Ikuko opened the rear door of the taxi and gestured for Usagi
and Miki to alight.  Miki turned and held onto Usagi as she stood,
smiling at Kenji, who seemed, despite his nervousness, to be rather
proud of his daughter's undertaking, and was doing his best to be 
the stern and in-control fatherly figure which he actually wasn't.
Shingo merely wiped his nose, leading Usagi to suspect that he had a
lot in store for them when they got inside the house.

	The driver placed Miki's suitcase at Kenji's feet, gesturing
to him with his hat, then walking back to Ikuko, who paid him for
the ride.  "Thanks, Ma'am."  He nodded to her.  "Must say, you have
a loverly pair o' daughters, there."  Ikuko raised an eyebrow, but
said nothing as the driver walked over to Usagi and Miki, shaking
Miki's outstretched hand.  "See you later, little lass."  He smiled.

	"Yah, seeya."  Miki giggled.  "Thanks for the ride through 
town.  It was pretty."

	The driver gave her a lopsided grin and whispered to Usagi....
"Ah kids....  They can find beauty in anything, even a dingy ol' 
town like Tokyo."

	"Er, yeah...."  Usagi sweatdropped as the driver gave them a
little wave and got back into his car.

	As he drove away, Ikuko put out her hand to the two girls.  
"Well, shall we go in?  We don't want the night air getting to Miki,
do we?"  Miki hugged Usagi, tightly, as Usagi nodded, and they 
walked up the front path to begin their new life, together....


--------------------------------------------------------------------

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON / TAIHO SHICHAUZO
NOT A GOD
by nIGHT rIDER (Assistance by DDFA)

Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon and Taiho Shichauzo are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, 
Fujishima Kosuke, Bandai, TBS, and Kodansya.  All other characters 
were thought up by me.  Well, its true, isn't it?

Chapter 10
Teething Problems and Little Brothers

--------------------------------------------------------------------


>From the Personal Journal of Neo Queen Serenity
(Tsukino Usagi I)

6/29/98


	Pride prevents us all from getting close to each other.  Pride 
is also one of the strongest forces for division between whole 
peoples.  When we are all trying to protect our pride, we can hurt 
others through misinterpretation and bloody-mindedness.

	Its so easy for me to write these words, proving that I 
realise... understand... what it is that has made the relationship
between Shingo and I so difficult, all these years.  I have to 
admit, I've not been the best of sisters.  I've been arrogant, 
selfish, self-centered, childish and irresponsible, all in an 
attempt to defend my often wounded pride.

	But much of that wounding has come from attacks by Shingo.  At
least, I've perceived them as attacks, because my pride would get in
the way of seeing any underlying reason for them.  He, too, has his 
own pride to protect....  Masculine pride, though it is that of a 
boy rather than a man.  Because he is younger than I am, he just HAS
to feel a sense of inferiority, be it misplaced.  As my life pieced
together from the relative shambles it had been in my younger years, 
progressing and developing in a positive manner, his seemed to stand
still.  The invisible second child.

	So, when a third party, younger than himself, comes into the
picture, he would react in either one of two methods....  Side with
the interloper on an emotional level (as he had often done with 
Chibiusa...  Strange that they seemed to see eye to eye so often, 
considering the similarity between our personalities) or play a 
perceived threat off of them.  As soon as we walked up the garden
path that early evening, I knew which method he was going to take 
with Miki, and it made my heart sink.


----o

	Ikuko watched them for a while....

	Usagi had Miki in her arms, prancing about the house 
excitedly, attempting to show the wide-eyed young girl as much of 
the house as was humanly possible.  Miki merely oohed and ahhed as
she took in her newfound surroundings, so much larger than her old
house had been, with so many more people living there.  Ikuko 
wondered if it might not be a little too much for the girl, having
spent so much energy over the past couple of days through pure 
excitement alone.  But Miki seemed to be coping well with Usagi's 
breathless efforts, and Ikuko left them to their own devices as she
left to remedy most of the errors Kenji and Shingo had made in 
making dinner.

	In the kitchen, Kenji was alone, wearing an apron over his 
business suit, pulling a plate from the oven with mittened hands.  
Ikuko put a hand to her mouth, giggling.  "My my, don't you look a
treat in that."  Kenji almost dropped the plate when he heard his
wife's voice.  Catching it at the last moment, he turned and giggled
inanely.

	"Well, I can't well get my work clothes messed up, can I?"  He
put one hand behind his head, holding the plate tenuously in the 
other.  Ikuko rolled her eyes as Usagi and Miki went charging past 
the door behind her.  Momentarily turning to take a glance at their
disappearing figures, she frowned.

	"Where's Shingo?  I thought he was in here with you."

	Kenji placed the plate on the benchtop.  "He was a second ago.
Not sure where he's got himself to."  He paused.  "Come to think of
it, he seemed rather sullen before you arrived.  I wonder if having
Miki here has made him feel a little put out."

	"He's never been that way when Chibiusa has come to visit."  
Ikuko turned back to Kenji, rubbing her chin.  "But then, Chibiusa 
was closer to Shingo in age than Miki is."

	"That really wouldn't make THAT much of a difference, surely?"
Kenji scratched his head.  "After all, Shingo is pretty used to NOT
being the center of attention in this family.  That's always been 
Usagi's job.  He prefers to be kept out of all the arguments and 
fights.  Except those he starts."  He frowned.  "If you know what I
mean."

----o

	In her excitement, Usagi had forgotten Miki's luggage and 
clothing, which remained where it had been placed, in her bedroom, 
looking lost and forlorn until Ikuko decided it was time to remind 
her often-errant daughter of some of her responsibilities.  Usagi 
didn't exactly mind, since it gave her some time with Miki, alone.  
Or so she hoped.

	Throughout her grand tour, Shingo had been mooning about, 
watching the pair of them with beady little eyes.  Usagi didn't like 
it when Shingo put on those beady little eyes, since they invariably
meant he was planning some form of trouble.  Usagi, at the back of 
her mind, was doing her best to watch out for the little traps that 
he tended to lay around the house in the hope of catching her out.  
But there was nothing, not even the little bag of flour that he 
loved to place above her bedroom door.  This made her all the more
suspicious of him.


	Miki sat on the edge of Usagi's bed, pressing a finger into 
the mattress.  "It's.... softer than the one I had at home."  She 
said, quietly.  Usagi, who had been folding out some of Miki's 
dresses, looked up from the suitcase.

	"Yeah.  Nice, isn't it."  She beamed.  "I absolutely, 
positively refused to sleep on the wooden planks they were used to 
sleeping on.  Gave me knots in my back."  And to illustrate the 
point, she rubbed her back with a free hand.  Miki smiled weakly and
lay down against the bed, smiling at the rabbit pictures on the 
bedcover.

	"Usagi....  Why did they name you Usagi?"  Miki twirled a 
finger on the bedcover.

	"Why do you ask?"

	"It's.... an odd kinda name."  Miki's eyes started to flutter.
"There's something warm about it, though....  Kind of cute and 
cuddly."

	"Aheh...."  Usagi sweatdropped, thinking of the kind of 
response Rei would have given a statement such as that.  Suddenly,
something dawned on her.  "Rei....  Oh my God!"  She stood up, 
startling Miki from her near-slumber.  "The others....  I forgot all 
about them...."  Usagi froze, looking down at Miki's questioning 
expression, then slowly lowered herself back to the suitcase.  
"It's... er... nothing.  I just forgot to tell some of my friends 
that you were coming over tonight."

	"Hmmm..."  Miki settled back again.  "When will I meet your 
friends?"

	"Probably tomorrow, if you're feeling up to it."

	Miki's enthusiasm seemed to defy her lack of energy.  "Of 
course I'll be up to it.  I'm not a weakling.  Not for oneechan, 
anyway."

	Usagi swallowed, feeling a little guilty at bringing the 
subject up.  She didn't want to push Miki beyond her limits. Too 
much too soon could take its toll on her.  It occured to her that 
Miki might have been pushed beyond her limits, already, and was 
merely running on enthusiasm.

	"Hmm...."  Usagi smiled at Miki.  "Well, you don't want to go
to sleep before dinner, do you?"

	"Maybe just a little sleep."  Miki settled in on the bed, 
closing her eyes.  "If that's okay with you?"

	Usagi smile dropped, slightly.  "Yes.  That's okay with me."
Her voice was softer than she'd expected it to be.  In a matter of
moments, Miki was fast asleep.  Usagi took off her jacket and laid 
it over the younger girl, then quietly turned back to the suitcase.
Sighing, she opened up her wardrobe and quietly slid the suitcase 
into the recess at the bottom.  Closing the wardrobe, she placed 
some of Miki's clothes on the dresser.

	Then she heard it.  A soft tapping sound.  At first she 
thought it might have been one of her family, knocking at her 
bedroom door.  She stepped over, placing her hand on the doorknob,
pausing as she thought of the times Shingo had used this ruse to
catch her unawares.

	Standing behind the door, she opened it slightly and peered 
out.  There was nobody there.  At least, nobody that she could see.
She opened the door fully and stared around the empty passageway, 
frowning, then shrugged her shoulders and closed it, intent on 
returning to her task.

	There was another tap, this time slightly louder.  She turned
to Miki to see if it had disturbed her, but the girl was fast 
asleep..  A thought occured to her that it might have been one of
the others, knocking at her bedroom window in an attempt to tell her
what had happened that day.  She quietly stepped around the bed and
pulled back her curtains.  There was nobody at the window, either.  
She even opened up the window and peered out, but the cold quickly 
forced her back in, and she saw nobody in her brief glance, anyway.

	Just as she shut the curtains, there was a third tap, even 
louder, and a bit more insistent.  Then a fourth, and a fifth.  
Usagi stared around the room, trying to find the source of the 
noise, and spied the wardrobe where she had just placed Miki's 
suitcase.  There was no doubt about it, the tapping was coming from
within.


	Usagi steeled herself and, stepping around her bed, she closed
on the wardrobe with a merciless calm.  Visions of Shingo, hiding in
the wardrobe in an effort to frighten her came to mind.  Her fists 
started to clench as she stepped up to the doors, another insistent
tapping making her fume.

	She placed both her hands on the handles and threw them open,
staring down at where she expected Shingo's face to be, only to find
herself looking at someone else's midsection.  Slowly she looked up,
coming face to face with a green-haired woman.

	"Ah Princess...."  Setsuna smiled, speaking softly.  "Do you 
know how little room there is in a suitcase like that."  And she 
pointed to the open suitcase she was standing in.

----o


>From the Personal Journal of Neo Queen Serenity
(Tsukino Usagi I)

6/29/98


	At that moment, I came close to doing something that I hadn't
done since well before I was Miki's age.  It was only through 
extreme control, and a concern for Miki, that avoided my having to 
clean up myself.

	I also had a few words to Pluto about her tendency to turn up
in the most unexpected places....


----o

	Setsuna shrugged, smiling.  "It was a lot easier, utilising 
the natural portal that exists at the bottom of every suitcase, than
walking up to your front door and trying to talk my way past your 
family."  

	"So that's why peoples' luggage keeps disappearing...."  Usagi
pondered.  Setsuna chuckled.

	"You should see what is lying in the portals....  I could 
start up my own business, specialising in used left socks and 
underwear."  Usagi boggled at Setsuna's suggestion.  "Just kidding."
Setsuna added, after a few moments.

	"Moouuu...."  Usagi clenched her fists, rising up on her toes
as Setsuna stepped out of the wardrobe and crossed the room.

	The woman sat on the end of Usagi's bed, placing a gentle hand 
on Miki, watching the girl.  Usagi reached forward, worried that 
Setsuna would wake her.  "It's alright.  I've placed her in a deep 
sleep.  Her dreams shall be pleasant."  She turned back to Usagi.  
"I wished to talk with you alone."

	Usagi swallowed.  "Alone?  With me?"  Terrible thoughts 
started to enter her mind.  "The others....  Has something happened
to the others?"  She grabbed Setsuna by the shoulders.  "Oh my God!
I should have been there....  I should...."

	Setsuna waved a hand at her dismissively.  "Princess, please!
Calm yourself.  Your friends are perfectly alright.  I have seen 
them not much more than a couple of hours ago."

	Usagi stared at Setsuna, not knowing whether to believe her or
not, then dropped her face, letting out a breath.  "It's just 
that...  You only ever come to see us... to see ME, when things are
really serious."

	"I don't know whether you could describe this visit in such 
terms, however...."  Setsuna paused, allowing herself to think.  "An
unusual event has occured this afternoon.  The others, in their role
as senshi, came upon a Youma."

	"A Youma?"  Usagi lifted her hands from Setsuna's shoulders 
and frowned.  "Wasn't time reset in a manner that canceled them out
of existence?"  She closed her eyes and crossed her arms.  "But 
then, if that were true, I shouldn't have any memories of those 
events."  She started to umm and ahh, confusing herself even 
further.  "I don't get it.  What would a Youma be doing in Tokyo 
now?"

	"Apparently, she escaped from the sealed dimension into which
YOU had placed her."

	"I had placed her?"  Usagi blinked.  "That's news to me."

	"The full extent of your powers are unknown, even to one such
as I."  Setsuna paused, allowing that to sink in.  "Whatever the 
case, this Youma, Arimus, has escaped....  And she may be followed
by others."

	"Oh, that's just great."  Usagi started to pace the room.  
"And how do you know this?  Did she tell you?"

	"Yes." Usagi was on the floor, facefaulting.  Picking herself 
up, she shot Setsuna a questioning glance.  "Well, she was not, 
apparently, hostile.  She was a follower of the General Nephrite.  
And since he changed his allegiance, so did she."

	"So what have you done with her?"  Usagi finally managed to 
say, after chewing that over.

	"She's staying with Jupiter.  And before you say anything 
else, no, she's not in a position to do anything untoward....  Her
powers and energies are on such a low ebb as to be almost 
undetectable."

----o

	Makoto sniffed as she stared across her loungeroom at the 
figure, sitting upright on the sofa, staring at the box at the far
end of the room that was making all the sound and noise.  The thing 
she found most interesting were the size of Arimus's eyes.... as 
wide, round and white as a pair of golf balls shoved into her eye 
sockets.  That and the fact that she was holding several of the sofa
cushions in front of her as a kind of defence.

	"You can relax, you know.  It isn't going to kill you."  
Makoto sighed, sinking deeper into her armchair.  "Unless, of 
course, you include the radiation it puts out as being dangerous."

	"It puts out radiation?"  Arimus moved even further from the
television.  "What is this radiation?"

	"Well, uh...."  Makoto searched for words to reassure her 
guest.  "They're kinda rays that the tube puts out in the production
of the picture, and all that.  I dunno....  I'm not a technician."

	"So, it is the aura the magic box produces."

	"Yeah, something like that."  Makoto sweatdropped.  Maybe she
should couch her explanations in more arcane terms from now on....  
Arimus frowned, pointing at the television.

	"Is this magic evil?  These images seem to be a form of mind-
control, numbing the senses and lulling you into a state of stupor."

	"Well, that's the general purpose of television.  I think.  To
help you relax and inform you of things."

	"Inform?"  Arimus concentrated on the picture....  A red-
haired clown was using his thumb as a valve to blow himself up like
a balloon and float into the sky, in pursuit of a purple creature 
that seemed to have drifted away by accident.  "Is this information
of any true importance?"

	"Well, if you're hungry, yes.  Although I tend to draw a line 
at the golden retches."  Makoto giggled inanely.

	"Do all humans fly like that if they breathe into their 
opposing digits?"

	"No.  Its just an advertising trick.  Special effects and all
that."

	"So the magic box is disseminating false information."  Arimus
nodded.  "It would have made an effective tool for our campaigns 
against your human race."  She peered at Makoto.  "When we were at 
war, that is."  Looking back at the television, she clasped at the 
cushions.  "Not to say that we haven't already tried.  That strange
flying creature with the red hair bore an odd resemblance to many 
Youma of my acquaintance.  Perhaps we are waging a war against you 
at this very moment, using these magical devices to drain your 
energy from you."

	"Actually, its more likely to be television executives."  
Makoto paused, thinking.  "I suppose you could describe them as the
enemies of the human race.  Many of their decisions seem to be 
designed to piss people off."

	"So, you are fighting wars against more than one force."  
Arimus smiled.  "No wonder we lost.  You are a species well versed 
in the tactics of war."  Makoto facefaulted.  

	"It's not exactly like that...."  The picture on the screen 
changed, showing scenes of war, famine, terrorism and urban 
violence.  Makoto sank even deeper into her chair.  "Well, maybe it
is.  Sometimes."

	"Fascinating."  Arimus leaned forward.  "Such intense 
viciousness."  The pictures changed as two smiling faces were 
flashed across the screen in an advertisement for a news service.  
"They must be trainers in the art of war."

	"No.  They're just a pair of brainless bimbos pretending to be
serious newsreaders.  Oh, why do I bother...."  She jumped from her
chair, landing on her feet with precision.  "I'm going to get a 
drink.  You just keep watching the... magic box.  Take in its aura 
and all that.  Maybe it shall make you feel better."

	Arimus looked at her, dubiously.  "I have forsaken the ways of
evil.  Do I really want to take in the evil energies of this magic 
box, supplanting the energies you humans can give me?"  She paused,
looking distant.  "Human auras are warm, inviting.... tasty.  Except
for those who have evil intent.  None can describe the bitterness 
that they contain.  Only the auras of pure human souls are prized by
my kind."  Arimus swallowed, licking her lips.  "I shouldn't talk 
like this.  I may be tempted back into my old ways."

	"Have you ever considered taking vitamin supplements?"  Makoto
said, sarcastically.

	"What are vitamin supplements?"  Arimus pulled the cushions 
back towards her.  Makoto rolled her eyes and stepped into her 
kitchen.

	"Human energies in a pill.  I take them whenever I'm feeling 
really down."  She opened up the fridge.  "They're no replacement 
for a good diet and a healthy lifestyle.  Of course, you wouldn't
understand what I mean.  You Youmas don't live 'healthy' 
lifestyles."  She screwed up her nose at how little worth eating was
sitting in her fridge.  "Maybe I'm not getting the message, either."


	She pulled out a small glass tray, containing a leftover dinner,
and a carton of orange juice.  Closing the fridge door with
her foot, she placed them on the kitchen table, glancing out through
the doorway at Arimus, who was staring into the air, blankly.  "Oi!  
Are you alright in there?"  There was no response.  Concerned, she
stepped over to the doorway.  "Hey!  Hey you!  Are you alright?"

	"Hmmm?"  Arimus looked at her without really seeing her.  
Makoto swallowed, nervously.

	"I asked you if you were alright.  You've come over all 
strange."  Arimus blinked, then looked down at the floor.  Makoto 
thought she saw a smile on the edges of her mouth.  Not a nasty 
smile, the kind she had been used to seeing from her enemies, but a
soft, contented smile.  For Makoto, it was possibly the most 
unnerving thing the strange woman had done all evening.

	"I'm not feeling strange."  Arimus said, softly.  "I feel 
warm.  I can feel my energies increasing once more."

	"But....  How?"  Makoto blinked.  She felt an element of 
concern.  "Are you stealing energy from the other tenants of this
building?"

	"No...."  Arimus looked up at her, the dazed expression not
leaving her eyes.  "I know they're there.... but I'm too weak to 
take from them.  This energy... is being fed INTO me."  Arimus 
placed her arms around herself, as if in ecstasy.  Makoto gripped 
the doorway, not knowing what to do.

	"But where?  Where is it coming from?"  Arimus's eyes opened
and she smiled with wicked amusement at Makoto's question.

	"Why...  You should know...."

----o

	"Was it really necessary to give her a little boost like 
that?"  Setsuna shrugged as Usagi, having changed into Eternal 
Sailormoon and placed her hands against her chest, allowing a certain 
amount of concentrated energy seep from her towards Makoto's
apartment, settled to her knees on the floor, changing back into her
normal self as she did so.  She looked up at Setsuna, sighing.

	"If Arimus is our ally, then she requires the energy with 
which to live."

	"You're not some kind of proxy generator."  Setsuna shrugged 
again.  "The others had agreed to supply her with a certain amount 
of energy.  At least, enough to keep her alive."

	"Just enough to keep her ticking over, hmm?"  Usagi placed her 
hands on her knees.  "That would be like waving morsels of food in 
front of the malnourished, keeping them alive for the sake of using
them....  Not out of some humanitarian notion of goodwill."

	Setsuna smiled.  "Now THAT'S more like the Serenity I 
remember."  She clapped her hands together.  "It's pleasing to see
you are regaining your old personality, and not a moment too soon."

	"Get real, Pluto.  I've ALWAYS thought that way."  She paused.
"Give or take a few tantrums.  I would NEVER tease someone in that 
manner.  I've had it done to me too many times."


	There was a knock at the door, making Usagi jump, turning as
Shingo opened it wide.  "Oi, Usagi...  Dinner's ready."  He sneered
at her.  "Come and get it, or I'll eat the lot."  He turned to 
Setsuna.  "Oh, hi there, Meiou-san.  Mama says you can join us if 
you wish."  And with that, he closed the door.  Usagi glanced aside
at Setsuna.

	"What just happened?"

	"Oh, I used a little trick on your family that Chibiusa had 
perfected."  She grinned.  "Seems to have worked."

	Usagi glared daggers at her.  "Why didn't you do that to begin
with, rather than scare me half to death by appearing through a 
suitcase?"

	"Oh...."  Setsuna looked away, deviously.  "I wanted to see 
your reaction.  You can be so cute when you get all worked up, 
sometimes."  Usagi grumbled unmentionables under her breath.  
"Anyway, I had to be IN the house to do it.  I'm not as good as 
Chibiusa at it, yet, and I don't have Luna P to help me."

	"Fine excuse."  Usagi huffed.  "We're going to have to wake
Miki up, now."  Usagi stood, stepping over to Miki's side.

	"Yes, Miki."  Setsuna paused.  "You might have to explain me 
to her."  Usagi glanced over at Setsuna.

	"Why?"

	"I didn't use the little trick on her that I used on your 
family."  She paused.  "I did try, however...."

	"However what?"  Usagi looked down at the sleeping Miki, 
touching the girl's face.

	"However.... she was.... resistant to my powers."

	"Eh?"  Usagi looked at Setsuna, shocked.

	"Yes.  She's a very special girl, this Miki."  She paused, 
nodding to herself, strange thoughts entering her strange mind.  "A 
VERY special girl."


END OF PART 10

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Chapter.... "Dinner Time"


An apology to all of those who have been trying to send me emails,
or have been expecting me to keep them posted as to this story's
progress.  Having had my computer turn belly-up in the middle of
writing the last chapter, I had lost all of my email addresses and
was not able to download my mail before it was removed from the
server.  All those who want to have this fanfic posted directly to
them, please leave me your email addresses again so I can get to
it, straight away.  ^_^

Jim


Naito Raida ikari@wantree.net.au


Member of the AJAS Fanfic Circle