Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Death and Rebirth ❯ Death and Rebirth 19 ( Chapter 19 )

Death and Rebirth

Chapter Nineteen:

The Hotel, about 9:00 a.m.:

Minako stretched and awoke, she looked up and saw that the pigeon had flown back into its cage, Paul had trained it well. On further inspection, she noticed that she and the bird were the only living things in the room.

Carlos-kun must still be out thinking. But why hasn't Hotaru-chan returned. This was too worrisome; the blonde spruced up a little and headed outside to find him.

Minako had guessed correctly, the black-haired boy had spent the entire night up in the roof. She had already recovered her full strength, which was more than enough for a senshi to make a simple three-story leap.

"Hey Carlos-kun, look alive!" Mina called out, "Is Hotaru-chan here with you?"

"Qué? She's not in the room with you?" the undead teen asked as he got up with a start.

"Ie, she went out with Carmen-chan and never came back. I thought she'd come up to see you." Carlos didn't answer, he pushed his way past Minako and jumped down from the roof, nearly pushing her off. "Hey, careful baka!" She peered over the edge and saw him searching the ground frantically, "Hmm, ten to one something very interesting happened last night." She also went down.

"Chingada!" the dark-eyed boy cursed, "I can hardly feel a trace!"

"Haven't you recovered yet? Maybe you should've slept like I did."

"I'm an undead, stupid, sleep and food don't benefit me. I recover energy by absorbing negative emotions and I didn't get any the whole time we've been here." He kept on scanning. "I can't do anything to find Hotaru! Why didn't you stay up and wait for her?" Aino stood silently, giving Navarro a severe stare. It was something hard to do when facing those opaque eyes, but she managed more than enough to shame him. "Perdón."

"(sigh) I understand, but you're not going to accomplish anything if you lose control like that. We need to calm down and take a different approach."

"I'm listening."

"Okay. Your sister mentioned an uncle, ne? And I'm sure you know where he lives."

"Right!" he said as his attitude brightened, "Even if they moved, we can always find him at the police station. Let's go!" He ran off, not waiting for the blue-eyed girl at all.

"Hey! I came up with the idea. Can't you at least wait?" she sighed and followed, "Che."

*****

José Espinoza's home:

It's a shameful reality how the press always manages to arrive first. But something like a kidnapping happening to figures like the chief of police, makes a lot of headlines.

"No, I have no idea where my niece is," the chief's wife said, "Now leave us alone and go pester someone else!"

"Will chief Espinoza consider this maximum priority?"

"Does this mean his own problems are more important than the rest of the populace?"

"You!" the woman glared. She went inside and slammed the door in their faces. His husband had done so much for this city, but now, this incident made him look careless in front of everybody. She raised her head to see José hanging up the phone. "Any luck?"

"No Sarah," he answered, "I've called all her friends, no one knows where she is." He picked up the note left by the kidnappers, according to it, he would receive a phone call any time soon. "I may be speaking ill of her, but I hope this is just another one of her jokes."

"Don't even say that! We both know Carmen can be an uncouth prankster, but her limits are well defined. She'd never put us through something like this-" The phone rang at that very moment startling both. The officer looked at his wife for a while before taking hold of the receiver. He took a deep breath and answered.

"Espinoza here."

"Hey chief, are you having a good morning?"

"Hijo de perra! Where's my niece?"

"Patience, patience. You know the rules, I have the girl and you have to pay in order to get her back."

"Then I'll pay! Name your price, anything you want is yours," the chief said as he pounded the table.

"You're not even going to negotiate? I'm surprised, you've always shown a lot more spine than that."

"If you knew what that child has suffered…" he had to sit down, "What the hell do you want?"

"Nothing actually, all I need is for you to stay out of my way for a while. You see, I've got a millionaire project tonight, and frankly, intervention from your pigs is something I don't need."

"This project of yours, it wouldn't have anything to do with that huge load of narcotics I've heard rumors about, would it?"

"Ain't informants wonderful? Just stay out of my way tonight and I'll deliver Carmen safe and sound. Deal?"

"Deal," José sighed in resignation.

"Hey, look on the bright side. You can safely assure you've never accepted bribes, heh-heh-" The chief slammed the phone down.

*****

A villa outside the city:

"You can safely assure you've never accepted bribes, heh-heh-" the man jerked away from the phone, "Well, someone needs to work on his sense of humor. Now to deal with you guys." He walked up to the pair that had brought Hotaru and Carmen against their will, the girls were handcuffed to a column in the middle of the room. Once he was next to the two men, he slapped them on the side of their heads. "Why the hell did you bring the other girl? We only needed one!"

"Sorry boss, but we didn't know who two bring in the first place. You described her too vaguely, and these two look Chinese."

"Che," Hotaru knew enough Spanish to understand them, "for your information baka, I happen to be Japanese."

"Hotaru," Carmen replied, "somehow I don't think that's going to help us at all." She turned to the leader, "It's been a long time Jairo, I see you moved up from vandalizing." Jairo just chuckled, he was tall, strong and had long hair dyed red. He went over to stand next to girls.

"You know? You two are strangely calm for children who've just been kidnapped."

"Oh please, forgive us for not whimpering," the spiky-haired girl mocked. That terrible experience had tempered Carmen against situations like these. As for Hotaru, seriously now, what does the senshi of death and rebirth have to fear?

"Very funny, but anyway," Jairo knelt in front of the Mexican girl and smirked, "you grew up a lot hotter than I expected. What do you say, still like me?" he asked as he ran his hand over her flank. Carmen countered with a kick that was easily avoided. "Now you," he said as he went over to Hotaru and checked her out, "What should I do with you? I've never seen you before, and I know most of Carmen's closest friends. But you do seem a rich kid, and that will get us some good money. Who are your parents?" She just threw a fierce glare at him.

"Leave it to us boss. A few minutes and we'll have her spilling the beans," one of the lackeys offered, eagerly clapping his fist.

"No, let's do one thing at a time," Jairo said with a shaky voice. As he headed for the door, he snapped his fingers suddenly. "I almost forgot!" He pulled out a switchblade, startling the girls, and went over to Carmen.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Paying no heed to her complaints, he grabbed her leg, ripped her jeans open and detached the fake limb. "Give that back you creep!"

"In a minute." Jairo removed a sort of lid and pulled out a plastic bag. "Not an original hiding spot, but effective." He tossed it to one of his men and let the limb drop carelessly. "Go sell this on the streets. Hugo, you stay and keep an eye on these two."

"Qué? Why do I get stuck with babysitting?" The curly haired teen protested.

"Because hopefully, this job is simple enough for you not to screw it up. So shut up and stay."

Huffing, Hugo sat down on the far end of the room while the others left.

"Ugh!" the emerald-eyed girl complained as she slammed the floor, "Can you believe that miser? He's going to earn a shit-load of money and he takes me apart for an extra two bits!" She hit the floor again, this time with her stump, causing every nerve ending to flare up. A giant tear dangled from her eye. "Ow, ow, ouch."

"You know," Hotaru spoke after a while, "Carlos mentioned hanging out with a gang once. Was that the Jairo?"

"Sí, big bro was beginning to act rebellious and Jairo was considered the coolest guy in school. (sigh) I even had a bit on a crush on him." The spiky-haired girl leaned on the column and took a deep breath. "I just hope we can get out of this one."

"Hai, me too." The violet-haired girl allowed a moment of silence to pass before speaking again. "Carmen-san, are you, umm, are you thinking of…that?"

"Sí," Carmen answered somberly, "And I don't need something like this to happen, every now and then I keep getting flashbacks, especially when things get rough."

"Look, you really shouldn't. I'm scared too, but what might happen to us now doesn't have to be that awful." She was surprised to hear Carmen giggle, even Hugo raised an eyebrow. "Did I miss something?"

"You misunderstood," the emerald-eyed girl explained, "It's not the rape I recall, but what Carlos said to me before leaving. My brother, god bless him, told me that I was stronger than anyone. Those words helped me survive that ordeal and recover through this past year." She turned as far as she could in order to face Hotaru. "It's strange but, even though he abandoned me, I actually owe him my life."

"Hai, between us girls, Carlos will never admit it, he may act cold, distant and sometimes cruel, but I know he has a heart even though he claims it to be empty."

"You mean the way he acted," Carmen corrected, "Don't forget he-" she raised her eyebrows in realization. "Say Hotaru, what else can Carlos do besides healing?"

"Let me put it this way," the amethyst-eyed girl tried to get closer, "We'd better be concerned about our guard here." The girls giggled and Hugo had no idea of what was going on.

*****

Back at Espinoza's home, things were not going well. Carlos had spied on the phone conversation and some time after that, but he couldn't learn anything useful. So he decided to go back to Minako, who was growing a bit impatient by now.

"What did you hear?" the blonde asked after recovering from the surprise. Why must you always sneak up on people?

"So far, it seems that uncle José knows the kidnapper but he won't say much to my aunt Sarah, and those reporters aren't helping any. Maybe he'll go to the station later on, we might find something there."

"But your powers can be used to read thoughts, ne?" Minako pointed out, "Why not use them on your uncle?"

"Never on innocents," Carlos reminded her, "I still remember what happened after I tried that stunt on Señorita Kino and I don't want a cop's nightmares."

"Hai," the blonde admitted, "not to mention secrecy. It's already risky enough that Carmen-chan knows about you. But Karasu no shi is a whole other identity, once he goes to his office you can-" She was interrupted by the protests of the press and a car going past them. They managed to get a glimpse from the chief as he went by.

"Time to go," the undead teen said as he ran his hand over his face, "You ready for some rooftop hopping?"

"Are you kidding? It'll be a cold day in the desert before you can outrun a senshi."

"Boy, Señorita Hino wasn't kidding when she mentioned your quoting."

*****

Police Station No. 57:

Although José Espinoza is an extremely strict leader, he also has a sense of comradeship; this combination earned him a lot of respect and friendship from his peers. So when he got to the station he received much needed understanding.

"You okay chief? We're all really sorry for what happened."

"We made a collection, anything the creep's asking for, we'll pitch in a little."

"Gracias, I appreciate everything, but what I need right now is sometime alone." Chief Espinoza went into his office, not without pats on the back and consolations.

The chief sat down and took several folders out of his desk. He'd been collecting names, assigning agents and doing a lot of research in order to take Jairo down. And now he had to give it all up in order to save his niece. He turned to see a picture on his desk, it was taken at an amusement park at the capital several months ago. Carmen had long since recovered and was once again acting like the cheerful child he used to know. He leaned back on the chair and started remembering.

*****

Eleven months ago:

"I understand," sergeant Espinoza was in the middle of a very serious phone call, "we'll have everything ready here, gracias."

"Who was that honey?" his wife asked.

"Sit down Sarah, something very important to tell you."

Once the story was told, the woman was barely able to speak.

"I can't believe it, I just…why did it have to happen to them?"

"I can't believe Keiko's gone, nor that Carmen was used like that."

"Little Carmen," Sarah couldn't hold back her tears any longer, "What's going to happen for her now?"

"She's coming here with us, that what the call was about," he received a very surprised look, "She's been recovering at a hospital in Japan, but her progress has been slow. She needs to be with family and we're the closest relatives she has."

"Don't you mean the most known," she quipped and then grinned sadly, "(sigh) I better get to work then, I want everything to make her feel at home when she gets here."

A week later, Carmen was being ushered into her new bedroom by her uncle. She looked awful, gloomy and had to walk with the aid of a crutch. The dark-haired girl appraised her new quarters, it was simple enough, with basic furniture and a few decorations. Silently, she walked over to the bed, José sat down with her.

"Its hard to believe the last time I saw you, you were just a child. Now look at you, all grown up into a lady." The girl shrunk and he slapped himself. "In my job I meet a lot of victims, some of them very distraught and I never know what to say to them." The man chuckled sadly, "It's obvious I don't even know what to say now." Carmen just stared at the floor without answering. "Keiko, your mother, was my favorite cousin and my best friend. All the other kids thought it was cool to have a foreign relative, I just thought of her as family," he still got no response but kept on talking, "We were always there for each other, bailing ourselves out of trouble and all that. You have no idea how I felt when I got the news, but I didn't blame myself, if that's what you're thinking. I realized right away that there was nothing I could do with you being so far away," he put his hand on his niece's shoulder, "But you're here now Carmen, somewhere you can be protected, and I promise you that I'll never let anything bad happen to you again." The emerald-eyed girl finally moved and looked into his eyes, slowly, her frown became a grateful smile.

"Gracias," she said as she hugged him. The embrace lasted a few minutes until the sergeant got up and the girl lied down.

"Your aunt Sarah's downstairs making a big breakfast, whether you want to eat or-" she'd already fallen asleep. Sighing, he left the room and gently shut the door. "I promise I'll protect you."

*****

"I promised," chief Espinoza repeated to himself. He picked up the phone and had just pressed the first digit when the lights went out. "Qué?"

"A lot of people are going to fault you for what you're about to do officer." The chief looked up and was shocked to see a teen with a painted face standing right in front of his desk. "You're Carmen's guardian, you can't put anyone's welfare before her. But other people won't understand that, not stopping that shipment will condemn the lives of hundreds, they'll just see you as a failure and not as the family man you are."

"Look son, I don't know who you are," the officer said nervously, "but you've got a lot of nerve coming in here and speaking to me like that."

"Shut up and listen. You're hands are tied but I'm a free agent, I can save your niece."

"Okay that's it! Get out of here before I charge you with-" Karasu hopped onto the desk and knelt an inch away from the man's face.

"Who kidnapped Carmen?" he demanded. His uncle didn't respond as he'd expected. His opaque eyes, demonic voice and strange attire do not inspire trust. And knowing about Carmen's kidnapping made him look very suspicious.

"Hands behind your head, now!" Espinoza ordered as he pulled out his gun and took aim, "For all I know, I tell you and just end up switching kidnappers." Karasu lost his temper. Growling, he pulled out Seventh Sin and with lightning speed sliced the gun in half.

"I'm here to help you pendejo! I know exactly what a victim feels. Every night their fears and anguish act as a beacon to me, guiding me towards the evil and allowing me to punish it. I'm too weak to do that now, so I need a name. Who kidnapped Carmen?" The chief had backed up against the wall and shaking, noticing this, the warrior took a deep breath to calm down. "Look, another girl was kidnapped along with Carmen, just because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time," his gaze became pleading, "She's the one I love."

"Well," the man let this bit of information set in, "perdón, but I can't take the risk. I owe Carmen's wellbeing to someone very important. You may be telling the truth. But how can you expect me to trust someone who hides his face and acts like a demon?"

"I guess I have no choice," the undead teen accepted. He was about make his marks vanish when the phone rang, the machine answered automatically.

"Espinoza? Jairo here. For your sake, and your niece's, you better be at that office doing your job. Remember, if I meet any trouble tonight, it's the girl who pays."

Karasu roared and smashed the machine, along with part of the desk. Espinoza almost had a stroke there.

"God! What are you, some sort of maniac?" But when he looked up there was no one there. Confused, and more worried than ever, he dropped onto his chair. Great, from a drug dealer to a psycho. Please, he began to pray, please keep Carmen safe.

"I got it!" Karasu shouted as he entered the filing room, "Hotaru and Carmela are at-"

"At Jairo's estate, northeast from here. I just read it," the senshi of love said while fanning a folder. The warrior was dumbfounded.

"Where? How did you find out?"

"Back in London I used to work with the police. The archives are kept here in a similar order, so I knew where and what to look for." The blue-eyed senshi chuckled, "I never thought my experience there would ever become useful."

"Humph! If Kashaku was here, he'd be giving me a lecture about patience right now," he huffed again, "Let me see the address." He checked out the paper and shook his head. "We better get going, even if we run all the way, in the condition I'm in I won't be able to get there before dark."

"Hai, and there's no telling what might happen to Hotaru-chan in her state."

*****

Jairo's villa:

Hotaru was feeling a little bit nervous in fact. Not because of this situation, but due to Carmen's stories about people getting their ears cut off by their kidnappers. Stories that were mixed with unusual black humor. Mostly, she was planning a way to escape this predicament by herself, and not revealing her identity as Sailor Saturn.

Carmen wouldn't admit it, but she was frightened, she used jokes and sarcasm to hide it well. Just like a year ago, she was completely at the mercy of criminals. But she was hopeful, the emerald-eyed girl was determined to survive and outgrow this experience, even if things would take a turn for the worse. And she had faith on her brother, although he also scared her much.

As for their assigned guard, Hugo, he was getting bored out of his skull. His only source of entertainment was playing solitaire with a very worn out deck, and gaze at the pretty pair in front of him. Soon enough, he grew tired of the game and discarded the deck. He yawned loudly and pulled out a cigarette.

"Qué?" Carmen sniffed the burning tobacco. "Hey, Hugo right? Think I could have a drag?"

"Carmen-san!"

"Oh, come on! It's just one puff," the Mexican girl turned back to Hugo, "So, can I?"

"Well," the Curly-haired teen was a bit surprised by the girl's attitude as well, "I guess it won't hurt with you being all tied up. But I'm warning you, don't try to kick me or anything." Carmen glared and showed him her leg for that comment. "Perdón, I didn't mean it." He knelt before the girl and put the cigarette on her lips, she took a very long drag.

"Gracias, I really needed that!"

"So I see," Hugo huffed after noticing how short she'd made his smoke, "How about you," he asked Hotaru, "would you like some?"

"Arigato but no, I like my lungs the way they are," the violet-haired girl answered gruffly, "Now could you get back to your seat? Your being here gives me the creeps."

"Okay, don't bite my head off." Instead of going all the way back though, Hugo sat on a chair nearby. "You know something? You two are definitely not acting the way I'd expect two kidnapped girls to do so." Hotaru merely shrugged.

"What can I say? I'm used to bad things happening to me."

"As for me," Carmen commented, "I've suffered the worst a girl can possibly go through."

"I don't get it," the teenager wondered, "What's worse than being kept away from your family?"

"I was raped," the spiky-haired girl said bluntly. Hugo was struck dumb upon learning this.

"Perdón," he said after a minute, "I had no idea."

"Oh get real! Don't tell me you didn't think of it after spending hours watching two babes in bondage!" Carmen attacked.

"Babes?" Hotaru asked, her cheeks a bright red.

"Well we are."

"No I didn't," the boy said firmly, "I would never do that to a girl, ever." Now it was Hotaru and Carmen's turn to be surprised by his tone. Hugo leaned back on his chair and hummed angrily. "My mother was raped as well."

"Oh," the emerald-eyed girl blushed with embarrassment, "perdón. I know what that's like. My mom and I where forced to-"

"Actually," Hugo interrupted, "I wasn't born yet at that time."

"Matte," Hotaru pondered over that fact and made a hasty conclusion, "don't tell me you're…"

"Yep, she had me because of that. Afterwards, things went from bad to worse. Mom had to raise me on her own, she never could marry and was disowned by her family. Of course, things weren't easy for me either. I entered an orphanage almost immediately, went in and out of jail, starved for several weeks straight, robbed here and sold there. It was my big break when I finally met Jairo. Sure, he's a creep and gives me the worst jobs, but I've got a steady income."

"Some income," Carmen hooted, "selling drugs on the streets."

"Said the girl with grass in her leg." Hotaru burst out laughing at that point. "What's so funny?"

"This whole situation," the Japanese girl explained, "Here we are, two kidnapped girls and their captor, chatting to pass the time."

"Aww, come on, I make good company, don't I?"

"Ne? If I remember right, you're the one who pulled out the gun and pointed it at Carmen-san's head."

"But I wasn't going to shoot, in fact, the gun wasn't even loaded."

"Qué!?" Carmen yelled angrily, "Are you saying I nearly wet myself because of an empty gun?"

"Uh, you guys must be hungry! I'll go see if I can get you something." He left in quite a hurry, the spiky-haired girl was left fuming and the violet-haired one was desperately trying not to laugh.

"I don't want to even hear one snicker! Got it?"

"Gomen, I'm trying hard not to-Heh, ha, ha-Hey!" Carmen started tickling her easy to reach back.

"Are you going to keep mocking me?"

"Okay, okay, stop it!" Hotaru pleaded while laughing uncontrollably, "Uncle, uncle!" The punishment stopped and the pale girl regained her breath.

"You know something?" Carmen asked after a while, "Hugo's right, we're not acting the way we're expected to, I mean, I don't know about you but I'm actually feeling sorry for him."

"Hai, he never had a chance in his entire life." The Japanese girl grunted. "But we'll worry about that after we get out of here. Finally!" She turned around and showed her free hands to her new friend.

"Don't tell me you just slipped those off."

"Hai, too bad Mako-san didn't see, then she'd stop pestering me about being too thin. Now," she scanned the room, "I need something to open your cuffs."

"Try my fake leg, I'm sure its got a wire somewhere around the ankle." Hotaru checked, and sure enough, she found one.

"This should do it, but I'm afraid I ruined this thing for you."

"Don't worry about it, I can move around just fine." They both sneaked towards the door and opened it a bit, only to see Hugo coming back. "Sweet Mary, what are we gonna do?"

"Up against the wall and keep quiet!" Hotaru ordered. Carmen was going to say something but the door opening, and something else, kept her quiet.

"All I could get were these cupcakes, they're not very tasty but they're something." He saw the girls just sitting there without responding. "What's wrong, mood-swings week?" Still not getting an answer, the curly-haired teen knelt next to Hotaru and tried to shake her by the shoulder, his hand went right through her body. "Qué? -Ugh!" Carmen jumped up from behind and slammed her fists on his back, then she struck his head with her knee, more than enough to knock him out.

"Perdón Hugo, but you'll just get in the way. I promise to tell my uncle about you though." She hopped over to Hotaru, who'd fallen into the trance. "Yo Hotaru, wake up!" The amethyst-eyed girl snapped back into reality, "You didn't plan this quite well, did you?"

"Hai, I still need practice. Now lets beat it before he comes to."

The girls sneaked their way around the estate. Hotaru was surprised at Carmen, her right leg ended below the knee, but this didn't keep her from moving nimbly and quietly. The spiky-haired girl was also puzzled, they were getting around too easily. And whenever a person got close, he just ignored them, as if they were invisible. This, plus the illusions Hotaru had created a minute ago, raised a lot of questions, but she knew this wasn't the time to ask them. They entered an unkempt room.

"This should be a good place to hide," Hotaru noted.

"Sí, everyone will be looking for us when our absence is noted. It'll be better to try our escape tonight during that big shipment." Carmen hopped over to a corner and started move some chairs there. "I'm sure you're going to need some sleep now, so we better build a hiding place."

"Hai." The shorthaired girl was amazed at Carmen's spirit, her handicap was practically nonexistent. They laid down and got comfortable, if anyone would enter, he would consider the place to creepy for a girl.

"Hotaru."

"Hai?"

"That thing you did back there, I was wondering. Are you like my brother?"

"Ie, I'm still alive. (Yawn) The only thing we have in common is a life of solitude." And our feelings towards each other.

"But my brother was never alone, as far as I know."

"That's right, it's just what I'm helping him realize."

"I see." Carmen rubbed her one tired foot. "Earlier, you said you've been through worse things. What happened to you?" She got no response, Hotaru was sound asleep. The Mexican girl smiled warmly and moved some violet strands away from her face. So brave, but I still hear a hint of sorrow in your voice. Is it because you're not with Carlos? Did you suffer in the hands of others like me? She leaned back and closed her eyes. "You better hurry big bro, 'cause this damsel in distress thing doesn't become your sis nor your lady."

*****

Just as Karasu had expected, it was already dark by the time he and the senshi reached the villa, which they observed from atop a cliff. The chill in the air was painful, and unlike his companion, he had no defense against it. But anything that stimulates the senses, even pain, is welcome by the undead.

"This must be the place," the blue-eyed senshi said, "but my research was hasty, so I could be wrong."

"This is a criminal hideout, I can feel the greed and corruption. But I can't tell if it's Jairo's nor feel Hotaru and Carmela." The warrior took a deep breath, "I hope it's because of her Silent shadow."

"I'm certain that's the reason," the senshi assured. She walked towards the edge and got ready to jump. "Ready?"

"Sí," Karasu answered as he mimicked her position. "Before I forget, what's with the new outfit?" Instead of her orange fuku, Venus was now wearing a midriff blouse, blue skirt and a red mask.

"This is my Sailor V guise. Think about it, if Aino Minako travels to Mexico and Venus appears here as well, people will start to suspect."

"That's good thinking Venus," the dark-eyed teen jumped down. Even if you're not known in this country.

"Chingada things are crazy," one of the men loading the truck commented, "I can't believe those girls managed to slip away from Hugo. Boy did Jairo let him have it."

"Yeah? Well shut up and get to work already, otherwise we're going to get it. We gotta get the stuff on its way before those two can tell someone."

"Nah, we're in the middle of nowhere, it'll take forever for them to reach the city."

"Forever is the length of your penance."

"Qué?" They both looked up and saw a dark-clad mime. Wordlessly, Karasu jumped and fell on top of one of the men. The other one pulled out a gun, but had no chance to fire thanks to Sailor V's kick.

"Do you mind?" the love senshi requested courteously, "We're trying to be discreet." Both heroes picked up the crooks and got them into the truck, V gasped when she saw the size of the cargo. "Chikuso! The contents of this one truck alone is worth millions," she took one bag, "I could buy a luxury car with this."

"Or, you could kill a thousand people in car crashes," he took the guns and tossed the pair inside. "A lot more of this stuff is sold or used every day. Our neighbor country up north blames us for being the top distributor. If you ask me, it's their fault for being the world's top consumer."

"The way I see it, you're both too busy blaming each other to solve the actual problem," the blonde replied, "But let's go find-" Karasu got shot in the head. "CARLOS!!" Sailor V looked for whoever had fired and found a virtual platoon. More than a dozen men, all armed, surrounded them. On a balcony, he saw a man with long red hair.

"I was expecting the police to interfere, but seeing two suited-up idiots is a nice surprise." Jairo visage went from amused to furious, "Now get over here, girlie, before… before…"

The warrior got to his feet slowly, terrifying everyone, except for Sailor V, who was merely scared. "Well, so much for discretion." The gunfight started.

Hotaru and Carmen knew that getting out wouldn't be easy, especially after waiting so long. From around a corner they spied two guards in front of a door, which led to the outside, one of them with a shotgun.

"How the hell are we going to get past them?" the Mexican girl asked.

"I'll use a flash illusion on them," Hotaru replied, "It's very simple so I won't fall into a trance. Once they're blinded I'll charge and knock them out."

"Qué, you versus them?"

"I'm a lot stronger than I seem," the once silent messiah said in an eerie tone. She formed two sparks on her fingertips and sent them fluttering towards the guards. They were quite puzzled at the little things.

"What are these, fireflies?" one of them wondered, "GAHH!" The sparks burst with tremendous light, Hotaru deactivated the silent shadow and attacked, summoning all the power she could without the henshin. Her opponents had no chance.

"All set Carmen-san, let's go." The spiky-haired girl hopped into view with a worried look in her face. "What's wrong?" The answer came in the shape of a gun.

"I have no idea of what's happening," the newcomer said, "but I do know that you're too dangerous to be left alive, so to hell with Jairo's orders." He cocked the gun and a shot was heard, from the outside. "Qué?" Carmen reacted and kicked him in the groin (so to speak), Hotaru sprinted and gave one of her own to the head.

"Chingada that was exciting!" the emerald-eyed girl exclaimed, "What's with all the shooting outside? Are the cops here?"

"Ie, there's only one person I know who can cause all this commotion." Both girls peered outside and witnessed what was going on.

"Crescent beam shower!" Sailor V was having a great time remembering the good old days when she chased down criminals. Karasu was holding his own with the guns he'd just picked up. Both heroes were surrounded and outnumbered, not a problem really, but they were in a hurry. Plus, the blonde senshi was being disturbed a bit by the dark-eyed warrior. "Would you mind taking cover? Seeing you get shot is not a pretty sight."

"Then I better get this over with." The undead teen tossed away the guns and charged towards their attackers. If they were scared before, now they were panicked.

"Shoot him! SHOOT HIM!"

"I AM! I AM!"

Karasu leapt and landed in the middle of them all. He gave them no chance to react, he just started punching, kicking and tossing right and left. Sailor V took care of the rest with her beams. Not being used to facing such fighters, the more sensible ones made a run for it, the girl chuckled at this. She shifted her attention to her partner and noticed that some of the braver, or rather dumber ones, had gone over to join the group, only to be punished.

"That's my brother!?"

"Nani?" Sailor V turned and saw Carmen beside her, Hotaru was just catching up, this one-legged girl could move quite fast. "Hotaru-chan, Carmen-chan, how did you get here?"

"You were taking too long and we got bored," the pale girl quipped, "I see Karasu no shi is taking care of business."

"Karasu no shi? That's what Carlos calls himself?" Carmen wondered in amazement, "And who are you supposed to be?"

"I am the senshi of love and beauty, a pretty soldier, codename wa Sailor V!" The blonde heroine made her famous pose.

"Uh, yeah," the spiky-haired girl sweat-dropped, "It's a cool costume Mina, but the name kind of lacks something."

"Eto," now V was surprised, "How could you tell?"

"Your turn Hotaru," the dark-haired girl said without paying attention, "Who are you, Illusion Girl?"

"You might find out someday."

Teeth were knocked off, arms were broken and ribs were shattered. Karasu was delivering a lot of pain but absolutely no death, any bullets fired he made sure to receive them. As much crimes these men had committed, none deserved to die, the warrior would never let that night be repeated ever again. Besides, his fury was being reserved for bigger prey. Everyone was KO'd within seconds, that's when his mind cleared enough to feel her.

"Hotaru!" The two pale teens ran towards each other and embraced the way young lovers do. "Thank goodness your safe," he whispered right before kissing her.

"I knew you'd come," his beloved replied.

"Ahem!" Sailor V and Carmen surprised them. "I'm glad you came bro, but if you greet me like that if you know what's good for you. You weren't that impressive, 'Brandon'." Karasu chuckled and hugged his sister tightly. "Wow! You really cleaned up here. Since when are you a Kung-Fu superhero?"

"I'll explain later. V, find a car and take them back to the city, I have something else to do." Karasu's eyes narrowed and stared at a room on the tallest floor.

Following the stereotype of the criminal kingpin, Jairo's office was full of excessive luxury. He had hardwood floors, big screen TV, costly paintings and a hot tub were he spent quality time with female companionship. Right now, the drug dealer was hiding behind his desk with two high-caliber pistols and regretting not having bought that rifle rack.

"Come on you son of a bitch, come on. I'll show you what I'm made of," Jairo swore, with a voice and pulse as firm as jelly.

"I know exactly what you're made of," a hellish voice whispered into his ear from behind.

"YAHH!" The cheaply dyed redhead stumbled, turned and fired frantically at Karasu. The undead warrior just stood there until the bullets depleted.

"You know? Studies show that people using marihuana are slower at learning."

"Who, who the chingada are you?"

"An old friend," Karasu answered, with narrow eyes. He sprinted over the desk and grabbed Jairo by the neck. "The real question is: Do you now who you are?"

"Qué? What do you mean?"

"Do you know who you are, the person I see? I see a greedy jerk who uses people's solitude, sadness and weakness for his own gain."

"Oh please," Jairo protested, trying to act brave, "I never force anyone, they want to buy and I sell the stuff. Those kids complain of how their families don't understand them. I don't throw any sale's pitch of how drugs will help them escape their loneliness, they ask by themselves and I provide, simple as that."

"Simple as that!?" Karasu roared, "You believe that turning kids into addicts is not forcing? For each child who buys your poison the whole family falls into anguish. But you don't care, the only thing that matters to you is your stinking pocket-Qué?" He yanked away a medallion he'd just noticed from his neck and tossed him towards the TV. The glass and static electricity hurt as the dealer rose, when he looked through the strands of his dyed hair he saw something unexpected, Karasu trembling. The dark-haired teen's rage arose. "A whirlpool," he crushed the metal item, "You're the one who told Poe about the Navarro family!"

"Huh?" Confusion was added to Jairo's fear when he heard the name of his superior. Lucky for him, this was also a reminder that he had a trump card. Jairo stumbled over to an urn he kept on a table. Said item had been given to him by Allen Poe, along with instructions not to open it unless there was an emergency. "This sure as hell is one!"

"I don't know what you're going to do but it won't work." Karasu moved slowly and the urn was opened, a green mist surrounded Jairo. "Qué!?"

Hotaru and Sailor V, were busy locking everyone inside the trucks, Carmen kept looking anxiously towards the direction her brother had gone off to. Its moments like this when she longed for simple things like tapping her foot.

"I'm afraid to ask," she said as she hopped over to her friends, "but what exactly is Carlos going to do to Jairo?"

"Call him Karasu," Hotaru reminded, "and what he's going to do is give that creep what he deserves." The spiky haired girl gulped. "I don't want to scare you Carmen-san, but you must know. The punishment Karasu delivers depends on what he finds inside the person. And there's a good chance that…" she just couldn't say it.

"I see. You don't have to be so touchy Hotaru, I guess I would act the same had it been me."

"But you weren't," the love senshi said as she placed her hand on the emerald-eyed girl's shoulder, "You were meant to survive, and believe me there's a reason."

"Gracias V." Suddenly they heard the sound of glass shattering from above, they spun and saw Karasu as he crashed down. "Bro!"

"Keep away!" Something else jumped down, it caused a great tremor when it landed. The three girls gasped when they saw the ten-foot-tall green giant. It had gray armor, a diadem with a black jewel and Jairo's face.

"This is amazing," the monster growled, "I've never felt such ecstasy in my entire life." He caught sight of the dark-haired girls. "So it's you, I'll bet this is all your fault." Jairo roared and attacked.

"Hotaru!"

"Saturn crisis power, make up!" Sailor Saturn aimed the Silence Glaive and fired, "Saturn shockwave!" the blast threw the giant against a truck. "Carmen-san get somewhere safe!"

"Does everyone here have powers but me?" the Mexican girl protested before obeying.

Jairo got to his feet groggily, Karasu stood in front and drew out Seventh Sin.

"Enjoy this while it lasts pendejo, 'cause you're heading into a world of pain."

"Blah, blah, blah, just fight." The undead teen was glad to comply. He sliced at Jairo and the other one fought back with the spikes in his gauntlets. The once human drug dealer's strength was greater, but he lacked the conviction and cause needed for fighting.

"Venus love me chain!" the lasso caught the giant's arm just before he was about to pound Karasu. Sailor V yanked with all of her might as managed to dislocate his arm, or so it seemed. The green monster laughed, his arm morphed into gooey tentacles that crept rapidly along the chain.

"Nani? ARGH!" the blonde senshi was whipped on her face, shoulder and side.

"Ebon shears!" Karasu hit his foe square in the chest, his breastplate chattered and blood spurted out. Not giving Jairo an inch, Saturn charged with her Silence Glaive and carved a larger wound, the giant roared and swatted the silent senshi away.

"Saturn!" Karasu leapt and caught her in midair, then he let her down gently, "Think you can still go on?"

"Please, it'll take more than a little flap like that to put me down." Grinning with confidence, both teens readied their weapons and took a menacing stance. Jairo morphed his hands into swords.

"Isn't this cute? The kiddy heroes fighting side by side."

"I say you're jealous," the silent senshi retorted, "Karasu receives my affection, whereas I'm sure you have to pay for some." This comment enraged Jairo tremendously, he charged but was careless in his defense, a glaive and a katana sliced his stomach. He roared in pain while, as a reflex, tentacles sprouted out from the wounds and punched the heroes away. "Chikuso," the senshi of death and rebirth wiped a drop of blood away from her mouth, "We need a plan if we're ever going to beat him."

"I'm thinking-" He heard glass breaking, "Qué?"

"Perfect!" Jairo also heard and saw Carmen standing beside a truck, frozen in fear. His arm stretched and grabbed the shrieking girl, true to his cowardly nature, he used her as a shield. "Ándale! Try to attack me now," he heard a gun cock, "Huh?"

"Surprise," the dark-haired girl said with a cynical smile. She fired at the diadem at pointblank range.

During the fight, Carmen had noticed how the jewel on it constantly flashed, so she figured that it was his weak spot. She picked up a gun from the ground and broke a window to draw attention.

Roaring uncontrollably, Jairo threw away his hostage, the girl landed on her foot and allowed her body to roll freely.

"Let's give him all we have," Sailor V knew it was now or never, "Venus love and beauty shock!"

"Silence glaive surprise!" the energies from both senshi blasted the giant. Karasu leapt and slashed with Seventh Sin, seemingly cleaving him in half. Energy exploded violently, and once the smoke cleared, all that was left was an unconscious Jairo, all bloodied and in shredded clothing. Breathing heavily, Karasu no shi walked up to his sister.

"Ouch," the girl complained, rubbing her behind, "I should've made a flip instead of a tumble." She then saw her brother's pale hand being held before her.

"You okay sis?" the dark-eyed warrior asked worriedly.

"The same stupid bro. You think a one-legged girl doesn't fall from time to time?" The Navarro siblings laughed and hugged each other.

*****

Hours later, Carmen was back home watching the news along with her aunt and uncle.

"…commonly known as Jairo was arrested today along with his entire organization. This act will greatly decrease the distribution of narcotics in our city of Guanajuato. Authorities are unable to explain how nor who managed to do this. The only clue left is this bizarre drawing made with fire." The spiky-haired girl smiled when she saw the large flaming birdlike silhouette onscreen.

"I'm going to bed now," she announced as she rose with the aid of her crutch. She hugged and kissed her family goodnight.

"Tomorrow I'm going to dedicate my entire day to you," her uncle promised.

"We're so thankful you're back safe," her aunt said through happy sobs.

"So am I auntie Sarah, uncle José."

Carmen closed the door, turned on the light and nearly had a heart attack when she saw her brother as Karasu.

"Hotaru warned me about this but I didn't quite believe it. Did you come to say good-bye?"

"Sí, but mostly I want to talk. I'm sure you must have a lot of questions."

"Thousands of questions bro. For example: what the hell did you do to Jairo? After you touched him he was left shaking and mumbling."

"I gave him what he deserved," Karasu responded simply, "He never did kill anyone but created a lot of addicts. What I gave him was angst, he'll always feel that his body lacks something and such yearning will never vanish. At least until he purges his crimes, which will take long." His sister nodded silently, then started laughing.

"In other words, you maddened him with just a touch," Carmen shook her head, "Honestly, I have no idea how I should feel. You terrify me bro, but if it wasn't for you I'd probably be dead by now. You're a living dead that acts like a demon but also as a hero. And learning all of this in just one day doesn't make it any easier."

"I know Carmela, I know. I'm not asking for understanding, I just need to know whether you'll be all right when I leave."

"Here's your answer," she leapt over and gave him a very tight hug and a kiss to the cheek, "I don't care if you're no longer human, you're my brother and I love you no matter how much you may scare me."

"I love you too Carmela." He stepped back and held her, his marks had vanished and Carlos' face could be seen. "And now that I know you're alive I can protect you. If you're ever in danger again, I'll be there, and that's a promise I will keep."

"Hey now, don't you go thinking I'm helpless or else you'll be in danger. Now get your ass back to Japan and get those creeps."

"Yes ma'am!" One more hug and Carlos left out the window, Carmen stood there thinking.

She thought about the things Hotaru had told her back at the villa, of how Carlos was finally making friends and feeling happy with his existence, and the fact that he was managing all of this after death added something special.

"I guess it's never to late to make things better." The emerald-eyed girl looked out the window at the stars above, she took a deep breath and realized that she had never felt so good in a very long time. "Carlos had a plan for me a year ago, it's high time I made my part." She left the room. "Auntie Sarah, I need to borrow your sewing kit."