-Eye's trapping net and where currently coming their way "Besides, we better concentrate on them right now"

The other girl nodded.

It was certainly a good idea to do that, since the things were coming at them at full speed. Ceres drew in a breath and prepared to launch her attack once more. Her 'Proserpine Flower Spring Symphony' was soon followed by Vesta's Hearth Fire Blaze…

"Ceres! Watch out!" they heard Hawk-Eye's scream.

Caught off guard, CereCere first glanced at him and quickly turned to her left to see what had caused his alarm. She didn't see anything, but when she heard the deep throaty hiss from behind her, she understood: a Hunter had sneaked behind her while hidden from view thanks to her and Vesta's combined attacks. She never had the time to react, though, for as soon as the monster made to lash at her, she was brutally pushed out of the way by Vesta.

"VEES!" CereCere screamed when she saw the demon grab Vesta by the arm and start draining her energy despite her struggles to get free from its grasp. However, Ceres' intervention was no longer needed when Hawk Eye decapitated the monster with his sword, and grabbing Vesta's arm fast made a run for Sailor Ceres and away from there before the blasted thing finished regenerating itself.

"Ves!" CereCere exclaimed once she was reunited with her friend "That was so stupid, you know, it could have killed you!"

The red-haired senshi scowled at her.

"Yeah, well, you weren't moving! He could have killed you just the same!"

"Don't be stupid! You know I can take care of myself!"

"Yeah, well so do I! I'm not a little girl for you to lecture me like Luna-san, I will do as I please!" the Senshi of the Sacred Hearth exploded.

"Ves…" speechless, CereCere regarded her in silence.

Crimson bangs shielded her face when Vesta bowed her head. "I just don't wanna loose anyone else… Reenie and Hino-san were bad enough. Hino-san, she was like a mother to me, my sensei, and now that she's gone I don't now what to do; and Reenie… Rennie…─" Vesta swallowed a deep breath, trembling slightly before finishing "─…I don't even wanna talk about it"

Ceres and Hawk-Eye exchanged troubled looks. This time it was Sailor Ceres who grabbed Vesta by the arm.

"We're gonna get her back"

Ves tensed and lifted her head towards her with a piercing stare.

"How?" That was all the fiery amazon said, but Cere couldn't help but shudder under the strength of that gaze.

"I don't know" she admitted serenely, "but we will; we have to"

Vesta's red eyes were overflowing with her non-spoken rage and sadness, but she refused to cry right then. She wanted so much to believe somehow someone would grant them their miracle, but her practical mind would only allow her to fool herself so far. She wanted the miracle, prayed for it, craved it with all her heart; but she didn't think she'd be able to bear it if she only managed to delude herself. She didn't say a word when her fellow senshi grasped her hand pulling her to her feet.

"Come, Ves, you can't stay here all alone. We must help the others, they need us"

'Gods, how I wish Reenie was here. She was always a lot better with words and handling this kind of situations than I am…'

"Mum, I'm scared…"

"What is it, sweetie"

"Will those ugly monsters come here and hurt you and me and daddy?"

"You have nothing to fear, sweetheart. Everything's gonna be alright"

"You sure?"

"Of course, darling. You see the golden glow out there?"

"Yeah?"

"Those are the Elysion armies; they'll keep the City protected"

"You think they're gonna break those monsters so that they don't harm us?"

"They won't let that happen, neither them nor the Sailor Senshi will"

"Are the Senshi really out there too?"

"Yes baby"

"What are they doing?"

"They are fighting… they're fighting for us"

"And daddy? Where's daddy, mummy?"

"Daddy's fighting too"

A certain Saiyan was officially quite nervous. He had shook Serenity and called her name at least another ten times and she still hadn't awaken. What made him even more flustered was that she'd seem perfectly healthy just minutes ago, and then she'd apparently started growing sick completely out of the blue, passing out before telling him what was wrong with her.

Goku made sure that she wasn't having any trouble breathing; checked her pulse, peered through her eyelids to check what state her eyes were in and then her mouth to see if he could get any clue on her sickness, but obviously he was no doctor and couldn't find any signs that in his eyes were particularly meaningful. Absurd though it may seem, he'd even ITed to the lake down the waterfall and gotten some water so that he could try splashing her in the face! Yet that still didn't gain him anything.

"Kami damn it, Usagi! Wake up! Luna's gonna kill me if she sees you like this!"

Although her skin wasn't getting any warmer either, adding more to Goku's worried state of mind, it was when her heart beating gradually began to slow down and she started gaping for air while still unconscious, looking for all the world like she was choking, that the warrior decided it was time to take desperate measures; he would perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, on Serenity.

'Please, it has to work out. Please, work out. Don't die, Serenity! You can't die! Please don't die on me I no longer have the dragonballs to bring you back!' the Saiyan thought desperately while he performed the chest compression maneuver.

He made a pause to give her mouth-to-mouth respiration, leaning down to bring his mouth over hers, but when his lips made contact with Serenity's Goku froze.

It felt as if he'd been electrocuted, as if there'd been an exchange of physical electricity between them, yet it felt so incredibly good… so amazingly wonderful…Goku'd have never expected how soft her lips were, or the intense warmth that travelled across his body as he shivered in undisguised pleasure.

He couldn't understand why his body reacted so strongly to her mere proximity. This was a far cry from whatever sexual attractions he'd ever experienced before. He'd never been that much into carnal desires or vulnerable to sexual frustration before, he'd usually get rid of it for the most part with his often so rigorous training, so he'd never had such cravings for physical attention… or had he?

Unfortunately, Chichi was not around to be consulted about her opinion on the matter.

"Goku-san?" Goku jumped slightly at the sound of the unexpected voice, hastily pulling apart from the blond-haired Queen, and turned around to great this newcomer.

'It just had to be one of the people who have almost undetectable Ki's. What if he saw? He'll think I was taking advantage of her!'

'Weren't you, though?' another sneaky voice inside his head commented.

'Of course not!'

…

…

…Was I…?'

'Ah. Not so sure now, are we?' the voice taunted.

'I am not that kind of man!' Goku practically screamed in his head.

'But you would like to be, wouldn't you, Goku?'

'WHAT!'

'Admit it!' mocked the imaginary little devil-Goku as it materialized over his shoulder.

Goku looked at it wildly.

Was he finally going crazy?

"What are you suggesting!" he yelled mortified.

Helios looked at him not understanding. "Excuse me? Suggesting what, Goku-san?"

Goku blinked at him.

Then a thought hit him like a boomerang. He instantly went to check on the unconscious woman.

"Usagi!"

"It's okay, Goku-san, your quick performance of CPR was able to get her out of danger, and managed to stabilize her. She just isn't waking up yet, for some odd reason"

The boy's face became very serious as he continued.

"We must find a way to wake her up, though. I already sent Peruru to gather the magical beings and go assist the Asteroid Quartet and Amazon Trio…but I don't know how long they'll be able to keep it up"

Goku turned towards the boy, understanding the graveness of the matter, and all the while berating at himself mentally. 'I can't believe I spaced out like that!'

He was thankful that the boy had apparently chosen not to bring it up again.

"Can you find out what this is about, Helios?" he asked, pointing at the still form lying on the ground.

"Perhaps. As the High Priest of Elysion, I have gained certain healing abilities. Nothing like Cosmos' or the ones Endymion-sama and Saturn-san used to have, but it's still worth a try"

Goku nodded.

"Better test it out".

The youth quickly assented in agreement and proceeded to put both hands over Serenity's upper chest. A faint golden glow, darker than that of Usagi's crescent birthmark, spread from his hands and onto her body to finally envelope her in its pacifying aura. Usagi's paleness and sweat disappeared entirely, but she still wasn't waking up.

The blue-haired Priest glanced down at her dejectedly.

"Still nothing; usually this kind of spell would have already brought her back to consciousness, but she's still out of it… What can we do, Goku-san?" he asked the Saiyan hopefully.

Ever since the older man's arrival Helios had the distinct impression that surely such an experienced fighter and consummated warrior ought to be able to get through anything. Helios kept casting the healing spell, though, to see if that brought any other changes.

Goku, on the other hand, wasn't much surer himself of what else could be done. This situation was extremely dear, seeing the younger Senshi were probably down there either still fighting the enemy or getting killed in the process with the people of the human City; wasting any more time was a luxury they no longer could afford and from the bad vibes Goku got the girls were in great need of urgent assistance in that very moment, but they could neither afford fleeing to their rescue right then and risk leaving Serenity all by herself in the woods in her unconscious condition, perfectly vulnerable to any attack.

'Kami! What a bad day this one's turning out to be'

However, soon he came with an idea.

"Helios, can I ask you something?"

The boy made a brief pause while still casting his healing magic. Considering the circumstances, the young priest was surprised at the question.

"Of course, Goku-san"

"When you cast that spell, you only send a bit of your magic onto Serenity, am I right?"

Helios nodded, not quite comprehending to what the Saiyan was alluding.

"Yes, that is basically it. But why do you ask, Goku-san? Do you think it has something to do with the reason the spell isn't working?"

The warrior grinned as he arrived to some unknown conclusion.

"It might have everything to do, Helios. The healing's not working 'cause it's meant to treat only physical and mental wounds caused solely by magic, but what Serenity has is a condition provoked by and in both magical and biological levels" 'Man, Bulma would have been proud at me if she had just heard that'

The blue-haired boy abruptly raised his head to stare at the older man with unwavering attention.

"So you're saying you've discovered what's wrong with the Queen?"

"Yes, that has to be it! Listen, I think that if you and I do this together, you casting your healing spell and I sending some of my Ki into Serenity, then I believe we will manage to wake her up!"

Helios nodded his head and smiled. "I trust you, Goku-san"

Goku nodded back at him. "Thank you… Let's do it!"

Both the older male and the younger one put their hands over the blond woman's upper chest, now, each liberating their powers and onto her body at the same time. This created a darker, brighter golden glow that looked a lot more powerful than the boy's previous attempted healing.

Both their gazes were focused one the face of the dormant blonde, waiting for any signs that might indicate this new procedure was succeeding in its intent. Seconds seemed like hours, minutes seemed like days to the two men until they finally saw a flicker of response from their so called 'patient'.

"Look, Goku-san! It's working! It's really working now!"

Both held their breaths when Serenity slowly and finally opened her eyes.

END TO THE EIGHTH CHAPTER.

A/N: The reason of Serenity's fainting fit will be uncovered in the next chapter. So, if you really want to know, you already know what you have to do…

Please don't forget to review!

JAY