A.N.:Sorry, but this isn't a new chapter. It's just the last one rewritten—I cut some scenes and tweaked others, and hopefully it'll make more sense this time around.

My thanks to Destiny's Darkness for the advice!

CHAPTER FIVE: Unwanted Answers

"I found him."

Mina was across Amy's bedroom in less than an instant, reaching Amy's side almost before the tiny genius had finished speaking. She hovered over Amy, one hand lightly resting on the younger girl's shoulder as she bent to look at Mercury's computer.

The blonde wasn't smiling as she began scanning the words scrawled across the monitor, and Amy couldn't help wincing at the tension still tightening the older girl's lips. Mina had been like this ever since their encounter with Zoicite a few hours before, and Amy was starting to wonder if the familiar mischievous humor would ever return to the blonde's eyes. She wished it would, because it just wasn't…natural for Mina not to be laughing.

Amy winced again, knowing that she was almost as much to blame for Mina's anger as Zoicite her…er, himself. Zoicite was just another enemy, even if he was one they'd fought before, but Amy…

Amy should have known better. What was wrong with her, that she'd almost used Mina's name in front of him? If Mina hadn't stopped her in time, Amy might have given Zoicite a way to find them. What had she been thinking?

She hadn't.

Mina was right to be furious.

Not that Mina had said anything, or that she would. That wasn't the way the blonde worked, and in any case, they both knew Amy was punishing herself enough.

"Is this all we know about him?"

Amy bit her lip, forehead wrinkling as she allowed her own eyes to rake back over the words on the screen. "Yes." She sighed, glancing almost apologetically up at the head of the senshi. "He's just a publisher, Mina. He's not important enough to have fangirl sites or a government file. This is the best I could do."

Mina glanced down at her friend, and perhaps she'd caught the misery in Amy's expression, because her own suddenly eased. "It's fine, Amy," she murmured almost gently, though she'd already turned her eyes back to the data Amy had collected. The blonde reached out, ran a slender finger down the screen as she read. "I'm not blaming you."

The tiny genius went rigid, wondering if that applied to the fiasco with Zoicite, as well.

Mina couldn't possibly have missed the strain in Amy's posture, but she didn't pursue it. She simply continued reading, her blue eyes sharp with more intelligence than she usually allowed herself to show. Her lips were moving soundlessly as she read, but then she stiffened, her finger pausing roughly halfway down the screen. Amy heard the blonde's breath hitch, and she thought those blue eyes hardened just a little more. "Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?"

Amy leaned forward, eyes locking onto the place Mina was indicating. She frowned. "What?"

She hadn't really needed to ask. The answer became obvious as soon as she followed Mina's finger to the screen. Is this…?

Amy's eyes widened, and she began to curse softly.

Mina pulled her finger back, letting her hand drop down to her side. She was a trifle paler than she'd been, but her expression had become almost infuriatingly calm. "Well," she muttered after a long moment of silence, her voice curiously tight for all that it was so emotionless, "I guess that answers that."

Amy's head jerked in something that wasn't quite a nod. She didn't have the words to make a reply; a single thought was running through her head, and it was unpleasant enough that she couldn't focus on anything else.

Which one of us will be their executioner?

Raye was angry.

Granted, Raye was pretty much always angry—saying that Raye was furious was like saying the sun had risen in the east or that winter followed autumn. It was just the natural order of things, and it really meant nothing. Still, today was different, if only because Raye's anger had reached monumental proportions. She wasn't just mad…she wasfurious.

And she had reason to be. It wasn't every day, after all, that Raye had to deal with a psychotic killer lying in wait to attack and murder her. It wasn't every day that she had to worry about said psychotic killer chasing down her friends or trying to take over the world, either.

Oh, wait…that was something she worried about every day…

Raye sighed. Sometimes she really hated her life.

It didn't help that for once she didn't know what she was dealing with, how she should react. All of the other enemies had followed a predictable pattern, a sort of villain's code of conduct with steps that they all seemed to obey religiously: they'd decide to attack the earth—and get some truly hideous outfit to celebrate the occasion—send a minion to collect energy or freaky mirrors or whatever the heck the bad guys wanted that time, then stupidly expect that minion to annihilate the senshi all on its own.

Not that Raye really blamed their enemies for underestimating the senshi. Nobody in their right minds—not that their enemies ever were, of course—would expect girls in mini-skirts to be fighters at all, let alone decent ones. Still, none of the senshi could ever understand why, after the first goon had melted or evaporated or turned to ash, the bad guys always decided to just repeat the process.

Wasn't that the definition of stupidity—doing the same thing over and over and still expecting a different outcome?

Raye wasn't complaining—their idiocy certainly made her life easier, and she could even say she liked the pattern. Sure, she usually ended up dying horribly in the inevitable final battle, but at least it was…simple. Predictable.

This wasn't exactly simple, because this enemy wasn't acting like he should. He hadn't sent a single minion—no, not one—and as far as they knew, he wasn't directly attacking anybody.

It was frustrating as hell.

She didn't know what to expect from Malachite. She had no doubt at all that he was evil, but he hadn't made a move. He hadn't done anything to warrant suspicion, though of course Raye wasn't going to let a little thing like that stop her. Malachite was going to die, and soon.

It had to be soon, in any case. Raye had been noticeably distracted since all of this had begun, and she hated that. She resented the fact that she hadn't been able to concentrate in class, that her mind couldn't let go of the possibilities or her fears. She also hated the fact that, today of all days and the first time since she'd known him, her professor had actually noticed that she kept zoning out.

Noticed and called her on it.

She'd been embarrassed. Raye was a proud woman, and hearing the little titters from her idiotic classmates when the professor had called her name yet again had really grated on her last nerve.

Raye had tried to be good and just take it, really she had, but she didn't have patience even on her best days, and this certainly hadn't been one of her best days. After only a few minutes, she'd stood, her face pale with fury, her mulberry eyes snapping with her ire, and told the professor where to go. Then, knowing full well that she'd regret all of it later, she'd stormed from the class.

At least the titters had stopped.

Raye knew better than to give herself a chance to think about the consequences of her actions as she stomped from the campus, and she knew that as long as she stayed mad, she wouldn't have to. So she fed her anger, dredged up every memory of Malachite, forced herself to remember the pain he'd inflicted, the heartache he'd caused.

It was a good thing that she still didn't know where he lived.

And it was a very bad thing that Raye knew where Amy lived.Even if I have to kill her in the process, I'll get that address. Malachite is going to die.

She was halfway to Amy's when her phone began to ring, and she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, cursing violently as she dug around in her bag for the obnoxious thing. Why didn't I think to just call her? She might not even be home.

Oh, yeah. Easier to torture information from her in person.

Raye lifted the cover of her phone, put it to her ear without bothering to see who might be calling. "What?"

"Um…Raye?"

Raye almost cackled with malicious glee. Perfect."Amy," she began, voice soft and as deadly as a knife thrown expertly in the dark, "just the person I wanted to talk to." Her voice dropped even more, became almost seductive. "Where are you, Ames? We really need to chat."

Amy cleared her throat rather awkwardly, obviously sensing the danger she was in. "I…don't think I should tell you, Raye," she finally said. "You sound a little too much like a bad villain right now."

A look of hurt crossed Raye's face, though of course it wasn't real, and she knew Amy couldn't see it anyway. "You wound me, Amy," she said. "Why would you say something like that?"

Amy sighed into the phone. "You're plotting my death right now, aren't you." It wasn't really a question.

Raye considered it anyway, then settled on telling the truth. "No," she retorted. "I'm not plotting your death, Ames. I'm plotting Malachite's." She huffed. "Don't be silly."

The senshi of ice sighed again, and if there was just a tiny bit of relief in the sound…well, that was to be expected. "Mina said you're not allowed to go near him, Raye."

The priestess rolled her eyes at the unnecessary reminder. "I know Mina said I can't kill him," she bit back, "but I really, really want to, Amy, and after all he did, he deserves to die. Won't you be a good friend and just tell me where he lives?"

"What happened, Raye?"

Raye started to shrug, belatedly remembered that Amy couldn't see that, either. "He pissed me off," she answered simply.

"How? Did you run into him or something?"

"No." She snorted. "If I'd seen him, don't you think he'd already be dead?" She sighed. "I was just thinking about him, and…stuff happened. I'm annoyed, and it's his fault that I was distracted, so now I want to kill him." She paused, considered her own words, ignored the fact that she sounded a bit too much like Mina. "More than I already did, anyway."

Silence.

"Pretty please, Amy? It'll only take a minute or two. You tell me where he lives, I run over and fry him…I'll be home for dinner, and then Mina won't have to worry about him anymore. We'll all be happy."

"Raye…"

Amy's voice should have been dismissive, maybe even irritated. It shouldn't have been hesitant, not even a little bit.

Raye's eyes sharpened, even her rather playful fury fading. "What's wrong, Amy?" she suddenly demanded, voice as hard as her face had become. "What aren't you telling me?"

Amy was silent for a long moment. Then… "We've found something, Raye," she finally muttered. "We think it might be our answer."

"Answer?"

"About whether or not Malachite is actually evil."

Raye nodded, voice becoming brisk, businesslike. Soldier-like. "I'll be at the temple in twenty minutes," she told her fellow warrior, knowing that whatever it was couldn't be said over the phone.

She snapped her phone shut, not even bothering to say goodbye before she turned and began sprinting in the opposite direction. She'd disappeared in less than an instant, never once noticing the thoughtful green eyes that had been trained on her the entire time, never once realizing that her conversation had been overheard.

A.N.I cut this scene, because it just didn't fit, but I could see it happening under different circumstances, so I thought I'd let you read it anyway.
"Paper."

"Damn. Rock."

"Ha! I win! I'm da bomb!"

Pause. Then… "There's no logic in this. Rock should squash paper."

"That's stupid. Paper is already flat."

"Maybe, but at least the rock will hold the bloody paper down."

Another pause in the argument, this one borne more from amusement. "That's quite the potty mouth you've developed, Ames. Someone's obviously been spending too much time around Haruka."

Amy rolled her eyes, though she didn't bother to reply. She'd learned, over the years, that sometimes ignoring Mina was the only way to preserve her sanity; this was one of those times.

The blonde was smirking. "I won," she joyfully informed her tiny companion, "so you have to call Raye."

Venus Smurf's Quotes of the Day:

Courtesy of JadesRose: My body was willing, but the lips refused to comment.

Courtesy of XyoushaX (Well, this is part of XyoushaX's response to the chapter, but it was funny enough that I want to quote it):

Amy's response to Zoi's flirting:

Zoicite: "Interesting magazine you were reading."

Amy: (sniff) "Weren't you supposed to be a girl?"

Courtesy of Venus Smurf: "I love to shop after a bad relationship. I don't know. I buy a new outfit and it makes me feel better. It just does. Sometimes I see a really great outfit, I'll break up with someone on purpose." (Rita Rudner)