"The Moon princess still having a tantrum?"
The steely eyes of the Pegasus clone bore cinders into Usagi's soul as she gulped unconsciously in response. She had mistaken him for being Chibi-Usa's own Helios but to her surprise he hastily refuted claiming a name that was only one letter short of being the same. She had not been able to discern exactly who he was in relation to Helios but she had a feeling the kind-hearted Pegasus must've been prisoner somewhere else she would not have been taken captive.
"Where's Mamoru-kun?" She asked in the harshest voice she could muster. They had been separated at first arrival, she locked up in a barren cellar and he placed somewhere unknown to her.
"It's not him you should be worried about," Elios commented stoically.
He tilted his head as if trying to catch another angle of her stiff stance and scoffed quietly to himself. Her noble blue eyes swam with determination. For what? He wasn't quite sure but history had always proven the Moon dwellers to be rather lethargic about affection and actions that circled around that principle. They were romantic dreamers often too irrational for his tastes as they preferred imperfect love that often left them confused and suffering over self-reliance and avoiding the unnecessary hassles. That's what love was to him any ways, a useless concept that too often led to broken plans and clouded judgment. His eyes suddenly narrowed, a scowl hastily covering his features as he again observed the Moon princess. It was her fault he had to come to this and it was her to blame for all his troubles.
"I don't know what Endymion sees in you," he muttered under his breath feeling a wave of inhibited emotions crashing at his reserves. Rushed he turned to avoid showing any flashes of humanity. That is what the Moon people thrived on, emotion good or bad. They were the "feely" type set on exploring the indescribable instead of the logical. If he gave her one ounce of movement in his stature, she would cling to it and never let go. That is after all how she came to defeat her enemies. By filtrating their thought process to find the root of all their spite and then using some unfathomable formula to dissuade them from following through with their plans. He scowled once more. And if persuasion didn't work, she would herald the power needed to destroy her target.
"Elios."
The angelic picture of the stone cold Pegasus looked up at the mention of his name, a subordinate standing respectfully in the doorway of the Moon princess' cell.
"Speak," he demanded.
"Planetary guardians have been detected within the bounds of the totem."
His jaw clenched, eyes narrowing in annoyance as he stepped out of Usagi's hearing range.
"We have not attacked for fear of exposing ourselves to the senshi. I have returned to seek your judgment on the matter," he muttered quickly with his eyes cast to the ground.
Elios looked skeptically at Usagi who stood boldly staring in his direction. Had she called her senshi somehow when he wasn't watching and warned them of his coming? He shook his head. Not likely. His scheming had never once surfaced, he being the only one to know of the full extent of his plans with no one to foil them.
"Don't attack," Elios responded.
His eyes were transfixed on the sky blue orbs of the princess, an unrecognizable trait flitting across her over-emotional gaze. For a moment he questioned whether or not she was capable of looking so calculating but disregarded the idea as quickly as it came.
"We'll have to consider the alternative."
It killed him to have to resort to them, especially so soon, but the totem was important. If the senshi were to find its origins (as he was not worried about the humans so much), then his chance at success would diminish. A slight smirk crossed his features as he pictured his trump card. It would be truly magnificent.
Her violin had cracked. It was old, worn by overuse and threatening to disassemble soon but it was still much too early for its depletion. Her aquamarine pools lay frozen on the intruding crevice tantalizingly haunting the restored wood of her prized instrument as if in disbelief. Her heart was silent, gliding heavily down to the pit of her chest as she reluctantly pieced together the symbols. Her paintings had become more abstract much to her distaste but approved highly by others. She had more income in the past month than she had for the previous six and still she was unable to rejoice.
The years of little tension nearly lulled her to believe that she had been living this way for centuries, creating art, music and swimming with nothing else. However, a nearly inaudible warning resonated weakly in her soul beckoning for her attention. In progressively stalled movements, she managed to finally stand from her seat, setting the disheartening instrument in its case. She hovered there for what seemed like an eternity, trying not to become overwhelmed by her senses. The seas were restless but she had ignored them for her own reasons that extended far from what she was willing to admit.
Unable to withhold any longer from the silent yearnings in her conscience, she pulled out her long unseen mirror with a sigh.
"Neptune," she spoke softly. "Give me guidance."
It was as normal a day as any other. Wufei had left for work, leaving earlier than usual since he was assigned to the priority case of finding Relena Peacecraft. Though it was top secret, Wufei had openly discussed it with her since he thought it important that she know. After all, they had children whom he loved and to avoid the truth would be a threat to their safety.
Rays of sunlight spliced through the various openings between the curtains, the slender brunette seated on the couch engulfed in her cooking book. Her fingers played with the edge of the pages before turning them to skim another recipe. She never really needed to reference her cook books, specifically because she had managed to memorize every word but in days where she had little to do, it was a nice pass time to make the day go by quicker.
"Mmm, cherry pie." Her emerald green eyes glowed with mirth as she examined her favorite recipe, salivating slightly as she imagined making it.
Unfortunately, her children were not so fond of the desert, preferring cake or chocolate over any type of fruit so she didn't make it often. Wufei too had grown somewhat tired of that recipe, though he would not admit it. But Makoto could see the feigned excitement from a mile away and it always amused her, to say the least.
Reluctantly, she thumbed past her cherished cherry pie to observe another desert and sighed.
2 and ¼ cup all-purpose flour…
2 tablespoons sugar…
½ teaspoon salt…
4 cups pitted cherries…sweet, succulent red cherries…
"Argh," Makoto groaned, shutting her recipe book and rubbing her head. "Stop it." She said to herself as though it would silence her cherry pie ridden thoughts.
She pushed herself up from the couch, stretching in the process before heading outside to check on the twins. They lived in a pretty secluded area, forest surrounding their house for miles. The nearest neighbor was an hour away and the nearest grocery store even farther but she didn't mind. Natural produce was pretty easy to find in these parts and a fishing lake was about a mile south from their humble abode. On top of that, Makoto had a small vegetable garden to occupy her time with and it always managed to produce just the right amount for them every year.
"Xiang, Tenzin!" She called out, walking leisurely through the trees as she tried to find them. "Xiang, Tenzin!"
It did not worry her not to get a response, as they always liked to go to the lake to swim so it would be a while until she got into hearing range. They were great swimmers, learning from their father, and even better at self-defense. A smile spread across her soft lips as she pictured Wufei instructing them on how to fight. She herself was well-versed in many forms of martial arts but never told anyone after high school. She took college as an opportunity to start anew and was sure to never get caught fighting in any situation. Even Wufei would not have known about her knowledge of the subject since she never openly used it unless he did a little homework on her, which wouldn't be such a surprise considering his profession. She tread lightly through the greeting forest, eyes scanning the branches and foliage of the trees. She liked it here. Nature was always her favorite scenery.
A few more steps down the trodden path she came to an abrupt stop. Anxiety sky-rocketed as her head jerked in various directions carefully looking for something. Her breath held she could not seem to spot the obtrusion so she reluctantly continued; now hastening her steps toward the lake.
Help us.
She froze again, this time certain that someone was out there. She called out for them to show themselves only to again receive no response. Her fists clenched with anticipation.
Help us.
In her periphery she caught glance of a moving branch and hastily turned towards it. She stepped back, gulping as the leaves seemed to sweep from the tree to form bodies of humans. Her head started throbbing, heart racing in uncertainty and yet the figures in leaves gently grew closer, reaching towards her in a pleading manner.
"Mom?"
She snapped her head to the side to see Tenzin hand in hand with Xiang.
"H-hey," she replied weakly, shakily turning to find an empty forest with no strange figures made of leaves.
"Are you okay mommy?" Xiang asked tugging at her mother's dress.
Makoto pushed a fake smile and nodded toward her sweet little girl, heart melting at the sight of her concern. She knelt on one knee, kissing the girl on her forehead for reassurance.
"I'm fine," she lied. She lifted Xiang's tiny frame into her arms and stuck her hand out for Tenzin who firmly gripped it.
As they walked back to the house, Tenzin skeptically gazed into the grove where his mother had timidly stood. Something strange was approaching; he could feel it in the pit of his chest.
"Who is it?" Heero asked as he watched Wufei's features tense.
"It's Maxwell, he got a lead."
Heero nodded, quickly shutting the door behind him as the four pilots huddled around the phone that was now on speaker.
"You guys have a laptop handy?" Duo asked.
"Yeah," Wufei replied grabbing one from the table.
"Hook it up and I'll wire you the information."
Obediently, they set up the computer for reception as they awaited Duo's report.
"Now get this," Duo sounded excited. "I couldn't actually get evidence that Haruka and Rei knew each other but I found something that might help."
A picture of the blonde pigtailed celebrity was sent onto the laptop.
"Tsukino Usagi," Heero muttered. "What does she have to do with any of this?"
"You know her?" Duo squealed over the line.
Heero groaned.
"Explain why she's important," he ordered.
On the other side a laugh was heard, Duo leaning comfortably against the compartment walls of the phone booth.
"Tsukino Usagi attended another public school in this same area and was said to be good friends with one Hino Rei though they did not go to the same academy."
"Go on," Heero prodded.
"Well," Duo grinned excitedly. "Good friends of Usagi claimed she was a normal girl like anyone else and had a house pet that seemed to always be lurking around her. It was a black cat."
The others all seemed to be in disbelief. "And you think this cat is the same as the one Haruka owns?"
"I've got a pretty good feeling that it is. They said she had a crescent moon on her forehead and that Usagi was sometimes seen talking to her as if they were carrying a conversation."
"And Artemis?" Quatre queried. "Was he her pet too?"
Duo laughed lightly. "No, she just had one kitten prowling around her but there's more…"
"What else did you find?" Heero asked, still unconvinced by the importance of this newfound information.
"Hn well now this is where things get a little weird, even for me. There's a local legend around here about a mysterious group of girls that prance around in miniskirts battling evil with their supernatural powers. At first I thought it was pretty ridiculous until I researched it a bit more. In England, they had similar sightings dubbing the heroine as—"
"Sailor V," Quatre finished.
"Ay Q-man, you a fan?"
The blond blushed.
"No, one of my sisters used to idolize her when we were younger."
"You don't say," Duo muttered. "Anyways, the descriptions of these mysterious girls in Japan are identical to the descriptions of Sailor V in England."
"So," Wufei interrupted getting frustrated. "Get to the point Maxwell!"
"Alright, alright," he smirked. "About a year after the first Sailor V sighting, all sightings in England stopped only to conveniently resume in Japan where a supposed Sailor Moon resided. I checked to see if I could find anyone moving records for people from England and found a couple who had a daughter."
A picture of a bubbly looking blonde with blue eyes popped up, a bright red bow tying some of her hair back as she smiled. She appeared so innocent not at all hinting as someone that they might need to take caution of, but they knew Duo never included people unless they held high importance to the tale.
"She's a fine looking babe, isn't she?"
"Maxwell, the point." Wufei scowled.
"Geez can never just agree with me can you?" He whined.
Quatre's stomach churned as he anticipated the explanation from Duo, ignoring the poignant similarities this unknown girl had held to his own sisters. He didn't know why but he was growing inexplicably anxious about the whole situation as if they had stumbled upon something that might be larger than they had originally expected…much larger.
"Her name is Aino Minako, relocated to Japan with her parents from England and attended the same school as Tsukino Usagi herself.
"So."
" SOOO," Duo replied sarcastically. "She also had a little feline house pet but with a much different color coat…"
"Artemis." Trowa spoke for the first time.
"Bingo," Duo answered. "And guess who was in her little circle of friends!"
"Dr. Hino?"
"Among others," Duo replied. "I can't quite link Haruka to them yet but Tsukino Usagi, Aino Minako and Hino Rei were definitely close friends back in the day. I guess they had a few other friends in that circle too but I haven't gotten anything on them yet. Not too many people seem to have too much to say about 'em unless its about Usagi herself. Do you guys have any idea how many stories I gotta sift through about her to see what's true? I hate investigating celebrities."
"Hn," Wufei scoffed ignoring Duo's whining. "You've actually managed to find something somewhat interesting, Maxwell," he commented.
"Glad to win your confidence, Wu-man," Duo mumbled. "But what do you guys think about this whole senshi business? The timing for this Minako girl popping up is uncanny. I mean seriously, how many people migrate from England to Japan at the exact same time Sailor V sightings stop in England and resume in Japan?"
"Are you suggesting they're real?" Quatre raised an eyebrow. Trowa and Heero had not seemed to think so but surprisingly, Wufei had appeared to be entertaining the thought.
Intrigued, he earned the inquisitive glances of his fellow pilots minus Duo. Of course the idea was ludicrous that a group of teenage girls held unmentionable power and fought against creatures from the shadows but after the strange events that had passed in the Preventer's headquarters, Wufei could not in his right mind ignore the slight chance they might actually exist. It was clear now that Haruka had more than lied about the origin of the cats but their involvement was still not quite depicted well enough. Exactly what were they hiding? A link to the senshi and a secret of identities seemed to fit too well in the mystery.
"Uhm, guys?" Duo spoke hesitantly. "Still there?"
"Yeah," Heero's voice pierced through the silence. His stoic eyes remained on Wufei who was too proud to vocalize his consideration of the senshi possibility and he proceeded with the meeting. "See if you can dig up more on this legend and contact us if you find something."
"If you say so," Duo mumbled, the phone clicking on the other end.
He sighed as he hung up the phone and pulled out a picture from his pocket. Not many people knew too much about Rei, Minako or Haruka apart from what he had already discovered and Rei's grandfather was old and delirious so he couldn't get answers from him. Supposedly there was still a girl here that he had yet to meet that went to the same school around the same time as Usagi and her group of tight-knit friends. She had yet to be named as a friend to either of them but he had an inkling that he should try her out since she was tested as a genius and genius often had good observation skill as well as memory. Blue hair popped out only to match the big blue eyes innocently peering from the photo.
"Well Dr. Mizuno, looks like you've got a date with yours truly."
Whew, the story is very very very slowly moving along. Also, a note, I won't post a filler chapter unless I have a real chapter to go up at the same time since I know fillers aren't always favored. Just wanted to put that out there!
Thanks to all who have taken the time to read and thanks to those who have also taken the time to review! I truly appreciate it! ^^
CleverBast: Thank you for your review! I will do my best to dry my best with this fic! Hopefully it stays on point!
agoraphobia: I'm so glad you approve! And I'm glad the details were noticeable! I have to admit I'm pretty stoked about this story just because its got a lot going on with no particular focus on any one single character which I don't really do too often lol since I openly admit I am extremely partial to Makoto XD I hope that doesn't show too much in here though I know it will sometimes appear by accident. By the end my goal is to have most characters in this story play a significant role that equals out amongst the whole group, if that makes sense ^^;
Lita of Jupiter: Thank you for your review! I hope you were not disappointed to find that Makoto is in deed Wufei's wife. I know I sounded sketchy concerning that since I was planning on postponing her identity longer but have taken an alternative route and revealed her sooner =] And I'm glad you liked the filler too and found it to be funny. I enjoy humor but when I write it I'm sometimes not successful but maybe I can learn to get better at it! As for Makoto being likely to invite people to her wedding. The fact that Wufei is her husband kinda alludes to why she wouldn't but I've been working on a little side-story about her and Wufei but haven't quite finished. Hopefully I'll finish soon and post it as either a one-shot or a filler chapter.
Alycee Lanet: Thank you for your review! And hope you like this chapter!
There's a part I have decided to cut out, a deleted scene I guess lol. So for no particular purpose at all I thought I'd add it at the end for those who would like to read it. There's nothing missed though if you decide not to but this scene was intended at the beginning of the chapter so hopefully that helps makes sense of it =]
Deleted Scene
"Well you got back quickly," Wufei remarked with a sneer.
Duo simply shrugged.
"What can I say; I'm a master of detective work!"
"What have you got?"
"Nothing," he groaned running a hand through his bangs. "Hino went to an all girls private school, was a priestess in training until she left the Hikawa shrine to go to college. Tenou on the other hand went to a public school where she graduated and took an internship at a foreign car factory. They've got absolutely no ties to each other!"
"Baka, did you know their schools were in neighboring cities?"
"Wait, what?"
"You really are an idiot."
"Hey," Duo shouted in protest. "I'm American!" He said. "I didn't grow up knowing Japanese geography like you? Wait a minute…aren't you Chinese?"
Wufei hissed, smacking Duo in the head.
"We've been to Japan numerous times. You should have had their streets memorized by now."
"Psht," Duo grunted. "I save my memory space for important things. Besides, if I memorized geography like you, I'd have no use for the mapquest application I bought on my phone..."
"Mapquest is free."
"What? Dammit I got scammed again!" Duo yelled nearly throwing his phone across the room before catching himself at the last second. As if truly mortified of his aggressive impulses, he stroked his phone tenderly whispering soft consolations to it. Wufei raised an eyebrow but shook it off.
"Couldn't you have just surpassed the fee anyways?"
"That would be dishonest, Wu-man! I may run and hide but I never tell…er…never mind."
"And you're supposed to be a genius…"
"Hey, I resent that!" Duo pouted, Quatre watching in amusement. Some things never changed…
"So then," Quatre said. "There's still more to find out."
Duo frowned in his direction, drudgingly clunking towards the door. He was hoping the investigation was a dead end since he had finally caught glimpse of the archaeologist that had caused such a stir in the perfect soldier. Her slender legs and ruby red heals were what stood out to him most, his eyes hardly ever straying from the smooth skin of her calves and her well-shaped ankles. While most men spent time looking at women's breast or even butt, he had always been enticed by their legs and hers were perfect. Of course Wufei's wife had killer legs too but since he didn't feel like getting a beating from his Chinese friend, he tried his best not to look. It would be such a shame to leave without a chance at charming the fiery and single Dr. Hino but he proceeded anyways. Waving disdainfully in his leave, he couldn't help but depart with a few grumbled phrases.
"Sometimes I think you guys purposely give me difficult tasks just to get me away from you. I better get laid while I'm out there."
Quatre scoffed at Duo's comment and shook his head as he watched the American's plaited chestnut hair swinging behind him. He turned to Wufei in time to catch him roll his eyes before heading back to the research facility to see what came of all the work. Of course Quatre knew there were still no leads but surprisingly, he felt as though they might be on their way to finding something. A small hopeful grin on his face, he went his own direction to see what progress was made.