© 2003-2005 By Stacey Padjune (Serena CrystalMoon)
Disclaimer: Sadly enough, I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the other characters, I just manipulate them...
Riza: I try not to make anything too predictable, I love to keep my readers guessing. You're right I'll go back and space that part up a bit that deal's with Rei's vision. Good views, I'm glad you caught the ice blue frame clue there will be more continuing that vision coming up soon but probably not in this chapter.
Lioness Blackfire: Thank you for reviewing, I'm glad you like my fic so far. I'm glad that the mystery of Rei's "lady love" is being taken the way it is and I like how you think, suggesting that it could be any of the girl's if you actually think about it.
Tpr0522: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad I have another reader. Yes I hated to reduce Yuuichirou down to a comedic relief role in the last chapter but I needed him in there he will play a more suitable and less flimsy and comedic role later so don't you worry.
Chapter 7: Times Are Changing
A light giggle and an adorable smile. A warm hug and a gentle pull on one of her odango's. "Usagi-chan!" a sweet voice calling her name, quiet laughing filled with love. A young girl no more than nine years old, a smile of innocence and happiness, garnet red eyes of love and trust and fluffy pink hair of silky satin in her mother's signature hair style. The girl destined to rule in her mother's place, to carry on her parent's legacy of peacefulness and serenity. Garbed in a silk and lace dress that flowed down around her, accentuating her already noticeable air of royalty. Light giggles erupted from the girl as she ran to hug her mother, but something stopped her. She couldn't get through, it was pushing her away, holding her back. A flash of deep dark black light streaked past the girl, the pure energy of the already missing light repelled the girl back through the air and downwards before she landed on her bottom and skid across the rough surface she was on, her dress ripped and tattered and tears falling down her cheeks. "Mommy!" she screamed before falling back, almost seeming as if she had been pushed. "Mommy help!" she screamed and pleaded as the feeling of darkness filled her body, making it seem as if her insides were collapsing before everything went numb and her body disappeared, her life being taken over by nothingness.
"Chibi Usa-chan!" Usagi shrieked in fear, hurt and loss as she bolted up to a sitting position in bed. Her limbs were shaking and tears streamed down her face, the echo of her daughter's plea's reverberated in her mind. Pain, both physical and emotional, wracked her body; waves of sorrow washed over her and her heart burned with the loss of her child. Breaking down, she wept openly vowing on her life that the new enemy would pay and they would pay dearly.
Aquamarine hair laid spread out over fair creamy skin as Michiru's head rested upon her lover's chest. Calm breathing caused her head to rise and fall slightly with the expansion of the woman's chest with each breath. Wrapped in silk sheets of gold and ocean blue the lovers laid in bed, content to be with each other, lounging in comfortable silence. A lace bra of sunshine yellow covered Haruka's breasts, acting as a comfy pillowcase for her beloved. Their fingers entwined, they held each other's hands gently. Lifting her head and looking into the beautiful golden eyes below her, Michiru smiled before leaning down and placing a soft kiss upon Haruka's lips. "It's late, but we must get up darling." She cooed lightly, smiling at the disgruntled look that came over her lovers face. "We must patrol the Jinja grounds. Rei-chan was already attacked alone once there, we must make sure that doesn't happen again."
Sighing, Haruka watched Michiru lift herself up and out of bed, grab some warm clothes and get dressed. Knowing she was right and knowing there was no sense in arguing she groaned before sitting up and doing the same. This is gunna be a long cold night… she thought to herself as they left the house.
Hotaru sat cross-legged in a corner of her darkened room her head back against the wall, the glow of a crimson red lava lamp the only light source. Dreary music and long mournful lyrics played from a mixed CD in her stereo, humming she was soon belting out the words to each song, the singing becoming a lifeline, letting her feelings out in a harmless way. Why had she become so depressed? She was swimming in it, struggling with it, using the songs to help her stay afloat. Soon even that had become futile, she was sinking in it, it was taking over her. No, she wouldn't let it. She needed something, just something to block out the pain… her eyes landed on it, a glint of light playing off the metallic silver had drawn her eyes there. A razor blade; sweet, sweet escape. She didn't know what she was thinking anymore, she had drowned in her depression, had been swallowed whole, into the dark depths of self and world hate. "They can't take her away from me!" She sobbed, bringing the razor to her bare, pale leg dragging the edge across her skin and cutting herself open. Fascinated, she watched her garnet colored blood seep through the cut and begin to flow down her leg. Entranced, she brought the blade back to her leg, doing it again and increasing the blood flow. They won't take her away from me, I'll fight them, I'll fight them for her! I'll get her back! She screamed inside her head, lost to the darkness. Tears sprang from her eyes and trailed down her cheeks, they kept coming and sadness and fatigue washed over her, ceasing her self-mutilation, her escape to the pain she felt. Grabbing a towel from near by on the floor, she cleaned the blood from her pearly white skin before tying it around her leg as a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding before falling asleep on the floor.
Sitting in a meditative pose, Rei felt the warmth of the sacred fire before her as she sat motionless on the floor garbed in her miko robes. Staring into the flames she became lost in their dance, the mysticism of such a spectacle drawing her further in, her eyes delving deeper and deeper still into the depths of the fiery haven. Eyes of ruby red with specks of gold appeared within the deepest part of the Sacred Fire. Ripples moving outward from the eyes spread through the dancing flames, a wavering vision of a man stood strong and malevolent within. His lips were curled in a sinister and grotesque smirk, his skin was a pale white almost like a ghost and his hair was a scorching red with neon orange tips. No longer was the vision there then it was gone. Rei's heart was racing, in the time span of a few nanoseconds her heart had sped up to an alarming rate. This guy was bad, very bad. She could feel the evil seeping out of him, like rain out of a cloud. If his appearance in a vision that lasted but a second or two could affect her this much there was no telling what he could do to her and the rest of the senshi in person. This is not good, not good at all… she told herself Wha? What? She asked herself, a feeling of a powerful presence washing over her, but one not of evil intentions …what on earth? Getting to her feet, Rei slipped her shoes on before donning a warm coat and made her way outside.
Beginning her search of the Jinja grounds time passed regularly and soon within about an hour Rei had circled the Jinja twice and had ended up on the outward skirts of the property in a semi cleared grassy area. The cold had become less striking from the walking she had done and she was rather warm within her clothing. Circling the field she sighed before turning to head back to the Jinja. "Haieya!" a rather masculine voice yelled out as a dark shape came flying at her. Grunting, her leg moved back putting her into a more defensive stance, her arm flying up she met her attackers forearm head on, blocking the hit coming down swift aimed at her collarbone. Knocking the arm away after block it, Rei watched the dark shape fall backwards in a crouch. "Mars Star-" Rei began her henshin phrase, her body already glowing red with the power of Mars, her henshin stick glowing brighter red in her hand.
"Haruka!" came a feminine melodic voice, familiar and soothing and as beautiful as crystal clear waves on a sparkling ocean surface. Another dark shape leapt down from a tree and in between the two girls. "Wait, wait, wait! Rei-chan wait it's us!" she said as she held onto Haruka, caressing her silky soft hair.
"Michiru-san? Haruka-san?" she asked the two dark shapes, her transformation reversing and the red glow fading away. "What are you doing here?" She lent an out stretched hand to Haruka, pulling her up to her feet.
"Patrolling the grounds, you were attacked here once, we were afraid of it happening a second time." Michiru told her, a slight smile on her face, but unnoticed in the darkness.
"Thanks, but I can take care of myself. You should be at home sleeping."
"You may not be so lucky next time, Rei-chan."
"I can handle myself perfectly fine in battle thank you, that's why I had you down on the ground remember? And why did you attack me anyway?"
Opening her mouth to defend herself, Haruka was cut off by her lovers interjection. "We know you can take care of yourself but we were worried about your well being. You were hurt last time and you haven't healed yet, you'll be weaker in battle until you heal fully. About your being attacked, we're very sorry. We heard something walking around and had thought it had been another youma on it's way to the Jinja to finish what the other could not. What were you doing out here anyway, Rei-chan?"
"I had sensed a presence nearby, not one of evil but I hadn't gotten any impressions that it was good either. I haven't learned much about reading aura's and presences yet. So when I had felt that something or someone was near, I went to investigate. I thought it might have been a spy for the police or something."
"Spy for the police? What the- Oh wow you're right!" Haruka gasped at her lack of thought, she had completely forgotten the danger they were in with the police, she had just shrugged it off, hoping they would give up but she should've known better. Where had my common sense been? She yelled at herself, knowing she normally wouldn't brush off something like that.
"We must be on our guard at all times, all of us."
Minako ran about her house, huffing and puffing as she cleaned every last thing that seemed messy before collapsing into her velvet golden armchair, propping her legs up on the leg rest that popped up as she leaned back. Grabbing the remote, she flicked her TV on searching the cable stations for her favorite soap opera's. Finding one of the best shows she watched as her favorite character slept around while cheating on her husband. Typical…she thought as the plot continued onward to reveal her being tricked and secretly blackmailed by her own husband only to have him end up murdered the next day while she became prime suspect number one. Groaning, she threw the remote to the floor not even bothering to pick up the piece's it broke into before shouting that it had been the second man she had cheated on her husband with who'd killed him and it had been her husband blackmailing her but was also blackmailing her boy toy, who had a high and moral standing, which made the man kill him because he could afford the risk of losing his money or his reputation. With another aggravated groan she leapt from her chair without bothering to close the foot rest before charging into her exercise room.
The room had been created from an extra guest room as per Artemis's incessant requests in hopes of whipping the Senshi of Love into shape, which sadly had never worked. Not once into the two years that room has been there had she even stepped foot inside, rather it had become a haven to Makoto on many occasions. Kicking her high heels off Minako made her way straight for the punching bag hitting it twice for measure before letting loose on it. High punches, low punches, quick jabs, roundhouse kicks, high kicks, low kicks, sweeping kicks…she fully annihilated the thing, even succeeding in knocking most of it's stuffing out by the time she had finished. Yet she was not done, with nothing but her will and extreme energy she was automatically encompassed in warm golden lights and was transformed into Sailor Venus. Knowing she had almost outdone herself and lost control of her powers Venus made a mental note to take better care of her control before staring at the cement wall to the right of her. "CRESCENT BEAM!" she shouted, sending forth a beam of concentrated golden light from her fingertips. The energy beam blasted the wall sending a crack upward from where it had hit and knocking a large chuck of cement out of the wall at the exact spot that had been attacked. She didn't stop there though, "CRESCENT BEAM!" she shouted once more, sending the golden light from her fingers crashing into the cement wall, succeeding in cracking it the rest of the way and causing the bottom edge to crumble. Following up her two attacks, Venus stood in a strong fighting stance before lightly kissing her hand, an orange heart glowing with golden energy materialized in the palm of her hand. "LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" she yelled before hurling the deadly heart at the cement wall, reducing it to a pile of rubble and gray colored dust. Lifting her hand to her chest, Venus lightly touched her fingers to her broach, a golden light covered her body for a brief second before fading away and leaving her in her civilian form. Looking at what was left of the cement wall she chuckled, "Not bad," she mumbled with a lopsided smile on her face.
What had been in the works for some time now was finally set in action, with the senshi files missing from the police station detectives were already being posted on watches all over Tokyo. Substitute teachers, waiters, arcade workers, college professors, student tutors and regular passers by were just a few of the positions filled by moles set with the job of tracking the possible links to the sailor senshi, they knew something eventually would show up.
Author's Note: There chapter seven's done, not as long as I'd hoped but there's more for chapter eight! Please keep on reviewing me guys, I love hearing from all of you! I apologize in advance for any grievances you may have regarding the section with Hotaru, but I felt it necessary to show her darker more helpless side as it will have an interesting part in this story later on.
-Serena
