Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ What Worth a Leaf in a Storm? ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

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

"Thank you, Kino-sensei!" A chorus of high, squeaky voices called in unison as a troop of children filed out the front door of the karate studio, each of them with a large, perfectly golden-brown sugar cookie, or at least half of one, clenched in their hands.

"You're welcome, kids, you earned it! See you next week," Makoto watched her white-clad pupils disperse into the city, some starting towards home on foot and others happily meeting parents already there to pick them up. They were good kids, and she was proud to be their sensei. It was a shame that her schedule only allowed her to hold classes one day a week Still, given that and her youthful appearance, it was a wonder she had gathered so many students at all. Though, the fact that her classes were free might have helped that. She stepped lightly off the training mat and into her back office, loosening the belt of her gi and slipping it off of her bare shoulders. She draped it carefully over the back of her desk chair, and started pulling on her street clothes from where she'd deposited them carelessly on the floor. She paused in the act of pulling up her baggy khaki pants, and shook her head in amazement. She still wasn't quite used to ever taking off her gi without needing a good shower before putting something else on. Teaching classes didn't actually let her work up a good sweat. She spent far more time just standing there and trying to look wise, making sure they didn't hurt one another or themselves. It could be a tough job, sure, but... looking at the full-length mirror she kept in her office, she decided that it didn't quite make up for all the precautionary tasting she did when making them them snacks. She pinched what she fancied to be superfluous flesh around her flat, toned stomach and determined to spend a little extra off-time on more personal training soon. She pulled on her green shirt and a light brown jacket, and slipped a large, baggy, also deep brown baseball cap over her brow, taking a moment to pull her long ponytail through the back in a trained motion.

Well then. Now she had the rest of this gloriously bright Friday--though most days were rather pleasant and bright nowadays--all to herself, what to do? She closed the door of her little dojo behind her, locking it securely. That was more out of habit than anything else, though, crime was next to nonexistent in Crystal Tokyo, and what of it there was could hardly be expected to steal anything from a little karate classroom. She walked outside, and it was like being in another world. The sun glittered and fractured on the spires of Crystal Tokyo beautifully, in a way that not even the former brilliance of light on glass and steel monuments had ever been able to approach. However, despite the Utopian ambiance of cleanliness and security that the city enjoyed, Makoto found it amusing, even gratifying, that not much else had changed in the hearts of the Tokyo populace. There were still kids in crazy, gaudily colored clothes, and harried-looking men with receding hairlines and thick-framed glasses, and kindly looking women presiding over the occasional flower shops. She passed cheerful vendors of foods cooked as you watched, and saw a bus glide by with a picture of some pretty boy smiling charmingly splashed across the side. When the world thought of Crystal Tokyo, they thought of the cultural center of the world, but when Makoto thought of it, it was still just Tokyo, but with a touch more crystal. About the only thing that still had that same fairytale feeling, as though it had leaped straight from a maiden's dream--which it rather had--were the swirling towers of the Palace that could be seen from any area of the city, soaring towards the heavens and looking over everything below it like the caring girl who lived within. No matter the years it had stood there, Makoto continued to be enchanted by the breathtaking beauty of Usagi's dream. Of course, that was a sentiment she shared with the greater population, so it wasn't all that unusual.

Even that enchantment couldn't hold her over for the day, though, and her mind started to wander back to what she might do. The rest of her friends that were still in the city were all working today, so they were out of the question. Usagi usually was anyway, doing the Queen thing took up almost all her time, and Rei took her always-by-the-Princess'-side bodyguard duty seriously, so had a very nearly identical schedule. Minako was often available for a little bit of accompaniment, but... Makoto deeply cherished her friendship with the bubbly blonde, but Minako was the kind of person that she could only take in small doses, not the kind of person she thought of first when considering a movie or a new recipe. Makoto knew that if she was going to go off moping and feeling lonely so often, she really needed to go out and make some more friends, perhaps some strictly normal friends. Even if she had felt like doing so, however, she knew that they would probably wonder about her schedule. Usagi was adamant that the senshi not fade from the public eye, and Makoto could agree with that much, and really didn't have a problem with being on-call for most of the week, ready for the occasional public appearance or what have you. At least she got to see her friends more that way.

She still didn't get to see her though...

Makoto sighed. She really needed to get another hobby. She wasn't doing herself any good by fixating on the past like that, as she often found herself doing often when left to her own devices. There was another good part of why she'd started her classes, a little something to do during her time off. Makoto idly tried to train her mind elsewhere Maybe she could go surf the internet for recipes, and find a nice, sinfully delicious, maliciously difficult one. That should take her mind off of anything else, hopefully. Is she didn't pay close enough attention, her kitchen would pay the price for such distraction, which was certainly good motivation. She thought about stopping by a grocery on her way back to her apartment, seeing if there were anything that caught her eye. Though, perhaps she should get her bearings back beforehand. Just where was she, right now? She started towards to the nearest major intersection in the distance, sure that she'd be able to recognize one of the streets.

Between one footfall and the next, the pavement trembled slightly underfoot. Frowning downward, she looked to her fellow man to see if anybody else had noticed. Most were just continuing on with their day, but she did notice a few other people looking curiously around, or down at their feet. It hadn't been her imagination then. She shrugged. Probably wasn'--thwoompf! Thrown off balance, she pitched forward onto one knee, hand planted on the ground for stability. Around her, people teetered around, landing flatly on their bottoms or skinning elbows harshly on the ground. She spotted a few cars crooked on the road with black streaks marking their passage, drivers sitting white-knuckled and ashen-faced behind the steering wheel. In the distance she could hear car alarms going off--just as annoying as they had always been, the Millennium Kingdom hadn't changed that--and sirens screaming. Frowning, she reached into her coat pocket and closed her hands around the cool, hard, comfortably reassuring shape of her henshin.

"Jupiter Oak Power, make up!"

The cylinder seared in her hand, a shot of white heat rushing through her veins and a crackle of static tingling up her back and through her hair. The world was awash in hues of palest blue and green, and she felt for that wonderful second as though she composed of air and life and freedom. Tendrils of electricity caressed her body, sending pleasant shivers across her skin, then settled to form her fuku, its manifestation grounding her back into the framework of reality. Her physical form, as always, suddenly felt so inadequate of holding all of what she was; she could feel it inside her, the power of her guardian, pulsing and humming in tune with her heartbeat and breath. Sailor Jupiter looked around with purpose flashing in her eyes and the steadfast permanence of an old tree to the placement of her feet. Enough people nearby still had enough presence of mind to notice one of the world's nine most recognizable people appear suddenly in their midst, but she ignored the gasps and cries of surprise and calls for explanation and started running in the direction of the explosion, long legs consuming the miles as the Senshi of Courage shot like an arrow from a bow towards the threat to her Queen's city.

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In the palace, Queen Serenity, or Usagi to her friends and family, gnawed one lip and looked worriedly to her closest companion. Sailor Mars held a phone to her ear and spoke calmly and authoritatively, Usagi could hear her voice echoing down around in the halls as her message was relayed to the palace communication system.

"The palace and grounds are to be put on high alert until otherwise notified. There is a possibility of terrorist activity in the city. This is not a drill. You've been trained, now go prove that you know what you're doing," she finished. Then she turned to Usagi with a reassuring, though uncertain, smile, "Terrorists, right. But rules are rules, your highness."

"But, Sailor Mars, do you think that everybody out there is okay? Maybe I should go there and--"

"Uh-uh, Princess. I'm your bodyguard, and you're staying put. You have the finest police force in all the world on the job, there's no reason for you to go play the hero today," she waved a finger under Usagi's nose in warning.

"Those are my people out there, what kind of Queen am I if I don't show up when there's trouble?"

"A live one. If there is something dangerous out there, what better target could they have next than Queen Serenity suddenly waltzing up to poke her nose in?"

"You told me it was probably an accident," Usagi pointed out accusingly.

"Of course that's what it probably is, but there's the chance that it isn't. Besides, what would you do down there? The police are on their way, and so is medical care for the injured. You made yourself a Crystal Tokyo, now we're going to make sure it works the way it's supposed to," seeing the look on Usagi's face, Rei sighed in frustration, "Sailor Venus is camped by the Palace entrance waiting for the reporters to show up, Mako-chan is out on her day off--far, far away from the explosion!" Mars quickly added for Usagi's benefit, "Would you stop! If there was any massive conglomeration of malicious extragalactic evil that had crashed into the Earth, I'm pretty sure I would have picked up on it, I've been pretty good about that before. Just let everybody do their jobs, and you do yours. Meaning, get ready for some paperwork, your highness," Sailor Mars finished with a little dig to get a rise from her longtime friend, but Usagi couldn't even manage a squeak protest at the sound of her least favorite administrative activity. Mars didn't like to see her so downcast, but felt proud that the Silver Millennium had a Queen that would worry this much for her people.

"Hey, Princess," Sailor Mars started, rolling her eyes just to let Usagi know that she really was being spoiled, "If you really think this might be serious, I think Ami-chan could spare a little while to go in as an observer. A senshi presence is a senshi presence, I would think. If something requiring Sailor Moon comes up, she can tell you."

"Ami-chan, of course! You're a genius, Sailor Mars, please do. If anybody is smart enough to figure out what happened, it's Ami-chan."

"Fine, your highness, one Senshi investigator, coming up," Mars brought out the communicators that all five still kept around, for personal communication and transmissions that they dare not chance being intercepted.

"Hello, Sailor Mars, Usagi-chan," Ami's sweet, calm voice filtered crisply through the device, "I would imagine this has something to do with whatever just shook the Palace library about?"

"The library, of course," Sailor Mars mouthed silently at Usagi. The Queen managed a little smile, and the Senshi of Fire was all-business once more.

"Sure enough. Do you think Sailor Mercury could get herself down there and see what she can dig up?"

"I'm on my way. In the meantime, do you have anybody to spare to put up all these fallen books? I'm afraid the spines will all warp at this rate, and the pages will crease permanently."

"I'm sure we can find someone, Ami-chan, now get a move on before our Queen here has a panic attack."

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Sailor Mercury gracefully glided up to the line of harassed police officers, the crowd of curious gawkers parting in front her, leaving hushed, awed whispers in her wake. She tried to ignore all the attention, she was no more comfortable with it now than she had ever been. The Senshi of Water focused on the officer in the middle, a man who could not have been much older than forty, despite the barest touch of silver at his temple. Like Mercury, he seemed to be a calm, rational thinker, and emanated that same sense of reassuring capability to those around him. She caught his eye, and he looked enormously relieved, if slightly taken aback.

"Good afternoon, officer...?" she began cordially.

"Teshigawara. Good day, Sailor Mercury," he offered in return, "It's good to see you here... or, is it?" He added bluntly, "If one of the Senshi come by, that tells me this wasn't just an accident."

"Not at all, officer," she answered, speaking loudly enough that the people behind her would hear, "I was just in the neighborhood and thought this was sort of thing fit the senshi job description. Everything looks fine, though, you've certainly responded with admirable expediency." Even with all the onlookers knew of the famed planetary senshi, most still thought that it looked decidedly strange to see a girl appearing no older than seventeen speaking on such terms with an officer.

Now that Mercury had arrived and had a look, the situation really did not appear to be too serious. There were no bodies littering the streets nor cries of injured citizens filling the air, and while the smoking building certainly appeared the worse for the wear at the moment, it was intact, and certainly looked better now than it had. There were spiderweb cracks running through the slate-gray crystalline structure in worrisome patterns, but already the crystal was bonding back together the fractured pieces. The repairs were rather visible today, with small pockets of thick, oily, synthetic smoke trapped inside the cracks coloring the patched fractures. Buildings in Crystal Tokyo were quite capable of repairing themselves these days, in a process that would take the better part of a month to fully complete, but would keep the structure physically sound, if not greatly aesthetic, until then. Sailor Mercury knew that this was one of the less inhabited areas of the city, the targe--accident site, she corrected herself, there was no reason yet to think that the building had been a target of any kind--was a low, warehouse type of structure that stretched a block or more in each direction, and presumably a great deal back from where she stood as well. Probably some sort of manufacturing facility. Sailor Mercury activated her visor and it immediately started supplying her with information about her surroundings and whatever her eyes focused on. Time had only improved this device of hers, linking herself and her senshi supercomputer in ever more intuitive ways. Her readout told her that this was a bottle manufacturing plant for a soft drink company, and that it had been shut down for the day because of some broken assembly part that had to be ordered. Also, it informed her that, while the burning synthetics smoke was indisputably toxic, there weren't any particularly hazardous or combustible chemicals used in the facility. She quickly covered her dismay at that news.

"Would you mind if I took a look around in there, officer? The smoke is mostly dissipated."

"I'm sure I'm outranked anyway, Sailor Mercury, feel free. Anything you want us to do?"

"You're doing a fine job, just keep the civilians away. Thank you," she finished politely.

Mercury continued up the path to the front entrance of the building. The door was a little more specialized than the wall, so it hadn't simply bonded back into position. It was knocked loose from the shock wave, though, and Mercury was able to squeeze past and inside. It was murky, the lighting gone and a thin, sooty haze remaining in the air. A quick scan told her it was safe enough to breath for a short while, though the acrid odor of burned plastics made her wrinkle her nose as she stepped carefully around. It didn't take her longer than a few meters inside to conclude that there really wasn't much she could do in here right now. Visibility was far too poor to determine anything about the cause of the explosion, all she was doing right now was giving her lung's biological defenses a test run like they hadn't had in years. She stopped and prepared to turn back, but then she faintly heard a soft, scratching sound from above. Scritch, scritch. She up, and back towards the entrance, and a bit of movement caught her eye, by the cloudy window.

Blam!

A sharp report, a flash of muzzle flare, and Sailor Mercury's heart jumped into her throat. Scarcely thinking where the person was or where they were shooting, she threw herself to the side, at the same time hearing a cracking staccato of gunfire tracing her path. She kept her momentum and rolled in a curve, to prevent them from tracking any likely path. She took a deep breath and shouted as she spun,

"Shabon Spray!"

Combined with the murk, they would have a hard time placing her position again now, if she were careful. But that first gunshot, it had been at the window, and not at her. She lay there, trying to breath shallowly and quietly. Slowly, she raised a hand to the side of her visor and ran a finger down the edge, cycling to an infra-red light filter. At first everything appeared the same dirty, orange color, the air and twisted machinery still holding a good deal of heat even with the chilly fog permeating the building, but she was able to see the darker patches moving about soon enough. Small shapes, crouched people, were creeping through the factory. Looking for her.

Up in the air, she could here the the small click of a firearm reloading.

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Sailor Jupiter was able to follow the plume of inky smoke that rose up to the site of the explosion she'd heard. She found the people there, and the police, and ran through the former, ignoring the excitement she caused.

"Officer, what happened here?" She asked of the same man Ami had come to.

"I don't know but something tells me it must be bigger than I'm being let in on, if two senshi just happen to be 'in the neighborhood'," Teshigawara answered with raised eyebrows.

"Two Senshi?"

"Sailor Mercury just went inside," he jerked his thumb to the door. Jupiter's eyes widened perceptively. Mercury? She must have heard wrong, that was about the last name she would have expected from him. He must have been mistaken. She was gone now, not in--

Blam!

Sailor Jupiter's head was thrown back violently as though she'd been struck with a hammer, eyes unfocused. She fell backwards, white spots dancing before her eyes. The surprised senshi got a double helping as the back of her head slammed hard against the pavement, and far from white spots, she could see no more. She wasn't sure how long she was out, but when she opened her eyes she heard a faint screaming, perhaps that was what roused her, and the mad shuffle of panicked feet running around behind and around her, fading quickly. Somewhere in her dazed and lethargic mind something was trying to talk to her, but it was rather a lot of effort to listen when she could just stay here and rest for a little while longer, hoping this little headache would go away...

Then something dark was in front of her eyes, cutting off view of the pretty, sparkly colors up above. Her lips tried to frown, though even that effort felt almost too much for her. This was rude of somebody. The shape came into focus. It was a man. He was in a police uniform and looked vaguely familiar. His mouth was moving, but the screaming and the running... it was difficult to separate the words from everything else.

She found herself wishing he would just move. It was a nice day, and there were more pleasant things to be looking at than somebody shouting at her that she couldn't understand. He didn't move, though, he just started waving a hand in front of her face, too, which irritated her all the more. Sailor Jupiter wondered that she ought to look somewhere else, if this was bothering her so much. So she laboriously pulled one arm underneath her and raised up on one elbow. Her head felt thick and heavy, like it were filled with some oozing sludge. Her head lolled as she rose, and she felt nauseatingly lightheaded as though her skull were emptying of that substance. As it cleared, she discovered that the muffling coat over her brain had, among the other things, hidden an absolutely horrific pounding pain between her ears. She groaned, and shook her head to clear it, and groaned louder after being informed that this was a bad idea. Gritting her teeth, she raised her eyes carefully to the officer beside her, and looked around. She was in the shadow of a patrol car, its profile facing the cracked building and he was next to her with relief evident in his features. She also noted that he had his sidearm drawn.

"Urgh, what hit me?"

"A bullet, it looked like, to your head. Then the sidewalk, to your head. What's your skull made of, Lightning Senshi?" Teshigawara asked incredulously, though obviously glad for whatever her cranial material was. She gingerly fingered her forehead, and found a definite indentation on her circlet, high on the side of her head, at the apex of where it curved from the ornamental emerald set in front. There was a good lump forming under there, with a little trickle of blood escaping underneath, and she could feel another sizable pain at the base of her skull.

"Tiaras, not just for looking pretty," she smiled painfully.

"One suspect is at that front window. After he fired on you, another officer and I took you into cover behind the car."

"Where is he, then?"

Sailor Jupiter saw his eyes focus past her, bleakly sorrowful. She looked behind her to see a young man, couldn't have been out of his twenties, staring up at the sky as she had been, but with glassy eyes that would never see the beauty they gazed toward. She couldn't see the bullet hole, but the pool of deep crimson staining the ground under his head told her enough.

"He tried to aim just a little bit too long," he explained, "But that guy has us outgunned and at a tactical disadvantage. About the only good thing is the sons a bitches didn't fire on any civilians," his knuckles were white on his weapon. Sailor Jupiter could feel the helpless, frustrated rage waxing from him in waves, and with another look at the fallen officer, she could sympathize. With a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach, she realized that she might have more reason to sympathize.

"Sailor Mercury! You said she was here, in there, have you seen her!?"

He shook his head, "No, but she either gave them a good fight or is giving them one. Every now and then I've heard fire from inside," his mention of "a suspect" and "bitches", plural, clicked into mind,

"There's more of them?"

"Looks like it. Last we heard in there was a few minutes ago, but--"

They both fell silent as they heard another rapid burst of fire inside.

"Looks like she's still givin' them hell," the officer added fiercely, then added in a more somber tone, "If that one didn't get her."

Sailor Jupiter raised herself to one knee, "If that one did get her, they just made the worst mistake of their lives," Jupiter spoke with chilling flatness, allowing her anger to coalesce like a gathering winter storm. She felt the familiar tingle running up and down her arm and hearing a satisfying crack and snap of electricity between her fingers as she flexed her fingers into a fist. Her eyes were narrowed, the color of deep green leaves in shadow.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!' She cried, springing on her bended knee out from the side of the car and hurling the sparkling projectile towards the window. She planted one hand on the ground and pivoted upon it, turning to face the building and running at flat-out speed towards it. She didn't even glance up to see what her attack had accomplished, though she heard an awful sound as of rock sheering from above, and cursed that she must have missed the window. She reached the door without slowing and turned, letting her shoulder blades take most of the abuse from the impact. The door gave just a few inches, enough for her to slide freely in and hit the floor rolling. Present the smallest target, she told herself silently, stay in motion. She crept blindly through the interior, smelling smoking rubber and feeling a cool mist, evidence of Mercury's activities, in the air.

She ground her teeth together. Brilliant rescue, Jupiter, she told herself harshly, although seeing would be nice. She jerked her knee up with a hastily suppressed gasp as something icy cold touched it. It turned out to be, unsurprisingly, ice. As Jupiter explored it, her fingers found that it was a line that extended out into the gloom. Sailor Mercury, it must have been Mercury's way of getting them together, she thought hopefully. Anything was better than feeling blind. Jupiter began a swift, low run in the direction it led, thinking that she was being quiet. She discovered her mistake when somebody shouted, and a somewhat unsubtle instinct inside told her to run, faster. She did, just in time to hear bullets zinging through the air, hitting the floor and hunks of machinery around her. She didn't hear any hit the machinery in front of her, though, so had no warning of the spear of jagged metal that reached up to grab her leg, felling her and slicing her calf laterally. She fell with a whoosh of breath, and relief that there hadn't been more wreckage for her body to fall upon.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

Sailor Jupiter saw a flow of water stream past her and break like a wave against the air, rising into a curving barrier of ice that enclosed her protectively, just in time for a to chill run up her spine at the rapid thud-thud-thud of metallic slugs burying themselves in the shield.

"Sailor Jupiter, over here," she heard Mercury's voice hiss from forward and left, covered by the sound of the ammunition impacting, and she hoisted her leg back under her made her way in that direction. Sailor Mercury put an hand to the courageous Senshi's shoulder as Jupiter was about to walk by, then drew her head down so she could whisper, so closely and quietly that her lips brushed Jupiter's ear,

"Sound travels well in here, try not to talk, be careful where you step, follow me," this closely they could see one another, and Sailor Jupiter nodded an affirmative. She followed her comrade as Sailor Mercury led them slowly and silently to a position several meters away. Deep down, emotions and questions burned in Jupiter's soul, but they were all quenched for the time being by her situation, the years falling away like melting ice as they crouched together, hearts pumping adrenaline, fighting together in the name of justice and love as before. Focusing on the now, Jupiter looked around and shrugged exaggeratedly, pointing a thumb to herself and miming punching and shouting. Then she gestured into the gloom, and mimicked firing a rifle. Mercury closed her lip between her teeth and held up a single finger. Jupiter nodded, giving her time to think. She watched Sailor Mercury peer around, then tapped her shoulder. Jupiter tapped her visor, then pointed to her own eyes and out into the gloom. Mercury nodded, imitating the gesture in affirmation that yes, she could see the enemy. The Senshi of Wisdom brightened, then, and nodded furiously. She pointed Jupiter in a direction, gesturing to go that way. Sailor Jupiter looked wonderingly at the suddenness of the direction, but at Mercury's insistent expression did as she was told. It wasn't often that Sailor Mercury was mistaken.

Jupiter's shoulder blades tensed, already feeling as though eyes were staring at her exposed back in the darkness. Sailor Jupiter edged across the floor with painful slowness. She found herself longing for a nice, simple, head-to-head battle with some three-wheeled, five-nippled, mauve-spotted energy eater instead of this nerve-wracking experience. In her opinion, a terrifying enemy seen was much better than a mundane one in the dark.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

Sailor Jupiter looked back sharply at the cry, extra sharp in the silence, to see Mercury crafting herself a similar ice shield to before, and in her peripheral saw a soft, instant glow of muzzle flare with the cracks of fire that started ringing in her ears. Hoping that she had the right idea and trying not to think further than that, Jupiter sprang up and sprinted to that area, judging the approximate distance and leaping through the air knees first. She was rewarded with a nice, soft, impact for her legs, knocking the man over and engaging in a small floor scuffle that ended with her sinking her knee into his prone form's stomach, and a smart rap on the side of his skull with a closed fist. His head lolled to the side.

"Ã‰rico?" She heard a voice, with a thick, Latin accent she couldn't quite place. It came from above.

"Idiota! Forget about him, fire!" Another voice, this one with the same accent, but feminine. Jupiter sprang away just in time to avoid yet more bullets zinging through the air, an experience that had lost its charm long ago, about the time she'd been shot.

"No, Leonor! You might hit Ã‰rico!"

"Cala! Just shoot!"

Jupiter changed direction to come at the second voice from small circle, striving for silence. It was hard to correlate sound and distance here. She came to a halt and strained her ears. From just off to her right, she heard boots crunch hesitatingly on debris, and grinned savagely, her quarry located. Taking long, slow, careful steps, she came within just a few feet of whom the other had called "Leonor." She could hear the woman breathing, sounding just as anxious and displeased with the environment as Jupiter felt. The senshi determined to confirm the other's misgivings.

Sailor Jupiter leaped forward and brought a stiff hand down on the woman's wrist, the rifle of her gun falling from a suddenly nerveless grasp. Without wasted motion, Jupiter grabbed the same arm, spun around on her outside foot and heaved her opponent over her shoulder to land on her back, hard, breath whooshing from the impact and stunning her. She grabbed the front of the woman's rough jacket and heaved her up, twisting her arm behind her and holding her in front with a hand clapped over her mouth.

"I have Leonor," she called out, "If you shoot over here, you'll hit her. Drop your weapon and lay on the ground."

There was nothing but silence from the rest of the interior, and with every passing second that went by without the sound of weapons clattering to the ground, Jupiter's doubts about the other man's conscious grew. Sure, he'd sounded worried about hitting his other associate, but he had been perfectly okay with murdering the officer outside, and shooting at her in cold blood as well...

As if to lend veracity to those thoughts, she heard the sharp crack of a report and a wet, muffled thud, and the vainly squirming body she held against her stiffened, and fell limp. Jupiter could still feel breath from the woman's nose even through her gloved hand, so she definitely wasn't dead, but it was obvious the man had no qualms about shooting towards her to get to his real target.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"

Sailor Jupiter heard Mercury's voice once more from across the interior, and the sweet strum of strings on an instrument no human could possibly hope to craft. Jets of bright, shining water sailed to the square of light and peppered the wall around the window, a cry of shock, the clatter of a rifle, and the thud of a body falling all to the floor telling of Mercury's success. Feeling irritated, but also responsible for the injury of the woman she held, Jupiter eased her to the ground, feeling her breathing shallowly.

"Where are you hit?"

"B-bruxa... vÃ¡ ao inferno..." the woman spat the words out, and Jupiter had the distinct impression she might have added more actual saliva to the apparent epithet if she'd been able.

"No use getting anything out of her," Mercury kneeled beside Jupiter and put a hand on her shoulder, "My Spanish is better than my Portuguese, but I believe she just said something along the lines of, 'witch, go and burn.'"

"Portuguese?"

"That's what they're speaking, I can tell that much. Let's get her outside."

Sailor Jupiter nodded and picked up the woman, now too weakened to struggle--Jupiter felt another surge of guilt, but reminded herself of the fallen officer. She followed Mercury back to the door. The streets were vacant, except for the multitudes of eyes at various employment, peeking through the windows of the buildings still open for business. There were more police vehicles outside as well, and Teshigawara raised up from behind his patrol car at their emergence, raising a fist triumphantly. Before he could start on congratulations, however, Sailor Jupiter spoke first.

"We need an ambulance for this one, and get a couple more officers in there. There's two--"

"Three, I dispatched one before you go there," the Senshi of Water corrected.

"--Three," Sailor Jupiter amended, "Three more suspects in there, all unarmed and ready for arrest. Be careful in there, it's a little hard to see."

"The mist should be dissipating soon, but do watch yourselves, officers," Mercury added lastly. A couple of paramedics ran over with a stretcher and Jupiter gratefully deposited her burden to their care. Freed, Jupiter turned to her companion without hesitation and enfolded her in a smothering, crushing embrace. She stepped back and clapped her hands atop Mercury's shoulders, thinking that the intelligent senshi's pretty face in the light was the most beautiful thing she'd seen in years.

"God, you gave me a scare, Sailor Mercury. I thought, when I heard the shots inside, that maybe..." She couldn't finish voicing the horrible prospect.

"Only because you were here, Jupiter," Mercury returned, putting her hands to Sailor Jupiter's wrists and taking them from her shoulders, clasping the Senshi of Thunder's hands between her own, "Thank you. You even got hurt for me," Mercury brought her fingertips to Jupiter's cheek, following the thin trickle of dried blood up to the wound near her temple. They looked at one another for a long moment, all the distance of the years shrunk down to the short distance between their eyes.

Jupiter looked a little uncomfortable at the unabashed gratitude in Sailor Mercury's eyes and her attentions, but she smiled back shyly, feeling tongue-tied like she hadn't since she was in high school. Since then, back that long ago... .almost simultaneously, they each saw the other's eyes grow distant in a way that looked terribly unfamiliar to them both.

"We should, ah, get to the palace to speak with the rest of the Senshi and her highness, then," Jupiter said in a faintly stiff tone. Mercury averted her eyes and nodded. Jupiter suddenly felt like biting back those flat words and saying something, anything else, but what was there to say? She felt pangs of long-suffered sorrow in her heart, accompanied by pulsing throbs in her head, and didn't want to think about anything else right now. Her senshi duty would come first. Mercury withdrew her hand from Jupiter's injury with a neutral expression tinged with sadness and nodded, friendliness fading from her features as she, too, turned her mind from the past and onto more recent matters. Jupiter smoothed her features and did her best to bear her headache, listening as Sailor Mercury started speaking of her observations.

"Yes, the others need to know about this. Those were military firearms, Sailor Jupiter. Illegal for civilian possession, and almost impossible to buy without good money and good connections to... seedier elements of society. This is serious, very serious."

"I hope it was serious rather than is," Jupiter replied meaningfully.

"Me too," Mercury replied, eyes downcast, "But even in the city of dreams, we have to do more than hope," the sweet, quiet senshi said softly, wondering perhaps how much she was talking to herself as her companion.

Jupiter smiled broadly and confidently, "Well I, for one, am always willing to give hope a little hand. Or a big one, even," she added, flexing one arm and patting her bicep. She winked at Sailor Mercury, who laughed softly even with her worries weighing on her. Whatever lay between them now, Sailor Jupiter still couldn't stand to see Mercury bothered without trying to cheer her up. Mercury felt a surge of quiet gratitude, it was a good deal harder to feel at all afraid with the Senshi of Courage by her side. Even back there, creeping half-blind through the building and surrounded by armed men and woman after her blood, the arrival of Sailor Jupiter had been like lightning strike during a midnight storm, bringing a breath of clarity and light to a dark and chaotic world

Sailor Jupiter grinned at having made Mercury even emit that little chuckle, and tried not to think about how close she might have come to never hearing that the sound again. What if she'd taken another road from her class, and lost those few minutes? What if that sharpshooter had gotten into position just a few minutes earlier, when Mercury arrived? What if, when Jupiter had gotten there, that bullet hadn't accidentally struck her tiara? So many what ifs that could have left the world down one pretty, smart, brave sailor senshi; taken her away again, this time for good, any chance Jupiter would ever have snuffed in one little instant. When she spoke next, it was more like instinct than anything that prompted it,

"Hey, Sailor Mercury? Maybe, after we get finished, you'd like to come over for tea, or perhaps a cup of coffee?" Jupiter asked hesitantly, then immediately felt foolish. Three years of silence and a walk through a fire fight, sure, anybody would feel like tea after that. Way to seem like an insensitive loon, Jupiter, she thought disparagingly.

"I... I'd be delighted, that sounds wonderful," Mercury answered in a similarly halting manner, unsure at first whether she would accede, but making the decision at the last.

Jupiter's mouth hooked in a small smile. Three years, combat, whatever. To spend time with the friend that she had missed most again, maybe... maybe they could pick up where they'd left off, somehow. Somehow... Sailor Jupiter felt this to be as shaky and unsure as anything, but if there was one thing a senshi could always do, it was hope.