He entered the small flat, door closing with a heavy thud behind him. He had a splitting headache, and his recent failure needed to be reported, a task he was dreading. After all, the last time he had reported a failure, he had been put in Eternal Sleep. Jadeite never did deal well with failure.

He trudged into his living room and threw his glasses upon the table and pinched the bridge of his nose, attempting to relieve his headache. Wearily, he placed his hand upon a large mirror he had upon the wall, eyes closed and breathing deeply, his forehead against the smooth, cool glass. After a short time, he opened his eyes, and instead of his own in the reflection, blood red ones stared back at him.

"I'm going to get this right out in the open. I failed."

The red eyes narrowed curiously, the figure of the cloaked man now merely a shadow in the mirror, faint and wavering lines the only things there to indicate he was human at all. "They have him?"

"Phff!" Jadeite scoffed, fingers drumming against the mirror. "No, he just got away. Did you know they have a demon? A demon! He's huge!"

"Is it an actual demon, or just a lesser or sub demon?"

"No, no!" the general cried. "This is a hundred percent pure straight from Nemesis demon!"

The shadow scoffed. "If we get the boy, we can handle him. Do you know where he is?"

"Yeah. He was injured and ran off. He's with the senshi." He paused, sneering slightly. "I would have gotten him, but you told me to keep out of their sight."

"If that's the case, I'm glad you did," the shadow drawled before asking, "And you know for sure he's with the senshi?"

"Yes. After I got away from, you know, the demon, I tracked him to this shrine I know."

"The Hikawa shrine?"

"Yes. You know it?"

"Oh, I'm very familiar with that one," the shadowed man said softly.

"Well, the shrine maiden and two of her little friends are senshi," Jadeite said, leaning against the glass and examining his fingernails proudly. "Since our little target is there, I think we can assume he's with them. They have this irritating penchant to congregate there."

"Yes…" the shadow said thoughtfully, his mind moving quickly and piecing together everything. "I think, Jadeite, we will not consider today's events a failure. The senshi have this propensity to succeed, regardless of the odds against them."

"So attacking the little bitches is out…" the general grumbled.

The shadow smirked, something that could not be seen, but felt. "Yes, that's correct. I think the senshi could actually be an asset to us while we revise our plan, so long as they are kept unaware of us. No doubt they will keep him safe if he has come to them for help. And I doubt they will have any idea what we are up to anytime soon, so I think it would be foolish not to use them to our advantage."

"So, we're not going after this guy anymore? After so much work trying to find him?" Jadeite questioned, and the shadow seemed to waver.

"We will keep a close eye on him. Our mission was to locate him and keep him out of the hands of this organization, and we have done that. Finding him was the hard part."

"Is that really safe?" the general asked. "I mean, the senshi could lose him. Our enemies could get possession of him. Knowing what it is he has locked inside him, is it really a good idea for him to be running around like that?"

"That is why we will keep an eye on him," the shadow said softly. "We do not have to worry about it being released. He can't do it himself, and until we can locate and awaken the other half, we don't need to worry about it being released until we have him."

"Or in our enemy's possession."

"Yes, yes, they can release him as well."

"So," Jadeite asked, falling back on to his couch and stretching, "what do we do in the meantime?"

"We have several things we need to have done. We need to keep tabs on this boy. We need to track down our enemy and find out what they know, where they are located, and what they are planning to do next. We need to find the other half. And we need to find the compatible body for our mission."

Jadeite whistled. "That's an awful lot to do…"

"It's an awfully big thing we are trying to accomplish."

"Look, my lord, I'm sorry," Jadeite laughed, putting his hand behind his head. "Even if you were to help me as much as you were possibly able, there would still be no way I could do all that."

"I can watch the boy. Is that no aid to you?"

The general scoffed. "I guess, but if you're going to have be do those three things, you may as well have me do twelve. There's no way I can do it all, let alone do it quickly and efficiently and well."

There was a few minutes of silence, save for the light tapping of Jadeite's foot against the table, and then the shadow smugly said, "Would it help if I brought in another to help you?"

Jadeite perked up. "Another from Eternal Sleep?"

"Better," the shadow replied, a dark vortex opening up in the mirror. "Come, Jadeite, let's fetch you a comrade."

The general leapt up and rushed through the vortex, the two of them disappearing in the mirror when the void vanished.