After about a week of constant reminding from Hotaru, Haruka finally gave up and took the girl to go fly kites in the park with her surrogate parents, and invited some of the others to go along with them. So, the group for today was Hotaru, Haruka, Michiru, Usagi, Minako and Makoto (all the strong arms there to defend their princess in case Sailor Syrin tried to approach them again). The weather, although getting a little more cold now, it was still a good day to get some fresh air, and to enjoy each other’s company before activities like kite flying wouldn’t be a very good idea.

The group made it through all the other parties as they tried to get their kite into the air, and picked a spot which had a good space - not that the Senshi of Wind would have a hard time getting a simple kite into the air. Haruka didn’t have a problem in fact, and was urged by the others in their groups to help other people in the park who were having trouble. Michiru smiled upon her girlfriend, glad that she had a good distraction from what was going on lately. Or at least, she hoped that she wasn’t dreading on it.



Not too far away from where they were however, a man flew a kite with his daughter, and when lunch was prepared, the girl skipped off to her mother, and left the father to hold the kite, so that when she was done with her meal, they would switch afterwards. After about ten minutes, the man’s stomach started to growl, but not from hunger. He lost grip on the kite and let it fly away - which really upset his daughter - as he cried out from stomach pains. He fell to his knees from the pain, but as his family went to go and see what was wrong, he let out an inhuman roar, struck his family, and turned into a monster quite like the one the waitress turned into that day in the café.

Fully transformed, the monster swiped again at his once-family, and the strangers around him were attacked and started to flee away from it.

Usagi and her group heard the commotion from the other side of the park, ran towards it, and lost their grip on their own kite in the fray. They henshined as they ran, and of course being the fastest of the group, Haruka lived up to her name and arrived there first. Sailor Uranus did however stop right in her tracks as she arrived to the problem, because a senshi was already holding the creature off. This senshi was not Sailor Syrin, or the black skinned senshi, nor the pale-skinned one which visited Sailor Pluto. This senshi wore a mostly tan fuku, and had a pattern of lines which intersected themselves at right angles near the bottom edge of her skirt and the sides of her collar. Another thing to note about that she had no shoes, and was bald. So very bald.

“So who the hell are you?” Sailor Uranus irritatingly asked, who has now had all she could with these strangers who popped up for their own reasons.

The new senshi sent a rain of blade shards about two inches to three inches long, not more than a centimetre wide, hundreds of them came down from the sky, and cut up the monster, hitting a few vital points yet not killing it. That’s where the senshi would come in.

“Hurry and finish it, while it’s weak!” The senshi shouted, afterwards who did a few flips while using the ground as a launching point, to stand beside the senshi. Sailor Moon instructed the group to attack it simultaneously, and through a few tries, were successful, but just barely. The beast exploded in it’s own rain of innards and blood, and left it’s metal collar identical to the one of before on the ground before it too, disintegrated.

“Phew.” The senshi sighed, as she straightened out her skirt. “They’re getting stronger.”

“Come on guys, let’s go.” Sailor Neptune said, putting herself between the stranger and Sailor Moon, and made sure that this one, too, wasn’t out to hurt anyone. Sailors Jupiter and Uranus joined her.

“Hey, what’s with the frosty reception?! I’m here to help, I’m on your side!” The senshi said, a little frustrated. When the other senshi wouldn’t stop walking away, she blurted out; “Alright, leave! Heh. I know more about this enemy than you do, so you can just suck my hawk’s nuts!”

She saw some of the other senshi’s head shake from side to side in disapproval, but they just kept going. A moment later a Hawk from the tree line came to perch on her shoulder.

“Sailor Arcas, I wish you wouldn’t incorporate me into your insults.” The hawk said, this bird obviously being her guardian. Sort of. The senshi scratched his head, then crossed her arms.

“How is Sailor Nzeano, Daedalion? Taking a break to report?” Sailor Arcas asked, and sat down on the ground, Daedalion never moved from his spot on her shoulder, most likely because he dug in his talons into her shoulder all the time.

“She’s resting right now. But I think she’s becoming more aware of what she’s doing.” Daedalion reported what he’s seen so far, as he was charged to keep an eye on the black-skinned Sailor Nzeano while Sailor Arcas tried to keep an eye on Meian a.k.a. Sailor Syrin.

“What about Lady Saeryn’s little servant?” Sailor Arcas asked as she got up again, finished playing with the grass, and also she had to hide in the trees because the crowds were starting to gather. She just stayed behind to make sure the innards of the monster disintegrated enough for them not to have any physical evidence and make this situation worse by getting the media into it. She also didn’t want Sailor Illargia getting to close to Sailor Syrin. If the light of the dead remembered what happened in the past, she would surely take it out on her.

“She’s been staying close to The Kindred, which is what I would do in her situation. On the whole, she’s staying low for now at least.” Daedalion said, going through his little Hawk memory.

“Alright. Go back to Sailor Nzeano and stay with her. If she becomes too dangerous, then you know what to do.” Sailor Arcas said as Daedalion flew into the sky, while he kept close to the relative tree line not to make him a target of anyone with a camera or worse - a weapon. Sailor Arcas then stretched out her arms as she transformed back into her human form - Sahkyo Woods.

< Oh well, might as well be the first to get the story while I’m here… > She thought as she skipped off to call her boss on this great story!




A little later the same day in an indoor farmer’s market northeast of the Juuban district, Ronin and Meian escorted each other there to pick up various things. At least Meian did, however Ronin did drive her there and wanted to help her carry some of her purchases.

As they walked slowly down one of the produce aisles, Ronin spoke up again.

“So uh Meian? How is Zen these days?” Ronin hated feigning interest in that bastard. It seems that Meian could pick up on that, because she looked a little shocked.

“Oh?” Meian asked as she picked up a few vegetables and placed them in a plastic bag, then put it in her basket. “Well he’s doing great actually. He’s doing a lot with the Taiko group, and his apprenticeship. Once he’s done this string of work I think he’ll have more time for me.”

< You’re a fool. > “I’m glad.” Ronin muttered, and shifted the bag he was carrying for her to the other hand. “Oh, I wanted to ask you another thing. How did you get the flu a week ago? You said you were wearing that germ mask.”

“Oh, uh.” Meian muttered something, but never really answered his question, and walked a few paces ahead of him.

“What?” < Is she blushing? > Ronin thought as he dropped the subject. Something happened, alright. It couldn’t have been anything he did, that was for sure. Then again, he didn’t remember much from the time he was really under the flu’s effects.



About an hour later, Meian had most of the things she needed, but the two took their time going through most of the market, and paid for the items as they picked them out. Ronin waited with Meian for Zen to pick her up, and Ronin wanted to make sure that she got to the car safely and to help her with her bags. Never mind that it was raining at the time.

Fifteen minutes later, Zen drove up and Ronin put most of the items into the trunk, and slammed the trunk a little too aggressively. But as Ronin came back to the passenger side as Meian held out the umbrella to him, he pulled her back up again to talk so Zen couldn’t hear them.

“Listen, I… Don’t want you to go with him.” Ronin blurted out honestly, surprised he blurted out so much. “I don’t think… He’s into this whole thing as much as you are.”

“I’ll be fine, Ronin. Just calm down.” Meian said as she rubbed his forearm, and thusly got a smile from her friend.

Zen saw this too.

“Just let her get in the car.” Zen called out irritatingly, his gruff voice in contrast to the other two’s.

Meian leaned down to smile at her boyfriend, then turned back to Ronin.

“I’ll be fine. If you keep worrying, I’m going to have to hurt you. But I’m happy with him. He may be a little rough around the edges, but I’m working on him. Before he would have just pulled me into the car instead of asking.” Meian laughed as she got into the car again, and waved to Ronin as Zen drove her away.




Sahkyo, a few days after the park experience, heard from Meian about what happened to her regarding Minako’s group of friends at the Hikawa Jinja, that she unintentionally ticked off one of her friends, and got some of the stuffing knocked out of her. So, Sahkyo arranged for Meian, Zen, Minako and herself to go to her office ice hockey game, of which was going to be televised on their local news station and time. Sahkyo wanted to show her friends on both sides of this skirmish that neither one of them were bad people, and to hopefully mend some bridges.

The girls quickly got to their seats in the third row from the player’s bench, and settled in. If one were to look around to other places of the stadium, it was about two thirds of the way full, the seats probably taken up by other family members and friends. Things for the group of three were, for the most part, very uncomfortable. Minako was about ready to jump up from her seat and henshin if Meian were to do something unexpected, and Meian on the other hand, was ready to henshin and run. And of course Sahkyo was caught right in the middle, in more ways than one. She was ready to stop Minako from attacking, and was ready to chase down Meian if she ran. See what happens when you try to help?

“So uh, are the snacks okay?” Sahkyo asked, which didn’t help to break the tension between the two. Neither one trusted the other, it was plain to see by anyone.

“Yeah.” “Uh huh.” The curt responses came from the other two, and Sahkyo slumped her shoulders in disappointment. This was going to take a lot of work.

Near the camera situated right next to the ice, diagonally across the area of play to the left of our group, a newswoman started to report, and as the lady spoke, the camera panned around to our group’s area to show all who turned up. The game began not too soon after, and the teams started playing with great enthusiasm.



About an hour into play, the referee made a bad call which regarded to tripping that one of the players tried to do, but of course this player says over and over that he never tried anything like that. The referee called it still as a penalty, and the player didn’t take it too well. The player, angry and with adrenaline surging through his system from the game, tried to strike at the referee, but he was able to protect himself.

And did he.

The rage built rapidly in the referee blew up into a group fight, and the referee shouted at the top of his voice during the whole fray. However the fight itself didn’t last very long, really. The referee now too, transformed into a beast, the change triggered by the fight, and morphed into a monster with massive muscles in his legs. It roared now, striking at all in the area.

And of course, the news camera just recorded the whole thing which was live on the television for the world to see. Or at least, just a good chunk of Tokyo’s populace. That was, until, the monster ran over to it to attack the news reporter, and took out the camera at the same time.

That distraction allowed the group of three to run to an unoccupied part of the rink and to transform. They then jumped over the boards which surrounded the ice, and Sailor Venus addressed everyone;

“Everyone, run! Get out of here as fast as you can!” Not being the crowd to be told twice, the audience filed out as fast as they could.

The monster then neared the senshi at incredible speed, and Sailor Syrin jumped onto the monster. The monster carried her a good few feet before he flung her off to the other side of the rink, and she slammed against the plexiglass, with a loud crack resonating off the walls, rendering her motionless.

“Sailor Syrin!” Sailor Arcas called out, but she herself had no time for concern over the other senshi, as she tried to hold off the beast. Two blades appeared on the armour which covered her hands and extended from them, then used those to slash the beast, and pushed it back further and further to the opposite side of the rink where Sailor Syrin was.

“Hey you! Duck!” a feminine voice sounded from behind her, and Sailor Arcas flipped out of the way, seeing a fireball go by her in the middle of one of her somersaults through the air. She dodged it though, landing hard on the ice.

“Sailor Mars!” Sailor Venus called out, relieved, as she saw Mamoru slide along the ice to the other side where Sailor Syrin was, to see if she still breathed.

“How is she behaving?” Sailor Mars surprisingly asked about their newcomer who was apparently out cold on the ice, opposite to them on the rink.

“Nothing so far. But after she was thrown, I doubt she’ll try to do anything bad.” Sailor Venus said, before she continued. “Want to finish this thing off and go home?”

“I’ll let you go first.” Sailor Mars said as Sailor Venus jumped into the air, and launched her own attack to the beast. She looked over to the oddly dressed and bald Sailor Arcas, and asked; “Who are you?”

“I’m Sailor Arcas.” She said as she held out a hand in an offer to do a friendly handshake. It wasn’t returned.

At the other side of the ice, Mamoru clunked into the wall as he stopped from gliding across the ice after he went over to her to help her in any way that he could. Possible enemy or not, he was concerned.

“Meian?” Mamoru asked, concerned, as she stirred after being knocked out for a clear couple of minutes.

“Mamoru. What are you doing here?” She slurred as she rubbed her head. She was going to feel this in the morning.

“I could ask you the same thing. Are you okay?” Mamoru asked, and took her hand to help her to sit.

“I think I am….”

“Well if you broke anything, you’d be screaming by now.” Mamoru bluntly stated. Meian pulled something out of her jacket then, slightly smushed by just having been lying on it.

“I noticed something was special about this rose when it didn‘t wilt with the others.” Meian said as the petals formed the perfect rosebud shape once again. “And it stayed beautiful and perfect. So I guess I really should have given you back those roses.”

Mamoru grabbed the rose, but before he jumped into the fray, he helped Meian up to her feet, and made sure she wouldn’t fall over again as she held the side of the rink to steady her balance. He then ran a few steps, and half slid, half ran back to the fray. Meian however, couldn’t battle for the rest of the day, and shouldn’t henshin again unless it was dire. She massaged the hand she landed on, which was coincidentally the same arm where her transformation item sat on her wrist and finger. It didn’t seem to be damaged or anything, and still shone with the same brightness that it did before.

The three senshi now with the addition of Tuxedo Kamen had to work together to defeat the beast, which was sorry to say, a little harder to defeat this time compared to the other two they have battled. The monster roared, then part of it exploded while the other parts disappeared as it died, and once again, only left his collar and innards as a reminder that it was there.

“On every one of those we defeat, it leaves that.” Sailor Mars said as she moved the heavy collar with the tip of her high heels.

“I call them the Kindred.” Sailor Arcas chimed from the ring of senshi around where the monster used to stand. They turned to her when she spoke. “I’ve been tracking them for a few months. I call them the Kindred because they all seem to follow the same pattern, and I‘ve heard that name being tossed around, so it was the only logical explanation. They also seem to… not come back.”

“You mean…” Sailor Mars began.

“Yeah. Once they’re killed in their monster form, they die completely. There’s no bringing them back.”




[WillSex4Food has signed on.]

[TaikoGalH8sClowns has signed on.]

[WillSex4Food]: Morning.

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: It’s the afternoon.

[WillSex4Food]: Are you sure?

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: I’m pretty sure. Ronin, did you play hooky again?

[WillSex4Food]: Yep!

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: You shouldn’t do that, you’re in University.

[WillSex4Food]: So?

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: You’ll fail.

[WillSex4Food]: I’ll be fine.

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: We’ll let the grades speak for themselves.

[WillSex4Food]: Yeah yeah. They’ll still beat yours, Meian.

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: Shove it.

[WillSex4Food]: Is that a promise?

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: Hentai.

[WillSex4Food]: Prude.

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: ….

[WillSex4Food]: I win.

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: Anyways.

[WillSex4Food]: Haha. Come on, you know me.

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: Lucky me.

[WillSex4Food]: What class are you in?

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: A random computer graphics course. I’ll fly through it to pick up my grades a little. So I just use the messengers when the teacher isn’t looking.

[WillSex4Food]: I wanted to ask you, what was that dark spot on your hand? Is it a bruise?

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: Must be. I don’t even know how I got it.

[ 10 Minutes Later ]

[WillSex4Food]: Meian?

[TaikoGalH8sClowns]: What?

[WillSex4Food]: What are you wearing?

[TaikoGalH8sClowns has signed off]




“Hmm…. I think I understand now, Mamoru.” Usagi said, knelt across a low table opposite to Mamoru, eating a snack in each other’s company. Of course, Usagi’s portion was considerably larger than Mamoru’s, but he was used to it. The tension between them which regarded to the whole wedding was starting to lift, and they’d go on from this fight.

“I’m glad.” Mamoru responded, and didn’t want to make Usagi angry again. He hated it when she got like that.

“Maybe we can get to planning the wedding again soon.” Usagi said, not really sure herself if Mamoru wanted to go forward with this. She was really unsure, and that was… a little scary.

“Maybe.”

“It’s not our first fight… and it won’t be the last either.” Usagi said, who piled up a couple of dishes to get up and put them in the sink in the kitchen. “Are you coming with me or not?”

“Where?” He asked, that question really came out of left field.

“I’m going to the mall with Sahkyo and Meian.” Usagi said, her mood then picked up when she thought of her new friends.

“Meian? I’m not letting you alone with her.” Mamoru protested, who walked behind her on the way back to the kitchen.

“I don’t see what the problem is. Maybe Yoki is wrong, and she’s not the senshi she claims her to be. Didn’t you find it strange that Yoki says this and that, and says Sailor Syrin is a ruthless killer, but when she was being attacked, she never lifted a finger to protect herself? It’s like she was hesitant to harm any of us.” Usagi reasoned, actually making a bit of sense for once.

“I’m coming along with you.” Mamoru stated, and Usagi sighed in frustration.

“It’s really supposed to be a girl’s afternoon out.” Usagi complained slightly.

A knock at the door interrupted them, and Usagi skipped over to answer it.

“Hey!” Sahkyo greeted. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah, just give us a second!” Usagi responded as she slipped on her shoes and searched the house for her purse.

“Us?” Sahkyo asked as she popped her head in the house a ways, looking for Usagi. Meian however, stayed outside, as she got a glare from Mamoru, and didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing right now. She just avoided his eyes for now and concentrated on a tree to the right of her.

“Yeah, Mamoru’s coming with me!” Usagi stated as she got back, and slipped her coat on, then her purse. The three girls all had very warm coats on, with Sahkyo’s lined with fur. Which she has claimed up and down repeatedly that is fake. Even though it probably wasn’t.

“I thought this was a girl’s afternoon out?” Sahkyo asked no one in particular.




“Lady Saeryn, the sensors on your experiments have stated that the Sailor Senshi have been able to defeat your ‘Kindred’ with minimal of effort. I suggest a 50% infusion for the future.”

“Good.”

“Also, we need to know when the Highest Child will be arriving.”

“He should be getting here soon. I’m getting sick of this place.”

“Very well. Then your process should commence soon.”

“Indeed. The nightmare of the Kindred is only just beginning, now. We will succeed soon and the stars in the heavens will be at our mercy."

< Isn’t that what you told us, Saeryn? >

* * *

Chapter Fourteen