SINS OF YOUTH
Chapter 11: "Gathering Storm"
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
Normally she would have run over to Helios and leaped into his arms. Not this time. This time Usa quietly walked over to the Guardian of Beautiful Dreams and seemed to melt into his arms. She molded her body to his, as she was now an inch taller than he was, closed her eyes and hung on tight for a few moments. Startled and disturbed by her manner, Helios folded his arms around her and supported her. Sensing her daughter's mood, Queen Serenity bit her lip and then backed silently out of the room.
"Thank you for being true to your word, Helios," Usa murmured as she continued to cling to him.
"I swore to aid you, Maiden," Helios told her as he stroked the back of her head. "Has your problem worsened or does it merely persist? Or has a new trouble cast its shadow upon you?"
"Oh, Helios, it's like the whole world is crashing down! There's a yurei trying to destroy the Asteroids because Jun drove his son to suicide a thousand years ago. Even Aunt Rei couldn't do anything! And naturally I was useless. Oh, why did this have to happen now!" She clutched tighter to his wiry frame. "I don't suppose you can help me now?"
"Alas, Maiden, I sense your crystal is still closed off from me," Helios said. "Perhaps it is another who may restore your crystal's energy."
"But who? Who else am I this close to? Why wouldn't it be you? We're destined to be together," and Usa suddenly looked at him anxiously, "aren't we?"
"If we are not, I shall make it so," Helios reassured her. "But perhaps the one who may restore your crystal's energy is close to you in another way? Or perhaps," and Helios hesitated, gathering his strength, "perhaps what is needed still lies within you."
"Maybe it's a sign," Usa sighed in frustration, leaning her head against the shoulder of her love. "Maybe the universe is telling me to move to Elysian and have twenty babies."
"I doubt that, Maiden," Helios smiled, rubbing her back with his hand. "Although I admit that the thought is tempting." He noticed a small smile sprout on her mouth, in spite of her mood. "Come, Maiden. Let us see what can be done for your friends, since nothing at the moment can be done for you."
"Now you understand, don't you, what I told you?" Rei Hino said to Jun as she led the girl to the door of the shrine Rei maintained in the palace.
Jun nodded glumly.
"From a karmic viewpoint, you are guilty and you need to atone," Rei continued, praying she was reaching the girl. "And that's just what you're doing as a senshi. But this yurei has no karmic claim on you. It's trying to usurp what belongs to the gods and place it in lesser hands. He has no claim over you. His hatred is evolving him into a demon and it has nothing to do with you girls. Now we'll deal with him."
Jun nodded again. Rei stopped her, turned her and looked right into her eyes.
"What you did was wrong," Rei advised her. "But it was in a time of ignorance. You're no longer that ignorant little girl. You've realized your evil ways and put them aside. You seek to do penance now. And you need to concentrate on that instead of flaying yourself for something you can't undo. Atonement, not self-punishment. OK?"
Jun nodded and Rei let her walk off. They found Makoto standing outside the shrine. Jun walked past her and solemnly acknowledged the woman. Makoto watched her walk down the hall and then moved to Rei.
"Think you got through?" Makoto asked.
"Who knows?" Rei sighed. "I read so much guilt in that girl that I'm not certain she was listening. She heard me, but I'm not sure she listened."
"I'll look in on her a little later," Makoto offered. "Sometimes 'old grandma Makoto' knows how to get through to them. Maybe I'll bring cookies, too."
"Meanwhile, we've got more important things to worry about," Rei told her. "That yurei isn't going to go away until he destroys those girls. It's got to be taken out, and I can't do it alone."
"Need my help?"
"Actually, I was going to bring Serenity in on this one, but you and the others probably should be there to guard her back if nothing else."
"Just let me know when and where, Rei," Makoto replied. She and Rei touched the knuckles of their right fists with each other. The two nodded to each other, then went their separate ways, on their separate missions.
Queen Serenity and the four legendary senshi sped toward the west side entertainment district in a hover car. The low whine of the turbine engines and the hiss of the compressed air the vehicle rode on barely disturbed anyone.
"I'm sorry we had to drag you out here, Serenity," Rei said from the back seat. She bracketed Serenity with Mercury, while Jupiter drove and Venus rode shotgun.
"If there's anything I can do to end this, I'm perfectly willing," Serenity answered. "No apologies are necessary."
"Well we wouldn't even be in this mess if I'd been concentrating a thousand years ago," Rei fussed.
"No apologies are necessary there, either," Serenity replied. "You had your own problems to deal with back then. You're the only one who expects you to be perfect, Rei."
"Yeah, lighten up on yourself," Venus added. "Those days just after the disaster were Hell on everybody. And we hadn't done two years in solitary. That earns you some slack."
"We'll see if Jun and the others feel that way," Rei frowned.
"Is she really as bad off as Mako-chan said?" Serenity asked. Both Rei and Jupiter nodded. "Maybe I can help her with that, if it comes to it."
"And I can always try, as well," Mercury offered. "I'm making solid progress with Hotaru. Adding Jun to my caseload shouldn't be a problem."
"Yeah, who needs that two hours of sleep," quipped Jupiter. Everybody chuckled at Mercury's expense. But Serenity quickly grew morose and introspective again.
"What is it, Hon'?" Jupiter asked. "We'll get this spirit."
"I hope so," Serenity sighed. "Not just for poor Jun's sake. But Usa is taking this so hard, too. She feels responsible for the Asteroids and she's so hurt and frustrated that she can't do anything to protect them. Even Helios being here hasn't cheered her up."
"Yeah, I feel for the kid," Venus said. "Her lifelong dream has been becoming another you. If she can't become Sailor Moon anymore, that's going to be a real blow."
"I was certain that being near Helios would be enough to energize her crystal," Serenity grimaced. "Maybe I can help her - - if she'd let me."
"Have you offered?" Venus asked.
"I don't know how she'd take it. You know how teenagers are. They have to be SO independent. The only way she'll let me help is if it's her idea. Otherwise I'm just 'meddling'."
"How can you live with someone for seventeen years and still not understand them?" Rei questioned. "Ask her. Right now she'd take help from anyone."
"I don't want to insult her," Serenity replied. "I seem to do it so easily anymore."
"Well, if you ASK and don't TELL her," Rei countered, "maybe she'll accept. Usa is a smart girl and she adores you. Maybe if you'd stop trying to smother her with love and got to know her, you'd find that out."
"How am I smothering her?" Serenity fumed.
"You're you. How else?" Rei shot back.
"She's got a point, Hon'," Jupiter told Serenity. "I might not have been that blunt . . ."
"A particle beam wouldn't have been that blunt," Venus interjected wryly.
"But take it from the only other person in this vehicle who HAS raised kids," Jupiter continued. "Loving them isn't enough. You have to listen, too. You don't always have to agree with them, but you have to listen to them. And you have to treat them like they're capable of thinking for themselves. It isn't like it was when they were newborns. Sometimes I think realizing that is one of the hardest things there is to being a parent." Jupiter glanced ahead. "OK, we're here."
The facade was dark in front of Tanaka's Palace. It was early morning and the entire entertainment district was dark. Here and there people were arriving to begin opening the businesses that did service the morning crowd. There was just the merest hint of the morning light in the sky and everything was quiet. The senshi eased out of the hover car and looked around while Rei stayed with Serenity. When they were satisfied that no threat existed, Rei and Serenity emerged from the car.
"Doesn't look like anybody's home," Jupiter judged.
"Well, it is after closing time," Venus pointed out.
"You'd know more about that than I would, Blondie," smirked Jupiter. "You were the bar hopper, not me."
Venus eyed Jupiter cynically, then turned to the others. "Remind me to tell you about the time she and I went guy trolling in Odaiba . . ."
"Don't believe a lying word that comes out of this woman's mouth," Jupiter interrupted. Everyone chuckled again.
Since nobody else would, Jupiter walked up and pushed the computer signal button. A small screen activated.
"Kobayashi-San is not seeing anyone," announced the computer. "Please state your business and an ethernet station where he may reach you."
"Automatic signal," Jupiter commented. "Maybe he's asleep and put it on 'Do Not Disturb' mode."
"I don't think anyone's here," Serenity said. "I don't sense anyone inside."
"I'd really like to get this dealt with," Rei fretted. "The longer this goes, the more at risk everyone is. I'm not sure we can wait for Kobayashi-San to come back."
"So," Venus turned to the others, "up for a tiny little bit of breaking and entering?"
Serenity sighed. "Take my hands."
Rei and Venus clasped Serenity's hands, then clasped hands with Jupiter and Mercury. Using her Silver Crystal, Serenity passed them all through the walls and into the darkened club.
Once inside, Rei stepped several paces forward. The others looked around, expecting something to jump out at them at any moment. The longer it took, though, the more puzzled Serenity grew.
"Rei?" she said. "I'm not feeling anything."
"I'm not either," Rei replied anxiously. "I think our yurei has already left. We need to get back to the palace!"
The five women hurried out to the hover car and jumped in. Jupiter gunned the turbines and headed back to the palace.
"Why the palace?" Serenity asked.
"That's where his targets are," Rei replied. "Jupiter, narrow-cast ahead to the guard. Tell them to look out for Kobayashi-San. He might try to gain access."
"Kobayashi-San?" Mercury questioned.
"The yurei is spiritually bound to the site where the club is," Rei explained. "But it has demonstrated before that it can leave the site for short periods of time by possessing someone. Remember it did that once with Cere and once with Palla-Palla. I'm sure it's figured out the Asteroids aren't going to come near the club, so it's taken the fight to them, probably by possessing Kobayashi-San."
"Oh, Jupiter, hurry!" Serenity cried. Jupiter whipped the hover car along the streets, the car's emergency signals all on.
The narrow-cast flashed on the screen at the main gate guard's station. However, the guard on duty wasn't there to read it. The only person there was Junichi Kobayashi, sitting in a corner. Though he was currently unconscious, he hadn't truly been conscious since being in his club earlier that morning.
Jun sat in the cafeteria of the palace, nursing a mocha latte from the food replicators. She was the only person in the cafeteria at that time of the morning. A maintenance robot skittered along the floor like a mouse, checking for dropped food or other waste. Overnight maintenance concerns had been automated by Endymion, above the objections of both Serenity and Luna. Except for the night crew that secured the palace, everyone else was asleep. Normally Jun would be asleep, too. A nightmare had awakened her, though, and she found it impossible to get back to sleep. That's why she sat and brooded.
The nightmare had been vivid and startling. Young Ishikawa had ridden up on his Vespa, as alive as the last time she'd seen him. But when he pulled back the visor on his helmet, his face was crushed and torn from impacting with pavement. Only the eyes stared out at her, wide and accusing and unearthly.
She'd tried to apologize, tried to explain that she was different now and she was trying to atone for what she'd done. But with every word out of her mouth, another victim appeared behind him, staring at her with dead, accusing eyes. Jun continued to try to explain that her actions hadn't been intentional, that she just hadn't considered the consequences of her actions. But they kept appearing until she was engulfed in a sea of corpses standing all around her, staring and silently asking why.
Jun exhaled a shuddering breath and took a sip of the latte. It chilled her just to remember the dream, but she couldn't put it out of her head. It was too recent and too vivid. And it seemed to match the waking thoughts she couldn't seem to escape.
"What am I going to do?" Jun mumbled. "I can't keep up like this. I'll go crazy." She sipped the latte again. "Maybe I should just go to the club - - turn myself over to the yurei and pay for what I did."
Sensing another presence in the room, Jun looked up and saw one of the gate guards in the cafeteria, looking at her. It wasn't a new experience. Ever since Cere's rampage in the nightclub, they were all getting suspicious looks and stares from the workers in the palace. Then she noticed the guard was approaching her.
Then she noticed the gleeful hatred plastered across his face.
"You're the one," the guard said as he continued to approach her. "You're the one who drove my son to his death. The one that escaped me before."
Jun sat frozen in the chair, unable to comprehend what he was talking about.
"Don't you remember me?" the guard asked. "Oh, you probably don't recognize me. It's probably the costume I'm wearing."
Jun stood up, the hackles rising on the back of her neck. Then the guard seemed to shimmer slightly. A mist swirled around him. Then the mist began to coalesce into a human shape. When it finished, the ghostly image of Hiboshi Ishikawa was superimposed over the guard's form. Startled, Jun took several steps back.
"Running will do you no good," the yurei that was once Hiboshi Ishikawa told her.
"I-I'm not running," Jun said. Her voice was a swirling blend of guilt and fear. She was suffering and it was pleasant for the yurei to hear.
"Do you think you can fight me? Or did you plan to surrender yourself to my vengeance?"
Jun looked down. "Yes," she whispered. Then she looked up at him. "But I need to say something first. Take your vengeance out on me and just me. Leave the others alone."
"Why?"
"THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!" Jun cried. "I picked your son out! I'm the only one who was involved! You've got no reason to take vengeance on them!"
"Was that all you had to say?" the yurei asked coldly.
"No," Jun said. Then she wavered. "I just wanted to tell you that - - well - - maybe it won't mean much to you - - but I didn't mean for your son to die."
"And yet he died," hissed the yurei.
"I know. I'm not trying to say I'm not to blame. I just - - the only thing we were after were people's dream mirrors. They were a means to an end. That's all we thought about. We didn't think about consequences. I know that doesn't excuse it. I just wanted you to know that I didn't want your son dead. He was kind of a nice guy. If I had been less selfish back then, I would have noticed that. If I could do anything to change what happened, I would."
The yurei only stared at her with open loathing.
"Did you know," the spirit began, pain coloring his ghostly voice, "that my son had to be identified by finger prints. There was nothing left of his face after the impact. His head exploded when it hit the pavement. Dental records were useless. Pictures were useless. The coroner wouldn't show me the body. The coffin was closed at the funeral."
"I can't be any sorrier than I am," Jun told him. "Do whatever you feel you must to me. Kill me if that's what you need to do. Just leave everyone else alone - - and try to accept that I wish things had ended differently."
"No," the yurei said, savoring Jun's anguish, "you don't die - - yet."
"What?"
"People in this era don't know you for what you are," he said contemptuously. "They think you and - - and that pack of animals you run with - - are some sort of heroes. They don't know you for the cruel little monsters you four really are. So I'm going to show them. I'm going to pull back your benevolent mask and show them the vicious attack dog that lives beneath."
"What do you mean?" Jun asked, summoning her henshin stick as she did.
"I intend to possess you, as I did before," the spirit boasted. "And then I will wreck havoc in your name. I'll kill and maim and destroy, just as you four did so long ago. And then when they come to put you down like a rabid dog," and a chilling smile grew on the yurei's face, "I'll let them. Oh, do transform into your other self. It will save me the trouble of doing it for you. That form can bring so much more destruction about than this one can."
Concluded in Chapter 12