"You'd better eat," said President Karpovsky. "You don't know where your next meal is coming from. You don't even know where *you're* coming from. You don't even know--" The president exploded. Literally. It was the whole alien-pops-out-of-the-stomach thing, only the alien was as big as he was, and it sort of tipped him apart in a shower of blood and innards. What suddenly stood in his place was someone else altogether. S.P. Somtow, _Yestern_ White Wolf Publishing, 1996 _______________________________________________________________________ Kinmokusei Story Chapter Seven: Within by Kotetsu _______________________________________________________________________ Feeling refreshed and energized after her morning jog, Seiya trotted down toward the gymnasium, her precious football underneath one arm, upbeat and optimistic. It was going to be good morning, she could tell. Football, yeah, she liked football. Fresh air, and sunshine, and football. Not to mention that Belinda was pretty fun to be around, that was for sure! Not like Yaten, who refused to sweat in public, or like Taiki, who was preoccupied with whatever the heck was going on in the library, or like the Queen, who never seemed to have a moment to spare for Seiya anymore-- "Good morning!" Belinda popped her head out of the locker room and waved cheerfully. "Ah, you brought the thingy! But only one? We might need more than one--" " 'We?' " Belinda pulled open the locker room door and gestured for Seiya to enter. "You know, I'm not the *only* hyperactive jock among the Knights or the guards." There were about twenty-five young women in the locker room, dressed in comfortable workout clothes and shoes, all either stretching, or drinking from water bottles, or chatting with each other cheerfully. Seiya cocked her head at Belinda. "How many people did you tell about this?" She shrugged, smiling mischievously. "Just my friends." "You have a lot of friends." Belinda laughed, a good sound, loud and boisterous and infectiously happy. "Hey, it sounded like fun! And it sounded like even MORE fun with more people playing!" "Well. Um, okay. You're right . . . But I still have only one ball, you know. They're kind of hard to come by on Kinmoku . . . considering that this is the only one on the planet, and I had to travel all the way across the entire galaxy to get my hands on it." Belinda reached out and ran her fingers along the pigskin surface of the ball peeking out from underneath Seiya's arm. "Ooooooh, exotic." Then she laughed, again. "So, are we ready to start?" "Yeah. We'll need to go outside, to the fields. And I'll have to set up cones, or something, to mark the field . . . You all can jog and warm up while I do that." "Aye-aye, coach!" Belinda saluted. Then she turned toward the waiting crowd in the locker room. "Did everybody hear that? It's time to get moving!" Thus there was a mass exodus toward the athletic fields outside the palace. The unexpected lesson, or practice, went rather well. After a warm-up, Seiya had the girls practice passing back and forth with the football, and a few practiced kicking it, just so that they could get a feel for the ball's unusual shape and aerodynamics. It was somewhat tedious for twenty-six girls to share one football, but nobody really minded. The sun shone brilliantly in the blue sky, there was a light breeze ruffling the air, the grass was brilliantly green and the clouds overhead were fluffy and white. It was an almost clichTd perfect day, and everybody was in high spirits. Most of the girls there were Belinda's friends from the palace guards, who shared her enthusiasm for whatever was fun and unusual. A few were among the younger Knights who had also befriended Belinda, and considered any sort of exercise to qualify for proper physical training, regardless of how silly it actually was. After they had finished practicing with the ball, it was time to explain the basic mechanics of the game. It was a relatively simple explanation, for Seiya, at least - "Take the ball and run like hell" - but it was effective. Once they got to the point where it was time for specific plays to be demonstrated, some of the girls became a bit too enthusiastic about the new concept of the "tackle," and Seiya decided to call it quits for the day, seeing as how nobody was wearing any protective padding, and there were suddenly too many bone-crunching body-thumping tackles going on all across the field. On their way back toward the locker rooms, Belinda ran up to Seiya, her face glowing with perspiration and enthusiasm. "That was, like, so incredibly fun!" she gushed. "We have to do this again tomorrow, you realize." "What, you liked it *that* much?" "I LOVED it! It's the most violent, mindless, addicting game I've ever played!" Seiya laughed. "Bel, I think that you may be my soul mate." "Huh?" "I mean, you're the only person who seems to understand why I love this sport." "There are twenty-five other like me." "They want to come back, too?" "Yes! Tomorrow, I told you! And every day after that! We could get more people, and we could even start a team, or a league, and we could have scrimmage games--" "Really?! You like it THAT much?!" Belinda was taken aback by the open shock on Seiya's face. "Well, of COURSE I do! And . . . And, I mean, you're such an amazing teacher and all . . . I mean, it's fun, so, what more reason do I need? Hey, don't look at me like that. Aren't you happy? If you don't want to coach us, you don't have to . . . " Seiya blinked, confused. And then, she smiled, a ludicrously happy grin that almost stretched from ear to ear. "No, no, that's not it at all. I'd love to keep working with you, Bel." And then she surprised herself with her own cheerful laughter. "I've just never seen *anybody* so excited about football before!" "I AM excited!" Belinda joined in with Seiya's laughter, adding her own infectious cheer to the air. When she had finally stopped laughing, but her eyes were still twinkling merrily, Belinda said softly, "Hey, Seiya . . . May I call you that? For real?" "Of course, I already told you so. As long as I can call you Bel." "So, Seiya . . . Gimme five." "Right on." They slapped hands high in the air. Seiya suddenly sucked in her breath sharply and jerked her hand backward. Belinda dropped her hand abruptly. "What is it? Did it hurt? I'm sorry--" "No, no, it's nothing." Seiya smiled again. She was in such a good mood, she was determined not to let anything tamper with it, not even for an instant. "I think a bug may have bitten me, or something. I dunno. I felt a sting, but it's okay now." "Aw, poor baby," Belinda teased. "Come on, we need to get back to the showers. I'm filthy and I smell horrible. So do you. No wonder you're attracting bugs." "I'll race you to the locker rooms!" "You're on!" Although Seiya did reach the locker room before Belinda did, Belinda was still only a few steps behind her when Seiya finally slapped the wall and cried, "I win!" Belinda laughed and slapped Seiya on the back. "It's so refreshing to find an appropriate level of immaturity in one of the Queen's Senshi," she winked mischievously. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with immaturity!" "As I am well aware. Now let's get wet and naked, what do you say?" "You're perfectly horrible, Bel," Seiya grinned as she pulled off her shirt and started toward the showers. Most of the other girls had already showered, having reached the locker rooms ahead of Seiya and Belinda, and were already dressing and drying their hair. By the time that Seiya and Belinda were done showering and were drying off and putting back on their more formal clothing, only a few other girls were left in the locker room, and they gradually diminished in number as Seiya and Belinda laughed and conversed with each other. Finally, Belinda was fully clothed in her casual Knight attire, hair dried and swept back in a loose braid, face appropriately made up. She waved cheerfully to Seiya as she finished putting away her makeup and started toward the door. "We'll see you tomorrow then, all right?" "Right!" Seiya waved in return, then turned back to the mirror that she was standing in front of, struggling with her much-beleaguered comb to work the tangles out of her unruly curled hair. She was now alone. Seiya hummed to herself softly, combing her hair, listening to the quiet drip of the showers, grateful for a brief moment of peace and quiet in the deserted locker room. <--danger--> Seiya's head snapped up, and her Senshi senses flared with alarm. Did she sense a youma? She closed her eyes for a moment, searching, seeking. Not even a hint of a dark presence. Well, then, it must have been a false alarm. Relieved, Seiya opened her eyes again and resumed the laborious task of making her hair presentable. she though ruefully. <--DANGER--> Seiya threw down the comb and whirled around. There was no mistaking it that time. It was a youma, and wherever it was, it was *close*. Very, very close. Seiya's eyes quickly scanned the locker room. Nothing that she could see; but that didn't mean that the youma wasn't hiding somewhere nearby. Drat, just when she'd been looking forward to relaxing and having fun for a while! But that didn't matter now, she reminded herself. The presence of the youma was so strong that it was nearly overwhelming her mental senses with its slick, dark, oily presence. She'd better get down to business, and quickly. "Fighter Star Power, MAKE UP!" Nothing happened. Seiya blinked, startled. Then she groped along the side of her face. The henshin microphone hadn't materialized. Had she said the transformation phrase wrong? "Okay, let's try this again . . . Fighter Star Power, MAKE UP!!!" Brilliant, dazzling pain exploded inside her head. Seiya gasped and stumbled forward, blindly, as red and gold starbursts flashed before her eyes. Her body shuddered once, twice, all of her muscles convulsing in unison. And then, the colors and the pain were gone. Seiya slumped against a locker, holding her head and moaning. Now a vague feeling of panic was beginning to set in. The presence of the youma had not yet left Seiya's awareness; in fact, it was closer and more overwhelming than ever before. But where WAS it? Why couldn't she see it? Why couldn't she transform?! Seiya struggled to upright herself. "All right, youma," she shouted at the empty room. "Where are you?! SHOW YOURSELF TO ME!" No answer. And then, hissing, sinuous, a voice whispered to her from within her own head. << . . . look into the mirror . . .>> Seiya turned her head, slowly, and gazed at the shimmering glass mirror which she had been standing in front of moments ago-- It wasn't her own reflection that stared back at her. "No . . . " Seiya whispered, horrified, frozen. Those fangs, those claws, those eyes, those horrible leathery wings in the mirror! "No . . . " <> the voice grew louder and more insistent. "NO!" Seiya clutched her head in her hands. "NO, GO AWAY, LEAVE ME ALONE!" But it wouldn't go away. Seiya could feel the youma's presence, growing larger and larger inside of her, rising toward the surface of her being, preparing at any moment to burst through her skin and take her over completely, and then she would be on the inside and it would be on the outside-- "OH, NO, YOU DON'T!" Seiya grit her teeth and concentrated, harder than she ever had before, focusing all of her anger and defiance inward, beating and pushing the thing back inside of her. She could feel it crying out in protest, but she was winning, for the moment she was *winning*, she was actually holding it back-- "There," Seiya gasped, when she felt herself once again in control of her own body. She could feel the creature roiling and thrashing inside of her. She didn't have much time. She had to run, get help. Run where, get help from who? Taiki and Yaten would come, surely. They must have sensed the youma by now. And Kakyuu, too. But what could they do?! <> "Shut up," Seiya grumbled. She had to run. That was all that she could do. Run as far as she could, get as close to the Queen and the other Senshi as she could, before the thing surfaced again. So she began running. Seiya made it through the locker room and halfway down the adjoining passage before, with a cry of pain, she stumbled against a wall and stayed there, slumped and leaning against it, concentrating all of her strength on keeping down the presence of the youma inside her, fighting her rising gorge, fighting the terrifying sensation that she was slipping away, panting, gasping, fighting for air . . . ******************** Taiki was in the library, working on a composition with Hideaki, when she detected the faintest hint of a youma's presence on the edge of her peripheral senses. She paused for a moment, mentally searching for a more definitive sign. When none came, she shrugged it off as a false alarm. Hideaki eyed her curiously. "Is something wrong?" "Eh? Nothing. I thought I felt something, but it was just my imagination." The two bent over their music and continued their work. Suddenly, Taiki's senses flared again. <--DANGER!!!--> The feeling was so overwhelming that she instantly broke out into a shivering sweat. But where?! Here? No, it wasn't anywhere in the library, she could sense that. Was it near Yaten or Seiya? Were they in trouble?! Hideaki grasped her hand. "What's wrong?" Taiki pulled away from him. "Trouble. I sense trouble. I have to go, I'm sorry." "In understand." Hideaki nodded. "But be careful, okay?" "I try to be," Taiki muttered. But the feeling came again, the overwhelming sense of panic and imminent threat, and then she knew, she knew that it was one of her partners that was in trouble, and so she ran, pelting, out of the library and into the palace hallways, not sure which direction to go, trusting her Senshi senses to guide her. Taiki followed her instincts, running farther and farther down the hallways, bypassing curious guards and Knights, turning away from the main passages, down the twisted and narrow subpassages into the bowels of the palace. She realized, as another wave of fear washed over her, that she was nearing the gym and the locker rooms. Seiya! Was Seiya in trouble?! Suddenly, Taiki felt the presence of a shooting star streaking beside her. It was Healer, already transformed, running as fast as she could to catch up with Taiki. "Healer, what's--?" "No time," Healer snapped. She pointed ahead of them. "There she is!" Kou Seiya was slumped against the wall of the hallway, breathing in heavy, panting gasps, clutching at her chest, alternatively shivering and them seeming to convulse with a muscle spasm that wracked her entire body. She looked up at her approaching friends, eyes glazed with pain and fear. "Guys---?" she gasped. Taiki's mind whirled with confusion. What was wrong with Seiya?! Was she ill? Was there anything that she and Healer could do? How had this happened? Where was the youma that she sensed, now so strong and so dark a presence that she could have sworn it was right next to her? Healer lunged forward and grabbed Seiya's wrist. "Hold on, Seiya, we're here with you!" But Seiya cried out with pain and tried to twist away from Healer's grasp. "Ow, you're burning me, you're burning me! STOP IT!" Taiki skid to a halt and watched the scene unfold, as a feeling of dim, dawning horror descended upon her. She could see red, swollen welt marks where Healer's gloved fingers were pressing into Seiya's flesh. The two continued to struggle, and despite Seiya's obvious illness, she was clearly winning. "For Maresuu's sake, Taiki, don't just stand there, transform and help me out!" Healer barked at her. "She's too strong for me to handle alone!" "But . . . But . . . But I can't see the youma. Healer, where's the youma?" "INSIDE SEIYA!!!!" "No . . ." Taiki froze, her body overcome with cold terror. "How . . . ?" Seiya suddenly screamed, a shrill, throat-splitting scream, and doubled over in pain, clutching her chest with her free hand, squeezing her eyes shut and gritting her teeth. "DAMMIT, TAIKI, WE DON'T HAVE ANY TIME!" Healer's shrill voice betrayed her panic, and Taiki suddenly noticed that there were tears welling in her eyes. "JUST HENSHIN, PLEASE!" A synapse finally fired inside Taiki's brain, and she automatically shouted the appropriate words. "Maker Star Power, MAKE UP!" A moment later, she, too, had managed to jerk Seiya back upright and grasped her other wrist. Seiya screamed again, as her flesh burned beneath Maker's grasp. Maker could feel her Senshi self shuddering in revulsion to the youma she was holding, only it wasn't a youma yet, she had to remind herself of that, it was still Seiya, and Seiya was still fighting the monster inside her, although she wouldn't last much longer-- "The Queen," Healer said calmly. "We have to get to the Queen. She must already know by now." Between the two Senshi, Seiya was still struggling and crying out and convulsing and shuddering and still trying to break away from their grasp. It was taking all of Maker's strength to maintain her hold on Seiya's wrist. She dared not touch any more of Seiya's body, for fear that she might burn her friend's skin, burn right through her clothing. "We'll never be able to drag her through the palace like this," Maker protested. "And right here, we're about as far away from the Queen's chambers as we can get." "We have to use the Sailor Teleport." "AND hold on to Seiya at the same time?!" "We have no other choice!" Suddenly, Maker felt Seiya's wrist go limp. Seiya's whole body relaxed, and she began to slump forward-- "NO!" Healer pulled one hand free and used it to slap Seiya, smartly, across the face. Seiya jerked upright with a gasp, a red welt blooming across her cheek. "Seiya, you HAVE to stay conscious," Healer growled fiercely. "You HAVE to stay with us, understand?!" Seiya shuddered, but nodded. "I understand." "Seiya, we're going to teleport to the Queen now," Maker explained, calmly, gently, hoping that her voice wouldn't tremble and betray the fear and panic that clutched tightly around her heart. her frantic mind somehow found a moment to observe wonderingly. And now, Maker was still fighting to keep her voice level. "I know it hurts, but you have to let us hold on to you." "Okay," Seiya gasped. Her breathing was becoming erratic again. The muscles in her face convulsed and twisted into a grimace of pain. "Let's do it." Healer nodded. "SAILOR TELEPORT!" And with a burst of multi-colored light, they were suddenly standing in the middle of the Queen's chambers. Kakyuu rushed toward them. "I sensed that you were coming, so I had the servants clear everyone out and barricade the doors," she explained hurriedly as Healer and Maker dragged Seiya toward her. Seiya had finally stopped struggling, but now her body was just shuddering, fiercely and uncontrollably, as the creature within her fought for freedom. "To the bed," Kakyuu commanded, and obediently, the two Senshi pulled Seiya over toward the Queen's bed, and laid her down quickly, afraid to touch any more of her than was absolutely necessary. Almost immediately, Seiya began thrashing around on the bed, her back arching, her arms flailing, her face convulsing, her voice screaming in pain and fury. For a moment, Kakyuu, Healer, and Maker could only stare, dumbfounded and horrified, at the spectacle before them. Then Kakyuu began snapping orders. "Healer, Maker, hold her down. I know it burns her skin, but that doesn't matter. Just hold her down, and keep her from hurting herself." Healer and Maker scrambled onto the bed, and after a moment of struggling, managed to pin down Seiya's arms. Her back still arched and her hips bucked as her leg muscles spasmed, but at least she was immobilized. The screaming, however, echoed throughout the room. "AAAAAAAAAAAGH! NOOO! GET IT OUT OF ME! GET IT OUT OF ME!" Maker forced her face to remain calm and stoic, but she bit down on her own lip until it bled as she pressed down on Seiya's arm. With every fiber of her Senshi being she sensed the dark, loathsome presence of a youma, worming its way into the flesh the person she held beneath her, but the rational part of her mind could not, would not, equate that sensation with the knowledge that she was holding *Seiya*, a fellow Senshi and a dear friend that she loved and trusted like no other-- Healer turned her head toward the Queen, who was standing calmly beside the bed, although the shaking hands that she held clasped in front of her chest betrayed her fear and anxiety. "What are we supposed to do now?!" Healer asked, her voice trembling with fear. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Seiya screamed wordlessly beneath them. Her head thrashed from side to side, and her hair flew in sweaty tangles around her face. Her feet kicked outward, crashing into the bedposts. For the first time in years, Kakyuu's eyes glimmered with shimmering tears. "I don't know," she admitted, helplessly. "I . . . I just don't know." "Hold on, Seiya, just hold on for us!" Healer cried frantically as she pleaded with her friend. "Stay with us, Seiya, PLEASE!" The muscles in Seiya's arm, directly underneath Maker's grip, began suddenly to vibrate rapidly. They felt . . . liquid, almost as if they were . . . changing. They *were* changing, changing their shape and size, Maker realized with fresh horror. Seiya's fingers were hooking into curved claws-- "DAMMIT!" Seiya grit her teeth together and concentrated. Her fingers stretched out to their normal size again, and the spasms in her arm subsided. But the rest of her body was still thrashing about, and after a moment, she opened her mouth and screamed again. "There must be SOMETHING we can do!" Maker shouted, surprising herself with the almost shrill panic in her voice. She pressed down harder as Seiya's struggles became more frantic, but it was becoming more and more difficult to do so, and she was pressing harder and harder by the moment, and soon she was afraid that she would snap Seiya's forearm right in two, and the white flesh of Seiya's arm was burning and blistering beneath her grip, and now there were thin tendrils of smoke curling up between her fingers-- Maker's mind whirled, frantically. Kakyuu took a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a moment, seeming to consider something deep and ponderous. Then she opened her eyes, and fixed both of the Senshi with her sorrowful, yet determined, gaze. "The problem is that we don't know how to separate the youma from its host before the youma actually exposes itself fully, before it becomes vulnerable to Senshi attacks," she said slowly, carefully. "So, perhaps we must - and I know that you two won't like this idea, but be certain that I don't like it any more than you do - we must allow the youma to subsume Seiya. Only when the youma is free will we be able to defeat it and heal Seiya." "WHAT?!" Healer cried out in horror. "No! We can't do that!" Maker felt her calm veneer slipping away. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" Seiya protested as her screams grew hoarser and hoarser. "NO, DON'T LET IT TAKE ME!" Kakyuu reached out toward Seiya, tenderly. "Seiya, my love, I--" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Suddenly, Seiya's forehead flashed with a brilliant blue light. A glowing, five-pointed star blazed on her forehead as sapphire light enveloped her body and an unseen wind began whipping her hair around her face. "NO, I WON'T LET IT TAKE ME! I WON'T!!! DO YOU HEAR ME?!?! I WILL NOT LET IT TAKE ME!!!!" "Seiya, what--?!" But Maker never had the chance to finish her question. The inexplicable wind suddenly roared into a gale, and unseen hands were picking her up, pulling her away from Seiya, throwing her, tossing her off the bed and across the room. She landed with a thump that knocked the wind out of her for a moment, and as she skid across the floor, she could see both Healer and the Queen being flung to the opposite side of the room. And in the center between them, sitting upright on the bed, in the eye of a whirling maelstrom of light and wind, Seiya sat screaming and pulling her hair and clawing at her chest, the blue star still blazing in the center of her forehead. Maker sat and watched, horrified and awed, unable to move, feeling an invisible force holding both her and Healer and even the Queen away from their friend. Finally, there was a flash of white light and a horrible ripping sound, as if the very fabric of space itself were being torn in two. Maker blinked, and suddenly, there were *two* figures on the bed. There was Seiya, now free of the burn marks on her face, arms, and wrists; and another figure, a creature, the youma. The youma was strangely fur-covered but familiarly gargoyle-like, with an elongated snout, fangs and pointed ears and black, leathery wings that stretched against the whirling wind, clawed arms and feet, bent haunches, and a long, pointed tail being whipped around by the wind. Welted burn marks were seared into its flesh on its wrists, forearms, and right cheek. Seiya cried out wordlessly, an almost primitive, war-like battle cry, and lunged toward the youma, wrapping her hands around the youma's neck, as the star on her forehead blazed brilliantly and the roar of the wind whipped to a furious crescendo. The youma, too stunned or surprised to react in time, merely whimpered in surprise. Seiya wrenched the youma's head around its neck. There was a sound like a dry twig snapping. And, suddenly, the wind and the light and the blazing star on Seiya's forehead were gone. Seiya's hands fell limply from the dead youma's neck. The corpse slumped sideways, and then slid off the bed, landing on the ground with a dull thud. Seiya sat on the bed, panting, gasping, her hair falling in messy tangles around her shoulders, her skin covered in sweat, her eyes dead and exhausted. Slowly, shakily, Maker stood up. "Seiya . . .? Are you all right?" Seiya blinked, and some of the glaze cleared from her eyes. She brushed her sweaty hair back from her face, and looked slowly around the room. "Is it gone?" she asked softly, incredously. "No, it's right there on the floor," Healer pointed out bluntly as she struggled into a standing position, indicating the youma's corpse with a wave of her hand. "Although it's dead. You killed it." Kakyuu stood up shakily, leaning on Healer. "Seiya . . . are you sure that you're all right?" "Yeah." Seiya smiled weakly. "Yeah, I'm all right. I defeated the youma, didn't I? Yeah." Then her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fainted, sprawling backward over the bed with an exhausted but relieved sigh. ******************** "Incredible," Reynard whispered softly to himself as he watched the scene unfold in his mirror. "This woman's body completely rejected the youma. I've never seen such a resistance before." Delilah sat watching Reynard, the glow of the flickering image captured in Reynard's mirror painting dark shadows across her face. "Was this the surprise that you had in store for me?" She frowned, imperious and displeased "How awfully messy. What a terribly icky thing to do to my beautiful Senshi, mister Reynard." "It doesn't matter now. She was even able to reject the type A youma, in the end." "It was the power of her Sailor Crystal that allowed her to do so. The youma failed in its mission. Instead of subsuming and controlling the Sailor Crystal, it was defeated by it." "Yes," Reynard hissed greedily, "Yes, so it was." Now Reynard could suddenly understand his Master's desire regarding the Sailor Crystals. At first Reynard had questioned this element of his Master's plan; but at the moment, he found himself attracted by it. The ambitious covet power, after all. Reynard wanted more than anything to grasp the incredible power of the Sailor Crystals in his hands, to be able to mold it and control it, bending it to his will . . . The youma had failed. But there must be other methods! "Perhaps the Crystals cannot be taken by force," Delilah mused aloud. "Or at least, not taken without losing any reasonable measure of control." Reynard could feel his lustful longing for that very power starting to melt into frustration. "I don't think that they're just going to *surrender* themselves to us!" he snapped. "Oh, really?" Delilah regarded him with an expression of faint amusement, a small smile lifting the corners of her lips. Reynard lifted an eyebrow. "Do you have something in mind?" "Observe," she commanded as she waved her hand, and the scene once again replayed across the surface of Reynard's mirror. "If the Sailor Senshi have a tragic flaw, it is their devotion to each other, and to their loved ones. Remember the Sol Report? The Senshi of the planet Earth willingly lost their Sailor Crystals in order to save the Kinmokusei Senshi, and also the one known as Sailor Moon. So. I'm certain that the same principle applies here." "But," Reynard protested, "I can hardly threaten harm to any of the Senshi or to the Queen herself. If it were so simple, I could have succeeded a long time ago. I'd love to have some Wrong Fun with them, you know that. But neither I nor my youma can even get close to--" "You miss my point. The Sailor Senshi have loved ones who are mortal, weak, and vulnerable. They would do anything to protect those that they love from harm. Which is precisely the situation that we are to force them into." Reynard stared at her for a moment, letting her words sink slowly into his brain. Intriguing . . . Delilah may have been crazy, but she was also somewhat of a genius. Reynard found himself grinning with anticipation already. "You propose a most difficult undertaking. It will cost me a great deal of energy to cross over into that dimension again, to gain access to the targets . . . " "The youma can supply you with energy. Drain some of your carriers. You certainly have enough by now." "True. But still, to be safe, I will handle this one Senshi at a time." "Good." Delilah stood up, glided toward him, and brushed her lips softly against Reynard's forehead. Reynard found her kiss repulsive, but did not resist it. It was better to play along with this madwoman's whims and desires, anyway. "I leave the machinations up to you. Do not fail the Master, Reynard." She began to fade them, receding into a smoky dust right before his eyes. It was her most melodramatic exit yet, Reynard noted. Delilah truly was a powerful witch. "I won't fail," Reynard whispered softly, more to himself than to her. It was perfect. Almost too perfect. It was just the excuse that he had been looking for. Oh, goodie. It was time for Reynard to have some Wrong Fun. - end part seven -