Story: Tainted Cube: Outgoing Spirit

So this is about a week later than I had hoped... But here it is now either way. Let me know what you make of it.
Did you know that Rei Ayanami was apparently named "Rei" in the first place in an attempt to make appeals to those involved in the production of <i>Sailor Moon</i>? These attempts did fail, though Misato did wind up being voiced by the same person that did so for Usagi. Still, that is a fascinating coincidence if true, isn't it? The most famous Rei in anime being named after the second most famous. Or perhaps it is the other way around? Depends on your perspective, probably. Either way. The coincidence is there, and for the purposes of the cube… Well, a coincidence is a little much to ignore.

It's also rather peculiar because of how easily both of them suit the name. Rei can mean many things, but two meanings in particular leap out at us. Zero for the pilot of Unit 00. Or perhaps in reference to her lack of personal identity. Alternatively it can mean spirit, which is appropriate either for the vessel of Lillith's spirit, or for a miko. Either way, whatever meanings their names may have it matters rather shockingly little. Shinji had thought something a great deal like "I wish Rei was more outgoing", and the cube seized upon that desire, reached out across the seven other worlds, and found only one other Rei among them directly connected to its holder. And peculiarly enough, it was a meeting that would transpire very, very soon…

"I… Sense something," Rei Hino said, meditating in the shrine in front of a fire. "A strange energy. Dangerous. Powerful… Ah!"

Her eyes flew open in shock, and she shook where she sat, clutching at her sides. How very peculiar. Rei had been having visions just like that for a few weeks now, the intensity and raw emotion behind them growing each time they occured. She could not figure out what they meant, and could barely even remember what they were about, but she knew… She knew they were important somehow. If only she could remember! If only she could… She could…

Rei exhaled quite rapidly and felt her thighs rubbing together. She looked down at herself. Down at her miko robes, that she'd worn for at least a little time every day for… goodness, how many years had she worn something like this? For the first time in all that time, a strange thought passed through Rei's conscious thoughts: "Not showing enough skin."

It was strange, really. The thought seemed alien, yet… right. This was not really her style at all. Why, it was easier to imagine herself in something… tighter. Darker. With a whip on her belt for punishing those that step out of line. She picked herself up and stumbled to her room in a haze of strange but welcome tingling sensations all through her body. Ooh, yes! She could see it now. Perverted boys chatting her up, thinking she'd be an easy pull, only to learn that their place was kissing her feet in adoration. Or perhaps she would turn a shy wallflower's hidden fantasies loose upon the world. These thoughts and others like them washed over Rei's mind, shaping her and moulding her in ways she could never expect. Soon enough she was in her room disrobing and reaching for her wardrobe, throwing it open and staring at the contents within.

And Rei wasn't remotely surprised to see that the contents of it had somehow altered to suit her new tastes… Nor did she particularly care why it had happened at all.

<hr>

"You should have been more careful," the cat said. The talking cat said. The talking cat with the moon crescent on its forehead and a really posh accent. That cat. The one that was talking. "By allowing your friend to realise your secret, you have placed her in great jeapordy!"

Usagi blinked a little while squeezing Naru's hand in what was probably intended as a reassuring gesture, but instead primarily served as a reminder about what those fingers had been up to a little while ago. Her voice broke through the haze of memories by saying "But… hasn't she been involved in almost every incident so far?"

"Well, yes, I suppose so, but that doesn't change the fact -"

"And besides which," Ami interrupted. Ami Mizuno. Smartest girl in probably all of Japan and if not, certainly up there. A girl whose thighs Naru's head had spent a considerable portion of the evening in between. "Didn't she already wind up being targeted earlier on anyway? I can hardly see how knowing our civilian identities will put her in greater risk than that."

"What happens if they kidnap her again? Torture her?" the cat sighed. "What is done is done, but do take better care in future. If our enemies ever get wind of who you are, they will come for those you care for or maybe attack you before you can even transform.

"In which case, there's a good chance they'll be watching Naru in case she knows something," Ami said. She squeezed Naru's other hand and gave her a reassuring smile. "But don't worry, we won't let them hurt you."

"Why did they go for you anyway?" Usagi asked. "That's the one thing I don't get."

"Yes, you have been rather quiet since this meeting began," the cat remarked. "Do you have anything to say at all?"

"… Talking cat…" Naru said, prompting the other three - cat included - to collapse onto the floor. "It… It's so… Cute!"

"I-If we could please stay on topic!" the cat said. "My name is Luna, not talking cat. And I'm a she, not an it." Luna walked over on all four legs, resting the first two on Naru's knees so that she could stare right up at her. It was even weirder seeing it- ah, her talk from close up. Cat lips should not move that way. "He must have said something about why they specifically went after you. Think, girl! Think! Anything you remember could be significant!"

"Uh… Well, he mentioned something about an energy source of some sort, but I didn't know what he meant."

"That fits," Usagi said. "They've been trying to drain energy from people since day one. Maybe they keep going after you because you're a great energy source, or something?"

"No, that's probably not what he meant," Luna said, shaking her head quite worriedly. "I think it might be best if I caught you up on a few things. Ami, Naru, neither of you will have heard of the Moon Kingdom before now… So please listen carefully, because there is quite a lot to go through."

<hr>
Deep within the darkest depths of the home for the Dark Kingdom, a man in a white suit with bright yellow hair kneeled before his queen. To his surprise, she was not angry with him for his latest failure; indeed, her smile seemed to widen considerably throughout his report. His was not to question why this news pleased her, nor was it to speculate. Instead he would issue the report, tell her of his next plan, and follow her instructions. That was all he was good for, right?

"The girl is under constant surveillance," Jadeite said, and indeed Naru Osaka was being watched constantly. "There can be no question that she has <i>some</i> connection to Sailor Moon, even if it is currently unknown what that connection is."

"Very well," Beryl said, peering more into her crystal ball than at her subordinate. "Continue that surveillance, but I have decided it might be wiser if you were to cast a wider net. If Sailor Moon is indeed recruiting new allies as your report indicates, we must act quickly lest they discover the energy source before we do."

"That would be an unacceptable conclusion," Jadeite agreed.

"Did I detect a tone of hesitation in your voice, Jadeite?" Beryl asked, and all of a sudden he felt tremendously afraid for his life. Tread carefully now, how you answer this question is imperative to your immediate survival…

"Not hesitation," he said. "But I was considering that my youma… If I have them increase the pace of their investigations any further, it would be a tremendous loss of energy."

"I did not say to use your youma," Beryl said. "Try something else. Why not use some humans to do your dirty work for you?"

Jedite broke into a wide smile. Partially of relief, partially of admiration for the one he obeyed. "Of course, my Queen. I have just the plan. It was intended as an energy harvest, but could easily be retooled to fulfill both purposes… If you will allow me to explain."

<hr>
Of all the things to discover about herself today, the fact that she was 1: Very very <i>very</i> into girls and 2: Some sort of superhero was not something Ami could have even remotely begun to suspect. Right now, she wasn't really Ami at all. She was Sailor Mercury, to her right was Sailor Moon, and in front of both of them was Naru Osaka, sitting on her bed and drooling ever so slightly. Ami - No, Sailor Mercury blushed a little at that. It was oddly pleasant being able to have that kind of effect on someone, but still a little embarassing.

All of a sudden Sailor Moon got a mischeivous grin and leaped in Naru's lap, very nearly bowling the redhead over. "Moon to Naru! Anyone home?"

"Oh, sorry about that," Naru said, shaking her head slightly and leaning her head to the side while Usagi eagerly planted a series of kisses along her neck. "I was just wondering… Do you have any superpowers aside from looking hotter than the sun in those sailor suits?"

"You know, that's not a bad point," Mercury said, feeling just a little bit jealous at Naru for the way that Moon's hand had managed to creep inside Naru's blouse to play with her breasts. "What exactly are we capable of? Everything I did earlier, I did without really thinking about it… But it would be good to know our limitations in order to better deal with our enemies and - Are you two even listening?"

The two girls broke apart and pouted at Mercury before exchanging a look with one another. As one, they rose from the bed and stalked towards the blue-haired Senshi with lust in their eyes. Before long Mercury found herself sandwiched between the pair of them, with Moon holding onto her waist as Naru clung around her neck. Both pressing their bodies against hers.

"Sorry about that," Moon said, prompting Mercury to turn towards her just in time for the soft, inviting feeling of her teammate's lips pressing against hers with increasing firmness.

"We should have invited you to join us," Naru whispered, just as her hand snaked up the inside of Mercury's thigh with nearly torturous slowness. Whatever thought Mercury was toying with up until this point was suddenly lost in lust, and compared to the realisation that one of Moon's hands had decided to mirror Naru's action, well, that was simply far too much to take. All three of them collapsed to the ground in a fit of giggles. Somehow Moon slipped free of Mercury's lips and began working her way down Mercury's body. Unwilling to merely take without giving something in return, Mercury turned as much as she dared and pulled Naru down, carefully carefully, so that she could tease a fully erect nipple with her tongue -

"Ahem!" a voice interrupted. "I said, ahem! Oh, for pity's sake!"

All three girls suddenly yelped in fright in quick succession, one by one as a heavy lump jumped on them one after another. If there's anything cats know anything about, it's catching the attention of a human not paying them any heed! They should at least be grateful she kept her claws hidden. All three of them looked towards Luna, rather cross for her interruption just as things were getting good.

"Mercury had a very good point before you all succumbed to your lustful impulses," the cat said, clearly annoyed at them. "It might do better to know a little bit more about the abilities you possess. For example, the transformation pens. You can use them to take on any appearance that you like."

That did sound rather useful, actually. It explained why that woman didn't look all that much like Usagi before transforming into Sailor Moon. She must have used the disguise pen to sneak in! Yes, that was probably the best kind of use for something like that. And it would throw off the enemy quite a bit, confusing them about whom they were looking for.

"So, if I wanted to see what it was like to have sex as a guy, we could do that?" Naru asked, the innocence of her tone juxtaposing rather perfectly with the nature of the asked question.

"Naru, I loved you even before you said that," Sailor Moon said. "I don't know what I feel now, but it's the next step up."

"Ahem!" Luna very loudly said, making a point of raising a paw with claws extended as she did so. Better than a cold shower, that. "As I was saying. Mercury was never known as the physical fighter of the group. Instead she preferred to use her head. First one to make the obvious double entendre gets the claw. One of her tools is a computer, which she could use to analyse things and help formulate strategies that the team could use."

"Wait, wait!" Naru interrupted. "There's a whole team of girls wearing those tiny skirts and sexy uniforms?"

Luna sighed wearily, and Mercury really couldn't blame her. "Yes, Miss Osaka. There are others as well. Unfortunately it may take a while to find them, and in the meantime our enemies are likely going to increase their focus on taking us down."

But Mercury had not been idle while Luna was talking. It didn't take her long to find the computer, and as soon as she saw it she knew exactly how to switch it on. How to use it. How to scan things, how to read the results, how to… Do anything she needed to do. Which she did immediately, and started scanning the room.

"Hey, what're you doing with that thing?" Moon asked, peering over Mercury's shoulder. Probably unaware of the effect her breath was having on Mercury's skin. Probably.

"Hm? Oh. Well, I figured that if they think Naru knows something about an energy source, we could probably use this to pick it up," Mercury explained. "Hold on… I'll program it to ignore our Sailor transformations and see if it picks up anything besides that… Bingo! An unknown energy type coming from… Usagi? No. Not just Usagi. Most of it is in her, but there's trace amounts in all three of us."

"Given your activities for the last few hours, that part at least is hardly surprising," Luna said. "Does the scanner say anything else?"

"Hm… Not much," Mercury admitted. "But… Sailor Moon, could you please change back to normal?"  Sailor Moon shrugged and did as she was told. Where once there was a beautiful sailor soldier for justice, there was now a ditzy (still beautiful) daydreaming girl. Sailor Mercury continued the scan. "Interesting…" she said. "It's like there's some kind of interference, preventing me from picking it up. It's a complete mystery. The computer hasn't seen anything like it before. I'm going to program it to a wider scan. It'll take a while, maybe even a few days, but if it finds anything similar we'll know about it immediately."

<hr>
In the meantime, in an entirely different bedroom there was a young woman staring lustily at her reflection in the mirror. Her name was Rei Hino, and she was wearing what could be best described as black, skintight clothes that not only looked hot in a sexual sense, but also in a quite literal one. The kind of clothing that might cook its wearer alive on a sunny day. The funny thing was, it didn't restrict her movement nearly as much as it looked like it should have, which should have been quite a bit considering that it left damn near nothing about her figure to the imagination unless one were curious about the pigmentation of any part of her below her neck.

"Looking fine," Rei said. Yes. This was much more her. She'd done her duties around here, now it was time for her to do her own thing. There was still enough time in the day for her to go out and party! Find some cute guy, hell, some cute girl and just go wild!

There were a pair of red gloves lying on her desk and red shoes stored at the bottom of the closet. Rei bent down to pick the latter up, then caught sight of herself in the mirror and smacked her quite spectacular and magnificent ass. Just like she'd give a spanking to anyone else that looked like they deserved it.

"I'm just heading out for a little while, gramps!" she yelled. No point in worrying the old man while she was gone.

"Alright Rei! Just be back soon!" he called. No doubt of the opinion that his good little granddaughter was running some errand or something.

It was strange, but as soon as she put on those heels it felt like her entire body lit aflame. She was passion and fire personified, ready to set the world alight in the process! But a fire needs to breathe in order to survive, and now that she understood this Rei knew that remaining cooped up in that shrine was stifling her, limiting her, suffocating her - So she breathed in the air as soon as she reached the outside world and revelled in the simple scent of outside air. The only question was… What now? There were not many people on the streets, which she could tell after five minutes of aimless wandering. Come to think of it… What did she want, exactly? To burn? Yes, but burn where? Rei didn't know the right kind of people, didn't know whom she would have to speak to, didn't know -

"See, there are two ways this can go," a rough voice said down a nearby alley. "You can keep quiet, or you get a little taste of your own blood. What's it to be?"

She was walking towards the sound before she even knew what she was doing. Rei peered inside, and saw them. Two brutes, one holding a terrified young woman hostage with a knife to her throat and the other rifling through what must be the young woman's handbag. It didn't take long after that for the first of them, the one with the knife, to spot Rei. Then again she wasn't even trying to hide.

"Well, well, looks like we got ourselves a witness!" the man said, giving his friend a very small kick to get his attention. "Don't even try running in those heels, darling. You won't get far, and it'll just make us rough you up all that much more."

"Is that so?" Rei said, feeling oddly amused by the threat. She didn't really feel the need to threaten right now. She just whistled, and onto these two villains a black and feathery fate fell upon them. Deimos and Phobos. They had followed Rei dutifully since she left the shrine, which was fine by her. The two thugs soon dove to the ground out of sheer fear, letting the woman go where she fled right past Rei and hid behind her. One of the thugs caught sight of his knife, and reached out a clumsy hand for it… Which is when Rei drove her heel down upon him. Not with enough force to even break the skin, but enough to hurt. A lot.

"I wouldn't try running from my heels, darling," she said with a voice dripping with disdain. "You won't get far. It'll just make me rough you up all that much more."

The thug whimpered, and she kicked him in the head. Knocking him out cold while the other ignored her perfectly fair warning. So she kicked her heel right off her shoe, and took great satisfaction in watching him stumble to the ground. Hmph! Nothing but a weak pair of bullies! Can't even take a little bit of pain, couldn't stand up to fight when it looked like their opponent was tougher than they thought.

"Thank you!" said a blur of energy that suddenly wrapped itself all around Rei in a grateful, grateful hug. "Thank you so, so much! Is there any way I can repay you?"

This was the first real opportunity Rei had to get a decent look at the teary eyed mugging victim. She was… Attractive. Sort of cute, in an innocent sort of way… Before she even had time to think about what she was doing, Rei took hold of the woman's chin and said "I can think of a few ways… You can start by drying your tears. Then we can discuss exactly how you wound up in this awful situation. Anything else that happens after that is entirely up to you."

Though she usually needed a flame to do so, in this particular instance it wasn't too hard for Rei to ordain her immediate future in rather vivid detail. It involved this woman's apartment, whipped cream, not a stitch of clothing and quite a lot of spanking. All truth told? She loved her new self.

<hr>
All was progressing smoothly. Just as his original plan had determined. These humans were weak creatures indeed. Easily led. Look at them! Lining up day by day to catch this thing they called a bus, little realising or imagining that it might lead them here! A pocket dimension! Look at the confusion upon their faces as they filed out of the bus, staring at their surroundings in horror. Easily allowing Jadeite and his youma to seize control over the situation.

A few of them started having dizzy spells, oh yes, that was the first sign of their energy being drained away. Then they would collapse to the ground, one by one, some collapsing even as they tried to help another to their feet. It mattered little. Each fell, each always fell, but they wouldn't be down for long. They were all still conscious. Merely… exhausted. Drained. As though they had run a marathon, still able to keep awake but unable to move. And that is when he spoke.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is always such a pleasure to meet such willing volunteers," he said sarcastically. "At the moment, you are all being kept conscious. This is so you can process what is about to happen to you all. I believe you call it brainwashing? It really is a clever idea! Drain a little energy from all of you, just enough to make you vulnerable to manipulation, and then off you go obeying simple instructions. Each of you will be given a tracking device. You are to search for Sailor Moon, or signs of the strange energy signature. It will let you know when you are near. At all costs, discover information and bring it to us as soon as you can."

It would take another hour or so. It was not a complete brainwashing, for that would take far too long on this many people even with such weakened wills. But… It would be more than sufficient for his purposes. Scanning the entire city would take too long with just his youma, but with this many people… It would take no time at all. He would continually bring in more and more each day until a sign was found, and then! And then he would strike! He would bring Beryl Sailor Moon's head, or that energy source!

This time, those silly Sailor Scouts wouldn't know what hit them!
<hr>
People are a strange lot, and superstition can arrive from just about anywhere. Usually based in some fact or other, then misinterpreted or misunderstood like some great multi-generational game of Chinese Whispers. Come to it, this particular young man once heard somewhere that the Brothers Grimm compiled their legendary book of children's tales not for the sake of being published for entertainment so much as it was research into the development of language. One of their discoveries was the manner in which words mutate over time, until they sound utterly unrecognisable as compared to where they began. Superstition must have similar mutations over the course of time. It only stands to reason, yes?

Quite fascinating stuff, really. But for the moment Mamoru had other concerns, like the superstition he could almost perceive beginning before his very eyes in whispered rumours and scared people. The police had been trying to keep it quiet, had been for the last week or so now. People that rode a particular bus at a particular time lost an hour of their life, feeling tired and with no memory at all of where they had been. What was more, family members would claim they were behaving unusually. Of course, the names and details of any such people were kept hidden from the public for the good of the ongoing investigation. Probably. That was just a guess at the reasonable course of action the police would likely take. Which left Mamoru one course of action. Investigate the bus stop, because that much at least was readily revealed. Oh yes, there were plenty of people gossiping about it. Blaming the nearby shrine, and the miko that started behaving oddly right about the time this all kicked off. If only they could guess at the likely truth, but then again it would take a pretty peculiar mind to take a wild guess that an evil kingdom of demons and other assorted monsters were no doubt kidnapping those people for brief periods to drain their energy… then letting them go for reasons that Mamoru had to admit he didn't quite understand yet.

And what did he find when he got there? Not much. A bus stop near a shrine, a few other people interested in seeing the site of these strange events, an overpowering stench of evil… You know, pretty much what he expected. Which meant that it was inevitable, really. He'd be here later on in an identity entirely defined by the clothes he was wearing. A disguise to keep the villains he was compelled to investigate from realising who he was? Or was that his true face, and this was the mask that allowed him to go out in public? Well, to be a bit more positive, an event like this would provide him another opportunity to see Sailor Moon again.

That made his heart skip a little bit in joy. While he attributed it initially to a minor lustful attraction, that conclusion seemed less and less certain each time. Each and every time there was trouble, she was there defending the weak even though she was scared and, quite honestly, not all that smart about it either. Even so. She stayed and she fought and even if it did take a little help, she always won. No. This wasn't just admiration for bravery. This was something else. Something he couldn't quite grasp….

<hr>
It was Usagi's favourite part of the school day by quite some considerable margin. Lunchtime! With her two best friends sitting on either side of her, Ami talking about stuff that went right over Usagi's head and Naru trying her best to explain it all. Yep. Just her and her two best friends and a simple lunch to fill her belly -

"Say, girls, have you heard the rumour?"

And then there was that irritating, know-it-all dork with glasses thicker than his biceps.

"You'll have to be a bit more specific, Umino," Naru said. "There's always more than one set of rumours flying at any given time."

"She's right, you know!" Ami said, and Usagi felt a little twinge of pride. Just last week, the girl would've been too shy to speak up, being content in just letting the conversation flow around her. Now look at her! Still a bit shy, but opening up. Obviously Usagi was a good influence on her. Or maybe it was the sex. That many hours of sweaty, pounding sex would probably have that sort of effect on a person's inhibitions. For a moment Usagi had a bit of clarity that made her realise that she didn't used to be so casual about such things, but it was swept away as Ami continued to talk. "It's a typical sociological response to gossip and speculate about your peers, with emphasis particularly weighted towards relationship issues, then what secrets they might have, behavioural quirks, and so on."

Umino adjusted his glasses, still a little put out that he wasn't the most intelligent person in the group anymore. Well. At least in terms of book smarts. "I was talking about the disappearing bus!" he said. "Rumour has it that anyone getting on the bus at the shrine loses about an hour, and start behaving in weird ways."

"If anyone would be an expert in weird ways, it'd probably be you," Usagi said with a slight giggle.

"Now, now! I don't know, doesn't this sound <i>exactly</i> like the sort of thing Sailor Moon should be investigating?" Naru said, all innocence and smiles. Not that Umino seemed to catch her meaning.

After all, he did interrupt quite excitedly at that point, saying, "Yes, yes! That was my thinking exactly! I'm intending to pay a visit to the shrine myself later on. If anything weird is happening there, it's the perfect place for Sailor Moon to show up! Then I can finally get her to sign a picture with me!"

And off he went, though he was already lost in his own little world. The three girls sighed wearily, and once he was out of earshot Naru said, "You realise this means we have to go with him to the shrine, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Usagi said. "The work of a hero is never finished, is it?"

"Hm… Do you think the two of you will be alright by yourself? I still have homework tonight, and -"

All of a sudden Ami froze, and reached for her bag. She pulled out her computer, which was vibrating quite obviously. The other two girls quirked an eyebrow at her, and Ami caught it. "I just put it on silent mode for when we're in school," she said, cheeks tinged with a hint of red. "That's all! Get your minds out of the gutter!"

"Oh, alright!" Naru sighed. "If you insist. But do tell us what it is about your vibrating contraption that has you so excited all of a sudden."

Usagi snorted in a failed attempt to hide a laugh, but Ami appeared to have missed the joke. Or was pretending to have missed it. Either way, the genius of the three said, "I've had it performing a gradual scan over the area in an attempt to find anything similar to the energy signature within the three of us. It's found something, and… And you're never going to guess where it is."
<hr>
Another day at the shrine. Another <i>boring</i> day at the shrine. Rei cast a glance over towards the new guy, what was his name again, Jedd or something. He was a handsome enough guy, but something about him set Rei's teeth on edge. Ever since he started, she'd get into flaming rows with him - or try to. He'd just stay calm and smug and superior. Look at him over there just now, noticing she was looking in his direction. Look at the way his cold eyes gave a perfect imitation of a friendly wave.

"Excuse me, miss," said a young man by the temple's entrance. Rei's attention turned towards him so quickly that he flinched a little. Bit more like it. "I was just wondering -"

"If I knew why your family member, friend or acquaintance was behaving so odd recently," Rei finished. "No. Sorry. I don't have the faintest idea. The bus isn't even ours, we don't have anything to do with it aside from it stopping nearby."

"I beg your pardon, Rei," Jedd said, gently pushing her aside much to her tremendous irritation. "This young man is quite clearly upset. Here. Have one of these charms as a free gift. Perhaps if you pray or meditate upon it hard enough, the answers you seek will come to you."

All of a sudden Rei found herself sitting on a bus. She recognised the scenery. That damned bus stop where people kept losing an hour! She stared ahead and out the front window she saw it. A hole in the very air itself. The other passengers saw it too, and they screamed and screamed, but the bus didn't even slow down. If anything, it accelerated! Pulled towards the hole? If so, it didn't seem to have that effect on anything else! And then, and then they were surrounded by darkness… And someone was there, staring down over them, mocking them with his cold gaze… And the charm on her wrist started to feel strange… And the mysterious figure began to speak.

"Rei, are you feeling alright?" Jedd asked. Rei jumped slightly. Back in the shrine. A vision? One of the most clear visions she'd had in a while, up until the very end. "It's not like you to stare into space like that."

"I'm fine," she snapped. "Not that it's any of your business, but sometimes I get visions."

"It is probably nothing," Jedd conceded, and Rei noticed that his knuckles were white from gripping one of the charms. Was it her imagination, or had it been glowing a little bit just now? "I had thought - How long have you been having these visions?"

Well, this was new. If anything, the caretaker tried to avoid talking with her unless she initiated it. "Why, Jedd, does it turn out that you have a soul after all? I almost thought you didn't have the capacity to care about anything except those stupid charms of yours."

Before the conversation could go any further, Rei caught sight of a pair running up towards them hand in hand. Oh yes! Now, wasn't that a welcome sight? Jedd backed off a little and let the two pass by. The woman screeched to a halt just in front of Rei, and bowed deeply. This had the odd effect of showing a rather tremendous amount of cleavage given the low, low, low neckline on the jet black gothic dress she was wearing. It was a complete transformation, and in all honesty she was probably much happier now than she dreamed possible. If Rei hadn't facilitated it personally, she would never have recognised that sobbing woman in the alley as this gorgeous creature of the night. "Mistress Hino, it is so good to see you again!" the woman said. "I would like to present my new boyfriend for your personal inspection"

The young man did appear to be quite the hunk, but he was also quite understandably a little bit nervous and confused. Well. A miko's job is to help those that they can, and far be it from her to resist the call. "The two of you, come with me," Rei beckoned and turned towards the indoor area, making a point of ignoring Jedd as she went inside. Gramps was preoccupied elsewhere for the time being, and Rei doubted very much that breaking this young couple in would take all that long… Charms for luck in love! Hah! Who needed them, when a few chains, hot wax and a little imagination were so much more fun?

After a little while, Jedd held up the charm and stared at it for a long silent minute. "This bears further investigation," he mused. For a moment he considered going after them… But then his rather better than human hearing picked up the screams, noticed them turning into moans of pleasure and he concluded from this observation that now was probably not the most convenient time.
<hr>
Three girls and a boy stood at the shrine entrance, staring inside. "I hope this doesn't take too long," Ami whispered. "We have a lot of homework to do tonight."

Umino adjusted his glasses and chuckled to himself. "Should have thought ahead, Mizuno! That's why I've brought it with me! I can do it right here."

"I've been asking around about the shrine," Naru said, rolling her eyes at the third wheel. "Apparently they've been selling good luck charms recently that are even helpful in finding love!"

"Oh! That sounds interesting," Usagi said. "Hm. Maybe it'll help my grades…"

"Pft, you'll need more than luck to help with your grades! Maybe if you let me tutor you -"

"Ladies, ladies!" a friendly elderly man said, waving from just inside the temple grounds. "Welcome to the temple! Would any of you lovely girls like the guided tour?"

"Uh, no thanks," Ami said, keeping half an eye on her bag. At the first sign of that energy signature, she'd have to warn the others somehow without letting either Umino or the old man know about it.

"Ah, I completely understand," the old man said rather whistfully. "I bet you'd rather be with Jedd, eh? How strange. That boy is usually handing out his charms to young ladies like yourself. I wonder where he is."

"Maybe he caught sight of meatball head here and ran for the hills," said a male voice that was much younger sounding than the old man in front of them. "Fancy seeing you here. You didn't strike me as the spiritual type."

"Oh. It's you again," Usagi said, rolling her eyes. "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were following me around."

Come to think of it, Ami had seen this man before over the last week. She was quite certain of it. There was a ring of familiarity about him… She and Naru stepped to the side as the two of them sniped at one another, until Naru clutched Ami's arm and dragged her into the temple grounds. "We should leave them be," Naru said. "I get the feeling they'll be like that for a while."

Before Ami could respond, a very peculiar couple stumbled past them both with bleary grins on their faces and bedraggled clothing. The two of them were leaning into one another quite heavily, breathing a little more quickly than was normal and occasionally sighing as they went. But aside from that what made them really stick out was their manner of dress. The woman's was a very dark dress with something of a gothic flair to it. A ruffled skirt, a low neckline and long black socks that went well past her knees. As for the man, his clothes were more conventional. Dark jeans. White shirt with some red insignia on it that Ami couldn't quite see properly because the woman's head was resting on most of it. Nothing particularly odd, but it did contrast with the woman's manner of dress quite a bit.

All of a sudden, Naru took in a sharp intake of breath and tugged on Ami's sleeve. The blue-haired genius was confused by the reaction at first, but only until she caught sight of the miko stepping outside, discreetly wiping a little sweat off her brow. She was… Rather beautiful. Not the same way Usagi was, it was a difficult thing to explain exactly. Sort of like she was - Turning right towards them with a welcoming grin.

"Welcome to the temple," the miko said, casually stroking the cheeks of both girls. It was a simple gesture, but it made Ami's knees feel weak. "I am Rei Hino. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Man, that guy is such a jerk!" Usagi yelled, stomping up to the three of them and breaking whatever spell this beautiful girl had over both of them. "If he didn't have such a handsome face, I'd have knocked it clean off, and - Gosh, but you're pretty."

All of a sudden Rei stiffened and whirled around towards Usagi with an ofuda in hand. "Evil spirit, begone!" she yelled, slapping it into Usagi's forehead as she did so. Ami was rather shocked to see what looked like a fiery aura surround Usagi for a split second, and even more so when the leader of the team collapsed to the ground, twitching slightly. "Hmph! It would appear I have made a mistake. You two! Help me get her inside, and then maybe you can tell me why there was a reaction to her at all. My ofuda should not have harmed anyone save those with supernatural effects upon them. Is sleeping beauty here under the influence of a curse of some kind? In which case, I could… exorcise her for you."

The way she said "exorcise" made Ami's spine want to melt. But no, for now she had to worry about waking up her friend. Now, let's see… What did her mother tell her about waking someone up? She made to pick the girl up, but Naru pulled her back with a chuckle. "I've been friends with her for years," Naru said. "Trust me, I can wake her up."

At which point the redhead took ten steps back and nodded towards the rather handsome blonde gentleman walking their way with a tray full of charms. He looked extremely familiar to Ami, but where had she seen -

"Who is that?" Naru asked, her voice little more than a whisper. "He's kind of cute."

"Cute guy?!" Usagi yelled, sitting up and searching her surroundings so quickly it made Ami fall quite unprepared upon her rear. "Where? Where is - Got him! Nice find, Naru!"

"Down girl, down girl," Naru said, patting Usagi in much the same manner one might an obedient dog. "But no, really. Who is that?"

"My name is Jedd," the man said. His voice… Something about that voice. And those eyes… Where had she seen such cruel, cold eyes before? That wasn't something she should forget. Why couldn't she think of where she'd seen this man before? "I saw Rei's enthusiastic purification attempt upon your friend, and am glad to see she is feeling well. Would you girls like to take a charm as a memento of your visit?"

"Seriously, Jedd? You're selling them on the charms now of all times?" Rei scowled at him with arms folded across her chest. "Time and place. Learn what it means."

"No, no, I don't mind," Ami said, reaching out to take one offered by Jedd. She tried to pretend not to notice the fact that it was glowing without an obvious power source. "Thank you for your help," she said, eyes flicking between the two of them. "I think we have what we came for. We should probably leave now."

"Huh?" Umino said. "But we just got here! I thought you girls wanted to stick around in case-"

"No, I don't think we should," Ami insisted. "If we stick around, we probably won't have the <i>energy</i> to finish our homework later on. Would we, girls?"

Naru helped Usagi to her feet, and Ami hurried the two of them out of the temple grounds. Umino shrugged, remaining behind and even taking another one of the charms before the three of them disappeared from sight. "What was all that about?" Naru said. "Hey, come on! We barely got the chance to talk with that total hunk! What's the big idea?"

"The big idea is these charms," Ami said, pressing herself against a wall and looking back at the temple suspiciously. No sign of anyone. She pulled out her computer, and… "Hold on, let me get a quick scan on these… Just as I thought! These are no charms! It looks like they do a kind of limited drain on a person, and use some of that energy to scan the immediate surroundings. Not much more than about two feet at a time, but it's there all the same."

"Scan? For what?" Usagi asked.

"I'd need to do a bigger scan for it, but it's probably the same thing we've been looking for," Ami said, and she renewed her typing away at the small keyboard in front of her. "Speaking of which… It looks like that miko has trace amounts of it in her as well. In fact… It's more concentrated in her than either me or Naru."

"Maybe that's how she did that thing to Usagi," Naru offered. "I mean, that looked like it hurt. A lot."

"That's the weird part," Usagi said, scratching at the spot where she'd been struck. "It really did, but… I kind of liked it. Never mind that for now! What do we do about what'shername?"

"We don't know if she's friend or foe," Ami said reluctantly. "Or she might be neither. I think we need to send in a spy. Someone who might be able to move around the temple grounds without drawing too much attention, particularly from Jedd. Someone small, black, furry and who talks in a very British accent."

<hr>
If Rei heard one more person asking about the mysterious bus and their family member's strange behaviour, she might scream. Especially if they blamed it on her or the shrine. How could it possibly be their fault? That simply didn't make any sense at all! The bus had nothing to do with them, so why not pester the bus company? Sometimes people were just… so… stupid!

But it was a little more than that. Rei's thoughts kept turning to that girl from before. There was something about her that kept on dancing through Rei's thoughts. A spark of some sort that kept drawing her mind back to the girl time and time again. She almost hoped to see her again, whoever she was… And Rei also knew that in spite of her friend's attempt to brush the whole thing aside, that girl was something special, alright. No hesitation there…

Evil. Evil was approaching the temple. No mistaking it this time. Rei cast her eyes upwards towards her crow companions, and saw that they were staring towards the entrance. Alright then. Nothing else for it. Rei approached cautiously, and - And it was that boy from earlier, the one who had arrived with the three girls. Rei had eventually shooed him away for being a nuisance. Little wimp had no place here.

"Can I help you?" Rei asked, keeping her distance from the boy until she knew for certain he was the intended target.

"Yeah, I was here earlier," the boy said. "Listen… I think I… Ugh…"

The boy collapsed, and Rei was moving forward to help him to his feet before she even knew what she was doing. Stupid! Should have been more careful.

"Thank you," the boy said, but Rei didn't hear him. Something else had caught her attention. The charm he was wearing was glowing, and Rei could tell on sight that it was an evil, eerie glow. "Target acquired," the boy suddenly said, tugging at Rei's hair in a suddenly vicious manner. "Unusual energy trace identified. Contacting master…."

<hr>
Jedite was pacing back and forth within the void, and it was making this particular youma rather nervous. While he didn't have bad news to deliver, per se, the very fact that he was called at all was… disconcerting. The fact that he was apparently deep in thought was not helping that feeling.

"Give your report," Jedite demanded, not even slowing down as he paced back and forth. "Has that girl Naru done anything unusual?"

"No sir, I am sorry to report that she has not performed any action out of the ordinary, save for the visit to the temple that you already know of."

"Then what <i>has</i> she been doing?"

"She appears to have three close friends at present. A girl named Usagi, a boy named Umino that she has been friends with for quite some time. The last is a transfer into their school called Ami Mizuno. She is a reputed genius. I believe that Usagi and Naru initiated the friendship as part of an attempt to use her genius to advance their own studies, but then found common ground with her on other matters. They appear to be helping her develop her limited social skills in exchange for -"

Jedite waved his hands, clearly not caring much about such trivial matters. The youma shut its mouth tighter than a clam and awaited the next instructions.

"Do you have any idea why the four of them visited the temple?" Jedite asked.

"I apologise," the youma said. "I cannot constantly watch her closely enough to ascertain that kind of detail without drawing attention. From conversation gleamed on their way there, it appears to be the boy Umino's idea, but I cannot in truth say for certain."

"Very well. Then you must continue your observations until I instruct otherwise. Where is she now?"

"When I left her, she was visiting her friend for a study session. Beyond that, I cannot say."

"I see," Jedite said, his brow furrowing in thought. "I had hoped she might lead me to Sailor Moon, the Silver Crystal or perhaps even that mysterious energy source. It is too much of a coincidence for her to repeatedly become involved with our affairs time and again."

"Have you considered the possibility that the energy source manipulates probability in some way?"

"… An interesting suggestion. I shall keep that thought in mind while investigating another lead that may have revealed itself to me. Go. Return to your station, immediately."

The youma needed no further telling. In whatever passed for its heart, it knew it would obey the orders given unto death. But somehow it didn't think that watching this Osaka girl would result in anything positive for its master.

<hr>
Oh, Luna, would you be a dear and sneak into what is probably enemy territory and scout things out a bit? Keep an eye out for the miko while you're at it; she can sense supernatural things so it might cause a bit of hassle if she spends too long paying attention to you. There's a good kitty! I mean, it's not enough that you're brave enough to follow us into danger zones and give us advice, not enough that you're busily tracking down the other members of the team and doing so when your abilities are pretty much limited to those of a typical housecat with heightened intelligence and speech capacity. Against magic-wielding demons with bizarre, malevolent powers.

No, don't you worry about us! We've got all this homework to take care of and Usagi thinks it would be a brilliant idea if we all took part in a study session. Somehow Luna doubted a single bit of studying would be done tonight. Not one homework question answered, not one millimeter of pencil used up in that room. Still. A spot of reconnaissance would do a good bit of wonder, and Luna did have to admit that she was proud they seemed to be taking their heroic responsibilities at least mostly seriously. That Naru girl wasn't quite as much of a hassle as expected either.

Not to mention that their instincts were dead on. There was something in the air about this place and it was setting her hackles up. Something sinister… Something evil…

"Hello there, kitty!" an old man said, leaning down to pet Luna's fur. She purred, as was no doubt expected, but she wanted to yell that he needed to be a bit gentler with that, thank you very much. "Are you hungry? My, my, that is a strange mark on your forehead. Perhaps a sign of some sort? Hm… As I recall, black cats are unlucky in the Western world… Ah hahaha! I bet it's really unlucky for them that people think that way!" In a move much faster than a human should be capable of, Luna found herself being scooped up into his arms and carried inside. Which actually suited her fine, but she had been rather hoping for a more stealthy entrance. "Come on, I'll get you a little food. How about that, huh? In exchange you get to listen to an old man worry about his granddaughter's strange behaviour. Oh, I hope she has not fallen to the same malady as those other poor visitors… Now, you just wait there while I find some fish."

While fish did sound like an enticing offer, Luna had other things to worry about at the moment. The girls had mentioned the miko with strange powers, and that seemed like as valid a beginning point as any. Now, let's see… Which room was hers? Come to think… It was probably the one with the black paint. The door itself was sealed tight, but the room next to it… Luna slipped in there, found the window to be just open enough to slip back out. Well. Looks like she could have managed that whole stealth part of the operation easily enough if not for the old man. Let's see what's going on in here…

The room appeared to be soundproofed, but the sight inside made Luna roll her eyes. The decor was rather not to her taste at all, but it did certainly scream "occult" at the top of its lungs. There she was, the miko herself sitting on the bed in her robes while that Umino boy kneeled before her kissing her feet. Right. Time to practise that lip reading thing. Not exactly the best first impression. Let's see…

"Oo are free of tha- brainwathing now," Rei said with a rather overly proud posture. Or something like that. "Tell me 'ow it 'appened."

Umino seemed to sigh a contented sigh, and made some gesture to the charm he was wearing on his wrist. Luna thought she caught the words "bus", "caretaker", "black hole", but the boy was speaking too quickly for her to keep up. Rei's reaction was a bit more telling. She'd listened intently, waited until he was finished, then patted him on the head and stood up to open the window.

Open the window? Luna dove for the ground, searching for a place to hide… Then remembered that she was just a cat in their eyes, and sat off to the side while Rei opened it up and pushed Umino out through the now open window. "I suggest you leave in quite a hurry," she said. "Your mind is still open to suggestion, so obey this final command: Return home and forget what occurred here tonight. I certainly will be attempting the latter."

"Yes, mistress," Umino sighed, and he couldn't hurry out of there quickly enough. Rei and Luna watched him stumble out of the grounds, but then the miko's attention turned towards the charm she was now holding. Luna took the opportunity to flee while she still could, realising now that she had to tell the others what she had seen.

"Jedd," she said. "I should have seen it sooner. No point in hanging around here, then. There's evil to smite."

<hr>
It kind of sucked being a youma on a surveillance mission. See, the thing about surveillance is that almost all of it is boring. Dull. Uninteresting. Even the most interesting people in the world have downtime where they just sort of do stuff that regular people do. They eat, they bathe, they talk, they stand in line at banks or post offices, they go to work, they sit around watching television. Nothing to it. At the moment this particular youma's charge was visiting a friend, so here it was camouflaged on a nearby rooftop peering at the building. It had already been made quite apparent that the girls were just studying tonight, catching up on homework. Nothing thrilling, nothing exciting, nothing to report.

Aha! The front door opened! There she was, walking out with that genius girl Mizuno. They thanked the woman identified as Mrs Tsukino, and soon enough went their separate ways, with a small black feline following the Mizuno girl. The most exciting thing to happen in quite some time. At this point, the youma really did doubt this Naru girl would lead them to anything remotely useful. While it was strange that she continuously wound up involved in their schemes, it seemed rather more indicative of something else entirely. Perhaps if it snuck closer, used one of those charms to try and scan those girls…

Nah, no point in it. Surely her master would have thought to do something so obvious already. No point in wasting time and risking discovery by getting close enough to give that a try. Regardless, he had to follow the target home.
<hr>
"And he's off after Naru," Ami whispered into her communicator. She stood up and peered outside Usagi's window at the nearby rooftop where an almost indistinct figure was moving off into the distance. "Good work, Usagi. Are you sure your family won't notice you're missing?"

"They never do when I leave normally," Usagi replied, though using Ami's voice to do so. "Remind me why we can't just smoke that thing stalking my best and oldest friend?"

"Because that'd just make them even more suspicious of her," Ami said patiently. "The last thing we or she needs is them trailing her even more fervently. If they think there's nothing suspicious about her, they'll leave her alone."

"You really don't have time for this right now," Luna said over the communicator. "That miko is doubtless working for the enemy. We have to hurry before she hurts anyone else!"

"I still don't get why I had to disguise myself as Ami," Usagi said. "Wouldn't it have been easier if she'd left and I followed later?"

"And I suppose you know how to work her computer?" Luna asked. "Or have any idea how she could operate it unnoticed by the youma if she left the building? Forget such stupid questions, and just transform already! We really do have no time to lose! Who knows what sort of trouble that miko is causing!"

<hr>
Well. This was badly thought out. Turns out her miko abilities were rather comparatively puny in the face of whatever the hell Jedd and his minion were Just look at the bastard. All smug and superior, staring down at her with disdain.

"I understand you quite enjoy it when people kiss your feet," Jedd said. "I wonder how you will enjoy kissing mine? Interfering nuisance!"

"Screw you!" she spat.

"Oh my goodness, so much fire still left in your soul! You should have been drained quite a bit by now. Your will should offer as much resistance as tissue paper, and yet here you are. Defiant. Willful." He drew back a foot and kicked her in the face. "Still unaware of her place in the world. Quite sad, really. Ah, little miko! I will have so much fun extracting information from you about that mysteriously elusive energy source that I seem to keep picking up from your body. Perhaps it is the cause of your visions? Perhaps it is the reason you don't appear to be remotely drained? Or perhaps the reason is something else entirely. I intend to have a great deal of fun finding out exactly what - Ah!"

The reaction was surprising to say the least, but a flash of red within the darkness soon illustrated what had transpired. A rose? Yes, a single red rose lashed out through the infinite black and scratched Jedd's cheek!

"A true gentleman knows to treat a lady better," said a tall drink of handsome that had appeared as if from nowhere. "Though Sailor Moon appears to be absent, I hope I can entertain you for a little while."

Whatever anger Jedd was feeling at the time, it seemed to almost completely melt out of him as he broke out into a thunderous laugh. "Very well then! So be it! You, begin the interrogation of this girl! I shall deal with this tuxedo pest personally!"

The two men became a blur of motion, Jedd being on the offensive for almost all of it while the strangely attractive man in the tuxedo remained primarily defensive with the help of his cane. Damn! If only Jedd hadn't so thoroughly kicked her ass, she'd give this monster minion of his a go -

"Sorry I'm late!" cried another voice, another intrusion! "But we're here at last! I am Sailor Moon, champion of justice and I will punish you!"

Rei could almost believe that she meant it, too. But how could some girl in a sailor fuku possibly help her against these brutes? They were too strong for someone like her! Dammit! Rei could feel the anger and frustration welling up inside of her. She hated feeling so - so damned useless! She was supposed to smite evil! She should be the one saving people in such ridiculous clothes, she should be the one throwing <i>spinning tiaras of magic that hit her sixth sense like a wrecking ball ow ow fucking ow!</i> God, this whole thing was so… Stupid! It burned her up from the inside, but this fire would not be so easily abated. It was rising, flaring, consuming all in its path leaving nothing behind but a scorched red wasteland just like the surface of -

"Mars," said a very British voice sitting right next to her that to all appearances was coming from a cat. All Rei could do at this point was throw up her hands. Sure. A talking black cat. Why the hell not? The day had been going that way anyway. "My goodness. It would appear I've underestimated you. Hold on one second - There! Take that pen, and… You'll work out the rest."

For a moment Rei hesitated and looked around her at the two battles raging. Jedd had pulled a sword out of nowhere, and appeared to be trying to cut right through the middle of the tuxedo guy's cane, while on the other side that silly girl in the skirt way too damn short for practical fighting purposes was alternating between throwing her tiara of no effect at the monster and making a rather ungraceful series of dodges away from the monster's counterattacks. The hesitation vanished, and Rei seized hold of the pen, and -

And how could she forget? Such wonder and such glory… How long had it been since those carefree days, when their heavy responsibilities did not seem to weigh much more than a feather? Her heart leaped upon recognising the one she loved more than any other, fighting for her life while the only man worth her time engaged in his own struggles… But, no, it was slipping away! Like sand through her fingers, the memories slipped away, leaving only a painful sensation of loss... But the sand pooled beneath her into the shape of certain words. Words that Rei had always known deep inside. Words that ignited something within Rei's soul brighter than any fire could hope to manage.

"Mars Power!"

Try to imagine an explosion. Within television and movies, people often simply walk away from them uncaring of the obscenely loud noise and heat occurring just a little ways behind them. Because that's what an explosion is by definition: a large and sudden release of energy. Such things are not quite as quiet as you might think based on typical action movies, indeed being near one might well rupture an eardrum or ten. For Rei at that very moment there were a series of explosions occurring throughout her entire body. The temperature rose and scaled to the highest heights in the blinking of an eye, and she could feel it all around her. It made Rei remember that first night when she'd left the temple grounds, feeling that rising sense of freedom… And it made her think that she had not even begun to taste freedom that night. Now. Now she knew.

Her awareness of her surroundings returned, and all of a sudden she was no longer Rei Hino. She was Sailor Mars, that girl stumbling backwards away from a monster was Sailor Moon, and the monster was… Toast. Mars could feel the anger building up within her, felt it channel out into her hand, and with a mighty roar she sent out a string of passionate flame that scorched the monster where it stood. Sailor Moon stood still for a few seconds while the creature screamed in delightful agony, and all Mars could think of was that it served that thing right for trying to lay a hand on her… On her… Leader? No, not just leader. Something else as well.

"So you're a Senshi too?" Moon asked, looking Mars over in a way that might have made her feel self conscious before. Now? She didn't particularly care. Let her stare. "We should get to know one another better in a bit."

"You know, if you just give up now it'll make things much easier for you," Jedd said with a hideous sneer. He had pinned down the tuxedo guy, but even from here Mars could see that the masked man was smiling victoriously.

"Are you quite sure I'm the one who should be giving up? After all, I'm not the one that's outnumbered."

"Outnumbered?" Jedd gasped, turning around just in time to duck the fireball Mars had thrown his way. "No! This isn't possible! And a new one of you as well? So be it! Then I shall retreat for now… But this is only a minor setback! I shall crush you next time we meet!"

"Damn, looks like he can teleport away," Mars yelled. "Cheating coward! What happened to fighting to the end, huh? Got no passion for it, do you?"

"I am certain you will defeat him the next time that you meet," the tuxedo-wearing gentleman said, hopping onto his feet as though he'd not just been involved in a fight to the death moments ago. "Especially if you continue to find such powerful allies to assist you. For now, we should leave this place before the entrance collapses. As much as I would certainly enjoy the company of the pair of you, I doubt any of the three of us would relish the thought of an eternity in such a place."

"Not a problem," Moon said. "Mercury said she'd look into keeping the thing open from the outside. But you know, it is kind of weird… That guy gave up way too easily once he saw we outnumbered him."

"Yeah," Mars said with a deep set frown. "I've been thinking about that…" Well. Thinking about it in between thoughts of spending an evening or two exploring the very limits of Sailor Moon's capacity for pleasure and making her scream like a banshee in the process, but Mars had most definitely been thinking about it.
<hr>
It was the next evening, and Rei could be found doing her usual duties on the temple grounds. No more charms were being passed out. In point of fact, after defeating that monsters it seemed as though all of the charms just sort of dissolved, and everyone that had been wearing one started behaving more like themselves again. Spell broken. Easy as that.

"I wonder what happened to Jedd," Rei's grandfather said. "It's a shame he vanished like that. We could really do with an extra pair of hands around here."

"I get the feeling he had business elsewhere," Rei said. "But hey, at least nobody is complaining about the bus anymore. Right?"

The old man mulled that over for a moment, and chuckled softly. "I suppose you're right, Rei. Hm. Maybe some girls were just using it as an excuse to come and see Jedd, and the whole thing got blown out of proportion? I know what girls your age are like with guys like that!"

"Not me, grandfather! Jedd wasn't even remotely my type at all!"

"If you say so, my dear. But you did get into quite a lot of arguments with him over nothing at all. Ha! Just like your grandmother would with me!"

He seemed to find that amusing enough to continue laughing as he went inside. Rei waited until he was out of sight before rolling her eyes in amusement and whispering to herself, "Sure, that's why she'd get into arguments with you. I'm  certain it couldn't possibly have to do with anything else."

"I don't know, Rei! You did seem rather the sort to enjoy the confrontation as much as anything else!"

"Ah, not really at all," Rei sighed. "It's the physical stuff I'm really into. Especially when it involves-"

The miko suddenly stopped what she was saying in recognition, and turned her head to the right to see a very familiar blonde-haired man with the coldest, deadest eyes she ever did see. Her hand instinctively reached for an ofuda, but all he did was laugh. "Do you really think something like that will do more than annoy me?" he said. "Give it up. We both know that you're Sailor Mars, and you're going to lead me right to your so-called friends."

"Oh, so that's why you left in such a hurry yesterday," said a voice just behind where he was standing that made the man's back stiffen. He turned around slowly with a building sneer, and stared at the three sailor fuku-clad girls standing there ready for battle. Moon in the middle. Mercury on the right. Mars on the left. "Shame you didn't think to check up on that theory before stumbling into our trap!" Mars continued. "After all, I look nothing like that ugly bitch!"

"Hey, I resemble that remark!" Rei yelled, backing away at a considerable pace with a victorious smirk. "Looks like you girls were right on the money! Let's tie him down and beat his ass like he beat mine. On second thoughts, let's not. If I get too carried away, he might start to like it!"

"A trap, huh?" Jedite sneered. "Well, it's been fun playing with you, but I think you'll find I'm not quite so easy as - Ack! What? What are these things?!"

He flailed ineffectually under the feathered assault, and that was enough of an opening for the Senshi. All three aimed their attacks low, first Mercury forming a little ice to make his footing a little looser than it might normally have been, then Mars shot out a flame that should've set him alight on the spot - alas, it seemed he had been prepared for the possibility he would be facing Mars and worn flame-retardant clothing - and finally Moon, whose tiara flew through the air directly towards the disoriented Jedite's chest… Only to skitter along the stones as he vanished once again.

"Darn. Thought we had him that time," Moon said.

"Eh, it's not a total loss," Mars said, nodding towards Rei, who was idly twirling her long hair. "At least now they'll be completely confused about who I am. Right, Naru?"

"See, Luna?" Mercury said, scooping the cat up in her arms. "It's just like we told you. Naru isn't a hindrance at all, is she?"

"Yes, that was a rather imaginative use of the disguise pen, I have to admit," Luna said very, very carefully. "But I'm still not entirely happy about any of this. We really shouldn't be allowing civilians to have access to your equipment. It might have side effects we can't even imagine yet!"

"Oh, you worry too much!" Naru/Rei said, giggling in a way that Rei never would. "So how was my act? It totally fooled your grandfather! Maybe I should go into acting after all?"

"Don't feel so proud of that. The old man's not exactly all that much there these days," Mars said, walking over to look Naru dead in the eye. "Oh, and… Don't change back right away. There's a few things I wanna try out at tonight's 'study session'."

One by one, all four girls began to laugh as the scouts turned back to their civilian forms and walked inside. Yep, the real Rei Hino finally felt like she'd found what she was looking for, and she could hardly wait to get to know her new friends that much better.

<hr>
Once again, the youma was nervous at the sight of its master pacing up and down, up and down, nervously in deep, deep thought. It waited patiently for him to stop, wondering how it could inform him that nothing peculiar had been witnessed since its last report. Take this evening, for example. The only peculiarity was the girl's mother leaving their home in quite a hurry, only returning hours later in a slightly different-coloured blouse. It hardly seemed a significant point, really.

"Do you have anything to report?" Jedite finally asked, bringing the youma out of its thoughts on the evening. It shook its head. "I see," Jedite said. He waved his hand, and where there was once a youma, there was now a pile of ash. "And if I don't get results soon, that is what will happen to me," he said darkly.