Rustle of fabric.

Fumble for matches. Swish. Lit candle. Swish swish swish. Four candles lit.

"You look lovely, my dear."

"You're just saying that to get laid."

"So what if I am?"

"Just making sure, lovey."

"So now that you're sure?"

Sound of snapping elastics. Bra falls.

"Oh. I see them. I mean, I see. Er."

"They're rather hard to miss."

"Yes. That's true."

Rustle of bed sheets.

"Where were you today?"

"Oh, just had to see a girl about some butterflies..."

Sound of couple rolling around on a bed.

"What's that mean?"

"Nothing."


*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Land of Confusion
Chapter 8: Fairy Trash

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"He sounds like a...what did they call it...Nazi."

Taiki sneezed, and then glared. "Unless it was...say, the ghost of a very bald Hitler, it's not very plausible."

"Look, I'm trying to help you."

"It doesn't look that way."

"I'm just more imaginative than you are." Neon adjusted the glasses on her nose.

"No, you've just been stealing my Earth textbooks again," Taiki said, pointing a finger in the fairy's face.

Well, fairy wasn't accurate. She had all the makings for a fairy out of an old story, but there was nothing particularly magical about her. She was originally from Aile, a small moon orbiting Coronis. The people of Aile were known for their small stature and frilly, translucent wings. Neon had shock-pink hair cut rather choppily under her ears and dark red eyes that were always hidden under large glasses with thick lenses. While Taiki's glasses were rather more cosmetic (though she'd never admit to it,) Neon could not see an inch from her nose without them.

Neon fluttered her shimmering yellow wings. "It was a suggestion. Really, I've never heard of anyone like him."

Taiki gathered up a stack of books and began to replace them on her shelves. "Neither has anyone else. So I'm back to square one...confused and sick."

"Sorry," the fairy muttered.

"Don't worry about it." Taiki replaced the last book, and picked up the picture of Lucas on her dresser.

"How's the greenhouse coming?" Neon asked, swinging her legs back and forth on Taiki's bed.

Taiki smiled, still admiring the photograph. "Very well, thank you. Shiinto's sent me so many plants..."

Neon smiled too. "She's very thoughtful."

She paused, and then asked, "Would you mind showing me what you've done with it?"

The photograph was set down on the small white dresser. "Not at all."

-----

Lydia tossed her backpack over her shoulder, and then proceeded to clamor up the fifteen-foot high fence that protected the castle.

Sawagasu was already sitting atop the fence when the blue-haired girl arrived. "What took you so long?"

"Shut up," Lydia grumbled. She got as comfortable as she could on the barbed wire, which was not very comfortable at all.

She swung her backpack around and fumbled around inside. Finally, she produced a pair of binoculars. She peered through them around the castle grounds, trying to find...well, she wasn't sure, but she'd know when she found it.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Sawagasu asked. "The Boss would know we were here anyway, so searching for him isn't--"

"I'm not looking for the Boss," Lyida interrupted him. "I'm not stupid, Sawagasu. There WERE two parts to our mission."

"But we don't know what the second part is," Sawagasu said in a whiny falsetto. "We have to get the first part done first."

"Stop that!" Lydia swung her foot out to kick him, but it threw her balance off and she instead gripped the fence for all it was worth. Sawagasu began to giggle, and Lydia decided that she'd give him a thourough ass-kicking as soon as they were on the ground again.

And then she saw him. There was fiery blue flash in the courtyard. He turned to face her, waved, and then disappeared in the gathering crowd.

"See something?" Sawagasu asked. Lydia did not answer; she lept off the fence and ran as fast as she could through the garden.

The pink-haired boy blinked twice and then scrambled down from the fence. "Lyd, dammit, I'm your partner! Slow down! Lydia!"

Rufus sighed, passing through the reporters like a very cold breath of air. They'd found him finally. It had taken them a whole twenty minutes! He would have to start implementing new standards for training his agents - it should have taken five, at the most.

And then he saw her. The Princess was dressed in her traditional clothes - the beautiful black crown, the flowing red dress. Behind her was one of her Senshi, not looking particularly worried or especially on guard. Pity; she should have been plenty worried. On her left was a very furry looking young woman with white hair coifed into an intricate bun.

Kakyuu was smiling genially, looking alternately at Chuu's embassador and the crowd. She was relived that nothing had happened in the last few hours. No blood, no nightmares, no nothing. It would prove to be a good day after all.

And then something moved in the crowd. The reporters seemed to fade from her vision and revealed someone else. It looked like Taiki, but not the Taiki she had seen hours before. Her eyes were sunken and dull, her skin was pale and stretched tight over her bones. Her clothes were stained with dried blood. Her hair was disheveled - at least the parts of her head that still had hair. There was a gaping, bloody hole in her left shoulder, revealing torn muscles.

"Ouhi..." she wheezed.

"Taiki?" Kakyuu swallowed. She could already feel blood in her throat. No, no not now... All the reporters were there!

"Why do you always demand sacrifices of us?" Her eyes were drilling holes into Kakyuu's head. Do you see what it has done to me?"

Kakyuu could see it. She wanted to vomit.

And so she did, but not before reaching out a hand for Fighter did she collapse and throw up blood all over the podium.

"Kakyuu!" Fighter kneeled down and looked her in the eye. "Are you alright?"

Kakyuu could feel the corpse quickly approaching her through the crowd. "Leave me, nasty apparition! You're not Taiki!"

"Aren't I?" She reached out her bloody fingers to Kakyuu.

"She's not dead!"

"I'm not dead yet," the corpse corrected, croaking out the words. "But I will be. Have your black mourning dress ready, Ouhi, for I do not have much time left."

She brushed her bloody fingers on Kakyuu's face.

Fighter was getting increasingly more concerned. Her princess was looking wild-eyed into the crowd, seeing something that she herself wasn't seeing, blood on the podium and her mouth.

"We're going to the Infirmary, right now," Fighter barked, trying to get her princess on her feet. She didn't have much trouble because Kakyuu offered no resistance. Her eyes just continued to stare out into nowhere. The reporters eagerly began to snap pictures.

"Stop that!" Fighter yelled, and she must have looked pretty pissed, because all the cameras went down in an instant.

"I'm very sorry about this," she told the shocked embassador, before scooping up her Princess and running toward the palace.