Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Moon E(ternals) ❯ A Hard Road. Where is Yuuichirou? ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: So, I'm sure you can pretty much guess where this is going. Rei's relationship is the easiest to write. It is the most natural out of all of the others. I DO have a few surprises in store for you in relation to the pairings that happen…;) So far we have Usagi/Mamoru, Haruka/Michiru (though they won't appear until later), and Rei/…can you guess? ;)

 

biscuitsnmuffins- Thank you for your review. I appreciate when people tell me they like my stories…:-

Disclaimer: I do not own the Sailor Moon characters. Naoko Takeuchi has that illustrious honor. I do however own the villains, the golden senshi, and the story line I am writing about.

 

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Chapter 2

A Hard Road. Where is Yuuichirou?

 

Sailor Mars stared at the forehead of her classmate as the bright light of her Mind Soul got brighter and brighter. I started out with my strongest attack and it doesn't work against that demon. What am I going to do? In desperation, Sailor Mars put her two hands together like a gun, shouting “Fire…” She felt the energy burst out of her fingertips and form a small glowing ball of fire. She spun around and shouted “…Soul!” releasing the energy in one long burst of fire.

 

Ei casually waved it to the side, causing a curtain to catch fire. This caused a distraction Mars was more than willing to use. The fire caused the sprinkler system to go off, causing the water to turn to steam, and a fog-like atmosphere to cover the hallway.

 

Mars used this to start her next attack. She started by drawing a circle in the air with a stream of fire. “Burning…” she posed, letting the characters form from the fire, then she put her hands together in front of her, letting the fire characters pour form her hand as she said “…Mandala!” completing her attack. This attack was aimed at the sprinkler, though, and caused more water to come pouring out, causing more steam.

 

Mars ran towards Ei and kicked her, knocking her down. She then ran over to the girl being held by the card and tried to pull the object off her forehead. Mars got thrown back and hit the wall, knocking her senseless for a few seconds. The steam started to clear and she looked up to see Ei standing above her with a sneer on her face. “You'll be next, my dear Sailor Mars.” She pulled back her leg to kick Sailor Mars when a long thin stream of fire hit Ei's leg. “What the…”

 

Mars looked up. Who on Earth was using fire? That was her trademark. What she saw wasn't the sillouette of who she was expecting, Sailor Moon's long pigtail's and Tuxedo Kamen's top hat, but instead, saw a man with a long cape flapping in the wind from the open window. “Who…?” The man in the window dropped down and that's when Mars realized that it was not the senshi's usuall protector.

 

This strange man was wearing armor like Prince Endymion wore during the Moon Kingdom, but instead of black, gray, and silver, it was a dark brown, dark red, and a copper color. His cape was dark red on the outside but the inside lining was a darker purple than Mar's bows. He carried a sword that had a tinge of red to the blade and the blade was out. His right index finger was pointing at Ei, and when Mars looked down at Ei's leg, she saw a burn that looked like it was straight through her ankle. While she was looking at the burn, the man jumped down and aimed his sword at the demon's throat. “Sailor Mars, use your natural abilities to get rid of that evil card. I will take care of this demon woman.”

 

“I don't…” Mars started to say, then it hit her. She concentrated and started chanting, “Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Sai, Zen.” She held up an ofuda, an anti-evil scroll, as it became stiff. She then shouted, “Akuryou Taisan!” sending it soaring in the direction of her trapped dorm mate. The force field disappeared and she prepared her sniper attack. “Mars…Flame…Sniper!” The flame arrow hit the target right on the dot and the card exploded into tiny shards. The girl collapsed and Mars turned towards Ei and the unknown man.

 

Seeing her plan fail, she looked between the two who cornered her and shouted, “You'll pay for this, Sailor Mars,” right before she spun out of the dorm and disappeared.

 

Mars turned towards her rescuer, only to notice him standing at her desk and staring at a picture she had there. It was a picture of her and Yuuichirou. “Who are you?” she asked a bit harshly.

 

The man jumped as if he had been surprised and looked guiltily at her. Only then did Mars notice that he had longish hair that he had pulled back into a low ponytail at the base of his head. It was medium brown color and his eyes, through the half mask he had on his face, were hazel. “I'm…I'm the Kamen no Mars. The Mask of Mars.”

 

“Kamen no Mars?”

 

His face flushed under the mask and he looked down. “My memory is a little spotty, but I am connected with… well, with you Princess Aren.”

 

“Uh…I'm not…” Mars searched her memory and she recalled something from her previous life during the Moon Kingdom.

 

Flashback

“Pappa, I'm here. You wanted to see me?”

 

“Yes, darling. I'm wondering if you were willing to walk with me.”

 

“Of course.”

 

The King of Mars turned to his ever present aide and said, “Cancel all my appointments in the next two hours.”

 

“Of course, King Ares.”

 

“Princess,” her father said, “Princess Aren, you know that I love you, but since your mother died, we have needed someone willing to take over the kingdom. I know you are willing, but ruling is always better with someone next to them…” King Ares took a deep breath and turned towards his purple haired daughter, “I have entered you into an engagement with a young man from a good family. Ditio, son of Apalu,” a young man stepped out of the shadows, “meet my daughter, Princess Aren of Mars.”

End Flashback

 

“D…Ditio?”

 

“Hai. Pleased to see you again, Princess Aren.”

 

“Connected? That's an understatement if I ever heard one.” Kamen no Mars smiled slightly, and Sailor Mars continued, “I didn't realize you were reborn in this time…”

 

“I don't think you would have, if this new evil hadn't emerged…”

 

Mars noticed they were being stared at by the other women in the dorm, so she grabbed Kamen no Mars' arm and drug him towards the window and out to the roof to talk.

 

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As Neo-Queen Serenity stared at her long-time advisor in fear, reason started to seep back into her mind. “Pluto, they're still here…we're still here…”

 

“What do you mean, Your Highness?”

 

“Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus…ME. We're still alive…”

 

Pluto nodded sadly. “Yes. But the time line has changed. You know that you were supposed to present the Eternal Power-ups to your personal guardians this next week in the ceremony you and the King have been planning. In the new, changed timeline, your guardians will receive them a few years after the defeat of Chaos.” Suddenly a flurry of activity was heard in the background. “Quickly, Your Highness, one more thing. The Planetary Princess' protectors…they will be woken up as well, so life is bound to get…interesting.” With those final words, Pluto faded into the background and Neo-Queen Serenity was left to face the doors of her throne room alone.

 

“What an earth did she mean by the Planetary Princess' Protectors?” Neo-Queen Serenity asked her self as she stood and watched two commoners running in flanked by four palace guards. “We tried to stop them, Majesty, but they tricked us.”

 

She held up her left hand, a signal for the guards to stop, and motioned the two women forward. One was her old friend, Osaka Naru, the other was an unknown woman, though she looked vaguely familiar.

 

“Your Highness,” Naru said, bowing, “This woman's son has an unknown illness.”

 

“Explain, please?”

 

The woman sobbed in despair and said, “M…my son was a…asleep. He…he works the l…l…late shift and he…he…he's always tired when he gets home. I went in th…this morning to ch…ch…check on him and he…he…he…” she broke down sobbing so Naru continued for her.

 

“When she went into his room this morning, she found him floating in mid-air surrounded by flames. The flames aren't hurting him but the room he was in is rather smoky. The flames are real…” Naru looked up into the eyes of her once best friend and begged her, “Please, Usagi, please try and save this man.”

 

“I will do what I can. What is his name?”

 

Naru's response wasn't heard as Neo-Queen Serenity followed the woman and Naru out the door, but the guards outside the palace saw the queen stop, hit her head with the palm of her hand as the group walked towards the house where the woman and her son lived.

 

Five minutes after the queen left, Sailor Venus ran into the throne room looking for her Serenity. When she was told by the guards that she had left the palace, she cursed and ran back out, telling the guards to have the queen come to Sailor Mars' quarters as soon as possible. “She's out helping the poor when one of her protectors is on fire!” Sailor Venus mumbled as she walked back the way she had come.

 

The guards started at this and one ran after the queen.

 

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“Ditio…how did you know to come help me?”

 

“I had come here to…for another reason, but I got this feeling I needed to help someone at this location out, so I came here. It was only when I got to the dorm,” he said, motioning behind him, “that I felt power welling up and taking over me. Then my memories started to flow.”

 

“Who are you?”

 

“I thought I already told you…”

 

“No, who is your reborn self?”

 

“I'm…uh…not comfortable telling you that.”

 

“Why?” Mars asked, stepping closer to him. She knew she shouldn't have been getting so close or feeling so attracted to him, but she couldn't help it.

 

“Uh…” Mars was so close she could see him swallow. She just wanted one little kiss…

 

They're lips touched and Mars could feel the flames between the two of them. It was like someone had poured gasoline on the ground between them and lit it. Or like she had set the ground on fire herself. Before she was satisfied she felt him pull away. “No, Sailor Mars. I can't.”

 

“You have a girlfriend then?” she asked, simaultaneously jealous and sad.

 

“Well…”

 

“Hm?”

 

“I'm not really sure, actually. She and I have never actually become involved but…”

 

“You have feelings for her?”

 

“Yes, but…”

“I understand. I…I'm sorry I kissed you. I'm in a similar situation.”

 

Kamen no Mars smiled. “I've about given up on her, but I'd like to give her one more chance to tell me how she feels. I'm attracted to you, Princess Aren, but I just can't…”

“I understand.” she said. “I noticed you were able to use fire.”

 

“Don't you remember, Princess? When I became your fiancé, I was given the power of Mars. I can use fire and can sense good in people, the opposite of your ability to sense evil.”

 

“Well,” Mars said, a bit shocked. “That will be very useful.”

 

*********

 

“What happened, Ei?”

 

“A senshi appeared and defeated me.”

 

“Who was it?” Sailor Minerva was so mad she was almost spitting acid.

 

“S…Sailor M…Mars.”

 

“Ah, the pyromaniac… Go Ei. Leave me to stew in peace.” Minerva sat back and ran her hands through her hair, making the curls snap and spark with electricity. “Princess Aren. The most dangerous of the four. I will find you and disable you so you can't stop my plan.”

 

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As soon as Ditio left, Rei went to dinner. On the way back, Rei stopped by the shrine to visit her grandfather and to see if she could talk to Yuuichirou. To her considerable surprise, Yuuichirou wasn't sweeping the shrine steps as was his habit at this time of night.

 

“Ojii-cha, Yuuichirou! Are you guys here?”

 

“Rei, what are you doing here?”

 

Rei turned to face her grandfather and noticed his worried face. “Ojii-cha, what's going on? Where is Yuuichirou?”

 

Rei's grandfather sighed. The secret had to come out now. “He's gone.”

 

“Gone, gone where?”

 

“I don't know,” Rei's grandfather said sadly. “The day after your party a note was attached to my door. It said, `Dear Mr. Hino, Thank you for your training, but I must be going. Tell everyone I said good-bye. Kumada Yuuichirou.' He left Rei, and I don't know where he's at!”

 

Rei was shocked to see her grandfather crying, but even more shocked that she would not get a chance to tell Yuuichirou about her feelings for him.