So, this just got back from my beta (thank you GracefulAmethyst! ^^), and she was so prompt! I sent it to her a bit earlier today, and got it back just a couple hours later. ^^ Everybody owes her a big round of applause for going through this because I sure as heck didn't want to have to proofread. D:
Sorry for the wait! Hope you'll accept this slightly longer treat as an apology. x3 And I'm going to apologize in advance for the sloppiness in the middle – that was when I was all in the absolute throes of writer's block. ^^; Just pretend it isn't there... eheh...
Disclaimer: Naoko Takeuchi owns it, not me.
Chapter Four: Discovery
"Mars - "
A flash. A grim look of recognition as she turned. It was kill or be killed, and frankly, she didn't feel like it was quite her time. Rounding on the six guards to her left, she listened with a short groan as more feet followed from the only other escape routes, one directly in front of her, and the other behind.
Turning her back to the wall of the building that kept her from having a fourth option, she faced all three guard forces, the center becoming what had been her left. The cat by her feet let out a soft mewl, looking up to her then. The people around her paid it no heed – they didn't care about sparing a feline if it meant finally silencing the deadly Sailor Mars.
"Tomorrow, this will be all over the news," one of the guards stated with a sneer, moving forward a touch.
"Regardless of the outcome," Mars admitted, nodding as she took her stance. Incredibly, it was offensive instead of defensive, a battle cry emitting from her slender form as she rushed forwards in spite of her cat's loud hiss. He disagreed. Too bad.
She fought like she had fought the youma on her home planet, attacking with anything in sight. She used the bodies of the felled men to knock over their approaching comrades, or as shields for the waves of dark energy that came to cloud her vision. Fight or be fought. Kill or be killed. I will not die today.
Her fire engulfed them in two's and three's, the flame sniper attack utterly useless in such close-ranged combat. She felt her own fire singe herself when it was casually deflected – some had come prepared for her, it seemed.
"Sailor Mars," the remaining five addressed her now, looking to the bloodied, exhausted soldier as she dropped another body. "We have a proposition for you."
She didn't speak, believing in actions more than the words the Terrestrials relied so heavily upon. With a decent flip, she hit the man next to the speaker in the jaw with the heel of her red stiletto, sweeping the legs out from under another man as she landed in a crouch. Two on the ground, but still alive. Three standing, preparing attacks.
She couldn't parry them all.
It was then that a spray of bubbles interfered, hitting two men in the side of their heads and leaving only one blade of dark energy for Mars to contend with. She flipped backwards, lacking her usual grace as she did her best to avoid the offending weapon, amethyst eyes settling upon not his figure, but another.
Dressed similarly to herself was a visor-wearing figure. Short, blue hair, boots that came up to her knees, and a fuku. Another senshi?
Dropping to her knees, she felt her head pound. Remembering her earlier conversation with Artemis, she winced, trying her damnedest not to be caught up in the throes of a useless memory.
"You can't keep this up, Rei-chan... I worry about you. The last time, they nearly..."
"Nearly doesn't mean they succeeded. I'm still here."
"I refuse to let you continue to risk your life alone. Perhaps... perhaps it is time we searched for the other senshi."
Silence fell between the pair of them as the raven-haired girl shuffled awkwardly, staring at her hands. Her cat sighed loudly, putting a paw on her skirt-clad lap. "I just don't want to see you get hurt. You're my charge, but you're also... Rei-chan, I'd be greatly upset if anything happened to you. You know that, right? I'd rather we paused our mission than see you nearly die again - "
"We'll continue the mission. We don't have a choice." Her voice held a very final tone to it, and he sighed yet again, guiltily remembering just who had made her believe in this cause in the first place. "But... we shall look for other senshi on the side."
It was the closest to a truce they were going to get.
"Mars! Mars!" The white cat pushed at her with his nose as she fell on the battlefield, their bubble-spewing 'friend' approaching with a concerned look on her face. "Mars, you have to get up - " A groan cut him off, the young woman found there moving feebly on the pavement. Various scratches littered her arms and legs, and one dared to mar her beautiful features; an angry red burn across her cheek. Still, there was no significant injury this time – just the exhaustion she hadn't been able to shake since the last night they'd gone out.
She fought against the darkness that threatened to overtake her vision, and against the familiar pull of the warrior leaving her form. She had long ago realized that there were two people (or more) within her being. There was herself, as she was day by day... and then there was Sailor Mars. And once the fighting was over, the Senshi of Passion and War would retreat into her form, leaving her in her street clothes to deal with whatever damage she had caused.
The soft clicks of Sailor Mercury's boots could be heard approaching the pair, as well as the commanding voice of someone else. And, as she forced herself upwards, she found herself staring at... oh great... another talking cat.
"Sailor Mars... I cannot believe we've finally found you!" Artemis balked, staring at the other cat and the blue-clad girl upon whose shoulder she rode. The flame senshi seemed to be having the same problem he was, since they both looked to each other like 'more?' before returning to staring at the pair, both knowing which of them would take the silent role in this. "We've been searching for you for a month straight now, but to no avail. We wanted to contact you before, but all reports of you were from your home planet."
Uh, maybe because she hadn't wanted to be Sailor Mars on Earth just yet? Or maybe because Earth hadn't needed her until recently? This cat was a genius. Really.
She bit back the feeling of sarcasm that seemed to encompass her whenever she donned the fuku, somehow knowing that it must have been her thoughts and not her own. Rei was rarely sarcastic. Mars often was. It was one of the many points upon which they clashed. And she did mean many.
There was no place for sarcasm where she came from. It was live as you could, and that was that. The strong lived to make babies with the other strong ones. And so on and so forth. Didn't hurt to be pretty, but it wasn't a necessity.
Somehow, she was glad that she had managed to avoid having the mental capacity of the typical Martian. Oh, she was aware what they called the people from her 'neck of the woods'. She would have concurred, had people not uttered it suspecting she was more of the same.
Every group had its exceptions.
Standing in her red high heels, she fought Mars as the being attempted to retreat. She needed her then. She couldn't be Hino Rei just yet – and, Mars seemingly relenting, the transformed state suddenly became easier to maintain.
That damned cat was still talking.
She stared hard at it until it shut up, looking away sheepishly. "I see you're as formidable as you were in the past, Mars." Something clicked within her mind, staring at the dark cat then with a tilted head. She knew about the past? Which one? The ones she dreamt about on occasion, or the one she'd lived?
"What is your name?"
"I do believe I already told you that," the cat scoffed, seemingly indignant to discover that the Martian hadn't been listening to a word that she'd said beforehand. But it was hard to tell, the raven-haired woman assumed. You couldn't very well make out her eyes behind the red mask. "But, since this is a matter of great importance, I shall say it again... my name is Luna. I am a representative of the Lunar Council - "
"Then you are an enemy," she cut in, staring down the cat, then looking to Mercury. There was no question in violet eyes, watching as the water senshi backed up uncertainly before falling onto her rear with a soft thud. Sigh. As she had thought, this one was new. It also explained why the Eye in the Sky had yet to get the name 'Sailor Mercury' across The Wire.
She felt it then – that fiery half-rage that wasn't hers at all. She pushed it down, feeling her power leave a bit with it. So, this was how her 'other half' wanted to play, was it? Rei got the message loud and clear.
Ignore Mars, and Mars would ignore you as well. From what she could gather between her sparse (though increasingly horrifying) dreams of what Artemis claimed was the past, there were more than a few differences between herself and the woman she had been. Different circumstances and whatnot.
This one... this one always seemed so angry or worse, like she was suffering an undue amount of grief over... over... what? Dying? Mars didn't strike her as the type, from what little she knew of the woman, to mourn her own death. Had life really been so hard in the past?
Call her ignorant, but she couldn't fathom why.
"Mars, maybe we shouldn't be so hasty," Artemis chided playfully, though there was a serious undertone stressed when he spoke the name. Mars. So he was well aware whom he was dealing with then. That was good – Rei could step back a touch, try not to rein her in like a disobedient horse every time she paid an ounce of attention to the conversation.
Violet eyes hardened behind the mask, staring at him coldly for a moment before regarding Mercury a bit closer. Well, she did seem to be another senshi – which was something that Rei had agreed to do with Artemis. Seek out her fellows, yes? Here was one.
So why couldn't she just accept it, have them turn into their civilian forms in front of one another for future communication, and be done with the night? She was eager to have her head hit a pillow, and the Martian had hardly forgotten her own fatigue.
The only problem was, the distrusting warrior had.
"No. I know how this seems, but I'm sticking to this. I don't trust her," Rei's voice, at the very least, stressed as she pointed to Luna, "And I'm not inclined to like her very much either. It's a proxy thing." Her finger traveled to Mercury, dropping after a moment. Yes, Rei could feel it then – for some reason, this woman hated the darker of the two cats present with a (dare she make the pun?) fiery passion.
The cat did her best not to seem too shocked, huffing indignantly as she sputtered, apparently unable to create an adequate response to that particular blow. Finally, she seemed to settle on one point alone, hissing in a very animalistic fashion before spitting out the words. "It's good to see that you're the same as ever, Mars. We couldn't have you being a warm-hearted individual this time around, could we? Too much to ask, I suppose."
Rei took the brunt of the blow to her ego, stepping forward in her exhaustion to pull the warrior back. She'd had enough of her for one night. She wagered the dreams were on their way, too – let them come. Anything had to be better than this petty squabbling.
Artemis looked at her worriedly, spying his charge rub a temple with the slightest change of facial expression. A grimace – well, to her it equated to as much. Rei very rarely cracked the mask she wore every day, and with the red one hiding her most expressive features, it was difficult to tell. But he knew her well enough now. He could practically hear her stomach lurch, looking almost longingly at the other senshi before scurrying back to the raven-haired girl, nudging her with his shoulder. "Maybe we should just go back? I'm sure we'll see these two later..."
Mars objected wildly within her to leaving this fight, and Rei's own pride ached for a moment before she stared at Mercury and Luna, nodding a touch at his suggestion. "Hey, you two!" he called almost cheerily. "We'll be patrolling again in about three nights... if you aren't caught by then, you might be interested in checking out the old warehouse down on Skyship Seven's loading bay."
That said, he quite literally turned tail and, with his young charge, scooted off down the street like a good little kitty. In their wake, the senshi of flame and passion and the jovial white cat left behind a very confused super genius, and an irate advisor.
***
Minako stared with a mixture of worry and relief at the chair that had been empty for the past week, bouncing slightly when she caught a certain pair of violet eyes and was able to hold them long enough to see what could have been a weak smile before the more studious of them returned her attention to the board.
Ah, history class. How she hated history class. She hated it even more, however, when there weren't gorgeous distractions. And every year? Every year, there was indeed a gorgeous distraction. Or at least a pretty one. And, okay, so most of her crushes didn't last the full year. Cough, month, cough. Insert sheepish head rub and grin here, and then get over it. Because she was entirely fine knowing that her infatuation with Rei had lasted far longer than most of her silly crushes in the past few years.
Really, it was a wonder she had ever dated! Think of it – didn't even like them, but willing to go for it just because. The blonde stared at the Martian even harder, trying to get her attention but to no avail. Girl was like a rock when it came to class. A rock who took notes.
Minako had already analyzed every part of this simple feat, of course. She knew that her crush was left-handed, and that her kanji always seemed to possess a delicate, looping quality. She wrote on a bit of a slant, and tilted the paper to make up for it, more often than not.
Putting her head in her hand, she quickly scribbled a note down, chucking it on the other's desk when their teacher's back was turned. She did not fancy detention again.
'Movie at my place later?
-Minako'
She watched as the other girl looked mildly surprised at having been the victim of such a thing, staring at the piece of paper for a moment before figuring out how to unfold the little square she'd put it in. She was beginning to feel a little disheartened, however, watching Rei return to her furious note-taking almost immediately after reading.
It was when she looked away that the paper came skidding across her desk, hastily folded into a crane as it flopped onto the (once again) empty page in her notebook.
'Sure.' She smiled at the short response, noting how the woman avoided babble even in notes with the faintest flutter of fondness making its way through her core.
For the rest of the class, she was the epitome of attentive, though it seemed to confuse the other girl to no end. She didn't bother to pretend that it didn't thrill her just a bit to notice that the Martian had actually paused her usually unstoppable note-taking to look at her for a moment, and said look was indeed one-hundred percent adorable.
Truth be told, she was paying as little attention as usual, simply writing things she liked about Rei into her notebook over and over again. And of course, the customary 'Aino Rei' was scribbled a few times over, with little hearts drawn about it.
There was no way, however, that she wanted to appear unbusy, lest she receive another detention. Because a detention now would keep her from being able to work on Operation: Seduce a Martian (Codename Aphrodite!).
She'd begun noticing the others in their group staring at her while she was staring at her love interest. To say that it was a bit of a relief that maybe, just maybe they were finally getting the picture was... an understatement. Maybe they'd help her out? Usagi in particular would be useful – think of the opportunities! They actually lived together, after all! Lucky Usa...
When the class bell rang, she found herself holding back instead of tearing out of the room like a bat out of hell. Lately, it had been so. At first, their teacher had been absolutely floored. Wasn't this the girl that always needed to get herself out of there as quickly as possible? Yeah, yeah... he'd gotten used to it, though. Much like she had!
And it was nice, knowing that (other than a staring teacher) you were the only two people in the room. That if she really wanted to, if the world were a perfect place, she probably could've had Rei up against one of the many desks, pushing her to – oooooh holy crap!
The Venusian blushed lightly, running a hand above her lip to check for any signs of a nosebleed before letting out a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding. Okay, that was close. She needed to stop fantasizing about the raven-haired temptress when they were due to spend some quality time together.
Unfortunately, the damage had been done – she'd pictured Rei beneath her. The evening was doomed to be dedicated to thinking up new ways to get a good view of her rear end. Or her chest. Or her face. Or thinking up ways to touch her. Oh yeah, she liked the touchie... hehehe...
'Stop! Hentai, hentai, hentai! Mina-chan, you're so... ewwwww! When did we become old, ecchi Minako-san?'
Sighing, she gave up on thinking altogether, letting loose one final thought of 'DEAD KITTENS' in a final, desperate attempt to fully wipe the image of Rei moaning from her mind. And refused to let herself wonder just what such a moan would sound like anymore.
Jeez, who would've thought that FART would be the nastiest time of her day? Other than anybody sane who would take one look at the acronym and go 'pee-ew' before holding their noses and prancing off.
Besides. This was time to move into RIT. No need for WRTT or FART when you had the real thing standing in front of you... wearing the same clothing as you, except a little bit differently, because she had those gorgeous legs that you just wanted to wrap around yourself sometime -
And again with the wayward thoughts. Alas, it appeared she was in desperate need of a cold shower. She'd make a mental note to get one later. After the movie. Or maybe before. Then she could show the Martian her slippery self, maybe 'accidentally' drop the towel a bi – ah! No! Bad Minako, bad!
"Um... Minako-chan?" It was rare that the raven-haired goddess would utter an 'um, ah, er' or any variation thereof in her speech. She spoke so rarely that, when she did, she seemed to possess a very clear idea of what to say. That was something which seemed to be broken in the moment, however, which left her a combination of confused and frightened. "Daijobu?"
Ah! She must have looked as spaced out as she actually had been! Oh, for heaven's sake... "Eheh! Nothing to worry about, Rei-chan!" she exclaimed brightly, looping her arm through the other girl's and bringing them closer together. Her free hand moved behind her head, falling just below a bright red bow in her hair to rub sheepishly at the golden locks there. "Just having a blonde moment, see? Come on, let's get walking!"
Rei gave a deft nod and allowed herself to be pulled out of the classroom by her very anxious friend.
***
She should have known better!
Chastising herself as she ran, the young woman felt herself pant, lungs virtually on fire as she struggled to retrieve air. Artemis rode in her schoolbag, directing her towards the promised meeting place. It was through a series of dark and winding alleys they would have to travel – him murmuring orders to turn left or right when the time came.
But they were going to be too late no matter how fast she ran. No matter if she was Sailor Mars, or simply Hino Rei. All because of some silly movie that had turned into –
"Left."
She turned, feeling her shoulder barely brush against the brick edge of a building as she did. It was old, as most of the establishments in this part of town were. The vast majority of structures were domes, semi-domes, or half-domes – circular, smooth on the outside. And she could see why now, as her clothing snagged and she felt a prick of pain in the affected area. Brick was outdated. For all she knew, they couldn't even make it anymore.
Good riddance to it, too. It was no skin off her back if they couldn't make their towers out of rough, angry red stone anymore. Given the amount of centuries since it had been used, she wagered it wasn't the best kind of material. It most likely had some 'fatal flaw' that kept it from being used. They had discovered that concrete would be destroyed in the event of a solar flare, after all. And, had they not started using tarplar in time, there would be no Mercurians to give her trouble today.
Her bag was flung to the ground hastily, Artemis leaping from it as she did this. "The Eye in the Sky?" he questioned, a soft reminder to his charge. The raven-haired girl gave a short nod before ducking into the warehouse. She wondered vaguely if the Eye in the Sky even bothered with this part of town. Nothing had been done about its exceptionally high crime, as it were, and no footage from the place had ever been recovered.
Still, one could never be too careful. She found herself behind a good amount of boxes, waiting a moment before raising a pen-like object and shouting, "Mars Power... Make Up!"
Fire everywhere, and then, nothing. She felt alert, awake... for the most part. Another half of her seemed to just rouse from sleep, pulling itself together for the occasion of transformation. Her senses heightened with its awakening, and she needn't doubt for an instant that it was her making her presence known.
Whatever. She needed to get to the rightwarehouse now.
Sailor Mars came out at a run, more agile now that she had donned her uniform. Because miniskirts and fuck-me heels were obviously conducive to that. It was probably for the best that she had gotten over the ridiculous attire a while back.
Even if the amount of panty shots did get annoying when she had to watch herself fighting as The Eye in the Sky sent footage of her across The Wire.
Skyship Seven's loading bay turned out to be further away than she had thought. "Artemis," she huffed, glaring at the white cat through her red mask. He sheepishly grinned up at her, a nervous laugh coming from the cat's prone form.
"I'm sorry! I forgot the guards actually patrolled this area on Friday's!"
"No you didn't. You want me to fight with her."
He smirked as best a feline could, which was really quite an odd sight to behold. The sounds of a fight up ahead reached their ears loud and clear as the fuku-clad soldier nodded before jumping onto a barrel, then the roof of the old warehouse. Its comparatively short stature, the boost, and her currently enhanced senses made the feat easy enough to accomplish.
Red heels clicked across the tin roof as she ran to the other side. Sailor Mars jumped to the ground with no fear, turning about and entering the warehouse's only door with little to no stealth.
The area was covered in positively freezing bubbles, none of which popped when they brushed against her skin. 'Mercury.'
'See? I told you not to go to that girl's house, but you never listen to me unless you're in uniform. What am I to you, some plaything you can break out when the going gets rough? You need to listen more, damn it.'
'Shh. No talking.'
'I'm not technically talking.'
Silence.
'Oh, not the silent treatment again. I can't believe this. All my previous incarnations had a bit more umph than you. In fact, most were vocal masters. What's your excuse?'
Silence.
'Fine. Fuck it. I'm leaving.'
Sailor Mars stumbled, feeling her body uneasily adjust to both the cold and the sudden jerk of her muscles. 'Stop that.'
'Stop what? If you won't listen to what I have to say, I'm not letting you borrow my form.'
'Alright, what already!'
'Hmph. Fuck you. Figure it out yourself.'
Though the presence didn't fight her transformation anymore, it did recede within her mind. Which, in turn, left her to her own devices. Alright, she could do this... no Artemis, and practically blind. Sure, she'd be fine. She had other senses to rely on.
The goosebumps along her arms and legs said that she'd best hurry, though. Before she froze to death.
Something came slicing through the fog beside her, causing the senshi to jump a bit. Dark energy – so some of the guards were still alive. The Feet That Marched were relentless, she thought with a bit of an exasperated sigh, heading for what she hoped was a nearby wall. While her flames might have cut through the fog, she didn't want to risk exposing herself when, for all she knew, Mercury had been taken down.
Damn it, this bubble attack wasn't just annoying, it was fucking useless. Especially indoors.
'Hmph. Trust your intuition, would you?'
'Welcome back,' she thought hastily, hearing the warrior step back into the picture, apparently trying to swallow her pride just a bit.
'Do what I say and we won't have problems. You know how this works.' Nodding to herself, she followed a plethora of instructions being pumped into her mind. Closing her eyes, she proceeded to focus. She had other senses beyond sight – though sometimes, you had to blind yourself to realize it.
And suddenly, everything was clear. She visualized the warehouse within her mind, seeing its faded walls and cracked floor before taking in the low apex of its roof. Three-dimensional and functional, she traced a path in red that she assumed she had taken since entering the building, before a final red dot became herself. That blade of energy had come from... right, there. Due to its trajectory, that put at least one enemy approximately...
A black dot appeared. Sounds of a scuffle to her right, men hollering at one another, and she put three more in place. Which only left one presence to identify.
This one was harder. There was no sound to focus on, but there was plenty of logic. She was using the fog to her advantage, yes? If Mars was to assume that much, then it could be thought that the senshi of ice was hiding based on strategy. Two theoretical blue dots appeared in her mind, and she blindly made her way towards one.
Her stiletto-clad foot came crushing down on something long and furry, causing an inhuman yowl to come from whatever she had just trod upon. Shit. The cat. She had forgotten that there were two, though she forced herself to ignore it as she pushed Mercury to the ground.
A dark energy disc went soaring where their heads had been, the visor-wearing woman beneath her sucking in her breath audibly as it flew overhead. Without apology, Mars rose. There was no use in being stealthy now.
She shot fire through the warehouse, not caring if she brought the whole building to the ground. She wasn't aiming for anything in particular – more or less hoping that the guards would either run and be done with it, or -
"You're bringing down the building!" Luna squawked, scurrying onto her charge's shoulder before the blue-clad senshi could rise as well. "We have to get out of here before your clumsiness crushes us!"
'Hmph. I'd call these two a grand old pair of ingrates.' The secondary voice relented, allowing her to nod in agreement before they took off towards the door. The senshi of fire pushed the pair out in front of her as she ran, whipping open the door with one hand as the other stopped the go-go boots-wearing Mercurian from running too far ahead before everybody came rolling out of the building.
The night sky lit up like fireworks as guards inside shrieked, apparently not having as much luck finding the exit as they had. Mars found herself hoping that they died of smoke inhalation instead of the torturous flames, for once. Mercy on her mind, she looked at the small, bag-toting white cat coming her way. He seemed to be struggling with the bookbag, clenching it tightly between his teeth for a moment. "Stupid human accessories... Mars!"
Artemis gave up the fight to approach his tired charge, looking at her curiously before looking to the other pair, dirty and worn as they stood against the flames and night horizon. "Are they - "
"We're fine, no thanks to your reckless actions," Luna huffed, nursing her throbbing and swollen tail with a grimace. "Did you set us up?"
"If we had," the mostly-silent Mars began, "I wouldn't have saved you in the end."
"Mars was preoccupied earlier," the white cat supplied, purring and rubbing his body against her leg shamelessly as she scratched behind his ear. "Ah, I love that spot!"
"Well, regardless... it's good that you came, I suppose. Even if you did do more damage than I had previously expected. Mercury – detransform." Everybody stared at the small cat as though she'd lost her mind – Mars in particular. If Mercury did that, would she be expected to do the same? Something told her she would.
And she wasn't entirely certain that that was something she wanted at this moment.
There was a blinding blue light, however, as the woman before her turned into someone incredibly familiar. No. There was no way -
There was. "M... Mizuno-san?" she questioned before she could stop herself, feeling the other presence slowly leave her body as a soft red light enveloped her. It took her fuku and heels, leaving her in a schoolgirl's uniform.
Two fingers carefully removed the red mask over violet eyes as the dark-haired warrior stood before them as only Hino Rei – the girl who said next to nothing each and every lunch hour, class shared, or study session. The Martian who broke all the clichés and stereotypes. "Rei-san!"
It was then that Ami fainted, leaving three concerned beings to get her away before the Eye in the Sky knew enough to leave the burning mess of a warehouse in order to look for the possible arsonist.
***
Minako stared wide-eyed at the old warehouse. Had she honestly just been a witness to that? Was she dreaming?
"Nnn..." Aw. She was adorable when she was asleep! The blonde giggled, running a hand through the dark bangs that fell across the Martian's face. It was a bit shorter than her own, though certain features seemed a bit more pronounced. Her nose was a perfect triangle, for one. Minako's own was upturned slightly, and gave her a snooty air she'd never been particularly fond of. Rei's eyes also slanted differently – whilst her own had virtually no slant at all.
Higher cheekbones than she had. An adorable little dusting of freckles across the bridge of the aforementioned nose. Gorgeous, dark eyelashes that touched the porcelain skin. Her fingers ghosted over the girl's face, barely fighting off a contented sigh. The skin was so soft – so utterly worth being caught.
"Hey Sleepy. You said to wake you up at six, and it's nine-thirty," the Venusian offered. She hadn't exactly recalled when she had also fallen asleep, nor when she'd woken up. Though her words elicited a very violent response from her not-too-secret crush.
Rei bolted upright, shoulders squared as her eyes snapped open. Springing from the couch with a grunt, she began to collect her things, hastily stuffing them into her bag. "I'm sorry," she muttered, giving the other a look before racing towards the door. The taller of the pair understood the meaning - 'I have to go'.
It had been when she'd seen her go racing down the road in the wrong direction, a white cat bounding after her, that she became a bit more suspicious. And, though it hadn't been right, she'd put on a coat and shoes and had taken off after the Martian.
Who was, if what she'd witnessed at the first warehouse was any indication, Sailor Mars.
Holy. Shit.
x0x
Whew! That was a doozy of a chapter! Nearly eleven pages long and all. x3 Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. Drop me a review? I just started on the next chapter today, once I got over feeling super-accomplished with finishing this one. ^^; But I've gotten rid of that terrible beast known as writer's block, so I'd say expect more soon! Especially since it's exam time, and we all know how I (don't) study! ^^;
ShinyMushroom ; *laughs* Why, thank you very much! x3 Your enthusiasm is well-appreciated! ^^ I hope this chapter appeases you. ^^
MinaRayeFan ; Probably not as hot, but at least I kept it comin'! xD Thank you!
Reviewer ; Thank you! ^^ Everybody seems to have enjoyed the 'FART' thing. x3 And I have every intention of keeping it around. I didn't really get it from anywhere, I just kind of realized what the abbreviation would be after I typed out 'Fantasize About Rei Time'. xD I'll admit to it just being a happy accident.
ChrisGranger ; Thanks! And yes. Rei is screwed. xD
Claire ; Thank you for the review! And yeah, I was aiming for a Rei who was able to feel better than a peanut-brained dinosaur this time around. x3 Or maybe just one with a bit less pride.
WITS ; Thanks bunny. x3 But hey! That isn't just your candy. =/ That was for all the kids! Now be nice and share. *reproving look*
Krampus ; Thanks! I know, I'm a massive nerd for 'chillin' like a villain'. Amongst other things. But no offense taken – I revel in my nerdery! Your friend, he sounds hip like chip dip. 8D He and I should meet someday and just rattle off these strange little sayings. x3 I hope the changing of voices throughout this chapter and that sloppy bit didn't throw off the last one's decency too much. =/
LunarMiko07 ; Thanks mate! ^^ I'm glad you liked it.
Spikesagitta ; Thank you! x3 I'm hoping to get into further characterization for both of them down the road. Where I'm working in the future, I feel so... liberated. I can make them anything I want! Score. x3 But I'm glad you like what you've seen of them so far!
pri815 ; Haha, thank you! x3 And yes, I also wonder what's on Rei's mind... probably a bad sign, since I should know. D:
esla ; Thank you! I know this wasn't the day you reviewed, but I hope it was soon enough after. ^^; And yeah, none of us want her dying... so here's a little help in the form of Mercury, all for Mars. ;D Not quite the help everybody wanted her to have, I'm sure. xD