The next morning Chibiusa set out for school feeling unsettled and disturbed. Her parents had gone out the night before for some unknown reason, and when they arrived home Usagi was pale and weak, supported by her husband. She had been tempted to ask quite a lot of questions but had held her tongue. If she needed to know they would tell her. She was certain of that.
She was nearly halfway to her bus stop when she heard running footsteps behind her and turned to see what was going on. When she saw who was catching up to her she was shocked.
"Thanks for waiting," Seiya said, grinning.
Almost against her will Chibiusa smiled back. "Why did I?" she asked in jest. "And more importantly why are you with me right now?"
Seiya's grin quickly faded, to be replaced by a look of concern. "What were Mom and Dad doing last evening?" he asked.
"What makes you think I know?"
Seiya bit back his instinctive, angry retort and answered calmly. "They usually tell you things before they tell me, especially if it involves saving the world. And I think something like that might be in the wind."
Chibiusa walked on in silence, thinking about what her brother had said. She couldn't automatically deny what he was thinking, because it was on her mind as well, particularly after seeing her mother the previous evening. She settled for tossing the unspoken question right back at him.
"What makes you think that?"
Seiya rolled his eyes. "Come on, Usa. You're not going to convince me that you haven't felt the same way. And it started with that mysterious all-nighter at the hospital."
"OK, fine. I'm not going to pretend that I'm not thinking the same thing." She stopped walking and faced her brother. "But until they choose to tell us what's been going on it's all just useless speculation."
Seiya nodded and they both started walking again. "They're going to need both of us, you know," he said after a few moments silence.
"I know."
"So maybe we should prove to them that they can rely on the both of us without waiting for the inevitable argument to start."
"Are you proposing a truce?" Chibiusa asked, glancing sidelong at him.
Seiya smiled. "Let's start with a truce and then work on negotiating a permanent treaty." He faced her and stuck out his hand. "Deal?"
Chibiusa took his hand and they shook. "Deal," she replied. Then she saw something in her brother's face. "Why are you being so accommodating?" she asked, suspicious.
His smile blossomed into a fully fledged grin. "The odds are against me now," he said with a wink. "You and Mizuki against little old me? Not a fight I want to have." He glanced past her to the bus stop. "Akemi's waiting for you." He bent his head and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you later!" he called out before running off towards his school.
Chibiusa stood staring after him for a minute, totally bemused. Then she grinned and made her way to the bus stop, where Akemi was waiting with a puzzled look on her face. "What was that all about?" she asked.
"What was what all about?"
Akemi snorted. "Don't pretend with me. Seiya kissed your cheek. I think the last time I saw that happen he was four years old and we were six."
Chibiusa shrugged. "We're just trying something new; not arguing."
"Anything in particular bring this on?"
For a minute Chibiusa thought about lying to her friend, but knew it was useless. After all, Akemi's mother had been a part of the strange happenings that night at the hospital. "We just decided that it'd be better for our parents to not have to worry about our relationship," she said. "And we've both been concerned since that evening your mom called them out and they were at the hospital all night."
Akemi nodded. "I can understand that," she said. "Mom's been a little strange and pre-occupied since then as well. She nearly forgot that she had grounded me, for pity's sake! It's probably just something to do with a patient, though; I've seen her get like this before."
"Mmmmm, yeah, probably," Chibiusa commented, while all the time her instincts were telling her that it was bigger than that: that a big battle was on the horizon. For not the first time she found herself fervently wishing that Akemi, Mariko and Rio would gain their powers, and fast.
Usagi slept in that morning, following doctor's orders. "Rest," Ami had told her the night before. "Relax, and don't be stressed. Your body has just been through a serious trauma and you don't want to make it any worse." She had then hugged her friend, whispering "You scared the daylights out of us." into her ear. Usagi had promised to follow Ami's instructions, admitting that what had happened had scared her as well.
One glance at the clock told her that Mamoru must have threatened the children if they disturbed their mother. They would have been up and getting ready for school nearly two hours ago, yet she hadn't heard a sound. Usagi lay back on the pillows and grinned; it was good to know that sometimes Chibiusa and Seiya could do as they were told.
But for all of Ami's orders and her own lazy inclination she knew she couldn't stay in bed all day. For a start the growling of her stomach wasn't about to let her, so with a sigh she got out of bed, cleaned up, dressed, and made her way downstairs.
The luxury of the newspaper and a leisurely cup of tea was something Usagi rarely had a chance to indulge in, so she took full advantage of it that morning. She made mental notes of a few items of international news so she could spring a pop quiz on current events when she returned to work, but other than that the news was pretty much the same as every day. Then she saw the front page of the features section and her heart skipped a beat.
The headline read Billionaire philanthropist makes the social scene. Beneath the headline was a photo of an attractive man in his fifties with the caption "American Aaron Henderson, expected to make waves at an upcoming conference on genetic research, is already making a splash in Tokyo society". She quickly read through the article but was disappointed that it focused on the many social obligations that Henderson had taken on during his stay in the city. It was only at the very end that any mention was made of his interest in genetic engineering, and even that was only a date and time for his presentation at the conference.
After quickly rinsing out her breakfast dishes Usagi grabbed her laptop from its case and started an internet search on Aaron Henderson. Just like the article in the paper a lot of what she found dealt with his prominence in social circles, but then something else caught her eye. It was a post on a political blog, and as she read she felt her heat sink a little further into her stomach.
Up until two years previously Henderson had been a very active philanthropist. His foundation had given grants for all kinds of scientific research and provided massive amounts of money for college scholarships. Henderson himself had been hailed for his dedication to serving a multitude of causes in a wide variety of countries; there had even been talk of an eventual Nobel Peace Prize.
All of that had abruptly ended two years ago when the good works dried up, the foundation was disbanded, and Aaron Henderson began to devote himself exclusively to his own research. His upcoming presentation at the conference was to be his first such appearance since the end of the charity, and as she clicked on more links she discovered that the internet was rife with speculation as to why Henderson had chosen this moment to reappear.
Two years ago also coincides with when Mamoru created that sniffer program, Usagi thought, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. And that's when Henderson's interest in Tomoe's genetic research began.
She opened a new search and started looking for academic papers written by Henderson. The ones she found that dealt with genetic engineering and other medical research were so full of technical terms and jargon that it made her eyes cross, so she printed them out for her husband, certain that Mamoru would be able to make sense of it. And find any similarities with Tomoe's own writing on the subject.
As she was scrolling down through a list of titles of things Henderson had written she saw one that immediately grabbed her attention: Chaos In The Human Heart. She opened the document and began to read.
It wasn't a scientific paper; it read more like a social commentary or a newspaper editorial. But what Usagi found particularly chilling was Henderson's premise that humanity naturally tended to a chaotic state - physically, emotionally, and even legally. Laws designed to govern people's actions towards each other simply hindered the natural drift to chaos, as was proven by the increasingly high crime rates, even in countries that historically had very little problem with crime. What was even worse was the feeling that Henderson regarded himself as above those chaotic circumstances and even seemed to be setting himself up as some sort of moral judge of the rest of humanity.
Almost unbidden memories came flooding back of someone else who thought she was the only person in existence who could be trusted to safeguard everyone else. The powerful Sailor Galaxia, who had sealed Chaos away in her own body to protect the rest of the universe, only to be completely corrupted by it and nearly destroy all things.
"Do you think Chaos is gone?"
"I think it went back to where it should be."
"Where it should be?"
"Yes, inside people's hearts."
"Don't worry! After all, the Light of Hope is in everyone's hearts, too."
Usagi remembered that conversation vividly, as well as the battle that preceded it. Alone and afraid, believing that everyone she loved and cared for had died, she had still had faith in the innate goodness of the world and everyone in it. That faith had allowed her to triumph; had saved Sailor Galaxia from the Chaos that had ruled her heart and mind. But at the back of her mind, for all of the years since that day, there had always been a concern that somehow, someway, Chaos would find the one human being in whom the Light of Hope had not taken root.
Could that person be Aaron Henderson? The dismantling of his foundation and the cessation of his philanthropic activities seemed to point to some sort of drastic personality change two years ago. But was it the corruption of Chaos? And if so how did that connect to Tomoe's research and the heart snatching? Was it a deliberate effort to find the purest hearts on Earth and corrupt them, one by one?
She glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall and was surprised at the time. She had been sitting there for almost three hours, which became apparent as soon as she stood and felt the stiffness in her limbs. But she hurried out of the house; she had just enough time to catch Mamoru at work and join him on his lunch break. After all, they had a lot to talk about.
She waited, somewhat impatiently, after the security guard had called her husband's office. Mamoru had sounded surprised at her being out of the house, but said he'd be down shortly. Usagi had little choice but to pace the lobby of the building, looking at her watch often as if willing time to go faster. The folder that she had put the printouts of Henderson's writings in felt heavy in her hand. She was so focused in her own thoughts that she let out a shriek when Mamoru's hand touched her shoulder.
He took a step back, surprised, and then his face creased in a look of concern. Taking her hand in his he led the way down the street to the café where he and his colleagues frequently ate lunch. He knew he could count on the staff there to respect their privacy.
Once they were sitting down, and with glasses of cold green tea in front of them Mamoru gave voice to his worry. "Why are you up and out of the house?" he asked, squeezing her hand gently. "Ami told you to rest today."
Usagi smiled weakly. "I'm surprised you're not telling me I look terrible."
"Well - "
"Don't even think about it," she admonished her husband, trying and failing to glare at him. She took the folder from where she had set it and placed it on the table in front of Mamoru. She told him about the article she had read in the paper and how the story of Aaron Henderson's former philanthropic activities had made her curious. "I took advantage of the quiet at home to do some research," she said. "I printed out some of Henderson's scientific papers, figuring that you could make more sense of them than me," she went on with a grin, "but this one I think you should read right now." And she handed him a copy of Chaos In The Human Heart and waited while he read it, watching a deep V form in between his eyebrows.
When he finished he looked up and their eyes met. "Are you thinking. . ." Mamoru began, but his voice trailed off. Usagi understood why. He didn't know everything that had occurred in the battle with Galaxia, and by mutual consent they rarely talked about it. But now, it seemed, the subject was unavoidable, and Usagi only hoped she could get through the conversation without giving way to some of the old feelings that he had abandoned her. It would serve no purpose to start hurling recriminations so many years after the fact.
"I think Aaron Henderson is the person that Chaos has been waiting these twenty or more years for," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I think his heart and mind have been corrupted, and that Chaos is using his knowledge of Tomoe's research to find and destroy other pure hearts."
Mamoru slid the papers back into the folder with a sigh. "I agree that it seems likely, but we'll have to approach this very delicately," he said. "I talked to some of my colleagues today and they all praised Henderson's scientific work to the skies. He's not just rich and powerful, Usako. He's greatly respected as well."
Usagi snorted. "So was Dr. Tomoe, remember? Look how that turned out."
"I'm not disputing your conclusion; I'm just saying we need to be careful."
"I don't want to wait until people start having their hearts snatched left, right, and center! We're not a court of law, Mamoru. We don't need that kind of proof of guilt before we act." Usagi became aware of the rising pitch of her voice and moderated her tone, leaning across the table so he could hear her. "Isn't there anything you can do? As a respected part of the local scientific community, I mean."
Mamoru sighed. "I can try to see and speak to Henderson, but even that might not do us any good." He briefly glanced out of the window. "I would like to ask him how he became interested in Tomoe, among other things." He rubbed his face with his hands, looking tired. "You do realize that if you're right this makes things more serious than anything we've dealt with in years? Decades, even. We'll need to tell the children, and sooner rather than later."
Usagi nodded. That thought had certainly occurred to her. "We'll need to tell everyone," she added. "The other senshi won't thank me for keeping this from them, even if I wanted to. Besides, we'll need all the help we can get."
Mamoru smiled suddenly. "Speaking of help -" he said as he pulled a watch out of his pocket and handed it to Usagi.
"What's this supposed to be?" she asked, turning it over in her hand. It looked like a perfectly ordinary watch.
Mamoru's smile widened into a grin. "I took some of the crystals that I was able to synthesize from last night's experiments and integrated them into that watch's inner workings. It'll tell the time, the date, and the phases of the moon." He slid it onto his wife's wrist and tightened the band. "Most importantly though, it's your new, official Daimon detector."