A silhouette in the darkness stood observing the three other shadows in the room. The future had brought them together and bonded them to each other until their deaths. They were a unit formed to kill and a unit formed to protect one man. Schwarz, four men with special powers that protected the businessman, Takatori from his enemies and occasionally got rid of his competition for him.
The silhouette's eyes seemed to flash as one shadow flicked a lighter, sending the darkness running into the corners of the room for a moments. For those few seconds, Crawford was able to see the 'men' waiting for what he had come to say.
"Spit it out already," grouched Schuldig, lighting his cigarette and placing it to his lips. "I don't want to be here all night."
Crawford frowned slightly at the orange haired assassin even as Schuldig calmly released a long puff of smoke into the air. Nagi, the youngest of them, wrinkled his nose slightly at the smell and the scarred and slightly insane Irish assassin, Farfello smirked for some reason none only to himself.
"We have been given orders to find and retrieve a disk belonging to Masafumi Takatori and a young woman," began Crawford but was cut off by a snort from Schuldig.
"He sends us after his son's problems?"
"Let him finish," demanded Nagi softly. The young man understood that they would only be sent on a mission like this if it could effect their employer's business.
Crawford nodded at the support and his glasses flashed once more even has he lifted a photograph out of the breast pocket of his gray suit and held it up. A young man dressed in black with blue hair was just barely visible and was obviously taken by a security camera.
"Last night this man broke into Masafumi's libratory in the northern district and copied data from the computers. Masafumi set one of his projects on this man to get rid of him. However, the spy took cover in a restaurant where two employees were closing up shop. There isn't much information from this point, other than what was told to authorities by this young woman."
Once again, Crawford pulled out a picture. However, this one was much clearer and showed a tall slim girl in her late teens with long brown hair and striking green eyes. Her cloths were covered in blood and she looked rather shocked.
"Must have been taken after the authorities arrived," surmised Schuldig as he took a long drag from his cigarette, he sneered slightly. "That doesn't explain why we're needed for this, Crawford."
Crawford sighed in annoyance and pushed his glasses up slightly. He really disliked working with the saucy German sometimes.
"But you still love me," teased Schuldig reading Crawford's thoughts.
Nagi, annoyed by Schuldig's interruptions, telekinetically smacked him with a magazine.
"Let him finish Schu," commanded Nagi glaring at him. "Or I'll do more than hit you with a magazine."
"Is that a threat?" goaded Schuldig, smirking. "I could easily screw around with you head before you could touch me."
Farfello made an amused sound and his eyes glinted excitedly as the tension in the room began to build between the German man and the Japanese teen.
"Both of you, calm down," ordered Crawford calmly, redrawing their attention with a picture of the 'project' that had been after the spy. "The reason we are being assigned to this is because of how Masafumi's project was destroyed."
Farfello grinned in approval at the sight of a butcher knife lodged in the back of the monster. He could just picture how bloody the battle must have been and judging from the pictures of the scrawny looking man and the skinny teenager, there must have been severe injuries to both people. God must have been hurt watching such a battle. He wished he could have witnessed it.
"This picture was the best that could be taken, but you may be able to see the faint searing of the hair on the beast. Forensics told the police that the beast was actually killed by a great amount of electricity. Beside that the girl had several lacerations on her cloths, but there was no sign of injury, although there was a large amount of blood. The authorities believe it was all the spy's but Takatori's informants say it's possible it was the girl."
Schuldig fingered his cigarette thoughtfully as he looked at Crawford with interest, "So they think that kid may be an elemental new type with additional healing abilities?"
Crawford's glasses flashed once again and he smiled slightly, "They want us to find out. If she is then we are to retrieve her and if she isn't, we are to kill her."
Schuldig smirked and smeared the end of his cigarette into a dish to his left. This would make for an interesting outing.
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
Makoto sighed softly in confusion as she sat next to the hospital bed where Shinji lay in a coma. Only last night she had been fighting for her life, and now here she was sitting by one of her coworkers and friends in the hospital. Last night, she'd talked to Hotaru about it when she'd cleaned herself up and then called Rei. Rei had told her that she would do a fire reading and would call her back later, leaving Makoto to sort out her thoughts.
Fortunately, Hotaru had been there to talk to and they had stayed up till early morning when Hotaru had to leave for school, leaving Makoto alone once again. She'd spent the morning wondering what the other Senshi's would do in her situation. Minako would have patrolled the city by house top, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious - but she was in England at her two friend's wedding. Ami would have very logically broke down the information, fed it into her mini-computer, and come up with a very sound hypothesis at to what was going on - but she was in Germany with her mother.
Setsuna would already know what was going on and gently direct the Senshi towards the solution without really giving anything away - but she was currently at the Time Gates. Haruka and Michiru would have been out on the streets investigating on their own day and night till they found out the cause of the problem - but both where in France for the Goodwill Games were Haruka was going to be running. Usagi would probably discuss the problem with Luna and Mamoru and with a plan made by Luna go with the other Senshi to take care of things - but she, Mamoru, and her family were all in the United States with Mamoru's family talking about wedding plans.
Only Rei and Hotaru were in Tokyo to help her out for the next few weeks. Rei was already doing what she could to discover what was going on and Hotaru, who was temporarily staying with Makoto, had high school to worry about. To kill the time, Makoto had left to the hospital to watch over Shinji a little bit.
Like herself, Shinji was living on his own without his family. Although right now she couldn't understand why they weren't there now. She wondered if perhaps Shinji had a falling out with his parents and that was why there weren't there now. Or perhaps there was something else that she didn't know about having to do with Uncle Shuuichi .... Persia. Why Shinji had called him that was still a mystery.
"I have this ominous feeling that you have gotten me into some new mischief Shin-san," informed Makoto, gazing at her comatose friend gravely. "And I wish I had an idea of what it could be."
Her emerald eyes stayed focused on the blue haired youth, silently willing him to answer her questions despite his current state. After a few moments however, she shifted slightly in the uncomfortable metal chair she was sitting on and sighed. Her jacket flapped against her from the movement and she faintly felt the disk that was still in her right pocket. Slowly, her hand went into the pocket, and she faintly ran her fingers over the plastic case it was in before withdrawing her hand.
She didn't even want to know what was so important about the disk yet and she had a feeling that it would really be opening a can of worms. For now, she needed to focus on Shinji. She had a dozen questions she wanted to ask him.
"Do you know that the police were questioning me for three hours last night about what happened? I told them the truth about the monster attacking and hurting you, but I couldn't explain how the monster was killed."
Makoto groaned and rubbed her forehead, something she seemed to be doing more the past few hours. She wondered how much Shinji had seen while saving her from the monster and when she had ultimately killed it. Had he been alert enough to realize that Makoto wasn't just Makoto - that she was also the Senshi, Sailor Jupiter? Once again, Makoto groaned and stood to her feet feeling a bit agitated by all the questions running through her mind.
She needed to find a phone to call Uncle Shuuichi to tell him about Shinji... if he didn't already know. Then she needed to call Hotaru who should be home by now. She walked to the doorway and glanced back at the sleeping young man.
"Wake up soon Shin-san. Please."
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
Dark thunderclouds hung ominously in the sky as Makoto walked down the sidewalk, looking for a phone booth. She felt that she had best get in touch with Uncle Shuuichi as soon as possible. There was a definite dark omen hanging in the air and she didn't know how long she had. She spied a phone booth as she came around a corner and quickly sprinted over and into it.
"Let's see..." she murmured pulling out her address book from her purse and flipping through it till she found her employer's number.
Quickly she placed some money into the phone and dialed the number. It rang only once and the line was picked up.
"Hello. This is Manx," greeted an unfamiliar female voice warmly.
"Um, yes," said Makoto feeling a bit unsure of what to say. "My name is Kino, Makoto and I'm calling for Mr. Shuuichi."
"Are you one of the employees from Lunaluz?" asked the woman, sounding cold suddenly.
"Yes, and I really need to speak to Mr. Shuuichi," answered Makoto, surprised. "Is he there? I need to tell him something."
It was quiet a moment.
"He's not available right now, but you can make an appointment for later tonight," reported Manx. "Or we can send a representative over to speak with you."
Makoto felt the hair on the back of her neck raise. Something wasn't right. She glanced at her watch and noticed that it was getting close to six. She had a strong feeling that she needed to get home as soon as she could or something bad would happen.
"Either is fine, thank you, though I would prefer to meet with Mr. Shuuichi." answered Makoto, feeling bothered by the dark feelings. "What time can I expect someone over?"
"Around eight. They will say they are from Persia," answered Manx in the same cool voice. "Until then."
Makoto sighed as the woman hung up and slowly did the same before stepping out of the both. Up above the clouds gave a tremendous clap and Makoto frowned and began to sprint for her house. She had a bit to go yet and a storm was coming in more ways then one.
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
The gentle smell of roses, petunias, morning glories, daffodils, freesia, carnations, cattleya, daisies, gentian, larkspur, snapdragon, viola, violets, and other flowers blended together in the small conservatory in Makoto's apartment. The carefully monitored air of the room was comfortably warm and made it easy to forget that outside the large overhead windows, a storm was brewing. Everything had been carefully arranged by Makoto over the years as she poured her dreams and hopes into this special room, and now it was a place of comfort and peace. And for the current occupant, it was the perfect place to curl up with a book. Hotaru smiled as she took a small break from the book she was reading to take a sip of the tea she had brought into the room with her.
"I wonder when Makoto is going to get back," murmured Hotaru, looking at some larkspur absently. "I would have thought she'd want to be home as soon as she could so she could find out what Rei read in the fire."
The door bell rang and her brow furrowed in confusion as she got to her feet and made her way out of the conservatory and to the front door. She looked out the small eye hole and when she only saw a young man in a gray school uniform, opened the door.
"Are you Kino-domo?" inquired the young man.
Hotaru almost giggled and she smiled shyly, "I'm afraid not. I'm just staying with her right now."
The young man looked surprised a moment but smiled, "My apologies. Is Kino-domo home right now? I came to inquire about some plants."
"I'm afraid she isn't home right now. She went to visit a friend in the hospital earlier this morning," answered Hotaru, silently wondering what the young man wanted with Makoto's plants. "Would you care to leave a message?"
"No. I shall probably be back next week," said the young man, turning and starting to walk off. "I apologize for drawing you away from your book. Good bye."
A dark chill passed over Hotaru as she shut the door and she frowned. How did he know she had been reading a book. There was no way he could have known. Rei had mentioned that it was urgent that Makoto call her as soon as she got home. Could this boy having something to do with it? She pursed her lips in concern and then ran to the guestroom where her suit case was. She shuffled around in it a moment and then smiled when she found what she was looking for.
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
Makoto was only four blocks away from her apartment when the rain started to fall. She cursed under her breath at her luck and took cover in a buss stop terminal. She glanced at her watch again and frowned. Two hours till those people were supposed to be at her home. She glared out at the offending storm and silently wished her senshi powers extended to storm control and not just lightning.
"Mako-san! Mako-san! Are you there?" exclaimed a small frantic voice from her purse abruptly.
Makoto blinked in surprise and then realized that the voice could only be coming from one thing. She thrust her hand into her purse quickly and pulled out her sailor communicator. She flipped it open quickly to see Hotaru's worried face.
"Hotaru-chan? Are you alright? Is there another monster?" asked Makoto in concern. She didn't know if Sailor Saturn would be able to handle such a fight on her own. She just wasn't that sort of fighter.
"No, but there was someone here looking for you and they knew things that they shouldn't have known," answered Hotaru gravely, her violet eyes looking as guilty. "Rei wanted you to call her as soon as you got home, too."
Makoto pressed her lips together feeling slightly worried. Something was definitely going on and it may not even be Youma related.
"Hotaru, I want you to call someone for me and ask them a question for me," said Makoto, sitting down on the bench behind her and pulling out her address book.
Hotaru nodded and Makoto half watched Hotaru as she quickly went to the phone in the hallway within the apartment. When Makoto found the phone number she quickly repeated it to Hotaru.
"Ask for Shuuichi or Manx and ask if they were moving the appointment up," commanded Makoto as the raven haired girl did as she was told.
Makoto watched silently as her talked a few moments and then covered up the mouth piece of the phone and looked down at the communicator.
"Manx said that the time was still on and wants to know if something is wrong with you," reported Hotaru.
Makoto bit her lip and sighed, "Tell her that someone was looking for me and tell her what you told me. I have a feeling that all this is because of that disk I have. I'm going to try and run the rest of the way home so expect me in about ten minutes."
Hotaru nodded and closed off the communication even as Makoto closed hers off and replaced her things into her bag. Another clap of thunder rang through the air and Makoto glared out at the offending storm before tucking her purse under her arm and breaking into a run from her shelter and towards her apartment.
"Could this be Daemon related," wondered Makoto as she dashed over the rain slicked sidewalk even as a car flashy black car passed her. "Could that thing have been a Daemon? No... they were smarter than that creature was. Perhaps it is a new enemy and that enemy is looking for me because I fried their monster? Could they be from a joint dimension like Nagaverse, or perhaps they are outside invaders like Fiore was..."
She was only a block away now. She could see the lights from her conservatory from here. She smiled slightly at the sight of her safe heaven and failed to notice a flashy black car coming up behind her with it's lights off. However, she did notice when the lights suddenly turned on revved. She turned around wide eyed as the car drove up into the sidewalk and came rushing towards her.
She gasped in terror and began to run, getting off of the sidewalk and onto the road. The car followed after her and she felt terror rise within her. Someone was trying to kill her! The car began to move faster and Makoto glanced back in time to see it crash into her from behind.
The world went out of focus for her for what seemed an eternity as things seemed to spin around her. And then it all came back to her as she slammed into the wet concrete only two buildings away from her apartment. She groaned in pain and coughed, even as a warmth trickled down her forehead and over her left eye which was clenched shut in pain. She forced herself to look back up and she watched as the car turned around and pulled to a stop a few yards away.
"I'm not going down without a fight," thought Makoto defiantly, pushing herself to her feet slowly with a pained groan.
"So, you're still moving Kitten?" asked a cool voice.
Makoto's right eye blinked rapidly as she sought to focus on the speaker and a moment later an orange haired man was discernable in the falling rain.
"What do you want?" asked Makoto, trying not to wince at how bad her voice sounded while trying to remain standing.
"Ah, that is the question isn't it," chuckled the man in amusement, green eyes glittering in amusement. "I think you know already."
"I don't have any idea of what you want," lied Makoto edging away from the man as best she could.
The man smiled predatorily and followed her movements mockingly, "We came for you kitten. We can't leave you out her on your own."
Makoto glowed at the man and weakly clenched her fist, "Keep away from me or else."
The man cocked an eye brow, "Oh really, and what are you going to do about it? Electrocute me?"
A dark trill of fear raced through Makoto's body and she wondered how this man knew. She needed to get to somewhere safe. However, the orange haired man was suddenly right in front of her, with only a few inches between them. He looked surprised and he leaned in closely to look her in her open eye.
"How are you blocking me?" he demanded.
Abruptly, a small dart hit the pavement between them and the orange haired man backed away in surprise.
"Damn!" he cursed.
Makoto took her chance to get away and began to limp for her apartment building. Every step caused her eyes to tear up and a small gasp of pain to be released. From the corner of her eye, Makoto caught sight of a red haired man in a black trench coat attacking her assaulter. She ignored the sounds of fighting behind her and continued her limping retreat.
"Almost there," she thought as each step caused her to gasp in pain.
A young man with blonde hair and blue eyes seemed to suddenly materialize beside her and she recoiled in surprise.
"It's ok. I'm a friend," said the young man quickly, trying to calm her. "You are Kino, Makoto, right? We were sent by Persia."
"We?" asked Makoto, even as the young man gently lifted on her arms over his shoulders and began took much of her weight off of her legs.
"I can't tell you much, but you're safe. For now, let me get you up to you apartment."
TBC
AN: This is my spring break inspiration. ^_^ Sorry I've not updated in a while but college is literally keeping me busy this semester. I seem to have a test, exam, or paper due every week. *groan* It's not fun. -- But to the point. As always please review and tell me what you think. I apologize if there are errors in personalities. I haven't actually *seen* episodes with Schwarz yet, so I only know what I read from other people's stories. ~_^ Thanks for reading.
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