S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit by DARK DAY FOR ANIME Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya. All other characters were thought up by me. Well, its true, isn't it? ^_^ Part Six Concerto for a Rainy Day Usagi had had a pathetically miserable morning, but somehow managed to convince a great many people she was still cheerful. *click* *reeee* After getting up early... a newfound responsibility having entered her lifestyle.. after all, with as much on her plate in her life, one would expect her to start being a good role model at some stage (that's what she thought, anyway)... she had opened her windows on the new morning to see that the sun might as well not have come up at all. *click* *reeee* Thick, dark grey clouds. So dark, some of them looked a peculiar shade of purple. It made her feel even more miserable after the events of the previous day, where she had failed to make contact with most of the people she considered to be her friends. *click* *reeee* Things had gone very strange amongst them over the past few months. There had been arguments that she was not personally involved with between certain members, culminating in something close to an all-in brawl between Makoto, Minako, Haruka and Setsuna a couple of days ago. *click* *reeee* She had to intervene that time. Neither Rei nor Ami seemed willing to, and she wasn't surprised. Hotaru, as usual, had remained aloof. Either she was as much in the dark over what these arguments were about as Usagi was, or she just didn't care. *click* *reeee* The only one who had even tried to help her pull the idiots apart had been Michiru, more because she was concerned for Haruka's safety than anything else. After all, the both of them had to drag the unfortunate tomboy from a headlock provided courtesy of Minako. Usagi never knew Minako was capable of that kind of thing, and certainly not on Haruka. *click* *reeee* After that, their meeting went to pieces. And Usagi had only just arrived! It was somewhat inconsiderate of them. They didn't even tell her what the fight had been about when she demanded explanations from them. *click* *reeee* With Mamoru overseas on a post grad study tour, she had been left alone to deal with the problem herself. She demanded, using her position as Princess Serenity, that they all meet once more the next day to explain what was going on. The only people to show up were Rei (unsurprisingly, since it was held at her shrine) and Setsuna, who seemed unwilling to explain anything unless the others were there. (How surprising that Setsuna was unwilling to explain anything, thought Usagi dubiously). Despite all her best efforts to contact the missing participants, she had not received any replies. *click* *reeee* And now, here she was, skipping her own college classes that she'd managed to fluke to get into, standing out the front of Makoto's apartment block, wondering why the hell she should be doing this kind of thing. *click* *reeee* And she had the strangest feeling she was being watched. Well, whatever the case, she was going to get answers, even if she had to threaten them with bapping the Ginzuishou over their heads! She stormed in through the front entrance and up the stairwell, along the path to the door to Makoto's apartment. And the door was open. Not wide open. Just ajar. And she could hear voices within. She shivered for a moment. She could feel something was wrong, here. Slowly, she put her hand on the door and pushed it open.... "Usagi?" "Princess?" Hotaru and Setsuna turned to her, blinking. They stood in the middle of a loungeroom that had been comprehensively demolished. "Wh... What are you two doing in here?" "We came to speak with Makoto. This is what we found." Hotaru said simply, gesturing around the room. "I take it you had a similar idea?" "Umm..." Usagi stepped in slowly. "Where is Mako-chan?" "Don't know. There wasn't anybody in here when we got here." She shrugged and bent down to pick through the wreckage of the furniture on the floor. "Aww... Its that vase she made in her pottery class... it was so nice, too." She picked up pieces of glazed ceramic, staring at them sadly. Usagi levelled her gaze at Setsuna, who looked as if she'd just been struck by high energy laser beams. "Setsunaaaa!" "It wasn't me, Princess. I'm not the sort to do this kind of thing." Usagi looked at her dubiously. "It's rather ironic that I find you here so soon after the pair of you tried to throttle each other." Setsuna sighed. "I came here after I sensed someone with magical powers trying to scan my mind whilst I was asleep last night. It came from Makoto's apartment, so I rang here, and a woman answered. She has... Strange powers." Setsuna bit her lip. "She almost caught me off guard, like her thoughts were feeding off mine, so I decided to come here to meet her, face to face. But she got away. I left to bring Hotaru along, but when I got back..." She gestured to the room, helplessly. "So, this woman was involved in trashing Mako-chan's place?" Usagi wandered in, looking around. Setsuna shrugged. "I'm not sure. It seemed that someone was looking for something. There are quite a few items missing. Not to mention Makoto herself. Where she might be, I have no idea. I still haven't been able to contact the others." "Same here." Usagi looked worriedly. "Could something have happened to them?" "I'm not sure. If it has anything to do with what was going on between them..." Setsuna cleared her throat, turning away as if she'd said too much. Usagi grabbed her by the shoulder. "Setsuna..." She muttered, threateningly. "Are you trying to hide something from me?" Hotaru watched the both of them as Setsuna closed her eyes, sighing. "We had a fight because I'd confronted them.... They had been... When we were involved in breaking up the Yakuza family, we'd made some connections... I thought they'd break off those connections once that was over... It seems I was wrong." Usagi frowned... "What does THAT mean?" "It means we could all be up shit creek." Hotaru turned as Usagi stared at her. She continued rifling through the debris as if nothing was happening. Aoi sat on the railings that lined the front steps of the SIU office next to Kaji. The both of them were staring, absently, at those steps. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier? For that matter, why didn't you tell the Chief?" "Do you think anyone is going to believe me?" "Well, considering that it appears the Senshi are involved, somehow, it might be possible...." He shook his head. That was enough of a sign for Aoi. "I only told you because you used to look into these kinds of groups. Have your ever heard of one called the Sacred House before?" "I've heard the name mentioned in passing, although I've not heard anything about their activities. Not negative ones, anyway." Aoi sighed. "And are there any groups who may be opposed to them?" Kaji shrugged. "As I said. I know next to jack about them. All I've heard is that they were a kind of old world religious cult, going back a very long way. That and the fact that they're not strictly Japanese, even though they had their roots here." He chuckled. "Well, I never thought anyone would be looking in your direction as future candidate for Magic Girl of the Month." "Don't be stupid, Kaji. I'm kinda freaked out about all this. I mean, I've got some weirdo group looking up my family tree cos they think I might be good breeding stock for them, with the possibility that they have enemies with less scruples who are doing the same thing." She put a hand to her face and Kaji looked at her worriedly. "Well, now you've told me, what are you going to do about it?" Aoi raised her head and thought, then turned to him. "We go to Major Crime and use their system to check up on these names... I'm quite sure we shall be able to find someone to match them up with." "Won't that be playing into the hands of the Sacred House. After all, the real reason they are following you around might be because you're on the SIU and closer than ever before to finding out the identities of the Sailorsenshi." Aoi glowered. "No. They won't find out. Nobody is going to know but me." She stood and turned to him. "I want the satisfaction of knowing them. That is all. I'm not going to let anybody use them for... breeding stock." She sniffed distastefully. "It reduces human life to the same level of cattle or any other farm-bred animal." Kaji stood from the railing and nodded, and the pair of them wandered over to his car. "So that's her...." Sherrie leaned against the railing, staring down from the top of the building. She turned to Rumiko, who stood next to her. The dark-haired girl now wore a wide-brimmed hat, as if trying to cover herself from the effects of the weak sunlight. "Not much of a person, I must say. Almost 29 years old and trying to send herself to an early grave." She shrugged. "Do not underestimate her, Tani." The deep baritone of the man who stood nearby made them both turn. "Ah..." Sherrie smiled. "So, you have decided to join us on this operation, have you Joachim?" Joachim Schneider was a man in his eighties, yet you could have sworn his build was that of a wrestler in his early thirties. The only thing that gave him away were his white hair and goatie beard. He wore, as always, the expansive black coat that covered his dark grey business suit. This was completed with a dark hat and walking cane. He was the kind of person one couldn't help but notice, and it was amazing how many people did just that, mostly because of the lifestyle he lived. He had joined the Sacred House long before the likes of Sherrie and Rumiko had been born, and was now a senior member of the organisation. But he much preferred the personal touch when it came to operations like this. After all, it was because of Joachim that a great many members of the Sacred House had joined. Sherrie had been one of them. "Naturally." Joachim bowed slightly. "I am not so old that I cannot take an interest in your pursuit of the Kikotsuka woman." "Just like me, eh? Can't help but pursue the pretty ones." "It makes the job interesting." He smiled warmly, which was reassuring from someone of his size. He turned to Rumiko and nodded a greeting to her. "My greetings to you, Rumiko. Your father is well?" She nodded. "Yes, he has not been better." He then turned to the third member of their trio. A short young woman with equally short, dark brown hair and dark eyes. She was staring into space, distantly. "I see you have managed to get Keiko out and about, today." "Her father decided to release her from the sanctuary. She has been... Much better, lately." "Yeah, with the help of a stack of pharmeceuticals. If they're not careful, they'll blunt her powers." Sherrie sniffed and looked over at Keiko. "Hey, Keiko... Say hello to Mister Schneider." "Hello, Mister Schneider." Keiko said, without turning. "That's good, Keiko. Go back to what you're doing." Sherrie waved at her, cynically. Joachim clicked his tongue. "Now now now, Sherrie, there is no need to treat Keiko with such contempt." "I'll treat her less that way when I get a decent line of conversation out of her." Sherrie turned and looked back down at the SIU station. Joachim shook his head. He knew, despite her words, that teams such as Sherrie, Rumiko and Keiko were picked not only to balance out their powers, but also for their capacity to look after, and care about, each other. There was no doubt in his mind, due to past experience, that Sherrie cared about Keiko. "Has there been anything interesting since Team One made contact with the Kikotsuka woman?" "We reported in, not long ago.... Pagan Lacey was watching over her." Rumiko said, dutifully. "Lacey?" Joachim raised his eyebrows. "Strange that the Coven should have only him watching Aoi closely...." "Maybe they're shortstaffed." Sherrie snorted. "Hardly." Joachim rubbed his chin. "Are our information processors going over his records?" "Hai." Rumiko nodded. "They think the Coven may be intending to match Lacey with Kikotsuka. As bloodbonds go, it is as close to a perfect match one could find." "So Lacey is not yet bonded? Interesting." He turned to Keiko. "We have our family of Mind Predators, but the Coven do not. At least, nothing like the Yokuro clan. Nothing like Keiko, here. Maybe they can see, in Kikotsuka, the chance to take some of that Yokuro blood for themselves...." "From reports of her powers, it appears her blood is more than a match for a Yokuro." Rumiko turned to Sherrie. "Sorry, Sherrie, looks like he's given up on chasing you about." "Damn!" Sherrie snorted derisively. Rumiko turned back to Schneider. "I guess, now he's been redirected, he finds Kikotsuka's blood more attractive." "The question now is..." Joachim paused. "...Will she respond to his blood?" "What do you mean, there are groups after us?" Usagi stared at Setsuna as she checked the door, noticing how badly the locking mechanism had been damaged. "One has to expect there to be people with their own personal powerbases in a nation like Japan. Now, take that and transfer it to an international perspective. Each and every little country on the face of the planet has similar factions and groups, all of whom are pursuing their own agendas. Somehow, we have to set up the new Kingdom amidst all of that. Even with my foresight, its impossible to judge, sometimes, who may be with us and why, and who might be against us and why." Usagi's eyes spiralled with information overload. "But surely anyone who stands for what is right shall help us?" "A simplistic response to an all too complex situation, Princess. This isn't the Silver Millenium. There aren't just the few occasionally feuding principalities and kingdoms there were then. We have a plethora of groups, from international conglomerates, to political and religious extremists and even smaller cultural groups who would regard any attempt to exercise the ways of Crystal Tokyo over them as an act of cultural and racial genocide. Every way we turn, we are going to be looked upon by someone as the enemy, even if we mean well." Hotaru sniffed. "People just want to make things difficult for you, don't they? We risk our lives to save them and this is the thanks we get." She shrugged. "So just who are these groups who are after us, right now?" "Well, firstly, there are the Yakuza families. I don't think, with our powers, that we should be so concerned about them for the time being. Then there are the various factions within the Diet, the Japanese National Parliament. There are... some very active nationalist, royalist and right-wing groups in there who will regard our imposition of a royal matriarchy as a threat to their preferred order." She lowered her face, still staring at Usagi, who slowly seemed to be taking all this in. "And then, there are the major megacorporations for whom the almighty profit is more important than the rights and lives of individuals, and that includes attempts to silence inquiry into their less than savoury activities." "Come on, Setsuna. Be more specific than that. If anyone knows who is after our butts, its you." Usagi crossed her arms. Setsuna sniffed. "Its often not that easy, Princess. They... Sometimes there are groups within groups, pushing their own little agendas. And sometimes these groups within groups can be allies even though the organisation, as a whole, is an enemy, and vice versa." "But who are we most in danger of facing, right now?" "Well, there are three particular Yakuza families who want our heads. I'm quite sure of that. Then there are two quasi- religious groups that have often worried me. One is called the Sacred House, and the other is the Coven of Atrocity. The both of them were formed in Japan over 3000 years ago." Usagi and Hotaru stared at her. "3000 Years?!?!" They said in unison. "What do you think of her, Pagan? Does she match your expectations?" Pagan Lacey heard Lysithea's soft voice drawl from the other side of the table in the inner-city coffee shop. He turned from his blank musings through the window to the effeminate blond-haired man. "Umm... yes, I think you could say I'm rather intrigued." "She is a pretty one, although a little plain for my tastes." "Plain because she makes herself look that way." Pagan turned back to the window. "Whoo, do I detect someone who has it bad already?" Lysithea giggled and picked up his cup of coffee with unusual poise. Pagan turned aside. "You're just jealous because I've been more interested in women than you." "Thankyou." Lysithea sipped his coffee. "It is a waste, however, that someone as pretty as you should have no interest in me." Lysithea smiled and ran his eyes along Pagan's long brown hair. Pagan rolled his eyes. "And so, how are we doing with Takiro, then?" Lysithea sighed and shook his head. "Takiro Takiro Takiro. There are times when I could strangle that man." "That bad, huh?" "He's so obsessive, sometimes. And demanding. But then, I suppose you should expect it from him. He is the least settled of the pair of us." "Yeah, you could say that. Just don't start telling me about his bed habits, that's all." Lysithea giggled. "Oh, if only you knew." Pagan put a finger to his mouth and made gagging noises. He stood. "I better go. I'm getting this little voice in my head that things have just become interesting at an apartment block in Juuban." Lysithea smiled. "You'll pick up the tab, of course?" "Don't tell me you came without money, again?" "Hey, you can never be too careful on the streets, these days." Pagan sighed, shaking his head. He pulled his wallet from his pocket and opened it up, letting out a couple of moths. "Uh... yeah... I think that might be possible." "Hop to it, then." There were times when Pagan could strangle Lysithea. This was one of them. It was a pity they were cousins. Their family would be so upset.... Usagi leaned against a wall, rubbing her forehead. Setsuna was rather impressed with her capacity to take in this kind of information. In days gone past, her brain would probably have exploded before Setsuna was capable of getting past the second syllable of an explanation. Hotaru, as usual, had slipped back into what Setsuna would describe as "cruise control". The info was going in, but was being placed somewhere in her head for later retrieval. "So... Is this Sacred House on our side, or what?" Usagi looked up at Setsuna. "From your description, their objectives seem similar to ours." "Hmmm... you could say that on a very simple level. Yes, they will defend humans against such threats. There have been times, when we have fought various enemies, that the Sacred House has been cleaning up things around us, making our fights rather easier than they should have been." Setsuna paused. "But then, the Coven has also been doing this. It depends on who they see as a threat to what they stand for." "So why were these groups formed?" "Well, you see, some 5000 years ago, after the collapse of the Silver Millenium, a race of beings who called themselves the Others, arrived on Earth. During their visitations, they interbred with humans, thus spawning a large variety of halfbreeds who were shunned or killed by fullblooded Others and Humans. Those halfbreeds who survived the purges formed groups to defend themselves from further attack. Eventually, these groups coalesced with others that had similar philosophies, and thus the Sacred House and the Coven of Atrocity were born... One that took the side of Humans, and the other that took the side of the Others." "And they want us because our magic might be useful to them?" "Indeed. Depending on which camp we fall into, I'm afraid our fate is to be no better than that of brood mares." Usagi thought for a few moments. "Could it be possible that the others have been snatched by one of these groups?" She gestured to the room. "I don't know if it could occur, since I've done my level best to hide our identities from their various prisings. But this has me worried. As I said, the woman who was in here had a strange power about her... And the fact that Makoto is missing...." Setsuna turned back to the door. Then stepped forward, quickly. "Princess, Hotaru... Take my hands, quickly." They both stared at her. "Why?" Usagi blinked. "Don't argue, or we'll be in trouble." The both of them nodded mutely and did so. In a flash, all three disappeared from the apartment, just as the door was pushed in, revealing three figures. A burly Japanese man with a short haircut that made him look remarkably like a sumo wrestler, which was very much the case, stepped in and peered around. He gestured to the other two. Pagan was the first to enter after him. "Bummer. Looks like they got away." Pagan turned back to the third figure, a blond-haired woman who was dressed in a simple blue dress, camera gear hanging around her shoulders. "Why didn't you call me sooner, Michelle?" "I tried. You were too busy lusting after the Kikotsuka woman. And besides, Nobuhiro here took forever to arrive, as well. I wasn't likely to charge in here on my own." "I have my commitments." Nobuhiro turned, flipping his arms into the sleeves of his beige and black kimono. "Oh well... At least I got some good shots of the blond chick with the silly hairstyle." Pagan smiled. "Hmm... Should make interesting viewing." He looked around the apartment. "Whoo, nasty. Who did this?" "Dunno. I just followed the Kikotsuka chick here and was told to wait and looksee. Could have been anyone." "But you didn't see anyone come or go?" "Nope. Not a person." Michelle shrugged. "Must've been someone like us. Might be the House is on the Senshis' tails as well." "In which case, they might have a head start on us." Pagan smiled. "I think it's worth making another visit on our intrepid policewoman...." END OF PART 6 DDFA ayanami@merlin.net.au 4th Mar 1998