S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)

Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya.  All
other characters were thought up by me.

Don't sue me for this, please.  I'm not really a ripoff artist.  I
leave that to professionals, like Anya Romanov.  ^_^

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	The small room didn't look like it had been used in years, 
which was pretty much the case.  Set in the basement of the Sacred
House's compund, the room had, at one stage, been used to hide 
prisoner of war escapees from the Japanese military during the 
second world war.  Since the Sacred house was intrinsically seen as
a national institution, even under the militarist regime, nobody
thought of looking there for them.

	The room had only received one major refurnishing, since.  The
total removal of all items of fittings and furniture.  The room was 
a bare cement box, cold and dark.


	Then there was a flash of brilliant light and colour, and two
figures emerged into the darkness.  As the light faded away, Usagi,
transformed as Eternal Sailormoon, tripped over her own feet and 
landed on the floor.  Lysithea looked at her, blinking.

	"You really must learn to be more graceful in your activities,
Sailormoon.  You can't pretend to be the world's saviour and an 
uncoordinated idiot at the same time."

	"Thankyou for your kind words, and help up."

	Lysithea giggled and reached down.  Usagi looked at the hand
for a few moments, then took it, surprised at how strong the blond-
haired man was as he heaved her to her feet.

	"Whoo..."  Usagi said, looking at their surroundings, or, at 
least, what she could see of it.  "They don't much believe in power 
bills here, do they?"

	"I believe we have teleported into the first basement of the
main building."  Lysithea looked around.  "One of the storerooms,
leading out into the research department."

	"The research department?  Researching into what?"

	"Into things you don't want to know about.  Things horrible 
enough to be the product of pure imagination."

	Usagi trembled, letting out a frightened little wail.  "I can
imagine quite a lot of horrible things.  Let's go home."

	"Don't be silly.  Besides, I doubt your imagination is
developed enough to reach the standard of some of the things we're
going to have to walk past."  He gently put a hand on Usagi's 
shoulder.  "Come on.  We've places to go."

	"Like where?  Where is the way out?"  Usagi couldn't see very
much in the darkness that bared a close resemblance to a door.  
Lysithea guided her to a segment of the wall.

	"Right here, my dear Sailormoon."  He placed a hand on the 
wall, and gently pushed a panel open.  Soft light shone through the
opening, hurting Usagi's eyes, which had just become used to the 
gloom.

	"Well...."  She gestured to the doorway.  "After you."

	"No, my dear.  Ladies first."  Lysithea smiled.  Usagi looked
at him for a full ten seconds, shaking her head, then stepped 
through the opening.

----o

Part Fifteen
In the Lap of the Gods

----o

	They had almost made it to the other side of the factory yards
when Rumiko could smell it.  The bittersweet aroma of blood.

	Even Keiko seemed, in some strange way of her own, to know 
that there was something wrong.  For the last two hundred feet, she
had started to pull against Rumiko's guidance, making little noises
from her throat.  Rumiko would look back, occasionally, but Keiko 
was still staring at the sky with the same air of unbridled 
fascination she always seemed to carry.

	Rumiko wondered what the world must be like to Keiko.  Removed
from everything, yet so intrinsically hypersensitive to light and 
sound.  They had to remove all fluorescent lights and air 
conditioning ducts within a fifty foot radius of her private 
quarters, back in the Sacred House HQ, because of the irritation of 
the noise both made to her ears.  They then had to paint her room a
calming shade of blue, removing the old yellow paintscheme, because
yellow made her feel physically ill....

	It was a lot to do for one girl.  But Keiko was a Yokuro, and
they were an extremely powerful clan within the Sacred House.

	And if Keiko detected that something was wrong in the area, 
then something had to be REALLY wrong.  Indeed, for there to be an
aroma of blood in the air on a day where the rain would wash away
just about anything meant that the blood was fresh.

	Someone or something had been killed in the area within the
last five to ten minutes.  Rumiko prayed it wasn't Sherrie.

	Ignoring the wetness the aroma engendered in her mouth, Rumiko
started to drag Keiko towards the docking shed where the smell was
emanating from.  They reached about then feet from the building, 
when they were sprung upon by Watanabe Nobuhiro....  The large man,
having leapt from one of the water towers.

	Both girls were knocked aside, Keiko into a small pit of sand
that ran alongside the shed, and Rumiko through the shed's wooden 
doors, bringing them crashing down on top of her.

	Nobuhiro smiled and rubbed his hands together.  He hadn't lost
his touch in all these years of training.  He'd spent much of his 
adult life, trying to perfect not only his strength, but also his 
bulk, and the combination of both in use.  That was the craft of the
sumo.

	But he was a hell of a lot better than most, because he 
combined them with his increased bestial energies.  It was a pity
that his quarry was nothing more than a pair of Sacred House girls.
Now Joachim Schneider, there was a true challenge....  He would have
rathered to take on the "old man" of the House than these two.

	Slowly, he stepped over to Keiko, who was rolling in the wet
sandpit, running the sand between her fingers.  Nobuhiro frowned as
he watched her.  She showed him no fear....  No sense of 
recognition.  he might as well have not been there at all.  In a 
way, it simultaneously killed his resolve and made him angrier.  How
dare this mere slip of a girl not recognise him as a threat?  He 
clenched his fists.

	And then he smelt something.  It was blood....  The smell of
fresh blood, wafting over the scene.  At first, he thought he might
have mortally wounded Rumiko....  Caused her to be ripped open when
she struck the door....  But this was not the blood of one, but the
blood of many.

	He turned to the open doorway of the docking shed.

	The shredded bodies of over twenty lay strewn across the floor
and crates within it, like the discarded dinner of some wild 
carnivore, blood and offal spread across the floor where they had 
been dragged.  And in the middle of the shed, in full view, 
something, invisible to the naked eye, was eating one of the bodies,
rending and tearing it apart with invisible claws and teeth.

	And it looked up at him, with eyes of a deep shade of green.

----o

	Even in this wet weather, there was nothing as beautiful to 
the eyes of Shiranui Midan as a well-sculptured Japanese rock 
garden.

	He sat, looking out from the large open doorway of his private
domain, onto the lit environs of the garden.  Its vast size 
attesting to the man's great wealth.  And so he should have been 
wealthy.  Shiranui Midan was the inheritor of the position as head
of the Shiranui Yakuza.  He was also a board member of three major
corporations.

	Things had not been going so well for the economy of Japan, 
lately, but Shiranui Midan was, as always, in a comfortable 
position.  He had his fingers in more pies than could be traced.

	He looked out into the dim light of the dying day, darkened
by the deep clouds that had plagued the city of Tokyo throughout the
light hours.  He wrapped his great bulk tightly in the long, 
ornamental kimono he would always wear, against the cold he never 
felt, and contemplated his garden.

	For what else, could a man who had done everything, do?  Time
slowly ticked away, and he watched his life go with it.  He needed a
new challenge.  The approaching footsteps provided that challenge.

	The door to his left slid open, and a small, ageing man, dressed 
in a light business suit, stepped in, kneeling and bowing to 
his master.

	"What is it, Kuronbata?"  Shiranui looked aside at him.  
Kuronbata lifted himself up and addressed him.

	"I have received word that the Mizuno girl has given herself
in to the police in the hope of providing evidence against us."

	Shiranui grunted, and continued to look into his garden.  
Kuronbata waited patiently as his master thought things over.

	"Hmmm....  I think it is time that our two fine lovelies had
a word with the good Doctor Mizuno."  Shiranui said in his deep
growl.

	"Sir....  Do you intend to place them in charge of this 
matter?  We're still not sure whether we can trust them, yet."  
Kuronbata knew, immediately, that he had overstepped the mark
as Shiranui slowly turned his head to face him.  "I am sorry,
sir.  I am speculating out of place."

	"And it is good that you remember your place."  Shiranui
turned back to the garden.  "I do not trust those two, either.
But they have proved to be effective operatives for the family.
I want to see how far I can stretch their loyalty."

	"And should they fail this... test?"

	"They will NOT fail the test, Kuronbata.  Of that, you
can be assured."

	"Yes sir."  Kuronbata bowed.  "Should I have you give them the
order, personally, or shall I pass it on to them?"

	"I see no reason for them to disturb my musings.  Be off with 
you."  Shiranui waved him away, and Kuronbata bowed one last time, 
backing his way out of the room and sliding the door shut.


	Shiranui turned to the other side of the room, where there was
another sliding door.  "Are you quite finished, listening to my 
private conversations, Kimi?"

	The door slid open, and a young, attractive woman, dressed in 
an ornamental blue yukata, with long black hair, softly padded into
the room.  She was smiling.

	"Merely observing the master at work, father."  She knelt down
beside him and bowed slightly.  He smiled and put a hand on her 
shoulder.

	"You shouldn't allow yourself to get too curious in a place 
like this, Kimi.  Carelessly heard words can be dangerous."

	"I can take care of myself.  I've lived this way all of my 
life.  There is no gossip that escapes my ears."

	"And what gossip have you heard lately?"

	"Ah, nothing of any great interest, although, I do note, that
that foreigner, Fitchner, has received an inadvertant call from his
missing daughter."

	"Interesting.  I wonder what Akizuki shall do to her when he
gets an opportunity to speak with her."  Shiranui rubbed his chin.

	"That is not all.  I have been lead to believe that Guro has
made moves to.... emancipate certain members of the family...."

	"Ah yes, Guro.  I had almost forgotten about him."

	"Can I play with him, father?  Please."  Shiranui looked down
into the warm, dark eyes of his daughter and smiled.

	"You are so much like your late mother."

	"Arigato."  She said softly, and bowed slightly.  She stood 
and backed from the room, sliding the door shut behind her.


	Shiranui pulled a small locket from his kimono and stared at
it, smiling.  "Yes, Kimi....  You are so very much like your late
mother...."  He sighed and stared out into the garden.

----o

	Kaji watched as Shimazaki and Katarin left the office, on 
their way to pick up Doctor Mizuno from the hospital she worked at.
He turned back to Kurabuto, who was having a quiet word to Miki, 
still seated in Katarin's deskchair, looking as if she'd just 
swallowed a barrel of poison.

	"Is it a good idea to let them pick her up without at least
calling her hospital, first?"

	Kurabuto looked up at him.  "I'd rather have the element of
surprise in this case."

	"Yeah, but on what pretext are they going to haul her in?"

	Kurabuto sighed and stepped away from Miki, who was relieved
at the momentary distraction.  he wandered over to Shimazaki's desk,
rubbing his mouth.  "Well, you see, I thought, seeing as Kiko-san,
wherever she is, has her hands on the woman's daughter, we could
bring her in because we need a responsible relative to be present
during an interview session...."

	"But both Kiko-san and the Mizuno girl are Kami knows where."

	"Indeed they are, but we shall find them, never worry."

	"No, of course not.  Why should I worry?"  Kaji leaned against
Shimazaki's desk, crossing his arms cynically.  Kurabuto sighed.  
"So, what are you going to do with her?"

	"Who?  Doctor Mizuno?"

	"No, Kiko-san....  And Watanabe-san...."

	"Well, what they've done represents a breach in police 
procedure.  They're going to have to be reprimanded for their 
actions."

	Just at that point, Miki chose to break into tears.  Kurabuto
closed his eyes and turned to her.  "A MINOR reprimand in your case,
Watanabe."

	"Oh, and that just makes everything so much better."  She put
her face in her hands and began to sob.

	"Don't be so rough on her."  Kaji reached over the desk and 
prodded Kurabuto.  "She's only a young-un."  Kurabuto rounded on 
him.

	"I don't need you telling me my business, Akunatsuka.  She's
broken the rules, and now she has to pay...."  Kurabuto's mobile
phone began to chime, and he lifted it from his pocket.  "Hello?
Hmm?  I see.  I'll be there in a few moments."  He switched it off,
replacing it.  "The heart crystal is still degenerating.  I'd like
to see this for myself.  You want to come?"

	Kaji shrugged and nodded.

	"Very well."  Kurabuto paused and looked back at Miki.  "You
might as well come too.  At least you'll be getting something unique
out of all of this."

----o

	Usagi and Lysithea crept along the small and dimly-lit 
corridor they had found themselves.  Usagi stopped as they reached
an open double doorway, and peered in.

	"They obviously haven't used this part of the building for 
quite a while."  Lysithea smiled.  "We were lucky your teleport 
chose to stop where it did."

	"Where does this lead to?"  Usagi pointed through the doorway.
Lysithea looked in.  All either of them could see were a series of
large glass cases.

	"That's the research office, or at least part of it.  This is 
where we have to go."

	"Where are we going to, precisely?"

	"Me, Operations control.  Your destination is the arrivals 
department, not too far from here."  He looked at her, gravely.  "Be
extremely careful where you put your foot in here....  You don't 
know what you'll come face to face with."

	"Thanks for the encouraging words."  Usagi shivered.  "Oh 
well.  On with the show, as they say."  She stepped through the 
doorway and made her way into the laboratory beyond.  Lysithea 
paused for a few moments, then followed.

----o

	Carey West sat at her desk, watching a computer readout of 
information, gathered from the Sacred House's records, on the life 
history and family of one Aino Minako, provided thanks to the girl's 
utter gullibility....  

	She still boggled at her guilessness as she wrote down the 
answer to every question Joachim had asked her.  She had to have 
been disoriented after her becoming and eventual receiving of a 
dosage of Vasculin.  Surely, nobody could have been that stupid.

	"Ma'am...."  Her intercom buzzed.  She hit the button on the 
small box, set on her desk, and answered it.

	"Yes, Eiko?"

	"There has been a small, unregistered pulse signal within the 
grounds of the compound.  Should we have the security program track
it down?"

	"Yes.  Do it immediately."  She let the button go, turning 
back to the readout.


	Of course, Minako didn't show any signs of being concerned 
about her captivity.  This openness allowed a full spectrum analysis 
to be performed on her, thus confirming Carey's suspicions.

	The girl was, indeed, a Sailorsenshi.  Pity it took having to 
capture one to get the kind of data they now had in their posession.
Of course, it is practically impossible to do a city-wide spectrum 
sweep to detect any more of them, so it was all pretty much moot 
until they found themselves another.  Considering how long it took 
them to find this one, that might be a while.

	Nor was it likely that she would be able to read the girl's
mind.  Blocks had been placed, ones that the girl herself could not
have been responsible for.  Carey wondered who was, but not for very
long.  She already had her suspicions.


	She leaned back and stared at the dark corners of the ceiling.
Of all of those who had been, recently, inducted into the Sacred 
House, she had risen to the highest office of authority.  Naturally,
considering the rather unique nature of her breeding, she would be 
far more trusted with the position.  However, it had come at a 
price.  Rising to this position meant that she was more within the 
scrutiny of the High Council than anyone else her age.

	They wanted to make sure she didn't run off the rails.  Not 
that that was likely to happen, she had always prided herself on her
self-control.  But the last time one of her kind ran off the 
rails....  Thousands of years ago....  Two ancient towns destroyed,
now recounted as nothing more than a myth....

	Of course, scrutiny was one thing.  Actually knowing was 
another....


	A thought flashed across her mind, and she sat up, closing her
eyes for a moment.  She shook her head.  Not again.  Not her, not 
again.  She should have seen it coming.

	She did see it coming.  Just then.

	Carey got to her feet and stepped away from her desk.  She 
paused, turning to the readout for a few moments....  No, what she 
saw was too important to let slide.  She continued on her way, 
leaving the office.

----o

	Minako stared at the blaring images on the television screen.
It was a full widescreen digital television, the likes of which 
Minako knew she'd never own.  It had all the local stations, 
satellite and cable, as well as a few underground networks from 
around the globe.

	She felt awfully strange.  Something in her head wasn't quite
right, and she wanted to know what.  And yet....  She couldn't take
her eyes away from the pretty pictures....  They danced and pranced
and dazzled her.  She scratched the sore red mark on the inside of
her left arm.

	She'd requested a television when they'd asked if she wanted
anything.  She didn't expect something of this magnitude.  At first,
she watched it from the relative safety of her bed.  But as time 
went on, she found herself slowly sliding down the side, leaning 
against the mattress support.

	She wiped drool from the side of her mouth.  Yes indeed, she
was feeling altogether out of sorts, today.

----o

	Joachim and Gen watched Minako on the video monitor from the
comfort of the theatre's viewing room.  Naoko and Jacquie were 
sitting behind them, Naoko leaning over her father's shoulder.

	"I see the Vasculin is starting to take an early effect."

	"Indeed.  She'll be feeling pretty woozy for a while."  Gen
smiled.  "Vasculin is evil stuff when you first take it.  Leaves
you feeling totally disoriented and confused."

	"About the only benefit of the stuff is that you aren't given
time to worry about your predicament.  You're too busy fascinating
over the pretty colours in a speck of dandruff."  Naoko giggled.

	"What was the level of her bestial index when you encountered
her in the coffee shop?"  Joachim turned to Naoko and Jacquie.

	"Pretty high, by the looks of things.  I'd say she was 
Succubae Major....  Although this is only speculation on my part."

	"Succubae Major....  We haven't had one of those in here for a
long time."  Gen chuckled.  "A Deep-Core Bestial, with a high 
Vasculin Dependency Ratio.  I wonder how she managed to resist her
becoming all this time?"

	"Her powers as a Sailorsenshi may have had something to do 
with it....  Masking her becoming during early puberty."  Joachim
leaned forward.  "You see the gilden tinge to her hair.  Extremely
rare in someone who is Japanese."

	"Lighter hair tones are becoming more common these days, 
however."  Gen pointed out.

	"Indeed, but this one is unnaturally gold.  Definitely a sign
of her pedigree."  Joachim leaned back again.  "However, she doesn't
exhibit great signs of lower-order intellect."

	"You mean common sense?"  Jacquie quizzed.  Joachim nodded.

	"Indeed.  Whilst she appears to have the capacity to process
great amounts of information, she does so in a very haphazard 
manner.  She has a tendency to mix her metaphors and not think twice 
about it, afterwards, surely a sign of an intellectual condition."

	"A lazy mind, Joachim.  Must you always see things in 
technical terms?"  Gen looked over at his old friend.  Joachim 
shrugged.

	"In my profession, there is no such thing as a 'lazy mind', 
merely a combination of conditions and disorders, leading to a 
disfunction in intellectual processes."

	"In other words, a lazy mind."  Naoko giggled.  Joachim 
smiled, putting out his hands.

	"You're too good for me, Naoko-chan."


	"Joachim...."  Gen rubbed his chin.  "One of these days, 
you're going to see people as human beings, rather than something to
study."

	"Ah, and what a fascinating subject to study it is."  Joachim
replied, watching the viewscreen as Minako began to pat the 
television she was watching.

----o

	Aoi had died and gone to Heaven.

	She danced and pranced through the gardens of cigarette bushes
and coffee trees, wondering if life could get any better than this.  
Of course, this couldn't be real, so she had to be dead.  Nothing 
else could explain the sheer beauty of this place.

	The warm sun.  the blue skies.  The aroma of burning tobacco 
and freshly brewed caffeine.  Ah yes, there was nothing like it.

	"Excuse me."  She felt someone shaking her shoulder.

	"Go away."  She said, softly, in a daze.  "Leave me with my
cigarettes."  She pulled one off a bush and drew on the end, 
allowing the superfragrant smoke to enter her lungs.  The taste,
and its effect on her, was like nothing she'd ever experienced
before.

	"Look, I know you might find cloud nine a pleasant place to
be after smacking into a brick wall at close to thirty miles an
hour, but sleeping in a muddy puddle is not the best place to get
there."  The annoying voice continued.  For a moment, Aoi considered
turning around and poking the cigarette in the person's face.

	"Leave me alone...."

	"I can't.  There are a couple of young women in a bad way, 
here, and you're the only person in a sufficiently healthy state
who is benevolently acquainted with them.  Maybe"

	Aoi turned and looked up at the face of the young woman with
wavy red hair.  Her light face contrasted starkly with the darkening 
skies.  She blinked a couple of times and wiped her sweaty face.  
Only it wasn't sweat she was wiping away.

	She stared at the blood on the palm of her hand for a few 
moments.  "I'm...."  She began, with encroaching panic.  "I'm..."


END OF PART 15

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Next Chapter - "The Break of Dusk"


DDFA ayanami@merlin.net.au
Chief Propoganda Officer, Keeper of the Tapes
and co-founder of the Sai-chan fan club
Adelaide Japanese Animation Society
http://adelaide.net.au/~nene/ajas.html
"It's not the pace of life that worries me.
It's the sudden stop at the end."

Version 1.0 - 5th May 1998