When Shadows Rise Read online

  “Gregor tells me that you too practice Tai Chi? Which school?” Shayla smiled soothingly at the lone Star Knight., her touch had allowed her to feel the tight control the Star night was holding on her emotions and thoughts. The tension was visible to a healer. Fine lines about the eyes that should not be there on a woman her age. Plus something in those eyes that begged for peace. The healer felt for the woman and the warrior. She had to ignore it for now. Her conversation with Gregor had been ignored by the Knight and Senshi. But after a quick glance at Setsuna she believed that it had been heard but not by Suteko.

  “No set school. Shayla-san. I picked up what I could between learning my family’s tradition and school.” She smiled. “I fnd it a good way to warm up before moving on to Kung fu or Karate.” Suteko slid a hand into her hair above her collar. It looked like an embarrassed gesture but she was rubbing at a vague something, her neck still stiff after everything.

  Gregor perked up. The Knight was actually volunteering information. He listened to the chit chat between the Tai Chi master and Unicorn, interjecting questions about style and training. Smartly he did not try to steer the conversation toward Unicorn’s powers or abilities or why she knew the name of the Shadow master’s henchman. It seemed like the woman would relax when talking technique but then would dart a look at him and tense up, rubbing her neck.

  In no time the limo pulled up in front of the home Setsuna shared with the outer Senshi and her mate, the professor. She could just see Mamaru’s sedan and Iriko’s small car parked around the edge of the drive.

  Gregor let out a low whistle when he got out of the car. The home shared by the outer Senshi was palatial Large with a sweeping lawn it dwarfed the homes of the inner senshi and the Kouhei. Most of them lived in apartments or small houses. Sweet water’s home was a two room cabin in the back woods.

  Setsuna waved the two Kouhei to head in and placed a hand on the Knight to hold her back.. Suteko watched the others go, then slipped a few steps away from Pluto. “Another mass meeting?”

  “You need to learn to work with other teams Unicorn. Soon you will need their combined powers.”

  “Need their powers? Combined? Do they even know how to combine them Setsuna-san? None of these people are ready to fight together. You Senshi fight for Serena, as you should. And the Kouhei, their scars are deeper than mine.” She shook her head once more rubbing the base of her skull, the headache was back and growing worse. “I see distrust and reserve in those I have met.” She shook her head more. “Rage helped today but he still distrusts me.” She stepped further away. “He wants to know all my secrets.” Suteko winced and her eyes started to glaze over.

  Setsuna could see that the woman before her was poised to fight or flee. Questions posed by the intense and large Kouhei hit too close to underlying wounds on the Star Knights psyche. But something was triggering old fears.

  Gregor did not know it was his size, so reminiscent of Kaneda’s pre-transformation form that kept her on edge. Her mind was confused. She knew that any who fought and survived for the Princess could be trusted but body memory told her that he was a threat. The only men who did not trigger the fight or flight mode in the past three years had been Chris and Mamaru. Even Akuma could make her mentally pull back. Which added yet another wound to her soul. The damage needed to be healed soon or the future would jump off its tracks. She needed to trust the male members of Serena’s court and when the future allowed, her brother’s court.

  “You need to calm yourself child.” Setsuna tried to soothe.

  Suteko hissed, eyes flashing. “Don’t treat me like your daughter Setsuna. I have been on my own for over a decade.” Suteko turned away from the green haired modelisque woman and started toward the gate. “For days you have all but smothered me, kept guards on me, even when I am sleeping. I feel one of you there watching me. Big hulking barbarian, With no manners, poking and poking at my memories, never letting me breath.”

  Setsuna’s head snapped up. Hana and Iriko were the only people who could slip into minds and they did not take on a form different than their own when they did so. Something was riding the Knight. Quickly transforming Pluto looked through her Garnet orb. There on the Star Knights' shoulder was a small wizened monkeylike creature. It kept whispering in Suteko’s ear, It smiled a tooth filled grin at the outer Senshi.

  “Unicorn! Transform now!”

  Suteko looked back at Sailor Pluto in confusion. “Why?” She edged away from Pluto, poised for flight. Slowly her face took on a look of fear and she sprang away, leaping to the top of the fence in a quick bound. Pluto called out for her to stop and then called Time. She sent a thought to Hana to transform and bring Iriko. The Minerva’s mind gifts were needed.

  In a flash Sailor Time and Sailor Minerva were at Sailor Pluto’s side, She quickly filled them in on the beast riding Unicorn’s shoulders. Suteko crouched to leap away again. The beast on her shoulders grinned down at the Senshi and embedded its claws into Suteko’s neck and arms. It spoke in an awful mix of a monkey's chatter and Suteko’s voice. “You are too late Senshi. The Master demands this meat to be brought to him. I have her under complete control.” It stroked her glossy hair with its free paw and turned her away, leaping down to the empty street and streaking away.

  Down the street Jaeoh maneuvered his motorcycle past a slow moving van in time to see Suteko leap down from the fence and sprint down the block. Unlike Pluto, he had no trouble seeing the shadows crouched about Unicorn. He sped up and swung past the fleeing Star Knight. Screeching to a halt, he blocked her path and dodged to the side as the demon sent a blast his way. The blast was grey streaked with black, a perversion of Unicorn's powers.

  A part of Suteko could see the man who ran the dojo who had been so kind. While most of her was under control of the Tengu, the ancient warrior inside was fighting for control. She managed to deflect the blast enough that the dark energy hit a nearby car instead of the vaguely familiar man. The beast was drawing its power through her bones, burning her channels with the direct opposite of her natural power.

  Jaeoh kept his eyes on Suteko’s face and saw the flash of pain as the beast flung another shadow bolt toward some pedestrians. Once more she somehow diverted the shot. Her eyes flickered from emerald green to hollow black and back.

  Minerva, Time and Pluto appeared in the street before Suteko and the two time senshi stood behind the Minervan, a hand each on her shoulders. They added their strength to hers, increasing her range. Iriko focused her will and with a cry of Minerva Mind Slip she slid into Suteko’s mind from across the street. From inside she sent blast after blast against the tendrils buried in Suteko’s mind. The beast had attached itself sometime in the past month. The strength of this creature was in that it wasn’t from the waking world. Iriko quickly paged through Suteko’s surface memories and found that the Tengu had been waiting just outside of Jaeoh’s dojo. When Suteko had dozed off briefly in the furo it had slipped into the shadows and then into her sleeping mind. It latched down and slowly started it’s attack. For the past month it had been feeding the Star Knight’s loneliness and fear. Building up the pressure to flee, trying to get the Knight out of protection of the senshi and Kouhei and back to its new master.

  Iriko pried each tentacle loose, wincing at the new scarring it would leave on the Star Knight’s mind. The beast was bloated with her saddest memories. Making her relieve them in a loop, most of her mind trapped, only her surface thoughts free to interact with those around her. The fact that she just came from another battle was amazing. Once Iriko pried the last tentacle free she sent a blast directly to the mind of the Tengu. It screamed and then flickered into sight. No longer able to use Unicorn’s sideslip ability it hissed and snarled at the Sailor Senshi.

  Coming back to herself as the beast formed on her shoulder, Suteko grabbed her transformation crystal and changed. The hot white light covered her form and forced t
he Tengu loose. The creature screamed and flew up into the air.

  In the moment it took to scan the street about her Unicorn spotted the Sailor Senshi and Sailor Kouhei. They were not true combatants to the knight and she needed to steer the demon Tengu away from them. She pulled light into her palm and started lobbing balls at the beast trying to get it to settle someplace so she could attack. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the leather clad biker and hoped he was smart enough to ride away.

  “Come on you little creep. You dare stir up my past, make me mistrust! Make me hurt!”” Unicorn threw like a major league pitcher. The balls of light hitting the Tengu more often than not, causing a sizzle each time as she forced it away from everyone.

  Jaeoh took off his helmet as he watched the now angry Star Knight . He knew more about Tengu than most and he let out a low whistle. Somehow her anger was keeping the demon in this realm and her aim was deadly but he could also see that the demon was pulling in energy from the Knight and the shadows around them. The shadows that should be pooling by the street lights were fading.

  Pulling out his own repaired crystal he debated but then put it back. It wasn’t time, no mater how he felt for the Knight. He couldn’t expose himself yet. He darted from his bike to get closer to Hana and the others. Hana shook her head, gesturing for him to stay where he was.

  The Tengu had had enough. When it agreed to work with the with the Shadow master it was told it would have an easy feast but the woman was more than it was told. Getting to her had taken all of it’s stealth, then it had to wait till she dozed off. Once it slipped in it was a fine feast of despair but now? The lavender haired one attacked it when no other should have been able to and now it was getting burned by the light that the Knight held.

  It looked about and spotted a normal looking human and made a dive toward Jaeoh. Dodging light missiles it bounced and lunged for a new host.

  Seeing the Tengu head toward Jaeoh, Suteko felt panicked. She had to protect this gentle man from the beast. Suteko ran forward and flipped up in the air. A staff of light appeared in her hands and she snapped it out, cracking the tengu in the skull, dazing it before landing lightly before Jaeoh. “Stay back. This thing is dangerous.” She darted a look back at the man behind her. His hair was tousled from the helmet and his dark eyes were serious as he nodded. A small shiver went down her spine, distracting her for a moment.

  Jaeoh hid a smile as Unicorn turned back. The idea that he needed protection was amusing but then, at the moment he did. If he fought it would expose who he was and it wasn’t yet time.

  Unicorn traded blasts with the Tengu, who was rapidly growing in size as it absorbed the shadows around it. It finally settled on the ground in its human monster seeming. No longer a weird monkey thing, it was now a fat man shape with a red painted face and large horns. The creature had a shoulder spread broader than Rage and was cloaked in a skin of human scalps.

  “Such a tasty treat you are little girl.” It’s voice was a cross between sibilant hiss and a perverts drone. “So many buried memories. So many sweet things done to you.” The listening Sailor Senshi both shivered as the voice felt like slimy clutching fingers on their skin. Time glared at the beast and took the hands of the Senshi. She blocked the full brunt of the Tengu’s attack. Her own darkness was raising its head. The Tengu made a face and once more spoke. “You were made to suffer, born to feed the darkness.” It tried once more to slip inside Unicorn's mind but this time she was prepared.

  “Yeah I don’t think so. I may not have been born for the easy path but I was never fodder for the dark!” She transformed her light staff to a sword and leapt forward,. Engaging the tengu sword to claw was dangerous but she had thrown her caution to the wind, her temper snapping.

  Watching her battle the beast, Jaeoh was breathless. In battle the Star knight glowed wtih pure white light that burned the Tengu. It was obvious this woman was meant to fight the darkness and had for lifetimes. A mutated demon was bread and butter for such a warrior. Jaeoh could see chunks dropping off and scuttling away into the darkness. Finally the beast let out a long undulating howl before dissolving on the point of Unicorn’s light sword. She extinguished her blade and turned first to the three women, who nodded and moved back to Pluto’s house. Then she turned to Jaeoh and started forward.

  “You should have turned back to your bike. It isn’t safe to stay in a battle zone, sensei.” Jaeoh smiled and opened his mouth when the Tengu reformed behind Unicorn and flung a massive ball of dark energy right into her back.

  The ball staggered her forward into Jaeoh’s arms with a silent scream of agony. Jaeoh could smell the burning flesh as the dark power worked deeper. He caught her as she sunk to the ground moaning and shuddering. Jaeoh, held her carefully, pulling on a new power to stop the spread of the burn, fighting darkness with dragon fire. He then called out to his team pulling a bit more of his power, hoping that it wasn’t enough to be noticed. “Kouhei! Assemble!”

  Hana’s head whipped around and she saw the Tengu reform growing larger again as Unicorn's light started to flicker out. She reached back, closely followed by Minerva and Pluto. As they came to a stop between the Tengu and the fallen Star Knight a loud voice started to proclaim.

  “You who dare to attack from the darkness, dare to strike the Light with the power of shadow. You deserve to be punished. I am Sailor Moon and I will punish you!”

  Jaeoh watched as the Inner senshi all formed up around their leader and they took on the Demon. While powerful, the Senshi were not truly what was needed to beat the demon. They could handle the Daimon from the Negaverse but the Tengu was an Earth Demon. Soon the more powerful outer Senshi joined in as the pieces of the Tengu formed into more of the beast. Jaeoh hadn’t been sure but this demon seemed to fall in to the category of burn it or it will come back stronger. Moments later Mamaru appeared as Tuxedo Mask, lending his strength and control over earthly creatures to the battle. He closed in, sword flickering, taking pieces from the gathering Tengu shadows.

  Rage and Sweet water appeared at his side and he quickly gave them orders. Rage smiled as he ran to Mars, working with the priestess was his sort of fun.. He gave her the message about how to destroy the things.

  Sweet water knelt at her leader’s side and with a quick glance took in the damage to the Star Knight. The whole back of her uniform was charred, the skin underneath was smoking. She carefully placed her hands over top of the wound and let her power flow. The green glow flowed down her arms and formed a careful bandage over the injury. “This is bad Jaeoh, really bad. I can't stimulate her body to heal itself. Something is stopping her body from helping itself.”

  Jaeoh nodded, speaking softly above the dazed Star Knight. “Hana explained this. She is extremely sensitive to Shadow power." He held the Star Knight gently as she shuddered trying to breath.

  Too soon for Jaeoh, Suteko tensed and took yet another shuddering breath. “Let me up…I need to finish this…thing.” Unicorn grimaced and pushed away from the comforting arms. For a brief moment she had felt something, something she didn’t have time to explore but she would have to. Something was going on with Jaeoh.

  She pushed herself to her feet pausing twice to pant with little moans. Then she was up and with a cry her sword shown bright in the darkness. She stumbled and then ran toward the fight, dodging flying bubbles, chains of hearts and more till she could leap forward and bury her light sword in the Tengu’s skull between its curling horns. She dropped to the ground and called out. “now Mars, burn it with your ward! You need to be priestess and warrior!”

  Mars eyes widened as she pulled out a slender strip of paper, chanting softly then threw it with her fire power behind it. It caught the Tengu just below the sword of light and froze it in place. It screamed in agony then burst into flames, this time truly dissolving into nothing. The mini Tengu all faded from sight.

  Unicorn’s sword float
ed for a moment, then flared and shot back to her hand as all around panted and looked at each other, then all eyes turned to Unicorn who sank to the pavement, her transformation slipping in a bright flare of light.

  Jaeoh took a step toward the fallen woman but paused as the Senshi and Tuxedo mask all encircled the downed Knight. Turning to Hana, Gregor and Shayla, he nodded once, Sighing he watched them take care of the woman who was becoming too intriguing to ignore. He turned and headed back to his bike.

  Shayla started toward him only to be stopped by Hana, “ Not yet Sweet water. He will know when the time is right.”

  Shayla looked from one team mate to the other. Gregor shrugged, he didn’t understand any more than she did. It was obvious something was supposed to happen between their once and future leader and the fallen Star Knight. Shayla had a clue but Gregor was still in the dark. He had never seen the look that briefly passed over Jaeoh's face before.

  “Is he coming back, Hana?” Gregor asked his partner. He thought Draco had removed himself from the world when his powers were destroyed but something in his eyes told him that his powers had returned. If they had the timing was good, the Shadow Master couldn’t hide from Draco’s powers.

  With a nod and wave to Shayla, Hana took Gregor’s arm and led him back to the house, explaining quietly that the time wasn’t right for their leader to reveal himself. Shayla jogged back toward the fallen Knight. Sailor Moon had transformed to Princess Serenity and was trying to close the wound on Suteko’s back.