UsAgI iS dEaD uSaGi Is DeAd HiP hIp HiP hOoRaY
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME

Diclaimer - Sailormoon is owned by Takeuchi Naoko and Bandai, so
these characters really belong to them, except ones I made up, in
which case, if I see anyone using them, I'll murder ya!  ^_^  (In
the nicest possible way, of course).


Part Eleven
Letters to the Predator


	IASFU OA FWSS IASFU OA FWSS GOO JUA GOO JIPEST
	and again
	IASFU OA FWSS IASFU OA FWSS GOO JUA GOO JIPEST
	The dead, are but for a moment, motionless....




	Jadeite's transportation spell had managed to get the trio
about as far as the next district before he collapsed in exhaustion.
Rei and VesVes watched him in confusion as he fell on all fours,
coughing and spitting on the ground.

	"Whats going on here, Jadeite?  Why are you helping me?"  Rei
felt unsteady on her feet...  The injuries she'd suffered in her 
fight with the Resonator making her giddy.
	"That damned freak of a thing."  Jadeite looked up at them.  
"It tried to drain me of my power.  ME!  Of all people.  That freak
is going to HAVE to DIE!"
	"Just answer my question, Jadeite!"  Rei had had about enough.
	"I'm helping you cos I feel like it, alright?  Do you hear 
those noises?"  Jadeite managed to get to his feet as Rei and VesVes
listened.
	"I don't hear anything."  Rei stumbled slightly, and Jadeite
caught her.  Realising this, Rei pushed him away.  "I don't need
your help!"
	"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you do.  You see, that thing
has out scent, and it won't matter where we go or how far we travel,
it wants to kill us."  There was an explosion not that far away, and
all three turned to see a cloud of smoke rising into the sky.

	"This is insane."  Rei watched as another explosion rose into
the night sky, staggering back slightly as she was hit by the warm
force of the shockwave.  "What the hell is that thing doing?"
	"Killing.  Absorbing DNA and feeding on living tissue, be it
human, animal or vegetable.  That's the way it breeds, you see.  
Collect as much DNA as possible, then find a suitable powerful being
as the intellectual host for a new wave of resonators."

	"A Resonator!"  VesVes shook her head.  "How did one of those 
get on this planet?"
	"My guess is it was guided here.  All Resonators have hosts.
Maybe this particular host wants the human race dead.  Not that I
entirely disagree with those sentiments..."
	"This isn't the time or place to be discussing its method of
arrival.  The fact is, its here, and its wrecking a goodly portion
of town."

	There was a third explosion.  The closest, and biggest, of the
lot.  The trio all stared at each other.

	"What do we do?  We can't outrun that thing."  Rei put a hand
to her mouth.
	"How about I try and cast a transport spell?  Maybe it hasn't
tried to drain me yet?"  VesVes bit her lower lip.
	"Yeah, you could try that, but it depends on where you want to
go.  Wherever we go, we'll draw that thing along with us."  Jadeite
huffed.  "It would be better if we tackle it head on."
	"That will most likely get us killed.  I vote we run and 
regather ourselves."  Rei looked at VesVes, who nodded.
	"WHERE?  WHERE WILL WE GO?"  Jadeite gritted his teeth.  "You
drag us back to your friends, and they'll become targets too.  It
wants superior lifeforms like our good selves.  We are perfect
intellectual stock."  Jadeite shook a fist at them.  "And besides,
I'm not going to take having my energy drained by such a parasite."

	"Well bully for you."  Rei snorted.  "I'm going with redhead
here.  She may be a psychotic witch, but its better than hanging 
around an obssessed bastard like you.  And besides, half of your 
powers are gone...  Whaddayagonna do, eh?"

	Jadeite made frustrated gagging noises, then grabbed both 
girls by the shoulders.  "Very well, but don't say I didn't warn 
you."  VesVes nodded and closed her eyes, mumbling an incantation.
In a matter of moments, they disappeared.




	The darkness and silence of the building, this late at night,
made Usako feel very concious of her movements through it.  The
soft padding of her socked feet echoed like sandpaper across a
rough surface.  She wondered if anyone was going to bother to check
on her movements.

	Nobody did, of course.  Most of everyone decided to bed down
after Professor Tomoe had shut off the generator.  It came as no
surprise to her that the Youma Usagi entered the same bedroom as the
good Professor.  Of course, she had been warned about that 
beforehand, so the whisperings of her Usagi counterparts were 
nothing new.

	She stopped at the open doorway of Hotaru's bedroom and looked
in.  A candle was still burning on the dresser, so she could see the
young woman, tossing and turning on her spartan bunk.  As far as 
Hotaru was concerned, the fact that she spent so little time here
meant there was no reason for her to place the usual affectations 
one would expect in such a private domain.

	Perhaps it was a concious effort to leave so little behind if
anything were to happen to her.  Usako knew everything about Hotaru.
What had happened five years ago.  What had happened since then.
A look of grief swept across Usako's face as she stepped into the
bedroom and stood beside the bunk.

	Although she had every right to feel this way, Hotaru carried
some deeply-ingrained suicide fantasies.  And that was the biggest
irony of all, because it didn't matter how hard she tried to hurt
herself, her body just kept on healing.  Hotaru had finally been
blessed with the eternal good health she had long sought, only for
her mind to go to pieces.

	Usako sat on the bunk beside her, quite certain that Hotaru
would not stir from her presence.  The young woman had pumped enough
chemicals into her body to start a small pharmaceutical company.  Is
the pain really that great, Hotaru-chan?  Usako thought to herself.
Slowly, gently, she reached over and touched the restless girl on
the forehead.  A beam of warm and soft energy passed between them,
and Hotaru lay still, finally calmed of her nightmares.

	Usako brushed tenderly at Hotaru's hair.  They were pretty
much even, now.  She had saved Hotaru, all those years ago, and now
Hotaru had saved her.  It was a pure fluke that Hotaru had found
her, of course, much to her good fortune.


	Regardless of the fact that Usagis were so universally 
despised by the survivors of the cataclysm, everyone had heard, and 
at the very least respected, the one known as Usako the Healer.  
Well, almost everyone.  

	Despite the good works that she had done in her travels across 
the lands to which she had access, there were always going to be 
those who were going to hate her simply because she was seen as 
'another Usagi'.

	She had been tricked into travelling to a region north of 
Tomoe's building fortress in the hope of using the strange magical
powers she had been blessed with to cure children who had been
struck down with an outbreak of influenza...  A truly virulent and
nasty strain, she'd been told.

	Without fear of the virus (she was somehow immune to the
diseases that affected others), she made her way to the region, only
to find the story was a lie, to ensnare her for a politically 
motivated show-trial, carried out by the violently anti-Usagi local
governor.

	Naturally, all the grievances the locals had about Usagis 
(real or imagined) were dragged out as evidence of her evil, and she
was sentenced to death.  

	Locked away, and ready to face the public hanging that was her 
destiny, she found herself, in the middle of the night, bundled from 
her cell by some terrified guards and peasants, into the arms of 
"Black Saturn".

	It was easy to understand why they were so frightened of 
Hotaru.  After hearing of the showtrial, whilst travelling through
the region on her search for an infamous assassin, she had come 
charging in like a bull in a china shop, demanding the head of the 
governor.

	Now, it is a well known fact that Saturn was worshipped by
some as something of a dark goddess.  That was how she'd earnt the 
name Black Saturn, long ago discarding the senshi sailorfuku for a
black dress costume that was singularly imposing to anyone who
saw it, especially when it was matched with the glaive pointing
at the throat.  

	Of course, most of the stories about Black Saturn....  The 
orgies, the sinister rituals, the killings and the mass destruction, 
were patently false.  Hotaru had better things to do with her time 
than run around like the devil incarnate, simply to keep up her 
reputation.  That didn't mean she tried to deny it, though.  Usako 
got the impression that she rather enjoyed the fear she engendered 
in people.  And, of course, she knew that that wasn't doing anything 
for the girl's state of mind.


	And so, the governor of the region was forced to make a public
apology, the sentence against Usako was quashed, and the peasants
and villagers of the region spent the next few days bowing to
effigies of Saturn.  One of Hotaru's little jokes, that last one.
She really couldn't have given a stuff whether people worshipped
her or not.  All that had mattered to her was saving Usako.

	It took the next couple of days to get back to the fortress.
In that time, Hotaru was able to tell Usako the things she'd endured 
since they had last parted company.  For two nights in a row, the
young woman had cried herself to sleep in Usako's arms.  It almost
made Usako feel as if she was not allowed to grieve over her 
friend's misfortunes.  But she didn't mind.


	The pain she had suffered, both mental and physical.  In that 
time, Hotaru had shown her the after-effects of the trauma...  Mood 
swings and chronic depression, alcoholism and various other 
addictions, even moments of apparent psychosis.  It was frightening
to see Hotaru talking to herself.  No, not so much talking....  More
like arguing...  Trying to come to terms with the nature of her 
problems.

	She had even shown Usako the scars she bore across her wrists 
she wouldn't allow to fully heal....  A constant reminder to her of 
what could be, what could have been.  And Usako comforted her, as 
best as she could, even when Hotaru tried to reject the kind words, 
the genuine feelings of caring and sadness.  There was nothing 
Hotaru could do to resist the powers that Usako now carried within.  
The power to heal.  And she was determined to heal the wounds within 
Hotaru.


	"Not feeling tired, are we?"  Usako turned to see the Youma
standing in the doorway, wearing nothing more than a nightdress.

	"Hotaru was restless.  She needed to be calmed."

	"How sweet."  The youma sniffed.  "I suppose she has told you
about our little bargain?"  Usako rubbed her chin at this.

	"Indeed she has.  I find it cruel to hang that kind of 
responsibilty over her head."

	"So tell me, what else was I to do to stop her topping 
herself?"  The youma cocked her head to one side.  "I'm not as
uncaring as you seem to think I am."  She crossed her arms as Usako 
looked down at Hotaru.

	"I understand your motivations, but not your methods."

	"It'll work, as long as I'm here.  But I'm willing to put 
money on a quick death for her as soon as I return to my time."

	Usako slowly stood.  "I don't agree.  I shall see to it that
Hotaru is removed of this curse."

	"She feels responsible, you know, for the others dying.  She
knows that if she tries to kill me, the others may be saved.  And
yet she knows she can't, because firstly she doesn't have the power
and secondly, if she does, she'll create a time paradox."

	"There is no guarentee that they are dead."

	"Ah, well, there is that possibility that I may fail.  But it
doesn't change the fact that they haven't been found, anywhere.  And
Hotaru feels she has been left behind."

	"There is more to it than simply that.  Hotaru's problems are
greater than the sense of abandonment."

	"Don't you think I know?  I saved her life when we bumped into
each other that first time, in Shin Kyoto.  It took her a good month 
before she was willing to leave her room after that... affair, for
want of a better word."

	Usako closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them
again.  "Nevertheless, I love Hotaru.  She is the only person in 
this world I can call family.  I would be most happy if you were to
be circumspect in your relationship with her."

	"Oh, don't you worry.  I've been circumspect ever since I got
here.  She isn't giving me much choice."

	"Then stay that way and leave, before we wake her."

	The pair stared at each other....  Like mirror images of the
souls that existed within.  Then the youma turned and walked away 
from the open doorway.  Usako breathed a sigh of relief and turned
back to the peacefully sleeping Hotaru.

	"Don't you worry, my child."  She whispered.  "What comes 
around will go around."




	The lone figure stood atop the building, looking down at the
vast complex of the Usagi Production Plant.  Soon, her enemies, 
known as the Usagi Liberation Front, were going to make a break for
power.  It had been said that Aosagi had successfully captured the
insidious Saturn.  For what purpose, she wondered....  Surely not
to torment the girl...  That was tantamount to suicide.  Or perhaps
Saturn was reluctant to use her immense powers of destruction?

	Whatever the case, things were about to change in a big way
within the city.  She turned her head and looked towards the 
horizon.  Black dots were appearing from everywhere, getting closer
and closer.  Destiny awaited her.

	Gently, she rested a hand on the sword she carried at her 
waist.  It was not a sword for killing.  She had long ago cast that 
side of her life away.  She had dedicated her life to bringing about 
a revolution....  To defend the people with her skills, and, never 
again, to kill.

	She turned, and bore witness to the sight of Venus, two cats
and an Usagi in pink, racing through the busy streets towards the
factory.  It was time to make her move....




	"Hotaruuu...."  It was a soft and pleasant voice that enetered
the head of the half-concious young woman.  She opened her eyes and
stared into darkness.  She tasted blood....  Ah yes, the Usagi 
Liberation Front's little bit of dental surgery....  The forced
removal of perfectly healthy wisdom teeth.  She'll probably die from
the loss of blood.  Anaemia, just another one of her many health
problems.

	"Hotaruuu...."  The voice called again.  She couldn't see 
where it was coming from.  Slowly, she lifted her head, and realised
she was unbound.  She also realised that lifting her head was about
the limit she could achieve in her current state.  She stared into
the darkness, searching desperately for some break in the ebon mist.
There was none, and she began to panic.  She hated the dark....
She was terrified of the loss of control it represented.  Without
light one was ensnared in a sense of the nonphysical.  She preferred
the physical, the solid.  Not for her were the lyrical beauties of
the mind and soul, regardless of her philosophical nature.

	"Hotaruuu...."
	"Who's there?  Show yourself..."  She croaked weakly.
	"Hotaru...  Accept your element.  Accept it and revel in it."
	"No!  I hate it!  Take it away."

	The voice paused.  She was sure she could hear sounds, like
breathing noises....  Much longer than the breaths of a human.  More
like long sighs.  Like the sound a fridge makes, a humming combined
with a hissing background.  She struggled to feel what it was she
was lying on.  The crackle of vinyl told her it was most probably
still the dentist's chair.  And yet, she knew it wasn't.

	Slowly, she attempted to roll from the chair, swinging her
legs over the side.  She put a foot down and felt for the floor.
There was none.

	She reached the foot down further and further, trying to find
the elusive floor, to the point where she was hanging on to the
side of the chair, feeling for the floor.  Giving up, she struggled
to lift herself back onto the chair, almost slipping.  She was
surprised she had that much strength in her, anyway.

	"Don't resist the urge, Hotaru."  The voice whispered softly
as she lay back down on the chair.
	"The only urge I have right now is the urge to get away from
this place."  Hotaru whispered back.
	"You will think differently when the time comes."




	Mamoru sat, biting his nails, watching as the 4P stuffed her
face with just about anything he'd ordered his Usagi subordinates to
bring him.  She certainly ate like Chibiusa...  But then, they all 
did....  Well, most of them, anyways.  It had been his charter since
he arrived to create the perfect Usagi, and that meant every little
detail of imperfection....  So there was a distinct possibility that
this being whom he thought of as Chibiusa may just be a common or
garden Usagi after all.

	But he doubted it.  Within the very core of his being, at that
moment her attitude and reactions had changed, he knew Chibiusa had
somehow been placed into the body.  The very essence of a Tsuki no
Hime....

	"Do you like the food, Chibiusa?"
	"Mm, is good.  What is it?"
	"The very best the City has to offer.  Everything Usako liked
to eat."  For some reason, Chibiusa choked when he said that.
	"Lets not talk about her, okay?  I might look like her, but
I'm not her, okay?"

	He was taken aback.  "Um, okay, if you say so Chibi-chan."
	She smiled at him.  "Its good to see your real face, Mamo-
chan.  Terrible things were happening in the other world...."
	"What?"  Mamoru was concerned.  "Is Usako okay?"
	"I said I didn't want to talk about her."  The 4P Chibiusa
turned her head away snootily.

	"I only asked if she was alright."
	Chibiusa looked aside at him.  "Oh, she'll be fine, I'm quite
aure she'll be able to look after herself.  Its everyone else I'm
worried about."  Chibiusa gritted her teeth.  Couldn't tell Mamo-
chan that they'd smashed Usagi like a bug, only for her to come back
in an extreme state of pissedness.

	"What?  What is happening to the others?"
	"Well, there was this thing that looked like you.  We all 
thought it was you, but it turned out to be some lump of pinkish-red
goo, and it was mad when Captain Kikotsuka blew it to bits."
	"Who is Captain Kikotsuka?"
	"She's the woman who headed up the investigation into....  Uh,
anyway...  She isn't what she seems to be.  Or at least, that was
the impression I got in the short space of time I had before I was
snatched away and stuck in this body."
	"What powers does this Kikotsuka person have?"
	"Umm, dunno.  I didn't really follow what she was saying.  She
went off in all sorts of strange directions when she spoke."  
Chibiusa paused.  "Oh yeah, and Ami's melted into the pool at her 
house."

	"She did WHAT?"
	"I dunno what happened there.  We'd only just arrived and her
mother was screaming into the pool, as if Ami was drowning.  But Ami
wasn't in there, and the Captain said she'd melded with her element.
I guess she means that, because Ami's powers are water-based...."
	"She'd melded with that element."  Mamoru closed his eyes for
a few moments.  What in hell had happened to his world since he was
so rudely snatched from its grasp, so long ago.

	"By the way, Mamoru, you look kinda older, or something...."

	He blinked at her.  "Hmm, that's because I've been here for
a good five years."
	"Five years???"
	"Yes, ever since that incident with Galaxia."
	"But...  That was only nine months ago....  In the history
of Old Tokyo, that is.  I wasn't there, remember?"

	"Nine months?"  Mamoru's jaw had dropped.  "But...  I've been
keeping a count of the days here.  And I can tell you, it has been
five years since I've arrived.  Of that I'm certain."  Mamoru began
rifling through the papers he had shoved aside to make room for the
food on top of his office desk.  Slowly, he prised out a notebook,
and opened it up for Chibiusa to see.

	"Here, I've marked off every day I've spent in this place.  
Each stroke represents a day, and each page a year."  He turned the
pages, flipping through five and onto a sixth, of which there were
already about fifty strokes.  Chibiusa shook her head.

	"I'm not lying.  I returned to 20th century Tokyo about six
months ago.  At least, I was taken six months after I returned."
	"Why did you come back?  I was gone by that stage."
	"You were?"
	He nodded.  "I can't remember you returning."
	"But you were there all that time.  Surely you couldn't have
been that thing...?  That lump of whatever it was...."

	"You still haven't answered my question.  Why did you come 
back?  I thought, when you returned to Crystal Tokyo, you were
returning for good."
	"So did I, but then something came up and Puu brought me back.
I can't remember why....  All my memories of the new Kingdom seem
somehow warped...  Out of control...."

	"ALRIGHT, I'M HERE.  NOW BRING OUT HOTA...  SATURN, AND FACE
ME LIKE A MAN!  I MEAN WOMAN!  I MEAN, I DON'T KNOW WHAT I MEAN,
WILL YOU JUST FACE ME, FOR KAMI'S SAKE?"

	Mamoru and Chibiusa looked out through the windows of the
office at the workfloor below.  There was a commotion amongst the
workers.  The chief Usagi exec threw the office door open.
	"Sir, there is a sailorsenshi on the shopfloor, disrupting
production."  The exec looked at Chibiusa and snarled.  How could
Mamoru be treating the Almighty Evil One with such affection when
he had HER?

	"A sailorsenshi?  Who?  Who is it?"  Mamoru stood and barged
past the chief exec, leaning over the stairway railing.  In the
middle of the shopfloor stood Venus and a pair of cats.  She didn't
look very pleased.




	"You MUST....  Ring the Bells.  The Bells of Erebus.  The 
sound of the eternal silence."
	"Why?"  Hotaru had now turned on her side, trying somehow
to avoid hearing the voice.  It didn't help.
	"Because if you don't, destruction shall rain upon you and
your friends."
	"My friends?"  Hotaru raised her head.
	"They will be threatened by a power greater than they can
handle.  This power lives to destroy...  It knows no other way."
	"Who are you?"
	"We have no name."
	"We?  What do you mean by that?"
	"We are a collective race.  We are many and one in one body.
Yet the body is threatened.  We need a protector.  We need the power
of Saturn."
	"No."  Hotaru whispered weakly.  "You don't want my power."




	"Mina-chan!"  Mamoru shouted.  Minako looked in his direction.
	"Mamoru?  Is that really you?"
	"Mina-chan!"  Mamoru dashed down the stairs, through the
crowds of Usagis who had gathered around in stunned disbelief that
they were being visited upon by a REAL legendary senshi.  Mamoru
grabbed Minako and hugged her, much to her surprise and 
embarassment.  "Oh Mina-chan, you don't know how much I've missed
seeing your face."  He stepped back, holding her by the shoulders.
"All these Usagis....  Finally, I see a bit of variety."
	"Uh....  Its nice to see you, too, Mamoru-kun."  Minako looked
dumbfounded at Mamoru's joy.  Her Usagi companion, who had survived
being her first customer at the Usagi Extermination Office, sided up
to her.
	"See, I told you he was the real Mamo-chan."
	"He looks kinda older..."
	Mamoru giggled, putting a hand behind his head.  "Ah, gomen,
I'm afraid that'd be a little difficult to explain.  I had enough
trouble with Chibiusa."

	"CHIBIUSA....."  From all around, Usagis spat the name like it
was poison to their tongues.  Mamoru and Minako looked nervously at
the steaming, wild-eyed figures.
	"I take it she's not popular around here, then?"  Minako bit
her lip.
	"Chibiusa is the spawn of the devil."  Said her Usagi 
companion.  Minako rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
	"Where is she, anyway?"
	"Right here."  Minako looked past Mamoru at the 4P, who had 
made her way through the crowd.
	"Ano...."  Minako mumbled.  Mamoru sighed.
	"I'm afraid to say it'll take too long to explain.  But this
is, for all intents and purposes, Chibiusa."

	"CHIBIUSA...."  Said the Usagis again.  For a moment, Mamoru
and Minako thought Chibiusa was going to be lynched.  That idea
ended when the room exploded with smoke.  There were screams from
all over the shopfloor, as figures leapt from the high windows of
the factory.

	"What the hell is going on?"  Mamoru dragged Minako, Chibiusa
and Minako's Usagi companion away from the middle of the shopfloor
as Usagis dashed past them, trying to find their way out of the 
mist.  All four almost tripped over the cats, who had, until now,
been silent.

	"Minako, its the Usagi Liberation Front."  Luna barked, rather
unnecessarily.  "There are a dozen of them, coming in through the
windows."
	"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
	"Because you were too busy being involved in an incipient love
scene to be bored with my wonderful observations."
	"They might have added a certain something to the ambience,
you know?"
	"The Usagi Liberation Front?"  Mamoru dragged the girls up the
stairs, towards his office, where the chief exec was waiting for 
him.  "I've heard of them.  I never really thought they existed.  It
sounds so silly.  What have they got to be liberated from?"
	"Their Usaginess."  Said Minako's companion.  As they reached
the top of the stairs, Mamoru, Chibiusa and Minako looked back at 
her.
	"What do you mean by that?"  Mamoru frowned as he bundled
Chibiusa into the office after the cats.  The chief exec grabbed him
by the arm, trying to pull him in after them.
	"Do you know what it is to live in a world where everyone is
exactly the same as you, where there is no individuality.  We Usagis
have to live this every day."

	Before they could question her any further, the figures of the
ULF ninjas landed on the shopfloor.  Seeing Mamoru and Minako on the
stairwell landing, one tossed a grenade at its base.  The resultant
explosion caused the supports for the stairwell to collapse.  
Mamoru, Minako and the Usagi cried out as the landing fell to the
ground.  They hit the floor with painfully audible thumps.

	"Now, Sailor Venus, we have the venue for our showdown.  Let
the fight commence."  From the middle of the group, stepping out of
the mist, came the leader of the ULF, carrying Hotaru in her arms.
Minako looked up and was horrified to see blood dripping freely from
Hotaru's mouth.  Minako quickly got to her feet as the Usagi 
companion dragged Mamoru back against the rear wall.

	"Hotaru!"  Minako shouted.  "What have you done to her?"
	"Oh, we just entertained ourselves for a little while.  Some
minor oral surgery, nothing important."

	Minako stared at Hotaru, whose eyes were half-open, in a daze.
She shook her head.  "What kind of sick, depraved bitches are you,
anyway?"  She spat venomously.  "She's never done anything to you!"

	"She is SATURN!  She deserves to suffer."
	"So you say, you depraved freak."

	Before Minako could do anything, the ULF leader dropped Hotaru
to the floor.  She hit the concrete with a sickening thud, and just
lay there.

	"Oh, so I'm the depraved freak, am I?  That's nothing compared
to what you are."  The ULF leader pulled her sleeve away and pinched
her skin.  "You see this?  This is pure Usagi flesh.  We are 
superior to you differents.  This city, this world, will belong to
us.  We were born to emulate the powers of Tsukino Usagi, and so we
shall."
	"You are nothing more than failiures."  Minako sneered.  "I
heard it today, only ONE of you has been able to master a simple,
base level spell.  I have full mastery of ALL the spells at my
command.  What are you going to do, eh?"

	The ULF leader smiled behind her veil.  With a casual gesture
of her hand, eight ninjas ran past her and sliced at Minako with
katanas.  Minako thanked the speed of her senshi form that she 
wasn't shredded in an instant.  The attacks were repetetive, from
almost every angle, all at once.  No sooner had one lashed out than
there was another in her face.  Fortunately, with all their 
attentions on Minako, her Usagi companion had been able to help
Mamoru away from the scene, disappearing behind some of the 
conveyor belts where other Usagis were hiding.  She sat him there
and held him in her arms.

	"Mamo-chan...  Are you alright?  Speak to me, Mamo-chan..."
	"U...Usako..."  He looked up at her and touched her face.  
There was a moment's silence, and the pair of them looked at the
Usagis who surrounded them, all with dark, jealous expressions on
their faces.  The Usagi who held Mamoru made a quick decision on
the spot, pushing Mamoru away, allowing him to drop to the floor 
rather painfully.
	"Iyaa..  Mamo-chan...  You're so aggressive."  She put her
hands to her face and affected a blush.  Mamoru watched stars fly
over his head.
	"Who's the aggressive one, I ask you?"  He muttered.

	Suddenly there was a cry of pain, and a sickening tearing
sound as one of the ninja's katanas ripped home its message in
Minako's shoulder.  The Usagi peered over the production line
conveyor as Minako staggered back against the wall, clutching
her shoulder.  The blood spurted out freely.

	"What's happened?"  Mamoru sat up.
	"One of the ninjas got Minako-san.  They've severed an artery
in her shoulder."
	"I've got to do something..."  Mamoru was about to stand, but
was held down by several Usagis.
	"Don't Mamo-chan....  You're no match for them."
	"Yeah, they're psychos.  They'll kill you in no time flat."
	"Let me go!  I'm still Tuxedo Kamen.  I can't allow them to
hurt Mina-chan."  He managed to lift himself up beside the Usagi
peering over the conveyor.  He looked on helplessly as the eight
ninjas converged on Minako, who had slid down the wall slightly.  If 
she doesn't get that attended to pretty quickly, Mamoru thought, the 
blood loss could be fatal....  In a world where the only person with 
her blood type was herself.

	The ULF leader strode forward, shaking her head.  Her
subordinates stepped aside as she chuckled.

	"Is that the best you can achieve?"
	"I'm not finished yet."  Minako said weakly.  She lifted a
hand into the air.  "Crescent beam SCATTER."

	In a matter of seconds, ninjas were jumping in every direction
as crescent-shaped energy bolts fired from her hand.  Mamoru and the 
Usagi ducked as they ricocheted viciously off the conveyor belt.  
There were screams from all over the factory as Usagis ducked behind 
machinery to get away from the assault.

	Within seconds, however, the bolts began to falter, and 
Minako's hand fell.  Slowly, she slid down the wall, clutching her
shoulder.  "Oh Kami-sama, can't pass out...  Can't pass out now..."

	The ULF leader popped her head from over the top of one of the
factory generators.  She snapped her fingers, and her subordinates
appeared, unharmed, from behind various pieces of shelter.  Slowly,
she climbed on top of the generator and looked down at Minako.

	"Bwahahahahaha!  You call that little light show your BEST?  
You insult me."  She pointed at Minako.  "Finish her."

	"Not so fast, Aosagi!"  The ULF leader turned to the voice at
the mention of her name.  Everyone followed her example.  Standing
in one of the windows was a single figure.  An Usagi with red hair,
tied back in a ponytail, wearing a messy, red-brown ronin's kimono 
and sandals.  At her side, she held onto the handle of her sword.

	Her most distinctive feature, however, was a cross-scar on her
left cheek.  For some reason, Minako had the strangest impression
that she'd seen this before.

	"So, Hitokiri Battoumoon, you show yourself at last."  Aosagi
chuckled and tore her veil from her face.
	"It seems I have to keep impressing upon you, Aosagi, that I
am no longer the Battoumoon.  My name is Tsukino Usashin.  I would
prefer you to use it."
	"Whatever you say, Battoumoon.  I am ready for you."

	"You shall never learn, Aosagi.  This violence and murder
shall not achieve the goals of liberating our kind from their
humdrum existence."
	"That wasn't your attitude in the past.  Remember the attack
on the City Council?  You seemed fairly willing to use your sword to 
kill back then."
	"Times have changed.  I now defend the weak with a sword that
cannot kill."  Usashin pointed at Minako.  "The one known as Venus
has been defeated.  There is no reason to kill her, she can no 
longer harm you."
	"So?  Her very existence is a thorn in the side of our kind."
She gestured to Minako.  "Look at her.  The famous Venus, defeated
by we mere 'failiures'.  Wake up, Battoumoon, your dreams of a
peaceful solution to our problems are just that, dreams."
	"And like the fool you are, you tortured Saturn."
	"And how good it felt, too.  After all that time, all that
fear, I was finally able to work through the tensions.  You should
have heard her cries, Battoumoon...  The pain, the fear...  It was
outrageous."
	"We trained together, Aosagi...  What could have perverted
you this way?"
	"Perverted?  I merely exercise my strengths.  My skills."
	"Our skills were always designed to kill, Aosagi.  All
fighting techniques have that ultimate goal in mind.  But I prefer 
the doctrine of love and justice that the one true Usagi had always 
stood for over that truth."

	The Usagis in the factory began to applaud as Mamoru, Chibiusa
and Minako facefaulted.  Aosagi gritted her teeth, looking from side
to side as her subordinates clapped.

	"STOP THAT!"  Everyone shutup.  "Your words are meaningless to
me, Battoumoon.  We must fight, we must destroy, so that we may
triumph over those who oppress us."
	"Sometimes the oppressors are the most oppressed of all, 
Aosagi.  Can you not see that?  And besides, we don't have the time
for games like this."
	"ENOUGH!"  Aosagi snarled and pointed at Minako.  "Kill her.
Kill her NOW!"

	"Wait!"  Usashin drew her sword.  "I shall not allow your
women to get within ten feet of her."  Usashin's eyes changed from
the normal, clear expression one expected from an Usagi, to a much 
more threatening and hardened one.  Aosagi smiled.
	"Now THAT's more like the Battoumoon I remember."  She smiled,
but the expression was not reciprocated.  Usashin stared hard at
Aosagi, the gaze piecing deeply into her soul.  For a few moments,
there was silence as the two stared each other out.  A Mexican
standoff, thought Minako.  Not that she thought ONE Usagi could do
much to a dozen.

	Aosagi clicked her fingers, and her subordinates raced towards
Minako, katanas out and ready to tear.  In the blink of an eye,
Usashin had disappeared from the window.  Half of the subordinates
clutched at their sides, their chests, their stomaches, and fell
to the ground unconcious from the impact of Usashin's sakabatou.

	Usashin skidded to a halt in front of Minako, holding the
sword out in a threatening stance, her expression unchanged from the
moment she'd leapt from the window.  The remaining ninjas baulked at 
taking her on.  Aosagi fumed.

	"Enough of this, Aosagi.  I wish to hurt no more of our 
people.  But I shall if you persist in this insanity."

	Aosagi quivered, slowly raising her arm, pointing at Usashin.
For a few uncomfortable moments, she seemed to be coming to a 
decision.  That was when the windows, those that were still closed 
exploded with the first blast.  Screams could be heard from outside 
the factory.

	"Shimatta!"  Usashin stood up, sheathing her sword.  Everyone
had turned to the entrance where dozens of Usagis were quickly
making their way into the shopfloor in fear.

	"What?  What is it?  What's happening?"  Aosagi stared from
side to side as the Usagis ran past her.
	"It is the Destroyers, Aosagi.  They have chosen, en masse,
to attack the Factory and the surrounding districts.  It seems
something is about to happen here that will threaten their 
existences...  Perhaps all of our existences...."  Usashin turned
and helped lift Minako to her feet.  Aosagi turned to her 
subordinates and the assembled crowd.
	"Alright!  Everyone OUT of the Factory NOW.  Out through the
back serviceways.  Run for your LIVES!"  Aosagi jumped from the
generator as Usagis followed her order.  If there was one thing
Minako found impressive about Aosagi, it was the strength of her
voice.  Mamoru and the Usagi companion he'd called Usako ran up
to Minako and Usashin as Usashin tore off part of her sleeve,
wrapping it around Minako's shoulder.

	"Thankyou for intervening like that."  Mamoru gasped.  "How
did you know the Destroyers were coming?"  There was another blast,
the shockwave of which could be felt even within the factory.
	"I saw them, on the horizon.  Something is about to happen
here of great import, Mamoru-dono."  She turned as Aosagi ordered
her standing subordinates to carry the fallen from the factory, then
down at Hotaru, who was mumbling to herself, a strange, smiling
expression on her face.

	"I think she may have something to do with it."  Usashin 
frowned ominously.




	Hotaru was now sitting in the chair, looking up at the sky
that had appeared from nowhere.  "I've seen these things before,
somewhere...."
	"The are the Destroyers.  They live to kill."
	"How can they?"  Hotaru turned and looked to her left.  There
stood Mamoru, Minako and several people who all bore an amazing
resemblance to Usagi.  Of course, Hotaru thought, this city is full
of Usagis.  "They look frightened."
	"And so they should be.  The Destroyers have the power to
obliterate them with a single blast of energy.  We could find but 
one who had the power to take them on."
	"Me?"
	"In the name of your friends, accept the darkness within.  
Become Saturn...  The true Saturn...  Kill that which threatens the
lives of your friends."
	"Kill...."  Hotaru quivered, suddenly frightened.  "I have to
kill them?"
	"You WANT to kill them."
	"I want to kill them."
	"You live to destroy."
	"I live to destroy."
	"Kill them all."
	"I will.  I will kill them all...."




	They watched as Hotaru got to her feet, her limbs jerking
like a puppet's.  Aosagi joined them, stepping back from the dark
haired girl as she looked up through the windows.  They followed
her gaze and, to their horror, saw one of the Destroyers flying
overhead, its vast, mottled black mass cutting out all light.
	"What the hell is THAT?"  Minako croaked.
	"That is a Destroyer.  And it very much means to kill us."
Usashin said without taking her gaze from the floating behemoth.

	"MAMO-CHAN!"  A figure landed on top of Mamoru from the
doorway of his office.  "What is that scary thing, Mamo-chan?"
	"Chibiusa, will you get offa me?"  Chibiusa stood and
helped Mamoru to his feet as the chief exec was guided by the
cats in her efforts to crawl down from the doorway on the remaining
stairway framework.

	"We better get out of here, quickly."  Mamoru took Chibiusa
and Usako by the arms and gestured with his head to Minako, Usashin 
and Aosagi.  Just then, there was a bright flash of light from the 
shopfloor.  They turned to see Hotaru transforming....  The large 
staffed blade of the Silence Glaive appearing in her hand.  But 
instead of changing into Sailor Saturn, her clothes transformed into 
a black dress uniform.

	They watched as she lifted the glaive into the air, looking 
like some horrendous fury, her face still covered in blood.  She
whispered a command...

	"Darkness Axiom."  The glaive began to ring, increasing in
pitch and volume like a jet engine building up revs.  The sound was
everywhere, all at once.  The group began to move away, covering
their ears as the glaive vibrated with energy.

	The roof over the factory shattered like matchsticks, and
they could see the Destroyer above them.  It too was quivering with
the noise.  Slowly, Saturn lifted the glaive back, and sliced at
the Destroyer in a cutting motion.  A beam of intense energy shot
from the double-blade, slicing the Destroyer in half.

	The two halves crushed the walls at either end of the factory
when they came crashing to the ground.  Dozens of Usagis were 
killed, their bodies flattened underneath.  Black blood from the
Destroyer sprayed across the factory floor like a fine mist, getting
in eyes, noses and throats, its noxious nature causing the fleeing
hoardes to splutter and cough, their eyes filling with tears.

	Just as Mamoru got to the rear exit, he turned back to see
Hotaru smiling.  Not a nice smile, either...  More one of pleasure.
Hotaru slowly rose from the floor, levitating....  Since when was
she able to do that?  He thought to himself.

	Other Destroyers approached, from every direction, all aiming
for the floating dark figure.  But if Hotaru/Saturn felt any fear of
their presence, she didn't show it.

	Then she shouted something that gave Mamoru, Minako, Chibiusa 
and the two cats cause to wet themselves.

	"DEATH REBORN REVOLUTION!!!"


	The world around them exploded in a vast pall of white.




	Naru wandered through the grounds of the Academy.  It was 
amazing how easy what was, technically, her first day.  Not that it
was her first day.  The memories of Tranquility certainly helped.

	Still, there hadn't been anything about magic in any of her
classes, and that was the most disappointing aspect.  Reliving the
past, even if it was through nothing more than memories, had the
capacity to give away information that may come in useful.  There
was no guarentee that, after all this was over, she would retain
Tranquility's memories.  But the things that she experienced would
remain, and that included whatever it was she learnt during her
classes and private tutorials.

	Naru began to wonder where the Academy actually was.  Its
actual location.  Considering the vast nature of the Empire,
whatever that may be, the Academy could have been on any of the
vast number of worlds that it contained.  But somehow, she doubted
that it was anything that exotic.  This felt like the Earth.  A
much cleaner world, devoid of the smells of industry and pollution
she had grown accustomed to back in her time.


	She hadn't seen Naiad since she had left the Dining Hall.  Nor
had she seen Ami.  That momentary, haunting vision of the girl had
remained with her throughout her classes.

	The young white-haired student, Astute, had offered to take
her to the infirmary after the affair, but Naru politely refused.
Although she wanted to.  Astute had to have been one of the most
gorgeous looking guys she had ever seen.  Of course, he didn't 
exist.  None of them did.  A pity that.  She'd imagined quite a few
things one could get up to with a man like that.

	She giggled at her own stupidity, then went quiet.  That was
the power of the mind, and the ability to become lost within it.
Even though these were only fantasies, she was already feeling well
at home within them.  That was because she liked them more than
her "real" existence.  The obsession that Naiad carried with her,
to live entirely within the mind, devoid of the need of a physical
existence, suddenly became an attractive option.  Why, she could
just stay here, her conciousness floating forever in the avatar of
water, living out whatever life she chose for herself....

	She snapped to, something like a spike of memory shooting 
through her mind.  You fool, the memory spoke to her, that's the 
trap of the mind.  To live forever within fantasy is to bring on an
eternal death.

	Naru bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment as the world
swam around her.  Focus my thoughts, she chimed like a mantra 
through her mind.  She opened her eyes again and found herself
standing at the door to the library.  She looked back at the steps
that lead there and wondered when she walked up them.  Slowly, she
opened the elaborate copper and crystal door and stepped inside.


	The library was silent.  Its monitors were shut away in their
offices, or had gone home.  She wondered about the security of such
an institution, and reminded herself that it wasn't likely that
someone was going to walk in here and steal the books and other
items it contained, let alone raise the joint.

	Naru walked through the entranceway and entered the historical
studies room.  Well, she thought, even though I know a lot of this
stuff through Tranquility's memories, I might as well look up some
of it myself.

	The room was lined with a vast array of bookshelves,
surrounding huge wooden desks and tables at which students for 
thousands of years had studied.  The immense sense of time hit her
like a truck.  This room...  This library...  This immense font of
knowledge, experience and comment, was long dead.  Everything that
had gone into creating this place was destroyed ten-thousand years
ago.  And in the course of the Kingdom's history, that was but a
drop in the ocean.

	An ocean of time, that washed into the ocean of the mind.  And
back again.  Naru began to understand the synergy that existed 
between Setsuna and her sister.  The two were blessed, or perhaps
cursed, with knowledge no living mind had the right to endure.  In
the case of Setsuna, it literally had been a case of living, 
throughout much of recorded human history.  In Naiad's case, it had
been through an apparent refusal for reincarnation.

	Slowly, Naru stepped over to one of the desks, breathing in
the tantalising smell of old books.  The hardbound works of art
that the Kingdom had prided itself in their production...

	She placed her study books, notes and pencils onto the table
and looked around, not knowing where to start.  Perhaps the origins
of the Kingdom itself.  Tranquility seemed a little sketchy on those
details.  But where would she start to find that kind of 
information?  She stared around her at the towering bookcases, the
dust that floated in the air, illuminated by light that shone
through the windows at the top of the external walls.  The very
ambience of the scene seemed to fill her with an incredible sense of
peace.

	"Do you come in here often, Tranquility?"  She spun, slightly
shocked at the voice.  She hadn't heard anyone approaching.

	Setsuna stood there, smiling pleasantly.  No, Naru reminded
herself, this was Hecate, the previous life of Setsuna.
	"Umm...  On occasions."  She replied, not sure what to 
actually say to her.  After all, whilst she knew Setsuna (well, knew
enough of Setsuna to get by) Tranquility herself had very little to
do with Naiad's sister.

	"Hmm.  I visit here quite often.  There's never many people in
this room, so I'm free to study in relative peace."

	"Its quite an attractive room, too.  It has nice smells to 
it."  Naru turned and looked up at the windows as Hecate stepped up
beside her.
	"You know, I've never really thought of it that way.  Now that
you mention it, it does have a distinctive atmosphere."  Hacate
turned to her.  "The smells of time.  An aroma brought about by 
forms of decay, and entropy.  The more we strive to preserve, the
less we save.  Its a sad fact we deny in our ephemeral states of
being."
	"And yet, we shall be born again, one day.  As if new, devoid
of our past memories, we must experience it all once more."

	Hecate smiled, chuckling to herself.  "Some of us are blessed 
with the capacity to remember those lives."  Naru turned to her.
	"You're kidding me?"
	"No.  I have a very distinct memory of my fourteen previous
lives.  Those that were important enough for me to remember, of
course.  Its the nature of the game, really.  The mediocre 
existences we lead are scrubbed from our souls forever, yet those
lives to which we have played a part of import...."  She smiled.

	"I'm not blessed with those kinds of memories."  Naru shook
her head.  "I'm trying to remember, though.  I think this place
contains some of them."
	"It would not surprise me if you had spent some time in a
previous existence studying here, at the Academy.  Of course, we
both lose out to my sister when it comes to remembering past lives."

	"In what way?"  Naru stared at Hecate as the young woman
placed her books beside Naru's.
	"According to her, and I wouldn't place any capital on what
she says....  Well, not all the time, anyway...  She has lived well
over one hundred lives."
	"Over one hundred?"  Naru's jaw hit the ground.
	"Indeed.  One hundred and thirty six, at last count.  I 
suppose that is only natural, considering the strengths of certain
aspects to her powers."

	"You can't confirm this?"
	"We've only been sisters in at least six of our lives.  And
even this is extremely unusual.  It isn't often that two are so
intertwined through resurrection.  But if what she says is true,
then it is possible that her soul, her spirit, goes back long before
the birth of Galaxia."

	"Galaxia...."  Naru had heard the name before.  Something she
hadn't been involved with, before she knew about the senshi and the
Kingdom and all that.  Although, perhaps, in her heart of hearts,
she really did know what was going on.  But some of the stories she
had been told...  

	The Dead Moon Circus one had to have been the silliest....  
Who would have believed that kind of stuff.  And yet, she knew it to 
be true, in a way.  

	And then there was the story of Galaxia, the greatest of all 
the senshi.  Or maybe not.  She had a feeling that Galaxia was more 
than merely a senshi.  Although, it was obvious, from the memories 
she had gathered from Tranquility, that she had never met her in 
this life.

	Whatever the case may be, she had seemed to combine the 
immense dual powers of not only a senshi, but also a miko.  She was 
warrior and priestess in one.

	"Well, anyway, I'm all a bit dazzled by this."  Naru waved at
the bookshelves.  "I need to find something about the origins of our
Kingdom.  The historical persepctive, that is."

	Hecate nodded.  "Virtually anything along the back row there
can help you in your studies."  She pointed to the far end of the
room.  Naru bowed slightly in thanks, which Hecate found somewhat
amusing.
	"Thankyou.  Umm..."  Naru bit her lower lip.  Hecate raised an
eyebrow.
	"You wish to know where my sister is, do you not?"

	Naru was surprised by Hecate's apparent mindreading.  Of 
course, considering Hecate was Setsuna, that wasn't really 
surprising.  "Yes...  I haven't seen her since lunch, and I'm 
beginning to wonder where she has got to.  She said she was going to
the library, but that was hours ago."

	"Ah, I'm sure she'll pop up, fairly soon."  Hecate nodded.
"Now if you will excuse me.  I have some study to attend to."

	Naru smiled.  "Thankyou for your assistance."  Hecate nodded
again and stepped away, wandering behind one of the rows of books.


	Naru sighed and made her way to the far end of the room,
staring up at the tower that presented itself to her.  Hecate had
been right, most of these books, according to their titles, did
cover the origins of the Kingdom, many written by the same authors.
She wondered if there was such a thing, in this day and age, as the
politically motivated recording of history.  Something she had
learnt about during her time at high school.  History was almost
always the product of the predominant view at the time of its
archival.  The prejudices and attitudes of the people had the
capacity to sap historical record of its accuracy.

	She reached out and picked up a volume, marked "The Birth of
the Moon Kingdom of Sol, the Historical Records of the Settlement
and the Harnessing".  Naru understood the Settlement and the 
Harnessing to be two of the major periods within the Kingdom's
foundation, but she didn't quite understand what they meant.

	As soon as she opened the book, she realised she was in
trouble.  It was written in a language that was nothing short of
indecipherable, even to the memories of Tranquility.  This should
not have come as any surprise....  The book, according to its date
of publication, was thirty thousand years old.  Whatever materials
and inks that was used in its construction had to have been some of
the hardiest in creation.

	She jumped as she heard thunder.  A storm brewing?  She looked
up at the windows.  The light that fell through them was paler than
before, and she pondered the concept of experiencing a thunderstorm
within the mind.  What could cause such a thing to come to pass?
Some violent flash of energy, disrupting the status of the elements
that controlled the solar system?

	She felt herself shiver....  Something was happening...
Something in the outside world, and it was BIG.  She attempted to
put her mind back on the task of studying the book, and decided that
the best method would be to look at the pictures.  For someone like
Naru, the thought of going back to the kind of juvenile gee whiz of
picture reading was somewhat embarassing, but with text that looked
more like astrological symbols than proper written speech, she 
didn't have much of a choice.

	Had she found Ami, she was sure this would be much easier.  If 
anyone had had the capacity to fast track the learning process, it
was her.  She felt an tingling sensation on the back of her neck,
and she turned to her left.  Ami stood there.

	More like a spectral figure, covered in a gossamyr white 
dress.  With the setting, the paleness of the light and Ami's
appearance, Naru got the distinct impression of a haunting taking
place.

	"Ami..."  She croaked.

	There was silence.  An intense, unbearable silence.  Naru felt
every fibre of her inner self being probed.  Strange fancies entered
her mind, and for a few moments, she wondered if the world had come
to a dead stop.  Only the occasional rumble of thunder, and the
sound of rain against the windows, broke this impression.  What are
you trying to do to me, Ami?  I thought we were friends.  I want to
remove you from this place.  I want you to survive.

	The figure turned, and stepped through an open doorway at the
end of the bookcase.  Naru dropped the book on top of the shelf and
followed her.  You're not getting away from me this time, she 
thought to herself.

	She turned and stepped through the doorway, to find herself in
a large hall, with a wooden staircase that seemed to rise for an
innumerable number of floors.  Ami stood of the first flight of
stairs, looking down at the doorway as if waiting for Naru to make
her entrance.  Then she turned, and looked out of the windows that
sat above the first flight.  The dim light that shone through those
windows cast a pall of gloom into the hall that was so thick, Naru
could almost feel it...  Taste it...  It was like water, but more
than that.  The water smelt, and tasted, like blood.  Her blood.
Ami's blood.  Aoi's blood.

	After all, isn't that what they were now?  A pool of water,
with the collective conciousness of three.  And all were playing
games with each other.

	A game, thought Naru....  A triumvirate of minds, trying to
outfantasize each other....  Ami moved on, up the stairs.  Naru
knew that, by following her, she would be playing the mindgame the
most intelligent of the senshi was controlling.  But she couldn't
help herself.  She wanted to know where all this was leading to.

	She had been right.  The stairs almost did seem to go on
forever.  Twelve storeys, in fact.  There were fourteen in the
library.  It was the biggest and oldest of all the Academy's
buildings.

	On several occasions, she thought she'd lost Ami.  But always,
every single time, the girl would be waiting for her, staring down
at her in a totally dispassionate expression.  As if Ami didn't
recognise her, or didn't care.

	On the twelfth floor, though, she did disappear.  Through a
closed wooden door.  Just like a ghost, Naru thought.  Naru had
managed to reach the twelfth floor, puffing and panting from all the
stairs, her attention entirely focused in finding Ami on the next
flight.  But Ami wasn't there.  Then she saw Ami standing by the
door.

	And through she stepped.  Shadows of shadows, passing.

	Naru sat against the banister, rubbing her face with her 
hands.  The storm washed against the windows heavily, and the 
sunlight was disappearing.  She stared out between her fingers at
the dark brown wooden door.

	She stood, almost mechanically.  She stepped forward, reaching
for the door handle.  She felt a strange sense of deja vu.  This
really did happen.  She really did see a ghost.  Or at least,
Tranquility really did.  She took the handle in her hand and turned
it.  Yes, a ghost.  Even if it wasn't Ami.  Even if Ami was only
taking its place.  It was a spirit of destiny, and it pointed to a
revelation.

	She pushed the door open.  Inside was dark.  Well, darkened
anyway.  It was a small room that obviously lead off to others.  It
was certainly the only door that lead off from the stairwell.  It
HAD to lead to something.  Naru stepped inside and closed the door
behind her.  It had opened and closed without any sound.  She was
grateful for that, because it meant that, whomever was making the
sounds she was hearing now, they most certainly wouldn't know of
her presence.

	The voices of a man and a woman.  Well, they were young 
voices, so they were likely to be students.  And they weren't saying
much, just a lot of giggling and panting.  Naru relaxed and shook
her head.  Why would Ami guide her here?  Honestly, some people just
didn't have any sense of decorum.  Of course, considering the only
man she had ever had in her life (well, her current life anyway) was
Umino Gurio, she didn't have much to complain about.  She almost
laughed when she thought about it.  Everyone had asked her why she
liked such an apparently pathetic figure.  She could tell them,
there were a few things about Guri-chan that stood him in good 
stead.

	Of course, events had taken place that had removed her from 
him.  She hoped that he was safe.  The atmosphere, the scent of
blood, that had pervaded everything since she entered the stair
hallway, made her jittery.  She hated blood, its smell, its viscous
red appearance.  As a child, whenever she had cut herself 
accidentally, she had been known to pass out, or go into a state of
catatonia.  She didn't know why the mere sight of blood had this
effect on her.  A stress-induced neurosis, based on events in a
previous life?  She shook her head.  It was bad enough for 
psychoanalysts that they have to deal with the problems gathered in
one life time.  Add several to that and they might as well hang up
their couches and travel to the south seas.

	She took off her shoes, placing them gently on the carpet by
the door, then crept forward.  The room ended with a window, covered
in a black curtain.  On both sides of the window were open doorways.
It was to the left that the noises were coming from.  Naru felt a
strange, voyeuristic thrill as she crept through the doorway, 
peering in to make sure she wasn't about to stumble in on the 
couple.

	The room was much like the first, only it didn't have an door
at the far end.  It was also filled with books and folders.  A kind
of records office...  But how old, she wondered?  Considering the
age of the book she picked up in the history room below, one that
was on general display, it was quite possible that she, and the two
lovebirds, were the first people to step through this place in the
last century or so.  There was certainly enough dust lying around.

	She continued on, stepping through yet another open doorway,
which lead to a small, warmly decorated passageway.  Along the
passageway were several other doors.  Naru was getting sick of doors
in this place.  If it wasn't doors, it was little rooms and 
anterooms and corridors and all sorts.

	The third door on the left was where the noise was coming 
from.  No point beating round the bush, she thought.  Jeez, of all
the metaphors she could come up with....  She chuckled quietly,
holding a hand to her mouth.

	The door was partly open, so she peered through the gap.  And
she let out a silent gasp.  They were WELL into it.  And the man 
was, of all people, Astute.  Well, that ended a few dreams she'd
had over the last couple of hours.

	Then she peered at the girl....  And found herself backing
away from the door, shaking her head.  She hit the opposite wall
with an audible thump, and the noises within ceased.  She panicked
and made a dash for it.

	"Who's there?"  Astute's voice floated from the room.  By the
time Naru had heard it, she'd scooped up her shoes and was out the
main door, heading for the stairway.

	Astute threw the door to the room open, wearing only an 
unbuttoned shirt and underwear.

	"Is there anyone there?"  Came the voice of his partner.  He
turned back to her.
	"If there was, then they're long gone."
	The girl swore something in an ancient tongue and stood from
the couch on which they had been making out.  "This'll be bad if
they let on about us."
	"What are they going to say?  Nobody will believe that I'm
the lover of Naiad Keth Drutein."

	Naiad sniffed, putting her arms around Astute's neck, smiling.
"Well then, lover.  Shall we pick up where we left off?"


	Several floors below, Naru finally stopped running, and 
started at catching her breath.  For a few moments, she wondered 
what it was that shocked her so much.  So Naiad had been Astute's
lover during their days at the Academy?  So what?  But then, she
wondered why Naiad had gone to such an effort to dismiss the
attention Astute was getting, earlier in the dining hall.  What
was it she had said?  Astute was JUST a MAN?

	But that wasn't it.  It wasn't the deception, or the fact
that Naiad was having a relationship with the best looking guy in
the Academy...  It was a deeper jealousy she felt.  One of being
betrayed.

	And the implications of that frightened her.



	IASFU OA FWSS IASFU OA FWSS GOO JUA GOO JIPEST
	and again
	IASFU OA FWSS IASFU OA FWSS GOO JUA GOO JIPEST


END OF PART 11


Notes

And now we start on the business end of the story.  From here on,
all the plotlines will begin to weave back together again.

I had a couple of mails telling me that the scene with the drunk
Hotaru, arguing with her father over Usako and the Youma was
rather disturbing to them.

I will have to say here that there has been a segment of this
story I have cut out....  A segment that followed the Youma Usagi's
arrival in the future, where she killed the UN soldiers, and the
first scene at Tomoe Souichi's fortress building.  This scene
involved the Youma saving Hotaru from a horrible fate.

Its just that the events were SO horrible that even I thought twice
about including it.  And ultimately I decided to cut it out.  If you
want to know what happened in more detail, email me about it.  
You'll probably also be glad I cut it out.

Suffice to say, the future Hotaru's behaviour is a combination of
post-traumatic stress and chronic, almost psychotic, depression.  It
amazes me how anime characters can go through what they do (and 
Hotaru goes through a hell of a lot) without there being any 
psychological reaction.  Of course, in a weekly tv show, with the
necessary evils of standard format and repeated animation, there
often isn't time given to the deeper levels of characterisation.
And when there is, everyone says its the product of the director
losing his or her Prozac (re Anno Hideaki and Evangelion).

So if some of the characters here are beginning to get a tad OOC,
just consider it an indulgence on the part of the writer.  I may
even get round to resolving some of the canonical mistakes I've
made.  You know the ones, like "duh, the Asteroid Senshi don't
exist in the anime" or "wasn't Mamoru supposed to be studying in
the States" or even "why wasn't Chibiusa ever renamed Chibinaru"?

And just what did happen to Umino Gurio?  Aha, now THERE is an
interesting proposition.  Some of the revelations within the past
world Naru, Naiad and Ami are experiencing may be rather surprising.
^_^  (I know what I'm writing about....  Pity nobody else knows what
I have in mind.  In fact, many would have reached this point, still
not quite sure what is going on.  That's what you get when you meld
together five different story ideas into one ^_^).

Enough rambling from me.  In chapter 12, Terminal Skydiving, Naru
confronts Naiad about her relationship with Astute, and gets a
surprising response.  Madame Scorpia makes an offer to Usagi and the
Animates that they just CAN'T refuse, and the barrier between the
dimensions of our universe and that of the eternal city is ripped
open....  In a VERY big way, thanks to someone with the initials
TH, who carries a very big stick with a sharp, pointy end, 
necessitating the imminent arrival of someone with a lot of power
and influence to sort out the mess.

All comments, criticisms and general rants can be posted to
ayanami@merlin.net.au

I'm a nice person in real life.  I won't bite your head off if you
mail me.  ^_^  Honestly.

DDFA