Chapter 7

 

 

"And just what do you think you're doing?"

Soban paused in the act of pulling her blouse over her head and turned to the door.

"I thought I was getting dressed." She indicated skirt and socks folded neatly over the back of her chair. "Of course I could be wrong."

"Quit looking at me with your evil eye." Eichiro Kei shuddered theatrically. "It's enough to take the curl right out."He patted his artfully arranged and newly coloured platinum locks. "What do you think?"

"I think it looks like you got mugged by a colour blind hair dresser during an epileptic fit."

"Pay her no mind," Toukou came up behind his partner and squeezed him around the waist. "she has no taste."

Kei sniffed with elegant disdain. Moving into the room he picked up Soban's skirt and held it between thumb and forefinger as if it were something dead that had been lying in the sun a very long time.

"You weren't really planning on wearing this . . .this . . ." words failed him and he produced another joint loosening shudder, for effect.

The great curling scar which bisected her face stood out in sudden relief as Soban glowered at her tormentor. That same look, which had been known to cause yakuza assassins to find religion, usually in the most distant part of Tibet possible, left Kei strangely unaffected.

"It's just so . . .so . . ."

"Tacky? Boring?" A huge black man wearing a t- shirt showing Micky Mouse in samurai armour on the front, squeezed his way into the room, followed by a small, elderly woman.

"Not that Jules-san means anything _bad_ by tacky," Baba Jun hastened to assure Soban. "but it is rather _plain_."

When no one burst into flames, or at least had the decency to void their bowels and run screaming from the room, Soban turned off her scowl and put it away. "Since when did what I do or do-not wear become such a matter of concern," she rubbed her brow hoping the room would magically empty itself when she opened her eye again. "of _public_ concern." She stressed, upon finding her small room still filled to bursting with humanity.

"Since you goin' on date." Jules-san rumbled. "Long as I been here you neva' been on no date. This one big day I thinkin'."

"Save the marukomu ekksu for the tourists J-san." She started to glower, then decided against wasting a perfectly good scowl on someone who wasn't impressed. "Your Japanese is better than mine."

"That's not saying much _boss-san_," Jules grinned, teeth startlingly white against his glossy black skin. "And I'm trying more for Bobby Brown. Malcolm X is a little too intellectual for the morning crowd, if you know what I mean."

"It's So-ban," she stressed the inverted street slang pronunciation. "And I never thought all those school girls were panting after you for conversation."

"They sure be gettin' one pow'ful education tho' boss."

Jules sneered at Kei's awful mimicry, then grinned.

"We mustn't forget why we're here," Baba Jun put in plaintively. "to help Soban with her problem."

Soban bit back a very naughty word. She'd been hoping they would all forget why they thought she need help and go away.

"That's right," Jules reached back and shrugged a large pack off his shoulder. He dropped it with a very solid thump on Soban's desk. "We've got to get you ready for your date."

"I'm _not_ going on a _date_." Soban gritted out. "It's a _study_ group. S.t.u.d.y. You know, books, papers, homework."

"I wish I'd had homework like _that_ when I was in school." Toukou sighed. "It might have made _all_ the difference."

"Tou-chan!" Kei protested, smacking Toukou on the head.

"She was adorable," Baba Jun put in. "Such a cute face. I thought she was very nice."

"It is not a date," Soban repeated very slowly, as if talking to the mentally impaired. "It's just a study session. We're getting together to go over our school work. People do it all the time."

"_You_ never have." Kei put in slyly.

"We?" Jules grinned, his face almost splitting in two. "We? As in more than one? Now this is interesting. Is 'we' those girls whose pictures everyone had to memorize?"

Soban felt an uncharacteristic heat creep up her neck to cover her cheeks. "We're all in the same class. Ami-chan thought we should----"

"Ami . . ._chan_?" Toukou smirked. "Not Mizuno- sama? My, my . . .my. And what does Ippin think of this. A high strung little pony like that often gets very jealous." Toukou tilted his head to one side, wondering if he were going to witness spontaneous human combustion.

"Well, never mind that," Baba Jun put in hastily, unzipping the large bag and pulling out the first garment. "Oh, now isn't this cute?" She shook out a soft frilly creation of taffeta and ruffles.

Soban blanched and backed away from the hideous thing. "I don't do cute."

"Hey, now this is nice . . ." Jules pulled out a shimmery silken dress, covered with sequins. "It makes a statement."

"Yeah, It says 'help, I'm being mugged by a disco ball' " Soban tried to edge toward the door, only to be blocked by Baba Jun.

"Oh, look . . ." Kei pulled a few wispy bits of fabric from the bottom of the bag. "Tiger stripes." He reached over, hooked a couple of fingers in Soban's sensible white cotton underwear and tugged sharply.

"Aaaaaakk," Soban grabbed for her disappearing briefs and missed. Almost as rapidly her top vanished. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

"I don't know," Baba Jun ignored her, holding a blouse and skirt combination in front of Soban's now bare body. "What do you think?" This question was of course _not_ directed at Soban.

"I like the gabardine for the skirt," Kei replied. "but the blouse is all wrong. What about this?" Another garment appeared from the seemingly bottomless bag.

"Hey . . .is anyone listening----" The world went dark as a dress was pulled suddenly over her head. "---- to me?" She gasped as she struggled out the other end.

"No!" Jules shushed her as the small group went into a huddle.

"Oh . . .well I was just asking." Soban replied meekly, shuddering as a makeup bag appeared from nowhere.

************************************************

"What do you mean you _forgot_!" Artemis paced angrily back and forth in front of an uncharacteristically chastened Rei. "It was your idea to cut school and follow her all over town. And _now_ you say you forgot to find out about _who_ she was talking to on the phone about the senshi and _why_!?" He was fairly spitting in his anger. "I waited in that alley for _hours_. Do you know how long it took me to clean my _fur_!" He stalked toward the fire priestess. "I still smell like carp crap!"

"He really does." Minako seconded the angry and odoriferous moon cat. "Mom suggested we shave him before he clogged the air conditioner filter." She edged away from the patchy white cat. "He was too fast for us though."

Artemis spared a moment to snarl at his supposed partner, then turned back to Rei. "What in the world were you _doing_ in there all that time?"

"Ooooo, Rei's blushing!" Minako teased. The other senshi watched fascinated as a fiery red tide crept up Rei's neck.

"Hey," Bored with Artemis's diatribe Makoto had been poking around Rei's room. Reaching down she snagged the bit of shiny black leather that was protruding from under Rei's bed. "what's this stuff?"

Rei spun away from Artemis to see Mako holding a complicated tangle of black leather and gold chain topped by a scarlet feather.

"Eeep."

************************************************

"I still think you should call a cab," Kei fretted as the group made its way to the underground garage. "Or let Jules take you. He's a very good driver and----" He hastily shut up as Soban sent a fulminating look in his direction. They walked the last few steps in silence. Reaching an apparently blank section of wall Soban inserted a small key into a discreetly hidden key-hole.

"I have been poked," she pulled back the sliding door and stepped into the hidden compartment, "prodded," she unlatched the saddlebags and dropped in a pair of shoes and a hat," painted and punctured." Fingering the small gold studs in her newly pierced ears she glowered at Toukou who returned a look of bland innocence. "I just got my bike back from the shop and I want to try her out." Pulling the Nomex coverall from its hanger she pulled it over her street clothes, then snapped the hard protective boots, leg guards and chest armor in place. Last she tugged on heavy gauntlets and tucked a helmet under her arm.

Kei looked decidedly unhappy as Soban wheeled one of her few indulgences from its stall. "Why couldn't you have gotten one of those cute little Honda's?"

"Because Honda won't put a small block V-8 in their bike." Soban hopped into the saddle, balancing the huge machine perfectly, even at rest, as only a complete expert could do. Pulling the helmet over her head she locked it into place, then plugged in the intercom and environmental connections. "Clear!" She twisted her head to make sure her command had been followed. The big Chevy engine snarled to life at a touch of the key. Watching the dials settle into nominal ranges she closed her eyes to savor the feel of the Sidewinder's newly re-built motor. Touching a button caused the outside door to glide open on quiet electric motors. Snapping the gold-tinted visor into place she gave her tormentors a thumbs up and rumbled slowly to the exit.

Kei had a brief moment to hope Soban would be sensible for once. He watched the horrid machine move at a turtles pace out of the garage. Soban's head turned from side to side, checking traffic. Her hand touched another button and Kei's hope vanished in a shrill whine as the super-charger wound up with an electric-metal roar that disappeared in the thunder of four hundred horses. The big Titan reared up and Soban vanished down the street in a shriek of burning rubber and prayerful curses from shaken drivers.

The massively modified Titan was really too heavy and clumsy for Tokyo driving; slow to brake, not agile enough in the turns for the heavy traffic. Soban was unaware of these facts. This may have had something to do with her never having passed her driving test.

A brief opening appeared between two delivery trucks. Shifting into second Soban slammed power to the rear wheel, scooting through the rapidly vanishing space---- and directly towards the side of a black Mercedes sedan. Locking the back wheel she sent power to the front wheel, pulling the heavy bike sharply to the left in a skidding turn, missing the sedan by the width of a postage stamp, kicking a spray of debris into the cars open window. Finding a clearing to the side Soban twisted the throttle forward shifting through third gear as the tachometer red-lined. She snapped through fourth gear, passing one hundred forty KPH and a police car at the same instant.

***********************************************

"Mother! Father! Are you all right?" The young driver pulled the heavy sedan sharply to the right and stopped in the parking lane.

"We're just fine son."

Chiba Mamoru ran a hand shakily through his hair, combing out a wad of paper. Sourly he watched the motorcycle vanish in the distance. "What was that idiot thinking?"

***********************************************

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Miyuki screamed as Natsumi spun their patrol car one hundred eighty degrees in a bootleggers turn.

"No need to be scared," Natsumi flipped on the lights and siren. "I've got everything under control."

"Hothothothothot!" Miyuki whimpered, pulling back her tea sodden uniform skirt to look at the angry red scald mark.

"THIS IS THE POLICE! PULL OVER AT ONCE! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" Natsumi released the microphone button, really hoping the law breaker would _not_ comply. She wanted to try out some of Miyuki's new modifications.

"It works better if you put the FRIGGIN' SPEAKER _OUTSIDE_ the car!" Miyuki started to beat Natsumi over the head with the microphone, realized they were now going one hundred seventy KPH and accelerating. She dropped the mike and cinched her seat belt two sizes smaller than the label on her uniform skirt; promising herself to kill Natsumi later.

An alert tone brought her attention to the on-board computer. Punching a function key a street map appeared, alpha numeric characters scrolling across the bottom of the screen. "All right, we've got him. There's a massive traffic jam on the bridge. A truck has overturned, completely blocking the entrance." Red lights were coming on as drivers ahead hit the brakes. Natsumi pulled the powerful 4wd police car onto the shoulder to continue pursuit.

"Back-up is converging on all the side streets. There's no place for him to----" Miyuki's mouth snapped shut at fleeing driver _jumped_ the big bike onto one of the bridges suspension cables and zoomed across on the inspection platform. She was just absorbing this astonishing fact when----

"Natsumi . . .NO!!!"

The deploying air-bag slammed her back against her seat.

" . . .don't try to follow." She said weakly, flailing the deflating bag away from her face. Pushing the bag aside she could see the bridge support cocked at a crazy angle. For a moment she thought Natsumi had broken the bridge. Then she realized it was the Lancia that was twisted, not the support. Her beautiful . . .expensive . . .Lancia Delta HF Integrale Editione Finale. The last of the high-end competition Deltas. With 4wd and a powerful turbocharger Only two hundred fifty were available in Japan. She looked at the crumpled metal . . .two hundred forty nine . . .and wanted to cry . . .she thought of the thousands of hours she'd spent . . .her own time and money . . .detailing, putting in the nitro bottle. Rebuilding the injector jets had taken five hundred hours alone . . .

"Are you all right Natsumi?"

"I almost had him. You know if you would put a little more work into fixing up the car the bad guy's wouldn't get away so easy."

Back-up arrived within moments. It took only a little pepper spray, and a couple of jolts from a stun gun, to get Miyuki to let go of Natsumi's throat.

************************************************

Throttled back to a sedate ten kph Soban motored slowly along the street looking for landmarks. She'd gotten lost twice already and had to retrace her route. A few minutes ago she'd passed the Jubancho Hospital bus stop so the next stop should be . . .and there it was; the 'Upper Sendaizaka' bus stop. And that meant . . .Soban looked over to her right. There was the stone marker for the Hikawa Jinja just as Rei had described it. Pulling onto the grass behind the marker Soban shut off the engine and locked the stand into place. Stripping off her armor and coverall she slipped into her new shoes and tugged her equally new hat into place, pulling the brim to a rakish angle as Jules had suggested. Grabbing her book bag she froze for a moment, a leaden feeling in the pit of her stomach. A study group . . .she'd never been in a study group in her life. She'd never worn makeup or, she looked at the shoes with a grimace, heels. Kei assured her they "made" the outfit. And she'd only have to wear them for a little bit. 'Just from that _horrid_ machine to the front door.' Kei had insisted.

Taking a deep breath Soban tried to drive away the butterflies in her stomach. Two more deep breaths and she at least had them flying in formation.

*You can do this. No problem*. She'd been running contraband for the yakuza since she was seven. She'd killed one man, and crippled another, when she was eight. She could handle a study group.

*dummy. stupid freak* The remembered taunts were so real she flinched, a sour acid taste in the back of her throat. She turned and took three steps back the way she had come before her mind could over-ride her gut. Only words, memories of words spoken almost a decade earlier. But words cut sharper than any blade and even the memory of their wound went deep and bled long. She'd rather have her knuckles cracked with a hammer than hear those words again. Especially from----she shook herself like a dog coming out of a river. A long time ago she'd learned to face her problems head on.

Another deep breath. Hold it. Let it out slowly. Repeat. Slowly she walked around the marker from where she'd parked her motorcycle and started up the . . .steps. Tilting her head back she saw the long row of stone steps disappear through the torii and beyond the shrine gate.

Steps.

She looked at the steps.

She looked down at her shoes. Her _new_ shoes. With heels.

She looked back up at the steps.

She was going to kill Kei.

************************************************

Greedy eyes watched as Soban moved haltingly up the steps to the Hikawa shrine. Kato Daisuke was part of a gang known as the Straight Killers. They'd never killed anyone and rarely even fought. What they did was steal motorcycles. And this was a beauty. He could only see part of the rear chrome sticking out from behind the shrubbery, but it was enough to tell him this was a custom import . . .two, three million yen profit easy.

Quietly he drove the anonymous looking van onto the grass and turned to Naoya sitting beside him. Grinning Naoya held up his cordless drill, for drilling out the ignition lock, slipped out of the door and walked confidently to the bike. He had reason to be confident. Cops almost never patrolled, they couldn't find their way around the narrow Tokyo streets any better than anybody else. They stuck to their little boxes by the train stations or if in a car _might_ manage to cover their assigned area once a day.

Closing on the prize he whistled under his breath. He'd never _seen_ a bike like this, not even in pictures. There probably wasn't another like it in Japan. And the _key_ was still in it.

Sniggering at the stupidity . . .this idiot deserved to get ripped off, Naoya stuck the drill through his belt and hopped on the bike. Maybe Dai would let him ride it back to the chop-shop rather than hide it in back of the van. He reached for the key, sneering at the little white and red plastic toy on the end of the key-chain. Twisting the key Naoya felt a sensual thrill at the powerful engine rumbled to life . . .this was better than sex.

A sudden thought came to him and he twisted the little toy off the chain. He'd leave the poor bastard something to remember----

Dai drummed impatiently on the steering wheel. Naoya should have been finished by now. If the stupid fucker was playing around again he'd beat him bloody with his own tool kit. Dai was about to drive off and leave him when Naoya slid into the seat beside him.

"What the _hell_ took you so long! Where's the bike? What the fuck were you----"

Teeth chattering Naoya held out a hand trembling as if palsied. In the palm rested the small figure of a small rabbit wearing a bright red cap and carrying a straw basket filled with daisies. Dai frowned down at the small toy, then back up at Naoya whose mouth opened and closed but nothing came out.

"What the fuc----" Dai started to flick the thing out the window. Naoya snatched it back, blanching to paper white.

"NO! . . n . . no." He swallowed audibly. "It's hers." He hissed. "It's _hers_ and I broke it." Tears were streaming down Naoya's cheeks.

"Hers? What are you talkin' about?" And then he recognized the toy. 'My Melody', the kawaii rabbit friend of the equally kawaii 'Hello Kitty'. And then he knew who the bike belonged to.

Motorcycle theft was so common in Japan that the police didn't bother to investigate and no one would insure them against theft. If you owned a motorcycle you locked it in the house at night, slept with it if you could and accepted the fact that one day it would be stolen.

Unless it was _her_ motorcycle.

Someone _had_ stolen her bike.

Once.

Dai began to cry.

************************************************

"Someone's coming!" Rei shrugged off her teasing friends and turned toward the door. The feeling she had was seconded a moment later by the warning cries of her ravens.

"It's probably Soban." Ami looked at her watch. "She's running a little late. Perhaps she had trouble finding the shrine?"

Makoto moved to the window and peered through the curtains. "Kawaii!" She exclaimed involuntarily.

Minako hurried up and shoved her friend aside. "Wow!" Looking over her shoulder she added, "It's not Soban."

************************************************

Soban paused to catch her breath. She sneered at the stone lions guarding the top of the final flight of steps.

"You'd look pretty silly trying to walk in these shoes too."

A pair of ravens swooped low, laughing at her. Pursing her lips at the unfairness of life that let the wildlife make fun of her she straightened her tie and took a confident step forward. Her confidence took a massive hit as she saw the shrine proper for the first time. The elaborately carved Hikawa Jinja was over fifteen hundred years old and a designated cultural treasure. The worn stone steps took on a new significance as she felt the presence of the thousands of souls that had come to this shrine over the centuries. The spirits, past and present, were a palpable presence . . .and they didn't like strangers. They didn't like _her_.

Soban's nostrils flared as she felt a subtle pressure pushing her away from the sacred precincts. She didn't like anyone telling her what to do, alive or dead, mortal or kami. Setting her jaw she stalked straight toward the shrine, intending to ring the bell until the kami squealed.

************************************************

"Excuse me," Ami politely shoved her two friends aside. "I can't see any . . ." Her voice trailed off as she got a good look at their visitor. ". . .thing."

A dove grey fedora was pulled low over one eye, hiding the face in shadow. The blue pin-stripe suit jacket pulled snugly over heavy, weight-lifters shoulders. Even through the tight shut windows Ami could hear the staccato clack, like gun shots, with each determined stride.

"Oh . . .my . . ."

"What in the world are you looking at?" And what had Phobos and Demos in such an uproar? Rei thought as she shoved, much less politely, her way to the window. She took one look and bolted for the door.

Sprinting around the corner she could see the stranger headed for the shrine . . ._her_ shrine. "HEY! Hey YOU! What do you think you're----" The figure turned on her like a cat, the split skirt swirling open to reveal a flash of silk covered leg and garter. "----doing?" Rei squeaked.

She recovered and tried again. "What do you think you are doing _here_?" Rei tensed as the intruder brought her hands up, then relaxed fractionally as the stranger made a minute adjustment to her elegant silk tie. Another flick removed an imaginary piece of lint from the pale pink silk shirt, before slender hands fell back to rest at the strangers side.

"The shrine is closed." Behind her she could hear her friends skid to a stop. "Public hours are . . .are weekdays from ten o'clock to five." Rei stuttered, feeling a little silly for over reacting to a lost tourist. She felt a little flutter in her tummy as the shadowed face watched her, unnervingly silent. "Ummm, can I help you? Are you lost?" The figure moved suddenly forward and Rei stepped back involuntarily.

"I thought we were supposed to have a study group today?" A long fingered hand pushed back the brim of the fedora, showing the owners face.

************************************************

Soban felt her stomach clench as everyone gasped. She should never have let Kei and the others talk her into "dressing up." She felt hot tears threaten as Rei's jaw dropped. She could feel the others staring and knew she would lose it when they started laughing. Biting hard on the inside of her cheek she used pain and the hot copper taste of blood to distance herself.

"Since it's a shrine I thought I should dress up a little." Silence. Even the dammed crows had shut up. "I thought it was today . . .the study group." It took everything she had to keep her voice from trembling. "Sorry if I made a mistake." She turned curtly to leave.

"Wait . . ." Minako recovered her voice first. "It's today. The study group. Today is right." She shuffled her feet nervously. "Ummmm, that's a new look for you." Ooops. Wrong thing to say. Soban looked as if she were going to bolt.

"You're right on time." Ami put in. "Is that your book bag?" She asked unnecessarily, pointing to the bag Soban had left at the top of the steps. With a slight gesture she sent Makoto to retrieve Soban's books. "Well, let's get started." With that she grabbed Soban by the arm and pulled her toward Rei's room. With only a slight hesitation Soban followed, trailed by Rei, Minako and Makoto with Soban's book bag.

A moment later Soban was settled into an overstuffed chair of modernistic design while the rest of the girls settled around a low table.

Soban tried to suppress a slight grimace at sitting with her back to a window. Rei noticed the infinitesimal twitch, but misinterpreted it.

"This will help," she pushed a stool under Soban's feet. "Not used to wearing heels I bet." Her sympathetic grin faded under Soban's stony faced silence.

"Time to get to work." Ami's interruption broke the tension and Rei moved back to her place with a relieved sigh. Something was making Soban awfully tense.

Soban, for her part, wished everyone would quit staring at her. It had been years since she'd been really self conscious of her looks. That just gave people a weapon to use against you. She should have stuck with her school uniform. That was safe, familiar. Not this new sophisticated look Kei assured her was all the rage she thought, absently fiddling with the unfamiliar neck-tie of cobalt blue silk. She wished they would just quit staring. Even Ami was darting quick looks from the corner of her eye when she thought Soban wasn't looking.

If Soban ever realized Kei had modified chic sophisticated to adorably seductive he needn't bother going to Sweden for his gender reorganization surgery. Soban would reorganize his gender with an electric blender.

"I thought we'd start with classical literature,"Ami pulled a thick volume from her bag. "Translation and analysis are very important parts of the entrance exam. I thought we'd take turns, one person doing the translation and another the interpretation just like we do in class. Soban, why don't you read the passage I've marked and Makoto you do the analysis."

"NO!" Rei's hand shot out, grabbing Ami's arm in a painful grip. "Uhhhhh . . ." Dropping Ami's arm as quickly as she'd grabbed it Rei floundered a bit under her friends amazed look. "That is . . .I mean why don't I start. Soban's feet probably still hurt."

Ami looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. Rei wasn't sure she was far wrong.

"How did you know?"

Everyone turned from Rei at Soban's quiet question. Rei thought about misunderstanding the question, but somehow she couldn't, as much as she wanted to.

"At the Island . . .when you were reading . . .the book was upside down."

"Careless of me." Soban said tonelessly. She reached for her book bag. "I could have done it, you know. No one's ever guessed before."

"I'm sorry." Rei looked like she was about to cry. When Soban got to her feet she reached out to stop her. At Soban's look she let the hand fall helplessly back to her side.

"What's going on?" Minako asked the question everyone else was thinking. "Where are you going?"

"Home." Soban slung her bag over one shoulder and headed for the door. "I'm tired of this."

"Now wait a minute." Ami didn't like the note of finality in Soban's voice. "You can't just leave like this." She stepped in front of Soban, putting her hand on her chest to stop her.

"Don't you _ever_ tell me what to do." Soban grabbed Ami's hand in a joint lock.

Ami winced as Soban twisted her wrist. In a move she would never have tried before meeting Soban Ami grabbed _Soban's_ hand in a wrist lock she'd learned from her water polo friends.

"Now what has gotten in to you." Ami demanded with uncharacteristic heat. "We went to a lot of trouble to set up this study group. You can't just walk away without an explanation."

"I can't read." Soban jerked free and stalked for the door. She was trying to fumble into her shoes when Ami caught up with her again.

"Look, there's nothing wrong with being afraid to read in public. I'm always a little nervous when----"

"I'm not nervous." Soban gave the recalcitrant shoe a savage kick that sent it skidding out into the yard. "I can't read." She turned to face Ami. "I. Can. Not. Read." She punctuated each syllable with a poke to Ami's chest. "I can not read the words. I'm fucking ILLITERATE!" Soban growled the last, pushing her face close to Ami's. "Understand now, genius?"

"That's stupid. How-----" Ami's next words were choked off as Soban grabbed her by the collar and lifted her clear of the floor.

"I'm not stupid! Don't you call me stupid. Don't you ever----"

The world went a little grey as Soban cut off her oxygen. Faintly she heard a distant buzzing, like a giant hive of bees. The pressure around her throat released and she sank to her knees, drawing in great sobbing breaths. As her vision cleared she saw Soban, teeth bared and growling, facing a white faced Minako who was in a defensive crouch. Makoto stood beside her, rubbing her knuckles. Ami noticed a bruise forming on Soban's cheek.

"I'm alright," Ami struggled off the floor with Rei's help. Taking a deep breath Ami swallowed hard, feeling her throat protest. She pushed between Minako and Makoto. Gently she reached out and brushed Soban's cheek.

"I didn't mean _you_ were stupid. I meant it was stupid that you couldn't read. I was surprised." She felt Soban's arm tense as she touched her. "Come and sit back down. Please?"

"I need to get my shoe." Soban refused to look at Ami, staring out the door instead.

"Makoto will get it." Makoto looked a little unsure about leaving, but went after the missing shoe at Ami's quiet gesture. "Now," Ami started as Soban hunched herself in the chair, "what seems to be your problem with reading?"

"I can't read." The answer was short, her manner unforthcoming.

"Do the characters twist all around?" Minako put in unexpectedly. Soban's head shot up, eyes fixed on Minako. "The kana are all twisted around, aren't they?" Minako went on confidently, seeing Soban's look. "And the kanji, just a mess of lines like a noodle cup."

"How do you know?" Soban whispered.

"Dyslexia." Ami interjected, her tone disgusted.

"Dis whatsia?" Makoto dropped the lost shoe by it's mate and toed off her own footwear before re-entering the room.

"I have it." Minako answered simply.

"So do I." Ami put in. "I don't understand why----"

"I can't _read_." Soban whispered in an anguished voice. "You can read. Why can't _I_ read?"

Ami knelt down by Soban's side. "There are a lot of different types of learning disorders, and of different severity." She squeezed Soban's hand. "And I had teachers who worked with me," she glanced at Minako who nodded in agreement. "I don't think you did."

Soban took a deep shuddering breath. "Could you . . .I can pay . . ."

Ami started to object. To say that she wasn't qualified. There were special teachers, classes for people like her.

"Of course," she heard a voice say. Her voice. "I'd be honored to help any way I can. And don't worry about money----" Soban started to object and Ami went on quickly. "Just explain to me what this is," she held up a shiny black and red leather harness, "and how it works."

************************************************

"Alright, that's enough for now." Ami rubbed her eyes. "You don't want to overdo things."

"No!" Soban snatched for the pad of paper and brushes she'd been using to practice. "I want to----" She pressed her hands together, controlling herself with an effort. "Forgive me. I appreciate what you have done for me."

Ami winced at the bleakness of Soban's tone. "Wait a minute, where are you going?" She grabbed Soban's arm as she rose to leave.

"Home. I don't want to take any more time from your study group. Thank you for what you've done for me." Soban started to bow formally, then jerked upright in shock when Rei whapped her on the head.

"Baka." She didn't notice Ami unconsciously rub her neck. "It's at least half an hour until the next bus. Or were you planning to _walk_ home?" She jerked a thumb at Soban's stylishly impractical shoes sitting by the entrance.

"I rode my bike----"

"You rode a bicycle wearing that?" Makato stared at Soban's outfit, incredulously.

"Ummmm, motorcycle." Soban corrected. "I , uhhh, left it behind the shrubbery at the front. I hope you don't mind?" She looked worriedly at Rei.

"Motorcycle?" Minako squeaked.

"Behind the shrubbery!" Makoto's jaw dropped.

"Are you CRAZY!" Everyone chorused.

Minako and Makoto's exchanged identical looks and dashed for the door.

"Maybe we----"

"It might still be----"

And they were gone in a tangle of voices and running hopping steps as they jerked on their shoes while moving.

"What was that all about?" Soban asked no one in particular.

"What were you thinking of?" Rei demanded, fists on hips, looking at Soban as if she were an idiot studying hard to be a moron . . .and failing.

"That was very unwise." Ami put in severely. "Motorcycle theft is the most common type of crime. Last year in Juban there were six homicides, twenty eight assaults, two hundred automobile thefts and," she paused for dramatic effect, "Three thousand four hundred and eighty two motorcycle thefts."

"Eight."

"I beg your pardon?" A little frown creased her forehead.

"There were eight homicides."

"How do you----" Rei's mouth snapped shut as she suddenly decided she didn't really want to know _how_ Soban knew this.

"Ahhhh, well," Ami was almost bursting with the need to ask "how", but took her cue from Rei. "you should _not_ have left your motorcycle like that. I understand that there are thieves who use _tools_ to cut through even the heaviest chains." She looked at Rei who nodded in agreement.

Soban seemed overtaken by a small fit of coughing. "R . . .really?"

"Oh yes. I've read that they use cordless drills to start the motorcycles _without_ using a key." She frowned a little. "I didn't really understand that part." Looking a little sheepish she added. "I've never ridden a motorcycle."

"You can ride mine sometime . . .if you like," Soban shrugged carelessly.

"_IF_ you still have a motorcycle," Rei added sarcastically. "Why didn't you bring it up the path around back?"

"I didn't want to intrude."

"You didn't want to _intrude_!" Rei seemed ready to explode. "You'd rather someone steals your motorcycle?"

Minako and Makoto returned just then.

"Ummmm, there are two guy sitting in a van . . . crying."

"Never mind that," Rei interjected. "How's her motorcycle?"

"It's . . .pink." Makoto said.

"With bunnies." Minako added.

"I like bunnies." Soban said, somewhat defensively, as everyone turned to stare at her.

"We got the two guys to help us roll it up the path in back. It's parked outside now." Makoto jerked her thumb toward the window at Soban's back.

"They were very helpful." Minako added.

"Wouldn't stop crying though." Makoto sounded puzzled.

"Ummmmm . . .well," Ami was the first to recover from the brain twisting thought of associating Soban with both pink and bunnies. "I think we should all take a break now. Rei, why don't you get the game board."

"Game?" Soban turned away from explaining the near necessity of having bunnies on ones motorcycle to Minako.

"Oh yes, we always relax with a role playing game," Ami blushed faintly at the lie. "after studying. They are very good for stimulating logical thinking and ummm . . . . uhhhh . . ."

"They help you learn teamwork and . . .uhhh . . .stuff." Makoto put in valiantly. She was saved from further effort when Rei returned with a box that was scuffed and worn as if from long and frequent use. Which would have surprised the shop keeper who had sold it to Rei as a brand new game two days earlier . . . when Minako had her brain storm. Since Artemis was so adamant that Soban could not be trusted with the secret of their identities as Senshi this was a way to safely feel Soban out about her true feeling about the Senshi. And perhaps get a fresh prospective on fighting the Dark Kingdom.

"Sailor Senshi?" Soban looked at a quartet of heroic young women in brief fuku fighting a hoard of ravening monsters against the back drop of a burning Tokyo skyline. Heroism seemed to be in inverse proportion to fuku length, which made these Senshi _very_ heroic indeed. She looked from the picture to Rei who blushed faintly.

Soban sighed. "OK . . .OK, the Sailor Senshi are the greatest thing since cold beer and hot sake. Satisfied?" Rei blushed even more furiously. Ami made mental note to talk to Rei later, in private. Soban's explanation about the fascinating collection of leather and gold had been somewhat . . .sketchy.

"What do you have against the Sailor Senshi?" Makoto asked a little belligerently. "They are the pretty soldiers for love and justice. They fight against evil and protect us from the Dark Kingdom."

Minako tensed a little. No one except them, and the Dark Kingdom of course, knew that name. Soban however didn't seem to notice.

"I don't have anything against the Senshi," Soban grimaced a little, shifting for a more comfortable position in her chair. "I just don't like . . ." she searched for the right words. "I don't like the hero worship they get." She shrugged, "I don't like the hero worship the Grey Princes get either."

"Dark Generals." Ami corrected automatically. She clapped a hand over her mouth in horror when she realized what she'd done.

"Huh?" Soban glanced quizzically at Ami.

"Uhhhh, that's what we call them for the game." Rei said hurriedly, setting out the game pieces.

"Yeah well, Dark Generals, Sailor Senshi . . .they're all the same." Makato opened her mouth to object, vigorously, but shut up when Minako squeezed her arm warningly.

"They're all the same," Soban went on. "The Generals want something, the Senshi don't want them to have it. Or the Senshi try to get something, the Generals fight them for it."

"Yeahbut the Senshi are fighting to save----"

"Look, if you get fried by an energy bolt or someone drops a building on you, you don't care if the person who does it wears a sailor fuku or a Dark General's uniform. You're dead either way."

"But, the Sailor Senshi are trying to save everyone." Ami replied, sounding troubled. "Sometimes innocent people are hurt but----"

"It's for your own good," Soban said bitterly. "You have to think about the big picture . . .work for the greater good." She glared at Ami. "Do I have it right? That's what the _Emperor_ said during World War Two. Something like that. And then the army _helped_ a few hundred thousand men women and children on the point of a bayonet. Of course they were only Chinese." Ami shivered at the venom in Soban's voice.

"It's not the same." Minako said quietly. "The Generals attacked first."

"There's always an excuse!" Soban retorted. Taking herself in hand she went on more quietly. "I don't know who's right or who's wrong. It doesn't matter for most people anyway. They just want to live their lives without wondering if they're going to end up bombed, burned or turned into a monster."

Ami looked troubled. Soban broke the strained silence. "I'm sorry. I'd better go." Minako stopped her.

"No, I'm . . ._we're_ sorry. Just because we like the senshi doesn't mean you have to." She nibbled her lip a little nervously. "But we'd still like you to stay . . .you don't have to play if you don't want to."

Soban collapsed under Minako's lost puppy look. "Alright, I'll stay." She grimaced. "How do you play this stupid game anyway?"

Minako produced a thick, dog eared book Ami had prepared for _their_ version of the popular game. "Well, first you've got these different generals. They've got these powers and soldiers that fight for them . . ." Soban slumped back in her chair as Minako excitedly explained the rules of the "game".

************************************************

"So, what do you think?" Ami finally broke the silence that had fallen after Minako finished explaining the "game".

"I think the Sailor Senshi are screwed." Soban replied without opening her eyes.

"What!" Makoto leaned forward, hands fisted on her knees. "What do you mean?"

"Screwed . . . fucked . . .neck deep in fecal matter and sinking fast." Soban peeked at Makoto from under lowered lids. "If you're playing the parts of the Senshi?," nods all around confirmed what she already knew. "I hope you like skiing, 'cause the Generals are gonna wax your ass."

"What!" Rei was incensed. "How can you say that. We . . .uhhh the Sailor Senshi have done alright. Sure w . . .uhhh they've lost some battles but-----"

"But nothing." Soban held up a hand to stop Rei, then, ticking off points on her fingers, continued.

"You, according to the game rules, don't know where the Generals are based, what their objectives are or how many of them there are." She looked inquiringly at Ami.

"Ummm, the game people tried to make it as realistic as possible." Ami answered, nodding.

"This means, no matter what you do, the Generals have a safe base to retreat to, to rest, recover and plan. They have more man power," Minako coughed and Soban grinned. "or monster power, than the Senshi. _They_ can lose dozens of "soldiers", the Senshi can't afford a single loss. You don't know what they're after----"

"Energy," Minako put in. "They want human energy. According to the game rules." She added hastily.

Soban shrugged. "Why?" At their blank looks she went on. "What do they want human energy for? For that matter what _is_ human energy. What _exactly_ are they doing when they drain people? And what do they do with the energy?" Soban leaned back and closed her eyes. "Know your enemy, know yourself and in a thousand battles you will never lose. Be ignorant of the enemy and know yourself and you will win half your battles." Her eye snapped open, spearing them all with a glance. "Ignorant of yourself and your enemy, you can never win."

"Sun Tzu," Ami recognized the quotation. A thought came to her. "Ummm, how do you know so much if----" She stopped suddenly, her cheeks heating. "Sorry, that's none of my business."

"I listen. And remember." Soban answered. "And it's amazing what people will do for a few yen . . . Excuse me," Her voice took on a different timber, more refined. "I've forgotten my reading glasses. Would you mind reading this chapter for me?" Soban grinned at their amazed looks. "There are a million dodges . . .and books-on-tape help a lot. At any rate, I think the Senshi know themselves pretty well and work together as a team" Rei started to preen a little, then caught herself. "but the best they can do is drag out their dying.

"So," Minako put in. "there's no way the Senshi can win?"

"Hmmmm," Soban glanced off into space, thinking. "I guess it all depends on what you mean by winning." Another moment of thoughtful silence. "Winning this game means a lot to you?" Vigorous nods all around. "Set up the pieces and let's see what happens." She thought a minute. "You be the Dark Generals and I'll be the Sailor Senshi." She pursed her lips as if tasting something sour. "One of them anyway."

"Only one senshi?" Rei queried.

"I'll only need one, if I can make it work at all. Besides," Soban picked out a small figurine. "I'm going to use the strongest Senshi of all."

"HER?!"

************************************************

The greatest of the Dark generals floated in the air above his supine enemy. Shadows danced and played in the eerie light cast by his aura.

"It's been a long battle," he wiped a smear of blood from his cheek, "But now it's over."

The broken, bleeding senshi looked up from where she lay dying on the cold stone. "C . . .come closer."

With arrogant ease the General settled beside the dying warrior, contemptuously brushing his uniform clean as he did so.

"K . . .kun . . .zite," her voice was no more than a breathy whisper. "do you believe in god?"

The General's surprise showed. "Do I believe . . . what are you talking about?"

"Give your soul to god . . .'cause your ass is mine." A bloody finger stabbed a button on a badly charred computer. An encrypted signal burst from the computer as a booted heel came down, crushing hand and machine. It didn't matter, neither could feel it and both had done their duty.

Kunzite's head snapped around as his ears detected a muffled sound . . .like a very heavy book falling from a desk. It was the sound of sixty eight tons of high explosive blowing a hole in the ocean floor.

That was just the trigger.

Between one heart beat and the next, sixty five thousand gallons of cold sea water smashed into the heart of an active volcano. The super heated steam erupted upwards. . .seventy three tons per square inch of sea water pressed down. The enormous pressure took the line of least resistance, rupturing the natural fault like rotten rice paper, splitting the sea bed through the mantle. And five cubic miles of the earth's core blasted through the gaping wound to the surface at eleven hundred kilometers per hour.

Kunzite didn't even have time to scream.

"That's CHEATING!" The former Dark Kingdom general screamed in frustration.

"Cheating?" Soban flicked over the Kunzite figurine and glanced back at Makoto.

"You killed yourself for one thing."

"I was already dying." Soban pointed out reasonably.

"You blew up the planet!" Makoto was turning an interesting shade of puce.

"Just a small piece. And you'd already depopulated it."

"Besides, there's no way you could do it anyway." Makoto took deep breaths, trying to calm down.

"Ummm," Ami was reading over the game notes. "I . . .I think there might be." She stared strangely as Soban. "But how did you . . .I mean how did the senshi know?"

"I told you she was the most powerful."

"HER?" Makoto picked up the small figurine, dressed all in blue. "Sailor . . .Mercury?"

"It's all a matter of superior intelligence." Fortunately Soban couldn't see Ami blush bright red.

"I know Am . . .ummmm . . .almost the smartest senshi is Sailor Mercury," Rei mouthed *good save* at Minako behind Soban's back while Ami quietly banged her head against the floor. "but what does that have to do with beating Kunzite?"

"Not that kind of intelligence. Sailor Mercury could be dumb as a box of hair." Soban rubbed her nose thoughtfully. "She's got to be a few dumplings short of a bento to run around in that stupid fuku making silly speeches."

Rei clamped a hand over Ami's mouth, stifling the cry of outrage at the source.

"No, what I'm talking about is _military_ intelligence . . .information and analysis of enemy intentions. Sailor Mercury," Soban took the game piece from Makoto, "has these glasses that allow her to gather information and a super computer to store and analyze data." She dropped the tiny doll on the table and set it spinning with a flick of her finger. "With this I could avoid the Dark Generals where they were strong," she swept a hand to indicate the tokens that represented the generals and their minions. "attack where they were weak and," she gifted Makoto with a _very_ naughty grin. "set up an ambush."

"But you died!" Ami said plaintively.

"The object of this game was to destroy the Dark Generals." She raised a questioning eyebrow at Ami who had come back around front of the table. She reluctantly nodded yes and Soban continued.

"Then I won. Kunzite was the last of the Dark Generals and he died. No one said anything about surviving _after_ the last General was dead so Sailor Mercury's death didn't matter." She thought for a moment. "In a different game . . .with all the senshi, I might not play it that way. With her ability to gather and analyze information as well as coordinate attacks Mercury is the most valuable of the senshi . . .the rest are just cannon fodder-----are you all right?"

"Just choked on something." Minako pounded herself on the chest. "Ummmm, is there anyway to beat the Dark Kingdom _and_ keep the senshi alive?" She asked hopefully.

Soban shrugged. "Who knows? Real fights depend on luck as much as anything. You can do everything right and slip on a slick spot. Or run into someone who is faster and smarter than you are that day." She stretched, wincing as her muscled protested from sitting so long. "For that matter Kunzite might forget to look both ways crossing the street and get hit by a bus." She glanced out the window at the lengthening shadows. "I better head back. Last time I left the cooks alone when Iron Chef was on, the kitchen exploded."

***********************************************

"I can't believe you let her get away with that!" Makoto fumed as Ami and the others waved at Soban's disappearing tail lights.

"Hmmm, what did you say?" Ami answered distractedly as she pulled out her computer and punched several keys.

"I said I can't believe you let Soban get away with cheating like that. Who ever heard of Senshi using bombs or any of that other stuff she did?"

"Why are you so upset," Rei put in a little heatedly. "At least you lasted long enough do some damage. I got killed in the first couple of minutes."

"That's because you were too busy admiring Soban's . . .expertise." Minako grinned slyly.

Blushing hotly, Rei opened her mouth to blast Minako.

"Big . . .trouble . . ." A bedraggled white cat staggered in the doors. "There's a -----"

"Youma in the shopping district." Ami finished, closing her mini-computer with a snap. "Let's go."

"Henshin Yo!" Artemis commanded.

Minako stopped with her transformation wand raised at shoulder level. "Gee, do you really think we should?"

Before he could muster a retort Minako and the others triggered their transformation wands. Artemis ducked his head and squinted his eyes against the strobe effect as energy bled from sub-space. Moments later the Pretty Sailor Suited Soldiers for Love and Justice and one Cranky Kitty for Naps and Tuna When He Can Get Them sped from the shrine toward downtown Tokyo.

"I am _not_ cranky!"

"Save your breath for running."

************************************************

"We could make better time on the rooftops." Sailor Jupiter hissed, balancing against the sway of the moving car.

"Not really," Ami replied absently, looking at her computer. "the Youma seem to be moving through the Ginza in a straight line, sealing off one or two levels of a store, draining the customers then moving to the next store. This is a shoppers-special train straight to the Mitsukoshi- mae. Unless they change tactics we should beat them to the store by fifteen or twenty minutes."

"Ummm, are you sure about this Sailor Mercury?" Artemis gave a tentative smile to an enormously fat housewife with three children. Blanching, she gathered her children and backed away from the moon-cat as far as possible. Artemis sighed, shifting to a slightly more secure position across Ami's shoulder.

"Everyone's _staring_," Sailor Mars seconded Artemis.

"Yeah, isn't it _great_!" Venus was busily signing autographs for a crowd of fan-boys who had shoved their way to that end of the car.

"Are you crazy!" Jupiter half shrieked. Three salary men who had been trying find out what Pretty Sailor Soldiers wore under their fuku jumped up and scurried to the opposite end of the car.

"I don't think so." Mercury put away her computer and activated her visor. "This may not even work but . . ." her voice trailed off as she stared off into the distance.

"What's your idea?" Venus signed one last book with a flourish, then, favoring the fan-boys with a smile that turned their brains to jelly, turned to face Mercury.

"Well . . ." Mercury stared into the distance, through steel and stone of subway car and tunnel. "Did you know there's new construction right across the street from Mitsukoshi?" Makoto frowned at the apparent non-sequetor as Mercury continued.

"I _think_ I'm about to be _very_ bad." She favored Venus with an impish smile that sent a shiver up the Senshi of Light's spine.

************************************************

From it's humble beginning in 1673 selling kimono, Mitsukoshi Department Store had risen to prominence as the most august store of it's type in Japan. Taking exit A-5 from the store's subway station, the main entrance is right around the corner, guarded by great stone lions.

Every morning, strictly at 09:45, a forty girl platoon, neatly attired in the Mitsukoshi Store Uniform, assembles to receive their instructions. Their (male) section chief will demonstrate new products, point out new displays and read messages passed down from the rarefied atmosphere of the executive floor.

At 09:55 exactly, customers, waiting outside, are the recipients of announcements about the various exhibitions, lectures, and demonstrations scheduled for the day.

Precisely at 09:59 two guides chosen specifically for their beauty and congeniality assume their posts on either side of the massive doors, with dark suited section chiefs just behind them and to one side. To the sound of chimes and Handelian chords from the organ in the loft over the central hall, the guides bow to each other and then open the doors with the precision of a Swiss chronometer so that the first customers pass under a ten-meter-high statute of Magokoro, Goddess of Sincerity and Patronness of Department Stores, at the stroke of 10:00.

This ritual had been carried out without interruption (other than a slight unpleasantness during the allied occupation) and only slight variations for over two hundred years.

Morgue, High Captain of the Dark Kingdom, was expecting great things because of this. Lots of humans, full of energy gathered together in neat orderly groups. That was why she was so surprised to find the main entrance blocked off with signs saying : "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" and "Use Other Entrance" with arrows pointing across the street. Things had been going exceptionally well thus far. She and her lieutenants would infiltrate and isolate the top two or three floors of a store, cutting off the stairs, elevators and phone service. The humans would be drained of their energy and she and her hench-women would leave via the roof for their next target.

The human response, when it finally occurred, was always behind them. Eventually the Sailor Senshi would appear but they would be playing catch-up. At worst she would have to retreat, taking with her the energy already gathered. At best . . . Morgue's lips drew back in a feral snarl . . .at _best_ she would bring honor to her master. Along with the heads of the senshi.

Her hand flickered in a subtle signal. From the shadows a pair of astonishingly handsome and stylishly dressed women, remarkably both red-heads like their leader, formed on her flanks as they crossed the street to the indicated entrance .

Scarcely had her foot hit the top step than the doors swung open and a pair of pretty girls, one fair haired the other very dark, bowed low.

"Welcome to Mitsukoshi. We are sorry for your trouble caused by the construction. The Management offers you a special discount for your inconvenience. Please enjoy your visit."

Smilingly they bowed Morgue and her companions onto an elevator.

"Welcome to Mitsukoshi," the small elevator-girl bowed, her cap of short blue-black hair gleaming in the elevators soft neon lighting. "Your destination please?"

"Music," Kyurere nodded fractionally. "Cosmetics,"Iguara smiled." And jewelry" Morgue could scarcely contain her lust at the thought of all the humans they were going to drain.

"Certainly madame," Smiling the elevator-girl started the car moving smoothly upwards. "Second floor, household goods and small appliances;" she announced as numbers flashed indicating each floor as it passed. "third floor, sporting goods; forth floor, travel and leisure; fifth floor electronics; sixth floor men's clothing; seventh floor, exhibition. Today featuring English Landscape painting and sculpture from Equatorial Africa."

Kyurere tilted her head thoughtfully. Perhaps she would stop by and pick up something nice on her way out. There was a nasty stain on her wall . . .her predecessor actually . . .and a painting would be just the thing to cover it.

"Tenth floor, Sailor Senshi." The elevator door opened smoothly and the operator stepped out and turned to face the startled youma. "Today's special----"

"Burning Mandala!"

"Crescent Beam!"

"SUPREME THUNDER!"

"You don't have to _scream_ it," Mars groused, rubbing her ear and wincing.

"Oh my!" Sailor Mercury peered over the edge of the elevator shaft, careful not to touch the still smoking metal. There was a muffled thud from far below. A few seconds later she jerked back as a billow of dust and hot air blew back up the empty shaft. "Thank you for shopping at Mitsukoshi." She murmured.

Jupiter peered over Mercury's shoulder to look down the shaft. "Ewwwww." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Well, well we better go move the 'Under Construction' signs and barricades back where they belong." She tugged at a too-tight blouse. "And return these uniforms."

"I'm hungry." Mars announced. "Want to stop for something on the way back?"

"Mitsukoshi has a nice Thai restaurant," Mercury put in.

"Five star?" Rei asked hopefully.

"You could weld steel with it." Venus said, her tongue tingling in remembrance. "Personally I prefer food that doesn't bite back." She turned away from the elevator shaft and headed for the stairs they'd recently sprinted up. For some reason she had a sudden craving for . . . "Okonomiyaki?"

*******************************************************************************