Selves Inserted


Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, Trigin, and Slayers do not belong to us,
they belong to their respective owners. We are not making any money
off of this.


Chapter Two

---

Setsuna was... puzzled, to say the least. The two people she had hand
picked out of the hundreds of applicants were acting a bit...
strangely.

Kagato followed Setsuna, watching her emotions from his astral point
of view, and admiring the way she hid them so well visually.
Wondering if he could do the same, he willed his body to act
comfortable, as if nothing was wrong. His hesitant gait, and jerky
head-motions smoothed out, until he looked like he'd walked along this
path a thousand times.

Setsuna kept her gaze forward as she pondered. Part of the reason she
picked these two were because of their... quirks. But even so,
something seemed to be off. Especially with that boy who seemed to
have his eyes closed all the time. She hadn't really heard him
whisper 'Pluto,' had she?

Well, despite getting off on the wrong foot, hopefully they'd be able
to protect themselves, and the students, in a dangerous situation.
That was the basis of bringing them so close to her precious Senshi,
after all.

Tannim thought. He pondered. He contemplated. He complained.

"Are we there yet?"

"No," was Setsuna's terse reply.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Tannim finally shut up. He had been asking the same question for ten
minutes, and Setsuna 'still' wouldn't crack. He had been feeling
better since the pain in his stomach had receded. Amazingly, it had
done so at an astonishing rate. Besides the whole 'I just got sucked
into an anime universe' thing, nothing exciting was going on, and he
was getting slightly bored at just walking. Tannim entertained
himself by testing his reflexes.

Kagato, similarly, was testing his own newfound powers. What worried
him, though, was the way his body (he'd already started to think of
his astral body as the real thing) continually absorbed the emotions
rolling off Setsuna every time Tannim asked that question. And even
more unsettling was the way they felt when absorbed. It felt really
good. This would have been unsettling for anybody, but knowing what
he was, Kagato was more worried than an uninformed individual would
have been.

Tannim pulled back a foot in preparation in kicking a small pebble.
Suddenly, trajectories, velocities, thoughts of how to ricochet off
buildings, people, trees, thoughts of where to kick the pebble, which
part to make contact with the shoe; all of these things flooded his
mind with all the primal power of an animalistic instinct, something
felt emotionally, not intellectually grasped.

Then he kicked.

*plink*

The stone hurled itself past the nose of a passerby.

*p-ting*

It bounced off a metal pole and upward toward a nearby building.

*whack*

Careening off a the cement of a windowsill, the pebble continued on
it's course.

*thunk*

The small piece of stone ricocheted off a nearby tree branch to land
in Tannim's outstretched palm.

Kagato, watching all this with minimal (at first), but ever growing
interest, turned to Tannim when it was over. "How...?" was all he
asked, the question evident on his face.

Setsuna had heard the commotion, but had ignored it, finally spotting
some familiar buildings that lay on the outskirts of Juuban.

Tannim shook his head slowly, before placing the pebble in his pocket.
"I got skills," he said, a small amount of awe evident in his voice.
"Keen."

Setsuna gave a cool glance back at both of the men. "We're almost
there."

"Are we th-" The rest of Tannim's comment was cut off by another
elbow to the stomach.

---

"Welcome, tutors, to Juuban High School," proclaimed Setsuna with a
small smirk on her face.

Tannim stared in awe at the place he was going to work at for the
next... wait, how long was it again?

"How long are we supposed to work here again?"

Kagato just listened with his eyes shut, a small grin slowly growing
on his face. He could see Setsuna's exasperation when asked, and the
growing doubt in her choices as well. He deigned to remain quiet, and
see what kind of hole Tannim dug himself.

"And where are we supposed to live, anyway? I don't remember reading
anything telling us where we're going to sleep. Do we have to sleep
in the park? We'd smell kinda funny after the first few days..."
Tannim rambled on about different things, from expenses to what kind
of shampoo he liked to use.

Setsuna frowned at Tannim. "Those are all valid questions, and the
answers will be revealed to you... in time." Setsuna said, cutting him
off. She was thankful, at least, that Kagato wasn't asking any
questions.

In fact, looking at him closely, she recognized that look on his face.
She'd used it at a Senshi meeting or two before. She realized she'd
have to keep an eye on Kagato just as much as she would with Tannim.
With this revelation, she sighed, shrugged in her head, and turned to
continue giving them their tour of Juuban.

---

"And here is where you'll be staying."

The three were standing in front of a large apartment complex. It
wasn't the cleanest place around, but neither was it a dump. The area
around it looked marginally well kept, and free of trash.

Setsuna had a mental eyebrow twitch at the anticipated flood of
questions.

"What floor are we staying on? Is it high up? I like high places.
But not too high. Too high and I start getting airsick. Is it too
high? What are our neighbors like? Are they noisy? Do they hate
noise? Are they nosy? Do they like their privacy? Are they-"

"Are the rooms furnished, and in our names?" Kagato asked, Tannim's
incessant questioning continuing in the background.

"-nice people who'd share a cup of sugar with me? Or-"

Setsuna smiled a little, then, a little upturn at the mouth, but the
thanks in that little grin was almost palpable.

"-maybe they're evil aliens from outer space-"

"Yes, the apartments are pre-furnished, and in your names."

"-who want to steal my soul! Perhaps-"

"Then," Kagato continued, "we're going up to unpack.... Would you
care to meet us again tomorrow to show us around the campus more?
Around... say, noon?"

"-everyone could just get along-"

Setsuna nodded, once. "Noon, in the lobby. Be there, Kagato,
Tannim."

"-if we all held hands and sang- huh? What were we talking about?"

Once Setsuna was gone, Kagato turned to Tannim and waved a peace-sign
before blinking out of existence.

Tannim blinked. "Aw, crap. No one told me what room we were staying
in."

Unfortunately, nobody had told Kagato either. To remedy this, he
reappeared a moment later near the desk, took a step towards it, and
rang the bell. An orderly appeared quickly.

"Hai. Nan desu ka?"

Kagato stared at the orderly for a moment, his eyelid twitching again.
'I get anime-ified, turned into a Mazoku... and I can't speak or
understand Japanese any better than I could before my change.'

"Gomen-ne, Amerikago-wa wakarimasen..." replied the orderly, confusion
evident in his eyes.

"Habl.. err... Can you speak English?" Kagato said, a little slower
than his usual speed.

"Gomen-ne wakarimasen..." replied the orderly, confusion evident in
his eyes, "gomen-ne, Amerikago-wa wakarimasen..."

"...." Kagato smiled, turned, and disappeared, reappearing a moment
later with Tannim clutched by the arm.

"You speak any Japanese?" he asked Tannim, with a quirked brow and
little hope in his voice.

Tannim blinked his eyes hard for a moment, dispelling vague feelings
of dizziness. That was some ride. As the question sank in, Tannim
raised both eyebrows at Kagato. "How else would I be able to get a
tutoring job here?"

Kagato started to say something, and then frowned. Finally, "I'm not
going to merit that with a response," was all he said, before turning
him to look at the sweating orderly who stared at Kagato like he'd
grown a third eyeball.

Tannim pointed toward the orderly. "What is it you're trying to ask
him?"

"Where our rooms are."

Tannim nodded, before turning and asking, "Sumimasen, roomu-wa doko
desu ka?"

"Onamae-wa?"

"Watashi-wa Tannim desu." Pointing at Kagato, he said, "Sore-wa
Kagato desu."

The orderly looked in the notebook clutched in his hands. "Hai.
Tannim-san roomu-wa shichi-juu-san desu. Kagato-san roomu-wa shichi-
juu-yon desu."

"Arigatou gozaimasu." Tannim nodded his thanks as he headed toward
the elevators.

Kagato grinned at the orderly, and disappeared again. A few moments
later, when the elevator doors rumbled open, there, leaning against
the back wall like he hadn't a care in the world, stood Kagato. He
was grinning annoyingly at Tannim, and, as he'd already begun to grow
used to doing, his eyes were closed.

Tannim grinned. "That guy looked like he was pretty annoyed with you,
Kagato. So, know what room we're going to?"

Kagato smirked. "That'll be a fun game to play while I'm here.... As
for the room number, you tell me. I'm not omniscient. However, when
we do get there... we need to talk." He motioned towards the buttons,
and started humming to the elevator music that had already started to
repeat itself.

Tannim pushed the button with a big '7' on it. "Your room number is
seventy-four, if you're curious." By the time he had turned back
around, Kagato was already gone.

Kagato looked around the studio apartment he would be calling home for
a while, and sighed. Moving in was always hard... but being in
another country, he didn't even have his computer with him. It was
somewhere in his world, at the airport in Tokyo, never to be seen
again.

---

After finally getting to his apartment... Tannim realized he had
forgotten to get the key. One trip back down to the first floor, an
apologetic Japanese phrase or two, and one more trip up the elevator
later, Tannim actually entered his room.

Nodding thoughtfully, Tannim remarked, "Nice digs." The place was a
studio apartment; one big room and bathroom off to the side. He
wandered around a bit, checking the closet (half filled with normal
clothing, the other half filled with duplicates of his red trench
coat), poking around the fridge (fully stocked!), and finally he
wandered into the sleeping area.

Resting on the folded futon were two objects; a small square sheet of
paper, and an odd-looking revolver. Slowly, Tannim walked over to the
gun and picked it up; it was a perfect match for the revolver Vash the
Stampede used in Trigun.

Tannim absently holstered the esoteric revolver within his coat
without really thinking about it, only feeling the sensation of a part
of him being restored to it's rightful place.

Looking down, Tannim read the paper as it lain on the bed. It was
written in both English and Japanese.

'This is a certificate signifying that the individual known as TANNIM
MURPHY has been granted the special privilege to carry and discharge
firearms within the Nation of Japan. It may be revoked at any time
should the individual abuse this privilege.'

Tannim stared. "Okay. I thought I had seen weird, but this...
shouldn't be possible. Bah. I just won't think about it." He placed
the card inside another pocket. "Better go see what Kagato wants to
'talk' about."

---

Knocking loudly on the door, Tannim shouted "Howdy, neighbor!" in his
most cheerful voice.

The door swung open at Tannim's pounding to a furnished apartment.

Kagato, however, was nowhere in sight.

Tannim slowly wandered in as he casually looked around. "Kagato?
Bud? You there?"

Kagato appeared, then, at the table. "Have a seat," he asked, sitting
down in an unpadded-but-comfortable chair.

Tannim rolled his eyes as he sat down. "You love to do that, don't
you?"

"It's great!" Kagato beamed. "But... it's something... no. It's one
of the things we need to talk about. In the airport, we somehow ended
up in Sailor Moon. I'm sure you already know this, so I'll get to what
we don't know."

Tannim nodded. "Okay."

"Obviously, you've noticed my teleporting around and sudden
strength.... What about you? Aside from the attire, I mean. What's
changed?"

Absently, Tannim took out the pebble and rubbed it in between his
thumb and forefinger. "I'm a whole lot faster, and I have a sort
of... sixth sense when it comes to projectiles, you know? Anything
moving, or poised to move, I can sort of 'see' where it's going and
when it's going to get there."

Tannim snapped his fingers in remembrance. "Oh, and I found these in
my room." He pulled out the gun and card, showing them to Kagato.
"That's the imperial seal, making it official," Tannim pointed out.

Kagato quirked a brow, his eyes opening to read the document.
"Well..." he started, handing back the proffered items. "I'm a
Mazoku."

Tannim stared at Kagato for a second. A half-smile formed on his face
before he actually noticed Kagato's eyes: a golden hue, and slit
pupils. Blinking, Tannim finally made the connection. "Ah. Xelloss.
But why don't you have his outfit...?"

Kagato just shrugged. "Xelloss. Heh. I thought so, too.... Power-
wise, I suppose we're close. He's not really here to compare to,
though. No... I think I'm just a Mazoku... 'Mazoku X'" he said with a
grin. "Anyway... my biggest problem with this is the feeding."

"Right." Tannim placed a thoughtful finger on his chin. "You're like
one, big, youma in this world."

"Ehh... Not exactly. But it's still not a good thing. Fortunately,
though, it's not active, unless I try... and I haven't yet. There are
enough bad vibes anywhere to keep me content, I suppose. But if
something happens, and I must have power... I can feel the ability to
suck it out of people just waiting to be used." He sighed. "I hope
that's the worst of our surprises. Anything else about you?"

"You've heard of Trigun, right? Seen the anime? Read the manga?"

Kagato donned a thoughtful look. Tannim leaned forward, awaiting an
answer. Finally, when Kagato had sensed he'd leaned forward enough:
"Nope!" he exclaimed happily, "not a one!"

Tannim crashed headfirst into the floor. He picked himself up,
rubbing the quickly fading bruise. "Jeez. I've got to be more
careful around you." He shook his head to clear it. "Anyway, as I
was going to explain... apparently I've taken on the characteristics
of a character from that. Vash the Stampede, also known as the
'Humanoid Typhoon,' even if he isn't exactly human. I won't go into
details, but the main thing is this gun," he held up the strange-
looking revolver, "combined with my right arm can create an 'angel
arm' capable of destroying all of Tokyo. Sort of a 'last resort' type
of weapon."

Kagato just nodded. Finally, he said, "Well... this should prove
interesting... we'll see tomorrow, when Pluto... er... Setsuna shows
us around a little more."

"Yeah, I think I'll hit the sack. It's been a busy day and all, and
getting teleported to other universes wears a guy out..." Tannim
stretched, and then moved to leave the room. He mutters to himself,
"worse than jetlag, I swear," as he leaves.

Kagato, once Tannim leaves, moves over to the bed and lies down. Only
then does he realize he doesn't feel even remotely tired.

After a few minutes just lying there, he disappears, and, on the
astral plane, begins to explore Tokyo at night.

---

Chapter Two End


Author's Notes:

Tannim: Slightly shorter chapter, just sort of getting the filler out
of the way. Just to let you know, I supplied all the Japanese
featured in this story. If you could please correct me on my
mistakes, I'd be grateful. C&C is always welcome.

Kagato: I know.. Well. Yeah. That Japanese will be going away just as
Soon as Kagato (Mazoku-type) learns some Japanese... which will be
soon. Sorry, ya'll. Oh.. good thing pointed out, as well. Setsuna was
speaking English... though it wasn't stated anywhere. Perfect,
uncommentable English too, apparently. Sorry about that. Yes.. this
was fleshing-out and filler stuff.. next chapter, though.. ::evil
laughter:: Well.. you'll just have to wait and see! C&C Appreciated,
Flames are highly entertaining, as well.