Serena said to Serena, "I've been waiting, Serena. Come on up. Knock on the door - three short, one long, you know, like Beethoven's Fifth. I'll let you in." S.P. Somtow, _Armorica_ 1992, White Wolf Publishing _______________________________________________________________________ Kinmokusei Story Chapter Ten: Reflection by Kotetsu _______________________________________________________________________ Hideaki had spoken in front of Yaten, Seiya, and the Queen; then he had been dismissed. Yaten did not know whether he had returned to Taiki, or whether he had gone somewhere else after his questioning was finished. Furthermore, she did not care. She could sense his unease throughout the entire session; he knew something that he wasn't telling them. And it was because Taiki didn't want him to tell them. Yaten *could* have uncovered his secrets. She *could* have used her empathic talents to probe deeply into his mind, and it would have been easy, too - he had no natural defenses against her. But in the end, Yaten hadn't been able to bring herself to do it. Hideaki kept secrets because Taiki wanted him to keep those secrets; if Yaten had violated Hideaki's mind, it would have directly translated into a violation of Taiki's privacy. And Yaten dared not break the deep trust that their friendship had created between them. Yaten returned to her own living quarters, frustrated and grumpy. She felt hurt inside, as much as she hated to admit it. If Taiki was keeping secrets from her, then that was as good as betrayal, wasn't it?! No, it wasn't the same thing. Yaten could not think of Taiki in that context, no matter how hard she tried. But a small part of her heart still ached, nevertheless. She wanted to know why. Yaten locked the front door of her apartment closed behind her, and flipped on a light switch. She was immediately greeted by the site of an extravagant display of rainbow-colored, exotic flower blossoms displayed in a gigantic bouquet that took up all of the space on the decorative table that she kept in her front parlor. Great, just great. They were foreign blossoms. From another planet?! Holy Maresuu. Yaten examined the garish bouquet, searching for a tag or a card. There, wrapped around the bottom of one of the larger stems. Yaten plucked out the marbled paper card, and read it silently. ' To the most beautiful blossom in the galaxy. From, a secret admirer. ' Yaten dropped the card to the ground, disgusted. "Oh, like I haven't heard THAT before!" she cried out to the empty apartment. "It's bad enough that I've got pathetic suitors fawning all over me left and right, but you'd think they could at least show a little ORIGINALITY every now and then!" Still, the flowers were very beautiful. Yaten plucked one from the bouquet, and held it in front of her face, examining it carefully. Its petals shimmered as she rotated it slowly underneath the light. Yes, it *was* a beautiful flower. Yaten suddenly imagined Aino Minako, holding a single one of the flowers in her lap as she sat on the branch of an ancient ginyu tree in the midst of the palace gardens, gazing upward at the blue sky with a look of distant longing in her eyes, sighing wistfully as the wind gently played with her long, golden locks of hair. It would make a lovely painting. Still holding the flower in her hand, Yaten walked over to her couch and sat herself down, wondering idly how long the flowers were expected to stay alive, if they required any special light or temperature conditions, or even if she had enough vases to fit all of them in. The idea of painting Minako in the palace gardens was thrilling and exciting; but Yaten dared not bring Minako back to Kinmoku if such a dangerous enemy was still at large. Okay, so she just had to defeat Malathos first, and *then* she could bring Minako back and have her pose for the painting. No big deal. Yaten wondered if the flowers would last that long, though. Having decided upon a tentative plan of action - kill the bad guy, then paint Minako - Yaten's thoughts turned inward. It was time, she realized, to do a bit of soul-searching. Yaten fingered the stem of the flower and mused. She was very good at musing. She felt vaguely guilty, first of all, for leaving Taiki alone to deal with her own darkness and her own musings. But then again, Yaten knew instinctively that there were times when Taiki preferred to be alone. Furthermore, Yaten had the disquieting suspicion that Taiki now preferred Hideaki for comfort and companionship rather than Yaten herself. Yaten asked herself. She wanted an honest answer. She needed an honest answer. She despised insincerity and falsity above all other things; more so in herself than in anyone else. For the past two years, Taiki had been her almost constant companion. At first there had been Seiya with them, too; the three of them were strangers in strange lands, banding together to ward off the overwhelming sense of loneliness and disorientation as they fled from planet to planet, from alien civilization to alien civilization, Galaxia's minions always at their heels. But then, on Earth, Seiya had drifted away from them. It was because Seiya wasn't the type of person who could exist in the absence of genuine warmth and love. Not that Taiki and Yaten didn't love Seiya. It was just that, well, neither of them were particularly open about showing their love, and absent of them nourishing her need for affection, Seiya had begun to shrivel and dry up inside. And so she started searching, seeking, driven by her own desperation and longing, and finally, there was the disastrous infatuation with the Moon Princess. The entire affair had spiraled rapidly out of control, Yaten remembered with a sense of almost morbid amusement. "I suppose," she said aloud to the flower, "that Earth is one of those things that we're going to look back at twenty years from now and laugh at." It was a comforting thought. As Seiya spent more and more time sneaking away from them, Taiki and Yaten kept each other company more and more. In reality, Taiki had been a rather boring friend. Almost always silent, rarely speaking, constantly reading or writing poetry, never fun or spontaneous. But still, Yaten had enjoyed her company. Taiki had a certain *presence*, tall and reassuring and strong, an aura of peace and protection, albeit a gloomy one, that Yaten didn't mind taking shelter underneath. And even though Taiki was mostly dull and depressing, she was still better than any of the other nitwits and morons that the planet Earth seemed to be populated with. The two had shared a silent and unspoken emotional dependence ( Yaten thought wryly) for as long as Yaten could remember. But now, Yaten could feel Taiki growing closer and closer to Hideaki, and, yes, ever- so-slightly farther away from her. But not by much, not at all. And then again, Yaten knew that she, too, was growing closer and closer to someone that she loved-- A self-satisfying thought, but Yaten knew that it was true and honest. Then it was good as far as she was concerned. She closed her eyes, sighed, and leaned back on her couch, resting the colorful flower blossom on her chest. Now that all was right with the world and with her own head, she could finally get some beauty sleep. A memory stirred, deep within the back of her mind. A little over a month ago, when she had been informed that her father and her sister had been, finally and irrevocably, added to the list of the deceased . . . She had cried, then, softly and quietly, while Taiki had held her silently. Oh, how Yaten hated crying. It was a disgusting, nasty thing; and besides, it made her feel weak, helpless, a little bit pathetic. But still, during her most vulnerable moments, Taiki was always there for her. And Yaten would always trust Taiki to keep those intimate moments between them secret and special, meant only for them and for them alone, guarded carefully from the rest of the world. With that final thought, Yaten began to drift away . . . floating pleasantly on the edges of a peaceful dream . . . That is, until three sharp knocks suddenly jerked her roughly from sleep's warm embrace. She threw her flower to the ground and muttered grumpily, "Coming, coming, coming," as she stomped angrily toward the door. Yaten, grumbling to herself, unlocked her door and pulled it open. And found herself staring at her own face. Yaten on the other side of the door smiled prettily. "Good afternoon, sleepyhead." Yaten stared, blinking stupidly. Who the heck was this, and how was she supposed to process in Yaten's brain? What was she supposed to address her as, Yaten Number Two or something? Yaten Number Two harrumphed and placed her hands on her hips. "Well, are you just going to stand there all day, gawking like an idiot? It's awfully rude, you know. You should at least invite me in." Her eyes flickered toward the garish bouquet of flowers. "Oh, look at that. More moronic suitors with good taste. How lovely." "Wait." Yaten told herself to wait, because it was the only thing she could think of to say. Wait, indeed. Something was very wrong. The young woman standing in front of her . . . Looked exactly like her, spoke exactly like her, and yes, was even wearing her exact same clothing, jewelry, and makeup. But the horrible, dizzying, disconcerting thing was that Yaten Number Two had no Presence. "Presence" was a term Yaten used to mentally label the unique aura or psychic signature that she could usually detect around people, animals, even places. Normally, the variety and strength of the various Presences that Yaten was surrounded with was so overwhelming that she merely tuned down, or shut off completely, her empathic senses. But now, at this moment, she had all of them turned on and flared up as high and as strong as she could manage; she swept the hand of her mind across Yaten Number Two, and came up with . . . nothing. Void. Null. Oblivion. It was impossible. *Every* living thing had a Presence; heck, even the lowliest weed in the most dry and barren garden on the planet had a detectable Presence. But the Presence of a human being, let alone a Sailor Senshi, let alone *herself*, should have been stronger and brighter than anything else around her-- "But you're wrong. I AM you." Yaten Number Two thrust out her hand and pushed Yaten aside, striding casually into her apartment. "Geez, you really should work on your manners. Leaving me standing in the doorway like that. How rude." Yaten stumbled backward, now more than a bit alarmed. "How did you--? Did you read my mind?!" Yaten Number Two rolled her eyes. "Oh, puh-leaze. I could have if I had tried, but I didn't. It's just that your thoughts are my thoughts, and my thoughts are your thoughts. Because I am you, and you are me, understand?" Yaten shut the door behind her, and turned to face the intruder. "You have no Presence," she stated flatly. "Of course not. There's only room for one Kou Yaten on the psychic plane; and you, apparently, are filling that spot for the moment." "But you just said that you *were* me--" "Oh, I can't explain everything right away!" Yaten Number Two sighed with frustration, then turned and strode resolutely into the kitchenette. "Let me get myself some tea, and then we can talk," she called over her shoulder. There was the thud of cabinets open and closing, the gurgle of running water, and more clatter and ruckus as Yaten Number Two rummaged around the kitchen. So, with nothing better to do than to ponder how it was possible for a living being to have no Presence, and to wait for Yaten Number Two to talk to her again, Yaten Number One flopped herself back down on her couch and stretched, relaxed, settling into the cushions. She reached out with her mind, searching, seeking, calling for Seiya and Taiki and the Queen-- --and her mental energies smashed into an impenetrable brick wall. "You're very good," Yaten called toward the kitchenette. "You've already set up psychic barriers to isolate us from the rest of the palace, haven't you?" "Why thank you. And I've noticed that you, too, are already shielding your thoughts from me." Yaten Number Two poked her head pack into the main living room. "Not that it does you any good. I know everything about how you think, what you think, and why you think it. I am you." She ducked her head back into the kitchenette. "So," Yaten mused aloud, "If you're me, and you're the one who set up the psychic barriers, then I'm really the one who set up the psychic barriers, so if I concentrate hard enough, I should be able to crack my own code and break through them . . . " "That's true, you could. But if you called the other Sailor Senshi to come help you, I'm afraid that our conversation would be cut horribly short. In fact, we might not get a chance to converse at all. And I know that you don't want that. Because *I* don't want that, and I'm you. Besides, you must be dying of curiosity right now, aren't you?" "All right. I'll play your little game. I appears that it will be amusing, anyway." "Very amusing. If there's one thing that I know about myself, it's that I'm a thoroughly engaging and charming conversationalist." Yaten Number Two finished stirring her tea, and brought her teacup into the living room. She sat on the couch next to Yaten and sipped daintily. When she was finished, she sat the teacup down on a nearby coffee table, folded her hands in her lap, and began speaking. "I have some questions to ask you." "I have some questions to ask you, too." "Yes, but it's polite to let your guests go first." "Fine. Fire away." "All right, then. What is your name?" "Kou Yaten. The same as yours, moron." "I don't appreciate being insulted." Yaten Number Two glared coldly, but continued. "Your age?" "Seventeen. But you're supposed to know that already." "And your occupation?" "Sailor Senshi, serving the Queen of Kinmokusei." "That's a full-time job, isn't it?" "Well, yes." "And do you have any hobbies? What do you do in your free time?" "I paint and take photographs." Yaten rolled her eyes. "Really, I think that the questions I want to ask you are far more important than--" "Shut up." "Excuse me?!" "I said shut up." And suddenly, something behind Yaten Number Two's eyes shifted, seemed to blur and melt, and the stunning emerald irises suddenly turned cold, black, and empty. But only for a moment. And then Yaten Number Two was glaring hatefully again, but with her normal green eyes, at least. The blank void of her Presence chilled Yaten to the core. Yaten realized that she didn't know what type of enemy she was dealing with, but that she was probably very, very dangerous. She would have to exercise caution. At the moment, it might be better to comply with the strange creature's wishes. Yaten Number Two glared for a moment longer, then resumed her inquisition. "You have two partners among the Sailor Senshi, right?" "Three, if you count the Queen." "But really two just like you." "Yes." "And they are . . . ?" "Fighter and Maker. You know, Seiya and Taiki." "Fighter and Maker." Yaten Number Two laughed derisively. "Do you know what I really think of them?" She smiled, cruelly. "Do you know what *you* really think of them?" Now it was Yaten's turn to glare. "What?" "Fighter. Fighter is such a moron, she never knows where to go without someone telling her where, she never knows what do without someone giving her explicit orders, and she never knows how to do it unless somebody is there to explain everything for her, step by careful step. And when she does try to make decisions on her own, they always end up disastrously. She's pathetic. She's so dumb, and so desperate for love and affection, and so needy and clingy. And Maker! What a monstrous, dull, cold, dried-up husk of a woman. So hell-bent on keeping herself away from love, and away from affection, that she isolates herself from human contact at every available opportunity. She's a joke as a Senshi, and a joke as a person, too. And she's never been your friend, no matter what you may think. If your IQ isn't in the genius level, then you're just not good enough for her, and never will be. Not that she ever wanted to be your friend in the first place." "That's not true!" Yaten's jaw clenched with anger. "Anybody can see that none of that is true!" "It doesn't matter whether it's true or not," Yaten Number Two explained slowly. "What matters is that you believe that all of it is true." "I most certainly do not!" "Don't lie to yourself, Yaten. Remember, I am you. I know all of your innermost thoughts and feelings, even the ones that are so secret that you keep them hidden from yourself. But really, in the end, who can blame you? I mean, you ARE the most beautiful of the Senshi, you're the most powerful and the strongest, you are--" "I do NOT think those horrible things!" Suddenly Yaten Number Two lunged forward, throwing herself on top of Yaten, pushing her down into the couch, until both of them were lying down horizontally, with Yaten Number Two on top, gently encircling Yaten's slender neck with her hands. Her hands applied just the tiniest amount of pressure, not enough to really affect Yaten's breathing at all, but enough to let her know that, if she displeased her interrogator again, the consequences could be fatal. Yaten Number Two lowered her face to Yaten's, breathing softly, her eyes flat and menacing, her silvery bangs falling over her face and brushing against Yaten's cheeks. "I thought I told you not to be so rude," she whispered, the brush of her warm breath sending shivers down Yaten's spine. "Well, it's not nice to tell lies about people," Yaten replied, careful not to be insulting or impertinent, but calm and collected, nevertheless. She didn't want to anger the monster that was only seconds away from snapping her neck in two; however, she also refused to show her growing fear. "But I'm not lying." Yaten Number Two's eyes softened, her hands relaxed, and her body shifted its weight slightly. Suddenly, her entire mood was different. No longer ready to kill at a moment's notice, she seemed almost playful, relaxed. Her left hand slid up Yaten's neck, tracing her jaw line with the smooth tips of her fingers, letting them dance across Yaten's cheek, finally bringing them to rest on Yaten's lips, a halfway erotic gesture that might have been interpreted as a gentle command to keep silent. "You see, with the combination of your unique mental abilities, as well as your Senshi powers, not to mention your natural charm and charisma, and your effortless ability to persuade others to obey your wishes and your commands . . . Nothing, nobody can compare to you. In fact, the other Senshi just hinder you, don't they?" Speaking around Yaten Number Two's fingers, Yaten whispered, "What about the Queen?" "What Queen? That woman that you call Kakyuu?" Yaten Number Two sneered contemptuously. "Pathetic. Weak. She couldn't even stand up to Galaxia, could she? No, she had to depend on a lowly moon princess from halfway across the galaxy to save what little portion of this planet's population was left to save! That woman is so weak, she's always depending upon others to save her, to protect her, to fight for her. That's why she's clinging so tightly to that moronic Senshi friend of yours, Fighter. Because Fighter is too dumb to see through her ruse, and the Queen is too weak to protect herself without the help of a Senshi." "How do you know about that?!" "Because you know about it, and I am you, so I know everything that you know." Yaten Number Two slid her fingers away from Yaten's lips, back down her neck, across her collarbone, slowly, languorously, with an almost feline seductiveness in her glimmering emerald eyes and sly, knowing smile. Her other hand began moving, too, sliding down along the front of Yaten's chest, until both of her hands finally came together, resting lightly between Yaten's breasts, poised directly over her beating heart. Yaten raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you think you're doing?" "You see, your only real problem is that you don't have your priorities straight." Yaten Number Two's smug little smile was driving Yaten absolutely insane. "Why do you serve such a pathetic, weak Queen? Why do you devote yourself to this planet full of fools and weaklings?" "She's not pathetic or weak! And I serve her because I love her!" "Love?" Yaten Number Two twisted her lip contemptuously. "Is that why the Sailor Senshi continue to resist our rule? All because of that silly emotion?" " 'Our rule'? Who are you?" "I ask the questions, remember? Anyway, I think that we've finally come to the heart of the matter, haven't we? Love. How vain and petty of you, to throw away your life in defense of *love.* Do you think that it makes you noble? Do you think that it makes you heroic? Do you think that it makes you a good person? I'll tell you the truth, then. It makes you weak. Weak, close-minded, and blind to your true potential. Love is a weakness that your enemies can exploit, Healer. Just look at what happened to Maker last night." "But you said that Taiki couldn't feel love," Yaten pointed out bluntly. Yaten Number Two's eyes flashed black for a second time, then returned to their normal color. Apparently, she didn't like having the flaws in her logic pointed out. Yaten made a mental note to be more careful next time. Yaten Number Two continued with her speech, refusing to acknowledge the interruption. "Love is an imperfection, a flaw, for it only causes grief and despair to the people that you're supposed to be protecting. And what of this other Senshi, that twit from the Sol system, Venus? She is the embodiment of all that is wrong with you and your way of life. Spreading love like a plague across the galaxy, leaving nothing but broken hearts and bleeding souls in her wake. "This is where my Master comes in. My Master can save this world, you know. Rid it of that sickening, revolting, horrible thing called 'love.' My Master can do it without your help, make no mistake about that. But we - My Master and I - we do so want your help, Healer . . . We want this, because, in the end, it's the best choice for you . . . The first step, of course, is to rid *yourself* of all of your weaknesses and your flaws. Let my Master into your heart, and he can cure you of all that. We want you to make the right choice, because you are the strongest, because you are the most beautiful, because you are the one that we want to be a herald in the new age that we will create . . . " Yaten Number Two leaned forward again, whispering into Yaten's face, as her legs slid around Yaten's legs, and her hips thrust erotically against Yaten's hips. "Join us, Healer. Surrender your Sailor Crystal, to the *true* Queen of Kinmoku." Yaten squirmed uncomfortably. "Are you trying to have sex with me, or is this technically just a really bizarre form of masturbation?" "Why would you ever need anybody but yourself? Why would you ever want anybody else to pleasure you?" Yaten Number Two brushed her lips - horribly warm and wet, *alive*, although they shouldn't have been, they still registered as a cold blank dead Presence in Yaten's mind - against Yaten's cheek. "I know you, Kou Yaten. You can't hide anything from me. You're so egotistic and self- centered, that nobody could ever live up to your standards as a lover. But all you need, in the end, is yourself. You don't need your fellow Senshi to fight with you, because you're stronger than all of them. You certainly don't need anybody to love you, because love is the disease, the black pox that disfigures the world; and you don't need anybody else for . . . sensual pleasures. All that you need is yourself." And then, horribly, revoltingly, Yaten Number Two's hands, still positioned between Yaten's breasts and over her heart, began melting, dissolving, sinking into her flesh. A grotesque tingling sensation crawled all over Yaten's chest, and she wanted to scream, because she could see, looking down the length of her body, that Yaten Number Two's fingers had already disappeared through her clothing and were sinking in through her skin, followed by the rest of the hands . . . And, suddenly, only Yaten Number Two's wrists were left protruding from Yaten's chest. "What are you doing?!" Yaten gasped. She could feel those alien hands groping around inside her body, searching, seeking, invading her and making her shiver and sweat all over. "I'm not going to hurt you, don't worry," Yaten Number Two sighed impatiently, a look of intense concentration on her face. "There won't be any blood. You know I can't stand blood. I'm just searching for your Sailor Crystal, that's all." "No, you can't! That's mine!" "Oh, really? Then that makes it mine. What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine." "No, that can't be true." Yaten was snarling now, angry. "Because you're NOT me! You don't understand a single thing about me!" "I understand everything about you. All you need is yourself, and all I need is myself. Abandon the others, and surrender your Sailor Crystal to Malathos. That's all you ever intended to do, isn't it?" "NO, IT ISN'T!" "I don't care for your tone of voice . . . " Yaten Number Two matched Yaten's snarl with a fierce one of her own. "I'd strangle you right now, but at the moment, my hands are otherwise occupied." Suddenly, her eyes widened, and her face shone with gloating triumph. "I found it!" "Oh, no." Yaten sensed something cold and dark closing its invisible fist around the part of her mind that she identified as her Sailor Crystal. "No, no, you can't take it . . . You're not me . . . You were sent by Malathos . . . You can't take it!" "Relax. I'm not going to actually remove it. I don't want you to die, Healer. That would mean my death, as well. I'm just going to . . . adjust it, a little. Pour some of my own essence into it. You see, because I AM you, the Crystal won't resist me, and you will be powerless to stop me. So I would suggest that you stop struggling already, because it will be much quicker and more painless without you fighting me every step of the way. Now, I'll begin. Just relax, will you?" And then, Yaten felt a slight twist in the space inside of her. It was as if the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped twenty degrees. She felt cold all over, and hollow. "Stop it," she gasped. Yaten Number Two's brow furrowed with concentration. "I don't think so. That was only the first step." Her wrists twisted, and somewhere within the more metaphysical inner realms of Yaten's body, invisible hands twisted around her Sailor Crystal. "AGH!" Yaten squeezed her eyes shut, as they burned with an inexplicable sudden pain. The pain flared brightly for a moment, then abated as suddenly as it had come, and when Yaten opened her eyes again, the world appeared in the nightmarish, inverted tones of an undeveloped film negative. Light was darkness, and darkness was light. There were no colors, there were no outlines, there was nothing but layers of shadow upon shadow upon shadow. Her mind whirled with fear and confusion, and Yaten could feel her strength ebbing away. She struggled to sit up, but couldn't. The weight of Yaten Number Two pushing her down was too much. She collapsed back down onto the couch, growing more and more exhausted and terrified by the moment. "What have you done to my eyes?" she moaned. "I've improved upon your eyesight. This is the world, the way that my Master, Malathos, sees it. All of his servants share his eyesight, in order that they may better understand, serve, and please their Master. It really is far superior to your normal eyesight, Healer. Can't you see the difference? Now hold still, I only have a few more adjustments to make." Yaten lay still, helpless and finally unable to move. The *witch* had drained her energy as she had messed around with her Crystal, Yaten groggily realized, and now it was too late for her to do anything about. She felt her consciousness, her awareness, her *self*, beginning to unravel and dissolve. Oblivion. She was being consumed by Yaten Number Two's vacuumous Presence, and soon, she would cease to exist all together, she would be melted into that void, forever and eternally Null, Nothing, No More. No more Yaten. No more Healer. Just something that looked like her and spoke like her and acted like her, but that served Malathos, but that held itself subservient to her greatest enemy. It was becoming more and more difficult to form a coherent thought . . . Yaten thought. She wanted to laugh at that thought, because hey, it was kind of funny. But instead she cried, salty tears leaking from her blank eyes and down her lax face, because she couldn't even control her own body anymore, she was that far gone, and her last vestiges of her *self* had retreated far into the secret corners of her own mind . . . But it wouldn't be long before that, too, melted into nothingness . . . "Oh, are you crying?" Through eyes that she no longer entirely owned, Yaten could see Yaten Number Two's face twisting into a smile of cruel triumph. "Don't worry, Healer. My Master will cure you of pathetic weaknesses such as that." That last thought suddenly seemed awfully, terribly important. With the last of her strength, Yaten grasped at it, turning it over in her head and examining it carefully, pondering its impact on her. That was easy. Yaten Number Two told *lies.* That meant that she was dishonest. Worst, she was dishonest about Yaten's own deepest thoughts and feelings, which made her, in an indirect way, dishonest with herself. Yaten despised insincerity and falsity above all other things; more so in herself than in anyone else. She had lied about love. Yaten felt a strange sense of calmness descend upon her. She guessed this meant that either she was about to die, or she was about to find some mental ammunition to fight back. She decided to pursue her train of thought further. Yes, Yaten Number Two had lied about love. She had said that it was a disease. She had accused Yaten of not needing it. She had said that her closest friends didn't feel it at all, not even toward the people that they claimed they loved. All lies. Within her, Yaten's Sailor Crystal suddenly flared with blinding, brilliant light. Yaten Number Two screamed with pain and outrage, and with a noxious popping sound, ripped her hands free of Yaten's chest. "IMPOSSIBLE!" Yaten's eyes cleared. Her vision returned to normal. Her mind and her soul expanded, filled her flesh once again, growing and feeding off the strength of her own Sailor Crystal. When she found that she could move her head again, she twisted herself semi-upright, resting on the backs of her elbows, and lifted her gaze to meet Yaten Number Two's squarely in her eyes. "You can't invade my Sailor Crystal in the end, can you? Because you're not me. The Crystal rejected you. You never were me, and you never will be me." "How can you be so sure?" Yaten Number Two's voice seethed with more raw hatred that Yaten had ever heard in her life. And yet, Yaten was not frightened. "Because there's just too much about me that you don't understand." "Ha! Like what?!" "I'll show you." Yaten managed to push herself until she was finally sitting upright. Yaten Number Two shrank back toward the far end of the couch, an animalistic expression of fear, hatred, and confusion shimmering in her eyes. Without pause, Yaten reached out and rested the palm of her hand against Yaten Number Two's cheek. Yaten Number Two's flesh was impossibly warm and soft, almost loathsome, underneath Yaten's sensitive hand. But Yaten held her revulsion in check, forced her mind to stay calm and collected, and began to concentrate. Yaten Number Two's eyes widened. "What are you doing?" "I'm going to show you what you don't understand about me." Her mind reached out, searched, sought through the empty void of Yaten Number Two's Presence . . . "NO!" Yaten Number Two squeezed her eyes shut. "No, get out of my head!" "I don't think so," was Yaten's calm reply. Yaten Number Two finally shuddered, gasped, and then slumped forward, relaxed and semi-conscious, her eyes wide and blank. "Are you sure that we can find the Princess on this planet?" Yaten shielded her eyes against the foreign sunlight. A yellow star, like the one back on Kinmoku . . . but foreign, nevertheless. Its aura felt foreign. "Earth is among the last planets that has not yet fallen prey to Galaxia," Taiki reminded them. "If we can't find her here, and if Galaxia attacks this world . . . we may not have anywhere else to run to." "Don't think like that," Seiya admonished. "I mean, look at this place! Look at this city! Tokyo, isn't it great?!" Seiya whirled in a circle, arms sweeping, taking in all of the street, the crowds, the impossibly tall building, the sights and the sounds and the smells of the clear fall day. "I can't wait to start searching. All these beautiful women! She must be around here someplace, she has to be. I feel it in my gut." "But . . . " Yaten frowned, brow wrinkling in concentration, as if trying to understand a strange, difficult concept. "But, Seiya . . . how can you be so optimistic at a time like this?" Seiya grinned, wide and infectious. "As long as we're still together, we can't lose hope, right? And *nothing* is ever going to come between us. I'm sure of it." And then Yaten felt, bursting through her normally tuned down empathic senses, a wave of love and affection so intense that it *had* to be coming from Seiya. Seiya's love was bright and crystal clear, almost childish in its purity, something colorless and soundless but warm to the touch against Yaten's mind. And despite everything, Yaten couldn't help but return the grin. "Right. Right." Tokyo was suddenly full of hopeful new opportunities. "Eus, the archer. He slew the sea dragon and saved Princess Rendora from a horrible death." Yaten pointed to the constellation twinkling in the night sky, relishing the feel of soft grass on her back, the cool breeze blowing in from the faraway ocean brushing across her cheeks, Minako's warm hand holding hers, Minako's body lying beside her own, radiating a faint but perceptible amount of body heat. "It's amazing. You can't see stars like this on Earth. Well, no, scratch that. You probably can see a lot of the same stars, just from a different perspective, forming different patterns." "And over there," Yaten pointed again, "is the Andromeda galaxy. It looks just like a single star, but it's actually billions upon billions of different stars." "Yeah, you can see that from Earth." Yaten felt Minako smiling inwardly, probably at some secret joke that she had yet to share with her. "From Earth, the Andromeda galaxy looks as though it's riding on the back of the constellation Pegasus." Then Minako wrinkled her brow, thoughtfully. "Yaten, you said that your people have Subspace travel. Have you every been . . . ?" "No. Even traveling through Subspace, it takes over two years just to cross this galaxy. And surrounding this galaxy is . . . nothing. Void. Thousands and thousands of light-years of nothingness. Our galaxy is about thirty kiloparsecs across; the distance from here to the Andromeda galaxy is nine hundred kiloparsecs. That's sixty years of uninterrupted travel in Subspace at the top speeds possible, just to reach the outermost regions of Andromeda. Nobody has the technology to embark on that kind of mission. We don't even know if there's enough fuel in the galaxy to burn for a sixty-year Subspace journey. Only one planet that we know of has ever sent an exploratory mission beyond the boundaries of this galaxy. Their target was Andromeda. Unfortunately, they disappeared into Subspace, and were never heard from again. Since then, nobody from our galaxy has ever attempted to repeat such a mission." "So, then. The rest of the universe is as much a mystery to you as it is a mystery to me." "Yeah." Yaten closed her eyes. "There are billions upon billions of galaxies in the universe, Minako. And it might be the case that more and more are being created every day. I wonder if there are Sailor Senshi in other galaxies . . . " "I wonder if other aliens look like we do," Minako pondered. "I wonder if they can see our galaxy from their planets." "I wonder if they're lying on their backs, looking up at the stars right now, and wondering about us." "Ne, Minako-chan . . ." "What?" "Do you . . . get scared . . . when you think about that stuff? I mean, doesn't it make you feel small and insignificant?" Minako laughed then, a light, joyful, trilling sound that in its own small way defied the vastness of the cosmos above them. She leaned over gently, grass rustling underneath her shifting body, and kissed Yaten on the cheek. "As long as there are people who love me, I know that I'll never be insignificant," she whispered into Yaten's ear. "That's the one thing that being Sailor Venus has taught me. Love is stronger than time, or space, or the distances that separate two people, or the physical laws of nature that may conspire to keep them apart. Wouldn't you agree?" "Mmmmm." Yaten sighed as Minako rested her head on her chest. "I know, Minako-chan. You and I should know that better than anybody." Kakyuu handed Yaten a rose. "For you, because I know you like them. And here, give this one to Taiki. It was her idea to bring the bulbs back from Earth, anyway." Yaten accepted the roses gingerly, careful not to prick her fingers on their thorns. Kakyuu bent down over the rosebushes again, trimming them cheerfully, her hair swept back from her face with a silken scarf, her hands protected in thick gloves embroidered with the royal seal, and her cheeks glowing scarlet from overexposure to the afternoon sun. Yaten wiped delicate beads of sweat away from her brow. "How can you stand it out here? It's so hot out. And humid. Nasty, if you ask me." "Then what were *you* doing taking a walk through the gardens?" "Ah . . . I enjoy the flowers, I guess. By why do you insist on working so hard out here in this weather?" "Well, somebody has to tend to this garden every day, or there won't be anymore flowers for you to enjoy." "The servants will do it for you." "I know. But it feels good when I can do it myself. I like doing it, and it's relaxing. It helps me unwind and think." She paused, examining a rose that she held in her hand thoughtfully. "It's strange, isn't it? Even the most beautiful blossoms have prickly thorns. Why do they grow that way? Is it because they need protection? Is it because they need to fend off predators, to save themselves from being picked by children, or to prevent themselves from being devoured by insects?" "What, thorns?" "We all have our thorns, Yaten. Mannerisms that we adopt to prevent other people from becoming close to us, to keep ourselves from loving too much, to keep our hearts safe from pain and sorrow. Some people just have more thorns, or sharper thorns, than others. But when we finally do learn to love a person, we can accept them for who they are, even if we don't understand everything about them." She smiled to herself, softly. "I suppose I'll never understand how some people can be so contrary and quanderous. But that doesn't matter, because I love them all the same." "And I suppose that I'll never understand how some people can enjoy tedious back-breaking outdoor labor so much," Yaten replied airily, her eyes twinkling mischievously, "but that doesn't matter, because I love them all the same." Kakyuu chuckled low in her throat. "You never seem to be able to keep your thorns while you're around me, Yaten. Why is that?" Yaten shrugged, grinning. "Hey, you know me. I just can't resist a pair of pretty eyes." The two laughed softly in the midst of the sunlit garden. Yaten Number Two's head jerked swiftly upward, and her eyes cleared. Then, slowly, they narrowed into a glare that absolutely seethed of pure hatred. "That's not me," she snarled ferociously. "None of that is me!" "Exactly." Yaten withdrew her hand from Yaten Number Two's hot, pulsing cheek. "Because you're not me, and I'm not you. Everything that you stand for is superficial. An act. You're my thorns, you see. You're the part of me that only goes skin-deep. Do you understand?" "NO!" Yaten Number Two hooked her finely manicured fingers into tight claws. "I'll KILL you before I'll listen to lies like that!!" She suddenly lunged forward-- --only to stop herself a moment later, her hands flying to her head, her face contorting with pain, screaming "AAAAARGHH!!!!" as her nails dug into her scalp and drew out thin streams of blood and loose strands of silvery hair. Yaten quickly hopped off the couch and retreated toward the other side of the room, where she paused, facing the creature that was now clawing at her face and screaming in pain, wondering with mild curiosity (and more than slight fear) what on Kinmoku was happening to her enemy. "YOU BITCH!" Yaten Number Two screamed. "What did you do to me?! What did you do to me?!?! IT HURTS!!!" "I don't know," Yaten answered truthfully. She noticed, with dismay, that Yaten Number Two's scratches were starting to bleed, and that droplets of crimson blood were spattering all over her newly upholstered couch. Drat. "AAARGH! It HURTS . . . It feels like . . . my head . . . " Yaten Number Two gasped for breath, clutching her head and shaking it back and forth desperately. "It feels like my head . . . is going . . . to explode . . ." "But that would make a terrible mess," Yaten protested. Yaten Number Two moaned with pain and clutched her head tightly, curling herself into an almost fetal position, trembling and panting, shrinking back into herself as she shivered on the couch. Then, slowly, painfully, her breathing leveled. She lowered her hands away from the sides of her head. Her shuddering stopped. She began to pull herself upright, carefully, working her back until it was no longer curled around itself. She fixed her fearful eyes back on Yaten, gulped once, and licked her lips. "It's gone, now," she said, "whatever it was. I feel much better now." She smiled wanly. And then her head exploded. With a dramatic BANG! Yaten Number Two's head burst and splattered all over the couch, the coffee table, the ceiling, the carpet, the piano in the back of the room, the windows, and the walls. Brain and blood and bits of scalp, some still trailing silvery hairs, clung in oozing gobs to any surface available. And then Yaten Number Two's body, twitching spastically and ending in a bloody stump at her neck, finally fell backward across the couch, and lay still. Yaten wiped a splatter of gore off her forehead with a shaking hand. Yaten stood still for a moment, searching her mind for answers. When none could be found, she sighed with resignation, and tread gingerly across the squishy, blood-stained carpet toward the telephone. She picked up the phone, and began to dial for an inside line. It didn't bother her that there was blood and brain matter smeared across the receiver. It didn't matter, anyhow - the same horrible stuff was all over her hair and skin and clothing, anyway. She listened for a ring, and then right on cue, Seiya picked up the phone. "Hello?" "Seiya, grab a mop and a bucket and meet me in my apartment as soon as possible." "Yaten, is that you?" "Yes. Who did you think it was? Oh, and could you tell Taiki the same on your way out?" "Um, she's right here with me. Look, I was just about to call you. The Knights did some more research on that Malathos thing. We think we might have found a way to defeat it." "Good." Yaten pressed her fingers to her temples, fighting a rising headache. "That's good to hear. Because, you see, I seem to have just witnessed a rather interesting new development in the whole affair. Unfortunately, it exploded all over my living room before I could get any useful information out of it." " . . . " "Seiya, are you still there?" "Yeah." Yaten instantly detected the alarm in Seiya's voice. "Don't worry. Taiki and I will be right over." "Thanks." Yaten hung up the phone, briefly turned to look at the headless corpse sprawled across the couch, and then quickly turned away again. She hugged herself tightly, wincing as her arms squelched against her gore- splattered chest. She didn't realize that there were already tears sliding down her cheeks. - end part ten -