It was finally time to close down Koneko no Sumu Ie. Youji was given the duty of closing the
metal gates over the windows, Omi the task of sweeping, Ken the chore of making sure all displays
were watered and inside the shop, and Aya the job of making coffee for the rest.
"Maaaan!" Youji groaned as he stood and stretched, "Today was a busy day, ne?"
"Hai," Omi returned cheerfully from the corner where he swept, "Demo, business is good.
We haven't been getting a lot lately, so we were due for a day like this."
"Ah, Omi. Always worried about business," Ken sighed, running a hand through his bangs,
"Manx wa doko ni imasu ka?"

Aya did not say anything as he passed out the coffee, nothing unusual there, and Youji shrugged
in his lazy manner, grinning.
"Dunno. Perhaps this means no mission," he said happily.

Just then a sharp rap sounded on the metal door, followed by two longer ones. Manx. The blonde
man hung his head and sighed, running a hand through his long hair.
"Or not," he said and stooped to lift the gate without spilling his drink and allowed the
red haired woman to enter.

Manx showed them the tape and they followed her into the mission room. There was an air about
her that warned Youji not to take his flirting any farther. Persia's secretary slid the tape
into the VCR and the Weiß members settled around to watch it, Omi and Ken taking the couch, Youji
in his chair, and Aya leaning against the wall. Persia's silhouette flickered onto the screen.
"Weiß. The situation is getting more desperate than can be expected. Takatori Reiji has
gained an ally more powerful than any of us can imagine. He's sought and gained help from the
Dark Kingdom, a kingdom of youma that survives by draining ningen of their life energy. As far as
anyone knows there is only a single force that can stop the youma, a group of five girls. Manx
has the only article we could find on them, and the end of this is some film of their fighting
styles. Your new mission is to find the girl or girls you think will make the best assassins. Do
what ever it takes to bring her or them back here, Takatori *must* be stopped. White Hunters of
the dark, hunt the tomorrow of the dark beasts."

The tape clicked off, their mission had been given. Now there were two choices: Take it or Leave
it. The Kritiker agent known as Manx could only hope that "Take It" would be the unanimous
decision. The situation was serious and their decision could possibly affect the entire world.
The red headed woman stood from her seat in the other chair and turned on the lights. She looked
at all the Weiß members expectantly, and more than a little worried.
"Saa?" she asked, sounding anxious.
"Hold up, hold up," Youji interrupted, "You mean, we're asking a couple of girls in
skimpy outfits who've never killed an actual person in their lives and probably still *have*
morals, to come and join us as assassins? And they're not even over 18?"

Manx resisted the urge to sigh, settling instead on leaning against the wall and closing her eyes
briefly.
"Hai. That about summarizes it."
"You're crazy!"
"Youji-kun, think about it. We obviously can't handle the youma. Humans, sure, but we're
talking about something that you can't kill without a certain amount of magical powers. Even if
they are found in young girls with short skirts."

Everybody stared at Omi, who was blushing while staring at the newspaper clip that had been
passed around.
"Listen to this: 'Sailor Senshi, Guardian Angels or Mysterious Warriors? The Sailor
Senshi are certainly a mystery to the people who are attacked. But at the same time they are
guardians, protecting those who are defenseless to the strange series of explosions and recent
jewel heists. Many civilians who own these stores, or had recently bought from them were attacked
soon after. Many owe their existence to a group of five, seemingly young girls in sailor
uniforms. "These girls appeared out of nowhere," said one witness, "The leader started to give an
amazingly annoying speech, but the girl in red and the one in green stopped her and attacked."
How they know where to be remains a mystery. No one has any leads as to the identities of these
young protectors of our city, and the only clear photograph is of a rumored amazon, the girl in
green, shown above. If anybody has information regarding anything having to do with these Sailor
Senshi, please contact the news station'."

Youji, still sulking about them all being under 18, sighed and dropped his head against the
couch.
"I suppose we really do need them. I'm in."
"I'm in," added Ken, heading in the direction of the stairs.
"Me too!" piped up Omi.
"Aa," was all they got from Aya.
"How will we even know if it's them?" Ken yawned.
"Let me see the photo."

Everyone whipped around to see Aya watching the TV on mute from the wall. The unofficial leader
of Weiß had paused the screen on a fairly faint, but discernible image of the 'girl in green'
that the newspaper had pointed out. She was in the middle of a snap kick, it appeared, and there
was a ball of ... was that lightning? in her hand. Both the photo and video held the same image,
though the one on film was a better quality.
"This one. She looks like a friend of mine back when I used to work as a waiter. She was
a part time chef, the youngest one we had there, if this is who I think it is."

Now the others just stared in disbelief. Because of one girl, the icy Fujimiya Aya had just said
more than he had with a gun pointed at his head.
"Chotto matte ... kare o iu ... tomodachi? Fujimiya-Ore-Wa-Kori-Aya, tomodachi deshita?"
Youji stage whispered to the other members of Weiß.

Ken and Omi nodded in comical dumbness. Aya ignored them and continued studying the stilled
image in front of him.


Manx had now given Aya her undivided attention. Normally she would not have taken so much
interest in one particular mission however, this girl could hold the fate of the entire world.
Of course she had no way to know that, but she trusted Aya's instincts. He had been right more
than once. She coughed lightly to make sure she had Aya's attention. He acknowledged it with a
slight nod.
"Aya, can you arrange a meeting with this girl who you think is Sailor Jupiter?" she
asked, "And try to get her to bring a friend? She may be able to bring others to us."

The red head nodded his consent; that was good enough for her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Makoto let out a huge yawn, just barely getting her hand up in time to cover it. As usual, she
had woken up extra early to get to school on time, only to remember that it was Sunday, and there
was no school. Then, of course, the phone had decided to ring, banishing all thoughts of going
back to sleep.
"Moshi-moshi?"
"Kino Makoto?"

Makoto frowned a little. The person on the other end had a deep monotone, though familiar, but
she could not place a name to the voice. However, it would not do to just hang up on the other
person, so she spoke.
"Hai, hanasu. Kimi wa dare desu ka?"
"Fujimiya Ran desu."

Fujimiya Ran. The word 'Waiter' came to mind when Makoto heard the name, but she could not quite
place where she would know him from. Ran, orchid ... purple eyes ... the waiter with purple
eyes!
"Mochiron!" she grinned happily into the phone, even though he could not see her, "You're
that waiter from the restaurant we used to work at! The only friendly one. Ran-kun! Took you long
enough to call me. It's been almost two years."

Aya smirked into his end of the phone. Judging from the happy sound of her voice, it would seem
she did remember him. This was a definite advantage to his situation.
"Hai, I'm the waiter. Gomen, I didn't mean to not call. I've been ... busy."
"Wakatta. So have I. I tried your number once, but it'd been disconnected. Then I heard
on the news about your father's company. Gomen nasai."

Aya choked down the small lump in his throat. This was not the time nor the place from him to
dig up old memories and get emotional about everything. This was a business call, though she did
not know that.
"Daijobu. ... If you don't have anything to do today, could you perhaps meet me for
coffee? Where we used to go. If you don't feel comfortable, you can always bring a friend. I
found your number among some things. I thought maybe we could get to know each other again."

He snorted mentally, replaying his words to himself.


Makoto checked her calendar, and saw she had nothing planned. It *was* odd to be called out of
the blue by her old friend, she had to admit, but she *did* want to see him again.
"Nan demo nai! I'll be by in say ... an hour? I'll see if Minako-chan or Rei-chan want to
come, if that's OK with you."
"Hai. That's fine."
"It's a date, then. Ja matta ne."

She hung up, imagining the surprised look that must be on Ran's face. She had always wanted to
say that to him, even if it was just joking around, but she had also had a serious crush on him
at one time. Then they had both resigned from their jobs before she could find out if he liked
her.
<I still don't know where he went after that. And of course it meant off to fighting
youma for me.> she sighed mentally.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An hour later saw Makoto standing outside the old coffee shop that she and Ran had frequented
during their lunch breaks with other old friends. None of those old friends were here, however.
That or she did not recognize them, and they probably did not recognize her. Minako had wanted
to come, but had to back out because of an audition and Rei had to work over time while her
grandfather was sick. And still there was no sign of Ran.
"Ran wa doko? Mou ... It would seem he's just left me to stand here waiting for him," she
sighed, checking her watch for a third time.
"Iie, I didn't. I had a bit of trouble getting away from work. Gomen."

Makoto jumped and spun around to face her old friend. At first she blinked. This surely could
not be Fujimiya Ran! Ran was a sweet boy with equally sweet, and open, features and a laughing
personality. He was also a bit clumsy at times, if she remembered correctly, but this man moved
with an unnatural sort of grace. This young man in front of her was also a colder, hardened,
less likable person, who did not seem to care about anything at all. Looking at him, Ran
appeared to have been forced to grow up far too fast, for he could not be more than twenty.
"Ran-san?" she asked, hoping that she was wrong.

He nodded stiffly, and turned, pointing to their old usual booth. It was not lost on him that
she did not address him as she used to, though he tried not to care. Had he really changed that
much? It was a definite possibility.
"Shall we sit?" he asked.
Makoto mused
as they walked to the booth and sat.

She studied him for a second, debating whether or not to speak. Finally she chose.
"Ne, Ran-san, what's with the random call? We haven't spoken in over two years."

Aya blinked, not knowing where to start. He had not counted on her asking that question so soon.
Luckily for him, he was saved by the waitress coming to take their orders.
"Green tea, kudasai," Makoto ordered.
"Green tea," he ordered as well.

The waitress jotted the orders down and hurried off to get them. Makoto was silent a bit, still
waiting for Aya to answer, but it became apparent that he did not want to. She smiled
patronizingly and changed the subject for him.
"Well then, how's life been? What have you been doing the past two years? How's
Aya-chan?" she asked, drawing him away from her first question.

Aya thanked the gods above. He really did not feel like trying to explain everything in a coffee
shop, though talking about his past was not much easier. Anything was easier than trying to
explain that she was needed, if she was Sailor Jupiter, to become an assassin for the sake of the
world, however, so he was willing to talk.
"Life has been ... difficult, to say the least. First otousan's company building
exploded. Both he and okaasan died," he paused as his old friend reached across the table to
clasp his wrist gently, "And in the explosion Aya-chan was hurt. She's now in the hospital in a
coma."

Makoto gasped slightly in horror. She had known about the explosion, it had been all over the
news. But she had not known that Aya-chan was in the hospital, or even near the building area at
the time.
"Apparently, I was the only one who made it out of the explosion relatively unharmed. I
know who did it, too, but I haven't been able to find him." he told
himself,

He did know who had blown up his father's building, and he was the only civilian who had made it
out with little damage. He had also found the person who had done it: Schuldich. A member of
the opponent group Schwartz. The waitress brought the drinks, set them in front of her
customers, and hurried off again.
"Now I work at a flower shop with three others. Kudou Youji, Hidaka Ken and Tsukiyono
Omi. You'd like Omi, I think," Aya heard himself say, wanting to get off the topic.

Makoto smiled gently. She knew a change in topic when she heard one, she used them a lot
herself. However this time the topic was a pleasant one she could easily speak on.
"I already know him, actually, and I do like him. He goes to my school, he seems rather
nice. I have a few classes with him, though I've never really spoken to him. He's always
surrounded by squealing girls, his fan club, so I can't get through. It's rather amusing,
actually."

Aya quirked an eyebrow, not surprised by this news. They each had a fan club of girls at Koneko,
and all of them were school girls, so why shouldn't they be found at a school? He found himself
mirroring her smile as well, however faint. He could not deny that he had grown something of a
fondness for Omi, who was so much like his imouto with his genki air, though a Takatori.
"Would you like to come back to the shop with me for a while? Omi will be there, and we
could talk a bit more privately," he offered.

He knew that Manx and the others would be there to question Makoto, and surprised himself in
feeling the tugging of guilt at the corner of his mind.
he reminded himself.

Makoto smiled at him and nodded. They called the waitress over, asked for the check, paid and
headed out.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Manx looked out the flower shop window for the umpteenth time in the past hour. She knew that
she was being obsessive, but there was an undeniable sense of urgency that yelled at her to get
this mission done. They were dealing with considerable un explored territory that only the
Senshi could help with.
"Aya wa doko ni imasu ka?" she asked impatiently, "He should have brought that girl with
him ... 15 minutes ago! You don't think he scared her off, do you? This mission can't be taken
lightly. If she's one of them ... "
"Manx."

The red headed secretary turned to look at Youji, quirking an eyebrow in annoyance.
"Nani?"
"Urasei. If Aya did get a hold of her, he'll bring her back. You know how seriously he
takes his missions."

Manx had to nod at that bit of logic. Aya probably threw himself into missions more than he
should, because of his sister. He did have a tendency to go berserk whenever he saw Takatori,
and just about hated anyone related to Takatori, with Omi being the only exception, which she
still could not figure out, but he was definitely efficient. She sighed and turned to look out
the window again, not expecting anything to have changed, and blinked. Twice. And once more for
good measure. Aya walked with a girl who looked like she was part amazon and part of a gang.
The girl was as tall as Ken, if not an inch shorter. She wore baggy, frayed jeans. Her top
proclaimed her to be an "Angelic Demon" and her long red hair was held back in a high pony tail.
"Anou ... here he comes," Manx said, sounding lame to even her own ears.

Omi, Ken and Youji rushed to the windows to get a look, each well aware of the fact that they
probably looked incredibly stupid to the outside population.
"Boku no kamisama!" Omi nearly shouted.
"Nani? Nani?!" Ken asked.
"That's Mako-chan! She goes to my school. We've got a few classes together."

~Owari, chapter 1~