Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Soldier's Duty ❯ Chapter 21

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

A Soldier's Duty, chapter 21

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." Edgar Allan Poe

"I've got to keep breathing. It'll be my worst business mistake if I don't." -Sir Nathan Meyer Rothschild

DISCLAIMER: Naoko Takeuchi owns Sailor Moon, Sakura Shinguchi from "Sakura Wars"(c) Sega, Kasumi and Ayane from "Dead Or Alive 2", Misato Kasuragi owned by Gainax "Evangelion"

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Rain in Arizona is mainly during the month of July when the annual "monsoon season" starts. It goes from being 110+ degrees with a low humidity to 90+ and a high humidity. Oven becomes sweatbox. One is also treated to displays like vergra (rain that evaporates before it hits the ground, haboob (mile high walls of dust and grit with zero visibility), sudden harsh downpours, and storms where it looks as if the clouds are walking across the 94% flat landscape on legs of lightning. Because the ground has a layer of kalichi (a sort of natural concrete) and a correspondingly low water absorbtion level, floods frequently occur.

Rain in Tokyo has two things in common with rain in Arizona. It is wet, and the temperature lowers when it is raining. In late March, the rain is a frequent visitor, though it tends to be a drizzly sort of thing as opposed to getting most of your annual rainfall in a single set of weeks.

The natural tendency of human beings (among others) who hurt, are exhausted, and find themselves in a chilly room is to burrow under the covers and get some sleep. This is the sensible approach to cold rainy weather, multiple injuries, sickness, and Mondays. Unfortunately, in a modern society, the sensible approach is often not even an option.

Though, even in modern times, sometimes one isn't given the option to do anything else.

"He feels feverish," said Deimos, her hand covering a small segment of Grey's forehead.

Phobos made an agreeing noise. "At least his wounds haven't opened again."

One of the two foot tall girls stretched. "Well, *he* isn't going anywhere for awhile."

"Neither are we, yech. I dislike this kind of weather. Constant drizzle."

"Well, we could go to the room with the sacred fire, warm and dry in there." Deimos brightened a little at the thought. "Right, Phobos?"

Deimos looked around quickly but her twin was missing. "Phobos?"

"Shhhhh. You'll wake him."

Deimos blinked, then slowly lifted the flap of the futon. "Phobos? What are you doing in there? If he rolls over... He's 5 foot something, we're two feet tall. That could hurt."

Phobos snuggled. "Yeah, but it's nice and toasty here. As well as fairly comfortable."

Deimos went back to the head and peeled back an eye. "Hmmm. You've got a point there. If he was any more out of it, we'd need to call the coroner."

"MMmm hmmmmm," said Phobos from somewhere under the blanket.

"Oh, c'mon. Isn't there something you really wanted to do when you get back to human form? Well we *are*." Deimos could think of quite a few things. Bathing, eating regular food, even those video game thingies that had looked quite interesting.

"Yup. But the boy's not cooperating."

Deimos blinked a few times. As close as they were, sometimes her sister could really surprise her. "How can you even *think* of that with the size difference?"

There was a long drawn out sigh from under the cover. "Spoilsport."

"Well, *I* am going to try one of those 'pocky stick' things, and I know where our Princess has stashed her Super Famicom." Deimos rubbed her hands together. "Dragon Warrior IV - here I come!"

Phobos stopped what she was doing to poke her nose out of the futon. "Hmmmm. That's right... race you!"

----------

Obsidian, the Knight of Fear, was not a particularly big person. Slightly larger and more muscular than the Japanese students around him. Certainly a lot blonder.

It wasn't his physical size that caused people to avoid him, or even that he was gaijin. He just seemed to "project" the same sort of atmosphere one would expect from venomous cobras, bee swarms, or similar high danger areas.

Which had its benefits, certainly. Someone had tried to lift his wallet, and he'd just turned around and *looked* at the fellow. He hadn't known an oriental could turn that pale.

"Excuse me," said Obsidian. Of course there was a downside. Try to ask someone the time, or ask a cute girl out, or even just something as simple as getting directions. His limited Japanese didn't help matters. The last time he'd asked someone for the time, they'd given him their watches. Strange people these Japanese.

Some girl started yelling something, and seemed to momentarily look over the crowd nearby.

Obsidian was curious about this himself, why were all these guys wearing sports gear anyway? Practice before school? If so, *why* would they be waiting around near the school gates?

Oh well, worth a shot. "Excuse me, miss," said the Knight, smiling and walking towards the girl. He held his hands up, showing he had no weapons (at least visible.) "Could you help me?"

The girl in question dropped into a combat stance and moved forward in some sort of martial arts attack.

Morgan Wright had grown up in and attended public school in New York City. Learning to fight as a daily set of combat where a white guy was deemed "target of choice." Obsidian had been a barbarian who had survived in the days where how quickly you could kill the competition determined how long you could live yourself. After that, Obsidian had gotten further training during the Silver Millenium and its court.

Chivalry was *not* one of Obsidian's strong points.

He hit the girl four times, none of them particularly fatal. After all, during his days travelling with one of the pre-pre-Mongol tribes this sort of thing could be considered a declaration that she desired a mating. Of course, she *could* be another daimon or something, so it was best to politely say no. In barbarian parlance, that meant not breaking any of her bones or causing permanent damage.

The girl hit the ground in the manner of a bag of wet cement, coughing and gagging from the stomach punch. So she probably wasn't a yoma.

"Excuse please, is this Juuban High School?" Obsidian called out.

"No," called some girl from the second floor. "Yuwakusha Academy. Juuban is about 10 miles North."

"Sorry!" Obsidian called back. Getting back on his motorcycle, he noticed that a lot of the athletic losers were staring at something. He rode off, not particularly caring. He was gonna be late for class. Which didn't bother him *that* much, but he'd prefer not to deal with the inevitable hassles that would result.

--------

Phobos munched on a Pocky (sort of a chocolate covered pretzel stick) while watching Deimos. "Akira Toriyama did the character designs, didn't he?"

"I think so," answered Deimos. "HA! Another Boss bites the dust."

"Dragon Warrior IV. I think it would have been more fun if the dragon WAS the hero. Flying around, breathing flames, rescuing princesses."

Deimos laughed. "Get real. Nobody would buy a game like that. Well, except us. Nobody could identify with a dragon."

Phobos munched away at her stick, as she was two feet tall and the stick was six inches long, she had been nibbling on it for awhile. "Well. How about if we made a game that had you capturing the monsters and then training them to do the fighting for you. Lots of kids could probably identify with that as the average kid couldn't fight his way out of a bento box."

"Never work," declared Deimos. "In order to make them marketable across gender lines you'd have to make them so cutesy you couldn't take 'em seriously for the fight portion."

"Oh yeah." Phobos studied her feet as she chewed.

"What about Grey-sama?"

Phobos cocked her head at her twin, mouthing the suffix "sama" briefly. "Oh, he's doing about the same. Rain's gotten worse, so I pulled the door halfway closed."

"Oh my. THAT could be a problem."

----------

Haruka KNEW she could do it. There had to be a way to transform back.

Michiru had every confidence in Haruka. Though she DID think that a six inch high pixie Haruka was extremely cute.

"So it's agreed," Haruka said, looking at the partially opened door. Perhaps the only thing handy about this awful transformation was that she could share an umbrella with Michiru. In fact, sitting on her Michiru's shoulder was kinda nice. But being this unbearably cute was NOT acceptable. Why she hadn't simply become Peter Pan was unknown.

Michiru nodded. "Do you think you can become Sailor Uranus? My 'Deep Submerge' may be sufficient to kill him, and then you can fly in and get his Pure Heart."

"If that actually works," agreed Haruka. "Though I want to try transforming anyway. Any more time spent like this..."

Michiru smirked slightly. "But, Haruka, you're so cute like that."

"Michiru. Please do not use that expression."

"Have you tried to transform back to human?" Michiru tried to focus in on the pixie sitting on her shoulder. "I remember stories about pixies who could use their magic to assume human form."

Haruka thought about that. Could it be that simple? She focussed, building her power up. She started glowing brighter and brighter, she could almost feel it. If she could only reach a little bit further!

ZOT!

The umbrella fluttered to the ground.

"Uhm, Michiru..."

"Not one word, Haruka."

"But..."

"Haruka. Do you remember that woman who declared herself to be Amaterasu Omikami?"

Haruka did and quickly swore. "Kuso! Do you suppose. No, of *course* that's why our attempts to kill the boy keep going astray."

Michiru began massaging her temples as a gust of wind blew the umbrella away and neither of them currently had the weight to hold it in place. "Let's at least get out of the rain before we get too soaked through. Maybe we can at least get something hot at the shrine."

"Michiru," said Haruka sadly as she flew. "I realize our duty is to stop this evil. I realize that we, the Outer Senshi, must find the Talismans. I realize that the fate of the world depends on keeping the Silence from occurring."

Michiru smiled, thinking of something. If Haruka could turn *her* into a pixie, why couldn't they do this to the boy? Then perhaps they'd get a better chance later.

"Maybe we should try joining up with the Inner Senshi and cooperating with them?" Haruka wasn't used to feeling so out-of-control of the situation. Of course, she wasn't used to being six inches tall.

Michiru privately wondered if they could do any worse.

-----------

Celeste had gotten tired of people zipping by and asking her what was going on in the Fourth Labor simulated timeline.

So she'd taken the simple implement of getting an old fashioned blackboard and writing out the most salient points.

fiancees:
Ami Mizuno---------quit
Kumori Mizuno------quit
Morrigan Aenslad---quit
Eudial-------------out of simulation
Ritsuko Akagi------quit
Maya Ibuki---------quit
Amieow Mewzuno-----out of simulation
Rei Ayanami--------missed deadline
Asuka L Soryuu-----missed deadline
Amaterasu----------removed by request

Currently in running:
Ayane, Honey, Hotaru, Kasumi, Makoto, Minako, Misato, Nuku, Phobos & Deimos, Rei, Sakura, Serenity-ojou, Setsuna

Amaterasu had come by, saw her own name there, and had quietly and calmly requested that it be removed. She was *not* considering this. She had a certain interest in the boy, she admitted, but that was as far as it would ever go.

Fleece had a seperate sign. Odds were changing so quickly that she could hardly keep up. Though she had the "I know something you don't" smirk that had the Valkyries involved wanting to put her through Boot Camp.

---------

The usual drizzle had turned worse.

Misato was teaching despite her reduction in age. She looked just about dead on her feet.

Ami asleep in class was considered by many of her classmates as either a sign of the apocalypse, or (whispered by many) that she had spent the night up with Makoto (wink wink nudge nudge).

Usagi was asleep in class. No big surprise there. Except that Misato had thrown a piece of chalk at the sleeping girl and it had failed to wake her up. So, Misato had been impish and had gotten Naru to "do something" with Usagi's hair while she was so soundly asleep. Hairclips and bunny ears figured into this evil plot.

As Makoto was apparently dead to the world, the rumors about her and Ami were continuing to build.

Of course, now that Ami and Makoto had been "outed" - the idea that Minako and Usagi (who were often late on the same days) were *also* engaged in a relationship was making the rounds as well. Which was one reason that, under Misato's direction, Naru had done up Minako's hair so it exactly resembled Usagi's usual hair style.

Kasumi and Ayane were *not* going to fall asleep in class, as this would be giving the other an opportunity to do something distressing. What the class was about, they would later be unable to remember.

Rei tried to sleep in class, but nuns with rulers make this a difficult feat.

Honey tried to explain to the Japanese Secret Service exactly what had happened. Even with Nuku Nuku's help this was causing various technicians to check for mechanical problems.

Ritsuko went to day care, was picked up by Maya, and the two abruptly vanished.

Gronk (the Triceratops) merely ignored the drizzle. The Seven Dwarves were building a still.

----------

After what seemed like an extremely long day, Rei yawned and stretched, rubbed her eyes, and essayed a smile. Tonight was *her* night. Unlike Ami, she had it all planned.

Her date with Grey was detailed out. She even allowed him 2.25 minutes for getting ready. Everything would go smooth like clockwork.

She even had a backup plan in case it kept raining.

Rei Hino wanted to make a few things up to the boy. He hadn't deserved half the things that had happened to him, he wasn't like the typical Japanese boy, and he wasn't actually that bad.

Okay, Morrigan had explained the love potion bit. Though Rei was *sure* it hadn't affected her. How could you trust anything that Succubus said, anyway? Even if it *had* affected her somehow, she just got so *warm* thinking about the boy, there couldn't be anything wrong with that, could there?

Of course not. And her prospects had gone down considerably of late. Yuuichiro was somewhere in Okayama, her Grandfather somewhere to the North. Neither remembered her as far as she could tell.

Though there were an awful lot of people still insisting that her name was "Bambi Hino". Even some of her school records now read that way. Testament to something that *still* gave her the shakes. An attack on her very identity. A death threat she could face. The Wizard had instead nearly rewritten her past, so that instead of "Rei Hino the shrine maiden" there would have been "Bambi Hino schoolgirl stripper."

If nothing else, for rescuing her from THAT, Rei owed Grey.

Tonight would be perfect, culminating at a night at a hot springs resort (where they'd "accidently" miss a bus and have to stay the night). Rei blushed and managed to walk into a lightpole while considering how the night was going to go.

---------

The Wizard checked. Something was seriously wrong.

Power emanations from four seperate areas he could not account for. The "Witches Five" had somehow become the "Witches One" and his faith in Mimette was not terribly high. Her spa/resort managed to get quite a bit of power to him, and certain visitors had been quietly replaced with duplicates loyal to him. Those whom he couldn't simply rewrite the minds of, he found other uses for.

No, Mimette was fine where she was. It was odd that a bipolar with a significantly low Wisdom score had managed to survive the longest, but this was fate.

It was these unknown power surges that concerned him.

As for the Trap, it was ready. It had been easy, and his unwitting assistant had been Celeste herself. She had loaded *that* file in case the current scenario failed, and now the Wizard was quite ready to make use of it.

A perfect Trap, the Wizard thought. It bypassed each defense that his target had and struck in the areas that he had less protection on. His memories, as long as he didn't threaten the core identity or try to make something contrary to the boy's nature, could be attacked.

If he had it correctly, and the Wizard thought it likely, the core identity of this boy was protected. He couldn't be transformed into something weak and helpless, nor a bimbo or prostitute of any level. Try to go past a certain level, like the attempt to turn him into a ditzy bunnygirl, and the whole thing failed as the Binding activated.

However, he'd turned up that some unknown had cast spells upon the boy. Grey had been transformed at several points, memories erased, he'd even spent time as an affectionate catgirl - so gender COULD be altered.

The Wizard considered laughing evilly, but frankly he didn't see the point without an audience. And even if he explained all this to Mimette, it was doubtful she'd understand.

The Wizard wondered briefly, if he shouldn't try getting a pet. Having someone around to brag to would be nice.

Then his expression fell as his carefully wrought trap collapsed as Celeste removed the backup file and Amieow Mewzuno from the simulation.

--------

Grey was tired and hurt and frankly had *not* reacted well on being dumped by Ami.

Not that anyone used that phrase except Grey, but he still felt that it pretty much summed up the experience.

Everyone (and it literally seemed like *everyone* - including Ami and her mother) had shown up about an hour after school at the Hikawa Shrine. Which was when Ami had revealed to Grey her declaration of the early morning. She had withdrawn her name from consideration. Exams were more important than love.

Morrigan made her farewells as well. There were fights she needed to get to, quests that needed undertaken. However, she promised in a whisper, that when the Senshi truly needed her, she would return and use her own talents on their behalf.

Maya Tono cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. Shard-san, you're very likable. Unfortunately, I'm just a musician, and a martial artist. This is all... more than a simple taiko drummer can handle. I *thought* I could handle this, but the trip through Jurassic Park convinced me that I am just a small fish here.

"There's also that you're American. My Art is strictly a Japanese one. The Japanese festival drum is completely a Japanese tradition. As the last of my line, I must insure that it continues in Japan."

Grey nodded. "I be sorry to see all you go." Grey nodded again. Though he'd begun liking the idea that there were women interested in him, he knew that this was all an honor arrangement thing and now those who could were bowing out. It wasn't like he was one of those idol singer guys. It hurt that he was being dumped, but it was only to be expected.

"That means, of the old arrangements," pointed out Setsuna, "that the Mizuno and Tono arrangements are put off another generation at least. The Saotome claim was put to rest awhile back. Leaving the engagenments to Honey Kisaragi, Atsuko Natsume, Makoto Kino, Setsuna Meiou, Haruka Ten'ou and Misato Katsuragi are still valid. Also, through quirks of fate or ties of blood, Phobos, Deimos, Sakura Shinguchi, and those two kunoichi."

Hotaru frowned but didn't say anything. Queen Serenity, listening from afar, also frowned.

"Though, with us," pointed out Deimos.

"It's a package deal," confided Phobos with a wink.

Many embarassed looks, and Grey tried unsuccessfully to find a phrase in his dictionary.

Rei smiled and winked at Grey. "Don't forget, Grey-chan, tonight's *our* date!"

Grey nodded at that but cast a concerned look towards Ami, who ignored him.

Ami ignored the hurt look from her former fiance. She had other things to do, more important things, than deal with an engagement. High school exams, getting her identity as Sailor Mercury reinstated, her future career as a doctor. She had to be cool, if not outright cold, towards this American just to make sure he wasn't somehow encouraged by her. Americans, she had heard, could be very tenacious and prone to misunderstanding things.

--------

"Haruka?"

"I've almost got it," said Haruka, manifesting the glow again.

"Just don't go turning anyone else into pixies," Michiru cautioned. "This is not 'Featherbrite's Tale' or some other anime."

"Hey, what are you two doing?"

*ZOT!*

Michiru looked over herself. Short, furry, paws instead of hands. "Miya miyaaa miya!" (Haruka. I would have expected this sort of thing coming from the Inners.)

Haruka looked at where she'd just transformed her lover into a green furred Ryo-oh-ki, though as she had never seen "Tenchi" she wasn't familiar with the cabbit concept.

They just *had* to get rid of that gaijin, reflected Haruka. What had been a life or death struggle now involved pixies and unbearably cute rabbit-things. How could they tolerate this?

"Miya!" (Excuse me, I'd prefer 'pixie' to this.)

"Hang on. I'll try again."

"Miya? Miya!" (What do you mean try again? Haruka!)

*ZOT!*

"Bweee?!" (What did you do?!)

"I'm a little closer. I'm getting it." If Haruka had been thinking clearly she likely wouldn't have said anything *that* stupid.

"BWEE?!" (I'm a little black piglet, how is this closer?) Michiru considered the possibility that she'd be able to maintain her elegant image very well in her current shape. Pixie was looking better all the time.

Haruka built up the charge, getting ready to change Michiru back into human. She couldn't bear to see Michiru like this any moment longer.

Michiru closed her eyes and crossed her legs.

*VOMP!*

-----------

Grey hadn't been sure what to expect with Rei planning the date. He'd spoken with her a few times, but really didn't know her even as well as he knew Ami.

For one thing, Rei's command of English was mainly nonexistant. His own Japanese wasn't that good even with a few days practice, so there was a major communications gap at work.

What little he did know about Rei was that she was a shrine priestess of something called Shinto. Which seemed to involve nature spirits, bells, gongs, and praying to fires. These "kami" didn't seem that different from some Native American beliefs, and there were little dolls of this Daruma guy and that chipmunk with the bottle that was resting on his nuts. (That Daruma wasn't a kami or that the chipmunk was a badger had not yet occurred to Grey.)

Rei attended what looked like a Catholic girl's school. Though the name T*A academy had some weird connotations. (Though frankly "Fruit Parlor Crown" wasn't much better.)

She teased his daughter. Well, she teased Usagi at least. Though the rumors of a relationship between the two seemed to be founded on this kind of behavior. Was that expected of him? Had Ami rejected him because he hadn't hit her or insulted her? And, if this was so, would he also be rejected by the others because he wasn't inclined towards actively trying to wound people he was trying to be friends with?

She also had some decidedly kinky clothes in her closet, but embarassed easily when confronted with them. She was, at times: brazen, shy, thoughtful, emotive, a firecracker about to go off, or the serene Shinto priestess. She was the courageous Sailor Mars who could somehow run in those red heels and that short skirt without looking completely ludicrous.

No, Grey reflected, he didn't know much about Rei Hino at all.

Especially when the bus they'd boarded for the trip to the "numbaro one-o hotto dateo spottu" was apparently heading outside town. Grey looked out the windows, completely befuddled, as Rei sat demurely and calmly reading a magazine. Something called "Haneo" from the English lettering. on the cover.

Grey waited until the bus had gone over a mountain before asking the question. "Uhm Reichan, where go we?"

"Big date-o spot!" Rei winked and smiled then returned her attention to the magazine.


--------

Obsidian, Knight of Fear, the barbarian in Queen Serenity's Court, would have thought it amusing. Morgan Wright, the current incarnation of Obsidian, LOVED this.

Beer, ice cold, in *vending machines*.

Toasting the night, Morgan Wright declared that he had changed his opinion and Japan truly *was* a civilized land.

-------

Rei thought it was so cute the way her boyfriend to be twisted nervously around. ~Yes, be nervous little one, even as you're drawn into my trap!~

Rei Hino was taking charge of her life, and spending a lot of time in a crowded pack wasn't part of her current plans.

Before this current Menace From Beyond, Rei had died once and been brought back. She'd faced things that would have killed her and had certainly tried to do so. Now with *this* season's menace, she had nearly been turned into a Roppongi based stripper named Bambi. Yuuichiro and her Grandfather were out there somewhere, and neither of them remembered her. All of which added a certain urgency to her actions.

(She'd also fixated on Grey, first by impressing on him when her memories had been locked and some of that feeling had remained. Though she told herself it was just being grateful for having been rescued from becoming Bambi. Then she'd drank that love potion, and even being near him was enough to make her all hot and bothered. So her judgement was a *little* bit off.)

So she'd planned her tactics out. Her clothing was a simple bare-sleeved minidress. Something tasteful, but it showed off her legs. Her pumps were not practical for the mountains, but she was planning on "twisting her leg" and having to be carried anyway. (Though from how exhausted the boy looked, Rei was worried that she might have to carry *him.)

She glanced to the side, and her eyes widened. He had fallen asleep? Rei almost shook him awake, when he slid limply over and ended up with his head resting on her shoulder.

Rei blinked repeatedly. What had she been about to do? Oh yeah, let him sleep there. That way he wouldn't wake up and notice where they were going. All part of the plan.

-------

*VAMP!*

Michiru slowly opened her eyes again. She was human sized again. She brought her hands up. Yes, those were *her* hands, with the line of callous from running the bow on her violin. She checked her face and everything seemed in place.

She wasn't a pixie, or a cat/rabbit, or a pig, or a monkey, or a flying squirrel wearing a WWI aviator helmet, nor a pink winged elephant, or a gorilla, or a (shudder) boy, or anything else that she had ended up turned into. Michiru regarded the exhausted Haruka briefly.

"Eeet is well, mam'selle Haruka. Vous have returned me to normal, oui? Now, Michiru must get very busy cleaning up for Mistress, non?" Michiru saluted the little pixie with her feather duster briefly before walking off to the Shrine.

Trying to catch her breath and staring at French Maid Michiru, Haruka decided that fainting with a nosebleed was too much work.

-------

Mimette sulked. She did a lot of that normally anyway.

"I am NOT bipolar..." grumbled Mimette to no one in particular. "Ooooo! Jet Li-sama! No, no, bad Mimette, I must capture his energies for the Cause. But... No buts! But LOOK at his butt!"

Of course if anyone *had* been around Mimette while she watched hidden cameras filming some of the celebrities who had come to her little hot spring resort, they would have likely left in a hurry.

"Ohhhhh! Ohhhh! Jet Li-sama! No, Mimette, we must be cruel to be kind!"

Of course, if the actor in question had realized that he was "on camera" and that Mimette was about to faint with a nosebleed, he would likely no longer even be anywhere near the hot springs.

"Ah, the horrors of having to steal energy from him, foiling our incipient romance. Oh Jet EEP!" *Spurt* *THUD!*

While going out to the hot springs, Chinese action star Jet Li had dropped the small tenugui (towel) he was using to keep his privates covered, and bent over to pick it up. Mimette's eyes were going in little circles.

Which is how Mimette completely missed seeing a shrine priestess carry her date into the lobby.

------

Evil spread feathered wings as it gently landed on the penthouse balcony. She slid open the door, surprising the tired looking woman and the young girl studying.

"What?" "Who?!"

*PUM!* *PUM!*

Sailor Lead Crow took the two brightly glowing Star Seeds, smiling at the thought of how this would please her mistress. The hunting was good here.

The minion of Galaxia turned her gaze back out to the night. She could sense Phobos and Deimos, the "lucky twins", out there. She'd find them soon, she had little doubt. Just a matter of triangulating their position.

That is, if they'd stop moving around so much.

-------

Kasumi and Ayane moved like shadows from the bus station to the inn: silent, unnoticeable. Which was actually one of the ninja things they did pretty well. For once they weren't fighting, which added immensely to their stealth quotient.

Phobos and Deimos moved like two clumsy two-foot-high girls who were still trying to get used to having a human shape again. Deimos had actually tried to fly from the luggage rack to the roof of the ryokan, only remembering when she had started falling that they weren't ravens anymore. Though to be fair both of the handmaidens had gotten thrown about a bit from the ride up.

Usagi (currently disguised by her disguise pen as the famous seiyuu Kotono Mitsuishi - currently doing the voice of Beautiful Elfgirl Magical Princess Diamond) walked in, only to find there were no rooms available. After seeing one of the workers at the inn, she got an idea and quickly used her disguise pen again.

Makoto had no disguise pen. She'd substituted a trenchcoat, hat, and dark glasses. She was about as inconspicious as if she had worn an "E.T." costume. Unfortunately, in an attempt to shadow Rei, she had hidden in the back and not gotten off the bus in time. By the time she'd gotten untangled and requested a stop, she was a mile away on a lonely mountain road. Then it started raining. Though this *did* reveal that her disguise had use beyond concealment.

Mimette continued to watch the video, now concentrating on the feed from the pool area as men and women took shelter from the storm. "Oooh, YEAH baby!"

-------

Rei grinned as Grey moaned and started waking up, then quickly banished the expression.

"Oooh, wha?" Grey winced as he moved.

"It was raining, so we took shelter here. Fortunately they had a room for the night," smoothly lied Rei. "You were pretty out of it." That was completely truthful. "Didn't want to get your bandages wet." Partial truth.

Grey got the feeling that Rei was dealing with double meanings, but was having trouble just following her normal Japanese. However he did catch the gesture at the drizzly rain outside. "Ah. Rain falling. Understand." Ame wa furu. "What is that?"

Rei looked out and instantly hid the resulting smile. The air was cooling, particularly with the now-fading drizzle, and the quite warm waters of the hot springs provided a developing mist. "Oh? That's the onsen."

"An 'onsen'?" Grey looked around. Everything looked fairly old in design, but newly built. Rei was now wearing some red kimono instead of the outfit she'd been wearing earlier.

"Yes, you ought to change to a kimono while we're here," suggested Rei, trying to sound completely reasonable. "Though first, here's your tenugui. You should go out and get a nice hot soak before it gets too late. It'll be good for your injuries."

Grey stared at the washcloth. Or was that a hankerchief? It was about the right size for a potholder, though not nearly thick enough. "What that?!"

"A tenugui, a towel used to cover your privates. I know how hung up you Americans are about nudity but it's no big deal here in Japan," said Rei, who had a swimsuit on underneath her kimono. "You really ought to try to fit in more over here, especially with Ami and her mother moving your stuff over to my shrine."

That shut Grey up. It had been quickly decided that since he was no longer engaged to Ami, it wasn't proper for him to stay there. Ami's apparent unconcern had been troubling for Grey. Ami's mother had been more upset and disappointed than the cool Ami. He'd thought they were getting along. Apparently not.

Rei carefully did not smirk. "Go ahead and change, you can rest after that."

Grey was about to answer when there was a knock at the door.

The maid didn't even wait for an answer before she entered the room, closing the door again softly behind her. "Ah, heh uhm, guests-sama who I have never seen in my life before, I have brought sake and some riceballs."

Rei's eyes narrowed. That couldn't be... could it? Certainly it could! Though how could Usagi have found them?

Grey blinked. Why did Rei look angry? And he was only 15. Rei was 16. They were too young for the rice wine, and frankly he was getting sick of having rice with everything. If it didn't have rice, it had fish, and more often it was just plain old rice.

The maid put the tray with the little ceramic bottle and two cups down next to the little bowl with the steamed buns. "Ah, so... Mister guest needs a kimono, doesn't he?"

"U-sa-gi." Somehow Rei managed to make the name a threat of incipient violence.

Usagi was privately worried. While she wanted to get her Silver Millenium dad and mom together, but if that didn't work, Rei and Grey might make a cute couple. Though there was the hope that if Rei was getting some on a regular basis she might not be so hostile and strict all the time. It just seemed that Grey looked ready to hide in the closet. How could she smooth the way for love to flourish? How could she hide the fact she'd just dropped all the rice cakes?

Grey was *sure* that something was going on. *What* he wasn't quite getting. The maid was nervous and seemed to be waiting for something. Rei was angry and looking at the maid. Oh! That was it! He counted out a few yen and put it on the maid's tray, hoping it was enough.

Usagi blinked. 60 yen? What the heck was *that* for?

"No no, Grey-kun," exclaimed Rei, snatching the coins off. "This is a ryokan, you don't tip the help. Not unless they've done something *really* good. Not like this clumsy oaf here."

Usagi growled before she realized she was still in her disguise. "Heh heh. Will there be anything else, sir? And, uhm, ma'am?"

"Oh there's quite a bit," said Rei with a raised eyebrow. "Unfortunately I don't think an inn that employs such a low class of worker will be able to meet those needs."

Usagi grimaced and bowed low. She'd have to get even with Rei, but not while her Silver Millenium daddy was watching. When she came up, she saw something that caused her to fumble and drop the tray.

Rei and Grey looked towards the open door but didn't see anything.

Usagi sweated. Had she seen that scary ninja girl with the pink eyes or not? "Excuse me, madam, sir." Usagi all but fled the room.

"Usagi you idiot..." Rei frowned towards the closed door. What did that girl think she was doing? Only an idiot would be taken in by that disguise!

"Hino-san, you awfully harsh with that girl?" Grey wasn't sure *why* the girl looked familiar, but then a lot of Japanese looked fairly similar. Though the blonde Japanese seemed fairly rarer. "She not like very old experienced. Look like our age."

"No no, Grey-kun," said Rei with a wave of her hand, thinking quickly. "It is expected of the guests to give the maids a hard time. It's all part of the experience."

"i don't understand," said Grey, which was perfectly obvious.

"You are not Japanese," said Rei, which had been her response to a lot of his questions for the past few days. "Hurry up and get undressed, you should spend a little time soaking before they close for the night. It'll be good for your wounds."

Grey sighed. Clearly he was supposed to just go out there. Well, Rei had already seen him naked. In her simulation she had *chased* him while naked. And then in her room at the shrine. So it wasn't a big deal, right?

Grey began removing his clothes, then stopped. "If it not big deal be naked here, why Rei watch me?"

Rei stiffened, trying to find a way to put this. Ah, that would work. "Because I just want to make sure you don't embarass yourself or something."

"Oh," said Grey. That sounded reasonable.

-----------

Makoto had finally reached the ryokan, and was looking over the onsen when she glanced towards one of the rooms and gasped.

There was her sempai! Stripping off his clothes while Rei watched? What had Rei told him? Poor guy, taking off his shirt while Rei stared at him and was clenching her hands! She'd *known* Rei was a pervert after seeing some of those magazines in her closet. Now Grey was taking off his pants! Oh, the poor guy, falling for some ruse by Rei to...

Makoto stared. Was that Phobos and Deimos? How'd *they* get there? And wasn't that the ninja girl Kasumi falling out of a tree?

A bubble from the onsen brought Makoto's attention that way. Ayane? Wearing a bikini with a face mask and bamboo shaped snorkel? And why was Usagi dressed as one of the Inn's maids?

Makoto's eyes went back to the room, causing her to stare again. There was her sempai in a state of... stateness? Trying to cover himself with a badly worn washcloth? Looking horribly embarassed. Her heart went out to her poor sempai.

Uh oh, they were coming out here! Where to hide?

----------

Slipping off his shirt had been difficult enough with Rei's unblinking stare following his every move. Well, at least with *this* date, someone had made plans. It had probably been his lack of planning that had made his date with Ami so bad that she was apparently now giving up entirely on love in order to devote herself entirely to studying.

The amount of guilt and just plain ego-crush that little part of Ami's speech had given him was staggering. At least Tono-san and Morrigan hadn't gone *that* far. They'd simply... dumped him. So he didn't protest Rei looking like that, as she was probably right and it didn't mean a thing. Besides, wasn't she a priestess of this Shinto thing and so was probably chaste and pure and all that despite the weird stuff in her wardrobe.

Which brought Grey Le Shard to trying to cover himself with an anemic washcloth while taking his pants off and turning a bright cherry red from the study that Rei was giving him. Shame and guilt over Ami, ego-bruise from being dumped, embarrasment over being naked in front of a girl, confusion over the situation, and the desire not to cause some additional problems all forming a muddled mess of his emotional state. Being naked in front of an attractive girl who was studying him with a little smile on her face might have been something else if he weren't fifteen years old and in such a mess.

"Uhm, like this?" Grey said, trying to cover himself with this "tenugui" thing. Odd logo for the inn was embroidered on it, an oval from which three curvy lines emerged. Maybe it was a raincloud?

"It's upside down," commented Rei, trying to look uninterested and failing miserably. "Come on, get in the water. We don't have all night."

Wincing a bit, and wondering how either of them would do at school the next morning, Grey tried to keep himself covered from Rei's angle while going out the door towards the hot springs.

Since he didn't know about the "maid", the trenchcoated girl hiding behind the ornamental boulder, or the ninja girl in the tree, he unintentionally gave them a full view. There was a little bamboo pole which abruptly spluttered water when he got in, but that was obviously some sort of ornament. It looked silly which probably meant it had some grave Japanese cultural significance, and since he didn't understand it, he was probably best off ignoring it.

Besides, this water was *hot* and that demanded a lot of attention right there.

Hot he'd expected. Hot as in scalding he hadn't foreseen, even with the steam skirling about. Then he'd caught the smirk on Rei's face and everything clicked. Rei had been hostile previously, then simply cold, and then she'd started acting interested. Clearly it was all some dirty rotten trick. Playing games with the foreigner, eh? Now she was waiting for him to leap out of this way too darn hot spring in order to have a good laugh at the "gaijin"! Well, if a Japanese could put up with it, so could he!

-------

Rei had thought it amusing that Grey had reacted like that to wading into the hot spring. It couldn't be *that* hot, after all. Why he scowled like that, set his shoulders, and sat down on one of the submerged rocks was curious but chalked up to his mysterious American ways.

She waited until he was seated before dramatically flipping off her robe, revealing the swimsuit she had chosen for this venture. Seeing his eyes widen was expected: she knew full well that the swimsuit had a mix of elegant and sexy. The sort of thing one might expect that Kaioh-girl to wear, except that this was mainly in shades of scarlet.

Moving like a model on the runway, Rei entered the hot spring. And froze as the temperature registered. This was *too* hot! Way too hot! A good hot spring should have water of about body temperature, with a mix of minerals in the water that was ideal for soothing one's aches. This felt like she was about to become boiled. "Ah heh. Warm isn't it?"

Why was he scowling and not looking at her? Rei wondered if she'd somehow gotten some innocent behavior on her part that had some deeper meaning in American culture. It wasn't unknown for such things to happen.

A bamboo pole started moving at high speeds, heading for some ornamental boulders. Rei was immediately suspicious and started wading towards it. An old fashioned ryokan with an old fashioned onsen should not have plastic bamboo in it, much less moving around under its own power.

-------

"Ah, Mimette-chan," sighed Mimette, "you are such a naughty girl."

That declaration made, Mimette continued scanning rooms, making note of the ones that held the most interesting occupants.

She had never previously been one for the more hentai things, but hanging around the Wizard had certainly opened her eyes to the possibilities.

The onsen had some *very* interesting things going on. Several of them looked to be high energy sources. Perfect for Mimette. They would supply enough to make up for her earlier inattention and the Wizard would never know the difference.

Though to collect that energy, she might need to use extra measures. They were just kids, so it shouldn't take much. "Daimons!"

"How many times'a gotta tell ya, we ain't a no daimons."

Mimette grumbled. "Never mind that. Go get those kids!"

--------

Grey felt dizzy, the heat was unbearable, but darn if he was going to cry uncle if this was part of the prank Rei was pulling on him. No *way* would he confess that she could take the heat more than he could.

It is said that an avalanche can start with a single snowball, a thousand dominoes can be toppelled by the actions of one, the beat of a butterfly's wings can unleash a storm, and a war can be lost through missing a single nail.

Grey beginning to faint in the pool might be considered a domino.

Ayane deciding she was becoming well done might be considered another domino.

Rei trying to find out what Ayane's snorkel was, and where it was going, might qualify as another domino.

Makoto trying to hide with both Ayane and Rei heading her way, yet another domino?

Kasumi still hiding in her fake boulder disguise, Phobos and Deimos hiding under the steps, and Usagi watching nervously from the shadows? Dominoes yet to be placed, perhaps?

Mimette, dispatching not-the-daimon to the onsen? Not so much a domino but a bomb ticking its way down.

Snowball, domino, or bomb, sometimes it doesn't take much to trigger the storm.

---------

Mister Carlson had had an interesting life. For a number of years he had run a radio station, the mighty WKRP in Cincinnati. Well, sort of mighty. At least a little mighty. Okay, not very mighty at all. More a collection of drifters who couldn't hold down a regular job anywhere else.

WKRP had closed and he had gone on to a variety of other jobs, all of which had mainly fallen through. He'd crossed paths again with a few of the others at odd times during those odd jobs. Jennifer was now living in a fairly expensive area of Florida. Les Nessman was happily doing the farm news in Idaho. Herb Tarlec was a used car salesman still in Cincinnati. Venus Flytrap was now hosting a late night jazz program on a Seattle station. Bailey Quarters - vanished one day during mysterious circumstances. Mister Carlson still wasn't sure what had happened to her.

Nowadays Arthur Carlson had become a Maytag repairman. Something he actually was better at than managing a radio station. It wasn't until he had taken a vacation in Japan that he'd finally found another member of the "good old days" crew.

Doctor Johnny Fever - had vanished without a trace one day, not that dissimilar from Bailey's. However, it turned out that Johnny had appeared here in Japan. Working a job at NACK 5, 79.5FM, soft rock and old time rock n' roll. He'd apparently worked at an Oslo station with a similar format, but there had been a little trouble...

"What kind of trouble?" asked Arthur Carlson, though he had a suspicion already. The two were catching up on the times since the over twenty years of their seperating ways, looking for one of the maids so they could try and finagle some American style food for their unexpected reunion.

Johnny merely pulled his sunglasses down a tiny amount so he could look over the tops at his old boss.

Mr Carlson chuckled. Johnny had a tendency to do that sort of thing. "So how is it working out at this station?"

"Well, most of them don't speak English that well, so when my tongue slips, hardly anyone catches it." Johnny gave a whimsical grin in return and shrugged. "That's okay, most of the music they play I can't understand either. If someone's talking to me, I hanashimasu enough of the Nihongo that I can get by. When they sing? Ain't got a clue. Likewise that Osaka-ben some of the deejays fling around. I..."

Two very scantily dressed women, one of whom wore a sort-of Playboy bunnysuit, the other wearing a tigerskin bikini, raced past the two men towards the onsen.

Mister Carlson blinked. "Okay, Johnny, what have you been smoking? Whatever it is was strong enough to get *me* hallucinating?"

Johnny blinked a few times. "I don't know, but I'm gonna *have* to get me some more of it!"

-------

Time, some have said, was invented so that everything didn't happen at once.

Sometimes everything happened at once anyway.

"Bunny!" The Playboy Bunny announced, posing dramatically.

"Huh?" Usagi said, then *really* stared. That was *her*! Except it was a her that had really really big, uhm, talent. Wearing a bunnysuit and carrying a magic wand topped with the symbol for the Hugh Heffner magazine.

"Would you knock it off with the stupid disguises, Usagi?" Rei yelled at the bunnygirl. "That isn't even close to being right for an onsen."

"Silky!" The spidergirl declared, hanging from her toes grasping a branch on the tree.

"Silly," declared Grey, though he was having trouble focussing on the scantily dressed girls. Why were there six of them? Or three Rei (Reis?) for that matter. He started sliding underneath the water, too stubborn to come out, too weakened to take the heat.

Ayane emerged from the water, her skin lobster red, gasping for breath. She did this right next to Makoto, who reacted in a manner significantly different from Usagi. Startle Usagi and she'd shriek and leap in the air. Makoto shrieked and delivered two punches and a kick before she realized it was just that spooky ninja girl and not a vampire kappa.

Rei saw Makoto's reaction and vowed not to pull that Halloween trick she'd pulled on Usagi on Makoto. Startling the tall girl was not apparently a good idea. "What are you two doing here?"

Ayane was still gasping.

"Silky?" "Bunny?" The two daimon looked at each other. Cringing in terror, or running, or attacking they were ready for. The targets ignoring them wasn't something expected.

Makoto looked around for another topic of conversation. Fortunately she found one. "Now time for that now! Look! Two youma!"

"Don't change the subject!" Rei wasn't having anything of this. Besides, that was just Usagi in yet another stupid disguise.

"Excuse me," said Silky, "we're about to attack you and drain your energy or something like that."

"Well, we can't actually drain energy like that, which I wish our Mistress would remember," corrected Bunny. "Let's just attack while they're all distracted."

Silky, a nature spirit, nodded but frowned. "Waitaminute, where'd the guy go?"

Rei stopped berating Makoto. Makoto stopped trying to come up with an excuse. Ayane blinked and looked around.

Bunny was a nature spirit as well. Sort of. A glow around her flashed towards the three girls. "Raging Hormone Attack."

Silky waited until the mental defenses of the targets were dealing with that, then began spreading spider webs to hold and bind the girls.

----------

"We need to save them," said Deimos from her concealment.

"The question is how," pondered Phobos. "Being two feet tall is not conducive to our being able to overwhelm them through brute strength."

"Not only that but we have to rescue the fair... well he's not a maiden."

"Definitely not that," agreed Phobos. "He's already been under for an awfully long time."

"So we need to be able to overwhelm two daimons quickly enough that we... GOT IT!"

----------

Silky had the problems wrapped up and ready for delivery.

"WE'VE GOT TO WARN THE REST OF THE GUESTS, HURRY!" The sound of footsteps running down the hall gave confirmation.

Silky's face fell. "Bunny, quickly, if the rest of the guests are warned, the mistress will be most displeased."

"Right!" Bunny nodded.

There was a brief moment of silence as Bunny and Silky ran out of the room to deal with the intruders. Then Phobos and Deimos popped out from where they'd been hiding.

"Got to hurry," said Phobos.

Deimos agreed but merely leapt into the water and began swimming out to the nearest bundled body.

"Mmmmmmph!" Rei protested being wrapped up and gagged.

"Quiet mistress," Deimos said on reaching her. "Don't struggle like that, you'll get me stuck."

"Mmmmmmph!" Rei glared at everyone within line of sight.

"Is this a good time to negotiate wages?" Deimos joked, waiting for Phobos to throw the letter opener.

"RRRRRRR!"

"Guess not." Deimos said, catching the small knife and cutting Rei's gag. (Slice, rip.) "Okay, Mistress, where's your transformation pen?"

Rei yelped at the feeling of having hair pulled and skin peeled in the same move. "It's in my robe."

"I'm on it," said Phobos rooting through the room.

Rei filed away that apparently LOTS of observers had come along on this date. Waitaminute, date? Grey was *not* visible, had he been captured seperately?

"Here goes!" Phobos threw the little pen to Deimos.

"THERE!" Silky sent webbing to wrap up the little person in the room.

"Mistress!" Deimos tucked the pen into a hand.

"MARS STAR POWER! MAKE UFFFFPH!"

Deimos blinked at the mass of webbing covering her mistress' face now. "Oh *hell.* This must be a Monday. I could never get the hang of Mondays."

--------

Kasumi considered. She was just a kunoichi, a female ninja. She was good in a fight, using her ninja skills to great effect in a battle.

But a ninja, despite all the movies, was *not* a front line fighter. If the two enemy were *human*, Kasumi felt there was a reasonable chance that both could be eliminated in seconds. One threw some sort of disorientation field, the other spun webs from her hands. Neither moved like a normal human.

Still, Kasumi thought she knew where to strike for an "instant kill" as they had human shapes. The problem would be getting the second one.

She'd moved from her tree and disguised herself as an ornamental boulder when it had been obvious that the onsen was about to become "Tokyo Central Station" and she'd managed to hook a leg around her sort-of fiance and draw him up into her air pocket when he'd slid underneath the water. Too bad he was out of it, not only was he potential help, he was kind of cute for a foreigner.

How the heck did you kill "yoma" anyway? Sailor Moon and that sort used magic. Chi attacks might work. Silver bullets? Garlic? Rowan? Unfortunately, she didn't have anything of the sort. Just a few throwing knives, a tanto, and a punch-dagger. Oh yeah, and a couple of poisoned needles. She hadn't been expecting a fight and had dressed light.

Heck, she hadn't even brought a camera and she'd *kill* for a shot of Ayane wrapped up like a Christmas present like that!

Maybe if she struck fast from concealment at the one with her back turned, then flipped over and grabbed the other...

Kasumi gathered herself for the attack.

----------

Queen Serenity looked up from where she was hearing yet another boring report from Igneous (this one dealing with the "importance" of some area called the Middle East and some sort of provincial war going on between two minor nations.) "Some of my Senshi are in trouble."

"My Queen? I was just coming to the interesting part," began Igneous.

"It will have to wait," said the Queen, who was intending at this point to ship Igneous off to some really far off post. Obsidian could at least make this interesting if a bit off-color. Igneous could actually make a religious war dealing with missiles and tanks seem tedious. "My Senshi are first and foremost among my subjects. One is in trouble, and should be seen to first." Queen Serenity smiled at a thought. "You should go."

Igneous blanched. "Me, my Queen?" At Court he was safe from Obsidian. Well, mostly.

"Yes," the Queen made an off-hand gesture. "Both Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter seem to be in trouble. Go quickly."

"But I..." Igneous also worried about what he could do against someone who could hurt two Senshi. It didn't sound promising.

"Yes, and..." The Queen stopped smiling. "Basalt is injured. Go *now*."

Igneous knew better than to argue with that tone. He left. Besides, if Basalt were injured, then a little "help" might downgrade his condition to fatal. Then there would be an opening for a new consort.

----------

Sailor Lead Crow circled the inn, certain now that her prey had fled to this picturesque area.

Stooping wings, she dove for the onsen in the center, where it looked like some big spider had hung some appetizers out for her.

---------

Sailors Uranus looked at the one-sided fight between a ninja named Kasumi and the two daimon. There was the undefended and unconscious boy. This would be easy.

She had to strike hard and fast. Killing the boy *might* be enough to break Michiru out of her current "Michi is just le French Maid" mindset.

Not to mention Haruka's own predicament.

Spreading her pixie wings and swooping down, Sailor Uranus began her attack. "World Shaking!"

----------

Hotaru Tomoe frowned thoughtfully and laid a card down. "Gimmee one."

Setsuna handed Hotaru the card and flicked her eyes to the next player. "You?"

Honey grimaced and put three cards down. "Three." Her expression didn't approve as she received her requested cards.

"Nuku not understand this at all," confessed Nuku Nuku.

Everyone else eyed the large pile of chips in front of Nuku Nuku and wondered again if this was just some innocent act.

The hand finally came to an end as Sakura shifted the peppermint stick in her mouth as an ersatz cigar. "Two."

Setsuna considered her own cards for a moment, then simply set them down. She had an enviable poker face when she wanted. "Fold."

Hotaru smiled a little. "Three of a kind!"

Honey let out a deep breath. "These cards do *not* like me."

Sakura waited for Nuku for a moment, then simply went ahead and put her own cards down. "I have three of a kind as well." Lower than Hotaru's, unfortunately.

"Nuku just have a pair," said Nuku Nuku forlornly. She set down a pair of Queens. Then she set down a pair of Aces. "A pair of pairs?" Nuku wondered why everyone was groaning like that. Well, except Setsuna who merely raised an eyebrow.

Setsuna would have handed the cards to Nuku Nuku except that everyone remembered how much trouble the catgirl android had had shuffling them earlier. One of the Jokers was still embedded in the ceiling as an object lesson.

Setsuna stopped in midshuffle. "He's in danger."

There were no questions about who "he" was.

"Again? Why do all the bad guys go after *him*?" Sakura wasn't sure what the attraction was at this point. Weren't the demons and vampires and all supposed to go after attractive and innocent women?

--------

Mimette glanced at her energy readouts before turning towards the feed from the onsen. Sweatdrops began appearing on her head, and she slowly turned back to the readout. Yup, that's what it said.

Mimette had been having a lot of fun with this setup. Being evil had never been so good under Professor Tomoe's command. Faced with the possibility of *losing* the onsen, Mimette's eyes went wide before she dashed for the spring itself. She had to intervene *somehow* before all her plans were ruined!

--------

An avalanche, it is said, could be started with a single snowflake.

Gathering all the flakes together is certain to start something.

============