"Any word from Haruka, yet?" an anxious Minako asked her friends as she dropped her bag on Rei's floor, the others (minus Haruka), huddled around despondently around a low table where tea and some mocchi were already served. Artemis, who was curled around her neck, immediately jumped down as soon as she knelt on the tatami floor to sit beside a deeply disturbed Luna.
Rei gave the usually bright blond girl a scowl as she answered. "She only left yesterday, Minako, Tokyo's a big place, we can't expect her to find Usagi on such short notice."
"But Ami gave her a general place where to look for Usagi-chan so she would have found her by now, ne?" Makoto commented, hugging her knees, her forest green eyes as shadowed as those of everyone in the room.
"W-what will happen if U-Usagi-chan is hurt…?" Hotaru stuttered, her purple eyes alive with worry.
Michiru hugged the younger girl to her as she consoled the senshi of death and rebirth. "Hush, Taru-chan, of course she's not hurt, we would have felt it if she were."
"D-demo…" Hotaru's wide, purple eyes brimmed with tears. "That feeling I felt… It was horrible, Michiru-mama! It felt like…" the young girl clutched at her chest and allowed a pair of crystalline tears to fall. "It felt like my heart was breaking open!"
They all knew what Hotaru meant for they each felt the hime's pain in that one moment when the surge from the Ginzuishou bathed the entire city with its presence like a silent scream of pure agony. Only those of Lunarian origin could have felt that pulse of raw power so they knew no one would understand what they were feeling except one another. Since the night it happened, none of them could quite get enough sleep because of their worry for their hime.
"I'm going to kill that odango atama," Rei grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest, her lips crushed in a thin line and her brows knotted so tight it seemed impossible to smooth again. "I'm going to pound her into little pieces and flay her alive before—"
"Rei-chan, please!" Michiru scolded, warning the raven-haired beauty with a look even as the teal-haired senshi held a frightened Hotaru close. Hotaru was staring at the fire senshi with wide, horrified eyes as she heard Rei's threats.
"Gomen." Rei mumbled before continuing her litany of creative forms of torture she was planning to put Usagi through once she got her hands on the idiotic queen-to-be in her head and away from little Hotaru's hearing.
"This isn't good," Artemis said from his spot beside Luna, the worry plain on her face. "The power the Ginzuishou gave off in that surge was worse than the power it gave off when Chibiusa went into the dark side."
"That's because the Ginzuishou was feeling the hime's pain this time," Setsuna spoke, her face also drawn and thoughtful as she fingered her transformation pen in her fingers. "When Chibiusa turned dark, it was because of anger and jealousy… I think we all know what the hime was feeling at the time of the surge, ne?"
"She was hurt; mentally and emotionally hurt," Luna hoarsely whispered. "Like someone was pulling her heart out of her chest without waiting for it to stop."
Minako gasped. "You don't think her Star Seed was stolen, do you?!"
"Don't even think that, Minako-chan!" Makoto scolded her, shuddering.
"Iie, if that happened then we would have felt the emptiness of her presence by now," Luna said, her ears drooping and her face despondent. "Trust me, minna, if she's dead then we would have felt it by now."
It was true. All the senshi were heavily attuned to Usagi's emotions and conditions because of the fine bond they shared with her. It was only recently that they were discovering they did this without thinking because of their deep affection for their hime as a friend and not just as the Lunarian heir they were born to protect. They wanted to protect her. And though they couldn't remember all the details of their death somehow, they knew, that Usagi could. And yet their princess never complained.
"It was a good thing the surge was only a brief one," Artemis said, leaning into Luna and allowing his purrs to comfort the black cat. "If it became constant, it would have caused the end of the world."
All the girls (except Setsuna) gaped at him; their hearts stopping for a breathless moment.
"Nani?!" Minako cried out. "Demo how could that possibly happen?!"
"How do you think Sailor Saturn was born?" Setsuna asked the blond without actually lifting her head. "The heirs to the Ginzuishou have the power to restore the world or destroy it; Sailor Saturn was merely a representation of this power, a fragment of the real power of the Ginzuishou. Our powers are all but fragments of the Ginzuishou so we can guard the main source of that power for the hime. When Queen Selenity chose Serenity-hime's guardians, we were all privileged to carry a fragment of that power with us to guard the hime. To use it in ways we see fit as long as it is for the good of the princess. Therefore it should be no surprise that Usagi has the ability to destroy this world too."
"Y-you mean…" Makoto gulped, paling. "If Usagi-chan wanted to purify the world by destroying everything in sight like what Hotaru-chan can do then she could do it?"
"…hai." The dark green haired senshi of time told the younger girl.
"And she can control time as well?"
"I can only control so much of the timelines and I guard it for her," Setsuna answered the thunder and lightning senshi. "But the hime can do more than guard it. She can restart it; change it, or deny what is to be."
"Then why didn't Selenity-sama just wish for the wars on Silvermillennium to never have happened?" Minako asked; awed by the information she just received. "She would have saved Serenity a lot of pain!"
But before Setsuna could answer, Luna beat her to it. "Because Selenity-sama knew nothing should last forever and because wishing for everything to start over would mean to erase everybody who ever existed during the war. It would be restarting the universe all over again. It would not have fixed the problem, only delay it. And she loved Serenity-hime so much that she didn't want her to bear the loss of Endemyon for long. At least, with us being born again, there would be hope for them to build a better world."
"Oh kami…" Michiru muttered, releasing a shaky breath even as she clutched Hotaru close. "No wonder the hime protected Hotaru so fiercely… She must have known, even during that time…"
"…hai." Setsuna nodded slightly. "The hime developed an affinity for Hotaru-chan as well as compassion. Sailor Saturn probably has the closest power of reincarnation to the hime's. All the other senshi, including me, can live again only by the princess' grace."
"You mean she only died all those times to revive us, you mean," Rei said stonily even as her eyes glowed with unshed tears. "Baka odango atama."
"Then what are we sitting around here for?!" Minako asked, jumping to her feet, her usually bright, cheerful face glazed over with pain for her friend and princess. "We should get Usagi right now and make her come back with us here!"
"Iie," everyone looked towards the spot where Ami sat quietly listening to them all this time. Surprised that she spoke at last and more surprised that she refused to help their hime. "We can't force her to turn her back on her humanity."
"Demo, Ami-chan!" Minako cried out. "She belongs with us!"
"She belongs to the fate of this world, Minako-chan and she knows it," Ami replied, looking sadly down at her laptop. "That's why we need to let her go through this. We need to allow her to make her own choices as a person, not just our princess."
"Well we should if it's for her own good!" Minako glared right back at the blue-haired senshi. "We can't allow her to suffer any more than she already had or will!"
"If you were in her place; your parents hurt, your brother kidnapped and missing, his condition unknown and you know you can do something about it, what would you do, Minako-chan?" Ami replied, taking the others aback by the steel underneath her usually calm voice. Realizing she was slowly losing control over herself, Ami took a deep breath, holding it a few moments, before releasing it again slowly. "Let her be human while she can, Minako-chan; we owe her that."
Minako stood in place, her face stained with tears and her whole body shaking. "So you're saying we should just stay here doing nothing while she experiences Kami knows what out there?! I mean, have you been listening to the news lately, Ami-chan?! There's a girl there who says she was kidnapped while walking around town and when she woke up she found out that one of her kidneys was already stolen!"
Everybody flinched at the news. All of them heard that story on the radio several nights ago and had found snippets of the news on television.
"I'm not saying we're going to do nothing," Ami replied calmly as she opened her laptop and began to type. "We can help Usagi-chan in another way."
"Demo… how?" Makoto asked her friend a little cautiously. She'd never seen the intellectual girl refuse anyone anything with this level of intensity before. "We can't just leave our positions here and leave the youma to collect Star Seeds."
"We don't have to abandon duties here to help her," Ami answered, her gaze still focused on her work even as the others peered at her curiously. "Don't worry, I'll devise a strategy that would allow us to help Usagi-chan and take care of the youma at the same time. But first, I'll need some more information. And since Haruka is still around looking for her, she's in a perfect position to carry out my plans."
"Ami-chan," Luna frowned at the girl, her despondency momentarily forgotten. "I already told you we aren't supposed to fight humans! Besides, Usagi said she needed to do this alone."
"Gomen ne, Luna," Ami told the black cat even as she continued her work. "Demo I know Usagi only said that so we wouldn't be bothered and she didn't want the situation with the youma to get out of hand because she didn't want anyone else to be hurt. But we are her senshi. If we can't be with her then we should at least find a way to be there for her one way or another."
Luna looked helpless at the blue-haired senshi's logic even as the rest of the girls smiled slowly, one by one.
Rei blinked at the female prodigy, still surprised by the sheer force of will behind Ami's voice. The usually quiet girl who she had never seen do anything to displease anyone for anything was deliberately taking the initiative and announcing her intent to disobey Luna's advice.
Suddenly, Michiru's communicator vibrated from the low table's countertop. The teal-haired violinist answered it knowing, without a doubt, that it was Haruka. "It's about time."
"Aa," the blond smirked from the other line. "Gomen for taking too long."
Hearing this, Ami grabbed her own communicator off the table and logged into Haruka's frequency.
"Hello, Haruka-san?" she spoke when the wind senshi's face showed up on her monitor.
"Ami-chan?" the sandy blond-haired senshi asked her through their communicator, surprised. "What's up?"
"Gomen, for interrupting your conversation with Michiru-san… Demo there's something I need you to do." Ami's soft, ocean blue eyes pleaded with the racer along with her words.
Unlike Usagi, the rest of the inner senshi did not enjoy a relationship that allowed them to become overly familiar with the older girls. They only felt relaxed and carefree around Hotaru. Sure they teased, talked, and occasionally hung out, but the interaction the outer senshi had with Usagi was so much more affectionate. But, even though they still had a wall between them, one thing held them together as senshi.
And that was to protect Usagi at any cost.
"Is it about the hime?" came the blonde's coolly cautious question.
"Hai, it's about Usagi," Ami told her, a silent understanding passed between her and the older girl. "Are you still scouting the area I gave you?"
Haruka nodded at her. "I found her, she seems safe."
"That's great!" the blue-haired girl exclaimed in relief along with the rest of the girls. "Have you asked her what happened yet?"
"Iie," the racer shook her head, the wind behind her making the sandy blond locks frame the teal blue of her eyes. "I decided not to approach her for the moment and just keep watch."
Ami sighed. "I guess that would be the best thing to do, considering that we weren't supposed to know where she is."
"Hai." Haruka agreed.
"Haruka-san," Ami started, the determined light in her eyes brightening, surprising the older senshi on the other line. "Do you remember when you were conducting your own search for Shingo and got a dead end when you came on the Korin Group?"
"Hai?" Haruka asked, a blond brow lifting slightly at the excited anxiety in the blue-haired senshi's face and voice. It was rare for the usually calm, collected prodigy to look so intense. "What about it?"
Ami nodded, knowing she was taking a chance and that they might just be wasting their time but… something, just something, was eating at her awareness at the mention of the name Korin. She had been doing her own research on the company ever since she and Usagi parted ways at her mother's hospital room and her laptop mysteriously short-circuited. She just had to find out what it was. And for her to do that, she needed information, and a form of reconnaissance.
"Haruka-san," Ami began again after breathing deeply. "I need you to listen to me very closely…"
As Ami and Haruka talked over the communicators, the rest of the senshi looked at each other and nodded. It looks like Ami had it all under control. They only hoped that they can be at least of some help to Usagi in the near future, though. Because they knew that Ami was right, they shouldn't stop Usagi from doing this. She was their princess, the coming queen of a utopia, a goddess in her own right.
But before she can accept herself as queen, they needed to allow Usagi to be human first. And to be human was to be free to live your life as one saw fit…
The IV drip beside her did its a job and a clock somewhere chimed the coming of another hour as Usagi nodded despite the fact that the girl she was talking to did not make a sound at all. "I need to leave now, Aya-chan, I hope you'll be well soon. It would be nice for you to open your eyes and see all the nice things around us. I want you to see the world I'm making when I marry Mamoru."
Usagi closed the other girl's right hand that kept her medallion for her and securing it, extinguishing the haunting melody it produced. From the moment her visits to Aya-chan became regular, she always opened the medallion so she and Aya-chan can listen to it as she spoke of her day and her daily experiences as well as her troubles. She visited the other girl as often as she did her parents because, somehow, she felt that Aya-chan took a great amount of comfort from her presence. Usagi was more than happy to oblige.
"Ja ne, Aya-chan," she whispered to her friend fondly. "I'll see you again, alright? Please take care of yourself."
Usagi left as softly as she came, leaving behind a basket of irises on a crystal vase she bought for Aya-chan's room. Closing the door carefully, she made it for the elevator. As she stepped into it, the other elevator beside hers also released another familiar passenger. She didn't notice him, however, because she was then checking her small handbag for enough spare change to pay for the fare back to the flower shop, thus not noticing when a red head came into her line of sight.
Fujimiya Ran glanced back at the elevators as it closed when he thought he could feel a familiar presence from it but it was too late for him to see if his suspicions were validated because the doors were already in the final stages of closing. Normally, he would have investigated further, just to be sure but today, he was distracted so he continued on to his sister's room.
As soon as Ran entered his sister's room, the first thing he noticed was the smell of fresh flowers. He would have narrowed his eyes at this angrily if it weren't for the flower placed carefully over her chest and the tear stained sheets beside his younger sister's body. For surely, it's his sister on the bed and not someone else. She was still there, unable to move, unable to talk or to laugh. She wasn't walking around with a sad look on her face around town and it was stupid of him to chase down the girl he thought as her against the laws of common traffic.
Aya-chan… If only she was awake she could tell him what to do. She could tell him what he could do with the stupid blond that was driving him insane these past few days merely by looking into her haunted sapphire blue eyes that begged him to take her pain away. Maybe his sister would be able to interpret the feelings plaguing him whenever he looked at Usagi.
A breeze from the open window blew into the room caressing Ran's red tresses like a hand softly tracing it's way down his cheek…
"Huh? Who's that?"
"What is she doing here?"
"Do you know who she is?"
"I've never seen her before my whole life!"
"Why is she selling flowers?!"
"What is this, a new tactic?!"
"How dare she?!"
Yohji warily glanced around at the crowd of schoolgirls eyeing Usagi like they wanted to lynch her and the silent blond merely trying to concentrate on not tripping onto her own two feet as she transported a medium sized pot of carnations across the shop. She almost made it too but a particularly mean girl maliciously and subtly hooked a foot in the blond's way and tripped her; making the pot she was holding fall on the floor and into a million other pieces. He sighed and came towards her, being the nearest and having the slowest number of fan girls around that day to slow him down like it was doing to his three other team mates two of which, were struggling to run to her side.
He threw Omi and Ken a smirk before leaning down and offering his hand to the exasperated girl who was busy glaring at the ruined pot even as she saved the plant from getting trampled on. "Daijobou, tenshi?"
"Ah! Yohji-kun!" she gave him one of her heart melting smiles and the older man had to force himself not to melt like a puddle of questionable goo at her feet even as she reached up for his hand and allowed herself to be righted back to her feet. "Aa, daijobou! I just tripped on something, I guess. Clumsy me!"
"Yeah, you sure did," Yohji muttered wryly throwing a glance towards the schoolgirl who tripped Usagi and almost smirked when he thought up of something to say. "But then again, I must say, Usagi-chan, even when you trip, you still look more beautiful than any other girl I've ever seen before."
More dirty looks and growls were thrown towards Usagi and some of them were even aimed at him even as the blond young woman blushed prettily and smiled wryly. "You're just saying that because you haven't counted the number of pots I've demolished since this morning."
Yohji merely grinned down at her making some girls gritted their teeth. He did actually, count the number of pots she's already destroyed and he couldn't help but be secretly delighted at the profit Aya was going to lose. "Oh don't worry about it. I assure you, you have yet to break Ken's record. Although, I must say, at the rate you're going, you'd probably catch up to him in a few day's time."
Usagi turned into a tomato, delighting the blond man even more. He loved making her blush. "G-gomen. I promise I'll get better."
"Oh, don't worry about it, Usagi-chan!" Ken cut in, throwing Yohji dirty looks much to the older man's amusement. "It's really not your fault."
Which was true, to an extent, Yohji thought with a slight grimace. They should have known that Usagi's presence would insight violence within their fan club, especially when they finally stopped to notice that the girl was working there with them. Her presence has thrown all of them into such a state of constant confusion that they didn't even think to make up an excuse as to who she was and what she was doing there to their regulars. The incident in the bathroom several nights ago was never again mentioned but all of them found themselves constantly watching her warily.
As for himself, well, both his instincts as a detective and a man told him she was basically harmless. That he should protect her at all costs no matter what Aya thought about her hiding things from them. He very knew all about secrets you can't afford to tell the world about and the others should understand that too, especially their redheaded leader. Omi and Ken were spurred to her side because of the fact that she really was vulnerable. Yohji doubted both even thought about her as logically as he did but he knew both acted on nothing but pure instinct when it came to Usagi and he couldn't blame them. The blond was far above the 'pretty' department, after all.
The playboy smiled to himself. She was a mystery, alright, and what was he but a lover of mysteries? He'll figure out what she was hiding sooner or later, one had to learn patience in this profession, after all.
"Usagi-chan, why don't you take a little break?" Omi asked the silvery blond girl sweetly as he came up to them.
She merely shook her. "Iie, it's alright, I'm fine, Omi-kun."
"How dare she call him Omi-kun?!"
"Slut!"
"Thinking she could get their attention by working here!"
"Yohji-san, why can't we work here too?!"
"Yes, you don't even have to pay me!"
The three young men looked back at the other girls, annoyed before Yohji had the resourcefulness to think of a good reply to the troubling requests they were being presented with. "Hey, careful how you talk to Usagi-chan. She's Momoe-babachan's granddaughter and she's helping her grandma out with the work here! I don't see you brats doing anything useful for your grandmas so lay off her, will you?"
"Oh…" one of the girls whispered softly in shame.
"Oh no!" another girl, the one who caused Usagi to trip, covered her cheeks in panic.
"Oh, Yohji-san, how could you say that?!"
One by one, the girls left in the shop that noon started leaving in humiliation as Yohji's words echoed loudly in their ears, causing them to run out of the shop and away into the dusky street, finally leaving the Koneko no Sumie in addicting peace.
"Wow, Yohji," Omi breathed in awe at him. "That was… priceless!"
"Never saw them run out of here so fast before." Ken added with a grin on his dark face. "Ten in one statement. You should write yourself a banner or something."
"Demo it's also a lie!" Usagi put her hands on her hips and started to scold the taller man. "Shame on you, Yohji-kun, those girls were heartbroken!"
Yohji's eyes widened at her words. "Demo they were bullying you, Usa-chan!"
Usagi's small, delicate forefinger waved in front of his nose, taking the taller man aback once more. "They like you guys, they can't help it! You'd better apologize to them when they get back tomorrow!"
"Aw man!" Yohji grumbled as he slumped his shoulders and went over to the doorway to start closing it down, glaring as he passed Omi and Ken who were both snickering at him. "Farts."
As he was pulling down the steel accordion doors, a pair of ankles wearing a familiar set of red high heels stopped in front of him and he stared in intense concentration at them. "Wait, those legs! Manx!"
At this, Manx, leaned down and agilely slipped through the remaining space under the doors before smiling at them warmly. "Amazing. You can figure out the identity of a person just by looking at their legs, I'm impressed."
"There's a lot to be said about a woman's ankles," Yohji replied suggestively as he placed an arm around the redhead's shoulders.
Manx promptly slapped the playboy's hand away and then greeted Usagi warmly. "Hey, Usagi-chan."
"Manx-san!" overjoyed and glowing with welcome, the blond stepped forward and gave the Kritiker agent a warm hug to which the older woman couldn't resist returning. "You cam to visit! It's been a while! How is he?!"
"He's fine, Usagi-chan," the woman smoothed the silky blond hair over the girl's eyes sighing in envy. She always wished she was blond. "How about you? How are you doing here? I hope everyone is treating you with respect?" She eyed Yohji warningly.
Yohji winced. "What're you looking at me like that for?! I didn't do anything, ask her!"
"Hai, Yohji-san and the others have been nothing but perfect gentlemen to me, Manx-san! O negai, tell, um, er, Persia that he has nothing to worry about."
"But what are you doing out here in that apron?" the redhead eyed the younger woman up and down before turning the evil eye on Aya. "I don't remember telling any of you to make her work here."
Usagi interjected immediately in alarm. "Oh, um, I-it's nothing Manx-san! I just really wanted to help out! Besides, I broke the bathroom mirror a few nights ago and I wanted to pay them back so I decided to work here and make myself useful!"
Yohji nearly snickered. Actually, with all the pots she's broken, he's surprised Aya hasn't been calling her out on each one and adding to her supposed debt like he'd normally do with Ken.
"You broke a mirror?!" Manx looked her over in concern. "Are you alright? Were you hurt?"
Usagi merely shook her head, her blue eyes warming over at the woman's concern. "Hai, of course I am, Manx-san, that's not important demo…"
The silent question and hope in her eyes told Manx and everyone in the room just what it was she wanted to hear. It was plain to Yohji that the redhead had no answers for the blond bunny and even if she did, he doubted she'd tell her. The wildness in the young blonde's eyes and the long suppressed panic, beginning to scratch the surface of her warm, cheerful façade and the playboy was a bit surprised how well she was trying to cover everything up with her usual cheerfulness and energy. He knew that she wasn't all fine underneath her smiles. Glancing at the averted faces of Ken and Omi, he knew they felt it too. The pain in Usagi's eyes made the air so tense that he had to light a cigarette to take a long hard pull from it.
But before Manx could even try to explain anything to the younger girl, Aya entered the fray, voice as coldly clinical as ever. "You've got a mission for us, Manx?"
The female redhead actually looked relieved at his interference as she held up a slim red folder. "Mission, Weiss."