Unexpected Guest
Chapter 2-Meeting Mars
Fidgeting, shuffling, and sighing could be heard from the far corner of the fire room, which occupied a very bored reporter. She finally sighed very loudly and said, "When are you going to be done! I just can't wait here anymore. It's horribly boring in here, not to mention how hot it is! In the past three hours all you've done is stare at that stupid fire! You don't move, you don't even acknowledge that there's another person in the room! Nothing!"
The rant was directed at the priestess that was sitting in the middle of the room in front of a very big bonfire. She too sighed, "If you'd stop interrupting me I'd be able to concentrate properly! You told me you'd be quiet." She turned and faced the reporter for the first time since she had sat down in front of the fire.
"I was quiet! For the first hour! But I don't seem to understand why this takes sooo damn long!" Alice yelled without thinking. Mars jumped to her feet. She knew this earthling wouldn't understand what she was doing. The practices of the Shinto priestesses was lost in the changing from the old world to the new one, and with the rarity of true seers, the only two in Crystal Tokyo were Mars and Neptune. At the moment, though Neptune was on assignment in the outer reaches of the solar system with Uranus, so that left only Mars.
"Get out!" She said in a deathly tone with red fringing her whole body. Alice was so scared that she rushed out as fast as her legs would carry her. Rei smirked and turned back to her fire, being able to concentrate for the first time this morning. Alice ran out of the rushed out of the little red room, and gazed around, thoroughly pissed off at the Senshi.
She wandered over to the nearby courtyard, and stared out at the wonderful sakura trees growing in it. So far things were going very rough. She hadn't expected to be interviewing Mars first, and with the way the day was going so far, she wondered how much she would actually get out of the solitary person.
"I just have to find a way to get her to open up." She concluded. "How hard could it be? She's got a cushiony job; what could her problem be? She seems to take herself very seriously, I wonder why? Has she always been this way? Or is this a result of being a Senshi? Has she always been a Senshi? How do the others put up with such an egotistical person! I mean I've heard of the old having an attitude, but this is the most frustrating thing I've ever encountered! Why? I don't get why she wants people to hate her!"
"Those are great questions Alice." Venus had been listening to the reporters brainstorming session, well maybe not brainstorming, more along the lines of rant session. "I hope you get those answers you're looking for. You'll find that Mars is a very intriguing person, and she can be very thoughtful when she thinks you're worth her time." Minako gave her a small smile and walked up to the half wall that Alice was leaning on. "And not everyone hates her. I happen to love her very much."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to speak badly of Mars-sama, but could you maybe tell me something that'll help… anything?" She looked up at the blonde beauty.
The Venusian cocked her head and surveyed the tall slender woman that stood next to her. The question that had just been asked wasn't one that had an easy answer. "I'd say that the difficulties in Rei's heart are very complex and deep. Not many people have found their way past the damage." Minako's eyes softened and she looked away from the questioning glance of the outsider.
"So you aren't going to give me much insider info to help are you?" Alice said with a laugh and a smile.
"I thought the whole point of this experiment was to get to know us? If I tell you the tricks, what would you be learning? You could learn the basics from any historian. If that was what you were looking for then you could've told us, and we would've been happy to spit it back out to you. I'd still be happy to, so if that's what you would like, ask away. If you truly want to learn more about us then do your research. Study the text about the old world. Study the many volumes there are in the libraries about our lives. Then come back. If you're still interested that is." Venus looked back at her.
"No Venus-sama, I don't want to leave, and I don't want you to just spit out the basics. I know the basics. I've been dreaming of this chance my whole life. The Senshi are my idols. I've studied everything you've done since I could read. I've spent days in the many libraries studying those many volumes; I probably know them better than the people who wrote them." Alice replied looking straight into Venus's eyes. "This is my dream. I won't run away from it. Mars-sama may not want to be very welcoming, but I will still be here at the end of the week." Venus smiled at her determination; it reminded her of someone very close to her heart.
"I'm glad you feel that way. That'll help. Rei isn't the only one of us that has a past, just remember that." With that she walked away.
An hour later Mars immerged from her solitude, drenched in sweat and looking exhausted. Leaning next to the door was the reporter.
"I realize that you don't want to do this. I realize that I'm interrupting your life and that after many millennia of living you're pretty set in your ways, but this is my dream and I won't let anyone mess that up for me. Now I'm sorry that I interrupted your fire reading, but I can't help it. I don't have the patience to sit there." There was more she wanted to say, but she couldn't think of how to phrase the words without angering the woman again, so she just stopped.
Rei looked at her, she had been sure she had frightened the reporter off for at least the day. The disappointment that she hadn't was evident.
"I have to go to powers training now." She said and headed off to her left. After a few feet she stopped and continued. "If you must accompany me, then you better keep up." With that she continued walking.
"I don't think I can keep up with this all week!" And she rushed after the red and white uniform.
The training facility was huge, and as Alice stared up at it, Mars kept walking. She walked straight through the white double doors without glancing back. Mars continued past an Olympic sized gym, that contained a five mile long track, a round area with weapons surrounding it, and another area with weights.
Once they past the common gym they came to a double door with four symbols on it, each door holding two of them. The left door held the symbols of Venus and Mars, and the color changed from a crimson red at the top to a bright vibrant yellow at the bottom. The right door held the symbols of Jupiter and Mercury, and changed color from a deep forest green to the purest of blues. Alice was in awe of the door, she had never been around such treasures.
"Those are extremely beautiful." She exclaimed really to no one, although her companion smiled.
"Yes they are aren't they?" Rei replied as she placed a hand lovingly on the left door, her hand slid from the feminine symbol of Venus down to the masculine symbol of Mars. As Alice watched the tender scene, a keypad appeared and Mars rapidly typed in a code. A loud click could be heard and the heavy doors creaked open. "Hurry up; they won't stay open for long." And Mars walked through letting the doors slowly creak close.
As the doors were closing Alice slid through. The room behind the doors was better than anything else she had seen so far.
The room was divided into four different sections, each for the different Senshi. Actually as Alice examined the room there was a fifth whitish section.
"Um…Mars-sama, who trains in the whitish section?" Alice questioned.
Mars glanced toward the center of the room. "That section isn't used anymore." That was all she said as she headed toward the red area in the back of the room.
The pair reached the room, and Mars turned stopping Alice from reaching the door. "You can't follow me this time. This room can reach temps of over 300 degrees, and can drop to temps under zero, not to mention anything else it throws at me, so it's better that you stay out here. There's no time to talk during powers training, and I don't have time to save you, anyway." With that Mars slid into the door leaving Alice outside to once again wonder if she'd get through the week.
As she found a place to sit she thought that it was convenient that she could see through the glass, at least she wouldn't be bored.
"How bad can it be? It's not like Crystal Tokyo is a violent place or anything. We haven't had an attack from anything in my lifetime. So why do they need all this?"
Mars cracked her neck and went over to the control panel. There was a note from Venus that she needed to spend her extra hour practicing against ice attacks. 'Damn Mercury!' Mars thought, she hated ice, and she had had quite enough of it already today.
"Well, I'll start with target, and then move to dodging for a warm up, and then full combat, and finally I'll battle the stupid ice." She said as she typed the commands into the mini computer.
Alice wasn't really sure what to expect as she sat on the bench looking into the glass room Sailor Mars occupied, but what she got surpassed anything she had every imagined.
The glassed in room grew darker, and Mars ignited her hands ready for the target that was sure to appear any second now.
To her left a giant youma popped out from the fog and she flung a stream of fire at him. The monster vanished and another appeared in front of her, she sent another jet of fire at that one.
Alice couldn't keep her eyes off of the room, and the fluid movements of the Martian. Mars moved with her fire like she was involved in a dance. A youma appeared to her left and she sent a burst of flame at him, before she could turn around another youma appeared to her right, and without hesitating she swung her right arm out sending even more fire at the second youma. Alice was shocked to see how much concentration went into just the training. As those youma died another figure appeared, but Mars didn't incinerate this form, instead she ran up to it and picked up running to a mark on the floor. Alice noticed this thing wasn't a youma at all, instead it was a person. The person vanished as more youma appeared distracting Mars once again.
Finally the room brightened up and Alice stood and started to walk toward the door. As she was about to reach the door a youma appeared sending spikes at the spot that Mars stood, but she wasn't there, she had dodged missing the spikes completely. A quick Flame Sniper got rid of him, as she prepared for more.
"I guess it isn't over then." Alice commented to herself as she reclaimed her spot on the bench.
Just as Alice thought she could finally keep up with Sailor Mars's insanely quick movements there was a weird sound, and the ground in the room started to shake, then rise. Mars was no longer on flat ground, so keeping up with her was near impossible.
The youma kept coming, as did the citizens that Mars had to save.
Just as Alice was getting bored of the red and the fog, the glass cleared up. Instead of the dense fog of before, the walls seemed to be crystallizing. She again walked up to the wall, and as she was about to place a hand on the glass she felt the chill, and realized that the room was dropping temperature very rapidly. A bluish tint came over the air, and Alice could see great globs of ice all around. The mountain that had constructed itself turned into a glacier right under the feet of Sailor Mars.
"Oh yay…fun time." Mars groaned. She really hated ice, but she cranked her fingers and set her stance. She would be ready for whatever the cold could throw at her.
The first round of youma simply threw chunks of ice, which Mars melted while they were still in mid-air. During the second round the winds picked up as an ice storm appeared. Mars was struck by a quick wind and went flying into a block of ice.
"Ow. That hurt." She said to herself as she stood back up ready for whatever else was going to happen.
Alice had winced as she saw the woman fly back. It hadn't looked like it would've been fun to experience. Shortly after the room went blank and Mars walked out, finally done for the day.
"Shower." Was all she said as Alice opened her mouth to say something.
The locker room was very small, consisting of five lockers, five showers, and five toilets.
"Why do you have five of everything? Aren't there only four Senshi?" Alice asked as Rei shuffled through her locker looking for her shampoo, conditioner, and soap.
"Technically there are nine Senshi. The Outers just aren't that well known." Rei replied as she grabbed her towel and headed to the showers.
"I know about the Outer Senshi, but if this locker room was for them as well wouldn't there be nine of everything, instead of five?" Alice again asked.
"This locker room isn't for them. They have they're own training facility on the other side of the building." And she headed into the showers leaving the reporter very angered.
"That's not what I asked!" She huffed and leaned against the tiled wall. "She doesn't even want to answer my questions. How am I supposed to get anything done if she won't even give me a second thought?" Alice sat thinking, after ten minutes or so Rei emerged from the shower with her towel draped around her. She proceeded to grab her clothes and dry off; Alice didn't know what to do. As she dried herself off she hummed a very old tune, one that no one except the Senshi knew. It was very melodic, and at times she would switch from humming to half singing the words.
"That's very pretty. I don't think I've ever heard it. Who sings it?"
"I do." Was her reply.
"Mars-sama," Alice started. "Do you mind if we call it quits for the day. I shall meet you tomorrow at the fire room, and I'll try my best to be quiet."
"Sure, I'll see you tomorrow." Rei smiled as Alice left very quickly.
"I hope you didn't scare her off!" Minako shouted as she stepped out of one of the shadows.
"Are you following me around dear?" Rei asked without a second glance.
"Frankly…yes, I wanted to make sure that you didn't kill her." Mina stated as Rei laughed.
"Why would I kill her? She's just a human; I have dealt with them all my life you know." She smiled while loosening the towel just a bit, giving Venus just enough of a show to accelerate her heart beat just a bit. "Why do we have to talk about that reporter right now? We are alone in here you know."
"Um…we are." Mina replied with her eyes glued to the towel.
"Yup." Rei replied as she reached Minako and kissed her.
Disclaimer: I don't own the character's of Sailor Moon. I don't do this for money. I do this because it's fun.
Thanks go out to everyone that reviewed chapter one. I'm glad you liked it!
R&R please
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