Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Hina, and I don't own Love Moon. Also, that second one totally sounds like a bad shoujo series. …Or possibly a bad hentai series.

Sailor Ronin
Chapter 3: Breaking the Ice
By Raithe

He narrowed his eyes as the tengu entered.

"You wished to speak to me?" his general asked, not showing any worry or, indeed, any emotion at all. Not that this was unusual.

"Why, yes, Shouta. Yes I did." He kept his voice pleasant – losing control of his temper would only make this even more aggravating than it had to be. "I received your report that you killed a number of rakshasa in the park yesterday."

"That is correct."

"And that you also protected a woman who had been fighting them off – and rather skillfully, at that."

"That is also correct."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

He took a moment to calm himself. Not for the first time, he wished he could tell what the tengu was thinking. "Why did you help a human who was fighting us? And kill dozens of youkai in the process?"

"Did you not order us to avoid harming civilians whenever possible?"

"Yes, but-"

"And surely you remember that my report said that those rakshasa had been attacking civilians when I intervened?"

"But did you-"

"And you know from experience that they are impossible to control when there are so many gathered, correct?"

"OK! So you may have had a good reason to kill them!" he yelled, anger creeping into his voice against his will. "This does not explain why you allowed that human with the sword to live."

"I saw no evidence that she was fighting 'us', only defending herself and other civilians," Shouta answered with that infuriating calmness of his. "Had she been wearing a senshi uniform, of course I would have taken measures against her."

"Yes… 'of course' you would have." He glared at the other youkai, but let out a resigned sigh. He just couldn't understand how Shouta always managed to win these arguments. "She should still be watched, just in case. Go tell… hmm… the Dageki siblings to follow her. They're good at staying hidden."

"As you say." The tengu turned and left, not even waiting to be dismissed. Not that this was unusual, either.

Another figure entered moments later, unbidden. "I believe I have a plan to eliminate the senshi's threat."

"Really, Aoi? Let's hear it." He slowly smiled as the plan unfolded before him. Yes, that just might work, and without losing any more lives.

Motoko awoke groggily, wincing at the mild pain in her head. To be expected after yesterday's run-in, true, but still unpleasant.

She stumbled her way sleepily to the bathroom, performing her morning ablutions before checking the small bandage on her calf. How she had been so careless as to allow one of those things had to scratch her, she did not know.

She frowned at the wound – it hadn't healed as much as it should have – but shrugged, applying some more medicine to it and changing the bandage. A wound that small was nothing to worry about, and that was that. As an afterthought she took some aspirin for her headache.

Now fully awake, she returned to her room to prepare for the day's hunt. Garbed in her hakama and with Shisui at her waste, she left her room once more.

Naru was standing in the hall outside it, waiting for her, arms crossed and tapping her foot impatiently. "Finally awake, I see?"

"I am up no later than usual, Naru. I always rise with the dawn, you know that."

The red-head stared at her incredulously. "…It's ten-o-clock."

"What?" She glanced at her clock for the first time, and found it read 10:08. "…I must have been more tired than usual."

"And why would that be, hmm?"

"I… was merely training harder than usual," she hedged. She did not wish to lie to Naru, but neither did she want her to know of her 'excursions'. She and the others might… overreact.

Naru overreacted anyway. "Training? You call fighting fifty monsters at once training?"

She winced. "How did you learn of that?"

"It was only all over the news this morning. 'A tall, black-haired girl with a sword' who could 'slash from a dozen yards away'. Who else could it be?"

She sighed. There was no use hiding it now. "I was merely doing my part to help protect the people of this country."

"Your 'part'? It's bad enough that Keitaro and Su are out their risking their lives, but you… Why can't you just leave this to the professionals?"

Now that irked her. "Narusegawa, I come from a long line of master swordsman. I was taught demon-slaying arts practically since birth. I have demonstrated my skill time and time again since coming here. In what way am I not a 'professional'?"

The ronin opened her mouth to respond, closed it again, and repeated the process several times before finally settling on, "You could have at least told us…"

"I did not wish to worry you all." She did not wish to be lectured, either, though that was now a lost cause.

"Well, we are worried. Those people in the interview said that you nearly died. That you would have if someone hadn't shown up to save you."

"And if I had not been there, all seven of them would be dead now, and perhaps many more. If you must lecture someone, save it for Su and Urashima. They, at least, cause more destruction than good." This conversation was making her head hurt more, painkillers or no.

Naru's expression changed to the one she wore whenever she was too stubborn to admit that she had lost an argument. "And what about your school-work? Or have you forgotten all about that?"

"The safety of this country comes before the education of one person. The senshi cannot be everywhere at once." Naru started to protest, but she cut her off. "Rest assured that I have not abandoned my academic career completely. I have been picking up and completing my homework after school each day."

The red-head glared at her, but was apparently unable to come up with any further arguments. "Just… promise you'll be careful, Motoko."

"I am always careful, Naru."

She strode past the ronin and out of the hotel, determined to make good time to Tokyo, idly wondering how she could have overslept by such a large margin.

"This sucks!"

"You've mentioned," ground out Ichirou. For all his muscle, his younger brother Jirou was quite a whiner.

"I mean it! How are we supposed to find some girl we've never even seen before in a place this big? You know all humans look alike!"

"I know it's hard! But we've got to do it somehow, or would you like your pay cut again? I know I don't want to be reduced to eating instant ramen."

"It wouldn't matter if we could spend time hunting, instead of playing fetch for the higher-ups all the time," Tsubasa put in from where she was checking her medicines.

"Yeah, Ichi, why don't we just quit already?"

"Because," he explained for the zillionth time, "How long do you think we can last before some random human finds us in the woods? All it takes is one, and suddenly we'll have dozens of them hunting us." He went back to scanning the crowd from his vantage point on the roof of a building.

"As opposed to right now, when we only risk some random, super-powered human finding us," his sister pointed out, also for the zillionth time.

"Just… just shut up! Look, why don't we split up after this? We'll cover more ground, and I won't have to listen to you two whine."

"Like you weren't whining just as much when we got the assignment."

He wished Jirou would let that go. "Well, it was weird. Follow her in secret, but also give her that medicine? It makes no sense! Now be quiet before some senshi finds us here. All we need right now is to hear one of those stupid attack names, like-"

"Venus Love-Me Chain!"

"Yeah, like that. …Wait…"

They scattered as the whip of yellow energy lashed through the air, each flying off in a different direction. Glancing backwards, Ichirou found that the senshi had chosen to follow him. Of course.

She was stealthy. She was invisible. She… she…

She was a ninja!

Hotaru shook her head. She needed to be more serious, or she'd never complete her mission.

She still remembered how happy she'd been when Luna had given it to her. 'I can't find anyone who's more competent', she'd said. Well, Hotaru was determined to prove her right: She could do more than just destroy, and there was no one better for the mission than her.

Emerging from her hiding place and determinedly ignoring the odd looks from those around her, she refocused on her targets. The blonde one – Su, was her name? – certainly seemed… peppy. She kind of reminded her of Usagi, actually.

The similarities only increased when she suddenly dragged her confederate into an ice cream parlor. Hotaru took up a position in a bush outside it, gazing through the windows.

…She'd like some ice cream herself, actually, but that wasn't important. Putting her growling stomach out of her mind, she continued her vigil.

"Mmm… Banana-flavored ice cream…"

Keitaro ignored his drooling companion as they stood in line, lost in thought.

"Hey, Keitaros?" Su asked, bringing him back to reality.

"Yeah, Su?"

"You know that girl is following us, right?"

"…I know." The purple-haired girl had been tailing them practically since they'd left the Hinata-Sou that morning, but had yet to work up the nerve to actually talk to them.

"She's a lot like Shinomu, huh?"

"I know…" Actually, she was even shyer than Shinobu. Though… from what he'd heard, Shinobu had been worse when she'd first moved into the Hinata-Sou, before Keitaro had arrived, so maybe Su had the right of it.

"Do you think she has a crush on you?"

He shuddered at the thought. It was all he needed, really. If Naru or Motoko ever learned that a prepubescent girl wanted to go out with him, they'd murder him on the spot.

They reached the front of the line, and Su yelled out her order. "A triple-scoop of Happy Happy Banana Blast Sensation!"

"And just a regular scoop of chocolate for me…" he added, rubbing his ear. He shifted the back-pack to a more comfortable position – Su had declared it to be his turn to carry the outfits, and the thing didn't fit him well at all – and caught sight of the girl again, this time gazing longingly through the parlor's windows. He sighed, turning back to the clerk. "Make that two chocolate cones."

Three cones and a depleted wallet later, he left the parlor, walking to where he'd seen the girl. They were bound to talk eventually, and it was better to get it done with sooner, rather than later.

Kneeling on the ground beside her – she was still staring into the parlor, her stomach audibly rumbling – he offered one of the cones. "Here, have it."

She snapped out of her reverie, and her eyes widened when she saw him. She let out a squeak and whirled in panic, her flailing arms knocking the cone out of his hands and into his face, and she dashed off without a word.

"That didn't work out like I thought it would..." He wiped the chocolate from his face and retreated back to Su. People around him began pointing and muttering. "I think we should go…" he whispered, grabbing Su's arm and hurrying in the direction opposite from the way the girl had gone.

Motoko rubbed her temples, to no avail. She wished she had brought more medicine with her, as the headache was only getting worse. Still, something as petty as that should not-

Heat flashed through her and her vision swam. Swaying, she managed to catch herself against the side of a building before she fell to the ground. She leaned there for a few moments as her sight returned to normal.

"Hey, you alright?"

She waved the man off. "I am fine. Just… a cold, or something."

"If you say so." He continued on his way.

Motoko righted herself, more steady than she felt. If this happened during a battle… But already the effects were subsiding. She shook her head. There was no need to return home, she would simply locate a medicine store or herbalist. There must be one nearby.

An explosion from above drew her attention. Her hand whipped to her katana's hilt as she took a ready stance, gazing upwards. Debris showered down some few yards away, and a blur shot over the street from the roof of the building she'd been leaning against.

She was about to give chase when another form followed close behind it, the dress declaring her to be one of the senshi. Motoko relaxed; the situation was well in hand, it seemed.

She strode off in search of a drug store, ignoring her pounding head and occasional stumbles, never noticing the one she had been standing next to.

"Stop running!"

"Stop chasing me!" Jirou was just not having a good day.

Why, why, why did this have to happen to him? First sent on some hopeless fool's errand, then attacked by that first senshi – he hoped his brother was alright – and now chased all over town by one of the more psychotic ones.

"I'll stop chasing you when you stop running! World Shaking!" A hammer of air flew towards him, breaking up the roof of the building in its wake.

"I'll stop running when you stop chasing me!" He deftly swerved to the side, avoiding the blast. It was insulting, really, thinking she could hit him with something as obvious as that.

"I'll stop chasing you when… Why am I even saying this?" She used the momentary distraction to close some of the distance between them. Her sword clove the air a hairs-breadth from him, just as it had the last three times they'd done this. It was the sword that was the problem…

He smiled, an idea dawning on him. Suddenly doubling back, he rammed her knees and dashed on behind her – and lost a quarter-inch of tail to another swing. Apparently, it wasn't a good idea.

Still, she staggered, and Jirou took the opportunity to unwind his kusari-gama's chain, launching the weight so that the length wrapped around her sword. One yank, and it went flying from her grasp, pulling her down as it went.

He readied his scythe's blade. Sure, finding the dark-haired swordswoman was hopeless, but killing a light-haired one would surely make up for it.

"Deep Submerge!"

Son of a… He barely dodged as a blue orb of… whatever it was crashed into the roof where he'd been standing. The green-haired newcomer dashed to her comrade's side as he flew off. There was just no way he was fighting two senshi by himself.

It was just his luck, really.

Stupid! She was so stupid! Not only had she let him sneak up on her, but she'd fled like a coward, too – and wasted perfectly good ice cream in the process. How was she supposed to prove Luna right like that?

It had taken Hotaru another half-hour to find her targets again, and she no longer had any idea where she was, but she'd been following them ever since and keeping very carefully out of sight this time.

Still, were Keitaro and Su really that bad? From what she'd seen, they were just two ordinary (well… one ordinary and one slightly insane) people. The man had even tried to give her ice cream, and villains never handed out ice cream.

…Well, unless it was poisoned, or they were just trying to make you trust them, or it was actually an ice cream-shaped youma, or… She decided to stop thinking of possibilities.

Well, Luna asked her to watch them, and watch them she would. No matter how often her stomach reminded her that it was empty and she'd forgotten to bring any money.

And if they saw her again… She resolved not to run away. Maybe if they thought she was just an ordinary girl, they'd let her tag along with them. Then it would be really easy to keep an eye on them! And she could find out where she was, too.

They were almost to Shibuya – Su had spent most of their train fair on ice cream and bananas, and he wanted to save what was left for the return trip – when Su piped up, "Hey Keitaros, I was wondering…"

"Hmm?"

"When we were… in the fog yesterday, why didn't you turn on the infrared mode yourself?"

It had taken forever to get her to watch what she said, but at least his efforts were working. "I didn't even know I had it."

"But you said you read the manual."

"I said that I tried. The thing was in some crazy moon language or something, all I could understand were the diagrams."

"Crazy moon language?" She looked at him, puzzled. "…Oh yeah, you can't read Momolian, I forgot. But Molmol isn't on the moon!"

Keitaro covered his face with a hand. It was just like her to forget something like that.

"Hey, you know that girl is following us again, right?"

"Yeah, I know…"

"You gonna try to talk with her again? She only reacted a little worse than Shinomu used to, after all."

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess I should. I think she's lost."

He turned to the purple-haired girl and waved, smiling in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. The young girl flinched and stumbled backwards onto her rear, but at least she didn't run or try to hide behind something this time. He took slow steps towards her so as not to frighten her off, then knelt next to her. "Hello there. Are you lost?"

The girl meeped, but nodded her head.

"Well, you can follow us to the train station, if you'd like. I'm Keitaro Urashima, what's your name?" He held out his hand to help her to her feet.

"Umm… I'm-"

The rest of her sentence was cut off when someone bumped into Keitaro from behind, presumably in a hurry, and knocked him off balance. Even as he started to fall forwards, he knew it was too late. That feeling was spreading through his bones.

His outstretched hand caught at the girl's skirt, pulling it around her ankles and revealing a pair of purple panties. He fell against her, forcing her the rest of the way to the ground, and he landed with his face on her chest.

Silence reigned.

Then she let out an ear-splitting shriek, kicking him off of her and running down the street, tripping as she tried to pull her skirt back into place.

Su joined him, leaning down and whispering into his ear, "Uh… maybe you were a bit too forward, Keitaros?"

A crowd was gathering around him, people muttering angrily and a few cracking their knuckles. He struggled to his feet, putting his hands up in a desperate attempt to placate them. "It's… It's not what it looks like!"

Motoko wandered around… somewhere. Shinjuku? No, that's where she had been an hour before – or was it two? – and then she'd taken a train to… maybe it was the subway? Regardless, she was no longer there.

Her head pounded. Her body felt far too hot. She could barely think. That medicine she had bought had only made things worse since she'd taken it, and she would march right back to the store and demand her money back if only she could remember where she'd bought it.

Yelling came from behind her, and she whirled languidly, grasping her katana's hilt, taking an unsteady fighting stance. She sought the source of the disturbance when…

…Urashima ran across the road? A rather large mob emerged a few seconds later, chasing him down a street intersecting her own, shouting in fury as they went.

Motoko shook her head. If she were sick enough to hallucinate, then perhaps she really should head home. She staggered off towards the nearest train station.

At least… she thought the station was that way.

Keitaro pelted down Shibuya's streets, running far faster than he thought possible. Even so, he could hear the angry yells of the mob behind him. Mostly they drowned each other out into an unintelligible babble, but every so often a clear cry of 'Kill the pervert!' would spur him to even greater speeds.

Risking a quick glance behind him, he saw that the mob had actually grown in size, as more people were swept into it. At least he was slowly gaining on… Were those pitchforks? He sped up a bit more.

Rounding a corner, he saw salvation in an alley – or as close to salvation as he was likely to get. Wrestling the backpack off as he ran, he dove into the alley and hid behind a dumpster, quickly donning his suit and praying he was fast enough.

He managed to finish just as the first foot-falls entered the alley, and he leapt out of hiding. Pointing to the street at the other end of the alley, he announced in as heroic a voice as he could muster, "He went that way, citizens!"

The roaring crowd swept by him, parting to either side as they went. When the last of them had left, he heaved a sigh of relief; he'd live to see another day. Or at least another hour.

A flying kick struck the side of his head, knocking him to the ground once more. "Keitaros! You're not supposed to transform without me!"

"Oh for… Secret identities!" He looked around as he got to his feet, but saw no one.

"Aw, don't worry 'bout it. Everyone joined the mob when they found out what you did."

"It was an accident! …And where were you this whole time, anyway?"

"Well, when they all started chasing you, it looked fun, so I joined in!"

Keitaro hung his head; he'd suspected as much. "Look, we're almost to Hachiko's statue. Put your suit on and let's go."

"OK!" She fished her own dress out of the pack, and went through her 'transformation' ritual. Once she was ready and the two were striding towards their destination, Su asked, "Hey, Tempest, why do you think they wanted to meet somewhere so public, anyway?"

Keitaro shrugged. "I'm sure they have their reasons."

"Why did you tell them to meet us somewhere so public?" Rei asked, more than a little impatient with the situation.

Usagi smiled at her apologetically. "I needed to tell them something, and I wasn't really thinking…"

"Now, that I'll believe."

The three of them – Rei, Usagi, and Ami – had been standing next to Hachiko's statue for half an hour now, all wearing their senshi outfits and feeling increasingly foolish as time went by. They tried to ignore the crowd growing around them, but it was hard.

"I just wish they'd hurry," Rei growled, scanning the crowd yet again for any sign of their would-be new recruits – she still didn't trust them, herself – and spotted something truly horrifying. "Oh no…"

"What? What is it?"

"News team at 10 o'clock."

Ami buried her face in her hands as the reporter and her cameraman shoved their way through the crowd and set up in front of them.

"I'm Midori Kumogawa, reporting live from Hachiko's statue in Shibuya!" the reporter began as Usagi smiled like a fool and waved to the camera, "And I'm here with three of the Sailor Senshi to bring you their first ever interview!"

"Wha?" Rei gasped. "We didn't agree to-"

"Just go with it," the reporter cut her off with a hiss. "Now then," she continued as if nothing had happened, "What inspired you to become heroes?"

"Uhh…" Rei was at a loss, and Ami was just short of sobbing from embarrassment.

"It was just a calling, really!" Usagi cut in. "We were born for this!"

"Stop encouraging her!" Rei whispered fervently, but the blonde merely waved her off.

"Hmm, so it was just a natural fit with you? Fascinating. Now, on to the obvious question: What are you three here for? Do you expect trouble?"

"What? No, no, we're just waiting for… There they are!" Usagi started hopping up and down like a ninny and flapping her arms to draw the attention of a pair of costumed newcomers.

Sailor Fusion and the Tempest Ranger joined them – the crowd parted easily for them – but hesitated at the sight of the camera. Fusion smiled and waved exactly as Usagi had. Rei groaned silently.

"And here come Japan's two newest heroes to join us!" Midori continued as if she'd expected it all along, ushering the two of them the rest of the way to the senshi. "I'm sure our viewers will want to know all about you!"

"Umm… We really need to talk with them. Alone." Rei tried to shoo the reporter off.

"Nonsense! It will only take a few hours." Her smile took on an almost psychotic edge.

"But… we really should-" Tempest began, only to be cut off by Fusion's elbow to his back.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun!"

Tempest stumbled forward a few paces, arms wheeling, and he went down – directly into Ami's bosom.

The dark-haired girl flushed beet red.

He mumbled something that sounded alarmingly like, "Not again…"

Growling, Rei grabbed the pervert by his shoulders, yanking him away from her friend. She drew her fist back to slug him…

…And noticed the reporter grinning even more widely, if that was possible, a wolfish glint in her eyes.

Rei unclenched her fist, forcing a smile onto her face. "Why, Tempest, you really should be more careful! We wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong ideas, now would we?" she said in as pleasant a voice as she could manage. Then she leaned in close and added in a whisper, still smiling, "As soon as we're somewhere private, your life is mine." She let him go.

"Oh my, viewers, it seems we've just been witness to a jealous spat! Could it be that Sailor Mars and the Tempest Ranger are secretly lovers?"

Rei suddenly forgot how to breathe.

Her shock was only heightened when Usagi did the intelligent thing. "They can't be! Mars only met him just now."

"And Tempest already has a girlfriend!" Fusion added.

It took another fifteen minutes to redirect the reporter's focus, and most of Rei's willpower to keep from simply melting the camera.

Aoi wandered Tokyo's streets aimlessly, deep in thought. This had to be done right the first time, or it would never work.

No amount of research could reveal the identities of the senshi; sleepless nights had proven that. That meant that simply showing up at their doorsteps was out.

Dangling some weak youkai as bait would certainly draw a few out, but that would set a rather… undesirable mood. Peace talks rarely worked when you started them by blowing something up.

A few announcements could get them to meet peacefully, but that had its own problems. Doing so may very well bring out the whole lot of them, and if it turned ugly, that many together could overpower someone of even h-

…Why were they holding an interview out in the open like that? And with some sort of tabloid show, too, given the icon on the camera.

Ah well, at least that solved the problem.

"Why do you call yourself the Tempest Ranger?"

"She came up with it." He pointed lethargically at Su.

Three hours of increasingly inane questions had sapped most of his will to live. Only Su and Sailor Moon seemed unaffected.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Red." Dear god, when would it end?

"Are you sure you and Sailor Mars aren't-"

"Definitely not." That question came up so often, he'd stopped listening to it altogether.

"What's your secret identity?"

"K… wait, what?" He snapped out of his boredom-induced coma, looking around. That question hadn't come from the reporter.

"Worth a shot," said a white-haired, plain-faced woman in a blue kimono as she forced her way to through the gathered crowd to join the group, ignoring the reporter's glare. She turned to the crowd and announced, "I need to speak with the senshi here privately for a while. You can all leave now."

Keitaro and the others exchanged puzzled glances. "Do you know her?" he asked, and received a trio of shaking heads in response.

"Excuse me, miss, but I'm in the middle of an interview here." The reporter made to shove the woman back into the crowd.

"I said leave!" she snarled, causing everyone gathered to flinch at her voice. Slowly, the crowd started leaving, apparently cowed by the woman.

The cameraman whispered something in the reporter's ear, and she looked at him aghast. "But… My interview! We can't-" He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away.

The woman turned back to the five of them, voice pleasant once again. "Well, now that they're out of the way, we can have a nice chat."

The senshi glared at her. "And who exactly are you?" Mars demanded.

"Call me Aoi. There are things you don't know about these youkai you've been fighting that I think you should."

"And how would you know about them?" This time it was Mercury who spoke up.

"Why, isn't it obvious?" The woman shrugged. "I am one."

The four girls were instantly ready to battle. Keitaro hesitated a moment before following suit.

"Now now, I'm not here fight. I just want-" The girls spread out in a ring around her, and she let out a resigned sigh.

"Shabon Spray!" Mercury called, filling the area with mist again. He couldn't see through it, of course, but this time he knew about the infrared. He pressed a button on his mask to turn it on…

…And brought up night vision instead, the screen filling with blindingly bright light. Fumbling with the buttons, he switched randomly between views. Sonar… zoom… targeting system? Pong?

He heard the woman say, "Mist? Is this a gift?" as he finally switched on the infrared. He was treated to a wonderful view of the mist freezing in an expanding sphere around the woman, engulfing him and then thickening into a single, solid mass before he could break free. Struggling proved useless; the ice was simply too hard.

The tomb of ice rendered the infrared useless as well, so he switched it off. Thankfully, his hand had still been on the button when he'd been frozen.

As he watched, the ice seemed to disintegrate away to nothing, leaving only blocks encasing the five of them up to their necks, all struggling just as futilely as he was. Mars was stuck with her arms half-way in front of her, apparently about to release a fireball before she'd been caught.

"Ohohoho! Now that I have your attentions, perhaps we can hold a civilized discussion? I want to tell you about these 'evil youkai' you're so intent on eradicating."

Trapped as they were, they had no choice but to listen to the youkai woman's tale. She claimed that once, centuries ago, youkai had lived out in the open, that they were to the night what humans were to the day. She claimed that, as the humans' technology advanced, they had begun to mercilessly slaughter youkai, eventually forcing them into hiding.

After some minutes of flowery speech, Keitaro realized that he could reach the button – barely – that activated his sonic attack. If he aimed it right, he might be able to break out Mars, and then… But something stopped him. For some reason, he felt he needed to listen to this youkai.

She said that the youkai had bided their time, waiting for a day when humans might accept them. She said that they had sent a diplomat to the prime minister, but he had been cut down almost as soon as he revealed himself.

A quick look around showed Keitaro that the others clearly thought she was lying, but… There was something about her, something unexplainable, that made Keitaro believe. He found himself nodding along with her.

She explained that they'd been left with no choice but to declare war to reclaim their own home, but they had no true wish to harm people. She explained that those youkai who did try to hurt civilians were acting against orders, and would be punished.

Her voice was… almost hypnotic, in a way. As she turned away from him, he idly wondered why the ice didn't feel cold. It must be the suit. Sailors Mars, Mercury, and Moon didn't seem to be cold either, though, so maybe it was just that this ice wasn't really ice? He glanced over at Su.

Her teeth were chattering uncontrollably, her lips a deep blue. It wouldn't be long before she lost consciousness.

His fingers flew to the button as he screamed. "Let us go!"

"What!" The youkai whipped around and was caught up in the sonic wave. She flew backwards across the plaza until she slammed into the side of building, hard enough to crack the wall.

As she impacted, the ice encasing them disintegrated, and he rushed to Su's side as she collapsed in a shivering heap. Holding her close to share his warmth, he heard Mars call out, "Fire Soul!" and saw a ball of fire streak towards the downed youkai. As he watched, a thick wall of ice sprang up along its path, dousing the flame even as it melted.

The youkai stood up, face twisted into a snarl as her eyes glowed an icy blue. "Fine, then. If that's how you wish to do things…"

A blizzard sprang to life from nothing.

Well, now she was completely lost.

Hotaru wandered the strangely empty streets of wherever, looking for a landmark, or at least someone who could give her directions. Her mission was a complete failure, now.

And just to top things off, it had suddenly started snowing, and fairly hard at that. True, it was still January, but she hadn't thought it was cold enough today…

Movement down the street caught her eye as a figure practically flew into the middle of an intersection several blocks away – she couldn't tell what or who it was through the snow, which seemed to be even heavier in that direction. The figure's identity was revealed to her, however, when a snow-muffled cry of "Burning Mandala!" echoed down the street and flames shot from the figure, back where she had come from.

Glancing quickly around to make sure no one could see her, she held her hand above her head and incanted, "Saturn Planet Power Make-up!" Bright light enveloped her for a few moments, and when she emerged she was clothed in her senshi uniform, Silence Glaive in hand.

She ran to join in the battle, but slid to a stop when she noticed a glow out of the corner of her eye, in an alley a few buildings away from the fight. Ami and Su, both in their senshi outfits, were huddled around a fire blazing inside a trashcan, sheltered from the storm. The latter was shivering uncontrollably, unsteady on her feet and barely glancing up at Hotaru's arrival. Ami had her body pressed against the girl, and was working furiously at her computer.

Ami looked up as Hotaru entered the alley, and yelled, "It's a yuki-onna! She's using ice-based powers, and my attacks won't work! Go help the others!" Then she went back to her computer.

Nodding, Hotaru started ascending a fire escape in hopes of ambushing the youma from the rooftops, not realizing until she was most of the way up what a horrible idea that was in the middle of a snowstorm. As she climbed onto the roof of the three-story building, however, she was surprised to see that it was mostly devoid of snow, despite the storm raging just a few feet below her.

She bounded from roof to roof, reaching the fight in short order, and took a moment to survey the battlefield. The storm was strongest here, and ice and snow covered the ground and the sides of the buildings in large patches. Snow flew in a whirlwind in the middle of an intersection, too far away for her to reach, not quite obscuring a kimono-clad woman standing still in its center – the 'yuki-onna', presumably. Usagi, Rei, and Keitaro circled the youma as they fought, but walls and spears of ice flew at them and blocked their attacks, seemingly with a will of their own.

As she watched, Usagi and Keitaro both slid on the same patch of ice, colliding with each other and going down in a tangle of limbs at the foot of her building. A column of ice shot towards them from the youma's outstretched hand, its end forming into rows of wicked spikes while more frozen spears soared through the air, angled to impale them from above.

Hotaru leapt from the building, landing in front of the two as she brought her glaive down on the ice column. The magic inherent to the weapon was more than enough to shatter it, even without using one of her powers. Not pausing, she brought her glaive up in front of her and yelled, "Silent Wall!" Dark energy crackled around her as the airborne spikes hit her force-field, shattering as well.

Then her feet went out from under her and she fell on her rear on the ice.

As the three heroes struggled to their feet, the youma's next attack was countered by another of Rei's Burning Mandala, the rings of fire melting wide paths in the ice and evaporating the water before it could refreeze. They all spread out again, Rei and Hotaru managing to counter the yuki-onna's onslaught between them while the other two were… pretty much useless, actually. No one could land a hit on the creature

Usagi launched her tiara towards the youma over Keitaro's shouted protests, only for a wall of ice to form in its path, sending it ricocheting off to one side. Another wall of ice formed in its path, and another, until finally the glowing circlet crashed into the back of Keitaro's head and sent him to the ground before returning to its owner. "Why does that keep happening?" Usagi whined as she caught it out of the air.

"F-F-Fusion M-Magma Ball!" A red orb sailed past Hotaru, bursting into flame as it went. The flames dribbled off of it, leaving a broken trail of fire along the ground behind it. Finally, it hit a wall of ice, splattering and clinging to it, melting a hole as it slid down the street.

Hotaru glanced behind her to see Su grinning maniacally a short distance away, still shivering but much steadier than she had been. "N-now I've g-got you!" she yelled through chattering teeth.

The yuki-onna laughed derisively, though its onslaught barely paused. "Ohohoho! And what is something that pathetic going to-"

A burst of fire caught it in the back, shearing through the storm and knocking it several feet through the air. Ice walls disintegrated and the falling snow thinned, revealing Ami behind the yuki-onna, a sphere in each hand.

"H-hey! We agreed you'd y-y-yell "M-Mercury/Fusion Team-T-Tech Fire Blast!" Su scolded.

"Not the time!" Ami yelled back, lobbing one of the orbs at the downed youma. Mars, Usagi, and Su quickly followed suit with their own attacks while Hotaru and Keitaro rushed forwards as quickly as they dared, in case it survived.

As the grenades and energy converged, however, a dome of ice formed around the yuki-onna, quickly expanding. The flames and explosions couldn't penetrate through to its center, and the tiara merely bounced off of it, ricocheting once again towards Keitaro – who this time managed to duck it, though doing so caused him to pitch forwards and slide along the icy pavement. Huge spines of ice erupted from the dome and extended outwards in a ten foot radius, forcing Hotaru to bring up her force-field and missing Keitaro by scant inches as he slid past.

As the super-suited man came to a stop near Ami, the dome and spines shattered away to nothing as the storm picked up again, revealing the youma – who now looked pissed. Its entire body began to glow bright white, even through the kimono it wore.

Spears of ice shot out in all directions – including a very dense number heading for the isolated pair. Hotaru made a dash to them, dodging, blocking, or shattering any spears that were aimed for her. Ami loosed her third and final grenade as Keitaro struggled to his feet, the wave of heat emanating from it melting the first salvo of spikes but leaving them defenseless to the next.

Hotaru put on a burst of speed, slipping on the ice once again and sliding on her back between the pair and their incoming doom. She managed to bring up her Silent Wall in the nick of time, still sliding, and the deadly icicles shattered uselessly against it as her momentum carried her through their paths.

Explosions shattered ice on the yuki-onna's opposite side, breaking apart frozen walls and sending shards flying through the air with enough force to break chips off of the sides of buildings. Shards flew towards the senshi on that side, as well, but those Rei melted out of the air while yelling at Su to be more careful.

Su's reply was lost when the storm intensified, whipping the remaining shards through the air. The youma's attacks started coming more and more fiercely.

Somehow, the six of them (well, three of them: Usagi, Ami, and Keitaro couldn't do much more to help than dodge) managed to counter everything, even gaining ground. The monster eventually became more defensive, focusing its attention on stopping the senshis' advances, only launching counter-attacks when it thought there was an opening.

As Hotaru blocked yet another sudden barrage of spikes, she saw Ami's eyes widen with a sudden idea. She whispered something into Keitaro's ear, though Hotaru couldn't hear what.

A short time later, Rei prepared to launch yet another Burning Mandala towards the youma, who once again started to form a wall of ice to counter it. This time, however, Ami yelled "Now!" and sent a ball of blue energy at the youma while its back was turned as Keitaro shot out a constant stream from his water cannon.

Water burst out from beneath the monster's feet, freezing as it rose to form a solid column of ice. Keitaro's stream of water hit the column, rapidly freezing backwards towards him until it was short distance away, when he stopped shooting. Before the yuki-onna could break free, Keitaro grabbed the long rod of ice with both hands. Energy crackled around his gloves and along the ice, electrifying the column.

Once again, walls of ice disintegrated, and the now vulnerable youma staggered, dropping to its knees. Hotaru rushed forwards again, glaive at the ready, as Rei shot a ball of fire and Su threw another of her seemingly inexhaustible supply of grenades.

The thing managed to block the ranged attacks with another wall – barely – but didn't see Hotaru until it was almost too late. The glaive blurred as it scythed through the monster's chest, but the thing managed to jerk backwards at the last moment, and the blade caught nothing but cloth. Before she could strike again, a blinding spray of snow hit her, forcing her to guard her face.

When her vision cleared, the youma was on the run, surrounded by a moving ring of ice as it dashed down the street – towards Ami and Keitaro. Hotaru gave chase, joining the other three as they passed, and Ami and Keitaro leapt out of the way before joining them as well.

Rei lined up another shot on the run. "Burning…"

Before she could finish, the youma cried out, "Protect me!" Suddenly, Keitaro changed directions, knocking the girls over and tackling Rei to the ground, dispelling the gathering energy. The monster disappeared around a corner before any of them could recover, and the snow began to let up.

Everyone stared in shock at Keitaro – including Keitaro himself, who seemed very surprised to find himself laying on top of Rei, his hands on her breasts. "Umm…" he began.

Rei kneed him in the crotch. The she shoved him off of her, wrapped her hands around his throat, and started shaking him while calling him all sorts of nasty names.

"Mars!" Ami called. "MARS! MARS!" The miko looked over to her friend, still shaking Keitaro. "Umm… That thing can control men's minds. It wasn't his fault."

"…Oh." She let go of the would-be hero, letting his helmet hit the pavement. "Well… consider that revenge for Mercury, then," she told him.

Hotaru looked between Rei and Ami, confused. "What do you mean? What happened to Mercury?"

In answer, Ami merely blushed a deep red, while Keitaro croaked out an excuse as he got his feet. "It was an accident..."

Ah. She could believe that, actually. Sure, she'd been mortified by what he'd apparently done to her before – and still was, quite frankly – but looking back, she could see that it really had been an accident.

"We almost had her…" Rei growled to herself, then shot an angry glare at Keitaro. "Next time we fight that thing, you are not going anywhere near it, got it?"

He nodded his head in fervent assent.

"Well, the important thing is that we're all unharmed. We'll definitely defeat it next time!" Usagi announced brightly.

Su seconded the motion. "Yeah! …I told you that the bad guy always escapes the first time. OH!" She dug around in her satchel, and pulled out… a pen and note pad? She thrust it into Rei's face, bouncing on her toes and begging, "Sign it! Sign it!"

"What… Do you really believe that this is the proper time to-"

Ami cut her off. "Just do it, she'll get you to sign it eventually."

Rei sighed, but took the pen scribbled her senshi name. The process was repeated with Hotaru, who felt her cheeks grow hot as she wrote her autograph. She could see Keitaro shaking his head at the sight.

"Yay! Four more, and I'll have the whole set!" Su hugged the signatures before replacing them in her satchel. "So, we're on the team, right? Right!"

Rei buried her face in her hands, but Usagi hazarded, "Uhh… we've almost decided. We'll tell you for sure… tomorrow?"

Su face fell. "Aw, man… Are we meeting at the same place again?"

Rei cut in before their leader could respond. "NO! No, we will find you." She turned and began striding away, her face a mixture of emotions (mostly annoyance). She grabbed Usagi's arm as she passed, dragging her along with her, and Ami followed behind them.

Keitaro and Su turned to leave in another direction, the latter chatting animatedly while the former merely rubbed his neck.

Hotaru suddenly realized that she still hadn't completed her mission, and this was a perfect opportunity. But… should she really do it? They seemed like they genuinely wanted to help, and in fact had helped in the fight. Aside from one or two little incidents, they weren't doing any harm…

She hurried to join the rest of the senshi as the pair rounded a corner, and said, "Gee, I don't know what to think of Keitaro and Su, now…"

"Who?" asked Ami.

"You know, 'The Tempest Ranger' and 'Sailor Fusion'?"

The others stopped dead. "…How did you learn their names?" Rei asked.

"Luna told me. Didn't she tell you, too?"

The senshi yelled something behind her, but Tsubasa didn't pay any attention to it. All her concentration was divided between dodging the bolts of lightning and searching the streets.

There were worse things than Rakshasa venom, but any sort of poison was a nasty way to die. She wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy, and certainly not on some innocent girl. If she didn't find her soon…

She swerved to avoid another bolt, eyes scanning the road in the dimming light when she found her target. She was tall, with long, black hair, carrying a katana and obviously very sick. That had to be her.

She swooped down to her, heedless of the senshi's onslaught, digging out the small vial from her medicine case.

She couldn't think. Could barely walk. Her vision was blurry. She had no idea where she was.

The wall she was leaning on suddenly ran out, and she tumbled sideways, falling on the ground and laying there. She couldn't work up the energy or coordination to stand again.

Some distant part of her mind berated her for how stupid she'd been, ignoring her worsening condition when it was so obvious that she needed help. She should have realized the problem the moment she'd seen the unhealed wound that monster had given her.

A sharp gust of wind blew past her, and she suddenly found herself holding a small vial of some viscous-looking, yellow liquid. A small note was attached to it, and she could barely make out the words [Drink Immediately!].

That same distant part of her mind screamed at her that it was a trap, that it must be a trap.

She shrugged, tearing the cap off and downing the tasteless stuff in one gulp. If it was a trap, she was dead anyway.

The last thing she saw before lapsing into unconsciousness was a green skirt hurrying towards her.

Her business completed, she returned home, silent as a cat can be. As she entered the yard, she noticed that a window on the ground floor had been carelessly left open; she'd need to have a word with the girl about that, but for now it made for a convenient entrance.

She leapt through into the darkened room, and the trap was sprung. The laundry basket slammed down over her, trapping her inside. The lights flicked on, revealing the angry faces of four teenage girls and a cat through the basket's slits. Where Makoto was, she had no idea.

"What is the meaning of this?" Luna demanded, ramming the side of her prison to no effect. It must have been weighted down.

"We could ask you the same thing." Usagi crossed her arms defiantly. "Why didn't you tell us that you knew who Tempest and Fusion were?"

"And why did you send Hotaru to follow them, of all people?" Ami added.

Luna sighed inwardly. "She was the only outer senshi I could find last night. And I didn't tell you because you didn't need to know. I had the situation under control, or thought I did at any rate."

The girls glared at her, but Artemis demanded, "Why didn't you at least tell me?"

"I didn't think it mattered! And it still doesn't; I've sent Michiru to their home, she'll have the problem taken care of soon enough.

The girls' mouths hung open and Artemis gave her a flat-eyed stare. Finally, Rei announced, "I want to punch him, not kill him. We have got to stop this."

"Agreed!"

They spent the next few hours grilling Luna about everything she knew. And they still wouldn't let her out from under the basket until the next morning.

"I think maybe I should add some fire attacks to your suit, like a flamethrower or something."

"Uh-huh…" He was just too exhausted to keep up with Su's bottomless reserves of energy.

"I didn't do it before because that was gonna be Naru-han's weapon. Then again, flamethrowers don't really fit the 'storm' theme…"

"Mm-hmm…"

"Still though, that was so cool the way we all worked together there. I wish I could take credit for the firebomb trick, but it was all Ami's idea."

"Yeah…"

"I almost ran out of bombs, there. Maybe I should add more pouches, but then I'd…"

Su drifted back into the technical stuff, so he tuned her out again. He was glad she was alright after her brush with hypothermia, though given the nasally tone in her voice he was willing to bet she'd have a full-on cold the next day. And as much as he hated to think of her getting sick, it was honestly just as well.

"Tomorrow, I think we should-"

"Stay home," he finished for her sternly.

"But-"

"No. Both of us need to catch up on studying: You've been missing an awful lot of school, and my center test is coming up in a few days, remember?"

"Oh yeah… It's no fun, though."

"Think of it as an opportunity to improve the suits."

They had almost reached the Hinata-Sou's front door when it slammed open and Naru, Kitsune, Shinobu, and Sarah hurried out. "What are you two…?" Naru started when she noticed them. "Never mind, come on!"

"What? What happened, Naru?"

"It's Motoko! She's in the hospital!"

"What?"

He and Su fell in line with the others as they hurried into the night.

Ichirou was just starting to get worried when Tsubasa showed up.

"I found her!" she announced happily. "I gave her the medicine and everything. She'll be alright in a day or two!"

"Wonderful! What did you find out about her? Name, address, what?"

She stared at him silently for a moment before glancing off to the left.

"…But I don't want to eat instant ramen!" Jirou wailed.

Author's Notes

OK, another chapter done, and this one's actually a decent length. I had to go back and edit a few parts because of plot chasms, so if you notice anything that doesn't seem to fit right… that's probably why.

It's with this chapter that I run into a problem I've mentioned in previous Author's Notes: There is no point in canon (any canon) where all the senshi are present, yet not too overpowered, and so I've basically said 'screw it'. So, if the senshi are using things they shouldn't be able to yet, or not using things that they should… that's definitely why.

I've also run into another, less expected problem: I can't remember much past the 1st arc. I thought I could remember stuff, but it seems that I am wrong. My main sources of information for that stuff are Irritus and Wikipedia, so if anyone is acting out of character or doing things wrong… that's most likely why.

Finally, a note about the kama-itachi: They may come off as incompetent (and they are), but they're still deadly in combat against single opponents, especially Jirou. There's a reason the leader chose them to start the war, and it was sheer dumb luck that Keitaro and Su escaped from that encounter with their skins intact.

UPDATE: changed attack names to Japanese, removed no-longer-applicable Author's Notes, generally fixed up the writing.

New Youkai

Yuki-onna (literally 'snow maiden') – Ghostly women said to appear amidst snowstorms. Their exact origin, nature, and powers tend to vary wildly from tale to tale, so I went with an amalgamation of them, plus a few touches of my own.

Next couple of chapters will be a lot less actiony, so we'll see how that works out.