Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Seeing Stars ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Seeing Stars
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.


Chapter 11

"Amy," Melvin said as he walked up to her once the last scene
ended, "I got a call from Lita Evans. She told me that their
current project was completed ahead of schedule and, since she
found out from G.Q. that he's going to be revising the script,
they're going to come to the set tomorrow morning with him."

Amy blinked in surprise. The Evans weren't supposed to have
reported to the set until next week. After that conversation
she had with G.Q. yesterday, she couldn't help but wonder if
these conincidences were, in fact, conincidences. On the other
hand, she didn't exactly mind being able to see Jason that much
sooner.

"Are you... blushing?" Melvin asked curiously.

"No, no," she stammered quickly. "Thank you, Melvin."

"Sure thing, Amy," he said as he turned to leave. "Oh, another
thing," he added, raising a finger for added emphasis. "Perhaps we
should call it a day until tomorrow. After all, the next scene does
call for a bit of stuntwork, and besides, G.Q. might end up
changing that little bit of the script once he gets here."

"Well, as for changing the next scene," she replied certainly, "that
will definitely remain unchanged. It's a necessary plot point, since
it's what brings the main character into play. Everything else
afterward is alterable, but not what we've already done. At least,
not without a very good reason. As for calling it a day... I don't see
why not.

"Okay, people, that'll do it for today," she called out. "Everybody
be back here at...." She turned to Melvin. "What time did Lita say
that she, Jason, and G.Q. were coming?"

"About 9:30," he replied.

"...at 9:30," she finished. "The first scene will begin at around 10."
As the crew began clean-up, Tanya, Darien, and Serena all came
up to them.

"What gives?" Tanya asked. "We still had a few more hours left. I
was hoping to do more than just that one scene today."

"You'll have to wait until tomorrow, Tanya," Amy replied. "Our stunt
coordinators, Jason and Lita Evans, are coming in tomorrow to go
over the next scene's stunts."

"That's why we're taking off early?" Darien asked.

"That's why," she said with a nod.

"Fine by me," Serena chimed in. "Hey, Tanya, how 'bout we go get
something to eat and we catch up on news. Maybe you can tell me
about that last movie of yours you just finished about a month and
a half ago?"

"You just did another movie?" Darien asked, eyebrow raised as his
interest piqued.

"Yeah," Tanya replied. "Say, Darien, why don't you come with me
and Serena? I'm sure that Serena wouldn't mind." She glanced over
at Serena and grinned slyly at her. "Right, Serena?" The frosty cold
look that she gave her was answer enough. There was more to
Serena and Darien than just that dress. She could sense it. She
turned back to Darien and smiled. "See? She doesn't mind at all."

"Well...," he began thoughtfully, "all right. Unfortunately, there's not
much to say about my acting career, since it's just starting."

"Aw, it doesn't matter," she said with a dismissive wave of her
hand. "You can always listen to us incessently gossip. Now,
c'mon!" She grabbed Darien's arm and started pulling him along,
grabbing Serena's arm along the way with her other hand and
dragging her.

Amy and Melvin watched the scene with varying degrees of
chagrin. "Well... that was... interesting," Melvin finally said after
the group had left.

"Yes," Amy agreed with a faint laugh. "I don't know who to feel
sorry for: Serena or Darien."

"Perhaps, in this case, both," he joked with a laugh of his own.
"Well, I guess there's nothing left but to go home ourselves and let
the crew finish up here. I'll see you tomorrow, Amy."

"See you tomorrow, Melvin."

**********************************************

A my had just begun to settle in at home when a knock sounded at
her front door. She stared at her front door for a second in surprise;
she wasn't expecting company. She pushed herself up from her
living room couch, set down the book she was reading, and walked
over to her door. As soon as she opened it, her eyebrows raised
slightly in surprise.

"Hello, Amy," Jason greeted as he stood next to his sister; her arm
poised to knock again. She lowered her arm and grinned
sheepishly.

"Hey, Amy! What's up?" Lita said cheerily.

"Nothing really," Amy replied with a warm smile for her friends. She
stepped away from the doorway and gestured for them to enter.
"Please, come in. Make yourselves at home."

Both Evans twins stepped inside as she closed the door behind
her. As she headed over to join the twins, who had already sat
down on the couch she had previously vacated, Jason looked up at
her and gave her one of his special smiles. She could feel her heart
melt and her pulse race simultaneously.

"You look very pretty, Amy," he complimented.

She could feel her cheeks flush. She wasn't wearing anything
special: a unbuttoned polyester shirt the same exact shade of blue
as her hair with a white T-shirt; a pair of white cotton shorts with a
small white belt; and a pair of grey and light blue sandals. Just the
sort of outfit she usually wore at home.

"S- so...," she stammered, "what brings you two here?"

"Oh, I just thought that we'd stop by to say hi before we came into
work tomorrow," Lita replied. She suddenly grinned as an idea
came to her. "Say, Amy, have you had dinner yet?"

Amy blinked in perplexity. "Huh? Um... no. I thought I'd just go get
something later...."

Lita was already shaking her head while tsking softly. "Oh, that's
not good. I know; why don't I whip up something for all of us? You
don't mind, do you?"

"No, no, that's fine," she said with a faint half-smile. Not only was
Lita a superb stuntwoman, she was also a master chef as well.
Sometimes, Lita doubled as part of a movie's catering service, if the
fancy took her.

"Excellent!" Lita said, clapping her hands together eagerly. "Now,
why don't you and Jason just relax here together while I go fix
something real quick. Okay?" With that, she turned and walked off
toward the kitchen. Since they had been here before, there was no
need to tell her where to go.

Amy stared off in the direction that Lita had left with a wry
expression on her face. Of course. Lita had spoken with G.Q., so
he must've told her about that little talk they had a few days ago.
Now she's trying to help her by giving her an opportunity away from
the workplace to talk with Jason and tell him that she had feelings
for him and not G.Q. Idly, she wondered if she could actually speak
to him without her mind muddling over one of his beautiful smiles.

"So, how did your last project go?" Amy asked Jason as she
turned toward him.

Jason shrugged. "It was all right. Nothing special, really; the job
was mostly fight choreography and a few pyrotechnic stunts as
well. Lita and I divided the job between us, with me handling the
fight scenes with she took the stunts. She's better at pyrotechnics
than I am, anyway."

She nodded knowingly. While both Evans were accomplished
martial artists, Jason was a master of over twenty different martial
arts styles and five different combat weapons, his favorite being the
katana. Lita was better at choreographing stunts in general, but
hand-to-hand fighting was his realm of expertise, with no one better.

She sighed to herself, realizing that she had started off the
conversation on a work-related note. Not exactly the direction she
had wanted to go.

"You know, I'm curious," Jason continued. "G.Q. let slip that you're
having a newcomer play opposite of Serena Moon. A bold move.
What made you decide this? I mean, I know he's going to revise
your script to adapt to this newcomer, but why change the script in
the first place? It seemed pretty good to me."

"Well, you know how I have a certain eye for finding talent in extras
and minor players. Remember Setsuna Meiou?"

"You mean that woman who began her acting career by playing a
minor part as a fashion botique shop owner, then starred in that
movie opposite Kenji Fujimori? The one that's got you an Oscar
nomination for best director? I get your point. So, you think you've
found another Setsuna?"

"Well, I don't know for certain," she admitted, "but he has potential."

"He?" he asked, raising an eybrow.

'Oh?' she thought, careful to keep her face from giving away what
she was thinking. 'Is this a hint of jealousy I'm sensing in him?
Then again, he's never shown any jealousy toward G.Q. and he
thinks we're dating....'

"Yes. His name's Darien Shields. He's the one playing opposite of
Serena Moon."

"Oh."

Amy swallowed nervously as she gathered up her nerves. She was
not going to let the opportunity that Lita had set up for her slip
away without trying to convince Jason that she was available and
not dating anyone.

"Listen, Jason. There's something I want to tell you...," she began,
then trailed off.

"Go on," he urged gently, touching her hand with one of his.

She felt her pulse race again at the contact. It was all she could do
to calm herself so she could speak again.

"You know how everyone's talking about me and G.Q., right?" she
continued slowly. "About how we're... well... an item."

"Yes...," he said deliberately, tacitly urging her to continue.

"Well, I want to tell you myself that all those rumors are false," she
said in a rush. "G.Q. and I are just friends; never have been
anything more than that. I know that both Lita and G.Q. have been
trying to tell you the same thing, but you didn't want to believe
them, so I'm telling you now."

Jason silently stared at her for a long time. "For a time, I thought
that they were only saying that for my sake. Either that, or they
were just trying to get the press off your cases." His expression
turned thoughtful. "Why tell me now? Why couldn't you tell me
before? You've had plenty of opportunites, but you never said
anything beyond business matters."

Amy sighed softly. Of course he would've noticed that. Jason was
far from dense; quite the opposite, really. People who have written
him off as one who thought only with his fists or muscles soon
turned red in embarrasment as he not only proved them wrong, but
occasionally did so in such a way that they, in turn, felt extremely
stupid.

"I've been wanting to say this for a long time," she began slowly,
staring down at the royal blue carpeting of her living room and trying
to muster all her courage just to say what was in her heart. "I....
Jason.... You...." She paused, shaking her head and searched for
the right words to say. "I... care for you, Jason. The smile you give
to me and only me warms my heart and muddles my mind to
distraction. I've tried to tell you, but I never could find the words to
say until now."

Jason reached out and placed his hand on Amy's shoulder.
"Amy...," he began when she looked up at him, "I never knew. I've
always hoped.... I guess I was so preoccupied with those stupid
rumors that I never heard the truth, even coming from my own sister
and my good friend. Amy, I... care for you, too. For as long as I've
known you." He laughed softly. "I guess we've both acted a little
foolishly over this, huh?"

Amy smiled and threw her arms around him, giving him a warm
hug. When she moved back slightly to look at him, she found
herself gazing deeply into his sharp, light grey eyes. She could lose
herself for hours just looking into his eyes. By the expression on
Jason's face, he could probably do the same.

She didn't know if it was her who moved towards him, or if he moved
towards her, but before she knew it, they were sharing a deep,
passionate kiss that seemed to last for all eternity.

Lita walked up to the doorway to announce that dinner was ready
and halted, noticing her brother and Amy kissing on the couch.
She grinned as she quietly turned around and started back for the
kitchen. She knew that they were going to be occupied for a good
while, so she might as well leave them be and go eat. Dinner would
still be there for them; she'd make sure of that.

**********************************************

The next day, Melvin stood waiting at the entrance to the set,
impatiently tapping his foot while crossly folding his arms over his
chest. It wasn't like Amy to be late; she was the most punctual
person he had ever known. His foot tapping ceased as a pair of
cars drove up and parked nearby. Out of one, he noticed G.Q. exit.
The other held a brown-haired woman of tall stature with her hair
done up in a long ponytail. That must be Lita Evans, but where was
her brother? And where was Amy?

The two newcomers walked up to Melvin, giving him a friendly
greeting. "Morning, Melvin," G.Q. said with a smile. "Is Amy around?
I want to speak with her before I get started on evaluating the current
script."

Melvin shook his head. "I haven't seen her yet," he replied
concernedly. "It's not like her to be late for anything...."

"So, my brother's not here, either...," Lita said, almost to herself.

"I thought he'd be coming with you," G.Q. said to her.

"He was, at first," she replied. "We went to go pay Amy a visit last
night - you know, just a social call. It got late and I wanted to go
home, but Jason wanted to stay and talk with her some more, so
Amy volunteered to drive him here herself."

"Your brother spent the night with Amy?" G.Q. asked, his
expression was half astounded, half interested. "You don't think that
they...." He trailed off as he spotted a familiar car driving up to them.
"Ah! Here they are now."

After car parked, the two occupants of the car, Jason Evans and
Amy Anderson exited. The bright smile on Amy's face accompanied
by Jason's satisfied grin left no doubt in G.Q.'s mind what had
happened last night. More than likely, there were going to be some
new rumors and gossip floating around Hollywood within the week.
Perhaps this time, Amy wouldn't mind confirming some of them.

"There you are!" Melvin shouted as he all but ran up to them. "You're
late! What happened to make you so late?"

Lita and G.Q. exchanged a look, wondering how Melvin could miss
the obvious, especially with him the only one of them who was
married. Perhaps he did know, but was hoping to be proved wrong;
after all, he didn't know the truth behind all the rumors between Amy
and G.Q.

"We...," Amy began, blushing furiously.

"...overslept," Jason finished, also blushing.

"Overslept?" Melvin repeated flatly, then sighed as he shook his
head. "Never mind. You're here now. That's what matters, isn't it?"

Jason and Amy blinked in confusion at Melvin's behavior. "Are you
all right, Melvin?" Amy asked.

"Huh?" he asked, then shook his head as he realized how he was
behaving. "Oh. I guess I got a little worked up over everything. After
all, I'm not used to seeing you come in late."

Amy laughed softly as she gently clasped Jason's right hand with
her left. "I guess there's a first time for everything, right, Jason?"

Jason gave a small laugh. "True," he said laughingly. "Well," he
continued in a more normal voice, "now that we're all here, mabye
we should start getting some work done. Right?"

"Right," G.Q. added. "Now, Amy, do you have a copy of the script
for me to go over while I watch?"

"Yes," she said with a nod. "You can get it while Melvin shows you
around."

"All right," he replied as he and Melvin left, with Melvin quickly falling
into discussion with him when they were out of earshot. He was
probably trying to figure out what was going on between him, Amy,
and Jason. No doubt G.Q. would have everything straightened out in
no time.

"Well, well," Lita said slyly to both Jason and Amy when everyone
else was gone. "Was this why you said you'd take him home
yourself, Amy? I must admit, I really thought you two were just going
to talk. But this...." She burst out laughing as she jovally smacked
both of them on the shoulders. "Oh, I definitely approve. And about
time as well. They way things were going, I knew it was a matter of
time before it happened, but I never guessed it would be so quickly."

"All right, already! All right, already!" both Jason and Amy shouted
in deep chagrin.

"Oh? Have I embarrassed you two enough?" she asked with a laugh.
"Okay, I'll leave off... for now."

"How magnanimous of you," Jason muttered dryly.

"Let's just get to work, okay?" Amy suggested. "I do have a movie to
shoot today."

"Right...," Lita agreed. "And the sooner we get done, the sooner you
two can have some fun, right?"

"Lita!!!"

"Oops, did I say that out loud?" she asked with a sly smirk.

**********************************************

Jed watched the Tomoe manor through his binoculars. It had
remained quiet for almost an hour and a half now, since the last light
had been turned off. At this time, the manor was empty. Tomoe and
Olinite had left, more than likely to go out for dinner or something.
The daughter had been gone since 6pm. Out on a date, he figured.
The security system was in full operation at this moment, but his
window of opportunity was drawing near.

There was a weakness in the system: starting at midnight, a routine
check was performed every half hour on each entry point of the
building, checking the circuits for any malfunctions or signs of
tampering. The weak point was that, if he was quick enough, he
could break a circuit, enter, then rewire the circuit so that it
appeared to be untouched. The problem was that he didn't know if
the rigged circuit would pass the routine inspection or not,
regardless of how good a rewire job he did. There was only one way
to find out.

Only ten minutes to go.

In the distance behind him, he could hear a car approach up the
road. Did they come back from their dinner already? No... it took a
good hour to get to the city, so it couldn't be them. So who.... Ah,
yes, the daughter. Her date must be bringing her home now. And to
do so, they must get through the security systems....

It must be his lucky day.

**********************************************

"It's too bad that we couldn't stay out later," Ryoku said as he drove
up to the gate. "But I did have a good time tonight. How about you,
Hotaru-chan?"

"Hai, hai," Hotaru replied with a slow smile. The dancing was so
much fun. Ryoku was certainly the best dancer she ever had the
chance to partner with. The other girls at that club were all jealous of
her because Ryoku would only dance with her. He said it wouldn't
be fair to her if he danced with other girls while leaving her by herself.
It certainly made her feel special. He made her feel special.

"Hotaru-chan?"

"Yes, Ryo-chan?" she replied as she turned to him with a smile.

"How do I get in?"

Hotaru blinked in surprise. She forgot about Dad's security system.
Well, it wasn't like he was going to steal anything, right? "Oh. See
that keypad to your left under the intercom?"

He reached up to turn on the car's lights, then turned to look. "What
keypad?" he asked.

"You don'y see a keypad?" she asked, confused. She leaned over to
take a closer look "There should be one.... Oh! Just flip the switch
underneath the intercom."

Ryoku nodded as he reached underneath the intercom. "Ah! Okay,
I think...," he said and grinned as the keypad flipped down from its
resting place. "Got it. Hey! Katakana characters!"

"Yeah," Hotaru confirmed as she sat back down. "Dad says that it'd
be harder for the common burglar to figure out the password, even if
he overheard it in a conversation. Just type in this word: Nijizuishou."

"Nijizuishou?" Ryoku repeated after he typed in the word. "I think I
remember hearing something about a Nijizuishou crystal before, but
that was in Japan, back in Tokyo. They had a museum display
showing a crystal and saying that there were only six others like it in
the world."

"There are," she agreed, then smiled knowingly. "And I own one."

"Nande?!?" he sputtered. "You own a rare gem like that? An actual
Nijizuishou?"

"Yes, I own the Orange Nijizuishou crystal," she stated proudly. "I'll
even show it to you, but I can't take it out of its display case. Dad
won't give me the keys till I'm 21." She paused as she pointed
forward. "The gate's open now."

"Hmm? Oh," he replied as he drove forward.

**********************************************

J ed quickly let go from the framework of the car and rolled out from
underneath. Clinging to the car and letting it drag him inside wasn't
the most comfortable way to get in, but he was in. The daughter and
her date would probably want to spend a little more time together, so
he should remain undisturbed for a good amount of time.

He quickly darted around the side of the mansion to the approximate
location of where the window to the study that held the crystal was.
Now it was time for him to get to work. Hopefully, she wouldn't be
turning on the security system for a few minutes. Definitely enough
time for him to get what he needed and get out without being
detected.

He brought out a simple glasscutter and made a small hole in the
glass near the window bolt. After which, he used a hook to lift the
latch, unlocking the window and allowing him to enter the building.
Simple and effective. Now he was in. He gently closed the window
behind him and went searching for the display case that held the
crystal.

**********************************************

To Chapter 12

**********************************************

Author' s Note: Cliffhanger!!! ^_^ Have I got your interest? Don't worry,
the next chapter won't take long at all to type up. Just you wait, I've
got more good stuff in store so, as I like to say, the best has yet to
come. Next chapter: the crystal isn't the only thing taken from the
Tomoe mansion; Diane vows to find who's responsible, and G.Q.
gets his hands on the 'Total Eclipse' script.

Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it
anywhere else. Thank you.

Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa.
All Rights Reserved.