It took a bit longer than I expected, but that's because it *is* longer than
I expected.  It kind of grew in the telling, and I only did half of what I
had planned for this episode, too... the rest will be episode 4.

Stormwalker  presents...

     I sighed as the transformation finished, still not at all
comfortable with my Senshi girl-form.  Ash had insisted on seeing
it before she would believe what I had to say.  Now, of course,
both she and Cali were staring open-mouthed at me, and I could
feel the heat rise in my cheeks with embarrassment.  "Happy now?"
I asked bitterly, dropping into a nearby chair.

     Cali smiled at me in an attempt to cheer me up.  "Actually,
I was thinking that you make a pretty cute girl... not that
you're a bad looking guy, either..."  Her eyes twinkled with
mischief, and I had to wonder exactly what she was thinking.

     I blushed a little more.  "Um... thanks, I guess," I
mumbled.  I wasn't sure I wanted to be thought of as a "cute"
girl... that led in all sorts of directions I didn't want to be
going.  Still, a compliment was a compliment, I supposed.

     Sharon laughed, and Ash shot a quick glare in her direction.
That was all the reminder I needed that I didn't particularly
like Sailor Aries.

     "Ok, I've proven myself," I said.  "How about you two?"

     Cali grinned.  "I think you just want to watch me
transform," she said teasingly.  Pulling out her henshin wand
(as Aries had insisted we call them), she held it up over her
head.  "Taurus Star Power, Make Up!"

     I won't deny that it was an impressive sight, though I was
trying not to watch.  Taurus was... well, she had a very nice
body, and it was difficult to keep my eyes off of it during the
transformation sequence.  While not *completely* revealing due to
the lightshow effects (a fact for which I was *very* thankful
since I had become a Senshi myself), it certainly showed enough
to be highly distracting.  The knowledge that she was watching
*me* to see if I was watching her helped, though.  I had enough
problems with changing sex; the last thing I wanted was for them
to think I'm a pervert, too.

     When it stopped, Sailor Taurus looked every bit the part.
Her white fuku was trimmed with pink, the color of her sign, with
short boots unlike mine and Sharon's.  She struck a typical
Sailor Moon pose, grinning at me.  "Do I need to make a speech,
too?" she asked, teasing.

     Sharon shot a dark look at me, and for some reason I
shivered.  "Um... that won't be necessary."  Turning to Ash, I
prodded, "What about you?"

     "I fail to see why I should have to transform in front of
you to satisfy your adolescent fantasies," she said coldly.

     I rolled my eyes.  "Skip the righteous indignation kick,
Ash," I growled.  "You made me transform in front of you, and
mine is no less revealing than yours, I'm sure."  I sighed,
turning to Taurus.  "You've seen her transform, I assume?  If
you'll vouch for her, and she'll show me her henshin wand, I'll
accept that as proof."

     Cali nodded.  "She's for real, yeah."  Turning to Ashley,
she added, "Gemini has a point, you know."

     Ash mumbled something under her breath, then flipped the
wand in my direction.  I snagged it in the air with my left hand,
then looked it over carefully.  It was red, and bore the sign of
the ram... otherwise, it was much like mine. Satisfied of its
authenticity, I tossed it back to her.

     "I assume," I asked pointedly, "that since you don't want to
transform in front of me, you won't be asking Sharon to, either?
You've already seen her henshin wand."

     She just glared at me.  "Whatever."

     I smiled as cheerfully as I could manage, unwilling to let
my irritation with Ash show any more than it already had.  "Well,
then.  Now that we've established our identities... what next?"

     "Well, we had been out looking for more Senshi," Cali
answered.  "We should probably keep searching."

     I nodded.  "True... logic suggests that there will be
twelve."  Turning to Ash, I suggested, "We should also look into
training, of sorts... to familiarize ourselves with our powers,
and with working as a group."

     Ash sighed.  "The Senshi didn't have to train, why should
we?" she asked sharply.

     I found myself suddenly wondering if she had any common
sense at all.  "In this world, Ash, we ARE the Senshi... and our
world is a little different from the one in the anime, or the
manga.  If we assume that everything will be the same, we're
dead."

     "Why should we assume that things are different?" she
retorted angrily.

     "I'm not assuming anything," I answered, trying to rein in
my frustration with her.  "I just think we need to be prepared
for any situation.  We don't know what we're going to be up
against, after all."

     Ash sighed.  "All right," she grumbled.  "Since you seem to
be so bent on this, we'll train.  Looking for other Senshi has to
be our first priority, though."

     I shrugged.  "I can live with that."  Ash relaxed a little
at those words, but I could tell she was not accustomed to having
her orders questioned.  She would have to get used to it.

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

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Gemini

A work of fanfiction by Douglas A. Reeves

Episode Three - For Love and Justice
---------------------------------------------------

If you haven't read the first two chapters of this story, email
me at <stormwalker@airmail.net> for a copy... it likely won't
make sense otherwise...

As always, comments are appreciated...

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

     Back to being myself, and very happy about that fact, I set
down my tray and prepared to finally attack my lunch.  It was, as
would be expected, typical burger-joint fare.  This was, after
all, an anime convention, and even if I had more pressing things
on my mind, I was still at the hotel.  I'd already wasted money
on one lunch I hadn't gotten to eat, and since the hotel
restaurant was prohibitively expensive... it was fast food or
nothing.  Sharon sat down across from me, wearing a thoughtful
expression.

     "What is it, Sharon?" I asked.  Sharon was usually, well...
careless, both in the sense of not being cautious when she should
and of not letting things worry her, so seeing her with such a
serious look was unusual... not that the events of the last two
days hadn't been sufficient cause.

     She shook her head.  "It's nothing, really," she answered,
forcing a smile.  "Just thinking about Ash and Cali.  I mean, I
should have known there would be others, but..."  She shook her
head.

    "...but you didn't plan on running into them so soon." I
finished the thought.  "Yeah, I know.  Didn't think they'd be
so... abrasive, either.  Well, not 'they'... Cali seems nice
enough, but Ash seems to think it's her divine right to boss us
around.  And some of those ideas of hers... all I know is *I'm*
not taking orders from her."

    Sharon laughed, and her earlier concerns seemed to fade.
"You've never taken orders from anyone, Jon... wouldn't think you
would start now.  Still... what *are* we going to do?  I mean,
according to Ash we all live in the same area, so we should be
able to keep in touch... but if we're going to act as a group,
we've got to figure out who's in charge and all."

     "I know," I answered with a sigh.  "This isn't going to be
pretty, Sharon.  We may not be able to work it out at all. I
never wanted this... I never wanted these powers, and I sure
didn't want the responsibility... but now I'm stuck with it, and
if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right.  Even if it
means I have to go it solo."

     Sharon nodded.  "Not solo... I'm with you, at least.  I
don't know anything about fighting or strategy or any of that...
but I know that I trust you, and since I dragged you into this
the least I can do is back you up."

     I smiled reassuringly.  "It's not any of your fault,
Sharon... I mean that.  But I appreciate your support.  I'm going
to need it."

*****

     We walked back to the hotel in silence as I pondered the
implications of our situation.  I was determined to do things the
right way, meaning we would train for the job, but on our limited
resources that would be rather difficult.  Senshi powers are
almost universally destructive (and in some potential cases,
destructive on a universal scale!), which made collateral damage
a serious consideration.  At the same time, this was exactly why
we needed to train... how easy would it be for an innocent
bystander to get caught up in one of our battles, take a stray
energy blast, and be wounded... or worse?  I knew Ash didn't see
it that way, but I would make her see it somehow.  Presenting
another problem was the fact that our powers tend to be flashy,
when the last thing we needed was to draw attention to ourselves
in training.  If we wanted to make this work, we needed a
controlled, isolated environment in which to train, and that
could prove difficult to come by.

     I considered a few ideas; I had family with land... quite a
bit of it, actually.  I dismissed that thought quickly, though.
I would need permission to use that land, which would mean
explaining why I needed it, and there was no way in hell I was
going to tell anyone about this.  I'd never live it down.
Besides, there was the whole secret identity thing to deal with.
 Call me paranoid--I won't deny it--but there are a lot of people
out there who would do a lot of nasty things to get their hands
on power like ours.  Thanks, but no thanks, ne?  We needed to
keep this quiet... something else I would probably have to
explain to Ash.

     On that thought, I came to another point that might be a
tough sell.  We didn't just need a place to train; we needed a
training program.  There is more to being a hero--even a magical
girl, as much as the term made me wince--than power, or even the
ability to control that power.  We needed to learn strategy and
tactics, and for that we needed not only to understand our own
powers, but each other's as well.  On top of that, we needed
communication, something we sorely lacked.  I thought back to
what little I knew about combat teams (based mostly on anime I'd
seen, like _Bubblegum Crisis_), and began to mentally compile a
list of things we needed to work on.

     Of course, there were some things we had failed to consider
completely.  Senshi powers are designed to work in concert.  It's
something you don't really pick up from watching the anime... but
it is there.  One Senshi has a lot of raw battle power, but she
also has a lot of weaknesses.  We're more durable than humans,
certainly, but our enemies are numerous... and most of us are
better at taking on one big target than a bunch of little ones.
As a team, though, we're downright scary... like adding Senshi
doesn't produce a linear increase, but more of an exponential
one.  It was a lesson I would have driven into me very soon.

     We were almost back to the hotel when Sharon spoke up again.
"Jon..." she asked, her voice hesitant with worry.  "What are we
going to do when the con is over?  What will we tell our parents?
I mean... you're about to move out anyway for college... but I've
got another year stuck at home with my family.  How am I going to
hide this from them, if we're off fighting monsters all the time?
How am I going to get through school?"

     "I don't know," I answered, wishing I had something better
to offer.  "I was wondering the same thing myself... how are we
going to do all this without someone figuring it out.  It's the
old comic-book hero dilemna... except most comic-book heroes
don't have to hide from their own family."  I turned to rest my
hand on her shoulder, meeting the anxiety in her sapphire eyes
with what I hoped was certainty in my own.  "We'll figure it out
somehow."  Forcing a smile, I added, "Look on the bright side.
If they do find out, at least you don't have to explain any
gender issues..."

     She laughed, but the look in her eyes didn't change.  I knew
then what it was that had been bothering her earlier... she had
her dream, only to realize that it might not be such a dream
after all.  "I guess you're right.  I just... I'm worried about
it."

     "So am I, Sharon... so am I."  I hugged her then.  I still
don't know why I did that... it was just an impulse, I guess... I
wanted to help her, and didn't know anything better to do.  I
remember it well, though... remember her arms closing around me,
remember holding her there like that for a while.  Through all
the shock, I had been kinda... numb since the first change... but
for that short moment... I could feel again.

     And then, as suddenly as it began, it was over.  The feeling
was gone, and I was back to my thoughts.  That moment left a mark
on me, though... and on her, too, I think.

     Some things you never forget.

*****

     We had hoped that monster appearances would be rare, and
that we could still have some semblance of a normal life.
Perhaps mercifully, those hopes were quickly and completely
shattered.  Not one afternoon had passed before we found
ourselves in another confrontation, this time with a pack of
monsters.  At least this time they were mostly humanoid, with two
arms and two legs and no tentacles, but the green-tinged skin and
glowing red eyes were disturbing in their own right, and the fact
that we were outnumbered five to two didn't help, either.

     "Where are all these monsters COMING from?!" Sharon
demanded, wincing as an energy beam deflected off her shield,
burning a hole in the pavement at her feet.  "There wasn't
anything like this around two days ago!"

     "More possessed otaku?" I offered, unleashing an air blade
at one of the creatures.  It easily flipped out of the way,
firing off an energy beam in response.  I rolled to my right,
narrowly avoiding the attack as I ducked behind a parked car.
This was *really* not a good place to be fighting, I thought...
the hotel parking lot was about as public as you could get, and a
crowd was starting to form at what I hoped was a safe distance.

     "No... they have a different feel to them."  She paused for
a moment, concentrating, then added.  "That thing was like a
demon... these are... something else."  Another energy blast
deflected off her shield, the golden aura flaring brightly at the
point of contact, and she took cover behind another of the cars.

     "Just great..." I muttered.  My Senshi body was resilient--I
knew that much from my fight with the tentacle monster--but I
really didn't feel like finding out how well it absorbed energy
attacks.  Casting a quick glance at her, I asked, "Can you shield
me?  If I try to fight 'em without some protection, I'm gonna get
roasted."

     She nodded, an anxious look on her face, then whispered
something.  As the familiar warmth of the shield enveloped me, I
noticed that the golden aura around her faded out.  She was
dropping her own shield to provide mine?

     "Shar--I mean, Cancer... are you sure?" I asked, concerned.

     She nodded quickly.  "It's draining... I can only maintain
one shield at a time... but I don't have any attack power, so I
should be helping you instead.  It's... what I'm supposed to do."

     I shook my head, something inside rebelling at that thought.
Still, there was nothing to be done for it now.  We were pinned
down, and our green-skinned friends were moving closer.  If I
didn't make a reduction in the monster population soon, we were
in trouble.  They were expecting me to come around the corner,
waiting to pop me as soon as I stuck my neck out.  Maybe I could
surprise them a little.  Pressing my hands against the back
bumper of the car, I pushed suddenly down, flipping myself up and
vaulting over and onto the hood.

     "Division Blade!" I called out, unleashing a torrent of
smaller blades that caught one of them off guard.  He... I think
he was a he... scrambled to evade, but the little spinning knives
sliced straight through him, and he dissolved in a pile of dust.
The sight of his demise stunned me a moment... in spite of what
Sharon had said, I'd half-expected him to just flicker out like
the tentacle beast had, leaving some poor misguided otaku in his
place.  But he didn't... and I had killed him, whatever he was.

     The hesitation was dangerous, and I was immediately jarred
by the impact of two energy blasts against my shield.  The first
hit square on, absorbed by the shield but still carrying enough
force to knock me backwards off the car's hood.  The second
struck as I was falling, deflecting wide, hitting another car
behind me...

     ... which promptly exploded in a ball of flame.  The force
of the blast slammed me back up against the car I'd just fallen
off of as searing heat washed over me for an instant, then faded.
I dragged myself back up to my knees, amazed that I was mostly
unharmed, even though Sharon's shield had collapsed under the
force of the blast.  I tried to check on her, but the thick black
smoke pouring from what had been only moments before a nice red
sports coupe completely obscured my view.

     "Fucking Hell!" I spat out the curse, whatever reluctance or
hesitation that might have overcome me blown away by the violence
of the situation.  This was escalating way too fast, and I had to
put an end to it, even if it meant I had to kill them all.
First, though, I had to find out of Sharon was all right.

     I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.  I needed to
think, not just react to what was happening.  We were still
outnumbered and still outgunned, and if we didn't come up with a
strategy, we were going to be the next to die.  Creeping around
the back end of the car I was still using for cover, I moved as
silently as I could.  It was a gamble--if they knew where I was,
they might well just blow up this car, too, hoping to take me
with it--but the odds were that they were as disoriented as I
had been, and that was something I could use to advantage.

     Just as I reached the back of the car, the smoke cleared
slightly, and I was able to look over to where Sharon had been
hiding.  She was still there, though she had moved back a little
bit.  She looked exhausted--probably from the effort of shielding
me in that explosion, I thought--but she was unhurt.  She looked
in my direction, a relieved expression crossing her face as we
made eye contact for a brief moment.

     It was then that something occurred to me.  "Where the hell
are Aries and Taurus?" I muttered.  "They were in the hotel, they
should have come running by now!"  Even in my anger, though, it
was an encouraging thought.  They had to show up eventually... we
just had to hold out a little longer.  I could hear footsteps
approaching now... the monsters were coming.  I couldn't see them
yet, not through the smoke, but I could hear enough to tell where
at least one was... one that was going to get a surprise when he
got too close.

     I could feel the power coalesce in my hand as air shaped
itself into a cutting edge.  I gripped the blade's hilt tightly,
coiling to strike as the steps drew nearer.  The wind shifted a
little, thinning out the smoke, and I was able to make out the
monster's silhouette. Just a little closer, now...

     "Blast Wave!" a voice that would soon be familiar to me
called out sharply, and a ripple shot through the Earth just
before me, the pavement erupting beneath the monster's feet,
blasting him into the air.  I ducked beneath the car I had been
using for cover as fist-sized chunks of concrete and earth rained
down around me.  After a moment the fallout subsided, and I slid
out from underneath the car, looking up at a rather...
interesting view of Sailor Taurus.  Either she didn't notice or
didn't mind, because she grinned down at me.  "Looks like you
were in a bit over your head," she teased.

     "Nice of you to show up," I muttered, dragging myself to my
feet.  I ducked behind the side of the car again, motioning for
Taurus to take cover as well.  The smoke was thinning now; soon
it would be open season again, and there were still three more
out there.  "What took you so long?"

     "We had to find a place to change.  It is a bit on the
revealing side, after all."  She grinned conspiratorily at me.

     "Uh-huh," I answered, deciding not to accept her bait.
"There are still three more of them out there, but at least it's
more of an even playing field now.  Where's Aries?"

     "She's with Cancer.  We were hoping to set up a crossfire."

     I nodded; maybe Ash wasn't entirely stupid after all.
"Sounds like a good tactic to me."  Motioning to the next car
over, I added, "They have to know we're here by now. Let's get
moving."  She nodded, and we crept toward the front of the car, watching for
movement.  Seeing none, we leapt across the gap.
Energy blasts erupted around us, narrowly missing as we both
rolled to cover, and I let out a held breath.

     "You were right, they know where we are," Taurus observed
flatly.

     "I noticed.  We can't move or they'll blast us, and if we
just sit here they'll blow up the car and try to take us that
way."

     She flashed me a wicked grin.  "When I tell people I like it
both ways, I don't think that was what I meant.  Besides, they're
not my type."

     I raised an eyebrow at her, then smiled slightly myself.
"Well, I've never been the type to sit and take it.  I say we go
get 'em."

     "Ooooh... the aggressive type.  I like that."  She winked at
me.  "I know Aries... she can be abrasive sometimes, but I trust
her; she'll cover for us.  On three, then?"

     I nodded.  "And it's one, two, three, and then go, not the
other way.  One... two... three... now!"  Not wanting to go
around the car where they would expect, I leapt over the hood.
"Division Blade!" I called out the attack, releasing a single,
large spinning blade at one one of the monsters.  He sidestepped
the attack, turning to fire an energy blast at me...

     ...and suddenly fell, engulfed in flames, as Aries stepped
out from her hiding place on the opposite side.  I grinned,
forming another blade in my hands, and ran at one of the two
remaining creatures.  To my left, I heard Cali call out her
attack against the other.

     "Taurus Golem Charge!"  A low rumble was the first response
to her command, then a section of the pavement ruptured as the
earth rose beneath it, rapidly taking the life-size form of a
bull.  It stamped once, then charged with surprising speed.  The
monster tried to evade, but the golem-bull was faster, catching
him between the horns and ramming him into one of the nearby
cars.  The monster shuddered once and crumbled to dust.

     One left, and he was mine.  I closed my eyes, the full
knowledge of what I was about to do returning to me.  It had to
be; there was no other way.  I felt a warmth surround me as
Sharon gave me a little more of her precious strength for
protection... and somehow, knowing she was with me made it
easier.  I opened my eyes, leaping toward the monster.  It slid
sideways, away from my initial thrust, but could not escape the
backhanded blow that followed... and it, too, was gone, leaving
the battlefield empty of all but Senshi.

     Ash quickly joined us, with Sharon lagging a bit behind.
"Is everyone all right? she asked.

     I nodded, answering for Cali also.  "We're fine. What about
Cancer?"

     "I'm fine, too," Sharon replied as she caught up.  "Just
tired, like last time."

     "Your powers are that draining?" Aries questioned. Sharon
nodded silently, and Aries started to ask another question before
I cut in.

     "We'll have time for explanations later," I suggested.  "For
now, we need to get out of here before the cops show up.  I can't
speak for any of you, but I don't think trying to explain this
would be a good idea.  It's bad enough that there were
witnesses."

     Aries nodded her acquiescence.  "Let's go, then. Back to my
room, I think... we can lay low there for a while... and there's
a TV, so we can see what the local news makes of all this."

     "Nothing good, I promise," I said dryly.  "I do agree,
that's a good plan... but we need to go someplace away from there
first, to change.  We don't want anyone to track us." I offered
my arm to Sharon for support, and she accepted it gratefully.
"Now... let's get moving."

*****

     Back in Ash's room, I gently lowered myself into one of the
chairs.  My whole body ached, inside and out; with the pain I was
feeling, I should have been covered in bruises... but there was
not a mark anywhere on me.  It was just more reinforcment of
something I'd already realized... Senshi bodies are tough.

     At the same time, the fact that I *was* still feeling the
pain was a serious disappointment.  Half the reason I'd wanted
to change back--aside from the secret-identity concerns--was that
I had hoped switching bodies would make the pain go away.
Obviously, it hadn't worked.  The implications of that would have
been fascinating under most other circumstances, as it meant that
my Senshi body and my regular body *were* one and the same, but
at that point I had little appreciation for the fact.  It would
be some time before I understood just how important it really
was.

     At that point, though, I had a number of more pressing
concerns.  Aside from the fact that I was hurting, I was worried
about the implications of the day's events.  Sharon's questions
from the walk home echoed in my mind.  We were Senshi.  Warriors.
This was going to change our lives in ways we couldn't begin to
imagine.  We were fated... doomed, some might say... to live a
double-life, to put our own lives on the line to protect humanity
from evils we'd never heard of just days before.  Suddenly, in
the face of having just fought a group of monsters that wanted us
dead, turning into a girl just to use my powers seemed like a
minor issue.  That's not to say it didn't bother me... but there
were other things that bothered me more.

     As she does so often, Sharon seemed to sense my mood, and
she rested her hand on my shoulder to draw my attention away from
my fears.  There was something about that touch that was
comforting, as though she had taken a little of my fear and given
me a little of her strength in that moment... something else I
would not understand the significance of until later.  I looked
back up at her, forcing a smile, surprised at the steadiness of
her gaze as she met mine.

     Minutes passed in silence, as each of us seemed to consider
the implications of what had just passed.  Finally, Aries picked
up the TV remote from her nightstand and turned on the news.

     "--Hotel where a scene has unfolded that can only be
described as 'unreal'," the reporter droned in her best 'I-am-an-
objective-journalist-I-am-not-stunned-by-what-I-just-saw' voice.
"We have several eyewitness reports of what seems to have been a
battle of sorts between a number of high-school and college-age
girls and what have been described as 'a pack of demon monsters'.
Ordinarily, I might think this absurd, but you can see the damage
left in the wake of this clash behind me, with one car in the
parking lot completely demolished, and several others scorched
or smashed."

     "Brenda, hold on a moment," the anchorman interrupted her.
"Could you please repeat that?  You said it was a fight between
high-school age girls and demon monsters?  This is, as you said,
rather... difficult to believe."

     "Dan, I have here one of the eyewitnesses to the situation.
She is an attendee at the animation festival and convention being
held at this hotel, and she claims to have seen the entire
altercation."  The camera then shifted to a girl who looked to be
about fifteen years old, wearing a con badge, as the reporter
asked, "Your name is Angela, right?"  The girl nodded.  "Can you
tell us what you saw?"

     "Yes," Angela answered. "These monsters... I think there
were six of them, but I'm not sure... were all out here in the
parking lot threatening people, shooting beams of energy at
cars... they beat up a couple of guys who tried to stop them; the
paramedics took those guys to the hospital.  Then the Sailor
Senshi showed up..."

     "Sailor Senshi?" the reporter echoed questioningly.  "Were
those the girls that fought the monsters?"

     Angela nodded.  "Yes... there's a show about them called
Sailor Moon... but these were different than the ones in the
show.  They used different powers, and had different color
outfits.  I..." the girl shook her head slightly, words coming
out in a stream as she tried to make sense of what she had seen.
She told the story about as well as she could be expected to be,
I guess... she got most of the details right, even though the
reporter kept stopping her and asking her to explain stuff.  I
guess I can't blame people for not wanting to believe in all
this... at the time, I'd rather have not believed it myself.
Sometimes I still would.

     Finally, the girl finished telling her story, and the
reporter picked it up again.  "--not really sure what to think,
Dan," she said, visibly shaken now.  "Whatever happened here was
clearly not a show or a fake... the police are here investigating
it now, and two young men were indeed taken to the hospital with
serious injuries.  The kind of powers involved in this are
frightening at best."

     "Does anyone know what happened to these girls who
supposedly fought these monsters?" the anchorman asked.  "Have
the police taken them in for questioning?"

     The reporter shook her head.  "No, eyewitness accounts
indicated that the girls left the scene immediately after the
fight.  Nobody seems to have been able to give a good description
of them except for their colorful outfits, so the police say
there is little chance of finding them.  From what everyone here
tells me, the girls are heroes of a sort, like out of a comic
book or a movie.  But how can we really tell?"

     "How, indeed?  We'll continue to fill you in on this story
as more details--" the anchorman's voice was cut off abruptly as
Ash switched off the TV angrily.

     "Idiots," she muttered.  "What else would we be?  We fought
off a pack of monsters.  Does that make us the badguys?"

     "Easy, Ash," I said as soothingly as I could manage.  "These
people have never seen monsters, remember?  They don't know what
to think of all this.  People are gonna be confused, and we're
just gonna have to do our best to stay on the high ground so
people can see us for what we are."

     She sighed deeply.  "I guess.  I'm just... it makes me mad
that we just saved a lot of people, and they talk about us like
we're just as bad as the monsters."

     "Yeah, you're both right," Cali said wearily from where she
lay on her bed.  "It sucks, but it's gonna be this way, at least
for a while until we can prove we're really on the side of the
angels, so to speak.  And it may always be this way... some
people are always gonna be scared of us, you know."

     I felt Sharon rest both her hands on my shoulders, leaning
on me a bit as she spoke.  "That's part of why we have to help
them, too.  They're afraid of us... but they'll be afraid of the
monsters more... and fear just makes the monsters stronger."

     I looked up at her.  "What do you mean?"

     She shook her head slightly.  "I'm not... exactly sure.
It's just something I could tell... when we were afraid of the
monsters, they were stronger than when we weren't.  It's why we
could beat them so quickly once we were all there."

     "And here I thought it was just good tactics," I said dryly,
but I could see in Sharon's eyes that she really believed what
she was saying... and for some reason, I couldn't argue with her.
"I'll take your word for it, though... demons and such traditionally are
said to feed on human fear and suffering...
maybe these monsters do, too."

     "Whatever," Ash muttered, laying back on her bed.  "At least
we know the disguise effect works."

     I shook my head.  "We can't assume that after one fight.
Just because nobody got a good look at us this time doesn't mean
anything. What happens when a news crew actually gets film of us
in action, hmm?  Can we fool a camera?  I think we should assume
not, and take some precautions at least."

     "Why are you worried about it, girly-man?" Ash shot back.
"They couldn't recognize you anyway!"

     I bit my lip, trying to contain my anger, but it wasn't
working very well.  I started to stand up to leave, but Sharon's
weight on my shoulders pushed me back down into my chair.  "Calm
down, Jon," she whispered into my ear, then looked up at Ash.
"That was uncalled for, Ashley."

     "Yeah, whatever," Aries answered dismissively.  Whatever
effect Sharon's gaze might have on me, Ash seemed perfectly able
to ignore it. Even with that, though, she lay back on her bed and
fell silent.

     "We need to get some rest," Sharon said softly.  "All of us.
It's been a long day already, and it's wearing on me, too."

     Cali nodded, glancing meaningfully at Ash.  "I think we can
all agree on that.  Pulling out a piece of paper, she scribbed
something on it and handed it to Sharon.  "Here's my cel phone
number... give me a call when you're ready to meet up again.  Do
y'all have a place to crash?"

     Sharon nodded.  "One of my friends and I have a room here."
She lifted her other hand from my shoulder then, letting me stand
up, and as I did so I rediscovered the collection of body aches I
had acquired in that last fight.

     "Ow..." I muttered.  "Being a Senshi hurts."

     "Tell me about it," Cali agreed, winking at me.  "Now you
two go relax, have fun."  There was something about her tone when
she said that... and it wasn't quite lost on Sharon, who turned
bright red.

     "It's not like that!" she insisted, dragging me along with
her as she headed for the door.  I tried hard not to laugh at
Sharon's vehement denial, which was made all the more funny by
the fact that it made things look much worse than they were.

     "We're just friends, really," I explained, still laughing as
Sharon glared at me  To this day, I'm still not sure if she
looked at me like that because I was laughing or because of what
I said.

     I do know, though, that Cali didn't buy it either way.  That
girl has a one-track mind.  "You may think so," she prodded,
wearing a Cheshire-cat grin, "but she doesn't.  I promise you,
every time I look at you she gets jealous."

     Sharon's blush deepend to about the color of Aries' fuku.
"I... I... " she stammered, her expression caught between anger
and embarrassment.  "I do not," she said weakly.

     "Yeah, real convincing that was, Sharon-chan" Cali
countered.  "You believe her, don't you, Jon?"

     It was my turn to be at a loss for words, and I knew I was
about as red as Sharon.  "I... I think I'll not answer that," I
answered, even as I kicked myself mentally for a response even
more lame than hers.  Still... I didn't know what to think.  Cali
had a point... Sharon *did* act jealous, and I had to admit I
liked that.  What did it mean, though, really?  I wasn't sure.

     Before I could complete the thought, Sharon was tugging on
my arm, dragging me out of the room again.  As the sound of
Cali's laughter followed us out and down the hall, I found myself
wondering what to think of all this.  It was so much, so fast...
it was so overwhelming... and yet some things just felt right,
in spite of all my misgivings.

     What, though, did Sharon think?  I would have to ask her
eventually; I was sure she wouldn't say it on her own.

*****

     Sharon didn't let go of my arm until we got back to her
room, and though her blush had faded mostly, she still seemed
rather flustered by the whole 'discussion' that had just taken
place.  So much so, in fact, that she had completely failed to
notice all the people staring at us as she dragged me down the
hall.  At the door to her room, though, her frazzled mental state
was even more apparent as she dug through her pockets for her
room key.

     "I know this is in here," she muttered to nobody in
particular as she pulled dollar bills, a pen, her house keys,
some loose change, and several other assorted items out of her
pockets before finally discovering the cardkey she was looking
for.  Did I ever mention that Sharon is not a terribly organized
person?  The fact that she wasn't carrying her purse around with
her anymore didn't help, of course; her pockets were stuffed with
all the things she thought she might need.  You can read that as
"way too much junk".

     Opening the door to the room, she walked in and dropped
lifelessly down onto one of the beds.  It was then that I really
remembered just how exhausted she had seemed earlier... the
incident with Cali had pushed that to the back of my mind.  "You
ok, Sharon?" I asked her, concerned.

     "Just tired," she said softly.  "Give me a couple of hours
and I'll be fine.  The energy I give up... seems to regenerate,
though I'm not really sure how that works."  I nodded, laying
down carefully on the other bed.  I was very sore, still... a
little sleep would do me a world of good.  Thus, Sharon's next
words were a bit of an unpleasant surprise.

     "You can't sleep there, Jon... Stephanie will come back and
she'll be mad that someone's sleeping on her bed."

     I sighed.  "It's not like I'm sleeping *in* her bed... I'm
just laying down for a while on top of the blanket."  Surely her
friend wouldn't be *that* pissy about it, I thought.  Besides,
the other alternative sounded very painful in my present state.
"Do I *have* to sleep on the floor?"

     She propped herself up on her elbows and looked over at me.
"No, you can't sleep on the floor, either.  Someone will trip
over you and you might get hurt."

     "As if I'm not hurting already," I mumbled.  "Do I need to
go home, then?"

     She gave me one of those looks like all women have.  You
know the one... that exasperated expression they get when a man
says something that makes perfect sense to him but she thinks is
ridiculous?  Yeah, that one.  I get it a lot, dealing with a
whole pack of Sailor Senshi; usually it's followed by some long,
drawn-out explanation of why the thing I said is stupid.  Sharon
is different, though... she just smiled at me.  "No, no," she
laughed.  "You can sleep next to me."

     I blinked, not sure I'd heard her right.  "Sharon, is that
really a good idea?"

     She laughed, patting her hand on the empty half of her bed.
"It's not like we're *doing* anything," she pointed out.
"Besides... we're just friends, right?"

     There was something about the way she said that last part
that seemed... false, in a way.  Like she really wanted to say
something else.  Still, I was tired, and so was she.  Maybe I
was just imagining things.  "...right," I agreed quietly,
wondering if my voice sounded like hers in that moment.  She
didn't seem to react, but that didn't really mean anything,
either.  Lifting myself from the bed, I moved to lay down next
to her, stretching out as best I could without intruding into
her space.  "Thanks."

     She looked at me, her eyes meeting mine for a moment before
she turned over, facing away from me.  There was something in
that gaze--an expression I'd seen before, that afternoon when we
were on the way back from lunch--something that made me think of
what Cali had said in the room, and of Sharon's reaction.  Cali
had been right... Sharon's denial wasn't terribly convincing, and
as oblivious as I might be to the ways of the female heart, even
I couldn't miss the fact that she'd been acting differently
around me of late.  I had assumed it was just the stress of the
situation, that she was just looking for someone to lean on.  In
that moment, though, as I lay there, I started to wonder.

     I looked up at the ceiling, trying to force my exhausted,
battered body to relax, but I couldn't get the thoughts to stop.
There was more to this... more to her feelings than I knew.  More
than that, she wasn't the only one acting differently.  I'd
always liked Sharon, even if I thought her Moon obsession was a
bit over the top, and I've always been protective of my friends.
This, though... this was more than that.  I worried about her; I
worried about her power and the way it drained her; I worried
about her emotions, and the self-doubt and self-blame she was
feeling from getting me involved in this; I worried about the
life she would have to lead now, and how she would handle it,
even more than I worried about myself.  I wanted to protect her,
to shield her from any and every threat, no matter how small.
And somewhere down deep inside, I had this feeling that this was
the way it was meant to be.

     I lay there in silence as the minutes ticked by.  Ten...
twenty... thirty... still my mind ran itself in circles.  As
tired as I was, I wasn't going to sleep any time soon.  I glanced
over at Sharon, who still lay facing the wall.  She wasn't asleep
either... she moved every so often, seemingly unable to get
comfortable.  Was she thinking about the same things I was?  Or
was I imagining it all?  When it came down to it, there was only
one way to find out, and I wasn't going to get any rest until I
did.  Swallowing hard, I pulled together all the  courage I could
muster. "Sharon...?" I asked, trembling.

     "Yeah?" she answered.  Her voice was weak, tentative... was
she afraid?

     I drew a deep breath, willing myself to ask the question.
"She was right, wasn't she?"

    She turned over to face me again, her gaze searching mine.
She knew exactly what I meant, I could tell... and really, the
look in her eyes told me everything I needed to know.  After a
moment's silence, she nodded slowly.  "Yeah... she's right."

    "Sharon..." I whispered, desperately hoping I didn't sound
as nervous as I felt.  "I... don't see you as just a friend
anymore, either."  I paused, trying to rein in my emotions enough
to be coherent.  "I... you mean a lot more to me than a friend,
Sharon."

    Her eyes widened a little bit as the anxiety in her
expression gave way to relief.  She reached out to me then, and
I drew her into my arms, hugging her tightly as she rested her
head in my shoulder.  It was everything I had felt that afternoon
and then some, and I wondered where such depth of emotion could
have come from so quickly, but considering what we had been
through together already, I suppose it should have been no real
surprise.

    We held each other like that for several minutes before
finally she pulled back enough that I could look at her again.
"Thank you, Jon," she said softly.  "I was worried... afraid you
wouldn't understand so soon.  I'm not even sure I understand it
myself, really."

     "Some things aren't meant to be understood," I answered,
smiling at her.  After all, I didn't understand it any better
than she did... but I knew what I felt, and what I felt was not
to be denied.  I don't know, I've never thought of myself as a
terribly romantic person... but I have my moments.  Maybe it was
just because of how different it felt.  I'd had girlfriends
before, been on dates before, and all that... this was different.
I knew then that I would fight for Sharon... and I have, since,
many times.  I knew then that I would die for her, if necessary.

     I only know one word that can describe that feeling, and
it's one I've been taught to use cautiously, and sparingly.  I'd
never said it to any of my girlfriends before, as much as I
thought I felt it.  I was ready to use that word then... but
Sharon beat me to it.

    "I love you, Jon," she said softly, hugging me tightly again.

    "I love you, too, Sharon."

    Silence reigned as we held each other then... long moments
of silence that could never be long enough.  Deprived of the
anxiety that was keeping me awake, I found myself growing very
sleepy.  Finally, I had to pull back from her, stifling an
oncoming yawn.

    "Oh, good," Sharon said with a smile.  "I'm getting sleepy,
too, but I didn't want to say anything."

    I laughed... then frowned.  "Um... now that we're more than
'just friends'... do I need to sleep on the floor?"

    She gave me that look again, then shook her head and
giggled.  "No, silly... just don't get any ideas."

    I smiled at her.  "I wouldn't dream of it."

    "Yes, you would, you hentai."  She stuck her tongue out at
me.  "But I trust you not to do more than dream."  With that,
she lay back on the bed and closed her eyes.  Within a few
moments, she was asleep.  I've always wished I could just drop
off to sleep like that... never has worked for me.  Even so, it
wasn't much longer before I to gave way to my dreams.

     Sharon, of course, was right about those.

*****
End Episode Three

Next Episode:  Woah, turn down the ego a notch, girl!  The glare is
blinding!
What?  She's a Senshi, too?  As if this group wasn't screwed up enough, we
add
the prima donna to the mix.  Next Episode: Sailor Leo.  And here you thought
being surrounded by beautiful girls would be fun.



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