Gaijin  
 
Part 14: Gia's Bad Day

By Sean D'Anna
 
=====  
 
Gia Mizura was not happy. She wasn't upset really, but her home, 
and most of her personal belongings had been destroyed in a massive 
explosion that had basically turned every personal item she owned into 
a tiny finely ground ash. She hung her head and sighed. Sitting across 
from her was the person who had caused the disruption in her life. She 
couldn't really blame him personally, but found herself slightly 
irritated at him despite it all. That, and she now had cat hair all 
over her office. 
 
The group had moved into Gia's clinic, about two blocks away from 
the old apartment. Carrot and Mei Lin were sleeping on the small cots 
that she had for emergency patients. She had never used them, but kept 
them in case of a tsunami or an earthquake or something where her 
services would be really needed in the neighborhood. She had a small 
bedroll in her personal office that she had used when she needed to 
finish something up late at night, and didn't feel like walking home. 
 
It had been a week since the incident. They were all eating 
breakfast together, Carrot was glaring at the two women irritably, 
probably cursing his luck at the prospect of now being forced to room 
with the both of them. It was bad enough when he just had the Chinese 
girl with him. That's what Gia thought the look meant, the fact that 
she was right only made her frown a bit more. The kid was living most 
teenage boy's wet dreams out practically. Staying together with two 
attractive women? What boy wouldn't want that? Unfortunately, the one 
boy in the world who didn't was sitting right in front of her. Not 
that she would sleep with him anyway, but that was beside the point. 
 
She felt her anger rise a little when she thought about the time 
he'd walked into the shower on her. The office had one in the 
bathroom, meaning they didn't have to go out to the bathhouse anymore. 
Gia never used it, because of the one she had here, but Carrot and Mei 
Lin were regulars at the one across from the apartment. What galled 
her was not the fact that the boy had walked in carelessly, but the 
fact that he'd only paused for a moment to regard her as she stepped 
out completely nude before turning away with a complete lack of 
interest. 
 
"Sorry, didn't hear ya in here," were his exact words. 
 
"Carrot? Are you gay?" she blurted out suddenly. 
 
The boy in question sprayed his coffee across the table with wide 
eyes. He started coughing, and Mei Lin had a sort of horrified 
fascination in the conversation quite suddenly. 
 
"What?!!" he cried angrily. 
 
"I was just wondering," she said calmly as he leveled her gaze on 
him. "I mean, you've seen me naked a couple of times through one mix 
up or another, and I've never noticed much of a reaction. It's kind of 
got me wondering." 
 
The boy calmed considerably and frowned at her. "No. I'm not. 
Why?" 
 
"Well, it seemed like the simplest answer," she replied with a 
small shrug. 
 
"I don't have time for interest in things like that. I'll worry 
about finding a girlfriend and stuff when people stop trying to kill 
me," he replied with a small shrug. He got a somewhat odd look on his 
face for a moment at the closest memories he had to a sexual 
relationship on the new world. Most of them involved Kei in some form; 
he'd actually touched her. Spying on Mei Lin while she changed was 
another, but he'd been more interested in her finishing up so he could 
get back inside after a minute or so. 
 
"I didn't mean anything by it," replied Gia as she frowned at him. 
"I was just curious, you're an odd boy." 
 
"Yeah, right," muttered Carrot. The boy failed to notice the 
relieved look on Mei Lin's face as he continued to glare at Gia. 
 
"Well, I have a few appointments today, so you two are going to 
have to stay out of the way," she said idly as she flipped through the 
paper. 
 
"That cop hasn't tried to contact us yet either," noted Carrot 
with a short nod. Luna was sitting in his lap sleeping soundly. Gia 
had noticed the boy talking to the animal before, but dismissed it as 
an odd sort of affection. Even though he did say some rather odd 
things, he pet her regularly, and seemed to enjoy having her around 
despite his attitude. He never called her by name, instead choosing 
rather insulting nicknames, like Furball or Walking Hair Distributor. 
Luna didn't seem to mind much, but Gia thought the animal would give 
him a glare at a particularly nasty one occasionally. He seemed to be 
keeping a rather close eye on the animal, much to Mei Lin's 
disappointment. He was ignoring her in favor of the cat. 
 
The Chinese girl had asked him about that a few days ago, only to 
receive a rather odd reply. "She's important. I've gotta get her back 
to normal." Gia had overheard due to the cramped conditions, and 
wondered if the animal had some sort of connection with his family or 
his past. That would explain his unusual displays of affection towards 
it. 
 
After breaking through that line of thought she remembered 
Carrot's comment. "Actually, that explosion caused quite a mess. I've 
been hearing a lot about it from my patients. I think he's got his 
hands full, especially since he was there. They never found the body 
of that ninja. I had a few uniforms stop by the other day while you 
were out to ask me a few questions. I didn't have much information for 
them of course, but I don't think he'll be able to do much else for a 
few more days at least." 
 
The boy nodded and picked up a portion of the paper she wasn't 
reading. Gia idly noticed it was the classifieds section. He was 
looking through the apartments section lazily, sizing up the area 
where they were located, and how run down they looked. He didn't want 
a new place where people would ask a lot of questions, and he didn't 
want something too run down either. He needed something similar to 
what he had before, where no one would wonder about him, and he could 
pay his rent without having to worry about filling out any forms. 
 
"Man, who could have known it'd be this hard to find a dump?" he 
muttered irritably. 
 
"Dump?" muttered Mei Lin in confusion. 
 
"I can't stay in a nice place right now," he replied with a shrug. 
"Too many questions, too many people around, I'm looking for something 
cheap, run down, and out of the way." 
 
"I don't see how you're going to manage, you looked like you could 
barely afford where we were before. How are you going to cover the 
expenses of moving again?" said the doctor with her frown deepening. 
 
"I've got my ways," he replied calmly as he shifted the paper 
again. He paused as something caught his eye on one of the small ads. 
Mei Lin squeaked as the boy turned to look at her rather suddenly. 
"Can you type?" 
 
"What?" said the girl dumbly. 
 
"Just answer the question," he replied with a small frown. 
 
"Yes, I'm pretty good. I used to keep up the finances at the 
temple I used to live at back home. Sis wouldn't touch them, and the 
old man hated them too..." 
 
"Great," said the boy as he grinned at her. 
 
"I don't like that smile," said Mei Lin as she stared at him 
fearfully. 
 
"My contacts on the streets are pretty local, a few guys from 
work, and I might be able to weasel some information out of some of 
Spike's friends. I'm gonna need a bit more than that I think, but it's 
enough for a start." He put the paper down. "Besides, you need to get 
out on your own a bit too. Maybe then you'll stop whining about 
'fighting evil' all the time." 
 
The girl frowned at him after he said that. "What's that supposed 
to mean?" 
 
"What are you planning?" grumbled Gia. 
 
"We've got the whole day ahead of us, Mei Lin, you're going to 
this address, and you're going to do as your told." He paused and 
frowned at the ad for a moment. "Well, it's not till Tuesday. That's 
good, I think I can do one better on this. I'll have to talk with 
Spike about it though." 
 
Both women looked completely blank as he shoved the section into 
his pocket and walked towards the room where he was staying. "I'm 
going out for a little while." 
 
Gia frowned at this and sighed. "Great. I guess it's just you and 
me then? I suppose you're going to play nurse again today." 
 
"Okay, but can I do it without the accent? I really hate that!" 
cried the girl with a disgusted frown. 
 
"No, the customers love it. You make a cute foreign medical 
student!" said the woman cheerfully. 
 
"Mei Lin not like stupid accent," grumbled the girl sourly. "Make 
sound stupid." 
 
"Aw, you know you love it," said the woman as she stood up and 
smiled at her captive for the day. 
 
+++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot smirked at Spike as the man stared at him dumbly. He was 
sitting on top of a light pole with his legs hanging down casually. 
"Hey. How ya been?" 
 
"What ya doin up dere?" said the large man as he stared at him. 
 
"Huh? Nuthin, I just need a little favor, nothing big though," 
said the boy cheerfully as he pushed himself off and landed in front 
of him. 
 
"Okay, I guess. What cha need?" 
 
"I would like to meet someone who can set me up with a fake ID. A 
good one, I want papers to back it up." 
 
"Huh? I thought you said..." muttered Spike dumbly. 
 
"It's not for me, it's for the girl I'm staying with. I need 
someone who can basically get me anything I want." 
 
"Dat'll cost ya," replied Spike calmly. 
 
"I don't think I'll have a problem with that," replied the boy 
calmly. "I'm more worried about how long it'll take. I kinda need em 
by Tuesday." 
 
"Dat'll really cost ya," said Spike. 
 
"So? Just set me up with who I need to meet," replied the boy 
casually. 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
"Ah, so you must be Carrot," said the spindly looking old man who 
had greeted the boy at his door. "They said you were young, but..." 
 
"Can you get me what I need?" asked Carrot calmly. 
 
"I don't think you can afford it boy," replied the old man calmly. 
"Since Spike is an old friend, I allowed this meeting, but I'm 
afraid..." He was cut off as the young boy slapped him in the face 
with a rather large bundle of high mark bills. 
 
"Stop insulting me, I didn't come here to be patronized," he said 
as he walked by the old man and into the room. "Tell me what you need 
to get this done. A young Chinese woman in her late teens." He shoved 
the newspaper he'd taken from the old man into his chest. 
 
The man blinked at this, he had looked angry at the display, but 
now his face was a cool grin. "This shouldn't be too hard. I'll need a 
photo, a headshot, preferably with the subject not in the best 
condition. A valid contact number, and a little information about 
birthmarks and such." 
 
"I'll get it done," replied Carrot with a small shrug. "How much 
is this going to cost me?" 
 
"Considering you slapped me with a wad of money? About a hundred 
thousand yen. You can pay me after the job is done." 
 
Carrot snorted. "I just wanted you to shut up. I don't have time 
to pretend I like you. I've got things I need to be doing myself 
today." 
 
"Yes, I know. I would have charged you twice that much if you 
hadn't," said the old man cheerfully. 
 
Carrot nodded and turned away from him carelessly, walking out the 
door without another word. 
 
"That boy, I get the feeling he'll be a very strong man, that is 
if he lives that long," said the old man as he shook his head and 
moved back to sit down to start work on another project. When he 
looked up again, he realized that about two hours had gone by. He'd 
just finished his work and was about to grab something to eat when 
something caught his eye. 
 
It was a small envelope. He arched his eyebrow and picked it up. 
With a slight frown he opened it and smirked to himself. "Well, it 
seems I might have underestimated that boy." It was the photo he'd 
asked for. It was actually a strip of them, they looked like they had 
been taken at one of those instant photo booths, but there was a 
height line on the back of the wall like those that an official photo 
might have. Her personal information was also available, along with a 
copy of her original birth certificate. It looked like it had been 
faxed over from China. That would make things easier as well, might 
broaden his market a bit also. He had never gotten his hands on a 
Chinese Birth Certificate before. He had a few passports though, and 
could read the language. He'd done some work for the Triads before 
while they were in the country. Usually as a personal requests from 
his employers. He flipped it over and grinned, "Both sides? Well, I 
might have to knock about ten thousand off the price for this." He 
chuckled at his private joke and shuffled back to his workstation. 
"Knock some of the price off indeed, I kill me sometimes." 
 
++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Kajura frowned at the massive pile of paperwork on his desk. 
Fortunately, most of it was now completed; there was still a hefty 
amount on the unfinished pile as well though. "Shit. Damn kid," he 
grumbled to himself as he shuffled around through it. 
 
"Whoa, are you ever backlogged," said a tall man in a light brown 
trench coat who strolled into his office. He had short cut black hair 
and brown eyes. A cigarette hung from his lips unlit, but otherwise he 
looked completely straight edge and clean-. 
 
The larger man grumbled irritably and glared at him. "Don't you 
have better things to do Saito?" 
 
"Not really, no. I didn't blow up a building a few days ago," 
replied the man with a small shrug. His grin told Kajura that he meant 
it in good humor though, causing the man to snort roughly. 
 
"Look, I'd love to stay and chat with you, but I've got an 
interesting new lead that I haven't been able to tap yet. I've also 
got a condemned crime scene with no less than thirty people screaming 
at me to let them move back into, and to top it off, the assailant's 
body is gone. It's probably lining the blackened walls of that place, 
but forensics is too blind and dumb to find their own asses with both 
hand's and a flashlight." 
 
"Ouch. You shouldn't say that about the old man, you know he lost 
his arm," said Saito somberly. 
 
"Years ago, and he has a better sense of humor about it than you 
do," countered Kajura. 
 
"Ouch," replied the man with a small shrug. "Well, I'm off to the 
donut shop. Gotta get fat and drink coffee like the Americans do. 
Maybe then we'll get funded as well as they do." 
 
"Right," grumbled Kajura irritably. "Get lost. I've got work to 
do." 
 
"Whatever," muttered Saito as he walked out and put a fedora over 
his head as he strolled towards the exit. 
 
++++++++++++++++ 
 
Zocite smirked to himself as he listened to the screams coming 
from a nearby room. The door was closed, but the large gothic hallway 
amplified the sound slightly. They were high pitched and horrible, but 
begged no mercy. 
 
"Soon, he'll be ready, but not just yet," chuckled the general too 
himself. 
 
"Zocite, before me!" commanded a voice in the back of his mind. 
 
The man frowned slightly at this, but turned to walk down the 
hallway. 
 
Several moments later, he strolled into the massive throne room. 
Beryl stood over her crystal ball, peering into it. He bowed before 
her deeply going to his knees as he did so. "What is your command?" 
 
"You have been idle as of late," said the dark queen coldly. 
 
"I am working on a special surprise for our friends," replied the 
man calmly. 
 
"And your search for the Silver Imperium Crystal?" she said as she 
snarled at him. 
 
"It goes on as always," he said placidly. "I will find it." 
 
"You had better," she replied sourly as she glared at him. 
 
"I overheard the boy say something about Rainbow Crystals?" said 
the man as he frowned slightly. 
 
"The crystal says nothing of these crystals, or how they would aid 
us in our plans. I do not think they exist," she replied after a 
moment of thought. "In any case, see if you can find out more." 
 
"He still refuses to join us," said the man calmly. 
 
"So be it, he will be destroyed. He was to be anyway, once the 
Senshi were out of the way. Find out what he knows, and destroy him." 
 
"I have something that should do, but it will be a little while 
before it is ready. Until then, I suggest that we keep spying on him, 
he may lead us to something interesting if left on his own for a 
time." 
 
Beryl eyed him coldly for a moment, not speaking. She narrowed her 
eyes at him and he felt a cold lump form in his throat. A light sweat 
started to form on his brow as she watched him. 
 
"Very well, we shall see if anything comes of this," she replied 
icily. "You had better hope something does Zocite." She glanced over 
at Jadeites prison and her frown faded slightly. 
 
"He is idle at the moment, but I doubt if he will remain that 
way." 
 
"Go, find me that crystal. Once we have it, none of this will 
matter," she said as she pointed towards the doors. 
 
Zocite bowed his head and rose from his knees. He turned away from 
her and walked out the great doorway and into the halls. 
 
Kunzite was waiting for him with a frown on his face. "She grows 
impatient." 
 
"She is always impatient," replied Zocite calmly. "She is easily 
distracted though, we can use that to buy ourselves more time if need 
be." 
 
"It's dangerous to toy with her that way," said Kunzite as he 
narrowed his eyes at the man. 
 
"I know, but she leaves us little choice. Her tactics are 
simplistic, and her impatience juvenile. We must treat her like the 
spoiled child she is if we are to win." 
 
"Tread carefully Zocite," said Kunzite as he turned away from the 
man and walked down the hall on his own. 
 
Zocite nodded and closed his eyes to think as he walked. He knew 
the hallways well enough to do so, and they were empty anyway. Slowly 
he drew near to the screams again and they floated through the hallway 
easing his mind a little. "This one has a strong will, once I am 
finished, he may be enough on his own." 
 
++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot sailed through the air, his hand clenched tight around the 
wire in his grasp as he swung through the streets of Tokyo. It was 
quiet, a back street with little light, leaving his silhouette in the 
moonlight as the only sign of his passing. Flipping through the air 
while retracting his wire, he landed on a low rooftop and crouched on 
the edge, looking out into the street. 
 
"Looks like things are quiet," he commented to himself. The Senshi 
were all doing their usual thing from the look of it. Ami, Makoto, and 
Minako were all still in their homes. He had passed them on his route 
and spied through their windows. Artemis had almost spotted him, but 
he knew it was best to avoid the Moon Cat. Luna had been able to 
identify him by his scent, he didn't know if Artemis had been close 
enough to him to do the same. 
 
There was still no change in Usagi though from what he had been 
able to gather. That was most unfortunate for him, meaning he had to 
continue to do as he had been. His Spiderman costume had survived the 
explosion mostly intact. He had been wearing the pants and shirt under 
his clothes when the attack had occurred. The gloves, mask, and boot 
were easily replaced the next day. He had taken to wearing clothing 
loose enough that the body armor didn't show through, and it was still 
cool enough that the weather didn't make it too warm to wear under his 
clothes. 
 
He narrowed his eyes at the sound of gravel crunching under a hard 
shoe behind him. "You'll never be able to sneak around in those shoes 
very well," he commented in English. 
 
"I've heard about you, I also hear that you can understand 
Japanese," replied Mamoru as he seemed to melt from the shadows. 
 
"I sound stupid when I speak it, most of the people I run into 
understand English well enough anyway," replied Carrot as he turned to 
face the newcomer. 
 
"Who are you?" asked Mamoru as he narrowed his eyes at the man 
crouching before him. 
 
"Just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman," replied the boy 
casually. 
 
"I've never heard of you before," said the tuxedo-clad boy calmly. 
 
 
"Well, I try not to be noticed," replied the boy with a small 
shrug. "Did you want something?" 
 
"I want you to stay away from the Sailor Senshi," replied Mamoru 
coolly. 
 
Carrot snorted at this, he bit back his pedophile comment, not 
wanting the man to associate him with his alter ego. "You need all the 
help you can get. Looks like your leader is disabled." 
 
Mamoru blinked at this. "What?" 
 
"The girl who can't talk," offered Spiderman. 
 
"What do you know about that?" snapped Mamoru. 
 
"Only what I've overheard, she seems to have lost her powers. The 
media makes her out to be the ringleader. I'm guessing really." It was 
a pretty good lie to think up on such short notice. The mask also hid 
any possible indication that it was one from view. "I'm sure you've 
noticed me pulling their butts' out of the fire once or twice. I've 
seen you hanging around. Figured you were a fan or something." 
 
"I'm not! I'm..." Mamoru paused. What was he to the Senshi? 
 
"You don't look too sure of that," said Carrot calmly as he turned 
to look out over the rooftops again. 
 
"I know they have some connection to my past. You, I'm sure you 
don't. You're not involved with this." 
 
Carrot turned his head back to look at the boy for a moment. "I 
suppose not, but you're not really dumb enough to turn down perfectly 
good help at this point are you? Your fight isn't going to well right 
now, and I'm more interested in killing those monsters than I am in 
whatever it is you're involved in." 
 
"What are you supposed to be anyway? Some kind of ninja?" snorted 
Mamoru. 
 
"I'm a superhero of course. What are you? Some kind of prom date?" 
 
"Prom?" muttered Mamoru in confusion. 
 
"Never mind, it's an American thing," said Carrot with a small sigh. 
"In any case, I'm better equipped to deal with this sort of thing than 
some guy in formal wear." 
 
The boy wasn't sure if he'd really been insulted or not, and 
decided to let it pass. "I've got my own reasons for doing this." 
 
"Good. I don't care about them," replied Carrot as he stood up and 
glanced back over his shoulder. "You do your thing, and I'll do mine." 
 
"Superhero?" grumbled Mamoru as the man jumped off the ledge and 
swung away. "What a loon." He paused and looked down at the way he was 
dressed and blushed a little. "Well, at least I'm not that bad." 
 
++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Kei frowned as she strolled back and fourth on the top of the 
roof. Below her was the building where the Oyabun's office was held. 
"Damn," she grumbled as she looked up at the moon. She'd been unable 
to locate her target after Hikyu blew up his house. The man died doing 
it as well, forcing the boy to become more cautious than ever. She had 
known where he was staying all along. The boy had a nasty habit of 
escaping, and becoming stronger than ever afterwards. So she had left 
him be at that place, knowing that she'd be able to find him in the 
general area around there at one point or another. It was just a 
matter of patience, and if she failed, another opportunity would 
present itself sooner or later. Now she had to find out where he had 
gone from there, and start the mess all over again. 
 
She'd discovered his newfound ability to be quite irritating. 
Swinging around like he did now made him a harder target than ever 
before, and gave him a much wider range of maneuverability. He was 
almost supernatural in his ability to dodge in the air, but was a 
little easier to deal with on the ground. He was getting faster, 
stronger, and more cautious with each failed attempt. She still wasn't 
sure how he had managed to elude the sniper the Oyabun had sent after 
him. 
 
Fortunately, she had a new toy to play with now. She was still a 
little rough, but her skill was improving all the time. It would make 
dealing with him much easier in the future though. The change of 
clothes wasn't too bad either. Unfortunately, the Oyabun had taken 
notice of the new outfit, and decided it was sexy. She'd spent the 
better part of the evening working that out of his system. Still, in 
the end, it wasn't a bad deal. He looked at it as a gift to her. 
 
She was wearing a tight black leather outfit now with low heels. 
It was almost a complete bodysuit, with a red scarf tied around the 
bottom of her face. The bodysuit had dozens of zippers all around it, 
from her shoulders to the sides of her calves. Her short cut brown 
hair blew in the wind as she looked out over the city below her. A low 
growl escaped her lips as she thought about how the insensitive prick 
always failed to use lube when he sated himself with her. She was 
going to be sore for a few days now. 
 
A gasp escaped her lips as she stared down into the streets. A 
tiny figure moved below her, it was moving incredibly fast, and seemed 
to be bouncing between the buildings below like a ping pong ball. 
"It's him!" she muttered under her breath as she rushed up to the side 
of the building. The knife was in its scabbard at her side and she 
checked to make sure it was secure for a moment. She put her hands 
down to her sides, hearing an audible click as the metal clasps on her 
wrists clipped onto something securely. With a wide grin, she spread 
her arms revealing two wing-like protrusions from her wrists. A black 
membrane of a much more durable fabric than her outfit was composed of 
went from the tips of the wings to her hips. She chuckled as she dove 
off the side of the building. She could feel the tug of the complex 
net of wires that kept her arms and wings stable inside the cloth 
tugged under the force. With a slight effort, she shifted her 
position, and felt her momentum change sharply. 
 
"I have you now," she said as she grinned and sailed through the 
air after her target. 
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Ami Mizuno frowned as she stared at the faces inside her compact 
like communicator. She idly wondered what her phone bill would look 
like if they were charged for these calls. Unfortunately, being long 
lost technology, they weren't charged a single yen. The conversation 
was starting to grate on her nerves though. 
 
"What are we supposed to do? Usagi can't use her powers anymore!" 
said Makoto lamely. 
 
"We have to figure out a way!" said Minako with a sort of sad nod. 
 
"Why? She always held us back before," replied Rei as if it was 
perfectly rational. 
 
"She's one of us!" snapped Makoto irritably. 
 
"Not anymore," was Rei's stone-faced reply. 
 
"Rei! How could you say something like that?!" cried Minako in 
shock. 
 
Rei looked slightly upset at her own words for a moment. "That's 
not what I meant!" 
 
"What did you mean then?" asked Ami calmly. She'd been mediating 
this discussion for some time now. 
 
"I meant that we can't bring her along. I know it will hurt her 
feelings, but it's too dangerous for her to be out with us, especially 
without her powers!" 
 
Rei had been somewhat irritable as of late, without Usagi to vent 
a lot of her frustrations on, the girl was growing somewhat tense. The 
pair fought a lot, but they were obviously important to each other. 
Rei was growing more and more uncomfortable around the silent Usagi. 
 
The blonde wanted her life to go on as it had before she lost her 
ability to speak. She could whisper, but usually only a few words or 
phrases before her throat became too sore for her to continue. It 
wasn't getting any better, or easier for her to speak that way either. 
So the girl remained silent unless she felt something was important 
enough to voice. 
 
Ami sighed at this. Usagi was actually much smarter than she had 
seemed, when her speech was limited, she was actually pretty 
insightful and intelligent. Instead of babbling on and on as before, 
she was pretty much to the point in her speech. This new Usagi had 
gained the respect of a lot of the teachers who used to see her as a 
bubbleheaded idiot. Ami didn't really understand, she didn't pay 
attention any more than she had before. She seemed quite pleased at 
times with losing her ability to be called upon to answer questions 
that weren't written up on the board. When she couldn't just blurt out 
whatever happened to be on her mind at the time, she tended to only 
say something when she thought she had too, which made her seem much 
more intelligent. 
 
"Usagi is important though. Luna said so," said Makoto as she 
frowned at Rei. 
 
"Luna isn't here now," said Minako with her head hung a little. 
 
"That isn't making this any easier on Usagi either. We have to be 
careful about how we do this. I agree that it's too dangerous to do 
with her anymore, at least for now," replied Makoto. 
 
"She's right. Usagi can't come with us any longer. I'm not sure if 
she'll understand why though," muttered Ami. 
 
"Well, we'll just have to make her understand then!" snapped Rei. 
 
"It might not be that simple. She'll be crushed, you know she 
feels bad enough not being able to help," said Makoto angrily. 
 
"She feels she has to be there for us," said Ami. 
 
"Doesn't she realize that she could be hurt?" said Minako glumly. 
 
"Yes, and she knows that we can be hurt as well," said Rei calmly. 
 
 
Ami sighed. "She can still come to meetings." 
 
Rei's face flashed with something unreadable, but Ami cut her off 
before she could speak. 
 
"She's still one of us. She should be there, until she decides 
that she's not needed anymore." 
 
"What do you mean not needed?" snapped Makoto. 
 
"We have to face the facts, Usagi can't become Sailor Moon 
anymore. Luna is gone, probably not coming back either. Maybe the 
enemy got her, maybe she had an accident, and maybe she's off 
searching for a cure. Who knows? Fact is, we need to be ready, because 
we have no way of knowing if Usagi can become Sailor Moon or not 
again." Rei frowned as she said this and glared at the rest of the 
girls. "If it goes on long enough, she'll decide on her own that she's 
not being of any use, and leave." 
 
"I doubt it," grumbled Makoto. 
 
"I think Makoto is right, she'll likely sit in on all our 
meetings, if only to know what's going on," agreed Ami. 
 
"If that's what she chooses," said Rei with a small shrug. 
 
"How is the search going Minako?" asked Ami in an attempt to 
quickly change the subject. 
 
The girl gave her a somewhat confused look, and didn't seem to 
realize what Ami was doing. Makoto and Rei looked annoyed for a 
moment, but it passed very quickly. 
 
"Artemis still goes out every night, but we haven't been able to 
find any trace of her. We've checked the area around Usagi's house, he 
can still smell her there, but..." 
 
"But what?" said Makoto with a slightly impatient frown. 
 
"He says there's no trail. It could have faded, we don't really 
know how long she's been gone for exactly. It might have taken Usagi a 
day or two to notice, and by then, it would have gone cold anyway." 
 
The rest of the senshi nodded at this. 
 
+++++++++++++++++ 
 
Artemis was cold, wet, and miserable. He pressed on anyway though, 
pushing through back alleys and streets in search of his companion. "I 
won't give up. I'll find you, even if it's just your..." He couldn't 
bring himself to finish. He didn't want to be alone, the last of his 
kind. She could still be out there somewhere; he had hope still. 
 
He sloshed through another puddle from a shower that had occurred 
earlier and noticed a box that was turned on its side. With a slight 
shiver, he walked over to it and sat down inside to rest for a moment 
or two. "Damn it. Where did you go? What am I gonna do? I can't do 
this alone!" He shivered silently for a moment, out of emotion or the 
cold, even he could never be sure. 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Meanwhile, on the other side of town... 
 
Luna sat in the back of the clinic staring out the window. It 
looked really chilly out there, and she was glad she was indoors. The 
humans were relatively laid back at this point. She laid down and 
watched them curiously. 
 
The two females were sitting at the table, watching a small 
television together. The show was pretty interesting, she'd caught a 
few glimpses of it from time to time. She idly wondered if there was a 
show like that for cats. She quickly pushed the thought aside, cats 
couldn't talk, so it would be hard to do really. 
 
Could they? 
 
She mulled over it for a moment. She couldn't remember much beyond 
the day the boy who kept calling her names had brought her home with 
him. Surely that was normal, besides, she knew a lot of things. Humans 
were easy to manipulate, and she had him trained to massage her on 
command after all. He wasn't that bad looking for a human either, not 
that she was into that sort of thing. She could tell he was sort of 
roguishly handsome, if somewhat grouchy. She rolled onto her back and 
watched the screen upside down for a few minutes. 
 
She wondered how long until the boy returned. Glancing up at the 
clock she realized that it was getting close to feeding time. "I hope 
he gives me the seafood flavor..." she muttered to herself, not even 
realizing that the sound had come out of her mouth rather than just 
being a stray thought. 
 
Neither of the girls noticed either, as they were engrossed in 
their soap opera. 
 
Luna stretched out her claws and yawned, rolling onto her side to 
peer out the window. The neighbors tomcat was outside, yowling at her. 
She knew she was in heat, but the man had no manners at all. "Get 
lost, you pathetic disgusting pervert. I'm not that easy." She thought 
to herself as she narrowed her eyes at him. 
 
The tom continued to yowl despite this and began to walk in 
circles around the yard. He started to spray the area shamelessly and 
Luna blushed. "What is he?" She seemed to realize it all at once. 
"Stop that! That's disgusting! Have you no manners at all!?" 
 
She paused and turned to look at the two humans. Both of them were 
looking at her with wide eyes. 
 
Mei Lin blinked. 
 
Gia blinked. 
 
Luna blinked. 
 
"Did you just say something?" asked Mei Lin as she turned towards 
Gia. 
 
"Um. No," replied the woman as she stared at the younger girl for 
a moment. "Did you?" 
 
"Did you?" asked Gia as she looked at the animal for a moment. 
 
"Um...I think so?" said Luna in confusion. 
 
"AAAAAAAHHHHH! It talks!" cried Gia as she promptly passed out. 
She hit the floor after sliding from her chair. 
 
"Wow!" cried Mei Lin cheerfully. "Boy, Carrot said you were 
special, but I didn't think he meant something cool like this!" 
 
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! I can talk!" cried Luna as she passed out as 
well. 
 
"Okay. That was just weird," muttered the girl as she looked back 
and fourth at the pair for a moment. "Great. I guess I gotta go help 
them." She spent a moment trying to decide who to aid first. In the 
end, she decided to help Gia, because Luna slept there anyway, so it 
probably wasn't too uncomfortable for her. 
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot pivoted in the air in a rather acrobatic display. He was 
feeling pretty good at the moment, and was showing off as he swung 
through the air. He performed flips and rolls as he went into free 
fall for a second or so between throwing lines out, turning himself in 
midair sometimes by moving his arms and legs into different positions 
creating a sort of air foil. "I should think about adding something I 
can use as a foil to this..." he thought to himself as he did so. It 
was difficult to change direction in mid air, and he could only do it 
very slightly, but with a foil, it would be much easier. Something a 
simple as a short cape would be enough really. The problem was how to 
do it so he didn't look even dumber than he did now. 
 
As he contemplated this, a tingling sensation formed on his back. 
"Hey, that's..." His eyes went wide as he sent out a wire and pulled 
hard as it planted itself. He jerked to the side suddenly, and a black 
blur of motion sailed by him at a high speed. "What the hell?" he 
cried in shock as he hit the wall and stood on the side as if he was 
climbing up the line. His skill had improved, and he tended to not 
slam into walls any longer. He blinked as he searched around for the 
thing that had buzzed him. "Another damn youma?" The tingling started 
again, along his back and he was forced to slide down the line a few 
feet. The black blur shot just over him, where he had been hanging 
before. He saw a flash of metal as one of the wings moved, swiping at 
where he had been before. 
 
"Damn!" he grumbled angrily. He kept his eyes on it this time, 
watching as it sailed almost straight up. After a moment, its ascent 
faltered and it turned down into a nosedive. It pulled its wings to 
its side as it fell. "Another damn youma, I knew it," grumbled Carrot 
as he pushed himself off the wall and prepared to swing as it closed 
in on him. 
 
"I've got you now!" cried the thing in an angry feminine voice. 
 
Carrot cursed as he pushed off the wall forcibly. A shower of 
sparks flew from the wall where he had been as the thing sailed 
between him and the wall, slashing at it with the wing again. He 
pushed forward swinging away from the area. 
 
The tingle formed again and he let go of the line, spinning into a 
flip in mid air, he narrowly missed the thing as it flew under him, 
slashing at his former position. He reacted quickly, kicking both his 
feet down and slamming his heels into the thing's back. It lurched in 
the air and he pushed himself higher before letting loose with another 
line. The thing didn't fall, but narrowly missed slamming into one of 
the nearby buildings. He heard a muttered curse as it came within 
inches of the brick. 
 
Changing his direction he pulled his line back into his sleeve and 
landed on a rooftop. The tingling sensation started again and he 
dropped to his stomach. A rush of air passed over him with a 
distinctive slashing noise. He rolled onto his back and saw the thing 
climbing higher into the air again just above him. It was turning 
around after the missed strike and coming back for another pass by 
basically performing a loop. 
 
"Son of a bitch," he grumbled as he glared at it as it leveled off 
and moved straight for him. Thinking quickly, he turned and started 
running, with a gasp of breath, he jumped off the side of the roof and 
landed on the one next to it. The thing in the air blasted by him, 
missing him by mere inches as he suddenly went downward as the rooftop 
ended. Ahead of him was a large mass of rooftops that were about the 
same size. With a quick glance upward he noted its position. Not a 
very easy thing to do even considering there was a full moon out. 
Whatever it was, it was black, and blended in with the night sky 
pretty easily. It was moving towards him again, he started running, 
moving between the vents and chimneys that protruded from the tops of 
the buildings. 
 
As he ran, the thing buzzed him a few times, but he was able to 
keep a few of the obstacles between himself and the youma, preventing 
a direct attack. 
 
Unfortunately, he was running out of roof. The edge was coming 
dangerously close. There was a wooded area ahead and he frowned. "I 
bet it'll be easier to lose this asshole in there." 
 
Almost in response to this, a tingling sensation started on his 
head and shoulders. With a quick jerk, he jumped back and gasped as 
the gravel in front of him suddenly became covered in a mass of 
throwing stars. 
 
"What the?" he muttered to himself dumbly. "A youma ninja?! This 
is fuckin nuts!" He dodged another barrage and cursed as he jumped to 
the next rooftop. Within moments he found himself dodging around 
anywhere from one to five of the deadly weapons at a time as he dashed 
for the wooded area ahead. As he got closer, he realized it was a park 
of some kind and not very large. It was almost completely covered by 
trees though. He steeled himself as he jumped off the last rooftop and 
jumped into the forest sending out a line to swing on. 
 
The black flying creature blasted in after him, performing a 
barrel roll as it passed between two particularly close together tree 
trunks. It dipped slightly because of the maneuver and came close to 
the ground. It found enough lift to raise itself higher though because 
of it's momentum and saw it's target standing on top of a nearby tree 
branch. 
 
"I'll only get one pass at this!" she thought to herself as she 
narrowed her eyes at her target. "Too much here to turn around..." 
 
Carrot was glad he was wearing the mask as the thing shot towards 
him. It couldn't see the smile on his face. As soon as it committed to 
its path, he simply jumped down to the ground. Just behind where he 
had been standing, a thick tree branch came into view. 
 
Carrot chuckled as he heard the 'Oh! Shit!' and stepped back to 
wait. 
 
The creature managed to pull itself upright and slow itself down 
some with its impressive wingspan, but not quite enough. It slammed 
into the branch painfully and slumped to the ground. 
 
Carrot chuckled as he strolled over to the downed youma and 
blinked as she rolled onto her back. "KEI?!!" 
 
The girl groaned painfully and sat up, she held her head and 
slowly rose to her feet. "Damn. Bastard, I'll get him for this." 
 
Carrot was standing about eight feet away from her, his pose told 
her that he was probably surprised to see her. "Well, hello there," 
she said as she held her knife forward. With a quick flick of both her 
wrists, the wings on her wrists were undone and snapped back into 
their places at her sides. The boy said the only thing he could. "Nice 
outfit." 
 
Kei grinned at this, it was very form fitting, and the boy could 
probably count the throwing weapons that were hidden in her various 
pockets. He could probably tell how many points the stars had on them. 
"Thank you. I had it made just for you." 
 
The boy moved into an unfamiliar combat stance. He crouched low 
with his feet spread apart, one of his arms was above his head in a 
fist, and the other was hanging loosely below him with his hand open. 
"You really shouldn't have." 
 
"You don't appreciate anything I do for you, do you?" replied the 
girl snidely. 
 
"Well, trying to kill people tends to do that," he replied calmly. 
Neither one of them had really moved. Kei was trying to figure out 
this style, and he was waiting patiently for her to move. "Kinda blows 
any chance you might have at dating em too." 
 
"You would know," replied the girl calmly as she put her knife 
away. 
 
Carrot was slightly surprised at this, but didn't show it. 
 
"I can't move right now, not well enough to beat you, and you 
won't kill me." The girl grinned at him. "We'll finish this later." 
She slowly turned away from him and put her arm across her stomach as 
she started to stagger off. 
 
"If you think I'm going to try and help you, you're sadly 
mistaken," replied the boy to this. "I wouldn't have bat an eye if 
that tree branch had killed you Kei." 
 
The girl whirled around, throwing a few dozen stars at him. "You 
seemed like the type to fall for that too..." she said out loud. Her 
voice trailed off as she realized that the space where her target had 
been sitting was now empty. She scrunched up her face in irritation. 
"Damn it! How the hell does he do that? Not even my mother can sneak 
away like that!" She fumed for a moment and glanced around, it was 
obvious that she wouldn't find him though. She growled in frustration 
and jumped into the shadows. 
 
+++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot frowned as the girl faded from view below him. He was 
relieved that she'd given up for the evening, but wasn't dumb enough 
to try and move just yet. She was probably hanging around somewhere 
nearby, hoping to catch him when he emerged from his hiding place. He 
would sit around for a time, and then sneak away. After a while, she'd 
assume that he'd slipped off on his own, and he wouldn't have to be 
quite so cautious about leaving. 
 
With a heavy sigh he tried to relax a bit. 
 
++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot came home and stared down at Mei Lin. The girl was sitting 
over Gia with a cold cloth in her hand. 
 
"What's with her?" muttered the boy as he stared at the woman. 
 
"Um. You didn't tell me Luna could talk," said the girl as she 
glanced at the animal. 
 
The cat was sitting nearby, her fur was standing on end and she 
looked somewhat upset. Her tail was swishing back and fourth 
violently. 
 
"You didn't ask," replied the boy with a small shrug. 
 
Luna looked up at him. "You knew?" Her eyes were wide and her jaw 
was hanging down dumbly. 
 
"Course I knew. Why do ya think I kept teasing you? I was hoping 
you'd get mad and yell at me or somethin." 
 
The cat simply stared at him for a moment and then looked at the 
floor. 
 
"How much do you remember anyway?" said the boy hopefully. 
 
"I can talk!" cried the cat as she stared at him again. 
 
"Yeah. Great. How much," said Carrot. 
 
"But...I can talk!" cried Luna again. 
 
Carrot sighed. "In a day or two, I'll wish you hadn't. Come on, I 
need to know how much you remember. It's important." 
 
"Remember? Remember what? I can talk damn it!" cried the cat. 
 
"Well, this isn't going to do me much good," muttered the boy with 
a heavy sigh. 
 
"What happened to you?" said Mei Lin as she noticed a few cuts in 
the boy's clothes. 
 
"Ah, it was a slow night," replied Carrot as he tugged at it. 
 
"I can see that," noted Mei Lin. "You don't even need stitches 
this time." 
 
"Yeah, one of those crazy ninjas learned to fly or something. I 
can tell that's gonna be a pain in the ass," he commented as he stood 
up and left Luna to her thoughts. 
 
"I...can talk?" muttered the cat to itself in a sort of awe. 
 
Carrot came out of the bathroom with a towel over his shoulder and 
a toothbrush in his mouth. "Big deal, so can I," he replied before 
going back about his business. 
 
++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
It was Tuesday morning, Carrot had shoved her out of the house 
with an envelope, and had told her to follow the instructions. She was 
sitting behind a desk with a computer in front of her. "Um. What am I 
doing again?" The man with her had long hair tied into a ponytail, his 
face was unshaven, and he wore a pair of thin-framed glasses. His tie 
was hanging loosely around his neck, and the first few buttons on his 
shirt were undone. It was obvious that he'd been there a while. 
 
The man who stood over her frowned at the display; she was 
supposedly twenty, but she looked to be about fifteen years old. To 
top it off, she was a complete airhead. "Look, it's not that hard. You 
get coffee, you run a few documents through the spell checker, and you 
run errands for us. You're an intern for Christ's sake." 
 
"Oh," said the girl obliviously. She glanced around the room, 
there were dozens of desks, most of them occupied. She'd come in and 
talked with a nice old man who kept staring at her legs, handed him 
the package, and he'd told her that she had a job. The man he'd sent 
with her to show her around didn't look to pleased about it though. 
 
"Um, Mr. Yamada?" 
 
"What is it?" snapped the man as he glared at her. 
 
"This list you gave me says to make coffee?" she said as she 
peered at it. 
 
"Yeah? So?" muttered the man as he glowered at her. 
 
"Um...how do I do that?" asked the girl lamely. 
 
"It's a coffee machine, it's not that hard," he said irritably. 
 
"I've never seen one of these before," muttered the girl as she 
stared at Mr. Coffee. 
 
"You've never made coffee before?" said the man in disbelief. 
 
"No, grandpa likes tea, and Sis always made her own. She used to use a 
coffee pot too." 
 
The man slapped himself on the face. "Why me?" 
 
"I'm really confused. I'm not even sure how I got this job," said 
the girl as she stared at him. 
 
"I've got a pretty good idea," said Yamada irritably. "Stupid 
pedophile old freak," he grumbled under his breath as he turned the 
machine around. "There are instructions printed right here. "It's not 
that hard, all right?" He patted her on the head and walked away. 
 
"Oh dear," grumbled the girl as she stared at the directions for a 
moment. "But...this is English...I don't speak English..." There were 
pictures though and she thought she had the right idea, at least she 
hoped so. 
 
+++++++++++++++++++ 
 
So began Mei Lin's first day on the job at the Tokyo Sun. She 
wasn't even sure why she was there, but Carrot mentioned that it would 
work out somehow. She supposed she'd just have to trust him for the 
moment. 
 
All the while, in the editor's office. A fat old man grinned to 
himself cheerfully as he plotted on how to get inside the new girl's 
pants. She seemed so cheerful, it probably wouldn't take long. 
 
Yamada cursed under his breath as he walked by. Hating the gods, 
hating his miserable job, and most of all, hating whoever had sent the 
irritating teen to work there. Naturally, the old fool Kanzaki had 
though he'd be the best one to show her the ropes. What with him being 
the most experienced reporter and all. He needed a drink, and he 
needed it now. He shuffled towards the elevator to the bottom floor 
and hoped that it wouldn't take him too long to get a taxi. 
 
He looked at the mug in his hand and sighed as he waited for the 
elevator to come down. With a heavy sigh he sipped at the hot liquid 
the girl had made. She couldn't do anything else right, so she had to 
be good at making coffee. 
 
In an instant, his eyes became wide and bloodshot. Coffee sprayed 
onto the wall as he blew the liquid out reflexively. It was the worst 
coffee, he had ever tasted. He coughed loudly gagging on crunchy balls 
of grit that had somehow found their way into the drink. "I hate my 
life." He muttered as the door opened and he saw the shoes of the 
paper's owner as the man watched him lean over looking horribly sick. 
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
Carrot smirked to himself, he had little doubt that Mei Lin would 
be able to land a job. Not because of the resume he'd given her, or 
even the false ID. It was because of the way his life had been going 
lately. Something like this would fit in perfectly. She had a job now, 
which meant that she could not only gather information from one of the 
best sources for things like that, but also she'd be out of his hair 
for a few hours a day at least. 
 
Unfortunately, he also knew that Kajura would be calling soon, and 
that meant that he'd have to come up with something. He grimaced at 
the thought, it would probably hurt a lot, he'd get beaten up, and 
probably have a few people try to cut him into little pieces. However, 
he had little choice this time, at least he was pretty sure he'd come 
out of it all right in the end. He hoped so anyway. 
 
+++++++++++++++ 
 
TBC...