Knock. Knock, knock.

A man approached a large, polished wooden double door, and opened both of them at the same time with both hands. The doors opened to reveal Ronin and Meian, accompanied by his dog Hisae, who was eager to see the man on the opposite side of the door.

“Come in, come in!” The man said, and drew Ronin into a handshake, then a hug once the two stepped in, and turned to face Meian.

“Meian, this is my father, Mr. A --- Ishikawa.” Ronin introduced the two, and instead of a bow which Meian had expected, he too gave her a short hug.

“Please, call me Zacarias.” he corrected, and gave Ronin a short punch in the arm for trying to be so formal. The three were dressed very informally, and Meian wore the necklace which Ronin gave her in plain view. Zacarias was most likely the least formal, as he wore his usual t-shirt and shorts with no shoes. It was one thing to mention about Zacarias is that he was of Portuguese descent, and it was clear where Ronin got that influence from. Obviously, he was less about Japanese greeting customs and insisted on keeping his own.

“Where’s Mom?” Ronin asked, as he took Meian’s bag and placed it on the table next to the door.

“She’s attending a conference today, but she’s taking the rest of the day off to meet this one over here.” Zacarias said, as he looked to Meian with a smile. Meian however, looked a bit shocked, and averted her eyes - she still didn’t know what to make of him, and reverted to her more shy of state of minds.

“Well, once every six hundred days isn’t bad.” Ronin said, as he shrugged.

As he looked around to see if anything had changed, he walked a little into the foyer, and saw a table next to the left stairway, and then turned to face his Father.

“What the hell is this?” Ronin asked, obviously a little angry at what he saw.

“What’s wrong?” Zacarias asked, as he folded his hands behind his head, innocently.

“Did you use my MUGS for your little project?” Ronin accused, half angry, towards the older man.

“So what? You never use them. I just needed two, so I just visited your apartment when you weren’t there, and -- “ He stopped once he saw his son and the death glare he shot at him. “You can just get more!”

“Do you see this?” Ronin said, as he pulled his father over, and made him look at one of the shards of mugs he used to complete his mosaic tabletop. “This one was my favourite!”

“I’m sorry son, I never see you drinking out of mugs!” Zacarias proclaimed innocence, as the two left Meian in the foyer.

As the two men half-argued, Meian took a few steps into the area, and looked to her surroundings. Everything was decorated in the way an English or Scottish Castle would be, if the outside was any indication. Varnished wainscoting, black and white tiles below, wood finishes on the stairway to the left, and artwork on the walls and even some sculptures on pedestals. The rooms to each side and down the hall and right were decorated in much the same way, and she suspected she could get lost in this place if not for Ronin or Zacarias.



The next hour or so was dedicated to a tour of each room in the mansion from Zacarias, and pointed out relics and paintings mainly from certain areas and periods of history in Europe. Hisae stopped in Ronin’s room upstairs, since she wanted a nap, and to stay somewhere he would return to. The tour wrapped up, and the three happened upon the indoor pool near the back, as the setting sun beamed clear through the clear walls and windows which came from the other side. The phone rang in the background, and Zacarias immediately scooted away to see whom it was, as he had already expected a call from his wife, to see when she would arrive home.

There was a small distance between Ronin and Meian, and as he held his hand out to her, she quickly closed the gap. The two circled around the pool very slowly, as they took a slow pace and relished in their new found time together. The curious thing about this was that the two barely looked at each other, as just the proximity to one another was enough.

However as they reached the three-quarter mark in their circle around the pool deck, Meian stopped. Ronin turned his head, and from her perspective, the sun lit his hair, and it almost looked like fire from his golden locks. Ronin gave Meian a questioning look.

“We… almost lost each other. Didn’t we?” Meian regretfully brought up. Something that until now, they both avoided.

“Don’t think about that.” Ronin said quietly, as he faced Meian again.

“I just… couldn’t stand it if that would happen again.” Meian raised more doubts, which only made her worry that much worse.

“We should only concentrate on the here and now for a little while.” Ronin said, as a sudden smile crossed his lips. He then tried to lighten the mood, and then started to tickle Meian around her midsection.

“Hey!” Meian protested, as giggles started to replace her worried words from before which one occupied her vocal chords.

“Tell me you’ll stop all that worrying!” Ronin said as he never gave up his efforts, especially against the struggling Meian.

“Ronin!!” Meian squealed, as to call some sort of truce.

Meian, instead of to try and reason with him, fought back and ended up throwing Ronin into the pool to their left, and since he almost expected it, went in head-first. As he rose to the surface again, Meian knelt on the edge of the pool as she laughed, and made sure she was ready when he did. His head came above the water, and Meian actually pushed his head down under the water, to further prove that she can fight back against him.

Ronin however, wanted to take up her challenge. He was able to get a good enough breath from when he briefly surfaced, barely struggled against her since she wasn’t really forceful with keeping his head under the water anyways - she just got him back, after all. Ronin allowed himself to sink under the water, and to the bottom of the pool, while Meian above started to get a touch nervous - she had expected him to rise to the surface a few seconds ago.

After a satisfactory amount of time, and taking into account that he couldn’t hold his breath forever, he pushed against the bottom of the deep end of the pool. He used enough force that the top part of his body was able to come out above water. From the surprise of it all, Meian could only look at him as his arms wrapped around her shoulders, and pulled her into the pool, head over feet.

Ronin held onto Meian’s upper arms as she recovered, and tried to regain her breath. After an appropriate amount of time for her to do so, she spoke up.

“You know, you could have asked!” Meian said, half annoyed, and half amused.

Instead of responding, Ronin then began to slowly guide Meian with his hands still on her arms, over to the side, as he became close enough to kiss her. Meian, as she was shy about such things, allowed him to do this, yet started to hesitate even more about the kiss as she felt the side of the pool come into contact with her back.

Time seemed to slow down for the two, as Ronin’s lips continued to threaten to touch upon Meian’s. She however, made a small noise of uncertainty, and his right hand left her arm, and instead touched her soaking wet hair.

“Shh…. I won‘t hurt you.” he said.

As his lips lightly brushed her own, he allowed his hand to fall directly on her chest, and coincidentally, close to the valley between her breasts. She wanted to wince from the pain which already existed there, but instead, decided not to interrupt this moment as much as she could help it. Ronin used that hand to further press against her as their lips finally touched, yet Meian moaned in pain and strangely a sense of panic, as it finally connected and set off sparks of pain in several other parts of her body.

Ronin abruptly pulled away, as both hands rushed from her arm and chest to cup her face, directly under hear ears. Since the mood was sufficiently broken, she began to feel bad about that, too.

“What did I do? Are you okay?” Ronin asked, below his voice, yet his voice was given an odd amplification since she was between the water and the wall of the pool. She nodded her head after the pain subsided.

“Yeah… I think it has to do with being Sailor Syrin though…” Meian said equally as quiet, so in case Zacarias waltzed in, he wouldn’t hear it.

“Does it hurt all the time?” Ronin asked.

“Not all the time, just when it’s touched. I’ve been to doctors, and I’ve had more x-rays than I’d care to, and none of them could explain. The bones are just weak and the muscles are sensitive. That’s all I really know.” Meian explained, as she started to shiver from the temperature of the pool.

Ronin remained attentive to her as she added a little more to the explanation. “I remember a little from when I was just born as a senshi. I do remember an explosion, and this huge pain right where the scar is, where you touched, so whatever happened then is probably the reason why.”

“So you weren’t Aiko’s biological daughter?” Ronin asked, a little confused at this time.

“No, well… I don’t know who gave birth to me. Well, I was kind of born twice-” Meian obviously hadn’t made much sense at this point, and gave up at this point. She gave a heavy sigh. “I’m freezing Ronin, could we maybe come back to this subject later?”

Ronin was about to answer, and as he opened his mouth to begin, he heard a holler from down the hall which lead to the area. First, the sound of bare feet smacking against the equally bare floor reached their ears, then the vision of Zacarias appeared from over the ledge of the pool.

“Hey, boy! Your mother will be home in half an hour!” Zacarias said before he came to a stop near the pool, and saw the two close together still. The two pulled away suddenly, as Ronin backed away, and Meian went along the wall to the ladder a small distance from her. “Oh no no, you don’t need to explain. Just why were you in the pool fully clothed anyways?”

“It’s his fault.“ Meian said jokingly and with a nervous smile, as she went over to one of the shelves in the corner, and found a robe which she could dress herself in. It was soft and white, with a small family crest on the front. She was still soaked from the unplanned dip, so there was a large water trail from the ladder to where she stood.

“No way!” Ronin called out as he treaded water, displeased, from the center of the pool.

“Well, if it’s coming from a lady, I’m going to have to side with her. You know how stubborn your mother can get, and you can NOT disagree with her.” Zacarias as he gave a towel to Meian with both his hands, and she in turn put down the robe to where it once was on the shelf, and accepted the offer of the towel. “For your hair.”

“Thank you, uh, Zacarias.” Meian said with a polite smile as she corrected herself from using his formal name as he instructed her when she first came in. She then took the robe, and folded it once to lay on top of the towel. “Is there somewhere I can change?”

“Yeah, just passed the spiral staircase, and it’s down the hall, and the second door to the right.” Zacarias instructed her.

Meian made a hasty retreat down the hall, and picked up her pants on one side to try and leave the least amount of water on the floor as she could. Once she was out of sight, the older man waited to hear the sound of a door being closed to speak to his son.

“So Ronin, are you sure about this?” he asked, as Ronin exited the pool from the same stairs Meian did a few minutes ago.

“I told you father, I’m sure. We’ve been through a lot together.” Ronin explained, as he removed his shirt, and put on the robe.

“As long as you’re sure, you have my blessing.” Zacarias said, as he offered his hand to his son - Ronin took it with a free hand of his own, and exchanged a rather rough handshake.

“So is Lazaro here tonight to cook dinner?” Ronin asked, as he tied up the front of the robe, and worked at the buckle which belonged to his jeans underneath. Lazaro was the resident cook of the Manor, yet his original name was Takeshi, they nick-named him Lazaro instead - it only seemed to fit him.

“Nah, it’s his day off, I can cook tonight. I think I can manage it!” Zacarias said with a laugh.




Later on in the night, after dinner was completed, Meian and Ronin headed upstairs to spend some alone time, and watched the television in his room. It was decorated much like how his apartment was; very clean and spacious, with a slight modern feel to it. The window behind the double bed was a half-circle window with the straight part facing down, and a regular window on the same wall as the television. There were doors which lead to a small porch, and a door which lead to the closet to the right of it.

The two were cuddled up on the double bed on their sides, and Ronin was behind Meian, with an arm around her waist, and one arm folded at the elbow to prop up his head. Both were still in their robes, as their clothes were placed into the laundry so that the chlorine in the water wouldn’t ruin the fabric. Hisae was on the carpeted floor by the foot of the bed, and was laid completely on her side, half asleep.

It was a few minutes to eleven at night, and the show they had just watched began to run its credits on the screen. Ronin grabbed the remote and muted the sound from the television, and took this opportunity to lay on his back and stretched out his arms and legs.

Meian rolled over so she could face Ronin, and placed her cheek on her hand to support it with minimal effort.

“I really enjoyed meeting your parents tonight, they seem really nice.” Meian said, as she remembered the dinner they shared earlier on.

“My dad is a good cook, yeah. I think that’s because he just has so much time on his hands. Either that or destroying my damn mugs.” Ronin complained, as he furrowed his brow with frustration at the memory.

“So Meian, before the next show comes on, could you explain something to me?” Ronin asked her, apparently he had thought about it long before he brought it to her attention. “I wanna learn more about what being a senshi is like… you know, like how they were created, or whatever.”

“Well… I really don’t know how they were created, really, but…. Being a senshi is something… very special. It’s also a huge responsibility. It’s like we become a different person, but we have control over these powers to help defend all souls against those who would want to harm them. The power overcomes us, changes us, and gives us that power to do our duty. We’re their strength, their light and hope. You can see why it’s huge to be chosen as a senshi.

“We work mostly in secret because I don’t think we quite know what would happen if the general population would find out about it. I think it’s better that they never get involved, really. That’s why you can’t tell anyone about us, because they might be afraid of us, and bad things might happen. You can’t ever tell anyone what you experienced back at the labs either. We came too close to losing each other, I don’t want to chance it again.”

Ronin slowly nodded, and looked to Meian.

“We don’t have to.” He said, instead of tossing another question in Meian’s direction - as he’d have to absorb that information for the next little while anyways - he slowly got up from his bed, and walked over to the dark dresser on the far wall. He picked up an item thoughtfully from the surface, and returned to the bed.

“Ronin?” Meian asked, as he walked over to her side of the bed, and pulled her legs to swing them over the side of it. He knelt on both knees, and held out the object to her - a gift, wrapped in peach paper and red ribbons. Meian gave an unsure glance to Ronin, as she opened the box, and found a smaller velvet one within it, surrounded by tissue paper.

“This is why I brought you here. I tend to be less nervous in this house.”

Meian pulled out the smaller box, and placed the larger one to the side, carefully on the bed-side table. She weighed the small box in her palm, and carefully opened it. Her eyes darted wide open.

There, in the very middle, sat a diamond ring - a large one, with two normal sized ones set directly beside it on the band.

“Will you still be my wife?” Ronin slowly said, as he uttered the words he had to wait to say to her. “After all this, I don’t know if you had changed your mind, and even after Sahkyo’s death… but I still want to be with you. I was hoping that… you still wanted to be a part of mine. A ring just wasn‘t enough to express it to you.”

Ronin slowly got up, without his answer, and sat next to her on the bed, and took her in his arms.

“So what do you say?” Ronin asked, and still honestly didn’t know if her answer had changed.

“Of course, you dummy.” Meian quietly answered.

Ronin’s heart jumped so much that it nearly hit his throat. He hugged Meian a little tighter, and buried his nose into her hair. Still, the smell of the perfume of her conditioner still affected him so deeply, yet he was beginning to doubt if it really was so, since she had a shower after the dip in the pool. Even now, she could surprise him without trying.

He took the velvet case and her left hand at the same time, pulled out the ring, and slid it easily onto Meian’s finger. It was surprising how well it fit, really.

“I think it’s time to tell you now….” Ronin said, as he pulled away, and sat a slight distance away from her. “I have a secret of my own.”

“You have an unrequited crush on Sparkle?” Meian joked, as they both remembered one of the two cross dressers she and the rest of the group met last year. Ronin laughed nervously, as he shook his head slightly.

“Meian, no, it’s not like that.” Ronin said, as he got his more serious expression - something he barely used - into play. “It’s something about my family.”

“What is it?” Meian asked, as she got a little worried at this point.

“Remember when you first met my Father, and I called him Ishikawa?” Ronin asked.

“Yeah…?”

“That’s not his full name. It’s not mine either.” Ronin said, as he was convinced he had Meian’s attention. “My full name is Ronin Ishikawa Almeida.”

“You…. You’re part of the Almeida family?”
“Yes.”
“The most powerful family in Asia?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re going to inherit it?”
“Yes.”
“The whole thing?”
“Yeah.”
“But you’re horrible in school.”
“That doesn’t matter. I’ll have thousands of people working for me.”
“And you want to marry me?”
“Duh!”
“But Ronin--”

Meian was interrupted as she tried to continue the quick exchange, as Ronin leaned in to kiss her again. “None of that matters.”

“I guess… it makes sense now that I think about it.” Meian admitted with a low voice.

Ronin suddenly got up from the bed, and took her hands - one of them no longer bare since the other had her henshin item adorning it - and pulled her to her feet. He held her hands, and looked into her eyes.

“I’m going to go wake up my parents. They’re going to want to hear this!” Ronin said as he suddenly had a burst of energy, and ran out the room - in nothing but a robe no less - and woke up the two on the other side of the floor. All Meian heard was a tumble and a few swear words, and the sound of feet on the floor as Ronin came back into the room a few moments later.

He ran over to Meian again, and took her hands again.

“Where do you want to go? We’ll go to Paris, Milan, London, anywhere you want, just the two of us!”

“But what will we do for clothes?” Meian asked.

“It doesn’t matter, we can get new ones wherever we go!” Ronin exclaimed, as he tugged on Meian’s hands and swung them around slightly for emphasis. “The clothes should be done by now, I’ll go get them!”

Ronin was out of the room in a hurry, and nearly bumped into his parents on the way out. Zacarias and Kurumi - Ronin’s mother - peered into the room and looked at the shocked Meian. The two entered the room, and had a small discussion with Meian, and heard a little more of the family history from them.

Another ten minutes later, and Ronin came back into the room with their dried clothing. Zacarias and Kurumi left the room so that Ronin could change, and Meian changed in the room next to his.




Outside the house, unsuspected by anyone, stood Lady Saeryn in her full demon form. She however, looked quite uncomfortable, and her nerves on a very sharp edge - it was barely noticeable under her forced cool and savvy demeanour, but it was there.

Beside her, to her left, was a spatial distortion in the form of a tall, armoured man. Some gold and red energy swirled around where his heart should be, with black and purple swirling around it, and leaping off the outside of the disturbance in veins. Anger seemed to come off of this spirit - or whatever it was - in waves, which was probably why she was uneasy. It wasn’t simple anger, it was a primal urge to slay and raze the ground with a mere flick of his hand. It was truly frightening, even for Lady Saeryn.

“I don’t know how this could have happened….” a distorted voice, deep and almost elegant, emanated from the energy distortion. “She… especially one like her… cannot be taken away…”

It was a long moment before the energy distortion, in the same shape as a man, began to crouch into an attack stance. He was getting ready to strike.

Lady Saeryn noticed this, and placed her hands on his ‘shoulder’ and ‘back’.

“Please, Lord Saeryn! I can fix this, I’ll be worthy of you again!” Lady Saeryn begged - yes, begged, the energy form beside her.

“Do not play with me, Urai.” his voice sounded again.

“I am not, please believe me. Just please wait a little longer, until one of them is alone, and I will take that to my advantage. You know these humans…. they go down like peons.” Lady Saeryn tried to convince the grand Dragon. “I promise you… he will get what he deserves for challenging your claim….”

The Dragon Saeryn seemed to be pleased.

“Just remember. Saeryn-Sol is the key. She cannot be harmed or destroyed because of a foolish mistake like the others you have made when you get angry.” he instructed her - more like reminded her - once again.

“I know, my Lord. She is the strongest of all the clan. The Key to the Cauldron. You’ve tried for a very long time to get back there, haven’t you, sir?” Lady Saeryn said, and took a more submissive tone towards him when she spoke.

“Indeed. The process will succeed. Unlike you.” he said, with a disappointed, almost disgusted tone towards the young woman.

She merely bowed her head, and looked to the ground, and muttered a small; “I apologize…”

The energy form known as Saeryn looked again to Meian through the window, and almost took a wistful tone when he spoke again.

“Saeryn-Sol belongs to me. My senshi… my treasure.”




In the meanwhile, Ronin stepped out onto his porch off of his room to think, as Meian had a shower down the hall. His mind raced with thoughts of excitement and nervousness - he was going to marry Meian! His mind went over and over what it all would be like; the wedding, the marriage, the CHILDREN.

He had to admit, he was going to make some pretty good looking kids with her.

He heard some footsteps behind him, so he turned around, and found Lady Saeryn in his room, instead of one of his parents, or even Meian. He recognised this one as his own murderer.

Due to his male instincts, and despite his engagement to Meian, all he could look at were her nearly bare breasts, through the very thin material. This drew her attention down as well, and then looked again to Ronin.

“Nice, aren’t they?” she said, as she smirked. “But let me get down to business. I know your little honey-kins is Sailor Syrin. She told you all about it, right?”

“Yeah, but--” Ronin said, as he really didn’t know how she knew that as well.

“Then, you would want to be sure that she’s completely safe, am I correct?” Lady Saeryn nearly interrogated him. He stepped into the room, and placed his hands in his pockets. Whoever she was, she was attractive - something he hadn‘t noticed before.

“I’m willing to be with her as long as it takes for this ‘duty’ to end.” Ronin confessed. “Of course I’m worried, but I also can’t really say anything about it.”

“Oh but you can. I have a plan to get rid of Sailor Syrin from Meian - Kill Sailor Syrin, and Meian will be free to live a life with you. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?” Lady Saeryn offered. “All I’ll need is a little cooperation from you.”

“But…. Why, exactly? And why should I trust you, I don’t even know your name.” Ronin said, a little put off now that he thought about it a little more. She DID kind of startle him.

“My name is Saeryn-Urai, and you are Ronin.” she said with a grin. “So why, do you ask, we remove Sailor Syrin from her? Because my dear boy, Sailor Syrin is possessing Meian. She is being forced beyond her will to transform, and fight under the influence of this being. This is why she has been more mentally unstable and her skin has been changing. Sooner or later, she will cease to be Meian.”

This alone was enough to convince Ronin.

“I bet she didn’t mention this because she didn’t want me to worry….” Ronin thought wistfully. He noticed then though, that he had calmed down from his former self, since he was returned. “What can I do?”

Lady Saeryn smiled a broad grin, and said; “There is plenty. In fact, it can only be you.”




Lady Saeryn left before Meian had exited the shower, yet only after a lengthy discussion with Ronin, and the couple were ready to leave within 20 minutes afterwards. Both were dressed in the clothes they had arrived in, and Meian had her hair tied in a borrowed hair clasp from Kurumi. Hisae was left with the parents, as they dog-sat her a few times in emergencies. They were only going to be gone for the weekend, and would be back in time for Monday, so Hisae would just have to suck it up while her master was away, and Blue would be fine, as he had an automatic cat feeder good enough for a week’s worth of food.

The couple piled into Ronin’s small car, and took off to the streets in a screech of rubber against pavement. As Ronin drove the car to the airport, he decided to take a detour, as he knew of some construction which took place in this area, and wanted to avoid it.

Ronin drove through this detour for an adequate amount of time, until he stopped, as he feigned that the car had some trouble.

“Now what are we going to do?” Meian complained.

“Hey, this is your fault.” Ronin said, as he grabbed his cell phone.

“What? How could this possibly be my fault??” Meian asked, a little shocked that he’d accuse her like that.

“Chill out, Meian, I just had to buy this lemon to convince you I didn’t have the money that you know that I have now.” Ronin ran on the sentence - it took a few seconds for both of them even, to make sense of it. “I’m going to call the assistance guys, you stay here, okay?”

“Okay.” Meian agreed, as he got out of the car, and walked a little down the opposite way down the road, out of the way where she could possibly see her.

He dialled a number, and it was quickly picked up after the first ring.

“We’re here.” Ronin said simply, and continued a conversation with Lady Saeryn which would resemble one which he would have with a maintenance person.

His conversation ended, and he jogged to the car, and leaned on the window of the passenger seat.

“I’m going to jog to the nearest station and tell them what happened, apparently it’s under one of their warranties to help me or something. Plus, I gotta find the name of this street for the tow truck to find me.” Ronin said, as he folded her hair behind her ears. “Try and get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”

Meian was given barely even a second to say anything as he ran down the road, and out of sight.



After about 10 minutes of being alone in the car without a radio for company, Meian really did start to doze off. One would think that after such excitement that she wouldn’t sleep for a while, but after all, she did need to conserve her energy. Besides - sleeping was the best way to wait for something like this.

It was only until she spotted a large fireball head towards the front of the car head towards her when she fully awoke again, and had to hurry to get herself out of the car.

The fireball hit the car with quite a noise. Meian took cover as far away from the explosion as she could, and covered the back of her head with her hands.

Meian looked then to the source of the blast, and found a Kindred monster up on a hill, as it smirked with self assurance. She got to her feet and took chase to the creature through the city streets, and knew this time that Ronin would understand why she left. He had no car to leave for the airport anyways.




Meian ran through the streets as fast as she could, and all the while, she tried to dial numbers on her cell phone to contact the others. She hadn’t yet had the honour - or so to speak - of receiving a communicator like the others, so she had to make due with what she had. Besides, it was an emergency, and what the hell was a Kindred doing around anyways? Weren’t they all destroyed along with the lab? This was all that Meian could think about.

She was sure of one thing - she wasn’t going to fail in taking this one down as she had failed to protect Ronin.

She gave chase to the Kindred for nearly three blocks, and it stopped near one of the main roads just as Meian started to feel the fatigue of the chase - it was a small grassy area, with no life around it, it seemed. As soon as Meian saw the Kindred stop, she called out her henshin phrase, and henshined as she ran to it. In full battle gear now, Sailor Syrin stopped to confront the creature, yet the more she neared it, the more the visage of the creature disappeared into nothingness.

Once Sailor Syrin reached where she thought the Kindred once stood, she looked around, and was obviously baffled. There was no trace of it now.

< I called the others for nothing. I’m going to get my ass kicked. > Sailor Syrin thought as her posture slumped a little, as she kicked her boot into the grass below.

Before she could wonder more, Ronin approached the purple clad senshi from the darkened street to the side of her.

“Sailor Syrin.” He greeted bitterly.

The voice caught her off guard, as she spun to the right to see Ronin there. What also caught Sailor Syrin off guard was the tone in which he spoke to her, when taken into consideration what he knows now.

“Ronin.” she began. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, just stop pretending, alright?!” Ronin yelled at her, and took a few steps towards her. “I know who you really are, and I won’t let you keep doing this to Meian anymore!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Sailor Syrin asked, and almost yelled back at him.

“Shut up!” he said, as he charged towards her, and stopped for a brief second to try and land a kick to her midsection.

She reacted immediately and blocked it with both her hands, yet Ronin already had a backup plan. He reared his fist back as he kicked her, and followed the kick with a punch of his right hand. Unfortunately for him, senshi already have heightened senses, and was able to duck from the planned punch to her face.

As she was crouched, he took that opportunity to quickly get behind her, and tried to grab Sailor Syrin around her neck from behind. Ronin was able to get his arms loosely around her shoulders, yet she grabbed onto his limbs, and flung him from behind her, all the way to the grassy area in front of her. Ronin got up again, adrenaline and anger fuelled his movements as he ran over to her again, and had enough momentum built up to jump into the air, and attempted a roundhouse kick to her upper body. From the sudden burst in energy, Sailor Syrin was just barely able to catch his foot as it neared her, and tossed him to the ground again where she just deposited him before, with Ronin directly between her and the road which she entered this area from.

Ronin, as he was firmly planted onto the ground, grabbed his side as he looked up to Sailor Syrin.

“I don’t want to hurt you!” she said to him, and tried to reason with him to stop. The Kindred monster was all but forgotten at this point.

What did happen was that a patch of purple and opal skin appeared on Sailor Syrin’s neck, and did something it hadn’t before; it sent pain down her shoulders, and into her hands. She hunched over, and held the arm which hurt more.

“You see! You’re hurting her more and more every second!” Ronin said, as rage took anger’s place, and pulsated through his entire body.

As Sailor Syrin’s pain became worse and worse, it took her eyes off the situation in front of her. Ronin quickly closed the area between them, and suddenly landed a very hard hit to her jaw, which sent her immediately to the ground, on her right side.

Sailor Syrin cradled the mark on her chin which quickly grew, and as pain slightly obscured her vision, Ronin took this opportunity to reach into his jacket, and pulled out something he should have disposed of a long time ago.

His gun.

As Sailor Syrin rose to her knees, slowly, Ronin aimed the gun at her, and fired one shot. The bullet escaped the barrel, and flew freely into the flesh and bone of her left arm. She screamed as the fresh pain swam through her nerves, and had to rely on her unharmed arm to steady herself on the ground.

“Please…. Ronin, stop….” Sailor Syrin nearly begged with her voice, but it was more apparent in her eyes. Something which she had never had to do before. Blood escaped the wound on her arm freely, as it pooled around her knees on the soil beneath the grass.

Ronin never flinched from her display. She was able to pull herself to her feet, which she used her good arm for, and held out her hand to him.

“Please…. Give me the gun.” Sailor Syrin slowly said, as a slight movement from him could cost her something more vital from her torso.

Instead, he pulled back the trigger again, and instead aimed higher. The bullet flew through the air, and was lodged directly in the middle of her forehead, and the senshi’s head reared back as she felt the force of it, and nothing more. The force from the bullet was so great that it almost went straight through, yet was enough to create a small exit wound, of which blood sprayed out from the back of her hair.

Like a disjointed rag doll, Sailor Syrin collapsed to the ground, her head face first in the ground before her.

The sailor senshi which she tried to summon before arrived just in time to see and hear the deadly shot, and stopped in their tracks once they realised it was Ronin whom held the smoking gun. Since Meian had mentioned a Kindred monster, the whole group insisted on going, as they weren’t going to let just a few go at a time again.

A few heart stopping moments passed in the area as Ronin placed the gun back into the holster in his jacket, and proudly marched over to the body which was once Sailor Syrin. He slowly bent down to sit on his haunches in front of her head, poked at her shoulder. Her body remained limp, and was subjected to his curious prods.

“Come on out, Meian! You don’t have to deal with this senshi stuff anymore!” Ronin said happily, as he expected her to magically come to life -- in fact, he didn’t know what to expect, only that what he did was the right thing to do.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Sailor Jupiter spoke up from the group, of which Ronin stood up at this point to fully see her. What Ronin wasn‘t able to see was that blood started to pour from both wounds, and only added to the blood which was already beneath Sailor Syrin.

“You think that we’re being possessed by some evil spirit?”

“Well, you’d have to be.” Ronin assumed, as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Let’s do a little test, shall we?” Sailor Uranus offered, condescendingly. Ronin allowed her to continue. “If I am an evil spirit, then Haruka shouldn’t know a specific bit of information which we discuss here.”

“Like what?” Ronin played along.

“Ask me what my hobby is. I race cars in my spare time.” Sailor Uranus said, as she dehenshined back into Haruka.

“So, what do you do in your spare time?” Ronin played along.

“I drive race cars.”

In that instant, Ronin’s whole plan, his whole theory, was shot to hell.

“We’re the same person, jackass.” Haruka said, as she noticed the look of recognition in his eyes, and henshined then into Sailor Uranus once more.

“We remain the same person when we transform into Senshi. Our civilian selves is just as important as the senshi part of ourselves - they coexist within us.” Sailor Mars explained, in a more elegant way.

Fear and panic rose up from Ronin’s gut, as he finally realised just what he had done. His world, in that very moment, crumbled and shattered to pieces. His face shifted from one to confusion, to that of devastation, and was able to only convey about a fraction of what he really felt.

“I think he finally got it.” Sailor Mercury observed.

“Way to go, dumbass!” Sailor Uranus added in, even after the explanation she had to give to him.

Ronin, nor anyone else had any chance to add or contribute to the conversation, as applause was heard from a far corner of the area. Lady Saeryn walked from the partial shadows, and ceased her claps as she stood about a foot away from Sailor Syrin’s body.

Lady Saeryn smiled broadly to the horrified Ronin, as almost if the two were old friends.

“You know, I couldn’t have done it without you! And the entertainment value, I wish I had a camcorder!” she said gleefully.

Ronin, in a state of shock, could only look at the woman as she knelt next to Sailor Syrin’s body, and patted the once senshi on the back, as her starseed appeared, and floated in front of her. The senshi, upon Sailor Moon’s urging, began to run over to her to prevent her from obtaining it, yet with a mere flick of her hand, they were flung through the air with a wall of force.

Lady Saeryn continued her attention to the starseed before her as she noted that it was coloured a rich plum, a lighter yet dusky version of that, and a dark grey. Without its starseed, Meian’s body began to dissipate into tiny golden spheres, and only left its starseed behind as its only proof of existence.

Lady Saeryn then stood up as she played around with the starseed, and the senshi began a plan to take it back from her. Just then, a spark of light emitted from Sailor Syrin’s starseed, and it launched itself into the sky, and away from her grasp.

“Hey, get back here!!” she exclaimed, as under her feet the same wall of force sprung forth, and flung herself into the sky to give chase to the diamond shaped object.

“We have to go after her!” Sailor Moon insisted, as she looked towards the last spot she saw the twinkle from Syrin’s starseed in the sky.

“When she’s right, she’s right.” Sailor Venus agreed. “Whatever she has planned, I have a bad feeling about it.”

“Do we have to?” Sailor Uranus said, as she crossed her arms. She was even now, iffy on Syrin. Sailor Moon slowly walked to her, and began asking her to reconsider even before she spoke.

“Sailor Uranus… I need you all with me.” Sailor Moon asked, as she placed both her hands.

You had to hand it to Sailor Moon - she knew how to bend even the strongest of iron wills. Including the one which belonged to the very wind itself.

Sailor Uranus nodded. “But only to protect you, Princess.”

“Let’s get going!” Sailor Moon exclaimed.

“I’m going with you.” Ronin demanded, still a little ways away from the group. In any better light, tears could be seen as they threatened to fall from his eyes.

“You? Oh, no no, this doesn’t involve you.” Sailor Jupiter spoke up.

“Like hell it doesn’t!!” Ronin stood his ground in front of the group of women -- and Tuxedo Kamen.

After a moment of consideration, they couldn’t see the harm. After all, they once piggybacked for Chibiusa before. Sailor Saturn was appointed to keep an eye on him, and immediately they followed Lady Saeryn, into the heavens.




In the barren and vast expanse of space, the starseed which once belonged to Sailor Syrin flew at top speeds to an unknown location. Right on its tail however, was Lady Saeryn, who hadn’t been able to reach the same speed as her target. The sailor senshi used their strength to catch up with the woman as best as they could, and were nearly caught up.

Their destination could only be assumed was the Galaxy Cauldron - the holy ground of creation, the very centre of the Milky Way galaxy, and that of the entire universe.

It was a long hour as all three groups travelled as fast as they could. Lady Saeryn couldn’t hold this speed up forever, and slowly grew frantic. Her power wasn’t as strong as it once was on Earth. As the centre of the galaxy, and the Galaxy Cauldron were in sight, the senshi were in arm’s distance away from Lady Saeryn, she could take no more of it.

“Great Lord Saeryn!” Lady Saeryn said as she turned her body mid-flight, and was then able to fly backwards, as she looked upon the senshi, all in flight. One odd thing struck her though; Ronin was at the end of the group, and hung onto Sailor Saturn’s arm. He stared at her with cold, hateful eyes, which darted between she and Sailor Syrin’s starseed. Strangely, she noted to herself, she oddly liked this look he gave her.

The Galaxy Cauldron drew nearer and nearer.

It was a short moment when a loud and stomach-dropping roar was heard from behind the group of senshi. A tremor through the very fabric of space itself reached all in the area, and a massive form of pure energy raced by both groups at top speeds. It reached the group within seconds.

This energy was very similar to the one which stood by Lady Saeryn earlier on that same night. It was formed in the shape of a dragon, yet inside was a smaller sphere of red and gold - its two energies merged and separated repeatedly, while immediately outside it was purple with swirls of black around the very edge of the mass. This sphere was assumed to be his heart, since it was in the chest area - or around there - but it wasn’t for absolute sure. Veins of black and purple, even lighter energy swirled off of the energy, and dissipated into the space around it. While the form earlier on had no physical influence, this one seemed to have it; by the way it moved, it seemed to be comprised most of a semi-solid substance, almost goo-like, which was held up by shields of force which changed shape constantly. When a rare beam of light hit it, there was a purple and almost white-gold shimmer to it, instead of normal reflected shapes or normal light.

True to his name, he was indeed shaped as a dragon. He had six limbs, and two sets of wings; the larger set came from his shoulders, and the smaller set just below it. His body was nearly transparent, save for one very important feature. However, Sailor Mars was the only one to realise it.

The senshi watched as it completely engulfed itself around Sailor Syrin’s starseed, and sped off ahead, and to the Galaxy Cauldron. The group of sailor senshi followed the mass of energy, as Lady Saeryn stopped and merely watched from afar, where she stopped.

All Sailor Mars could think about was what she observed from what could only be assumed as the entity known as Saeryn itself. Within the swirling mass of energy, there were thousands of starseeds of various colours and brightness, which made his body look like one enormous constellation. She then recognized this visage as the same one in the vision she had more than a year ago. The entity with stars in its body - Saeryn. It made sense to her now.

As both the energy mass and the group of senshi approached the Galaxy Cauldron’s gates, Saeryn took it upon himself and burst through its gates. He flew over the shell of what was once Galaxia’s palace, and rose into the air, before he took a direct nose dive into the holy place of stars.

Everything was still for a few moments, until really bizarre things began to happen. Matter itself even began to lose its form, and even began to melt. The closer to the Cauldron however, the stronger this sensation became.

“What is happening?!” Sailor Mercury asked the others, alarmed.

“It’s like the life is being drained out of me!” Sailor Saturn exclaimed, as Ronin beside her experienced the exact same thing. All in the group felt its effects in different degrees, but for a strange reason, Ronin didn’t feel this as strongly.

A high pitched ring sounded in all the space around them, and dug into each one of their ears. However instead of to cause pain or dizziness, it did something else completely different.

Sailor Moon began to glow after the sound was first introduced, and the light grew and grew from inside her to the outside, and it shone over all else - including the Cauldron. It called out to her.

When the light and sound died down, before all the senshi appeared Sailor Cosmos, where Sailor Moon once was. She smiled to her comrades, turned around, and then flew the short distance between herself and the Cauldron. Her cloak billowed behind her with sheer power, when considering there was no wind in space. The danger wasn’t over yet however, the pain from their starseeds cried out from within them, and begged Sailor Cosmos to do something about it.

The great senshi of all stars stopped just above the round entrance to the Cauldron, and aimed her long staff towards it. Energies spiralled around the wings and down into the chasm, and it suddenly was pulled taut, as it probably tied around the object she wanted to extract from it. She slowly raised the staff once more, and the more she lifted it, the more an object was lifted from the opening to the Cauldron.

Sailor Cosmos, with a burst of energy, continued to pull Saeryn out of the Cauldron, and gradually the matter and starseeds around and within them returned to normal the less his energy was inside the cauldron. As Saeryn was flung from the Cauldron by the white and gold senshi, Sailor Cosmos took this opportunity to plunge her hand into his forehead, and grabbed Sailor Syrin’s starseed which had been lodged within it.

As Saeryn floated in space with the tendrils of Sailor Cosmos’ energy around him and restrained him, Sailor Cosmos used her other hand with Sailor Syrin’s starseed in it, brought that hand near her mouth, and kissed the jewel’s middle, on the edge of the crystal. She allowed it to levitate in space, and slowly glide away from her as energies sprang from the crystal, and reformed Sailor Syrin and in essence, revived her back to life. She was still unconscious, yet no evidence remained of her wounds from before.

It took a few more moments of her immobile body which hung limp in space to finally spring to life again, as she regained her bearings as to where she was. Granted, she retained the memory of what it was like being inside the mass of energy which belonged to Saeryn. Such time spent within the Dragon was brief, so no permanent damage was done.

“Sailor Syrin. How do you feel?” Sailor Cosmos’ ethereal voice echoed from all around.

“Sailor Cosmos…” if being revived to life wasn’t enough of a shocker, the sight of the most powerful senshi ever to exist was a bit more of a shock than what she was ready for. The soul inside of her hummed with energy, as it automatically recognised who Sailor Cosmos was - the ultimate of senshi - even though Sailor Syrin herself had little knowledge of her in the first place.

She instead decided to wizen up and listen to her. “I feel okay.”

“Good. I need you to do something for me.” Sailor Cosmos asked.

“Anything.”

The two then spoke quietly, so much that neither the senshi nor Saeryn could hear.

“I need you to use Saeryn’s power against him. He needs to be restrained long enough so that I can purify him.” Sailor Cosmos revealed her plan to one of Saeryn’s namesakes.

“How could I do that?” Sailor Syrin asked. She never thought of it that way before.

“Being in this form, I do know much more than what my previous incarnation knew. When I think of it, with any luck I‘ll be able to remember information I will learn here and remember it once I return to my form of Eternal Sailor Moon.” Sailor Cosmos explained, then continued further.

“Your element is something peculiar. It’s an intricate mix of Aether and Flame - Aether being something very close to what the Cauldron is comprised of, and Flame, being something which purifies, and changes states of matter. Much like the Sol senshi’s powers, yours is also a divided force; it is a combination of the planet or heavenly body, and the element itself. You pull upon Aether and Flame in your attacks, and Saeryn powers them. All you need to do is invert them on him, and use it against him.”

“I can do that?” she asked, very unsure of herself at this point. Sailor Cosmos placed her free hand on Sailor Syrin’s shoulder, and smiled.

“I know you can. Believe you can, and you will. You will know what to do when the time comes.” Sailor Cosmos encouraged her. “I’m depending on it.”

Sailor Cosmos and Sailor Syrin reached an unspoken agreement, and nodded to each other, both quite assured.

Saeryn was then released from Sailor Cosmos’ power, and the dragon spirit immediately roared in anger, and began to charge headfirst to the senshi of all stars. Sailor Syrin flew towards Saeryn, and grabbed onto a part of his head which could be distinguished enough as probably a horn when the two became close enough. Sailor Syrin climbed up to his forehead, and laid her hands on the unstable substance as she created a rope of pure aether and flame, then wrapped it around his neck. This rendered Saeryn restrained enough power-wise, and was unable to lash out at Sailor Cosmos, at least.

The great dragon struggled within the hold his treasure had wrapped him in, and Sailor Syrin was almost flung right off of his head from the sheer force of it. The part which frustrated the great spirit the most was that she was using the exact same thing which bonded them together against him - to betray him. The emotion of such betrayal echoed through him and grew until it reached a boiling point.

Saeryn let out another mighty roar, as he gave another shake of his head, and that’s all it took for Sailor Syrin to lose the last of the grip she had on the rope she made, and was flung away from the great mass of energy. Sailor Syrin still kept a sturdy grip on the rope with her left hand, as she tried to grab onto it again with her other hand. Her hand then slipped, and no longer hand something which connected her to Saeryn.

In this instant, Saeryn sent fire from his mouth, fuelled by a multitude of emotions, and engulfed Sailor Syrin’s entire left side of her body in flames. Sailor Syrin screamed as her flesh burned, all the way from her lower thigh, up to her hip, her torso, her chest, to her neck, and lower left cheek. She could feel it -- the pain was so unbearable that she lost consciousness as the flames still died down on her skin, and left a blackened trail. A large portion of her senshi fuku took most of the assault, but it still wasn’t enough against the power which both the two entities shared.

Sailor Syrin was left unconscious in space, limp and immobile.

“Sailor Syrin!” Sailor Cosmos was the only one to call out her name, as the others probably couldn’t see well enough, as the group wanted to keep a safe enough distance away, yet still wanted to be ready in case their leader called upon them. She could still sense the life left in Sailor Syrin, and had to think of an alternate plan.

Saeryn, nearly regretful of his actions, merely surveyed the area, and found Ronin with the group of senshi not too far away.

“I think… it is time to remove that annoying little star from my treasure’s life….” Saeryn spoke in his deep, echoed voice again, as he dove straight for the group of senshi.

All but Ronin were able to dodge him, and Sailor Saturn whom was the one nearest to him, couldn’t think fast enough to bring him with her. Ronin’s body dissolved away as Saeryn’s mass enveloped him, which only left his starseed within him now. The part which Saeryn had neglected to take into consideration was that he dove right into the middle of a group of some of the most powerful senshi known to exist.

The senshi and the Dragon Saeryn began an all out, free-for-all battle. The senshi broke into teams of three and four, and through old fashioned teamwork, were able to distract him for most of the battle, and evade him the rest of the time. Saeryn however was able to get in a few good hits, but since he didn’t visit this dimension in this particular form, he was very powerful indeed, but graceful he was not. That very fact gave the senshi the upper hand, before Sailor Cosmos finally took action after so much hesitation - since she was torn between giving aide to the other senshi, and giving aide to Sailor Syrin.

Sailor Cosmos flew as fast as she could towards Saeryn, and charged an attack as she neared him.




Meian slowly woke up to her surroundings; a lush forest which was full of life, animals and plant life. The sun shone brightly, yet was filtered through the leaves from the trees above. She could hear the birds as they chirped to one another, and there was even a stream nearby, off to her right somewhere.

She was on a small hill of grass, on her stomach, and as she pushed herself up, she was thankful that she had clothing on. She wore a white shapeless dress, which faded to a dim purple in some places along the hem. The neckline started at her armpits, and dipped down in the middle of her chest, and finally there were dim purple straps which got wide at the top of the shoulders, and thin at the very side of the fabric. The material was very soft, and it moved gracefully along with her as she woke up.

The most odd part of this experience was that she used the minimum of effort, and she pulled herself to her feet with the greatest ease. There was no pain in this place, and she was overwhelmed with the greatest sense of calm she had ever experienced in her life.

It suddenly hit her - where were her burns? She brought her hands to her midsection, and traced along the middle of where she remembered the flames to have licked her skin, yet she showed no evidence of it. Wherever this place was, she had to find the answer to that.

As she looked to her left, she saw a dirt road which slowly faded from the grass surrounding it. As she looked in the direction of where the road started, she found a wall of trees, so it was impossible that one could have come from there. Another oddity of this place.

Meian walked down the path, barefoot, and eventually came upon a separation in the road, which lead off to four different places completely. There was one peculiar thing however.

She wasn’t alone.

There were four women who stood in each of the pathways; to the very left was Meian, Sailor Syrin, Princess Syrin and on the very right, Saeryn-Sol - the very embodiment of what she guessed was her demon self. The very entity she has tried to suppress. Meian wore her seifuku, with Ronin’s chain and pendant around her neck, with her eyes filled with hope and very bright. Sailor Syrin appeared as she did in the real world - covered with blood and burns, her eyes void of the hope of the woman to her right. Princess Syrin appeared in her formal dress, and looked peaceful, yet had an aura of sadness around her. Saeryn-Sol, the demon aspect, smirked and grinned at the others. This one entity within her was the cause of her bloodlust, and which drove her to fight even beyond her senshi self. Saeryn-Sol was shrouded in darkness, and wore a hardly recognisable ensemble - the only real way to distinguish her was the mere aura around her, with her blood red eyes, and yellow irises.

She must be within her own self - the different entities, aspects, which combine into one. The very essence which made up her starseed - this, she assumed, was what she represented here.

“Have you ever heard Usagi’s theory of how a starseed evolves?” Princess Syrin, in almost a regal tone, asked her starseed embodiment.

She shook her head.

“Through lifetimes of a single starseed, and through all the worlds he or she is incarnated or sent to, the more that person loves, the greater the brightness of his or her starseed. What causes this brightness?” Meian, her civilian embodiment, questioned her.

“I don’t know.” she admitted. When all was taken into consideration, she should have been the first one to know instinctually. However since her different selves were parted and embodied in different ways, she most likely didn’t have all of her memories of her lives and experiences in the course of her existence. Something told her she would find out all about that very soon.

“Love.” Sailor Syrin answered simply.

“Yes. Love, and also light, the very things that a sailor senshi represents.” Princess Syrin answered. “Once a starseed reaches a certain brightness, it is blessed with a sailor crystal, and ascends to the rights and responsibilities of a senshi. Only until a starseed can emanate the very thing a sailor senshi represents, can he or she hope to attain it. Thus a starseed now with a sailor crystal is blessed by the Cauldron, purified once again, and is sent to a certain planet to defend, and tend to.”

She, as the starseed embodiment, could not remember the whole of this truth, but nodded thoughtfully in any case.

“Our starseed however,” Saeryn-Sol finally spoke up, her voice ominous and downright deadly - it shook those all around to their very core. “has a very different history.”


Chapter Twenty Five