Chapter 4

The next day had arrived, home room was beginning. Yet, there was no sign of Katsuro being around anywhere. The girls looked around, Minako anxiously kept checking the doorway to see if he was just running late. Roll call was done, nothing. The day began to drag on and before they knew, lunch had already come and gone.

"Mako. I'm worried. I've been messaging him all day and no reply. What if something happened last night? What if something with his wounds happened or if he was attacked again?" Her thoughts began to spiral until the instructor in the class told her to quiet down.

"Try not to worry. I'm sure there's some explanation for everything. As soon as school is over, lets see if we can ask the teacher to take Katsuro his assignments. That'll be an excuse to have them give up his address. We can go check on him then." She whispered, keeping a calm level head.

Minako turned back around, trying to seem like she was following along in the book, when really she was anxiously picking at and tearing apart her eraser. 'He said he would see me today. Please be ok.'

Usagi glanced over to her friend, it hurt to see her so worried. She knew exactly what she was going through. She had been through this so many times when seeing Mamo suffering. 'Maybe he's just skipping? Or just slept in late. With all those wounds and after that fighting, he probably was exhausted. Oh please let that be the case. For Minako's sake.'

"AAAAAAAAH! UGH! HAAAAA!" Pained yells and screams came from the crimson haired boy laying in bed, however he was asleep, gripping his chest in pain. His body was covered in a cold sweat, soaking. There was a faint glow on his chest, as if something had started to emerge but stopped. More intense screams left his body filled with pain and anguish. He was in a deep sleep, trapped in a world within his own mind.

"Wh…ere am I?" The crimson haired boy looked around, but all that could be seen for miles was darkness. He gripped his chest tightly, his breathing strained and short. "This pressure, it feels so heavy. What's going on here? Is this a dream? I've never had control in a dream before. I had just left Minako, got home and went to bed." He was put to his knees from an unknown strain on his body, the sweat running from his face, and his muscles tightened.

"Ugh, it feel like I'm being torn apart from the inside!" There were ripples in the darkness before him, as if it were a liquid. Then, the figures he had gone up against before began to rise. His eyes widened in horror, there were so many of them. "Stay back!" He yelled from his kneeled position.

"Katsuro…fight." A voice echoed through the darkness, loud and booming.

"Fight? How do you know my name!?" He looked frantically around, but there was nothing, only these skeletal-like creatures. He pushed himself up from the ground slowly, stumbling to his feet. His breathing was heavy, though able to get much deeper breaths.

Creatures surrounded him from all sides, forming a circle. "I don't understand what's going on, but it looks like fight is my only option." His fists clenched, raising them up to a defensive stance, his eyes scanned all directions. They began to close in on him all together.

He ducked to a slash from a sword, then grabbed the black skeletal creature's forearm. He then brought it down and elbowed directly into it, breaking it's arm and grabbing the sword once released. Next a spear was jabbed in his direction. He dodged to the left, then followed up the spear with the sword and slashed that creature in half.

Before that creature could burst into a black mist, he used the body to ram into the one behind it. Katsuro then jumped up off it's shoulders to get over the hoard, making a sloppy landing onto the ground with a thud then rolling away. However, now he wasn't surrounded. "Right, now I have you all RIGHT where I want you." He smirked with arrogance. "Now, I can use my ultimate technique on all of you. Better prepare yourselves!" He pointed with a boastful laughter.

The skeletal creatures stopped in confusion, staring at one another, shrugging, scratching their heads. What could one boy possibly have up his sleeves to attack an entire hoard of them? The creatures seemed to almost believe it though. They looked defensive, bracing themselves for what ever could possible come their way.

"You see, I have a great weapon or rather weapons in my arsenal that your bony skeleton bodies lack!" He taunted them before smacking both of his legs. "These muscled up bad boys right here! And now time to use them to their full ability!" His speech seemed to become more and more fired up, talking up this 'ultimate technique'. "AND NOW!" He yelled out.

The creatures began to move backwards a few steps. What was he going to do? Run in kicking all of them? Some form of martial arts using only his legs? Did he have some secret power or attack that could only be shot or used with kicks?! What was this technique? The creatures were now getting uneasy with how confident he was seeming.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" He yelled out, turning then fleeing the scene as fast as he possibly could.

The creatures gazed at the sight, completely and utterly dumbfounded before they finally realized that the whole time, he was planning on fleeing. They finally snapped out of it then began charging after him.

"Crap crap crap crap!" He continued his sprinting, never looking back at them. He stopped, throwing the sword almost as you would a boomerang. The sword went spinning towards the hoard, slashing three in front then knocking them back into a few following short behind. This caused them all to essentially crash into a dogpile. "Aw yeah! Bullseye!" He saw a few climbing over the wreck to continue their pursuit. "Mother…" He whimpered before taking off running again.

As he ran however, there was a wall of flames that rose from the dark ground, blocking his path. "Oh come on! This is getting a bit ridiculous now!" He skidded to a stop, seeing the hoard catching up to him. "Fine, let's do this." He then began to fight them, one by one, struggling to not be pushed into the fire or overwhelmed by numbers. He took one, pulling it towards him then back kicking it into the flames.

Just then he was met with a large club in the back, the wind knocked from his body as he smacked down onto the ground coughing. They began to crowd around him, kicking, punching, and just beating him down. He was then lifted, being dragged to the flames. "No, stop! Don't!" He tried to struggle to break free but could not.

They threw him into the flames, his body being engulfed as he screamed out in pain. He tried to walk out, but it was as if some invisible force was holding him in. 'This can't be how I go! I have to get free!'

The school day had ended for the girls finally. Minako approached their teacher. "Excuse me sir. Katsuro, I believe was sick. My friends and I can drop off his lessons and material for today at his house if you have his address?" She wanted to try and convince him to give over the address so they could check on Katsuro. His being out the day after an attack was very concerning to them.

"Ah, Minako. You do know that's against school policy, right? An instructor is never to hand out such private information." His arms were crossed as he stared at her. His expression changed though to a smile. "But I'll make an exception. He is new and I'm so glad to see you and your friends reaching out to help. This does not get told to anyone though, understand?" His voice went stern.

"Yes sensei! Thank you so much! We will get this right to him so he doesn't fall behind right after he's started!" She bowed respectfully before gathering his studies, then taking the address from the teacher. "Thank you again!" She said as she waved, walking back to join the others.

"Were you able to get it?" Ami asked as Minako smiled and nodded.

"Yep. Come on guys. Let's make sure he's ok."

"Alright, lead the way then." Makoto nodded.

"Ooooh. This is kind of sneaky. Kinda nostalgic feeling am I right?!" Usagi teased, laughing.

They left the school then arrived at the sidewalk. "Let's see, I'll put in his address here. Then set it to walking directions." Minako began logging all the information onto her phone and gps. "Kay! Let's go, this way!" She began to walk at a fast pace that everyone began trying to keep up with.

"What if we can't get in? Or if he's not home?" Makoto asked.

"Don't worry! When I was doing some crime fighting as Sailor V, I learned to pick a few locks here and there to get into places."

"So, breaking and entering?" Ami gave a disappointing tone. "Is that what its come to with us now?"

"You call it breaking and entering. I call it unlocking the doors to opportunity!"

"She's so proud of it too." Makoto sighed under her breath to Ami.

"You sure had an exciting life as Sailor V." Usagi piped in.

"Here we are! His house is riiiiiight—" She was cut off by screams of pain, loud yells. "Katsuro!?"

"He's in trouble! Come on, lets go!" Usagi yelled, racing to the door, knocking, ringing the doorbell, then searching for a hidden key.

Minako rushed up to the door next, gently pushing Usagi to the side as she took a hair pin out from around her bow. She then began to wiggle it into the keyhole. "There!" She exclaimed, throwing the door open. Before anyone could say or do anything, she took off running in, then up the stairs where the yelling was.

"Let's hurry." Makoto and Ami rushed in.

"Waaaait! Everyone's just leaving me!" Usagi stumbled then ran after her friends.

When they arrived and got to his room, they saw Minako staring almost in horror. She was in the doorway watching Katsuro lying in bed, just yelling out. He was still asleep, but there was a light from his chest. "Wh-Wh-What's wrong with him…?" Her voice stuttered; she sounded like she had just been hit in the sternum.

"The creature yesterday was wanting life energy. Maybe its something from that?" Usagi studied the boy in bed, struggling and fidgeting.

"Usagi, transform and see if you can heal him." Ami suggested as she nodded.

"Moon Eternal Power Make Up!" She called out, going through her transformation before approaching his body. "Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" She began to use the attack on him to try healing. It seemed to do a small bit; however he was not waking up. He still struggled, clenching his sheets. His muscles were tensed, almost as if he was being attacked. There was then pained grunting.

"It…didn't work." Minako could see a strange light from his chest. She gently placed her hand on his forehead. His skin was burning hot to the touch.

"Whatever is going on, he seems to be fighting something." Ami studied him.

"What's going on in there…?" Makoto asked quietly.

"Oh Katsuro. Whatever is happening, please fight it." Minako kneeled next to the bed and grasped his hand. "The Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss managed to knock whatever this is down a few pegs, but he's still fighting something." She looked onto the bed at him before getting up and walking to the bathroom near his room.

"Wait, where are you going?" Usagi asked, then heard water running.

Minako came walking back in with a washcloth folded up and soaked, she leaned over and placed it on his forehead. "He's burning up. I figured this might help bring that down at least."

"What do we do then? Do we take him to a hospital? What about his parents?" Makoto asked, going through all other options if they couldn't do anything.

Usagi turned back to normal. She felt so helpless in this situation a new friend, and someone Minako was starting to care about was suffering and her healing abilities didn't work. "Well, we do what we always do for each other. We stand by their side. We hope, we have faith. And we believe that they will pull through like we always do." Usagi tried to sound reassuring. It was all she could do right now to be strong for everyone.

"Usagi's right, I'll stay here to make sure he's ok. And let you guys know if anything changes. The only other thing I can think of is having Rei stop by and see if she has anything that can help." Minako stood up. "If his parents show, I'll just tell them I'm a new friend and wanted to check up on him."

"Are you sure? We could stay too if you need us to." Ami offered.

"It'll be ok. Right now, its not seeming like there's a lot we can do, so at the very least I can monitor him." She looked away and down to Katsuro.

"Alright but be sure to contact us if anything comes up or if you need help." Usagi stated.

"You got it." Minako nodded.

The three headed out of the room followed by Minako. They walked outside and Minako closed the door behind, then leaned against the door. In a boys house alone, this felt sort of weird to her. She had never actually been alone in a guy's place before. It was quiet now that he had at least calmed down. With a deep breath, she headed back to his room.

Just then it seemed like the flames were no longer causing him harm. He stood within them almost calmly. "How strange…"

It had seemed this strange realm was changing, almost purified. There was a blaze of fire in the sky. "Katsuro. The flames that surround you are not a threat. They are in fact the burning of your will, your fighting spirit." The booming voice echoed as the red-haired boy stared at his hands and body.

"My fighting spirit?" He asked then looked to all the creatures standing just out of the flames, anticipating his next move. "Who are you? And what do you mean, my fighting spirit?" He asked.

"Everything will be revealed with time my young warrior. Now hold out your hand, and allow me to channel your fighting spirit into a powerful weapon to vanquish evil with." The voice vibrated all around.

Katsuro didn't know what was going on, but if it was to give him some chance against these monsters, hell anything was worth trying right? He held his right hand up above his head. The flames all began to be drawn to him, almost being sucked into his palm, condensing down. A light began to glow and take shape.

"What's going on?!" He could almost feel something forming in his hand. A hilt formed with the shape of a flame on the bottom. Next, the handguard of a sword formed in the shape of a phoenix with wings spread. The blade began to form next, a wide blade shaped like a flame, one long tip in the middle and a small edge coming out of each side. The sword was orange, almost a two handed sword a bit heftier than a katana.

The flames were all gone and formed this sword in his hand. "Now go, let me see the power of your spirit. Take this sword and destroy the evil before you."

His sapphire eyes seemed to glow even more with a blue light. It was almost as muscle memory was taking over, as if he had done this so many times before. He gripped the sword and brought it down. Tightly gripping the hilt, flames began to swirl around his body. He charged the hoard, making a swing that sent a large sickle of fire energy that wiped out an entire row.

"What was that? It's like I know how to use this. How bizarre." He gazed at the blade. It was like something deep within him awoke. More creatures jumped after him as he dodged out of the way, slashing them down one by one. His chest began to glow again. "ARGH!" He yelled in pain, fighting it as he kneeled to the ground again. "Why does this keep hurting?! I can't fight it!"

"Katsuro, let go. Do not hold back." Just then, it was as if something had eased all the pain, the weight and pressure he had been feeling here. He felt a strange warmth from within his chest, his heart. His tensed body went limp and relaxed.

He stuck his sword into the ground then took his right hand over his chest. His hand phased through, like moving into a portal. He could feel something within him, something he could grab. He slowly began pulling it from his body, it glistened with an orange light. It was a strange jewel, roughly the size of his hand, maybe slightly bigger. It was shaped like a phoenix with wings spread, the head facing to the right.

The light on his chest disappeared as he held the jewel tightly in his hands, gazing at it. The creatures began to close in on him as the jewel began to glow. His eyes began to glow blue. There was a phrase that began ringing in his mind, it was his voice? He then held it across his chest facing outwards. A belt formed around his waist with a slot shaped like the jewel.

"You know what to do, now go forth warrior." The voice called.

"HENSHIN!" He called out, sliding the jewel down into the slot sideways. He then took it with both hands and spun the jewel. It began to spin, forming a spiraling fire energy from it that began to consume Katsuro. Soon a ball of fire formed around him as pieces of red armor began to be created, flying into the ball. Lightning and energy flashed inside the ball.

Finally, the ball was dispersed with the slashing of the sword he was given. Embers began to float in the air disappearing as they rose away from his body. He now stood there in crimson red armor with a phoenix shaped head on the chest plate and shoulder pads. There were blue eyes on them. He stood holding the sword, his feet planted firmly on the ground as he faced the creatures.

He then raised the sword up into the air. Energy and flames began forming around the blade, his eyes continuing to glow blue, an aura of fire emanating from his body.

"Now call out your attack. Wield the mighty Phoenix Wave!" The flames in the sky called out to him.

"PHOENIX WAVE!" He called out, grasping the hilt with both hands then slashing the sword downward. A large phoenix made of fire energy rushed out, speeding towards the group of skeletal creatures, the intensity of the heat wiping them out completely as the darkness was burned away.

Katsuro's eyes shot open wide, his breathing erratic. He looked around, seeing his surroundings to figure out where he was. He was back in his room, in his bed, safe. Was that all just some crazy and weird dream? That couldn't have been real. Maybe it was just his body and mind being stressed from the school switching, and of course a monster attack. Yeah, that'll fuck a guy up really bad in the head. Or anyone. He took a deep breath to calm down, but something was off.

Something hard was in his hand, which was weird. He never even brought his phone into bed when he slept. So, he couldn't possibly have fallen asleep with that. Or did he, and just not remember it? He pulled his hand out from under the blanket, then to his complete utter surprise, the jewel from his dream. "No…way…" He quietly muttered.

It was all real?! That whole messed up dream with fighting and powers?! How?! And what was the voice talking to him?! So many questions and mysteries. Then there was another mystery, a rag had fallen off his head when he sat up. Now he KNEW he didn't do that. And there wasn't anyone else that possibly could have placed that there.

He heard light breathing nearby. He hadn't even looked beyond his hand or top area of the bed yet due to everything else that was weird and off about this situation. As he looked down he saw a familiar red bow and blonde hair. No way, that couldn't be Minako. This was a dream within a dream right?

She had pillows she was kneeling on the ground with, her torso was bent over the bed and her head resting on her crossed arms with a pillow in them. With all the moving, she slowly started to open her eyes. The light from the moon and stars outside caused her beautiful blond hair to glow almost. Her blue eyes glistened in the light coming from outside the window as her gaze sleepily met his.

"Katsu..ro?" She asked, wiping her eyes. Then her eyes shot open and alert. "Katsuro! You're awake! Oh my god I was so worried!" She jumped up to him, embracing him in her arms. "Oh I'm so sorry, you're probably still healing."

"Minako? What are you doing in my house? How'd you get in here? Wait, what day or time is it?!" He began to get frantic trying to look for his phone to see the time.

"You know, it would be nice if after you've taken care of someone and stayed by their side as they slept if they would say thank you. Not any of this 'Oh my god! Who are you?! Why are you in my house?!' stuff." She tried to joke to lighten the situation and hopefully calm him.

"Ok, fine. Thank you? And NOW, what are you doing here and how did you get in here?" He asked, not even knowing what the past day had been like or even what happened.

"Well actually, today you didn't show up for class. To be honest, we all started to get worried. Especially after you were attacked yesterday. So, we kind of got your address from school to 'give you your homework' and check if you were alright. We heard you yelling and screaming bad inside. So I, sort of picked the lock and let us in out of concern."

"You broke into my house?"

"No! That's such a harsh way to word it. More like concerned citizens doing a wellness check?"

"You totally broke into my house."

"Tomato, tohmato." She gave a shrug with a nervous laugh.

"You. Broke into. My house." He said again, narrowing his eyes at her. "Ok, well that explains part of everything. You said 'we'? I'm guessing the others were with you too. Where are they? And why are you still here?"

"Well, we kept trying to help, but you seemed to be in so much pain. As soon as we finally got you calmed down some, there wasn't much else they could do. So I told them they could go on and I'd let them know if anything happened. Your family hadn't shown up, and I didn't want to leave you like that alone. So, I kind of stayed to watch over and make sure you were ok. I did what I could to take care of you and make sure you were comfortable. I must have fallen asleep myself…" She explained, her torso still propped up on the bed.

"I see…you did all of that and took care of me while I was going through all of that." He didn't want to explain the dream. The jewel slipped under the pillows to hide it. "You really didn't have to do all of that but thank you."

She blushed when thanked. "Hey, it was no problem for nurse Minako! I've helped all my friends when they're sick!" Unknown to her though, it was always a disaster when she did. Everyone just didn't want to break it to her. "Where's your family though? Shouldn't they be here or showing up soon? Are they away or something?" She hadn't really seen any family pictures up around the place. Or the ones she did, he was much younger. None that were recent.

"Oh…yeah. About that." He took a long pause. He didn't want to make a moment awkward. But she asked, and if she was going to be around a lot, she would find out eventually so there was no hiding it. "My parents…they passed away some time ago."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry." She gasped, her hands covering her mouth. Her eyes wide with shock, almost swelling with tears. 'Oh god, I messed up. I shouldn't have asked. Oh no, oh no.' She panicked in her mind, worried she brought up painful memories.

"It's ok, really." He said calmly, sitting up to place his hand gently onto her head. "Please, don't worry. His hand slowly moved away to stroke her cheek lightly. "It was a long time ago. I was a kid. I almost don't remember them to be honest. I was raised by family here and there, but I left to get a new start on my own somewhere. So I transferred schools and moved." He explained.

She removed her hands from her mouth to take hold of his hand. "I see. I'm sorry. It must have been rough, what you went through. I could not imagine it." She quietly spoke, holding his hand in hers. She looked at the time, it was late. "Well hey, I'll get out of your way for the night so you can rest up and finish recovering. We can talk more tomorrow." As she started to get up, his hand gently grasped hers.

"You…can stay here if you want. I'm sure you've probably told your folks you would be at a friend's house or something tonight so you could stay here longer. And it'd be weird to just be coming home around midnight." He said, looking at the time. "I need to wash up some, but please, you can use the bed. I'll sleep out on the sofa. Then I can walk you home early enough for you to get in and get ready for tomorrow."

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose or anything."

"Yeah, I mean, you did make yourself at home already it would seem." He teased, referring to picking the locks to get in then staying in here. "I'll be out in a bit. Um, they're guy pajamas. But I've got some you can wear to sleep in that's more comfortable than school clothes." He pulled out black shirt and sweatpants. Then with that he grabbed a change of clothes himself and went into the bathroom. Running the shower to clean up.

"Oh, that's no problem. Thank you…" She blushed a bit, holding the sleeping clothes. While he was in there, she changed into them quickly then folded her school uniform up. She crawled into the bed to lay down. It was so comfortable, but then it dawned on her. She was in a boy's bed. Her face turned completely red. She buried her face in the pillow out of embarrassment, her hands going under the pillow till she felt something.

"What's this?" She pulled it out, the phoenix shaped jewel. "Its, so unique looking. Its kind of beautiful and cool looking." She said to herself. 'I wonder why its under his pillow? It must be something important or sentimental probably.' She slid it back under.

When he finished the shower, he stepped out into his room seeing her in the bed with eyes closed. A content sigh left his lips, walking with some spare sheets to go to the couch. He had slept all day though, so it wasn't like he was going to be able to rest any at this point. So he got up to do a few things around the house to keep his mind occupied. He got her school stuff to wash in the laundry for her.

Some time had passed, he found himself back in his room. Seeing her sound asleep, she looked so peaceful. She was so beautiful and gorgeous, but it wasn't just that which attracted him. Her soul and heart. She was hyper and full of energy, but she was so caring and giving. It left him wanting to know more about her. He wanted to just lay next to her, but didn't feel right. She would probably find that weird.

He began to turn and walk away when a hand slowly reached up, taking hold of his. He looked back to see her eyes gazing up to him with a different look. Her eyes giving a look that asked him to 'come back' or 'don't go'. She let go then pulled the covers down a bit signaling him to be next to her.

His heart raced looking onto her and the spot in the bed. He gave a nod, slowly sitting down and moving into the bed to lay down. She pulled the blankets back up then scooted close to him, moving his arm under her, and her head onto his chest. Content and happy, her eyes closed, cuddled up close to him.

A smile crept up onto his lips, feeling a strange joy in his heart. It was enough to make him forget all the strange happenings from yesterday, and the dream with the strange appearance of the jewel outside of his dream. It wasn't long till they both drifted off to sleep.