A/N: and I'm back! One more chapter and an epilogue to go, and then JUSTICE LEAGUE!
Everyone! Please review and put stuff in the tvtropes page! Please, I beg of you!
….
Kinomoto Sakura of 2814
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Chapter 4: Look To Her Star- For Hope Burns Bright!
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story. If I did… well, this would all be canon. WARNING: MAY CAUSE HEAD EXPLOSION!
….
"Well, that was a bust," Keroberos said, sighing. The visit with the reincarnation of Clow Reed had been completely fruitless, and had mostly been Eriol stuffing them with snacks before they left, and him and Tomoyo smiling at each other in that way that made Syaoran pretty sure they were talking somehow. "What do we do now?"
"What else," Syaoran said, also sighing as he pulled out his cellphone to call for pick-up. "Road Trip 2."
….
"Hmm…" Shamal said, holding the stone in its golden-wire setting up to the light to see it better. The Knight had just returned from shopping and had so missed the video conference an hour before. She'd been the one to answer their general request for transport though, and so they'd stopped to get her take on the stone. "Interesting… you say this wasn't a product of Clow Reed?"
"No," Sakura said, shaking her head emphatically while Tomoyo used her phone to call her security detail and arrange for a more mundane ride. "Does it look like anything you know?"
Shamal gave the gem another critical look. "Jewel Seed?" she suggested. "I mean, it kind of looks like one, but it's not putting out any magic I can feel… and by now I've learned to feel a few."
Either Hayate had not been entirely satisfied with simply bringing her family back, there was a side-effect to the hasty reprogramming Hayate had done to separate them from the book, or perhaps it was a natural mechanism to upgrade the knights after each cycle, but the knights had come out with a little bit more data then they'd gone in with. It was small stuff— sensitivity to other magic, a few Shinmeiryuu techniques under Signum's belt, Vita suddenly knowing how to make a cake— but they'd learned to roll with it. It was what badass kinda-immortal Hayate-worshipping knights did after all. Tomoyo could get behind that kind of mentality.
Currently, Hayate and the other knights were gone, off to serve their 'community service' to the TSAB. Nanoha had raised all sorts of hell about them not being citizens under the TSAB's control and Earth not being under any sort of extradition agreement with the TSAB, but she'd been powerless in the face of the Knights turning themselves in. Reinforce was, ironically, the one charged least in the whole affair, treated as merely an unwitting accessory. Well, if you didn't count all those planets she'd blown up, but Yuuno and Chrono between them had made a case in her favor about how she'd been an unwilling participant in those too. Still, she'd gone along with the rest to 'serve their time', as they saw it, for all the damage they'd done. Thankfully the TSAB had only held them accountable for events that had happened during its existence, but Tomoyo had heard they'd essentially be working for the TSAB for the next eight to ten years. As punishments went, it was remarkably light, given the circumstances included assault, murder and genocide.
Hayate was already counting down the days until 'retirement', which most of her friends were trying to talk her out of, since that was just asking to get death-flagged, theoretical immortality aside. Whether or not the data from the Sailor Senshi, Negi's Magia Erebea, Zazie Rainyday, Archer and Berserker stacked (the suspected effect, which most people were crying "Unfair!" about), canceled each other out (the most cynical possibility and the one the more pessimistic people were not-so-loudly espousing), not working because her biology or magic or whatever was all wrong (this one was laughed out of consideration) or one of them was dominating the others (where the rest of the bets were), if she kept at it like that, someonewas going to find a way to kill her. The universe was an evil bastard like that.
Someone, most likely either Tuxedo Kamen (who had a lot of experience in dying and the morbid fascination people have with it) or one of her knights, had also taken the initiative to make sure she and Tohsaka didn't include 'comparing whose immortality was better' to their little rivalry. Just in case.
Syaoran sighed. As far as Tomoyo knew, he had no personal beef with the Knight of the Lake, but he still tended to be curt with the Wolkenritter who hadn't been involved in his de-Linkering. "That aside, can you give us suggestions? We need to try and find a way to make the thing work at-will, and have no idea where to start."
Shamal frowned thoughtfully as she handed the stone back to Sakura. "Certain Lost Logia are activated by intense emotion or desire. It's spotty at best, but from what you told me, it seemed to react to Sakura-san's extreme emotional states the night before. Maybe you can start there?"
"It's worth a try, I guess," Keroberos said, sighing.
Sakura bowed. "Thank you for your time, Shamal-san."
They made their good-byes, stepping out into the street. "So, where to next?" Syaoran asked, looking around as if he expected a car to appear. Silly boy.
Tomoyo consulted their list of contacts. "Well… shall we try the closest? Perhaps Admiral Harlaown will have something…"
….
"Hmm…" almost-retired Admiral Lindy Harlaown murmured, rolling the stone between her fingers as she held it under a lamp to see it better. "Interesting… we sure this isn't Lost Logia? We could take it to our main base and–"
"No," Keroberos, Tomoyo and Syaoran said, politely but firmly.
"If you're going to take any Lost Logia back, take the Garden of Time," Arf said firmly, hands on her well-shaped verb-ing hips, which were very ideally-suited towards any number of physical activities. "Green Lantern-chan's been complaining that it's been on the moon all year, dismantled and ready to be taken by the TSAB. She keeps saying if no one comes for it she's putting it back together and building a clubhouse. I think she's serious about that one, she keep talking about a statute of limitations or something."
"Where is she, anyway?" Syaoran asked.
"Oh, she said she was going to 40 Eridani someplace or other," Lindy said absently, still examining the stone. "Some maniac is trying to destroy it with a black hole to its core, and since it has sentient life, Nanoha-chan went off to stop it."
Syaoran blinked. "Wait… isn't that…"
"Not the same planet, no space elves," Amy said, coming from the kitchen sipping on a juice box. The Admiral's aide seemed to have developed an orange juice addiction, if Chrono's complaints about 'the older women ordering him around' during Boy's Night was any indicator. "I asked too. Apparently they're some kind of crystal squid who live in molten lead seas. Great musicians, apparently. Nanoha-chan likes their J-pop reproductions of old Toku themes."
"I won't ask," Syaoran said, watching Admiral Lindy scientifically tapping the stone with a spoon to see what happens.
Finally she shook her head. "I've got nuthin'," she said in a horrendous American drawl. "Maybe I'd know more if— "
"No," Keroberos, Tomoyo and Syaoran repeated politely but firmly.
She sighed, handing the stone back to Sakura, who slipped back around her neck. "We'd give it back," she said.
"Doubtless," Tomoyo said. "But when?"
"It's the paperwork!"
….
"Hmm…" Ami muttered, examining the stone with a magnifying glass to see it better as Sakura sat next to her anxiously.
"People keep making that noise," Keroberos said between spoonfuls of Makoto's homemade ice-cream. As it had been made with Usagi consuming it in mind, it came in a metal bucket that came up to her thigh. "Why do they keep making that noise?"
"It helps people think, I gather," Tomoyo said, daintily eating with a little spoon.
"Doesn't seem to work. It's never helped me," Usagi said cheerfully, digging in.
All around the room, Tomoyo saw people's faces go blank at the straight line, and one by one decide it was too easy. They were at the house the Outers lived in, which was never to be known as the 'Out House' on pain of pain. Mamoru, Jadeite and Gilgamesh had not yet arrived, forcing Syaoran to sigh and sit by himself, muttering about this being a girl-dominated business.
"You two are going to get fat eating like that," Rei chided them disapprovingly.
"I have a high-energy lifestyle, I need the sugar!" Usagi said triumphantly. The pause let Keroberos get ahead of her as he scooped up his 9th bowl. Tomoyo could feel her thighs getting fat just looking at them. She chided herself, continuing to her dainty eating and willing any fat to go to her chest, where its presence would be appreciated.
Ami and Sakura were talking in low tones now. At least, it seemed like low tones. The other Senshi were as likely just too loud. Sakura had a concerned look on her face, but she was listening intently as Ami spoke. After a while, they stood up, heading for the door to the garage. Tomoyo increased her eating speed slightly, hoping to follow them, but they were soon back carrying a tool box.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Haruka called, protesting. "Where are you going with my toolbox?"
"We're off to do experiments," Ami explained. "I just need to set up my recording equipment."
"Not with my toolbox, you're not!" Haruka said, standing up and walking over, reaching for the tools. "I remember your track record testing stuff, Mizuno."
"It was one diamond! That I paid for!"
"I'm NOT letting you do the same thing to my tools!"
"Just the hammer!"
"NO!"
"Haruka, it's for science!"
"I don't care if it's for Mythbusters, you're not using my toolbox to test some weird rock!"
The door opened, and the three prodigal males strolled in. "Tadaima–" Mamoru began.
"Plunge to your knees, princesses and mongrels!" Gilgamesh announced. "You stand in the presence of the king off all in this world! Bask in his radiance and be honored that he would suffer your presence, children and madwomen!"
There was utter silence as everyone gave the Servant varying annoyed looks.
"See, this is why we don't hang out with you," Syaoran said, tactically standing behind Tomoyo as he did so.
"And why we never invite you to karaoke," Minako added, sighing in disappointment. Another hot guy, ruined by a lousy attitude. And technically, he was an evil general too. Their streak just wouldn't end…
Mamoru sighed. "Gilgamesh-kun… we've talked about this."
"I was anticipating you changing your mind and living as your station deserved, your Majesty." Gilgamesh said smoothly.
"For a loyal subject, you're lousy at following orders, you know that?" Haruka observed.
Jadeite, still looking sleepy and wearing sunglasses– it had been another long night at the radio station as on-air personality J-Dite– gave his kinda-sorta reincarnated little brother a chop on the head in annoyance. "Gil, it's too early for this," he muttered sitting down on a free chair and rubbing the bridge of his nose. After getting him out of the Wolkenritter's garage— they'd found him floating around the dimensional see, took hi home and drained him in the ye older Book Of Darkness days before they ran into Nanoha— they'd managed to get him out by the simple expedient of having Eternal Sailor Moon shoot him. That seemed to work most of the time, after all. He lived with Mamoru and his brother now, and had used a variation of an old 'steal energy from the unsuspecting public' plans to get a job as a late-night radio DJ.
Usagi held out the bucket and a couple of bowls with spoons in them. "Hey, you guys want some of Mako-chan's Very Berry Orgasmy ice-cream?"
Gilgamesh knelt smoothly before her, head bowed. "You're too kind, your highness," he said.
Usagi drew herself up in what she thought was a noble attitude. "Be blessed, sir knight, and enjoy the sweet fruity good stuff! Such is my command!"
"At once, your highness!" Gilgamesh declared, beginning to scoop ice-cream for himself into a bowl that dropped out of a warp in the air. Both bowl and scooper were, of course, gold. Apparently, Ice-cream had been invented in Uruk. Who knew?
Mamoru sighed. "Usa-ko… I love you and all, but please don't encourage him…"
Hotaru tugged on Haruka's sleeve. "Haruka-papa…" she said.
Haruka looked down quizzically.
Hotaru pointed towards the back yard."Ami-chan ran off with your tools."
"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-ZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! -!-!-!-!-!-!-!" Haruka raged, stomping out of the room.
"How have you people managed to keep the human race from being drained dry of energy for over five years?" Syaoran asked rhetorically. Tomoyo privately agreed.
"Dumb luck and a tendency to not stay dead," Mamoru said, walking over to him, and they bumped fists as, somewhere, Emiya Shiro sneezed. "I've died so many times Death and I are on a first-name basis."
"Doesn't mean anything, she's like that with everyone," Hotaru said, helping herself to the ice-cream bucket.
"I find it epically disturbing you people can say that and mean it," Syaoran said. Ami ran into the room, holding the stone in one hand and a hammer in the other as Haruka ran after her, both shouting something incoherent. A confused Sakura followed in a moment later, holding the tool box.
Wordlessly, Hotaru held up a bowl of ice-cream. Sakura looked at it, shrugged, and set the toolbox down. "Thank you," she said, and Tomoyo firmly stamped on the inkling of jealousy as their fingers briefly touched, reminding herself Hotaru was into Negi Springfield, for all the good that did the poor girl. Personally, she didn't see the appeal, herself.
Somewhere, Negi Springfield felt a sudden sense of relief and didn't know why.
There was a loud, sudden noise. A few minutes later, Haruka walked in holding the hammer, putting it back in the toolbox and sitting with the toolbox on her lap, to Michiru's amusement. A little while later, Ami followed her in, slightly hunched over as she pulled one sock back up, her shirt pulled roughly down one shoulder. She gave Haruka a cool look, then turned to Sakura, unruffled. "Interference aside, I still think you need to get physical tests done on that thing. It might prove useful."
"Useful as getting it to work?" Syaoran said as Keroberos and Usagi began scrapping the bottom of the bucket.
"Well, as to getting it to work, there's the tried and tested method that's always worked for us," Ami said, then paused, looking around. "By the way, where's Luna and Artemis? She's usually the one who tells us to do this…"
"Oh, Luna went to visit that Himari person, you know, the one AngelGARd can't stand?" Rei said.
"Artemis went with her to warm that Demonslayer boy about the weird things female cats do," Haruka added. "Though I doubt it's going to be any good. That boy looked as slow on the uptake as a harem anime protagonist…"
Ami shrugged and turned back to Sakura, who was leaning forward eagerly. "All right, here's what you do," she said. "Take the stone in your hand."
Sakura did as ordered, frowning intently in such a cute way Tomoyo shivered. "All right, what next?" Sakura asked.
"Close your eyes," Ami guided her. "Feel the stone. Try and feel its power resonate within you."
Sakura had obediently closed her eyes, her brow furrowing slightly as she did what she was told. "I… feel it…" she said, and the stone visibly began to glow brighter. Everyone perked up at this sudden sign, leaning forward eagerly as it began to glow brighter, wispy little light tendrils and phantom images flickering around it. Even Gilgamesh showed some interest, though his gaze was a bit more covetous than interested.
Only Ami seemed surprised, muttering to herself. Tomoyo barely heard her say, "Wow, I didn't think that would actually work…" and fought to suppress her amusement.
"Um, okay," Ami said, floundering a bit more clearly. Her next words were almost questions, not statements. "Let the power build… okay, now, raise it up… up over your head… and them say…'(mumble mumble) STAR POWER, MAKE UP'!"
"Star Power, Make up!" Sakura cried determinedly, and the stone burst into brilliant, piercing light. Everyone gasped, some shielding their eyes with their hands. Jadeite snored, having fallen asleep some time after he sat down.
The light faded leaving… Sakura standing there with one arm above her head cupping the blue stone, whose glowing had subsided and looking quite silly. There was an expectant and slightly embarrassed pause.
"Huh…" Ami said. "That's always worked for us before…"
Sakura's arms fell down to her sides and she slumped, sighing. "Hoeeeee…" she lamented as the glow faded away.
"It seemed to work," Tomoyo said encouragingly. "At least, it reacted. That was a lot more than we got from Hiiragizawa-kun."
Sakura nodded, but still cradled the stone in a disconsolate way. Then she suddenly turned to Gilgamesh. "Gilgamesh-san?" she asked tentatively, holding out the stone. "Um, you once owned every magical object in the world… have you ever seen anything like this?"
Gilgamesh gave her a superior look, which for him was the equal of polite interest, and languidly took the stone, casually examining it. He made an indifferent noise as he ran a finger over the gold wire filigree, which said it at least passed his minimum standards of vaguely acceptable jewelry, if not something he himself would deign to wear. He turned it over in his fingers as he held out one hand, and a small, pick-like golden hammer dropped into his palm. He gave the stone a firm tap, and paused to listen to something only he could hear.
"Interesting…" he said. "Not lapis lazuli. A god's blood, perhaps?" They could PLAINLY hear him wanting to all but plant a flag on it and claim it for himself. There was another warp in the air and out dropped a little golden anvil, a golden vice, a large gold-mounted magnifying lens and golden tweezers, all carved and engraved with with strange and ancient glyphs. He mounted the stone on the vice and examined it closer with the lens. Then he raised the hammer over her head and slammed it down on the stone with an impact that made the table shudder and the floor vibrate. Everyone jumped as Gilgamesh leaned back over the stone, examining it with the lens. "Not even a scratch," he murmured. "Strong AND hard. Unique…" Avarice was all over his voice.
"Gilgamesh…" Mamoru said reminded him neutrally.
Gilgamesh, to his credit, doesn't even sigh or otherwise react. With absolute poise and equanimity, he spent a few more minutes examining the stone, pulling strange (golden) instruments from warps in the air, once shining what looked like an ancient Mesopotamian magic flashlight on the stone. An attempt to file off shavings leaves him with a disgusted look and a blunt (golden, and Tomoyo had no idea how THAT would work) file.
Eventually he tossed it back to Sakura, the gesture quick and negligent, as if ripping off a band-aid. "An interesting bauble you have there," he said with even more disinterest than he usually did. "Guard it well."
Sakura nodded, bowing deeply and slipping the stone back around her neck. "Thank you, Gilgamesh-san," she said. "I appreciate you taking a look at it." There was a hint of expectation in her voice, as if hoping he'd add something.
Other people were less subtle. "Well?" Ami said desperately, still giving Haruka and her toolbox annoyed looks. "What is it?"
"I have no idea," he said. "It's stronger and harder than anything on the periodic table that's not trans-uranic. I think you'll need at least some magic to even affect it physically, let alone make it do anything else." he made a dismissive gesture completely at odds with how his eyes fixed on the stone. "At this point, it's just pretty. Not even very pretty, at that."
"Yeah, no one's buying that Gil-kun," Usagi said in one of her rare moments of insight. "Not the way you're practically drooling."
Ami blinked. "'Trans-uranic'?"
Gilgamesh deflated slightly, and his posture became sulky. "Well, I gave it back, didn't I?"
Usagi reached over to pat him. "You did. Want more ice-cream?"
Gilgamesh nodded.
"Can we borrow that giant ice hammer of yours then, the refrigerator doesn't work fast enough…"
….
"Look, you've got me mixed up with someone else!" the silver-haired girl declared, trying to dislodge Luna from her ankle. The urge to blast the little vermin away was exceedingly tempting, but it wouldn't do to blast a representative of the Sailor Senshi. Rinko and Yuuto both thought it was a big deal, but for once, she and the slutty cat were united in opinion, which was 'Meh'.
Luna was bawling her eyes out, babbling something about 'Queen Serenity' and 'reincarnated again' and 'I'm doing my best to guide your daughter, I really am!' and 'please forgive me!'.
Artemis, for his part, just looked embarrassed. "Sorry about this," he said to Yuuto as Kuesu tried to pry off Luna with a broom. "She's been having a stressful year."
Yuuto nodded as Rinko, Himari and Lizlet argued about who would serve him tea. "I understand. We've only recently been able to relax ourselves," he said, glancing over at where Tamamo-No-Mae was playing video games.
"Look, I'm not a space alien either!" Kuesu cried as Luna began claiming the girl was also a moon cat.
Yuuto leaned forward conspiratorially. "So, tell me more about this 'Boys Club'…"
….
"Hmm…" Hakase Satomi said as she examined the stone under a microscope while Chachamaru served them tea. "Fascinating…"
"You've got no idea too, do you?" Keroberos said from an anxious Sakura's shoulder.
"Bupkiss," Hakase said cheerfully. "Fortunately, that's what the scientific method is for! Chachamaru, the toolbox! I'll need the hammer!"
"That's been tried," Syaoran said.
Hakase wilted slightly. "It has?"
They nodded.
"Well, time to move on then… Chachamaru! The really cool lasers and scanners!"
As the gynoid began to help her mother set up the laboratory, Syaoran looked sideways at the two girls. "Is it just me, or is everyone we visit pretty much useless?"
"Don't say that Syaoran-kun," Sakura chided. "Everyone is doing their best!"
"Granted. I just wish their best would be good enough," Syaoran said.
Tomoyo nodded. "'Cause here we are back where we were before," she said with a straight face. "Seems nothing ever changes."
Syaoran gave her a look. "Song lyrics? Really Daidouji?"
She smiled at him as Sakura looked between them in confusion. "Huh?"
There was a loud humming noise.
"All right!" Hakase declared enthusiastically. "Lasers ready. Let's do this! FOR SCIENCE!"
Syaoran found the way Chachamaru was carrying the back-mounted fire extinguisher to be fairly ominous.
….
There was an anti-climactic lack of explosions. Somehow, Syaoran felt cheated.
"All right!" Hakase said after a round of materials tests. "Pretty interesting rock you've got here. Nothing we have in the lab so much as scratched it, it's hard enough to scratch diamond and everything else we managed to put in front of it. It also seems to have both super-conductive and super-insulator properties, and I'm still trying to work out how we managed to get that on the same test, but it kept repeating when we reset, so we wrote it down. We're still waiting on the results of the electron microscope."
"Anything on it's magical properties?" Syaoran asked, staring down at the graphs and figures. He was good at math, but this wasn't math. At least, no form of it that made sense to him. Daidouji, damn her, seemed to be drinking it in.
Hakase shook her head. "Ever since Chao left, we haven't been equipped to handle that stuff," she said. She sighed. "Club funding keeps being sent to baton twirlers, painters and creative writers. Damn the humanities for crippling scientific progress!"
"I twirl a baton," Sakura said, sounding a bit hurt and making Tomoyo glance up from her papers, eyeing Hakase with a dark gleam in her eye promising ominous things.
"And I'm sure you do it well," Hakase said. "I hope it gives you comfort while mankind's scientific progress grinds to a halt under the lash of beauty pageants, reality TV and pop idols. I'd be something else if they were impartial. For some reason I can't fathom, moral and performance seems to increase among males and some females when girls in short skirts and tight tops wave pompoms and do high kicks around them, but alas, the cheerleaders only have time for sports teams. Don't they realize that, say, the rocket propulsion lab could use the morale boost more, and for greater benefit to mankind?"
Syaoran found it in him to pray for this doomed soul as Sakura slumped even more.
"Mother, isn't Sakurako-san a cheerleader?" Chachamaru pointed out.
Hakase gave her a blank look. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"May I recommend you never bring up this argument around her?" Chachamaru said. "I'm lacking in first-hand experience, but according to empirical data from sitcoms, your statements, should they ever reach her, will land you in the metaphorical 'dog house'."
Hakase blinked in confusion. "Why would it?"
"Unknown, but empirical evidence suggests a correlation," Chachamaru said.
Hakase waved a hand. "Oh, you shouldn't believe everything you see on TV, Chachamaru. Especially not on sitcoms."
Tomoyo smiled very beatifically. Syaoran wondered whether he should do something… then decided against it. She'd made Sakura feel bad, after all.
There was a knock on the door, and Hakase went of to answer it as Tomoyo patted Sakura on the shoulder and told her not to feel bad about her baton twirling. There was excited discussion at the door Syaoran didn't understand– it sounded Japanese, but was apparently in some completely bizarre other language– and then the very firm sound of the door closing.
"Apparently, I need to start cooking up cover stories," Hakase said, sighing. "Again." She held up some sheets. There was a computerized image on it that made absolutely no sense to Syaoran. "This is the electron microscope image of our little sample." She showed it to them. "I'm sure you can see why it's significant."
"No," the four of them chorused.
Hakase sighed, moaning something about the downfall of education. "Whatever that sample is, it's not matter. Oh, it has mass, volume and density, but it's not matter. Not when you really get right down to the molecular level. It has a molecular structure, and has a very ordered crystalline arrangement, but everything is made of the same thing, and whatever it is, it's not matter." She sounded both interested and pissed. "Even magic has the decency to make fake matter most of the time, but this isn't even that!" Abruptly, she grinned. "I'm so getting a Nobel Prize for this!"
"Secrecy," Syaoran reminded her.
She drooped. "Oh. Right. Stupid secret alliance."
….
Usagi frowned as she tried to make out what Luna was saying over the phone. "Luna, slow down… what do you mean I have living Moon Kingdom relatives? No Luna, we already know about them, the moon on the forehead thing is just something they drew on, it's not like mine…" She sighed as she pulled the phone away from her ear to not have to endure Luna's, ahem, caterwauling. She looked at Haruka and Michiru. "You're in entertainment, right? Do you think you can call that Dog Whisperer guy and ask if he knows any cat whisperers?"
"I'm a concert violinist," Michiru said flatly.
Usagi gave her a blank look. "What's your point?"
….
"Hmm…" Kuro said, leaning back on the chair in the room she shared with her sister, her legs crossed beneath her miniskirt and paying absolutely no heed to how this was causing her to flash them. This happened so often Syaoran now had an accurate knowledge of the range of her underwear selection. He was almost jaded. Almost. Illya was apparently out with friends and Miyu, while Kuro had opted to stay behind for consultation. Kero was drowning his troubles in some pudding cups, muttering about this being a waste of time.
Sakura wasn't jaded and was blushing in sympathetic embarrassment. "Um…" she ventured, gesturing to try and get Kuro's attention.
Syaoran put a restraining hand on her forearm. "No point," he said. "She doesn't care. Just… try not to look directly at it, or you'll go blind."
"Are you comparing my crotch to the sun, Lee Syaoran?" Kuro said, not ceasing her examination of the stone, such as it was. She bounced it on her palm, flipped it between her fingers, sniffed it and, to no one's surprise, tried to stab it with a knife. The zip-zagging blade looked strangely familiar.
"I'm not answering that one," Syaoran said, staring anywhere but Kuro's general direction. What sort of skeezy, perverted clothing chain sold black, lacy thongs in child sizes, anyway?
"Oh, come on," Kuro said, giving him an amused look. "I know you've got a girlfriend, but I'm not that ugly, am I? Or is your latent homosexuality acting up again?"
"That was an isolated incident involving magic!" Syaoran protested as Tomoyo snickered.
Kuro made an exaggerated hurt face, looking sideways at Tomoyo. Tomoyo patted her on the shoulder. "Don't feel bad," Tomoyo said. "He wouldn't look at me either, and I was completely naked."
Syaoran paled as Sakura blinked. "Huh?"
That actually made Kuro pause and she looked at Tomoyo up and down very intently. Tomoyo helpfully turned sideways and moved her skirt a little to let Kuro get a look at her thigh. Kuro raised an eyebrow at Syaoran. "A lot of that isolated incident magic going on with you, huh?"
"I am NOT having this discussion with you!" he said. "For one, your tastes run towards maids, your sister, and your brother!"
"Not by blood," Kuro said happily, giving him a double thumbs up. "So it's okay! Meilin's just your cousin, right?"
Syaoran had to remind himself it wouldn't be polite to strangle a nominal friend in her own home.
Sakura gave Syaoran a perplexed and slightly pouty questioning look. "When did you look at Tomoyo-chan naked?"
"Last night, while you were asleep," Tomoyo chirped happily as she cheerfully threw him under the bus. "Syaoran was kind enough to run a hot bath for me, but I forgot to bring a towel. He graciously brought one, but when I stepped out of the bathroom, the towel slipped off."
"Oh," Sakura said, then smiled at Syaoran. "That was very nice of you, Syaoran-kun."
Syaoran blushed, conscience gnawing at him. "Actually, it was kind of a prank. I made the bath, but took all the towels so that Daidouji couldn't dry up. It was pretty mean, so I gave her a towel after a while so she could get dressed."
"Oh," Sakura said, frowning reproachfully. She sighed in disappointment. "Well, at least you know it was a mean thing to do, Syaoran-kun. And you did make her a bath and give her a towel in the end."
"Indeed," Tomoyo said. "It was nothing Sakura-chan, I played my own little prank on him with the soap to, so we're even."
Sakura smiled, clapping her hands with an air of finality. "Oh, well, that's okay then! As long as you're both okay with it. But I really wish you wouldn't pull pranks on each other, someone's feeling might get hurt."
Kuro was starring at Sakura in wide-eyed wonder. "Aren't you… angry? Call him a pervert? I mean, he saw another girl naked, after all."
Sakura gave Kuro a perplexed look, like the dark-skinned girl had just said something in Kryptonian. "Why would I be mad? It was an accident, wasn't it? It's hardly something to be mad about, especially since it wasn't anything Syaoran really did. He'd already given Tomoyo-chan a towel."
Kuro starred at Sakura in wonder. Then she turned to Syaoran and clasped both his hands, giving him an intent stare. "You," she pronounced gravely, "Are a lucky, lucky man, Lee Syaoran. Hold on to this girl. Hold on and never let her go. Hold her and love her and thank heaven you have the great and truly godly honor of being worthy of her love."
"I do," Syaoran replied as Sakura blushed. "Every day."
"Hoeee!" Sakura said cutely. "What's the big deal?"
"Most girls would be suspicious of their boyfriend if they found out he had been with a naked girl, especially if that girl was their best friend," Kuro said, not letting go of Syaoran. "They wouldn't trust anything he said about what happened."
Sakura looked at her like she'd gone back to speaking Kryptonian. "Why? I trust them. It's Syaoran and Tomoyo after all. What's not to trust?" Her brow knit. "I mean, someone seeing you naked can be pretty embarrassing, but I don't get why it's a big deal. It was an accident, after all. That doesn't make Syaoran a pervert. And even Tomoyo-chan said he didn't look, so he didn't really embarrass her."
Kuro clapped Syaoran on the shoulder. "You lucky, lucky man!" she cried, tears of sympathetic joy in her eyes. "NEVER let her go! I wish someday I'll be as lucky as you!"
"Will someone explain what's going on?" Sakura asked, feeling left out.
"It's… complicated," Tomoyo said, patting her on the shoulder. She gave him a resigned look, but nodded in a way that suggested the matter was closed. The goddess had heard and judged, and found none had sinned. Thus had it been spoken, and Tomoyo accepted the judgment
Kuro leaned forward slightly. "You really saw her naked? Was she hot? Is that her natural hair color? What were her tits like?"
Syaoran rolled his eyes and pushed Kuro's face way. "Can you at least tell us what your suspicious-looking tests say about that?" he said, nodding at the blue stone still in Kuro's hand.
"Oh, this?" Kuro said, flipping it up with her thumb like a coin. "Nothing like it on Earth. There's absolutely nothing in the data the Einzbern gave me about it."
Sakura drooped.
"I know what it is though," Kuro continued cheerfully.
Sakura suddenly straightened, and Syaoran, Tomoyo and Kero started. "You do?" Sakura said. At this point, even she was getting a bit pessimistic
Kuro looked at them, that twinkle that comes from being high with knowing you knew something someone else didn't coming to her eyes. "Sure do," she said. "I've used something like it before, though that came in a different color. I recognized the texture though. " She grinned. "Besides, I have awesome magical materials analysis powers. You guys really should have come to me first. Or maybe maybe our not-so-ambiguously gay broken duo." She meant Hayate and Tohsaka Sakura.
"Well then, what is it?-!" Keroberos demanded.
Now Kuro paused. "It depends…" she said slowly, "on what concepts you'd most easily understand." She gave Sakura a piercing look that Sakura just blinked blankly at. "Yeah… I think I better stick to the small words," she said, holding up the stone. "Basically, this rock is solidified blue light. At least, that's what it's physical substance is made of. It's metaphorical substance is something else altogether."
"Huh?" Sakura said, already looking lost.
Kuro raised a hand. "Don't worry, you weren't really supposed to understand that last bit. Let me break it down for you." She pointed at Sakura's head. "What is this?"
"Uh, hair?" Sakura ventured.
Kuro nodded. "Correct. But what is hair made of?"
Sakrua snapped her fingers. "Oh, I know this one, I saw it in a shampoo commercial!" she said excitedly. "It's made of keratin, right? Lots of other stuff too, but mostly that, right?"
Kuro gave her a blank look. "I wouldn't know, I'm in elementary school," she said, making Tomoyo and Syaoran snicker. "I'd have accepted hair again as an answer. But do you know what it is, in metaphysical terms?"
"Hair?" Sakura said, giving it another shot.
Kuro shook her head. "You," she said. "Sakura. It might be made of hair or keratin, whatever, but what it is, is Sakura. Or to be more specific, a part of Sakura. Your body, too. It's made of meat, guts, bone and stuff but what it is, is Sakura. Chachamaru is made from the same materials as a car, but she's not a car, she's a person. In the same way, a human body is made of the same materials as a cow, but you're not a cow, you're a human. What something is made of is distinct from what it IS. With me so far?"
"I think so…" Sakura said. "Like, a test and a book are both made of paper but they're completely different things?"
"Got it," Kuro said, glad that for once she wouldn't have to keep trying to make up analogies until something clicked. She held up the stone. "Well, this is made of blue light… but what it is, is not simply a big chunk of blue light." Her certainty wavered a bit. "I can't really say how I know. It's a little bit the feeling I get when I analyze it, and a little bit of a buzz when I touch it, but… I think this stone is solidified hope. Hope, the emotion, somehow congealed and solidified as a solid chunk of blue light."
They all stared.
"That doesn't even make sense!" Keroberos exploded. "Hope is… hope! You can't solidify it, it's a feeling, something that comes from here!" He thumped his little chest solidly.
"You're also not supposed to be able to make solid light either, but here we are," Kuro pointed out.
"We only have you're word that's solid light!" Kero challenged.
Kuro raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I was talking about Green Lantern-chan's ring."
They all paused. Syaoran had to admit, if he was going to call anything solid light, then Nanoha's ring creations were it.
"Green Lantern-chan makes things out of solid green light," Kuro said. "Liquid, gas, plasma, and energy too, but it's all green light. And ONLY green light. The times she makes something of a color other than green, she apparently has to do tricks with twisting wavelengths so it looks like a color other than green. Though she said something about the black parts of her uniform too…" Kuro trailed off, then waved a dismissive hand. "Never mind, not important. I think this stone is made of the same thing."
"But it looks nothing like Green Lantern-chan's ring constructs," Tomoyo pointed out.
"Yes," Kuro agreed. "It's definitely more solid than any of Green Lantern-chan's constructs. A lot more. But that's because it's much, much denser. I told you, remember? I've seen this kind of material before, in another color. I've never managed to examine Green Lantern-chan's ring, but I have used a Power Ring. The white Ring that Archer-nii made. The Wolkenritter said that during their fight with him, he made rings in other colors. Red, yellow, pink… and blue." She pointed at the stone. "Same texture. Same hardness. Different color. And I bet you if we can compare it to one of the Lanterns' rings, it'd be the same too, just green."
Kuro leaned forward, conspiratorially, and despite themselves the other four did so as well. "Look Daidouji, Lee, you and I know no substance on Earth can do all the things Green Lantern's ring can, either with magic or science. We've seen it act as a computer, as a power source, and as a magic wishing ring. It's not a question of whether it can be done, it's a question of cramming it all into something that small. You can only shrink computer components so small, and you can only stuff so much magic into a small object. That's why most magical objects are fairly big things, usually materials high on the periodic table, like gold or silver. But if it's made of solidified light acting as a physical component to contain a conceptual existence…?"
"Obtuse words aside…" Tomoyo said slowly.
"Technobabble," Syaoran supplied less politely.
"… the underlying thesis is sound," Tomoyo allowed. She tilted her head. "You're proposing that Sakura's stone is made from the same substance as Green Lantern-chan's ring… except it's blue."
Kuro nodded. "It might not make any difference, or it might make all the difference," Kuro said, sounding excited. "Lantern Rings come in green, no other color. I don't know about those different colored rings Archer-nii made, but I used a white Ring, and it behaved WAY differently than the Lanterns say their ring works. It could be that different colors produce different functionality. Or maybe there's an economic reason, like green is easier to produce, or is more common to be mined in wherever in space. We don't know, and that's not important to our discussion."
"Then what is important?" Sakura asked, feeling she was just barely understanding what was going on.
"Don't you see?" Kuro said. "You said this only reacts to emotion, strong emotion. But maybe that's because you're not using it right. I thought Green Lantern Rings needed to be programed or somehow processed to work, but if this is the same substance, then it's already naturally reactive. Maybe all it really needs is someone thinking at it the right way strongly enough. I think the way to control this rock is the same as controlling a Green Lantern ring."
"So… we need to ask Green Lantern-chan to train her?" Tomoyo said as understanding dawned on Sakura.
"NO!" Kuro, Kero and Syaoran all chorused, making the two girls jump.
"NOT Green Lantern-chan," Syaoran said firmly. "Yuuno told me stories about his 'training' with her. We're not putting Sakura through that."
"But other than that, the theory is sound," Kuro said, then seemed to think of something.
"But Yuuno-san's on patrol right now," Sakura said.
Kuro waved a hand. "That can wait. So stupid! I just realized… if Archer-nii used different colored rings, then there's somewhere we can go to check if my theory is right!"
"Where?" Kero asked.
….
Tohsaka Sakura opened her eyes slowly. "I've got nothing…" she said regretfully, still disoriented from her mediation. She winced slightly as she waited for the burn of her thaumaturgical crest to die down. It had taken her a while to work out how to make sense of the information the Reinforce from the Fourth Holy Grail War had left in her. There had been no table of contents or index left behind, and the part of it she knew was infinitesimally, almost absurdly, laughably small compared to the whole. Her sister had needed to teach her the procedure for extracting data from a thaumaturgical crest, and in the months since she'd barely made a dent in the huge pile of data she'd been left with. "Sorry. The Archer data is a big lump. Everywhere I go I keep finding the data for swords, duct tape, swords, paper, swords, sexual positions and more swords. Oh, and swords."
"We got that," Syaoran said.
"No, I don't think you do. There are a LOT of swords in here." She sighed. "But no, there's nothing about the rings or how to Trace them, so far. Sorry."
"It's okay," Kuro said. "We'll just ask Hayate when she gets back."
Tohsaka grimaced, but nodded. 'Rivalry' aside, she had to admit Hayate's data was better organized then her's. "I'm sorry, but I need to write all this data down," she said, already heading for the stacks of notebooks she used to keep her data organized.
"No problem," Kuro said. "How long before your Device arrives?"
Tohsaka grimaced. "A few more weeks. Shamal-san's working on what she can, but apparently she needs Hayate and Reinforce's help for it to have the functionality I needs."
"Well, cheer up," Kuro said. "Once you have your own space-magic book, you'll finally be able to beat a ten year-old girl!"
Tohsaka sighed. "Did you have to phrase it like that?"
Kuro smiled brightly. "Yes."
….
Kuro raised the clapper in front of the video camera Tomoyo had set up on the tripod (no one questioned the fact she'd have a camera or a tripod on her). "Sakura-chan Blue Stone Tests, Deliberate Response Series, Take One!" she declared snapping the clapper to reveal a nervous Sakura in its sights, sitting in Kuro and Illya's bed. She didn't know why there was still only one bed in the room, but she was supremely grateful.
"Um, what am I supposed to do?" the star of the show asked nervously.
Kuro traced and snapped open an Oujo-Type Folding Fan™. "First, we are going to film you deliberately inducing a response from the stone," she exposited and wondered when she'd gotten the job of Ms. Exposition. "We're being scientific about this. We need you to try out different ways of making the stone react, sort which methods cause the most reaction, and focus on those. This is test one, Willing It To Happen! Action!"
Sakura gave her a blank look, but turned to the stone and frowned intently at it, willing it to do something.
Nothing.
Kero looked sideways at Kuro as Tomoyo called encouragement and Syaoran did his 'embarrassed silence of boyfriend-ly support'. "Why are you here?" he asked.
"I was bored. There's only so many hours in the day you can lie around mas–"
"TOO MUCH INFORMATION!"
….
It was some hours later. Except for a brief break for lunch, where Sella was in another of her guilty moods and had put on the Einzbern Maid Uniform™ again, Sakura had been working nonstop. Kuro was impressed. Given the degree of non-action the girl had previously displayed, she'd written the Card Mistress off as a moe blob, but she found herself reassessing that. At the very least, the girl got kudos for being a hard worker who didn't complain. Still a moe blob though, which wasn't bad. Not that she'd do anything. Tomoyo would murder her, most likely literally, most likely personally.
Said person was off to the side on her phone, speaking in low tones, while Syaoran had stopped hovering and was now seated to one side, occasionally getting up and giving Sakura reassuring smile or pat where she wouldn't be startled.
Kuro for her part, besides snapping a clapper for the next test (they were up to number 29 now, "Use the Force"), was playing catch-up.
"Trace, on," she muttered, trying to feel hopeful (they had already done that test with Sakura, number 11, and the results had been fairly good, so it had been earmarked for retesting) as she tried to make a blue stone of her own, or ever a blue stone ring. Sadly, nothing was happening. She couldn't understand it. She thought she'd found the data for it in herself– for a ring, at least– but it didn't seem to be working. The matter for it wasn't coming together, despite her reproducing its specifications exactly. Perhaps she should try in Unlimited Blade Works?
A groan interrupted her. She looked up to see Sakura leaning back on the stack of pillows behind her, eyes closed, rubbing her forehead. "Hoeeee…" she groaned again. Kuro had to hand it to her, she'd found her all-purpose sound-effect early in life and stuck to it.
"Illcallyouback," Tomoyo said in one breath and snapped off her phone, seeming to teleport instantly to Sakura's side. "Sakura-chan! Are you okay?"
"Tired…" Sakura groaned. She opened her eyes. "It's okay, just need to rest a little."
"Are you thirsty?" Tomoyo asked as Syaoran finally appeared at Sakura's other side, possibly so late because he had to actually cross the intervening distance. Kuro took that as her cue to get some water.
When she came back with a pitcher and some glasses, they'd switched around to Tomoyo sitting next to Sakura's head stroking her hair and Syaoran lower down on the other side holding her hand while Kero hovered ominously over her. Kuro, being practical, turned off the camera.
"Is this getting us anywhere?" Kero asked, looking concerned.
Kuro handed Tomoyo a glass of water in case Sakura wanted it, then picked up the paper she'd been using to track results. "Well, there's a general trend of it reacting to positive emotions and desires… and for some reason, it reacted to her thinking about chocolate. I think we can rule out the option of activating it with blood sacrifices, the general trend doesn't seem to go there."
"EH?" Sakura said, reacting to the word 'blood'.
Kuro waved her off. "Lie down and rest for now. You're worrying your friends." She sighed. "It shouldn't be this hard. Yuuno said you managed to activate it under post-combat conditions with no preparation and no training! Why are you having so much trouble now?" She stared at the list, pursing her lips.
"I'm sorry…?" Sakura hesitantly ventured.
Kuro waved her off. "It's not you," she said, more so the other two would stop glaring at her for making Sakura feel guilty. "But you shouldn't be having this much trouble…" She sat on the floor, leaning back on the bed and ruminating over the results, such as it was.
Finally, as Sakura was beginning to doze, Kuro asked, "What did you feel last night, when the stone activated? At the park I mean, the first time."
There was a heavy pause. The crawling feeling on one her shoulders told her whatever the silence was, it had made the love-obsessed duo glare at her. Finally, hesitantly, Sakura said, "I felt… I'm not sure I know the words…"
"Tell me what you were thinking then…" Kuro asked patiently.
Another pause. More crawling over her shoulders.
Finally, in a tight voice that dripped of pain and a shattered innocence, Sakura said, "It was… it was unfair. At first I was nervous, but I wasn't too worried. Syaoran-kun, Kero-chan, and Tomoyo-chan were with me. And it was scary, but I'd seen scary before." There was a slight quaver in her voice. Was she lying? If she was, did she know it? "But… it didn't seem fair, that no one could help them. Not even U–" There was a sudden pause. One of the two must have warned her. "I mean, not even Eternal Sailor Moon-sama."
"People die," Kuro said mildly.
"This wasn't death!" Sakura said, shocking everyone with her sudden vehemence. "This was wrong, and we should have been able to do something, should have been able to help…" There was a strangled sob. "I wanted to help them. I wanted to help them so much…"
Privately, Kuro wondered how long she'd been suppressing this, wondered how Tomoyo and Syaoran could have missed it. She supposed even they had their blind spots. Or perhaps everyone relied too much on the myth of Sakura's cheerful naïveté. She wondered what sort of damage was hidden under Green Lantern-chan's happily enthusiastic facade. Seriously, someone who wouldn't blink a eye at showing up at a trial hearing in another dimension one day and going to save a planet in another dimensions the next, all while happily filling out the paper work, couldn't be all right in the head.
For a long time, there was no sound but Sakura sniffling. Finally, Kuro held out the stone to her. "Let's try that feeling…"
….
It was some days later.
"This is all your fault," Syaoran said, not looking at Kuro. "I want you to know I blame you for this."
She sniffed, not looking at him either. "You're not my sister. You don't have indiscriminate blaming rights."
"Nevertheless, I'm blaming you anyway," Syaoran asserted. "And it's totally our fault."
"Your lack of rights aside, I don't see why," Kuro said. "We finally got the thing to work at will, didn't we? That's a good thing! Yay forces of truth, love and justice! Plus she's getting therapy for the trauma thing."
It had been a relatively simple matter to get Sakura a therapist under the simple excuse that she'd seen something disturbing during a "forces of evil" attack on Tokyo while she'd been there. They hadn't even needed to lie about what it was. Her father and brother had been quite supportive— which in Touya's case was to bump up the teasing to get her thinking of something else— while the nature of it kept people from asking too many questions. Random attacks by the "forces of evil" happened, after all.
In addition, the triweekly sessions were excellent cover for Sakura's new training regiment.
…
They could be going better.
"Everything is going to be all right!" Sakura practically sang as she literally glowed with blue light, her eyes glazed and out of it, a wide, beatific smile on her face. "The days coming are better than the ones before! TOMORROW! TOMORROW! I LOVE YOU, TOMORROW! YOU'RE ONLY A DAY AWAY! Beware she who walks endlessly! Beware she who is trapped within the eternal maze!"
There was a pulse of blue light that erupted from her, spreading out through one of the underground bunkers Chao Lingshen had once used to hide away her army of robots. Some of the other people in the room yelped in surprised, but Kuro and Syaoran held their ground, used to it as random and sometimes impossible visions blew through their minds.
"Interesting…" Kuro murmured. "Apparently I'm eating a Chocolate Overkill Omnicide off my sister's ass. You?"
"Having sex with Daidouji," Syaoran said, absolutely deadpan.
Kuro grinned at him. "So you DO think she's hot!"
Syaoran, who'd had 15 similar visions already, some very graphic, so many more of same involving Sakura he'd lost count, at least two of each of his female classmates he could put a cute face to, no small amount involving Mizuki, Tomoyo's mom, Meilin, the other girls in the UMGA including the Wokkenritter, at least one involving Tomoyo's security detail, and a few that were mix and match combinations of the above (plus that one of Yukito that had him red for hours repeating to himself it had all been an isolated magical incident, darn it!), just whacked Kuro upside the head. "I blame you for this," he repeated. "You and your stupid ideas that work…"
A lot of ideas were already circulating about why everyone kept having visions about sex. Ala Alba, half the Inner Sensh, Fate and Hayate had already been banned from the field of effect of the phenomenon. Kuro's presence was only tolerated as long as she kept her mouth shut and stayed useful.
It came as slightly less surprise that Negi and Nanoha received no similar visions. Popular theory was they did and had no idea what they were seeing, but most doubted that. There was also a lot of discussion whether these visions were real possibilities or wish fulfillment, but no amount of significant looks toward Sailor Pluto would get her to answer, and Hayate and Tohsaka Sakura's time powers were still uncertain enough for them not to venture finding out.
The glowed died and with a shudder Sakura seemed to come back to herself. The weird fits didn't take her over all the time, but the simplified statistics Hakase and Ami had provided showed it happened anywhere between one in three to five attempts to use the blue stone's power. The times they'd simulated her using them under combat conditions, she'd only managed to get it to light up one in seven, and in one of the few times she'd gotten it to work in what was barely in time, she'd rushed forward recklessly. A later scan had shown her brain flooded by endorphins to an almost opiate-high.
It wasn't all bad. During the times the stone hadn't produced sexual visions, they'd managed to take coherent readings. Everyone present reported an increase in morale and optimism, with even Evangeline reporting she felt light and relaxed, with the world full of possibilities just waiting to be seized and a general positive inclination towards her fellow man. They'd barely managed to write that down before she'd paled and vowed never to set foot in the testing area ever again.
There'd been other effects. The medics had reported an notable increase in healing and regeneration in the light's vicinity, with cuts closing up almost visibly, and an anesthetic effect occurring in those with more painful injuries. It was a wonder on stomach aches. They also noted the effectiveness of healing magic was noticeably boosted. Sakura reported she'd begun to have very vivid dreams after she'd begun using it regularly, one she'd eventually been able to identify as signifying prophecy when three of her dream came true in a row (they were: someone bringing strawberry ice-cream to the testing bunker; the appearance of a giant infant sea turtle kaijuu; and her father arriving home with a box of chocolate).
When she'd been able to more or less reliably bring out the stone's power, they'd finally arranged to meet with Kageyama Reiji's organization. He'd come in the car they'd first met him near, with a trunk and back seat overloaded with crystals.
The next day, the news had been inundated with reports of missing persons suddenly reappearing after having been presumed dead, with some having been gone for as long as 15 years. All sorts of crazy rumors were abounding over airway, internet and word of mouth, blaming aliens (now in vogue again because of Superman and more than one invasion attempt), to yet another dark kingdom or whatever, Deep Ones, vampires, werewolves, fairies, government conspiracies, terrorists, the Free Masons, the Illuminati, the Free Masons and the Illuminati working together, Daidouji Tomoyo, Druids, pirates, Wizards, elves, Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle, Ball Lightning, extremist groups, 4ch, Pirate Bay, global warming, Big Foot, Yeti, Sasquatch, Superman, little green men, tall gray men, Daleks, Slender Man, and ninja.
To Syaoran's knowledge, all those they could contact denied it, except for some of the ninja, who'd take credit for nearly anything. It probably broke their poor parents' hearts. Tomoyo said she was working on some kind of program to help troubled ninja youth, but it was hard going, what with the unemployment rate. Even she couldn't hire every ninja in Japan…
He tried not to think of her hiring every ninja in Japan.
They'd held a party when the news had gotten out, and had even invited the Gatekeepers. It… had been a weird night. Everyone who had found time to do so had shown up, wearing their 'working' clothes of armor, masks and other effects and referring to each other by their code names. Sakura found the whole practice bizarre. After all, weren't everyone (with the usual question mark on Gilgamesh, who you could never be too sure of) friends? The idea of being friends with someone but not knowing their real name, their face, or where they lived completely baffled her (the explanation of this fact about Sakura made her father and brother actively keep her out of the the non-Wikipedia and research parts of the internet for fear of her trying to meet her new 'friends'. Thankfully, she still found the internet too scary to notice).
Still, once Sakura remembered to answer to 'Star Wing' and call people by 'Erebus-kun' instead of 'Negi-kun', she'd enjoyed herself, despite her embarrassment as the guest of honor. Besides Ayane, Kageyama had been accompanied by two other girls, a shy wallflower who'd introduced herself by her full name, to the exasperation of her companions, and a confident girl who called herself 'The Crimson Blade'. She hadn't taken it well when told someone already had that name. She'd called herself a professional Invader Hunter, boasting she had the second-highest Invader kill-rate in the AEGIS network.
No one had been dumb enough to ask who number one was.
Taken all together, Sakura had looked like she was shaping to take on a powerful, if passive, supporting role.
And then Kuro had tried to punch her in the face.
Not even Tomoyo had been able to react. The fact she'd been out of the room answering nature's call had slowed her down. One minute, Kuro had been coaching Sakura through the process of getting the stone to work, the two chatting amiably as Sakura seemed to get the stone's power under control, the next Kuro had stepped back and was whirling her arm to punch Sakura in the face.
Syaoran had only gotten halfway there when Kuro threw the punch. Sakura had yelped, throwing her hands up in front of her face and unanimously netting herself the 'girliest girl of the year' award.
Kuro's punch had struck the vaguely humanoid figure that had manifested in front of Sakura. Kuro had been able to throw two more hits before Syaoran had tackled her to the ground.
"What do you think you're doing?-!" he'd demanded as a shocked Sakura lowered her hands.
Kuro had only grinned. "Auto-protection capabilities test, successful!"
Five minutes later she'd had to run like a loon to get away from Tomoyo for long enough for Sakura to declare that 'it was all right, she wasn't mad'. Tomoyo had gotten this close to gutting Kuro.
The realization it had such defensive capabilities had inevitably lead to finding out what other applications it had… purely in the name of scientific inquiry, of course. They might joke and groan in exasperation about adults performing unscrupulous research into things Man Was Not Meant To Know, but as Kuro dryly commented, they weren't much better.
Syaoran had been blaming her since.
"She's going to need all new therapy just to get over these tests," Syaoran said, keeping an eye on Sakura as she began to activate the stone's power again. The glow was as bright as usual, but seemed more defined, outlining Sakura in a glowing blue. Syaoran found himself thinking about how it brought out the color of her eyes. "Sakura's not used to thinking her friends are going to hurt her. I'm pretty sure that first stunt was a fluke."
"What, you're saying your girlfriend can't protect herself?" Kuro said.
"No, I'm saying she doesn't think she has to protect herself from her friends," Syaroan said. "We're the worst people to conduct this test, and she's the worst person to conduct it on. You startled her into thinking you were going to hit her and she managed to use it to defend herself. That's not going to work now, since she knows these are tests."
"I suppose we can throw her off a cliff without her cards?" Kuro mused. "That should be enough to convince her she'll get hurt…"
"Do so and I will never let you die as I break your bones, slice the flesh off your body sliver by sliver, salt your wounds and ground your muscles into sausage while I make you watch as I violate and desecrate your family," Tomoyo said pleasantly from behind them. "If you run, I shall find you. I shall hunt you to the ends of the earth. No corner of this world shall make you safe from me, and I will bring upon you torment everlasting, unending, and excruciating."
Syaoran had to grudgingly admire how Kuro didn't twitch at the sure and certain promise in those words. "It was just an idle idea," she said, trying to sound annoyed.
"See that it is," Tomoyo said, finally breaking out the saintly, mysterious smile©™ (the paperwork had finally pushed through on the trademark) that caused fear in many a hardened businessman knowing they'd been screwed (and not in the fun way) by a little girl they'd been trying to do the same to.
Kuro quietly raised her clipboard and discretely crossed out 'throw off cliff test'.
"I think she's been reading some bad fanfics about ninja and chaos mages lately," Syaoran commented.
Kuro crossed the item off the list even harder.
"Still, where is she?" Syaoran continued, keeping the conversation going as Kuro began to scratch off the clipboard item with her fingernails. "It's not usually like her to be late…"
As if at his words, there was a roar of onrushing air and people yelped as Nanoha flew into the room, smelling faintly of… cheese and tomato sauce?
"Sorry I'm late everyone!" she said, looking embarrassed. "I ran into an old pizza youma. I tried to bake me, nothing serious. Sorry I haven't been to the test until now, there were a bunch of storms in Rirhath B that did a number on the Supra-Luminal transport terminal and some outlying… ah, never mind, let's do these tests!" Her excited enthusiasm made people smile. Syaoran had a theory if someone stood between her and Sakura, the resulting resonant growth of cheerfulness and positive feelings bouncing and multiplying between the two would drive someone to dangerously unhealthy levels of bliss.
"That fine Green Lantern-chan," Ami said, fiddling with her little computer. She'd plugged it into several larger screens and hooked a keyboard and mouse into it, since she couldn't fit all the information into her visor. "Do you have enough power for the tests? Do you want to recharge first?"
"Oh yeah, I'd better check," Nanoha said. "Ring-chan, power check."
"Ring power at 148 percent," the ring said sedately.
There was a beat.
"Wait, what?" a confused Green Lantern asked.
"Ring power at 151 percent," the ring said again.
Hakase looked at Nanoha curiously. "I take it that's not normal?"
Nanoha shook her head vigorously, looking at her ring in concern and alarm. Was it just him, or did the ring seem to be glowing a bit brighter? "Ring-chan, explain! Why is your power level over the maximum?"
"Contamination detected," the ring said, and was it his imagination, or was the normally unflappable Tara Strong-esque voice sounding a bit concerned? "Previously unknown energy is infecting ring, causing abnormal spontaneous energy generation."
"Identify cause!" Nanoha commanded as Haakse and Ami scrambled around, trying to pick up whatever it was on their instruments, such as they were.
"Cause found. Contamination is originating from locally manifested newly discovered psycho-reactive plasma field," the ring reported.
There was a pause. "Someone's magic is causing it?" Nanoha said.
"There is no such thing as magic. The effect is being caused by newly discovered psycho-reactive plasma field," the ring insisted.
"Sooo… magic then," Nanoha said. "That's what you keep insisting magic is."
"There is no such thing as magic! Effect is being caused by psycho-reactive plasma field!"
"Is your ring losing its temper?" Sakura asked, concerned.
"Or it's marbles," Syaoran said, looking at the ring warily. It would be just their luck for their most dangerous weapons of mass destruction to go insane.
"May I, my master?" Raging Heart politely interjected. "This unit will attempt inquiry through proper syntax."
"Um, sure?" Nanoha said, looking lost.
"Acknowledged. Unit Green Lantern Ring-Chan, query."
"Query acknowledged, you little pink pixie stick."
"What is cause of unit contamination?"
"Contamination is caused by newly discovered psycho-reactive plasma field, you over-clocked dildo."
"Query: please define: newly discovered psycho reactive plasma."
"Newly discovered psycho-reactive plasma is a previously undocumented alternate wavelength manifestation of the energy-mass-photon interrelated phenomenon known as psycho-reactive plasma, troq."
"Query: please define: previously documented alternate wavelength manifestations of the energy-mass-photon interrelated phenomenon known as psycho-reactive plasma."
"Previously manifested manifestations: 'green' wavelength psycho-reactive plasma, manifested by rings wielded by the members of the Green Lantern Corps; 'yellow' wavelength psycho-reactive plasma, manifested by ring wielded by renegade former Green Lantern Thaal Sinestro; 'violet' wavelength psycho-reactive plasma, manifested by crystals used by the Star Sapphires, thou unsightly pustule."
"Query: please define: newly documented alternate wavelength manifestations of the energy-mass-photon interrelated phenomenon known as psycho-reactive plasma."
"Newly discovered manifestation: 'blue' wavelength psycho-reactive plasma, manifested by stone wielded by pseudo-designation 'Star Wing', of the Church of Sakura, you rodent of unusual size."
"Query complete. Thank you, unit Green Lantern Ring-Chan."
"End acknowledgment, you poozer."
Everyone, who'd been staring through the exchange, continued staring.
"Was that information sufficient, my master?" Raging Heart asked politely.
"Uh… yes. Thank you, Raging Heart," Nanoha said slowly.
Silence.
"See, totally called it," Kuro said. "Just like a Green Lantern ring, except blue. Told you so!"
….
Yamaguchi Akiko jumped through the night, rejoicing in the thrill of almost effortlessly flying through the air. To be a Magical Girl— a 'Puella Magi', as Kyubey-kun put it, but it all meant Magical Girl in the end— to be so free, so strong, so powerful…!
She landed on top of a building, smiling as she let the wind take her hair, heard the sounds of the bustling city below her. She was a part of something greater now, part of a shared responsibility to protect the people of this place, this world. She was Magical Girl Star Reverie! She hasn't been trying to draw attention to herself— a Magical Girl was supposed to be humble, a shining example of good behavior!— but she'd been caught on the news a few times, and already word was spreading there was a new Magical Girl in town. More than one by now, most likely. Kyubey-kun sometimes disappeared, supposedly in search of other girls with potential like hers to help defend the world. Maybe they could all get together and form a team too, like the Sailor Senshi!
She'd spent the past few days learning her powers, exploring her surroundings from a whole new vantage point and even stopping a few crimes! But tonight, Kyubey had said, tonight was the night. A new enemy had emerged, he'd said, something called a Witch. And following his directions, she'd looked for it, using her Soul Gem to divine its location.
It was time. Taking a deep breath, she raised her Soul Gem before her and opened the way.
The world twisted and shifted, turning strange for her before she was swallowed up in the Witch's Labyrinth…
….
Kinomoto Sakura, Mistress of the Cards, wielder of the beautiful blue stone that supposedly generated 'blue' wavelength psycho-reactive plasma, arrived home to find it still empty, her brother in yet another one of his part-time jobs, her father still not back. In her backpack, Keroberos snored and muttered something about hundreds of little feet.
Today had been the most… she thought of how to phrase it. Action-packed?— test session to date. They'd made so much progress! Even the stone had seemed more responsive, reacting to her urging more quickly and concretely. And it had needed to be quicker and more concrete, because Nanoha-chan had definitely pushed her, making her go beyond what she had thought the stone's limits were. It had been…
She smiled.
It had been fun.
She skipped into the house, the stone glowing warmly around her neck…
….
Hours later, Akiko stepped back into the world. Her clothes were torn and ripped, one of her ribbons was missing, and blood flowed freely from cuts all along her left arm. She shakily stepped forward and her knees shuddered.
Bile rose within her and she gagged, turned, and threw up.
Akiko-chan? Kyubey's soundless voice called from the shadows. Are you well?
Choking sobs came from her huddled form.
In the night, White Primate Murder's crimson eyes gleamed above his eternal smile.
Down below, Misaka Mikoto walked home after a night with her friends, her identical twin imouto following silently beside her. A pair of crimson eyes watched them, unseen.
….
"Yuuno-kun," Nanoha said as they both did the dishes, Yuuno washing and Nanoha drying. "The Wolkenritter said Archer-san used a blue ring during their fight, right?"
"Yeah, I think so?" Yuuno said uncertainly as he soaped and scrubbed. "Why?"
"So… your ring got readings of 'blue' wavelength psycho-reactive plasma when you checked out the scene?"
"Yes…?" he said warily, not sure where this was going.
"So… why did Ring-chan tag it as 'previously unknown' this afternoon?"
"I don't know…?"
There was a pregnant pause.
"Yuuno-kun…" Nanoha said, a gleam in her eye. "Did you remember to file the full paperwork for that one, not just Archer-kun's death?"
"Uh, maybe?"
"Yuuno-kun!"
….
- To be continued…
….
A/N: thanks to AngryDesu for Akiko!
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A KAMIJOU TOUMA IN THIS UNIVERSE!
Please review and put stuff on the tropes page!
Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.