BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON
~MIRAI~
PART VIII: SOLDIER OF VENUS II
by: Komillia (komillia@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: Sailormoon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko and Kodansha, etcera.
Chie, Hikaru, Yasha and the other original characters that belong to
me.
Some Japanese words I use:
kaa-san = mother
shimatta = damn
tadaima = I'm home
* * * *
"Divine Wing!" Archangel called, hands pointing towards the
demon. Her wings began to flap. Slow at first, but then almost
furiously. Yet... nothing happened. Archangel's jaw dropped in shock.
The demon was still standing. Nothing had happened. She repeated the
attack again. An attack which would normally push the demons far away
from her, but now they could easily get close to her without any
resistance. After a third attempt the others began to notice that
something wasn't quite right.
"Try using your other attack!" Triton suggested as she called
"Aqua Trident Smash" and a wave of water rose behind her. At least her
attacks were working.
Archangel found her friend's suggestion to be a very logical and wise
one since the demons were approaching her. They had noticed her
failure of using her attack and were no longer frightened by the
angel who normally would have been associated with their doom.
Archangel held out both her hands as she started to murmur a prayer.
She summoned all her strength and energy that was left in her body.
Ishtar turned around and watched her. Archangel's arms were
shaking and she looked sickly pale and tired as she continued to
murmur the prayer. This wasn't good. Normally Archangel could use
"Angel Purification" without getting or looking tired. The way
Archangel looked right now...
[She's not going to make it even if she continues, she'll die
the same way her mother did,] a voice in Ishtar's head informed. That
voice was terribly right.
"Archangel, stop!" Ishtar found herself calling. "Get away
from there before it's too late!"
It was like Archangel didn't hear her. Or if she did, then she chose
to ignore it.
"Stop!" Ishtar shouted. Her eyes widened in terror when
Archangel's eyes closed. Her wings stopped carrying her and she fell.
Ares, luckily, ran and caught her before she fell to the ground.
"Energy Beam!" Ishtar called, directing a beam towards the
demons that Archangel was supposed to take care of. The other demons
she finished off with help from Triton.
* * * *
"She's exhausted, but she'll be alright," Chie declared. The
others sighed in relief. Chie pulled the covers closer to Tomo, she
didn't take her eyes off the sleeping teenager. Why Archangel had
been so weak before she didn't know for sure, but she could still
guess.
[I didn't train her properly, that's why,] Chie thought. [She
should have gotten several power ups by now, but no... I should have
helped her training more when she first came here.]
"She'll probably wake up in a few hours, let's not disturb
her," she said and turned to the others. They agreed and one by one,
they left the room. Chie was the last one who left. She turned off
the lights, the room fell in darkness, before she left. After closing
the door after herself, she took a slow walk down the hallway.
Everyone else had quickly returned to what they should have been doing
under normal circumstances. She could hear Yasha and Hikaru loudly
discussing something downstairs. Kenji had probably resumed cooking
the dinner. But Chie's thoughts couldn't keep themselves away from
Tomo.
[She shouldn't have become a Senshi. She should have lived a
happy life like anyone else.]
* * * *
"What is this signal that we're tracing anyway?" Chie asked.
She sat in the front seat of the car with Diana and while Kenji and
Yasha sat in the back. Akira was the one driving, Diana had forbid
Chie to drive since the last time when they were in a hurry.
"It's an old type of emergency signal," Diana answered. "I can
only tell you that much."
"What do you mean?" Chie demanded. "You have to know who the
signal is coming from right? Or else you wouldn't be so anxious to
find this person."
Diana looked at Chie, with the most serious look in her eyes. Even
Chie knew that it was time to stop asking questions and just do what
Diana told her to do.
"I'm not sure, I can only guess," Diana replied. She said
nothing more about and Chie was silent. Instead Chie paid some
attention to the two newest members of the Shin Senshi, Kenji and
Yasha. She wondered if they were nervous, after all, this was their
first mission together with her and Akira. It had taken five years for
Chie to finally get a comrade, Akira was the one who had joined her
and Diana first. Three years later Kenji and Yasha had come along and
Chie was happy that she was finally a part of a team.
"There... stop the car," Diana suddenly commanded. Akira
obeyed, parking the car at the nearest parking lot. Chie opened the
door and Diana jumped out first. As Chie stepped out, she eyed the
surroundings. They seemed to be at a rather calm neighbourhood.
[Too calm,] Chie thought. There was no one outside. She knew
from experience what that usually meant. People fled into their homes
and barricated themselves whenever there were demons. Either special
forces from the government came to take care of them or some Sailor
Senshi did. The Sailor Senshi's method was more affective, on the
other hand the reason why so little Sailor Senshi came to the rescue
was because they were blamed for the attacks of the demons.
"The Earth was at peace when there were no Sailor Senshi,"
some people said. Chie didn't know how anyone could consider several
wars and other problems to be peace.
"I sense her presence," Diana said suddenly. She didn't tell
them who "her" was. "This way. Pay attention to everything you see."
She ran down the street, followed by the four others. Diana didn't
stop running until she ran around a corner. There she stopped short
and so did the four others. They had reached a road which lead out
from Crystal Tokyo. But the road was blocked with demons. They were
all over the road, crawling over the ground and climbing in lamp
posts. In the middle of the chaos was a Senshi and a girl. The Senshi
was fighting the demons, while the girl was standing behind her.
Chie could see the Senshi perfectly well. The Sailor fuku was
not that different from herself, except for that there was no bow.
Instead there was a dark blue, heart shaped brooch placed in the
middle of the Senshi's chest. Her collar, skirt, gloves and boots were
sky blue. Her eyes had a green color and her long hair was golden.
Instead of a back bow was a pair of large, purely white wings. Just
like an angel.
"So it is her..." Chie heard Diana whisper. "Archangel..."
"You know her?" Chie questioned. Diana looked at Chie and at
the three others. She didn't answer Chie's question.
"All of you, transform right away and save that Senshi! The
girl as well!"
There was no time to ask Diana about the winged Senshi. Chie waved her
hand and closed her eyes. Energy washed over her and transformed her
into Sailorishtar. Ishtar opened her eyes and ran to get closer to the
demons and the Senshi. When she was close enough, she raised one hand
and energy shot up from the ground, encircling her.
"Energy..." she began, the energy gathered in her hand. For a
moment she hestiated, wonder where to aim. Would she aim at the demons
who the Senshi was fighting? Or the demons that looked like they were
about to attack the girl? If she aimed to help the Senshi, would she
have enough time to save the girl as well?
"I'll help the girl," Medusa said, arrow and bow appearing in
her hands.
"BEAM!!" Ishtar finished, aiming towards the Senshi and the
demons who surrounded her. The beam struck three demons standing in a
row, one of them immediately turned to dust while the two others were
only injured. The winged Senshi caught sight on Ishtar, she looked at
Ishtar in gratitude before turning to the girl. She put her arms
around the girl, to Ishtar's surprise the winged Senshi lifted up in
the air and ascended over the crowd of demons. The demons tried to
grab them as they lifted, luckily the winged Senshi was faster. The
Senshi flew over to Diana who safe from the crowd of demons.
Ishtar got a better look of her now. The Senshi was older than
her, she looked as if she was in her late twenties. The girl she had
rescued was a young teenager with green hair and similar green eyes.
"Archangel..." Diana murmured when the winged Senshi descended
to the ground. "I never thought that I would see you again."
"Neither did I, Diana," Archangel answered, letting go of the
girl. "Please take care of my daughter, I'll explain later."
Diana nodded and Archangel flew back to battle. The girl looked
somewhat unsure about her mother leaving, Diana could tell that she
wanted to help. Meanwhile, Ishtar, Medusa, Odin and Hermes did their
best to battle the demons along with Archangel. With five Senshi the
demons were soon finished off. Ishtar had to use her "Flash" attack
several times, since it was more effective when there were many demons
than in an one-on-one battle. Eventually the last demon fell by Odin's
sword, turning into dust just moments later. Odin, Hermes, Medusa and
Ishtar went back to Diana's side and Archangel walked over to the
young girl who appeared to be her daughter.
"Thank you for helping us," Archangel thanked them. "Who knows
what could have happened to us if you hadn't."
"Natsu..." Diana said. "Why are you here? And where is your
husband?"
Archangel smiled sadly. "No one has called me by my real name for a
long time," she replied. "My name is Hoshino Kaori now. This is my
daughter, Hoshino Izumi."
Diana looked at Izumi, then at Archangel again. "Is she... his
daughter?" she asked.
Archangel nodded. The serene moment was ruined when Diana in the
corner of her eye, saw the dust swirling around. She looked at it,
suspicously. The swirling dust caught the attention of the others as
well. They stood silently waiting for something to happen. The dust
moved, gathering itself at the middle of the road.
"This doesn't look good," Odin murmured, his right hand ready
to grip his sword any moment. The dust pile split up in three parts
and then materialized into three forms. They turned into three women,
all with pale green skin and dark eyes. What seperated them from each
other were their clothing and hair. They all wore dark armour, but
with slight differences. The one to the left had dark green hair, the
middle one had dark blue hair and the one to the right had dark brown
hair. Archangel's eyes narrowed as she saw the three.
"We found you again, Archangel," the dark blue haired said.
"Izumi, stay back," Archangel whispered to her daughter and
carefully pushed her back towards Diana.
"Who are you?" Hermes asked the strangers.
The one to the left smiled, her lips seemed to be bloody red. "Perhaps
we should introduce ourselves to your new friends. I am Megaera."
"Tisphone," the one to the right said briefly.
"And I'm Alecto, together we're the Furies," the one to the
left finished, also with a smile on her face. "It was hard, but we
managed to find you and your precious daughter again."
"Leave my daughter out of this," Archangel growled, slowly
starting to float.
"Let's finish the last fight we had," Megaera suggested, her
eyes turning red and a sword appearing in her hand. The similar thing
happened to the two others. Archangel didn't doubt, in a few brief
moments she flew right past the three Furies and ended up on the other
side of them. She raised her hands and her wings started to flap.
"Divine Wing!" she called, a strong gust of wind came. It
didn't do much to the Furies, they still kept their balance.
"Shin Senshi, help her!" Diana ordered as Archangel's attack
ended and nothing had changed. The four Senshi ran forwards, three of
them using their attacks.
"Poison Arrow!"
Raising one hand as she ran, a bow and an arrow appeared in Medusa's
hands. She aimed for Alecto and released the arrow. Alecto stepped
simply aside, the arrow flew right past her.
"Sword of lightning!"
Odin stopped running and held up his sword. The sky turned dark,
thunder roared before a blast of lightning came down from the heavens.
Tisphone, the tallest of the Furies and the one who seemed the
coldest, disappeared as the lightning struck the ground. She
reappeared soon again, undamaged and with a cold smile on her face.
"Icicle Blast!"
A huge icicle came from Hermes hand, darting off towards Megaera.
Megaera caught it in her hands, she merely touched the icicle before
it shattered. Ishtar stopped short, frowning.
[They're more powerful than I thought they would be...] she
thought. A sphere of pure light formed in her hands. She began to run
again, towards the Furies. This new attack... she hoped that it would
work. It had only been a few weeks since she had gotten it and she had
only used it a couple of times, but not enough to be sure that it was
going to work.
"Flash!" she called, tossing the ball towards the Furies as
she ran past them. She ended up next to Archangel as the ball
exploded.
[This better work...] Ishtar thought as light filled the road.
She watched unpatiently as the light decreased and the Furies became
visible again. To her relief, they seemed have taken at least some
damage from the attack, even though it wasn't much.
"Using such attack won't kill us," Megaera said with a smirk.
"We'll have to use our strongest attacks or else, there'll be
no way to defeat them," Archangel whispered.
"That was my strongest attack," Ishtar pointed out. "I just
got it."
Archangel smiled, as if she was amused. "Let's try our best," she
simply said and ascended up in the air again. "Try to distract them,
I'll try to use my strongest attack."
Ishtar nodded, then approaching her other comrades. They simply
understood what she was trying to do, nothing was needed to be said.
Ishtar raised her right arm and used the attack she was most proud of
using. Two crescents appeared above her fingers.
"Crescent Beam!" she called, pointing her fingers towards
Tisiphone. Medusa, Odin and Hermes followed her example.
"Poison Arrow!"
"Sword of Lightning!"
"Icicle Blast!"
The Furies began to dodge their attacks, not noticing Archangel who
floated above them, preparing to do her strongest attack. She closed
her eyes and began to concentrate. She saw nothing or heard anything.
All she did was concentrate on gathering the power and energy in her
body. A bluish aura began to form around her. Within seconds her
entire body was glowing with blue energy. Alecto suddenly looked
upwards. Her eyes narrowed in anger.
"Shimatta..." she growled. But before she or the two others
could do anything, Archangel opened her eyes.
"Divine Punishment!" she called, releasing all the energy she
had. Blue beams came from her wings, aimed for the Furies. They dodged
as good as they could, but eventually both Tisiphone and Megaera were
struck. Alecto, being the only one left, pulled out a knife and leaped
up towards Archangel. Archangel saw this and knew what Alecto was
planning on doing.
"Divine Wing!" Archangel shouted, the wings on her back began
to flap as they did before. But this time it didn't work either.
Ishtar, even though she was far away, could see that shock on
Archangel's face when the attack didn't work out. And Alecto was so
close... Izumi, whos were eyes filled with worry, ran several steps
forwards.
"Kaa-san! Look out!" she cried.
It was too late, Alecto was too close. Both Alecto and Archangel knew
that there was no time to dodge or stop the knife. The knife pierced
Archangel's skin and flesh, she felt nothing but pain after Alecto had
drawn out the knife. She lost control of her wings and fell to the
ground. She landed roughly on the hard road, but that pain was nothing
compared to the pain from the wound. Magaera and Tisiphone had quickly
recovered and had already stood up. They joined Alecto who was still
floating while Izumi and Diana ran to Archangel's side.
"Kaa-san!" Izumi called.
"Looks like our work is done for today," Megaera said. "We'll
be back some day." She looked at Izumi. "When it's your turn to become
Archangel."
Izumi didn't hear their words, or their menacing laughter as they
disappared. The Shin Senshi gathered behind Diana. Archangel smiled
faintly as she took her daughter's hand. At this moment Izumi was
crying softly, knowing that her mother couldn't be saved from such
fatal wound.
"Don't cry, my child..." Archangel said at the same time as
her fuku and wings disappeared, replaced by a normal, blue dress. The
only thing that remained of Archangel was the heart shaped brooch with
wings on her chest. "This was fated to happen some day."
"Kaa-san," Izumi sobbed, holding her mother's hand closer. She
didn't even notice that it had begun to rain. The civilian form of
Archangel, Hoshino Kaori or Natsu as Diana called her, turned her head
to Diana who stood at the other side of her.
"Diana?"
"Yes, Natsu?"
"I know that I don't have the right to ask you of anything,"
Natsu began. "But please... take care of my daughter. She is still
young and could use your guidance when she becomes a Senshi."
"Hai. I promise."
"Please come closer."
Diana did as she was told to and Natsu whispered something to her that
no one else could hear. Ishtar saw an unsure look at Diana's face at
first, but then Diana nodded and seemed to agree with whatever Natsu
asked of her.
"I promise," she said again. Natsu smiled again, Ishtar
couldn't understand how she could smile. The wound she had was huge,
it bled so much and she was probably in a lot of pain.
"Izumi-chan..." Natsu said to her daughter. "You will have to
go with Diana and Chie, they will take care of you when I'm gone."
Ishtar reacted on how Natsu could know her real name. As far as she
could remember this was the first time they had met. But that wasn't
important at that time. Archangel was dying.
"No, kaa-san... no..." Izumi murmured, burying her face in
Natsu's shoulder. "Please don't leave me."
"I don't have much of a choice," Natsu replied, still with the
smile on her face. With her free hand she detached the brooch from her
chest and offered it to Izumi. "Take this. It will be my last gift to
you."
Izumi looked up, she couldn't resist her mother's wish. She accepted
the brooch. Natsu whispered something unhearable and then closed her
eyes. She took some slow breaths for a few seconds but after a while
her breathing eventually stopped. Izumi continued to cry, as one of
her tears touched the brooch, it changed shaped. From heart shaped to
star shaped.
"I won't disappoint you, kaa-san," Ishtar heard Izumi whisper
several times.
* * * *
The ride home was awfully quiet. While Kenji, Chie, Diana and Izumi
had taken the car home, Akira and Yasha had stayed and called the
local police. They were both were good at handling stress and coming
up with something to tell the police. After Izumi had stopped crying,
she had told them that NSS had been investigating them. They had long
suspected that her mother was a Senshi. It didn't matter now. Now that
Natsu was dead, the police would think that Izumi had been killed by
demons as well. It was better that way, NSS wouldn't look for her.
When they came home, Chie began to prepare a room for Izumi.
Izumi hadn't objected when they had offered her a home. She mostely
sat staring at the brooch that her mother had given to her. It was now
star shaped, both she and Diana knew that she would be the next one to
use the brooch. Izumi mourned her mother for a long time, but she did
her best to addapt into her new home. Her belongings that were in the
apartment she had lived in could no longer be accessed but she wasn't
upset about that. It took Diana a week to finally work up the nerve to
talk to Izumi about the new identity that she was supposed to get.
"You have to change name," Diana informed when she, Akira,
Chie and Izumi sat by Akira's computer. "You may decide it, the other
things Akira will handle. He is good with computers."
Izumi nodded. "I know," she said quietly. "This isn't the first time
I have done it." Diana looked surprised. "My mother and I... we have
gone several identity switches. Hoshino Izumi is one of many names
that I have had. I don't even know the name I was given when I was
born. But don't worry, I have already thought of a new name."
In Chie's eyes Diana looked surpised, but somehow Diana had always
managed to keep her calm face expression. "Well then, I guess that
this won't be a problem then."
Chie sat anxiously in her chair. There was a question which she had
wanted to ask Diana ever since the day when Natsu died. Natsu had
known who she was, she had known her real name too. Diana had said
nothing about that and it was not knowing why was killing Chie.
"Diana, I need to talk to you," Chie said, suddenly getting
up. Diana looked at her, wondering what she wanted. Then they both
left Akira's room together. Chie could hear them talking as she left.
"What is the name that you have come up with?"
"Kamiya. Kamiya Tomoko."
Chie opened the door to her room. Diana went in first, then Chie
entered and closed the door after her. Meanwhile Diana was looking
impatiently at her.
"What did you want to talk about?"
Chie sat down at her bed, next to Diana. "I know that this may not be
the perfect time to ask, but how... and why did Natsu know my name?"
she asked. "Have you told her or something?"
Diana shook her head. "Natsu is an old friend of mine," she told. "I
think that she recognized your powers." She began to explain when she
saw the confused look on Chie's face. "I last saw Natsu when you were
a baby, she was visiting your mother at that time. She knew that you
were to be a Senshi when you had grown up and recognized you at the
battle because you use an attack which your mother used to use."
Diana jumped off the bed. "I wished that I could tell you more," she
said. "Both you and Izumi. But I promised Natsu and I will stick to
that promise."
* * * *
[Those two give me such a headache sometimes...] Chie thought,
walking towards her bedroom. Downstairs Yasha and the Shin Senshi's
newest member, Hikaru, were still arguing about something. Chie knew
that it would take all Kenji's and Tomo's patience and diplomatic
skills to calm them down. Akira did what he and Chie considered to be
most logical choice when Yasha and Hikaru had a fight, stay away.
[It's going to take a long time before they can work
together...] Chie opened the door and stepped into her bedroom.
Without looking, she knew that Diana was there.
"Diana, I could use some..." Chie began, but her voice drifted
off when she saw who was there. The only thing that shocked her as
much as seeing the holographic image of Sailorvenus all those years
ago. Instead of seeing Diana, she saw a tall woman with silvery hair.
She had put them up in two odangos, the rest was wavy, tumbling down
her back. It was just a littler shorter than Yasha's hair, almost
reaching to her knees. The woman's eyes were dark and she was dressed
in a violet gown, the type of gown that was worn by those who worked
for Neo-Queen Serenity.
"Chie-chan? Is something wrong?" the woman asked.
"You... you're Diana..." Chie said nervously.
Diana, the human form of Diana, laughed at Chie's nervousness. "A
couple of years ago you didn't even knew that I had a cat form, and
now you're shocked to see me in my human form?"
"You're just... so much... taller than I imagined."
Diana was at least three inches taller than Chie, who was somewhat
uncomfortable with it. She was used to having Diana at a size where
she could carry her around. Diana also looked younger than she
sometimes acted. Her body was the body of a twenty five years old
woman, not that much older than Chie. But the voice was still the
same.
"Why are you in your human form?" Chie wondered. "I thought
you said that it would be too risky. That someone will eventually see
you and report it to the NSS."
Diana's smile faded. She looked so serious and sad that Chie already
knew it was bad news. "Something has happened," she told. "I have been
ordered to return to the Moon Kingdom."
Silence fell upon the room. Chie couldn't believe what she had just
heard. She had been mistaken, she had to be mistaken. Diana wasn't
going to return to the Moon Kingdom, she had just misunderstood her.
The silence in the room made Diana uncomfortable, deciding to break
it, she said:
"My mother has contacted me. Neo-Queen Serenity and king
Endymion needs my services. I have already been absent from my post
for a long time. Ten years, to be exact. There are no longer any ties
between the Moon Kingdom and the Earth, my parents will assist me in
the teleportation." Diana walked over to the window and looked out
from there. The fight between Yasha and Hikaru had now calmed down for
the moment. Yasha and Tomo drawing the flowers in the garden, Hikaru,
Kenji and Akira were playing cards. Diana watched them as Chie joined
her.
"When are you leaving?" she asked quietly.
"Tonight," Diana answered. "It can't be delayed. I have
already been delaying my return for months."
She saw the hurt look on Chie's face. Chie didn't want her to leave,
even if it was important. Diana had been her best friend and companion
for ten years, they had been best friends for so long and now Diana
was leaving. As if Diana could read Chie's thoughts, she said:
"I know how you feel about this and I want you to know that I
feel the same. I will miss you and the others more than you can
imagine. You, Akira, Kenji, Yasha, Tomo have been my family for ten
years. Hikaru is a new addition to this family, but I'm sure that it
will work out just fine between him and Yasha. I love them all,
dearly. They have grown to become such an important part of my life.
So have you. That's why I wanted to tell you first because when I'll
be gone, I want you to lead the Shin Senshi in my absence."
"Me?" Chie repeated, looking at Diana with widened eyes. "Why
are you picking me?"
"I've trained you for ten years, who else would I pick?
Besides, I have a feeling that you will handle the leadership very
well. They trust you the most."
Chie turned away from Diana and to the window. "I won't be a good
leader," she insisted. "Not as good as you."
She saw the others outside in the garden. Something she had never
thought of before suddenly struck her.
[Those are her Senshi,] Chie thought. [Her Senshi that she has
trained and supported. Her Senshi who trust her the most. Not mine.
No one can ever take Diana's place as our leader. Especially not me.
Can't she understand that?]
Diana smiled softly and put one hand on Chie's shoulder. "You'll get
used to being the leader. It's not that bad once you get the hang of
it."
"But why won't you pick someone else?" Chie asked, turning to
Diana. "Like Akira? He's more responsible than I am. Or Kenji."
"Under different circumstances, perhaps I would considered
have picking Akira or Kenji then," Diana answered. "But Akira has a
different goal than ours. And Kenji doesn't have the experience. Yes,
they have known about their Senshi powers for just as long as you, but
they trained less. In my opinion, you make the best leader under any
circumstances."
"You're not going to let me get out of this, are you?"
Diana smiled and shook her head.
"And don't worry. Someday... I'll be back."
* * * *
[Diana, what would you have done?] Chie asked herself as she
parked the car in the garage. King Endymion was dead, NSS had the
advantage now. They took every oppurtunity to blame Sailor Senshi, for
them, king Endymion's death was a victory. As if that wasn't the only
problem, Chie suspected that the girl Hikaru and Yasha had dragged
home was really the Moon Princess.
[Right now I just long for something to eat and a hot bath,]
Chie thought, getting out of the car and locking it. She unlocked the
front door with the same set of keys and stepped inside.
"Tadaima!" she called, closing the door after herself when she
was inside. She put down her bag on the floor and took off her shoes.
To her surprise the house was silent. It was Sunday, everyone was
home. Usually, Chie used to pray for silence. Chie frowned, was
something wrong?
"Kenji? Tomo?" she said, walking through the hallway and into
the kitchen. "Akira? Hikaru? Yasha?"
No replies. Chie was just about to walk to the next room when she
walked past the window. She immediately turned around, hoping that she
hadn't really seen what she thought that she had seen. But it was
true. Outside in the gardens, was Usagi. Not too far away from her
was the transformed Archangel facing an enemy.
[Great, there goes my hot bath,] Chie thought sarcastically
the same time as the others entered the kitchen. Without exchanging a
word, they all headed for the back door. Chie was the first who came
out.
"Oh my goodness, it's Morpheus again," she whispered. They had
encountered Morpheus many times the past months, each time they had
failed to defeat him. Their fights always ended with him retreating
while they were more or less too tired to continue to fight.
[He wants Usagi,] Chie thought automatically. [But he's
getting her over my dead body.]
"I've been waiting for the moment to crack his head," Yasha
said with a smile on her lips. She ran from the porch and towards
Morpheus, transforming at the same time. Chie saw the shocked look on
Usagi's face and turned to her.
"Usagi-san," she began and Usagi turned to her. "I would love
to explain this situation to you, but I can't right now."
Giving Usagi a reassuring look, she turned and joined Yasha, also
transforming. It didn't take too long before the three others joined
them. Ishtar watched the line of Shin Senshi next to her. The Shin
Senshi. Diana's Shin Senshi.
The angel of the divine heavens.
The poisonous and dangerous serpent.
The flame that burns for an eternity.
The sword of lightning that forever strikes the Earth.
The icicle warrior who searched.
And last, but not least, the soldier of Venus.
* * * *
"Why?" Tomo demanded, grabbing on to a table for support. "I
don't understand, Chie."
Chie turned away, not daring to look into the young girl's eyes. They
were full of dispair and disappointment. Chie could understand that,
the whole reason why Tomo wanted to live was to fight as a Senshi.
"Just do as I say," Chie said briefly, taking the first step
to leave Tomo's room. "From now on you're not allowed to fight or
transform. You may transform to train, but I can't let you get
involved in more fights."
The sound of the loud voices attracted the attention of the others in
the house. Misao and Akira appeared by the door, looking at Tomo and
then at Chie.
"What's going on?" Misao asked. But neither Chie or Tomo
answered her, Tomo was too busy with looking at Chie with pleading
eyes.
"Please, Chie," Tomo pleaded. "If I promise that I won't be
in the way..."
"No," Chie replied flatly. "No."
That was the last thing that she said before leaving Tomo's bedroom
and entering her own. Because she closed the door she thought that
she saw Tomo crying. She forced herself to remain cool and calm as
she leaned again the closed door. She didn't want Tomo to get hurt,
why couldn't Tomo understand that?
[Because being a Senshi means everything to her,] a voice in
Chie's mind said. [You should know.]
"Shut up," Chie whispered softly. She stood there for a long
time, thinking about nothing. The silence in the room was relieving,
she welcomed it. The relieving silence was suddenly broken when a
quiet sound was heard through her room. Chie's green eyes immediately
turned to her communicator that lied on her desk. She made it over
there in two long steps and immediately picked it up. On the small
screen she saw a very blurry picture of someone, but it was too blurry
for her to see. She pressed a button, trying to fix the blurry picture
and recieve whatever message that was being sent to her. Just as she
thought that she had fixed the picture the small screen went blank and
the beeping stopped. Chie's face was filled with disappointment.
Suddenly a name appeared on the screen, but nothing else. Chie's eyes
widened when she saw the name.
Chie-chan.
No one had ever called her Chie-chan anymore except for three people.
Her father was dead. And her brother could impossibly send a message
to her communicator. That only left one person.
[Diana?]
That finally concludes the "Soldier of Venus" parts. I know that I
ended up writing pretty much about Tomo in this part, but that's
because Tomo is very close friends with Chie and Hikaru (Have you
noticed that Tomo often says just Chie instead of Chie-san and only
Hikaru instead of Hikaru-san?).
Komillia (komillia@hotmail.com)
20 January, 2001
Next:
Sailormoon Mirai Part IX: Warrior Maiden
Odin Knight encounters a mysterious Senshi that has said to murdered
three civilians. He is shocked when he finds out who she is and that
perhaps her motives for killing those people aren't as crystal clear
as everyone think.
~MIRAI~
PART VIII: SOLDIER OF VENUS II
by: Komillia (komillia@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: Sailormoon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko and Kodansha, etcera.
Chie, Hikaru, Yasha and the other original characters that belong to
me.
Some Japanese words I use:
kaa-san = mother
shimatta = damn
tadaima = I'm home
* * * *
"Divine Wing!" Archangel called, hands pointing towards the
demon. Her wings began to flap. Slow at first, but then almost
furiously. Yet... nothing happened. Archangel's jaw dropped in shock.
The demon was still standing. Nothing had happened. She repeated the
attack again. An attack which would normally push the demons far away
from her, but now they could easily get close to her without any
resistance. After a third attempt the others began to notice that
something wasn't quite right.
"Try using your other attack!" Triton suggested as she called
"Aqua Trident Smash" and a wave of water rose behind her. At least her
attacks were working.
Archangel found her friend's suggestion to be a very logical and wise
one since the demons were approaching her. They had noticed her
failure of using her attack and were no longer frightened by the
angel who normally would have been associated with their doom.
Archangel held out both her hands as she started to murmur a prayer.
She summoned all her strength and energy that was left in her body.
Ishtar turned around and watched her. Archangel's arms were
shaking and she looked sickly pale and tired as she continued to
murmur the prayer. This wasn't good. Normally Archangel could use
"Angel Purification" without getting or looking tired. The way
Archangel looked right now...
[She's not going to make it even if she continues, she'll die
the same way her mother did,] a voice in Ishtar's head informed. That
voice was terribly right.
"Archangel, stop!" Ishtar found herself calling. "Get away
from there before it's too late!"
It was like Archangel didn't hear her. Or if she did, then she chose
to ignore it.
"Stop!" Ishtar shouted. Her eyes widened in terror when
Archangel's eyes closed. Her wings stopped carrying her and she fell.
Ares, luckily, ran and caught her before she fell to the ground.
"Energy Beam!" Ishtar called, directing a beam towards the
demons that Archangel was supposed to take care of. The other demons
she finished off with help from Triton.
* * * *
"She's exhausted, but she'll be alright," Chie declared. The
others sighed in relief. Chie pulled the covers closer to Tomo, she
didn't take her eyes off the sleeping teenager. Why Archangel had
been so weak before she didn't know for sure, but she could still
guess.
[I didn't train her properly, that's why,] Chie thought. [She
should have gotten several power ups by now, but no... I should have
helped her training more when she first came here.]
"She'll probably wake up in a few hours, let's not disturb
her," she said and turned to the others. They agreed and one by one,
they left the room. Chie was the last one who left. She turned off
the lights, the room fell in darkness, before she left. After closing
the door after herself, she took a slow walk down the hallway.
Everyone else had quickly returned to what they should have been doing
under normal circumstances. She could hear Yasha and Hikaru loudly
discussing something downstairs. Kenji had probably resumed cooking
the dinner. But Chie's thoughts couldn't keep themselves away from
Tomo.
[She shouldn't have become a Senshi. She should have lived a
happy life like anyone else.]
* * * *
"What is this signal that we're tracing anyway?" Chie asked.
She sat in the front seat of the car with Diana and while Kenji and
Yasha sat in the back. Akira was the one driving, Diana had forbid
Chie to drive since the last time when they were in a hurry.
"It's an old type of emergency signal," Diana answered. "I can
only tell you that much."
"What do you mean?" Chie demanded. "You have to know who the
signal is coming from right? Or else you wouldn't be so anxious to
find this person."
Diana looked at Chie, with the most serious look in her eyes. Even
Chie knew that it was time to stop asking questions and just do what
Diana told her to do.
"I'm not sure, I can only guess," Diana replied. She said
nothing more about and Chie was silent. Instead Chie paid some
attention to the two newest members of the Shin Senshi, Kenji and
Yasha. She wondered if they were nervous, after all, this was their
first mission together with her and Akira. It had taken five years for
Chie to finally get a comrade, Akira was the one who had joined her
and Diana first. Three years later Kenji and Yasha had come along and
Chie was happy that she was finally a part of a team.
"There... stop the car," Diana suddenly commanded. Akira
obeyed, parking the car at the nearest parking lot. Chie opened the
door and Diana jumped out first. As Chie stepped out, she eyed the
surroundings. They seemed to be at a rather calm neighbourhood.
[Too calm,] Chie thought. There was no one outside. She knew
from experience what that usually meant. People fled into their homes
and barricated themselves whenever there were demons. Either special
forces from the government came to take care of them or some Sailor
Senshi did. The Sailor Senshi's method was more affective, on the
other hand the reason why so little Sailor Senshi came to the rescue
was because they were blamed for the attacks of the demons.
"The Earth was at peace when there were no Sailor Senshi,"
some people said. Chie didn't know how anyone could consider several
wars and other problems to be peace.
"I sense her presence," Diana said suddenly. She didn't tell
them who "her" was. "This way. Pay attention to everything you see."
She ran down the street, followed by the four others. Diana didn't
stop running until she ran around a corner. There she stopped short
and so did the four others. They had reached a road which lead out
from Crystal Tokyo. But the road was blocked with demons. They were
all over the road, crawling over the ground and climbing in lamp
posts. In the middle of the chaos was a Senshi and a girl. The Senshi
was fighting the demons, while the girl was standing behind her.
Chie could see the Senshi perfectly well. The Sailor fuku was
not that different from herself, except for that there was no bow.
Instead there was a dark blue, heart shaped brooch placed in the
middle of the Senshi's chest. Her collar, skirt, gloves and boots were
sky blue. Her eyes had a green color and her long hair was golden.
Instead of a back bow was a pair of large, purely white wings. Just
like an angel.
"So it is her..." Chie heard Diana whisper. "Archangel..."
"You know her?" Chie questioned. Diana looked at Chie and at
the three others. She didn't answer Chie's question.
"All of you, transform right away and save that Senshi! The
girl as well!"
There was no time to ask Diana about the winged Senshi. Chie waved her
hand and closed her eyes. Energy washed over her and transformed her
into Sailorishtar. Ishtar opened her eyes and ran to get closer to the
demons and the Senshi. When she was close enough, she raised one hand
and energy shot up from the ground, encircling her.
"Energy..." she began, the energy gathered in her hand. For a
moment she hestiated, wonder where to aim. Would she aim at the demons
who the Senshi was fighting? Or the demons that looked like they were
about to attack the girl? If she aimed to help the Senshi, would she
have enough time to save the girl as well?
"I'll help the girl," Medusa said, arrow and bow appearing in
her hands.
"BEAM!!" Ishtar finished, aiming towards the Senshi and the
demons who surrounded her. The beam struck three demons standing in a
row, one of them immediately turned to dust while the two others were
only injured. The winged Senshi caught sight on Ishtar, she looked at
Ishtar in gratitude before turning to the girl. She put her arms
around the girl, to Ishtar's surprise the winged Senshi lifted up in
the air and ascended over the crowd of demons. The demons tried to
grab them as they lifted, luckily the winged Senshi was faster. The
Senshi flew over to Diana who safe from the crowd of demons.
Ishtar got a better look of her now. The Senshi was older than
her, she looked as if she was in her late twenties. The girl she had
rescued was a young teenager with green hair and similar green eyes.
"Archangel..." Diana murmured when the winged Senshi descended
to the ground. "I never thought that I would see you again."
"Neither did I, Diana," Archangel answered, letting go of the
girl. "Please take care of my daughter, I'll explain later."
Diana nodded and Archangel flew back to battle. The girl looked
somewhat unsure about her mother leaving, Diana could tell that she
wanted to help. Meanwhile, Ishtar, Medusa, Odin and Hermes did their
best to battle the demons along with Archangel. With five Senshi the
demons were soon finished off. Ishtar had to use her "Flash" attack
several times, since it was more effective when there were many demons
than in an one-on-one battle. Eventually the last demon fell by Odin's
sword, turning into dust just moments later. Odin, Hermes, Medusa and
Ishtar went back to Diana's side and Archangel walked over to the
young girl who appeared to be her daughter.
"Thank you for helping us," Archangel thanked them. "Who knows
what could have happened to us if you hadn't."
"Natsu..." Diana said. "Why are you here? And where is your
husband?"
Archangel smiled sadly. "No one has called me by my real name for a
long time," she replied. "My name is Hoshino Kaori now. This is my
daughter, Hoshino Izumi."
Diana looked at Izumi, then at Archangel again. "Is she... his
daughter?" she asked.
Archangel nodded. The serene moment was ruined when Diana in the
corner of her eye, saw the dust swirling around. She looked at it,
suspicously. The swirling dust caught the attention of the others as
well. They stood silently waiting for something to happen. The dust
moved, gathering itself at the middle of the road.
"This doesn't look good," Odin murmured, his right hand ready
to grip his sword any moment. The dust pile split up in three parts
and then materialized into three forms. They turned into three women,
all with pale green skin and dark eyes. What seperated them from each
other were their clothing and hair. They all wore dark armour, but
with slight differences. The one to the left had dark green hair, the
middle one had dark blue hair and the one to the right had dark brown
hair. Archangel's eyes narrowed as she saw the three.
"We found you again, Archangel," the dark blue haired said.
"Izumi, stay back," Archangel whispered to her daughter and
carefully pushed her back towards Diana.
"Who are you?" Hermes asked the strangers.
The one to the left smiled, her lips seemed to be bloody red. "Perhaps
we should introduce ourselves to your new friends. I am Megaera."
"Tisphone," the one to the right said briefly.
"And I'm Alecto, together we're the Furies," the one to the
left finished, also with a smile on her face. "It was hard, but we
managed to find you and your precious daughter again."
"Leave my daughter out of this," Archangel growled, slowly
starting to float.
"Let's finish the last fight we had," Megaera suggested, her
eyes turning red and a sword appearing in her hand. The similar thing
happened to the two others. Archangel didn't doubt, in a few brief
moments she flew right past the three Furies and ended up on the other
side of them. She raised her hands and her wings started to flap.
"Divine Wing!" she called, a strong gust of wind came. It
didn't do much to the Furies, they still kept their balance.
"Shin Senshi, help her!" Diana ordered as Archangel's attack
ended and nothing had changed. The four Senshi ran forwards, three of
them using their attacks.
"Poison Arrow!"
Raising one hand as she ran, a bow and an arrow appeared in Medusa's
hands. She aimed for Alecto and released the arrow. Alecto stepped
simply aside, the arrow flew right past her.
"Sword of lightning!"
Odin stopped running and held up his sword. The sky turned dark,
thunder roared before a blast of lightning came down from the heavens.
Tisphone, the tallest of the Furies and the one who seemed the
coldest, disappeared as the lightning struck the ground. She
reappeared soon again, undamaged and with a cold smile on her face.
"Icicle Blast!"
A huge icicle came from Hermes hand, darting off towards Megaera.
Megaera caught it in her hands, she merely touched the icicle before
it shattered. Ishtar stopped short, frowning.
[They're more powerful than I thought they would be...] she
thought. A sphere of pure light formed in her hands. She began to run
again, towards the Furies. This new attack... she hoped that it would
work. It had only been a few weeks since she had gotten it and she had
only used it a couple of times, but not enough to be sure that it was
going to work.
"Flash!" she called, tossing the ball towards the Furies as
she ran past them. She ended up next to Archangel as the ball
exploded.
[This better work...] Ishtar thought as light filled the road.
She watched unpatiently as the light decreased and the Furies became
visible again. To her relief, they seemed have taken at least some
damage from the attack, even though it wasn't much.
"Using such attack won't kill us," Megaera said with a smirk.
"We'll have to use our strongest attacks or else, there'll be
no way to defeat them," Archangel whispered.
"That was my strongest attack," Ishtar pointed out. "I just
got it."
Archangel smiled, as if she was amused. "Let's try our best," she
simply said and ascended up in the air again. "Try to distract them,
I'll try to use my strongest attack."
Ishtar nodded, then approaching her other comrades. They simply
understood what she was trying to do, nothing was needed to be said.
Ishtar raised her right arm and used the attack she was most proud of
using. Two crescents appeared above her fingers.
"Crescent Beam!" she called, pointing her fingers towards
Tisiphone. Medusa, Odin and Hermes followed her example.
"Poison Arrow!"
"Sword of Lightning!"
"Icicle Blast!"
The Furies began to dodge their attacks, not noticing Archangel who
floated above them, preparing to do her strongest attack. She closed
her eyes and began to concentrate. She saw nothing or heard anything.
All she did was concentrate on gathering the power and energy in her
body. A bluish aura began to form around her. Within seconds her
entire body was glowing with blue energy. Alecto suddenly looked
upwards. Her eyes narrowed in anger.
"Shimatta..." she growled. But before she or the two others
could do anything, Archangel opened her eyes.
"Divine Punishment!" she called, releasing all the energy she
had. Blue beams came from her wings, aimed for the Furies. They dodged
as good as they could, but eventually both Tisiphone and Megaera were
struck. Alecto, being the only one left, pulled out a knife and leaped
up towards Archangel. Archangel saw this and knew what Alecto was
planning on doing.
"Divine Wing!" Archangel shouted, the wings on her back began
to flap as they did before. But this time it didn't work either.
Ishtar, even though she was far away, could see that shock on
Archangel's face when the attack didn't work out. And Alecto was so
close... Izumi, whos were eyes filled with worry, ran several steps
forwards.
"Kaa-san! Look out!" she cried.
It was too late, Alecto was too close. Both Alecto and Archangel knew
that there was no time to dodge or stop the knife. The knife pierced
Archangel's skin and flesh, she felt nothing but pain after Alecto had
drawn out the knife. She lost control of her wings and fell to the
ground. She landed roughly on the hard road, but that pain was nothing
compared to the pain from the wound. Magaera and Tisiphone had quickly
recovered and had already stood up. They joined Alecto who was still
floating while Izumi and Diana ran to Archangel's side.
"Kaa-san!" Izumi called.
"Looks like our work is done for today," Megaera said. "We'll
be back some day." She looked at Izumi. "When it's your turn to become
Archangel."
Izumi didn't hear their words, or their menacing laughter as they
disappared. The Shin Senshi gathered behind Diana. Archangel smiled
faintly as she took her daughter's hand. At this moment Izumi was
crying softly, knowing that her mother couldn't be saved from such
fatal wound.
"Don't cry, my child..." Archangel said at the same time as
her fuku and wings disappeared, replaced by a normal, blue dress. The
only thing that remained of Archangel was the heart shaped brooch with
wings on her chest. "This was fated to happen some day."
"Kaa-san," Izumi sobbed, holding her mother's hand closer. She
didn't even notice that it had begun to rain. The civilian form of
Archangel, Hoshino Kaori or Natsu as Diana called her, turned her head
to Diana who stood at the other side of her.
"Diana?"
"Yes, Natsu?"
"I know that I don't have the right to ask you of anything,"
Natsu began. "But please... take care of my daughter. She is still
young and could use your guidance when she becomes a Senshi."
"Hai. I promise."
"Please come closer."
Diana did as she was told to and Natsu whispered something to her that
no one else could hear. Ishtar saw an unsure look at Diana's face at
first, but then Diana nodded and seemed to agree with whatever Natsu
asked of her.
"I promise," she said again. Natsu smiled again, Ishtar
couldn't understand how she could smile. The wound she had was huge,
it bled so much and she was probably in a lot of pain.
"Izumi-chan..." Natsu said to her daughter. "You will have to
go with Diana and Chie, they will take care of you when I'm gone."
Ishtar reacted on how Natsu could know her real name. As far as she
could remember this was the first time they had met. But that wasn't
important at that time. Archangel was dying.
"No, kaa-san... no..." Izumi murmured, burying her face in
Natsu's shoulder. "Please don't leave me."
"I don't have much of a choice," Natsu replied, still with the
smile on her face. With her free hand she detached the brooch from her
chest and offered it to Izumi. "Take this. It will be my last gift to
you."
Izumi looked up, she couldn't resist her mother's wish. She accepted
the brooch. Natsu whispered something unhearable and then closed her
eyes. She took some slow breaths for a few seconds but after a while
her breathing eventually stopped. Izumi continued to cry, as one of
her tears touched the brooch, it changed shaped. From heart shaped to
star shaped.
"I won't disappoint you, kaa-san," Ishtar heard Izumi whisper
several times.
* * * *
The ride home was awfully quiet. While Kenji, Chie, Diana and Izumi
had taken the car home, Akira and Yasha had stayed and called the
local police. They were both were good at handling stress and coming
up with something to tell the police. After Izumi had stopped crying,
she had told them that NSS had been investigating them. They had long
suspected that her mother was a Senshi. It didn't matter now. Now that
Natsu was dead, the police would think that Izumi had been killed by
demons as well. It was better that way, NSS wouldn't look for her.
When they came home, Chie began to prepare a room for Izumi.
Izumi hadn't objected when they had offered her a home. She mostely
sat staring at the brooch that her mother had given to her. It was now
star shaped, both she and Diana knew that she would be the next one to
use the brooch. Izumi mourned her mother for a long time, but she did
her best to addapt into her new home. Her belongings that were in the
apartment she had lived in could no longer be accessed but she wasn't
upset about that. It took Diana a week to finally work up the nerve to
talk to Izumi about the new identity that she was supposed to get.
"You have to change name," Diana informed when she, Akira,
Chie and Izumi sat by Akira's computer. "You may decide it, the other
things Akira will handle. He is good with computers."
Izumi nodded. "I know," she said quietly. "This isn't the first time
I have done it." Diana looked surprised. "My mother and I... we have
gone several identity switches. Hoshino Izumi is one of many names
that I have had. I don't even know the name I was given when I was
born. But don't worry, I have already thought of a new name."
In Chie's eyes Diana looked surpised, but somehow Diana had always
managed to keep her calm face expression. "Well then, I guess that
this won't be a problem then."
Chie sat anxiously in her chair. There was a question which she had
wanted to ask Diana ever since the day when Natsu died. Natsu had
known who she was, she had known her real name too. Diana had said
nothing about that and it was not knowing why was killing Chie.
"Diana, I need to talk to you," Chie said, suddenly getting
up. Diana looked at her, wondering what she wanted. Then they both
left Akira's room together. Chie could hear them talking as she left.
"What is the name that you have come up with?"
"Kamiya. Kamiya Tomoko."
Chie opened the door to her room. Diana went in first, then Chie
entered and closed the door after her. Meanwhile Diana was looking
impatiently at her.
"What did you want to talk about?"
Chie sat down at her bed, next to Diana. "I know that this may not be
the perfect time to ask, but how... and why did Natsu know my name?"
she asked. "Have you told her or something?"
Diana shook her head. "Natsu is an old friend of mine," she told. "I
think that she recognized your powers." She began to explain when she
saw the confused look on Chie's face. "I last saw Natsu when you were
a baby, she was visiting your mother at that time. She knew that you
were to be a Senshi when you had grown up and recognized you at the
battle because you use an attack which your mother used to use."
Diana jumped off the bed. "I wished that I could tell you more," she
said. "Both you and Izumi. But I promised Natsu and I will stick to
that promise."
* * * *
[Those two give me such a headache sometimes...] Chie thought,
walking towards her bedroom. Downstairs Yasha and the Shin Senshi's
newest member, Hikaru, were still arguing about something. Chie knew
that it would take all Kenji's and Tomo's patience and diplomatic
skills to calm them down. Akira did what he and Chie considered to be
most logical choice when Yasha and Hikaru had a fight, stay away.
[It's going to take a long time before they can work
together...] Chie opened the door and stepped into her bedroom.
Without looking, she knew that Diana was there.
"Diana, I could use some..." Chie began, but her voice drifted
off when she saw who was there. The only thing that shocked her as
much as seeing the holographic image of Sailorvenus all those years
ago. Instead of seeing Diana, she saw a tall woman with silvery hair.
She had put them up in two odangos, the rest was wavy, tumbling down
her back. It was just a littler shorter than Yasha's hair, almost
reaching to her knees. The woman's eyes were dark and she was dressed
in a violet gown, the type of gown that was worn by those who worked
for Neo-Queen Serenity.
"Chie-chan? Is something wrong?" the woman asked.
"You... you're Diana..." Chie said nervously.
Diana, the human form of Diana, laughed at Chie's nervousness. "A
couple of years ago you didn't even knew that I had a cat form, and
now you're shocked to see me in my human form?"
"You're just... so much... taller than I imagined."
Diana was at least three inches taller than Chie, who was somewhat
uncomfortable with it. She was used to having Diana at a size where
she could carry her around. Diana also looked younger than she
sometimes acted. Her body was the body of a twenty five years old
woman, not that much older than Chie. But the voice was still the
same.
"Why are you in your human form?" Chie wondered. "I thought
you said that it would be too risky. That someone will eventually see
you and report it to the NSS."
Diana's smile faded. She looked so serious and sad that Chie already
knew it was bad news. "Something has happened," she told. "I have been
ordered to return to the Moon Kingdom."
Silence fell upon the room. Chie couldn't believe what she had just
heard. She had been mistaken, she had to be mistaken. Diana wasn't
going to return to the Moon Kingdom, she had just misunderstood her.
The silence in the room made Diana uncomfortable, deciding to break
it, she said:
"My mother has contacted me. Neo-Queen Serenity and king
Endymion needs my services. I have already been absent from my post
for a long time. Ten years, to be exact. There are no longer any ties
between the Moon Kingdom and the Earth, my parents will assist me in
the teleportation." Diana walked over to the window and looked out
from there. The fight between Yasha and Hikaru had now calmed down for
the moment. Yasha and Tomo drawing the flowers in the garden, Hikaru,
Kenji and Akira were playing cards. Diana watched them as Chie joined
her.
"When are you leaving?" she asked quietly.
"Tonight," Diana answered. "It can't be delayed. I have
already been delaying my return for months."
She saw the hurt look on Chie's face. Chie didn't want her to leave,
even if it was important. Diana had been her best friend and companion
for ten years, they had been best friends for so long and now Diana
was leaving. As if Diana could read Chie's thoughts, she said:
"I know how you feel about this and I want you to know that I
feel the same. I will miss you and the others more than you can
imagine. You, Akira, Kenji, Yasha, Tomo have been my family for ten
years. Hikaru is a new addition to this family, but I'm sure that it
will work out just fine between him and Yasha. I love them all,
dearly. They have grown to become such an important part of my life.
So have you. That's why I wanted to tell you first because when I'll
be gone, I want you to lead the Shin Senshi in my absence."
"Me?" Chie repeated, looking at Diana with widened eyes. "Why
are you picking me?"
"I've trained you for ten years, who else would I pick?
Besides, I have a feeling that you will handle the leadership very
well. They trust you the most."
Chie turned away from Diana and to the window. "I won't be a good
leader," she insisted. "Not as good as you."
She saw the others outside in the garden. Something she had never
thought of before suddenly struck her.
[Those are her Senshi,] Chie thought. [Her Senshi that she has
trained and supported. Her Senshi who trust her the most. Not mine.
No one can ever take Diana's place as our leader. Especially not me.
Can't she understand that?]
Diana smiled softly and put one hand on Chie's shoulder. "You'll get
used to being the leader. It's not that bad once you get the hang of
it."
"But why won't you pick someone else?" Chie asked, turning to
Diana. "Like Akira? He's more responsible than I am. Or Kenji."
"Under different circumstances, perhaps I would considered
have picking Akira or Kenji then," Diana answered. "But Akira has a
different goal than ours. And Kenji doesn't have the experience. Yes,
they have known about their Senshi powers for just as long as you, but
they trained less. In my opinion, you make the best leader under any
circumstances."
"You're not going to let me get out of this, are you?"
Diana smiled and shook her head.
"And don't worry. Someday... I'll be back."
* * * *
[Diana, what would you have done?] Chie asked herself as she
parked the car in the garage. King Endymion was dead, NSS had the
advantage now. They took every oppurtunity to blame Sailor Senshi, for
them, king Endymion's death was a victory. As if that wasn't the only
problem, Chie suspected that the girl Hikaru and Yasha had dragged
home was really the Moon Princess.
[Right now I just long for something to eat and a hot bath,]
Chie thought, getting out of the car and locking it. She unlocked the
front door with the same set of keys and stepped inside.
"Tadaima!" she called, closing the door after herself when she
was inside. She put down her bag on the floor and took off her shoes.
To her surprise the house was silent. It was Sunday, everyone was
home. Usually, Chie used to pray for silence. Chie frowned, was
something wrong?
"Kenji? Tomo?" she said, walking through the hallway and into
the kitchen. "Akira? Hikaru? Yasha?"
No replies. Chie was just about to walk to the next room when she
walked past the window. She immediately turned around, hoping that she
hadn't really seen what she thought that she had seen. But it was
true. Outside in the gardens, was Usagi. Not too far away from her
was the transformed Archangel facing an enemy.
[Great, there goes my hot bath,] Chie thought sarcastically
the same time as the others entered the kitchen. Without exchanging a
word, they all headed for the back door. Chie was the first who came
out.
"Oh my goodness, it's Morpheus again," she whispered. They had
encountered Morpheus many times the past months, each time they had
failed to defeat him. Their fights always ended with him retreating
while they were more or less too tired to continue to fight.
[He wants Usagi,] Chie thought automatically. [But he's
getting her over my dead body.]
"I've been waiting for the moment to crack his head," Yasha
said with a smile on her lips. She ran from the porch and towards
Morpheus, transforming at the same time. Chie saw the shocked look on
Usagi's face and turned to her.
"Usagi-san," she began and Usagi turned to her. "I would love
to explain this situation to you, but I can't right now."
Giving Usagi a reassuring look, she turned and joined Yasha, also
transforming. It didn't take too long before the three others joined
them. Ishtar watched the line of Shin Senshi next to her. The Shin
Senshi. Diana's Shin Senshi.
The angel of the divine heavens.
The poisonous and dangerous serpent.
The flame that burns for an eternity.
The sword of lightning that forever strikes the Earth.
The icicle warrior who searched.
And last, but not least, the soldier of Venus.
* * * *
"Why?" Tomo demanded, grabbing on to a table for support. "I
don't understand, Chie."
Chie turned away, not daring to look into the young girl's eyes. They
were full of dispair and disappointment. Chie could understand that,
the whole reason why Tomo wanted to live was to fight as a Senshi.
"Just do as I say," Chie said briefly, taking the first step
to leave Tomo's room. "From now on you're not allowed to fight or
transform. You may transform to train, but I can't let you get
involved in more fights."
The sound of the loud voices attracted the attention of the others in
the house. Misao and Akira appeared by the door, looking at Tomo and
then at Chie.
"What's going on?" Misao asked. But neither Chie or Tomo
answered her, Tomo was too busy with looking at Chie with pleading
eyes.
"Please, Chie," Tomo pleaded. "If I promise that I won't be
in the way..."
"No," Chie replied flatly. "No."
That was the last thing that she said before leaving Tomo's bedroom
and entering her own. Because she closed the door she thought that
she saw Tomo crying. She forced herself to remain cool and calm as
she leaned again the closed door. She didn't want Tomo to get hurt,
why couldn't Tomo understand that?
[Because being a Senshi means everything to her,] a voice in
Chie's mind said. [You should know.]
"Shut up," Chie whispered softly. She stood there for a long
time, thinking about nothing. The silence in the room was relieving,
she welcomed it. The relieving silence was suddenly broken when a
quiet sound was heard through her room. Chie's green eyes immediately
turned to her communicator that lied on her desk. She made it over
there in two long steps and immediately picked it up. On the small
screen she saw a very blurry picture of someone, but it was too blurry
for her to see. She pressed a button, trying to fix the blurry picture
and recieve whatever message that was being sent to her. Just as she
thought that she had fixed the picture the small screen went blank and
the beeping stopped. Chie's face was filled with disappointment.
Suddenly a name appeared on the screen, but nothing else. Chie's eyes
widened when she saw the name.
Chie-chan.
No one had ever called her Chie-chan anymore except for three people.
Her father was dead. And her brother could impossibly send a message
to her communicator. That only left one person.
[Diana?]
That finally concludes the "Soldier of Venus" parts. I know that I
ended up writing pretty much about Tomo in this part, but that's
because Tomo is very close friends with Chie and Hikaru (Have you
noticed that Tomo often says just Chie instead of Chie-san and only
Hikaru instead of Hikaru-san?).
Komillia (komillia@hotmail.com)
20 January, 2001
Next:
Sailormoon Mirai Part IX: Warrior Maiden
Odin Knight encounters a mysterious Senshi that has said to murdered
three civilians. He is shocked when he finds out who she is and that
perhaps her motives for killing those people aren't as crystal clear
as everyone think.