The next morning Chibiusa was awake before the sun had come up. If one could use the term awake to describe someone who hadn't really slept, that is.
Arriving home the evening before she had found her distraught brother and a note from their parents explaining that they had gone to the hospital. Beyond assurances that no one they cared about had been hospitalized, however, the note hadn't explained anything, leaving the two teenagers to wonder and worry. At midnight Chibiusa had urged Seiya to go to bed, promising that she would follow suit shortly.
And she had, but she hadn't slept. Not really. Neither had Seiya; her bedroom was directly above his and she could hear him as he moved about, pacing in his agitation. She had been tempted to go to his room and stay with him as they had often done as young children when their parents had been out battling one enemy or another, but they had both grown past that. Had grown up into an animosity toward each other that neither seemed able to reach past.
Chibiusa sighed as she watched the red-tinted sky to the east lighten to orange and then the blazing yellow of the risen sun. As curious as she was about what had drawn her parents out the night before this was still an ordinary weekday, one that meant being dressed, eating breakfast, and going to school. She quickly tied up her hair, changed into her school uniform and went down the stairs, bumping into her brother outside the bathroom. He looked as exhausted as she felt.
Seiya managed to muster up a small smile. "I'll get started on breakfast while you clean up," he said.
Chibiusa nodded and moved past him to the bathroom sink. Only when his back was to her did she feel able to ask the question that was uppermost in her mind. "Mom and Dad still aren't home?" she asked, surprised at how calm and even her voice sounded.
"No," came Seiya's curt response as he moved off down the hall. Chibiusa listened to his steps descending the stairs to the ground floor before she closed the bathroom door.
Breakfast was eaten in silence; beyond that brief exchange outside the bathroom neither Chibiusa nor Seiya could think of a thing to say. She spent a fairly large portion of the meal fingering the heart-shaped brooch on her blouse, tempted to transform and use her powers to find out exactly what was going on while he watched her, his face and eyes expressionless. Many times in her life had Chibiusa wished for the ability to read her brother's thoughts and emotions, but never had that desire been as strong as it was now.
With both her plate and cup empty she stood and went to the sink, giving the items a quick rinse before sliding them into the dishwasher. She heard Seiya sigh behind her and then the squeak as he pushed his chair from the table, but she didn't stay in the room. In the entryway she slipped on her shoes, grabbed her schoolbag and all but ran out the door.
Seiya caught up with her at the bus stop, even though it was ought of the way on his walk to school. He stood beside her for a moment, not speaking. Finally she couldn't take the silence anymore. "You'll be late for school if you wait here with me," she said, her voice sounding harsh and critical. An angry flush suffused her brother's cheeks, and Chibiusa bit the inside of her lip, wishing she could take back the words.
"I thought you might like some company," he said, his voice shaking with the anger he was just barely holding in check. "And you probably do, but obviously not mine." He started to walk away; turned back when he had gone no more than a few steps. "I thought last night might have changed things between us, might have brought us together like when we were young. I had even hoped -" He clamped his jaw shut on whatever he had intended to say. Had he wanted her to be with him through the night?
"But obviously nothing is different for you," he went on. "You still can't accept me as anything but the useless and incompetent little brother that you were never supposed to have. You still think the worst of everything I am, everything I do and everything I say. But if I had -"
His accusations had stung, there was no denying that, and Chibiusa lashed out without thinking. "If you had what? Powers?" She made a scoffing sound. "As if that would make any difference. Besides, you know it'll never happen; you know as well as I do what destiny was supposed to have held for this family."
"Destiny can be changed," Seiya said, his voice tight. "Aren't I living proof of that?"
Chibiusa laughed. "Proof of nothing! Yes, destinies can change, but sometimes they shouldn't. And you, baby brother, are most definitely a shouldn't."
Seiya crossed the distance between them in a few quick, angry strides and brought his face mere inches from hers. "You need to hope and pray that isn't true," he said in an angry whisper, "because the way I see it, sister, my gaining powers is the only help you'll ever get. Unless you're actually counting on your friends; friends who, I might add, don't even know who and what they are expected to become." He laughed then, a derisive sound, and turned his back to walk off. "Good luck counting on them," he tossed over his shoulder with a dismissive wave.
Chibiusa was so angry, both at him for saying it and herself for partly believing it, that she missed her bus when it arrived.
Usagi stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Hikawa Shrine, too exhausted to raise her head, much less begin climbing. It had been a long night, sitting vigil at the hospital. She felt grimy as well as tired; there hadn't been time to go home to bathe and change clothes before coming to the shrine so they could all meet and discuss what had happened yesterday.
And what had happened scared all of them. When she and Mamoru got to the hospital Ami's suspicions had proved correct - the man had been heart snatched. The other doctors were treating him as a heart attack victim and Ami and Usagi had been content with letting them think so while Mamoru, Rei, and Makoto had gone in search of the missing heart crystal.
It had been after four in the morning before they found it and brought it to the hospital. Just in time too, for the man was on the verge of death. He would live, thankfully, but they all agreed that the next time they might not be so lucky. Which was why she stood at the bottom of that long flight of stairs, resting before beginning the climb.
They had all agreed that a discussion was necessary before leaving the hospital. She and Mamoru had arrived home shortly after Chibiusa and Seiya had left for school; the smells of their breakfast were still lingering in the kitchen. Mamoru had gone to work, saying that it was now more important than ever that he attempt to complete his experiments, but Usagi had called the school district office and arranged for a week of emergency leave. She had felt guilty lying that her father was ill but had been unable to think of anything else. A week's worth of emergency leave because one is a sailor warrior of love and justice and needs to fight the bad guys just didn't have the same ring of authenticity to it.
No use putting this off any longer, Usagi told herself. I'll just revert back to my teenaged reputation of being late for everything if I don't get my butt in gear. And she started the long walk up the steps.
"Usagi!" a voice called out behind her.
Usagi turned around and saw Makoto coming up the steps without a single sign that she was even remotely tired. Usagi stopped and waited, thankful for the small break.
"You look awfully spry for someone who was up all night," she said when Makoto reached her and they continued the climb.
"It's all part of the act," Makoto replied with a grin. "A restaurateur can never look less than one hundred per cent or people start to think something's wrong, then the next thing you know the customers stop coming in." She shook her head wryly. "What you don't see is how I'm snoring on the inside."
"Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way," Usagi said. "I was worried that it was a sign of age."
"Unfortunately it is exactly that."
They both laughed, then decided to save their breath until they reached the top of the stairs.
They met inside Rei's office, which had been her bedroom in year's past. The laptop computer was open and set up for a video chat; they could see Minako on the screen waving as they came in. She looked happy to see everyone, but concern was clear in her reddened eyes and the lines of strain at the corners of her mouth.
"Couldn't you guys have waited?" she asked, attempting to inject some levity in to the situation. "I'll be home in two days, after all!"
Ami smiled. "You make it sound like we had a choice," she replied, managing to sound hurt and offended.
Minako laughed. "OK, fair point," she said before getting serious. "Now tell me what happened."
The others let Ami tell the story, since she had been there from the beginning. As she spoke Usagi felt a shiver of fear chase up her spine, remembering the long night just past and wondering what the future would bring. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts and concerns that she didn't hear the question directed at her, she only noticed that suddenly they were all staring at her.
"What?" she asked.
"Dumpling head," Rei muttered, just loud enough to be heard, making all the others laugh, including Usagi.
"We were just wondering how this happened," Makoto said, repeating the question that Usagi had missed. "It's not like the previous heart snatching incidents were public knowledge, so how did whoever did this know what to do?" A puzzled look crossed her face. "Did that even make sense?" she asked, laughing.
Usagi grinned. "Yes, unfortunately it did make sense," she replied and went on to tell them about how Mamoru had discovered all of Dr. Tomoe's research had gone missing. She told them about how he had been monitoring the internet for the last two years and taking note of anyone who had an overly healthy interest in either Tomoe or his research.
"So far the most likely person seems to be one Aaron Henderson, an American billionaire with a background in medicine and chemical engineering," she continued. "His name has apparently come up in a lot of internet searches since Mamoru started his sniffer program."
Ami quickly ran a search on Henderson, confirming all that Usagi had just told them. "He's a medical doctor," she said, scanning the computer screen. "He also has a doctorate degree in chemical engineering and a background in genetics. In short he has the same background and training that Professor Tomoe had." She opened another article. "But here's something interesting; he's here, in Japan, to speak about genetic engineering at a scientific conference. The conference doesn't start until next week, but he's been here for almost a month."
Makoto stood up, as always the first to be ready for action. "So what are we waiting for?" she asked. "Let's find a way to talk to this Henderson!"
Rei laid a hand on Makoto's arm. "Hold on, Mako. It's not that easy. We can't go accusing him of anything based on the fact that he's interested in Tomoe's research. And that's really all we know right now. We certainly haven't got proof of anything else."
"There's something else to consider as well," Minako said. Ami quickly re-opened the video chat window on the laptop so they could all see her. "Usagi said that Mamoru told her about the missing research the same day that a heart snatched victim arrived in Ami's hospital. Are we assuming that someone was able to duplicate Tomoe's experiment, manufacture a Daimon, and snatch a heart crystal all in a few short hours?"
"She has a point," Ami commented. "We need to know exactly when the theft, or disappearance, of Tomoe's records happened."
"Until I can find out how Mamoru monitored these things I suggest we assume the disappearance was discovered yesterday," Usagi replied with a shrug. "I doubt we'll ever be able to find out exactly when it happened, but Minako's point is valid. I don't think any of us believes all of this happened in just a couple of hours."
The others all nodded in agreement. Usagi looked at all of their faces, each one a picture of trust and faith. She had been debating with herself about telling them the rest of the story but she had known there was never really a question. The four of them had trusted in her, and believed in her, on more occasions than she could really remember. She could do no less in return.
"There is one other thing," she said after taking a deep breath. The others looked at her expectantly. "Mamoru has himself been studying Tomoe's work and believes he may have figured out a way to us it to create some sort of detection system."
"Detecting what?" Rei asked.
Usagi sighed. "There may be a way to develop a warning system, so we'll know if a Daimon pod has been created and activated. We would have a chance of destroying it before it could harm anyone."
Everyone exclaimed and then started to talk at once, all sounding pleased and excited. Such an early warning system could also help them track down those responsible faster, so even fewer people could get hurt. Usagi let them discuss the positive implications of what she had told them for a few moments, reluctant to burst the bubble. She knew she had to, thought.
"There's a catch, of course," she said, loud enough to be heard over any other voices. When they quieted she smiled wryly. "There's always a catch. But this one is a doozy." She took a deep breath before continuing. "The only way to create this detection system is by using a previously snatched heart crystal, and I'll be the one who takes that risk."
There was a moment of stunned silence before all four of them erupted in exclamations and objections. Then a piercing whistle rent the air, and they all turned to Rei, who held up a hand. "We've all been previous victims," she said, sounding surprisingly calm. "So we'll all take the risk if it's necessary." Ami, Minako and Makoto all firmly added their agreement.
Usagi wanted to object but she found it difficult to speak around the lump in her throat. She knew that they would react this way, but it still had her blinking back tears. All she could do was accept their intentions with a grateful nod.
"Enough gloom and doom," Minako said. "How about some good news?" And she proceeded to tell the others what she had told Usagi about the real reason she had decided to come back home now with her daughter. They were all surprised, then delighted, and then thoughtful.
"It was a bit of a surprise for Mizuki, even though she knew there was a good chance it would happen," Minako concluded.
Rei was the first to speak up. "So you had actually told Mizuki that she would probably become Sailor Venus and take over the fight for you?"
Minako looked puzzled. "Of course I did. I hardly think it would have been fair to have it just happen to her with a figurative shout of Surprise!,the way it did to all of us." An awkward silence followed her statement, in which neither Rei, Ami, or Makoto would look directly at the camera. Minako noticed. "You mean none of the three of you have told your daughters?" she asked, sounding incredulous. "That must make things pretty damned awkward whenever one of them sees Chibiusa become Sailor Moon," she finished, with an understandable touch of sarcasm.
Usagi drew breath to defend her other friends, but realized that she had never really questioned them about their decisions to keep matters from their daughters. She was just as interested in knowing why as Minako. She looked expectantly at Rei, guessing that she would be the first to justify herself.
"You're being ridiculous, Minako," Rei said, a flush of anger staining her cheeks. "In the first place none of them has seen anything with regard to Chibiusa, or even any of us. And in the second place there are good reasons for not revealing the truth. I don't know about Ami or Mako but I refuse to let my already overly rebellious daughter have one more opportunity to reject something that is extremely important to me. And frankly I believe that if she knew she'd do exactly that." She stopped talking then, but she was breathing heavily and her eyes were still darkened with anger.
Ami spoke up then. "I haven't told Akemi because the last thing I want to do is put more pressure on her. There are already too many people who expect great academic things from the daughter of two famous doctors; I confess that I am often one of those people. And she seems to have chosen academic laziness as her rebellion," she went on with a nod to Rei, who had first brought up rebellious daughters. "She just doesn't need this on top of everything else," she concluded, crossing her arms over her chest and looking stubborn.
Makoto nodded in agreement. "I feel the same way as Ami," she said. "Mariko is under immense academic stress and I'm not adding to it, not when we can't even know for sure it'll happen. I'm not going to bother her with what might be; she has enough on her hands with what is."
Usagi studied the faces of her three friends and knew there was no way to convince them otherwise. And they all had valid points, she knew that. What would she have done if she had been given the choice of telling her daughter or not? She wasn't going to be the hypocrite and claim she would have behaved any differently.