Deception - Chapter Six (PG-13)

by Christina Anton
daylin@sailorsenshi.i-p.com
http://angelfire.com/anime2/dayanjell/antons/home.html

Disclaimer:  See the first few chapters.


	It was six o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, and 
Maria was walking up the steps to the Hikawa Shrine.  She 
knew that Rei and her grandfather were awake already because 
of hearing Rei's complaining about having to get up so 
early.  

	Maria wasn't sure if Rei or her grandfather would help 
her with this.  She had seen a room with mats and weaponry 
along the walls when she had been in the shrine her first 
time.  She could have been mistaken, but it looked to her 
like a practice room.  Anyway, she didn't feel like she 
would be uncomfortable learning under either of them if they 
agreed to it, even though Rei's grandfather was a bit... 
odd.  

	She was half way up the stairs now.  Usagi had said 
that she had counted them once, but she couldn't remember 
the exact number.  Somewhere around a hundred and fifty she 
said.  Maria kept trying to remind herself to count whenever 
she came up here with the other girls, but forgot to every 
time.  Her new friends were always trying to get her to open 
up and talk, and more often than not, they succeeded.  It 
was strange.  Less than three weeks ago, she had had no 
friends.  Now she had what, nine?  There Usagi and the 
others, Hotaru, Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna, and then there 
was Shiroh.  Yes, she could call Haruka, Michiru, and 
Setsuna friends.  They were more that than anything else.  
They did act like parents in the capacity of telling her to 
not stay out late and such, but they weren't really like 
parents.  She could talk with them, watch TV, things that 
friends do.  

	Now Shiroh... yes, he was a friend too.  The first day 
that she had met him, he had walked over and had lunch with 
Hotaru and her.  Maria knew he liked her in a different way 
than just friendship, but he was willing to just be friends.  
He and Hotaru seemed to know each other, and since Hotaru 
trusted him, Maria saw no reason to be wary of him.  Over 
the next few weeks after that, they had hung around each 
other and become good friends.  He wasn't wasn't the 
brightest bulb on the Christmas tree in school, but he 
honestly did try.  Most of the times they had gotten 
together was so Maria could help him with his school work.  
He was fine in history, but everything else gave him some 
trouble, especially math.  He could do basic problems such 
as addition, subtraction, etc., but once you got into 
algebraic equations, he was wondering where the 'c' came 
from.  They had fun anyway.

	However, she also had learned why Kayano-sensei had 
warned Shiroh to not disturb her that day.  Shiroh had a 
curiosity that got him in trouble quite often.  He couldn't 
just let things go.  If you left a loose end of string 
trailing through a doorway, he'd follow it to see where it 
lead.  Maria wasn't blind to the fact that his curiosity 
could hurt her given her situation.  But she was willing to 
befriend him anyway since most of the other students seemed 
to stear clear of him except for Hotaru.  

	Maria could hear someone humming up ahead.  Must be 
Rei-san, she thought.  When she got to the top of the 
steps, she could see Rei in her priestess' robes sweeping 
leaves into a pile in the yard.  Phobos and Deimos announced 
her presence from their perches on top of the shrine itself.  
Rei looked over at her and waved a greeting.  "Maria-chan, 
what brings you here this morning?  I would have thought 
you'd still be asleep.  I know I would be." Rei sighed.

	"Well, I sort of have something to ask you."

	Rei nodded and leaned against her broom. "Ask away."

	Well, can't back out now.  "Umm, I was wondering if 
anyone here at the temple taught some form of martial arts."  
There, I've said it.  Now she can say no and I'll go back to 
the house and get some more sleep.  Don't know why I'm doing 
this anywa-- her thoughts were interrupted by Rei's answer.

	"Hai, we do.  It's only for those who ask though.  
It's not like we post it all around the city."  Rei studied 
her for a moment.  "May I ask why you've asked this?"

	Maria wasn't sure if she should be relieved or 
horrified that they did teach martial arts there.  She had 
to know how to defend herself though, and this was probably 
the best place for her to learn.  Perhaps the most 
comfortable place for her too.  

	Looking at Rei, Maria didn't think it would be wise to 
lie to her.  Plus, it wouldn't be fair.  "It's just 
important to me.  I'd really like to learn."  So, she'd just 
hedge around the truth.

	Rei looked at her for a moment again, and then smiled 
and nodded her head.  "I'd have to ask my ojii-san, but I'm 
sure he'll agree to it."

	Maria looked around.  "Where is your ojii-san anyway?"

	"He's meditating right now," Rei said but Maria could 
hear her say something under her breath.  "Sleeping in there 
more likely."

	Maria stayed and helped Rei with her chores for a 
while, mostly just to talk and keep the miko company.  At 
around seven-thirty, the aging priest came out of the temple 
and practically screamed his greeting into her ear, 
surprising her because her back had been to the door.  
"Ohayo, Maria-san!  What's such a lovely young lady doing 
here so early?"

	Seeing that Maria was recovering from her shock, Rei 
answered for her.  "Maria-chan want's to learn some martial 
arts with us.  I told her it was alright with me, but that 
it was up to you to decide."

	The priest stood on the landing that was just before 
the door and looked Maria up and down.  He didn't seem like 
the doddering little old man that Maria had seen before.  
Instead, he looked like an incredibly wise and tired old man 
that was trying to determine if he really wanted to teach 
the young girl in front of him.  

	Being on the landing made him come up to almost 
exactly Maria's height.  If he had been standing on the 
ground right before her, he would have only been up to her 
breastbone.  Being on the landing brought him to a height 
where he could look directly into Maria's eyes, and she into 
his.  His eyes were a dark brown that were curiously shot 
through with a little violet; she could tell that Rei had 
gotten her eyes from her grandfather's side of the family.  
She could see in those eyes a quiet understanding and 
acceptance of what she had decided.  Maria couldn't help the 
feeling that he knew more about her than she realized.

	Finally, the old priests' gaze ceased to hold her and 
she drew in a breath that she hadn't known she had been 
depriving herself of.  "Alright," he said, "we will teach 
you."

	Phase two of Maria's plan had started as soon as the 
priest had said the first word.  Hopefully, with the 
knowledge of how to defend herself, she could stop Anthony 
from hurting her when the time came for her to go back.  She 
even dared to hope that she would gain enough confidence to 
tell someone about her problem.

	"Arigato, sensei, Rei-san." she said, bowing from the 
waist.

	The old man's face broke out into a wide smile, and 
Maria could tell that Rei was happy that her grandfather had 
accepted her request.  

	"Come Maria-chan, we'll talk about how we'll go about 
this over tea."  Maria's new teacher led her into the living 
part of the temple.

* * *

	After talking about when the best time for her to come 
for her sessions and some other subjects, Maria thanked her 
friend and her grandfather again and left.  Rei had offered 
to walk her home, but Maria had politely refused.  She had 
decided to take a walk and think.  

	For some reason, Rei and her other new friends seemed 
a bit protective of her.  They always offered to drive or 
walk her home, but were only stubborn about it when it was 
getting dark out, which made some sense.  But in broad 
daylight?  Maybe they were like that because of all the 
weird things that she had heard of that had happened in 
Tokyo.  

	For almost five years straight, Tokyo and the 
surrounding area had been reportedly plagued by demons of 
some kind.  Maria had read in a Tokyo newspaper that she had 
been reading for practice, that young girls (or women, 
depending on who wrote the article) who called themselves 
the "Sailor Senshi" had fought the demons.  Most people just 
thought they were rumor unless they had actually seen them.  
There was no tangible proof besides pictures that the young 
fighters for justice were actually real.  The pictures of 
the senshi were the products of lucky bystanders that just 
happened to have cameras and reporters that didn't have 
enough sense to get the hell out of a battle area.  
Companies made dolls and other "bishoujo senshi" merchandise 
based off the pictures. 

	There were some rumors that the Sailor Senshi had 
something to do with various worldwide phenomena such as the 
brief drop in temperature around the world, and sudden 
losses of energy.  True to the way governments worked, the 
U.S. government denied that anything had happened if they 
couldn't explain it, or just described the phenomena as a 
global epidemic.  In most cases, world leaders banned 
together to try and keep their citizens in the dark, but 
most people knew something extremely odd had happened and 
weren't swayed easily with flimsy explinations. 

	Seating herself on a bench in the park she didn't 
remember entering, Maria thought about what she would do if 
she actually saw one of the Sailor Senshi.  Actually, she 
hoped that she would never have to see one.  She had too 
many problems as it was without monsters and demons for 
young women in sailor fuku to fight.  

	Looking around the park, she tried to figure out what 
had made the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stand on 
end.  There were the regular people that you always saw in 
parks; the joggers, people walking dogs, playing frisbee, 
and the obligatory teenagers making out under a tree.  And 
she couldn't forget the strollers.  Those people that just 
walked around and took in the scene much like Maria herself 
had been doing before she sat down.

	Still studying the people in the park, her gaze fell 
onto a japanese man in a business suit.  He was probably 
just walking through the park to get to his next meeting or 
just to relax, but what caught her eye was that he had been 
looking at her.  His gaze moved away from her, but he had 
stopped at a wastebasket next to a bench about three meters 
away from her.  Now she knew why her body was tensed up like 
a compressed bedspring.  He had eyes like Anthony.  The same 
deceivingly grey eyes that laughed cruelly at her whenever 
they landed on her.  Unconsciously, her hands had grabbed 
hold of the bench in a white knuckled grip.  

	The man looked at her again, and there was a knowing 
look in his eyes.  She could almost hear him say, "I know 
you.  I know what I can do to you.  You fear me and I revel 
in it."  And to make matters worse, he even grinned at her!

	Not being able to take it anymore, Maria shot up from 
the bench and started hurriedly walking in the opposite 
direction.  She could still feel the man's eyes boring into 
her back, and it made her want to run.  'No, I will _not_ 
run.  I'm stronger than people like him.  They can hurt me, 
but they cannot break me.'  As she went through the exit of 
the park and turned towards the way to her home, she 
couldn't help but wonder if the man had a daughter or 
stepdaughter that he treated like Anthony treated her.

* * *

	Back at the Hikawa Shrine, Rei and her grandfather 
were talking over the leftover tea from Maria's visit.

	"What do you think of her, ojii-san?"  Rei asked, 
setting her cup down on the low table in front of her.

	The aged priest didn't answer for a few moments, 
supposedly contemplating the question.  After about a minute 
and two sips of tea, he answered, "She's a nice girl, and I 
think she'll make a good student."

	"You know that's not what I meant, ojii-san."

	The priest nodded.  "Alright, you wish to know what I 
think of your young friend Maria-chan?"

	Rei really did try to take her irritation out of her 
voice, but it came out annoyed anyway.  "Hai, I did ask that 
didn't I?"

	The aged priest smiled.  "Ahh, my firebrand, you've 
learned much, but dealing with me just throws your patience 
out the window, ne?"  Rather than let his grandaughter 
respond to that, he went on.  "Maria-chan is a good person 
at heart.  There is no obvious violence in her, just the 
violence that is in all people.  However, there's fear in 
her which could make her violent just as easily as it could 
cripple her.  Fear can do that to any person though.  She's 
hiding some things, and that's the cause of her fear.  Pain 
and fear play large parts in her life."

	It sometimes amazed Rei that her ojii-san could judge 
a person's character like this.  "Michiru-san came to me a 
few weeks ago.  She had a dream about Maria-chan which was 
disturbing."  Rei told what Michiru had said to her about 
the dream, her ojii-san listening quietly.

	At the end of it, he nodded.  "So, a dead brother.  
And taken right in front of the poor girl too."

	"I think that that accident could be the reason for 
her parent's divorce."

	Her ojii-san gave a tired sigh.  "Young people such as 
her shouldn't have to go through such things.  Divorce." he 
snorted disgustedly.  "The things you have told me certainly 
fit with what I've felt from her."  Standing up, which just 
brought him at eye level with his grandaughter, he said, 
"Come Rei-chan, we need to tend to our visitors.  Visiting 
hours have started.  Unless there's something else you wish 
to tell me?"

	Rei had debated telling her ojii-san about what the 
sacred flame had told her when she had asked what was 
troubling Maria.  She decided that it would be prudent to 
tell her ojii-san everything.  "A few days ago, I asked the 
sacred fire about what was troubling Maria-chan.  It showed 
me the face of a man.  He was handsome and black haired.  
Then around the face, other people's face could be seen.  
They didn't seem familiar, just random faces that could have 
been anyone on the street.  The odd thing was, was that they 
all had the same dark grey eyes as the man in the center.  I 
sensed an evil about them, but it... it wasn't... I'm not 
sure how to describe it.  The most I can say is that it felt 
like natural evil."

	"Natural evil..." the old priest mused.  "As much as 
what you've described from your vision disturbs me, I don't 
know what else to say about it.  I couldn't interpret it any 
better than you have.  I've taught you everything I know 
about fire reading, and I can honestly tell you that you're 
better at it than I ever was.  The best advice I can give 
you is to go with your instincts, just like I've always told 
you."  He smiled kindly at her.  "You'll have to use your 
best judgement with that vision, as I can't help you.  Now 
come on, we need to get out there before Yuuichiro bungles 
everything up.  That boy is getting better, but I wouldn't 
trust him to sweep the floor without catching the broom on 
fire if someone isn't with him."  The priest kept rambling 
on as he walked out the sliding door to the front of the 
shrine.

	'Looks like I'll have to think about this sometime 
tonight.' Rei thought as she saw the crowd of people on the 
shrine's grounds through the open door.  "Don't worry Maria-
chan, we'll help you somehow." she whispered as she walked 
out.

End Chapter Six

AN: Let me first say that I have no idea if Rei and her 
grandfather would really teach any kind of martial arts.  
From everything I've seen of the anime, they know some form 
of martial arts, so I've decided that they're going to teach 
it to our dear girl Maria.  It'll all work out for the best, 
you'll see ^^. 

Sorry this took so long guys.  I just couldn't write 
anything for this for a while.  I'm really not sure when the 
next chapter of Deception will be finished.  It all depends 
on if I'm in the mood to work on this story or play my 
Dreamcast.  I've got a lot that needs to be done for school.  
Why the heck did I choose advanced courses that require you 
to work over the summer?!

I'd like to thank all of you who have told me how much 
you've liked this story so far.  It means a lot!

And give a round of applause for my beta reader extraordinaire, 
Kylana!  She was very happy when this chapter came out :).

7/17/01