Chapter Four
Mysteries
The five Sailor Scouts sat on the floor of Raye's bedroom around the table. Their homework was sprawled out over the table, but they hadn't even gotten through five math problems within the hour. Except Ami, of course, who managed to finish them quickly while the Sailors were discussing business. This time, the two cats, guardians of the Sailor Scouts, were present.
"Maybe the Youma was the only enemy. Maybe we have nothing to worry about." Mina suggested.
"No, that doesn't make any sense." Leta shook her head. "That Youma couldn't have been the leader. What kind of leader does his own dirty work?"
"Or her own dirty work? We don't know that either. It could be a he or a she." Luna said. She was sitting in Serina's lap.
"Yes, we need to find out who sent the Youma and why, and then how to destroy it," Artemis commented while standing on the table.
"Yeah, but that thing was powerful!" Serina blabbered while crushing a cookie in her mouth. "More powerful than any enemy we've every faced before."
Ami was typing away at her computer, watching the video data from the battle that her computer picked up. She sighted deeply and rubbed her hand through her hair. "Serina is right. We are talking more powerful than ever before." She shook her head. "I think this is too much for us."
"It can't be!" Leta exclaimed. "There's nobody else to protect the universe! We have to find a way!"
Mina glanced over at Raye. The raven haired girl had her arms folded over her homework and her chin rested atop her arms.
Not paying attention, Raye shuffled a bit once Mina asked her something. "What…what did you say?" Raye snapped out of her daydream.
"I asked you what you thought."
"About what?" Raye asked.
Mina rolled her eyes. "Weren't you listening?"
"I…uh…" Raye stuttered, caught off guard.
"What were you thinking about? A boy?" Serina teased.
Raye started to blush a deep shade of red.
"Was it Ryotaru?" Mina asked.
Serina stood up with a wide grin on her face. "I bet it was Tuxedo Samurai!" Serina chirped.
"Oh, shut up!" Raye hissed, completely embarrassed.
The black cat crawled out of Serina's lap and stood up on the table with Artemis. "Yes, Raye, tell us about this Tuxedo Samurai. We haven't heard your side of the story."
Everyone looked at Raye, which embarrassed her greatly. She shifted in her seat to stall a bit. "Well, there really isn't much to say. I mean, I'm sure everyone's already said everything…"
"What was it like when he kissed you?" Serina interjected.
Turning even deeper red, the Sailor of Fire's cheeks set ablaze in embarrassment. Again, her voice stuttered and cracked as she tried to explain what happened without showing her feelings. While she was choking on her words, someone started knocking on the door. "I better get that, excuse me." Raye quickly scrambled up and headed towards the sliding door. She was relieved until she opened the door and saw who was behind it. "What do you want?" She snapped harshly.
Not looking up once, the blonde haired boy sat kneeling in front of Raye's door with a tray of many cups. "Raye-san, I overheard that you had company, and I thought you would like tea for your guests."
"Sounds like you were just trying to spy on us!" Raye snapped. "Why don't you just leave us alone and go home?"
"I have no home, Raye-san," Kyoji said, without looking up.
Raye bit her lip and sighed angrily. "Fine, just leave the tea and go away. I don't appreciate you eavesdropping on us!"
"As you wish, Raye-san." Kyoji got up off his knees and walked down the deck towards the other rooms of the house.
Raye picked up the tray of tea, closed the door, and set the tea on the table next to the cats.
"Who was that?" Artemis asked.
"That's Raye's fiancé!" Leta blurted then laughed.
"Shut up, Leta!" Raye hissed and threw a pillow at Leta.
"Geeze, why don't you lighten up?" Leta asked, offended. "You know, Kyoji was just being nice."
"You're getting married?" Luna and Artemis asked.
Simultaneously, Raye exclaimed "No!" while the other sailors blurted out "Yes."
"I am not marrying him!" Raye insisted.
Mina grabbed one of the cups of tea. "What's wrong with him? So what, he's a little shy! He's so awfully good-looking…"
"Mina, think about it! What if he was spying on us?" Raye interrupted. "Do you think it'd be a good idea if our identities got out?" Raye tossed her hands in the air. "What am I saying? They are already out! How in the world do you think that Youma knew to attack me and where I lived?"
The Sailors fell silent. Raye stopped and pondered for a moment. "Something isn't right. I don't trust that guy."
"Kyoji is perfectly harmless!" Serina laughed.
"You don't know that!" Raye snapped. "I say we keep a careful watch on that guy. Things are not making sense here."
"That's ridiculous!" Serina rolled her eyes.
"She does have a point, Serina. How did that Youma know to attack Raye when she wasn't in Sailor uniform?" Ami sighed. "As much as I hate to say it, we have to be cautious towards everyone—even Kyoji."
Serina sighed. "I just don't think it's him. I can't imagine him having an evil bone in his body."
"Well, I guess we better just keep a close eye on him." Luna said. "We never know when it comes to the Negaverse."
It was a cold and forsaken realm—always cold, dark, empty, and lonely. Miles of ice carved tunnels and chambers was all the realm seems to be composed of. There was no green grass or any sort of plants—only rock and ice. Within this realm was the Great Throne Room. It was the largest of the chambers carved out of this cave-like realm. There the Great Queen sat. She was sickly and weak, but growing in strength and power. When the world thought she was long gone and dead, she sat quietly in the outer-realms of the Negaverse gaining her strength. With the help of her two daughters, Morganite and Amethyst, Queen Beryl had been revived.
The sickly Queen sat slumped in her throne, but nevertheless, her sour personality and attitude remained the same. Finding some strength, the Queen rose from her throne and walked to the middle of the chamber. In the floor was a pool of misty water. The opal colored liquid swirled and turned all on its own creating a frothy mist that hovered above the waters. The Queen starred down into the waters at her murky reflection. Soon, other reflections appeared into the water. The Queen didn't bother to glance up as others crowded around her.
"The water has shown us many things, but many things are still unclear, my Queen. Who exactly are we looking for?"
The old Queen finally glanced up. In her presence, four new generals, and her two daughters stood. There was Azariah, the General of Fire. Her skin was tanned and her hair a fierce red. Her eyes glowed like orange embers, and her personality was just as fiery. Behind Azariah was Kanejiro. He appeared to be more ghostly and possessed rather than a living being. He was a human, but his glowing red eyes clearly revealed that he was possessed by something unnatural. This was Queen Beryl's General of Metal. On the other side of the pool stood Kaiba. His hair was dark blue and his eyes like ice. He was a quiet man who kept to himself mostly, but was known for having a temper. He was the General of Ice. Finally, there was Alexandrite. She was the General of Wind. Her hair was blue with green and purple streaks.
There were two other women. One had light purple hair with dark purple eyes while the other had bright pink cotton candy hair and red eyes. The purple haired woman was Amethyst and the pink haired woman was Morganite. They were twin sisters born from Beryl many thousands of years ago. In fact, many of the Generals were just as old. The realm they were in was outside the normal realm of time and space. The Negaverse was a place of outcast and abandonment. It was only here that Beryl could hide and regain her strength. With the help of her two daughters, she was growing stronger than she ever could have imagined.
"My Queen, if you don't mind telling us, what exactly are we looking for?" Alexandrite asked again.
The Queen shook her head away from her distracting thoughts. She waved her hand over the murky pool water. The entire pond turned into one big picture. Clear pictures of the city of Tokyo started to appear in the water. In the pictures, the modern day city started evolving into Crystal Tokyo right before their eyes. "I have seen into the future. Crystal Tokyo is going to be born soon." Beryl paused and glanced over the pictures. "This could mean the end of the Negaverse as we know it if Crystal Tokyo is birthed into reality."
"How do we stop it?" Azariah asked.
The old Queen waved her hand over the waters again. "There are many concerns we need to deal with if we are to be victorious." Pictures of the past started to appear in the waters. There was a young man walking through the hallways of the Moon Kingdom Palace with Queen Serenity. "There is another heir to the throne of the Moon Kingdom. Princess Serina is not the only one."
"What do you mean?" Amethyst questioned. "Queen Serenity only had one child, the Princess Serina."
"Yes, quite true, but you forget her nephew, the Prince."
"She had a nephew?" Morganite looked puzzled.
"Yes, he was the son of Serenity's younger sister, Princess Charity. His parents were killed when he was a boy, and Princes Serenity adopted him as her own child." Beryl pondered for a moment. "He was the Prince of the Moon Kingdom and General of the Moon Kingdom's Armies. This is the one I want. He holds the key to our success."
"Why?" The daughters both asked.
Slightly annoyed with the questions, Beryl rolled her eyes. "The Moon Kingdom Prince has royal blood. He is eligible to sit on the throne and rule Crystal Tokyo."
"So?" Morganite asked.
Queen Beryl rolled her eyes.
"So if he's on our side…" Kaiba, the Ice General piped in.
"Exactly," Queen Beryl nodded. She looked back to the waters. "We need to find the Moon Kingdom Prince. That is why I have the Generals. They are to find this boy and bring him to me."
The two daughters nodded along with the four generals.
Beryl gazed deeply into the water. Unlike everyone else, she could see past the murky haze deep down into the water. Sitting at the bottom was a silver staff with a red garnet. The red garnet jewel started to glow, but only Queen Beryl could see it. As she started at the silver key-shaped staff, she grinned deeply. She dismissed the Generals and her daughters, leaving her completely alone in the cave chamber.
The old Queen walked away from the pool in the center of the room towards one of the icy cave walls. Near the back, was a small crevice that Queen Beryl started to walk through. It was like a small hallway with jagged rock and ice sticking out, but after a few moments, the small passageway led the Queen into a small room.
"Warm enough?" The Queen laughed, looking over to the wall.
Against the wall in the shadows was a figure chained to the wall. The figure's arms were chained above her head, and her feet chained to the ground. Her head hung low and body shivered furiously from the cold. The dark Queen walked over to the figure and placed her hand on the chin of the prisoner. "What's the matter, Sailor Pluto?"
"I am not Sailor Pluto anymore." The young woman managed to utter through her chattering teeth and weak voice.
"But you still possessed that staff, which by the way, is helping me formulate my domination so easily."
"You'll never succeed!" the prisoner exclaimed.
Queen Beryl shook her head, tilting the prisoner's head up into the light. Beryl glanced over the weak and famished face and the messy green hair that drooped in front of it. "Trista, is it? Is that what you been going by these days?" Beryl smirked then continued. "You see my dear, I am well on my way to defeating the Sailors as we speak with the help of your old trinket."
"I'll destroy you!" Trista spat.
Beryl shook her head. "I think you're forgetting some things here, Trista. Look who is chained like an animal to the wall." The dark Queen licked her lips then bared her fangs. "Remember that your husband is under my spell." The Queen's hand trailed from Trista's chin, down her shoulder and arm towards Trista's stomach. The evil Queen placed her hand on Trista's large belly. "You're in no condition to fight me. You're going to be a mommy."
Trista tried her hardest to squirm away from Beryl's touch. "If you harm my husband or me, I'll…"
"You'll what?" The dark Queen spat angrily while grabbing one of Trista's chains. She pulled it tighter, making the chains stretch Trista's arms.
Trista cried out in pain as the dark Queen watched. "If you do not submit to me, do not think I won't hesitate to kill your husband or even murder your unborn child!" The Queen gave one more jerk to the chains then quickly released them. Trista's body flung forward and dropped in a jerking motion which made her cry out in pain. The Queen quickly turned around and left the prisoner to herself.
As Trista's head hung low, she was forced to stare at her large stomach. She closed her eyes as heavy tears leaked out and fell onto her stomach. "Please, Kanejiro. Don't let her control you. Break the spell," She prayed faintly to herself.
It felt like so many years ago. She had left the Sailor Scouts after stopping time to save their lives. Surely, she thought she was to be executed for such an action, but surprisingly, through the mercy of the spirit of Queen Serenity talking to Chronos, the Guardian of Time, Trista was allowed to live; however, she was to be banished to the outer-world. It was a dark and forsaken world. She wandered around for so long—she wasn't even sure how long. Only occasionally would she run into another soul or two, but they were usually horrible people, sentenced to banishment in the outer-world. It was a cold and lonely existence. Wishing she was dead, she wandered aimlessly throughout this world until she met him. His name was Kanejiro. He wasn't evil, and he didn't deserve banishment. He was lost by falling into a realm door, and he couldn't find his way out. The two met and soon became lovers, and together they searched for a way out of the outer-world.
Despite the pain and suffering she was currently in, her memories almost made her smile. Nobody, herself included, thought she was the type to get married and have kids, but here she was, in what she considered the happiest time of her life, a wife and soon to be mother. She imagined what it would be like to tell the Outer Sailor Scouts the news. But her body shivered again, and the memories faded away into the darkness. The reality was that while Kanejiro and Trista searched for a gateway out of outer-world, Queen Beryl and her forces kidnapped them. They stole Trista's staff, and took over Kanejiro's mind. She closed her eyes again and prayed for help.
Late that afternoon, the four girls stepped out of Raye's bedroom to go back to their own homes for the night. The four girls sat down on the deck to put their shoes back on.
"Don't wait up for me. I have to restring my laces on my sneakers," Serina mumbled as she tried to undo the shoe strings.
Leta stood up with the other two girls. "Alright then. See you later, Serina."
Serina glanced up. "Yeah, bye!"
Ami, Mina, and Leta stepped down from the deck and walked down the stone sidewalk that cut through the courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard was a makeshift table set up. There were stacks of clay pots, bags of dirt, and nursery plants all over the workstation. Kyoji stood at the table quietly pruning a bonsai tree. He glanced over at the girls and made brief eye contact with the girls.
Mina faintly waved then turned her head away while Leta didn't even look at all. Ami slightly smiled but quickly turned her eyes back to the ground.
"We better just be careful," Leta whispered as the girls scurried away towards the exit of the temple.
Kyoji stared at the rushing girls for a moment then sighed. He continued back to his work. He wasn't a person who experienced many hobbies, but this was one of the things he grew up doing and learned to enjoy. Everyone thought he groomed bonsai into works of pure art, but he would always sigh and shrug off their compliments. He never believed he was any good, but people who visited the Tsukiyama Shrine would always ask to purchase his masterpieces. Today, however, he merely worked on his craft alone and solely for the purpose of beautifying the Cherry Hill Temple.
"Hello Serina-san."
Serina stepped forward from behind him and took a place on his left side. "How did you know it was me?"
"Your footsteps, for one." Kyoji kept trimming the tree. "And I saw the other three leave, and I highly doubt Raye-san…" He trailed off.
"I'm really sorry Raye yelled at you earlier. She's just under a lot of stress right now."
Kyoji stopped trimming the tree and put his hands down on the table. "What do you think?" He asked, referring to the tree.
"It's beautiful."
"Be honest."
Serina looked at the tree again. "It really is beautiful, but…" She paused for a moment. "…maybe you could fix this branch a little bit?" She lightly touched one of the branches and lifted it up.
Kyoji looked over at her and smiled. It was such a rare thing from him that Serina smiled herself. "I couldn't agree more," Kyoji said while picking the trimmers back up. "Perhaps, you'd like to trim one yourself?"
Serina shook her head. "I haven't done this since the third grade. It was so ugly I don't even think my mother wanted to keep it."
"That was then, this is now." Kyoji kept trimming.
Serina finally nodded. "Alright." She grabbed one of the trees that was ready to be trimmed and took the trimmers in her hand. "So where did you learn how to do this?"
"Tsukiyama Shrine."
"What else did you do there?"
"Chores."
"That's it?"
"Yes." Kyoji started to pick up his pace of trimming. "Chores, school, and martial arts."
"Now that you're in Tokyo, is there anything new you want to try?" Serina stopped trimming and looked over at Kyoji.
Kyoji completely stopped. He rested his hands on the table and pondered deeply for a moment. Serina stood in silence as she could tell that Kyoji's mind was turning and stirring. "I'd like to learn to play guitar someday."
"Guitar? That's great. I love to hear guitar music." Serina picked up her trimmers again. "What makes you want to learn guitar?"
Kyoji shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Just because, I guess." He started trimming on the tree again.
The two of them continued trimming on their trees and lightly chatting for the rest of the afternoon.