AN: Not posting late this week, no sir!
((()))
I didn't think Luna would be able to get that kind of response out of me. Of course, I 'didn't think' about a lot of things, and still don't; my mind is a mess. I don't like that, and the only real upside is that I usually lose the train of thought before I can brood about it for too long; brooding isn't productive anyways.
I need third level, and I need it bad. If I try to fight something that's more dangerous than some sort of 'infiltrator' Youma without Gemini, I'm going to be in deep shit. And I really do not want to have to depend on a pair of fourteen year old girls for combat support, both because they shouldn't be forced into a life-or-death situation, and because they have no idea how to fight. Maybe I could try to persuade Ami to take up some form of martial art? I doubt it would give her much offensive ability as a Senshi, but the mindset and familiarity with her body's capabilities could do her a world of good.
Ideally, I'd get all of the Senshi, including Usagi, to engage in such things, but I doubt I have the personal influence to pull that off. Even with Ami, it'll take a little while for my relationship with her to stabilize before I can really hope to persuade her of such a thing.
In the meantime, I need to tell Ami and her mother about what's happening.
((()))
Ami looked at Jaeger through new eyes. She had understood, in abstract, what he had claimed about being a warrior, but until she had seen him fight that... woman-thing, she hadn't really understood in the visceral sense, what he meant. Seeing death with her own eyes had opened them, so to speak, and it wasn't a particularly pleasant opening either. The younger Mizuno was torn between trying to sort sort through her emotions about the whole encounter on her own, and speaking with her mother about it; when Jaeger headed off the issue for her, she was somewhat grateful.
'Your daughter is a magical girl,' Jaeger informed Saeko at dinner that evening, 'And has unfortunately witnessed me slaying one of the monsters that are her natural adversaries.'
Saeko set aside her tea, and sighed.
"I figured this was probably coming," She said sourly as she stared down at the large cat, "I know what magical talking animals usually means for young girls. How bad is it?"
'Evil demon-like beings intent on conquering the world and using humanity as a source of food,' Jaeger wrote, 'They feed on the life-energy of a person, the physical effects of which could be likened to draining all bio-electric activity in the body to the point of death.'
"And what do you intend to do about this?" Saeko demanded.
'I have already slain the first such beast, which had taken on human guise,' Jaeger replied, 'But I have been reduced in ability even further than I had thought. Ami is not alone however, and once the other magical cat realizes what she is, it will empower her magically, as well as a number of others. The cat has already empowered one, though she is unsuited to battle.'
"And Ami is suited for battle?" Saeko said harshly, glancing at her daughter for a moment before turning fierce gaze upon the cat.
'Your daughter is suited for magic,' the cat replied, 'The sharper the mind, the more able to learn and deploy magic it is. Whether this will translate to battle-capability, is up to you and her. I do not know yet whether non-supernatural weapons will be effective against our adversary, and trapped in this form, I lack the ability to find out under my own power.'
"Fair enough," Saeko said begrudgingly, "I suppose that the carving you've been involved in has something to do with all of this?"
Jaeger nodded slowly.
"Then go find yourself something else to carve," Saeko said somewhat waspishly, "While I talk with my daughter about all of this."
Jaeger snorted, then nodded and leapt off of the table, before sauntering out to the apartment's balcony, leaving the two Mizunos in privacy.
"Is Jaeger forcing you into this?" Saeko promptly asked, watching her daughter's expression sharply for emotional tells.
"Forcing me?" Ami said, confused, "Forcing me to... kaa-san, he hasn't even asked me to do anything, in fact, he tried to hide this from me, I think."
"Hide it from you how?" Saeko asked, her sharp focus on her daughter's emotional state not fading in the least.
"He found out that the new teacher at Crystal Seminar was some form of monster," Ami said meekly, somewhat intimidated by her mother's intense attention, "By sensing some sort of dark magic on a CD I had been given. He destroyed the CD, then told me and Usagi-chan to-"
"Who's 'Usagi-chan'?" Saeko interrupted.
"Ah," Ami said, becoming a little flustered, "She's the girl with the talking cat, who met me outside of school."
"This other magical cat talks?" Saeko said incredulously, "Ami, you know that felines don't have the throat apparatus for that."
"It was a magical cat, kaa-san," Ami said, beginning to shrink into her seat, "Her name is Luna, and I heard her speaking with my own ears. At some length, actually."
Saeko sighed, closed her eyes, and rubbed her forehead for a long moment before looking at her daughter again.
"So now a talking cat," Saeko said with some resignation, "Next thing you know, it'll be a flying cat."
Ami shrugged helplessly at her mother's words.
"Go on then," Saeko said with a sigh, "What did Jaeger do after destroying the CD?"
"He told us to wait outside," Ami said, resuming her narration of events, "While he tried to see if he could find the teacher who gave out the CD's. He was gone for a long time, so after a while, the three of us went to look for him. When we moved up to the third floor, we could hear a fight in the hallway, and when we got closer..."
Ami's words trailed off as fear welled up in her, and Saeko found herself skirting around the edge of the table to sweep her daughter into a hug again. It only took a moment to situate Ami in her lap, and Saeko made sure the distraught girl was firmly secured in her embrace before speaking again.
"What happened?" She asked gently.
"Ah," Ami started, shivering for a moment before continuing, "Ah, Jaeger, he was fighting with something that looked like... like... a mummified woman in the teacher's dress, and its throat had already been slashed by the time we got there. It had a shield made of shadows, and launched blasts of dark energy at him, one of which hurt him somehow, though there wasn't any blood, and the fighting got a lot worse. I've never seen a cat move so fast, but the creature was very good with its shield, and kept Jaeger mostly away."
"Only mostly?" Saeko said softly, and Ami nodded quietly, catching her breath for a moment before continuing.
"Jaeger wounded her ankle eventually, and that knocked her far enough off balance for him to get at her throat a second time, and... I know that going for the throat is normal behavior for predator species," Ami said, trembling slightly in her mother's arms, "But it was scary seeing him tear it out, even from a monster like that."
"All the blood?" Saeko asked, thinking of some of her own unhappy experiences with death.
"No," Ami whispered frightfully, "No blood. The body turned to dust as soon as the creature died."
For some reason, Saeko suspected it was because of her own intimate experience with blood and death, albeit without violence, that disturbed her more than any other part of the story.
((()))
I didn't realize just how incoherent my mind was, until Saeko started more or less interrogating me every evening during dinner. It was odd enough being a cat, eating out of a cat bowl, at a table with a pair of humans, having the woman asking me every question she could come up with about the nature of the conflict and how I knew, revealed that her mind was more coherent than mine.
That was a hard realization for me, and I think it was pretty hard for her too. The realization came when she was questioning me about the particulars of what I knew could and could not be done by Ki, and my train of thought was derailed from the possibility of transformation via Ki techniques, to stray memories of transforming 'mechs from the Battletech setting. That the words I was writing shifted train of thought without me immediately noticing was what gave it away to her.
Saeko's sharp. She realized that I wasn't just shooting the shit when I'd told her I had mental damage. She asked me a few questions about how difficult it was to learn and maintain shapeshifting based upon Ki when we got back on topic, and that's where the conversation started to go strange places...
((()))
"So with your stamina," Saeko said slowly, "You could maintain the ability indefinitely, more or less?"
'Yes,' Jaeger replied, 'Though it would cripple my ability to maintain other combat-relevant powers.'
"But only if you were attempting to maintain both at the same time, yes?" Saeko asked.
'Yes,' Jaeger wrote, staring up at the senior Mizuno curiously, 'Within seconds of dropping the effect, it would be as though I had never engaged it in the first place. Is there a particular reason this is significant?'
"...Because you could regain human form," Saeko said slowly, "You know, the ability to speak, opposable thumbs and tool use, being able to walk on two legs instead of four?"
'Important abilities,' Jaeger replied, 'But secondary to gaining enough offensive power to effectively deal with Youma and other supernatural threats decisively, before they can endanger civilians.'
Saeko sighed, before turning to her daughter.
"Ami," She said, addressing the customarily-passive girl, "I know you've been studying collegiate psychology. Analyze Jaeger's priorities and tell me what it says about his character."
"Ah," Ami said, her brow furrowing briefly as her mighty mind leapt into action, "Prioritization of combat ability above all others, specifically low prioritization of regaining capacity for free social interaction, assumption of prime responsibility on self, remained passive socially until others instigated contact... it's probably social phobia or trust issues combined with a protective compulsion."
Jaeger stared at Ami. Saeko watched Jaeger; she had long since known how astute her daughter could be when pushed towards it.
'I think that's the first time I've seen you use your intellect proactively, rather than just for academics,' Jaeger eventually wrote, 'I probably shouldn't be so surprised.'
"...Sorry if I was too nosy," Ami said quietly.
Jaeger shook his head, and glanced at Saeko, who was still watching the cat closely, before replying.
'No need to apologize,' Jaeger wrote, 'I think we've known each other long enough for some honesty about such things, and I believe that critical self-analysis is essential to a meaningful life. Be warned though, I will return the favor at some point. Saeko, what were you trying to get at with this?'
"You're not just physically crippled, Jaeger," Saeko said, her voice firm but not unkind, "You're mentally crippled as well. Do you really think you're in any sort of condition to prosecute a war."
Jaeger set his pencil down, then sat down and thought, his tail twitching occasionally as he did so. Nearly a full minute passed as the cat thought about his situation, before he picked up the pencil and began to write again.
'If it is indeed as you say,' Jaeger wrote, 'Then my judgment is too compromised for me to make clear-cut calls regarding strategy. I have shared most information relevant to currently existing threats with you already; if you think that conventional forces, such as police and the JSDF, can be brought into this conflict, then you as a competent adult can make that decision.'
"And if I need to more than what you've told me thus far?" Saeko asked pointedly, "If the military wants more proof than I can present?"
'Ask, and I will provide as I am reasonably able,' Jaeger wrote, 'The people of this city have a right to defend themselves, one that I will not attempt to deny themselves.'
And with that, he turned his attention back to his food, leaving both Mizunos with their thoughts.
((()))
It'll be interesting to see what Saeko decides. She's sharp, but also very busy, and that her work involves making life and death decisions on a regular basis makes her pretty well qualified for all of this. I need to talk with Luna, and since the moon is out, and nearing empty, I doubt there'll be a better time for me to try to track her to the Tsukinos.
Now I just need to find a phone book.
((()))
Luna's eyes cracked open as she heard a rattle, and she looked up to see a huge form looming in front of Usagi's bedroom window. The blonde was, of course, still out cold, but it didn't take much thought for Luna to realize who was at her 'door.' With a light jump, she landed on the window sill, and frowned at the large cat outside.
"What do you want?" She asked, confident that between Usagi's heavy sleeping, and a cat's sharp ears, speaking at a normal volume would serve her purposes best while trying to communicate through a closed window.
The larger cat twitched his tail, then reached down to bite into the window's wooden edging, and drag it open. Luna couldn't help but feel intimidated by the ease with which Jaeger accomplished the task; she was suddenly painfully aware that the last time the cat had seen her, he was very angry with her, and that she didn't have any Senshi or Royal Guards she could count on for protection at hand. Usagi did not count.
Luna winced as she realized that she was agreeing with the more militant cat's line of thought. In retrospect, it was obvious once it had been pointed out to her, and Luna was not exactly happy with herself for missing that rather critical fact; even more so because given her spotty memories, she was doubtless missing other important facts as well. While Luna was occupied with her thoughts, Jaeger crossed the bedroom to Usagi's desk, and quickly took up a pencil with his tail, and began writing.
"How do you control your tail so finely?" Luna asked as she scampered over to the large male, "At my best, I can scarcely grip anything with mine, and certainly not with such fine control."
'The following are the other Senshi,' Jaeger wrote out, 'Kino Makoto is Jupiter, and should arrive at Usagi's school soon. Hino Rei is Mars, and can be found at the Hikawa Shrine. Sailor Venus is Aino Minako, and should have returned to Japan recently, or do so soon. Have you identified the Princess?'
Luna stared at Jaeger.
"Where did you learn such things?" She breathed.
'While you seem to have been cast through time,' Jaeger wrote, 'I have been cast through dimensions. I have seen many versions of what may come of the Senshi, but in all of them, they went by the same names. We will need to act swiftly, as the corrupted Shittenou are already seeking out the Ginzuisho, and if they acquire that, they will awaken Metallia.'
Luna seated herself gracefully on Usagi's desk, her tail wrapping around her feet, as she took on the full persona and mantle of the left hand of the Queen.
"You are very well-informed, Jaeger," Luna said, staring imperiously at the cat, "Dangerously so. I must ask where your loyalties lie, as you have yet to say whose service you were sworn to."
'I will be blunt,' Jaeger replied, 'My loyalties do not lie with a kingdom long-gone, that I remember only snatches of. My loyalties lie with protecting the people I know, the people I don't know, and everyone in general. I believe in justice and mercy, though I'm an imperfect example of such myself. Where do your loyalties lie?'
"To the Queen of course!" Luna snapped, somewhat offended by the question.
'What Queen?' Jaeger asked, 'I mean no offense, but there is no Moon Queen right now, and until the Princess is found, you do not even have an heir. Even if you do find her, what will she be Queen of? Do you intend for her to overthrow the modern governments of Earth? Because they will not submit to such a matriarch peacefully. I ask these questions of you, because it has recently been pointed out to me, that my own thinking is compromised. If you have an answer now, I would be happy to hear it, but it would be hypocritical to expect it when my own mind is lacking in such things.'
"I thought you said you were a warrior, not a politician," Luna said grumpily as she stared at the larger cat with a new respect, "But your questions have merit. I have allowed the fact that I am unaccustomed to working in the field, rather than as an adviser to those giving commands to those in the field, to narrow my focus further than I should have."
The cat paused to glance at the blissfully unconscious Usagi.
"Not that dealing with that brat has helped things much," Luna continued, "Is Ami any easier to work with?"
The larger cat was slow to reply, staring off into space for long moments, before eventually shaking himself, and beginning to write again.
'I don't expect Ami to fight,' Jaeger eventually responded, 'She is just barely becoming an adult, and it would not be right to expect so much of her. Remember that Usagi is a child, rather than a seasoned warrior, and you will find her easier to deal with. If you wish for a warrior, Jupiter should be of more appropriate disposition, though she is young as well, and it would be best to make no assumptions.'
"You think she will fight without me dragging her into it?" Luna asked.
'I believe so,' Jaeger wrote, 'But again, my mind is not all that it should be, and I may be wrong. I would recommend that you approach her like the scion of a warrior house, forced into her inheritance before her time. Respect, understanding that she is young, but no condescension.'
Jaeger abruptly dropped the pencil, and leapt off to the desk, then to the window sill.
"Wait!" Luna squawked, "Where are you going? Why should I treat Jupiter in such a way?"
Jaeger glanced back at her for a moment indecisively, before twitching his tail into a loop, then leaping back into the room, and onto the desk.
'I have just recalled something I should have been attending to long since,' Jaeger wrote, 'Hopefully, lives will not be lost because of my failure of memory. And as to Jupiter, she is a powerful, capable and independent young woman, but she is also an orphan. Destroy the list of names after you memorize it, to protect identities.'
And with that, the Maine Coon returned to the window sill, and disappeared into the night.
((()))
Dammit dammit dammit Dammit!
Jadeite and his damn bus. If I'm going to have any chance of shutting him down and saving potential kidnap victims without involving the girls, I'm going to have to stop him the first damn time he picks someone up. I should have been staking out the bus stop at the base of the Hikawa shrine every day since the encounter at Crystal Seminar, I've got no idea if the conflict has already started.
Fortunately, I apparently am still earning 'role-play' XP, because after I left the Tsukino's I gained a level.
Which means I can now learn Gemini, the art of combat puppets. I need to go finish crafting the first combat set tonight, so that I can begin staking things out tomorrow. I can't stop a bus, much less a Dark General, with just what I have at hand.
((()))
Jadeite had never driven any vehicle before, much less a bus. Why would he have? He was a scion of a noble house of the Earth Kingdom, and chauffeurs had seen to his transportation needs while he was a child. By the time he had been old enough to be interested in going places without his family knowing, he had mastered teleportation, and things had hardly changed since then. Still, he found an odd sort of amusement in piloting the vehicle. It was a large, powerful construct, driven by fire (his favored element), expensive, valuable, and he could control all of it with a few simple gestures from his hands. Not to mention those seated within; it vaguely provoked dim memories of his first command out of the Academy, when he'd held direct authority over a mere thirty men.
On the whole, he found it to be a pleasant means to his end, which made the mission substantially more agreeable than it might otherwise have been. Memorizing the bus's route was trivial for one of his intellect, and replacing the customary driver was even more so, though modifying his memories when the man woke would actually take a modicum of effort at the end of the day.
Unfortunately, Jadeite's vaguely good mood died an abrupt death shortly after he pulled out of the stop at the Hikawa shrine, when all four of the bus's tires exploded in rapid succession. Abruptly, controlling the vehicle became a great deal less pleasant, as the metal rims of the wheels shredded through the deflated tires, screaming as they scraped into the road surface; the Dark General was barely able to keep the bus from swerving around and rolling.
The passengers screaming from the back of the bus did nothing to improve his mood. By the time that the bus had come to a stop, and the passengers had all fled it (still screaming!), his mood had become decidedly foul, and he turned his full attention to discovering just what had attacked his bus, because such catastrophic failures did not happen by accident.
Dolls. He found dolls in the wheel wells, little wooden dolls with bladed weapons also made of wood, and after a moment's concentration, a trail of life-energy leading back to a nearby bush.
Jadeite decided that there was a bush in need of... punishment, and a lance of intense darkness leapt from his hand. A muted blast shattered the bush and cratered the area around it as magic temporarily revoked physics in the area, and something moved, fleeing up the side of the hill that the Hikawa shrine stood upon. Jadeite snarled, and launched a second bolt of concentrated shadow, this time aiming for a target that he could see, if only poorly.
The second spell struck its target, and after another muffled thump, Jadeite could sense the creature was gone. He would have gone to spit upon its corpse, but he had begun to hear sirens, and the terrified bus passengers (and a number of nearby pedestrians) were staring at him in horror. Sneering, Jadeite teleported away.
((()))
Pain.
((()))
Hino Rei was woken by an explosion. She neither heard the blast nor felt the concussion wave, but she most certainly felt the wave of dark, twisted energy that the detonation emitted. And that was not something that she could just sit back and leave be. Lurching out of bed, she swept up her shrine maiden's garb, glad that the loose clothing could be swiftly (if sloppily) donned, grabbed a stack of Ofuda, and ran out of her room.
((()))
War brings suffering, pain is no excuse to stop fighting.
((()))
By the time Rei reached the shrine yard, her grandfather had joined her, carrying his own accoutrements of purification. It took only a shared glance for both to know their purpose was shared, and they both ran towards the gate of the Hikawa Shrine, preparing for a conflict. The elder Hino worried for his granddaughter; he could not fault her sense of duty, but unlike himself, she had never faced violent conflict, much less conflict with the supernatural, and there was a very good chance that she would freeze up, or make a foolish mistake.
((()))
Agony. Fighting effectively requires tools, pain must be inflicted upon the enemy once war has begun for victory to be achieved.
((()))
"Rei," The young maiden's grandfather said briskly, "Do you sense the concentration of energy on the hillside?"
Rei, moving swiftly but cautiously down the temple steps alongside her grandfather, nodded.
"Investigate that," He said, "It may be a survivor of whatever happened."
The shrine maiden nodded sharply, hiked up the baggy lower portion of her robes, and veered off of the steps into the woods along the hill's slope. Anything remotely capable of being called a 'forest' was rare in Tokyo, and after her mother had died, Rei had appreciated the relative tranquility and seclusion available on the wooded slopes of the shrine. As such, she was more than familiar with the forest's contours, and was able to navigate them safely in spite of the fading light offered by the sunset.
It didn't take her long to find an enormous cat, flailing around in the brush. It looked like it was having a seizure, its movements spastic, uncoordinated, and utterly unproductive; Rei might have thought it nothing more than collateral damage, save for its size, and the swarm of puppets milling about it, their movements every bit as uncoordinated as the cats.
"GRANDFATHER!"
((()))
Excruciation. Worse, uselessness; the world is nothing more than an incoherent mass of sound, colors, smells, and other sensations. I cannot tell if my enemy is near or far, I cannot tell if my weapon is at hand or lost. I cannot even tell if I am in danger of injuring those I seek to protect.
((()))
By the time the Hino priest heard his granddaughter's call, he had seen the shikigami in the bus's wheel-wells, heard two accounts of the 'bus-driver,' and ascertained that whoever the man was, he was long gone. Hearing the only descendent he saw as worthy of recognition call with such desperation, he revealed a level of fitness that the onlooking crowd, some of them being regular visitors of the shrine, had not even dreamed the man could possess.
It took him less than a minute to find Rei, thankfully unharmed, and what she had found. More importantly, to realize that what she had found was wounded, and judging by the blood dripping out of the side of the hole in its chest, it was wounded badly.
"Well," Hino said, sounding a bit surprised as he pulled a specific Ofuda from his sheaf, "I can honestly say I never expected to use a paralysis tag this way."
((()))
Everything stops. Including the pain, which I cannot help but be grateful. My left eye is focused distantly my right eye is focused up close, it's an unpleasant sensation, but at least I can see once more. Specifically, I see the face of a gorgeous young shrine maiden with long, loose black hair. Hello there Mars, I wish we could have met under better circumstances...
((()))
"Miss Mizuno?"
"Yes?" Saeko said.
"This is Tomiko from the Akizu Veterinary clinic. Do you own an unusually large male cat by the name of Jaeger?"
"Yes," Saeko said, a sinking feeling growing within her chest.
"I'm sorry to say that he's been badly injured in what has been reported as an auto accident. If you want to see him before he passes on, you had best come to the clinic at once."
"I'll be there as soon as I can collect my daughter," Saeko said firmly, "What's the address?"
((()))
Ami had never been pulled out of class before in her life, for any reason. The look on her mother's face when she arrived at Juuban Junior Highschool was even more frightening than the fact that something serious enough to warrant pulling her out of school had happened.
"It's Jaeger," Her mother said as soon as they were outside of the school building, "He's been injured, and the veterinarian he was taken to said we should come to see him as soon as possible."
Ami felt herself going cold, and hurried out of the school gate after her mother. Saeko owned a car, which was not a particularly common thing in Tokyo, but between her income, and her need to be on call for medical emergencies, it was a more than justified expense. It also gave her a freedom of mobility that she greatly appreciated, and was terribly useful at times like those she found herself in in that moment. Ami was the only other person in the car regularly, and the familiarity of sitting down alongside her mother helped stave off a panic attack, and draw her mind away from imagining the many, many terrible things that could have happened to her cat.
She nearly screamed when Luna jumped into her lap before she closed the car door; she hadn't even known that the cat was following her, much less that it intended to join her in her mother's vehicle.
"Luna!" Ami gasped, "What are you doing here?"
The Mau turned to glance at the elder Mizuno woman, then looked back at Ami meaningfully.
"My mother already knows," Ami said, immediately grasping the feline's intention, "You can speak in front of her."
"Good," Luna said, "Now what's this about Jaeger being injured?"
Saeko's hands clenched around the steering wheel as the cat spoke, and she was dearly glad that she had not yet started the car before someone had decided to punch another hole in her logical, consistent understanding of the world. Resigning herself to the inevitability of it all, and feeling somewhat irritated at her own sense of responsibility, she relaxed her grip so that she could start the car, then put it into gear.
"I don't know much," Saeko said, "But I have a lot of questions for you while we travel."
((()))
"I know there isn't enough difference between feline and human anatomy for him to survive this," Saeko said flatly as she stared down at 'her' cat's injured body, "In fact, a hole that size through the chest should have been more likely to kill him than if he was human."
Saeko and Veterinarian Akizu were both dressed in scrubs, and inspecting Jaeger's sedated body in one of the veterinarin's operating rooms. The large Tomcat had a hole horizontally through his chest; angled slightly downward, it had clipped part of one of his lungs, but even though she could see clear through his body, it hadn't caused him to bleed out.
"I was hoping," said Akize, a small man with very fine fingers, "That you would have some idea why he was alive. I knew that you were involved with advanced treatments for cancer, and had vague thoughts that you might have been working with some sort of regenerative therapy or genetic modification. If your cat had been a test case, that would explain his extremely abnormal size, as well as..."
"As the fact that he isn't dead?" Saeko finished for him, "I understand what you mean. My understanding of the natural laws of this universe has taken some punishment lately as well. Seeing the impossible right in front of you is not easy. How stable is he?"
"As stable as we can make him," Akizu said with a helpless shrug, "As it is, his continued survival is more dependent on the unexplained aspects of his recuperative ability than any action on our part. As it is, the reason that we did not make more of an effort to close the wound, as futile as it would have been, is because the police are looking into the cause of the incident that injured him, and we were expecting to do an autopsy to contribute to their investigation."
"Damn magical cats," Saeko grumbled, before walking over to the door and popping it open to speak to her daughter, "Ami, bring Luna in her and see if she can make anything of this."
"Luna?" Akizu said, "That sounds like a western name."
"It is," Saeko said grouchily, "Though why a cat from the moon would have it, I have no idea."
"A cat from the moon?" Akizu said incredulously, but was distracted by Ami entering with Luna in her arms before he could say anything further.
"How bad is it?" Ami asked fearfully, glancing back and forth between her mother and the partially-shaved cat on the operating table.
"Your cat looks to be supernaturally durable," Saeko said flatly, "He should be dead, going by the injury he's sustained. I was hoping Luna could lend us some insight into the situation."
"Let me onto the table," Luna said, causing Akizu's jaw to drop in shock.
The doctor remained largely motionless while Luna inspected the wound, then closed her eyes for a moment, hissing viciously before she opened them and turned to look at Saeko and Ami.
"This wound was created by dark magic," Luna said decisively, "But Jaeger's internal magics are keeping it from being fatal. I don't know enough to say whether or not he'll recover, I was never a healer, but I can recognize that this response to a wound is natural for his body. Where did this happen?"
It took a pointed jab with her elbows for Saeko to prod the veterinarian into responding.
"He was brought in by the priest of the Hikawa shrine and his daughter," Akizu said, "Apparently they found your cat pretty much on their door step."
"We need to speak to them about what happened as soon as possible," Luna declared.
((()))
Making contact with the Hinos was not hard; they both came to visit the veterinary clinic themselves shortly after Rei was done with school for the day, and Saeko could tell with just one look at the girl's face (the priest's expression was much more well-guarded), that they had just as many questions as she did. Saeko, between being the only adult in her household and very nearly her own boss at work, was quite accustomed to being in charge of a given situation, and moved to take just that.
"Hino-san," She said seriously as the man walked into the room Jaeger was sleeping in, "Is your profession a matter of cultural tradition to you, or active participation in supernatural rites?"
"Hah!" Hino barked out, a smile growing on his face, "You're blunt woman; I like that. Allow me then to be equally blunt."
Hino pulled an ofuda out of the folds of his robe, and after concentrating for a moment, placed it in the air, before letting it go.
It remained exactly where he'd put it, sans any visible means of suspension.
"Right then," Saeko said with huff as she stepped forward, carefully inspecting the ofuda for signs of mundane trickery, "So our cat is magical, and you probably realized that when you brought him in. What happened to him?"
"The police cordoning off the scene at first made it difficult to determine," Hino said, "But fortunately, one of the officers keeping a watch on the site during lunch rotation had sufficient respect for a priest's position, to allow me to 'ward off ill spirits' at the shrine, which allowed me a closer look. As best I can tell, some form of beast in human form, or perhaps a dark sorcerer, was aboard the bus that was stopped. Either your cat, or the Onmyouji he accompanies, knew of this being's presence, and halted the bus. There was some form of conflict between the two, which the dark being won, and then fled before the authorities arrived."
"Jaeger's a solo-operator," Saeko said, "At least so far. Hopefully he'll be less stupid when he wakes up from this."
"'Less stupid?'" Hino said curiously, "Whatever would you mean by that?"
"This is the second time that he's gone off to fight magical monsters by himself," Saeko said crankily, before nodding at the young blue-haired girl seated beside the small bed the cat was resting on, "He's worrying my daughter to death."
"But not you?" Hino asked, amusement clear in his face and voice.
"Bah!" Saeko said with a snort, "He's going to annoy me to death. I don't know what it's like for you, being a priest and all, but I'm a doctor, and I learned of a very rational, consistent world that is defined by natural laws, not something that can be twisted into a pretzel by magic at the whims of a creature that shouldn't even be sentient."
"My dear," Hino said, a gentle smile on his face, "Has it ever occurred to you that while what you know as 'the supernatural' may be able to twist the laws that you already know, magic may have rules of its own?"
Saeko froze, and her eyes widened slightly, as her mind began to wrap itself around the conceptual consequences of the old priest's words.
((()))
As their guardians continued their own conversation, Rei slowly made her way over to Ami so as to introduce herself to the shy girl.
"Hello," The Miko said a little stiffly, bowing slightly, "I am Hino Rei, and I am sorry for your cat's injuries."
"Ah," Ami said, managing a sort of seated partial-bow to the taller girl, "I am Mizuno Ami; thank you for bringing Jaeger-kun to the veterinarian."
"It is no trouble," Rei said with a slight, dismissive gesture, "Even if he were just a common animal, to do anything less but aid an injured being on the grounds would be to betray our duties as keepers of the shrine, but as he is clearly some form of Nekomata or other spirit-beast, it would have been unthinkable to leave him to die."
"Jaeger's not a spirit-beast," Ami said, relaxing slightly as the somewhat formal Miko failed to be deliberately rude or mean to her, "He's cursed. He used to be human."
Rei startled slightly, and blinked, then turned to stare down at the injured and comatose cat.
"Used to be human?" She breathed, "He must have offended a powerful kami to bear such a curse."
"He said it was a dragon," Ami said softly, "Though I don't fully understand why."
"A dragon spirit would have the power to do such a thing," Rei said with a nod, "Though I had thought all the spirits of such power had long since passed into slumber, awaiting the days when demons rise to assail the earth."
Ami went pale, something that Rei did not fail to notice; the Miko also did not fail to realize the most likely reason she had gone pale.
"You've seen a demon as well?" Rei said quietly.
"Y-yes," Ami stuttered, nodding he head fearfully, "Some days past, one was attempting to infiltrate Crystal Seminar, the juku I attend, but Jaeger found it out, and killed it."
"This sounds like serious business," The elder Hino suddenly interjected, surprising Ami, who had not realized he was listening, "Did you witness this event?"
Ami nodded mutely.
"Then," The master of the Hikawa shrine continued, "As someone experienced in supernatural affairs, I believe it would be best if you told me everything."
((()))
By the time Luna returned to the Akizu Veterinary Clinic with Usagi in tow (or more accurately, carrying her), the Hinos had heard enough that their primary focus was on her, rather than the bubbly blond carrying her.
"So you're the talking cat then, eh?" The priest said with a genial smile, "Since the writing cat is out, I don't suppose you could tell us more about what's going on here?"
"...These are the Hinos?" Luna asked, turning to look at Saeko and Ami as she did so.
"Yes," Saeko said with a nod, "We've told them what we know about the situation at large. You're the only one who seems to have prior knowledge of things besides Jaeger, and he's not going to be telling us anything anytime soon."
"Indeed," Luna said, nudging Usagi into carrying her over to where the other two teenage girls stood beside Jaeger's unconscious form, "I must check something before I answer questions, however."
So saying, she hopped out of Usagi's arms and onto the table Jaeger was on, before padding silently up to Rei, and staring thoughtfully up at the girl. After a moment she reared back up on her hind legs, and extended a paw forward towards the Miko.
"Excuse me, Hino-san," She said politely, "But may I touch your forehead so that I may feel the energies within you?"
Rei glanced at her grandfather, and after the man nodded, she leaned forward so that Luna could reach her forehead. It took the Mau only a moment to confirm what she had suspected.
"Thank you," Luna said solemnly, settling back down into a more conventional posture on the table, "You are the reincarnation of Senshi Mars, the guardian and ruler of Mars, the mistress of fire. Jaeger gave me your name when he visited me the other night, and it is very likely he saw the attack coming, which is why he intercepted it, to prevent the Dark Kingdom from assassinating you before you could defend yourself."
Rei's eyes bulged at the cat's words, but she managed to hold in any outbursts, looking to her grandfather again for guidance. The older man crossed the room to stand behind her, and lay an arm around her shoulder reassuringly.
"You claim something of grave import about my granddaughter," the elder Hino said gravely, "What does it mean to be a Senshi, and what is this Dark Kingdom?"
"Thousands of years ago," Luna said, her posture changing somehow, and her presence filling the room, "Before your recorded history, though I know not how long, Earth was not the only inhabited planet in this solar system. Each of the inner worlds was settled, and moons of each of the outer worlds were also. All the other worlds and moons combined hosted perhaps half again the population of Earth, and the peoples of all of them answered to the throne of the Silver Millennium, upon Earth's Moon. The Earth Kingdom was the only nation that did not join, some say because their rulers were too proud, some say because they intended to simply wed with the line of Serenity, the Queen, and merge the kingdoms without needing to surrender sovereignty.
"In time, it seemed that the latter was proven true, as Endymion, the crown Prince of the Earth Kingdom, and Serenity the Younger, Crown Princess of the Silver Millennium, fell into a 'secret' romance. It was 'secret' only in that the two thought it to be so; both families approved of it. I could not tell you why Endymion's father, the Earth King, allowed it to continue, but I know that Serenity the Elder, the reigning Queen, hoped to bring a unification and peace to the system. Relations with the Earth Kingdom were strained at the time, especially as the Jovians were antagonistic towards them, though I cannot remember precisely why."
"How would you know such things?" Saeko asked coolly, "They would seem to be held to privy counsel amongst a royal court, to me."
"I was one of Serenity's two primary political advisors," Luna replied calmly, staring the doctor in the eye, "And though my memories are still somewhat fuzzy from the spell that brought me to this place, these were the events that immediately lead to the destruction of everything within the Sol System."
"That seems unlikely," The elder Hino said calmly, "Given that we are yet alive today."
"Yes," Luna said flatly, turning to give him a very impressive glare, at least, impressive for a cat, "One planet amongst nine remains inhabited, with its past so thoroughly destroyed that none yet remember it. I said everything was destroyed, not that everything was destroyed completely. Only Earth had a biosphere that could sustain itself without magical support, which is why the other worlds are now barren. Every single person on every other planet and moon died. I do not consider my description of 'everything' being destroyed to be inappropriate."
No one said anything in reply, and after sweeping her gaze across the others for a few seconds, Luna continued her tale.
"Serenity the Younger, however, was not the only one who sought the Prince's affections," Luna said quietly, "A Court Sorceress of the Earth Kingdom, a young woman of such prodigious talent that she was attained the position in spite of not being of the nobility, had also fallen for the Prince. I do not know all of what led to it, but after he made it clear to Beryl that he did not return her affections, Beryl," Luna practically hissed the name this time, "Became greatly empowered by some means, wielding magics of darkness and destruction beyond her own power, and with an army of monstrous beasts known as Youma at her command, she assaulted the Moon, striking the royal palace during Serenity the Younger's birthday party."
Luna paused to take a breath, and her small body seemed to deflate as she did so.
"I will spare you the gory details," Luna said tiredly, "Her army was impossibly vast, and the moon was overrun. All of the Senshi were slain, and as the cities of the Moon were wiped out, the Youma began teleporting to other worlds, and sacking them. I don't think Beryl even realized that they were attacking Earth itself as well, but the Queen did. In a desperate attempt to save those that remained of her people, the Queen, whose power, both personal and granted by her position, was beyond compare, sacrificed her life to fuel a spell which sealed away Beryl and her Youma. As she lay dying in the ruins of her palace, she cast a final spell, hurling the spirits of the Senshi and the Princess, as well as myself and my partner Artemis, forward in time, so that they could live again on the Earth, once it was recovered from the ravages of war, hopefully in peace."
Luna's head lowered, and she stared down at her forepaws for a long moment, before finishing her tale.
"Her final words were to command me to find her daughter and the Senshi, and guide and protect them through their awakening."
With that, the black Mau leapt lightly down from the table, and swiftly left the room.
((()))
Kino Makoto had never met a talking cat before. In fact, while she thought she may have heard of a talking dog, she didn't think she'd even heard of a talking cat. All things considered, she was very confused about why one was in the doorway to her apartment, apparently waiting for her to get home.
"I don't think I took any blows to the head," Makoto said thoughtfully as she dragged her gaze up and away from the cat and its little moon-shaped bald spot, "But if I did, wouldn't I have lost any memory of it because of the blow?"
"You're not hearing things," The cat said grouchily in a feminine voice, "I am real."
"Look, cat," Makoto said, staring down at the feline, "I'm not the best student, but I know cats don't have the right parts to talk like a human. It's not just weird for a cat to talk, it's impossible."
"Well, let's test this then," The cat said, "Call up the Akizu Veterinary Clinic, and ask them if they have a cat called Jaeger in their care, property of the Mizuno family. If they do, then obviously I'm imparting new knowledge to you, if not, then you're just hearing things."
"If I'm hearing things now," Makoto said pointedly, "Then why couldn't I hear things from the phone either."
"...I'm going to irritate you until you at least try it," Luna said flatly, "I'm too tired for a better plan, and I don't have the time for you to think you're having a meltdown."
"...Why are you bothering me anyways?" Makoto asked.
"Because I think," Luna said, "That you're the reincarnation of a magical warrior princess that I'm looking for, and I need to get all of the Senshi together as soon as I can if I'm going to fight this war effectively."
"...I need to stop watching magical girl anime," Makoto said flatly.
((()))
A tall brunette girl carrying a cat stormed into the clinic, with murder in her eyes. The receptionist opened her mouth to challenge the girl, but a single glance stopped her, sending a chill down her spine, leaving her unmolested as she stomped into one of the office's inner rooms that the cat pointed to. She burst into the room even more forcefully than she'd entered the clinic.
"Which one of you is Usagi?" She demanded harshly as she glared around at the room's occupants, and noting unhappily that there was, in fact, an overly large wounded cat on the room's padded table.
"I am!" Usagi said, her cheerful demeanor not dampened by Makoto's apparent anger.
At least, not until the larger girl hurled the cat she was holding directly at the blond.
"Your damn talking cat," Makoto growled, "Spent the last hour deliberately shedding on everything in my apartment. Now what's so important that you lot needed me here?"
"Whatever Luna brought you here for," The room's only (conscious) male occupant said as he moved forward to stand in front of Makoto, who was significantly taller than him, "It is a purpose that will not be served by your anger. We did not ask her to bring you here, we do not deserve your anger; please calm yourself."
Makoto glared at the somewhat wrinkled old man; he met her gaze calmly, with no edge of challenge or anger of his own, and gradually, she calmed down. The room's other occupants breathed a sigh of relief, especially Usagi, who was rubbing a sore spot where she'd taken a Mau to the chest.
"That hurt!" The blonde said, "You didn't need to be so mean!"
Makoto turned towards the blonde and scowled, but the elder Hino intervened before she could say something.
"While it wasn't the best way to deal with her conflict," Hino said, "Your cat has very much provoked her. Now, could we get your name?"
Makoto faltered, beginning to realize the kind of first impression she'd just made, and looked away, her face beginning to burn with shame.
"I am Kino Makoto," She half-mumbled, "I'm sorry for the display, but I am very tired of people provoking me and relying on rules and courtesy to keep me from making them stop, even though I am much stronger than them. A talking cat invading my home and provoking me in such a manner was simply too much."
"I can understand your displeasure," Hino said kindly, "Just last night I was woken up by a sorcerer attacking a cat on my doorstep. It is most unpleasant when the supernatural intrudes violently and uninvited upon your life. I was much older than you by the time I learned to handle it gracefully."
"...Priests really deal with Youkai and Kami?" Makoto asked cautiously as she took in the Hinos' garb.
"Some of us do," Hino said with a nod, "My granddaughter here has a natural affinity for the sacred fire in our shrine, and in time, she will likely join me in the rare time some poor soul turns to the Hikawa shrine in dealing with forces they do not understand."
"Or if Luna is right," Saeko said with a scowl, "That time may come a lot sooner than either of us would desire, for both of our daughters," She paused for a moment, and turned to Makoto, "Kino-san, are you of legal age yet?"
"I'm fourteen," Makoto said flatly.
"And yes," Luna said cautiously from Usagi's lap, "She is Senshi Jupiter. This leaves only Venus, who is already under the guidance of my partner, Artemis. With this, all of the Senshi are gathered, and we should hopefully be able to fight the Dark Kingdom effectively."
"I'm not comfortable with making children, my daughter amongst them, fight a war," Saeko said flatly, glaring at the Mau.
"I would prefer veteran Senshi myself," Luna replied calmly, "But with Jaeger disabled, Hino-san here is the only other adult of supernatural abilities we have available. If you have a better suggestion, I would be happy to hear it."
"As a matter of fact," Saeko said, "I do."
((()))
AN: Luna may seem to be unnecessarily antagonistic towards Makoto here, but please try to keep in mind two things; first, the way she tries to drag Usagi into things in 'canon' continuities, and second, that people fairly frequently do foolish things right after they've had a very intense, unhappy emotional experience.