SINS OF YOUTH
Chapter 8: "Yurei"
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
"THIS BLOWS!"
The attending nursing staff turned and looked at Ves-Ves after her angry outburst. They found the teen sitting hunched and livid on a sofa outside of the infirmary room Jun-Jun was in. Palla-Palla sat next to her, waiting with poor patience. The staff sympathized with the little girl in the big girl's body - - Ves, not so much. And the question couldn't help but linger in the mind of the staff, concerning whether the senshi to the Princess were really reverting back to their old, lawless selves.
The source of the teen's frustration, the CDP guard stationed outside of Jun's room, glanced at her for a moment, almost as a challenge. Ves glared back. Then the officer received a message through his com-link and his attention was diverted. Ves stared at the floor.
"Palla-Palla hopes Jun-Jun gets better soon," the blue-haired girl offered forlornly.
"They'll just chuck her in jail when she's well," Ves scowled. "She's probably better off here."
"Ves-Ves, why would Jun-Jun be bad again? Palla-Palla doesn't understand."
"I don't know," sighed Ves. "Maybe Hotaru's right and somebody is making her do it. It's about the only thing that makes sense. Hell, we both know what a goody-goody Jun is. I'm more likely to backslide into the Circus days than she is." She glanced at the CDP officer again. "Not that anybody's going to give a damn. This just gives everybody an excuse to say 'I told you so' and boot us out the door."
"But if somebody made Jun-Jun and Cere-Cere be bad, it wouldn't be fair to throw us all out," Palla-Palla contended innocently.
"Since when has 'fair' ever mattered where we were concerned?"
"Palla-Palla doesn't think Queen Serenity will let it happen," Palla-Palla offered, hoping to encourage her sister. "Queen Serenity is very nice and she'll make them be fair."
"Maybe," Ves grumbled. "I wouldn't bet a week's pay on it, though." Ves glared at the CDP officer again. The more she stared, the angrier she got. "It's the same old story, Stupid. We can't depend on anybody but ourselves in this thing."
After a moment to silently egg herself on, Ves rose from the sofa and started off.
"Where are you going?" Palla-Palla asked anxiously.
"To find out who's doing this," Ves replied, turning back to Palla-Palla, "and to stop it. You stay here."
"Are you going to the club?" Palla-Palla asked. "The Princess said you shouldn't go to the club!"
"The Princess has her own problems," Ves snapped. "Nobody's going to bail us out of this but us! Now you stay here where it's safe. Keep an eye on Jun."
And off she went, quickly disappearing down the corridor. Palla-Palla fidgeted anxiously on the sofa. She wanted to accompany Ves-Ves, but Ves had told her to stay and Ves always knew best for her. However, the teen couldn't shake the premonition of danger she was having. Then she felt the cushion on the sofa next to her press in as someone sat down next to her.
"Cere-Cere!" Palla-Palla exclaimed happily and hugged the girl. "Palla-Palla thought you were in con. . . in conf. . .um, locked up."
"The King turned me loose," Cere smiled, though her eyes were misty. "I'm not allowed to leave the palace, but at least I'm not in that dreary room anymore. So what's up? They said Jun is in the infirmary."
Palla-Palla looked down. "Jun-Jun turned bad again," the teen said, tears welling. "Miss Saturn-ma'am had to hurt her to stop her."
"Wow, Jun?" Cere exclaimed softly. "What the Hell is going on?"
"Miss Saturn-ma'am thinks someone made you and Jun-Jun be bad. But they don't know who or how."
"That's probably why they let me out of confinement," Cere concluded. "Boy, it's a relief to know I'm not going nuts, at least." Suddenly Cere darkened with a realization. "Where's Ves?"
"Ves-Ves went out to find out who was making you and Jun-Jun be bad and stop them," Palla-Palla dutifully reported.
"Oh, NO!" gasped Cere. "Bet me she only makes it worse! We've got to stop her!"
Cere sprang off the sofa and over to a computer station. She placed a call to Usa. As the computer traced the whereabouts of the Princess in order to download the message, Cere turned back to Palla-Palla.
Palla-Palla was gone.
"You're certain of this theory?" Rei Hino asked.
She and Hotaru had a palace hover car out and were driving over to Tanaka's Palace. The priest had listened sympathetically when Hotaru came running into the palace shrine and breathlessly informed her of the girl's theory concerning the recent misadventures of the Asteroids. Though she was initially skeptical and remained so throughout Hotaru's entreaties, she still volunteered to accompany the teen to the club to investigate. After all, Rei didn't want to believe that Cere and Jun were reverting to their bad selves anymore than anyone else did.
But she wasn't too convinced that Hotaru had arrived at the truth.
"I think it's worth investigating, Hino-Sensei," Hotaru replied earnestly. Rei could read the desire in the girl to solve this mystery, mostly out of loyalty to her friends and to Usa. But she could also sense some of the guilt Hotaru still felt over being the one who pointed out Cere and who brought Jun under control.
"Well, I have to admit that yurei possession would explain the behavior of the Asteroids," Rei continued.
"Do you remember when you were there back in the twenty-first century?" Hotaru asked.
"Vaguely," Rei scowled. "The first few years after the Great Disaster wasn't a very good time for me, Hotaru. A lot of the things I remember from that period are usually bad memories. If you hadn't jogged my memory with Haruka's story, I might not remember it now."
"Did you find a yurei?"
"No," Rei said flatly. "I remember there was some faint spiritual residue in the dwelling. It was one of those ugly egg-shaped dwellings that Serenity had created as emergency housing. But there was nothing that suggested to me that a yurei was haunting the place and causing trouble for the inhabitants of the dwelling."
"But the stories kept going," Hotaru countered gently. "Eventually no one would live in the home anymore."
"Well there were a lot of superstitious people in Tokyo back then, particularly after the Great Disaster," Rei told her. "And once a story like that gets started, people are all too eager to believe that a yurei is responsible for every creak and bump in the place."
The hover car pulled up in front of the club. The club had just opened and the evening crowd was just starting to filter in. As Rei and Hotaru approached the front door, they and the greeter at the door heard a commotion coming from inside. Instantly the greeter headed inside, with Rei and Hotaru close behind him.
Inside, they found the man Hotaru recognized as the club owner in a heated argument with Ves-Ves, of all people. Rei could read the anger rising from both parties. She also read that Ves was about two seconds away from surrendering to her violent tendencies.
"Ves-Ves, stop!" Rei shouted as they ran toward her.
Ves turned at the sound and saw the three running toward her. The greeter moved to throw his arms around her torso and restrain her. Ves countered with a vicious thrust of her heel into the man's knee. That loosened his grip, allowing Ves to grab his arm and neatly hip toss the man to the floor. By that time, Rei and Hotaru had arrived and between the two of them managed to get the struggling teen pinned against the bar.
"VES-VES!" roared Rei. "STOP THIS!"
"But he . . .!" Ves began to protest.
"NOW!"
She wanted to rebel. Rei could have read that without her sight. She was a moment away from rebelling and throwing away everything she had worked for.
"Ves, please!" Hotaru appealed to her. "This isn't the way! Think of Palla-Palla!"
That got through. Though the girl still seethed with anger, her knotted muscles relaxed and she quit fighting. Confident that the crisis was over, Rei turned to the incensed club owner.
"I apologize for this, Sir," Rei told him and bowed to him.
"What's with these senshi?" Junichi Kobayashi loudly grumbled. "Every time one of them comes in the place, they flip out!"
"That's what we're investigating, Sir," Rei told him.
"He knows something!" Ves roared angrily.
"QUIET!" Rei snapped at Ves. She turned back to Kobayashi. "Unfortunately in her case, it seems to be genetic. But in the other cases, we think something may be adversely affecting the girls."
"Look, I told the CDP and the Princess everything I know," Kobayashi maintained. "I've got a business to run here and I don't need these disruptions!"
"I can clear this up in just a few moments, if you'll allow me," Rei told him. Reluctantly, Kobayashi consented. Rei immediately turned to everyone in the room. "Everyone! I need complete silence for the next minute. Please cooperate. This is under the authority of the Crystal Palace."
The few patrons who were there backed away as Rei stepped to the center of the room. As she stepped, Rei seemed to go into a trance. Upon reaching the center of the room, the priest brought her arms up so they were parallel to the floor, then bent her arms in so her hands were before her face. Her two index fingers steepled before her face. The priest took several long, slow, rhythmic breaths. Everyone stared at her. Their goose flesh began to rise when an unfelt breeze began to play with the priest's long black hair.
And just as suddenly as she started, she stopped. Rei turned and walked back to Hotaru and Ves.
"There's no yurei here, Hotaru," Rei told her. Hotaru sagged, crestfallen. "But one was here very recently."
"Really?" Hotaru gasped.
"There's no mistake," Rei replied.
"What the Hell's a 'yurei'?" Ves asked.
Rei searched her memory for a moment. "Someone schooled in the west would call them 'ghosts'."
"Ghosts!" Ves goggled. "You're saying Cere and Jun were possessed by a ghost?"
"I think it's very likely," Rei nodded.
"But," Hotaru began, "but why make them revert to their bad selves?"
"Assuming the yurei specifically singled them out," Rei cautioned. "We can't assume anything about its motives until we find it. That's the important concern."
"Hell, it could be anywhere!" Ves said.
"No," Rei shook her head. "A spirit bound to this spot, possibly for a thousand years or more, can't just up and leave unless the unfinished business binding it here is finished - - or it leaves through an earthly vessel."
"Can you track it?" Hotaru asked.
"No," Rei said. "Something is disguising its spiritual energy. It may have possessed someone. We need to get back to the palace and check for some sort of violent disturbance. Chances are our yurei is involved."
Hotaru headed back to the hover car. Ves started to follow, but Rei's hand on her shoulder stopped her short. She felt Rei lean in.
"I'll deal with you later," whispered the priest into Ves's ear. As Rei headed off, Ves considered just running into the approaching night and never coming back. But she knew she couldn't.
Brooding in her room about her misfortunes occupied most of the early evening for the Princess. Despite the efforts of her mother to lure her out, for Queen Serenity despised seeing her daughter sad and forlorn as much as she despised violence, hatred and math, Usa refused to be distracted. The problems of her friends and fellow senshi weighed heavily on the young Princess. But equal weight came in the form of her own inability to transform into Sailor Moon. Though she tried to shunt her own woes aside in order to concentrate on the problems of her friends, the specter of never again being Sailor Moon haunted the girl. The immediate concern was that without her Sailor Moon abilities she might not be able to aid Cere and Jun, might not be able to prevent this strange malady from affecting Ves or Palla-Palla, or even Hotaru. But there was more to it. She liked being Sailor Moon and, selfishly, wanted to continue and grow until she reached some semblance of the pinnacle her mother had reached. And now it may be out of her grasp forever.
A hand reached around from behind her and gently caressed her cheek. Mystified, for she had been laying on her back on her bed, Usa turned around and found Helios behind her, smiling and gazing at her with love. She looked around in confusion and found a veranda of green grass, trees and bushes, the bushes decorated with beautiful, fragrant flowers. She reclined atop a large stone and Helios sat beside her.
"Did I fall asleep?" Usa asked.
"You reside in a beautiful dream, Maiden," Helios replied, smirking impishly. "It would be my guess."
Rather than her playful ire, the dream guardian's teasing only brought a look of despair. Usa's eyes sought the ground.
"Maiden?" Helios inquired, his concern silently shouted to the hills and resonant through the picturesque scene. He calmed enough to drape his arm around her and bring her to him. "Tell me what troubles you. Has something dire occurred? It is the first chance I've had to contact you since hearing your greeting yesterday."
"Oh, Helios," Usa murmured. "Jun and Cere are being controlled by someone. They're being forced to revert to their old selves. I want to help them so bad, but," and her lip quivered for a moment as emotion robbed the Princess of her voice. "Helios, I-I can't transform anymore. I can't become Sailor Moon. How do I help them if I can't become Sailor Moon?"
"Much like your mother," Helios remarked. "Perhaps I may help."
Usa turned and looked to him hopefully.
"As happened long ago, I can grant you my energy for a period of time so that you may use it as Sailor Moon," Helios told her.
"You'd do that?" Usa asked him.
"For you?" he smiled, his pale features glowing with adoration. "I would give anything I possessed if it made you happy for a single moment."
Helios leaned in. At first Usa thought he was going to kiss her, but instead the dream lord touched his forehead to hers. Usa closed her eyes and felt - - something. But in moments, it was gone. Inquiringly, she opened her eyes and looked at Helios.
"I am sorry, Maiden," Helios said, confused himself and more than a little frustrated. "Your crystal - - it will not receive my gift. I do not understand. I had no trouble connecting with your mother."
Suddenly, desperately, Usa clutched Helios to her. Her face pressed into his shoulder, her fingers dug into his back and she gripped him tightly - - to keep from trembling. But just as suddenly a claxon surrounded them and Usa pulled back from him. She recognized the sound, but couldn't identify it.
"We must part now, my love," Helios said sadly. "I will see you again, and soon. And it will not be part of a dream."
Usa opened her eyes and found herself laying on her bed. The claxon was sounding from the environmental control computer. Pulling up to a sitting position, Usa looked at her monitor and found the palace was under a level 2 security alert.
"That's used during an attack!" the Princess thought as she bounded off the bed and raced out into the corridor.
Storming down the corridor, Usa hurried to the main gate. She flew past palace support staff, unmindful of their surprised looks and of their sympathetic reactions. Few things stayed secret in the palace for long and the staff had learned of her problems. That was beside the point right now. The need to help drove her on. Turning a corner, she met up with Cere and the pair continued on toward the gate. Though curious and anxious, Cere lagged behind. The girl was mindful that she couldn't venture outside the palace, and she could never run as fast as Usa anyway.
When they arrived at the gate, palace security was already there working the defense computers and massing to defend the palace against attack. Usa bi-passed them and went straight for the monitor hooked into the palace observation drones that circled the palace constantly.
"Oh, no!" gasped Usa.
As Cere moved to the monitor, Usa pushed away and bolted for the gate. She was intercepted by two guards, though, and kept from exiting into the courtyard.
"Let me go!" Usa howled. "I can reason with her! I can get her to stop!"
By now Cere had seen what Usa had seen: Sailor Pallas was using her telekinesis to savage the Queen's garden and pelt the palace with rocks and debris. Cere stared in shock and mounting dismay. She felt a coldness form in the pit of her stomach when she got a look at the expression on the face of Sailor Pallas and recognized the cruel, wanton child from the Circus days.
"Princess, you can't go out there!" cried the gate guard. "It's too dangerous!"
Hikaru Ishii had been a palace guard for twenty-three years and stationed at the main gate for twelve. He'd literally watched Princess Usagi grow up from a hopelessly inquisitive but charming tot to the willful but kind young woman before him. He knew he would lay down his life to protect the Royal Family just as much as he would if it were his own family threatened. So he held on, despite the best efforts of the Princess to escape him.
"Please, let me go!" wailed Usa as she struggled. "I can stop her!"
Cere ran up to them and was about to speak. Then everyone heard a child-like voice come over the monitor.
"Princess!" Sailor Pallas called mockingly from outside the palace. "Pallas wants you to come out and playyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
Continued in Chapter 9