Hi

This is the first part in the next chapter of this series.
The second part should be along sometime in the near future.

Assume all the usual legal disclaimers.

Cheers

Alex

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information for most Ranma fics in the RAAC and TASS archives.

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Sailor Moon

The name Sailor Moon and characters here within are copyright of Naoko
Takeuchi and are used without  permission. Some small concepts are
also borrowed from P.C Hodgell and are also used without permission.
Other characters and themes within are copyright of Alexander Gray and
Sharon Wall and are used with permission. This story maybe freely
distributed as long as this header is quoted, the authors are
referenced, and the contents are not altered without permission of the
authors.

(And yes, the various figures portrayed are totally out of character,
but hell, why not?)

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                *           *           *           *

Tidings of War
-------------------

(a Sailor Moon plus original story by Alex Gray and Sharon Wall)

With special thanks to Kell for her continued support in pre-reading,
Pete for his help with developing the story, and Regs for being...
well... Regs.

Unlooked for Allies
-------------------------

    "Hotaru-san?"

    "Rhian, please, just call me Hotaru. There's no need to be so
formal you know."

    "Oh, okay. I'll try and remember that. But are your parents always
out this late?" Rhian asked yawning and giving her arms a stretch.

    "Not usually this late, no," Hotaru replied taking out a pair of
fresh pajamas and passing them over to the other girl. "I don't even
know where they are tonight. But, hey, sometimes they stay out to all
hours anyway, so I've gotten use to it by now."

    "Oh," Rhian said as she unfolded the PJs and gave them a critical
once over for size. "That sounds a bit like my parents as well, they
are rarely home either. Mostly, it's just me and Karen."

    Hotaru looked up. "Whose Karen?"

    "The maid," Rhian replied laying out her futon on the floor. "I
spoke with her earlier about staying the night remember?"

    "Oh, I thought you were speaking with your mother," Hotaru said,
pulling back the sheets on her bed and taking out her own pajamas.

    Rhian stopped, and Hotaru heard the girl give a heavy exhale.
"They weren't in. Karen said that they had an important call after I
left and went out. Business, you know..." she started fussing with the
futon again and Hotaru, taking the hint, left the subject alone.

    "So, have you decided what you're going to do about your
engagement?" Hotaru asked sitting down on her bed and taking off her
jeans.

    Rhian's fussing with her futon became even more agitated. "No,"
she finally declared. "Frankly, I don't have a clue what to do. My
father has the final say on most things in my... well, clan, I suppose
I should call it. In many ways, you could even say that he is our
king. His word is law. If Arian, me and Bran, refuse him then... Oh, I
don't know, Hotaru. I've never been in a situation like this before."
She sighed and sat back on her knees. "I know Arian will refuse no
matter what, but as for Bran... Gods, I don't know anything anymore,
Hotaru. Tonight's little announcement has gotten me so twisted up that
I don't know if I'm coming or going. And then what with that fight..."
She looked up, her mouth open to say more, but then her eyes widened,
and blushing profusely, she looked rapidly away. "Ah... Let me give
you some privacy, Hotaru."

    Hotaru laughed, and finished removing her bra. "Don't be silly,
Rhian. Heck, girl, you're the most shy person I've ever met. Why are
you so embarrassed at a little flesh? Hell, I haven't got anything you
don't, so why are you so worried about seeing me naked?"

    "Well... It's just... Well, you know..." Rhian flustered, still
looking away.

    "Just what?" Hotaru replied, folding away her clothes. "Besides,
I've already seen you naked remember. Therefore, I know I haven't got
anything unique," and much to Hotaru's amusement, Rhian's face went
bright red. "All right, all right," the small brunette relented. "I'll
let you know when I'm decent. You can just keep your pretty little
head looking down and retain your innocence until then, eh?"

    Rhian's head shot up and she looked ready to make an angry retort,
but then she caught sight of Hotaru grinning at her, and her head shot
straight back down again. "I don't like being teased, Hotaru," she
declared, her long hair hiding her face from the brunette's view.

    "All right, all right, I'm sorry, Rhian," Hotaru apologized. "It's
just that you look so cute when you blush that I just couldn't resist
it, that's all. You should try and lighten up a bit. Life isn't all
problems you know."

    A few choice words emerged from under the curtain of lavender hair
that Hotaru missed, but which made her smile nevertheless. She could
tell that she was going to get endless fun out of this in the future,
but for now, Hotaru could see that the young Avatar was exhausted and
so she said nothing more. Getting changed as quickly as she could, she
pulled back the covers of her bed and slipped inside. Smirking to
herself, she glanced over at the still sulking girl. "You can change
in the bathroom if you want, Rhian. I promise, I won't look."

    Rhian sniffed, and brushing back her hair, stood up. Taking her
PJs in one hand, she headed off to the adjoining bathroom, closing and
locking the door behind her to make her point. Quickly, she undressed
and changed into her nightclothes. Folding up the skirt and top that
she had borrowed from Hotaru, she took out the rubber band that she
had found downstairs and started to braid her hair. She never slept
with it loose if she could help it. Her locks tended to get far too
easily entangled and that made them a complete nightmare to brush out
in the morning.

    Ten minutes later, she opened the door and turning off the light
re-entered the bedroom. Hotaru was still sitting up in her bed reading
a book and as Rhian closed the door to, the brunette looked up.

    "Sure, took you long enough," she commented, closing her book and
putting it down onto the bedside table.

    "Long hair can be a pain at times," Rhian replied, self-
consciously touching her braid.

    "Really? How long have you had it like that anyway?"

    "Most of my life," Rhian responded, getting into the bed she had
laid out for herself on the floor. "Father said it reminded him of my
real mother, so I sorta kept it like this." Once more her hand went up
almost unconsciously to stroke the long braid flowing over her left
shoulder, and she gave a soft sigh.

    "What? Just for him?" Hotaru queried, punching her pillow and
snuggling down into her bed.

    "No. I like it this way as well," Rhian yawned, lying down and
pulling the blankets up around her. "I prefer it." She closed her eyes
and with an audible exhale, settled down to sleep. "Night, Hotaru..."

    "Hmmm, me too," Hotaru remarked back, making Rhian open her eyes
and tilt her head to look up at the brunette.

    "Eh? And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, eyeing the
young senshi suspiciously. "You're not trying to tease me again are
you?"

    "Moi?" Hotaru replied all-innocent. "No, of course not. It's just
that nearly all of my friends have really long hair as well, one even
longer than yours. You might just say that I've gotten used to it.
Besides, it does suit you, you know. It brings out your face more,
makes you look quite attractive."

    "Oh," Rhian smiled, a tad uncertain where this was going.
"Thanks... I think." A small yawn escaped from her mouth and she felt
the soft warmth of the bed begin to spread throughout her entire body.

    "It's a compliment, Rhian," Hotaru grinned back. "You need to get
use to them, you know."

    The lavender haired girl's only answer to that was a wide yawn and
Hotaru watched as the other girl's eyes struggled to remain open.
"I'll try, Hotar..." The rest of the sentence drawled out as Rhian's
eyes finally succumbed, and the girl started to breathe deeply as
exhaustion at last claimed her.

    "Oh, Rhian..." Hotaru sighed softly and reaching up, she switched
off her bedside light. As she did so, she paused and took the
opportunity to look down one more time at the now lightly snoozing
girl stretched out on the floor opposite her bed. A tender smile
flickered across her face as she took a few moments to just simply
watch her newfound friend. It was rather a unique experience to have
someone other than Chibi-Usa sleeping over, and Hotaru hoped that this
would not be the only time that Rhian would do so. She honestly liked
the young Avatar, and was looking forward to getting to know the girl
better.

    While she contemplated this, a large yawn broke from her mouth and
Hotaru realized just how weary she really felt as well. So, rolling onto her
back, she pulled the bedclothes up around herself and closed her eyes.
Taking a slow deep inhale, Hotaru whispered, "Sleep well, my
elin'rth," and with that, gave herself up to her own exhaustion.

    Rhian was awakened the next morning by the presence of a wonderful
scent being wafted repeatedly under her nose. A scent that made her
almost start to salivate the moment she opened her eyes. She blinked
sleepily as standing above her, holding a tray of some very
interesting looking items, was a fully dressed Hotaru. The brunette
had a wide grin on her face and her eyes sparkled with a barely
suppressed mirth, almost as if she were about to pull off a joke of
some kind. Rhian yawned, and rubbing at her eyes, sat up.

    "Morning, sleepy-head," Hotaru said warmly, greeting the still
drowsy girl. "Sleep well?"

    "Ummm," Rhian nodded back, her attention now locked on the
wonderfully smelling tray held in Hotaru's hands. "Like a log, thanks.
You?"

    "So, so," Hotaru replied, kneeling down so that she was now eye to
eye with her friend. "I've made some breakfast for you, if you want
it. It's not much I'm afraid, I'm not that great a cook, but I can at
least manage toast and eggs. You hungry?"

    The look that Rhian gave her was more than answer enough, and
Hotaru laughed as she placed the tray down. "Be careful not to spill
any," she said warningly as she took a piece of toast off the plate
and munched on it thoughtfully.

    "Thanks, Hotaru," Rhian eagerly said, tucking into the runny eggs
with relish. "You're a saviour."

    Hotaru smirked at this, but made no reply.

    "By the way, Hotaru, what's the time?" Rhian asked curiously as
she shoveled some yoke filled toast into her mouth and started
chewing.

    "Ah, about 09:30 I think," Hotaru replied casually, still munching
on her toast. "You've been asleep for well over eleven hours."

    "09:30!" Rhian exclaimed, her eyes widening in astonishment. "But
school..." she juggled the tray to one side and started to get up.

    "Rhian, wait. It's okay, I called in sick," Hotaru replied,
reaching out with her hand to gently restrain the suddenly active
girl. "Your father seems to have quite a lot of pull with the staff
there, so I just mentioned..."

    "Wait - you spoke with my father..." Rhian's face tightened, and
under her hand Hotaru could feel the girl's body tense. "What did
he..."

    "Relax, Rhian-chan," Hotaru tried to reassure her friend by giving
the girl's shoulder a quick squeeze. "Your father was fine about it.
He said that after last night's events, you would need some time to
recover. He also said that Pwyll and Bran were in an even worst state
than you, so relax, eh? He's going to send around someone for you
tonight, but until then, he said that you should just rest."

    "You're sure?" Rhian looked anxiously at the brunette for
confirmation. "You're sure that's all he said?"

    "Yes, really," Hotaru repeated, wondering why Rhian was suddenly
so earnest about this. "Remember the point of us going to the same
school. Something about trust..."

    "Oh, right..." Rhian flushed and looked down. "Sorry."

    Hotaru gave the slender girl's shoulder another gentle squeeze and
then pulled back. "Your breakfast is getting cold, you know," she said
in an effort to change the mood. "I didn't slave over it all morning
so that you could just ignore my efforts." She put an expression of
mock annoyance on her face, and was rewarded with a small smile from
Rhian as once more, the lavender haired girl began to eat.

    "So," Hotaru continued as she started to munch on her second piece
of toast. "What would you like to do today? Go shopping or just stay
in and rest?"

    "Uh," Rhian paused to lick some egg away from her lip and then
shrugged. "Don't really mind. I was hoping that Bran and Arian might
be in a position to make some sense of..."

    "Ack, Rhian, forget about that for today, will you?" Hotaru chided
the other girl. "If Bran is as bad as your father says, then you
aren't going to be able to achieve anything today anyway. Come on,
let's just enjoy today and worry about other things tomorrow, eh? I'm
sure Pwyll will have some suggestions to make anyway. He seems a
bright boy, and besides, after that attack yesterday I'm sure your
parents have much more important things to worry about than just
getting you married, ne?"

    "'Suppose..." Rhian mulled over Hotaru's words while swallowing
her toast.

    "Of course, they will, " Hotaru reassured her friend, and then,
getting to her feet, she took up the initiative. "Then I vote that we
go shopping. Nothing like good old shopping therapy for sorting out
problems and clearing away the cobwebs."

    "I wouldn't know. I've never tried it," Rhian commented back,
looking up at Hotaru.

    The slender brunette winked, "Well, today you will. Now, I've
finished drying off your clothes, but I think it would be better if
you borrowed an outfit from me instead for today. The stuff you have
with you is a bit too... well, house casual for a shopping trip, if
you know what I mean."

    Rhian shrugged, "If that is what you think is best..."

    "I do."

    "Fine, whatever..." Rhian replied dismissively.

    "It's decided then," Hotaru beamed at the girl as she headed
towards the door. "I'll put the clothes out while you're having a
shower, okay? Will an hour be enough time for you to get ready before
we go?"

    "Of course," Rhian nodded as she started on her fruit juice.

    "Great," Hotaru said, her hand just on the door nob as she
abruptly stopped and turned to watch the young Avatar eat.

    Rhian emptied her glass and tried to ignore the sensation of being
stared at. She reached down and picked up the last piece of buttered
toast. Taking a small bite, she could not help but look over at Hotaru
still standing by the door. The brunette's eyes were watching her like
a hawk, and Rhian was uncertain about what the other girl was doing.
"Hotaru?" she finally asked. "Is there something wrong?"

    For a moment, the brunette did not respond, but then the intense
look on the girl's face softened and she smiled. "No, Rhiannon -
everything is fine, just fine."

    "Oh..." Rhian shifted as Hotaru continued to stare at her. Trying
to ignore it as best as she could, she went about finishing off the
last bit of toast. Finally, after what seemed like an age, Rhian heard
the door close and looking up, noted with a sigh of relief that Hotaru
had gone. Gods, what had all that been about? Hotaru had been acting
really weird there for a moment.

    Shrugging, she dismissed the matter and moving the tray onto the
floor beside her, pulled back the bedclothes and got up. Walking over
to the window, she opened it and took in a good deep breath of morning
air. Holding it for a moment, she stretched, giving her muscles just
enough of a small workout to clear the remnants of sleep from them.
She repeated this same routine another few times before at last she
felt ready to tackle the day. "Right, let's go and grab that
shower..."

    Three hours later, Hotaru was standing in front of a cashier
paying for a pot of coffee, some sandwiches and two small cakes. All
throughout the transaction, the young woman behind the till kept on
giving her the oddest stares, and Hotaru had to restraint herself from
making a comment about the cashier's rudeness. This was not the first
time that she and Rhian had been getting strange stares today either.
Their changed eyes seemed to be bringing out a morbid interest in
nearly everyone that they met, with poor Rhian always getting the
brunt of it. Hotaru did not know how often her young friend went out
on the town, but the girl was plainly unused to the sort of attention
that her lavender-gold hair was attracting, or the blunt stares that
people were giving her. In a society where conformity was more or less
the norm, people who looked visibly different - the way Rhian did -
were treated as objects to be wary of, and Hotaru could tell that her
young friend was not liking it one bit.

    "Thank you," Hotaru said frostily as she picked up her tray and
giving the woman a cold stare, turned to make her way back to the
second floor where Rhian was waiting. So far, this little shopping
trip had been a complete waste of time, and although the two of them
had visited quite a number of shops, as of yet, they had found nothing
of any interest at all.

    Several times during the morning, Hotaru had tried ringing the
house to see if either Setsuna, Haruka-papa or Michiru-mama were in,
but so far she had not had any response. And while she could
understand Pluto maintaining her distance, she had no idea why Haruka
or Michiru should still be missing. The two of them had remained out
all night, and Hotaru was beginning to wonder if they were all right.
It was most unlike them to remain out of contact for so long, and the
fact that they had was now beginning to make her worry a bit.

    "Ah, well. They can take care of themselves, I suppose," Hotaru
muttered as she reached the top of the stairs leading up to the second
floor. Stepping back to let some other people pass, Hotaru put her
musings over her adopted "parents" to one side and headed over to the
table where Rhian was sitting.

    The lavender haired girl was gazing out of the window onto the
crowded streets below, and Hotaru took a moment to watch the young
Avatar who had unknowingly become her elin'rth. Rhian was resting her
chin in the palm of her left hand and was nibbling at a stray lock of
hair in what appeared to be a slightly agitated fashion. Her posture
looked stiff and unnatural, and every so often her head would glance
anxiously around her before returning to stare out the window. It was
a scene that made Hotaru seriously wonder if her young friend was
actually enjoying the day out at all, or had just come along because
Hotaru had insisted, and that thought made the slender brunette sigh.
She had originally intended for this trip to put some color back into
her friend's face, but now it seemed that her plan had met with only
limited success.

    Rhian suddenly seemed to realize that she was being stared at, and
looking up, she met Hotaru's eyes. After a brief pause, a nervous
smile flashed across her face which Hotaru returned before walking
over to join her anxious looking companion.

    "You were quick, Hotaru," the young Avatar greeted her casually.

    Hotaru gave the girl a careful look and then began to lay the
contents of her tray out onto the table. "There wasn't much of a
queue," she replied with a small shrug, "So, I was able to get through
it pretty quickly. Oh, by the way, I wasn't really sure what you would
like in the way of sandwiches, so I just got us a couple of salad
ones. I hope that's okay."

    Rhian nodded, and flashed that small nervous grin of hers.
"Couldn't be better," she said. "I'm not much of a meat fan anyway, so
this will be great. Oh, how much do I owe you for..."

    "Forget it," Hotaru waved dismissively as she sat herself down,
keeping a careful eye on the girl's unusually agitated behavior. "My
treat."

    "That's not..." Rhian began, but Hotaru stopped the girl's protest
with a firm shake of her head.

    "Rhian, shush. You can get the next one if you really must."

    To this, Rhian gave a faint sigh but then nodded her head.
Uprighting the two cups, the lavender haired girl poured a generous
measure of black coffee into each. "So," she asked looking up at the
brunette opposite her. "Do you take milk and sugar with your coffee?"

    "Milk will do fine," Hotaru replied, putting the tray away to one
side, "but no sugar, thanks. We've got more than enough calories in
these cakes as it is."

    This comment made Rhian give a genuine chuckle as she added a dash
of milk to both cups. "Don't tell me you're on a diet or something,
Hotaru," she said as she slid one of the cups over to the young
senshi.

    "Nah," Hotaru replied, resting her hands on her waist. "I just
like to make sure I stay trim, that's all."

    "Humph," Rhian snorted back, becoming a bit more animated now.
"You haven't got anything to worry about there, old girl. You're thin
enough as it is. In fact, you could probably do with gaining a few
pounds if you ask me."

    "Perhaps," Hotaru shrugged taking a bite out of one of the
sandwiches. "But I could also say the same for you, you know."

    "You think so?" Rhian queried, looking down at herself critically.
"But Arian always says I..."

    "I'm just joking, Rhian-chan," Hotaru reassured her companion.
"You look fine, really. Very attractive."

    Rhian raised her head and gave Hotaru a suspicious look. "You're
trying to tease me again aren't you, Hotaru? Even when I..."

    "You looked like you needed it, Rhian," Hotaru broke in before the
overly sensitive girl could take offence. "You've been quiet for
nearly the whole day, and I've been beginning to wonder if you even
really want to be here. Look, Rhian, I know I was a bit pushy in
getting you to come along with me, but that..."

    "No, no, it's nothing to do with you, Hotaru," Rhian apologized
leaning forward. "It's me. I'm sorry, I just don't... well... really
feel comfortable out here. I..."

    "Whatever do you mean?" Hotaru asked the girl, even more confused
now.

    In response, Rhian shifted nervously in her seat, her eyes
returning to glance about at the people seated around them. "This is
the first time that I've been out amongst so many people alone,
Hotaru," she said in a quiet voice. "I'm just a little nervous about
it, that's all."

    At this confession, Hotaru started. People? Rhian was scared of
people? That did not make any sense whatsoever! Why would someone like
Rhian be frightened of people? She looked over at her young elin'rth's
pale face. "Why?" was all she could think of saying.

    The lavender haired girl awkwardly met her stare. "There... there
are just so many of them, Hotaru, so many..." Her voice failed and her
eyes went back to looking around her. At this point, Hotaru was more
confused than ever and she tried to understand what Rhian was
attempting to say. The girl was afraid, or rather nervous, of the
sheer bustle of people surrounding them. Well, in a way, Hotaru could
understand that. Rhian, like her friends, had lived nearly all their
lives in a closely protected bubble, with only limited exposure to the
outside world. And now, here she was, dragged out into a situation
that she had never really experienced before. Ack, no wonder the girl
was acting so strangely.

    "Rhian," Hotaru's hand crept out to lightly touch that of her
friend. "You're not alone, you know. I'm here. You trust me, don't
you?" she stared into the girl's golden eyes letting her concern for
the girl show on her face.

    The Avatar flushed. "Well... Yes, but what does that have to do
with..."

    "Then trust me," Hotaru replied gently. "There is absolutely
nothing here to worry about. If there was, then I would never have
bought you here in the first place. You don't think I would
deliberately put you in any danger do you?"

    "No, of course not," Rhian flustered. "It has nothing to do..."

    "Then relax," Saturn pressed. "You're completely safe here, trust
me."

    "I know that, Hotaru," Rhian replied stiffly, pulling her hand
free of the brunette's light grasp. "I'm not an idiot." Her face
tightening in irritation at the brunette's condescending words.

    Opps.

    "Rhian, I didn't mean it like that..." Hotaru tried to mollify the
moody girl, but Rhian did not seem to want to be appeased.

    "It's just something I'm not used to, Hotaru, that's all. I'll
adjust." The girl straightened, and Hotaru took the hint - this topic
of conversation was closed.

    A period of uncomfortable silence followed during which Hotaru
took a few careful sips from her cup. She used the opportunity to
covertly observe the young Avatar's body language in an effort to
determine when it would be best to speak again. She did not take
Rhian's comments to heart, but simply looked on the girl's snappiness
as a symptom of her nerves, and as such, waited for her friend to calm
down.

    Finally, after several minutes had passed, and Rhian had finished
her first cup, Hotaru deemed it time to try again. "So," she commented
with a bright smile, "where should we go this afternoon then, Rhian? I
didn't see anything that I fancied this morning, and I don't want to
have come all this way for nothing. Are there any other department
stores or fashion shops you would like to try?"

    Rhian raised her eyes to meet Hotaru's, and the brunette could see
the slightly guilty look that rested there. "Sorry, Hotaru," the
lavender haired teenager said. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like
that. You've been trying so hard to cheer me up and all I've been..."

    "Hush, Rhian," Hotaru gently chided the other girl, taking hold of
her hand. "I understand how you must feel, so forget it, eh? Now, back
to my original question - where shall we go?"

    The expression on Rhian's face slowly lightened as a small smile
crept across her lips. "I'll leave that for you to decide, Hotaru,"
the girl declared, squeezing the brunette's hand. "I trust you."

    An answering smile bloomed on Hotaru's lips, and for the first
time the young senshi felt that she had made a genuine connection to
her new friend, above and beyond the mostly skin deep friendship that
they currently shared. The knowledge made her feel warm, and she
leaned closer over the table. "Well, how about we try going up market
a bit? There are some places that I know that are pretty impressive.
The only problem is that they cost a bomb."

    Rhian chuckled and leaned forward as well. "Oh, I don't think that
will be a problem, Hotaru," she said with a sly grin. "My father gave
me a credit card a while back that I've never really used that much.
It has quite a high credit limit on it I believe, so why don't we let
him pick up the tab, eh?" she winked, and gave another small chuckle.

    "You're lucky," Hotaru sighed enviously. "Admittedly, my family
isn't exactly poor, but even we don't tend to indulge that much in
shopping just for the sheer fun of it. I usually get a small allowance
a week, but it does not really come to that much. It must be nice to
have some real spending power."

    The amusement that had begun to appear on Rhian's face slipped
slightly, and Hotaru saw a flash of pain awaken in her young friend's
eyes. "No, you're the lucky one, Hotaru," the girl said quietly. "Your
parents sound wonderful. They..." her voice faded away and her eyes
dropped down to stare at the steaming cup of coffee in her hand.

    Damn it!

    Hotaru silently cursed her stupidity as she remembered what Bran
had said yesterday about Rhian's family circumstances. That, and the
way the slender girl seemed to get very defensive whenever her parents
were mentioned, such have been enough to warn Hotaru to avoid the
subject like the plague, and yet, like an idiot, she had completely
forgotten about it and made her new friend depressed as a result.
Shit! Just when Rhian was beginning to really open up to her as well.

    Biting her lip, Hotaru released the hold she had on Rhian's hand
and reached over to gently cup the other girl's chin with her thumb
and two forefingers. "Rhian," she said softly, lifting the girl's face
so that she could look directly into her friend's eyes. "Don't look so
sad, eh? I'm sure that both your parents love you very much. I mean,
how could they not? You're a wonderful person. They must be both very
proud of you. Perhaps, they may not show it as much as they could, but
that does not mean that they don't both love you, you know. Look at
me, I've only known you for a day or so and already you've become
quite special to me, so imagine how they must feel, eh?"

    Rhian eyes held hers, and Hotaru could see the girl's uncertainty
hovering deep within them. "I would like to believe that, Hotaru, I
really would. But..."

    "You know, Rhian, perhaps what you really need to do is just ask
them how they feel," Hotaru interrupted the girl. "People often get so
busy with their own lives that they tend to forget about those around
them. Maybe all you need to do is just remind them that you are an
important part of their lives as well. Have you ever tried that? Have
you ever tried just asking them?"

    Rhian slowly shook her head, her eyes now wide and thoughtful.

    "Then perhaps you should," Hotaru smiled, releasing her light hold
on the girl's chin and leaning back. "Who knows, they might just even
surprise you, ne?"

    The lavender haired girl smiled at that, and this time she looked
genuinely a bit happier. "Thanks, Hotaru," she said quietly.

    Hotaru raised her eye brows. "For what? A piece of simple advice?"

    "Uh," Rhian shook her head. "For being a friend."

    "Silly," Hotaru smirked, wagging her finger. "Now, get on and
finish up that sandwich, my girl. We still have a lot of shopping to
do."

    "Hai!" Rhian replied, using her free hand to give a smart salute.
"As you command, Hotaru-sama."

    And like the refined young lady that she was, Hotaru stuck out her
tongue in reply. "BLLAAAARRR!!!"

                *           *           *           *

    Makoto held the wet cloth up to her face and softly moaned. "What
was the number of that truck again?" she joked in a weak attempt to
perk up her friends. Minako just grunted and returned to kneading her
forehead, while Rei just continued to look out into space as she had
done for most of the day. From their long friendship, Makoto knew the
meaning of that expression well. Rei was worried, and as per usual,
the young woman was keeping it to herself.

    Getting up, Makoto took a moment to steady herself before crossing
over to the window to stand by her friend. "So," she began. "What's
up?"

    At first, Rei did not answer, so Makoto gave the woman a light tap
on the shoulder. "Rei?"

    "Sorry?" the brunette turned to look at her. "What was that?"

    "I asked what was up," Makoto responded calmly.

    "Oh," Rei said absentmindedly, turning back to look out of the
window once more.

    Makoto took another moment to see if the woman would say anything
else, and then tried again. "Well?"

    "Nothing, nothing," Rei replied still gazing off into space.

    Yeah, right.

    "What did you think of those creatures we fought last night then?"
Makoto tried another tact. "They were nasty little buggers, weren't
they?"

    "Hmmm..." came Rei's vague reply.

    "Are you listening to me, Rei?"

    "Hmmm..." another vague confirmation emerged from planet Rei.

    Makoto paused, and then leaned forward. "Rei," she said in a husky
voice. "I want to rip off all your clothes and make mad passionate
love to you here and now on the floor. Is that okay?"

    "Hmmm... What!?" Rei suddenly jerked her head around aghast as her
brain finally finished processing Makoto's words and hit the 'does not
compute' button.

    "Oh, you're impossible at times, Rei," Makoto growled, and
pressing the now coolish cloth to her face, went in search of Setsuna
and some fresh ice. An awful lot had happened in the last twenty four
hours that Makoto wanted answers for, and the best person she knew who
could supply them was Pluto. And even if it was an action doomed to
failure, Makoto would at least make an attempt.

    Walking down the hallway towards the kitchen of what had turned
out to be a flat that Setsuna was looking after for a friend, Makoto
ran over in her mind some of the events from the previous night. She
had just been settling down quite happily to start on some of her
college work, when Minako had contacted her with a rather garbled
message about some youma trashing a shop or something. Initially, she
had thought that her old friend was joking. Events like that had not
happened for several years, but the sound effects that had accompanied
the call had rapidly convinced her otherwise. So, with her heart
pounding in her ears and a sense of dread come excitement flooding her
body, Sailor Jupiter had rushed off to help her friend.

    Arriving on the scene some ten minutes or so later, she and a
rather exhausted Minako had proceeded to have the collective crap
kicked out of them. The... things they were fighting had been like no
youma or demon that Makoto had ever encountered before. Oh, they were
stupid, lumbering things, but no matter what the two senshi had tried,
those horrors had just seemed to shake it off like a light summer
shower. Energy attacks, large objects thrown from a great height -
nothing. Her 'Oak Revolution', Minako's 'Love and Beauty shock' -
nadda. Even the physical damage caused from the wall that Minako
deliberately collapsed on them, it had all been healed virtually
instantaneously.

    When Rei had finally turned up to help, Makoto had at least
thought that they would have a chance, but when even Mar's fire-based
attacks had proved useless, Jupiter had begun to despair. How do you
fight an enemy that barely even notices your attempts to destroy them?
So when Saturn had mysteriously appeared from no where and joined
their attack, Makoto had almost reached the point of shouting for joy.
However, when even young Saturn had started to have difficulty, then
Jupiter had begun to seriously wonder if now was not the time for a
strategic withdrawal to regroup and refocus their attack. She had
almost even been on the point of yelling this out when those, er, dogs
things had intervened.

    It had been rather a strange and chilling experience to watch
those six dogs accomplish in just under twenty seconds what the
combined might of three Senshi had failed to do in over ten minutes of
continuous fighting. However, this first sensation of almost giddy
relief that _something_ could harm these things had rapidly given way
to a feeling of sinking apprehension. Something about the sheer
ferocity of the "dogs" attacks was even worse than that of the demons.
It had been like watching two sets of predators turn on each other and
wondering which would be left to attack you after they had finished
with each other. Makoto could not help but shudder slightly at the
thought even now. Going one on one with those dogs was an experience
that she could personally well do without.

    And then there was that boy...

    This was what got to Makoto the most - who the hell, or what the
hell, was that boy? When he had caused that tower of lights to appear
out of nowhere, Makoto had never conceived that she could endure such
agony and live. It had felt like... The girl shuddered, and
deliberately forced the memory away. But the power that had followed
it... Makoto shook her head in wonder. There was no way she could
_ever_ forget that. The sheer _rush_ of it had been incredible! Never
in all her wildest dreams had she imagined that she had such power as
that residing within her, and the thought that that boy could somehow
access it and she could not, made her feel, well, angry in a way.
Angry, and determined to find that boy and drag the secret of how he
did it out of him. The problem of finding him however meant that she
had to tackle Pluto, and the older woman was not exactly known to be
the open, friendly type.

    Mulling through all the possible ways to approach this little
problem, Makoto did not see Setsuna until she almost barged straight
into her. "Oh Gods, I'm sorry, Setsuna," Makoto apologized profusely,
backing away and silently cursing herself for not paying more
attention. "I wasn't looking where I was going." Shit. How was she
going to get any serious answers out of the woman now when she had
just made herself look like a total klutz? Damn!

    The Time senshi did not say anything in response but simply raised
her hand and held it out. Makoto was more than just a little surprised
to see that it held a freshly loaded ice pack.

    "For your headache," the green haired woman said with a smile.

    "Ah... Thanks..." Makoto hesitantly responded as she took it.
Hell, sometimes this woman just freaked her out.

    "Don't mention it, Makoto," Setsuna's smile widened, making the
young woman even more freaked. "You did very well yesterday under
difficult and dangerous circumstances, I'm proud of you."

    Makoto's head jerked up, and for an instant, she wondered if she
had heard the other woman correctly. May be she was having a mad dream
or something... Yes, that was a good possibility, a nightmare...

    "I know I may not say this very often, Makoto," Setsuna continued
as if she had never noticed the younger girl's reaction. "But you, Rei
and the others, you all make me very proud, you know. And no matter
what may happen in the future, I want you to always remember that."

    Makoto blinked. Yes, this definitely had to be a dream. The real
Setsuna would never say anything like this.

    For a moment, the Time senshi looked like she was going to say
something more, but then she turned back towards the kitchen. "I was
just about to get some lunch ready for everyone," the older woman
continued in a completely different tone. "Was there anything you
particularly wanted?"

    Setsuna's sudden change in tact threw Makoto for a moment as did
the mention of food, but remembering what she had originally come here
for, she took a step forward and blurted out, "Wait! Just for a
moment, please! I need to know what happened yesterday. What was that
all about? Are we under attack from a new enemy or something?"

    Setsuna stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around. "I'm
sorry, Makoto. This time, not even I know the answer to that. It is
something which only Time will tell."

    At this curious statement, Makoto frowned and boldly raising her
eyes, locked them with Setsuna's. "I don't understand."

    Setsuna sighed, and to Makoto it seemed that the other woman
appeared to slump slightly as if a great weight were pressing against
her shoulders. "I am not omnipotent, Makoto," the other woman said
softly. "I just do the best that I can." And as she said this her dark
eyes seemed to expand, and Makoto found herself completely entrapped
by the depth of the immortal's stare. "I just do what I can,"
Setsuna's soft voice repeated, and this time the weight of emotion in
those few words made the girl want to spin around and flee, but the
overwhelming nature of those eyes made escape impossible.

    Finally, it was Setsuna herself who broke the link between them.
Turning away, the older woman took a couple of steps towards the
kitchen. "So," she said in a light tone that was completely different
from the one she had used only moments before. "What will it be? I
have salad, ham, bread..."

    As Setsuna started to blindly reel off a list of possible things
she could make for lunch, Makoto tried to make some sense out of what
the heck was going on. Setsuna seemed to be acting in a way that was
completely out of character - open one moment, sad the next. It was
like the woman was a totally different person, and to be honest,
Makoto was not even sure if Setsuna was being genuine or not. It
seemed a pretty odd thought, but the woman was acting so strangely
that Makoto did not know what else to think.

    Nodding her head in agreement to one of Setsuna's suggestions,
Makoto decided to put the issue to one side for now. Her lover was
returning from America tomorrow for the first time in several months,
and that together with the attack yesterday gave her more than enough
to worry about without adding Setsuna to the list as well. And driving
to the airport tomorrow in the condition she currently felt was more
than challenge...

    "Makoto, are you listening to me..."

                *           *           *           *

    "But it just isn't me!" Rhian complained as Hotaru held up the
light blue colored summer dress against the young Avatar's front and
eyed it critically.

    "Why not?" Hotaru queried, brushing Rhian's complaint to one side
as if the girl had never spoken. "I think it would look great on you.
What's your problem with it?"

    "How about the length for a start," Rhian stated as she tried to
push the dress away. "You may like showing your body off to whomever
cares to look, but I for one prefer something that's more modest in
style, thank you very much."

    "Oh, like that is it?" Hotaru grinned, sensing another golden
opportunity to tease her long haired companion.

    Rhian glared at her, "What do you mean?" the girl asked
suspiciously.

    "Nothing," Hotaru replied taking back the dress and giving an
audible sigh.

    "Hotaru, just what are you up to?" Rhian pressed. "You know I
don't like to be teased."

    The slender brunette smiled back sweetly. "Me? Nothing, Rhian-
chan, nothing at all. If you can't wear these sorts of clothes, then
you can't wear them. Don't worry, there are lots of people who would
look odd in clothes like this, it's just a pity you're one of them."

    Hook.

    "All I said was that I didn't like them, Hotaru," Rhian remarked
primly back. "Not that I couldn't wear them."

    Line.

    "If you say so, Rhian, then I'm sure you're right..."

    "You don't believe me."

    And sinker.

    "I didn't say that at all, Rhian. All I was saying was that if you
can't wear them, then it is nothing to be embara..."

    "Give it here," Rhian snapped, grabbing the dress from Hotaru.
"And _you_ can try that one," she added, pointing at another in the
same style but in pastel white. "I bet that I look just as good, or
even better than you do."

    Hotaru raised her eyebrows, "Really? Are you proposing some kind
of wager, old girl?"

    At this, Rhian paused and her eyes narrowed, "What do you mean?"
she asked, her tone slightly uncertain now.

    Hotaru grinned. "Simple, Rhian," she said. "If you look odd in
that dress, then you have to buy me two complete outfits that I'll
chose for myself. On the other hand, if it does look good on you then
I'll buy it, but only on the condition that you wear it for the rest
of the day. After that, if you still don't like it then you can do
what you want with it. How does that sound? Pretty fair, eh?"

    "More like you're trying to be sneaky," the lavender haired girl
replied sullenly. "Either way, I lose."

    "Don't be such a grouch, Rhian-chan," Hotaru huffed giving the
moody girl a light punch on her shoulder. "Come on, live life up a
bit, will ya? You're far too serious that's your problem. Look, it's
just a small bet that's all. It's not going to kill you now is it?"

    Rhian, however, did not answer. The slender Avatar was instead
looking around her as if distracted by something else, and a small
frown marred her pale face. Hotaru looked at the girl curiously for a
second, wondering what had so caught her young friend's attention. Her
eyes made a quick darting scan of the crowd surrounding them, but saw
seeing nothing, she carried on with her evil plot.

    "Well, maybe your father is right about engaging you to an older
man after all," Hotaru launched her sucker punch. "You're probably
more suited to the mature type anyway..."

    Rhian's head snapped around, her distraction forgotten as she
glared daggers at the sweetly smiling brunette. "I'll be changed in
ten minutes," she declared, spinning around and stalking off towards
the  changing rooms, bristling. Hotaru smirked as she watched the
young girl go. Hah - Rhian was just so easy to manipulate, it was a
joke.

    Twenty minutes later, a rather self-conscious looking Rhian
clothed in the dreaded light summer dress, was standing in front of a
mirror next to a similarly attired Hotaru. The slender brunette was
looking smugly at their reflections and making "umming" sounds as she
made a show of critically examining the image the two of them
portrayed.

    "Straighten up a bit, Rhian," Hotaru said at one stage. "I can't
see how you look being all hunched over like that."

    The lavender haired girl muttered something under her breath but
did as the brunette requested, pulling down at the hem of her dress in
a futile attempt to stop it from showing quite so much thigh. While
the fabric was loose and felt pleasantly cool against her skin, the
main objection that Rhian had to it was the simple fact that the dress
left her feeling so exposed, and that was something she did not enjoy
one bit.

    Although she did not regard herself as particularly shy, no matter
what that _person_ Hotaru said to the contradictory, Rhian had learnt
from a very early age that to draw too much attention to one's self
was not overly desirable either. She was an Avatar, and those few of
her kind that were left had learnt the hard way the lessons of
survival. One such lesson was the price of being seen as "different".
While most of the Avatar could pass themselves off as being human,
there were a few - and she countered herself in this group - where the
differences were just too obvious. For some of these few, it was in
the nature of their physical forms that this difference came. For
others, it was in the sheer _power_ of their presence. For Rhian,
however, this difference originated in the nature of the looks that
she had inherited from her mother.

    Originally, the Assyia-Cthlia had created the Avatar to serve as
weapons, but as with most things the nature of those needs had changed
over time, and so, different strains of Avatar were bred to satisfy
those differing needs. Some of those needs had required great strength
of body, whilst others, great strength of mind or power. Some of their
creator's needs however had been more, ah, "esoteric" in nature, and
it was from one now such vanished bloodline, that Lady Caridwen
Angharad had descended.

    Rhian, like her mother, bore features that had been crafted to
satisfy an alien concept of beauty that had been ancient when the race
of Man had still been a culture of primitive hunter-gathers. This
difference, unless carefully played down, tended to bring her
attention that she did not desire or need, and wearing a dress like
she was at the moment, did exactly the opposite. It literally screamed
"look at me! See how different I am!", and this was something Rhian
had been trying all her life to avoid. At this moment, seeing herself
reflected in the mirror as she was. made the girl feel very vulnerable
and she did not like that feeling one bit.

    "Your hair is all wrong," Hotaru finally announced after a long
period of contemplative silence. "Wearing it like you are at the
moment just doesn't work with this kind of dress. It needs to be..."
her voice trailed off as a small thoughtful frown settled on her face.

    Almost immediately, Rhian's hands went protectively up to her long
locks and she shook her head emphatically. "No. You are not going to
do anything to my hair, Hotaru-san. Absolutely not!" She backed away a
few steps to make her point.

    "Oh, don't be silly, Rhian," Hotaru fussed, stepping forward
towards the girl. "I'm not suggesting anything of the kind. I just
think that it would look much better if I loosened your braid... Oh,
look, I'll show you." Moving up behind the young Avatar, Hotaru shoed
the protective hands away and started to undo the girl's long hair.
Gods, she really did envy Rhian her long locks. It was like handling
long fine strands of silk that felt soft and cool against the skin.
Touching it now made Hotaru wonder what her own hair would be like if
she ever allowed it to grow long. However, the only time it had been
long before was when she had been...

    "Ouch!" Rhian griped. "Be careful, Hotaru. That hair is still
attached to me, you know."

    "Oh, sorry," Hotaru apologized, letting her hands relax. "I didn't
mean that." With an effort, she dismissed the dark thoughts of the
past and lost herself in the task of untangling the soft mass of
Rhian's hair. "There," she said finally pulling back both hands from
the luxurious tresses, "all straightened. Now, all we need to do is
move some of it forward like this..." And so saying, she lightly
brushed some of Rhian's locks over the front of the girl's right
shoulder and straighten it out. Pulling back, she turned to stand next
to her friend. "Right, let's have a look at... Oh..."

    When Hotaru's eyes first caught sight of the image reflected in
the mirror, she caught her breath in shock. Rhian looked...
devastating, absolutely breathtaking. The girl's hair, matched with
her fair skin set the dress off perfectly. And the way the loose
fabric seemed to almost hint teasingly at the slender figure beneath
was...

    "You're beautiful, Rhian..." she said in hushed awe, the words
slipping out of her mouth before she could stop them.

    Rhian blushed prettily at the compliment and smiled. "Why, thank
you, Hotaru. And you don't look too bad either, you know. White really
suits you." She looked over at Hotaru opening her mouth to say more,
but then suddenly she stopped and lifted her head. That weird
sensation which had disturbed her earlier erupted once more, but this
time it was even more pronounced, and Rhian found herself looking
about nervously as she tried to pin point the exact source.

    Hotaru smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror and with a
soft laugh, gave a little twirl. "Yip, not bad at all." Her hand
reached out and looping itself around Rhian's slender waist, pulled
the girl to her so that she could look at the image that the two of
them portrayed in the mirror. "Are we hot, or are we hot?" she
giggled, pressing her face against Rhian's so that the mirrored pair
did exactly the same. "All we need now is a party and we are rocking!"

    Rhian pulled a small face and stood back. "That, I think can wait
for the moment," she said putting her hands on her hips which pulled
the dress in some interesting new directions. "Anyway, what of our
little bet? Am I buying, or are you?"

    Hotaru sighed, and leaning down bought out her purse. "A promise
is a promise," she said taking out a credit card. "But remember, you
have to wear that for at least the rest of today. I still want to see
the guys drooling over the two of us, okay?"

    The lavender haired teenager rolled her eyes. "You're sick,
Hotaru, you know that, don..." she suddenly stopped. The weird
sensation was back in force and this time it triggered just about
every danger sense that she had. Backing up towards Hotaru, her eyes
jerked this way and that as she tried to identify just what the hell
had alarmed her to such an extent.

    "Rhian?" Hotaru asked, startled by her friend's sudden change in
behavior.

    The young Avatar's eyes narrowed and her head tilted to one side
almost as if she were listening for something that only she could
hear. "Hotaru..." the girl said uncertainly. "Something... Something
is here..."

    Hotaru tensed, and she moved closer to the frowning girl, her eyes
sweeping back and forth as she tried to ascertain what exactly was
spooking Rhian so much. Everything however, appeared to be perfectly
normal. "Rhian?" she asked again, locking her eyes with those of her
friend. "What is it?"

    In response, the pale Avatar shivered and drew even closer to the
young senshi opposite her. "Hotaru... Something is here, something...
wrong... Something, I don't know... Empty..." She shivered again, and
wrapped her bare arms around herself as she glanced nervously about.
"It's so cold... Hungry..." She shuddered and moved closer to the
brunette, staring worriedly up at her. "Hotaru... I'm scared...
It's... _wrong_..."

    Hotaru was totally confused. Her own senses told her absolutely
nothing and yet Rhian was acting like she was almost afraid or
something. "Rhian," Hotaru put her hands protectively on the trembling
girl's shoulders. "What is it? What's wrong?"

    Rhian turned her head and looked up at Hotaru, her eyes wide. .
"Sickness... It's... It's all around us, Hotaru... Coldness and
hunger. So much hunger..." She shuddered yet again and pressed herself
closer to the senshi. "Hunger..."

    Hotaru ignored the odd stares that some of the people around them
were giving and pulled her slightly freaked elin'rth to her and gave
the girl a quick reassuring cuddle. "Rhian, it's all right. You're
quite safe, I'm here and I won't let anything harm you, I promise."
She briefly stroked the long hair that spilled loosely down the girl's
back before slowly pushing her away. "Rhian," Hotaru said looking down
into the girl's golden eyes. "I need you to do something for me,
something that may seem a bit unsettling at first, but you have to
trust me, okay? It is important."

    The lavender haired girl blinked and then after a moment's
hesitation, nodded. "All right... I trust you, Hotaru," she said, her
voice barely audible.

    Hotaru's mouth tightened and she nodded abruptly. "Okay, I want
you to lean against me, Rhian, lean against me and try and match your
breathing with mine. I'm... I'm going to try and borrow some of your
strength, but it will only work if you are willing to trust me. It
will hurt and you'll feel drained, but you mustn't fight it, okay?
Just relax and trust me. Please, Rhian - trust me." Hotaru gave the
uncertain girl's shoulders a small squeeze and smiled in an attempt to
reassure her elin'rth that everything would be all right. She had
wanted to wait until she had had the time to explain to Rhian what had
really happened yesterday, but now it was too late. If the threat that
the girl was sensing was anything like those demons from yesterday,
then Hotaru needed her elin'rth's power now, not later. She only
prayed that Rhiannon had recovered enough to allow this to work, and
that the young Avatar trusted her enough not to resist. Saturn's
knowledge of how the Bond worked was vague as it was, and if
Rhiannon fought her then Saturn did not know what would happen.

    Wrapping her arms gently around the now acquiescent girl, Saturn
pulled Rhiannon backwards so that the young Avatar's shoulder blades
were resting up against her own chest. The sense of closeness that
this action bought made Saturn shiver, and all at once she was
intensely aware of the sweet clean scent that Rhiannon radiated. The
ancient senshi had to take a moment to steady herself as the presence
of the warm figure enclosed so trustingly in her arms invoked memories
from her past that she was not yet quite ready to deal with. Memories
of lives and intimate moments with people who were long since dust.
Disturbing memories, happy memories, memories that were best left
forgotten...

    Dismissing the past as best she could, Saturn leaned closer to her
elin'rth and whispered softly to her. "Breathe with me, Rhiannon.
Please, trust me... Breathe... In... Out... In... Out..."

    Rhiannon's body shifted slightly as the young girl started to
breathe deeply in response to Saturn's prompting. The senshi however,
could still feel the tenseness and uncertainty that the young
teenager's body communicated. So, tapping into her own power, Saturn
sent it flowing into the slender body held in her arms. "Relax,
Rhiannon," the senshi whispered once again and using her connection to
the Avatar, caused certain nerves to fire in certain ways that would
make the girl feel more at ease. "Breathe, Rhiannon, breathe. In..."

    Rhian drew a breath...

    "Out..."

    Rhian breathed out.

    "In..."

    Rhian's chest rose...

    "Out..."

    Rhian's chest fell...

    "In..."

    Saturn's awareness of the soft form nestled in her arms grew more
intense with each breath that her elin'rth made. Her own sense of well
being soared as at last Rhiannon began to truly relax, and a knot of
warmth in the middle of her chest began to slowly manifest itself -
her heart crystal's response to Rhiannon's growing trust.

    "Out..."

    A soft warmth began to build in the skin under Saturn's touch as
Rhiannon's own heart crystal began at last to resonate in sympathy
with her own, filling the ancient senshi with a feeling like warm
light. Instinctively, like a moth drawn to a warm flame, Saturn
pressed her hands firmer against the skin of the young Avatar's chest
as she sought to embrace the fiery light within the other girl, and as
she did so, the young brunette gathered to her the physical
manifestation of her elin'rth's very soul.

    Rhian gave a stifled sob of pain as she abruptly felt a wrenching
sensation in her chest and her body jerked. She clutched at Hotaru for
support as she forced herself to try and ride out the building pain of
whatever it was that the young senshi was doing to her. Her strength,
both physical and metaphysical, was being rapidly drained from her
body and the sensation of it was horrid. "Hotaru... Stop... Hurts..."
she tried to protest but then she lost even the strength to stand, and
like a sack of potatoes, she collapsed into the brunette's waiting
arms.

    "Hush now, Rhian," a faint voice whispered in her ear as the arms
holding her tightened protectively. "I am here. Hush now..." She felt
a warm body press against hers, and the world began to sway in and
out. "Hush..." The last thing that Rhian vaguely registered was the
soft curvature of Hotaru pressing closely against her before the lost
of strength became too much for her to bear, and she succumbed to the
gaping abyss at her feet and knew no more.

    As the lavender haired girl literally passed out in her arms,
Saturn silently cursed herself for her own clumsiness. This was the
first time that she had tried something like this and already she knew
that she had screwed up. She had drawn out far more than the young
Avatar had the strength to give. However, even as the senshi berated
herself, she could not help but revel in the sheer _high_ that the
unadulterated power raging through her body bought her. It was a
sensation that was almost intoxicating, and made Saturn sway as she
tried to adjust to the sudden rush. Her movement shifted the dead
weight of Rhiannon so that the girl's head lolled against the senshi's
face, having to make the brunette move her own head so that the young
Avatar's neck was cushioned in the nape of her own. The light brush of
skin against skin made the senshi uncomfortably aware of how intimate
the nature of this contact was, and Hotaru felt her face heat up as
she imagined how this must be looking to anyone else watching. This
thought however, was only passing in nature as Saturn forced herself
to return to the matter in hand. Using her new found strength to
augment her own, she reached out with her senses in an effort to try
and locate the strange sensation that had so shaken the now
unconscious Rhiannon.

    Time, motion, sensation - everything slowed down to an infinite
point where such concepts had no meaning as Saturn carefully extended
her powers in an ever increasing circle - looking, searching...

    The young brunette's body abruptly recoiled in utter revulsion as
a... sickness... suddenly flooded her mind. Darkness, and a sense of
all engulfing hunger washed through her entire being, threatening to
sweep away everything that was _her_ even as she struggled desperately
to block that... sickness out. Unconsciously, her arms tightened their
grip on Rhian, as floundering against the alien sensations bombarding
her mind, Hotaru sought for anything that she could use as an anchor
behind which she could shelter her battered psyche.

    For what seemed like an age, Hotaru struggled bitterly to hold her
own against the cold sickness trying to force itself upon her, but by
focusing exclusively on the soft warmth of Rhian now pressed up so
hard against her, the young brunette somehow managed to withstand the
attack. And almost as if sensing that such frontal methods would not
work, the alien hunger paused and Hotaru was granted a temporary
respite. Forcing herself as best she could, Hotaru gathered her
strength, and using her healing gifts like a piercing lance, struck
back.

    Pouring all of her strength into the attack, Hotaru flung a
metaphysical lance at the place which she somehow sensed was the
source of the alien sickness. A hideous screaming both real and mental
abruptly filled the air and Hotaru's head swung around as she
attempted to locate the source of the now physical sound. It was
coming from outside the shop, and from the screams of panic that had
started to arise as well, Hotaru rapidly came to the conclusion that
her "attack" must have had an affect.

    "Shit..." she swore, torn between the need to run out and fight
whatever it was that was now obviously on the rampage, and the almost
equally important need to stay behind and protect the now defenseless
form of Rhian. The conflict caught her completely off-guard and she
hesitated, uncertain what it was she should be doing. It was a moment
of hesitation that was shattered seconds later by the sounds of fresh
screams, and that more than anything abruptly resolved her dilemma.

    MAXEN! ARIAN! she called out. PLEASE! I NEED SOME HELP
HERE! IT'S RHIAN!

    A moment of inner silence passed and then...

    ::Hotaru?!::

    ::Hotaru is that you?::

    Thank god! Hotaru replied, relief flooding her mind. I need you
here with me now! Rhian is unconscious and I need someone to watch
over her!

    "Hotaru!" Maxen came running into the shop, fighting through the
people who were now beginning to be infected by the panic spreading in
from outside. "Hotaru?!"

    "Maxen! Over here!" Hotaru held up her hand and waved the boy
over. "Hurry!"

    "Hotaru! What the hell is going on here?! And Rhian? What is..."

    "She's fine, she's fine, just exhausted," Hotaru interrupted the
confused boy, putting the slumped form of Rhian gently into his
waiting arms. Drawing back, she ran one of her finger's lightly down
the girl's cheek before stepping away. "Look after her," she begged
Maxen, holding him for a moment with her eyes, and then, without a
further word, she spun around and ran off to deal with whatever it was
that was now on the rampage.

    Immediately outside the shop, people were now running and
screaming, all in a panic to escape from the shopping precinct by any
means possible. Hotaru paused just outside the shop doors and tried to
make some kind of sense out of what was going on. People were
literally fighting their way towards what Hotaru assumed to be a
distant exit of some kind, and the stench of their fear hung in the
air like a miasma.

    An inhuman howling suddenly filled the air and that aura of alien
hunger that she had just fought off, hung in the atmosphere like a
living presence. Even shielded as she was by her own power, its
presence was strong enough to make her stomach churn and how it was
affecting the people around her was something that Hotaru dreaded to
think. Swallowing, the young senshi tried to decide what to do next.
It was pointless trying to force her way through the mass of panicking
people, she would be crushed the moment she left the protective eves
of the shop against which she was currently sheltering. No, she had to
think of another way...

    Her eyes narrowed. She was still filled with the majority of the
power that she had just drained from Rhian, and as her elin'rth had so
aptly demonstrated yesterday, the Avatar had access to teleport
abilities of which the senshi could only dream. So, while Hotaru was
still charged with that power, it seemed to be perfectly reasonable
that she herself would now also have access to those same abilities.
The only question was how could she use them to get passed this press
of people to somewhere where she could safely observe the thing
without...

    A surge of warmth suddenly flared throughout her body and Hotaru
felt dizzy as she was abruptly standing somewhere else. She swayed,
and made a grab at the nearby wall in an effort to steady herself.
Almost immediately, a series of wracking coughs twisted her body as
the stench of death and the alien sickness which she had fought off
earlier violated her senses like a sick poison. Hotaru gagged, and
drawing on yet more of Rhian's warm power, erected a shield to protect
herself from the unnatural pollution her body was beginning to fall
victim to.

    "Saturn Extreme!"

    The words were screamed from her mouth by the force of sheer
instinct, and the surge of power that accompanied them were far beyond
anything she had yet encountered. Rhian's strength amplified her own
power by an order of magnitude that was frightening, but at the same
time the sheer rush of vitality that accompanied it was exhilarating!
It was like being filled with the very essence of Life itself -
absolutely impossible to describe.

    As the surge reached its peak, Saturn felt the familiar weight of
the Glaive appear in her hand and its reassuring presence made her
feel slightly more confident about what would happen next. Raising the
pole arm defensively before her, Saturn surveyed the devastation in
front of her for the very first time, and what she saw made her eyes
widen in a combination of shock and rage.

    Bodies, bits of bodies... Men, women, children... They all lay
scattered around... Blood...

    Bile rose in Saturn's throat. The stench of blood and that
unnatural miasma nearly made her sick, but the white hot rage surging
through her body drove away all such lesser thoughts. The senshi's
eyes narrowed as coldly, she focused her attention on the unholy thing
that could commit such an atrocity.

    The thing was unlike anything she had ever seen before, but then
considering what she had fought just yesterday that statement did not
really mean much at all. As far as she could tell, the creature looked
like some kind of pseudo slug with the usual mixture of tentacles and
jaws thrown in. Methodically, she began to examine it for any
potential weaknesses that she could use to take the thing down. As of
yet, the slug thing itself had not seemed to sense her, either that,
or deemed her of such little threat as to be completely ignored. So,
Saturn used the time to consider what her best attack strategy against
this thing could possibly be.

    From the number of bodies scattered about, it was clear that the
beast was either very quick or able to employ its tentacles to great
effect, but which ever it was, it meant that hand to hand combat was
completely out of the question. Perhaps, some form of fire or ice
based attack from a distance might be possible, but then considering
the effects of the various attacks that the senshi had used only
yesterday, this was by no means certain. However, with no better
alternative...

    "Well, here goes nothing..." Saturn muttered to herself as she
held up a hand, and recalling the knowledge that she had from her
previous incarnations, tapped into the fiery power at the heart of
this world and caused a zone of flames hotter than anything Mars could
ever conceive to erupt around the slug thing, surrounding it on all
sides.

    A horrible wailing filled the air as the slug let loose an
almighty shriek. Saturn used her power to first limit, and then
concentrate the zone of flames exclusively on the unnatural beast. The
heat of the furnace she had created was such that she had to expend
more energy keeping the radiation contained rather than on the actual
fire itself. With sweat running freely down her face, Saturn tried to
see if her attack was actually having any effect on the thing. The
wailing was still filling the air, but the intensity of the flames
made it virtually impossible to see what was going on, and she was
unwilling to let her attack cease until she was sure that the thing
was dead.

    Opening herself up to yet more power, Saturn began to slowly
increase the gravitational constant within the zone of fire that she
had created. Sweat was now pouring from her face in a flood as the
struggle of maintaining control over two so different elemental forces
was beginning to take its toll. Power was flowing out of her like
water and yet still she forced herself to keep up the intensity of her
attack. The creature's wailing continued unabated, and Saturn had a
horrible feeling that this thing was going to be one hell of a tough
bastard to kill. So, increasing the gravitational force within the
sphere of flames by an exponential rate, she was at last rewarded by a
change in the pitch of the obscene wailing that actually sounded like
the thing was finally in some real pain. Coldly encouraged by the
apparent success of her tactics, Saturn channeled yet more of her
strength into the gravitational distortion and attempted to try and
create a kind of sheer effect. The flow of power that she was now able
to command was utterly incredible! There was just so much of it! She
was more stron...

    ::Hotaru!:: Arian's voice suddenly screamed in her mind.
::Something's happening to Rhian! She's stopped breathing! Hotaru!::

    Saturn froze and almost lost control of the awesome flow of power
that was now infused within her.

    ::Hotaru, please!:: Arian shrieked, almost now in a complete state
of panic. ::What should I do?! She's not breathing! Oh Gods! Rhian!::

    ...I'm going to try and borrow some of your strength...

    Saturn's own words drifted back to her.

    ...you'll feel drained, but you mustn't fight it, okay?...

    Oh no... Saturn felt an icy spear stab her straight through the
heart. She had been so caught up in her struggle that she had
completely forgotten...

    ...Just relax and trust me, please...

    ...all the extra power that she had been using so freely came from
just the one source - her elin'rth, from Rhian...

    "NO!" Hotaru screamed as she abruptly realized that she was
literally draining Rhian dry of everything that the girl had, and that
no matter how strong the young Avatar was, that strength was not
infinite. And as soon as that realization broke, so did another one.
If she continued her attack for just a little longer, she was sure
that she could destroy this creature and stop it from killing anyone
else. If she did that however, the price would be Rhian. One little
life in exchange for the destruction of something that could
potentially kill hundreds... Her duty to protect...

    It was no choice at all.

    "Rhian!" Hotaru screamed again and without any further thought she
teleported from the scene of the battle straight back to the shop she
had only just left. By now, the crowds of panicking people had mostly
fled and Hotaru had little difficulty barging her way inside and over
towards where Maxen and Arian were desperately trying to revive their
young friend. At the sound of Hotaru's sudden arrival, Arian looked
up.

    "Hotaru! Over here! Hotaru!" the frantic girl called out getting
to her feet and waving her hands at the senshi. "Hurry!"

    "Rhian!" Hotaru dropped to her knees beside her elin'rth and
hurriedly looked the girl over. Rhian's face was an unnatural shade of
grey, and Hotaru could barely sense any kind of response from her
elin'rth's heart crystal. It was almost as if all the warmth and light
that had been there only minutes before had been completely drained
away, leaving virtually nothing left. It seemed impossible! How could
it have happened so quickly?! How...

    Oh Gods... What had she just done to her young friend?! A wave of
something like self-disgust washed over her. Rhian had trusted her,
given herself freely into Hotaru's care, and _this_ was how she repaid
that trust! _This_ was how...

    "Hotaru!" Arian exclaimed shaking the seemingly dazed senshi.
"Please! Do something! Help her!"

    Arian's shouts shook Hotaru out of her stupid revere and focusing
exclusively on Rhian, the senshi of Destruction reached into herself
and once more called forth the energy that she had just been using so
freely. It grudgingly responded, but this time it was the merest
trickle compared to the ocean that she had just been drawing from.
This vast difference made Hotaru's self-disgust surge once again. How
could she have done this to... No! She did not have time for this
crap! She had to help her young friend, now!

    Putting her hand firmly down on Rhian's clammy chest, Hotaru
closed her eyes and let all the power she still had left flow into the
dying girl. Arian glanced over at Maxen and nodding, they both
stretched out their hands to rest on Hotaru, adding their own efforts
to the senshi's healing. The light in the store began to take on a
slightly purplish hue as the aura of Hotaru's energy began to sharply
increase as the two young Avatar fed the brunette everything that they
had.

    Slowly, a soft resonance in Rhian's heart stone began to
sluggishly respond to the power that the three youngsters were pouring
increasingly into it. Hotaru pushed her hand even harder against the
warming flesh and focused all her gifts on that flickering resonance.
"Come on, Rhian," she swore. "Don't you _dare_ try and die on me now.
I'll never speak to you again if you do." She moved her other hand up
and placed it on the girl's forehead. "Damn it, Rhian! Come one!"

    Forgotten by Hotaru in light of the more immediate crisis, the
fiery ball of death that she had summoned into existence in an attempt
to destroy the alien creature was beginning to expand as the magics
that were struggling to contain it started to collapse. The inhuman
wailing that had first come from the creature trapped within was now
gone, replaced instead by a sound that was much softer - a crooning, a
hungry crooning. A sound that was all the more terrible because it was
as if the attack unleashed against it had only served to further
increase the creature's appetite. The thing knew that soon it would be
free. That soon it would be able to feast once more upon the warmth
that it had been promised. That soon it would be able to...

    From one of the many shattered shop fronts, a figure delicately
maneuvered its way through all the broken glass and bits of bodies to
stop just short of the now unstable ball of fiery death. A pale face
looked up and a pair of thin lips pulled back in a contemptuous smile.
"So, that is Saturn..." The figure gave a snort, "She is little more
than a child."

    "Maybe, but she is the best that we have to work with, Chosen,"
another voice said as a second figure appeared to join the first.
"She's a bit rough around the edges, perhaps, but nothing that a
little training can't correct."

    "Humph!" the first figure looked at the second and then back up at
the sphere. "If she can't even handle a rogue breeder like that," the
figure commented derisively, gesturing at the crooning creature still
held within the fireball, "then how is she going to be of any use to
us?"

    The second figure giggled and slipped an arm around the waist of
the first. "Because you will train her, Chosen," was the answer.

    The first figure did not reply to that, but instead, just raised a
hand and pointed dismissively at the chaotically colored sphere. "Take
care of that," the figure ordered casually and in response to the
words a faint mad twittering began to fill the air.

    At this command, the second figure shivered and looking nervously
about, moved closer to the first. "No matter what you might say, I
really hate those things."

    The first figure sighed and pulled the second closer. "So do I,"
she confessed. "But they are part of our Family too. And if it wasn't
for them..." The soft voice faded away. Both of them knew what would
happen without these... 'companions' to aid them.

    "I know," the second figure muttered back with a shiver. "But they
scare me. In some ways, they are even worst than the enemy..."

    The two turned and silently watched as slowly, teasingly, patches
of liquid darkness began to emerge from the shadowed places within the
building and descend towards the fireball of radiant death.

    Waaarrmmm....

    The second figure pulled closer to the first and hid in the
protection of her embrace. They both knew what was coming next, and no
matter how many times they were doomed to see it, it still horrified
them more than either would comfortably admit.

    Waaarrrrmmm... Sssoooo cccoollddd... Wwwaarrrmmm...

    Huunngerryyy... Ssoooo hunngryy...

    Wwwaarrmmm...

    Feeeeddd uuussss...

    Feeeddd uussss...

    Hotaru swayed as the last of the healing energy flowed from her
body into the now warm and breathing form of Rhian. By her side, Arian
and Maxen both looked like they had just been dragged through a hedge
backwards, and they gratefully slumped down onto the floor next to the
exhausted senshi.

    "I'm dead..." Maxen groaned as he leaned against Arian. "Gods,
I've never felt so drained in all my life..."

    "Hotaru, how's Rhian?" Arian asked, pushing the exhausted boy off
her and staggering to her feet. "Hotaru?"

    The slender brunette did not answer. Instead, her attention was
focused on Rhian, whose head was now nestled in the comfort of the
young senshi's lap. The brunette was gently stroking the other girl's
long hair, softly humming a nameless tune just for the two of them.

    Arian frowned, and took a good long look at the contented
expression that had settled onto the young senshi's face. Her eyes
narrowed for a moment, and then a startled look crossed her face.

    "So... That's the way it is..."

    A deafening scream full of hideous pain suddenly shattered the
air, and all three cried out in shock, throwing up their hands to
cover their ears. The terrible shrieking went on and on, the mindless
agony communicated through that horrible sound building to insane
levels. Arian whimpered and fell to her knees as the inhuman sound
tore at her senses. She clutched at her head, and tried to curl up
into a small ball in an effort to block out that terrible sound.
Outside, something... unholy was happening, and at that moment,
nothing and no one would ever make her go and see just exactly what
that 'something' was.

    Then, as abruptly as the sound had started, it stopped - dead.

    After a few moments of that dreadful silence, Arian pulled her
hands away from her ears and hesitantly looked up. Just opposite her,
Maxen was curled up in an almost fetal position and Hotaru... Arian
swallowed, and shakily got to her feet. Hotaru was protectively
holding Rhian in a tight embrace that looked for all the world to be
like a mother defending her child. A fierce, nearly wild expression
was on the young senshi's face, and it seemed to Arian as if the
slender brunette was determined to protect the girl held so tightly in
her arms from anything that came within range, be they friend or foe.
It was not an expression that looked completely sane, and Arian was
uncertain how to respond to it. She looked at the strangely acting
senshi carefully for a moment, and then slowly, very slowly,
approached the pair.

    "Hotaru," she said carefully and the brunette's head jerked up, a
slightly glazed look in her eye as if she did not fully recognize who
it was talking to her. "Hotaru," Arian tried again. "We need some help
here. Do you have a way of contacting the other senshi?"

    Hotaru blinked, and her glazed look faded at bit.

    "Hotaru," Arian tried yet again. "We need the other senshi! Can
you call them?"

    "Senshi? Yes..." the girl blinked one more time and seemed to come
back fully to herself. Slowly loosening her grip on Rhian, she took
out the communicator that Pluto had given her so many years before.
"Ummm... Pluto? Hello?" Silence meet her words, so after a brief
fiddle with the device, she tried again. "Hello? Neptune? Uranus? This
is Saturn, can you hear me? Please, I need help!"

    "Hotaru? Is that you?" a small voice finally emerged from the
device, and a wide smile broke out on Hotaru's face.

    "Mama!" the slender girl called out gladly as Michiru's small face
stared up at her from the crystal device.

    "Hotaru? Are you all right? Where are you?"

    "Mama, please! I need your help! There's a demon here! It's
already killed a lot of people! Oh, mama, it's horrible! It tore them
to pieces! I tried to stop it, I really did, but it's too strong! I
need help! Please!"

    Silence. Then...

    "Where are you, Hotaru? Uranus and I will be there as quickly as
we can!"

    "KaneStar shopping center, and mama, get as many of the others as
you can - we'll need them!"

    "What do you..."

    "Please, mama, believe me," Hotaru cut in. "This thing is
extremely dangerous! Just bring them!"

    Neptune paused and then, "Understood. We'll be there as quickly as
possible! Neptune out."

    Hotaru looked up at Arian, the expression on her face now
completely sober and professional. "Okay, they're on their way. Now,
how about you? Are you up to fighting? Should we try and get Pwyll and
the others here as well? Pwyll was able to kill those things the last
time, and I don't dare awaken Rhian. She's... too exhausted."

    Arian did not miss the pause in Hotaru's speech, but put it to one
side as something to worry about later. "I'll try and get hold of
them, but after that last attack I don't think either Pwyll or Bran
will be in a fit state to help us. They were both completely shattered
this morning, but... I'll try." She took a deep breath, and then
drawing on her already flagging strength, sent out a summons.

    ::Arian? What is it?:: Dylan answered almost immediately. ::Do you
need help that badly?::

    ::Sure your little Saturn can't take care of it?:: Relnus added
rudely.

    ::Oh, shut up, Relnus!:: Maxen butted in. ::This has nothing to do
with Hotaru-san whatsoever. Rhian's hurt, she needs us!::

    "What!?" Relnus exclaimed worriedly, abruptly appearing just
behind Arian. "Rhian's hurt!?"

    "Yes, she is!" Arian snapped at him. "Do you think I would have
called you here if she weren't?"

    "Where is she?" the boy demanded stepping forward.

    "With me," Hotaru spoke up, giving Relnus a hard stare.

    "Is she all right?" Dylan queried, appearing beside Relnus.

    "What did you do to her?" Relnus demanded angrily, his fists
clenched as he saw the unconscious girl lying in the senshi's lap.

    "Relnus, stop being an idiot, for heaven's sake!" Arian hissed in
anger. "Hotaru-san did nothing to her. In fact, it was Hotaru who
healed her, but there is more to this than just Rhian. There is this
creature..."

    As Arian tried to explain the situation, Relnus's eyes remained
fixed on Hotaru, watching as the small senshi continued to fuss over
the unconscious form of Rhian.

    "So, Arian," Dylan queried when the girl had finished talking.
"What are you expecting us to do? None of us are exactly Pwyll or
Rhian, you know. Hell, I don't even know any real combat magic."

    "May be not," Hotaru spoke up, "But I do. All I need is the
additional strength to use it. The thing I was fighting out there is
tough, but it is almost vulnerable. I was just about to destroy it
when... Rhian collapsed. Arian and Maxen are exhausted, but the two of
you can still help me. We _must_ destroy this thing!"

    "Wouldn't we be better off waiting for the other senshi to arrive
instead?" Maxen interrupted. "You said it yourself - we will need
their help."

    "Agreed," Hotaru nodded. "And I'm not suggesting a suicide mission
here. Just that we watch the thing and make sure that it is not..."

    "And just why would you want to do that, Sailor Saturn?" a voice
suddenly spoke from the door making everyone spin around, various
attack spells at the ready.

    "Who are you?" Arian demanded, a fitful ball of white light
shimmering in her hand.

    A young woman with russet hair and blue eyes stepped forward to
execute a little bow. "Hello there," she said. "The name's Darline,
Darline De'Naime."

    "And I'm Alexi," the smaller blonde at her side remarked, pointing
at herself with a grin. "Sorry to surprise you like that. Darline,"
she looked fondly up at the taller figure by her side, "can be a bit
insensitive at times."

    If this casual introduction was intended to set everyone at ease,
then it failed. Arian kept her hands raised up in front of her as her
eyes and other senses bore into the two woman. Despite their
appearance, the two were not human - that much at least was clear. But
just _what_ exactly they were was a complete mystery to her. According
to her own senses these two, ah, "girls" were not even standing there.
It was almost as if her powers were unable to even recognize the
presence of these two figures at all, and that was supposed to be
impossible. Taking up a more defensive stance, Arian flashed Hotaru a
quick warning look. "Then perhaps, I should rather ask _what_ are you
instead?" And silently, she sent the others a signal about her half
formed intentions.

    The young "girl" who called herself Darline, laughed and shrugged.
"For now, you can simply regard me as a messenger," she commented in
an amused tone as she calmly met Arian's hostile stare. "That should
be more than sufficient."

    The girl who called herself Alexi gave an audible sigh, and
rolling her eyes gave her companion a light punch on the shoulder.
"Stop that," she hissed in an annoyed tone. "We're not here to Play
some silly Game you know. Linna was quite specific about her orders.
If she thinks that you're going to screw things up again..." she shook
her head. "She might end up complaining to Helia or even Mother, and
_that_ is something neither of us wants."

    "Hey, it was only just that one time," Darline said defensively
rubbing her arm. "And that wasn't my fault, even Celeline said so!
Linna was just angry that day, that's all. Maybe she'd had an argument
with Mother or..."

    "Or may be it was simply the fact that you screwed up!" the other
girl shot back, a stubborn look settling on her face. "You always do
that sort of..."

    Arian looked on disbelievingly as the two girls started to have
what appeared to be a lover's tiff right in front of them all. She
glanced over at Maxen and meet his incredulous look as they both
shared the same thought - who the heck were these pair of clowns?

    "Enough!" Hotaru yelled scrambling to her feet and holding the
Silence Glaive aimed in the bickering girls' direction. "I want an
answer, and now!"

    The two girls looked slightly surprised by Hotaru's demand and the
one called Alexi actually blushed. "Ah, sorry about that," she grinned
apologetically. "We, ah, we sometimes tend to get a bit carried away
with..."

    "I didn't ask you for explanations, fool," Saturn replied coldly,
glaring at the girl. "I asked you who you are? Answer me!"

    At Saturn's words, Darline's semi-amused expression abruptly
changed and her sky blue eyes seemed to darken. "Don't threaten, my
Chosen, child," she said quietly in a voice that dripped soft menace.
"You can be replac..."

    "Darline, Darline, calm down, calm down," the blonde girl Darline
had referred to as her 'Chosen' jumped in and tried to reassure her
companion. "I'm sure young Saturn did not mean it to sound quite like
that..." She took one of the girl's hands in her own and softly kissed
it. "Come on, Darline... Please... For me..."

    Saturn tensed, although she could not sense any power directly
emanating from the taller young woman, her instincts were screaming at
her that this "Darline" was dangerous in the extreme. Slightly
confused by what her instincts were telling her, she nevertheless held
out the Silence Glaive at the ready and glanced over at the Avatar.
Arian, she sent. Be careful. These two are not what they seem.

    ::No shit, Hotaru. I would _never_ have guessed that in a million
years:: Arian sent back angrily. ::And threatening that girl was not a
terribly clever idea either, you know. It just made...::

    I didn't threaten her! I... Damn it! Arguing about it isn't going
to get us anywhere! Hotaru turned her attention back to the two
strangers and tried desperately to decide what it was she should do.
What would her Mama or Pluto do in a situation like this? How would
they...

    ::Hotaru...:: Rhian's faint voice suddenly whispered in her mind
and without even thinking, Hotaru was immediately at the girl's side.

    "Rhian..." she whispered, smoothing back the lavender hair from
the pale face. "How are you feeling?"

    The girl's eyes opened and a weak smile flickered across her face.
::I... I've felt... better, Hotaru... What happened...::

    "Nothing, love," Hotaru smiled back as a solitary tear ran down
her face. "Nothing at all. Everything is fine..." The sight of her
young friend coming around at last filled her with a successive flood
of emotions - relief, joy, worry. Emotions that pushed all other
thoughts aside as she tried to reassure herself that Rhian was fine.

    ::Love? What are... you... talking...:: the golden eyes closed and
with an audible exhale of air, Rhian drifted back to sleep, her mouth
partially open.

    "Oh, Rhian..." Hotaru sighed, and stroking the pale cheek leaned
down and gave the girl's slack mouth a gentle kiss. It was only when
she had completed the almost natural action and pulled back that she
abruptly realized with a startled gasp what it was she had just done.
Not only had she completely abandoned her friends to a potentially
lethal stand off, she had also...

    Oh Gods...

    Hotaru's hand shot up to her lips and she felt her face go hot.
Rhian... She... She had just _kissed_ Rhian...

    Kissed...

    Rhian...

    What the HELL was she THINKING OF!?!

    ::Hotaru! Get a grip!:: Arian exclaimed furiously. ::What the hell
are you...::

    "So, you have a Chosen too, I see, young Saturn," the girl called
Alexi casually laughed, totally ignoring the presence of the Avatar
teenagers as she walked over towards Hotaru.

    The woman's movement bought Hotaru back to reality and quickly she
scrambled to her feet, standing defensively in front of Rhian. Her
sudden action jolted the others to respond as they abruptly realized
that Hotaru was standing all by herself, and in a mad dash, they
rushed over to join her.

    Forcing herself to get back in control of the situation, Hotaru
raised her pole arm and pointed it at the gaijin. "What do you want?"
she hissed. "I've had enough of games - tell me!" And as if to
emphasize her words, the four young Avatar who stood next to her began
to edge forward, their hands crackling with various colored energies.
Their movements as a group however were awkward and uncertain, their
lack of experience with this sort of situation painfully obvious for
anyone to see.

    Alexi looked at the uncoordinated action of this "team" facing her
and glanced back over at Darline. The two of them shared a pained look
before Alexi turned her attention back to Hotaru. Ignoring the
presence of the polearm completely, her eyes passed over the brunette
to focus on the prone form of Rhian that the group was trying to
defend. "She's cute," the blonde remarked before looking back at
Hotaru. "But you nearly killed her, you know. You didn't even think
when you attacked that jkori, and as a result, you nearly destroyed
your own Chosen. Not a very..."

    "I did not!" Hotaru burst out, her weapon jerking forward. "I
would never do anything to hurt Rhian, ever!"

    "Is that so?" Alexi replied nonplussed. "You certainly have an odd
why of showing it..."

    "Shut up!" Hotaru shouted, her guilt at the blonde's words making
her enraged. "Shut up! I would die before I hurt Rhian! I..."

    "Like her?" Alexi supplied with a raised eyebrow and a knowing
smile on her face. "Is that it?"

    Hotaru had to physically force herself to calm down. It was almost
as if this Alexi were deliberately pushing her to get mad, and Hotaru
knew that the only thing which would result from that was a lack of
control. So, steeling herself, she spoke, "And I say again - _who_ are
you?"

    "Good," Alexi congratulated her with a bright smile. "If you keep
that kind of control up in the future, then your adorable little
Chosen might actually live."

    "Who..."

    "One thing at a time, Kaiou-san," Alexi interrupted her, "One
thing at a time. For now, let us just say that we are interested
observers and leave it at that." She abruptly vanished to reappear a
moment later next to her companion.

    "We are not your enemy," Darline added, giving the gang of
uncertain teenagers a sweeping look. "In fact, we may even be of some
small use, but only if you are willing to listen to us." And so
saying, she took out a small business card from her pocket and flicked
it to the ground between them. "And from what little I have seen of
your fighting abilities here today, help is something that you all
desperately need. Your next opponent might not be such a push over as
today's." And without any further comment, the two turned and opening
the shop doors, made to leave.

    "Wait!" Arian yelled running forward. "You _will_ answer our
questions! You will... Ouch!" She tripped on something that was not
there, and with a crash, fell to the floor.

    "Oh, I almost forgot," Alexi said turning to look at them one more
time. "That jkori that you were trying to kill off. Well, Darline took
care of it. That is one problem you will not need to worry about
anymore."

    Hotaru and the others froze.

    "That screaming..." Maxen whispered in horror.

    Darline smiled, "We will await your coming, Hotaru-chan. Oh, and
don't forget to bring Rhian with you. Alexi will be most disappointed
if you don't, she misses not being able to speak with others like
her." She giggled and fondly ruffled the blonde's hair, "Chosen are
like that at times, worse than children..." and still chuckling, she
and her companion vanished, leaving Hotaru feeling uncertain and more
than a bit afraid.

                *           *           *           *

To be continued...

                *           *           *           *

Author's Notes:
--------------------
1. While the switching between Hotaru and Saturn in how she refers to
herself
may seem a bit confusing, this is intended and will become clearer later on
in
the story.



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