Chapter Six: A Shaded Alliance
Many things were swimming in her head as red light rolled in like a dense fog. She didn't even know if she was still awake or not, like the dream of reality was something lingering just beyond her ability to grasp it. Something cold was running down her spine and she shivered, only to realize she was shivering. Consciousness was coming back to her slowly but surely. Sailor Moon slowly opened her eyes and stirred on the ground a bit, her body heavy and her skin still tight from the intense heat that she had suffered. Within her limited realm of sight she saw the rest of her friends lying around her, but they were at the Hikawa Jinja and not the theater with the Priests. The pain in her hand was still begging for her attention but the cool night air was relieving all of the heat she had felt in that place, lubing her body and allowing her skin to breathe once more.
With a bit of effort, she pushed herself up and rubbed the fatigue from her eyes. Then she heard voices and movement like a low drone skirting the edge of her perception. Looking to the side, she made out three figures illuminated by the full moon grouped together and talking low amongst themselves; a gathering of shadows in dark assembly right in front of her ancestral home. As she focused her eyes a bit, she could see the each of these strangers talking in the fullness of their own uniforms and powers. It was strange, but she still had a hard time connecting them to their human sides even though the blind could draw lines between them.
Waving off the questions of their powers, their connection to the Priests and why they were there, she leaned onto a tree for support and struggled to listen in on their hushed conversation. "This begins a new chapter in our already dreadful story. Now this world is also in danger from Anubis," Kurai said sullenly as he wiped away a bit of soot and ash from his shoulder. His stalemate with the Priest had brought back the fear of mortality and that was something he wished he could have left in his own world. They were the things which dragged him under and things that seemed to follow them no matter how desperately they avoided them. Quickly, all of his new dreams were dissolving.
Despite Kurai's serious manner, Suteki was still bouncing around in the breadth of his joy at being able to claim the victory, even though the others were very concerned about the threat. However, Suteki always had his own way about things. "At least we still have the upper hand, huh, boss? I think I saw their eyes jumping out of their heads when they saw you join the fun," he quipped. Looking around a moment, he let a perverse smile come over his face a moment chuckled to himself, almost delighted in the fact that there were only three there. Inwardly, though he couldn't tell the others, he was very glad the Priests had followed them. Now there was hope for his spiraling friend once more. "Well, aside from Senso, who tucked tail and hauled ass as soon as Kage found him. Only our Kage has that effect on people. I wonder if he caught…" he began but a growling voice soon interrupted him as it entered from afar.
"The little bastard got away," Kage snarled, stomping up with quite an interesting look on his face. Everyone with ears in the conversation turned to see him walking up with that face; a face that was the swirling mixture of release and fury that only existed when the dream that was answered was a product of a nightmare. All of them were surprised to see an almost gratified look on his face as he stopped, his eyes beaming and his lips twisted into a wry smirk, but they also knew that it was only skin deep and that his satisfaction was only as fulfilling as the emptiness in his core. Although he had been very abrasive since forced to leave their world, he now appeared more satisfied with the current situation. Seeing the Priest Senso and charging headlong into a battle with him was something that Kage had wanted for months upon months – gratification only potent due to its pathetic cause.
Yamito stared at him with a diffident expression. Although he could easily manhandle Kiga and reined the fear and respect of all who knew him, he never felt on stable ground with Kage, even when he seemed lighter than usual. There was just no way of knowing which side of the line he was on and Yamito still hesitated whenever he was near.
Kage's wild green eyes caught his glance and flashed, his body visibly tightening as he turned to face the now lesser of two evils. "You…your ass is now on standby," he said in a voice that was only slightly less dangerous than the one that screamed out the name of the hated Priest. The others eyed Yamito a moment, but ultimately looked back to Kage, wondering how their volatile friend would behave in this new wake. He was far from being personable, but there was a level of conflict in his eyes had seeped away and Yamito was no longer the brunt of his aggression. In fact, he really did seem rather lightened at this dire turn of events and that showed in a very bitter smile he offered to the dark leader of his group. "But don't write me a Christmas card. I know you were going to have these Sailor girls fight for you. You're a coward, Yaya-chan, and a damned idiot if you thought I wouldn't find out that bastard being here," he said and smiled a bit more at the reaction in his rival's face.
Both of them walked a fine line with the other, from Kage's unstable frame of mind to Yamito's submerged ferocity. Both pushed and pulled, wondering just how far it was to the end of the other's patience and sanity. Kage felt that and backed away a bit, instead stating the thing that they all knew anyway, jerking a thumb towards himself in a gesture that truly embellished his fighter's form. "Senso's mine to gut like a mackerel. I may not get those other two shitbags, but I will get him," he said.
"And fulfill your lifelong desire, Kage? To die in the revenge you seek so manically?" Yamito replied and stared back up at him, not giving him the same ground he did before. While Kage didn't reply, Yamito saw the answer in his eyes. Knowing that answer made Yamito want to knock that idea from his head and he could almost see the moment when Kage's insanity and thirst for vengeance would consume him. Knowing that the violent Scion had absolutely no hesitation when it came to facing his own death, Yamito writhed inside his own inability to change that.
A loud snap came from behind them and they all turned to find Sailor Moon sprawled out on the ground, holding a broken tree limb in her hand and moaning into the dirt. Her twitching form made Suteki grin heavily and cant his head to the side to get a better angle to see, which was blatantly obviously since the perverted smile was mark of the distant conscience only present when short skirts were upended. However, when he moved forward to help, his perversion waned slightly and he moved with genuine concern, even if he still retained the corner of his smile. As he did, the head of the group looked back from the invading power to his one frayed end, his dark eyes still gleaming in the moonlight. "We will address this later," he warned gravely, though the tone seemed to hit Kage's scowling countenance and simply roll away.
With a hearty snort, Kage moved away from them all and leaned against a solitary tree, crossing his arms over his chest and remitting himself to the background of the rising event.
Suteki was helping the eavesdropper to her feet and chuckled at her dirty face, obviously entertained by this girl. While he had defeated his own perverted interest when he helped her up, he was still grinning widely in the grace of her inelegance. "Gotta be careful, ya know? The boss and K-chan are butting heads again so this wasn't a good time to make your grand entrance," he said with a glance in the direction of the two.
However, Sailor Moon wasn't paying attention. She was too busy rubbing her nose and muttering into her hand to look, whining about the dirt would mar her face and make it impossible to be seen in public again. Suteki's attention also wandered away from the intensity of the atmosphere, with an entirely different smile coming over him as he admired the innocent essence of this very unusual soldier. He had the distinct feeling that he was going to like her very much.
Of this, Sailor Moon was also oblivious. After the stinging in her nose fell away, she looked to him with a blink and then around at the shrine, as if suddenly the world had come back to her and she was realizing there was substance beyond her reddened nose. "What are we doing back here?" she asked incredulously.
Suteki laughed under his breath, further amazed at how quickly her attention span flexed and warped. It reminded him of himself. "The building was coming down around us and, uh…the Priests made tracks. With the help of your friend in the tuxedo, we got everyone out. Charming dude, but not much on conversation," he replied as he ran his hand through his mop of hair. She did feel a little more at ease knowing her lover was okay, but there were still many things that needed to be explained before her mind would quiet. Currently, it was raging in furious clamor, but her heart's voice soared above it all as she looked worriedly to the figures of her friends lying about. "Are they okay?" she asked.
Although they were unconscious, none of them seemed to be badly hurt. The four of them were carefully placed together in a small area aside from her and it appeared more as if they were sleeping, even if there were small indications of the sweltering battle that had took place a short time before. The contents of that battle made her shiver, seeing her friends at each other's throats or paling under some horrendous power that had reduced them to nothing more than playthings for the dark, ominous Priests. Just thinking about it reminded her that she knew almost nothing before the battle and even less now – with the proof of that standing all about her in their empowered state of being. But her eyes didn't stray. Her first concern was her friends. "They will come around soon. The heat became too much and they lost consciousness," Kurai said as he took a step closer to her, his eyes trailing along her line of sight to the four impressive soldiers, "You should be very proud; they are very capable soldiers."
She knew that. If there were a thousand moments of failing, when her heart might buckle in on itself from the sorrows of the world, there was always the constant truth that her friends were always there for her and that their power was something that transcended her own, making her the person she had to be because of their presence and affection. The beasts of the world loathed her Silver Crystal, but it was the power of the close few that truly made Sailor Moon the champion of the ages.
Smiling a bit to Kurai, she nodded and went back to rubbing her nose lightly, her mind wandering slightly in the midst of it all. An uncomfortable silence fell across them and she slowly began to let her eyes skirt across them, from the distant brute she had first run into to their enigmatic, dark leader and his brooding eyes. Those eyes were watching the former intently, their dark pools focused on the true bane in their crew and she could tell that there was a very thick air between the two. However, her attention was focused solely on him with the nexus eyes. That feeling she had gotten when they first met was almost sickening now, as if the thing buried in him was closer to the surface and prickling across her skin.
Soon after, she couldn't keep it in anymore. She had to know more about them – about him. "You guys are some kind of senshi too, aren't you?" she said suddenly, jarring the mood of the group. All four of them looked to her, but her eyes did not greet them. She was asking one person alone, but he didn't seem to want to answer.
After looking for permission, Kurai found none but took a bold step anyway by answering the question in a quiet voice, "That answer is not as lucid as you may like, Sailor Moon. Where we come from, what you may call senshi are male; they are called Scion. However, I find that we don't have quite the same power as you or your friends. Although, the same basis in guardian planets is very intriguing." She wanted to hear it from Yamito, but something told her he was not going to answer anything for her, but only be the source of countless new questions. So she asked her questions to the side, but never took her eyes away from looking forward.
"And what are the Priests? What are they planning to do?" she asked.
This time Kurai didn't answer, but only looked once again for permission, his face yearning for some kind of reaction from his troubled friend but finding nothing but silence. Yamito, who was deep in thought, stared hard at the four senshi lying on the ground, his attention turned away from Kage by the inquisitive nature of the girl that was tugging at the edge of his world. However, he also stared hard at the serene face of a sleeping Sailor Mars, seeing in her the same pure soul that he had once been in many days before. He saw in her himself. That caused a dilemma to form in his mind. Such a deliberation sapped his strength, but it was the burden of being a leader. Circumstance and opportunity were different colors and he longed for a shade of gray, if only to end this downward spiral of destiny that he knew would consume him along with his friends. This was going to be the end of him.
"I wish to speak with you alone, Sailor Moon," he said suddenly and looked to her from his place in the shadows. The others had expected it, but were befuddled at him wishing it to be done alone. Of course, he would offer no explanation.
She was unsure at first, staring at him with her hand clasped across her chest, her blue eyes widely taking in his piercing stare while her heart beat ruthlessly in her chest. Being alone with him was the last thing she wanted, mostly because she became malleable in his presence and her fears were slightly contained by the others around her. Yet, she saw that he was genuinely concerned about the situation and that she needed to address this as the leader of the senshi. So she nodded – reluctantly.
Under the glowing green eyes of a distant brawler, they separated from the others and found a secluded spot among some cherry trees, a beautiful grove which enclosed them like secret lovers from the world. As much as this situation distressed her, she had to keep a straight mind and listen to what he had to say, for he was a person to spoke only when the words had to be spoken. But that was much harder than it seemed. "What is it?" she said in a rather shaky voice.
"You are not our leader," he said abruptly, startling her with his tone.
At first she was just aghast and stared back at him without the capacity to respond, but he continued in order to clearly define the lines between them and where they both stood in relation to the other. "Everything I tell you now is because you deserve to know what happens on your world. This doesn't mean you can stop it," he continued. Everything about this conversation was ripping at her. His eyes bored holes through hers and his words cut deep. To her eternal despair, he continued further in his chillingly solid voice, "The Priests are four creatures replicated from four Scion in our universe. They have all the powers and abilities we do, but also the malevolence and goals of their master. You do remember the force I told you about?"
Her eyes seemed to want to shrink away, but she found that doing that, with him as the focus of her attention, was harder to do than say. "The one destroyed your world?" she asked weakly. He only nodded and she found one of her answers taken care of. However, there was something floating in her memory and she stared into his face intently, hoping to try and confirm what she was suspecting and fearing. The moment before red had filled her existence, the hood covering Kiga's face had blown aside and she had gotten a good look at the Priest – at the face of the enemy. It made her wince when she asked him the next question, "Kiga is your copy, isn't he? You four are the ones they were created from."
In the same moment, he was surprised and satisfied, both reactions drowned out by his determined face. The facts of her worth were slowly coming to him and he found that small testament to her observations somewhat comforting, but still meaningless. "I had hoped we left them behind, but now they've come to infect your world as well. They also bring with them the force that kills worlds – Anubis," said he with a trailing glance away from her eyes.
"Anubis?" she asked.
He did not like speaking about it and even the soft snow of cherry blossoms couldn't brighten his expression. He stood there, cold and walled in with the gangly hands of a cruel fate reaching out at him from a Universe now dead. "A being of celestial birth. As far as we know, he was a nameless god somewhere until he was cast into our galaxy. Then he began to consume," he explained and let out a deep, soul quenching sigh. "He nearly destroyed Earth before Ryu, our Scion of the Moon, was able to stop him. But just when he had beaten that terrible force, four figures came in and kept him from finishing it," he finished but to her great surprise, he spoke of those four with an extremely foul voice and tone.
"The Priests?" she inquired.
His expression puzzled her further. He couldn't look at her, his head turned and he closed his eyes. Furthermore, his jaw tightened as teeth gritted harshly against teeth, proving to her that this was not something he brought up often. She knew that whatever was about to be said was something that severely troubled the enigmatic youth, to a point where she felt intense pity at his plight. "No, we four were the ones who kept him from ending the suffering," he said bitterly. This information made her gasp and take a small step away in the disbelief that the young man before her could ever act against someone that he cared for. Did she hear right? Had she been wrong about Yamito and his apparent love for his own Moon senshi?
Even though this information was horrid, there was still something he wasn't telling her and she cried out passionately to know the reason, "Why?"
Suddenly, his eyes shot up at her and were glowing – on fire even. This was brushing against the very core of Yamito's suffering and she knew it; knew it when he burned in this way. "We are not like you. Our power comes from a dark place, a teeming void of nothing except raw, unaltered energy. In this form, we can control it," he said breathlessly as his Scion form was in judgment before her. It was nearly maddening, having to stand before her and explain to her why they were the way they were and even more so since her supreme form was seemingly pure and free of any hindering lashes.
She didn't know what to think. The young man sighed deeply and closed his eyes, as if admonishing himself for being harsh with her. All the while, Sailor Moon stared at him with wide eyes, trying to understand more about him and how such a kind soul could be burdened in such a way.
When his eyes opened again, she could almost see it; a swirling mass of blackness which was trapped inside this weak human. It frightened her. "Our Acrolyth form is not so easy to control. Where you enjoy your pure powers, we fight to keep our deepest urges under control," he said and looked her over, as if judging her. She felt the instinctual urge to wrap her arms around her in defense of his eyes but she continued to listen intently as he continued, "There are…two beings inside of every Scion. This other part of us is alive and not alive, dependant on our own personalities to give them form. So, they feed on our desires and weaknesses to try and manipulate us. For me, my other part drives me to seek spiritual awareness but nothing else. For Kage, it's the sheer will to fight and so on. In the end, it was these powers which stopped Ryu from banishing Anubis forever. It was these forces combined with our own that let evil survive."
Now she took a step back, feeling fearful at his admission and weary that he might not be as good as she had hoped. Her defenses raised, she still desperately looked at him for answers and quick relief for her meandering affections. "Wh…what are you saying?" she demanded, but in a weak voice.
It wasn't real. This deep, beautiful person before her somehow kept an evil being from being destroyed? Inside, she almost felt guilty for having these feelings as she did about him. Right now her concern and her disappointment battled for domination and it was a teetering battle inside of her heart and her eyes. How could she act towards him knowing that he had done these things – that he had turned on his own prince? Would he turn against her? Was he technically on her side at all? Again, there were more questions than answers.
Yamito seemed unfazed by the reaction and remained rooted, unchanging in the wake of her quickly molding regard for him. "I'm not seeking absolution for these things. I'm telling you the facts of the matter. Those four Priests carry within them the essence of Anubis. There's no other truth beyond that. We allowed Anubis to survive and it destroyed everything. Now we will end this, no matter the outcome. Anubis and his Priests will be destroyed," he said as a growing resolve bloomed within him once more, as if merely telling someone these things that had been chaining him allowed him to see the end to their long road. As far as he was concerned, the discussion was over. He told her all she needed to know about the threat and the inevitable outcome. When they were gone, her world would return to the way it was before, safe and unaware of the danger that had come to it. In that, at least, he felt a bit of peace.
As he turned back to return to the others, Sailor Moon suddenly had an epiphany. Some small voice inside her mind spoke to her, though she knew neither the words nor the voice. As she was already reeling with the story that had been told to her, her thrashing heart had made it possible to receive an otherworldly sensation, as if someone or something was reaching out to touch her, to tell her. It wasn't the sort of thing that came at will and she quivered, like her own reflection had moved out of sync. Whatever it was, it was such a powerful thought that she just blurted it out, without thought or understanding, "You'll die too!"
Yamito stopped abruptly and didn't move. A single moment of terror coursed through her as she watched him staring harshly at the others, as if he were betrayed. The bound power that she felt inside of him was like nothing she had ever felt, for it thrashed inside of him like a chained beast wanting to rip apart its cage and escape. The way he moved made her unsure of just how close to the surface that power was, whether it would cause him to lash out at her for invading his lunacy. When he looked back to her, she felt justified. His eyes tore her apart in their black depths and she had never felt as uneasy as she did being the victim of such a dark glare from Yamito. When he spoke, the feeling in her stomach increased tenfold. "How do you know this?" he asked.
No name came to mind. In fact, nothing at all filled in the vacant place on her tongue that would answer him. That answer had just been slipped to her under her knowledge and she could offer no answer to his satisfaction. However, despite all of that, she felt empowered by the knowledge and braved a step towards him, her voice rising past her fear of him, "I just know it somehow. Is it true? You'll die if the Priests die?"
This was a truth which he had not planned to share with her, but she had somehow made the situation twice as difficult and infinitely more important for him. Turning back to her slowly, he let out a draining sigh and began the explanation, his heart tired and his mind too fettered to try and imagine where she gained the information. "When humans are duplicated and their essence turned to Gangers, the energy is split equally among the two. This is what is happening to your world now. These people that are attacked have their energy stolen and made into an identical copy, a copy that now serves the Priests and Anubis' army. This is also the case when a Scion is duplicated," he said but he could see this part was over her head. He continued without regard for her understanding. "If you kill one of these copies…if you kill a Ganger, the energy will fill the human's body once more and they will recover. It's like filling a bottle back up with water. However, part of a Scion's power is the ability to quickly restore lost energy, as if the bottle refills itself. This is how we, and I'm sure you as well, can use energy to attack enemies over and over. However, destroy a Priest and that stolen energy will also return back to its host but with deadlier effect. We can barely control what power we have now, so you can imagine doubling that power might have a negative affect on us," he explained with a slight shrug, as if that end were nothing more than the destination of a rocky road.
Though these were dire consequences, he explained them as if it were a school assignment, simply and without passion. She was horrified. Not a single word could escape from the torrent of her mind and this was all to be expected. Seeing the expression on her face, he attempted to bleed that apathy onto her and spoke in a cold tone, "Don't let your emotions cloud your judgment. To destroy the Priests, we Scion have to die as well. It's something we've lived with since the Priests were created. However, things will only return to origin. Four lives to assure your world doesn't end up like ours is an acceptable loss. Our fate is to follow our kind into oblivion."
"How can you say that?" she responded passionately, giving him a pleading glance with all of her goodwill behind it, "There has to be another way to stop them! You can't just give up your life so easily!"
"Easily?" he snapped back and startled her. From the moment she had met him, she knew he hid his feelings well and hardly let an emotional moment pass. She knew that it took a great push to stir him. In that moment, she saw the true fire in the Scion of Mars and it was bright, surpassing any flame she had known before.
But as quickly as it had flamed before her, he once again sunk back into his smoldering disposition. He became suppressed once more. "I have no desire to die, Sailor Moon," he said as he closed his eyes upon a caring face, "but I will in order to end this. We four are but shades of a lost world anyway – doomed to fade into obscurity as those that went before us."
Although he shrouded his emotions well, they still existed under the surface in a torrent of intensity. There was also a latent fear in her eyes as she watched him and the conundrum of Yamito was compounding by every passing moment, making it harder and harder to fight her attraction to him. This guy conducted a vast energy inside and had the complacency to burn whatever was needed to meet his goal. In some ways, he was just as villainous as the Priests. Without as much as a moment to allow her appeal, he turned and headed back towards the others, showing that he was very dedicated to the task of ending the tome of their lives.
But Sailor Moon wouldn't let that book close so easily. "I won't let you do it alone, Yamito. We're part of this too now and we can find a way to beat them without you dying," she called after him in a surprisingly confident voice. He stopped. Whether it was her ability to sound supremely hopeful in the direst of situations, or because he genuinely saw something in her that he thought had died, he didn't know or care. This girl did have an amazing power, possibly enough that she could really do as her heart commanded. There was no reason for her to help them and he had always been skeptic of the blindly charitable, yet he found a part of him, an infinitesimal sliver buried in his soul, believing that she really would find another way.
Yet that part was buried under a landslide of doubt and he only spoke, over his shoulder and back to the one that waited for him, "Do as you wish."
Upon their return, they were confronted with a developing situation in which the now-awakened Sailor senshi were addressing the three mysterious figures that were providing a sincere source of agitation for the weakened soldiers. The sweltering heat had weakened them all but upon being faced with these new figures, they were defensive again and grouped together, like animals with their backs against the wall. The two leaders walked onto the scene just as Sailor Jupiter was acting a shield for the others and addressing the three Scion with clenched fists and a growl. "I asked who you were! Better tell me before I get mad!" she demanded fiercely.
Of course, whenever a situation turned to contention, it was Kage that led the charge. Having wandered over from his secluded spot as soon as the violent intentions of the soldier was know, he stood just outside of a single striking blow, his stance heavy and eyes flashing upon the girl. It was always the fastest way to get his attention – to threaten him. "Your mouth works. Let's see if the rest of you is as strong, sweetcakes," he replied and taunted her further with a very dubious grin. The comment didn't exactly strike her well and she widened her stance a bit to show this jerk how arrogance usually led to a lesson in humility. It seemed things were about to wander into Kage's realm.
"Jupiter!" Sailor Moon cried in hopes to stop them. In a moment of benign humor, the name caused them both to look at her, making her remember that the Scions' power was also based on the planets. That small fact made her grin sheepishly and point to Sailor Jupiter while secretly thanking the moment for diffusing the situation a little bit, "Eh heh, this one I mean." The fact the fight was stopped made Sailor Jupiter loosen a bit, but it caused Kage to snort heavily and look back to her with his arms crossed over his chest; another chance to fight wasted due to inconvenience. Secretly, he wanted her to still come at him as way to blow off the steam he had built up by talking to Yamito. Sailor Moon was concerned about this but Yamito had simply watched the whole thing, not offering a word to stop the fight. Their leadership styles were vastly different and she knew it with every passing breath from the dangerous brawler. "It's okay, Makoto. These are the four that told us about the Priests. They're friends," she said to the surprise of the others, though it made Kage roll his eyes.
That changed everything. Now the Sailor senshi looked at them in a new light and felt eased that they were on the same side. Sailor Jupiter looked back to her opponent with a blink, noticing he was still watching her, though she didn't once back down or turn away. For Kage, he was simply trying to figure out another way to entice her to restart the fight. The two made quite a pair.
However, while the moment now became infantile and a possible staging area for the two groups to get to know one another, the dark Yamito finally pulled his eyes from his female counterpart, as if his secretive analysis had been completed. "We're leaving," Yamito ordered and turned to leave the shrine. It came as surprising to nearly everyone, for Suteki and Kurai truly wished to bond with those that were of the same life as them and the girls were equally interested in learning more about them. Kage was already turning to leave since his fight had already dissipated and he saw these girls as nothing more than a distraction to him and the others. Ultimately, Yamito's word was law among the reluctant two and they stirred as if to leave, offering yearning glances to the struck senshi and silently proclaiming their desires to act otherwise.
"Wait!" said a sharp voice that halted Yamito in his tracks, "We don't know anything about you! How are we supposed to fight these Priests if we can't trust you?" It was Sailor Mars and she was glaring at the dark figure with eyes that were also alight with the consecrated fire of Mars. She glared with all of the greatest moments of distrust and anger, for she was disturbed by the entire thing and especially weary about the young man that shared her planet's light. There was every indication that she truly didn't like Yamito, for his very presence made her uneasy and the way he moved and spoke drove fiercely unwanted feelings through her.
However, he also regarded her with a likened sense of concern. She was also a child of the flame and even a priestess. He was cautious about her, but that fact didn't take away from him turned back to her and letting his vision fill with her. "You know enough. If I were you, I wouldn't seek them out. It takes an illicit power to stand up to those four," he replied. The explanation didn't sit well with her, but that same feeling overcame her mind and she just stared at him, her face still showing signs of her protest. Though Mars shined on them both, it was easy to see which of the two had the greater shadow across their face. That warned her more than anything else. Then, his eyes became distinctly darker. "If you seek guidance, ask the flame," he said, almost as an insult, and turned back, disappearing down the path in spite of all that happened afterwards. There was nothing to say in return. She was unsettled that he seemed so similar to her, and yet so different. Above all else, she believed she hated Kurobashi Yamito.
Kage, by this time, had wandered almost out of the area but had stopped long enough to holler back at the remaining two, if only because these Sailor senshi were something that ran like sandpaper across his skin. "You two better follow your revered leader. These little girls are nothing but a waste of time," he warned, which didn't strike the senshi too well or make them anymore endeared to the brawler.
Kurai, eyeing the distant figure a moment, bowed quickly to the gathering of Sailor senshi and resolved to leave just as instructed, though his heart truly wished him to stay. "Nice to meet you all. Excuse me," he said as a manner of formality, then he turned and walked after Yamito and into the night.
However, the final element of this crew lingered, defiant of the others and following his own perverted longings. "So, we're like guy senshi and you're girl senshi, right? Are you all thinking what I'm thinking?" Suteki quipped and looked between them all with a hopeful glance. He received questioning glances, blinks and flat glares, but he wasn't put down so easily. With a wicked grin, he rubbed his hands together and offered them all a handsome wink and charming voice, "Na, just imagine! Five beautiful girls like you with highly-trained…er, forms? Us dashing Scion and our wicked cool outfits? It's like gravity! And who's the cutest one out of all of us Scion? I could make you bare molars with my wicked skills." The ones who found his antics funny snickered, but Sailor Mars wasn't very amused. In fact, she didn't know if she hated him more or less than the dark leader of their group. But he continued on, making scandalous remarks that were lost on some and interesting to others, much to his own delight. He could have gone all night if it hadn't been for a growl coming from the night.
"Suteki! Get your ass moving or I'm gonna hand it to you on a plate!" Kage snarled from the darkness.
The blonde winced and looked around quickly, as if an attack was imminent and his personal safety was in danger, but then he laughed loudly and dismissed the proximity as nothing but his paranoid memory. As if some great itch was bothering his neck, he rubbed the back of it sheepishly and tossed a thumb over his shoulder towards the shadows that held his ominous friend. "That's Kage. He's a tough guy, but inside he's really a pussy cat. I could tell you stories that would just…" he started but a second voicing from the night instantly ended story time.
"Now!" Kage roared, this time sounding closer.
Once again the boy was startled and jumped back, laughing loudly and waving at his new fan club. "Eh heh, I guess I have to go now. You think about what we talked about and I'll call ya. See ya around!" he said as he backed up far enough to turn and run down the path after the others; just a mop of blonde hair flailing into the night.
With the departure of the last of them, the Sailor senshi were left alone, swimming in an ocean of questions and all looking to Sailor Moon. For the first few moments, she didn't know whether she could smile for their sake, to let them know that everything was going to be okay because she truly didn't know. They all saw the hesitation in her and it weakened them, made them feel a bit more vulnerable and wanting to know just exactly what was going on with the new threat, the new fighters and where they all stood in the midst of it. They all had questions but she only had a few answers.
For the next few hours, she was going to have to field the questions as best as she could, but that was her duty – to share with her friends all of the trouble and sorrow that came with their destinies. Soon enough, all of them knew what was going on, that is, everything except the fact that death came with the life of their world. It was the new equations which morphed the world around them and each of them had just gotten a taste of this new set. But somehow she couldn't tell them about the black cloud that was just beyond the horizon waiting to consume the four figures that had come to their world. Something inside her whispered to omit that. She wondered if it would be a source of great discord among her friends, though she could already tell that discord would be an understatement. She felt it as well. There was something spectacular about those four young men.
In the midst of all of the explanations, Sailor Mars had been the quietest, staring harshly from where she stood and was obviously shaken by the presence of her counterpart. She watched as each of the others was pulled in by the story, seeing the growing sympathy for the four and the plight they had. However, she was no so easily stirred by it and tucked her arms across her chest even further, her eyes glowing like embers out of a coal bed and flickering with just as much passion. "I don't trust them. All four of them have a putrid cloud hanging around them. How do you know these Priests aren't just puppets? You said yourself they admitted to attacking their own Moon soldier," she said, instantly snaring all of the others, though she glared at Sailor Moon solely.
Sailor Moon looked back, her eyes tired and worried that her close friend had felt the same things about the dark leader of the Scion that she had. "That Yamito has a very powerful effect on people, even Rei-chan," she thought, frowning a bit that her little secret wasn't quite as solitary as she hoped. Outwardly, the miko was showing every indication that she truly loathed the boy, but Sailor Moon saw it on her face – the same thing she knew was on her own. A thought. A moment. Everything about him was powerful, enigmatic and terribly hypnotic. It made her shiver and look away from her friend to answer. "They've been through some terrible things. I trust Yamito-san when he says they truly want to defeat the Priests and protect out world. And I want to help them," she replied, hugging herself slightly as she spoke.
While all of the others felt the same way and were empowered by the will of their Princess, Sailor Mars continued to glare, pressing her lips at the very thought of the will that it took to sway the fire the way Yamito did, to cause the flames to obey and worship just by his presence. That invasion of her sacred realm stirred anger in her. Despite all of her good intentions, she simply didn't like the way he affected everything around him. She hated how he affected her. "You could be wrong, you know. Don't be blinded by that sob story…or anything else," she finished and turned to enter the shrine – to enter her home and block everything from her feelings.
"Rei-chan!" Sailor Venus called after her, stepping out to break the air that had formed between the two, "What's gotten into you?" But there was no reply; not from either. Sailor Mars disappeared and Sailor Moon was silent, staring down at the cold ground, trying to push through the torrent of thoughts that were swirling around in her mind and causing her to not think about the words that had been spoken, but only about the subject of them. For the moment, she didn't want to consider if she was right or wrong. She just wanted to be relieved of all those terrible currents thrashing her mind and heart around like ships lost at sea.
Above all else, she desperately wanted to see Mamoru, if only for a single, reassuring moment.