AN: So this is only a day late. Which is fine, right? After all, yesterday I was understandably distracted by having to go in for some blood work. I was exhausted by the time I got home.
Disclaimer: Blood loss didn't make me delirious. It still isn't mine.
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After a few days, it was decided that Jupiter would take the next interview rather than Mercury, since Ami was still focusing on Zane and Rei was still too hot-headed to be necessarily a wise choice. No one wanted anything to catch fire. So Jupiter, with Venus acting as her partner, was the one that made her way to the station that night.
They came from the rooftops, as they usually did, and Venus pointed out a photographer camped nearby. "Will you be able to short out his camera when we're ready to leave without hurting him?"
"What does it matter?" Jupiter asked as she made the next jump. "Kunzite will teleport us away once we're done here."
"We did say it wouldn't be tolerated if anyone tried stuff like this."
The Amazonian Senshi shrugged. "True enough. Yeah, that would be easy enough. A quick little spark can do the trick."
They headed through the rooftop door and walked straight to the studio. The girl from before, Hisa, ran for Akiyama as soon as they arrived. The anchor entered soon after, trailing her entourage. She looked the same as before, but now her suit was a cool ice blue rather than the sharp green of before. It was an interesting contrast to her bright red hair.
"You returned sooner than anticipated," she said rather than extend any greetings. "We thought we wouldn't see you again for at least another week."
"Duty is pressing," Venus answered. "We decided to share what information we had."
"Sailor Venus, right? Are you tonight's guest? I had thought it would be little Mercury."
Little? Jupiter mouthed to her friend.
"Mercury is dealing with enough right now. She decided to send Jupiter-" She gestured to the other girl. "-instead."
"Interesting. Why would that be?"
"Mars is too temperamental," Jupiter answered flatly. "Mercury is busy, and Venus was already chosen to be last."
"And you?"
The taller girl shrugged. "I'm what's left, right?"
"Interesting," Akiyama repeated. "Hisa, Daichi! Get everything ready. When is the time slot?"
"Three minutes, Akiyama-sama," Hisa answered nervously.
"Then you had best get moving. Get Sailor Jupiter a microphone. Sailor Venus, you know where the observation room is."
"I stay here," she contradicted. "We don't separate that easily."
The anchor shrugged. "Do as you wish. Just stay out from under foot."
Daichi hurried over with a microphone and set it in place as everyone hurried to get ready. Venus stepped out of the way as a few technicians set up an extra camera.
"Everyone ready?" the lead technician called. A vague chorus of 'yes' and 'sure' was his answer. "Ten seconds, Akiyama-sama!"
The cameras rolled, and the brilliant smile from before made its reappearance. "This is Akiyama Chiya, and I'm glad to be bringing you the second installment of our live Sailor Senshi interviews." The view panned to Jupiter, who grinned and waved. "This is Sailor Jupiter, a warrior of electricity, correct?"
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The interview went precisely as expected. Jupiter, so much more laid back than any of her sisters could claim to be at the time, easily fenced off questions she wouldn't answer. When she would, she didn't try to tiptoe around subjects or hesitate. She just stated bluntly whatever she chose to say. Whenever Akiyama tried to cage her in, she just smiled. And she did short out the rooftop watcher's camera.
So it was a very content Kino Makoto that rejoined her friends to tell them of the progress.
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They didn't know much about their enemies, but enemies knew them. At least the human parts of them.
Kurosawa Nozomu was Makoto's sempai that broke her heart, and he was a student at the Infinity Academy now. He was strolling through the halls, passing by a mysterious couple that had been watching him for a few days, and paused beside a flyer posted against one of the nearby pillars.
"Be stronger!" It read. "Find power within yourself."
Some of the students regarded the notices with suspicion, but Kurosawa was curious. He had been working on his personal fitness since an embarrassing loss a few years before, and the paper seemed to promise him a chance to do it again. He noted the time of the meeting and walked off.
Michiru watched him go with narrowed eyes. "That boy is a danger to her."
"If she's strong, she has nothing to fear."
"And if she's it?"
Haruka hesitated, but her jaw set. "Then we have no choice but to take action ourselves. Even for them, we cannot make exceptions."
"You should try getting closer to her," the violinist suggested. "She would respond to you well enough. She proved as much when you met her."
The blonde stared after Kurosawa's retreating back. "I suppose I must."
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"Be stronger," one of the teachers said in sepulchral tones. "Find the power you've always possessed. That is why you are here, is it not?"
He yawned. He had been expecting a sports team, not this spiritual voodoo. Still, they were saying the school chairman would be doing something to help them along. He hadn't forgotten his goal.
The door slid open and the professor walked in, a large box in his arms. A lab assistant came behind him and began arranging various apparatuses on the counter.
"For some, this experiment will amount to nothing," the chairman said. "This will only help those that are driven by a goal of their own. A person that is ideal. For them, this will help beyond your wildest dreams."
Kurosawa didn't know about that. His dreams could be pretty wild.
"Who is brave enough to go first?" the assistant asked. She was a pretty red-headed woman, but there was something unsettling about her. "Perhaps you, young man?"
She had turned to him directly. He shrugged and got to his feet. "Sure, why not?"
"Do you have a person you're trying to reach?" the older man asked.
"Yes." The memory of it still burned at him. "I lost every sparring match. I never lose."
"This person, what are they like?"
He considered. "She's strong. Pretty, I guess. She's very loyal and dedicated."
"Excellent. And this is the goal for you?"
"No. I just want to beat her. She can't be better than me forever."
"With this, you can," the aide promised.
What happened next defied any rational explanation his quickly-dwindling intelligence could find. The others in the room screamed as strange egg-pods formed and shot into them. There was a sense of something in his mind, a second consciousness he couldn't fathom. The chairman knelt by his now prone form.
"The weakness will pass soon," he informed the boy gently. "Your mind will recover as well. You won't remember this. Daimon Blackire, find the girl in his brain. Compel him to search her out, and take her heart."
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Makoto waved as she hurried out of the school. The others were meeting to study, but she had some work she needed to get done at home first. After all, with no one else, she had to make sure things were clean on her own.
Still, she slowed her steps after she was about a block away. Work or not, the day was too nice to just run through it. She would be trapped indoors for studying till after sunset anyway.
Instead of heading straight to her apartment, Makoto went into the garden plot next to the building. The owner rented patches, and she wanted to check on hers.
Opening the little gate to her space, she was greeted with a riot of scents. Her herbs were growing splendidly down the sides of the little pebbled path, and the flowers that spread in rings around it were in full bloom. Except one.
Makoto growled. "Those blasted kids!"
She hadn't been able to deal with her garden since Ami's attack- they had been dealing with the backlash of Zoisite's appearance and her doing the interview on top of their studying. Since then, a few of the more foolish neighbor children had obviously decided to mess with her rose bush.
The flowers had been stripped off, and several parts of the plant had wilted, though that at least was more her fault than theirs. It also needed to be pruned back before it crowded out her orchids. She sighed.
"I guess I'll go up and call the others," she told it, not really regretting it. She was very, very tired of studying. "We'll be spending some time together today."
So she dashed into the building and up the steps until she reached her own door. Rather than reach for a key, though, she glanced around to be sure no one was watching and just laid her palm above the doorknob. The locks slid back and the door opened.
She slipped in and shut it again, eyes going immediately to the ward just above the doorway. Kunzite had taught her basic protections for her home since a girl living alone was too easily targeted, and they never knew when an enemy might realize who they were. So Makoto had very carefully crafted wards from the wood of an oak tree, lightning-etched with Jupiter's sigil, and set one above every door and window leading out of her apartment. This set was beginning to wear down, but they would hold for at least another week or two unless someone decided to challenge them.
The brunette grabbed her phone off its base as she dropped her school bag and punched in the number for Rei. The miko answered the phone only moments before she would have hung up.
"Who is it?"
"Rei-chan, it's Makoto. Listen, I can't make it today. Will you tell the others?"
She heard Rei yelling something in the background before the other girl answered and wondered if Yuuichiro had done something to annoy her again. "Not coming? Is something wrong?"
"No, I just have more to get done around here than I realized. My garden's in desperate need of some work, and I think it'll take a few hours. I can just study here after I'm done."
"I'll tell Ami-chan, but you know how she is about all the studying."
Makoto nodded. "Since we entered ninth grade she's been almost possessed. Still, I do need to get this done. I'll come tomorrow."
"Fine. Just be careful. We don't know how long until you're the next target."
She chuckled. "Rei-chan, I'll be in my garden. It's right next to my apartment. Who would attack me here?"
Rei sighed. "I was attacked here, remember? Keep an eye out, and let us know if you even suspect something's wrong."
"I will," Makoto promised. "Bye."
She changed from her school uniform to shorts and a tank top before grabbing her bag of gardening supplies and a bottle of water. Thus equipped, it was back to her little plot and down to work.
She pruned, watered, and fertilized as she luxuriated in the warm sun and the scent of the earth. From her herbs, she selected choice growths to dry and to use in whatever she made for dinner that night. She was deliberating cutting some of her lilies for a centerpiece when a shadow fell over her.
"Who is- Kurosawa-sempai!"
"Hey, Makoto-chan. I didn't know you lived here."
"I moved about a year ago." She got to her feet, brushing the dirt from her knees. She didn't notice an odd flash in his eyes as she did. She was too busy battling her own unruly emotions. "What brings you here?"
"I saw the garden and wanted to look around. That's not a problem around here, is it?"
Makoto shook her head. "No, everyone's free to come here if they like, as long as they don't hurt anything."
She paused for a moment to take him in and realized he looked precisely the same as he had the last time she saw him, the day he had broken her heart and left her standing in the rain. His black hair still waved into his dark brown eyes, all but hiding them from view. He was only an inch or two taller than her, even though she was barefoot and he was wearing shoes. If anything, the only difference seemed to be that his muscle definition had improved. It was difficult to tell through school uniforms. Speaking of which…
"You go to Infinity Academy now?"
He nodded. "You know it?"
"I met a few girls that go there."
He smiled, and Makoto realized that something had set her on edge. It wasn't just that she hadn't seen him for so long, either. She really didn't understand it, so she brushed it aside. After all, she'd known him before the Senshi even existed. He wasn't a danger to her.
"No boys?"
"What?" The thought of dating hadn't really crossed her mind since becoming a Senshi. Haruka had been the first person she'd been particularly interested, and they had discovered Haruka was a girl. "No."
"Good."
He lunged at her and grabbed at her wrist, moving far faster than she had ever seen him do before. Of course, she was faster too. Makoto ducked under his arm and sprinted out the gate, tearing through the garden and onto the street. She looked around wildly, saw him coming after her, and tore off again.
She reached for her communicator, knowing something was very wrong, but realized a second later that she hadn't put the thing on. She was only wearing a normal watch.
"Damn it!" she cursed as she kept running.
If anyone noticed, they didn't pay much attention. Paying attention in Tokyo these days often led to someone being attacked, so the people on the streets just kept their eyes on their shoes and shuffled by. One man though did see what was happening and began to trail cautiously after the two teens.
Makoto had just reached the park when Kurosawa slammed into her back and sent both of them rolling across the grass. She cursed again and leapt to her feet, but he got a grip on her arm.
"What the hell are you doing?" she growled as she tried to pull free.
"I just want your heart," he crooned against her ear. Makoto flinched when she got the impression of fangs that shouldn't be there. "Won't you give it to me again?"
'Daimon!' her mind cried.
She slammed her foot down on his, knowing from the oh-so satisfying crunch that she had broken something. She wrenched her arms free and fell back a few paces, shifting to a fighter's stance.
'He knows who I am, so I can't henshin. I have no way to call the others. No one around is willing to get involved. Unless a cop shows up and distracts him long enough for me to get away, I am in serious trouble.'
Kurosawa lunged for her despite whatever broken bones she had gifted him with, still moving inhumanly fast. She managed to flip him over her head with his momentum, but on the way down he swiped her legs out from under her. She hit the ground hard.
He was laughing now, the sound low and dark in his throat. "I'll win this time, Makoto-chan."
Her eyes narrowed, and she waited till he was leaning over her to head butt him between the eyes. He reeled back from the impact, but she was made of sterner stuff. It only took a moment for her to be back on her feet despite her spinning head. It was when something struck her in the chest that she screamed and collapsed.
In a blur of motion, the man that had followed them flung Kurosawa aside. He paused for a moment to lift the stunned Makoto before tearing out of the park again.
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"Are you awake?"
Makoto winced as a boil of pain resounded through her head and chest, but she managed to nod. She left her eyes closed.
"Good. Are you in pain?"
She nodded again, trying to ignore the ache that was quickly becoming enough to make her nauseous.
A moment later a cool cloth was draped over her eyes and forehead. "I'm afraid I can't do anything for your chest. You'll have a bruise on your forehead though. You hit that boy rather hard."
"Good," she muttered.
"Ah, she speaks." She heard him lean back. "I thought of taking you to a hospital, but I was under the impression that the boy was something… more… than just a boy. It occurred to me you might be safer somewhere he would not think to check."
"He saw you."
"Yes, but I have no idea who he was, so it's unlikely he would know me. Unless there is a way for him to trace you?"
Makoto managed a shrug, but nearly cried when that only made her chest ache worse. "Water," she croaked. "Please."
A straw was set against her lips and she eagerly swallowed a few mouthfuls. It didn't help the pain much, but it eased the rawness of her throat. She realized she must have screamed at least once, very loudly.
"So what happened? A quarrel with a lover?"
She shook her head violently, but it only triggered a pulse of pain through her head. A large hand settled against either temple, stilling the movement. Once she stopped, he shifted the cloth again so it was back in place.
"Easy now. You won't do yourself any good like that."
"He… was… my boyfriend, more than a year ago. Today was the first time I've seen him since he broke up with me."
"Then what was wrong?"
"I don't know."
The mysterious man sighed. "When I saw what was happening, I thought it might have been one of the monster attacks the Senshi have been talking about. During Sailor Moon's interview, she said they've been trying to steal hearts, but I don't really know what she meant. Is that what happened?"
"Maybe," Makoto whispered. She couldn't admit what she knew, not to some unknown entity. It didn't matter if he had saved her and his voice was strangely familiar.
"I suppose it doesn't really matter; there's not much I can do for you if it is except call the Senshi. The boy's gone though, and I don't know where to find him. Still, I contacted their hotline and gave them the details. Perhaps they'll find him."
She severely doubted it. There was no way to recognize a Daimon unless it revealed itself. Until she told them, they would have nothing to go on.
"Do you have a phone?" she asked.
"Do you need to call your parents?" She heard him get up and retrieve a handset somewhere nearby. "Here."
"My parents are dead."
"I see." He passed the phone to her. "Then who are you calling?"
"My friends. Ami-chan and two of the guys are studying to be doctors, so they can help me."
She carefully set the damp cloth aside and opened her eyes. The world swam around her a little, but settled a moment later. She began to sit up, but her rescuer pressed her back down.
"Not so fast. You went down pretty hard."
Her head and chest were pounding hard enough that Makoto didn't argue the point. "Maybe I should close my eyes again." The world seemed too bright, but she knew that the room was very dimly lit.
"Are you still calling your friends?"
"Maybe not yet," she decided. "They're very… boisterous. And I wouldn't be able to tell them where I am if I don't know. Or who you are."
Instead of closing her eyes like she had said, she turned her head toward him when he chuckled. He had heavy waves of brown hair pouring down around his face, and light blue eyes set in gently tanned skin. She thought he might be about twenty or twenty one.
"I should apologize, then, for not introducing myself. My name is Sanjoin Masato. This is my house."
"Kino Makoto."
She was letting her eyes drift closed, but she caught a glimpse of his smile from under her lashes. For the first time in a long time, nothing was reminding her of the sempai that broke her heart. He was entirely himself.
"A lovely name for a lovely girl. Are you hungry, or do you need to sleep?"
"I think I'll sleep," Makoto murmured. She was already slipping away.
A soft laugh slipped out. "Then sleep. No one will hurt you here."
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"There is no sign of the Daimon," Kunzite reported.
Mars frowned. "Nothing at all. The only reason we even know for sure it exists is because Mercury said it fired its heart-stealing beam."
"Do we know who the mystery informer was?" Tuxedo Kamen asked as he dropped out of a nearby tree. "Or the victim?"
"The victim is the problem," Sailor Moon answered, gnawing her lower lip. "The description matches Mako-chan, and she's not answering her phone or her communicator."
Mercury looked up from her mini-computer. "I traced her communicator's signal to her apartment, but she's clearly not there."
"And the informer?" Zoisite asked. He had joined them on Mercury's insistence, but he still hadn't committed to rejoining the team entirely.
Venus shook her head. "Nothing. Our hotline was called from the phone booth nearby. Has anyone seen Neptune and Uranus? They might know something."
"They're not here," Sailor Moon sighed. "They must have followed the victim. You said that the Daimon's attack didn't succeed, right, Mercury-chan?"
"Whoever they were targeting, they failed. What I don't understand is why this Daimon's energy is so close to a human's."
"Can a Daimon infect a human?" Kunzite questioned.
She glanced at him, troubled. "I don't know. I hope not." She cursed suddenly as a beep sounded on her little computer. "We have trouble."
"What's wrong?" Sailor Moon demanded.
"More than one Daimon can attack at a time."
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AN: So anyone with a lick of sense should at least be able to guess what's going on, but I guess this could count as a minor cliffhanger. So, reviews please! Till next time!