Hovering over the body of Kai, it was obvious she was attractive in a rough edged sort of way, though Makoto did not really care. Upon spying the creature, she set Ayana down and said: 'Hide. Don't come out until I call you.'
With crystal eyes, her lip trembled. 'But Mama-san…'
Papa is close, be quiet, please, she replied firmly in her mind.
Hai, Mama-san, she answered obediently and turned, chasing a shadow back into the house.
"Get away from her!" Makoto cried sharply in English, drawing her saber from the leather sheath on the belt of her robe, as she ran with a fury in her step.
"Oh damn," the woman cursed, hopping backwards from the harshly beaten girl, to her feet. A faint ring of steel pronounced the existence of her two handed claymore.
"What'd you do to her!" Makoto snarled, dropping on the woman with her weight behind her sword. She met the strike easily, and pushed Makoto back with what seemed a minimal effort.
Makoto, wait!
"Listen," the blonde started to say. "I really don't want to fight you."
A shrill cry bolted from Makoto's throat as she struck several times, in what seemed to be less than rational attacks. Aptly and cleanly, the muscular stranger dodged the first lunge, and parried the following motions. With a frown of annoyance, she hit Makoto across the head with the pommel of her sword. Stunned, she stumbled backwards.
"Hey! Sorry for that, but I'm here with Mamoru, Makoto!" the woman cried in a partially commanding tone. "Um… and Han needs our help!"
"What?" she gasped, hand on head, enthralled by the mention of her husband.
Hanlan, dear child. Ayana's knowledge of her father's location is very accurate, Ellison replied calmly. Both heads turned as an utterance of protective fury was recognized.
"What the hell…?" the woman flinched, striking towards the direction of the voice. Her narrowed eyes eventually reached Makoto. “Freakin' telepaths are everywhere! Gotta catch a break… somehow…”
The other was half into a nod when she was interrupted. "Fine. You stay here. I'm going after Mai."
"The hell you are!" she retorted. A challenge drifted nigh visibly between the two fighters. Finally Aaran turned as if conceding. However, she said: "Kai'll be fine. I'll just leave my blade with her." She unsheathed a plain - yet beautiful – and lithely placed the blade on the brutally marked young woman. Aaran turned to the apparent leader. "There. Better already. Hey, you wanna go or what?"
'Hai!'
The stranger had to be impressed, Makoto moved quickly for a non-augmented human. Quickly enough for her to have to jog to remain abreast. Impressed for a brief period, perhaps.
"Gots damn this! Let's fly!" she called out, leaping at Makoto who reflexively ducked. She yelped as she felt her feet parted company with the earth, the rough beating of wings assaulting her ears.
'Nani!?'
She laughed delightedly. "Now that's a rush, right?!"
"You - you… oh, um what do I call you?"
"What?!”
“Your name!” Makoto threw a glare upwards.
Aaran flinched. "Aaran! Okay, there they are, we're just in time!… You ready or what?!"
“Yes!”
"Right then!" Her grip loosened sharply, and Makoto felt the air surge as she descended quickly towards a shadowed target.
Mai ducked and rolled forward on one shoulder as Makoto's blade slipped easily into the shoulder of the beast. Whirling with a howl echoing forth from a purple rend of a mouth, Makoto's vision flashed crimson as pain seared across her face.
"Makoto!" Mai cried, pushing back her sweat matted hair with a bloodied hand.
"That's flakkin’ it!" bellowed a Boom-Gun of a voice. "No twobit creep hits my wife!!"
With a harsh roar, a silver-grey club of nigh ridiculous proportions careened in a deliberated course to introduce the creature to the earth. Makoto's ears screamed at her as the shadow-creature dispersed in a chaotic cacophony of sound. Stumbling to her feet, she muttered:
"Han…?"
"Mako!" he cried, gently; for his voice could easily strike one down as the strength of his fist. He received her gratefully to his arms and held her like a lost love. Two others appeared beyond the wall of forest, and that of shade, taking upon the sight of the reunited with heartfelt smiles. Tears abundant spoke to Hanlan, even as she discovered were not so great a distance in departure from her mind and mouth.
"I guess now y-you've got an excuse to fight…" she gazed at him, eyes wet and imploring.
He smiled at her, all gentility, yet no restraint.
"Babe yer bleedin’ all over tha place," and he took a cloth from his pocket to hold to her face.
“It’ll stop soon, I promise,” she said, and thought, When I can concentrate…
Mai scrambled over to her pallid child while the party gazed on, and upon taking her into her arms, cried: "She's not breathing!"
The young woman standing aside Mamoru went to right to Mai's side and interposed herself between mother and daughter. "Step aside," she declared. "I'm a Healer."
Clasped together, Demelza laid her hands on her chest and bowed her head in silence, letting her training guide her were she knew her emotions could not. Mai stared on, unconcealed terror in her eyes. Mamoru stepped up next to her, sympathy flickering within.
"Can she save her? What's she doing?" she whispered.
Mamoru glanced at her, manner cool, empathy flowing from him like sanguine perfume. "She is a psychic healer, and she can."
"Who are you?" Mai requested in tones less than at any form of ease.
"Mamoru Chiba, Mai-san. Friend of Makoto."
"Mama!" Tenma coughed as she was received to her mother's arms. "Mama-san… I'm okay…"
Grateful tears stirred Mai's heart, and spilled over her cheeks as she held her daughter and merely nodded vaguely at the Healer.
"What about Kai?" Hanlan asked, worry upon his thick-seeming brow. Makoto pushed herself from his shoulder slightly, and pointed at Aaran back at the house.
"She'll be fine. Aaran's taking care of her," she noted, sounding oddly confident of the fact.
"Makoto-san?" For a moment her heart held at the voice, hardly believing the existence of it. As she turned, Hanlan sighed, and she saw hope again, faded though it might be.
Rather abruptly, Makoto turned to Mai. 'Mai, I am sorry. I am so very sorry!'
A harshly thoughtful look penetrated Mai's gentle features. 'Why, Makoto? This isn't your fault.'
Makoto set aside her coffee, and stood, turning away. 'You would not have been involved if I did not come. I drew you into this.'
'No my sister, we are hatamoto,' Mai smiled, rising to meet the long time sensei of her children as she paced, drawing her to a sudden halt.
Makoto's eyes fell. 'You have done so much for my daughter and I…'
"Babe?" spoke a deep, yet gentle voice. Immediately, Makoto's eyes shot upwards, catching Hanlan standing just in the doorway, Ayana in one thick arm. "It's 'cause she cares."
'You understand Japanese, Hanlan-san?' Mai inquired with a slight smile.
“Jus' a bit,” he grinned.
"I have been a fool… Uh… Oh! When we married… before I… um…" Makoto started slowly. She noticed Ayana peering between a pair of shogi doors. “Ayana… come here!”
"Mama-san! Papa-san"
"You were pregnant!" A welcome smile lit Hanlan's face as he watched Ayana run up to him. With a definite leap, she landed in his accepting arms. Laughing and cajoling her, he beamed, and Makoto could see he would be a wonderful father.
"Ayana, how old are you?"
She rolled her little brown eyes, toying with her hair. "Six, Papa-san."
"She looks just like you – Mama-san!"
"And she's got your temper," she replied easily, albeit sharply.
“Let us go in before the chill does us in,” Mai suggested.
Inside, Mamoru did not require prompting to explain, "Demelza did more than save my life. When you all disappeared, I
was lost. We were all lost. Luna and Artemis barely knew where to start."
"Luna! Oh heavens! Artemis… Are they alright?" Makoto said with apprehension of the answer.
"They're fine. When we came through… after fighting Akari and Yanei… they became human."
'Nani?' she half shrieked in Japanese. 'What do you mean?!'
'Makoto…' he cursed lightly. 'I don't know how to say it… It's way beyond my ability to understand.' Entreating her with his gaze, he continued. 'They're very happily in love, Makoto. They've married. It's amazing.'
Makoto shook her head at the impossibility. 'The human part I don't get, but the rest…' she breathed and leaned tiredly upon Hanlan. 'I am happy for them.'
A smile appeared upon Mamoru's face. 'So you are married.' Somehow a sliver of irony failed to escape his words.
'Just squeezed it in before I got—no, it doesn't matter now. It was scary. I've been away from Han for too long,' she replied, astonished by the abrupt awareness that it was Mamoru she was speaking to. The thought fled as she squeezed Hanlan.
"Guys?"
One and all turned to the source of the voice.
"Tenma's stable now, and Kai wants to talk to you," Demelza said calmly.
"Oh Ayana… she's fallen asleep," Makoto sighed slowly, in sweet tones. "Mai? Would you please…?"
She shook her head, stepping up to Hanlan, arms open. "Not at all."
Hanlan proffered - with much hesitance - Ayana to Mai. It was a moment before he let her go, smiling as he did. Mai bowed her head slightly, and was gone to lay her down to rest. Hanlan quite expected Makoto to run into his arms, and was half surprised when she did not. Watching her, he finally perceived the matter; something inside held her in place. A frown replaced the smile he wore, and he approached her.
"Listen, darlin'… whatever it is, we can deal. I ain't crossed so many dimensions t' have ya run away from me now."
Utterly wordless facing her beloved husband, Makoto's heart twisted against her soul, as she felt her emotions rend, coming to lean towards Hanlan, and though flinching, not running, nor wishing escape.
Kai was clear eyed though bandaged near to mummification.
"At college I met group of people who, well… have formed a secret society based around the Bishojo Sailor Senshi. In fact," she gazed at Makoto firmly though sleepily from her bed, "I joined them. I've known your identities for almost four years now. They've known for much longer."
Dumbfounded, Makoto harbored a stupefied gaze for a moment.
"You were never suppose to know about us," she said, admitting that she had known the answer in advance. "But we were there just in case Sailor Moon ever really did crumble… and now I guess there's no choice…"
@~%~~~
Makoto awoke nauseous, not wondering for a moment if pregnancy was a concern. Celibacy was the only thing that felt right to her in Hanlan's absence. The grounds were eerily quiet, lacking even the distant sound of animals. Heart thudding in her chest, she climbed out of bed and dressed against all logic. Then she went outside to patrol.
The practice over the years had eased her mind at times, reminding her of the days she had regained control, serving Coake and awakening her physic strength. Reaching out provided no comfort. It was a faint light in absolute stillness. She followed this sensation against all better judgement. While she had not tried to manifest her psi-blade in such a long time, she trusted the instincts that honed its lethal edge.
They told her to find and confront this presence. It was not far into the forest that she located the being. In the darkness, it could have been anyone – but it was unmistakably female – if not for her voice. It was so damned familiar.
"Usagi-chan?" she called hesitantly, hardly believing she could ever sound so calculated, so selfish. A deep dulcet chuckle met Makoto's ears.
'I am Tsukino Jisuruka,' and the form behind the voice peeled forth from the absence of light. She was a dark parody of her friend, glare as harsh as it was sultry, demanding as it was seductive. Despite her anger, Makoto felt a faint blush rise in her cheeks.
'I know why you're here,' the woman stated with slightest trace of a smile. She set her feet upon the earth, and regarded Makoto with a direct curiosity. In response Makoto flinched, not quite knowing why. 'How do you fare? How is Hanlan? Is he gentle or rough behind closed doors and shuttered windows…? You have been so long without… it.'
Makoto's nostrils flared as she scowled. The chuckle returned. She was struck by the condescending quality that this strange woman was relaying. She hissed, 'Usagi has no sisters.'
'Do tell,' she replied seriously, a callous smile darkening her face.
'Oh I will,' she said. The pale blue of Makoto's psi-blade lit her chin as she placed the tip of her blade to the female creature's throat.
She did not tense. 'You are boring me, Makoto… maybe I will just see how he likes me, perhaps… hai?'
A retaliatory cry tore out from the core of her being, making Jisuruka startle, and take back from her. Before, however, she could ask for more than two steps, the threatening blade took at her shoulder, slicing the black fabric and bringing forth a crimson mark. The woman staggered back with a low grunt, and gripped her shoulder, blood painting a partial glove upon her hand.
'Curse you Makoto… have you not learned?' she cried, drawing her free hand up to clasp into a fist. Makoto abruptly felt an impulse to duck, though her body did not seem too eager in complying. Jisuruka placed her left hand on Makoto's chest and uttered softly: 'Dire Force!'
The sensation of her chest exploding was interrupted by the pain of smashing into a tree. She inhaled, and then exhaled. Still alive. Gradually, as she gathered her wits, Jisuruka grabbed her by the bangs of her hair and slammed her head against the tree, indicating clearly who had control.
'What you have made me do? It is a tiresome bore. I own your life and would take it – doubt me not,' she snarled deeply, turning Makoto to face her as she kicking her knee into her stomach. 'But I need to leave a warning to your merry girlfriends of magic.'
'What…?' she gasped faintly, blood curling at the corner of her lip.
'Your tarty little cavalry, you bludgeoned cow.'
'I don't,' she coughed, 'don’t… know…'
'Enough,' intoned gently, then clenched her open hand and hovered it above Makoto's left cheek. Her nails dug into the fleshy part of Makoto's cheek, who thrashed threw her back several feet. She yelped, holding her bloodied face.
'Show them all, you human loving whore,' Jisuruka cursed evenly. After a moment of seeming study, appreciating her work, she sneered: 'Your life is ours,' as she faded into nothing. '…and that is to say nothing of what my sisters will do to you before then!'
Stark fear held Makoto, hating this creature, hating her with her soul, wanting desperately to kill her, cursing her mark. Footsteps rumbled up to her and the muscular bulk of Halan right behind. She twisted in his arms as he shook her, gentle as a baby.
"Hanlan…?!" she muttered wearily, adrenaline ebbing.
"Where’d that beastie go!” he got to his feet and drew her easily into his arms. Her eyes, half-lidded, took to him stunned, as a lost child. “Aw, y’got cut up again. Gots damn it.”
To tell you plainly, Hanlan was quite angry. For the wound would heal only stubbornly, was certain to scar, and there was not a single thing he could do about the entire matter. He never took such things lightly, even when it was best to; it was not in him. Makoto's fear transcended his own, for she was sharply aware of the power of the woman, and her nature. Kai somehow seemed to have a subtle awareness of Jisuruka, though, she admitted, it was not her own.
"Osaka has been watching them," she stated, frowning slightly at Makoto. "They've made some countermeasure of some sort. I don't know what, though…" she shrugged.
"I swear it was Usagi," Makoto frowned bitterly. "But she only used Usagi's family name. She did mention something…"
‘…that is to saying nothing of what my sisters wil
l do…!’
"…uhm… she said… um… she has sisters." For the first time in a while, she was deathly frightened. She pressed her fingers slightly to the bandage of the wound, and winced. "It shouldn't hurt this much."
"Definitely a spell, and tricky stuff too," Aaran explained. "Made up of two parts; a tracer, and physical manifestation thingy. Lotsa fun."
The Mega-Juicer Hanlan had travelled with. A brash woman, strong, a fighter, someone she could understand. "That would explain why I have broken ribs and a concussion," Makoto blinked, her eyes weary from the pain alone.
"I've done what I can," Demelza stated, clasping her hands in her lap as she sat. "The wounds are magical in nature, and beyond my ability to heal."
'Sisters? I haven't heard anything…' A none-too-vague scowl appeared upon Kai's face as she stood and began pacing. Her eyes settled on her mother, who looked the least on edge.
'What about Osaka? Wouldn't she know?'
Kai held her with a dark, uncertain look. 'She might, I'm not sure. We'd have to go see her.'
Chapter 29
Grep or Grok?