Empire of the Sun By Sophia Prester Disclaimer: See Chapter One Chapter Three: Drawing on the Past Sunday, July 1 1:30 a.m. Ami Mizuno was watching herself dream. To be precise, she was experiencing what Karl Jung referred to as 'lucid dreaming,' a state in which the dreamer was aware that this was only a dream, and with a little patience, could consciously manipulate events within the dream. After reading about Jung's theory, Ami had to see this for herself. To her delight, once she had started paying attention to her dreams, it became easier and easier to remember them and play around with them. Someday, she might even discover how dreams worked. This dream differed significantly from other lucid dreams she had experienced, and she observed it with particular care. It was unusually linear in its progression, and seemed to unfold in 'real' time, rather than jumping through space and time with no explanation. The dream was also particularly vivid across all five senses, including the more primitive senses of smell, taste and touch. It was like an elaborate virtual reality setup, with Ami plugged in to the senses, thoughts, and perceptions of a young child. Touch. Each of her hands was engulfed by another, much larger hand. On her left, a warm, dry hand, rough with calluses. A heavy ring pressed against the side of her hand. On her right, a smaller hand than the first, cool and damp, but not unpleasantly so. The air around her was uncomfortably hot, even though the lack of humidity should have made it bearable. The heat of the sun was like a physical weight pressing down upon her. Taste and smell. These surprised her. They rarely manifested in dreams, except perhaps in the most abstract ways. Now, however, she could clearly sense that she had just eaten something sweet and sticky. Some sort of fruit, perhaps? She could also smell a very masculine odor nearby. Part of her dismissed it as unpleasant, while another part found it comforting. Other than that, the main smell reminded her of the high school art room when the kiln was firing a load of student projects. Sound and sight. The crunch of footsteps on fine gravel. The dream-child was walking along a gently rolling landscape, not of grassy hills, but of slippery dunes of gritty black dirt and scatterings of rock. The sky was a rich blue at the horizon, but nearly black at its zenith, even though the sun was shining. Shining was not the word for it. This sun flared like burning magnesium. There was not even a hint of anything resembling a cloud. Thin atmosphere, thought Ami. What was this place? The two holding her hands--her parents, maybe--were leading her towards another figure, a young man clothed in a white tunic that came down to mid-thigh. He was too far off for Ami to see any more detail than that. The man on her left held her hand gently, but there was little else about him that suggested any tenderness. He had a hard, angular face, with deep-set eyes and an aquiline profile. Wiry pewter-gray hair was brushed back severely from his forehead. The lines on his face suggested that he did not smile very often. Still, when he looked down at the child, Ami thought she could see a hint of merriment in those dark gray eyes. His clothes were simple, just trousers and a tunic in a light blue linen, but he wore an enormous brooch at his throat. Its setting was a square of silver or platinum. At the center was a star sapphire the size of the child's fist. The metal surrounding the stone was covered with something like Celtic interlacement, inlaid with lapis lazuli and turquoise. When the child looked up in a way that gave Ami a good look at the woman on her right, Ami was at first alarmed. The woman's icy pale skin and bluish lips made Ami want to hustle her off to a cardiac care unit *immediately*. It was only when she took time to look at the woman properly that Ami realized that this was her natural coloring. The woman had the longest face that Ami had ever seen, and her eyes were large in proportion to the rest of her face. It was not unattractive. In fact, it made her look like a drawing Ami had seen of the Elves of Tolkein's Middle Earth. Her waist-length hair was dead straight, indigo in color, and shone like metal, or enamel. Her large eyes were a pearlescent green, with little white showing around the iris. When she blinked, Ami thought she could see just a hint of a third, transparent eyelid behind the usual two. She wore a light green silk sheath embroidered in lavender, pale blue, and white in a water-lily pattern. The handkerchief-thin material revealed an almost gaunt, very leggy figure. The young man was now close enough for Ami to get a better look at him. "Lord Lares! Lady Nerissa!" he called. "Glad you could both make it! I think that today might be the day!" And then, "Is that who I think it is?" At this the girl squirmed her hands free from her parents' grip and ran across the dark sand to the young man. "Ikarus!" she squealed. She grabbed him around the legs in a fierce hug. Laughing, he pried her loose so he could lift her up and look her in the face. Ami guessed his age to be no more than sixteen. He had a handsome face, with warm blue eyes and a ready smile. His blond hair was tousled and kept flopping forward into his eyes. "I hope you don't mind that we brought her, Shaper," said the man. Lord Lares, Ami reminded herself. "What with the preparations for the sealing, we thought it best if we did something to distract her and keep her out from under the servants' feet." "Of course I don't mind. Looking for aquifers is lonely business. So," he said, looking at the little girl with mock solemnity, "how is the Lady Egeria this fine morning?" Egeria, as Ami now knew the girl's name to be, pulled a small coin from the pocket of her dress. "Make it dance, Ikarus!" she commanded. "Egeria, don't be rude," said Lady Nerissa. "Oh, I don't mind," said Ikarus. He gently set the little girl down, and took the coin from her. "I understand you received a message from your family back on Earth," said Lord Lares. "I trust that everything is well?" Ikarus smiled even more broadly than before. "More than well, my Lord. My younger brother was just chosen to be one of Prince Endymion's royal guard." "Congratulations!" said Lord Lares. He would have said more, but Egeria pouted and again indicated that Ikarus had yet to make the coin dance. "All right, all right," Ikarus said, but it was with more humor than impatience. He held the coin flat in his palm. Then, it rose straight up in the air, dropped, spun, rose again, then swooped down to slalom through his outstretched fingers. It rose up again, pirouetting, and Egeria laughed and giggled with glee. As the coin danced in the air above and around Ikarus's hand, one of Egeria's memories slid into Ami's mind. She had been crying inconsolably until the young Shaper had found her. Still sobbing, she had pointed down into a gap between two large stones in the garden. One of her sisters had dropped Egeria's favorite bracelet into the crack, and Egeria's arms were too short to reach it. With a smile, the Shaper simply passed his hand over the fissure, and the bracelet leapt into his hand like a dog responding to its master's whistle. She watched the sunlight glint off the dancing coin. "Does it only work with metal?" she asked. Ikarus laughed even as Lady Nerissa berated her daughter for her insatiable curiosity. "No, not just metal, although that's easy. It wants to be shaped. It wants to obey. Shapers can also work with stone, with glass, with sand, even with water." "That's what you're doing!" she exclaimed. Egeria hugged herself with delight. "You're going to make water for us!" She did not know why both Ikarus and Lord Lares started laughing or why Lady Nerissa looked upset. "No, little lady. We Shapers don't actually *make* anything. What we need to do is find water that's already here, hiding deep underground so the Sun couldn't burn it off during the First Days. Then, if everything goes well, what I'll do is *tell* the water that it's safe for it to come up to the surface, just like I told your coin to dance. That way, people will have plenty of water to drink, and they can water their plants. The plants should make it easier for more water to stay on Mercury. More water means more plants, and with any luck, someday Mercury will be as green as Earth itself." "I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't been able to place those three new wells at Mariner Plateau," said Lares. "We owe you more than we can say, Shaper." Ikarus shrugged, but Egeria could see he was happy. "I only wish that I'd been born with the full dowsing talent, and not just a scattershot of partial talents. You'd have plenty of water then. I've got a sense that there's water out in this direction, but I can't quite pin down exactly where. I hope that doesn't mean that it's too far underground." I'm on Mercury, she thought. I'm remembering Mercury the way it once was, when they--when we--were struggling to make this a planet that could support life on its own. She felt Ikarus's hand ruffle her hair, and she remembered the all-consuming and childish crush she'd had on this handsome visitor from Earth. Ami had to admit that you couldn't help but admire a man who could explain terraforming to a small child. "Ikarus?" Egeria tugged on the hem of the Shaper's tunic. "Is something wrong with the water over there? Is that why you're not taking us there?" "Over there? What water are you talking about?" "That water!" Egeria pointed to their left, towards where the dark, rock-strewn slope abruptly changed to a flat, white plain. Salt flats, thought Ami. Maybe an ancient ocean that had been burned away by the sun. "There's lots of water over there!" "Egeria, don't make up stories," said Lord Lares, but Egeria had already started running. "I'll show you!" she cried. She ran downhill across the scattered rocks towards the flats, her too-big sandals making a ridiculous flapping sound. Ami wondered what the child was doing, but then she finally noticed the sensation that had been present since the beginning of the dream. There was water out here, and lots of it. On Earth, in Japan, and especially in the vicinity of Tokyo Bay, one could not escape the presence of moving water. The moving of wild water was as familiar to Ami as her own heartbeat. Living in her ultra-modern apartment building, she was further surrounded by water that was herded through a warren of pipes, valves, faucets, and drains. If she paid attention, she could sense and follow the track of even the tiniest rivulet, but most of the time, the constant rush and flow of Earth's waters was no more than a soothing white noise. If, like Egeria, she were accustomed to parched Mercury, the presence of this large body of water would stand out like the opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth. Ami wished that someone would catch the child. Running in oversized sandals was a recipe for disaster, especially on rocky ground. She tried to send some sort of mental message to her alter- ego, but then the inevitable happened and Egeria tripped. The child's shrieks of pain and outrage nearly knocked Ami right out of the dream. It didn't help that Ami herself also felt the impact of the fall. Ikarus scooped up the wailing child. "There, now. A little thing like you couldn't hit the ground hard enough to hurt anything, but let's take a look." He sat down on the ground, lowering her into his lap. As Egeria sniffled and leaned into Ikarus's chest, Ami looked critically at the injured knees and palms. They were red, but not too badly abraded. Ikarus used his Shaping power to gently lift the gravel fragments from her hands and knees. Egeria whimpered, and Ami mentally sighed in relief. The tiny rocks had only made a few dimples in her skin, but had not broken it. The child's tears were more from fright and over-stimulation than anything else. Suddenly, Ikarus froze. He sat still for a moment, then handed Egeria to Lady Nerissa. "She may have been right," he said as Lares began to scold the child. Ikarus stood up and faced the salt flats. He focused his eyes and concentrated. Ten yards out, a small patch of salty sand swirled and skittered, clearing a hand-sized patch of hard clay. "It's the composition of the soil," he murmured. "That's why I couldn't pinpoint it at first." He closed his eyes and his face showed the strain of mental effort. Egeria looked at him, worried, but knowing that she shouldn't ask what was wrong. Lady Nerissa silently pointed to the little patch of bare clay. Egeria didn't see anything at first, but then a little spot of darkness showed against the pale clay, and eventually spread. Lady Nerissa walked out to investigate. She bent over, pressing the palm of her hand to the ground. She straightened. "It's water!" She smiled. "*Fresh* water." "And a lot of it, too. Now that I know what to look for under all of this salt, it's obvious," said Ikarus. "The salt's not part of the aquifer. Everything out there is fresh and clean. Most of the water's about a mile out further south, if my impressions are correct." He looked at Egeria, and favored her with a smile. "I don't think I would have sensed it unless I was right on top of it, but you knew it was there all along, didn't you? That's a rare talent you have, little Egeria," he said, "and you should be proud." He turned to Lord Lares and Lady Nerissa. "Neither of you would happen be of Shaper descent, would you?" The coolness of Lady Nerissa's hand on the back of her neck was a welcome comfort. "A very few of my kind have an inborn sympathy for water--'dowsing,' as you'd call it. Humans aren't the only race that has given rise to gifted families, Ikarus Talusidhis," she said with gentle humor. "I'm glad that some good comes of your wild, barbarian blood, dear heart," she said to Egeria. "Enough of that," snapped Lord Lares. "What's important is that we've found wild, flowing water out here, even if it's... how far down would you say it is, Shaper?" Ikarus stood with his arms outstretched, palms facing the ground. His eyes closed in concentration, and Egeria could see something like a heat shimmer coming off of his hands. "The aquifer is only twenty feet down, maybe even less in other places!" he said, his voice high with surprise. He turned to look at Lares, blue eyes wide in astonishment. "If I hadn't sensed it myself, I'd never have believed it, but there's enough water here to support another city the size of Mariner Plateau. If some of the water is as close to the surface as I think it is, you may even be able to develop some sustainable agriculture." "What about silviculture?" demanded Lord Lares. "Trees would help build up the atmosphere to where we wouldn't have to rely so much on the Ginzuishou." "Dear!" exclaimed Lady Nerissa. "Possibly. Let's just say that I wouldn't rule it out, and leave it at that for now." Ikarus looked back out over the hard, dusty plain. "We'll have to map the aquifer, of course, if we're going to place the wells and aqueducts properly." "I can help!" shouted Egeria. She could show off her newfound talent, and more importantly, she would get to work with Ikarus! "I'm sure you could," said Lord Lares, "but you must go back to Mariner Plateau for the sealing tomorrow evening." Ikarus was still staring out at the plain. "I hope there's no offense if I do not attend, Lord Lares, but if you want me to get this aquifer mapped before I have to return to Earth, I'll need to get started right away." "I can help," repeated Egeria. "I don't have to go to the sealing, do I?" "Lares, it really isn't necessary for her to go, is it? She's little more than a baby, really," said Lady Nerissa. She paused as if debating whether to say what was on her mind. "Besides, it may be better all around if Egeria stayed away. I know you don't want to hear it, but the other girls... I think they still resent the fact that you took another wife after their mother--" "My daughters honor and respect one another, and they had better honor and respect you," said Lord Lares. Ami could tell that Egeria wanted to contradict him, and say that her sisters were always mean to her, and called her names like 'mongrel.' What they said about Lady Nerissa was even worse. "The rest of the court will have to learn to do the same," Lord Lares concluded. An unspoken "even if..." hung in the air. "Besides," he finally continued, with the air of a man desperately trying to convince himself of something, "the Eunomia dictate that all daughters of all the noble houses be present at their planet's sealing. Whether or not my older daughters approve, Egeria is a noble daughter of the house of Mercury, no matter how old or how young she is, or who her mother happens to be. She will attend. The Eunomia expect no less, and we don't want a repeat of what happened to Rhea, do we?" Ikarus looked as if he had been given a sudden blow to the gut. Lady Nerissa simply frowned and said, "I don't that think that's an appropriate topic to discuss in front of children, dear. And besides, the situation is *hardly* the same." Okay, thought Ami. So far, she had only been "riding shotgun" in Egeria's mind, picking up all of the little girl's perceptions, a scattering of her thoughts, and one vivid memory. Maybe, if she concentrated and focused her attention, she could prompt this dream- child to ask a couple of questions. There. She could feel the girl's lips start to move. All she had to do was push a little harder and-- --Ami was awake and back in her own body. Her head was apparently stuck to her physics textbook, anchored by a drying puddle of drool. So much for studying. It was far more important that she figure out where on earth this dream came from and what it meant. While she did that, she was going to take a nice, long bath. Dreaming about the parched landscape of Mercury had left her with a craving to be surrounded by water. She could write down what she'd seen and heard in her dream as she soaked. She topped off the furo with some hot water while she rinsed off. Once that was done, she carefully lowered herself into the tub so as not to get her notebook and pencil wet. Over the years, Ami had learned how to manage piles of books and notebooks while sitting in the tub. Her friends had long ago stopped questioning the splashing noises they sometimes heard when on the phone with her. As she wrote down everything she remembered from the dream, she became more and more convinced that what she had seen was not a dream, but a long-buried memory. Millions, if not billions, of years buried, if she was not mistaken. Ami knew that compared to the other Senshi, especially Rei, Michiru, Hotaru, and even Mamoru, she had all the psychic ability of a toaster oven. True, she had a certain affinity with flowing water, but she had never to her knowledge had either a prophetic dream or a dream about the Silver Millennium. She re-read at the transcript of her dream, pausing only to add a few notes in the margins or add a few details she'd missed on the first pass. She had a strong suspicion that Egeria was her former self, before she became Sailor Mercury. The off-hand reference to Usagi's silver crystal was especially telling. It was likely that the key to whatever this was about was hidden in the adult conversation that had bewildered and bored the young Egeria. What, for example, was this "sealing," and who or what were (she noticed that the word took a plural verb form) the Eunomia? Who was Rhea, and what had happened to her that so unsettled Ikarus and Nerissa? Had something happened back then that could happen again today? Ami got out of the tub, dried off, and put on her pajamas. None of the Senshi had complete memories of their past lives in the Silver Millennium. Most of them could remember intermittent stretches of the happy times they had together as five girls basking in the peace of the Silver Millennium. As far as she knew, not a one of them knew anything about who or what they had been before becoming Senshi, aside from some vague impression of what their mother planets had been like. Several times in the past, the episode with the Dead Moon Circus being the most prominent, memories had spontaneously returned to the Senshi, but only ones that were germane to the situation at hand. One of her father's favorite expressions came to mind: This is no way to run a railroad. Ami agreed. How were they supposed to make the right decisions if they did not have all of the facts? The more they knew about any potential enemies out there the better chance they had of defeating them before too much damage was done. All too often they had only reacted to a crisis rather than trying to head things off before they got out of hand. Their battles almost always ended with a hastily planned full-frontal assault on the enemy with Sailor Moon delivering the coup de grace. Each time, they were only a hair's breadth away from total defeat. In fact, the Senshi had all died, what was it--two, three times? Ami picked up her now-dry physics text and closed it so that the spine would not be permanently warped. Whether you read Newton, Einstein, Feynman, Sagan, Gell-Mann, or Hawking, the inescapable conclusion was that everything in the universe was slowly grinding to a halt. Whether that halt came in the form of a catastrophic implosion, or in the coldness of absolute zero was irrelevant. It was statistically and logically inevitable that the Senshi's powers would fail them some day. How that would happen, Ami had no idea, but one day they would die and there would be no coming back. She shook her head fiercely. She had to derail such thoughts before she became mired in depression. So the death of the universe was inevitable. So what? Until the day when she, Ami Mizuno, ceased to exist and went on to... wherever... she would continue to fight tooth, wit, and nail for those things that she considered eternal and worthy of protecting. Justice. Love. Peace. As Sailor Mercury, she would continue to battle those who would cause slavery, and suffering, and who would hasten the descent of the world into cold and darkness. And someday, as Dr. Ami Mizuno, she would work to heal illness and help stave off death and decay. If this was foolishness, then she would hold her head high and call herself a fool. Right now, she needed to focus on this dream. Something or someone had triggered a memory of something from her previous life as Sailor Mercury. No, not Sailor Mercury. Egeria. Why her? Why now? Was it a real memory or a fiction? Was she meant to see this specific memory, or was this simply a random recall of something from her past? The first thing she needed to find out was whether or not this was an isolated experience. What were the other Senshi dreaming of tonight? 7:22 a.m. Minako was late for class--again! She sprinted down the hallway, just waiting for one of the teachers to yell at her, but none of them noticed, even though they looked right at her as she passed. She was already three months into her senior year, and no one had even told her she was supposed to be in the advanced math class! She would never get into college! Never, never, never! Somehow, she managed to find the right classroom, even though she didn't know what number it was. Funny, she didn't know that the advanced math class was taught by her volleyball coach. "Good morning, team," said Coach Shimura. "Your history midterm is today, and as you know, unless you all pass, we won't be able to go on to the volleyball semi-finals." The midterm was today? Oh, yes. She'd forgotten. She was always forgetting things. Umino--figures he'd be in this class--raised his hand. "Where are the semi-finals this year?" Coach Shimura walked up and down between the desks, handing out test papers. "The tournament is in Africa. This is because there is widespread destruction in Africa. Some of you may be executed for treason. Life imprisonment in outer space is also an option." Minako nodded. That made perfect sense. The semi-finals were very important after all. "Africa is a temperate zone," droned Shimura, "with rainforests, clouds, and temperatures hot enough to boil lead. You will be responsible for bringing your own sunscreen. Its principal exports are copper, sulfur, and cats." Minako raised her hand. "Will that be on the test?" she asked. "You will be required to know the chief industries and foreign policy positions of Venus, that is correct. Be sure to mark your answers clearly, because one of your teachers is a murderer." Wow. She hadn't known that. It was nice of Coach Shimura to warn them. Or maybe *he* was the murderer, and none of them would leave the room alive. Minako wondered if Princess Serenity knew about this. She'd be awfully worried if she did. Minako wrote a note to pass to her in their next class. She reached down to put the note in her bag. Uh-oh. She wasn't in uniform any more. Maybe Coach Shimura hadn't noticed that Minako was wearing a baby-doll nightie. It was a little on the sheer side, she realized. No one was saying anything, so maybe they hadn't guessed that anything was wrong. When she sat up, she found that the top had shrunk, and didn't cover her chest completely. She tugged on the hem. If I'm not careful, she thought, they'll all see me naked, and then they'll know that I'm really V(nus). Minako looked at her test paper, and raised her hand again. "Shimura-sensei, my test paper doesn't have anything on it." "That's not my fault," he said. "You were supposed to pay attention." The rest of the class started laughing at her. "Nobody told me I had to remember all of this! It's not fair!" Minako looked at the paper with mounting panic. She would be executed for treason, and no college would accept her after that! Even worse, they might find out that she was really V(nus), and not Minako Aino. Then she'd really be in trouble. The paper hadn't been blank when she'd first gotten it, she was sure of it. Now, there weren't even any lines to show her where to write. Then, in an instant, the correct answer came to her. She could pass the test! Minako hunkered over her paper and started drawing wildly on the blank paper. The pencil she had was really great, too. It changed color whenever she wanted it to. She'd have to get some for the rest of the girls. She hoped that they were passing their tests okay. Although she thought at first that the test paper was a single sheet, it turned out to be seven pieces of paper stuck together. Clever of me to figure that out, thought Minako. I'm doing really well this time! She drew a different picture on each page, and then it was over. "Done!" The word echoed, making Minako feel all hollow inside. She looked up. The classroom was empty. "Did I pass?" There was no answer. "C'mon! Won't somebody tell me whether or not I passed? I really need to be on this team!" She started crying. "If I don't get on the team, everyone's gonna die! Will somebody please tell me if I passed? I'm supposed to be the leader of the Senshi! They need me!" The door opened. At first, Minako thought that Usagi was going to come in, but instead it was someone she didn't quite know. The woman who came in was seven feet tall and made of bronze. Minako could see seams and rivets where she was put together. Was this the murderer? She *did* have a spear with her. The bronze woman stopped at the front of the room. For a few minutes she did not move. Then, she was standing directly in front of Minako, her spear arm outstretched so that the point of the weapon was only a hair's width from Minako's brow. Then, the woman's head turned slowly and smoothly on her neck, revealing a second face just to the side of the first. This face was covered in the palest gold. It was a man's face, with a straight nose and a strong but not massive jaw. The face looked kind, but reserved. It looked at her for a moment, and then the head turned again, revealing yet another face, this one covered in rose-gold. It was the a woman's face, perfectly oval and fine-boned. The expression on the face was a mixture of sweetness and intensity. She, too, looked at Minako for a moment. The head turned once more, revealing the bronze face that had shown when the figure entered the room. This face could have been the face of a very feminine man, or a slightly mannish woman. Minako somehow knew that it was a woman, and the most dangerous of the three. Her face was handsome and fierce, but not cruel. "You," she said. "Kytheria." She jabbed the spear forward into Minako's forehead. There was a flash of orange light, and Minako screamed in pain and ecstasy. She blinked her eyes a couple of times, finally focusing on a white, furry, and concerned little face. "Jeez, Mina! Are you all right?" asked Artemis. "You were practically screaming in your sleep." "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she grumbled. "Get offa my chest, will you? Your paws are poking me in a, um, sensitive place." The white cat hopped off of the bed. Minako wondered if he was blushing under his fur. "You'd better get showered and dressed if you're going to meet Usagi in time for that manga thing you're going to." "I know, I know," she said through another yawn. She rubbed her forehead. "Hey, you didn't swat me in the head to wake me up, did you?" "Of course not!" A voice carried from out in the hallway. "Mina! Miii-na! You need to get up! It's already seven thirty! You'll miss your class!" "Old hag," muttered Minako, but it was only out of habit. "I'm up!" she called. "Dibs on the shower!" She turned to Artemis. "And no peeking. Got it?" "Sometimes I get the idea that you don't trust me," said Artemis. "Say, if you're going to be out all day, can I play with your Game Boy? I promise not to run down the batteries this time." Minako's only response to that was to pull her eyelid at him on her way out the door and mutter about how most people had *normal* cats. 8:30 a.m. There wasn't much she could accomplish today, thought Taiyouko, unless Keisuke was able to conjure that phone number out of the ether. The man had inhuman patience, and would matter-of- factly double check all of the "Chiba" listings in the greater Tokyo area, *and* look up all of the likelier misspellings, but Taiyouko had learned that it was best not to be optimistic. Tomorrow, she'd also have to go and look up property tax records and call up leasing offices in the area of the accident to try to see if there were any residents in the area who had also been around fourteen years ago. Of course, no one she needed to talk to would be in their office on a Sunday. Thank you so much, Harada-san, for handing me this case on a Friday afternoon, she griped. Frustrated, short on patience, and desperately craving a cigarette, Taiyouko decided that this would be as good a day as any to get in some target practice. Besides, her re-certification was due in a couple of weeks, and she might as well get it out of the way. Being one of the few members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police who was allowed to carry a firearm while in plain clothes was a matter of no small pride, even if she rarely took her gun with her in the field. The shooting range was sparsely populated. Before reporting down to the actual target range, she brought her weapon, ammunition, and lock box to the front desk for inspection. "Flawless as usual, Seidou-san," said Sergeant Yamato. "We'll get you set up in slot five. There are some new fellows fresh from the academy, but otherwise it's been pretty slow today." "Are they still making us use competition-style targets for re-certification?" "Afraid so. I don't know why they won't use the silhouette targets instead. Last I'd heard, no police officer has ever been attacked by a small black dot." They both laughed at the tired old joke. Both had been on the force for nearly twenty years, and both saw the use of firearms as a necessary evil, despite or even because of the fact that they were both expert shots. "Just you wait," said Yamato. "One day they'll invent a target that shoots back, and we'll all be in trouble." Taiyouko just stared at him in confusion. Where had she heard that before? Before she could remember, she was struck with a sudden coughing fit and had to run to the drinking fountain. "Boy, it's a good thing you decided to quit smoking again," said Yamato. "You sound like you're about to lose a lung." Taiyouko took a deep breath, enjoying the unimpeded flow of air down her throat. "It's not that," she gasped. "For a minute there, it felt like I was choking. I must have inhaled some lint or something." "Whatever. Head on down once you've pulled yourself together and I'll bring you the targets, along with a couple of silhouettes if you like." As Yamato had forewarned, there were four young men in the first four booths of the firing range. When did they get so young? thought Taiyouko. They each wore conservative gray or navy slacks and crisp white shirts, and none looked old enough to shave, or even drive. Murata-sensei, the venerable firearms instructor who had first taught Taiyouko to shoot, merely nodded a greeting, then turned his attention back to the young men, firmly correcting stance or grip as needed. Taiyouko had not been surprised to learn that he was also taught kendo at a local dojo. The young men looked at the newcomer with some surprise. Taiyouko wore typical pavement-pounding garb: a short-sleeved yellow blouse, a cream-colored cardigan that was worn thin at the elbows, a wrap-around denim skirt that hit just below the knee, and crepe- soled loafers. It was comfortable, easy to run in, and made her look absolutely harmless. Only the badge and I.D. clipped to her waistband marked her as police. Yamato brought her four silhouettes for practice, and five official targets with his name and the date handwritten in the corner. Taiyouko put on the ear protectors, which were never quite small enough to fit her snugly, and clipped the first silhouette to the line that would zoom it out to the desired firing distance. The cadets, or recruits, or whatever they were looked on with mild derision and amusement as Taiyouko prepared her weapon. Many women her age were at home enjoying their first grandchildren. There was no way that someone like her could be any good with a gun, they appeared to be thinking. Why, the recoil alone would probably snap those tiny wrists. She should leave the more dangerous police work to brave, strong young men, men like themselves, for example. Their expressions changed when Taiyouko calmly pegged the silhouette with three shots in less than two seconds, two taps dead to the center of the chest, the third in the middle of the forehead. She acknowledged Murata-sensei's "well done" with a polite bow, then dispatched the remaining targets as easily as the first, but even faster. It was a classic firing pattern, and if drilled to the point of being instinctive, could save an officer's life in a situation where clear thinking was not always possible. Unfortunately, it would also end the suspect's life. Taiyouko had only killed once, and she would prefer not to have to do so again. Still, she was not sorry she had done so, since it had saved two--make that three--people's lives. She took care of the qualification targets with ease, hitting the center dot straight on each time, always getting the three shots to cluster within a half-inch radius. Yamato signed off on the targets and watched carefully as Taiyouko unloaded her gun and put it back in the lock box. She already felt much better. Making loud noises and destroying things always put her in a better mood. The rare compliment from Murata-sensei should have been a stroke to her ego, but instead it managed to take some of the glow off of the shooting session. It made her feel like a fake. Her aim was naturally good, whether she was firing a gun or tossing an empty can into a distant wastebasket. When the fury that rode in the back of her mind was aroused, her aim was even better. What did it feel like, she wondered, to try to hit something and *miss*? 12:35 p.m. Minako yawned loud and long stretching one arm out and one arm up as she did. "I take it you didn't sleep well either." said Usagi. Her voice was muffled because her head was down on her sketchbook. Minako jammed a second yawn with her fist. "I had the worst dream last night. You know the one where you find out that you're supposed to be in this one class you haven't attended all year?" "You mean the one where you find out that you've got a big, important test you didn't know about?" "Yup. *That* one." Usagi shrugged. "Same-old, same-old, huh? So, were you naked, in your underwear, in a clown suit, or in your pajamas?" "Nightie. *Skimpy* nightie." Minako blinked, then lowered her head so she could look Usagi in the eye. "What do you mean, clown suit?" A clearing of the throat called their attention to the front of the room. The seminar instructor had finally gotten the attention of all the other teenagers in the room. Usagi and Minako, were of course the last to come to attention. This was too much like regular school, thought Usagi. This was supposed to be *fun*. "If you two girls are in such an animated discussion, I suppose it means that you've come up with an interesting story idea. Why don't you two be the first to share with the class?" It was not a suggestion. Their teacher, a well-known manga artist and writer, had lectured for nearly three hours on story construction, character types, how to draw a basic human figure, and so on. Students were then to divide into groups of their own choosing, and while taking a half-hour to wolf down their lunches, come up with a basic story line that they would work on for the rest of class. Needless to say, Usagi and Minako had not completed the first assignment. So, Minako did what she always did when called upon to give an answer or recitation in class: she improvised. "Well," she began, "the idea is that there's this, you know, girl. Perfectly ordinary. Perfectly ordinary home, perfectly ordinary family..." The teacher cleared his throat again. It was the kind of throat-clearing that would have grown men crying for their mommies. "Uh, anyhow, this ordinary school girl finds this magical creature. We haven't decided what kind of creature, but it's not a cat. Anyhow, this thing that's definitely not a cat but some other kind of animal altogether tells her that she's the reincarnation of the Queen of Peace, and she has to find her four guardian soldiers." Usagi could only stare at her friend in mute horror. This was beginning to sound just a little too familiar. "Anyhow, none of them can exactly remember who they were, or why the kingdom--I mean queendom..." "Realm?" suggested the teacher. He looked a little confused, which was a typical reaction to Minako-speak. "Yeah. Why the *realm* of peace went kablooie in the first place, so they've got to try to figure that out *and* try to find the Queen's boyfriend, who's also out there with a scrambled memory *and* keep their old enemy from killing them even though they don't know who the enemy is..." "Very interesting," said the teacher once Minako reached a point in her narrative that could be interpreted as something like a pause. "It sounds like your characters are trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle without benefit of having the picture on the box. Now remember, you have to work up a detailed outline and character sketches to share by the end of class." The class then listened to another group's tale of battling mecha and why it was logical for said mecha to resemble dogs. "V-babe!" Usagi whispered fiercely, "what are you doing! That's *our* story!" "Oh, like he'd know that," said Minako. Her eyes were bright and she had a feral smile on her face. "We've had adventures wilder than anything in any manga I've ever seen, so why shouldn't we take advantage of all this great material? Besides," she added, frowning now, "it burns me down that I haven't seen a lick of profit from any of the Sailor V toys, games, cartoons, stickers, temporary tattoos, pencil toppers, candy dispensers, key chains..." "I know. I cringe every time I see a Sailor Moon plushie. I mean, come on! I know I don't look *that* fat. I did buy a mug, though," she admitted. "And a cell-phone cover." She almost bought the Sailor Saturn key chain, since it was so cute, but had decided it would not be worth the inevitable teasing. "Doesn't Shingo collect all of that junk?" "Yeah. I'm giving him an autographed picture for his birthday." She grinned. "Why not? All it costs me is the cost of developing and a few strokes of the pen." "I like it," said Minako. "Why do things the hard way? Speaking of, you know that we're not going to have any trouble coming up with characters." Both girls grinned evilly, then sobered. "Do you want to be the one to tell Rei and Makoto that we turned them into manga characters?" asked Minako. Usagi shook her head violently. "They'll pound us to a pulp. Remember the whole 'Senshi Spotters' business?" "Uh, I was thinking more along the lines of us not having to share the proceeds," said Minako. "How about we come up with different characters altogether? You know, have it be Mako-chan, but with, say, pink and green hair and make her attacks even more plant- like than storm-like?" "Oh. I see..." All sorts of images whirled through Usagi's mind. There was so much that they could do with costumes and jewelry, and cool magical weapons. The Senshi's uniforms only differed in color. The shoes used to be different, but with the last change in their transformations, they all had those white boots. If they did new characters, each one could have a completely different outfit. Several good ideas lined up in her head, each shouting for her immediate attention. "Let's each do quick sketches of you, me, Rei, Ami, Mako-chan, Luna, and Artemis," suggested Minako. "We should probably include Pluto and the rest," mused Usagi. "It doesn't seem right to leave them out." "Well, we didn't really meet them until after the whole Black Moon thing. I mean, we met Pluto then, but was that really *our* Pluto? Didn't she die back then... I mean front then... oh, you know what I'm trying to say!" Usagi knew. It was something she'd wondered about from time to time. Would the woman they knew as Setsuna Meiou eventually stop time in the future to stop Prince Diamond from putting the Ginzuishou of the past and the future together, or did the soul of the future Pluto get sent back to the twentieth century to be reborn in Tokyo? Was there right now a lonely Sailor Pluto standing guard at the Gates of Time, doomed to die a thousand years from now? "Let's leave out the whole Black Moon story, then," said Usagi. "All of this time travel never did make sense to me." Plus she remembered how... unpleasant it had felt when her body started fading due to her proximity to the comatose NeoQueen Serenity. "Let's just get this outline and the character sketches finished so we don't look totally stupid when it's time for the group critique." Minako agreed. They looked at their outline and realized that they had to add a few more characters. The most important of these was a love interest for the queen. "The King of Justice," said Usagi. She didn't know where the idea came from, but the name felt right. "It goes with the Queen of Peace. The idea is that until the Queen finds him, there is nothing but injustice in the land, and people go unpunished for their crimes." "Why's he missing?" asked Minako. "Have we decided on that one yet?" "Someone betrayed him? You know, treason?" Minako's pencil snapped in two, and as she ducked under the table to retrieve the pieces, Usagi heard something that she took as agreement. Once they agreed on important details about the king, such as his hair color, blood type, favorite food, astrological sign, etc., Usagi suggested that he should have a set of four guardians like the ones that Endymion had once had. "He hardly ever talks about them," said Usagi, "but I know he wonders what things would have been like if they hadn't turned on him. We can have our guys turn evil for a while, but then they can become good again, the way Mamoru did after we defeated Beryl. That way we can have a *really* happy ending." She looked up and scanned the room to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on their unusual conversation. "I've got a great idea! Why don't we have it so that each of the Queen's soldiers hooks up with one of the King's guardians?" Minako made a list of names, and started drawing arrows (with little hearts as the tips) between different names. "That way, we can have one couple be all romantic and sweet, while another is all angsty because their families are at war or something, another couple keeps getting into these bizarre misunderstandings, and another couple seems like they really hate each other, but deep down they like each other. How about it, Usagi?" "Nah," said Usagi, trying not to cringe at this cliché-fest. "That's too neat. You only want to pair everyone off because you had that crush on Kunzite." Minako's horrified look was priceless. "You *remember* that?" Usagi giggled. "You two would have looked cute together. Too bad he was, er..." "Evil? Trying to kill us?" said Minako. Her pencil was making very dark lines as it dug into the paper. "Gay," Usagi said meekly. "WHAT!" When several other people, including the teacher, turned to look at them, Minako leaned towards Usagi and lowered her voice to a hiss. "He was *not*!" Usagi just closed her eyes and nodded solemnly. "No way! Where did you hear that?" "Mamo-chan." "I probably really don't want to know this, but was he getting it on with... one of the other three?" Again, Usagi nodded. "Zoisite." "I don't mean to be politically incorrect or anything, but ewww! I mean, that's just... ewww!" "Hey! You're the one who gets all drooly over Tokyo Babylon," Usagi retorted. She fluttered her eyelashes and tried to imitate Minako's voice. "Oooh! Wouldn't Seiishirou and Subaru make just the *cutest* couple! It's a shame about Subaru's sister, but love conquers all!" "That's different! Two guys can be cute together if I don't like one of the guys! It also helps," she snarled, "if they're fictional characters! That's cute. It's also not cute when yours truly gets dumped in favor of a guy." Usagi decided that it would not be prudent to point out that one had to be involved with someone before one could be dumped by that someone. Sometimes Minako acted as if her title of Senshi of Love and Beauty should carry over into everyday life. "Listen, if it helps any, Zoisite looked pretty girly." "Even in my past life," groused Minako, "all the guys I liked were either involved with someone else or gay." Or gay *and* involved with someone else *and* evil, thought Usagi. Minako really did have the worst luck with guys. "Hey, maybe we can make a couple of the king's guardians be kind-of-sort-of in love with each other, but they never actually say so, and then we can have all of this romantic tension and that are-they-aren't- they..." Usagi finally noticed the look that Minako was giving her. It was a look that was only ten seconds away from detonation. "... or maybe we can just have the handsome, sexy general be madly in love with the leader of the Queen's soldiers?" she finished weakly. "Exactly. Then, of course, the beautiful, resourceful, intelligent soldier gets to drop a very large rock on him when he turns to the Dark Side," Minako said, a very scary grin crossing her face. "Or maybe I should just use an anvil. Or a piano. Yeah, that's more like it..." She bent over the outline and started scribbling with a vengeance. Literally. Usagi only shook her head. She didn't know if it would be a good or a bad thing if Minako ever found a boyfriend. She corrected Minako as she wrote, or told her to leave this out, it was too embarrassing, or to not have something be quite so scary. Instead of having a Luna and an Artemis, they decided to have just one magical creature. Time flew by. Eventually, the teacher made his round from group to group, offering a suggestion here and there. Each time he left a group, there was a flurry of creative activity in his wake. When he came over to Usagi and Minako's table, Usagi nervously slid the outline across the table to him. She could feel the blush rising in her face. "You don't have any character sketches yet?" Both girls blushed even redder and shook their heads. "I see," he said. He started to read. "Hmm. There are a lot of spelling mistakes in here, and I really don't think that this is the kanji you wanted to use here, unless the princess has her memories restored by means of a magical ball of yarn. Still..." His voice trailed off as he continued to read. "This is good. This is really good." He slid the paper back. "The two of you have obviously spent some time on this, and it shows. If you can come up with some good characterizations and good designs, you might have something here that would really sell." "How about that!" gloated Minako. "Now all we have to do is get these characters done, and..." They both looked at the clock. There was only one hour left until the class critique. Both girls bent over their sketchbooks with a will, drawing, erasing, coloring, neither one looking at the other's work until the teacher gave them the five minute alert. "Whew! I never thought we'd finish! I only got the Queen, her friends, the King, and the creature drawn. What about you? Please tell me you drew the King's guardians," said Minako. "Sorry. I drew the same ones you did." Usagi shrugged. "They're the main characters, though. The rest don't really matter, I guess." "You're probably right. Hey, what did you do for the magical creature?" "I did a dragon," said Usagi. "It turned out pretty good, huh?" She flipped the page over to the dragon. It looked more like a winged serpent, with dark scales, something like a mane, and translucent wings. Minako stared, mouth open in a tiny 'o'. "Good, huh?" said Usagi. For response, a shaky Minako flipped to her drawing of the creature. She too had drawn a winged serpent. There were a few minor differences between the pictures--Minako's dragon had cherry red eyes and solid black scales while Usagi's had maroon eyes and green highlights on the otherwise black body--but the main details were the same. "Oh," said Usagi. "Did you do a woman in armor with honking big wings and carrying a spear?" asked Minako. Usagi flipped to that picture. They then compared other pictures. The styles varied, as did the poses of the characters, but anyone could have seen that they had drawn the same seven characters. The Queen. The King. The Dragon. Each had drawn something like a wood nymph and a water sprite. There was the woman in armor, and another woman who carried a large scroll and wore a red, hooded robe. Two minutes left. "This is weird," said Minako. "Really weird." "We should tell the others," said Usagi, even as she felt her heart sink within her. She'd had one year of normality, and now... The teacher once again cleared his throat. "Time's up," he called. 6:59 p.m. After target practice, Taiyouko used the remainder of her day off to clear her desk of some paperwork that would otherwise not get done during the next couple of weeks of investigating and babysitting. For her, knowing that the busywork was taken care of was just as refreshing as a day at the beach and a couple of glasses of Chardonnay. At six-thirty, feeling that she had merited a mini- vacation, she decided that she would spend the rest of the evening stitching and watching television. She had just finished sorting out the beads and floss she would need when the phone rang. It took her a few seconds to realize that it was her cell phone, not her regular phone. That meant it was work. Please, oh please, let it be Keisuke and not some new case. "Seidou here," she snapped. "Seidou-san? It's Takamori." Taiyouko's mood shifted. "Keisuke! Just the man I was thinking about." "I won't pass that on to my wife, if you don't mind." She could practically hear the grin on the other end of the line. "I think we have our boy's number." She sighed. "Please don't tell me you worked all day on your day off, Keisuke." "I'm afraid I did," he admitted, "though little of it was on this case. There was a little matter of some filthy gutters, and a softball game, but I was able to swing by the Keiou campus on the off chance that I could find someone who knew our Mr. Chiba. I got us a phone number *and* an address." "Not bad, not bad." She made a mental note to have a little talk with the head of Campus Security about educating these supposedly smart students. Keisuke's tactics were the same ones used by a piece of human garbage who had raped and killed three young women before Taiyouko and Keisuke could run him to ground. She was still fuming at the way that the Tokyo University staff had hushed things up in order to save face. "Three points to Detective Takamori." He sighed. "Only two points, I'm afraid. The gutters are clean, we have our boy's number, but Misako's softball team was utterly destroyed. We've tried everything, up to and including ice cream, to cheer her up, but nothing works. Ready for the number?" "Just a sec." Taiyouko rifled through the cross-stitch supplies she'd laid out for the evening's entertainment. At last she found a mechanical pencil. Miracle of miracles, it actually had lead in it. "Ready." Keisuke gave her the number and she jotted it down on the edge of her cross-stitch pattern. "Are you going to call tonight?" he asked. Taiyouko looked longingly at the half-completed angel she was stitching. "Probably," she said. "That way I won't waste any time tracking him down tomorrow. I'll see you bright and early, and thanks again for the good work. Tell Misako-chan I'm sorry she lost, and that she should be a good sport a gracious loser, and that Auntie Taiyouko will track down the other team's pitcher and break her kneecaps." After she hung up with Keisuke, Taiyouko stared at the phone for what seemed like a long time. Somewhere far back in her mind she felt the old fury tense and crouch as if to spring. Making this call might very well be the thing that would throw open the gate and release this beast. She stifled a cough. For the first time in her long career, Taiyouko Seidou thought about giving up. She could tell Harada that the case was too cold, that this International Police Association program would take too much of her time and energy, that there were other cases that were far more important. She could even tell him that she was finally going to use some of that vacation time she'd been stockpiling. Hell, she could even take early retirement, pack up her cross-stitching and quilting and move to Hokkaido. But then she'd never know what all this was about. She would never be able to flush out this thing that had been haunting the edges of her mind since before she could remember. Her hand paused on the receiver. If she called Chiba now, he'd have time to prepare for the interview. He might even decide to skip town. Then again, Saori Mishima probably warned him she'd call. She had nothing to lose. She lifted the receiver and dialed the number. Her boy answered on the second ring. "Mamoru Chiba? This is Detective Taiyouko Seidou with the Tokyo Police. Some questions have come up in a case I'm working, and I was hoping you could help me out." 10:45 p.m. Despite Saori's warning, the call had come as a shock. Maybe it was because he didn't think that this Detective Seidou would call on a Sunday. Maybe it was because he didn't really think that any of this was real. It still didn't seem real. He didn't have anything to worry about. He hadn't done anything wrong. So why couldn't he fall asleep? Mamoru stared up at the ceiling with his hands tucked behind his head. He could still hear the cool, slightly raspy voice that had been on the other end of the line. "Mamoru Chiba? This is Detective Taiyouko Seidou with the Tokyo Police." He wondered what sort of person went with that voice. It had betrayed no emotion, no particular sense of urgency. If anything, it sounded faintly amused. "Some questions have come up in a case I'm working, and I was hoping you could help me out." Still, there was something about that voice that cut straight through to a very old part of his brain. "It's important that we get together as soon as possible. I was thinking tomorrow afternoon or evening. What time should I stop by your apartment?" It was the part of the brain that cued an adrenaline surge and tightened the muscles to brace the body for impact. It caused the same sort of sensation as when he had once tripped at the head of a flight of steps and almost didn't catch himself before he fell. He didn't even realize until an hour afterwards that Detective Seidou hadn't given him the option of *not* meeting on Monday. What would have happened had he tried to refuse? "I'll see you at three, then," she said when he gave her a time. From the tone of her voice, she could have been agreeing to meet for high tea or telling him when he'd be facing the firing squad. He remembered looking at the few possessions he'd accumulated, his photographs, his furniture, his books, his music collection. What would she make of them? What would they betray about who he was? What did his housekeeping say about what sort of person he was? Were the magazines too straight on the coffee table? Would she know if he deliberately knocked them crooked? Would it look suspicious if he dusted? He remembered that first time he'd brought Usa-ko here, right after he'd found out she was Sailor Moon and just before she found out that he was Tuxedo Kamen. He hadn't meant to leave his mask and jacket out where she could see them when she woke from her faint, but he had left them, and Usa-ko put two and two together. But then, he'd wanted her to find out. Now, his outfit appeared in a transformation like that of the other Senshi, but he still wondered if the detective would somehow *know* that the tuxedo, cape, and domino mask were there, just below the surface. Don't be silly, he told himself. He had nothing to worry about. He hadn't done anything wrong. But he did have something to hide. He wondered if he should tell Usa-ko, as Saori had suggested. He didn't want her to worry, though. More specifically, he didn't want her to worry about *him*. He hated that he did not have the kind of defenses that could stand up to the enemies they faced. He had fallen so easily, so many times. Beryl. Black Lady. Galaxia. Each in her own way used him as a weapon against Usa-ko. He had hurt her terribly, if not in body, then in her heart. He could never not love Usa-ko. He loved her goodness. He loved her willingness to forgive, to love, and to believe the best of people. He even loved her silliness. Specific memories drifted through his sleepy, wakeful mind--Sailor Moon getting drunk on champagne, Usa-ko baking cookies with salt instead of sugar, the two of them tumbling from a balcony with only a magical umbrella to slow their fall, Usa-ko begging him for a silly little kaleidoscope--and he could not help but smile and chuckle softly to himself. Once, he had been stupid enough to believe that it would be better if Usa-ko did not love him, and he had even tried to push her away that one time when he was desperately ill. He had learned though, that she needed him. She needed his strength, even if he did not yet understand exactly what that strength was. Right now, she needed his strength more than ever. In pursuit of his medical degree, he had taken a few psychology courses. Maybe it was because of this that he noticed how Usa-ko startled easily, or how her mood shifted suddenly into tears and towards something he feared was despair. Other times, he had caught her staring into space, or he could practically hear a *twang* from nerves stretched taut. Mako-chan was the only other one who seemed noticed that anything was amiss. At least, she was the only one who'd approached him about it. "She's acting the same way she did after Galaxia, well, you know..." Killed him. Killed him right in front of Usa-ko. "... anyway, she somehow made herself forget what happened. She did a good job for a while, even had the rest of us fooled, but then she started acting kind of squirrelly." Mako-chan's green eyes had been hazy with worry. "Sort of like she's acting now. It really only started oh, about six months ago, to be honest," she admitted when he pressed for clarification. It finally hit him. Six months ago was Christmas Eve. The night he had finally proposed to her. His initial attempt at a proposal had been gruesomely interrupted by the power-hungry Galaxia. He thought he had waited long enough since the incident. Everything had calmed down, and it looked like Usa-ko was going to finish up her second year of high school without too much trouble. He thought that the festivity of the holiday would drown out the memory of that horrible day in the airport. Obviously, it hadn't been enough. PTSD was the clinical-sounding abbreviation used in his psychology courses. Post-traumatic stress disorder. Her behavior certainly fit the diagnostic criteria. He knew what the problem was, but what was he going to do about it? Two psych courses didn't exactly make him a licensed psychotherapist. One thing he would do about it, he told himself firmly, was to keep quiet about this police interview until it was all over. Saori suggested that it could be about almost anything. An investigation into some hidden part of one of his professor's lives. Some incident he'd witnessed that had seemed unimportant at the time. Once it was over, it would just be some interesting story, something that he might be able to turn into a joke. After all, he himself had done nothing wrong. He had nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. Sometime in the small hours of the morning, Mamoru finally drifted off into a dreamless sleep. # # # Coming up in Chapter Four: Various characters meet each other for the first time, one of the Senshi encounters a new enemy, Haruka gets a little closer to nature, Mamoru asks a friend for a favor, and the Senshi learn the value of having a telephone chain.