Always With You

Chapter 6: The Flow of Time

We all watched as Rei took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "The shadow surrounded the five of us first. I screamed for everyone to run, to get away from the darkness but no one heard me." Rei paused for a moment, the knuckles on her hands whitening as she clenched the edge of the table. "Jupiter was the first to be taken."

Everyone stiffened and turned their gaze toward Makoto as if the death sentence had just been extended to her. She tried hard to hide it but I could see the worry creep up in her eyes. Her lips curved into a smirk as she slammed a fist into her hand. "Well now that I know, this enemy has another thing coming if it thinks it's going to take me down that easily."

Minako nodded enthusiastically. "Mako-chan's right. Now that we have an advanced warning of the danger we can be prepared for whatever's heading our way. I'm going to suggest that we start patrol groups up again, return to our weekly senshi meeting and try to get in some extra training when we can."

Everyone nodded as Luna sat up. "I agree. If this new threat is as dangerous as it seems then we would be wise not to let our guards down. Now Rei I would like you to go and visit Neptune and the others and inform them of the situation. As for everyone else I want you to work out amongst yourselves the best times to patrol and who you shall be partnered with. I don't want anyone patrolling alone if we can avoid it. Is that clear?"

We all agreed and lingered for a few extra minutes before getting a rough schedule worked out with myself and Makoto being the first group patrolling that evening. It was convenient that we both had the same days off, that day being one of them. So as Rei left to visit the outer senshi the rest of us wandered outside to get busy with the rest of our evenings. Minako was heading home to finish going over her script for the first live action Sailor V movie but told us that she would keep her communicator handy and to call if anything suspicious arose.

I turned to Mamoru and kissed him softly on the lips. "Makoto and I are going to get a head start on our patrol to see if we can pick up any strange energy readings that the enemy might be generating."

He gave me a squeeze and looked up at Makoto. "I want you two to be careful. We still don't really know what we're dealing with here. If you see anything at all I want you to contact me." I nodded.

"We'll keep our eyes open and call if we notice anything strange."

He smiled and planted a gentle kiss at the top of my forehead. "Be safe my ice princess." With that said he turned and headed down the shrine's steps toward his waiting car.

I turned toward Makoto and we shared a knowing smile as words that hadn't been said in the longest time floated out upon the air.

"Mercury Crystal Power, Make Up!"

"Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!"

In a matter of moments we were leaping from rooftop to rooftop in the downtown area. In the past youma tended to congregate in the more populated areas of the city, which were much more convenient for harvesting energy. But so far my visor and computer had yet to detect anything that seemed out of the ordinary. I glanced over at Makoto and watched her for a moment. I could tell she was slightly nervous, her fingers rubbing the hem of her skirt while I paused to run a different diagnostic. I closed my computer with a sigh and deposited it back into it's sub-space storage pocket.

"Did you find anything?"

I shook my head. "Everything seems normal. There are no abnormal excesses of energy or any spots of dark energy."

Makoto stared out over the city. "Maybe this new enemy just hasn't established itself yet."

"That's a possibility." I placed a hand on her shoulder. "But don't worry. As soon as they do show themselves we'll be ready and waiting."

She smiled and nodded. "Ready to beat them back into the hole they crawled out of."

"But we must always be wary," a voice called out behind us.

We turned to see Setsuna walking closer. "Did you find anything Sailor Mercury?"

I shook my head. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

She nodded.

"Have you noticed anything strange in the time line Setsuna?" Makoto asked. Setsuna turned and regarded Makoto for a moment before turning briefly toward me.

"There is nothing that obviously seems to be affecting the current time line in a negative way as of yet. Although you know that I am forbidden to speak of the time line in a detailed manner."

"We understand Setsuna," Makoto said. "I don't think I could be as strong as you in your situation. I would want to meddle in the time line too much." She turned toward me. "So see you later Ami-chan?"

I smiled. "Of course."

"Well, I'm going to be heading home then. I've got to head into the restaurant early tomorrow. See you around Ami-chan, Setsuna-san."

I waved as she bounded off toward her apartment.

"And how are you doing Ami? Has anything been bothering you lately?"

My hand froze in mid wave as I turned to find those garnet orbs watching me carefully. Did she know? I swallowed slowly, trying to come up with something to say. Should I tell her that what seemed to be the ghost of Usagi was trying to harm me? Or should I tell her the theory of an enemy...but..we had yet to find definite signs of an enemy infestation, which made the possibility of it truly being Usagi that much higher. My hand clenched as she continued to stare. Surely she was aware of something. Why else would she ask? She was the guardian of the gates of time. If anyone knew what was going on it would be her. So why was she asking then? Was she just testing my reaction to the question or were there things that even the powerful senshi of Pluto did not know?

My eyes fell to the rooftop as I pushed a pebble away with the toe of my boot. "Setsuna-san, have you ever wondered about your place in the future and whether it was right or not?"

She seemed satisfied with this response as her gaze shifted out toward the rapidly setting sun. "The future has indeed changed much over the years from what we thought it to be initially but time branches out infinitely and it can never truly be predicted to one particular result. Every event, every choice influences the time line in subtle ways such that even I cannot track each and every branch to where they may lead us in the future." She paused for a moment. "Time can only truly be studied and understood through the past."

I nodded. "Thank you for such an honest answer Setsuna-san."

She stepped closer and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Do not worry too much about the future Ami. There is little we can do to predict and manipulate it. What we must do instead is our best to protect it."

A small smile crept onto my lips. She may have sounded extremely cryptic but her words helped comfort that nagging voice at the back of my mind. "Thank you again Setsuna-san." I turned and gave her a genuine smile. "Tell the others I wish them well and that I'm sure we'll be seeing each other soon. I think I'll be heading home now as well."

Setsuna nodded and with a turn of her wrist had opened a small portal to return herself home. I stood there for a moment gazing out upon the horizon as the sun sank behind the buildings. She says not to worry about the future and my place in it and yet I can't help but wonder how different things will be as compared to what they could have been...

A/N: Yes I'm aware it's short and that it took me forever to update. I'm very sorry. Sometimes I'm inspired to write and sometimes I'm not, that and my life in general has been rather crazy right now, what with buying a house and slowly moving. But as it's working so far the original plan I had for this story is starting to hit shaky ground and I'm not sure if it will continue as originally planned or not. So while I try to figure out where to go from here feel free to offer suggestions if you so desire. I can't guarantee I'll use them but inspiration and ideas are always welcome here.