"Well, I don't remember any more than that!" Serena tried very hard to keep from shouting. It wasn't polite. "I have amnesia! I can't remember my own name, what makes you think I know who this-" she waved her hand at the photo of Sailor V that Detective Williams held in front of her, "Sailor V is? I only remember her name!"
Detective Williams waited breathlessly for Serena's words to be translated by Kate. She was learning English surprisingly fast, but when she was agitated she couldn't keep it up. He'd been grilling her on and off for a week, trying to pick exactly what she did know out of her mind.
"I was just hoping that your sessions with Dr. Bagley had made you remember anything about her."
"What would I know? Wait!" The way her eyes suddenly opened very wide told Detective Williams that something had occurred to her, even before Kate translated. He waited breathlessly while she thought. "I DO remember something. I think she was in Europe for a while. I'm not sure where in Europe, but for some reason I keep on thinking about Interpol." She looked up at him. "Will that help?"
"Yes!" He happily stuffed the picture back in his pocket and turned to go.
"Detective Williams?" Serena had calmed down enough to speak in English again.
"Yes?"
"They're going to let me out of the hospital tomorrow, but I don't have any place to go. They may have to put me in an orphanage. Could it be possible. . .I mean, will you. . .could you take me home with you?" She tried to keep the hope out of her eyes. He'd been avoiding this question for the last couple of days, and if she didn't get an answer by tomorrow, she knew she'd be going to an orphanage. She saw the uncomfortable look in his eyes. She scrambled to keep him from feeling bad about a refusal. "It's all right if you can't. I know you're police officer, and don't have a lot of free time. I was just wondering. I'll really understand if you can't." He still didn't say anything. She held her breath and waited.
*****
Ron Williams saw her desperate attempt to save him embarrassment, and felt even worse. But she deserved an answer.
"When you first asked if I could take care of you, I went to Social Services and asked what I would have to do to apply for being a foster parent. I was told that could apply, but since I'm single, and a cop, I don't have much of a chance of being allowed to care for you. It's not that I'm not willing, I just can't, at least I can't until I've been told whether or not Social Services will allow me to."
The stricken girl's face brought a feeling of pain to his chest. Then he saw her chin firm in determination. He was always amazed by that. One second she was a sweet, normal teenaged girl, more than a little frightened by the circumstances surrounding her life, and the next she had this commanding authority, as if she'd been a five-star general or king in a former life. He felt himself stiffen a little with attention, as he would if the police chief had just entered the room. "Then I will go to Social Services and demand that you be allowed to be my guardian. I know you, and trust you. How can I trust someone else, when I don't know them?" She got up and began to walk down the hall toward the nurses' station. With a smile, Ron and Kate followed her.
*****
Lita tossed and turned. "Usagi!" she shrieked and sat up with a jerk.
"Careful there, Lita. You've been out cold for half an hour." That was nice Mr. Huruta. She struggled to bring up a smile for him.
"I'm fine, Mr. Huruta. I think I can get up now." She began to struggle to get up, so Mr. Huruta held out a helping hand. She stood up and managed not to sway too badly. "See, I'm fine." <Just don't think. Don't think about your circumstances. Don't think about how tired you are. And for God's sake DON'T think about Usagi!>
"Hardly. I think you should go home. You can't work like this."
"No, really, I'm fine," she insisted. <Don't think.>
"I really think-"
"I, uh, I need the money, Mr. Huruta."
He gave her a penetrating look. He must have figured out by now that she was alone. There was no way for her to hide it indefinitely. If only she could get money from her trust fund. She sternly stopped that train of thought. <Don't think. Just keep moving.> If onlys did no good, she'd done what she'd done, and she had to live with it.
Mr. Huruta shook his head. "If you're that hard up, girl, I'll give you some money. You need to get some rest." He began to reach into his pocket. Lita desperately tried to stop him.
"No, sir! I won't be able to pay you back! You can't do that!"
"I don't want to hear anything like that, now. You can just take this money and go home, and take care of yourself."
<What home?> Lita looked at the money and tried to keep the look of hopelessness off her face. She saw by the look of sudden compassion on Mr. Huruta's face that she had failed. Now he knew everything. "Poor girl, you don't have anything, do you? How'd you slip through the cracks that badly? Well, never mind that. I'll call young Billy to come replace me, and I'll take you to my house. Since the boys all moved out my wife's been dying to mother someone, and you need some mothering right now."
Lita's eyes teared up. Such kindness. His eyes shone with the kind of warm love for his fellow human that had always been in Usagi's eyes. With a wordless cry she flung herself at the man and hugged him tightly.
"Hey, girl, there now, that's enough of that," the older man said gruffly, embarrassed. "You'll squeeze all the breath out of me." Lita realized she could be hugging too tight, and let go, embarrassed too.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled at her feet. <Baka! Way to go! Annoy the only person who's cared whether you lived or died in the last year.> It'd been so long since someone had shown concern for her. The short man held out his hand, and grabbed one of hers.
"C'mon, girl, someone's here to help you."
Usagi had always been kind and helpful like that-able to smother Lita's smoldering anger under a comforting blanket of love. She'd missed that so much. . .
*****
"Kino Makoto!" The teacher's hand slapped her desk, and brought Mako back to her senses. She struggled to restrain the snarl she desperately wanted to voice at the smirking face in front of her, and with super human effort, succeeded. The look she stabbed in the little twit's direction let her know that after school Mako would be more than happy to give her an intimate view of the pavement. The girl's face paled and she swallowed the smug smile she wore. It must have given her indigestion. She looked decidedly unwell. Mako nodded, satisfied, then turned back to the teacher.
"Yes?" she asked, syrupy sweetness oozing from her voice, now that she'd won the encounter. <Accuse me of hurting Usagi, will she? Hah!>
The teacher gave her a very stern look. "Don't think I'm stupid, Kino-san. Watch it, or you'll be in detention for a very long time. I've seen a disturbing change of attitude in you recently. I know you didn't do anything to Tsukino-san-you were very close friends-but ever since her disappearance you've been getting closer and closer to the edge. Don't cross the line and get in a fight, or you'll be looking for yet another school. You and I both know that with your record, that will be difficult, at best." Mako swallowed the smart retort on the tip of her tongue and simply nodded. "Good, I'm glad you understand me. One more thing. You'd better walk that girl home tonight. If she shows up with one scratch on her tomorrow, I'll assume you did it to her. Make sure you don't get blamed for somebody else's bad temper, hmmmm?' Mako nodded again, grinding her teeth.
*****
There was no way in hell that Mako was going to walk that-that...words failed her. She made sure the girl set off all right, and then made her own way home. As she walked, she thought.
Her teacher was right. She'd come very close to starting a fight almost every day in the last week. She was so angry over Usagi's death. <We were supposed to protect her! It's my fault she's dead! If only I'd been able to stay conscious! She was lost looking for me!> She was angry at herself, but she wanted to take it out on others. She needed an outlet for all this anger. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold it back much longer. Maybe she could join a karate class and sweat it all out. With that decision she walked briskly the rest of the way home to change and go join a karate class.
*****
"Kino-san! We're here to learn advanced karate, not knock our partners unconscious! I won't teach you anymore until you can learn that fighting is not the best answer unless it's the only one! Isn't that what I've been telling you? I can't allow you back here until you learn." Mako blushed with shame. This idea hadn't worked too well, and now she had shamed herself in front of the other karate students.
"Hai, sensei." She bowed and left the practice floor.
*****
"Konnichiwa, Mako-chan!"
Mako turned her head at the unexpected greeting. Nobody had been eager to see her in the last few days. "Oh, Ami. What do you want?" She couldn't keep the surly tone out of her voice.
Ami laid a cool hand on Mako's arm. "The rest of us are all worried about you. I've been hearing a lot of bad things about you the last couple of days, and I wanted you to know that even though Usagi is-" Ami hesitated. "--dead, we can still be friends. We need each other most now. Rei blew up back in that worm-hole, and Minako and I are hardly what you could call cheerful right now, but you're dying inside, Mako. I can feel it just standing next to you." Ami looked down and away. "I'm not really good at dealing with people's emotions. I try to avoid being overly emotional myself. Seems the best I can offer is a good slap to stop hysterics. Dealing with feelings has always been Usagi's department, but she's gone." Mako tried to pull away. She didn't want to hear this. Ami's fingers tightened on her arm, tight as steel bands, and Mako looked at Ami in surprise. Ami's blue eyes looked into hers. "As I said, feelings were Usagi's department, but I'm the only one here for you, Mako-chan. I don't know what you need, but come to Rei's shrine this afternoon. Maybe what you need will be there with us. It gives me some comfort to be with Rei and Minako." Ami let go. "You have nobody, Mako. Except us. We're here for you." She turned and left.
Mako leaned weakly against the brick wall of the school. Ami was right. She had nobody else. As she wiped tears from her eyes she decided she'd be there.
*****
Mako walked uncertainly up to the shrine. She walked in and saw Rei's grandfather.
"Excuse me," she asked, "could you tell me where Rei and the others are. They asked me to meet them here." He waved absently off on one direction, and Mako headed that way. She came up to them on the front porch of Rei's house. They were all drinking soda and sharing a pizza. They hadn't seen her yet.
She stopped. She didn't belong here any more. <Usagi!> What was there to fight for now? She knew that Rei and Ami and Minako were her friends, but they reminded her too much of Usagi. Her throat closed around a forlorn sob and she ran off the shrine grounds, back towards home.
<Usagi!>
*****
The rough fabric of the futon scratched her face as she sobbed into the cushion. Finally she lifted her head and wiped the moisture out of her eyes. Karate hadn't helped, and trying to go see her friends had been a disaster. Whenever she was this upset, the only way to calm herself down was to cook. She got up and went to the kitchen-by far the best furnished room in the apartment.
As she got out the ingredients for a long, arduous cooking session, she could feel her nerves begin to calm. She began to hum as she picked up a glass mixing bowl and turned the oven on to pre-heat. She'd bake right now. She'd bake a cake. Usagi had always liked cake.
Mako's hand began to shake. Usagi had loved her cooking. Even that wasn't safe from painful memory. The bowl dropped from her nerveless fingers and shattered on the floor. A few shards pierced her skin and sent tracks of blood oozing down her legs. "Shit!" she swore, and stumbled a few feet to the living room. She sank to the floor, leaned against the wall, and silent tears ran down her cheeks. What could she do? She was completely helpless. The tears kept falling, but she felt the heat of anger creeping through her. Finally she got up and stalked into her room. She put on a black leather jacket, tight, ripped jeans, and left her hair down. What she needed was a change. She avoided anything green as if it carried a disease. She walked out of her apartment and down the street, looking for trouble.
*****
Somehow she'd made it to a very shabby part of downtown Tokyo. She was looking for a fight, and the best place to find one was here. She walked into a bar and sat down. She didn't order anything. She looked old for her age, but not that old, and she didn't have any fake ID.
"Can I buy you a drink?" A tall man with red hair sidled up to her. Her anger blocked out everything but one thought as she looked at him.
Maybe getting drunk would make her feel better. Nothing else had worked so far. "Sure. Whatever you're having." She shrugged. The barkeep overheard and nodded, and gave her a drink. She downed it in one gulp. The man who'd bought it for her looked at her with surprise. Then a knowing look crossed his face.
"Do ya wanna go to my place?"
"No," Makoto said, surly. The man looked angry, but didn't say anything. He just left with a shrug. Mako sat there for an hour, getting the occasional drink. <This isn't working at all! I don't feel a bit better!> she thought angrily to herself, and got up and left. She hesitated at the door, peering into the darkness. She'd drunk enough alcohol to be able to feel it, but she wasn't by any means drunk. She walked down the sidewalk.
"Treat me like dirt, will you?" a husky voice breathed at her. The man that first bought her a drink, she remembered. "Think you're too good for me, huh?" He spun her around.
<At last! A good fight! Just what I need!> Without another thought she threw a punch at him. It hit him in the eye and he grunted with pain. He began to throw punches as well, but rage overwhelmed Makoto, and she didn't feel any of the punches he landed as she hit him repeatedly. Finally she realized that he was lying on the ground, unconscious and bloody. She wiped at a cut on her lip as thought slowly returned. She should get out of here. The police wouldn't exactly look kindly on what she'd done. She staggered out of the alley and down the street, feeling both better and worse.
*****
Ami plopped down next to Makoto in the school yard during lunch.
"Makoto, we missed you yesterday," she began, then she noticed what Mako was eating. "What's this? Why are you eating take out, Mako? It can't be anywhere near as good as what you make yourself!"
Mako was silent for a moment. She was a lot calmer today, having taken out her frustrations on that man last night. Finally she stirred herself enough to answer Ami. "I can't cook. Every time I do I think of Usagi." She stopped, unable to continue. "I need time, Ami. Even seeing you three together without Usagi was too much. I need to be alone for a while, Ami." A small, warm hand rested on her shoulder for a second.
"I understand," Ami whispered as she got up, then she left.
Mako suddenly realized that the others had lost Usagi too. It probably hurt Ami as much to hear her name as it did her. She turned around to talk to Ami, but she was already out of sight. <I'm sorry, Ami.> She shoveled another morsel of tasteless take-out into her mouth and chewed.
*****
The petty little problems and frustrations had built up during the week, and Mako was about to explode. She once again donned what she had come to think of as her night clothes. When she went out on these expeditions she invariably got into trouble, so she had taken to wearing temporary dye in her hair for the night. She always left it down, and she always wore her plain black leather jacket, jeans, and boots. Now she had taken to wearing black gloves as well. She sometimes got in a LOT of trouble, and fingerprints weren't something you left behind after such incidences. She walked into the night, seeming to don another personality-totally ruthless, and more than a little reckless.
She sat down at a bar. By now she had fake ID that said she was just twenty-one, so she ordered a drink and waited for trouble to find her. It appeared in the form of three tough looking girls that took the bar stools next to her.
"What do you want?" she asked warily. Three were a lot to handle, even for her.
"We've been watching you for the last couple of weeks, and we're interested by what we see."
Mako forced herself to take a casual sip. "I don't know what you mean."
"Every weekend for the last month you've wandered the less reputable bars looking for fights and brawls, and you always seem to come out on top. Once the weekend's over with, you disappear without a trace. And your hair color changes every week. What's the real color? Blond? Red?" The girl who was speaking reached up to take a lock of Mako's hair in her hand. "Black like tonight?"
"Does it matter?" <Stay cool.> "What do you want?"
The second girl spoke up. She rolled up her long sleeve shirt to reveal a black horse tattooed on her arm. "Do you recognize this?"
Mako did. It meant these girls were part of an all female gang that controlled a few blocks of Tokyo-a lot of territory for a gang of girls. "Yeah, I recognize it. What do you want?"
"Are you always this dense?!" the last girl exploded. "We're offering membership in the Night Mares!"
"Why would I want to join you?" Mako asked conversationally.
The first girl began to speak again. She had short straight hair, bleached white, and large dark-almost black-eyes. She seemed to be the leader of this little group. The other girls deferred to her. "I've seen you fight. You enjoy it, and when you start walking back to the rich, reputable part of town, you look relieved. You're hurting inside, and fighting's how you express that pain. We all know how you feel. We're offering you companionship, friendship from people who understand you." How could those hard eyes become so soft and understanding so quickly, Mako wondered.
She forced herself past the desire to give in. "So you're just offering membership because you want to help someone in pain?" she scoffed.
"No, of course not. We need fighters like you. Every strong girl is an important addition to us. But that's why you should join. We get something, and you get something. We all win. So, what do you say?"
"How about you give me a little time to think it over. . ."
"Do I look stupid?" the white-haired girl's voice whipped out. "We won't give you time to go to the cops and set anything up. This is a one time offer, baby. Take it or leave it." She turned to go. "I'll give you five minutes to think it over. We'll be at that corner booth. After that, the offer's withdrawn." She walked off, and the other girls followed. Mako sat and thought.
Maybe this was just what she needed. The senshi were over with Usagi gone. Maybe she needed another group. She finished her drink in one decisive gulp and got up to walk over to the waiting Night Mares. She sat down at their table.
"I'll join under a few conditions."
"What are they?"
"I continue going to school, and none of you follow me home. After school and during weekends I'll be down here, but I want to finish school, and I don't want classmates to know what I am-I'm in too much trouble at school already."
"No deal. You have to get a tattoo before you can officially join. Your classmates won't miss that. Why do you need school? If you're worried about that, why aren't you worried about what parents will think?"
"I want to finish school. I will finish school. I'll get the tattoo in a place covered by clothes. And my parents aren't a problem. What's your answer?"
The girl thought for a second. "Well, you're already a great fighter, so as long as you do get the tattoo, I guess that you can join. But we get your whole weekend. No more bar hopping unless it's with us."
Mako held out her hand. "Deal."
The three girls all took it. "Deal."
The white haired girl put her arm around Mako's shoulders. "My name's Koko. Let's go get that tattoo, and finish initiating you."
*****
"Where'd that bruise come from, Mako?" Ami kept on making overtures of friendship. Mako wished she would stop-she had a new life now, and new friends.
"I ran into a wall this morning when I got up. Wasn't quite awake yet." Ami's face twisted at the short answer.
"I see." she said, and walked off, shoulders slumped.
Well, it was her own problem, not Mako's. She had other things to worry about, like whether her gloves had remained whole long enough during the fight last night to keep her fingerprints off the crime scene.
*****
Mako-chan hurried through her homework and began to change clothes again. Tonight they were going to start a war with a rival gang. Since she had joined the gang, and started teaching the other girls how to fight more effectively, they'd begun to control more and more territory. Even the toughest groups in town stayed out of a Night Mare's way now. As Mako rubbed bleach into her hair her stomach began to growl. That reminded her that she hadn't eaten since lunch. When she finished in the bathroom she walked over to the small kitchen.
Everything was covered in dust. Her countertop was filthy-she didn't have time to keep house anymore. Only her refrigerator was still used, and it was filled with TV dinners and cans of pop, nothing else. As she rummaged around in the fridge looking for something to snack on, she stopped, struck by memory. If she closed her eyes she could still see the clean countertop, almost blinding in its whiteness, and the shine of scrubbed metal mixing bowls, brightening up the kitchen. The dead, brown plant that wilted in the corner of the windowsill brought to mind her green thumb, and the bright flowers that once garnished the room. Instead of musty smells, dust, and memories, the scent of fresh baked bread and broiling meat assaulted her thoughts. Tears began to form in her eyes. She closed them tightly and took a steadying breath. She couldn't cook, Usagi was dead. Mako know that wasn't a logically valid statement, but it was emotionally valid, and she was a creature of emotions now.
Her eyes hardened as she thrust bittersweet memory away, in preparation for tonight's hell raising. But it was too late. She knew the rest of the night would be filled with flashes from the past. She slowly donned her leather jacket and made her way down to the old factory where most of the Night Mares squatted.
*****
As the girls stalked toward the territory of the gang they were going to war with tonight, Mako was struck by the fact that she knew this area of town. Now why did it keep bothering her? Suddenly she realized what was wrong.
This was Rei's neighborhood.
Mako loped up to Koko. "Where is this fight going to be?" she asked.
"It's going to be in front of an old shrine. The street's hard to get to, so we can finish before the cops show up. Why do you ask?"
"You mean Hikawa Jinja, don't you?"
"Why Makoto-san, do you know this area? Is this where you live?" Koko looked interested. Mako know she was an enigma that Koko desperately wanted to solve, and she wanted to keep it that way.
"No, but I'm a close friend of the people who run that shrine. I don't want anything to happen to them."
"We can't have divided loyalties in the Night Mares, Makoto-san. I don't think I like where this conversation is heading." Koko's voice became suddenly sweet and mild. Mako immediately took on a more combative stance, ready for attack. When Koko sounded kind, that was the time to run. Mako held her ground, though. She may not really be friends with Rei anymore, but she wouldn't see them hurt.
"I just don't want the people in the shrine hurt, Koko-san. That's not asking too much." Mako tried to be as conciliatory as possible, but it didn't work.
She'd always been careful around Koko. She'd become an important member of the Night Mares. She was their best fighter and their most mysterious member, and lately Koko had become worried that the members of the gang would rather have Mako lead than her, so she took every possible opportunity to assert her authority. It looked like she was going to cause trouble over this. If she did, some people could easily die. Guns weren't very available in Japan, but most of the girls had, at the very least, a sharp knife. This could get very ugly.
"I think it's about time we tested your loyalty to us, Makoto-san," Koko said, and a few of her cronies gathered around Mako threateningly.
"Don't do this, Koko. A very powerful fire spirit guards that shrine, and I will fight to keep the people in there alive." <Rei's definitely spirited. Maybe if Koko thinks this is a religious thing, she'll back off.> She tensed, ready for anything. She raised her voice so it rang through the ranks of Night Mares. "I have no quarrel with our fight tonight, I just want the shrine left alone. I think enough Night Mares agree that shrines should be left unharmed that you'd have a hard time carrying out your plans without us."
"Are you threatening me?" Koko hissed, her eyes narrowing.
Mako spread her hands innocently. "Me? Threatening you? No, of course not. I am just warning you."
Koko snarled in anger. "I am the leader of the Night Mares, and if all of you want to remain members, you'll do what I say! I want us to attack Hikawa Jinja! We won't let any member have divided loyalties!"
Before Koko even finished her first sentence, Mako took off in a flat out run for the shrine. She had to warn Rei, her grandfather, and Yuuichiro before it was too late. With a bloodthirsty shout the Night Mares followed her.
Finally she made it to the shrine. She ran to where Rei and her grandfather lived, and burst through the door. Unfortunately it was closed at the time, and she had to break the hinges to get in. "Rei!" she bellowed, "Rei! Where are you?"
She heard and outraged complaint from one room and ran into it. A very surprised Rei looked up at her. Seated around the table with her were Ami and Minako. "Minna!" she gasped in surprise.
"Look, you, I don't know who you are, but if you don't leave now I'll call the police!" Rei had gotten to her feet, and Minako and Ami rose as well, to stand behind her and support her.
"Rei! We don't have time for this! There's a very nasty gang coming this way, and they're going to try to kill anyone in this compound. We have to get everybody out!"
Ami was peering at Mako, and suddenly recognition and horror washed across her face in equal proportions. "Mako? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me! Now hurry! I can't hold the rest of the Night mares off by myself! We have to get out of here!"
"NO!"
Mako groaned. Rei had that stubborn look on her face. "What do you mean, no?"
"If we leave, the gang will destroy the shrine. I can't allow that!"
"Well, you can't stop it either! Look, we have to get your grandpa and Yuuichiro out, don't we?"
Minako spoke up, looking slightly dazed. "They're not here. It's just us tonight. What did you mean when you said 'the rest of the Night Mares'? You're one of them, aren't you, Mako-chan?"
Mako opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the voice she least wanted to hear at this moment.
"Mako-chan? Well, if they call you Mako-chan, my dear Makoto, they must be such CLOSE friends, mustn't they?" Koko's voice was laced with malice. Mako whirled to face her, dropping into a classic defensive crouch.
"I mean it, Koko. You don't want to do this." Mako's voice dropped to a threatening growl.
The rest of the gang was visible behind Koko, knives out and gleaming in the flickering firelight that lit the room. Koko chuckled, confident of her advantage. "And why not, Mako-chan," she taunted.
Inspiration struck. She could save her old friends! She artfully arranged her expression into one of mingled awe and fear. "Because, Koko, these are the guardian spirit's of the shrine."
Koko squealed in delighted laughter. "Yes! Of course! I always knew that spirits looked exactly like frightened teenaged school girls! How good of you to remind me of that!"
"They're just in disguise, so we could converse, Koko." <Please, Ami! At least you can figure out what I'm trying to do! The other two will follow your lead!> "Anyone who leaves before the spirits are forced to defend the shrine will be spared, but whoever obeys Koko and foolishly endangers this shrine will be killed without mercy!" She struggled to give her voice the crack of impending doom. Suddenly she heard the words that were music to her ears.
"Mercury Star Power...Make Up!"
A millisecond of hesitation was followed by "Mars Star Power...Make Up!"
"Venus Star Power...Make Up!"
As the three senshi transformed, Mako noticed a decided thinning in the ranks behind Koko. She still had about thirteen girls with her though. Koko looked back at them. "I know you're all brave, so listen closely! We have to attack them now, while they're weak!" With a high pitched cry the remaining Night Mares launched themselves towards the transforming senshi. Mako had to protect them. She ran to stand between the girls and the gang members.
"I won't let you hurt them!" she cried, and struggled to hold them off. She was the biggest and strongest girl there, but thirteen opponents were a little much for her to handle. Desperately she punched and chopped and kicked. With a cry she felt a particularly hard blow connect, and she felt bone-a rib-break with a loud snap. She screamed in pain but fought on. The girls piled on top of her, and she felt herself beginning to suffocate. Something happened to her shoulder as well. She stopped fighting the girls, and struggled just to breathe. The load on her chest got lighter as the girls got off of her to attack the senshi.
"Venus Love Me Chain!"
Through her half-closed eyes Mako saw five girls wrapped up helplessly in a glowing chain.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!"
Another group was stopped in their tracks as their feet froze to the floor. The rest stopped their advance. Sailor Mars walked up to Koko, one of the girls wrapped in Venus' glowing chain of energy. "I haven't used my powers yet. They all involve fire, and I'm afraid they would leave things here a little messy. I suggest you girls leave. I wouldn't want to leave behind a mess for the priest and miko of this shrine. Blood stains and scrambled brains are so hard to get out of the carpet, you know. But have not doubt, if you don't leave, I will be forced to take action." Mars' purple eyes seemed to catch fire as her anger kept building. "Are you going to leave, now?"
Koko's eyes were wide with fear, and her nostrils flared. A smell permeated the room that let Mako know more than a few of the girls had developed weak bladders in the last few seconds. Koko forced out a strangled "We'll leave." Mako could barely hear it over the sobs of frightened girls. With a gesture Venus dispelled her chain, and Mars, with a cry of "Fire Soul!" melted the ice around the girls' feet and demonstrated her power, in case Koko felt a sudden desire to go back on her word. With cries of released fear, all the girls ran out of the shrine as fast as their feet could carry them.
Mako sighed with relief to know her friends were safe. She saw a worried Mercury lean over her, but her eyes were too heavy to stay open, and her arm and rib throbbed with insistent pain. She heard a worried "Mako? Mako-chan?" faintly over the roaring in her ears, and with a sigh of surrender to pain and exhaustion, she fell into oblivion.
*****
Lita choked on tears as Mr. Huruta led her to his battered old car. She didn't see his looks of concern as he started it and drove out of the parking lot, toward wherever he lived. She only felt the pain of Usagi's death piercing her-hurting her worse than her broken rib or dislocated shoulder ever had. Hurting her more than anything else ever could. "Usagi-when you died, my heart died also," she whispered in barely audible Japanese.
But Mr. Huruta heard, understood, and wondered.