Gaijin

    Part 14

    Gia's bad day.

++++++++++++++++++++

    Gia Mizura was not happy. She wasn't upset really, but her home,
and most of her personal belongings had been destroyed in a massive
explosion that had basically turned every personal item she owned into
a tiny finely ground ash. She hung her head and sighed. Sitting across
from her was the person who had caused the disruption in her life. She
couldn't really blame him personally, but found herself slightly
irritated at him despite it all. That, and she now had cat hair all
over her office.

    The group had moved into Gia's clinic, about two blocks away from
the old apartment. Carrot and Mei Lin were sleeping on the small cots
that she had for emergency patients. She had never used them, but kept
them in case of a tsunami or an earthquake or something where her
services would be really needed in the neighborhood. She had a small
bedroll in her personal office that she had used when she needed to
finish something up late at night, and didn't feel like walking home.

    It had been a week since the incident. They were all eating
breakfast together, Carrot was glaring at the two women irritably,
probably cursing his luck at the prospect of now being forced to room
with the both of them. It was bad enough when he just had the Chinese
girl with him. That's what Gia thought the look meant, the fact that
she was right only made her frown a bit more. The kid was living most
teenage boy's wet dreams out practically. Staying together with two
attractive women? What boy wouldn't want that? Unfortunately, the one
boy in the world who didn't was sitting right in front of her. Not
that she would sleep with him anyway, but that was beside the point.

    She felt her anger rise a little when she thought about the time
he'd walked into the shower on her. The office had one in the
bathroom, meaning they didn't have to go out to the bathhouse anymore.
Gia never used it, because of the one she had here, but Carrot and Mei
Lin were regulars at the one across from the apartment. What galled
her was not the fact that the boy had walked in carelessly, but the
fact that he'd only paused for a moment to regard her as she stepped
out completely nude before turning away with a complete lack of
interest.

    "Sorry, didn't hear ya in here," were his exact words.

    "Carrot? Are you gay?" she blurted out suddenly.

    The boy in question sprayed his coffee across the table with wide
eyes. He started coughing, and Mei Lin had a sort of horrified
fascination in the conversation quite suddenly.

    "What?!!" he cried angrily.

    "I was just wondering," she said calmly as he leveled her gaze on
him. "I mean, you've seen me naked a couple of times through one mix
up or another, and I've never noticed much of a reaction. It's kind of
got me wondering."

    The boy calmed considerably and frowned at her. "No. I'm not.
Why?"

    "Well, it seemed like the simplest answer," she replied with a
small shrug.

    "I don't have time for interest in things like that. I'll worry
about finding a girlfriend and stuff when people stop trying to kill
me," he replied with a small shrug. He got a somewhat odd look on his
face for a moment at the closest memories he had to a sexual
relationship on the new world. Most of them involved Kei in some form;
he'd actually touched her. Spying on Mei Lin while she changed was
another, but he'd been more interested in her finishing up so he could
get back inside after a minute or so.

    "I didn't mean anything by it," replied Gia as she frowned at him.
"I was just curious, you're an odd boy."

    "Yeah, right," muttered Carrot. The boy failed to notice the
relieved look on Mei Lin's face as he continued to glare at Gia.

    "Well, I have a few appointments today, so you two are going to
have to stay out of the way," she said idly as she flipped through the
paper.

    "That cop hasn't tried to contact us yet either," noted Carrot
with a short nod. Luna was sitting in his lap sleeping soundly. Gia
had noticed the boy talking to the animal before, but dismissed it as
an odd sort of affection. Even though he did say some rather odd
things, he pet her regularly, and seemed to enjoy having her around
despite his attitude. He never called her by name, instead choosing
rather insulting nicknames, like Furball or Walking Hair Distributor.
Luna didn't seem to mind much, but Gia thought the animal would give
him a glare at a particularly nasty one occasionally. He seemed to be
keeping a rather close eye on the animal, much to Mei Lin's
disappointment. He was ignoring her in favor of the cat.

    The Chinese girl had asked him about that a few days ago, only to
receive a rather odd reply. "She's important. I've gotta get her back
to normal." Gia had overheard due to the cramped conditions, and
wondered if the animal had some sort of connection with his family or
his past. That would explain his unusual displays of affection towards
it.

    After breaking through that line of thought she remembered
Carrot's comment. "Actually, that explosion caused quite a mess. I've
been hearing a lot about it from my patients. I think he's got his
hands full, especially since he was there. They never found the body
of that ninja. I had a few uniforms stop by the other day while you
were out to ask me a few questions. I didn't have much information for
them of course, but I don't think he'll be able to do much else for a
few more days at least."

    The boy nodded and picked up a portion of the paper she wasn't
reading. Gia idly noticed it was the classifieds section. He was
looking through the apartments section lazily, sizing up the area
where they were located, and how run down they looked. He didn't want
a new place where people would ask a lot of questions, and he didn't
want something too run down either. He needed something similar to
what he had before, where no one would wonder about him, and he could
pay his rent without having to worry about filling out any forms.

    "Man, who could have known it'd be this hard to find a dump?" he
muttered irritably.

    "Dump?" muttered Mei Lin in confusion.

    "I can't stay in a nice place right now," he replied with a shrug.
"Too many questions, too many people around, I'm looking for something
cheap, run down, and out of the way."

    "I don't see how you're going to manage, you looked like you could
barely afford where we were before. How are you going to cover the
expenses of moving again?" said the doctor with her frown deepening.

    "I've got my ways," he replied calmly as he shifted the paper
again. He paused as something caught his eye on one of the small ads.
Mei Lin squeaked as the boy turned to look at her rather suddenly.
"Can you type?"

    "What?" said the girl dumbly.

    "Just answer the question," he replied with a small frown.

    "Yes, I'm pretty good. I used to keep up the finances at the
temple I used to live at back home. Sis wouldn't touch them, and the
old man hated them too..."

    "Great," said the boy as he grinned at her.

    "I don't like that smile," said Mei Lin as she stared at him
fearfully.

    "My contacts on the streets are pretty local, a few guys from
work, and I might be able to weasel some information out of some of
Spike's friends. I'm gonna need a bit more than that I think, but it's
enough for a start." He put the paper down. "Besides, you need to get
out on your own a bit too. Maybe then you'll stop whining about
'fighting evil' all the time."

    The girl frowned at him after he said that. "What's that supposed
to mean?"

    "What are you planning?" grumbled Gia.

    "We've got the whole day ahead of us, Mei Lin, you're going to
this address, and you're going to do as your told." He paused and
frowned at the ad for a moment. "Well, it's not till Tuesday. That's
good, I think I can do one better on this. I'll have to talk with
Spike about it though."

    Both women looked completely blank as he shoved the section into
his pocket and walked towards the room where he was staying. "I'm
going out for a little while."

    Gia frowned at this and sighed. "Great. I guess it's just you and
me then? I suppose you're going to play nurse again today."

    "Okay, but can I do it without the accent? I really hate that!"
cried the girl with a disgusted frown.

    "No, the customers love it. You make a cute foreign medical
student!" said the woman cheerfully.

    "Mei Lin not like stupid accent," grumbled the girl sourly. "Make
sound stupid."

    "Aw, you know you love it," said the woman as she stood up and
smiled at her captive for the day.

+++++++++++++++++

    Carrot smirked at Spike as the man stared at him dumbly. He was
sitting on top of a light pole with his legs hanging down casually.
"Hey. How ya been?"

    "What ya doin up dere?" said the large man as he stared at him.

    "Huh? Nuthin, I just need a little favor, nothing big though,"
said the boy cheerfully as he pushed himself off and landed in front
of him.

    "Okay, I guess. What cha need?"

    "I would like to meet someone who can set me up with a fake ID. A
good one, I want papers to back it up."

    "Huh? I thought you said..." muttered Spike dumbly.

    "It's not for me, it's for the girl I'm staying with. I need
someone who can basically get me anything I want."

    "Dat'll cost ya," replied Spike calmly.

    "I don't think I'll have a problem with that," replied the boy
calmly. "I'm more worried about how long it'll take. I kinda need em
by Tuesday."

    "Dat'll really cost ya," said Spike.

    "So? Just set me up with who I need to meet," replied the boy
casually.

+++++++++++++++++++++

    "Ah, so you must be Carrot," said the spindly looking old man who
had greeted the boy at his door. "They said you were young, but..."

    "Can you get me what I need?" asked Carrot calmly.

    "I don't think you can afford it boy," replied the old man calmly.
"Since Spike is an old friend, I allowed this meeting, but I'm
afraid..." He was cut off as the young boy slapped him in the face
with a rather large bundle of high mark bills.

    "Stop insulting me, I didn't come here to be patronized," he said
as he walked by the old man and into the room. "Tell me what you need
to get this done. A young Chinese woman in her late teens." He shoved
the newspaper he'd taken from the old man into his chest.

    The man blinked at this, he had looked angry at the display, but
now his face was a cool grin. "This shouldn't be too hard. I'll need a
photo, a headshot, preferably with the subject not in the best
condition. A valid contact number, and a little information about
birthmarks and such."

    "I'll get it done," replied Carrot with a small shrug. "How much
is this going to cost me?"

    "Considering you slapped me with a wad of money? About a hundred
thousand yen. You can pay me after the job is done."

    Carrot snorted. "I just wanted you to shut up. I don't have time
to pretend I like you. I've got things I need to be doing myself
today."

    "Yes, I know.  I would have charged you twice that much if you
hadn't," said the old man cheerfully.

    Carrot nodded and turned away from him carelessly, walking out the
door without another word.

    "That boy, I get the feeling he'll be a very strong man, that is
if he lives that long," said the old man as he shook his head and
moved back to sit down to start work on another project. When he
looked up again, he realized that about two hours had gone by. He'd
just finished his work and was about to grab something to eat when
something caught his eye.

    It was a small envelope. He arched his eyebrow and picked it up.
With a slight frown he opened it and smirked to himself. "Well, it
seems I might have underestimated that boy." It was the photo he'd
asked for. It was actually a strip of them, they looked like they had
been taken at one of those instant photo booths, but there was a
height line on the back of the wall like those that an official photo
might have. Her personal information was also available, along with a
copy of her original birth certificate. It looked like it had been
faxed over from China. That would make things easier as well, might
broaden his market a bit also. He had never gotten his hands on a
Chinese Birth Certificate before. He had a few passports though, and
could read the language. He'd done some work for the Triads before
while they were in the country. Usually as a personal requests from
his employers. He flipped it over and grinned, "Both sides? Well, I
might have to knock about ten thousand off the price for this." He
chuckled at his private joke and shuffled back to his workstation.
"Knock some of the price off indeed, I kill me sometimes."

++++++++++++++++++++

    Kajura frowned at the massive pile of paperwork on his desk.
Fortunately, most of it was now completed; there was still a hefty
amount on the unfinished pile as well though. "Shit. Damn kid," he
grumbled to himself as he shuffled around through it.

"Whoa, are you ever backlogged," said a tall man in a light brown
trench coat who strolled into his office. He had short cut black hair
and brown eyes. A cigarette hung from his lips unlit, but otherwise he
looked completely straight edge and clean-.

    The larger man grumbled irritably and glared at him. "Don't you
have better things to do Saito?"

    "Not really, no. I didn't blow up a building a few days ago,"
replied the man with a small shrug. His grin told Kajura that he meant
it in good humor though, causing the man to snort roughly.

    "Look, I'd love to stay and chat with you, but I've got an
interesting new lead that I haven't been able to tap yet. I've also
got a condemned crime scene with no less than thirty people screaming
at me to let them move back into, and to top it off, the assailant's
body is gone. It's probably lining the blackened walls of that place,
but forensics is too blind and dumb to find their own asses with both
hand's and a flashlight."

    "Ouch. You shouldn't say that about the old man, you know he lost
his arm," said Saito somberly.

    "Years ago, and he has a better sense of humor about it than you
do," countered Kajura.

    "Ouch," replied the man with a small shrug. "Well, I'm off to the
donut shop. Gotta get fat and drink coffee like the Americans do.
Maybe then we'll get funded as well as they do."

    "Right," grumbled Kajura irritably. "Get lost. I've got work to
do."

    "Whatever," muttered Saito as he walked out and put a fedora over
his head as he strolled towards the exit.

++++++++++++++++

    Zocite smirked to himself as he listened to the screams coming
from a nearby room. The door was closed, but the large gothic hallway
amplified the sound slightly. They were high pitched and horrible, but
begged no mercy.

    "Soon, he'll be ready, but not just yet," chuckled the general too
himself.

    "Zocite, before me!" commanded a voice in the back of his mind.

    The man frowned slightly at this, but turned to walk down the
hallway.

    Several moments later, he strolled into the massive throne room.
Beryl stood over her crystal ball, peering into it. He bowed before
her deeply going to his knees as he did so. "What is your command?"

    "You have been idle as of late," said the dark queen coldly.

    "I am working on a special surprise for our friends," replied the
man calmly.

    "And your search for the Silver Imperium Crystal?" she said as she
snarled at him.

    "It goes on as always," he said placidly. "I will find it."

    "You had better," she replied sourly as she glared at him.

    "I overheard the boy say something about Rainbow Crystals?" said
the man as he frowned slightly.

    "The crystal says nothing of these crystals, or how they would aid
us in our plans. I do not think they exist," she replied after a
moment of thought. "In any case, see if you can find out more."

    "He still refuses to join us," said the man calmly.

    "So be it, he will be destroyed. He was to be anyway, once the
Senshi were out of the way. Find out what he knows, and destroy him."

    "I have something that should do, but it will be a little while
before it is ready. Until then, I suggest that we keep spying on him,
he may lead us to something interesting if left on his own for a
time."

    Beryl eyed him coldly for a moment, not speaking. She narrowed her
eyes at him and he felt a cold lump form in his throat. A light sweat
started to form on his brow as she watched him.

    "Very well, we shall see if anything comes of this," she replied
icily. "You had better hope something does Zocite." She glanced over
at Jadeites prison and her frown faded slightly.

    "He is idle at the moment, but I doubt if he will remain that
way."

    "Go, find me that crystal. Once we have it, none of this will
matter," she said as she pointed towards the doors.

    Zocite bowed his head and rose from his knees. He turned away from
her and walked out the great doorway and into the halls.

    Kunzite was waiting for him with a frown on his face. "She grows
impatient."

    "She is always impatient," replied Zocite calmly. "She is easily
distracted though, we can use that to buy ourselves more time if need
be."

    "It's dangerous to toy with her that way," said Kunzite as he
narrowed his eyes at the man.

    "I know, but she leaves us little choice. Her tactics are
simplistic, and her impatience juvenile. We must treat her like the
spoiled child she is if we are to win."

    "Tread carefully Zocite," said Kunzite as he turned away from the
man and walked down the hall on his own.

    Zocite nodded and closed his eyes to think as he walked. He knew
the hallways well enough to do so, and they were empty anyway. Slowly
he drew near to the screams again and they floated through the hallway
easing his mind a little. "This one has a strong will, once I am
finished, he may be enough on his own."

++++++++++++++++++++++

    Carrot sailed through the air, his hand clenched tight around the
wire in his grasp as he swung through the streets of Tokyo. It was
quiet, a back street with little light, leaving his silhouette in the
moonlight as the only sign of his passing. Flipping through the air
while retracting his wire, he landed on a low rooftop and crouched on
the edge, looking out into the street.

    "Looks like things are quiet," he commented to himself. The Senshi
were all doing their usual thing from the look of it. Ami, Makoto, and
Minako were all still in their homes. He had passed them on his route
and spied through their windows. Artemis had almost spotted him, but
he knew it was best to avoid the Moon Cat. Luna had been able to
identify him by his scent, he didn't know if Artemis had been close
enough to him to do the same.

    There was still no change in Usagi though from what he had been
able to gather. That was most unfortunate for him, meaning he had to
continue to do as he had been. His Spiderman costume had survived the
explosion mostly intact. He had been wearing the pants and shirt under
his clothes when the attack had occurred. The gloves, mask, and boot
were easily replaced the next day. He had taken to wearing clothing
loose enough that the body armor didn't show through, and it was still
cool enough that the weather didn't make it too warm to wear under his
clothes.

    He narrowed his eyes at the sound of gravel crunching under a hard
shoe behind him.  "You'll never be able to sneak around in those shoes
very well," he commented in English.

    "I've heard about you, I also hear that you can understand
Japanese," replied Mamoru as he seemed to melt from the shadows.

    "I sound stupid when I speak it, most of the people I run into
understand English well enough anyway," replied Carrot as he turned to
face the newcomer.

    "Who are you?" asked Mamoru as he narrowed his eyes at the man
crouching before him.

    "Just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman," replied the boy
casually.

    "I've never heard of you before," said the tuxedo-clad boy calmly.


    "Well, I try not to be noticed," replied the boy with a small
shrug. "Did you want something?"

    "I want you to stay away from the Sailor Senshi," replied Mamoru
coolly.

    Carrot snorted at this, he bit back his pedophile comment, not
wanting the man to associate him with his alter ego. "You need all the
help you can get. Looks like your leader is disabled."

    Mamoru blinked at this. "What?"

    "The girl who can't talk," offered Spiderman.

    "What do you know about that?" snapped Mamoru.

    "Only what I've overheard, she seems to have lost her powers. The
media makes her out to be the ringleader. I'm guessing really." It was
a pretty good lie to think up on such short notice. The mask also hid
any possible indication that it was one from view. "I'm sure you've
noticed me pulling their butts' out of the fire once or twice. I've
seen you hanging around. Figured you were a fan or something."

    "I'm not! I'm..." Mamoru paused. What was he to the Senshi?

    "You don't look too sure of that," said Carrot calmly as he turned
to look out over the rooftops again.

    "I know they have some connection to my past. You, I'm sure you
don't. You're not involved with this."

    Carrot turned his head back to look at the boy for a moment. "I
suppose not, but you're not really dumb enough to turn down perfectly
good help at this point are you? Your fight isn't going to well right
now, and I'm more interested in killing those monsters than I am in
whatever it is you're involved in."

    "What are you supposed to be anyway? Some kind of ninja?" snorted
Mamoru.

    "I'm a superhero of course. What are you? Some kind of prom date?"

    "Prom?" muttered Mamoru in confusion.

"Never mind, it's an American thing," said Carrot with a small sigh.
"In any case, I'm better equipped to deal with this sort of thing than
some guy in formal wear."

    The boy wasn't sure if he'd really been insulted or not, and
decided to let it pass. "I've got my own reasons for doing this."

    "Good. I don't care about them," replied Carrot as he stood up and
glanced back over his shoulder. "You do your thing, and I'll do mine."

    "Superhero?" grumbled Mamoru as the man jumped off the ledge and
swung away. "What a loon." He paused and looked down at the way he was
dressed and blushed a little. "Well, at least I'm not that bad."

++++++++++++++++++++++

    Kei frowned as she strolled back and fourth on the top of the
roof. Below her was the building where the Oyabun's office was held.
"Damn," she grumbled as she looked up at the moon. She'd been unable
to locate her target after Hikyu blew up his house. The man died doing
it as well, forcing the boy to become more cautious than ever. She had
known where he was staying all along. The boy had a nasty habit of
escaping, and becoming stronger than ever afterwards. So she had left
him be at that place, knowing that she'd be able to find him in the
general area around there at one point or another. It was just a
matter of patience, and if she failed, another opportunity would
present itself sooner or later. Now she had to find out where he had
gone from there, and start the mess all over again.

    She'd discovered his newfound ability to be quite irritating.
Swinging around like he did now made him a harder target than ever
before, and gave him a much wider range of maneuverability. He was
almost supernatural in his ability to dodge in the air, but was a
little easier to deal with on the ground. He was getting faster,
stronger, and more cautious with each failed attempt. She still wasn't
sure how he had managed to elude the sniper the Oyabun had sent after
him.

    Fortunately, she had a new toy to play with now. She was still a
little rough, but her skill was improving all the time. It would make
dealing with him much easier in the future though. The change of
clothes wasn't too bad either. Unfortunately, the Oyabun had taken
notice of the new outfit, and decided it was sexy. She'd spent the
better part of the evening working that out of his system. Still, in
the end, it wasn't a bad deal. He looked at it as a gift to her.

    She was wearing a tight black leather outfit now with low heels.
It was almost a complete bodysuit, with a red scarf tied around the
bottom of her face. The bodysuit had dozens of zippers all around it,
from her shoulders to the sides of her calves. Her short cut brown
hair blew in the wind as she looked out over the city below her. A low
growl escaped her lips as she thought about how the insensitive prick
always failed to use lube when he sated himself with her. She was
going to be sore for a few days now.

    A gasp escaped her lips as she stared down into the streets. A
tiny figure moved below her, it was moving incredibly fast, and seemed
to be bouncing between the buildings below like a ping pong ball.
"It's him!" she muttered under her breath as she rushed up to the side
of the building. The knife was in its scabbard at her side and she
checked to make sure it was secure for a moment. She put her hands
down to her sides, hearing an audible click as the metal clasps on her
wrists clipped onto something securely. With a wide grin, she spread
her arms revealing  two wing-like protrusions from her wrists. A black
membrane of a much more durable fabric than her outfit was composed of
went from the tips of the wings to her hips. She chuckled as she dove
off the side of the building. She could feel the tug of the complex
net of wires that kept her arms and wings stable inside the cloth
tugged under the force. With a slight effort, she shifted her
position, and felt her momentum change sharply.

    "I have you now," she said as she grinned and sailed through the
air after her target.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Ami Mizuno frowned as she stared at the faces inside her compact
like communicator. She idly wondered what her phone bill would look
like if they were charged for these calls. Unfortunately, being long
lost technology, they weren't charged a single yen. The conversation
was starting to grate on her nerves though.

    "What are we supposed to do? Usagi can't use her powers anymore!"
said Makoto lamely.

    "We have to figure out a way!" said Minako with a sort of sad nod.

    "Why? She always held us back before," replied Rei as if it was
perfectly rational.

    "She's one of us!" snapped Makoto irritably.

    "Not anymore," was Rei's stone-faced reply.

    "Rei! How could you say something like that?!" cried Minako in
shock.

    Rei looked slightly upset at her own words for a moment. "That's
not what I meant!"

    "What did you mean then?" asked Ami calmly. She'd been mediating
this discussion for some time now.

    "I meant that we can't bring her along. I know it will hurt her
feelings, but it's too dangerous for her to be out with us, especially
without her powers!"

    Rei had been somewhat irritable as of late, without Usagi to vent
a lot of her frustrations on, the girl was growing somewhat tense. The
pair fought a lot, but they were obviously important to each other.
Rei was growing more and more uncomfortable around the silent Usagi.

    The blonde wanted her life to go on as it had before she lost her
ability to speak. She could whisper, but usually only a few words or
phrases before her throat became too sore for her to continue. It
wasn't getting any better, or easier for her to speak that way either.
So the girl remained silent unless she felt something was important
enough to voice.

    Ami sighed at this. Usagi was actually much smarter than she had
seemed, when her speech was limited, she was actually pretty
insightful and intelligent. Instead of babbling on and on as before,
she was pretty much to the point in her speech. This new Usagi had
gained the respect of a lot of the teachers who used to see her as a
bubbleheaded idiot. Ami didn't really understand, she didn't pay
attention any more than she had before. She seemed quite pleased at
times with losing her ability to be called upon to answer questions
that weren't written up on the board. When she couldn't just blurt out
whatever happened to be on her mind at the time, she tended to only
say something when she thought she had too, which made her seem much
more intelligent.

    "Usagi is important though. Luna said so," said Makoto as she
frowned at Rei.

    "Luna isn't here now," said Minako with her head hung a little.

    "That isn't making this any easier on Usagi either. We have to be
careful about how we do this. I agree that it's too dangerous to do
with her anymore, at least for now," replied Makoto.

    "She's right. Usagi can't come with us any longer. I'm not sure if
she'll understand why though," muttered Ami.

    "Well, we'll just have to make her understand then!" snapped Rei.

    "It might not be that simple. She'll be crushed, you know she
feels bad enough not being able to help," said Makoto angrily.

    "She feels she has to be there for us," said Ami.

    "Doesn't she realize that she could be hurt?" said Minako glumly.

    "Yes, and she knows that we can be hurt as well," said Rei calmly.


    Ami sighed. "She can still come to meetings."

    Rei's face flashed with something unreadable, but Ami cut her off
before she could speak.

    "She's still one of us. She should be there, until she decides
that she's not needed anymore."

    "What do you mean not needed?" snapped Makoto.

    "We have to face the facts, Usagi can't become Sailor Moon
anymore. Luna is gone, probably not coming back either. Maybe the
enemy got her, maybe she had an accident, and maybe she's off
searching for a cure. Who knows? Fact is, we need to be ready, because
we have no way of knowing if Usagi can become Sailor Moon or not
again." Rei frowned as she said this and glared at the rest of the
girls. "If it goes on long enough, she'll decide on her own that she's
not being of any use, and leave."

    "I doubt it," grumbled Makoto.

    "I think Makoto is right, she'll likely sit in on all our
meetings, if only to know what's going on," agreed Ami.

    "If that's what she chooses," said Rei with a small shrug.

    "How is the search going Minako?" asked Ami in an attempt to
quickly change the subject.

    The girl gave her a somewhat confused look, and didn't seem to
realize what Ami was doing. Makoto and Rei looked annoyed for a
moment, but it passed very quickly.

    "Artemis still goes out every night, but we haven't been able to
find any trace of her. We've checked the area around Usagi's house, he
can still smell her there, but..."

    "But what?" said Makoto with a slightly impatient frown.

    "He says there's no trail. It could have faded, we don't really
know how long she's been gone for exactly. It might have taken Usagi a
day or two to notice, and by then, it would have gone cold anyway."

    The rest of the senshi nodded at this.

+++++++++++++++++

    Artemis was cold, wet, and miserable. He pressed on anyway though,
pushing through back alleys and streets in search of his companion. "I
won't give up. I'll find you, even if it's just your..." He couldn't
bring himself to finish. He didn't want to be alone, the last of his
kind. She could still be out there somewhere; he had hope still.

    He sloshed through another puddle from a shower that had occurred
earlier and noticed a box that was turned on its side. With a slight
shiver, he walked over to it and sat down inside to rest for a moment
or two. "Damn it. Where did you go? What am I gonna do? I can't do
this alone!" He shivered silently for a moment, out of emotion or the
cold, even he could never be sure.

+++++++++++++++++++++

    Meanwhile, on the other side of town...

    Luna sat in the back of the clinic staring out the window. It
looked really chilly out there, and she was glad she was indoors. The
humans were relatively laid back at this point. She laid down and
watched them curiously.

    The two females were sitting at the table, watching a small
television together. The show was pretty interesting, she'd caught a
few glimpses of it from time to time. She idly wondered if there was a
show like that for cats. She quickly pushed the thought aside, cats
couldn't talk, so it would be hard to do really.

    Could they?

    She mulled over it for a moment. She couldn't remember much beyond
the day the boy who kept calling her names had brought her home with
him. Surely that was normal, besides, she knew a lot of things. Humans
were easy to manipulate, and she had him trained to massage her on
command after all. He wasn't that bad looking for a human either, not
that she was into that sort of thing. She could tell he was sort of
roguishly handsome, if somewhat grouchy. She rolled onto her back and
watched the screen upside down for a few minutes.

    She wondered how long until the boy returned. Glancing up at the
clock she realized that it was getting close to feeding time. "I hope
he gives me the seafood flavor..." she muttered to herself, not even
realizing that the sound had come out of her mouth rather than just
being a stray thought.

    Neither of the girls noticed either, as they were engrossed in
their soap opera.

    Luna stretched out her claws and yawned, rolling onto her side to
peer out the window. The neighbors tomcat was outside, yowling at her.
She knew she was in heat, but the man had no manners at all. "Get
lost, you pathetic disgusting pervert. I'm not that easy." She thought
to herself as she narrowed her eyes at him.

    The tom continued to yowl despite this and began to walk in
circles around the yard. He started to spray the area shamelessly and
Luna blushed. "What is he?" She seemed to realize it all at once.
"Stop that! That's disgusting! Have you no manners at all!?"

    She paused and turned to look at the two humans. Both of them were
looking at her with wide eyes.

    Mei Lin blinked.

    Gia blinked.

    Luna blinked.

    "Did you just say something?" asked Mei Lin as she turned towards
Gia.

    "Um. No," replied the woman as she stared at the younger girl for
a moment. "Did you?"

    "Did you?" asked Gia as she looked at the animal for a moment.

    "Um...I think so?" said Luna in confusion.

    "AAAAAAAHHHHH! It talks!" cried Gia as she promptly passed out.
She hit the floor after sliding from her chair.

    "Wow!" cried Mei Lin cheerfully. "Boy, Carrot said you were
special, but I didn't think he meant something cool like this!"

    "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! I can talk!" cried Luna as she passed out as
well.

    "Okay. That was just weird," muttered the girl as she looked back
and fourth at the pair for a moment. "Great. I guess I gotta go help
them." She spent a moment trying to decide who to aid first. In the
end, she decided to help Gia, because Luna slept there anyway, so it
probably wasn't too uncomfortable for her.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Carrot pivoted in the air in a rather acrobatic display. He was
feeling pretty good at the moment, and was showing off as he swung
through the air. He performed flips and rolls as he went into free
fall for a second or so between throwing lines out, turning himself in
midair sometimes by moving his arms and legs into different positions
creating a sort of air foil. "I should think about adding something I
can use as a foil to this..." he thought to himself as he did so. It
was difficult to change direction in mid air, and he could only do it
very slightly, but with a foil, it would be much easier. Something a
simple as a short cape would be enough really. The problem was how to
do it so he didn't look even dumber than he did now.

    As he contemplated this, a tingling sensation formed on his back.
"Hey, that's..." His eyes went wide as he sent out a wire and pulled
hard as it planted itself. He jerked to the side suddenly, and a black
blur of motion sailed by him at a high speed. "What the hell?" he
cried in shock as he hit the wall and stood on the side as if he was
climbing up the line. His skill had improved, and he tended to not
slam into walls any longer. He blinked as he searched around for the
thing that had buzzed him. "Another damn youma?"  The tingling started
again, along his back and he was forced to slide down the line a few
feet. The black blur shot just over him, where he had been hanging
before. He saw a flash of metal as one of the wings moved, swiping at
where he had been before.

    "Damn!" he grumbled angrily. He kept his eyes on it this time,
watching as it sailed almost straight up. After a moment, its ascent
faltered and it turned down into a nosedive. It pulled its wings to
its side as it fell. "Another damn youma, I knew it," grumbled Carrot
as he pushed himself off the wall and prepared to swing as it closed
in on him.

    "I've got you now!" cried the thing in an angry feminine voice.

    Carrot cursed as he pushed off the wall forcibly. A shower of
sparks flew from the wall where he had been as the thing sailed
between him and the wall, slashing at it with the wing again. He
pushed forward swinging away from the area.

    The tingle formed again and he let go of the line, spinning into a
flip in mid air, he narrowly missed the thing as it flew under him,
slashing at his former position. He reacted quickly, kicking both his
feet down and slamming his heels into the thing's back. It lurched in
the air and he pushed himself higher before letting loose with another
line. The thing didn't fall, but narrowly missed slamming into one of
the nearby buildings. He heard a muttered curse as it came within
inches of the brick.

    Changing his direction he pulled his line back into his sleeve and
landed on a rooftop. The tingling sensation started again and he
dropped to his stomach. A rush of air passed over him with a
distinctive slashing noise. He rolled onto his back and saw the thing
climbing higher into the air again just above him. It was turning
around after the missed strike and coming back for another pass by
basically performing a loop.

    "Son of a bitch," he grumbled as he glared at it as it leveled off
and moved straight for him. Thinking quickly, he turned and started
running, with a gasp of breath, he jumped off the side of the roof and
landed on the one next to it. The thing in the air blasted by him,
missing him by mere inches as he suddenly went downward as the rooftop
ended. Ahead of him was a large mass of rooftops that were about the
same size. With a quick glance upward he noted its position. Not a
very easy thing to do even considering there was a full moon out.
Whatever it was, it was black, and blended in with the night sky
pretty easily. It was moving towards him again, he started running,
moving between the vents and chimneys that protruded from the tops of
the buildings.

    As he ran, the thing buzzed him a few times, but he was able to
keep a few of the obstacles between himself and the youma, preventing
a direct attack.

    Unfortunately, he was running out of roof. The edge was coming
dangerously close. There was a wooded area ahead and he frowned. "I
bet it'll be easier to lose this asshole in there."

    Almost in response to this, a tingling sensation started on his
head and shoulders. With a quick jerk, he jumped back and gasped as
the gravel in front of him suddenly became covered in a mass of
throwing stars.

    "What the?" he muttered to himself dumbly. "A youma ninja?! This
is fuckin nuts!" He dodged another barrage and cursed as he jumped to
the next rooftop. Within moments he found himself dodging around
anywhere from one to five of the deadly weapons at a time as he dashed
for the wooded area ahead. As he got closer, he realized it was a park
of some kind and not very large. It was almost completely covered by
trees though. He steeled himself as he jumped off the last rooftop and
jumped into the forest sending out a line to swing on.

    The black flying creature blasted in after him, performing a
barrel roll as it passed between two particularly close together tree
trunks. It dipped slightly because of the maneuver and came close to
the ground. It found enough lift to raise itself higher though because
of it's momentum and saw it's target standing on top of a nearby tree
branch.

    "I'll only get one pass at this!" she thought to herself as she
narrowed her eyes at her target. "Too much here to turn around..."

    Carrot was glad he was wearing the mask as the thing shot towards
him. It couldn't see the smile on his face. As soon as it committed to
its path, he simply jumped down to the ground. Just behind where he
had been standing, a thick tree branch came into view.

    Carrot chuckled as he heard the 'Oh! Shit!' and stepped back to
wait.

    The creature managed to pull itself upright and slow itself down
some with its impressive wingspan, but not quite enough. It slammed
into the branch painfully and slumped to the ground.

    Carrot chuckled as he strolled over to the downed youma and
blinked as she rolled onto her back. "KEI?!!"

    The girl groaned painfully and sat up, she held her head and
slowly rose to her feet. "Damn. Bastard, I'll get him for this."

    Carrot was standing about eight feet away from her, his pose told
her that he was probably surprised to see her. "Well, hello there,"
she said as she held her knife forward. With a quick flick of both her
wrists, the wings on her wrists were undone and snapped back into
their places at her sides. The boy said the only thing he could. "Nice
outfit."

    Kei grinned at this, it was very form fitting, and the boy could
probably count the throwing weapons that were hidden in her various
pockets. He could probably tell how many points the stars had on them.
"Thank you. I had it made just for you."

    The boy moved into an unfamiliar combat stance. He crouched low
with his feet spread apart, one of his arms was above his head in a
fist, and the other was hanging loosely below him with his hand open.
"You really shouldn't have."

    "You don't appreciate anything I do for you, do you?" replied the
girl snidely.

    "Well, trying to kill people tends to do that," he replied calmly.
Neither one of them had really moved. Kei was trying to figure out
this style, and he was waiting patiently for her to move. "Kinda blows
any chance you might have at dating em too."

    "You would know," replied the girl calmly as she put her knife
away.

    Carrot was slightly surprised at this, but didn't show it.

    "I can't move right now, not well enough to beat you, and you
won't kill me." The girl grinned at him. "We'll finish this later."
She slowly turned away from him and put her arm across her stomach as
she started to stagger off.

    "If you think I'm going to try and help you, you're sadly
mistaken," replied the boy to this. "I wouldn't have bat an eye if
that tree branch had killed you Kei."

    The girl whirled around, throwing a few dozen stars at him. "You
seemed like the type to fall for that too..." she said out loud. Her
voice trailed off as she realized that the space where her target had
been sitting was now empty. She scrunched up her face in irritation.
"Damn it! How the hell does he do that? Not even my mother can sneak
away like that!" She fumed for a moment and glanced around, it was
obvious that she wouldn't find him though. She growled in frustration
and jumped into the shadows.

+++++++++++++++

    Carrot frowned as the girl faded from view below him. He was
relieved that she'd given up for the evening, but wasn't dumb enough
to try and move just yet. She was probably hanging around somewhere
nearby, hoping to catch him when he emerged from his hiding place. He
would sit around for a time, and then sneak away. After a while, she'd
assume that he'd slipped off on his own, and he wouldn't have to be
quite so cautious about leaving.

    With a heavy sigh he tried to relax a bit.

++++++++++++++++++++++

    Carrot came home and stared down at Mei Lin. The girl was sitting
over Gia with a cold cloth in her hand.

    "What's with her?" muttered the boy as he stared at the woman.

    "Um. You didn't tell me Luna could talk," said the girl as she
glanced at the animal.

    The cat was sitting nearby, her fur was standing on end and she
looked somewhat upset. Her tail was swishing back and fourth
violently.

    "You didn't ask," replied the boy with a small shrug.

    Luna looked up at him. "You knew?" Her eyes were wide and her jaw
was hanging down dumbly.

    "Course I knew. Why do ya think I kept teasing you? I was hoping
you'd get mad and yell at me or somethin."

    The cat simply stared at him for a moment and then looked at the
floor.

    "How much do you remember anyway?" said the boy hopefully.

    "I can talk!" cried the cat as she stared at him again.

    "Yeah. Great. How much," said Carrot.

    "But...I can talk!" cried Luna again.

    Carrot sighed. "In a day or two, I'll wish you hadn't. Come on, I
need to know how much you remember. It's important."

    "Remember? Remember what? I can talk damn it!" cried the cat.

    "Well, this isn't going to do me much good," muttered the boy with
a heavy sigh.

    "What happened to you?" said Mei Lin as she noticed a few cuts in
the boy's clothes.

    "Ah, it was a slow night," replied Carrot as he tugged at it.

    "I can see that," noted Mei Lin. "You don't even need stitches
this time."

    "Yeah, one of those crazy ninjas learned to fly or something. I
can tell that's gonna be a pain in the ass," he commented as he stood
up and left Luna to her thoughts.

    "I...can talk?" muttered the cat to itself in a sort of awe.

    Carrot came out of the bathroom with a towel over his shoulder and
a toothbrush in his mouth. "Big deal, so can I," he replied before
going back about his business.

++++++++++++++++++++++

    It was Tuesday morning, Carrot had shoved her out of the house
with an envelope, and had told her to follow the instructions. She was
sitting behind a desk with a computer in front of her. "Um. What am I
doing again?" The man with her had long hair tied into a ponytail, his
face was unshaven, and he wore a pair of thin-framed glasses. His tie
was hanging loosely around his neck, and the first few buttons on his
shirt were undone. It was obvious that he'd been there a while.

    The man who stood over her frowned at the display; she was
supposedly twenty, but she looked to be about fifteen years old. To
top it off, she was a complete airhead. "Look, it's not that hard. You
get coffee, you run a few documents through the spell checker, and you
run errands for us. You're an intern for Christ's sake."

    "Oh," said the girl obliviously. She glanced around the room,
there were dozens of desks, most of them occupied. She'd come in and
talked with a nice old man who kept staring at her legs, handed him
the package, and he'd told her that she had a job. The man he'd sent
with her to show her around didn't look to pleased about it though.

    "Um, Mr. Yamada?"

    "What is it?" snapped the man as he glared at her.

    "This list you gave me says to make coffee?" she said as she
peered at it.

    "Yeah? So?" muttered the man as he glowered at her.

    "Um...how do I do that?" asked the girl lamely.

    "It's a coffee machine, it's not that hard," he said irritably.

    "I've never seen one of these before," muttered the girl as she
stared at Mr. Coffee.

    "You've never made coffee before?" said the man in disbelief.

"No, grandpa likes tea, and Sis always made her own. She used to use a
coffee pot too."

    The man slapped himself on the face. "Why me?"

    "I'm really confused. I'm not even sure how I got this job," said
the girl as she stared at him.

    "I've got a pretty good idea," said Yamada irritably. "Stupid
pedophile old freak," he grumbled under his breath as he turned the
machine around. "There are instructions printed right here. "It's not
that hard, all right?" He patted her on the head and walked away.

    "Oh dear," grumbled the girl as she stared at the directions for a
moment. "But...this is English...I don't speak English..." There were
pictures though and she thought she had the right idea, at least she
hoped so.

+++++++++++++++++++

    So began Mei Lin's first day on the job at the Tokyo Sun. She
wasn't even sure why she was there, but Carrot mentioned that it would
work out somehow. She supposed she'd just have to trust him for the
moment.

    All the while, in the editor's office. A fat old man grinned to
himself cheerfully as he plotted on how to get inside the new girl's
pants. She seemed so cheerful, it probably wouldn't take long.

    Yamada cursed under his breath as he walked by. Hating the gods,
hating his miserable job, and most of all, hating whoever had sent the
irritating teen to work there. Naturally, the old fool Kanzaki had
though he'd be the best one to show her the ropes. What with him being
the most experienced reporter and all. He needed a drink, and he
needed it now. He shuffled towards the elevator to the bottom floor
and hoped that it wouldn't take him too long to get a taxi.

    He looked at the mug in his hand and sighed as he waited for the
elevator to come down. With a heavy sigh he sipped at the hot liquid
the girl had made. She couldn't do anything else right, so she had to
be good at making coffee.

    In an instant, his eyes became wide and bloodshot. Coffee sprayed
onto the wall as he blew the liquid out reflexively. It was the worst
coffee, he had ever tasted. He coughed loudly gagging on crunchy balls
of grit that had somehow found their way into the drink. "I hate my
life." He muttered as the door opened and he saw the shoes of the
paper's owner as the man watched him lean over looking horribly sick.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Carrot smirked to himself, he had little doubt that Mei Lin would
be able to land a job. Not because of the resume he'd given her, or
even the false ID. It was because of the way his life had been going
lately. Something like this would fit in perfectly. She had a job now,
which meant that she could not only gather information from one of the
best sources for things like that, but also she'd be out of his hair
for a few hours a day at least.

    Unfortunately, he also knew that Kajura would be calling soon, and
that meant that he'd have to come up with something. He grimaced at
the thought, it would probably hurt a lot, he'd get beaten up, and
probably have a few people try to cut him into little pieces. However,
he had little choice this time, at least he was pretty sure he'd come
out of it all right in the end. He hoped so anyway.

+++++++++++++++

    TBC...

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