Slowly, the two of them started to sit up, feeling the temperature in Michiru's room drop considerably as the insulation provided by the window was gone.
"Are you hurt?" Setsuna demanded.
"No, are you?" Darien replied quietly.
"I don't think so."
"Quiet, you two!" a voice trumpeted. A woman stood in the frame of the window, the cold winter air blowing in around her, ruffling her breast-length red hair. "I sense the power of the Silver Imperuim Crystals, here. If either of you have any knowledge of it, you had better show me where they are if you do not wish to be killed!"
Setsuna narrowed her eyes. "Never!" She growled. She took a moment to look the woman over; she was rather short and a bit too skinny, and her outfit consisted of layers of black and red ribbons crisscrossed over her body. There was a tattoo of some kind of design on one of her shoulders and a black star in the center of her forehead. Her red bangs blew around the star so much that you could only see it on the occasion that the wind would slow down a slight bit.
"That's fine," the woman laughed, raising her hand to them. "You don't need to live." Setsuna began to throw her hand in the air to scream, "Pluto Cosmic Power!" and Darien had been preparing to transform as well, and the woman's hand had started to glow with some sort of energy.
"Hold it right there!" A voice called out into the cold room.
The woman swung her head toward the door to Michiru's bedroom, looking very angry. "Who the hell do you think you are!"
"I am Sailor Moon!" Serena, now Sailor Moon, yelled. "And these are the Sailor Scouts! You'll have to face all of us if you want to try and fight my friends!"
The woman stared at them for a long time, all of the Sailor Scouts, backing Sailor Moon, all of them there to protect the man and the woman who knew something about the Silver Imperuim Crystals. She was outnumbered. Everyone was ready to fight her. She hadn't been counting on this. How could all of the goddamned Sailor Scouts just fucking appear like that?!
"Damn you, Sailor Moon! I was warned about you, but I didn't think you'd show up here. That's fine, I'll retreat for now, but you haven't seen the last of me!" With this threat, the woman's image faded out.
"Setsuna, Darien!" Michiru called, working her way around the others and over to the bed. "Are you two all right?"
"We're fine, Michiru," Setsuna told her, smiling for the first time in awhile. Darien helped her off the bed.
Haruka, Lita, and Amy started surveying the damage. Raye stood in the frame of the window, looking out into the cold night. "Who was that girl? Any idea?"
"We have no way of knowing anything about her," Mina stated. "She didn't say her name or who she was working for. Usually, the enemy gives us some kind of lead like that."
Setsuna shook her head. "She had a star shape on her forehead. A black star shape."
"Like the Deathbusters?" Lita asked curiously, turned back to Setsuna. Setsuna nodded.
"We should all go home," Serena said slowly, "and start to research her. I noticed she had some sort of tattoo on her arm. Did you get it, Amy?"
"Yes," Amy confirmed. "I put on my VR Goggles just in time to catch what it looked like."
"Good," Haruka said. "Send the data to Luna and then to Setsuna's computer, Darien's, and mine. We can all work on this girl. If anybody gets any leads, send the information to everyone immediately."
"Right." Agreed Serena.
---
The group began to part ways. Darien was taking Serena and Rini home, Raye was taking Mina and Amy, and Lita and Setsuna would drive themselves.
Michiru and Haruka stood at the door to the apartment building, waving to everyone as they drove off. When the last car, Lita's, went on down the street, Michiru said, "What was it?"
"I don't know," Haruka answered mysteriously, hugging her chest as the cold wind blew against them. "I wish I could tell you. She acted so strangely; what, with all the tears." Neither of them seemed to have words for a moment. They were both truly baffled by what had happened tonight, and now they had to worry about replacing Michiru's huge window. Setsuna had tried to insist on paying for it, but Haruka would not hear it.
Michiru sighed. "I'm worried about her, Haruka."
Haruka had opened her mouth to comfort Michiru, but she could find no words of such. Instead, she said, "Me, too."
---
Rini was asleep in the backseat, and there was an uncomfortable silence between Serena and Darien. Serena stole glances toward him often as he drove them in his sleek, red sports car. Darien seemed lost in thought, deep thought. Serena hadn't tried to strike up any conversation. They were almost to Juuban, the suburb where both of them lived. No good would come out of starting a conversation, now.
Curiosity was killing Serena by the time they pulled onto Serena's street, and she asked, "What did Setsuna need to talk to you about?"
Darien didn't answer her at first, and Serena thought, not without a sense of rejection, that he hadn't heard her. She started to pout when he said, "I don't know, Serena. Something is wrong, and I have a feeling it's a lot bigger than Setsuna herself."
He parked the car at the end of the driveway leading up to Serena's house, but didn't turn it off. The two of them got out, went around to the side, and Darien lifted the sleeping Rini into Serena's arms. Darien then kissed Serena gently on the lips. "Have a good night, Buns."
"I will, Darien," Serena promised happily. As she walked back up to her house, she silently cursed herself for thinking something was amiss between herself and Darien. How foolish, she thought, unlocking the door. How could I be jealous of the nothing that was going on?
Serena locked the door before going to the hallway, and then she pulled the dropdown door that lead to Rini's room. She carefully climbed the ladder while holding Rini to her chest, then placed her in bed when she reached the other side of the room. Serena began to undress Rini, then she just took her shoes off and started tucking her into bed. Serena kissed Rini on the top of the head and turned to go when she heard Rini say, very softly, "Bunny?"
Serena went back to Rini's bed and sat down on the edge. "What is it, Rini?"
"Do you know what was the matter with Luna P?"
Serena had a feeling a big discussion was coming on, so she reached over to the bedside table and flipped on Rini's little unicorn night light. After the adjustment of her eyes from the abrupt light, she took a moment to note that Rini's eyes were the same deep red of Setsuna's. Don't be stupid! Serena scolded herself. Stop thinking about Setsuna! Darien doesn't care about her like he cares about you, so just stop it.
Right. Stop it. Serena knew she was being unfair to both Setsuna and Darien to suspect something, but she was young and quite a bit naïve, as much as she hated to admit it. She was allowed to be jealous, as long as it didn't get too out of hand. A little jealousy was normal.
Serena took a breath and said to Rini, "Darien had a little talk with Setsuna. He said he doesn't think there's anything really wrong with her."
So, that last bit was a lie, but it wasn't a bad lie. Just a little lie so that Rini would sleep and not worry about Setsuna. Rini seemed to be settling back again, anyway. She looked too tired to think anymore.
"Okay, Bunny. I was just worried about Luna P."
"Well, you don't need to worry. Everything's A-Okay."
The two of them exchanged warm smiles, then goodnights, and Serena went back down to her room. She prepared for bed and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.