S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)

Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya.  All
other characters were thought up by me.  Well, its true, isn't it?
^_^

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	"Wet."  Keiko said softly as she was guided through the 
grounds of the factory yard.  Rumiko smiled.

	"Yes, we're getting really wet in the rain, aren't we?"  Her
voice tone was soft and calming.

	"Rain."  Keiko giggled and stared up at the clouds, closing 
her eyes as the rain splashed on her face.  Rumiko wanted to smile.
But this wasn't the time for lighthearted reflection.

	She sighed as she tipped her head, slightly, allowing water to
run from the wide-brimmed hat she was wearing.  She liked the rain,
but only when she was looking at it from shelter.

	Damn that Sherrie!  She knew there had been something wrong 
with her as long ago as last night when they'd....  But then, 
Sherrie had always been a strange one.  In many respects.

	All the same, Sherrie had promised her... had acted in a 
manner that suggested she was still taking her medication.  Rumiko 
felt a sense of personal betrayal.  She had befriended Sherrie 
because there had been very few within the House who would, and 
certainly none outside.  And she had made Sherrie promise, time and 
time again, to take her medication.

	But within Sherrie lay well-planted seeds of disquiet.  No
matter how hard Rumiko tried, Sherrie was the kind to follow her
own path to destiny, wherever that would lead.  Even to death....


	She felt Keiko take her shoulder, the fingers of the smaller 
girl's right hand digging into her dark dress.  "Stopped."  Keiko 
whispered.  Rumiko glanced at her.  She was still staring at the 
sky, half-smiling.

	"Yes, we have stopped.  We should keep going, shouldn't we?"

	"Going."  Keiko's expression changed to a more worried one.
Rumiko softened her grip on the girl's left arm and continued to 
guide her along.

	"Sherrie."  Keiko began to shake her free hand.

	The clouds became darker.

----o

Part Twelve
Cold Thoughts in the Twilight

----o

	The greatest fear held by everyone is that of death.  Not just 
of death, itself, but the personalisation of the experience....  The
terror of simply ceasing to exist.  Even those who hold the very
strongest of religious faiths fear death, in the quiet moments when
doubt comes visiting from the deepest recesses of their minds.

	It was a fear that Sherilyn Meehan had held all her life, 
right from her difficult birth, in County Cork in Ireland, to a 
single mother, to the moment she first "became" what she was, today,
in a laneway in the northern suburbs of Tokyo.

	And it was a fear she was having, right now, as she sat 
underneath the metal frame of the crate stack, staring out at the 
water that now fairly gushed through the holes in the roof of the
warehouse, pouring down over the rotting wooden crates and onto the 
mossy floor.  The light that had seeped dimly through the high 
windows had become darker, bringing with it a sense of the world 
closing in around her.


	She wrung her hands, ignoring the pain the claws were making.
They didn't really look like hands, anymore.  Her skin tone had 
become paler, and her teeth were growing.  She could feel them, 
pushing into her gums, the unpleasantness being relieved by the 
equivalent growth in her jawline.  

	But more than that, she could feel the darkness descend upon 
her mind, like the time she "became"....  A minor death, followed by 
a rebirth of her conciousness.  She had the Sacred House to thank 
for that, but....


	She wanted to see what it was that lay at the end of the 
process of "becoming".  She wanted to see the truth behind the being
that she was, and to do that meant refusing to take her medication.
The Vasculin Orange, whose origin was unknown to her, and which was 
almost specifically designed for her....  

	There were several forms of the medication and hers had been 
the fifth to be manufactured, due to the unique and unusual nature 
of her condition.  Now, that condition was being allowed to run 
free....  Three weeks without the influence of the Vasculin.  
Perhaps it was a mistake, but in any case, nature was taking its 
course.


	She had come to Tokyo in search of her younger sister, Mhaere.
Her memories of the girl were patchy, at best.  Broken thoughts of
huddling with Mhaere as a child, to fight the ravages of the cold, 
within the tiny house in which they'd lived their first few years.  
Almost like wild animals....  No sense or desire for self control.  
They had made touble for everyone, including their mother.  Before 
they knew what happened, they had been removed from her care and 
placed with separate foster families.


	The dark closed in a little further.  Sherrie shivered.  She
wished Mhaere was here, now....  The desire to commune with the 
litter....  A strange thought that entered her mind.  She wondered
if Mhaere had ever gone through a "becoming".  They both shared the
same mother and father, which was nothing short of a miracle 
considering the number of men who had passed through their mother's
bed.

	Sherrie put a hand to her face, trying to shut out the world.
She felt embarassed about this loss of control.  Control of her own
body.  There had been times when she'd slashed herself, mightily
angry at what she'd seen as her body's betrayal of her being.  The 
wounds would heal over, as if they'd never existed.

	But most of all, she felt embarassed about simply BEING.  
Everything she'd ever done always seemed to turn out wrong, one way 
or another.  She wanted to hide from people, tired of making 
apologies for what she had done.  And she hadn't done anything 
abjectely wrong....

	Hide hide hideaway....  Within her own little hole, and fall
into the arms of her true self....


	"This really isn't like you, you know.  Giving up in your 
search for me."  The voice rang through the darkness.  Despite, her
best attempts to shut out all light, all sound, all senses, she 
could not shut out the noise of another mind, communicating directly
with her own.  The psychic link, an open sluice gate, letting in the
kind of shit she didn't want to hear.

	"Go away, Lacey!"

	"I thought you came here to catch me.  Perhaps even eat me, or
something of that nature.  I'm really disappointed in you, Sherrie.
I didn't lead you all this way for it to end like this."

	"I'll kill you, Lacey."

	She heard him giggle.  "I don't think so, somehow.  I can 
sense fear in your mind.  What happened to that confidence that drew
you to me?"

	"It is dying, and so am I."

	She could feel the sense of surprise that emanated from him.  
He couldn't sense the change in her.  All he could sense was the 
logical, human mind.  A human mind that was dying, to be replaced 
by... something.  She didn't know what, but she knew it was there.
For a moment, she felt a sparkle of light enter that darkness.  The
light grew brighter.

	She opened her eyes.  If she could have seen them, then she
would have understood the depth to which she was changing.  Gone was
the piercing, yet human, hue, replaced by a feline eyeslit within a
deep green orb.  The windows to her soul, telling all.

	She blinked a couple of times.  Her eyesight seemed to be 
improving.  Even though the light wasn't getting any brighter, the
definition of her surroundings were becoming greater.  She could see
the finer details of the warehouse.  The effect was almost 
singularly exhilarating and disorienting.  Clawed hands gripped the
top bar of the platform frame as she slowly emerged into what was,
for all intents and purposes, a new world.

	This certainly didn't happen the last time.

	She smiled.  Perhaps she wasn't going to die, after all....

----o

	"Doctor Mizuno?"  Kaji stared at Aoi.  He turned to Honeaki.
"Is there a Doctor Mizuno at the hospital?"

	"Damned if I know.  I've only been in touch with the 
hospital's administrator....  Well, there are about thirty or so 
doctors working there.  There might be a Doctor Mizuno amngst them."

	Kaji turned back to Aoi, giving her a dubious expression.  
"Kiko-saaaaaaan...."  She bit her lip.

	"What?  Why are you looking at me like that?"

	"Who is this Doctor Mizuno, and what connection does she have
to this case?  What the hell do you know, Kiko-san?"

	"I'll tell you."  The voice came from behind Aoi.  Ami had 
stood, hands clutched nervously in front of her, looking down at the
ground.  The trio turned to face her.  "She is my mother.  My name 
is Mizuno Ami."  Ami turned to Aoi, an angry expression on her face.
"And she thinks my mother might have something to do with the death
of my friend."

	"Your friend?"  Kaji pushed past Aoi, stepping up to Ami.  
"You knew Kino Makoto?"

	"Ami...."  Aoi clenched her teeth.  Ami looked at her, then
back at Kaji.

	"Of course I knew her.  I was the one who had her killed."

	Kaji's jaw dropped.  "You?"

	"Yes, I came here to give myself up.  But she...."  She 
gestured to Aoi.  "She dragged me here.  I still don't know why."

	Kaji turned to Aoi and looked at her quizzically.  Aoi sighed,
shrugging her shoulders.  "So I wanted to keep her away from the
Majors for a while."

	"KIKO-SAN!"  Kaji shook his head disbelievingly.  "You should
have....  You should have, at the very least, had her give a 
statement."

	"But she's....  She's more important than you realise, Kaji.
She holds the key to the identities of the Sailorsenshi."

	"This is a MURDER investigation we're involved with, Kiko-
san."  Honeaki put his hand on Aoi's shoulder.  "Whether or not she
has information about the Sailorsenshi is immaterial.  That comes
first."

	"Oh, for Kami's sake, she IS a Sailorsenshi...."  Aoi 
swallowed after she said that, only then realising what it was she
had said.

	"You're shittin' me.  You gotta be shittin' me!"  Kaji turned
and looked down at Ami, whose face had gone red.  She was doing her
best not to be looking at anyone in particular.  "Mizuno-san...  Is
she...  Is this the truth?"

	A few moments passed.  Very LONG moments for Ami.  She felt
the air in the room become thick and heavy, and she started to 
shiver.  When she finally spoke, her voice was almost a croak.

	"H...hai."

	"Bloody KAMI SHIT!"  Kaji almost fainted.  "Which one are YOU?
Mars?  Venus?  Saturn?"

	"She's Mercury, you great pillock.  Can't you see she's close
to breaking down?"  Aoi put her hand on Kaji's shoulder, pulling him
back from Ami.  "Why did you think I dragged her away from the front
desk?  Can you imagine what would have happened had I handed her to
Shimazaki, or maybe even Katarin or Narusaki?  She'd go to pieces.
And besides, I don't believe her."

	"I DID IT!  I'M TELLING YOU THE TRUTH!"  Ami thrust Kaji aside
with surprising strength and ranged up on Aoi.  "I'm the killer.  
I'm the one who had those two bastard kill Makoto....  Mako-chan.  
She was my friend, but she threatened the security of the 
Sailorsenshi.  She...  SHE HAD TO DIE!  Oh please....  I don't want
to talk about it anymore...."  Ami burst into tears, throwing her 
hands to her face.

	Aoi turned to Kaji.  "And you want to send this to the Majors?
They'll chew her up and spit her out."

	"All the same, Kiko-san...."  Honeaki shook his head.  "A 
statement HAS to be taken."

	"She has the right to a representative, and a family member 
should be present.  Since she lives with her mother, her mother 
should be contacted.  And I'll put money on her mother being a 
doctor at that hospital....  What's its name?"

	"Kanegawa Private Hospital."

	Aoi turned to Ami.  "Well, Ami?  Is it Kanegawa?"  Ami looked
up at her, contempt written across her tear-stained face.

----o

	Pagan was actually beginning to get a little worried.  He'd
been able to contact his partners, Nobuhiro and Michelle, before 
he'd arrived at the factory yards, telling them he may need 
assistance.  Well, that was a while ago now, and he hadn't seen hide
nor hair of them.  What had started off as something of a dangerous
game on his part was getting all the more dangerous by the moment.

	He was ensconced within the loft at the far end of the 
warehouse.  It was the driest area he could find, and certainly 
seemed to be the only part of the building where the roof was in a 
sufficient state of repair.

	He looked down, through the crates that had been stacked in 
the loft, at the warehouse floor.  It was hard to see anything, 
since there was so much... junk, basically, littering his view.  But
on occasion, he could spot Sherrie, flitting between objects.


	He liked Sherrie, as a person.  As a HUMAN person, that was.
The human side of Sherrie was often suppressed underneath a bestial
coating.  He'd managed to convince himself, at one stage, that if he
was able to appeal to that raw, base side of her nature, he'd be 
able to win her over to the Coven.  There were other reasons than 
the purely ideological, of course, the first being he wanted to get
her into the sack.  But apart from that, he found Sherrie quite an
appealing character.  Well, it technically amounted to the same 
thing....


	There had been so very few like him within the Coven.  Despite 
their names, both the Sacred House and the Coven of Atrocity had 
chosen to seek very different bloodlines in their early stages of 
development.  Many of the more "bestial" types ended up within the 
House, whilst the "higher-state-of-being" types ended up within the 
Coven.  He didn't know why.

	The condition he'd endured was very similar to Sherrie's, 
although their lineages had followed very different paths, and had 
found very different sources.  But, deep down, he felt a certain 
kinship, and an understansing of what it was that Sherrie had gone 
through.

	Until the moments when she'd tried to eat him.

	Granted, she was merely defending herself against an operative
of the Coven, but Sherrie liked to take things to extremes.  It had 
been said that, when Sherrie had "become", she'd neatly swallowed a
couple of drunks and was starting on a schoolgirl when she'd bitten
a Vasculin bullet.  It was all heresay, but considering Sherrie, he
could believe it.


	There was movement nearby a rusting loader, which had been 
parked beside the north wall of the warehouse.  The figure was 
shadowy, so he couldn't get a good view, but the way it paused 
worried him.  He contemplated the possibility that she might have
already spotted him, and was merely toying with him.  In which case,
a hole in the roof might have come in handy.  He took a quick glance
at the solid roof above him.


	The crates in front of him collapsed, and something barged 
through, snarling viciously.  Pagan fell back with a gasp and had 
just enough time to see the eyes of his attacker when the floor of
the loft collapsed beneath him.  He fell into a large stack of 
crates, crashing through them and onto the solid concrete floor.

	He picked himself up, painfully, and stared up at the loft, to
see those eyes staring down at him.

	"Sherrie?"  He whispered, softly.  From the darkness above, he
could here a deep chuckle.  He ran, as fast as he could, for the 
door.  He knew it would be fruitless....  He wasn't sure what it was
that had tried to attack him in the loft, but if it was Sherrie, and
he couldn't think of who or what else it could be, then something 
very strange had occured to her, and that could only mean one thing.

	That was why his desperate dash was fruitless.  Because if 
Sherrie had done what he thought she'd done, then what she was now
was more than a hundred members of the Coven could deal with.


	He flexed his muscles, hearing the sound of the loft floor 
creaking, a figure leaping into the air.  His clothes began to tear
on his body as it changed shape.  Soon, he was running on all fours,
his body forming the shape of a large wolf.  His speed increased
threefold and he was out of the doorway as the figure landed on the
crates nearby.  They cracked under the newfound weight, and he could
hear a bestial cry of frustration as the crates were torn to 
shreds....

----o

	Usagi found herself back at the park, where she had started 
the temporarily aborted attempt at rounding up the senshi.  She was
soaking wet, from head to toe, with both rain and sweat, after 
running all the way from the coffee shop above the arcade....  Now,
she was leaning against one of the poles of the rotunda, desperately
trying to catch her breath.  She never thought all that running
practice she'd received by being late for school so often would 
actually come in handy.

	Minako....  She almost felt sick.  She'd abandoned her.  How
could she have done that.  In doing so, she'd lowered herself to the
same set of warped moral values that the Outer Senshi operated by. No, 
that was stupid.  She saw what was happening to Minako....  She
didn't understand it, but it was more than painfully obvious that
something strange had happened to her.  Usagi put a hand to her 
throat.  It was sore, and she was certain that it would have been
badly bruised.  How was she going to explain this to her parents 
when she arrived home tonight?

	Her parents....  Oh Kami, she had forgotten about them.  If
Setsuna had been right about those people at the cafeteria....  If
Setsuna was right about all those groups, pursuing the Sailorsenshi,
then it was possible that they would become targets, as well.  Usagi
shook her head.  it was all too much to think about.  She wished her
Mamo-chan was here.  She needed his decisiveness in these kinds of
situations.


	She stood up and looked around.  The park was empty.  She had
been certain that she'd heard Setsuna tell her to return to the 
park.  The elder senshi had told them to split up in case they were
being pursued by one or both of those girls in the coffee shop.

	The park was empty.  It was raining heavily and getting rather
dark.  Usagi shivered, wrapping her arms around her.  She suddenly
realised how very cold it was, and how, being wet, made things 
worse.  Had today gone to plan, she'd just be finishing her classes
and heading off on the train for home.  Unfortunately, that was not
what fate had in store for her today.  She thought of her warm 
bedroom....  These past few weeks, she'd get home from study and 
snuggle up in a nice warm bed.  Even Luna wouldn't chide her for 
that, since she was spending most of her time trying to do the same
thing.


	"Hello."  The voice was so soft and sudden that Usagi almost
leapt back out into the rain.  She turned to see a young man, a 
caucasian, with the most incredibly beautiful long blond hair and 
effeminate features, dressed in loose flowing long-sleeve black 
cotton shirt and jeans, sitting on the bench, legs crossed and 
leaning against the railing with his hands folded behind his head.

	"Who...  who are..."  Usagi stammered.  The young man smiled
and her heart skipped a beat.  The guy was such a BABE she couldn't
help herself, and promptly forgot that he hadn't been there only a
second beforehand.

	He smiled and stood.  "My name is Lysithea Caprice."  He 
bowed.  "And I have been keeping an eye on you, Tsukino Usagi san.  
Or should I say.... Sailormoon?"  He stepped forward, hands crossed 
over in front of him.  Usagi eyed his thin, effeminate frame with a 
slightly boggled, drooling expression.  He chuckled softly as she 
attempted to regain her composure.

	"How do you know who I am?"

	"I am a member of a group known as the Coven of Atrocity.  
A secret society dedicated to the freedom of those who are born, or
cursed, with the gifts of magical powers.  I have been investigating
the activities of both yourself and your friends for a number of 
years...."

	"In the name of this Coven of Atrocity?"

	"Actually, no.  They don't know who you are.  You see, I don't
entirely trust some of the elements within the COA....  So I have 
opted to investigate you on my own."

	"Why introduce yourself to me now, then?"

	He shrugged.  "Because I saw what happened back there within 
the coffee shop....  You were attacked by two members of the Coven's
mortal enemies...."

	"The Sacred House?"  Usagi levelled her gaze at him and he 
raised his eyebrows.

	"You've heard of them?"

	"In passing.  You're avoiding the question, though."  She 
raised her head, trying to look imperious, not easy to do when one
was wet and bedraggled.

	He sighed.  "I saw what they did to your friend, turning her
against you like that.  Now she is in their hands, and may face the
same fate as your other friend."

	"What other friend?"  Usagi frowned.  He blinked at her.

	"You don't know?"

	"Don't know what?"

	"Your friend, Kino Makoto...  You visited her apartment this
morning...."

	"Mako-chan?!?"  Usagi stepped forward.  "What has happened to
her?  Tell me!"  She looked into his face with pleading eyes.  He
couldn't help but feel an empathy for her, surprising himself.

	"She....  The body of a Sailorsenshi was found in a motel on 
the outskirts of Tokyo very late last night.  The news has been 
sweeping through our... community, but has been kept from the media
and the general public...."

	"No..."  Usagi's face started to screw up, tears forming in 
her eyes.  "No, that's not possible!  I would have felt something.
I'm linked to them all....  I would have known...."

	He placed his hands on her shoulders.  "Sailormoon, this isn't
the time for tears.  Another one of your friends is now in danger.
Only I know where they have taken her.  I know their ways, and the
layout of their headquarters.  If we are quick, then we shall be 
able to rescue her from a fate worse than death.  but I need your
power to get in, and most of all, your trust."  He put a hand under
her chin and lifted her face to his gaze.  "Are you willing to give
me that trust?"


END OF PART 12

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DDFA ayanami@merlin.net.au
7th Apr 1998