Chapter 3
Oosaka Naru knows something about Tsukino Usagi that none of her Senshi know - yet! A gift for Hallowe'en. And - definitely AU!
DISCLAIMER: Sailormoon does not belong to me! Never has, and never will.
WARNING! There WILL be character-death in this story (by the end)!
I am rewriting the mythos, I know. But? It's called "Fan-Fiction" for a reason!
NOTE: Does aynoe need the Japanese-glosssary, yet? As for the main-terms:
"Ookami" is Japanese for "Wolf" (actual translation is "Laughing god").
in our tory, it will mean WEREWOLF.
"Kyongshi" (or "Dancing Corpse", from the Chinese) can either be thought of as a VAMPIRE or ZOMBIE! In this story, "Kyongshi" equals "Vampire".
As of this chapter, I start dividing the Kyongshi into two groups: The "kyongshi-kuro" ("Vampires of Darkness"), and "kyongshi-shiro" ("Vampires of light").
Ami awoke before the sun appeared over the mountains, ready to start another day of training. Slowly rising from the floor so not to wake the others, she softly made it to the kitchen, following the aroma of morning-
coffee! Sniffing around to see who else was up, Ami poured herself a cup of coffee and walked out the front-door and outside!
After a long high stretch and a few tai-chi movements to loosen up, the young girl sat down with her coffee to watch the sunrise and wait for her mother:
"Thought I smelled you in the kitchen!" Ami called out and smiled into her drink as Saeko came running up the hill."Old habits die hard? You do not have to get up this early, Iyaa! Especially, not on weekend!"
"Hai!" Saeko huffed. "I know I am on leave. Be fired dano if Shinobi have his way. Think doctors and nurses who show any weakness should be fired! Hai. Hard to give up morning run! Hai. Feel alive. Moreso now that I survive encounter with kyongshi! Hai."
Saeko looked thoughtfully over her own coffee. "Just wish musume did not have to see what her friends do - to old woman. Hai. Suddenly feel old. Way they attacked you at apartment demo."
"They WERE my friends kaasan!" Ami emphatically said. "Friends no more! Iyaa! What they do to you! What they threatened to do to Usagi! I do not know them!"
"As they do not know you! Do not know Usagi-chan! Do not know themselves.
Iiede!" Naru responded, bidding the two women sit down. "I have read entries of Watchers who said that kyongshi start to change even before death! First thing to change was mind dano! Perception was turned, even as some memories remained.
Rei and Minako.. may not be Rei and Minako, now."
"Iiede! Do not say that. Onegai?" Usagi cried from the doorway, shaken, and shaking! She then looked at Naru. "Girls MUST be themselves.. HAVE to be! Have.. to..." Usagi collapsed, exhausted, and curled herself into a tight, protective ball, her head in the young Watcher's lap.
Naru petted Usagi as she trembled and cried. "I know how important your girls are to you, Usagi! Hai!". she softly whispered. "Always have. Why I step into background when you find them. Always in background, always watching. Rei and Minako may be lost demo! There is that possibility. Still have Ami-imouto. We will get Makoto-chan dano."
The redhead took the old Enfield, as Ami watched and grinned, and layed it protectively in front of Usagi, as if daring the rest of the world to come and take them!
"Come, minna!" Oosaka Kana announced. "Breakfast is ready. Hai! I am sure that musume wants everything ready for training!"
After breakfast, Ami was racing down to the stream, entering and exiting it several times, before entering the forests on the opposite bank! The bank was much steeper and rockier than on the cabin-side, and a little harder to scale, even in her half-lupine-form, but - Ami hoped- it would be just as hard for Usagi and Naru to scramble up the banks!
Just as Ami was going from rocks and moss to more soil and trees, she heard Usagi's excited yips - and the report of an old Enfield!
She then heard the thud of paint-pellets on bark!
"Gomen nissai, Oosaka-Sensei!" Ami softly giggled, slowly to just take a quick-glance, "Already had nap demo!"
Then, Ami ran up the steeper-paths, but always within smelling-distance of the stream.
"Hope.. scent of pine-needles..", Ami huffed softly, "hides my scent.. from aneue! Just.. enough.. enough to..."
As soon as Ami reached a particularly-dense pine-thicket, she morphed into a full-canid, and wound her way through the trees!
As she moved in and out of the trees, Ami would pause to listen for her pursuers. And, everytime she'd hear Usagi on her trail, a gleam would come to Ami's eyes, and she'd head off, again!
'Proud of aneue! Hai!' Ami thought.
As soon as she snaked her way through the pines, Mizuno Ami, still in Wolven-form, headed to the stream, by now the upper-pool before the waterfall.
As soon as She entered the pool, Ami started transforming back into her human form, as slid down the falls! Then, she continued down the widening river.
Soon, Ami saw the bend in the river and the now-familiar meadow.
And, three Sailorsenshi!
Ami growled low.
"Are you SURE Ookami are here?" Makoto asked as she came out of the far woods.
"What makes you think Ookami will be here?" Minako turned to Rei. "Are you expert on Ookami, now? This seems too far away to be home of Oomaki attacking Tokyo! Hai!."
"Ookami and Ningen live in two different worlds, hai!" Rei tried to explain to her partners. "Demo! Ronin have been known to invade Ningen-world, before! Mamoru thinks Ookami come from here to hunt. Then, return to safety of mountains! Hai."
"Kuso!" Ami hissed. "What are Senshi doing here? Usagi will get caught if she trails me this far! Cannot exit river from meadow as I hoped! Senshi would find me to Usagi-san and Oosaka-Sensei. Shimatte!"
Ami crept the shadier bank of the river, keeping herself submerged most of the time. She only raised her head to get a smal breah of air and spy on her fellow-Senshi. Then, slowly at first, she made her way back up the river to the falls, glancing only quickly at the top of the second falls.
'Was that Usagi-chan? Only yellow ookami on Honshu! Hai! Probably in all Nippon! Hai. It is Usagi. She did not bark. Did Not howl! Good! Not let Senshi-
baka know we are here! Hope I am as fortunate! Still have to get out of river to climb falls! Even in shadow, Senshi can see me against rocks. Must try! If I run? Might get caught? If I stay? Like Fatalist Fish in Hindu tales - WILL get caught! Iyaa. Not just me! Usagi, Naru, everyone! So? Up and forward I go!'
As she scrambled up the rocky bank and into the trees and undergrowth, a thought entered Ami's mind. It was a thought she had had, before, back when she was patrolling Juuban for the Ookami Mamoru said were hunting in that District - a thought echoed by her mother:
'How did Chiba-san know about Ookami?'
As silently as she could run, Ami moved through the trees and vines above the bank opposite the cabin. Every now and then, she would stop to listen and look in back of her, to check for any persuing Senshi! The young ookami could not help but think she was being trailed!
But, by who?
Ami veered off to the left, deeper into the thick forests of the mountainside, and hid herself in its shadows.
And, she waited - for her persuer to become her query!
"Doko Rei-chan?" Makoto swore. "Doko Mina-BAKA! Even as Sailorjupiter, not good to be hunting alone! Not in Ookami-Country! Iyaa! Ever if this is NOT Ookami-Country! Still bad place to be alone. Hai. Where did bakayarou go?"
Ami jumped onto a branch hanging across the path.
"Nani-yo?" Kino Makoto peered intothe darkness. "Where did that noise come from?! Show yourself?!"
"I am above you!" Ami seductively whispered, and leaped off the branch! As she hit Makoto. the bluenette gave the tall girl a nerve-pinch.. that sent her to the ground in five seconds! While twisting some thorny wines into a makeshift - and painful - binding, Ami checked Makoto for Kyongshi-bites. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found none. Then, she sat down opposite Makoto, naked, with her knees agianst her breasts, and waited for the other girl to wake up:
"Unnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngh!" Makoto groanded as she slowly shook her head. "What hit me?"
"I hit you!" Ami chirped. "May hit you, again! Gomen nissai, have to know if you are friend or enemy!" She then took a match from Makoto's blouse and lit a bundle of pine needles and set them close to Makoto.
And Makoto's eyes grew wide in surprise at the small girl in front of her! "Ami-chan! What are you trying to do? Roast me?! Are you POSSESSED? A pyromaniac?"
Ami then stepped on the fire after letting it blaze five minutes, smothering it. "Good! Mako-chan past test! Not flinch from fire. Hai!"
"Because you have my HANDS tied behind my hack, Mizuno-baka!" Makoto growled.
"Iyaa, Kino-san could have still squirmed away from fire! Easily!" Ami shot back. "Avoid fire like Hino Rei! Hai!"
"Ara.. Rei has not been herself, lately." Makoto sighed. "She has been acting stranger than Minako-chan!"
"Minako has been acting stranger than Minako! May they both burn in Hell!" The bluenette groused as she helped Makoto to her feet. "Now? We walk back to camp! I will help you."
"Hai. Could you loosen my bond, Ami-chan?" Makoto asked. "My arms and wrists feel like are being cut!"
"Iyaa. Kaasan will look after your arms and wrists after we get back to camp!" Ami responded.
"Your kaasan is here?" Makoto asked. "Why is not she at work at Tokyo General? Does this have anything to do with the fight there last night?"
"It has EVERYTHING to do with the battle, HAI!" Ami swore. "And, the reason behind that battle! First thing demo! Do you still have the silver dagger?"
"Hai!" The tall girl meeped. "I carry it in my boot! How do you know about the silver dagger?"
"I know who gave it to you!" Ami answered in an authoritative tone. "She will be glad to know you still carry it! Hai. So am I."
"Ami? What's wrong?" Makoto pleaded. "Why are you and your kaasan here? Why are you acting so strange dano!"
"Kaasan is here so Usagi and me can watch over her!"
"Usagi is here?" Makoto asked in a bewildered tone.
"Hai! Usagi is here to train me! Kaasan is here because Hino Rei and Aino Minako frightened her so much that she tried to take her own life, by overdose! Right before they leave message in my apartment! Okaasan has been 'on leave', since."
"'Frightened'?" Makoto caught her breath and stumbled over the word. "Why?"
"The wanted to get to me!" Ami swore again. "They are no longer the girls I knew. No longer Sailorsenshi! Iiede. They are more dead than alive! Hai. We turn here, Makoto! Across the stream and up the hill! Camp is on the other side. I will help you cross".
With those words out of her mouth, Mizuno Ami shifted to ookami - right in front of a shocked Kino Makoto!
"Ami-chan? You are..?" Makoto tried to get a thought out of her mouth fully. "How..? When..?"
'Ookami, now, or kyongshi, later, Makoto-chan! Ask Usagi-hime!' Ami's thoughts floated into Makoto's mind as she bit off the vines binding her wrists and arms. 'COME! Follow me.'
"Kuso!" Makoto whispered.. and quickly followed the blue ookami!
Ami trotted up the hill to the cabin:
"Kaasan? Bring the medical-kit! We have a visitor I had to tie with thorn-vines!"
"Friend, or Enemy?" Saeko called back from inside the cabin. When she came out, she brough a cup of tea and a kimono to her daughter, as well as a medical-kit for Makoto.
"I braught her here, alive! Friend!" Ami answered back, wrapping herself in the kimono.
"Alright! Usagi told us of who she thought she saw." Saeko replied.
"'We'?" Makoto asked. "Who are 'we'?"
"We are part of 'we'!" Naru answered as she and her mom walked out the door. "My kaasan and I! You still have the dagger I gave you?"
"YOU gave me the dagger?!" Makoto looked at Naru. Then, Makoto saw the rifles of both Oosakas.
"The rifles!" She gasped. "Were you the one..?"
"Shooting at Senshi from abandoned shrine?" Naru answered as she sipped her tea. "Hai. I am a Watcher! I was protecting the one I watch!"
"A 'Watcher'?" Makoto asked. "Are not you the one that protects humans by hunting ookami demo?"
"Watching too many monster-movies, Kino-san?" Naru said in a teasing tone.
"Iyaa! I protect humans, like kaasan, tousan and ojiisan did, by studying magical-people and creatures, hai! Rifles only used when subjects go ronin! MOST of the time! Or? When subjects - friends - are in danger! Hai."
Saeko started cleaning and applyng needed-medicines to Makoto's arms.
"'Friends'?" Makoto then asked. "You know them, personally?"
"Hai!" Naru answered.
"Do they know.. you are Watcher?"
"Until recently? Iiede. Tousan told me, under best-circumstances, subjects should NEVER know about Watchers! may put subject's lives in danger!"
Just then, a yellow-coated wolf carefully came around the cabin. Followed closely by two light-colored wolves, on large and the other small! A blue wolf just slightly-larger than Ami, peered around the corner, as if on gaurd!
"Another Oomaki?!" Makoto jumped as she saw the yellow wolf. "Why.. is it here?"
"She is watching over me." Ami grinned. "Hai."
"'Watching' over you?" Makoto tried getting her head around these ideas she was hearing. "Whyso?"
"She bit me," Ami explained. "To keep me from turning into kyongshi! Did not want to lose a friend! Iyaa! Still doesn't. Why I was careful before bringing you here!"
The yellow wolf then crawled up to Makoto, placed its head on her thigh, looked into the brubette's eyes, and shape-shifted!
"U.. sagi?" Makoto stuttered.
"Can you think of any other blonde-coated ookami, Mako-chan?" Ami grinned.
"You are..?" The brunette just stared at Usagi's naked body. And, petted her face and neck and shoulders. "Oh, Kamisama! I tried to kill you!" The tall girl was in tears.
"Hai. I know." Usagi whispered. "I forgive you. You did not know." The odangoed-blond then stiffened slightly, and sniffed. "I feel something minna! I cannot smell it. Feel it demo! Inside cabin!"
Slipping on a kimono handed to her by her brother, Usagi then ran into the cabin!
"Hai! You are here with your friends!" A ghostly-figure smiled. "That is good! For I fear that you will need them, Hime!"
Ami and Makoto took defensive-positions.
"Beryl!" The brunette shouted. 'Why are you here?! To hurt Usagi more?!"
"Iyaa." The ghost whispered. "I am here.. to warn."
"Warn?" Ami asked as the others gathered around. "Of what? Of who?"
"BERYLE!" Usagi fell prostrate in front of the ghost, crying at her feet. "Gomen! For whatever the moon did! I did not want death! Kowaii. Kowaii. We must been done very bad things"
"There is nothing to forgive, Hime! Earth and the moon just got caught in a game that we were but pawns in! My death - the second-time - set me free dano."
"Nani-yo?" Makoto asked quickly. "How was the Moon a pawn?"
"You were never our target, Hime! Not at first. Luna was never a first-
target" Beryl answered. "Only Endymion was!"
Usagi and Makoto were stunned! "Why attack Endymion?"
"Endymion-no-Kyongshi!" Ami and Naru answered as one...
Usagi and Makoto turned around to look at Ami and Naru.
"Kyongshi?"
"I would need data to prove my hunch," Ami said, "Mamoru-san knew about Ookami demo! WE did not know about Ookami in Tokyo! How did Mamoru know about Ookami in Tokyo! Mako-chan! Did Tuxedo-Kamen ever mention Kyongshi?"
"Never kyongshi!" Makoto answered. "Just Ookami!"
"There is reason for that." Naru whispered. "I remember reason! Hai." The red-headed Watcher then walked up to Beryl's ghost.. and bowed to her! "Arigatou nissai, Beryl-kaasan! For saving me from kyongshi-kuro!"
A tear seemed to appear in ghostly eyes. "Gomennissai, musume. I was not able to save you! You died.. with Moon-Kingdom."
"I did not become kyongshi-kuro demo!" Naru smiled through her own tearing-eyes. "even when Endymion-no-kyongshi come to Luna! After.. Serenity.. fall under Kiss-no-
Kyonshi, introduce kyongshi to Usagi! Hai."
"Nani-yo?!" Usagi, Ami, and Makoto gathered closer to Naru and Beryl.
"Serenity.. introduced me to kyongshi?!" Usagi gasped.
"Naze?" Makoto asked worriedly.
"Look at me, Senshi!" Beryl commanded. "When Usagi! Hai. Usagi. Used Ginzhuishou on me, she freed me from not only Matallia's presence, but from kiss-no-kyongshi! Demo! Wear mark of kyongshi nao. Look."
"Each girl looked at the markings of the kyongshi: The reddened eyes, the taught discolored skin, and the fangs.
"With me through two life-times, now! Still with me!"
"I remember." Naru slowly sat down, everyone gathering around her. "It was.. a year after starting to watch Usagi.. that I remembered the Moon Kingdom! Since I am Watcher? I write down dream, hai. This is a copy:
"Kaasan is scared for me. Scared of Endymion. She says she has made a terrible mistake, and will die for it soon. She says the kiss of the kyongshi-kuro is always fatal. And, she does not wish to see me suffer his kiss! Already she loses weight. She says in a year, all she will be is skin and bones. And, the devil Endymion is all she can think about! She says she must send me away, before her feelings for the kyongshi-kuro drive her to sacrifice me to him. So? I am to be smuggled to Luna! Smuggled to the kyongshi-shiro."
Usagi trembled, then whimpered. "I.. am Hime? I.. am Kyongshi? Iiede! Onegai?"
Shingo wrapped his arms around his older-sister, to protect her from her fears.
"My tenth year, One year into my exile." Naru read from a second letter. "I am a refugee without a refuge! I look up at Earth, my home, and feel sad. Where once it was bright and blue and green, now I see a veil of red! I no longer feel kaasan's link. I fear she is dead. The only light I feel in my soul now is Queen Serenity, and her daughter, the heir-apperant, Usagi. Maybe there is hope. Hope that I may, one day, call this place home! And, one day, call Usagi friend. Along with her gaurdians."
Ami and Makoto were now helping Shingo hold onto Usagi, who had eased her trembling, and smiling and nodding as they listened to Naru:
"Me second year on Luna. And, I fear for my new home! I can, somehow, feel the presence of death, here, now! It is the same presence I felt back home. The presence that sent me into exile! Somewhere, in the hallways of the palace, is Endymion-no-Kyongshi-Kuro!
"Serenity shows herself less-often, and she is paler and thinner each time we see her! Luna shows the signs of the Kyongshi-Kuro, also! The only time it shows any sign of life is when Usagi is out! Otherwise, the moon is white as bleached-bone! And, her waters are still, and the color of dried-blood!"
Everyone was now riveted on Naru's letters. She read the last one:
"The earth has invaded Luna! I fear this is Sayonara. The Senshi have fallen. At least, kaasan can be at rest. She has slain her devil. Endymion has fallen, along with the rightful kings of Earth, reduced to mere puppets by Endymion! Usagi has chosen to end her life on the sword of the Kyongshi. I feel my life going. I barely have strength to write, but feel the need to bear witness! The last witness."
Usagi cried, once more,as her family and friends tried to comfort her. Slowly, the tears subsided. And, Beryl's ghost continued her tale:
"Kyongshi-shiro are the guardians of dreams, hai! Kiss takes like force, takes chi, and gives it back! Hai! Give life for life! kyongshi-kuro give nightmares. Just takes chi, never gives back! Gives death for life! Death cannot exists with life. Iyaa. One must win over the other. Endymion knew about Serenity-no-Luna, Hai! Knew of power. Wanted power for his own!
Went to Moon, started feeding off Serenity! Serenity grew weaker. Weak enough to want death after death of Endymion and musume! Use ginzhuishou to send everyone into timestream, into future! Ginzhuishou bring everyone back to life as they had died demo! Kyongshi still kyongshi. So? Usagi and friends are still in grave danger! Hai. Destroy Endymion! Destroy Kyongshi!-kuro!"
With the warning stated, Beryl's ghost vanished!
After Beryl left, and the girls made it, once more into the open air, Tsukino Kenji turned to his son:
"From here onward, Shingo? Whatever happens! Wherever Usagi goes, be aneue-no-kage!"
Shingo gave a silent nod, then turned and vanished!
"Come!" Oosaka Kana told the Tsukinos and Saeko. "There is something you must see! Follow me."
Shingo, meanwhile, made it out the back door and around the cabin to the front. What he heard and saw broke his heart:
"Bad girl. Such a bad girl." Usagi repeated,curled up in a tight ball as to protect herself from the cold I am kyongshi. Cursed my friends. Kyongshi-curse! I should die!"
"Shush! Shush. Quiet, Usagi-imouto." Naru said, cradling and rocking the grieving-child.
"You are not to blame! Not bad. Not evil. Never evil."
"Am Kyongshi demo!" Usagi softly whined. "I heard Beryl! Kyongshi! Kowaii!"
"Heard Beryl-kaasan dano!" Naru countered. "Send me to Kyongshi-SHIRO! Hai. Not kyongshi-
kuro! Big difference!"
"What difference?" Usagi cried. "Feed off dreams. Feed of souls! Both FEED, hai!"
Ami and Makoto stood by, helplessly watching the story unfold - wanting to help, but, not at all sure how to!
"Hai." Naru answered her oldest-friend softly while caressing her. "Kyongshi-shiro feed on dreams. take piece of dreams. Little sips. Give back what they give, and let it grow! Hai. Protectors of dreams and dreamers they meet. Like Hime! Kyongshi-kuro take dreams, never give back demo! Only give nightmares! Hai. When nightmares are gone? Give death! Blood-Farmers!"
"I lead Blood-Farmer here! Hai." Usagi sighed. "Hime-baka.."
"Hime did not lead Kyongshi-kuro here, aneue!" Shingo answered as he sat next to his sister and placed her feet on his lap and legs to gently rub them. "Koushaku-no-Kyongshi already here, I think. I listened to the ghost. Listened to Naru before that. hai. If Ginzhiushou can wash evil away? Can cure? Did not do it that time! Ieede. Only moved everyone into future!"
"Hai." Naru whispered. "Ginzhuishou is powerful demo only responds to Mistress' wishes! Serenity was too .. infected .. by Endymion's kiss to want cleansing. Just want happiness. Happiness for who demo?"
She and Shingo kept Usagi tightly between them.
"How.. many secrets.. do you.. know.. Naru-ane?" Usasgi sniffled.
"Only ones.. worth keeping!" Naru smiled down at Usagi. "Rest, Koinu. Hai."
"Mamo-baka will DIE!" Makoto growled. "Come, Ami-Chan! I need to find a big tree! Hai. Need something to HIT!"
An hour after a work-out on a helpless tree, a weary Makoto joined Ami and Naru at the top pool above the waterfalls:
"How is Usagi?" Makoto asked worriedly.
"She is better, still grieves demo." Naru answered. "Still blames herslf for so much that has happened. Worries about what may happen. Hai."
"None of that was Usagi's fault demo!" makoto cried out. "Not even fault of Hime! Does Usagi not understand that? Was fault of Endymion-no-Kyongshi!"
"Usagi understands that, or part of her does!" Ami answered, looking past the waterfalls.
"She understands, but does not accept! All the blood. All the tears. All the lives wasted.
All for some blood-feast! Iyaa. Not way of Ookami."
Suddenly, a single, plaintive howl sounded in the air and echoed against the mountains.
Ami recognized who it was, and - although she did not yet know the name of it or exact-reason for it - a part of her soul intenctively knew the "why" of it:
"Usagi-ane", she whispered.
"She is begging forgiveness of the lives she has been forced to take." Naru explained as she lined up the sights of the Enfield.
"Dark Kingdom.. youma.. cardians.. Darkmoon family." Ami quoted the list.
"The deaths are not hers to bear!" Makoto protested.
"It does not matter!" Naru responded. "Usagi is Usagi! Blame is hers - real or not."
"Howl will alert Rei and Minako demo!" Makoto said.
"Let them come!" Ami growled, lining up the sights of an old Sharps' 50-caliber.
"What if they bring Mamoru-kyongshi?!" Mako started to panic, scanning the forests.
"Let them come!" Naru softly sang out, echoing Ami.
.