What To Do With Daylight
In which migraines are catching/a truce is called between prince and fire/odango becomes the Word-Of-The-Day/Zoisite is classed AWOL and/Ami plays teacher's pet.
Mamoru passed a hand over his forehead, briefly closed his eyes. "I'm going to get myself some aspirin. Does anybody else want any?"
"Count me in," Rei said quietly from where she had seated herself on one of his two low couches. "My head is killing me."
Ami, seated cross-legged on the floor at Rei's feet, looked up from her small computer with a wry grin. "Mamoru-san, I would like one too."
Mamoru turned to the other two girls, raised an eyebrow. While Mako shook her head without a word, Usagi was too busy staring at the unconscious figure laid on the hastily set-out futon in the living room to realise that Mamoru was waiting for a reply.
"Odango atama?"
"Huh?" Usagi looked up, one hand absently tangling in the crescent-moon necklace she wore about her throat. "What?"
"Aspirin. Headache. Do you want one?"
The eyes were as two transparent as glass as she stared at Mamoru without any shred of understanding; her words were lightly confused as she spoke them. "What, a headache?"
Mamoru looked like his own headache was only getting much, much worse. "No, I mean…oh, forget it."
Watching him walk out, Usagi continued to show absolutely no comprehension of what he was talking about. The grip she had about her necklace tightened nervously, but her words were light. "Did I say something dumb?" she asked the room curiously, a touch of childish reluctance to her voice.
"…oh, what I could do with that question," Rei said, but barely loud enough for Usagi to hear. She did raise her voice to more audible levels with her next words, however. "How is he, anyway?"
Mako looked up from where she was staring at Zoisite, shrugged rather helplessly. "Well, he's still…asleep, or something, I guess."
"He looks reasonably fine from here," Ami remarked, still tapping away at her computer. She had given the man a cursory once-over with the assistance of Mamoru upon arrival, but had long since retreated to the familiarities of her little database. "All available data shows that he's just in…a kind of extended shock, brought on by the moon-stick. I mean, you've seen what happened to the others, right?"
"They were never out this long, though," Mako said thoughtfully; she pushed idly at one of Zoisite's hands with one finger, frowned at the coolness of his skin under her touch.
"But then Usagi-chan never used the stick on them for so long," Luna said quietly, and there was a certain touch of pride to the words. No-one had to ask why (except perhaps Usagi herself); they were all pretty clear on the fact that usually it took bribery of cake, cookies and Sailor V to get Usagi to do exactly what was asked of her in terms of Senshi duties.
"So why did you do it, Sailor Moon?" Mamoru asked quietly, coming in with a tray of glasses of water and a small bottle. After settling it down upon the low coffee table, he remained balanced on his heels and gave her a peculiar look. "Why would you want to do something like that?"
Not responding to the question, she simply stuck her tongue out at him. When he raised an eyebrow she explained haughtily: "My name's Usagi."
It was silent a moment as everyone processed what Usagi had just done – confirmed that all identities were revealed and all masks were to be put aside – and it was Mamoru who accepted this strange new status quo first. "…all right, odango atama." A small smile tugged his lips upward for a moment, and then faded again. "So why did you do it?"
"That's a good question." Rei echoed, setting down the now-empty glass she had used to wash down two paracetamol tablets Mamoru had so kindly supplied when he hadn't found the aspirin.
Makoto sighed, catching the attention of all in the small room. Looking at her hands, she kept her eyes averted as she spoke. "It's kind of my fault."
"How's it your fault?" Adjusting the short dress she wore in her civilian form, Rei flicked her eyes back between Makoto and Usagi, stumped and not happy about it. "I mean, you sure didn't decide on a whim to use the moon-stick on a Dark Kingdom flunky!"
"…I should've stopped her," Makoto muttered.
Usagi leapt in there, as was her way; flushing cheeks and brightening eyes indicated that tears were perhaps only seconds away. "No, it's my fault. It was my idea." Mimicking Makoto, Usagi stared at her hands, tightened them into loose fists where they rested on her thighs. "I just…I thought it would…"
Rei expelled a long breath, exasperation and frustration mingling with the beginnings of genuine anger. "You thought it would what?" she demanded impatiently.
"I thought it would make you like me!" she all but shouted, looking up now as the tears began to well up behind her blue eyes. "I thought it would make you believe in me, want me to be leader!"
"What, you don't want her as your leader?" Mamoru asked, pausing with his own glass of water halfway up to his lips.
The faint disapproval, combined with the startled note in his voice, had Rei looking down at her own hands with a frown. "…it's complicated, okay?"
Luna sighed, the sound oddly loud for a cat; everyone turned to look at her upon hearing it, as she had intended them to. "I think the complications just got worse."
Mamoru held up a hand, and all eyes now moved back to him. "All right. Let's…just calm down, sort through what we have, work something out." The look he sent the unconscious shitennou seemed to suggest that it was going to be a very long night indeed.
Folding her arms over her chest, Rei then in turn drew the attention of all with her sharp: "I can see your point, but I'm not even entirely sure we should be here with you."
"Rei-chan!"
There was almost palpable hurt in her voice despite its strange strength, and though the words were directed at Mamoru the others could feel the plea behind them asking for their unfailing support in this. "We don't know if we can trust you, you know that," she explained, meeting his eyes evenly. "You've told us yourself that we can't always have faith in you standing by our side. I said we should take him to the shrine," and she pointed at Zoisite, "and I was out-voted for reasons I just can't understand! But what I do understand is this – you've been giving us reason after reason not to trust you. You want the nijizuishou for yourself. What stops you from using us to get them now?"
Mamoru put his empty glass down, levelled his gaze with hers. He met her words with silence, his jaw working as he considered what she said. His eventual reply was even and respectful. "I see your point, Rei-san."
Crossing her arms, she held her chin high and said: "You can call me Sailor Mars, thank you."
"Rei-chan!" It was Luna who tried to berate the fire Senshi that time. "I know how you feel, but--"
Holding up a hand once more, Mamoru interrupted the moon-cat with scarcely an apology; the gesture was in fact deeply regal and unsettling for all who saw it. Usagi felt flushed at the sight of Mamoru in such a princely guise, found herself having to look down at her hands again because it was too strange to watch Mamoru when he so closely resembled Tuxedo Kamen.
"Please, let me say something," he said carefully. "I do want the nijizuishou, yes, but you don't know why I do."
"Then why don't you tell us?" Ami asked, the question soft and polite; it was then that Luna wondered why the most diplomatic member of their little Mickey Mouse operation couldn't get involved in such negotiations more often. After all, Ami would in theory get better results than bubble-headed Usagi, heavy-handed Mako or fire-tempered Rei.
Mamoru was quiet as he marshalled his thoughts and put them into some semblance of order. "I want them because I dream of a girl." His attention was elsewhere as his gaze wandered to the ranch slider that led out onto his small balcony; when Usagi followed his gaze she could see the waning moon hanging heavy in the sky. The light reflected in Mamoru's dark blue eyes, emphasised the love and longing written in a heavy hand there. "She tells me that the ginzuishou is the answer to all the questions I can not answer for myself."
Mako frowned, could not help but blurt out: "What questions?"
"Questions," he repeated, seemingly dazed. A second later he snapped his attention back to the group of girls in his apartment and asked abruptly: "But why do you want it?"
Taken aback and confused by Mamoru's about face, Mako struggled to find a decent reply. "…because…because we need to get it?" A desperate glance to Ami yielded no better answer, leaving her with the moon-cat. "Luna?"
"It belongs to the princess we search for, the princess of the Moon Kingdom" Luna said, slowly and quietly to the man who was Tuxedo Kamen. The widened eyes of the girls about her she ignored for the time being. "The Senshi are her protectors, which is why we want it. I think…perhaps it will lead us to her, or her to us."
"The Moon Princess?" Usagi squeaked, not allowing Mamoru to speak an answer to Luna's words. "You…you never said…!"
"The time was never right before now," Luna explained in a low voice, looking between the girls quietly. "Please understand I wanted to tell you before now, but…I am from the Moon myself. I was sent to awaken you girls so you could take up your roles as protectors of the princess, and stop this second awakening of the Dark Kingdom." She looked over to Mamoru. "I don't know how, but I think that you are also a part of all of this."
"I am, even though I couldn't explain to you why. But there is one reason why I can accept working with you," Mamoru said, quietly. "I look for the princess, too."
"You do? Really?" Luna looked only momentarily surprised, and then there was an odd flicker of hope in her feline eyes. "…what do know about her?"
"Very little," he replied, dashing the hopes of a moon-cat who could only remember the barest facts about the girl she was supposed to find, supposed to protect. "But you can trust me, all of you."
"Can we?" Rei asked, quietly; she seemed to be taking the news of the fallen kingdom of the Moon more in her stride than the other girls.
"Yes, Sailor Mars. You can."
The violet eyes went blank and unreadable before she looked entirely away. "You can call me Rei," she said, voice hoarse, eyes now blocked by the fall of her long hair.
Mamoru watched her for a moment, the atmosphere heavy; it lightened only when he looked to the slumbering blond on his living room floor and cleared his throat. "…so what do we do about him?"
Usagi shifted on the floor, tucked her slender legs underneath her as she continued to chew her lower lip. One slipper fell off in the movement, but she made no move to pick it up; she seemed far more fascinated by the beautiful man bare inches in front of her. "He called me a princess, you know," she said slowly, thinking out loud. "…and you a prince…" She looked up at him directly, face blank and confused. "What do you think he meant?"
"…you don't think he knows who the princess is, do you?" Ami asked, in one of her rare moments of active involvement in the arguments between the group.
Rei snorted, but there was nothing genuinely malicious in the sound. "Why would he? Surely if he did, he'd have caught her ages ago."
"Maybe." Ami's words were thoughtful, but she didn't respond to the questioning look that Rei gave her. Rather she just looked at Mamoru, a thousand questions in her eyes though she voiced just one of them. "We need to talk to him when he wakes up."
The words from Rei's direction were muttered, but it seemed like everyone heard them perfectly well. "If he wakes up."
"He'll wake up, Rei-chan." Ami's quiet voice brooked no argument. "There's nothing to say that he won't."
She laughed suddenly, without scorn. Reaching forward, she refilled her glass and took a long sip before speaking. "Well, if he thinks Usagi's a princess, I don't think he's going to much use to us when he does wake up."
"So, we just leave him here for now?" Mako broke in, seeing Usagi opening her mouth to complain and nipping that little problem right in the bud.
"No. I think we should take him back to the shrine." Rei's answer was firm as she gave Mamoru a decidedly pointed look. "Like we should have in the first place."
"And your grandfather wouldn't mind?" Usagi asked doubtfully, picking at one of the seams of her skirt and looking unconvinced. It wasn't surprising, given the fit she knew her own mother would have if she attempted to install a strange man in their chaotic little household.
"He's used to collecting strays, especially when I talk him into it." Rei tossed her hair, the dark curtain shifting like the silken feathers of a raven's wing. "He'd be safer there."
"Perhaps," Mamoru granted thoughtfully, "but then perhaps we should at least wait until he wakes up and stop moving him around for now."
"That's why you should have listened to me in the first place!"
"Rei-chan, this apartment was closer," Ami cajoled from her safe vantage point, setting down her computer at last and pushing back her hair from her tired eyes. "It made more sense to bring him here, at least in the first instance. And he's right, we should let him recover a little more, and he'll do that faster if we don't keep moving him around."
There was only a brief moment in which Rei allowed herself to look momentarily betrayed; it quickly changed to a stubborn look that all the girls knew all too well. "Then I'm staying."
"What? You're going to stay at Mamoru-san's house?" Usagi all but squealed, and she would have fallen off her chair if she hadn't happened to be sitting on the floor already. "No way!"
"Usagi-san, it is my house," Mamoru pointed out, the corners of his mouth quirking upwards at the sight of Usagi's reaction. "Do you think you could let me issue the invitations, please?"
The little blonde crossed her arms and set her chin out. "Then I'm staying too," she announced, letting the world know that she was not the only stubborn-as-a-mule Senshi in this little group.
"Your mother would freak, Usagi," Rei pointed out, unable to keep the mild taunt out of her words as she said them.
Usagi's lips twisted as she pouted. "She doesn't have to know!"
"I'd tell her!" Rei shot back easily and swiftly.
Leaping to her feet, Usagi searched for words and couldn't find any as she glared at the still-seated Senshi of Mars. Both seemed completely oblivious to the rather embarrassed amusement with which Mamoru was watching this little exchange. "You…you…!"
"She's right, Usagi-chan," Luna pointed out in an effort to defuse the impending argument. "And besides, someone will have to stay here during school hours if he's not awake by then, and you certainly can't afford to miss school."
"Like she can!" Usagi complained, pointing a shaking and accusatory finger at Rei.
"Well, I didn't flunk my last kanji test." This fact was pointed out imperiously and very nearly resulted in smoke pouring out of Usagi's ears as her temper reached its boiling point.
"If anyone can afford to miss school, it's Ami-chan!" she announced, pointing now at the blinking Senshi of Mercury. "And you don't see her volunteering!"
Startled to be brought into the argument as a game piece, Ami's only vocal contribution was a rather intelligent: "Er…"
"Look, guys, come on," Mako said, earning a thankful look from Luna for being the most sensible of her charges, for once. "Let's chill out, okay? I mean, one of us has to stay with Mamoru-san, and I guess it might as well be Rei-chan." Ducking the pillow that Usagi artlessly tried to throw at her, Mako asked anxiously: "You think your grandfather would mind? Really?"
"No." Rei's tone was decisive and sure. "And he'll cover for me for school, too. He'll be nosy about it, of course, but I'll feed him some story about studying at Ami-chan's house or something."
Usagi looked like a tea kettle about to explode. "She can't stay here with him all by herself!"
Mako threw her hands up in apparent defeat; she had only been with the team several weeks, but already she was beginning to wonder how long she was going to be able to stay sane if she kept getting in between Rei and Usagi's arguments like this. "…fine, then I'll stay too. I mean, it's not like I've got anybody at home to worry if I don't turn up, like you two. And school…eh, school can go hang."
"Mako-chan!" Ami said in reflex, the shock in her voice palpable.
"Sorry, Ami-chan. Didn't mean to swear in front of you." She gave Ami a sparkling grin, yet turned with a far more sober expression to face her leader. "But seriously, Usagi-chan. If it's okay with Mamoru-san, we'll stay."
"It's okay with me," Mamoru said, wondering all the while if it really was. Still, he couldn't resist adding a little light-hearted comment of his own; this night really needed the injection of humour, after all. "Better for you to go to school after all, odango atama. You need to study harder."
Usagi looked pole-axed for a moment by this comment, like she couldn't believe that Mamoru had had the gall to say it. Bare seconds later, she was standing it front of him and poking one slender finger right in the middle of his chest. "Ooh, say that AGAIN!"
"What, didn't hear me the first time?" he asked, unbearably amused by the flushed face before him; he'd noticed only earlier that day that Usagi was rather pretty, but her heart-shaped face was even more lovely when she was having a little hissy fit. Perhaps that is why he found himself unable to stop there. "Well, I figured you had a problem with listening considering your marks, but…"
"Usagi, quit it." Rei's voice was flat, surprising both Mamoru and Usagi.
"Rei-chan, do you always have to be such a royal pain?" the blonde-haired girl complained, backing away from Mamoru (though not without sticking her tongue out at him first, if only for good measure).
"Takes one to know one!"
"That's it!" Usagi said, and stomped her foot before turning back to Mamoru. "Mamoru-san, do you have any food?" she asked, though the question seemed a little pointless as she stalked off to the kitchen without waiting for an answer.
"I hope you're well stocked, Mamoru-san," came Luna's wry voice from where she was seated beside Ami. "Otherwise, you're going to hear all about it for the next year."
"Well, finally. Something to look forward to, at last!" came his wry reply. He rubbed his temple for a moment, and then found his attention locked upon the oddest member of this group of unexpected guests. He couldn't help but feel mildly jealous of him; the sleeping shitennou was absolutely undisturbed by the arguments swirling all around him. "I wonder…"
"What?" Mako asked, looking up from where she herself was again examining the odd man.
"Nothing," Mamoru said absently, crossing his arms and taking a step closer.
"If you want his nijizuishou, Mamoru-san, just say so." The words were abrupt, Rei's tone steely enough to make even Mako blink.
"Actually, Rei-san?" The mild question caught her suspicious attention and held it tightly. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Why?" she asked, giving him a mutinous look as she leaned back further into the couch and stared at him evenly.
"Rei-san. Please." After shifting his weight to his other foot, he indicated the outside of the small apartment and inclined his head towards the ranch slider that led there. "Out on the balcony, if that's okay."
"Fine." With a theatrical sigh, Rei swooped out ahead of him and out onto the balcony. She opened the door for herself, and closed it behind her even before Mamoru could think to try walking through it. Shaking his head, he opened it, followed her out after closing the curtains behind them both.
Unfortunately Usagi chose that particular moment to return, a plate of left-over curried rice in one hand and a half-full box of strawberry Pocky in the other. "Where are they going?" she asked with a frown cutting her brow in two, watching the curtains twitch into closure behind the two dark-haired individuals now alone on the balcony.
"Usagi-chan, leave it okay?" Mako said tiredly from where she still rested beside Zoisite; she was already moving to climb to her feet, however. Luna was unsure whether to be glad or apprehensive that the larger girl seemed ready to jump Usagi if she so much as made one step in the direction of the balcony door.
"But—"
With that, Mako shot out one hand as quick as the strike of a cobra, snatching from Usagi's lax grip the little pink box. "Come on. Share the wealth."
As Mako had hoped, the ensuing fight for the Pocky distracted Usagi from wondering what on earth Mamoru could possibly want with Rei alone. Both the sweatdropping Ami and Luna could only hope that the battle would last long enough for Mamoru to say whatever it was he had to say, and for Rei to understand it.
"You can trust me, Rei-san."
"You keep saying that."
"And you keep not believing me." Mamoru leaned against the balcony railing, the light wind of the cool night ruffling hair as dark as her own. "Rei-san, I know this is weird for you, it's weird for all of us--"
"I just don't understand it," Rei said quite suddenly, and in a voice possibly far more vulnerable than what she had actually intended to use. "How can you go around saying you're our ally while you work against us? It just…it just doesn't fit with the Mamoru I thought I lo…knew."
Mamoru caught her slip, frowned. He passed a hand over his eyes, found it hard to even contemplate meeting her eyes now. "Like I you said before, it's complicated."
"So why can't we simplify it?" she asked, the force of her personality more than evident in her words and the way she held her slight, strong frame.
"Rei-san, I explained to you…I feel like I need the ginzuishou to understand who I am."
"You feel like you need it?" she asked, curling her tongue around the word as if the taste of it were repugnant to her.
Hearing her misunderstanding clearly, Mamoru thought on his words somewhat more carefully before speaking again. "In my heart, I feel it. In my head, I know it," he elaborated, the withheld emotion in his voice causing her to give him a strongly peculiar look. "That crystal can tell me everything…can lead me to the one who knows everything."
"The princess."
He echoed the words, wondered why they sounded so hollow this night, with this girl before him. "The princess."
Rei's fingers began to tap against the railing quietly, without rhythm; he wasn't sure that she realised she was actually doing it, staring off into blank space the way that she was. "You really don't know who she is?"
"No. Sometimes I think…" His voice trailed off as he wondered how he was to explain a feeling he held onto as tenaciously as the earth held onto the moon. "Sometimes I think I've seen her, touched her…but…she disappears so quickly, like the moon slipping behind a cloud." He shook a head that felt as if it were filled with cobwebs and dust, an attic of memories that were never supposed to have seen daylight ever again. "I have no idea who she really is."
Rei snorted; when he gave her a questioning look, she couldn't help but give him an involuntary smile back "At least you're not as bad as Zoisite. Calling Usagi a princess, I mean…what did she do to him, brainwash him completely?"
"He also called me a prince. Do you think he was off-base there, too?" he asked her with a small smile, unconsciously posing as he leaned back on the balcony to face her more completely. He crossed one elegant ankle over the other, raised a dark eyebrow at her as the smile grew wider.
Rei blushed, looked away in the hopes that the darkness of the night would hide it from him. "I can see you as a prince more than Usagi as a princess, that's for sure," she muttered, wishing that she didn't have to react like this to him, just because he could be so damned charming when he wasn't making her wonder if he were really on their side.
"I'd agree, but then maybe we should give the odango more credit." A shake of his head indicated that Mamoru hadn't quite intended to voice that peculiar notion. "Never thought I'd say that."
"Never thought I'd hear it," but her voice was affectionate towards the bubble-headed Senshi all the same, something Usagi would have been surprised to hear had she been there. "I mean, she's a klutz and a ditz and who knows what's she got us into now, but…if this does help us find the princess…" She trailed off, paused a moment to consider what she needed to say. "You know what, Mamoru-san?"
"What?"
"I want to find her, too." Rei tossed her hair again, and then looked out to the bright lights of Tokyo before them both. Even in the early hours of the morning the city blazed with light and life, bright enough to hurt her eyes. A surge of love moved through her heart, reminded her of all the reasons why she had accepted the burden of her alter-ego without question that day on the bus that went so off its scheduled route that it wasn't even funny in retrospect. "Ever since Luna told us about her – which was so little – I just…we're supposed to be protecting her. How can we protect her if we don't know where she is, or even who she is?" A pause, and then she said in a frustrated tone: "I think…that's why I'm so damned angry with you!" Her outburst led to a quiet spell again, and when she spoke her voice was much more controlled. "I can't help but think you're stopping us from finding her."
"Well, now you know I want to find her as much as you do," he pointed out sensibly, looking out across the city himself. His attention was held more by the moon and the stars that danced about it, however; even then, it was images from a dream that he really saw painted across the sky. "It didn't feel right saying it in front of Usagi-san, somehow, but…I think I love her."
"You do?" There was no masking the sudden pain that entered her voice, twisted those violet eyes in pain; he wished he could kick himself for forgetting.
They're only fourteen, yes, but you're the one who led her on in the first place…!
"I'm sorry, Rei-san."
"It's okay." She kept looking out across the city, a faint and wistful smile on her pretty features. "Some things aren't meant to be, I guess."
"I have dreams of her," he said, wondering why he was saying this aloud when he knew that Rei probably did not need to hear it right now. However, he just couldn't help but feel that he himself needed to say them. "She's looking for me, she's so far away…but I can hear her. Calling for me, asking me to find the crystal, asking me to save her…" When his voice trailed off he stole a glance over at Rei, only to find she was watching him with a sad curiosity that tied his heart up in knots. "It's those dreams, that make me so tense. They get more vivid with each nijizuishou that's revealed. I can't help but think she's in danger, somehow."
"You dream of her?" she asked, and then frowned. "Once or twice," she continued in a slow voice, "I think…I've had visions of her. Nothing major, just…a shining presence." Another pause, and she added: "You should come by the shrine sometime. Maybe I can have the fire show me what you see."
Mamoru looked away.
"Only if you wouldn't mind." This was said in a hurried voice, with a blush beginning to crawl up her cheeks; she'd only just realised that it was potentially a deeply personal thing for him, these dreams he had of a princess that he thought he loved.
"Hey, we're a team now, aren't we?"
"We are?" she asked, voice lightly dubious.
"I'm in if you are. For the princess?" he said, and held out a hand to her.
"…for the princess." The pair shook hands, Rei holding onto him for perhaps a second longer than was truly needed. "Thank you, Mamoru-san."
"Anytime, Rei-san. Anytime at all." And then cocked his head, indicated it was time to go inside. With a nod, she reached for the door before he could open it for her.
Well, I guess that's just Rei, he couldn't help but think with an affectionate mental smirk. She needs no chivalry, this one…just someone who can understand that being burnt by fire is sometimes the best thing that can ever happen to them.
"Ooh, what are they talking about? I can't hear them!"
"Kind of the point, Usagi-chan." Mako pointed out, tugging Usagi away from where she had pressed herself up against the curtains for at least the tenth time. The blonde promptly fell down on her rear with a shriek, which Mako calmly ignored as she resumed eating the last stick of strawberry Pocky.
"But…Tuxedo Kamen's mine!" Usagi complained, rubbing her backside and glaring at Mako.
Mako bit off a large chunk of the stick, said around it thoughtfully: "So you still want him, knowing he's Mamoru-san, eh?"
"I…" Struck dumb, Usagi could only blink up at Mako with little to no comprehension. "Well…I…"
"Hey, it's cool if you do, you know. Leaves Motoki-san to me, you know?" she winked at the smaller girl, happily finishing off the treat.
"But…but…I don't want Mamoru-san!" she exclaimed, leaping to her feet and still glaring at her comrade.
"Oh, odango atama, I'm hurt," the man in question remarked mildly as he came inside, only a step behind Rei.
Usagi stared at the pair for a moment, unable to think of anything to say. In the end, she only managed a shaking, frustrated: "I…ooh! I hate you!"
"I'll remember that next time you need me to spirit you out of danger," he replied in a wry voice, displaying no sign of bruised feelings whatsoever. "Look. It's late, all right? So maybe you and Ami-san ought to get home. Makoto-san, Rei-san and I will be fine here with our…guest."
Mako didn't bother to hide an enormous yawn. "We'll call you if there's a problem. Right away."
"…I guess." The suspicious look that she gave Rei indicated that she didn't quite believe that at least one of the party would do as said. "Right away, right?"
"Sure, Usagi-chan," Rei said dismissively, already waving her hand in farewell. "Don't get lost on the way home, now."
Luna yawned herself, unable to help but point out: "Hey. She has me to get her home, and a warm bed waiting for her."
Mamoru laughed out loud at this, earning Looks from both cat and blonde Senshi. "Relying on a cat to get you home? You get more and more interesting by the day, odango atama."
"Stop…calling…me…THAT!" Usagi declared through clenched teeth.
Mamoru smirked at this, but his voice and eyes were oddly soft as he said: "Sure, Usagi-san. Goodnight."
Usagi was fuming as she left the apartment. "He's such a jerk!" she burst out, stomping one small foot on the ground.
Ami hid her own delicate yawn with one hand, still stowing her computer. "But he is Tuxedo Kamen."
"…Ami-chan, you're so cruel."
Stopping dead, Ami blinked and asked: "I am?"
Luna sighed, shook her small head. "Let's just forget this for now and get some sleep, all right?"
KUNZITE! The voice thundered into his brain, reverberated with sudden searing pain through every nerve ending. The pain, however, was not his greatest concern; what truly bothered him was the fact that Beryl was angry enough to throw her mental voice into his brain with such force.
Report at once! the voice continued, thunder and lightning striking together in his mind. I wish to know immediately where that useless idiot Zoisite is and what he dares to play at now!
He frowned at this, but had scarcely a moment to truly consider her words. The only thought that flashed through his mind right before he teleported to the audience chamber, however, was deeply confused by the ill logic of her words.
…she knows where he is. How could she not know where he is? If she really wanted to know, she would…Zoisite doesn't know enough to shield from her, even for short periods like Nephrite used to…!
There was no time to ruminate upon the thought as he appeared in her chamber, stood at sharp attention before the red-headed woman who held so much power in hands that resembled claws. "My Queen," he said reverently as he bowed his silvered head. "May I be of service?"
"May you be of service?" she scoffed, hands circling her orb like ravenous vultures. "Tell me where Zoisite is!"
"My Queen?" he questioned, daring to raise his head to meet her irritated gaze. The sight of her anger made him wince; even when only in the beginnings of her furies, Beryl was difficult to gaze upon.
With a scowl that could have sunk an ocean liner on first sight, she snapped: "He should have reported to me hours ago! Where is he?"
"Can't you sense him?" he asked, knowing the question inane but startled enough to let it fall from his lips. Usually he would be far more careful in his phrasing; granted that he was the shitennou least likely to incur her wrath, generally he was very good at it. It was not to be today, however.
"Do not waste my time, Kunzite," her otherwise lovely voice a low warning. "Do you believe I'd ask you if I knew where he was?" Though she had calmed somewhat now, the storm was far from passed. Kunzite could palpably feel her anger at revealing her lack of control in such a public fashion, and knew that it could not possibly bode well for Zoisite. Beryl never assumed the blame for anything, let alone her fluctuating moods; Zoisite would surely bear the brunt of this particular mood, and none the too pretty it would be.
"He hasn't returned from the hunt," Kunzite said in as diplomatic a tone as he could muster, allowing his usual stoic calm to do the speaking for him even though he was roiling inside. "He can not possibly be far away."
"Locate him." The order was sharp and not to be challenged.
"…my Queen, I can not always--"
"I said, locate him!" The husky voice thundered about her throne room, echoed off every wall and made her youma wince at the force of the sound. "If that worthless idiot is hiding from me because he let another nijizuishou--"
Kunzite's words were accidental and abrupt. "He's not dead…?"
At first Beryl looked sharply annoyed at the interruption, then a small slow smile crossed her features and coloured them with malice. "Oh, we couldn't have that, could we Kunzite?" There was a teasing note in what she said, but the corresponding warning was as clear as glass. "No. He's not dead. I would have seen the energy burning in him return to Metallia-sama if he were." She then flicked one long-nailed hand, fury returning to darken her eyes and her expression. "He's hiding, for who knows what reason. Find him. Bring him back." As he nodded and made to turn from her, she added very sharply: "Do not even contemplate shielding him from me, Kunzite. Or you know how he will pay for it."
"Yes, my Queen." No true emotion was given away in his voice or his stance, but Beryl could sense distress from him all the same. It made her grin coldly, gave her next words a cruel flavouring that made him wince deep inside of himself.
"Good. Now do it."
Bowed his head again, and left the chamber. In his own residence, Kunzite immediately stretched out his powers, felt nothing. If Zoisite had indeed lost the fourth nijizuishou, then perhaps it was not surprising that he would be disinclined to present to Beryl his failure, but…Kunzite found it hard to believe that he would hide alone.
He wouldn't think I'd hand him to Beryl on a silver platter if he crawled back empty handed…surely he wouldn't. He still has use yet to me yet.
It was hard to understand how Zoisite could vanish like this – and while he was admittedly taking an inordinate amount of time to return, Kunzite had not concerned himself about it until Beryl had summoned him. After all, even though he occasionally still watched the younger shitennou while in action, Zoisite could become rather touchy about being "monitored." Highly capable as he was, Zoisite still felt inferior in the face of those who surrounded him, and much as he appreciated Kunzite's tutelage and occasional assumption of the lead, Zoisite preferred to prove himself on his own.
I think he will forgive me if I get involved now – for after all, better it be me than the Queen.
With an almost audible sigh, Kunzite stretched the powers that flowed through him out ever further, felt the strain began to cloud his vision with spots of red that began to grow and grow. It was only when his sorcerous vision of the Terran dimension was nearly completely awash with red, the flickering lights of every human (and every near-human) beginning to run together like burning mercury, that he stopped. Letting it go, he braced himself for the aftershock of magics used too harshly, winced as the pain struck him hard.
Still, even above the screaming of abused neurones, the thought that resounded loudest was thus:
Zoisite, what the hell are you up to this time…?
"Usagi-chan, what's wrong?" Ami's voice came out of nowhere, startling Usagi from where she was leaping from foot to foot outside her classroom and looking frustrated.
"Ami-chan!" And the blue-haired girl took a step backward, but it didn't save her from Hurricane Usagi. The girl leapt forward, clasped her hands, pumped them up and down in a fashion that had Ami's head spinning like a carousel on high-speed. "You have to help me!"
"Usagi-chan, we need to go…oh no." Ami paused, blew out a breath that was both frustrated and resigned. "Please, tell me that you haven't got detention again…have you?"
"No! Worse!" Usagi then promptly dropped Ami's hands and looked back in the classroom through the closed door, frowning at the redhead inside packing her purse at her desk. "Haruna-sensei confiscated my communicator!"
This announcement first made Ami blink; against her will, she found to her surprise that she was actually beginning to smile. "…what? Why would she do that?"
"…'cause I was using it in class." Hung her head. "Ami-chan, I just…I just wanted to know what was going on, and Rei-chan wouldn't tell me anything…I got kind of steamed…I mean, she's ALL BY HERSELF with Tuxedo Kamen…I mean, Mamoru-san…I mean…ooh, it's not fair!"
Ami shook her head, the hand that she had raised to her face more to hide a smile than a frown. Usagi seemed to sense the amusement Ami was finding in this situation, because she then put her hands on her hips and glared at her comrade. Coughing, Ami straightened both her back and her expression; sternly she said: "Usagi-chan, you need to get it back."
"That's the problem! She won't give it back." On tiptoes she peered back into the classroom, then returned her hands to her hips and continued scowling in the oddly sweet way only Usagi seemed capable of. "…man, it's so not fair…I mean, she was going out with Tuxedo Kamen…I mean, Mamoru-san…it's just…it doesn't work! They can't be the same person!" The words seemed to be more directed at herself, given the way she was muttering them in the general direction of the floor.
Ami sighed now, losing most of her amusement with the situation quite abruptly. A look down at her own inactivated computer reminded she'd been waiting to meet up with Usagi after school to turn it on so they could talk to the three at Mamoru's apartment, as they had done at lunchtime. "Luna's not going to be happy about this."
"Aw, Luna's never happy," Usagi sulked. "It's not fair!"
Ami had no idea if she was referring to the loss of her communicator or the Rei/Mamoru fiasco that was obviously evolving into a epic soap opera in her head, but it didn't matter. Stowing her own little palm-computer away in her school-case, she pushed past Usagi in her polite way to knock on the classroom door.
"Come in?" came the surprised voice from inside; without waiting a further comment, Ami stepped inside to greet the teacher.
"Haruna-sensei." After a respectful bow of her head, she looked up with her usual too-serious expression and asked politely: "Can I speak to you for a moment?"
"Of course, Mizuno-san," the teacher replied, setting aside her purse and a thick folder of assignments yet to be marked. Even though she looked very tired, as if she'd had more than enough school for one day, Ami could sense that she was genuinely happy to have an extra word with a student who actually wanted to learn something. "What is it about? More schoolwork?"
"Well, no. It's kind of about my friend, Usagi."
"Tsukino?" There was a brief second in which Haruna-sensei seemed unable to understand why the best student in the school should want to talk about the worst, but then she seemed to recall that Ami and Usagi actually did spend time together. "I still don't understand how you two are friends, actually," she remarked, in a fashion so offhand that Ami couldn't help but believe she hadn't really intended to say it aloud. "I can only hope that you rub off on her, and not the other way around…"
"Hey!" Both teacher and student looked up to see Usagi standing in the doorway, managing to both look annoyed and rather sheepish at being caught out eavesdropping.
With eyes rolled to the ceiling, Haruna-sensei returned her gaze to Ami. "You can understand that, right?"
Ami's smile was broad and entirely accidental. "I suppose so."
"Ami-chan!" Usagi all but squawked, betrayal evident in every syllable.
Admirably well, Ami then ignored the performance of her friend and concentrated entirely on the teacher. "I actually wanted to ask you if I could have Usagi-chan's…palm computer back."
"Her palm computer." The understanding dawned only when she reached back into her purse and removed the hot-pink communicator that Usagi had managed to make her confiscate. "Is that what it is?"
"Oh, yes." Ami stopped for a moment, gearing herself up for a lie. In fact she was actually steeling herself; it was not in her character to lie, if only because she saw no real point in doing so. However, there was a point to this one, and with that in mind she spun out her little story with scarcely a hitch in her voice. "She…uses it sometimes in class to help her. I mean, I programmed it for her." She paused a moment, and then waved her hands quite suddenly in a negative gesture. "It's not for during exams or anything, but…it just prompts her with things when she's having trouble."
Rocking it back and forth while holding it between her fingers, Haruna-sensei looked up at Ami curiously and not without a little suspicion. "Is that so?"
"Oh, yes." With an earnest tilt to her expression, Ami pushed her bangs out of her eyes. "I know I should have told you about it, but…I guess I wasn't thinking. And it's not really finished, either. It just has…fact prompts, a kanji checker, a timeline of basic events in it at the moment." She smiled brightly then, helping the apparent sincerity of the gesture would win her some believability points even while Usagi stared at her back in complete amazement. "It doesn't give answers, you see, it just gives clues and hints that I thought would especially help Usagi remember what she needs to know to pass her tests."
Haruna-sensei was still examining the object and missing most of Ami's Academy Award winning performance; however she did look up then with a raised eyebrow. Apparently, she had been trying to work out how to turn it on. "How does it work?"
"Here, let me." Taking the proffered communicator, she switched it on and danced her nimble fingers over the keypad in a tango of numbers and characters that had Usagi's eyes swirling. Ignoring this, Ami then showed it to the carefully watching teacher. "See? Put in the kana, and it flashes up the kanji." Before Haruna-sensei could try it herself, Ami took it back to fiddle again for a moment more. "And see? Basic timeline of the Bakumatsu," she finished, holding out the communicator so Haruna-sensei could see the beginnings of a lovely historical timeline.
"That's really quite remarkable," she said quietly, using one of the buttons that Ami was indicating to scroll across the screen. "And you say you did it yourself?"
"Well, I like to fiddle a little with computers." A flush was creeping up her neck and her eyes were a little bright, but that was the only indication she gave that the situation was making her increasingly uncomfortable. "It's nothing much."
"It's very clever," Haruna-sensei corrected, dropping her own fingers away from the device and leaving it firmly in Ami's hands. "But yes, you should have asked first…even though it's very nice of you to help Tsukino."
"She's worth it." The words required no thought, and Ami only smiled broadly at the mildly sceptical look directed at her by the teacher whose teaching abilities were nearly done in by Usagi on a daily basis. "May I have it back?"
"Of course. Just don't let Usagi get too distracted by it, will you? She was using it like a Gameboy in class – I thought it was one, actually. It could be helpful, but she still needs to listen to her teacher."
"She will. Won't you Usagi-chan?"
"…yeah," Usagi said quietly as she came to stand beside her friend, admiration shining from her pretty little face. Only a sharp nudge from Ami made her blink, realise what she was supposed to be doing. "Oh! Sorry, Haruna-sensei." Bowing their heads in almost complete synchronisation, the two then rapidly exited the classroom, letting the door bang shut behind them.
"Here you go," Ami said without preamble or even lecture, shoving the little device back into Usagi's hand as they hurried down the corridor. She only stopped dead when she realised that Usagi was no longer at her side; rather the blonde was some feet down the corridor staring at the communicator with complete amazement.
"How did you do that? I didn't know my communicator could do that!" Ami heard Usagi say as she went to her side, the girl obviously totally dumbfounded by the unknown capabilities of the Senshi device.
"It can't," Ami said, and then winced. "Well, not usually." The embarrassed flushed from earlier was already returning, little by little. "But…it's linked to my computer, Usagi-chan. I just activated the link and pulled some of my study notes out of it. It can cope with that, at least for a little while."
Usagi's jaw was hanging down so low she really should have been catching flies in her wide-open mouth. "You keep study notes on your Mercury computer?"
"Well, yes."
With one hand held behind her head and confusion shining like moonlight in her blue eyes, she said rather reluctantly: "…please tell me you're not studying while we're fighting youma, Ami-chan!"
"…well…" she hemmed while Usagi continued to stare at her in disbelief; the mild stand-off ended in grin as she ducked the wild arc Usagi's bag described in vaguely her direction. "Joking!"
Usagi laughed at this in delight, then glomping Ami rather unexpectedly. "I like it when you joke, Ami-chan!" she announced as Ami struggled not to fall to the ground under Usagi's enthusiastic weight. "You should do it more often!"
"Well…" she said again, blushing very deeply this time. Sometimes Usagi really did seem prone to forgetting that not only had Ami never had a friend quite like Usagi before, in fact she'd never really had a friend at all. Disguising the odd thought, she pulled out her own computer, flipped up the communication window. A message immediately flashed, and a second later Mako's face popped up onscreen.
"Finally got you!" she said, sounding both happy and mildly aggrieved. With one hand running through decidedly messy hair and too-bright eyes in a pale face, it looked decidedly like she, at least, had been up all night.
Usagi, hanging over Ami's slim shoulder, burbled happily: "Mako-chan! What's up?"
"He's up," she replied; a glance behind her was obviously directed at the shitennou at the centre of their latest Senshi crisis. Ami could hear some background noise that rose and fell in the fashion of distant voices, and it did sound suspiciously sound to her like an argument. A sinking feeling was beginning low in her stomach even as Mako flashed a tired grin and continued. "He's actually been up for a little while, and he's talking."
"He's talking?" Ami asked quietly, before Usagi could express her continued delight over this new development. A lot of the time her optimistic outlook for every day was rather endearing, but sometimes she really wished Usagi would just take some things seriously.
"Weird stuff, but yeah." Mako winced quite abruptly as a muffled sound in the background came off rather clearly as a window breaking. "Better come right on over!"
"Why didn't you call us sooner?" Ami asked, already looking for her Mercury wand; it slipped into her hand from the interstitial spaces of the universe, felt cool and solid in her grip. "I know mine was off and…and so was Usagi-chan's, but if you'd hit the emergency frequency you would have reached us."
"Hey. Didn't want to deprive you OR Usagi-chan of the school you love so much. Still, now that the day's all over – can't wait to see you." With a wink, Mako then broke off the communication, already turning back to the apparent fray in the apartment behind her.
Ami took the kind jibe well, only shaking her head with a smile. Even with the thought of what awaited them at the apartment, it couldn't help but grow wider at the sight of Usagi taking it badly, jumping around declaring: "Ooh, that Mako-chan! I'll get her for this, just you wait and SEE!"