. . . It's not the end of the world, but it's dusk. Gabriel Zaid, "Sundial" _______________________________________________________________________ Kinmokusei Story Chapter Seventeen: Distance by Kotetsu _______________________________________________________________________ Hideaki paced back and forth across the bedroom of his own small apartment, muttering to himself, riding the familiar roller coaster of emotions that he had suffered through virtually non-stop over the past few days, trying to ignore the thumping of his own heart in his chest. He remembered the way that Taiki had held him in bed on that distant morning that felt so long ago, the way that she had kissed him and they had confessed their love for each other yet again - joy! euphoria! blissful happiness soared in his heart. And then, he remember the way that she had flinched away from his touch a night later, the momentary cringe, the flat look of fear in her eyes - he felt his heart sink like a stone in his chest. She hadn't been very forthcoming on the Subspace phone in the days since then, which maddened Hideaki, because he wanted to know exactly how she was feeling, how she was coping, if there was anything that he could do for her-- "One more day," he muttered to himself, pacing tirelessly. "She'll be back tomorrow morning." The one thing Taiki *had* admitted to him over the phone was that she had confessed the truth to Seiya and Yaten. But other than that, she hadn't really divulged any more details. This, more than anything, had made Hideaki optimistic and hopeful. He still didn't understand much about Yaten or Seiya, but he understood that there was a very deep, strong bond between Taiki and the other two, and that if she needed any comfort or support, they would provide it for her . . . He paused, turned, stared at the slightly faded spot on his wall where he had once mounted a mirror. The mirror, of course, was currently lying face-down at the bottom of his storage closet, actually sealed away behind lock and key. Well, a little paranoia never hurt anybody. His fingers itched for his guitar. But no, not now, he didn't have the time. Hideaki glanced at his watch, and sighed. It was almost time for him to make his appointment. He should leave as soon as possible; but he didn't want to go, the waiting was killing him but the going would be worse, his stomach was all twisted and knotted, his heart was thumping in his chest. If being trapped underneath a dark staircase with Kou Yaten had been bad, then this, surely, would be a thousand times worse . . . The invitation had arrived yesterday morning. Signed and sealed by the Queen herself. A "private tea," it had said. Very private, Hideaki predicted. He wondered if he would actually be able to calm down his stomach enough to drink any tea. He wondered if Queen Kakyuu was really as nice or as gentle as everybody said she was. Hideaki thought, with more than a small measure of self- satisfying awe. Hideaki blushed guiltily at his own thought. After all that Taiki had just been through, he felt as he were doing something very evil every time he thought about . . . *that*. He remembered, again, the way that she had flinched away from his touch. Hideaki sighed and glanced at his watch. "I'd best be going now," he announced to his empty apartment. He left, locking the door behind him. He made his way through the residential wings of the palace. He was nervous, a bit jumpy. It was evening now, and the sky behind the glass windows that he passed was beginning to darken. He stayed in the well-lighted areas; he went out of his way to keep walking amongst at least a thin group of people. The walk was long. The palace was big, after all, as big as a small city. But it felt good to stretch out his legs a bit, so Hideaki didn't mind. Finally, he reached his destination. He showed his invitation to the intimidating guards posted outside the doors; they accepted it, and opened the doors for him. He went down a short hallway and through another checkpoint, scanned by a metal detector and yes, lurking in the shadows, an empathic Knight; past more guards, and finally, through another set of doors. A Knight met him, and led him through the outer rooms of the Queen's home, past the elaborate parlors and hallways and sitting rooms, through velvet-roped sections that were sometimes open to tourists during the day, not speaking, simply gesturing him to follow or turn or hurry up with impatient motions of her hand. Hideaki walked behind her, silent, obedient, willing himself not to gawk at his opulent surroundings like some sort of ignorant rural visitor. She led him straight into what appeared to be one of the smallest rooms in the entire complex. "This is her private parlor," the Knight explained, a bit curtly. "The Queen is waiting for you within." Hideaki gulped, and stepped through the door. The Knight closed it behind him. And there was the Queen of Kinmoku, resplendent in her royal robes, sitting calmly at a small table set with tea and cookies. He stared at her like an idiot. He thought, absurdly, Well, everything, to be honest. The Queen smiled at him. "Please. Sit down. Make yourself comfortable." Hideaki sat down across from her. He stared at the tablecloth, afraid to meet her eyes. It was impolite for him to look into her eyes unless she gave him explicit permission to do so; although Hideaki felt stupid staring at the tablecloth, he dared not violate one of the oldest rules of etiquette concerning proper behavior around royalty. Hideaki wasn't exactly sure *what* his social ranking was anymore, but for the moment, it seemed safer to default to the status of a commoner. She said nothing. He sensed her staring at him, waiting, expectantly. Was he supposed to initiate the conversation? Hideaki didn't know what to say. He glanced at his surroundings, and finally thought up a halfway intelligent comment. "This room is a lot less fancy than everything else you've got out there," he said, realizing how stupid it sounded only after the words had left his mouth. The Queen smiled at him, almost bemused. "I prefer it not to be so fancy," she said. "The outer rooms are mostly for show, anyway. For the tourists, or for foreign guests, or for political functions. I can't *live* in those rooms . . . I only work in those rooms. Or display myself. However you choose to phrase it." "Taiki, too . . . Her quarters are very small, very plain, compared to this." "All three of them chose homes that were designed like that." The Queen sipped her tea. "The only reason that they're even staying within the royal palace is because they want to stay close to me. But sometimes I sense that all of them, even Seiya, sometimes wish for more privacy. It's very public here, with all of the politicians, and the reporters, and the press, and the media, always coming and going. I don't think that they like it. But at least the paparazzi are respectful, and not too intruding . . . " She paused, glancing at him thoughtfully. "Mister Hideaki, have you ever found yourself to be the focus of a planetary media spotlight before?" "Er . . . no. I can't say that I have." "Well, you might be about to." Her thoughtful gaze almost bored into him. "You *are* going to marry her, aren't you?" Hideaki started for a moment, finally glancing up, staring at her, his nervous mind frantically leaping to catch up to the dozen or so implied links and allusions that she had just packed into her last question. Finally, he realized just exactly what - who - the Queen was talking about. "Yes, I want to . . . if she'll have me." He quickly lowered his gaze again, realizing with a mental wince that he did not yet have permission to look at her face. The Queen's eyes became sad, wistful. "We're all too young to be thinking about this, aren't we? Me, only eighteen years old, and you and Taiki merely seventeen years for both of you . . . I think, sometimes, when I look at those three, that they've prematurely matured, that the events of the past two years have somehow forced them into becoming adults before they were supposed to. Senshi tend to lose their innocence very early in life, you know." Hideaki sensed the double meaning behind her statement, and he blushed. "I-I-I'd feel bad if I married her right away," Hideaki stammered. "We only just met a month or two ago." "Infatuation does tend to make these things move faster, doesn't it?" the Queen asked, pointedly. Hideaki couldn't tell whether it was a rhetorical question or not. "Yes," he answered anyway. "I called you here because I wanted to . . . I don't know, examine you," the Queen explained, somewhat bluntly, but not unkindly. "It used to take Taiki quite a long time to open up her heart to anybody. Seeing her give herself to you so completely, and in such a short time, quite honestly shocked me to the core, if you don't mind me saying so. I know that she must have seen something special, something . . . shining . . . within you. Something that called out to her. I hoped that I could see for myself what it was. But now, I'm resigned to the fact that I can't. I sense something unusual within you, mister Hideaki, something very unique, something very . . . *good*, I guess, is the word that I'm looking for. But I can't for the life of me describe what it is or even exactly what it feels like. I think, perhaps, that this is something meant for her and for her alone. Something that only she can see and feel and name. I'm sorry, am I making you uncomfortable? These are very raw words, I imagine that they must be difficult to listen to. Do drink some tea, it will make you feel better." Hideaki fiddled with his teacup. "No . . . It all makes sense. It makes quite perfect sense, really. It's almost a perfect description of what I feel . . . " He finally gathered up his courage, and raised his eyes to meet the Queen's. Social codes be damned. It would have been cowardly to continue avoiding eye contact. "When I first met her, something within her just *called out* to me. It was just, sort of, the culmination of everything about her - her strength, her beauty, her wisdom, her intelligence, her pain, her loneliness - and I wanted, more than anything, to take her in my arms and hold her tight and kiss away that terrible loneliness. I thought that it wasn't *right* for someone as beautiful and as wonderful as her to feel such pain in her heart. I just . . . I just didn't want her to be lonely anymore." The Queen smiled at him, warmly. "Because of you, she's not lonely anymore." "Really?" "I know it. I sense it. And besides, she told me so herself. Over the Subspace phone, four days ago. She finally told me the truth about what you two went through with Reynard. I asked her how she was dealing with it. She said - and these are her exact words - 'Better than I would be otherwise, I think, because I keep remembering the way that Hideaki told me he loved me the morning afterward.' " The Queen tossed these words out so quickly, so casually, and yet each sentence made a profound, thundering impact against Hideaki's heart. "Really?!" he almost squeaked, not caring how stupid he sounded. "Really." "Oh, my." "Of course," she continued, her eyes twinkling, "I *do* have to give explicit approval to any, ah, liaisons that my Senshi choose to engage in. Not to mention the fact that, before Taiki could ever marry, she would need my official permission. I have to approve of her mate beforehand. After all, your loins will be responsible for fathering the next Maker Crystal." Hideaki's jaw finally dropped. It was just too surreal. He couldn't believe that he was sitting in a parlor with the Queen of Kinmoku, hearing her speak these words to him. "L-L-Loins?" he stuttered. "Don't look so shocked," she chuckled. "Trust me, your contribution to the project will be *nothing* compared to what she'll have to go through." "Ah . . . I hadn't exactly thought that far ahead yet." "Have you read Dr. Cooger's book?" the Queen asked, changing the subject. "Are you prepared to deal with everything that being the husband of a Sailor Senshi entails?" "I've read Dr. Cooger's book, but . . . All the stuff about life spans, is that really true?" "As far as I know, yes." The Queen leaned forward, her voice becoming low and serious. "The four of us are expected to have life spans ranging anywhere from eight hundred to one thousand years. We will stop aging when we reach twenty-two years. That's the normal expectation for a Sailor Senshi, anyway. And the husband of a Sailor Senshi, assuming that the two marry soon enough, will also suffer the same fate." She paused, letting the words sink into him. "Cooger explained it as a phenomenon related directly to the age-defying powers of the Sailor Crystals. He said that the Senshi, who did not want to watch their husbands wither or die before their eyes, were able to use their Crystals to prolong their husbands' lives by focusing their will to project the power of their Crystals upon their mates." Hideaki gulped. "Eight hundred years . . . a thousand years . . . " "It's frightening, isn't it?" "Yes," he whispered softly. "Terrifying." "Good." She leaned back in her seat. "I was hoping you would be frightened. At least that shows that you're mature enough to understand the implications." Hideaki understood the implications, all right. He would live for hundreds upon hundreds of years, watching countless generations of all of his friends and acquaintances age, wither, and die. Everyone that he cared about, everyone surrounding him, his few remaining family members . . . Dust. Rot. Death. They would come into his life, perhaps even touch him deeply, and then leave, just as quickly as they arrived. It was not . . . not a healthy prospect for a social life. To put it mildly. And there was more. After a time, his life energy would become dependent upon the Maker Crystal, much the same way that Taiki was dependant upon it now. And if - and this was a possibility that he shuddered to think about - if Taiki was killed in battle someday, or somehow lost the Crystal, or it was harmed or stolen . . . then they would both die. Together, fated to the same grave. It was romantic in one way, but sick in another way. "There will probably only ever be one child," the Queen continued, casually, "and it will be a girl. There's only a one in two thousand chance that she will have a second child. It's very rare that a Prince or a Sultan ever appears in these bloodlines. And I'm afraid that the child will age very slowly, in order to buffer the time span between successive generations of Sailor Senshi. You could, potentially, be stuck raising a ten-year-old for as long as three or four hundred years. There are other factors to consider, too. You two are expected to keep quiet on the political front, although Taiki may not like that. The Knights and I will do our best to protect your privacy, but regardless, you should be prepared to deal with paparazzi stalkers. And I don't know exactly what your day job is, mister Hideaki - Adella tells me that you're just a loafer - but I wouldn't worry about it much anymore. The Crown will take care of you and your wife, for the entire duration of your lives. Assuming that you choose to not hold a job - many husbands of Sailor Senshi do work, you know. Of course, none of this matters until after you two are officially married. Which, according to Taiki, might not be for a while. Although you two are already romantically linked in the public's eyes, thanks to the spectacle last week. I don't know if you've been keeping up with the tabloids, but there are quite a lot of interesting rumors about you two circulating around." She squinted at him, carefully. "You *are* using protection, aren't you? It would just be an unbearable scandal if she became pregnant out of wedlock." "Yessum," Hideaki murmured, blushing again at the Queen's frank words. <<"That's another thing I don't understand. For someone so forward, you sure do get embarrassed easily.">> Those had been Taiki's words, he remembered. Yes, he had been terribly forward, terribly forthcoming, around her. But now, seated in front of the Queen of Kinmoku, he marveled at the fact that he was scarcely braver than a timid little field mouse. "Mister Hideaki . . . " The Queen's voice grew soft, gentle. "The four of us Senshi are very close to each other. We're like a family. Understand? And . . . I would be very honored . . . if you were to become part of this family, with us." Hideaki raised his eyes to meet hers, again. She smiled at him, encouragingly. He smiled back. Not wanly this time, but boldly, happily. "It would be my pleasure. I take it, then, that I have your approval?" "Of course." "Great. Now I feel like a piece of meat that's passed inspection." "Not an inaccurate metaphor." The Queen laughed gently, to show that she was just teasing him. And, despite himself, Hideaki joined in her gentle laughter. ******************** Reynard watched it all, in the mirror. He didn't think that it was very funny. He was lying on his back, on his bed, Delilah sitting at his side. They both watched the mirror, silently, as it floated above them. They were tired. "Look, she's dismissing him," Delilah pointed out, rather obviously. "That stupid minstrel is going to have to walk all the way back to his apartment, all alone . . . " Reynard groaned. "I don't have the strength to reach out to him. I can't hurt him in any way." "I wish you could," Delilah hissed fiercely. "I wish I could, too." They were both very weak, and very tired. "Try seeing the Senshi again," Delilah suggested. Reynard concentrated. The mirror's surface went milky-white. And, even after several minutes, it still stayed that way. "Nothing," Reynard sighed, exhausted, staring at the mirror as it dissolved above his head. He was simply too drained to maintain it for the time being. "The other three must still be in Subspace." Delilah sighed and lied down beside him, resting a hand on his stomach. Reynard suppressed the urge to shudder at her touch. "Oh, Reynard, will the Master recover soon? I do so want him to bring my Senshi back under my control." "My Queen," Reynard addressed her, catering to her mad illusions as always, "the Master is very weak from his encounter with that wretched girl. As, too, are we. We must lay low, and wait for our energy to return to us." "I know." Delilah made a face. "But I want my Senshi, and my throne, as soon as possible." "We have a small advantage over them. Time passes slightly more quickly in this dimension than it does in theirs." "I know that, Reynard." "My Queen . . . are you so sure that the Master will really hand the throne of Kinmoku over to you?" Reynard felt Delilah freeze. Her body felt cold against his. "Reynard, how dare you ask such a thing! The Master will punish you! He can hear your treacherous thoughts, you idiot!" "Wait a minute, my Queen. Think about it. The Master wants those Sailor Senshi, right? This is all part of his big important Plan, right? But the Master will not tell us what the ultimate goal of the Plan is. He only promises us a Lost world to call our own, in exchange for our subservience. But aren't you suspicious at all? What if he isn't really going to give us what he says he's going to give us? Ever since we've been trying to subvert those Senshi, we've had nothing but trouble. The Master should have known that subverting Sailor Senshi was a dangerous, risky business. He did know all along, didn't he? And he made US do all the work for him. Look, I don't know what his big Plan is, and I don't care anymore. It would be a piece of cake to just kill the Senshi and get it over with, and then the entire planet would be ours for the taking. You and me, Delilah. We could make this a Lost world, you could rule as Queen, you could use your magic to create servants more powerful and more loyal than the Senshi could ever be, and I could just roam freely among the populace, like I've always wanted to do--" "Reynard!" Delilah hissed fiercely. "Stop this at once! I will not allow you to ruin the Master's plans and kill the Senshi!" "But it would be so simple, don't you see? It would solve all of our problems, if those accursed Sailor Senshi were dead." He laughed, but it sounded like an angry laugh. "It's the Master's mad, deluded quest for the Sailor Crystals that has brought us only disaster and defeat. Damn them all! We should destroy them, all three of them!" "Reynard, NO!" Delilah sat up abruptly, almost scrambling away from him across the bed. "Those are MY Sailor Senshi, and I will not let you harm them!" He stared at her. Finally, he grinned and nodded. "You're right, my Queen. What was I thinking? I apologize for my traitorous thoughts. I swear to you, I will never harm the Sailor Senshi. I will bring them to you to make them your servants, as I promised." "Good." Delilah clenched and unclenched her fists. "That's good, Reynard. I'll leave you to your rest, now. Good night." She left him alone, lying across the bed. Reynard stared up at the stone ceiling. No, he didn't feel bad about lying to Delilah, not at all. Once the Sailor Senshi returned to Kinmoku, it would be time for some Wrong Fun, of the violent kind. Reynard wondered, idly, why exactly the Senshi had left in the first place. Was it all because of the link between the brat girl and the Master? Or was it because of something else? Reynard thought, surely, that Malathos must know. But then again, Malathos wasn't exactly going to tell him anytime soon. Reynard sighed and cracked his knuckles. It was time to get down to business. ******************** "Here, here - this is it!" Yaten pointed excitedly, running her finger down the page. "This looks like it could be the one!" She, Minako, Taiki, and Seiya had their heads crammed around the coffee table in the lounge where the book was laid out flat; after two days of studying its pages and translating nonsense chant after nonsense chant, it looked as if they had finally found their goal. "See, this character here . . . " Yaten pointed again. "It's the one that represents the di'Biar bloodline, right?" Taiki flipped through her notes. "Yes," she answered evenly, almost afraid of getting her hopes up too high. Although the book used a system of Japanese kana mostly, there were odd, strange-looking characters that appeared occasionally, ones that they had been forced to translate using contextual or pictorial clues. Minako laid her hand over Yaten's, pressing her fingers down, pulling both hands down along the length of the page. "Senshi, youma, darkness, banished," she breathed, "it's all here. And this character, here - I recognize the radicals, but I don't know what it stands for . . . It's the direct object of 'defeated.' " Seiya squinted at the strange character, and shuddered. "I bet that's our friend Malathos." There was an illustration, on the facing page. Hands, scrawled and scribbled in a circle, overlapping. Seiya wasn't sure what it meant, but she stared at it, fascinated. She gulped. "Okay, Yaten, you're the sort-of expert . . . what exactly do we have to do, now?" "Well, for most sealing spells, you have to be in the immediate physical vicinity of your enemy." "We're going to have to cross over again, you mean," Taiki barely whispered. "Into *his* realm." "I thought that Malathos didn't have a body - Melinda said he was incorporeal - " "You saw what happened at the wedding. He assumes a corporeal body when his energy level is lowered." Yaten nodded to herself, as if agreeing with her own conclusion. "We may have to be prepared to attack him directly first, to achieve that end." She looked up, stared evenly at Taiki. "You're the only one of us that's actually been through the dimensional barrier and back again. You may have to lead us in the crossing." Taiki said nothing, but nodded, calmly. She hoped Yaten wouldn't notice that her hands were trembling in her lap. "And then . . . ?" Seiya prompted. "We recite this spell, here." She wrinkled her brow. "It sounds just like gibberish, in Standard - 'dragon, flower, stone, wall,' you get the idea - but we can still use it to summon and direct enough energy to--" "--Seal that monster away," Seiya finished, a bit morosely. "I wish we could kill it once and for all," Taiki stated, coldly. Then she sighed. "But that's not exactly a viable option, is it? No, I suppose not." The Subspace phone rang, and they all jumped. Seiya rushed over toward the phone. "I'll get it!" she called out, although by that time it was after the fact, she already had her hand around the receiver and was raising it to her ear. "Hello?" "Seiya!! Hi!!! How are you doing?!" Seiya felt a wave of cheerful relief wash over her. Belinda! She had missed her. "I'm doing great, Bel." "I saw what happened on Turan - was it scary?!" "What? Nah, I wasn't scared," Seiya boasted. "Did you get the book?" "Yeah, and guess what - we figured it out! We know how to seal away Malathos." "That's great!" Sensing that the phone call did not concern them, Yaten and Minako stood up in tandem and left the lounge, holding hands, talking quietly amongst themselves. A moment later, Taiki gathered the ancient book up in her arms and followed them. Seiya was left alone in the lounge, obliviously chatting happily away with Belinda. "Hey, Bel, guess what - I'm wearing your good luck socks today!" From the other end of the line, Belinda laughed. "Seiya, when you get back here and all is said and done with that Malathos thing, will you promise me something?" "What?" "Promise me that you'll start up our football practices again." "Of course." Seiya's grin stretched from ear to ear. "I can't wait!" "I can't wait for you to get back here, either. I . . . I miss you." "I miss you too, Bel." "Seiya, I . . . um . . . " "What is it, Bel?" " . . . " "Is something wrong?" "No . . . " "Listen, Belinda. I care about you, you're my friend, and if something's wrong, then you should tell me about it." It was the same spiel that Belinda had given Seiya the night before she had left for Turan. "Nothing's wrong," Belinda assured her quickly. "It's just that . . . I miss you a lot. That's all." She laughed again. "I guess I feel sort of insecure without you around to protect me." She paused for a moment, as if considering something. "No, wait. That's not an accurate way to describe it. I guess what I meant to say was . . . I miss your *shine.* You're like this beautiful, bright, shining light in my life." "Bel . . . really? Do you mean that?" "Yes, I mean it. Oh, no, I bet that sounds stupid and sentimental to you." "No. Not at all." Seiya shook her head vehemently, although she knew that Belinda couldn't see it. "I dunno, it just . . . it means a lot to me, to hear someone say that." "Really?" "Really really." "Yeah. Sometimes I just sort of feel lonely, but then I think about you, and I feel better." "Lonely?" Seiya thought back to the morning of their first (and only) football practice. "But, Bel, I thought that you had lots of friends." "I do. But it's different with you. I just feel like . . . like I *connected* with you, more than I had anybody else before. Remember what you said after football practice that day? You said that we were soul mates." "Maybe we are." Seiya grinned stupidly, happily. "Well, I was hoping to cheer you up." "You always cheer me up, Bel." She giggled. "I'm glad to hear it. But look, I should probably get going now. Felina and I have patrols to do. I don't want Melinda to chew us out again." "It's okay, I understand. I'll see you late tomorrow, hopefully." "I'll be looking forward to it." Belinda hung up her end of the line; a moment later, Seiya followed suit. ******************** "Only one more day," Yaten sighed, resting her head on Minako's soft chest. "And as soon as we land on Kinmoku--" "I have to leave," Minako finished, playfully running her fingers through Yaten's silky hair. "Yaten-chan, don't be so sad. I understand exactly. Were our positions reversed, I would still make the same decision. I'm a soldier, just like you; I know about my duties and my responsibilities." "I'll miss you, though." Yaten's voice was a breathy whisper. She closed her eyes. "Be sure to say hello to Artemis for me when you get back." "I will." Minako lightly rubbed her fingers against the spot where Yaten's ear and jawbone met; Yaten purred low in her throat, and stretched herself out, pressing her head and shoulders against Minako. Minako grinned, feeling the pleasant warm shape of Yaten's face nuzzling against her breasts. She had discovered this spot yesterday, the spot that made Yaten purr when she pleasured it. She was confident that in the future, she would have plenty more opportunities to enjoy Yaten's involuntary feline-like behavior. The two of them cuddled together, for a long time. And around them, their tiny spaceship rocketed through the Subspace realm, racing back toward their home. ******************** Reynard cracked a pair of type A youma eggs, carefully breaking them apart without shattering the shells, and watched their noxious, dark green yolks glop and ooze together into a small bowl. He whisked the mixture briskly, whistling to himself cheerfully as he did so, pondering what special features he would have to bestow upon his new type C youma. "We must have very large claws," he said aloud to himself, "and very sharp fangs. Venom? Yes. Wings? Nah, overdone. Intelligence? Sure, why not. Give it an upper hand in the battle. Magic? Yes, a few abilities. The thick-air spell ought to come in handy." He gathered the rest of the ingredients around him. Ground daimon claws, a vial of snake venom, and a bit of preserved human brain matter that he kept pickled in a jar. He stirred a pinch of this and a dash of that into the mixture. It began to thicken, soften, and form into dough. Reynard knew that Malathos must have been aware of what he was doing. He also knew that Malathos was, at the moment, too weak to do anything about it; thus, he also didn't care. "I'll kill the cursed Senshi," he muttered darkly to himself as he stirred his dough, "kill all three of those troublesome twits!" The dough was becoming thicker and thicker; Reynard had used quite a bit of ground daimon claws as flour, after all. It would ensure that his finished creation had long, sharp, wicked claws of its own. He did so enjoy a good set of claws on a youma. Reynard was quite proud of his advanced domestic skills; not only was he a good cook, but he was a talented interior decorator, as well. And he knew that the stupid royal palace of Kinmoku did need a good re-decorating. He would be sure to order his youma to string out the Senshi's intestines, like holiday garlands, draping them all over the palace. White walls along most of the palace hallways were too bland; a dash or red here and there might liven things up a bit. Heck, he might even cross over into the other dimension to watch the show for himself, instead of just hanging back and watching everything in his mirror. He was particularly fond of the squelching, snapping sound that occurred when annoying little girls had their limbs ripped off. Reynard stopped stirring. He plunged his right hand into the bowl and brought it out oozing with a handful of sticky, dark green dough. Carefully, he set the glop of dough down on his clean working table, and with skilled hands, molded and shaped it into a small, smooth egg. Then he placed the doughy egg onto a steel cookie sheet - one that, believe it or not, he had stolen from a discount outlet store in the Rigel system over four hundred years ago - and slid the cookie sheet into his specially tempered, hexed and cursed oven. He didn't bother with oven mitts. The oven knew that if it burned him, it would be punished accordingly. Satisfied that all was set and done, he closed the oven door, set the timer, and wiped his doughy hands across the front of his robes. "And now, we wait," he said aloud to himself. And suddenly, Reynard realized just how tired and drained he really was. He had poured a great deal of magical energy into that dough; having just recovered from an exhausted state, he was now once again right back where he started. But that was all right. It was all smooth coasting from here on. It required very little exertion on his part to control a type C youma, much less send it over across the dimensional barrier. He supposed, then, that he should take a nap while he waited for his youma egg to finish baking. Thus, Reynard retired to his bed, visions of blood and gore and maiming and killing dancing in his head. - end part seventeen -