Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Absence ❯ Black Heaven, Act II ( Chapter 45 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Kirika 
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama / Angst / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.01.2002 | Updated On: 03.26.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.7K | Visits: 3.2K | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama / Angst / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.01.2002 | Updated On: 03.26.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.7K | Visits: 3.2K | Status: Work In Progress
Absence - By Kirika
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Chapter forty-five. Ah, but Gohan Strife, you assumed that this fic would be finished soon… it's only about four fifths of the way through. There are still several events I have to add in yet. Plus you can poke a stick at anything. ^_~
Hmm, if I make Chibi-Usa blow up I get some pie? Tempting… what kind of pie? ^_^
I couldn't update until now because:
many assignments + lack of sleep + no fun + one annoying lecturer = very irritable Kirika
**Revised.
- Kirika
******
Chapter 45 - Black Heaven, Act II
Minako let out a puff of air while she cradled her head in her hands, with her elbows propped on her desk. She was bored. Her math teacher was ten minutes late, and while that was a cause for celebration since the Senshi of Love never really liked maths to begin with --even if she was in the easiest class along with Usagi-- she still had nothing to do. Sure, she was behind in a lot of her classes due to her days being occupied with guarding Makoto and Haruka, but she really didn't feel like doing any work right now. Or ever, if she could avoid it. She was too tired anyway; most of her guard shifts were all nighters. Maybe the blonde could use her teacher's tardiness as an opportunity to catch up on some sleep. The Senshi of Love hadn't been able to rest during the day at home; her mother consistently woke her up everyday, with the exception of Sunday, to go to school, and Minako had to appear as if she hadn't been spending all night wide awake watching over her injured friends. When her parents found out how much school their daughter had actually been cutting, she was going to be grounded forever.
Minako blinked tiredly and began tapping one finger on her cheek as her eyes idly wandered around the classroom, taking in the other students. She noticed a small group of individuals seated at their desks, studying quietly. Studying math, probably. Geez, didn't they know how to take advantage of a teacher's absence? Minako rolled her blue eyes and resumed her survey of the room, slowly scanning over numerous unoccupied people. She saw a small group of recently transferred students whispering off in one corner, most likely gossiping about who was dating who or something similar. Minako guessed it was easier for the new students to stick together, since they were all in the same situation. Ordinarily, she would be deep in the midst of a gathering like that no matter who made up the numbers, spreading her many titbits of 'information' she had just so happened to pick up somehow and somewhere. She believed it was her obligation, no, *duty*, to help rum--news, along its merry way.
The blonde let out another bored sigh and angled her gaze to her fellow Sailor Senshi sitting at the desk next to her own. Of course, not all the gossip Minako heard was circulated throughout the student population-- the Senshi of Love did know when some privacy was in order. She had expected Usagi to be snoring away or using the time to eat lunch early, so the princess could have an excuse to scam more food off her later, but instead the girl looked quite pensive about something. Minako had a fairly good idea what that 'something' was.
The Senshi of Love got up from her seat groggily and then plodded her way to Usagi. She grabbed a chair from the desk in front of the Moon Princess's and turned it around to face her friend, before slouching backwards in it, exhausted. Minako took a second to let her drained body recover from the taxing, yet short, journey, and then leaned forwards, resting her forearms on Usagi's desk.
"What's eating you?" she asked conversationally.
"No one!" Usagi blurted out, Minako's voice seeming to startle the princess out of her troubled reverie. The blonde appeared confused for a moment at the sight of the Senshi of Love, and then blushed bright red. "I-I mean, nothing..." she amended nervously.
The longhaired blonde blinked at Usagi's weird response for a brief instant, and then decided to ignore it and get on with the task at hand. "Well, I know what's on your mind!" Minako declared confidently while waving a pointed figure in the air, becoming invigorated with the prospect of relationship talk. "But don't worry, Minako, love counsellor extraordinaire is here to help you with all your love life woes!"
Usagi exhaled deeply and hung her head. "I don't think even you can help me," she said unhappily.
"Hah! There's never been a case the Love Goddess Minako can't help with!" the Senshi of Love said emphatically. "Just tell me all about it…"
Usagi raised her head and looked at Minako with a little amount of desperation in her eyes. The Senshi of Love schooled her expression into one of sympathy and understanding, hoping to comfort and support her 'patient', while prompting the girl to talk about her problems.
"It's… Rei," Usagi began, lowering her gaze and fiddling with a pencil on the desk. "She want's me to tell Mamoru about us. But I'm scared, Minako. What if he hates me? What if he breaks up with me right on the spot? I don't think I could…" She trailed off, and then swallowed before continuing. "But Rei wants me to tell him. She's getting really impatient about it, and I promised her I'd tell Mamoru today after school." Usagi directed a pleading look at the Senshi of Love, seeking her guidance. "What should I do, Minako, what should I do?"
Minako was quiet while she mulled over the Moon Princess's dilemma. Two good-looking people fighting over Usagi… some girls had all the luck. The Senshi of Love frowned faintly and shooed away the envious thought from her mind. Her friend needed her help; now was not the time to get jealous.
"Hmm…" Minako mumbled thoughtfully. "I'm afraid I can't see any way around this, Usagi," she confessed, making the princess's hopeful face fall. "It wouldn't be fair to either of them if you didn't tell Mamoru about Rei. I know it's not what you want to hear, but--"
"I know," Usagi sighed, interrupting Minako. "It's the right thing to do. But I've… done things, with Rei," she added and then averted her gaze, her cheeks turning red.
"'Things?'" Minako repeated, puzzled. "What kind of-- oh." There was an uncomfortable silence between the two girls and the Senshi of Love fought the absurd urge to giggle hysterically. The longhaired blonde coughed uneasily and clamped down on the curious part of her mind that wanted to ask what it had been like with the Senshi of Fire. Unfortunately, her imagination started to conjure up all sorts of wild scenarios, each one more intense than the last, causing sweat to bead on her forehead.
"Minako?" Usagi said, the girl's silence and distant look worrying her. She touched the Senshi of Love's hand timidly. "You're not… disgusted with me, are you?"
"What?" Minako said sharply, the princess's voice saving her from her overactive imagination. "Of course not, Usagi," she assured her friend quickly, squeezing the blonde's hand lightly. "Though Mamoru on the other hand, I'm not so sure of. He definitely isn't going to like this."
This was apparently not something Usagi wanted to hear, but Minako had to be truthful. Besides, it had to be pretty obvious to the princess that Mamoru would not appreciate his girlfriend cheating on him with her best friend, even if Rei were a girl. Usagi let out a small whimper and hung her head in despair. Just as Minako was about to say something comforting to her friend to raise the girl's downcast spirits, she noticed that one of the transfer students was giving her sideway glances. Hmm, so she had an admirer. Minako discreetly observed the boy. He wasn't too bad looking, but nothing special. Still, she shouldn't dismiss him entirely because of just that. The blonde then frowned when she realised *all* the transfer students were looking at her, the girls included. Minako knew she was attractive, but this was a bit disturbing.
Suddenly, the door to the classroom slid open, revealing the missing math teacher. The Senshi of Love saw that she was staring directly at her, or more specifically, at her and Usagi. Oh god, was the teacher ticked off by her and her friend's less than stellar test results? She would probably inform Minako's parents, and then the blonde would be done for. How could she fight evil if her mother and father locked her up in her bedroom for the rest of her life?
"Minako," Usagi murmured apprehensively. "I think something's…"
Minako's eyes widened as the math teacher grinned demonically at her, and then started to *change*. There was a crack of bones and a sickening squelch sound as the teacher's body altered, ripping out of her clothes, leaving the tattered remains on the floor. A collective frightened gasp rose from Minako's fellow classmates when their teacher's true form was made apparent. The former math teacher now looked like some sort of alien thing with a dark purple, almost black, chitinous exoskeleton. It was humanoid, but with four arms; the bottom, two vaguely human, ones tipped with sharp nails, while the top pair had only three fingers on each hand, but with an incredibly long and wide blade-like talon attached to each thick digit. The creature's legs were long and possessed multiple joints, appearing ideal for fast runs and long jumps. Its bulbous head was a putrid purple colour, like rotting plums, and the youma's large maw was filled with several rows of needle-like teeth. As Minako watched, a long pink tongue snaked out of its mouth, causing a trail of drool to drop to the floor. The youma's beady blood red eyes, one on either side of its big head, rolled in their sockets and focused on the Senshi of Love. It licked its lips revoltingly, leaving glistening saliva all over its face. Minako's breath caught in her throat as terrible realisation dawned on her. It knew who she was, who she and Usagi were.
A girl screamed from Minako's right and the Sailor Senshi risked a fleeting look to the side. All the new transfer students were undergoing the same metamorphosis that the teacher had gone through. Adrenaline started to pump in Minako's veins as the number of the youma surrounding her and the Moon Princess registered in her brain. Far too many. Muffled shouts came from outside the classroom, no doubt from other rooms. There was a loud crash and then shrill screams from the floor below her, signalling to the Inner Senshi that probably even more youma were in Juuban High School. Definitely far too many.
Without warning, as if a silent cue had been sounded, the remaining students in the room began screaming and running for an exit. But there was only one exit that didn't involve a five-storey drop, and a grotesque creature was barring the way. The youma gave a semblance of a smile to Minako, and then in a sudden burst of motion, sprinted towards her and Usagi, slicing through any poor person who got in its path without pity. The Senshi of Love heard Usagi cry out in horror as their classmates' blood was made to run freely from their gouged bodies.
"Usagi," the head of the Moon Princess's personal bodyguard said grimly, "stay behind me." She whipped out her Crystal Henshin Wand and stood up, preparing to transform, the thought that her fellow students would learn her secret identity never even crossing her mind. All eight youma charged and then leapt towards the Senshi of Love and the princess, each emitting a piercing shriek as they directed their taloned hands down at the girls.
******
Sailor Jupiter dived over the hospital bed and curled into a roll on the floor, the youma's nearly invisible whip-like weapons gutting the wall behind where she had once stood. She hastily twisted around to face the enemy and noticed that Sailor Mercury was beside her, the blue-haired genius having also managed to successfully evade the creature's opening attack. The brunette spared her love a quick glance, and then stood up with a slight smirk on her features, Mercury joining her.
"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!"
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"
A pillar of water shot out of Sailor Mercury's hands directly at the youma, closely followed by a white energy ball that crackled with static electricity. The creature nimbly strafed to the left, allowing the blue geyser to smash into the hospital room door and part of the wall, encasing the area in a layer of ice. He then ducked, moving like a well oiled machine, causing Jupiter's attack to soar overhead and crash into the already weakened wall, blowing the entire thing outwards, sending debris scattering all over the outside hallway.
Sailor Jupiter squinted her green eyes as she tried to see through the thick dust cloud that had erupted from the explosion, searching for the youma. Suddenly realising the foolishness of what she was doing, the brunette abruptly leapt up onto the hospital bed and dived recklessly off it into the cloud, just as multiple wires shot out of the grey dust beneath her, stabbing at the area where she had once stood. Jupiter collided hard with something that she assumed was the youma, and then burst out of the back of the dust cloud, into the hallway. She landed on top of the now revealed enemy on the dirty floor, face to face with the creature. Jupiter immediately delivered a solid right hook to his head, causing it to snap to the left with the heavy impact. But before she could initiate a follow up strike, the youma grabbed the front of her fuku with one hand, displacing the unique weapons sprouting from his fingers, and then slammed the top of his forehead into her face in a brutal head butt. The force of the blow pushed Sailor Jupiter off of the would-be assassin, and ended up sprawling the girl on her back.
The youma flipped onto his feet and lashed his wire weapons in the air, preparing to slice the senshi lying before him wide open and expose her insides to the air. There suddenly was a shout from the other side of the grey dust cloud, and a column of water tore through it, blasting the dust particles aside and revealing Sailor Mercury in her attack stance, standing in Jupiter's hospital room. The youma reflexively darted to one side, but not before he was clipped in the arm by the geyser, freezing the limb solid. He staggered backwards and grunted in obvious pain, his impassive facial expression breaking for just an instant.
Sailor Mercury ran out of the hospital room and knelt by Sailor Jupiter's side, but kept her eyes focused intently on the youma. Jupiter sniffed, feeling blood trickle out of her nose. Oh, he was going to pay for that. However, as the brunette and her girlfriend watched, the creature looked at his frozen arm dispassionately and then smashed it against the wall, the strength of his strike enough to demolish the ice. The youma flexed his now free right arm experimentally, and then affixed his cold gaze on the two Sailor Senshi.
In a lightning quick move, the creature fired all ten of his piano-wire weapons at the pair of girls. Sailor Jupiter pushed Sailor Mercury out of the way and then rolled backwards, attempting to dodge the abrupt attack. But the fraction of a second it took to protect Sailor Mercury was enough for the youma's wires to wrap around her body, as if each strand had a life of its own. Jupiter gritted her teeth as each one of the threads started to bite into her flesh, causing lines of red to slowly appear on her fuku, the seeping blood a stark contrast to the white outfit. The youma gathered five razor sharp wires in each gloved hand, and then pulled firmly on the bundles, drawing the trapped girl's arms outwards. Sailor Jupiter's face contorted in pain mixed with determination as she flexed the muscles in her arms into tight cords, holding her forearms in a vertical position as she tried to stop the limbs being ripped clean off.
"No!" Sailor Mercury cried from where she had been pushed aside by Sailor Jupiter, only to be promptly kicked viciously in the stomach by the youma. The blue-haired girl opened her mouth in a silent sob of pain, and then had her ribs stomped on by the merciless creature, driving her form down flat on the floor. He held the writhing senshi under his foot, grinding his heel maliciously into Mercury's back.
"Leave her alone, you bastard," Sailor Jupiter forced out through clenched teeth, her arms trembling with the tremendous effort is was taking to not let the wires tear past her taut muscles to the bone.
Her youma assailant narrowed his eyes and pulled on the other numerous sharp threads tangled around her torso and legs, making red rivers run down the girl's body. Sailor Jupiter moaned in torment and scrunched her eyes tight briefly, before opening them again to glare at her torturer. The experience vaguely reminded her of the soundwave vice that had almost killed her before, but this was many degrees more painful. At least the last time the senshi had blacked out. Juptiter could make out people through her blurry tear-filled vision watching the test of endurance with awestruck and fearful expressions, standing in front of their rooms or in the hallways, all seeming transfixed by the morbid scene.
Sailor Mercury whimpered as the youma continued his rough treatment of her body, remorselessly crushing the poor girl underfoot. Sailor Jupiter saw a few tears leak out of her lover's pain wracked eyes, and felt her resolve to punish the youma for his actions heighten to a great extent. The tall senshi let out a short angry bark and straightened her arms --the razor threads flaying a thin layer of skin off of her forearms-- and then grabbed the bundle of strands connected to them. Sailor Jupiter roared furiously and pulled as hard as she could on the wire bundles, only remotely aware of the weapons cutting onto her palms. The youma was taken by surprise and was almost knocked off his feet as he stumbled towards the enraged Sailor Senshi, his abuse of Mercury forcibly ceased. Just as the creature came within range, Jupiter delivered a devastating kick to his jaw with her right leg --the wires around it now slack-- causing the youma's head to fly back. The tall senshi didn't let up, and quickly jabbed him in the stomach with her left fist and then in what she guessed was the kidney area with her right. Not giving her adversary even a moment to counter, Jupiter then grabbed the youma's head and forced it down to meet her rising knee, hearing the crunch of cartilage at the impact.
The blue suited youma fell backwards, the threads connected to his fingertips detaching and left behind on Sailor Jupiter's bleeding body. The Inner Senshi gave Mercury a quick concerned look and saw that the girl was gradually climbing to her feet, using the wall for support. The Senshi of Water met her girlfriend's concerned look with one of her own, no doubt taking in the tall girl's slashed up and bloody form, the coils of sharp strands responsible for her condition still hanging limply about her body.
The youma, taking advantage of any loss of focus no matter how brief, leapt to his feet and rammed his fist into Sailor Jupiter's face, catching the girl off guard and making her stumble back a few steps. He then causally stabbed his elbow backwards, striking Sailor Mercury solidly in the forehead. The power of the blow was enough to throw the senshi off her feet and onto the floor, landing painfully on top of a small pile of masonry from the destroyed wall. New sharp, murderous threads burst from the creature's fingertips and snaked around Mercury's prone and vulnerable body, encircling the girl tightly in their deadly embrace.
"You-- GARRGH!!" Sailor Jupiter's statement of defiance was turned into an anguish-filled scream as the youma whipped the remaining wires attached to his left hand across the senshi's face, gouging tracks along her features. Jupiter clasped a hand over her face as she cried blood, the red liquid streaming out between her fingers.
"Makoto!!" Sailor Mercury yelled as her love stumbled about blindly with a hand still held over her ruined visage.
The youma roughly wrenched his right hand upwards, lifting Mercury off the floor like a puppet on strings except with an emotionless maniac as a nightmarish puppet master, causing the clear strands tied around the girl's body to break her skin. The blue-haired genius gasped as a wire around her neck was drawn tight, her own body weight effectively garrotting her.
Sailor Jupiter glared with one furious green eye through her blood covered fingers, seeing the cruel treatment of the one she cared more about than anything else in the world.
"Pitiful Sailor Senshi," the youma said coldly to the brunette. With his free hand, he tweaked one sharp thread that went around Mercury's midsection, making the suffocating girl spasm in pain. "I only have to tug on this wire to disembowel your mate. What are you going to do?" he mocked.
"Kill you," Sailor Jupiter spat out viciously in response. She glanced with her eye down at her suffering girlfriend, feeling her heart ache at the horrific sight. Mercury blinked, squeezing teardrops out of her blue eyes to run down her almost equally blue face.
Sailor Jupiter took her hand away from her torn face, presenting an appalling weeping mess of exposed raw flesh, and then moved into a combat stance.
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"
A volley of sharp green leaves fired like bullets at the youma puppeteer, at close range, giving the creature no chance to dodge, the fast attack taking him unawares. The barrage of blade-like leaves ripped into the youma, tearing holes in his blue suit, making rivulets of a sickening yellow fluid splatter out of the tattered openings. More plant-green projectiles sliced into the fine wires that hung from the creature's right hand, snapping the taut threads and releasing Sailor Mercury from her torturous suspension. The Senshi of Water fell to the floor, landing flat on her stomach as she inhaled a shuddering breath of air into her burning lungs.
The bleeding youma's features contorted into pained rictus as he was pushed backwards a few footsteps by Jupiter's powerful assault, the shredded remains of his weapons attached to his right hand's fingertips fluttering in the air as he staggered. He suddenly let out a sharp yell and moved like quicksilver, launching the razor sharp wires sprouting from his other hand at his tall assailant, tangling the tools of murder around the severely wounded girl's neck. Sailor Jupiter reacted as quickly as she could, managing to slip her fingers under the threads before the youma pulled sadistically on his weapons, causing the wires to cut into Sailor Jupiter's restraining digits. The force of the pull was enough to wrench the Inner Senshi off of her feet and onto the floor. Jupiter scrunched her eyes and furiously tried to release the pressure on her neck with her fingers as she was dragged through the rubble from the demolished wall that littered the hallway, parts of the ice-encased plaster now lying in wet puddles.
Sailor Jupiter whimpered in pain, her hands becoming even more blood soaked while she attempted to free her throat from the deadly noose, nearing panic. Any second now her fingers were going to be cleaved clean through, and then it would be a race to see whether she would die by strangulation or by blood loss as her jugular was severed. Jupiter had never really given dying any thought, preferring not to think about it ever happening to her. But now, that Death was upon her, she realised she didn't want go. Not now. Not when she had actually found someone that loved her as much as she loved them. It was kind of ironic that after keeping such a careful look out for potential boyfriends for such a long time, the person for her had been right in her midst all the while. Sailor Jupiter was happy being with Sailor Mercury, despite that it had taken the tragedy of Rei's 'death' for her happiness to come about. It wasn't fair that it was to end. She didn't want to leave Mercury all alone in the world.
Jupiter looked up into her murder's dark dispassionate eyes, perhaps hoping to see some mercy in the cold orbs, but was only met with grim purpose. The doomed Sailor Senshi gasped out a wordless cry from her nearly tightly closed off throat, her vision becoming shadowed in the upper left hand corner.
"You will stop this now!!" Sailor Jupiter heard her love shout fiercely from a ways behind her. "MERCURY AQUA MIRAGE!"
As the tall, half-suffocated senshi watched, her youma opponent was engulfed in a blue ball of water that crackled and sparked with an electrical current. Jupiter could hear the creature's muted, tormented scream come from inside the electrified watery sphere, before the globe disappeared, leaving the youma totally drenched. The wires connected to his fingertips flaked away to nothing, granting Sailor Jupiter life as the threads became loose around her throat and fingers. The heavily injured senshi looked behind her to see a bloodied but determined Mercury standing unwaveringly in the hallway, the girl's hands both outstretched together, still in the position of her recent attack. Her attack… Jupiter didn't think her girlfriend could perform that particular attack anymore.
The horrendously wounded youma put one hand against the wall to steady himself as he wobbled on his feet, the combination of Sailor Jupiter's earlier assault and Sailor Mercury's recent one apparently too much for him to bear. The creature glared at the two girls hatefully and then spat on the floor, before turning tail and running as best he could down the hall.
"We have to get him!" Jupiter said in a croaky voice as she climbed exhaustedly upright, preparing to chase after the fleeing youma. There was no way he was going to get away with what he had done. She glanced back to Mercury who was looking at her torn up body dubiously. "What are you waiting for?! Let's go!"
Sailor Jupiter charged after the youma as he sprinted along Minato Hospital's hallways, bowling over staff and patients alike in his effort to escape the Sailor Senshi's wrath. The brunette found herself breathing hard as she ran, with Sailor Mercury hot on her tail, the blue-haired girl panting laboriously. Jupiter leapt over a knocked down doctor and then vaulted over an abandoned wheelchair as she continued her pursuit of the would-be assassin. She spared a look over her shoulder and was pleased and relieved to see that Sailor Mercury was still with her, having also successfully navigated the obstacles.
Just as the youma ran past an open hospital room door, a large light pink energy ball flew out of the doorway, and then smashed into the creature and exploded, sending him crashing through the wall opposite. The youma scrambled to his feet hastily and dived out of the way as another ball of energy sailed out the open doorway, barely missing the routed enemy and flying through the new gigantic hole in the wall. Jupiter heard a tremendous explosion as the second ball detonated, shaking the very foundations of the building. How the youma could even move after a hit of that magnitude was unbelievable. But somehow, the youma, his suit now in tatters, resumed his flight to freedom, bolting down the hallway with only a hint of a limp in his gait.
Sailor Jupiter ran after her adversary, briefly looking in the hospital room the pink energy attacks had originated from. As she had expected, Sailor Pluto was sitting upright in her bed, holding the shaft of her Time Staff in her right hand while she used the forearm of her left as a prop for the pole weapon, to help steady her aim.
"Hurry, there is still a chance for you to catch him!" the Guardian of Time called to the two Inner Senshi as they passed by her doorway.
Jupiter saw the youma dart swiftly into a hallway on his right, leaving her line of sight. The tall senshi forced an additional burst of energy out of her nearly drained body, and rounded the corner at breakneck speed. All too late she saw the glint of light off of the razor sharp web of wires blocking the other corridor. Sailor Jupiter desperately tried to halt her fast movement, flailing her arms wildly, even though she knew it was useless. However, she suddenly felt something tug backwards on her fuku, slowing her momentum enough for the girl to avoid running into the eviscerating trap. The tall brunette breathed a sigh of relief and gave Sailor Mercury a grateful smile as her lover let go of her fuku.
Sailor Jupiter returned her attention to the hall in front of her as the youma she and Sailor Mercury had been chasing after stepped out from a doorway. He looked at Jupiter coldly, challengingly, and then lifted one ravaged arm upwards, shredded strips of his ripped clothes hanging downwards from the limb as he pointed directly at the tall girl. Jupiter knew what he meant. She glared back with equal challenge in her green eyes.
"Until we meet again…" she mouthed silently. The Sailor Senshi knew they would.
The youma then ran along the hallway, weaving in and out of numerous bystanders before he was out of Sailor Jupiter's sight. The tall Sailor Senshi hung her head, resting her chin on her chest as she let her intensely beating heart calm down. Unfortunately, without the organ frantically pumping adrenaline through her veins to nullify certain feelings, the pain of her many injuries gradually made themselves known. Jupiter ground her teeth at the unpleasant sensations and leaned back against a wall, and then slowly slid down it into a sitting position, leaving a red smear on the whitewashed plaster behind her. Sailor Mercury knelt in front of her, the blue-haired girl almost collapsing to her knees due to the extent of her own wounds.
"You require immediate medical attention," she said as she carefully touched the side of her lover's blood encrusted face.
"You and me both. It's a good thing we happen to be in a hospital," Sailor Jupiter said with a faint smirk. "…How bad is it?" she asked tentatively after a slight pause, hoping that her face wasn't permanently scarred.
"He missed your eyes only barely, but I'm confident you'll heal nicely," Mercury said sympathetically and comfortingly. "If you weren't a Sailor Senshi, however…"
"But I am, and I'm okay," Sailor Jupiter said reassuringly to her girlfriend. "It's all part of the job, I guess. How are you holding up? I'm sorry I let that guy hurt you like that."
Sailor Mercury smiled slightly and shook her head gently. "As you said; it's part of the job. And I'll be perfectly fine. Most of these cuts are superficial." The Senshi of Water then sighed in resignation. "But they are enough to keep me from going after Rei to help Usagi and Minako."
"I know," Jupiter agreed, shifting her gaze over her lover's shoulder, noticing several doctors and nurses running towards them. She would have to check out of this hospital as soon as possible; the carnage had originated from her room, which meant that her alter ego as a Sailor Senshi could be in danger if any of the staff pried into the patient records. Maybe Mercury could do something with the computer files. "If what that youma said was true, then Usagi and Minako probably have their hands full right at this very minute," she went on gravely. The tall, sliced up senshi then smiled wryly, lowering her head. "But if I know Rei, I think the youma at Juuban High School are in for one hell of a fight, no matter how many there are."
Mercury frowned faintly at her girlfriend's comment. "What do you mean?" she inquired.
Sailor Jupiter grinned up at her blue-haired love, hoping that it didn't make her ruined face all the more awful looking. "Let's just say that if you were in there, I would be doing the exact same thing as Rei. And no amount of youma would stop me."
But still… sometimes a temper could be detrimental in a battle, and Jupiter hoped Mars would be able to keep it together for their friends' sake. And if by the time the Fire Senshi arrived Usagi had been hurt or worse, then the brunette feared what the hot headed miko would do. It wasn't just their fellow Sailor Senshi in that school; there were also teachers and students, innocent bystanders. Mercury had told her that Mars wasn't exactly how she used to be anymore, that the Senshi of Fire had changed-- and Jupiter had noticed that fact too. While Sailor Mars' fury would most likely help her to fight off the 'army' of youma, if the raven-haired girl's rage got too far out of control… then perhaps the occupants of Juuban High School had one other even more dangerous and merciless thing to worry about.
******
to be continued…
Author's ramblings:
I made Mercury use her attack from that special episode of Sailor Moon because I felt it was sort of appropriate.
No Rei in this chapter, but she will be the focus of the next.
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Chapter forty-five. Ah, but Gohan Strife, you assumed that this fic would be finished soon… it's only about four fifths of the way through. There are still several events I have to add in yet. Plus you can poke a stick at anything. ^_~
Hmm, if I make Chibi-Usa blow up I get some pie? Tempting… what kind of pie? ^_^
I couldn't update until now because:
many assignments + lack of sleep + no fun + one annoying lecturer = very irritable Kirika
**Revised.
- Kirika
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Chapter 45 - Black Heaven, Act II
Minako let out a puff of air while she cradled her head in her hands, with her elbows propped on her desk. She was bored. Her math teacher was ten minutes late, and while that was a cause for celebration since the Senshi of Love never really liked maths to begin with --even if she was in the easiest class along with Usagi-- she still had nothing to do. Sure, she was behind in a lot of her classes due to her days being occupied with guarding Makoto and Haruka, but she really didn't feel like doing any work right now. Or ever, if she could avoid it. She was too tired anyway; most of her guard shifts were all nighters. Maybe the blonde could use her teacher's tardiness as an opportunity to catch up on some sleep. The Senshi of Love hadn't been able to rest during the day at home; her mother consistently woke her up everyday, with the exception of Sunday, to go to school, and Minako had to appear as if she hadn't been spending all night wide awake watching over her injured friends. When her parents found out how much school their daughter had actually been cutting, she was going to be grounded forever.
Minako blinked tiredly and began tapping one finger on her cheek as her eyes idly wandered around the classroom, taking in the other students. She noticed a small group of individuals seated at their desks, studying quietly. Studying math, probably. Geez, didn't they know how to take advantage of a teacher's absence? Minako rolled her blue eyes and resumed her survey of the room, slowly scanning over numerous unoccupied people. She saw a small group of recently transferred students whispering off in one corner, most likely gossiping about who was dating who or something similar. Minako guessed it was easier for the new students to stick together, since they were all in the same situation. Ordinarily, she would be deep in the midst of a gathering like that no matter who made up the numbers, spreading her many titbits of 'information' she had just so happened to pick up somehow and somewhere. She believed it was her obligation, no, *duty*, to help rum--news, along its merry way.
The blonde let out another bored sigh and angled her gaze to her fellow Sailor Senshi sitting at the desk next to her own. Of course, not all the gossip Minako heard was circulated throughout the student population-- the Senshi of Love did know when some privacy was in order. She had expected Usagi to be snoring away or using the time to eat lunch early, so the princess could have an excuse to scam more food off her later, but instead the girl looked quite pensive about something. Minako had a fairly good idea what that 'something' was.
The Senshi of Love got up from her seat groggily and then plodded her way to Usagi. She grabbed a chair from the desk in front of the Moon Princess's and turned it around to face her friend, before slouching backwards in it, exhausted. Minako took a second to let her drained body recover from the taxing, yet short, journey, and then leaned forwards, resting her forearms on Usagi's desk.
"What's eating you?" she asked conversationally.
"No one!" Usagi blurted out, Minako's voice seeming to startle the princess out of her troubled reverie. The blonde appeared confused for a moment at the sight of the Senshi of Love, and then blushed bright red. "I-I mean, nothing..." she amended nervously.
The longhaired blonde blinked at Usagi's weird response for a brief instant, and then decided to ignore it and get on with the task at hand. "Well, I know what's on your mind!" Minako declared confidently while waving a pointed figure in the air, becoming invigorated with the prospect of relationship talk. "But don't worry, Minako, love counsellor extraordinaire is here to help you with all your love life woes!"
Usagi exhaled deeply and hung her head. "I don't think even you can help me," she said unhappily.
"Hah! There's never been a case the Love Goddess Minako can't help with!" the Senshi of Love said emphatically. "Just tell me all about it…"
Usagi raised her head and looked at Minako with a little amount of desperation in her eyes. The Senshi of Love schooled her expression into one of sympathy and understanding, hoping to comfort and support her 'patient', while prompting the girl to talk about her problems.
"It's… Rei," Usagi began, lowering her gaze and fiddling with a pencil on the desk. "She want's me to tell Mamoru about us. But I'm scared, Minako. What if he hates me? What if he breaks up with me right on the spot? I don't think I could…" She trailed off, and then swallowed before continuing. "But Rei wants me to tell him. She's getting really impatient about it, and I promised her I'd tell Mamoru today after school." Usagi directed a pleading look at the Senshi of Love, seeking her guidance. "What should I do, Minako, what should I do?"
Minako was quiet while she mulled over the Moon Princess's dilemma. Two good-looking people fighting over Usagi… some girls had all the luck. The Senshi of Love frowned faintly and shooed away the envious thought from her mind. Her friend needed her help; now was not the time to get jealous.
"Hmm…" Minako mumbled thoughtfully. "I'm afraid I can't see any way around this, Usagi," she confessed, making the princess's hopeful face fall. "It wouldn't be fair to either of them if you didn't tell Mamoru about Rei. I know it's not what you want to hear, but--"
"I know," Usagi sighed, interrupting Minako. "It's the right thing to do. But I've… done things, with Rei," she added and then averted her gaze, her cheeks turning red.
"'Things?'" Minako repeated, puzzled. "What kind of-- oh." There was an uncomfortable silence between the two girls and the Senshi of Love fought the absurd urge to giggle hysterically. The longhaired blonde coughed uneasily and clamped down on the curious part of her mind that wanted to ask what it had been like with the Senshi of Fire. Unfortunately, her imagination started to conjure up all sorts of wild scenarios, each one more intense than the last, causing sweat to bead on her forehead.
"Minako?" Usagi said, the girl's silence and distant look worrying her. She touched the Senshi of Love's hand timidly. "You're not… disgusted with me, are you?"
"What?" Minako said sharply, the princess's voice saving her from her overactive imagination. "Of course not, Usagi," she assured her friend quickly, squeezing the blonde's hand lightly. "Though Mamoru on the other hand, I'm not so sure of. He definitely isn't going to like this."
This was apparently not something Usagi wanted to hear, but Minako had to be truthful. Besides, it had to be pretty obvious to the princess that Mamoru would not appreciate his girlfriend cheating on him with her best friend, even if Rei were a girl. Usagi let out a small whimper and hung her head in despair. Just as Minako was about to say something comforting to her friend to raise the girl's downcast spirits, she noticed that one of the transfer students was giving her sideway glances. Hmm, so she had an admirer. Minako discreetly observed the boy. He wasn't too bad looking, but nothing special. Still, she shouldn't dismiss him entirely because of just that. The blonde then frowned when she realised *all* the transfer students were looking at her, the girls included. Minako knew she was attractive, but this was a bit disturbing.
Suddenly, the door to the classroom slid open, revealing the missing math teacher. The Senshi of Love saw that she was staring directly at her, or more specifically, at her and Usagi. Oh god, was the teacher ticked off by her and her friend's less than stellar test results? She would probably inform Minako's parents, and then the blonde would be done for. How could she fight evil if her mother and father locked her up in her bedroom for the rest of her life?
"Minako," Usagi murmured apprehensively. "I think something's…"
Minako's eyes widened as the math teacher grinned demonically at her, and then started to *change*. There was a crack of bones and a sickening squelch sound as the teacher's body altered, ripping out of her clothes, leaving the tattered remains on the floor. A collective frightened gasp rose from Minako's fellow classmates when their teacher's true form was made apparent. The former math teacher now looked like some sort of alien thing with a dark purple, almost black, chitinous exoskeleton. It was humanoid, but with four arms; the bottom, two vaguely human, ones tipped with sharp nails, while the top pair had only three fingers on each hand, but with an incredibly long and wide blade-like talon attached to each thick digit. The creature's legs were long and possessed multiple joints, appearing ideal for fast runs and long jumps. Its bulbous head was a putrid purple colour, like rotting plums, and the youma's large maw was filled with several rows of needle-like teeth. As Minako watched, a long pink tongue snaked out of its mouth, causing a trail of drool to drop to the floor. The youma's beady blood red eyes, one on either side of its big head, rolled in their sockets and focused on the Senshi of Love. It licked its lips revoltingly, leaving glistening saliva all over its face. Minako's breath caught in her throat as terrible realisation dawned on her. It knew who she was, who she and Usagi were.
A girl screamed from Minako's right and the Sailor Senshi risked a fleeting look to the side. All the new transfer students were undergoing the same metamorphosis that the teacher had gone through. Adrenaline started to pump in Minako's veins as the number of the youma surrounding her and the Moon Princess registered in her brain. Far too many. Muffled shouts came from outside the classroom, no doubt from other rooms. There was a loud crash and then shrill screams from the floor below her, signalling to the Inner Senshi that probably even more youma were in Juuban High School. Definitely far too many.
Without warning, as if a silent cue had been sounded, the remaining students in the room began screaming and running for an exit. But there was only one exit that didn't involve a five-storey drop, and a grotesque creature was barring the way. The youma gave a semblance of a smile to Minako, and then in a sudden burst of motion, sprinted towards her and Usagi, slicing through any poor person who got in its path without pity. The Senshi of Love heard Usagi cry out in horror as their classmates' blood was made to run freely from their gouged bodies.
"Usagi," the head of the Moon Princess's personal bodyguard said grimly, "stay behind me." She whipped out her Crystal Henshin Wand and stood up, preparing to transform, the thought that her fellow students would learn her secret identity never even crossing her mind. All eight youma charged and then leapt towards the Senshi of Love and the princess, each emitting a piercing shriek as they directed their taloned hands down at the girls.
******
Sailor Jupiter dived over the hospital bed and curled into a roll on the floor, the youma's nearly invisible whip-like weapons gutting the wall behind where she had once stood. She hastily twisted around to face the enemy and noticed that Sailor Mercury was beside her, the blue-haired genius having also managed to successfully evade the creature's opening attack. The brunette spared her love a quick glance, and then stood up with a slight smirk on her features, Mercury joining her.
"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!"
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"
A pillar of water shot out of Sailor Mercury's hands directly at the youma, closely followed by a white energy ball that crackled with static electricity. The creature nimbly strafed to the left, allowing the blue geyser to smash into the hospital room door and part of the wall, encasing the area in a layer of ice. He then ducked, moving like a well oiled machine, causing Jupiter's attack to soar overhead and crash into the already weakened wall, blowing the entire thing outwards, sending debris scattering all over the outside hallway.
Sailor Jupiter squinted her green eyes as she tried to see through the thick dust cloud that had erupted from the explosion, searching for the youma. Suddenly realising the foolishness of what she was doing, the brunette abruptly leapt up onto the hospital bed and dived recklessly off it into the cloud, just as multiple wires shot out of the grey dust beneath her, stabbing at the area where she had once stood. Jupiter collided hard with something that she assumed was the youma, and then burst out of the back of the dust cloud, into the hallway. She landed on top of the now revealed enemy on the dirty floor, face to face with the creature. Jupiter immediately delivered a solid right hook to his head, causing it to snap to the left with the heavy impact. But before she could initiate a follow up strike, the youma grabbed the front of her fuku with one hand, displacing the unique weapons sprouting from his fingers, and then slammed the top of his forehead into her face in a brutal head butt. The force of the blow pushed Sailor Jupiter off of the would-be assassin, and ended up sprawling the girl on her back.
The youma flipped onto his feet and lashed his wire weapons in the air, preparing to slice the senshi lying before him wide open and expose her insides to the air. There suddenly was a shout from the other side of the grey dust cloud, and a column of water tore through it, blasting the dust particles aside and revealing Sailor Mercury in her attack stance, standing in Jupiter's hospital room. The youma reflexively darted to one side, but not before he was clipped in the arm by the geyser, freezing the limb solid. He staggered backwards and grunted in obvious pain, his impassive facial expression breaking for just an instant.
Sailor Mercury ran out of the hospital room and knelt by Sailor Jupiter's side, but kept her eyes focused intently on the youma. Jupiter sniffed, feeling blood trickle out of her nose. Oh, he was going to pay for that. However, as the brunette and her girlfriend watched, the creature looked at his frozen arm dispassionately and then smashed it against the wall, the strength of his strike enough to demolish the ice. The youma flexed his now free right arm experimentally, and then affixed his cold gaze on the two Sailor Senshi.
In a lightning quick move, the creature fired all ten of his piano-wire weapons at the pair of girls. Sailor Jupiter pushed Sailor Mercury out of the way and then rolled backwards, attempting to dodge the abrupt attack. But the fraction of a second it took to protect Sailor Mercury was enough for the youma's wires to wrap around her body, as if each strand had a life of its own. Jupiter gritted her teeth as each one of the threads started to bite into her flesh, causing lines of red to slowly appear on her fuku, the seeping blood a stark contrast to the white outfit. The youma gathered five razor sharp wires in each gloved hand, and then pulled firmly on the bundles, drawing the trapped girl's arms outwards. Sailor Jupiter's face contorted in pain mixed with determination as she flexed the muscles in her arms into tight cords, holding her forearms in a vertical position as she tried to stop the limbs being ripped clean off.
"No!" Sailor Mercury cried from where she had been pushed aside by Sailor Jupiter, only to be promptly kicked viciously in the stomach by the youma. The blue-haired girl opened her mouth in a silent sob of pain, and then had her ribs stomped on by the merciless creature, driving her form down flat on the floor. He held the writhing senshi under his foot, grinding his heel maliciously into Mercury's back.
"Leave her alone, you bastard," Sailor Jupiter forced out through clenched teeth, her arms trembling with the tremendous effort is was taking to not let the wires tear past her taut muscles to the bone.
Her youma assailant narrowed his eyes and pulled on the other numerous sharp threads tangled around her torso and legs, making red rivers run down the girl's body. Sailor Jupiter moaned in torment and scrunched her eyes tight briefly, before opening them again to glare at her torturer. The experience vaguely reminded her of the soundwave vice that had almost killed her before, but this was many degrees more painful. At least the last time the senshi had blacked out. Juptiter could make out people through her blurry tear-filled vision watching the test of endurance with awestruck and fearful expressions, standing in front of their rooms or in the hallways, all seeming transfixed by the morbid scene.
Sailor Mercury whimpered as the youma continued his rough treatment of her body, remorselessly crushing the poor girl underfoot. Sailor Jupiter saw a few tears leak out of her lover's pain wracked eyes, and felt her resolve to punish the youma for his actions heighten to a great extent. The tall senshi let out a short angry bark and straightened her arms --the razor threads flaying a thin layer of skin off of her forearms-- and then grabbed the bundle of strands connected to them. Sailor Jupiter roared furiously and pulled as hard as she could on the wire bundles, only remotely aware of the weapons cutting onto her palms. The youma was taken by surprise and was almost knocked off his feet as he stumbled towards the enraged Sailor Senshi, his abuse of Mercury forcibly ceased. Just as the creature came within range, Jupiter delivered a devastating kick to his jaw with her right leg --the wires around it now slack-- causing the youma's head to fly back. The tall senshi didn't let up, and quickly jabbed him in the stomach with her left fist and then in what she guessed was the kidney area with her right. Not giving her adversary even a moment to counter, Jupiter then grabbed the youma's head and forced it down to meet her rising knee, hearing the crunch of cartilage at the impact.
The blue suited youma fell backwards, the threads connected to his fingertips detaching and left behind on Sailor Jupiter's bleeding body. The Inner Senshi gave Mercury a quick concerned look and saw that the girl was gradually climbing to her feet, using the wall for support. The Senshi of Water met her girlfriend's concerned look with one of her own, no doubt taking in the tall girl's slashed up and bloody form, the coils of sharp strands responsible for her condition still hanging limply about her body.
The youma, taking advantage of any loss of focus no matter how brief, leapt to his feet and rammed his fist into Sailor Jupiter's face, catching the girl off guard and making her stumble back a few steps. He then causally stabbed his elbow backwards, striking Sailor Mercury solidly in the forehead. The power of the blow was enough to throw the senshi off her feet and onto the floor, landing painfully on top of a small pile of masonry from the destroyed wall. New sharp, murderous threads burst from the creature's fingertips and snaked around Mercury's prone and vulnerable body, encircling the girl tightly in their deadly embrace.
"You-- GARRGH!!" Sailor Jupiter's statement of defiance was turned into an anguish-filled scream as the youma whipped the remaining wires attached to his left hand across the senshi's face, gouging tracks along her features. Jupiter clasped a hand over her face as she cried blood, the red liquid streaming out between her fingers.
"Makoto!!" Sailor Mercury yelled as her love stumbled about blindly with a hand still held over her ruined visage.
The youma roughly wrenched his right hand upwards, lifting Mercury off the floor like a puppet on strings except with an emotionless maniac as a nightmarish puppet master, causing the clear strands tied around the girl's body to break her skin. The blue-haired genius gasped as a wire around her neck was drawn tight, her own body weight effectively garrotting her.
Sailor Jupiter glared with one furious green eye through her blood covered fingers, seeing the cruel treatment of the one she cared more about than anything else in the world.
"Pitiful Sailor Senshi," the youma said coldly to the brunette. With his free hand, he tweaked one sharp thread that went around Mercury's midsection, making the suffocating girl spasm in pain. "I only have to tug on this wire to disembowel your mate. What are you going to do?" he mocked.
"Kill you," Sailor Jupiter spat out viciously in response. She glanced with her eye down at her suffering girlfriend, feeling her heart ache at the horrific sight. Mercury blinked, squeezing teardrops out of her blue eyes to run down her almost equally blue face.
Sailor Jupiter took her hand away from her torn face, presenting an appalling weeping mess of exposed raw flesh, and then moved into a combat stance.
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"
A volley of sharp green leaves fired like bullets at the youma puppeteer, at close range, giving the creature no chance to dodge, the fast attack taking him unawares. The barrage of blade-like leaves ripped into the youma, tearing holes in his blue suit, making rivulets of a sickening yellow fluid splatter out of the tattered openings. More plant-green projectiles sliced into the fine wires that hung from the creature's right hand, snapping the taut threads and releasing Sailor Mercury from her torturous suspension. The Senshi of Water fell to the floor, landing flat on her stomach as she inhaled a shuddering breath of air into her burning lungs.
The bleeding youma's features contorted into pained rictus as he was pushed backwards a few footsteps by Jupiter's powerful assault, the shredded remains of his weapons attached to his right hand's fingertips fluttering in the air as he staggered. He suddenly let out a sharp yell and moved like quicksilver, launching the razor sharp wires sprouting from his other hand at his tall assailant, tangling the tools of murder around the severely wounded girl's neck. Sailor Jupiter reacted as quickly as she could, managing to slip her fingers under the threads before the youma pulled sadistically on his weapons, causing the wires to cut into Sailor Jupiter's restraining digits. The force of the pull was enough to wrench the Inner Senshi off of her feet and onto the floor. Jupiter scrunched her eyes and furiously tried to release the pressure on her neck with her fingers as she was dragged through the rubble from the demolished wall that littered the hallway, parts of the ice-encased plaster now lying in wet puddles.
Sailor Jupiter whimpered in pain, her hands becoming even more blood soaked while she attempted to free her throat from the deadly noose, nearing panic. Any second now her fingers were going to be cleaved clean through, and then it would be a race to see whether she would die by strangulation or by blood loss as her jugular was severed. Jupiter had never really given dying any thought, preferring not to think about it ever happening to her. But now, that Death was upon her, she realised she didn't want go. Not now. Not when she had actually found someone that loved her as much as she loved them. It was kind of ironic that after keeping such a careful look out for potential boyfriends for such a long time, the person for her had been right in her midst all the while. Sailor Jupiter was happy being with Sailor Mercury, despite that it had taken the tragedy of Rei's 'death' for her happiness to come about. It wasn't fair that it was to end. She didn't want to leave Mercury all alone in the world.
Jupiter looked up into her murder's dark dispassionate eyes, perhaps hoping to see some mercy in the cold orbs, but was only met with grim purpose. The doomed Sailor Senshi gasped out a wordless cry from her nearly tightly closed off throat, her vision becoming shadowed in the upper left hand corner.
"You will stop this now!!" Sailor Jupiter heard her love shout fiercely from a ways behind her. "MERCURY AQUA MIRAGE!"
As the tall, half-suffocated senshi watched, her youma opponent was engulfed in a blue ball of water that crackled and sparked with an electrical current. Jupiter could hear the creature's muted, tormented scream come from inside the electrified watery sphere, before the globe disappeared, leaving the youma totally drenched. The wires connected to his fingertips flaked away to nothing, granting Sailor Jupiter life as the threads became loose around her throat and fingers. The heavily injured senshi looked behind her to see a bloodied but determined Mercury standing unwaveringly in the hallway, the girl's hands both outstretched together, still in the position of her recent attack. Her attack… Jupiter didn't think her girlfriend could perform that particular attack anymore.
The horrendously wounded youma put one hand against the wall to steady himself as he wobbled on his feet, the combination of Sailor Jupiter's earlier assault and Sailor Mercury's recent one apparently too much for him to bear. The creature glared at the two girls hatefully and then spat on the floor, before turning tail and running as best he could down the hall.
"We have to get him!" Jupiter said in a croaky voice as she climbed exhaustedly upright, preparing to chase after the fleeing youma. There was no way he was going to get away with what he had done. She glanced back to Mercury who was looking at her torn up body dubiously. "What are you waiting for?! Let's go!"
Sailor Jupiter charged after the youma as he sprinted along Minato Hospital's hallways, bowling over staff and patients alike in his effort to escape the Sailor Senshi's wrath. The brunette found herself breathing hard as she ran, with Sailor Mercury hot on her tail, the blue-haired girl panting laboriously. Jupiter leapt over a knocked down doctor and then vaulted over an abandoned wheelchair as she continued her pursuit of the would-be assassin. She spared a look over her shoulder and was pleased and relieved to see that Sailor Mercury was still with her, having also successfully navigated the obstacles.
Just as the youma ran past an open hospital room door, a large light pink energy ball flew out of the doorway, and then smashed into the creature and exploded, sending him crashing through the wall opposite. The youma scrambled to his feet hastily and dived out of the way as another ball of energy sailed out the open doorway, barely missing the routed enemy and flying through the new gigantic hole in the wall. Jupiter heard a tremendous explosion as the second ball detonated, shaking the very foundations of the building. How the youma could even move after a hit of that magnitude was unbelievable. But somehow, the youma, his suit now in tatters, resumed his flight to freedom, bolting down the hallway with only a hint of a limp in his gait.
Sailor Jupiter ran after her adversary, briefly looking in the hospital room the pink energy attacks had originated from. As she had expected, Sailor Pluto was sitting upright in her bed, holding the shaft of her Time Staff in her right hand while she used the forearm of her left as a prop for the pole weapon, to help steady her aim.
"Hurry, there is still a chance for you to catch him!" the Guardian of Time called to the two Inner Senshi as they passed by her doorway.
Jupiter saw the youma dart swiftly into a hallway on his right, leaving her line of sight. The tall senshi forced an additional burst of energy out of her nearly drained body, and rounded the corner at breakneck speed. All too late she saw the glint of light off of the razor sharp web of wires blocking the other corridor. Sailor Jupiter desperately tried to halt her fast movement, flailing her arms wildly, even though she knew it was useless. However, she suddenly felt something tug backwards on her fuku, slowing her momentum enough for the girl to avoid running into the eviscerating trap. The tall brunette breathed a sigh of relief and gave Sailor Mercury a grateful smile as her lover let go of her fuku.
Sailor Jupiter returned her attention to the hall in front of her as the youma she and Sailor Mercury had been chasing after stepped out from a doorway. He looked at Jupiter coldly, challengingly, and then lifted one ravaged arm upwards, shredded strips of his ripped clothes hanging downwards from the limb as he pointed directly at the tall girl. Jupiter knew what he meant. She glared back with equal challenge in her green eyes.
"Until we meet again…" she mouthed silently. The Sailor Senshi knew they would.
The youma then ran along the hallway, weaving in and out of numerous bystanders before he was out of Sailor Jupiter's sight. The tall Sailor Senshi hung her head, resting her chin on her chest as she let her intensely beating heart calm down. Unfortunately, without the organ frantically pumping adrenaline through her veins to nullify certain feelings, the pain of her many injuries gradually made themselves known. Jupiter ground her teeth at the unpleasant sensations and leaned back against a wall, and then slowly slid down it into a sitting position, leaving a red smear on the whitewashed plaster behind her. Sailor Mercury knelt in front of her, the blue-haired girl almost collapsing to her knees due to the extent of her own wounds.
"You require immediate medical attention," she said as she carefully touched the side of her lover's blood encrusted face.
"You and me both. It's a good thing we happen to be in a hospital," Sailor Jupiter said with a faint smirk. "…How bad is it?" she asked tentatively after a slight pause, hoping that her face wasn't permanently scarred.
"He missed your eyes only barely, but I'm confident you'll heal nicely," Mercury said sympathetically and comfortingly. "If you weren't a Sailor Senshi, however…"
"But I am, and I'm okay," Sailor Jupiter said reassuringly to her girlfriend. "It's all part of the job, I guess. How are you holding up? I'm sorry I let that guy hurt you like that."
Sailor Mercury smiled slightly and shook her head gently. "As you said; it's part of the job. And I'll be perfectly fine. Most of these cuts are superficial." The Senshi of Water then sighed in resignation. "But they are enough to keep me from going after Rei to help Usagi and Minako."
"I know," Jupiter agreed, shifting her gaze over her lover's shoulder, noticing several doctors and nurses running towards them. She would have to check out of this hospital as soon as possible; the carnage had originated from her room, which meant that her alter ego as a Sailor Senshi could be in danger if any of the staff pried into the patient records. Maybe Mercury could do something with the computer files. "If what that youma said was true, then Usagi and Minako probably have their hands full right at this very minute," she went on gravely. The tall, sliced up senshi then smiled wryly, lowering her head. "But if I know Rei, I think the youma at Juuban High School are in for one hell of a fight, no matter how many there are."
Mercury frowned faintly at her girlfriend's comment. "What do you mean?" she inquired.
Sailor Jupiter grinned up at her blue-haired love, hoping that it didn't make her ruined face all the more awful looking. "Let's just say that if you were in there, I would be doing the exact same thing as Rei. And no amount of youma would stop me."
But still… sometimes a temper could be detrimental in a battle, and Jupiter hoped Mars would be able to keep it together for their friends' sake. And if by the time the Fire Senshi arrived Usagi had been hurt or worse, then the brunette feared what the hot headed miko would do. It wasn't just their fellow Sailor Senshi in that school; there were also teachers and students, innocent bystanders. Mercury had told her that Mars wasn't exactly how she used to be anymore, that the Senshi of Fire had changed-- and Jupiter had noticed that fact too. While Sailor Mars' fury would most likely help her to fight off the 'army' of youma, if the raven-haired girl's rage got too far out of control… then perhaps the occupants of Juuban High School had one other even more dangerous and merciless thing to worry about.
******
to be continued…
Author's ramblings:
I made Mercury use her attack from that special episode of Sailor Moon because I felt it was sort of appropriate.
No Rei in this chapter, but she will be the focus of the next.