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

(temple.) 
	A single flash of light was all the warning I got before a set of claws
tore into the wood under me showering splinters as the porch caved in
under the force. I was already gone by that time, dodging onto the stone
courtyard. Hmm. this is the first time I've seen a werewolf, especially
one who fights on holy ground. A smile lit my face as I picked out a
splinter from my cheek. Time to try out my new powers. 
	"Good afternoon my dear sir, are you here to make an offering to the
temple? Or perhaps an excercism? I'm not the priest but I could direct
you to her." I said, dodging his sudden charge. 'hmm. Precognition
worked fine or was that just reflexes?'
	"Oh perhaps you would like to tell me about your problem." I said
running the opposite direction and dodging his swipes, my back turned to
him. 'Ok. It was precognition. That would explain allot. Now
clairvoyance.' I thought as the girls rushed out of the room.  "Hey Rei!
Wand, Charms, in the center of the courtyard!" I called as I ducked yet
another few swipes at my head. Leaping back, I got out of range as he
snapped the air before me. I had to duck yet again as his clawed hand
flew overhead. Coming back up with an uppercut, I barely fazed him.
Blood flowed from the tongue as he howled in renewed anger. 
 	Seeing her take out the tings and tow them in the air, I lured him to
the corner of the courtyard and leaped over his swing, kicking him in
the eyes as I flew over. He roared in anger, staggering backwards as I
landed and rolled, coming up with the items I requested. 'Now for
clairvoyance' 

"Spirits of the heavens above, gods who know the land."
"Help me freeze this creature that I may free the man." 

	With that, I tossed the charms into the air, and leapt away, feeling
the breeze of his claws as it flashed just inches from my throat.
Surprisingly, the charms stuck to him, as he passed through them and
locked him in position. Frozen for all but for those baleful eyes. 'Hey
clairvoyance worked! Second phrase.' 

	I stood still and knelt with one knee to the ground. The wand before
me, my head bowed down as I focused, words came to my mouth.

"Spirits of the heaven and earth, listen a little, listen first.
a single man may do no wrong, yet we may never sing his song. 
I say to you I know not true but I must now implore you. 
Free this man from his curse, from upbringing of the worst, 
he did not choose to be born bad but what was fate that is sad. 
A single person should have his choice and speak with his true voice. 
I implore you for a second chance let this man sing and let him dance. 
Now your soul let it come ahead, and answer the gods and the choice will
be made.
NOWWWWW!" I shouted, swinging the paper whip through the air. 

	Light shone forth from the ground around the yoma, a single circle of
crystal clarity. Rock posts sprung forth from the ground around him as
soft chanting could be heard coming from the ground. A small wind rose
around me as I stood still, awaiting the powers to be complete. Dried
leaves from the underbrush around the temple flew into the courtyard,
forming a circle around the circle. The chanting increased as I realized
something. There was no one single language. It was a symphony of
different languages and a mix of different religions. hmm.. Perhaps I
shouldn't have said 'gods who know the land.'

*dear god our heavenly father, give us our.* "Oh;mi tuo fo,"[god of the
sky we revere you] {Allah we pledge ourselves}ect ect. 

	The chanting rose to a crescendo and suddenly stopped as the circle
flared with blinding white light. A pile of clothes sat within the
circle. The leaves and the stone posts were gone. Nothing was different
within the courtyard than the set of clothes lying in the center of it. 
	Scratching my head, I looked around. Moving to the clothes, I squatted
down to pick it up when something leapt out, knocking me off my feet and
onto my back, I hit my head against the ground and everything went hazy.
My last thought was that of a furry ball of sharp teeth and smelly
breath. 
	"KOMEI!" Usagi, Rei and Ami cried as they raced forwards. 

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

(in a park,)
	The little girl looked up at the sky and the movement of the remaining
clouds and shivered. The earth lords were summoned and they did their
work. Now she must go do hers. Looking back at the field, she watched
the ball come towards her and she leaped. Heading it back in the other
direction. .... perhaps after this game. 

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

(the road to hell is paved with good intentions.)
	"*chuckle,* guffaw* heh. haha.haaha...  Looks like our little subject
finally accessed his clairvoyance skills. And the gods of earth were
summoned up and destroyed all spells and machinations. *chortle*. I just
wonder what would have happened if he had gotten his hands on a book of
necromancy. HA hahahahahha *bonk*" 
	"Keep it down over there. Can't an Imp get some sleep around here?" the
imp said lying down again as the demon shook the pebble from his hair.
The demon looked at the Imp and decided against saying more. That would
be her punishment for that.

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

(negaverse)
	The room filled with murmurs, that of spirituality and the powers of
the gods. The murmurs could bring forth dissent and queen Berryl could
have none of that. "Enough! Calcite you have not chosen your enemy
wisely for he shows the favor of his gods. Perhaps you would like to
reiterate the discussion and tell us why we should find fault with a
powerful avatar?" 
	"My Queen. the sailor scouts were in a sense avatar of their respective
planets. In fact, they were imbued with their planet's powers and made
use of them as it was. We have quite possibly found the first person who
has been chosen by this planet and is perhaps the scout for earth."
	"Do not listen to his ramblings my queen. Perhaps yes, he might be an
avatar for earth but he is also a man. Additionally, he used clerical or
white magic rather than black to cast his spells. It is most likely he
is the equivalent of our dark sorcerers rather than anything else."
	"So you believe we have found and been defeated by a human mage
Jadeite?"  
	"A logical explanation and as we all know, the sailor scouts have
always been female, so unless the rules have changed, it is perhaps the
only explanation."
	"You present your case well Jadeite. There was no defeat today.
Calcite, you underestimated your opponent and lost your pet warrior.
Calcite you are to continue collecting energy for the negaverse. If you
should fail me, the consequences will be severe." 
	"Yes your majesty" he said, disappearing from the throne room.
	A person stepped forwards, an ebony statue, clothed in garments of
black and red. No features adorned his face for he was shadow in it's
purest form. "Perhaps my queen, it would be best to give him a  false
trail to follow. Something like what we did with Sailor V something that
will bring him away from the main fight, a trail of deceit to follow." 
	"Your words have merit, but would you want to handle someone like him?
He is powerful enough to back up his fists with the powers of magic. You
couldn't send your underlings to fight him Ebonite he is not worth the
risk. However, should he ever join forces with the accursed Sailor
scouts then we shall see."

***************************
 
(shrine)
	A fuzzy blackness was all that I saw. Dark shapes cast against the
gloom. The stark relief of those in the room. Suddenly one upped and
took flight, in a brilliant flash of light. Perhaps that means something
or perhaps not for searching for that shape came to naught. A single
shadow did I see perched under a candy wing, the shadow of someone on a
swing, under the roof of white and red, I did go so afraid. Perhaps I
would know what I did see but perhaps it wouldn't really be me. On that
swing of white and red a single creature sat instead. a simple set of
red and brown. Upon it's countenance I did frown. It upped and walked
towards my side in his little and slow stride. Looking down on the red,
panda, I did say instead. 
	"What do you want of me my friend?"
	"Your heart and soul are yours"
	"Then what do you wish of me my friend?"
	"Your body and your form are yours"
	"Then what do you wish to share my friend"
	"The form of the curse is ours." 
	"What do you mean my friend my friend?"
	"Awake and know the truth."
	What I knew in truth in sooth, was my mind was waking. a dream had been
in the making. waving goodbye to the candy roof, I waited and closed my
eyes and chose to open them again.
	*SPLASH* someone dumped a bucket of icy cold water onto me and what did
I expect to happen to me? actually I don't know, I have yet to see that
show. In any case I looked around on faces that seemed astounded. 
	"Err, yes?" I said as Usagi and the others scrambled away, Hey! what's
wrong?" I shouted, resisting an urge to twitch my ears. 'huh where did
that come from?' as I noticed that, I noticed a few differences in how I
felt. Or more specifically, the way my body felt. First of all, I never
though my voice was that high. Second is there were red bangs of wet
hair covering my eyes. Thirdly, well, I never though my ears were
supposed to feel so long. Finally, well my clothes felt a little loose. 
	I ran my hands through my hair, pushing it back and noticed a few other
differences. One was that I had some sort of light red down on my skin.
The second was that I had ears near the top of my head. Long ears that
stuck out to the side and not those elf type ears but more like a dog's
or . . . a raccoon's. "So that's the curse." I thought as three very
underdressed teenagers slammed open the door. 
	"Stop you evil creature. we haven't know him for long but...  Hey are
you listening to me?"
	*Bua hehehehheha hahah hah Gah ha HaHAHAHAhaha...* Leotards with bows
and tiny skirts? I had taken one look at them and started laughing. They
didn't seem to find it so funny and continued their speech as I pounded
the floor in my mirth. 
	"HEY Listen to us here!"
	"HaHahaha.....Sailor costumes HAhahha .. I covered my eyes and tried to
control my mirth. succeeding marginally when something small and furry
leaped into me knocking me over and slobbering over my face. I leaped
back in startlement, pasting myself on the far wall as I remembered what
put me down in the first place.
	*Arf Arf.* A wolf pup? I thought as the little thing ran after me and
started jumping up and down, trying to gain my attention. 
	*Blink Blink* "You knocked me out you know." I said in all seriousness
to the puppy. I squatted down as he sat down confusion on his face.
*sigh* "Guess we have to give you a name." I said as I looked to the
girls before me. Hmm. long jet black hair, Buns on the head and the
short blue hair of. . . Amy? 
	"Err guys you can stop posturing now and get out of those costumes. I'm
not going to hurt you." I said petting the wolf pup. 
	"Who are you?" the black hair one... Rei demanded. 
	"Yah who are you" the golden haired one... Usagi? copied. 
	"I'm Komei. . ." I said looking down at myself. "Hmm. never thought I
look like this when I'm hit with cold water. I figured a little smaller
and paws. Why?" I said looking up at them.
	"Is that really you? ok then answer this question." Usagi one said.
"Where are you from."
	"I haven't told you that yet so you don't know."
	"err Rei, could you help me out here?"
	"Ok then, how do you change?" Rei demanded.
	"I have a curse. cold water puts me into my cursed form while hot water
returns me to normal. hmm.." 'another technique that Mr tendo told me I
could do was a Ki flare. It should theoretically heat up the water and
change myself back... nah not now.
	"...  Do you really expect us to believe that?"
	"Hey, splash me with hot water and we can prove it. or if you want.
Visit a place called Jusenkio in china. Jump into one of the cursed
springs there and prove it to yourself."
	"I think he's right. we really don't stand to loose anything if we were
to splash him with hot water." Amy said to the other girls. "Remember
R.." Quick glance at me "Sailor Mars, you said something about a water
based curse a little while back."
	"Wait a minute! I've an idea!. I'll be back." Usagi cried running out
of the room. Half a minute later she was back with a steaming pail of
hot water. "Here!" *splash* 
	What did I do? I jumped up into the rafters with the puppy in my hands.
"HEY! Hot water not boiling!" I cried as the puppy barked at her. 
	"Grrr. So who's going to clean this mess up?" Rei called as Usagi went
oops. 
	"...." I just listened to them as they started arguing. Amy tried to
step in between them but it wasn't getting anywhere fast. I just leaped
down and concentrated. Summoning the rapidly cooling water from the
floor and into the air, I splashed a little of it into my face to
trigger the transformation.
	Turning around I looked at them as they still argued. The only one
looking at me seemed to be the cat. I just bowed my head down and
wondered how petty they could get. With a shrug I just placed the dog on
the floor and walked away. I could always come back another time.
	As I opened the door, there was an extra bit of nervousness in the room
as the overly friendly dog greeted the cat. *Arf Arf* "err. nice doggy.
err stay away now..."

** 
 
	As I exited the temple, the weather took a turn for the worse. The
clouds that had been absent for the last afternoon started returning. I
looked upwards and figured there were about 20 minutes before It started
raining in earnest. As I came to the bottom of the steps, I noticed a
little girl carrying a leaf running desperately towards me. At the same
time I noticed a few angry dogs chasing her. As she ran past, I bent
down and scooped her up while erecting a barrier before me. The dogs
slammed into the flexible barrier and bounced backwards the way hey came
snarling in frustration and distrust. 
	Hmm. Let me do something about that. . . the girl clutched my right
shoulder, sobbing away. I just looked at the dogs and smiled through
thin lips. Cupping my left hand, I released my ki into an aura around
me. The dogs must have felt it since they started backing away.
Personally, I just helped them make the decision to run by focusing a
little sphere of power in my hand and shooting it into the ground before
me. a small poof of power and a small crater in the ground.  They ran
and never looked back
	"Hey, are you all right?" I asked the little girl.
	"Sniff, sniff. I was scared. sniff.." she said clutching to my arm.
*AURG* she shouted, squeezing my arm as something thumped into my butt. 
	*ow...* I said as I turned around.. and saw the puppy behind me. *arf
arf*
	"*sigh* Don't worry if anything's his fault, it's being too friendly."
I said as the wolf pup sat down on his haunches and looked at me
expectantly. Squatting down, I reached out my left hand and petted him.
Then changed my petting into scratching his ears which he enjoyed
immensely, rolling under my hand to let me scratch the more hard to
reach places. 
	The little girl slowly looked at the puppy and back at me. Then slowly
getting down, she reached out her hand. slowly,, slowly,  and touched
the wolf, suddenly retracting her hand in fear. But the wolf pup just
ignored her, preferring to look at me and wonder why the scratching
stopped. 
	In any case, the little girl reached out her hand again and pet him as
I watched. He just ignored her as she started petting him a little
harder. and a little harder. and... I stopped her. and looked at her.
"You know, they aren't toys. You have to be gentle with them you
shouldn't hit them ok?" I said as I put her hand back.  "Try scratching
him a little. He likes that." I said as she looked at me in wonder. Then
turning back to the pup, she started gently scratching him gaining his
attention. 
	Smiling I, sat down on the steps and just watched them for a second
before something occurred to me. "Hey, where are your parents?" she
looked at me and then looked down, a little bit of nervousness on her
face. 
	"Well, I was thinking, I can't take care of him and I just wondered if
you might want him." she looked up at me her eyes bright and shining.
"Of course, you would have to ask your parents first and promise to take
good care of him." she stood up and looked thoughtful.. then pointed her
finger at me. 
	"Wait here." she said before turning away and started flying into the
sky.
	I looked up at the disappearing figure, looked down to the puppy and
back up again then wondered out loud.  "How in the world do these things
keep happen to me?" 
	"Perhaps it's because you're strange and strange things happen to you."
came a laughing answer from behind. Turning, I saw Amy as she stood
above me, an umbrella in her hand. I just smiled as she came down and
sat beside me to wait.

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

Author's note. 
	Any comments and criticisms are welcome. I will be using the e-mail
X94Quek1@wmich.edu until the end of winter. Please contact me there. ps.
for the next few episodes. I will be trying for a more thoughtful story.
In this one, I freed my creative skills for the last part but needed to
have a reason to tie up a few loose ends in the middle so forgive me.
(didn't want megaverse creeps on my tail all the time.).