Chapter Ten: What Happened to You?

*“…too hard.”

“What else can we do? We’re fighting as hard as we possibly can, and it’s just not good enough.”

“We need help. We all know it.”

            Hiiro listened to the conversation with great interest. After finally finding a Shinto Temple in the phone directory, he had rushed over to it as fast as he could. He had remembered that Serry’s ‘Mars’ was a Shinto Priestess, so he figured that was the best place to start. It was almost already dark at six o’clock, but Hiiro had found the Temple at last and was surprised to find nine teenagers in the giant room next to the shrine. He listened in hard, and had found they were exactly who he had been looking for, the Sailor Scouts. Hiiro had it in the right mind that he should go in there and slap them all, yelling at them for what they had done to Serry, but held in his rage for a while longer. Instead of beating them into listening to him, he listened to them in hopes of discovering some information about the situation. He was right. As far as he had heard, the Scouts were having a tough time controlling the youma, let alone helping to keep crime down to a minimum now during the fiasco. They needed Sailor Moon badly.

Leaving the Shrine, he realized, he had no idea where Serry’s home was. He didn’t know where to find her, or even if she was alright. Not to mention, the gas tank on his cycle was near empty. ‘Great. Only one thing left to do.’ He pulled out his laptop (Serry had capsulized it for him as well) and typed her a message for help.

~~~1210 Kourt St.~~~

            Serena’s computer beeped a very loud and highly annoying noise just as she and her brother were finishing the dinner dishes. ‘That’s probably Hii-kun. He’s probably lost and doesn’t know where I live.’ She had realized all too soon after he had left that she hadn’t given him a meeting place, so she had been expecting his email anytime.

            “What’s that noise your laptop is making Serena?” Asked her father.  

            “It’s telling me I have mail. Probably Hii-kun telling me he’s lost.” She said, as if nothing were wrong with that statement. She was corrected instantly.

            “Hii-kun? You have a boyfriend? Who? Where? Is he respectable? Has he hurt you in any way? Let me at him!” Her father cried. Serena just continued checking her mail.

            “I have to go get him, he’s out of gas and lost. Sammy, want to come with me?”

            “Sure. How are we going to get to him? We haven’ gotten a new car since the accident, and he’s probably far away…”

            “We’ll take my cycle of course. Come on, it’s getting dark, and I don’t care if he does have the best shot in Tokyo, I don’t want to leave him alone at night.”

            “You have a…”

            “Come on!”

~~~Twenty Minutes Later~~~

            “Hey. Thought you’d never get here.”

            “Sorry, but knowing you, I took the scenic route, thinking I’d let you have a little more fun here alone at night.”

            “Funny.” Hiiro grinned. “Who’s that?”

            “Hiiro, meet my brother, Sammy. Sam, this is Hiiro, or Hii-kun.”

            “Nice to meet you kid.”

            “ Nice to meet you Hiiro. And I’m not a kid. I’m actually taller than Serena.” Hiiro, who was sitting on his bike, exchanged a grin with Serry. In the light of the Temple, he stood up to shake Sammy’s hand.

            “Everyone’s taller than Serry.”

            “Hey! Not when I’m Sai!” She said, but was brushed off.

            Sammy looked up and gulped. Ok, so correcting this Hiiro guy was probably not a bright idea. Sammy could tell Hiiro could have easily over power him if he had wanted to, the height and lean muscular build gave that away. The only thing that made Sammy change his mind about him was the fact that the new guy and his sister were grinning madly at each other. ‘Wonder why?’ he thought.

            Hiiro liked Serry’s brother. He could tell he was just worried about his sister being with a guy. When he shook his hand, he felt a strong grip, indicating that the youngster was stronger than he appeared to be. Stepping back, he grinned at Serry.

            “I’m out of fuel.”

            “Don’t you think I know that? Here.” She held up a bottle of gas, and he emptied it’s contents into his gas tank. “Ready?” She said. By this time, she and Sammy were sitting on their bike, Sammy with a helmet on, and Serena with out. Serena and Hiiro never wore their helmets, but Sammy wasn’t getting off so easily.

            “Let’s go.” The ride back to Serena’s house was uneventful, and by the time everyone was going to bed, both Sammy and Serena’s father decently liked Hiiro.

~~~Next Morning : Five AM~~~

            “Good morning Hii-kun. Sleep well?”

            “Yeah. The hard part was getting up with out waking your brother up.” Hiiro had slept in Sammy’s room that night, and when he had tried to get up at as usual time for his morning jog and spar with Serry, he had had to tiptoe like never before to get out of the room.

            “Sorry. Ready?”

            “Let’s go.” And they jogged.

            When Sammy woke, he noticed that Hiiro was gone. When he checked his sister’s bed, she was missing too. He went down the stairs and looked for them, but they were nowhere to be found. Looking outside, he saw no cycles, but remembered Serena had done something to hers last night because she wasn’t going to leave it on the street. Going back into the kitchen worried, he saw two laptops on the counter and sighed. He didn’t think they would leave without their laptops, so they were probably just out for a walk or something.

            “Morning son. Where are your sister and Hiiro?”

            “Out for a walk. I’ll make breakfast.”

            Serena and Hiiro were just getting back when her brother came running out of the house.

            “You’re back! I made breakfast for us all, so come on in!”

            “Sure Sam. Give us ten minutes out here?” Answered Serena

            “Uh, sure, why?”

            “We just need to spar.” She said.

            “Right. Can I watch?”

            “Stay out of the way though, kid.” Answered Hiiro. Then , they bowed to each other and started into a series of punches, kicks, dodges, and flips. Serena brought out her sword, and Hiiro his gun. As he shot at her, she blocked the bullets with the sword. This not only kept him in target practice, it gave her a chance to work with her sword. She had had to fix it so it wouldn’t break from the bullets, of course. After all they were finished, they bowed to each other again, and grinned.

            “We’re ready for that breakfast Sammy.” Serena said.

            “Yeah…”

            “I think you shocked your brother Serry.”

            “If he thinks that’s a shock, I’d hate for him to see us when we really try hard.” With that, they walked into the house.

            “There you all are. Serena, Hiiro, you’re breathing hard, and your sweaty. Go take a shower before breakfast.” Said her dad.

            “but dad…”

            “Or you won’t eat.” By the time she and Hiiro had their plates, the food had to be heated.

            “It’s your fault Serry. You take too long in the shower and you know it.”

            “Shut up Hii-kun. Or I’ll ki blast you where the sun don’t shine.” She smiled ever so sweetly at him and he balked a face at her.

            “By the way, Serry, last night, I went by the Cherry Hill Temple and heard the most interesting conversation between nine other people.”

            “Hii-kun?” She knew who he was talking about, but she didn’t know what the conversation was about. She was waiting for him to tell her.

            “They need help. Badly. Serry, if..”

            “Hii-kun, do you think I’m ready?”

            “Yeah. But I don’t think you want to push it too much, alright Serry?”

            “Come with me. I need some support.”

            “Why ask? You knew I was going to come regardless.”

            “What time?”

“Eleven.”

            “We’d better leave now if we’re going to get there on time. We’ll just take one bike, alright?”

            “I’m driving. Go as Sai, and then become Serena. You’ll shock the hell out of them to start with. That should be fun to watch.”

            “You called it. Let’s book it. Dad, Sammy, Hii-kun and I are going out. We’ll be back later.”

            “Be careful.”

            “I know Dad, I know.”

~~~Cherry Hill Temple, Scout Meeting~~~

            “What was that?” Cried Lita. A huge noise had shook the girls out of their quiet meeting and they all went outside to see where the noise had come from.

            “You don’t think it’s another youma, do you?” Asked Mina.

            “I don’t know, but I’m sensing something familiar.”

            “The ocean is still raging, but it’s calmer than it has been for months. What could cause that kind of reaction?” Added Michiaru. Then, suddenly, a motorcycle road up the Temple steps and neatly stopped right in front of them, kicking up dust as it screeched to a halt. The occupant of the back got off and pulled the helmet off of their head. Slowly, long black hair with silver highlights was revealed. Then a face with large purple eyes and pale skin showed through. The other occupant got off of the bike and also removed their helmet. The senshi stood in awe as the figure revealed messy chocolate brown hair and prussian  blue eyes.

            “That is the last time we wear helmets.” Said the girl.

            “I second that.” Answered the boy. Then both the newcomers turned to face the Sailor Scouts.

            “Hello girls, Mr. Chiba. It’s been a while, ne?”

            “Who are you? How do you know us?” Asked Setsuna.

            “Setsuna. How could you forget me? Did you not know I was coming? There’s a first, I’ve been able to surprise the Senshi that can’t be surprised.”

            “Who are you?” Asked Haruka.

            “Some call me Sai, especially when I’m in this form. However, you and a few others have had the privilege of knowing my true name.” They senshi watched as she pulled the pin from her chocker necklace.  They watched her form shrink in size and muscle mass until it was a short, skinny little girl. Her hair was now blonde and her eyes blue. “You know me as Serena Usagi Tsukino.”

            “Serena?” The girls gasped. They had thought she was dead after Mercury had scanned the area and found her blood on the ground right after she had stormed off from them.

            “Serena? I that really you?” Asked Hotaru.

            “It appears to be. She has the exact same DNA as our Serena.” Answered Ami, using her computer to scan the two.

            “Yes, it’s me. I heard you were having a wild time here, partying with Chaos, no justice system, and Thereon’s Vamps. I decided to back home to check it out for myself.”

            “Who told you we were having such a blast?” Asked Lita with a snort.

            “Why, Hii-kun over here did of course. We got back in town last night, and he so graciously did me the honor of eavesdropping on your meeting last night. I must say, the city does look a bit on the shabby side.”

            “Hii-kun? Usako, who is he?”

            “Sorry Darien, how rude of me. Let me introduce you. Darien, Scouts, this is Hiiro Yui. Hii-kun, these are my best friends.” She said with a mocking tone.

            “It’s a pleasure. Use the name Usako again and I’ll rearrange that pretty boy face of yours.”

            “Thanks Hii-kun!” Serena beamed at him, but only for a split second. “ Well, Scouts, it was nice seeing you again. Have fun playing with Thereon tonight. Hii-kun and I would love to come, but, we’re having dinner with my dad and brother. Ciao.” She and Hiiro got back on the bike and he whispered something in her ear. She gave a shot laugh and Darien glared at Hiiro with anger and jealousy.

            “Wait, Serena, aren’t you going to stay for the meeting? You need to fight! We need you!” Cried Luna from below.

            “Oh, Luna. Didn’t see you. No, sorry. I’m not needed. Remember I’m a ditz, a lazy bum who can’t even get to school on time, much less pass a class. You don’t want me to help, remember?” Just then, a gang of thugs trudged up the Temple steps.

            “Not these guys again.” Sighed Rei.

            “Hey, Priestess! Looking good this morning. So, what offerings were made to the shrine last week, huh baby cakes?”           

            “None. Get lost creeps!” Cried Lita. When the men pulled out knifes and chains, the scouts backed off. Serena glanced at Hiiro, and he at her.  They both got off the bike and stood to face the attackers.

            “Oh boys. If you want to dance so much, we’d be happy to tango with you.” Serena said in a singsong voice.

            “Yeah, fresh meat. Let’s get them!” Cried the thug leader. The thugs charged at the two soldiers, and After the first three were down (Hiiro had shot one and punched one unconscious; Serena had snapped one’s neck) they began to back off. Then one charged Serena, thinking she would be an easier target. She pulled out her sword and caught the man around the neck.

            “Leave or I slit his throat. You have thirty seconds, starting now.”

            “You’ll never do it.”

            “Ten left.”

            “You’re too chicken girly.”

            “Time’s up.” Without a second thought she slit his throat. The others, seeing she meant business, and then seeing the man who she was with holding them at gunpoint, ran. Serena and Hiiro looked at each other. They got back on the bike, but Rei stopped them.

            “Why?”

            “Hii-kun put money in the shrine last night. I didn’t want thugs wasting his hard earned cash.” Answered Serena. With that, Hiiro revved the engine and speed off down the Temple steps. The other Scouts stood looking at the four dead men on the patio. Michairu asked the one question everyone wanted to know.

            “Serena, what happened to you?”*