"Iie, sumimasen demo… I can't answer that…"
Aya, however, was having none of it. He reached her in three quick strides, grabbed her wrists and pulled her closer to him. Looming over her malevolently as he had done with others before her.
"You. Will. ANSWER. ME!" He growled out slowly and coldly.
"Aya-kun!" Omi cried out as he stood up and tried to make his red-headed leader see sense.
"Now, Aya," Yohji tried cajoling him, making sure his hand stood at the ready on his watch. "We've talked about this before…"
"She's keeping things from us." Aya snarled. He refused to let the soft limbs beneath his palms go. "That is not acceptable."
"Aya, hanashite. Now." Ken said cautiously. His temper, always held in check, rising to the occasion. "Onegai, Aya."
"The photographs Takatori is after! Those strange women who came for you that night we were attacked by that monster! Your connection to Persia! And now the mysterious look in your eyes and that crescent moon on your forehead!" Aya's voice rose at every sentence he spoke, not caring about anything else anymore, not even the pleading on his teammates' faces. Somehow, they were all being manipulated but he didn't know how. All he could do was get the answers in hopes that he'll be able to understand her and get her out of his mind! "Who are you?! What are you?! What do you want from us and what are you hoping to gain?!"
Usagi fought not to flinch under his hold. She stared back at the furious eyes that blazed with frost at her answer. There it was again; that sadness that made her want to reach out to him and make the darkness go away. Despite the bruises she knew that were forming on her wrists, she couldn't help but stare back at the cold faced red head. She couldn't bring herself to be overwhelmed by the fear his rage brought. She knew what it felt like to have so much pain bottled up inside a soul, covered only by a thick veneer of other emotions as a façade. One can't help that when one has died more than once already and be born again to remember it. If only it were possible and acceptable for her to give this man what he wanted…
"What are you hiding from us?" Aya hissed at her, ignoring his teammates as they got ready to defend the blond girl and looked deeply into her eyes, trying hard not to get lost in them. Trying to carve out the answer from the depths of her soul even as the warmth and understanding in her eyes pierced him with a sudden inexplicable wave of longing for things he'd rather forget and things he'd only ever hoped for. "What is it that you don't want to say?!"
Usagi pulled back from him gently. Surprisingly, Aya let her go. She turned away from him and fingered the Ginzuishou, resting in a brooch inside one of her pajama pockets. She felt the energy in it vibrating through her fingertips, calming her. An opposite of the energy it gave her when it responded to her pain.
"Gomen ne, Aya-san," she whispered softly, only loud enough so that everyone in the room would hear. "Demo, there are just some things about me that I can't share with any of you. No one would be able to understand it. Onegai, leave it alone and forget about what you saw. It would be safer that way. For all of you."
Aya blinked in surprise before frowning and asking once more in a slightly hoarse whisper. "Safer from what?"
Usagi clenched her fists tightly and gathered her breath before exhaling slowly. "Safer from a future you would not understand."
Aya opened his mouth to question her further but was interrupted by a pink blur, sleepily hugging the hem of Usagi's pajamas. "Chibi…?"
Usagi smiled at the sleepy question and knelt down to pick up the child. Chibi Chibi immediately had her arms around her neck and slept there again. Usagi looked up at Aya again. She saw him and the others staring at her with a mixture of curiosity and awe and suspicion. Aya's expression was tainted with frustration and something else. Something that he would deny he felt from the depths of his soul if he knew it showed on his face. She smiled up at him a bit dimly before speaking softly. "Gomen ne, Aya-san, about the mirror. I'll pay you back for it, I promise. Gomen, I have to lay Chibi Chibi down again. Arigatou for taking care of me, Omi-kun, Ken-kun. And gomen for the mess, Yohji-san."
Omi flushed bright red. "Anytime, Usagi-chan!"
"Nothing to it." Ken blurted before he could think.
Yohji just winked at her as she exited the room with Chibi Chibi in her arms; the curling tips of her long, silvery blond hair dragging about two feet behind her like a bright mantle made of pure sunlight. As she walked away, she could still feel Aya's violet eyes boring holes behind her back and shivered. Wondering what this frightening, yet delicious feeling that amethyst gaze of his made her feel and whether or not she should consider it a danger or not. She had a feeling that she hadn't heard the last of this from the red head.
But how can she tell him that she saw Shingo in a terrifying vision? How can she explain the pain she felt? The certainty that something bad was happening to her brother? How can she relay the fact that she was barely even human with the blood of a goddess flowing through her veins?
And how can she tell them that sometime, someday… she will have to live a destiny that was written for her, a long time ago? And that she might just die for it once again…?
Brad Crawford entered his private office and locked the door behind him before his face fell into an uncharacteristic frown. All through their mission for Mr. Takatori, his brain kept returning to the face he drew on the canvass and the sudden surge of something that literally almost made his heart stop. It was as if, a nuclear bomb was set off in the middle of the city and swept all over them all! The vision he had was something he couldn't have stopped even had he wanted to. Such a thing had never happened to him since he was ten! It took over him like some sort of irresistible force and, for the first time in a long time, he had felt fear. His chest constricted and his knees trembled at the greatness of it and he felt as if the world was about to end… It excited him beyond reason. And somehow, the face on the sketch was connected to that awesome power.
He walked in front of the canvass that sat innocently behind his desk and stared at the ethereal being depicted on it. And he felt his chest constrict once more that he had to put his fist over where his heart should be. Angered that he could feel anything, he picked up the sketch with a bone-grinding hand and threw it across the room. It hit a bookshelf behind his desk and landed, still face upwards and facing him, as though mocking what he had just done.
"What are you doing to me?" Crawford asked the sketch quietly, his fist still over his chest. "What will it take to make you stop?!"
Suddenly, as if his mind was being pulled into a vacuum, Crawford found himself forcefully assailed by the images that came to his brain while his hands were seemingly ordered to sketch this particular image. It was the image of a beautiful woman with long silvery hair that flew gently behind her as she stood upon the top of thickly clumped vines that were seemingly embracing each other together. The thinnest parts where the parts that gathered at the woman's feet and some were even wrapped around the waist of her flowing white gown. Her lips were a light pink, her slender hands held before her a silver sword with a sparkling silver gem on its hilt. On her back were pure white wings spread out and being gently caressed by her hair and she seemed to simply glow. as he watched more closely, a pair of the purest crystal blue eyes turned in his direction and, to his further surprise, she smiled at him. A warm, gentle smile that spoke of eons of love, wisdom, salvation and mercy…
"I am the beginning and the end…" her soft voice told him. "I am the light that shines forever. All who embrace me shall be showered by my light and my love shall shine throughout eternity…."
Crawford pulled out of the vision as soon as he could, his head throbbing and his eyes shut tightly. Pain… He'd never felt such pain since he was ten! What was this vison and who was that woman?! Why did she look like Tsukino Usagi and why did she have the aura of…
An immortal…?
He shook his head and looked at the sketch he threw once more. It wasn't the vision that bothered him, though, it was the emotions that came along with it. The emotions of peace and love and warmth that one could not help but long for, but Brad knew he couldn't. He couldn't because he wasn't trained that way. He was supposed to be too jaded, too cold and unfeeling to experience those things anymore. Hell, he couldn't even remember the last time he felt anything! It was disturbing and he did not like it. He did not need this weakness!
He did not like it at all…
"Where is it?"
Manx sighed as she handed the folders she was holding towards the red-headed assassin in front of her. "Here's the information you requested on Usagi-san."
"Everything?"
"Everything." Manx answered firmly. "There's nothing in there that's not a matter of public record, Aya-san. She isn't exactly the kind of person who has secrets."
Aya begged to differ. He clearly remembered what happened last night, especially her eyes and he felt a shiver crawl up his spine that sat deliciously on his chest like a purring cat. Sitting quietly in a booth of a coffee shop not far from the flower shop, he flipped through the pages of the folder Manx handed him while the red-headed woman sipped her coffee.
Manx wasn't kidding when she said there was nothing much going on in her life. She's almost done with high school, same as Omi. A wide circle of friends but not the kind you'd find in the hell holes of the city except that one of them was a famous racer and the other one was a renowned violinist.
No criminal record, no odd connections, a medical record last updated when she was six years old because of chicken pox and nothing more. An average student at the most, not very athletic. In short, nothing really interesting.
She had a complete set of parents, a brother, a cat and a… Aya's heart stood still and tried not to show his surprise at the words laid before him. A fiancé…? He told himself it was just purely out of curiosity that he was doing this so he read the dark haired man's file closely.
Chiba Mamoru. Twenty two years old and currently studying in America on Genetic research. An only child, orphaned at the age of ten. Currently unofficially engaged to Tsukino Usagi.
Aya tried to remember if Usagi was wearing any rings on her fingers, and recalled nothing. Surprise made way for an unsettling sort of despair but he shoved into a back folder in his brain he labeled 'Later'.
"Is this all? Are you sure this is everything?" he asked Manx instead, trying his hardest to hide the hoarseness in his voice. She was just a means to an end, he reminded himself. A means to an end and nothing more. She was nothing to him, nothing
"Positive." Manx answered him. "Just what is it that you're hoping to find?"
Aya scowled. "If we're going to protect her then wouldn't it be wise to know something about her?"
Manx smiled at him. "Poor, Aya-san. Don't like surprises much, do you?"
"….."
The female Kritiker agent just smiled. "Well let me just tell you this; Usagi is a one of a kind person that you can either let save you, or destroy you. She has friends who'll do anything for her and a fiancé who's obsessed with her. She also has a growing amount of extraordinary suitors, and they're after her, not only for her looks either so you'd better think twice before trying to put your hands on her."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Aya crossed his arms across his chest and glared at the woman in front of him.
"What I mean is that you already know what we know about her, Aya. There's no point in looking for something that's obviously not there." She picked up her handbag and left. "Ja ne."
Aya was left in the coffee shop, still heavily disturbed. Obviously, no one else knew about the mystery that was Usagi Tsukino. She hid that mystery well all this time from the general public. So well that even Kritiker can't dig it up. It was either that or they were keeping more secrets from him. He clenched his fists and glared at the folder in front of him that was still open on the information about her fiancé and felt a sudden spurt of jealousy almost eat him alive.
Did he know the secrets she hides from everyone else? Did he share it with her? What did it feel like, to be within the inner circle of Usagi Tsukino life…?
Realizing what he was thinking, Aya shook his head and shoved the thoughts and feelings away to be chopped and buried. There were more important things he had to do. Kritiker wasn't going to be able to help him this time but he won't give up. He will not stop until Usagi gave him those pictures.
All other reasons were… irrelevant, he thought even as he unconsciously crumpled Chiba Mamoru's file in his hand…
Omi watched Usagi from the side mirror of his bike that morning as he drove the both to them to his school for the first time and he couldn't help but blush. She leaned against his back, her arms wrapped around his middle securely, but unlike the girls who swarmed the shop who would've fainted at the very idea of being this close to him, the blond girl seemed to be in another place altogether. He could clearly see the sadness in her darkened blue eyes as they swept throughout the highway, her silvery blond locks flying after them like a bright flag of silk.
She's been like this since breakfast and he couldn't help but be worried about her. She wouldn't meet anyone's eye, especially Aya's. The assassin known as Bombay knew that he shouldn't care so much but she looked so… lonely. Like a lone figure in a snowstorm globe begging for someone to join her or let her out of her white prison… He didn't know what it was but he knew that she shouldn't be looking like this. It seemed a crime against nature that she should feel such sadness but he didn't have a clue about the first thing to say to her to make her feel alright again. It was times like this that he wished he had Yohji's golden tongue.
He held back a sigh as he crossed an intersection at the flash of a green light. He thought Aya was a bit extreme with her this morning, practically spewing death threats with his eyes and all, but could he really blame his leader? Again he glanced at Usagi's profile from his mirror and felt his heart break a little at her depressed state.
As a member of Weiss, Omi knew that Aya had every reason to ask what he did last night. Hell, anyone within his right mind would want to know the truth behind the strange scene they all saw in the bathroom as she stood there, bleeding and crying with a pulverized mirror at her feet. But something deep in his heart told him he shouldn't ask. That the answer would only make the ache in his chest worsen somehow.
Moments later, they finally arrived at his school and he turned to Usagi when he didn't feel her move. "A-anno… Usagi-chan? We're here."
She blinked and lifted her head to look around and then climbed off the bike. "Gomen ne, Omi-san."
The way she was forcing herself to smile at him made Omi's heart skip a beat and he swallowed as crimson spread over his face. She really was quite lovely. Happiness made her glow, anger made her beautiful but sadness made her almost ethereally seductive. Like she was some sort of forbidden angel no one was allowed to touch. Omi had never been the poetic type but it was the only way to describe her at the moment. "Anno… nandemunai, Usagi-chan. Come on, let's get to class. It's a good thing you managed to get in my section."
All she answered was a nod and Omi felt his heart break a little again. He really wished he could say something that could lighten her mood. But since he was out of words himself all he could do was walk with her to their classroom for homeroom. They were crossing the corridor when he heard a voice that sent a bolt of alarm running up his spine.
"Omi-kun!"
He slowly turned around and, sure enough, there was Ouka, running towards him with a big bright smile on her face. Before he could say anything else, she was already glomping him and he had to speak through his tortured ribs. "O-ohayou, Ouka…"
"Ohayou, Omi-kun!" Ouka gushed. "So, you'll have lunch with me today, right?"
"I-I can't, Ouka, gomen." he said.
Ouka pouted. "Why not?!"
Omi could think of several hundred reasons why not but he didn't want to hurt her feelings. Usually he made absolutely sure that Ouka missed him during school hours using his skills in stealth, today, however, he was distracted. "B-because I have to show Usagi-chan around today."
Ouka blinked at him and then, as if only noticing the blond girl behind the sandy haired boy she was holding onto, blinked again. And then scowled. "Surely she can show herself around, Omi-kun!"
"She's new here!"
"Then get someone else to do it!"
Omi was starting to get irritated and he forcibly took Ouka's arms off him. "Iie, Ouka, I'm responsible for her! It's my fault if she gets on with the wrong sort of people."
Ouka was about to open her mouth and answer but Usagi's soft voice permeated the air before she could. "Iie, Omi-san, it's alright. I'm sure I can ask around if I get lost."
"There! See?" Ouka smirked in triumph at Usagi. "She's said it herself, she doesn't need you!"
Omi's brows furrowed at Usagi and his eyes never left her as he spoke. Didn't she want to be with him? "Iie, she was entrusted to me. I'd be irresponsible if I didn't show her around personally."
Before Ouka could say anything else, Omi grabbed Usagi's hand and marched off towards their classroom leaving a furious Ouka behind.
"Anno, Omi-san," he heard Usagi's voice whisper behind him. "You really don't have to show me around. I'll be fine while you have lunch with her, I promise."
Omi stopped and turned towards her, speaking in a low voice and a hurt look in his blue eyes. "Usagi, have you forgotten why you're living with us? We need to keep you safe all the time and that means you always have to go around with at least one of us with you."
"Demo, we're in school," Usagi answered him. "Surely nothing wrong will happen here."
"I'm not going to take any chances, Usagi and neither should you." Omi told her and then took a deep breath, realizing he was being too harsh with her. Good God, he just sounded like Aya. "O negai, Usagi-chan, take your situation seriously or you will never find your brother."
At the mention of her brother, tears sprang from Usagi's eyes but she swallowed and refused to let them fall. Omi felt immediately alarmed. "Gomen nasai! D-did I say something wrong?!"
Usagi shook her head and forced herself to smile at the young assassin. "Iie, Omi-san, gomen nasai… Let's just get to class, ne?"
She made to pass him and Omi finally couldn't take it anymore. When she was a couple of steps past him he finally spoke in a serious but sincere tone. "Usagi…"
Usagi stopped mid step but did not turn around to face him.
Omi turned to face her back. "I don't know what happened to you this morning and I'm not going to pretend I don't want to know, demo if you really can't tell us then I'm not going to force you. Demo o negai I just want to help you, Usagi-chan… Don't do this to yourself. I don't know what this is demo something is telling me that you shouldn't be sad. It's hurting me and I don't like it."
Usagi turned to face Omi, surprise making her sapphire blue eyes sparkle like the jewels they imitated.
Omi felt something in his chest melt at the sight of it and, before he could think or stop himself, he was already saying what was in his heart. "Is there something— anything— I can say or do to make you stop hurting?"
Usagi felt a lump rise in her throat at the sincerity in Omi's face and, suddenly, she didn't have to force herself to smile anymore. She shook her head slightly and grinned at the young man in front of her. "You don't have to, you've already done more than enough, Omi-kun…"
Omi's face brightened at the grin that lit up her face and he smiled back. The world around them was forgotten for that one beautiful moment in Omi's life before the school bell rang to signal the start of class. He then proceeded to lead her to the classroom. "We'd better hurry before we're late, Usagi-chan."
Usagi stared after him, still smiling. He was already a few steps away from her when she called him back. "Omi-kun?"
"Hai?" Omi looked over his shoulder at her, a question on his face.
Usagi's smile widened even more as her heart lightened considerably. "Arigato gozaimasu, Omi-kun… for being kind…"
Omi watched as a slow, grateful smile spread out across the girl's lips and he had to hide his surprise when he felt a warm fist close around his heart at the smile. He'd never felt such warmth from just a simple smile, and he almost forgot to let his breath out of his lungs at the sight. What the—
"Oi, Tsukiyono!" a male voice called to him as it passed by taking Omi's concentration away from the girl in front of him. "You wanna be late or something?!"
As she followed him from behind, he couldn't help but think to himself that no one had ever responded to his kindness the way she did and so he was surprised by his reaction to her words. Yes, that must be it. It could be the only explanation why his heart was still beating so fast right now.
He kinda liked the feeling.
"Ten seconds late, Tsukiyono," the teacher snapped at him as soon as he stepped foot inside the classroom.
Omi bowed respectfully. "Gomen nasai, Sensei, I was showing a new student where to go. She says she's our new classmate so I brought her here."
"Yokatta," the teacher nodded her understanding. Though she didn't like showing it, Tsukiyono was her favorite student and she wasn't looking forward to punishing him so she was grateful that he had a decent excuse to be tardy. "Take your seat then, I'll excuse you this time. I believe that you are…" she took a quick peek at the memo that was on her desk before turning back to the lovely blond girl who was staring at her with a bit of anxiety. "Tsukino Usagi. Please stand beside me and introduce yourself to the class."
Usagi nodded and did as she was bade, flashing a look at Omi who smiled at her in encouragement. With a smile of her own, she started introducing herself. "Ohayou, gozaimasu, minna. Watashiwa Tsukino Usagi and I'm pleased to meet all of you. I hope we can all get along well together."
Omi grinned, feeling good about himself when whispers around the classroom pulled him back from his cloud.
"Whoa, she's kawaii!"
"What was her name?"
"Usagi!"
"I'm sitting next to her at lunch!"
"Iie, your not, I saw her first!"
"Like she'll ever go out with you idiots!"
Omi sweatdropped as it dawned on him that Usagi was going to be very popular to their male classmates and, judging from the glares she was receiving from the female half of the class, she was going to gain a very high amount of enemies from the girls. He sighed.
So much for blending in inconspicuously…
Tennou Haruka leaned back against her red convertible as she watched students pouring out of the school her senses led her too when she was searching for her hime. Since that power surge or sadness last night, everyone worriedly gathered over at Rei's and it was agreed that the first senshi who finds Usagi gets to talk to her and check if she was fine and before reporting back to the others. Haruka chose to look for her Koneko alone because Michiru wouldn't be available till tomorrow since she had a recital at eight.
Gut instinct and her natural talent as an outer senshi led her to this school and so she waited. And a little while later, her waiting bore fruit. Coming out of the school gates were Usagi, a cute little chibi with a blue haired girl hanging onto his arm as if she was born there. Though the scene was interesting, Haruka had eyes only for Usagi. Though she seemed like her normally cheerful self, Harka couldn't help the worry she was feeling. What they all felt last night was no fluke and even Setsuna was shaky when she showed up this morning for the meeting. She needed to know what happened. Without further delay, she moved toward her hime.
"Demo, Omi-kun!" the blue haired girl was wailing. "What do you mean she's going to ride on your bike with you and you can't take me home?!"
"D-demo, Ouka—" the boy was looking harassed.
"Just what do you see in her anyway?!" Ouka growled, still glaring at Usagi.
The silvery blond haired princess merely giggled at the sight and Haruka breathed again. She was safe, for now. But just in case, she would have to stay close and then approach her. She needed to speak to her koneko and investigate the source of the frightening energy lapse that left all the senshi trembling several nights ago…