The Drangon's Thunder --------------------------------- by Elements of Desire Part IV -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "While?" Rei asked impatiently, drowning down her sixth cup of coffee that night. Makoto shook her head sadly, "He's still in shock. Not that I blame him, he just saw his girlfriend's murdered body, it was so horrible!" "She wasn't his girlfriend." Ami's cool, calm voice came up from behind the screen of the compact computer, before setting it down onto the large keyboard of the Mainframe computer, downloading the information. "What do you mean?" Makoto asked, her eyes widening, remember the earlier incident, when she had accused Nephrite of cheating on her. "Name: Komai Naru, age: twenty-two, hair color: red- brown, oh these are all technical!" The blue-haired genius scanned till she reached what she had been searching for. "Komai Naru was sixteen years old when she was found beaten and abandoned in a warehouse by the local police. With the lose of memory, she did not know her name until an ad brought her the only family that would claim her." "Who was that?" Rei asked, all of a sudden interested, as she got off the couch and joined Ami and Makoto at the computer. "Semoku Nephrite, claimed to be Kamai Naru's cosine from her mother's side." "Well that explains the resemblance." Rei said thoughtfully. Makoto blushed, realizing that she had beaten Nephrite over the head for no good reason. "There's more, Komai-san was a secret agent for the T.A.W., one of its top agents actually." Ami told them, and Rei frowned slightly. "I haven't heard of her, but then again, T.A.W. was Minako-chan's creation." She said slowly. "Where is Minako-chan? She should be here by now." Makoto asked, slightly confused and agitated for her friend's lateness. "Minako-chan's out interviewing." Was all Rei said. "What does T.A.W. stand for anyway?" Makoto asked, after a stretch of silence, only interrupted by occational sounds of the keyboard as Ami typed away, absorbing the information at lightening speed. "T.A.W. stands for Tokyo's Agents of War." Rei replied. "War!" Makoto looked surprised, but both Rei and Ami stayed calm. "Hai, War, but not the type you're thinking of Mako- chan. Not really." Rei cracked a smile, but her eyes stayed cold, for as long as Makoto known Rei, this was when Rei was most brilliant and most calm, and most not like herself. This Rei scared her, and in the lifetimes she had known Rei, she knew that she would never get over the shiver that crept up her spine when those cold onyx eyes looked at her so calmly. "What do you mean not really?" Makoto calmed herself and looked to her friend questioningly. "T.A.W., depending on what department your in, is usually researching ways to defend Tokyo from attacks of violent storms or supernatural powers, it is called Agents of War because we all know what kind of supernatural powers visit us most of the time." Ami said with a smile; Ami at these times were also strange, she was as brilliant as ever, but she cracked jokes more, instead of being the calm, cool, in control one that Rei takes to, Ami goes for the comic relief. Something that Makoto would never have thought Ami would go for, but she guessed it was the only way that Ami could find to stay calm from watching all those gruesome pictures that Rei brings back with her after a serious crime like this. "Ah, here we are." Ami looked startled at Rei, but the other had grabbed the former's wrist to stop the computer from scrolling down the information, Rei didn't absorb as much as Ami could but she could find the most important points, there were reasons why she was head of securities. "What do you see Mako-chan?" Rei asked her, looking to her expectantly. Makoto glanced up and gasped, it was the video before the murder occurred, but it was just one frame. On the screen it showed Naru just before she opened the door, but there was a shadow on the moonlight floor, but no body, nothing but a shadow. How did Rei catch that so quickly? Makoto thought, a little dazed at the sight of discovery, Ami's eyes also widened at that moment as she too saw what made Rei stop her from scrolling. "A-a shadow, I guess." She said uncertain if that's what Rei meant her to see. "Exactly, but no body, no owner, which means-" "The cloak." Ami said grimly. "The cloak, it has to be it, the murderer was using it because, while, simple, no one can see him or her, so who can identify them? Not even the victim." The excitement in Rei's voice was clear, and who can blame her? She wanted this case over with, she didn't want to walk into another room like this one. "But who could've done it?" Ami asked softly, "Because if it were one of Makoto's admirer's, while, that would mean most of the male population in the city!" Ami quirked a smile, before turning back to the computer. "She has a point, you saw what the message said on the wall." Makoto said, sighing in disappointment. "Oh, but Makoto, you know how difficult it is to get a cloak, whether from the black market or not. This person had to either get the materials themselves to make it, or buy it from someone, all of which is thankful since now we can eliminate about ninety percent of the suspects being that you can't get that ingredients from just any library or shopping mall." Rei continued to grin. "Rei has a point there." The flashing humor in Ami's eyes settled down to her normal thoughtfulness and began a mass scan for people who purchased it in the city. "No, I don't think you'll find the murderer by searching for possible buyers Ami-chan." Makoto finally said, and Rei nodded in agreement. "Narrow the list down to the number of people that had been in contact with Mako-chan in the last forty-eight hours, no one but us knows that she was looking for Nephrite yesterday at lunch time and whoever found out had to do so by following her." "So it had to have been someone I've known or met." Makoto said, a little shocked that anyone she knew or met could've done this. "But I still don't get it, why would they kill Naru?" "Kami-san was Nephrite-kun's cousin, and they could've mistakenly thought that she was his girlfriend from your outburst." Ami said with a grin and Makoto blushed, now totally embarrassed about her former actions. "Hai, but I don't think it's just that, it has to have been something deeper, Naru is the first, the first is always the most significant." Rei sighed and rubbed her temples, the ice in her eyes slide a little, and warmth and tiredness could be seen in them. "This is too much, I need some sleep, we all do, let's call it quits for now, we'll go into it more tomorrow okay?" She asked quietly. "Hai," Makoto yawned, and just then, realized just how tired she was, all the worry made her forget. "Let me save this and I'll be done." Ami said with a smile, and Rei shock her head sadly. "Iie, you're going to bed now Ami-chan, but since we should save this I'll wait." Rei told her with a scowl, but smiled at the blue-haired girl affectionately. "Well, I guess I'd be going to bed now guys!" Makoto said smiling as she left. "Ja ne!" "Ja Mako-chan!" The two waved her off, as she stepped out into the darkened hallway, sighing slightly in relief she kept walking towards her room, stopping startled when she realized that the door was slightly adjured. What's this? She thought, a little curious as she began to open the door, but a wacking sound and a faint moan that followed from within startled her, slamming the door opened to stood mouth a gap at the sight before her. The ripple in the air was her only warning, before the slashing sound alerted her of something sharp. Jumping back, she realized too late that this was indeed an unfair fight as a feel of cold steel grazed her shoulders. She hissed at the pain, "Lights!" She cried, as the pouring light shined, through, not only startling her advisory, but making the outline of it clear as day; not allowing the faintest thought to enter her mind except to beat the person before her she let lose a lightening bolt from the palms of her hands, shocking the thing and then quickly kicking it into a wall as it screeched all the way. Not waiting for it even to land, she quickly powered up into her senshi suit, for a number of reasons, but most importantly that her lightening would now be much more powerful than when she's in her civilian form. She threw a bolt at it as soon as the transformation ended, one that was much more powerful then the first which was only meant to shock. It screamed toward the faint outlines of the cloaked figure, this time the creature had enough sense to dodge, but the lightening grazed the cloak and short circuited it, as its figure began to emerge the thing panicked and soon smashed out of the nearest window before disappearing into the night. But Makoto saw its masked face before it was gone, a groan was what prevented her from chasing it, she turned around the room and couldn't see anything before another one led her to other side of her room, that's where she found the source of the wacking sound before. Lying on the floor, hidden by her now wracked bed and with ugly red gashes on his chest was none other then, Nephrite, half unconscious from the pain. "Nephrite-chan!" She cried in shock as she raced to his side and gently picked him up. "Daijobu, Nephrite-chan?" Trying to smooth his hair, whether to comfort him or herself was what she was unsure about, other than his present condition that is. "Hai, I'm just a little d-dizzy." He looked up at her startled, but there were good reasons for him to gawk this time, she had wings now. "W-who are you?" "Sailor Senshi Jupiter." She replied kindly, this was certainly someone who had been new to the country or who just didn't pay attention to a lot of stuff! "The Sailor Senshi Jupiter?" "Hai, I don't believe there is another that I know of of late." She chuckled softly, her white wings flexed behind her back momentarily, out of habit she guessed, but now the movement caught his attention to the them. "Are you an angel?" He asked, even more stunned at the sight of them and she smiled more gently then. "You certainly look like one." "Iie, I am not an angel, only a senshi." She replied, but deciding to detransform to her normal form, that getting him to be over-excited at this point was a bad idea and angels are always linked with death and she didn't want him to get that idea! "You-you're that woman from yesterday." He gaped. "The Queen doesn't pick just anyone for her guards, especially her personal body-guard." She joked with a smile, but then with her free hand she pulled out her communicator from her dimensional pocket and beeped Ami. "I'm sorry Ami-chan, but Nephrite's down, please come quick." She said, now trying to focus on the problem at hand and not at him. When she got off, he was looking at her, the awe was gone and there was a flicker in his eyes. "Do-do I know you?" He finally asked, puzzled all of a sudden at the familiarity of the situation. "This seems fimiliar." She looked at him startled and her eyes suddenly misted, but couldn't help but smile at him, hope shining in her eyes through her tears of relief. "Hai, a very long time ago." She didn't know if she wanted to cry or scream in joy, but the door banged opened and a gasp pulled them out from the moment. "Aye! What happened here?" Ami said with surprise, as a very grumpy Rei came in second and didn't even bother looking at Makoto's recked room. "Mako-chan! I was sleeping when Ami-chan stormed into my room for like the second time in the last month and I am getting sick of losing sleep! Ami-chan, this is becoming a very bad habit and I won't allow it to continue any longer!" "Rei-chan-" Makoto began weakly to apologize, but the Ami found her holding Nephrite and gasped at his ghastly wounds. "What happened to you?" She asked, but she had already whipped out her computer and was typing away at it furiously, scanning him for further injuries. "What did you do to your room?" Rei asked impatiently, but decided that it was too late and she'd fry Makoto later for answers, she shrugged and told them goodnight, knowing that Ami could take care of things and stomped out to get back to bed. "It's not serious, don't worry." He said with a smile as Makoto leaned in closer to check the bandages to make sure they weren't too tight, even though she knew Ami would never have made it too loose or too tight she still worried. "Gomen, gomen, I guess I was just unsure if Ami-chan did it the right way." He laughed at her nervous reply and smiled at her fondly. "Mako-chan, how-" He begun. "Matte," She said, putting her fingers to his lips to stop the words he was about to say. While she blushed lightly and smiled, "I just wanted to know, if-if you remember anything." She said, smiling still, but he could see a hint of uncertainty and doubt within them. "Remember what Mako-chan?" He asked, frowning slightly at what she had meant for him to remember. "Oh," She sounded almost disappointed then, quickly withdrawing her hand as if burnt she looked to her lap to avoid him seeing her wince silently with regret. "Ano, what have you been doing these last few days?" She asked looking up and forcing another cheerful smile. "Mako-chan?" He asked, not willing to let the subject pass, and seeing her fist clench and unclenches on her light bronze-colored skirt; he had a feeling that this was something too important to let up. "Tell me what's wrong." He probed gently this time lifting a hand to her chin to keep her from turning from him, stubbornly unwilling to let the subject pass. "Nephrite-chan," Her eyes watered before surprising the him when she flew into his arms and gave him a hug, fierce enough to make him wince inwardly. "I missed you so much, why did you leave me all alone for so long? I had almost given up hope!" She cried. "Mako-chan." He was still surprised then, but he instinctively wrapped his arms around her protectively. A memory surfaced then, as her scent closed in, of another woman with auburn hair, sitting beside him with the soft glow of the earth above their heads, sighing softly as she smiled at him under a weeping willow tree beside a beautiful lagoon. "Forever?" She had asked him then, and he smiled down at her. "Forever." He whispered against her lips. "Forever." This time into her ear, and she sat up and looked at him, eyes wide with astonishment as he leaned over, so close that he could see the deep gold specks in her dark-green eyes, "Forever and ever, my star in the night." And the distance closed as her eyes slowly shut. "Nephrite-chan." She whispered, there was no need to cry any longer, she was with her love again, forever and ever. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My longest story yet! And it's done! Over with! Finished! Kapote! YEAHHHHHHH!! I thought this was never going to end, and if you think it was a hasty ending, you were right, I was afraid that it was going to go on FOREVER! Cute as it is between Neph-chan and Mako-chan, forever for me at this point with their story is TOO long, I wanna write about Rei-chan and my Jade-chan *sighs dreamily* Now there's a HUNK if I ever saw one! *Everyone looks at the author weird because she's infatuated with an anime character* Hehe, but he is cute! I mean, something about blond, blue-eyed babes that gets to me, nai? hehe ;) Anyway, just a reminder to those who has forgotten, DO NOT BOTHER ME ABOUT MINAKO-CHAN OR ELSE I WILL PURPOSELY TAKE FOREVER TO POST HER STORY UP. I'm a busy girl, I have clubs and school and study and TESTS! And i have a life in which I hang out with my friends, and if one of you dare ask me to give even ONE of those up, I will personally stop talking to you. Okay, so that was a very sucky threat, but I can't seem to be able to think of anything mean to say at the moment, so there. Hope you enjoyed that! Comments, flames, questions, whatever, send it to: oceanblues@usa.net Ja! Elements of Desire