Around the corner. Fifteen paces. Behind the south wall. Why here? Why now? Who sent this creature? Stately in a black tuxedo, white cummerbund, black top hat and black, red lined cape, he crouched and stared through a white mask at a diminutive black feline whose forehead was adorned with a crescent moon and a disconcerted glare. She laid a paw on his knee.
"Why are you hesitating, Mamoru-san?" she said in a chiding, feminine voice.
"Hesitating?" he replied bitterly. "Forgive me, Luna-san, but I don't leave things to chance, like—"
"Usagi-chan," she finished, forlorn.
A high pitched wail shattered expensive panes of glass in the auditorium.
"Enough moping," said a feline as white as Luna was black, "we need to deal with this yoma."
"Unless you've any tricks up your sleeve, let me go about my work," Mamoru said, grasping the rim of his his white banded black top hat with thumb and forefinger. In his right hand he gripped, tightly, a straight black cane.
"You know, Artemis-san," Luna said in agreement, "he has a point."
"I suppose he does," Artemis concurred.
The yoma of the Dark Kingdom always sought the same thing: Emotional energy from humans, but this chalk skinned creature appeared out of nowhere and made no declaration. It just began to destroy instruments in the music hall, or so he surmised. Luna and Artemis had done their level best to fill in the blanks, but they could not bestow gifts upon him, after all. He peeked over the balcony and glimpsed the thin limbed monster as it meandered aimlessly. It took up up an ornamental violin and dashed it to pieces against the wall, then looked directly at him. Its mouth opened and he heard:
"Leave the defenseless instruments alone you ugly beast!"
Mamoru continued to watch as the creature reoriented its attention toward the entrance he knew to be a gaping hole in the building front. Through it strode a slim young woman adorned in the sailor fuku after Sailor Moon's style, except that the accents were emerald green in place of Usagi's navy blue. Her hair was wavy and brown, and though she seemed to be the typical young and sweet type, Mamoru felt reluctant about her.
He anticipated a dramatic vocal exchange, but was impressed to watch her rush forward, a visible buildup of air pressure careening into the creature. It gasped in pain, or frustration, as it slammed against a glass case and collapsed. The young warrior stepped back and poised with her arms in front of her, as if charging something. Air swirled around her and condensed between her hands, but she wasn't yet moving to release it.
The creature stirred and she did not seem to notice. Mamoru leapt up and threw a projectile, which sailed and punctured the creature's back, briefly paralyzing it.
"A rose..." said the girl, or so Mamoru thought.
"Now is the time to strike!" he said.
She did not answer, but instead pushed the hurricane-like force forward and dove for the floor. Mamoru, still mid-air, was thrown back down to the balcony. Dazed, he believed he heard the destruction of the creature, but was not certain until he could recover his own wind. Sure enough, the creature was gone and there was a twelve foot hole in the wall.
"Mamoru-san," Luna said from the balcony ledge, "she has left. We had best retreat before you are blamed for this damage."
"Yes, I see your reasoning," Mamoru agreed and found the nearest window to leap from so he could find shelter in the moonlight. His clandestine movement landed him in an alleyway opposite the auditorium, where he could find a secluded spot to transform back from Tuxedo Mask into Chiba Mamoru.
"Are you following me?" demanded a female voice that sounded more haughty than angry. Mamoru glanced over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of the very same girl, this time in the sailor fuku of Rei's school; grey, black and red. He towered over her narrow frame and yet her attitude was so much more intense than his physical presence.
"I should ask you that, but I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude for your intervention," he said, confident and patient. The blush that spread across her cheeks was unbidden, and endearing.
"Ah...I...I am only doing what is right," she said, averting her gaze.
"Will you tell me who you are?" he asked softly.
Her green eyes sparkled with excitement and she said, "I do not know if it is okay to tell you, but my sensei said I can trust you."
Mamoru made a perplexed face; how were those things unrelated? She turned demure, and Mamoru's frustration began to ease. She said, "My name is Pennydrift Xalia. You are Chiba Mamoru, correct?"
"Correct. Good evening, Xalia-chan. I am glad to meet you," he said with a deliberately comforting smile. "Even under these less than ideal circumstances."
"I am glad, also, to finally make your acquaintance, Mamoru-san," she replied and Mamoru deemed the formality of her language suitable for the tenuous nature of their introduction. "I am sloppy with my attacks, unlike Sailor Moon...but I am doing the best that I can. If it is not too much trouble, would you call me Sailor Ether? It is the best I that could think of…" she said, recognizing that he was her senior and having a hard time making eye contact. Something in her handbag began playing an unfamiliar melody. She piqued and said, "Oh no! I'm late! I am sorry Mamoru-san, I have got to go!"
She leapt four storeys straight up onto a roof, and Mamoru felt the stiff column of wind brush against his black jacket, shirt and hair. Two felines stepped out of the darkness to his side. Artemis said, "She has remarkable control of her powers, on occasion."
"Yes, but it is not consistent; she is only human, after all," Luna added.
"Then she's not a daughter of the Moon Kingdom," Mamoru said and stepped into shadow so he might observe local emergency services arriving on the scene of their battle.
Luna glanced at Artemis who nodded and he said, "No, we don't believe so. Her powers likely come from another source."
"I would like to know what that is," Luna said.
"I don't think it's very important now. We will investigate the matter, but now...I am tired," Mamoru said and yawned. "Let's return home."
Mamoru's apartment was a well kept affair, but typically small, though spacious for just one young man. The circumstances of his parent's death had left Mamoru well off, financially, and studious investment imparted enough interest for him to live on comfortably. Frugal spending meant he would likely not have to work another day his entire life, which afforded him the chance to search for the Silver Crystal. Having found it, not so recently, and the Moon Princess, his eternal love, he was concerned most of all with her forced departure.
Over a bowl of instant ramen, he recalled Usagi's amusement at his humble style of living. He had dressed so extravagantly at their first meeting, and so stylishly on every occasion since that she expected him to be ridiculously wealthy.
'You look like a very rich man,' Usagi had said with chime-like laughter over the same meal he consumed just then. Her sweet smile had sold the kind intent of her statement, and she continued, 'You are always in command of yourself. Very much unlike me.'
'I have been alone a very long time, Udango-chan,' he had answered with a subtle strain of solemnity. 'Wise management of any resources can position one as a king in this world. I believe I have seen you—'
Loud slurping interrupted his reverie. He glanced up to see her blushing deeply as she hurried to swallow. She blurted, 'I am sorry! I have been listening.'
'Yes, I know you have,' he said and then smiled, but only a little. He set his chopsticks across the top of the Styrofoam cup and continued, 'You are not the tardy, irresponsible young woman I met two years ago. You have saved the world.'
'And yet...' she frowned and Mamoru watched the expression diligently. She continued, 'I still struggle to wake early. I nearly lost you...twice. We found the Silver Crystal, but it never seems to be enough for us to have peace.'
'We're young...' Mamoru said in vain protest.
'Ah, but that is it! Our hearts, our souls, are not. I feel this ageless wisdom in my being, sometimes,' she said, and her blue eyes glimmered with wetness, 'but I am still a crybaby.'
It was moments like this when moonlight filtered into the room and suffused their beings, as if providing comfort, or a reflection of the emotions within them. It was moments like this that he wanted only peace to be their company; no war or contention with some evil that wanted what it did not have. It was moments like this that all he wanted to so was hold her and promise that everything would be alright, and nothing would ever threaten them. He had to accept, instead, the moment that they shared, not the dream of his heart.
'You won't...' Usagi had begun and her voice stopped while she gazed at him hopefully.
'Usagi...' Mamoru had said, 'tell me...'
'You won't ever...give up, will you?'
He felt then, just as now, an eternity between him and the inevitable words he had spoken with all the strength and gentility of his soul, 'I will never give up.'
At the time he had not questioned the peculiarity of the request. Was it the desire of her heart to hear him say those words, or had she known this would come? No, she did not have to know. It was as she had said: It never seems to be enough for peace. He rose, walked a few steps to the kitchen, disposed of the Styrofoam cup, took a pear from a carved wooden bowl and then adjourned to the space that served as a living room. Luna curled up beside him while Artemis sat on the windowsill and stared through the myriad of reflected lights beaming through the night upon the clean and smooth glass.
"Tell me again what you saw," he said, knowing that he was speaking to both of the feline guardians as one. Luna lifted her head and exchanged a glance with Artemis, who simply blinked at her and returned his gaze to the window.
"Artemis was not there for much of Usagi's battle," Luna said. "I have...never witnessed such brutality from any of the forces we have fought in the past."
Mamoru bit into the pear, chewed and listened. She recounted the same details as before; a man and a woman, the former large and muscular, brimming with bravado, the latter delicate and slender, exuding arrogant pride. They had descended before Usagi was prepared, and managed to transform into Sailor Moon by the distraction of Sailor Jupiter, who had struck them with thunder. In response she was overcome by the man and tossed aside like a useless rag doll.
"Sailor Mercury dispersed a mist when she arrived, in time to save Jupiter from being...killed by the man; he was going to crush her head with his foot," Luna said, enrapt and shuddering with the memory.
"Unthinkable savagery," Artemis said with a hiss. "There is a reason we do not resort to such violence."
"Because they are immortal," Mamoru said.
"Yes, Mamoru-san," Artemis concurred, "but I think this is a terror march, meant to strike fear into the Senshi."
"A 'terror march'?" Luna blinked, puzzled. "Oh, I see. A display of bravado...to weaken resolve."
"Yes, exactly that, Luna-san," Artemis confirmed, and jumped down from the ledge to the floor. He sauntered toward Mamoru and Luna on the couch, leapt onto the arm and looked directly at Mamoru. "I am of the mind that we must be prepared to do things that we cannot imagine necessary, to find the Moon Princess."
"Again," Mamoru said, and Artemis considered his grave tone and manner. "Do not mistake me, Artemis-san...I will never tire of this fight. There is nothing I will not do for my beloved Usagi...but I cannot see what we must do next."
"You both lack imagination," Luna said lightly and it sounded mildly flippant.
"Luna?" Artemis said; they were so often of one mind that to not understand each other's meaning was as rare as a blood moon. He countered, "The power of the Silver Crystal is not endless."
"You are wrong. The Silver Crystal is eternal, but it's user is limited...moreover, we have not found the Golden Crystal, yet."
Mamoru stood abruptly and Luna rose with him. He placed the peach pit in a flip top garbage bin and whirled to face them both with a stern regard. He then said,
"Then we will not cease our search."
Just then the mail slot clanked in the front hall, and their collective attention was garnered. Mamoru strode toward the front hall and located a folded piece of stationary upon the floor. He snatched it up and examined the florid handwriting, which read:
'Good evening,
'Please forgive my lack of decorum, Chiba Mamoru, for time is not our ally.
'Now that you have met one of my senshi, it is time that we become acquainted.
'Dutifully yours,
'Iridian Nasura.'