[SM/Xover][FanFic] A Soldier's Duty, chapter 3

[metro...@mindspring.com]

A Soldier's Duty

4th Labor, Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER: Many characters by Naoko Takeuchi. Other stuff by
metro...@mindspring.com

"There is the right thing to do, and there is the easy thing to do. Ah don't
recall too many cases where they were the same thing."
-Edema

----------

The witches 5 each had their chosen sites.

Some were more obvious than others.

Each crystal was attuned to draw off psychic energy released by emotions.
Each could be set for different effects. Each would intensify one particular
emotion in its presence, feeding off the rest.

Mimette had *just* the place to put the Shame crystal.

----------

Usagi dreamed, and concentrated on the dead Silver Crystal. She wanted to
remember. There had been so many problems caused by not remembering Endymion
was Tuxedo Mask was on THEIR side.

She really didn't want to go through *that* again.

Proving that she might be a ditz, but she *could* learn.

---------

Usagi looked about, recognizing the place instantly. It was the Moon Palace.
"I did it!" There was a momentary pulse of pleasure at having done this
correctly, even if it felt like someone had helped her.

There was a flash of an image of some woman with really long hair carrying a
key-shaped staff, but that was probably a trick of the light. Right?

Looking at her reflection in the silvery chrome of the Old Gate, Usagi
realized that Serenity was about ten years old in this memory.

"Little Princess, what are you, oh..."

Serenity looked up. A tall man, with red hair streaked with blonde. Or was
he just relatively tall? "Who? Bennu-san? I thought Mama banished you to
your tower?"

"I'm here on business, little one." Bennu smirked, patting the little girl
briefly on the head. "You're curious, aren't you?"

"Unnn!" Serenity nodded. "That man over there. I've seen him several times.
He looks very sad but nobody will tell me who he is."

"Do you know what a 'father' is, Princess?" Bennu looked down at the little
girl then away at the guy who stood outside the palace grounds.

"Unnn," Serenity said, nodding again. "Some of the workers in the palace
have daddies. Mama says that I don't, that's why I look so much like her."

Bennu forced his frown off his face. "Actually, Princess, you *did* have a
father. But sometimes mommies and daddies don't get along as well as they'd
like. And if the mommy doesn't get along with the daddy..."

"Huh?" Serenity looked up at Bennu then across at the man who turned and
walked off, sad expression still in place. "I don't understand. Who is he?"

"His name is Basalt, and he was a member of the Royal Guard."

"Oh..." Serenity said.

A guard came running up, intent on summoning the Princess back to her
lessons.

Serenity spared a last glance back to where the man had been.

---------

Usagi bolted awake, sitting up. There was a yelp and a thud as Luna was
briefly airborne then landed. For the second time in as many days, she did
not land on her feet.

"Ouch," summed up Luna, rubbing at her nose.

"Ami's fiance is my *dad*?!" Usagi said in a quiet voice. "No way."

"Huh?!" Luna frowned. That almost sounded like... Wasn't there something
about a Consort?

"Ami's fiance is Serenity's dad?!" Usagi repeated, still trying to get her
mind around the concept.

Luna continued to concentrate. ~There was... was that him? Basalt? Let's
see, there was... and then there was... BASALT!~ The mooncat winced,
remembering a scene like a still frame. Remembering the Queen in tears one
night, having done something she deeply regretted, even if she had felt it
necessary. Sending her Consort away because she had started to...

"Serenity's dad is now a year younger than me?" Usagi still was having
trouble with the concept.

~depend on him. Care about him almost as much as she cared about her
Kingdom. Oh dear.~ Luna eyed her Princess. "Uhm, well, that is."

"Mako-chan beat up my dad?!" Usagi whispered, eyes wide. "or Princess
Serenity's dad. Or something like that. Ahhhhh! This is so confusing!"

Elsewhere, Pluto smirked. *That* should keep Usagi from pursuing Nebula, and
might help keep Luna from getting in the way.

--------

Ami got up nearly two hours before school. She was that way able to get a
bath, leisurely have a sandwich, and get to school early. Reading most of
the time as she did all three activities.

So, she walked into the bathroom, nose in a book. There was a test in
Physics in two days, she had to study for it!

"-Uhm, Princess?-"

Ami stopped abruptly, her eyes slowly leaving the book.

There was her fiance. Coming out of the tub. Water beading on his slender
male body. Naked as the day he was born.

The red tide of blush swept up Ami's form. Two corners of her mind decided
to interject comments while the main cpu was offline. Over in this corner, a
dry voice said "well, this is OK, we're engaged anyway. Might as well check
out the merchandise." Ami's gaze dipped involuntarily in response to that
voice. The other voice was saying how glad she was that Ami was in the habit
of wearing a bathrobe.

"ah-no, Ami-chan?"

Ami blinked, her eyes snapped up to a very embarassed male face.
"...eeeep..." (twitch, twitch)

"-Do you mind, 'Ami-chan', I just did a quick work out and I was just
washing the sweat off?-"

The door slammed as Ami abruptly moved faster than Usagi after a box of
Pocky. "Sorry. Sorry." Ami blinked realizing she was addressing the hallway.
(twitch, twitch)

Grey blinked at door, then slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand.
"-Idiot! I forgot, they take communal baths and all that! I probably
embarassed her. Dummydummydummy!-"

Ami took a deep breath, leaning against the door. All she needed to do was
get her breakfast, *then* she could get her bath. Reverse the order, no
problem.

The door opened.

"eeep" eeeped Ami, aware that she was saying that a lot this morning. Also
quite aware that she was heading for the floor at a high rate of speed. This
was not shaping up to be a good day.

Seeing the girl heading for a painful meeting with the floor, Grey naturally
grabbed her.

Freed of his hands, the towel he'd wrapped around himself fluttered to the
floor. "-oops.-"

Ami blinked. She wasn't heading for the floor anymore. She *was* being held.
By a naked boy. Who was her fiancee.

*klick* Something that had been bothering Ami since her awakened memories
from the day before fit into place. Grey was the reborn Nebula. Nebula was
Basalt. Basalt was a Consort of the Queen and the father of the Princess.
Who was Serenity. Therefore... "Oh dear."

Grey was getting concerned. Ami wasn't moving. "-Uhm are you injured?-" No
response. Time to try one of the Japanese phrases he'd tried to memorize.
"Ami-chan. You hurt no is?"

Ami blinked. Clearly Shard-san needed some tutoring in Japanese. Sentence
structure especially. And he was using the wrong particle.

Grey was getting really concern. Still no reaction. Ami wasn't exactly heavy
but he still needed to shift some to lift her up. He shifted his weight, his
foot finding the towel.

Ami eeped as she fell further, the back of her head impacting something not
nearly as hard as the tiled floor.

"Eeeep!" This time it was Grey's turn to eeep.

Ami blinked a couple more times. Then realized that the two of them had
fallen, and the back of her head was resting on... "EEEP!"

Her mother wandered in, stepped over the two, picked up her toothbrush,
stepped over the two again on her way out, then stopped. Slowly she turned.
Raise eyebrow. She'd been working odd shifts this week but the scene was
sufficient to penetrate. Two horrified teenagers stared back.

"Ah, mother, I can explain. Ah hah."

Grey had absolutely no idea what to say. Much less in Japanese. "Uhm.
Sorry?"

"It's nice that you two get along like that." Kumori Mizuno eyed the slipped
towel on the floor, the still-damp look in the boy's hair, the completely
dry look of her daughter, and realized that it probably wasn't anything bad.
Just in case though, she ought to pick up a family planning kit for her
daughter. She wasn't *that* anxious to become a grandmother. "Still, don't
you think you should take it easy until Shard-san's injuries heal?"

"Oh no!" Ami immediately fled to her room.

Grey grabbed the towel and covered himself, wincing. "-You know, i just went
through that and *i* don't understand what just happened.-"

Dr. Mizuno considered the American briefly. She'd *have* to tell this one
down at work. "-Try not to do it again. Shard-san. Whatever it was that
happened.-"

-----------

Somewhere under a mountain:

The men and women were dressed absolutely identically. Black suit, black
tie, black sunglasses. Well, except for Ralph. And James. But James was just
visiting from an allied country's similar department, and Ralph was, well,
Ralph.

Their surroundings high tech. Their work mainly secret to the degree that
most people would confuse them with MiB or similar fictional bug-a-boos.

"Assistant Director?" A folder was laid on a desk. The folder and the papers
within made of materials that would begin disintegrating after a few hours,
of course.

Number Three scanned the first few pages. "Sebastian Shard's grandson?
Interesting."

"We've been tracking him for some time, of course. This latest incident has
moved him from 'possible' to 'promising'."

Two sets of xrays were briefly scrutinized, medical reports scanned as
quickly. Speed reading was a required skill here. "I'd say *quite*
promising," said Number Three to Number Thirty-Six. "No trace of these
abilities sooner."

"He's never been attacked by an Entity before," Thirty-Six indicated,
tapping a grainy telescopic photograph of the Daimon Mikuji. "We turned up
our scrutiny when he went to Azabu Juuban."

"A known hot spot, of course." Number Three nodded. Standard procedure. Then
the elderly man tapped a photograph. "What of this girl?"

"Ami Mizuno, his fiancee due to an arrangement with his grandfather.
Japanese cram school student, IQ rating 300 in some tests. Lower but still
genius rating in others. Shy. She's also been tentatively linked to the
Scouts. Though whether as a Scout or just a fangirl is another question."
Thirty-Six hesitated. "She doesn't appear to get along with him. Though if
you'll note, there were twelve such arrangements made."

Number Three glanced out towards the main floor. "Rather like Sir James in
that respect. Sebastian Shard's popularity with the ladies, I mean. One
hopes his grandson isn't nearly as bad."

"Not likely, sir. The boy failed to attract any female attention, and his
performance in sports has been rather lackluster. Until this incident, he
suffered from major respiratory problems annually."

"These other girls?" Number Three indicated sets of photographs, including
one group shot.

"Other fiancees, sir. Neither they nor he know as yet."

Number Three considered briefly. "They're operating in Japan. Contact Tiger
Tanaka. Professional courtesy, besides Tanaka may have some Intel on these
girls we don't. Then arrange for information to reach these other fiancees."

--------

Grey wandered the streets. His paperwork *still* wasn't ready, and so it
would be another two days before he could attend this Juuban Jr. High School
as an exchange student. Moving around was difficult, and painful, but
exercise was necessary for him to recover and he *really* needed to get more
practice with Japanese.

Minako started raving about this new "Karaoke Underground" - a new hot spot
and it gave discounted rates to high school girls who went in groups of
five! Maybe they ought to check it out after school? Oh, yeah, and maybe
they could try to bring Ami's fiance Grey-chan along!

Ami blushed and tried *not* to think about what had occurred that morning.
This obviously was not working out, and she should indicate this to
Shard-san. He couldn't even speak the language, so how was he going to stand
up for himself or defend her honor?

Multiple girls saw the way Ami blushed and twitched at the mention of her
fiance's name. Leading to reactions from Usagi's "oh ho!" to Rei's pondering
of the potential for danger to the group.

Usagi wondered if she should ask Ami if she could come home and visit. Her
English skills were horrible, but she had a chance to do something Serenity
could not - get to know Serenity's dad. Wow. She had two dads now! Except
one was younger than she was. Why did her life have to be so confusing?

Mimette merely made sure everything was in place, then began collecting
energy. 20% was reinvested in the environmental effect, a lowering of
inhibitions similar to alcohol. As alcohol *was* served to the vast majority
of patrons, it would go mainly undetected. 20% went directly to her,
increasing her own personal power level. 30% went to the mana pool they were
amassing. That left 20% that Mimette was directing to soldier development,
and 10% to a Lure effect. Faceless minions, daimon, youma, whatever you
wanted to call it. Minions were necessary, to Mimette's thinking at least.

Sailor Pluto fretted a bit more, then realized that there *was* a solution
to this crisis. She was the Guardian Of Time, after all. It was tricky, but
a matter of timing. Now that her boyfriend/main squeeze/etc wasn't likely to
be killed out of hand by Luna, she could turn her attention to THAT.

Sailor Neptune came to a halt as the whispers of the sea changed from the
coming Silence to something else entirely. But one thing that she and Sailor
Uranus were certain of: that fellow with the chain weapon was clearly
DANGEROUS.

Eudial and the other members of the Witches 5 quickly set up their own plans
to trap energies.

Mamoru Chiba planned on meeting his "Usako" after school. Even with *his*
course load, one had to make plans for the future. And his Princess was
pretty high a priority on that future.

Luna made plans on getting either Rei or Minako interested in that Basalt
fellow. The idea that Usagi might be interested in her own Silver Millenium
father was... Luna shuddered. No, best not to go there. And make sure Usagi
never even came close.

Artemis wondered how he could get Basalt to gain at least a foot in height
(so that Makoto would be interested), making him Japanese (so Rei would be
interested), or incredibly wealthy (which might balance out his lack of
height and ethnic qualities as far as the two girls were concerned) - the
difficulties of which made him head over to the Crown Arcade Center, go to a
hidden room, and play the Valkyrie Flight Simulator for several hours rather
than face the idea that he had no clue as to how to do this.

Tiger Tanaka raised an eyebrow at the folder to cross his desk. "Sebastian
Shard? Now there's a name, I've not heard since..." Thumbing the intercom,
he gave a few orders, ending with a code phrase that was also a summation.
"There is a hawk among the songbirds, let us watch and see what develops."

-----------

Kumori Mizuno stared at the nurse before her. "Can you say that again?"

The nurse held out the file Doctor Mizuno had given her, attempting to
return the signed check included. "I said that there's no need for this. The
whole thing was paid for by the American Embassy on the condition that we
sign one of THOSE waivers. The funds were transferred this morning. In fact,
Doctor Hensou, you know the head of the trauma ward downtown? He stopped by
as a professional courtesy to some friend of his who has an interest in the
boy. He didn't stay to talk much but he wanted to look over a lot of the
records."

Kumori Mizuno blinked in surprise. As the responsible adult in charge of
caring for the boy she had reluctantly shouldered the idea she would be
paying for the damage her daughter's friends had done to him - granted at a
substantial discount as she was staff here.

The nurse flipped a few more pages in a report she'd been holding. "Oh, and
something odd. There was a fire in medical records. Someone apparently
spilled a flammable liquid all over Shard-san's records. Admin was wondering
if you made copies since he was released into your care."

The pediatrician blinked a few times as the nurse continued.

"Oh yes, there were some flowers that arrived from the Captain of the USS
Nimitz, and there was a lovely card from the Prime Minister. Oh yes, there
was some fellow from the Japanese Self Defense Forces. A General Toku-
something. Sorry, we were kind of busy at the moment."

Doctor Mizuno began to wonder just what her father's friend had DONE since
the war!

A black suited, dark-glassed gaijin man poked his head in the door just
briefly and, in perfect Japanese, thanked the nurse for the coffee and said
that they were probably going to drive back now.

After he'd disappeared, Doctor Mizuno hesitated to ask. "Just what was that
about?"

The nurse shrugged happily in the way of those with no idea of the
significance of what they do. "Oh, he and a few friends of his dropped by to
see Shard-san. They poked around the office a bit and checked out some
machines, talked to a few of the staff and were very friendly and nice about
everything. They were inquisitive and seemed to really care about his
well-being. Do you suppose that all the Americans are that nice to each
other? It must be a great place to live."

The words 'international incident' rolled through the stratosphere of
Kumori's mind.

What exactly was going on, Doctor Mizuno wasn't sure. One thing, however,
was certain.

She'd gotten a lot less enthusiastic about the possibility of her daughter's
romance. At least until she'd gotten some answers.

---------

Ami fidgeted. How to break off with Shard-san? *Should* she break off with
Shard-san? He seemed fairly nice, if exasperated and frustrated. But then
she had her studies to consider...

"I've got a date with Mamo-chan later," chirped Usagi.

"We can at least go and scope the place out now," Minako insisted,
displaying the flyer for what seemed like the hundredth time. "This special
introductory offer won't last!"

"-Just a moment please.-" Grey considered briefly. "Excuse please. Odd thing
feeling."

"Huh?"

Grey found an alley, ducked into it and transformed.

"How come *his* transformation sequence doesn't involve turning nude and a
lightshow?" Rei grumped.

"Hoping to get a free peek?" Makoto said this almost to herself.

"Yeah. HEY!" Rei fumed.

Grey stood, letting the Chain rustle as the Star Arrow head probed the air,
finally settling in a particular direction. "-Over there, what do you see?-"

Minako looked. "-Just some young girl. She looks kind of sick.-"

"-Something wrong?-" Ami asked, wondering if Shard-san knew what was wrong
with the girl.

"There's something dark and evil associated with her. Just something briefly
surfacing. If we see her again, maybe Usagi should try a Crystal Moon
Exorcism."

LARGE eyes with sweatdrops.

"You spoke Japanese?!" "Waaah! I don't know that one! And the Crystal
doesn't work!" "Damn, at times like this I could really use a smoke." "Let
me try scanning with the Mercury Computer."

Nebula briefly explained he was speaking Millenium. "And as for the Crystal
not working, I'm sure you'll get it going again. I have every confidence in
you."

Usagi blinked, then beamed. "Thanks, Dad!" (HUG!)

Another brief pause, accompanying stare and sweatdrop. "WHAT?!"

Nebula smiled tenderly down at his daughter, using a hand to gently stroke
her hair. "How long have you known?"

"Since this morning," Usagi said, just letting the moment be. This hugging
thing was nice. Completely different from hugging her Mamo-chan, but not
bad.

"-Whoa Whoa! Time-o out-o!-" Makoto made a "T" with her hands. "'Dad?!' You?
He?"

Ami cleared her throat. "Apparently while Shard-san and Usagi-chan are
unrelated, Nebula and Serenity are father and daughter."

"That's, like, major weird," Minako said.

"Nebula-san is also related to Princess Venus. A favorite Uncle, though the
relationship is a bit further than that." Ami felt inclined to add. It
*really* didn't seem right to be engaged to her friend's father.

Nebula shifted, becoming Grey again as soon as Usagi had turned him loose.

"Man, I wish *I* could transform without the whole turn naked thing,"
grumbled Rei.

Grey merely looked blank, not understanding as they were speaking Japanese
again.

"Well, come on," Rei grumped, not wanting to break the moment. Or even think
about what she'd just witnessed. "We better get this over with."

--------

Elsewhere:

"Jared? He's off with those piratical Kunos raiding Tripoli and holding some
guy named Qaddafi hostage. Why?"

"I got an answer regarding Shan and Sakyo, also all those marionettes,"
Edema stated. "Apparently he did try and couldn't remove their imprinting on
him."

Amaterasu shook her head. "Never cared that much for elves myself. No
offense, Ed. Admittedly he's incredibly handsome, confident, nearly
eternally young, powerful, intelligent, wealthy, lucky..."

Edema rolled her eyes but didn't say a thing.

"...but if that were the sort of thing I was attracted to, I'd have joined
Apollo's groupies myself."

Edema hadn't been sure what the sun goddess was going to say. That wasn't
what she'd considered likely.

"Well, the god of crossovers is off having some fun. Grey's in the
simulation along with his various girls." Amaterasu considered for a moment.
"Who do *you* think will win?"

"Sugar, if gamblin' weren't unladylike, I'd be putting a quart of mint julep
ice cream down on..." Edema glanced around, then whispered a name.

Amaterasu blinked. "You're kidding! No way! Is that even possible?"

Edema merely winked and nodded.

--------

"Karaoke, huh?" Grey grumbled. This made about as much sense to him as
pachinko. Darn little.

"-Shard-san,-" Ami began, feeling strength from the presence of her friends.
"-I think it best if we not continue engagement. It too difficult and you
not protect yourself from talk at school.-"

"Hey, they need someone for this song," Minako said, pushing the male at the
table forward. She thought Ami was blowing this *way* out of proportion,
better give them both some cool down time, right?

Grey smiled humorlessly as they shoved him on stage. He understood all
right. He'd just been broken up with, then thrown up on stage. Humiliate the
gaijin was it? Well, looking around the crowd of sararimen and the other
girls present, it looked like he'd get a measure of payback.

Grey frowned on reaching the machine. The English songs were in katakana,
and none of them looked promising. "I did it my way" - maybe?! No way!
Hmmmm. Well, this wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. Fortunately, he
knew most of the words.

Then, eschewing the lyrics showing on the monitor, he made obvious eye
contact with Ami.

"Hot summer night,
Fell like a net,
I got to find,
my baby yet."

Other patrons began tracing his gaze. The attention on Ami grew.

"I need you,
to soothe my head,
turn my blue heart to red."

Ami was sitting still and straight. The only motion was the red rising up
her body as if she were a thermometer in a furnace.

"Doctor,Doctor, give me the news,
I got a bad case of loving you,
No pills gonna cure my ills,
I got a bad case of love for you!"

Grey continued the song, keeping eye contact through the whole thing.

More and more people turned their attention on Ami as the song continued and
it was obvious he was singing specifically for her.

"Pretty face don't make a pretty heart
I learned that buddy from the start
You think I'm cute, a little bit shy
Mama I ain't that kind of guy."

Ami sweated. Then little sweatdrops began flying over her friends as she
realized that now EVERYONE was watching her.

"Doctor,Doctor, give me the news,
I got a bad case of loving you,
No pills gonna cure my ills,
I got a bad case of love for you!"

Even some of the waiters were now looking at her. Ami's friends were now
holding up the menus just to shield themselves.

"I know you like it,
you like it on top,
tell me mama,
are you gonna stop?"

Some fellow working behind the scene decided to put a spotlight on Ami. The
other girls at the table attempted to completely hide behind their menus.

"You had me down,
21 to zip
Smile of Judas on your lip
Shake my fist,
knock on wood
I've got it bad
and I've got it good."

Feeling that she'd suffered enough when it looked as if she'd faint, Grey
laid the microphone down, left the stage and took a seat nearby, continuing
to look directly at Ami.

"If you want to suggest that I'm not worthy of you, Princess," Grey said, in
English but loud enough for others to hear, "then fine, I'll leave. But I
think I've made my position clear."

Grey was satisfied as he left, he even heard some applause from some of the
other patrons. Whether it was for his performance, Ami's choice, or
something else, he wasn't sure.

--------

Ami continued to sit as stiff as a board, sending little sweatdrops in all
directions.

"Ami-chan, are you okay?" Usagi inquired. She was concerned about her "dad"
but she was also concerned about her friend. It wasn't like Ami to be that
brutal, and what little she'd seen of Ami's fiance seemed a bit "off" here
as well.

"What was that plan of yours again, Ami-chan?" Minako sat back and favored
her friend with a sideways glance. "Didn't you say during lunch that you
were going to request that he return home to someone from his own country?
That he couldn't possibly fit in here?"

"Ami-chan?" Usagi began waving her hand in front of her friend's face. Ami
didn't blink.

"You were worried about his ability to make his feelings known, and protect
himself from bullies who weren't offering a *physical* threat," Rei said,
standing up. "I think he's managed to credibly answer those questions."

"How's that, Rei?" Usagi asked, wondering briefly if she should get some
markers out and doodle on Ami-chan. Then shaking her head at the strange
impulse.

"..." Ami wasn't sending out little sweatdrops anymore, but still hadn't
moved.

"You still haven't learned any English, Meatball head?" Rei groaned. "Look.
What kind of song was that?"

"I don't know. I'm lousy at English!" Usagi sniffled.

"It was a love song, dealing with his deep affection for Ami 'the doctor'
referred to in the song," Rei sighed, not having understood most of the
words herself much less the meanings.

Ami finally moved. It was a twitch, but it was a move.

Minako, who understood all of the words, though perhaps not the meanings,
saw the point Rei was making and nodded. It was probably just the closest
song he could choose to make his meaning clear, and now the poor boy had
left Ami - for her own good and happiness. Ah, love! Hmmm. That meant that
Basalt-kun was free and probably needed consoling. "Excuseme, gottarun."

---------

Minako caught up with him easily enough, the boy had shorter legs and wasn't
trying to walk fast.

She remembered what her father had said, and managed to get in front of him.
"-Hold it!-"

"-Why should i? If you haven't noticed, the Ice Princess has been pushing me
away from the start.-" Grey briefly considered shoving past Minako, then
discarded it. One of the effects of running that chi healing trick almost
constantly was it depleted one's energy level. He wasn't exactly a Ranma 1/2
character, able to shrug off fatal injuries without missing a beat. "-i've
tried to fit in and just haven't been able to do it. Ami just gave me the
big brush-off, and that's pretty much it. Why even remain in this damn
country? Heck, i ain't even got a place to stay now!-"

Minako almost said that he was stuck here for the school quarter because it
would be difficult to get the records changed, or that they still had plans
for the school dance. Neither would be sufficient. "-Let me tell you a
little story.-"

"A little story?" Grey leaned back against a bridge support. This sounded
like it was going to take awhile.

"-Many years ago, a man named Sebastian Shard served in the US Navy and was
stationed here in Japan. Among those he thought of as enemies not long
before, he was helpful and made many friends. As an engineer, he was very
appreciated and many people listened to him. He was of very special help to
one man in particular, who was introduced to his wife by the fellow. He was
so grateful that he promised to unite the two families by marrying off his
child to Sebastian's child. It was a good deal at that time, pro-American
sentiment was pretty high at that time.-" Minako looked out over the river.
Now she'd tell him what she had found out from her father last night. That
the old promise had come down to HER now, that her own grandfather had only
married her grandmother because that serviceman had introduced them - and
that everyone had lost track of Lieutenant Shard when the serviceman had
been recalled. How she had waited to see if Ami would push this boy away
before making her own move.

"-Ami, i take it,-" questioned Grey.

"Excuse me, Shard-san."

Minako nearly fell off the bridge.

Grey merely flicked his eyes to the side, having noticed Makoto a few
moments ago.

Makoto fretted and played with her fingers. "Errr. Well, I..."

"This still doesn't get me a new place to stay."

--------

"Young miss, I applaud your decision. Let the gaijin go back to his own
country." The old man bowed briefly. "It is good to see young ladies who
understand such things."

"That's two congratulations for not being interested in foreigners, one
'glad you're not a yellow cab', and three 'now that you've ditched the
gaijin how about heading back to my hotel' offers," noted Rei as the
gentleman went back to his table. "Ami? Are you ever going to move?"

"..." Ami twitched a couple of times.

Usagi looked her friend over briefly, looked out the door, sighed heavily.
"I'm passing up a date with Mamo-chan for this?"

Ami twitched again.

"Where did Minako and Makoto go, anyway?" Rei asked, though neither Ami or
Usagi were likely to be fonts of information on this. "No, never mind. A guy
with a broken heart leaves. Of COURSE they're going to go pick him up. I
think Makoto's still feeling a bit guilty about her part in all this.
Probably gonna make up with him."

Ami stood. "Excuse me!"

---------

"We could always try 'rock scissors paper' for this," Minako suggested.

"Arm wrestling?" Makoto was quick to counter.

"-What *are* you two talking about?-" Grey asked, wondering why this sort of
thing seemed to happen.

"Hey, Ami decided to dump the boy. Now, admittedly he ain't much."

Minako frowned at Makoto. "Now what part of him reminds you of your sempai?
Oh yeah."

"That's NOT it!" Makoto growled. There being an old rivalry between the two,
almost any time a cute guy showed up - so did that rivalry. Now even an
uncute guy was sparking it.

"I admit, he's not exactly a teen idol..." Minako said, pointing at the boy
who was staying well away from the two of them. "He *is* however, someone
who wouldn't have to be rescued on a regular basis and he wasn't *that*
shabby against that daimon girl."

"-I may not understand what you're saying, but it doesn't sound
complimentary.-" Grey frowned. These were close friends, and they were
nearly coming to blows? Maybe... "-Hold on a second.-"

*CHING* *SHUNK!*

Makoto and Minako gulped and noticed the length of chain hanging from Grey's
hand. The fact that it was pointed straight in the direction of "Karaoke
Underground" was duly noted. Or was it pointing at the "approaching under a
full head of steam" Ami?

--------

Mimette frowned when some guy left, followed by two of the women from that
table, and finally a third, but settled down when another couple approached.
Odd, it looked like a guy and girl, but the crystal insisted that it was two
girls.

No matter, the Wizard would be pleased when she presented him with a crystal
full of the life energies of these people. Never mind that the plan was for
slow careful draining, Mimette was ready to prove that her own methods were
better!

Some girl with ridiculously long ponytails and an odd odango hairstyle had
taken the stage and was now singing some enka-style song. Yech. Now was as
good a time as any.

Gesture. Doors and windows locked. There would be no escaping this concert.

Gesture. The "hired help" morphed into daimons! Well, sort of. Alcoholic
Spirits was what the original summoning had been for. She'd call 'em daimons
anyway, why not?

"WAAGGHHHH!" Usagi said, actually summing it up rather well.

Rei started heading for the Ladies Room, she could pull out her henshin pen
and transform there.

"Tequila!" A busty Latino wearing darn little exclaimed, briefly embracing
Rei. Rei's eyes crossed and she fell over, suddenly having a blood alcohol
level of "way past your bedtime young lady."

Usagi had hit the ground and was crawling under the thick fumes when she
bumped into something. Looking up, she saw a girl in a rumpled kimono that
didn't really fit her.

"SAKE!" The Spirit declared, holding Usagi down, mouth open. Then moved in
for a kiss.

"Yakkkkk! Nonononono! Only for Mamo-chan to do that!" Usagi squirmed as best
she could, even as she felt an odd dizziness spreading from the youma's
hands.

----------

"How could you!" Ami said, ready to unleash admonishment on this fellow.

"-Come on! The Princess is in danger!-" A boy and two girls ran past Ami.

Ami held the pose for a moment, mouth open, index finger raised on her right
hand, left hand on her hip. ~Darn it, I've been rehearsing this ever since
the song. Darn that boy!~

-----------

Mimette watched one of the daimon struggling with the girl on the floor.

"I'm a little teapot short and stout,
here is my handle here is my spout!"

On the other hand, her friend had been embraced by Tequila and was now on
stage doing a song and dance number. Mimette checked briefly, and yes the
recorders were running.

"World-o... GAKK!" Sailor Uranus found herself being kissed by a *very*
curvy Russian girl named Vodka.

"Uran-urk!" Neptune's concern for her partner left her open to Brandy's
attack.

Mimette turned her attention to the two girls who'd stepped out of the
Ladies Room. "Oh ho ho ho! Two new performers!"

Uranus finally broke the hold. "Ah... I'm not so (hic) eashily defeabeb.
debeafed. febeaded. Don't lose that easy."

Neptune pounded the floor, having been wrestled there by Brandy, still with
a serious case of liplock and a blood alcohol that would have been fatal if
she hadn't been in Senshi form.

"Nephune?" Uranus peered at the two making out on the floor. "Ishn't that
*my* job?"

-------------

NOTES:

hi. uhm, this is a bit different from the other two. i'm happier with the
results so far, the story seems to be proceeding a bit more smoothly.

i've been told Grey comes across as a whiny ineffectual wimp. (wince)
well... at least he's different from the "can do no wrong ultra-powerful"
self insert. He's neither particularly self-confident, nor lucky, nor a
"great warrior".

Oh well, on to the next bit.

================
-----------
"Zotec sucks."
metro...@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/