Helping Hotaru
Chapter VI: Training
The girls finally made it to the Hikawa Shrine. Standing near the temple itself was Osaka Naru.
"Naru? What are you doing here?"
(BGM: Crisis Core FF7: Chaotic Battlefield)
"I'm here…to kick your ass Usagi!"
The orange haired girl cleared the distance between her and the Senshi in a single leap, slamming her right fist into Usagi's nose. The pigtailed girl was knocked backwards, falling in a slight arc. Naru then grabbed Usagi by the arm and spun twice, launching her into Haruka and Michiru. She swung her left leg out and caught Ami in the side of the head, then hopped into a back hand swing that knocked Minako to the ground.
"Aaaa! Naru! What are you doing?!"
The girl had an unusual look on her face. "Come on Usagi! Can't bring yourself to fight your best friend?!"
The girl charged at Usagi again, only to have her way blocked by Makoto. She didn't slow down though. In fact she smirked and leapt over Makoto, slamming her heel into the back of the brunette's head and flipping off it, continuing her charge at the moon princess.
Setsuna tried to kick the girl, but her leg was caught by Naru's open palm. The orange haired girl fell backward and pulled Setsuna over her. Slamming first her right foot, then her left then both feet into the mocha skinned woman's back, Naru popped the older woman into the air. Arcing her own back, she flipped onto her feet and leapt over Setsuna, extending her right leg and slamming her heel into the rising woman's chest, smashing her back to the ground.
"That…can't be Naru! She's got to be under some sort of spell! Moon Eternal Ma-urk!"
"Too slow!"
Naru slammed a fist into Usagi's gut in the middle of her incantation to transform. It was at that moment that everything became clear to Hotaru.
I recognize this…this is how…
Hotaru smiled slightly knowing what was going on. As Naru swung her leg at Usagi, she blinked in shock as Hotaru caught it with her left hand.
What? But, I don't want to- I see…she finally figured it out. Don't worry, she understands. Go ahead and fight her as well. But she's…its ok. She's been reincarnated twice, no longer is she stricken with that horrible condition. If you say so…
Naru had to pull back as Hotaru swung an open palm at the girl's stomach. Oh and…try not to let her hit you. She's mastered channeling her own spiritual energy into her body parts to enhance their abilities. A single palm strike from her could quite possibly knock you unconscious.
Barely evading the pale girl's attacks Naru replied sarcastically. Gee thanks, anything else you want to share with the class? Yeah. Duck.
Without questioning the order, the orange haired girl dropped to the ground, not only ducking under one of Hotaru's impressive fan kicks, but also evading Haruka's flying kick…which hit Hotaru directly in the face.
"Gah! Fucking IDIOT!"
The pale girl slammed her fist into the short haired woman's face, breaking her nose and knocking her on her back. Seething, the pale girl punted Haruka in the side, which sent the older woman flying a good bit of distance.
Damn, that's not good.
Naru jumped back as Hotaru swung her arm in a wild arc towards her. But she wasn't prepared for the invisible wave of force to slam into her. She tumbled backward a bit and hit the shrine wall.
"Ow…"
Hotaru was about to continue her assault when a pair of strong, but gentle arms wrapped around her.
"Easy there Hime…just relax."
Hotaru turned her head to see Kairyuu holding her. She sighed and relaxed herself.
(BGM: Chrono Trigger – Corridors of Time)
The other girls groaned as they got up slowly, nursing their injuries.
"What the hell was that?!"
Hotaru held out a hand to Naru, who took it and rose herself. Kairyuu spoke. "That, was a test. One you all failed, miserably I might add."
Irritated, Haruka yelled at him. "What the fuck kind of test was that?!"
"A test to see if you could actually do anything worthwhile outside of your Senshi forms. So far, only Hotaru actually did anything…but…"
She shook her head. "I've been trained by him, so I figured out what was going on."
Makoto, who was holding the back of her head, asked. "And that would be…?"
"He'd have me fight an illusion of someone I cared about. It would attack me out of nowhere, and I'd have to successfully restrain or destroy it."
Ami was appalled. "That's horrible!"
"That's life."
The Senshi glared at him. He shrugged, uncaring. "It's true. It's also why you all got your shit so horribly wrecked by Galaxia. You weren't prepared to fight each other. It's why I'm glad I'm not a 'good guy.' Too much bullshit."
Setsuna asked him. "What do you mean?"
"The 'bad guys' like to turn the good guys against one another. Sowing seeds of uncertainty, doubt, disbelief, all that good stuff. It's one of the most useful tactics. Why bother fighting your opponent directly, when you can have your opponents own allies turn on him because they believed he did something to wrong them? When your enemies are showing a unified front because their abilities compliment each other, why not find something that would tear them apart and then use that to your advantage? What better way to get a good guy to leave your shit alone, then to take someone they care about?"
He walked over to Naru, who sighed and unbuttoned her top.
"What are you doing?"
Naru pulled the top of her shirt down slightly, keeping her chest covered, but exposing her back where a small black symbol was glowing between her shoulder blades.
"Removing my Puppet Seal."
"So you were controlling her!"
"Nope. I just gave her the skills, knowledge and power. Then, I watched over the fight. The seal DOES allow me to take control of someone, but only when their life is in danger. Hers wasn't so everything you saw was all her."
The symbol, comprised of a circle, and many squares making a very large star, slowly unraveled. Within a few seconds, it had faded entirely.
"Done. You ok?"
"I'm a bit…dizzy…"
He placed a hand on her shoulder after helping her fix her top. "That'll pass. It's from having such a large amount of energy pulled from you so suddenly."
"Oh man…I've never had so much fun in my life!"
"A taste of strength for the weak. It's a useful little spell for getting a quick revenge, or to catch up for a little bit to complete a task."
Hotaru's head cocked to the side. "Why her though?"
The orange haired girl was still wobbling slightly, so Kai placed a stabilizing hand on her shoulder. "Because Naru-chan here has always been a target. Her close friendship with Usagi, who is in actuality Sailor Moon, has put her at risk multiple times. But it's not like you can just ditch a close friend like that. Magical beings attract magical problems; and the longer someone is around them, the more excess energy wafts off to them."
"What do you mean?"
"Hotaru, take a look at her using the trick I taught you."
It was a skill she rarely used. Much like how she could sense dying planets and then "harvest" them, Kairyuu had taught her how to sense energy within life-forms. A trick, that Rei could perform on a slightly weaker scale. The young girl's eyes glowed slightly as the world became covered in many colors.
"Holy shit!"
"Hotaru!"
"Insane isn't it? She's practically wrapped in energy. Very little of it her own."
Naru looked between the two of them. "Wait what? What are you talking about Kai?"
He smiled at her. "Over the years since Usagi became Sailor Moon, her natural magical energy has been flowing off of her. It happens to all who are untrained in how to contain it. Most of the time, this energy dissipates into the air. However, if a person is around them long enough, the energy starts grafting to their bodies. Combined with how many times you've been targeted by youma, and high level Demon class humanoids, you've managed to gain quite an aura of magical energy, though none of it is your own."
Hotaru's eyes returned to normal, and she shook her head. "I've never heard of such things."
"Well it's not like any of you did much research into the effects of magical beings on those who can't naturally channel that power."
The Senshi lowered their heads at this. Even Setsuna and Ami, the eldest and smartest of the group didn't bother thinking of such events. Seeing their saddened looks, Kai took an unusual route.
"Maa, maa. It's not like you could have known such a thing was possible…well, save for Pluto, but with her constantly stuck behind that blasted gate I'm surprised she knew what decade it was."
Setsuna glared at him. Hotaru giggled.
"Must you irk them so?"
"What can I say? It's easy to pull on their strings."
That's when they heard voices.
"…wonder…there…day…"
Kairyuu paled. "Oh shit! Not them!"
(BGM: Sonic Rush – Jeh Jeh Rocket)
"Know…hunk…wanna jump…"
His hands blurred as he made a bunch of seals in an instant.
"You never saw me!"
There was a shimmer of light and a small puff of smoke. After the smoke cleared, everyone watched a grey fox attempting to jump up Naru's leg. The orange haired girl simply giggled and picked it up, holding it in her arms like a teddy bear.
That was when two girls reached the shrine. They offered their prayers and then looked around anxiously. Rei, the natural keeper of the shrine grew confused.
"Looking for something?"
The girls twitched, originally completely oblivious to the others. "Ahh…yeah…we're looking for a guy who was here a couple days ago…"
"A real hottie!"
The first speaker nodded feverently. Naru held her breath to stifle a giggle that threatened to escape.
Of course, Minako and Makoto jumped at that point.
"Really? What did he look like?"
"He had long black hair…intense brown eyes…"
"And a body to DIE for!"
Again with the nodding.
"About yea high…" The first girl held her arm up above her head, a bit higher than she was. "Really cute butt too."
The fox sweat dropped…not that anyone but Naru noticed.
"Guess he's not here today Kiri…"
"Yeah…maybe he'll be back tomorrow…"
They sighed and began walking away.
As soon as they were far enough, Naru started giggling. After about a minute the giggling turned into full blown out laughter. She was laughing so hard she dropped the grey fox she was holding. It landed on its paws and whined. Then sat down before another puff of smoke appeared. When the smoke cleared Kairyuu was fixing his hair. He gave a weak glare to Naru, which just made him laugh harder.
Hotaru had her arms crossed, tapping her foot. She was no idiot. It didn't take long for her to figure out those girls meant Kai, especially with the way he was reacting.
"And who were they?" She asked, a warning held in her voice.
Naru just snorted and started giggling again.
"It's not that bloody funny!"
"Yes! Yes it is!"
Kai just pouted.
"You're enjoying my torment way too much."
"Of course I am! Do you know how rare it is for a hot guy to freak out when two girls are practically all over him?!"
Hotaru's eyes narrowed.
"Dammit woman you're giving them the wrong idea!"
"Not my fault!" She kept laughing.
Kai just huffed and pouted again. This time even Usagi started giggling.
"Dammit what is it with women and giggling?! I swear when one starts it becomes the friggin T-Virus…"
Naru, who understood what he was talking about, laughed harder.
Kai just huffed again.
Hotaru cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. Naru stopped laughing, but a goofy smile was still on her face.
"Explain."
Kairyuu bowed his head.
"Three days ago…after that fight at the school…I stopped by the shrine to do a bit of training. Mostly spiritual. It'd started getting hot so while I was training I'd taken off my shirt to try to cool off. Well…at the time I didn't know this, but apparently I occasionally emit a field of energy that seems to…attract…people. Those two girls had come to the shrine to offer prayer for their friend who got hit by a car and is resting in the hospital, when whatever it was washed over them. Now, I've seen girls react to good looking guys, so I knew their reaction wasn't normal. Well, it STARTED normally, but then when I noticed the almost possessed hunger in their eyes I realized there was something off about it. So I pulled a quick excuse out of my ass and took off. The next day, I tried training again, this time with Naru around. Lo and behold, the two came back, and before I could do anything basically jumped me."
Naru started giggling again. "The look on your face was priceless!"
"Shut it you. Anyway, a quick 'holy crap a flying giraffe' let me pop away from them, while Naru here was busy laughing her ass off."
"I still can't believe they fell for that."
"After they left, I tried figuring out what the hell it was that made them do that. So I sat down and focused…until I found that there was a weird…power…coming off me. A strong compulsion field that could warp the mind of any target I chose…provided their mind weak enough…or it strike the proper points. So…I got revenge on Naru."
"I still can't sneeze without my nose hurting from that."
Usagi blinked. "What did he do to you?"
Kai leaned back. "Not much, I just used the compulsion on her. Tracing it to have affected the hormones in the target's body, combined with a bit of a proper trigger, and it could have any person falling over themselves to jump me. So, I triggered it, Naru seemed to go into a trance, then apparently thought I was the sexiest thing alive and tried to jump in my pants…until I moved and she ran face first into a tree."
Naru gave a glare at him. "You're lucky I didn't get any splinters from that."
Kai simply looked back. "Turnabout's fair play."
Now NARU was the one pouting.
"The next day, they came back, only this time I'd heard them. Since I didn't even know who they were, I didn't want to hurt them…so I turned myself into a fox, told Naru to act like I was a pet of hers, and the girls would go away."
Naru started giggling again. "It's so funny seeing you so freaked out like that."
"If I was single I'd have jumped at the chance…" Usagi finished for him. "But you're not."
"Damn right he's not!"
Everyone was surprised by Hotaru's outburst…well, besides Kairyuu.
Chibi-Usa brought up a valid point. "How do we know you're telling the truth?"
Kairyuu sighed. Hmm…Hotaru's out…not gonna fuck with Usagi…Tenou would be a good point…but she's too manly for me…not gonna fuck with Michiru either…I know…
He stood up, dusted himself off, placed his right hand on his hip, slightly angled his body, let his hair flutter around him, focused his energy and then cocked his head to the side while staring right at Ami's eyes.
However…that had a rather odd reaction…definitely not the one he was expecting…
Ami stared at him for a good minute or so…her face slowly getting more and more flushed…when suddenly her eyes widened, she squeaked and then fell to her knees, shuddering.
The others jumped to her aid while Kairyuu blinked in confusion. Makoto was pissed. "What the hell did you do to her?!"
"A-ahh…M-Makoto-chan…I'm…f-fine…"
Nearly inaudible voice…heavy breathing…flushed body…random muscle spasms…wait a minute…
"Word…"
Hotaru was piecing it together as well. A field that can make him seem like the sexiest man alive? Ami-chan's reaction to that is unusual…wait a moment…sexiest…
Hotaru gasped, eyes wide. Everyone looked to her.
"You've reached the same conclusion I have haven't you Hime-chan?"
She immediately whirled around on Kairyuu, glare in her eyes.
"Easy kit…that…wasn't supposed to happen."
Makoto growled out. "What…did…you…DO?!"
Naru was the one to speak. "He gave her an orgasm."
Immediately everyone shut up and flushed slightly. Then they all turned to Ami who had a very heavy blush on her face.
"It wasn't intentional mind you." They turned back to Kairyuu, Ami giving him a silent thank you for getting their attention off her. "The field grasps on to the hormones in the body, forces them to go haywire, while lowering inhibitions and subsequently increasing the sex appeal of any suitable target. It would seem…Ami here has a great deal of mental control over her hormones, to the point where she's damn near suppressed any and all sexual urges…which caused the field to have a different effect on her than normal. Instead of simply luring her to me, my very presence stimulated both mind and internally, her body, to the point of explosion."
"All that…with just a look?!"
"The human mind can pick up on subtle shifts of a person's demeanor. A slight twitch of a muscle can suddenly send a person's brain into shock from sudden inexplicable fear. A single look can pierce deep into a person's soul, causing them to fall in love at the slightest sight of something they don't even notice. The field scrambles the hormones, lowers inhibitions and makes everyone else seem sexy as hell. Then, with slight shifts of the body, I can send a person's brain into overdrive, with it repeating the message 'must have, must have, must have' over and over again. It…didn't work that way on Ami because she was suppressing her natural urges for whatever reason and, like when you shake a bottle of soda, eventually it explodes. The fact that she made so little noise over what must have been a seriously intense orgasm, only further shows her mental control over her own body."
Haruka's respect for the token 'nerd' of the group doubled. Chibi-Usa was silently logging every bit of information she could. This is like sex-ed class…only a LOT more interesting! I need more information though…
So…she piped up.
"But how does that work? I thought in order for a girl to orgasm she had to touch herself."
And then everyone remembered there was a 'child' present. Kairyuu didn't really care though, so while everyone else's eyes widened at the realization of what she heard, he answered her question.
"That is indeed true. However you have to remember, Chibi-Usa, that Ami had been blocking her mind and body from feeling those things. The first orgasm is almost always the most intense, because the body isn't used to feeling such things, it also usually happens the fastest, once again, because the body isn't yet adapt to being stimulated in such a way. The way she was holding everything back, I'm actually not surprised it happened. Remember kiddo, it's not so much the touch that does it, but what happens inside the body. The touch just amplifies what goes on inside. I mean, there have been cases of women's hormones being so scrambled, and their bodies so sensitive, that just gently stroking their back caused them to peak."
The pink haired girl nodded her head. "That…makes sense."
Hotaru just sighed. "So am I going to have competition now?"
"Nahh, it used to be subconscious, but I know how to control it. No worries Hime-chan."
"Good." She stepped over to him and pulled him to her. "You're mine, and it's going to stay that way dammit."
"I wouldn't want it any other way."
"Just…one more thing."
"Hmm?"
"Why'd you go to Naru?"
"Oh…well they'd already seen me in that transformation in Naru's arms. I'm…not exactly sure if the compulsion stops them from realizing changes…so rather than chance breaking the illusion, I just went with what happened before."
"So are they always going to come back for you?"
"It…should wear off in a few days. Or I could always try resetting it…"
"How?"
"Hit them with the compulsion again, only try to shift their target to someone else…it'd be risky though, I'd probably end up just reinforcing it."
"Best not to then."
Naru sighed. "You're lucky Hotaru-san…all my boyfriends end up being either evil…or just plain weird…"
Hotaru looked at Naru deadpan. "He is weird."
Kairyuu smiled. "And…I can be evil…occasionally."
Hotaru grinned. "We'll be evil together."
The two looked at each other lovingly…when a hauntingly familiar voice rang out.
"You'll need my help then."
From atop the nearest tree…a woman with pale skin, long violet hair and a dark blue dress.
"MISTRESS NINE?!"
Kairyuu blinked. "Well…I didn't think you'd be back…Kyu."
"You know me Zero-kun…I can't stay away."
"Adopted Hime-chan's persona have you?"
"Basically. The darker portions are still floating around somewhere…but it's boring getting beaten by the good guys so many times…"
"World needs more bad guys like you then. People who get so tired of being defeated they give up and do something else."
"Doubt that will happen any time soon Zero-kun. I see you and Tomoe-san are getting along well."
He pulled Hotaru closer, the girl too shocked to resist. "Mine. Go get your own."
"Well if you want to be technical…she was mine before she was yours Zero-kun…"
"Bah, technicalities. Who needs 'em?"
The woman laughed. "Indeed, Zero-kun…"
"What…the HELL is going on here?!"
Kairyuu explained. "It would seem that Kyu here is too powerful an entity to be destroyed…all we did was excise her of her…demonic tendencies. Allowing the slight fragments of Hotaru's persona that were within her to awaken and take over."
Usagi was shuddering slightly. "H-how can you be certain?"
"Mistress Nine…both before she was destroyed by Sailor Saturn, and after she approached me, had an aura of darkness around her, writhing and whirling like tendrils. Now, that aura is calm, relaxed, gently pulsing like a heartbeat."
"Why…does she call you Zero?"
He sighed. "Because that was a name I'd long since given up on…"
"Oh come now Zero-kun…it's not that bad."
"Perhaps…it seems it's time I let you all in on my biggest secret."
"You've been keeping secrets from me?"
"Just the one, Tomoe-san. I can see he loves you too much to keep anything else hidden…right, Zero-kun?"
"Yeah…and to be honest…I'd gotten used to this new name…almost forgot my old one…"
Hotaru sighed and nodded. "I trust you…Kairyuu-kun."
"Thanks…Hime-chan…"
How long has it been? A while. Half of this chapter had been done for months. Today I finish the other half. Mistress Nine is back…AGAIN. Bitch just don't know when to die does she? I hope whoever still reads this enjoys the hilarity. Also, my "facts" might be a bit off…but reality aside, this is how I see things.
Robin Starwing: I wonder if that still holds true…
Taeniaea: Hope this chapter finds you well.