Sailor Moon

Revealed

Chapter 6

Hino Rei rolled her shoulders as she disembarked from the bus that stopped at the base of the stairs belonging to Hikawa Shrine. Unlike most of her fellow senshi, sitting in one place for extended periods of time didn't present much of a problem for her; she was used to it from her duties as a miko. What was the problem was that so much writing caused her hands and arms to start cramping up and she had never studied so hard in her life. Though she had no intention of actually entering university, she and Makoto had agreed to take the exams with Usagi to support her and Rei was discovering just what it was like to actually study for an entrance exam. Minako hadn't been any help either, throwing out the occasional snide comment about those who got it easy and went straight through school without having to take entrance exams. Rei had pointedly ignored them.

Rei's mood had not been helped any by the fact that she had been getting a feeling of impending trouble since before she left for Makoto's in the morning and they had been growing steadily worse as the day wore on. It was times like those that Rei wished that her precognitive abilities were just a little stronger, so that she could actually get proper visions without having to enter a mediative state, rather than just the vague feelings that she so often received. Still she had managed to contain her unease and now that she was home she didn't plan on letting anything get between her and the sacred fire.

She all but ran up the stairs, despite how steep they were and headed straight for her room the moment her foot cleared the last step. She didn't even make it halfway across the courtyard though before the feeling of impending trouble peaked, stopping her dead in her tracks as her grandfather exited the shrine proper and caught sight of her. "Ah, Rei-chan, just the person I wanted to see," he said just a tad too cheerfully.

Rei blinked as her senses told her that her grandfather was the source of the trouble she had been sensing. Her immediate thought was that he had been possessed by something, yet she could feel nothing evil or malignant about him. "Talk to me about what?" she asked, puzzled. The tone of voice he was using sounded far too much like the one he used when Rei was in trouble but he didn't want her to know it just yet. It had been quite a while since he had actually used that tone of voice with Rei but they were among the more… memorable experiences of her childhood.

"About something you and your friends have been doing," Amuro said calmly enough though the sense of dread that Rei had been getting grew stronger with every word. "In fact I was talking to Tsukino-san, Aino-san and Mizuno-sensei about the matter earlier."

Rei tried to imagine exactly what reason her grandfather would have to talk to Usagi, Minako and Ami's mothers and failed. It was obvious that it involved all four of them is some way and possibly Makoto as well given how much time they all spent in each other's company but beyond that she drew a blank. So secure was she in belief that their identities as Sailor Senshi were secure the thought that someone might have possibly found them out simply never crossed her mind. That belief was about to be shattered however.

Amuro took the quizzical look on Rei's face to be all the answer and ploughed on ahead. "You see I discovered that recently that you girls had been hiding something from us, something very important. I thought it would be everyone's best interest if their parents found out about it. If I had known who to contact I would have talked to Makoto's guardian but that's neither here nor there. What's important is that they know now."

Frustrated with her grandfather's cryptic remarks Rei's temper began to rise. If she was in trouble she would at least like to know what she was in trouble about. "What are you talking about?" she demanded.

"Why, not telling us that you were the Sailor Senshi," Amuro said in a calm, matter of fact tone.

The rising flames of Rei's temper were extinguished under a sudden icy shock. "That we're what?" she asked, not quite believing her ears.

Amuro sighed. "The Sailor Senshi," he said with what he thought was remarkable patience. "You know, running around Tokyo in short skirts defeating monsters and things like that."

"How did you find out?" Rei asked weakly, really wishing that there was something in arm's reach that she could grab hold of to steady herself as her legs threatened to give way.

"It wasn't easy," Amuro admitted. "I had to call in several favours with the police but I was finally able to put all the pieces together just the other day. I'll admit I was a bit surprised at first but when I thought about it everything just seemed to fit together. Of course I had to let the other's parents know…"

"You WHAT!" Rei roared, shock and surprise vanishing in a surge of righteous fury. "You found out and just decided to spill the information to everyone!"

Amuro was no stranger to Rei's temper and wasn't about to be intimidated by. "Hardly everyone!" he snapped back. "Only those who had a right to know!"

"Did you ever think for just one moment that we might have had a reason for not telling anyone who we were?" she demanded, temper rising further. "Did you pause for even a minute, even a second, to consider what might happen to us if our secrets ever got out? What sort of danger you might have put yourself in? What sort of danger you might have put Aino-san, Tsukino-san and Mizuno-sensei in? They're even less equipped to defend themselves than you are and Zoicite could have torn you apart if he had really wanted to!"

Amuro had expected this response and even considered keeping the information to himself because of it but ultimately decided against it. "Be that as it may," he replied as evenly as possible, "they are responsible adults who are fully capable of looking after themselves and making decisions of this magnitude. Presumably," he added thinking for a moment of Minako's mother.

While that was a rational decision operating on the information available to him Rei was in no mood to concede even that much to her grandfather. "Look after themselves!" she scoffed. "You don't have the faintest hint of exactly how dangerous some of the beings we've faced have been! If it hadn't been for us this world could have been destroyed several times over! Or worse!"

"If it's really so dangerous than they deserved to know even more!" Amuro countered, his own temper rising. "Would you really leave us, leave me not knowing what happened to you if you got killed!"

"Better that than see this world over run by Metallia's Dark Kingdom or Nehelenia's Black Moon Circus! A million times better than seeing the Doom Phantom, Pharaoh 90 or Galaxia destroy this world and every living thing on it! I have laid down my life for this world and I would do it a third time, gladly."

Amuro assumed that Rei meant that she had come two close calls with death which only made him madder as they validated the point he was trying to make to his granddaughter and that was probably for the best. Had he realised that Rei meant that she had died twice he probably would have gotten even angrier and done something that he would have truly regretted. As it was his temper was fully up and while slower to anger than Rei his temper burned just as fiercely as hers.

"Why!" he demanded, his voice startling the birds in the trees, even Phobos and Deimos who were more or less accustomed to Rei's outbursts. He pointed an accusing finger as he continued. "I know you granddaughter; I've just about raised you on my own! I know you well enough that you wouldn't put yourself at such a risk for some faceless stranger on the street so don't give me any of this for the sake of the planet stuff."

"I do it for her!" Rei shot back. "I do it because the Princess asks me to! I would lay my life down a thousand times over to spare her the slightest pain and I would gladly charge the gates of the underworld itself if she asked it of me!"

"Even over your own family?"

Rei's voice dropped from the full throated shout that had been using but her voice lost none of its intensity. If anything it became even more intense and the light in her eyes was caused by something more potent than rage making them shine even brighter. "Even over every other living thing on Earth if it came to that though she would never ask it of us for which we can only love her even more for it!"

Amuro grit his teeth almost hard enough to crack the enamel of them but he ploughed on. "Who is this Princess who would cause you to turn against your own family?" he demanded. "Who's the one so much more important to you than the ones who raised you and care for you?"

"You already know her!" Rei shot back. "Usagi, Sailor Moon, Serenity, call her what you will."

"HER?" Amuro's voice got even louder in shock. From all he had heard of Sailor Moon while she might have been the one who usually dealt the finishing blow to the various creatures that the Sailor Senshi fought otherwise she seemed to be something of a joke. Clumsy, over emotional and barely able to hold two thoughts in her head his ire rose in offended outrage that his granddaughter who he held so dear despite everything else would choose loyalty to such a person over her own flesh and blood. "You would choose that… that… that…" Words failed him. "That person over your own flesh and blood!"

It was obvious by the way her entire body went rigid that Rei's anger had returned to the fore, burning hotter and brighter than before. "Don't you dare judge her!" she screamed. "You have no right to say anything about her! You couldn't possibly understand what she has seen, what she has done, what she has had to suffer because we were not strong enough to protect her. She earned our loyalty, our devotion a thousand times over simply by being who she is."

Amuro was not about to be stopped though. Had he been calmer and thinking more clearly he might have seen the hole he was digging himself into but in so many ways he and his granddaughter were too much alike. When angry they both thought more with their hearts than their heads and by this point they were so consumed by rage that angry did not begin to do justice to their emotional states. Calm rational thought had not only flown out the window but picked itself up of the ground outside and made a mad dash for safety and so Amuro continued on, not unaware of the risks of confronting Rei like this but heedless of them none the less.

"Obviously this whole foolishness has gone on for far too long. I was happy that you were making friends but if I had known it was going to come to this I would have forbidden you from seeing them much earlier. As it is all I can be thankful is that unlike Aino-san and Mizuno-sensei at least I won't have to worry about you seeing them at school."

"NO!" she snapped in a voice that seemed to make the whole world shudder and fall silent for a long moment. In that moment that could have been an eternity to those involved Rei's hand rose from her side until it was level with her shoulder, her palm held outward and fingers spread wide as it rose. As her hand stopped rising a flash of red appeared in front of it, resolving into a red and orange pen with a red crystal globe inscribed for the astrological symbol for Mars embedded in it. Before it could fall Rei's hand gripped it and she disappeared in a wave of flame.

The flames were only there for a heartbeat, too short a time for Amuro to react, only able to look on as they whipped away to reveal the glory and the fury that was Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Mars. Had he known a bit more about the Sailor Senshi he would have been even more amazed by the speed with which Rei had transformed and the fact that she had done so in total silence. Still the visage was more than impressive enough for her transformation seemed to give physical expression to Rei's anger, the heat pounding off her in waves.

"No!" she repeated, not as loud as before but just as intensely. "I am sworn to my Princess by oaths and bonds that no even death can sunder. I have failed her not once but twice and even if I spend until the end of time atoning for that failure it will not be enough. I can not and will not allow you to stop me from doing what I must do." A faint tear slid down one cheek and with that Rei turned and fled, her transformation dissolving as she hit the top step.

Amuro's world came crashing down around him as the top of Rei's head disappeared from his sight and the full impact of what had just happened hit him. All he could do for nearly a minute was stare dumbly at the empty space where his granddaughter had just been, hoping, praying, needing to believe that what had just happened was some horrible dream that he would wake from any moment and see Rei still standing in front of him. Unfortunately he was too honest with himself to know that what had happened was horribly real. He was also honest enough in heart of hearts that the lion's share of the blame for what had just occurred was his fault. He had made a mistake, in his granddaughter's eyes if no one else's and he had only compounded it with mistake upon mistake. He also knew that someway, somehow things needed to be set right and that he would have to make the first move before it was too late.

He ran after Rei, desperate to catch up to her but before he had gone more than a few steps something tripped him up and he went sprawling into the hard cobblestones. He managed to catch himself before smashing into the ground face first and the thick material of his clothes protected him from several potentially nasty scraps but the impact was still enough to stun him. He paused for several seconds and then rolled over to see what it was that had tripped him up.

The culprit was easy enough to see, it was kind of hard to miss a long, ornate metal staff that seemed to be rather reminiscent of a key in its design or the woman who was holding it though he had no idea where the staff or the woman had come from because they hadn't been their moments before. Whoever the woman was she was obviously one of the Senshi, she could hardly be anything else with the costume she was wearing though even in his rather befuddled state Amuro noticed several differences that distinguished her costume from the one he has seen Rei in just moments before, including, but not limited to the lack of sleeves on the one the mysterious woman wore.

He struggled to get to his feet but the strange woman said "SIT!" in a voice that would accept no disobedience and was cold enough to chase away the last shred's of Amuro's anger and replace them with a chill in the blood.

"My name," she continued in the same cold tone of voice, "or at least the only one you need to know, is Sailor Pluto. I am the Guardian of the Gates of Time and I am here with a warning. I allowed this plan of yours to proceed because it has the potential to yield benefits in the future but proceed no further. Already you have placed on Senshi in peril and wounded another deeper than you can possibly understand. You have done enough and any more, especially now, and you would do irreparable harm, both to the future and to the heart of one you hold most dear."

"But Rei… I have to make things right!" he insisted.

"That you feel so, especially after the words that just passed between you and her, does you credit but now is not the time. Rei better than most knows what is said in anger may not what is truly meant and she will forgive, in time. But for both your sakes let her make the first move."

"But she was so angry. Are you sure she'll come back?"

Pluto backed off a step, letting Amuro get to his feet, a faint wistful smile on her face. "Your granddaughter cares more deeply than even those closest to her realised. Even if you don't trust her, trust in our Princess. I know you think little of her but she might surprise you. She still manages to surprise even me occasionally after all."

With that she turned her back and as quickly as she had arrived she was gone, leaving Amuro alone in the shrine with only the wind for company and wondering how everything had gone so very, very wrong.

Author's Notes: Well, well, well, another chapter (finally) finished. And thanks to Lessien Sharpwind. Your e-mail arrived at just the right time to prod Muse-chan into action and finish this chapter off.

After this chapter I had originally intended to move into a section dealing with the aftermath of what happened, especially with what's happened Minako and Rei but part of the reason this chapter took so long is that I've been playing around with the idea of moving them into a sequel story in which case I might want to change the end of this chapter around a little. Readers thoughts on the whether to continue as a single story or break it off into a sequel are appreciated.

Either way with any luck I might be able to get the next chapter ready to go sooner than this one and maybe even complete the third chapter of my Ranma fic for those following that as well.

No promises though.