"Thank you for coming," was what the cashier called out as Minako and Sailor Paladin exited the place.
Minako smiled down at her companion. The strange Senshi was carrying two bags worth of items easily enough. A part of her idly wished she could have suggested heavier items just to have an excuse to help her to her hiding spot but she also knew Sailor Paladin would see through that. Anyways, Senshi had super strength so there was no way that anything in the story would give her problems carrying. "So did you find everything you were looking for?"
Sailor Paladin smiled and nodded, "Of course. You're a lifesaver, Minako."
Minako laughed and waved a hand to dismiss it, "No I'm not but I'm thankful I was able to help. Also, are you sure you don't want me to carry a few things for you?"
"I'm stronger than I look," Paladin said, "Besides I don't want to bother you with my stuff. I'll see you later." She waved at her before walking off.
"See you," Minako waved after her. She smiled. She really was a nice girl. Cute too. She reminded her of Usagi in a way with how cheerful and absentminded she could be. If that was the case, she might be a handful. In a good way, she meant. Well mostly. Like all friends, you didn't always get along. Always minor things that didn't last long. With those in mind, it helped her form stronger bonds with her friends. She just hoped those lessons would help her with Paladin.
Which reminded her. She needed to keep a low profile. She planned to stalk him after all. Thank goodness she was a master of stealth. A woman who could be classified as a shadow incarnate. A female ninja. She giggled to herself as she thought about all of those little scenarios. She kept herself hidden behind anything she could as she trailed behind her target.
Said target was skipping along without a care in the world. She was loudly humming something. It was a strange tune. Minako had never heard of it before but given how the girl looked foreign, perhaps it was a European song. Maybe American. It didn't sound like any British tune she had heard before. It was good however that she was doing that. It meant there was more noise to mask her own presence. She smiled. She was better at stealth then she thought. Well either that or her target had terrible awareness issues but she would rather think it was the former.
Eventually they entered a seedier part of town. A lot of business had moved out as had ordinary people. She couldn't help but shiver just being there. It was so quiet. She felt alone. A part of herself knew she should leave. Bad people lived here. If she had come here a few years ago, she would have ran away the moment this feeling popped up. Yet now she didn't. She had faced powerful monsters and slew them. She was a Sailor Senshi. A few thugs didn't scare her anymore. So she kept on going, regardless on how she felt. She needed to know more about this strange girl.
She saw Sailor Paladin walk into a dark alleyway. Perfect. Just the place for the degenerates she was thinking about would be hiding. She followed her anyways. Yes she could take them on easily now. However, there was one problem. She did need to keep a secret identity. If she met bad people here, she couldn't just change into her Sailor Senshi self on a whim. She would need to outrun or hide for a bit before coming to attack. Of course, in an alleyway that was a bit hard to do but she was confident in her running and hiding skills. She could manage anything that was thrown her way.
She kept at it. It was hard to hide in an alleyway but a few dumpsters and trash cans were a blessing. Of course Sailor Paladin rarely turned her head back but still. She idly wondered why there were still these things around here when no one lived in this part of the city but she didn't think too much about it. Either they were relics left behind or some other dumb reason. For her, they were convenient.
After she turned to follow Sailor Paladin down another alley, she blinked as she didn't see her. She scowled. She couldn't have lost the girl that easily. She wasn't that bad at tracking and she was right behind her. She stomped a foot. She'd have to try harder and look for the girl. She couldn't have gone that far.
"Hey girly," a slimy man's voice rang out. "Looking for someone?"
She turned her head. It was a bald, short man with a haphazard set of clothes she really didn't care to describe to herself. A tattoo could be seen running down his neck. He smiled which was filled with golden teeth. Of course she would meet these guys. Either these were local yakuza or just thugs trying to be tough. Either way, he wasn't intimidating. Even with a knife in his hands, he was no monster.
Minako shook her head, "No, sir. I'm fine. Just got a little lost. I'll find my way back."
Unfortunately the guy's grin only grew at that. He chuckled and moved his blade around, trying to be intimidating. It wasn't. At least, it wasn't to her. The man spoke again, "How about we help you?"
"We?" Minako quirked an eyebrow and turned her head to the other way of the alley. She saw a larger muscular guy pop up, "Oh it seems I'm stuck between a rock and a boulder."
"It's a rock and a hard place," the first guy spoke up.
"It's the same thing," Minako glared at him. She really hated how everyone thought she was wrong about her euphemisms. She may be wrong, but it was annoying to hear herself being corrected.
"No it-" The man cut himself off and shook his head, "No matter. You're coming with us, understand?"
"Hmmm," Minako put a finger on her cheek as if she was thinking about it. She idly saw one of the trash cans next to her, "Well, if you put it like that…. Nah!"
With that she quickly grabbed the lid and threw it like a discus. It hit the first guy in the head before he could react, causing him to fall to the ground. She then raced over and jumped over his prone body. She could hear the other guy running behind her to catch her but she knew he couldn't. He may be stocky but she was lean and fast. She'd get out of there before he could even lay a hand on her. She wouldn't even need to transform at this rate.
A leg stuck out from another alley and tripped her up. She yelped as she rolled onto the ground. She quickly stood up but another two thugs came out of the alley. They were chuckling. One was holding nunchucks and the other a large baton.
"You shouldn't have come to our turf, little girl." One of them spoke.
"Oh yeah," Minako huffed, glaring at them. "I suppose a young woman scared you so much that you had to beat her up."
"And other stuff," the other chuckled before being elbowed by his partner, "Come off it, man. I'm not the only one thinking it."
"I've got standards," the other one huffed.
"So does that mean you won't beat me up?" Minako said.
"Nope," the man charged, swinging his nunchucks at her.
Minako sighed and backflipped away from the danger. She landed on her hands and kept it going twice more before she turned. The man kept trying to hit her in the meantime but she dodged each strike. When she turned though, she used her momentum and his swing to get around it and kick him in the side. The man stumbled and fell. Her leg throbbed a bit but she was overall fine. She couldn't do as much without her senshi powers. If she was transformed, these guys would be out like a light. She just needed to be out of sight for one second.
The other guy made to strike her but she moved her leg and kicked up high. Her foot smacked into the side of his head and he stumbled away. She was thankful for having such long legs. She smiled when the two guys stumbled and tried to right themselves. The other two thugs were coming back as well. They weren't that tough. Maybe she wouldn't even have to transform.
She never saw the fist slamming into the back of her head. She simply fell to the ground, silently groaning in pain. Before she could get back up, a foot pressed down on her back. She guessed it was a goon she hadn't seen thus far. Typical.
"You guys are weak if you couldn't take down a teenage girl," the man snorted as he glared at the others. "Now help me get her back to base."
"Gotcha," a couple of them said.
As they moved forward, Minako started to fear for her life. She couldn't reach her Star Power Stick. She silently cursed herself for getting so cocky. Maybe she could get it once she had enough space but he could see all of her movements. The young girl quivered, hoping to get access to her powers before it was too late.
Just like how the man blindsided her with his attack, someone gave a flying kick to her captor's head. The man was sent into the wall, falling unconscious immediately from the solid strike. Minako rolled over quickly and her eyes widened.
Sailor Paladin stood over her, looking pissed off. "You shouldn't have done that. Leave now or it's going to get ugly."
"Do you think someone like you scares us?" One of the goons spoke and charged.
Sailor Paladin didn't move immediately. She waited till her opponent got up close. He swung his baton down at her and she caught it. She quickly twisted and threw her opponent away. He landed on his back, grunting in pain. Another opponent came to hit her with his nunchucks. She swiftly jumped to the side and kicked his knee as he moved forward. The man cried out in pain and collided with the ground.
The other two charged at him at the same time. A part of Minako thought about intervening, but the new girl seemed to have things under control. Sailor Paladin, to illustrate that fact, jumped forward and landed on her hands. She pushed herself up into the air and slammed her two feet into the larger guy's face. He stumbled back, holding his now broken nose. Paladin landed on her feet and jumped to the side as the other guy leaned in to stab her. She brought up her fist and slammed it hard into his cheek. He gasped and let go of the knife. Paladin didn't let up and punched him three more times, causing the guy to whimper and pull back.
"Anyone else?" Sailor Paladin snarled. The thugs gulped and started to leave. The strange senshi smiled, "That was pretty easy."
"As if," the guy Paladin had struck first was up. He was shaking, obviously still shaken from being knocked unconscious for a moment. The fact that he had gotten up so quickly was testamant to his endurance or Minako had been wrong about him being unconscious at all. A pistol was in his hands as he pointed it at her. If she had been powered up, this gun wouldn't be a threat. It was agitating how much more vulnerable her usual self was.
"So you're going to hurt her?" Sailor Paladin cast a look over her shoulder.
The man grinned, "Of course I am. We've got to show everyone we're serious. We're not some pushover thugs. We're yakuza. If that means we have to kill some teens to remind people we're a threat, I'd be happy to do it."
"If that's the case," Sailor Paladin's next movements were hard to make out given how fast they were. She had quickly picked up the knife one of the goons had dropped, spun and threw it straight into the skull of the thug threatening her.
The thug took two steps back before his eyes rolled back into his head. He fell backwards, dead before he hit the ground. Minako stared at the corpse. She had seen injured people bleed before. She had killed her fair share of monsters before. A good number of them had been humanoid. Some of them she even wondered if they had some good in them once. This was the first time she'd seen a person, a real person, die before her eyes. She didn't like the feeling.
Sailor Paladin didn't seem affected by it. She simply smiled and gave her a thumb's up, "Well that's all those guys taken care of."
Minako opened her mouth and closed it. She was shaking slightly. It was all a bit much to take in.
Sailor Paladin moved in closer and leaned down with a hand outstretched, "Are you okay?"
"Why…" Minako gulped, "You didn't have to kill him."
"He was threatening you," Sailor Paladin said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I don't see why I can't kill bad guys. It's kinda my job."
Minako agreed. That basically was their job but it wasn't about killing real humans. Yet she couldn't really argue. He was a bad guy and was going to hurt her. She couldn't just yell at her savior just because she felt squeamish about a dead human. She took his hand and let him help her up, "Thank you."
"Don't need to thank me," Sailor Paladin's smile was so infectious, "Just doing my duty to protect the innocence and be cute while doing it." She stuck out her tongue out cutely and winked.
Minako giggled at the action. Sailor Paladin knew just how to improve the mood of the place, "I don't know what I'd do without you." Well besides changing and hoping no one believed a few wannabee yakuza.
"Oh you could have fought those guys off easy," Sailor Paladin waved off her praise, "But praise me more because I love to help. Say, what are you doing here anyways? It's not a safe place for a beautiful woman like you?"
Minako blushed slightly at the praise. She wasn't normally called that out of the blue, even if she got a number of compliments about her looks. Most of them weren't sincere to her for one reason or another. Then she blinked and cursed. She didn't know what to say. She had meant to stay hidden but that plan was a bust now. "Well…. I wanted to help you set stuff up?" That was a weak excuse but still.
"I don't really need help," Sailor Paladin sighed but smiled again, "But I appreciate it. Since we're almost to my hideout, why don't you tag along for a bit. I can't in good conscious leave a beautiful woman all by herself in these parts. Just promise not to tell anyone, okay?"
Minako nodded, "I promise." This was perfect. Now she didn't even have to hide anymore. It seemed luck was really on her side today. She would be alone with Sailor Paladin. Now she'd get all the answers she sought for.
