Sahkyo stepped off of an elevator which lead into a small and neatly kept hallway, and while she held a small piece of paper in her hand - crumpled from overuse. She turned to the right and walked all the way to the end, her mismatched eyes darted from the paper to the numbers on the doors. Of course this took her a little longer because she was foreign, and to decipher the language after all this time of not speaking it was still proving to be tricky for her. Even Sahkyo herself would admit that she’s not the brightest bulb in the bunch…

And that’s putting it lightly.

She finally arrived to the last door in the hallway, and she must’ve checked about a dozen times that she was at the right door, or even in the right building altogether. Sahkyo couldn’t remember a time that she was more nervous.

She finally gathered up her nervousness and rapped her knuckles on the door a few times, so nervous in fact that she didn’t know if she made a noise at all. She was going to knock again when the door opened, and Meian answered the door.

The two stood there, looking at each other for a few seconds, before Meian quickly broke the tension.

“May I help you?” Meian asked, as she encouraged the stranger to speak up if she’s selling anything or shove a new religion down her throat, also nervous as to how the obvious foreigner stared at her.

“M…. Meian. It’s me.” Sahkyo said, a little surprised that her old friend didn’t recognise her.

“I’m sorry?” Meian asked, obviously not having the best memory for faces.

“Don’t you remember? In Kitami, up north. It’s Sahkyo, Meian, you have to remember me!” Sahkyo almost begged, then heard a voice from down the hall of her apartment.

“Meian, is there a problem?” The female voice asked, who was getting a little curious as to who this person was.

“No, Kaya,” Meian said, then turned again to Sahkyo. “I remember you… You said that you would keep in touch. And you didn’t. Do you know how much you hurt me? What happened?”

“Let me please just explain myself.” Sahkyo offered, as she tried to get on Meian’s good side again.

“You might as well come in. I can’t stand long, my legs still hurt from last night’s Taiko performance.” Meian nearly muttered, when she stood aside so Sahkyo could come in and take her coat off.



As they sat at the kitchen table, Meian and Sahkyo had been nursing cups of tea as they discussed events of the past. Meian still was a little unconvinced, but she was a little less angry than she was before.

“I’m sorry about your Mother. I couldn’t imagine losing mine.” Meian said, as she once again took a sip of her tea.

“Do you forgive me?” Sahkyo asked, just wanting her to say something comforting so she could get this off of her conscious.

“You were the first one to hurt me, Sahkyo. I don’t know.” Meian confessed. “Just talking about it brings up bad memories of that time. I’m sure it does for you, too. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.”

“I understand.” Sahkyo said, looking down. Meian then looked at her with a lot of interest, which made Sahkyo very self-conscious. “What?”

“Why do you only wear one contact?” Meian asked, as she referred to her one blue eye.

“It’s not exactly like that, Meian,” Sahkyo said as she took out a wet nappy to clean her hand first, then she lowered her head again, and the next thing Meian knows, Sahkyo’s eye was now in her hand, leaving an empty socket, of which a little could be seen, since her eyelid was opened a little. Of which Meian hoped was unintentional.

“That…. Has to be the freakiest thing I’ve seen this year.”



The two talked for about ten more minutes before Sahkyo had to get going. She left very quickly, and left Meian with one of her business cards, and wrote her home phone number in case she needed to get in touch with her in the future. She wanted to give their friendship at least another shot. Sahkyo stood outside the door for a few seconds, almost crying at what happened. She had seen her friend again after all these years.

But it hadn’t been she was expecting. The hail Mary was that Meian would just open up her arms and be grateful that she was back, and that they would be friends again just as they were all those years ago. But it wasn’t. Sahkyo could never go home again. Meian had new friends, a new life - She was a different person than who she knew. Sahkyo knew it couldn’t be completely her fault that she was this way, but Meian held onto that memory of being left behind very close to her.

At least this time, she’d try to make it up to her.



That night, Naru, Usagi and Hotaru sat atop the Osa-p store, Naru of course obtained the keys to the store from her Mother’s coat jacket when she wasn‘t looking. The three girls have been here for about an hour, the temperature at night not enough to freeze them to death, so they’re warm enough in their jackets. The girls discussed basically anything, except of course for what was related to senshi matters. Those matters could wait a little while. Besides, they were around civilian ears.

After a pretty corny joke from Naru, the other two laughed in politeness, and Hotaru decided then to let her thoughts known.

“Thanks guys, for doing this. I’ve been spending so much time with Haruka and Michiru, it can get a little boring!” Hotaru said, patting Usagi on the arm. She then leaned back and let herself fall to lay back and watch the stars. “To tell you the truth…. I’m kind of lonely without Chibiusa.”

“Why’s that, Hotaru?” Usagi asked, laying down next to her so she wouldn’t feel disjointed from the conversation.

“She was the only one in our group my age… and…. I guess just simply that she was the best friend that I always wanted. And she just left.” Hotaru said, sighing after a second. “But it’s better now, that I can talk to you, Usagi.”

“Because Usagi is Chibiusa’s cousin?” Naru said, after not saying much for a while.

“That’s right.” Hotaru affirmed, and then kicked herself mentally for almost letting something slip in front of a non-senshi. Keep it together, Hotaru. “They’re just so alike. So when I talk to Usagi and close my eyes, I swear that it’s Chibiusa.”

“Well you know that you can talk to me anytime. At least until Chibiusa comes back.” Usagi hoped, but doubted internally that Chibiusa would ever come back from the future. Crystal Tokyo is a haven. It was for certain that it would be created, but a little curious as to when it will be constructed. That part she was shady about even from all the times it was discussed. Which frankly, worried her a bit.

“Thank you.”



The long and scorching summer months were finally over, and it was now last call for a small hiking season. The leaves were still on the trees and unchanged from their summer pigment, and would fall in less than a week when October would arrive. The scent of winter in the cooling breeze would soon be on it’s way, the pleasant prelude to the frozen months of the year.

A small group of hikers made their way through the woods, appreciated the nature around them and took pictures of various things as they walked the trail. It was about an hour into their hike, and so they took a break for about thirty minutes, as even the most experienced hiker needed a break once in a while. This particular group of friends have known each other only until recently, as they met through school, judging by their age.

The afternoon pressed on, and it would be night soon. They packed up their things and started along the trail again, following the signs to the nearest way out of the woods. As they walked through, they constantly heard a rustle of the leaves in the trees above them, so they started to walk just a little faster to get out of there. But as they walked, they noticed that they were going in a different direction than what they expected, and not back to their cars at all.

Someone had switched the signs.

“We’re lost.”
“Doesn’t anyone carry a compass?”
“I’m missing ‘The X-Files!’”


The worried voices of the hikers rose up into the air and thusly to the treetops, where a shadowed figure swooped down, a long cast iron rod in hand, and the sounds of a literal slaughter replaced the voices of the hikers. And the worst part is… no one was around to hear it.



As the sun rose the next morning, the area was crawling with police officers and investigators, tipped off that there was a murder here by a man jogging early with his dog. The dog picked up a whiff of the scent, and it went from there. Thousands of conversations were going on at once, and the place was alive with sounds; clicks and flashes of light from the cameras, and so on.

If they only knew however, that the perpetrator was still up in the ceiling of the woods, the staff dripping with blood, held in the crooked hand of a senshi. If one would listen carefully, you would hear the animalistic breathing and trembling wracking her body. She kept an eye on the police for the rest of the day, waiting for them to discover the entrails thrown up into the branches, it too, dripping with fresh blood.

“Oh god!”

There we go.

The senshi was then on nowhere to be seen.



On a lazy weekend afternoon, Haruka and Michiru had a little time to themselves, as Hotaru was out of the house for about an hour or so. The two sat on each end of their sofa in the living room, Haruka with her feet up on the coffee table, and Michiru with her legs crossed, as the elegant lady should.

After a good time with complete silence, Haruka started tapping her fingers on the back of her hardcover book, and Michiru kept on looking to her right, towards the apparently agitated Haruka.

“I know what’s bothering you.” Michiru spoke up, after the tapping just about drove her insane. And not in the good way. The tapping stopped. “The seas are restless… and the winds are disturbed. Haruka…”

“I don’t like it one bit.” Haruka snapped back, almost seeming like she blamed Michiru for it. She did seem really agitated and jumpy during these last few hours…

“At least this would explain your foul mood.” Michiru reasoned, getting back to her book. Haruka stood up, and nearly swatted the book out of Michiru’s hands. This didn’t go over well with Michiru, as she stood up and met Haruka’s eyes.

“Michiru, stop! You can feel it too. Bad shit is happening, I just know it.” Haruka said angrily, but calmed after a moment. “Whatever effects the wind also effects the ocean, and whatever effects one element effects them all, so please don’t joke around about this.”

“I know.” Michiru paused. “I haven’t sensed something this frightening in a long time. Usually Setsuna would be able to tell us what is going on, but as long as she has the Time Door sealed, there’s nothing we can do. If this is the senshi Sailor Syrin we’re sensing, I can’t be sure for our safety.”

“Until then…. We just need to be on guard at all times. Especially for the sake of the Princess. We can’t take any chances.” Haruka responded, but then something else came to mind. “Most importantly. Around Priestess Yoki. I trust her as far as you can throw her. Not until we know for sure what her story is, and the only one who would know that is Setsuna!”

Michiru walked up slowly to her partner, and turned her around slightly to embrace her, and rested her head on Haruka’s chest.

“Try to relax, my love. There’s nothing we can do but wait.” Michiru said, immediately after, Haruka returned her embrace.

It was a good long while until any other spoke, just trying to be in the moment, just in case their worst fear would become a reality.

“What if she’s in trouble?” Michiru asked, which broke the sweet silence.

“Mm?”

“Setsuna. What if she’s in trouble?” Michiru repeated.

“Hm. She would be able to find a way to tell us. I can’t say I’m not worried about it though.” Haruka responded.

“This all happened when Miss Yoki arrived. I think I might have to have a word with her.”

“Go easy on her.” Haruka chuckled.

“Not on your life.”

* * *

Chapter Ten