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Part Six: Shepherd Moons

The gang sat, uncomfortable ten, around the large table, Zoya and Mamoru at opposite ends, four of the others on each side. Minako and Jonathan sat beside each other, Makoto and Rei on either side. Ami, Usagi, Naru and Masato were gathered on the other side, Usagi purposely seating herself between Masato and Naru. To the displeasure of the Senshi, Masato and Naru seemed uncomfortably fascinated by each other. It was obvious neither remembered each other or their pasts, though in Naru’s case, it was hardly surprising.

"So – why is your mother in London, anyway?" asked Minako, taking a forkful of the pasta Makoto had made with minimal input from Mamoru. She gazed sidelong at Jonathan, then went back to looking at Naru. She shrugged. "My cousin’s mother just died…and we’re her only remaining family. So mom went over there to y’know, comfort her, and I got a call last night, saying that Morgan’s going to come live with us for awhile. I’ve never met her myself, but mom said she’s really sweet. She’s twenty-three, and is an artist. Mom said that she just doesn’t want to live on her own."

"When is she arriving?" asked Makoto, spearing a piece of chicken. She cast a black look at Zoya, then smiled winningly at Masato. "It’s so great to have you here, Sanjouin-san. Have you and Jonathan been friends for a long time?"

"Not really – we met some time again through a mutual colleague," Masato replied, trying to keep his intense gaze from Naru. "We hit it off, didn’t we, Jonathan?"

"I didn’t exactly get along with your sister, ne?" Zoya coughed on her mouthful, and took a glass of water from beside her. Mamoru looked up in alarm – too concerned, in Usagi’s mind. Her glare was unmistakable.

"Daijobu desu ka, Zoya? Do you need a hand?" She coughed a little more, setting the glass down. She smiled waterly at Mamoru. "I’ll be okay."

"Why don’t you like Masato?" asked Usagi, looking at Mamoru with annoyance. He ducked his head to avoid her accusing eyes, which she then turned on Zoya. She chuckled without humour.

"No reason – we just had a clash of personalities when I visited Jonathan in Greece two summers ago. I over reacted earlier…I just hadn’t seen Massey-sama in a long time."

Masato pulled a face. "Zoya, really, do you mind? I hate being called that."

"Why do you think I called you it, bakayaro?

Jonathan looked up from his quiet conversation with Minako. "Stuff it, you two. You can throttle each other later, when we’re not in civilised company."

"Always the peacemaker, eh Jonny?"

"I’m just trying to make us appear at least a little normal in front of real live people."

Minako giggled, putting a hand on his arm, smiling with a friendly twinkle in her eyes. "Jonathan, that’s so sweet. But don’t bother, we’re used to arguments. Rei-chan and Usagi-chan hardly ever stop."

"Shut up, Minako," snapped Rei, and Mamoru sighed.

"Rei-chan, can’t you keep that temper of yours under control?"

"No," jumped in Usagi, casting a look at Rei. "She’s got no control – especially when it comes to other people’s boyfriends!"

"Get a life, Usagi-chan!"

"What about you? You stay in that damn shrine all day long and-"

Usagi shrieked as Luna bit her ankle, and turned on the black cat, eyes blazing. Then she started wailing. The group sighed, and Mamoru looked like he was getting a headache. "Guys, is all this really necessary?"

"Yes!" cried Usagi and Rei in unison, and Zoya stood abruptly.

"I think I’m going to puke," she said, looking green about the girls. Certainly she had paled considerably in the past few minutes. "Excuse me."

As Zoya rushed from the room, trailed by Mamoru, Usagi sighed in disgust. "Excuse me, I’m going to get me some dessert."

Jonathan cast Minako a meaningful look. "I need some fresh air, I’m going out on the balcony."

"I’ll come, too – I need some fresh air. It’s getting too humid in here." The two blondes vanished through the kitchen into the lounge, and there was a visible click as they moved through the sliding door onto the balcony.

Masato looked toward the lounge, and then looked at Naru, who was gazing at him, enchanted. "I think I might go into the lounge – it’s certainly more comfortable in there. Sorry, Makoto-chan, for not finishing this wonderful meal you made for us. I’m just not very hungry."

He moved to the lounge, trailed by Naru. This left Luna, Artemis, and four of the five Sailor Senshi in the dining room, Usagi clutching a large slice of chocolate cake. "Mmm, this is delicious, Mako-chan. Why don’t you make it more often?"

"Cut the food talk," said Artemis, looking highly concerned. "We have other things to worry about, Usa-chan. Like these four kings."

"Karl scared the crap out of me," announced Usagi, taking a hearty bite. The others couldn’t agree or disagree, for they hadn’t seen him. Only Minako had – and she was with Jonathan.

"I’m worried about her." Luna looked at Artemis as she spoke, but he didn’t seem overly concerned about his charge getting involved with Jonathan.

"Mina-chan has a good head on her shoulders, she’s not stupid. Besides, if we were going to worry about that, we would rather be worrying about Mina-chan getting involved with the esteemed Doctor Rutherford."

"Why is that?" asked Ami, but Luna went on.

"I’m also concerned about Naru-chan – she may not remember Masato, but I think that it’s really very dangerous for those two to be around each other. Given their past."

"So you think we should go into the lounge, too? Not leave them alone together?" Ami seemed ready to move into the room at command, but Artemis seemed hesitant. "I don’t know…those two, they’re not important now."

"NANII?!" gasped Usagi, choking on her cake. Artemis looked pained.

"The kings themselves are more dangerous than any relationship or bond they form with any of you. A bond can be broken…but a spirit, whether malevolent or good, is not so easily destroyed. And I believe this is rather accurately illustrated by the fact that the four kings walk amongst us."

"So you’re saying…we should think about destroying them, not their relationships?"

"It’s a mere distraction. Luna?" Artemis cast her a look, as if asking for support.

Luna was deep in meditative thought, and it took a few seconds for her to come up with a simile. "Usagi-chan, it’s like…when Jadeite was at the airport, remember? He was trying to kill you with a jet?"

She shuddered. "How could I forget? I had nightmares about being plane fodder for the next three months!"

"The point is, Usagi-chan, that you all instinctively tried to destroy the jet. When it was clearly obvious that it was Jadeite you had to defeat in order to stay the power of the Dark Kingdom. It’s the same thing now – the bonds formed are not the enemy, they are merely a distraction. The four kings are the problem."

"But won’t it be more difficult…remember when Naru-chan stood between us and Nephrite? If she becomes that attached to him again…" She cringed at the memory.

Luna shrugged. "We will just have to keep Naru-chan out of this. It’s unfortunate she is here tonight, and I have no doubt that Masato will contact her again. So we must act quickly."

"What about Jonathan and Minako-chan?" Ami bit her lip, eyes pensive in her thought. "She’s…acting strangely around him. Like she…"

"She likes him, really likes him," spoke up Makoto, running a hand through her dark hair. "You see, well…I guess Mina-chan and I can’t really sympathise with you guys about either Jadeite or Nephrite, because we never met them in battle, did we?"

"That still doesn’t give her permission to fall in love with him," Rei said darkly. "That’s what’s going to happen, you know."

"What, your fire told you?"

"Shut up, odango atama!"

"Pyro!"

"Oooh, scary insults, is that your only defence, odango atama?" taunted Rei.

"What about Mamo-chan and Zoya?" interrupted Makoto, instantly capturing Usagi’s attention at least. Rei was only a beat behind.

"That bitch," declared Rei. "I reckon that queer is after Mamoru – she’s cast some kind of spell on him!"

Artemis snorted. "Doubtful, Rei-chan." He nodded toward the lounge. "Let’s all go be sociable, shall we?"

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She half sat, half leaned against Mamoru, who had softly draped both a blanket and an arm around her frail shoulders. Together, they were once again on Zoya’s bed, looking out onto the balcony.

"Such a beautiful night," murmured Zoya, moving closer to Mamoru, as if she could find some small comfort in his embrace. "Only if…"

"Don’t think of him," he said softly, once again dying to touch her silky hair, her porcelain skin. His unruly fingers moved over her, and before he could stop himself, once again, they fell into one another, on the softness of her bed, kissing like they believed there would be no end to a burning love burning inside them.

"I love you," gasped out Zoya between a kiss. "I love you, I love you, I-"

"I love you ten times more," he murmured back, sprinkling kisses over her face and throat, feeling an upsurge in his own desire for the pretty young girl. The pair stretched out on the bed as one, before Mamoru drew back. "I…I love you, Zoya…but…"

"There’s always a complication, never an absolution," she said sadly. "Lover, I’ll never be true, and neither will you. Our hearts lie elsewhere." She stood, and moved as soundlessly as a shadow toward the sliding glass door. "I need…to clear my mind."

On the balcony, she stood in silence, and Mamoru soundlessly joined her. As a silent pair, they watched Minako and Jonathan passionately kiss, caught in a fiery embrace that rendered them oblivious to the fact they had an audience.

"We should go," Zoya said softly, wrapping her icy fingers around his, as if seeking comfort. Squeezing her hand gently, he lead her back into her room, and into the hallway. There, he released her hand and moved back into the lounge, where Naru and Masato were engrossed in a conversation. He could hear raised voices in the kitchen, and though he couldn’t make out the words, it was obvious that Usagi and Rei were fighting – again.

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Only seconds after the pair nodded at the other two and sat on the smaller of the two couches, the four remaining Senshi appeared in the room, their two cat guardians a step behind. Rei and Usagi both scowled to see Zoya and Mamoru so close together. He coughed, and she shifted uncomfortably, but they silently refused to separate. Thus, Usagi planted herself on one arm of the couch, Rei on the other. The others spread out – Ami and Makoto slumped in two of the armchairs, and the cats sat by the fire place. An uneasy silence covered the room.

"So…did you guys enjoy dinner?"

"Until someone said she was going to be sick after eating my meal," snapped Makoto, eyes snapping with green flame. Zoya looked down miserably, and Mamoru put a comforting hand on her knee that NO one missed.

"I’m sorry…it wasn’t your food, really it wasn’t. I just get these migraines, then I get nauseous and…"

"Greetings, earthlings!" boomed a deep voice, and Usagi fell from her perch in shock. Minako swatted Jonathan’s head and laughed, gently scolding him. "Now, now, there’s no need to alarm anyone, dear."

"MY HAIR!" he shrieked, leaping away from the girl. "NEVER TOUCH THE HAIR!"

Zoya smiled thinly. "I think we get the point, Jonny."

"Ah, so dear sister, once again you rise from the dead. What was with that ‘I’m going to puke,’ stuff?"

She moved closer to Mamoru, as if almost afraid as her brother knelt before her, taking her right hand in both of his. It was then that the two Senshi closet to the kings noticed the rings – Zoya’s gold band with the purple crystal, and Jonathan’s gold band with the square cut green stone. "Dooshimashita ka? Kaoiro ga warui desu."

Trying to pull her hand back was pointless – he refused to let go, and continued to stare at her with his intense sapphire-coloured gaze. "I’m, I’m okay…just my headaches…"

"It happens," he said, an innuendo no one understood playing in his words. "Human minds can only take so much, you know."

"That’s a cynical view," spoke up Ami, and Jonathan laughed. It was not nice laughter, and Zoya shrunk further into Mamoru as she heard it. Masato, however, was completely engrossed in Naru and didn’t seem to be paying much attention to anything else. He wrapped an arm about her shoulders, and Jonathan let her hand go. Mamoru instantly took it, like he was trying to warm her flesh with his own.

"It’s getting late," spoke up Usagi, looking to the others. "I think it’s time we went – hey Mamo-chan, can I take home the rest of that cake? No one else seems to want it."

"Go ahead," he said absently, looking at Zoya with concern in his eyes. "Hey, I’ll give you guys a ride home, if you want. I can take about five at the most."

"Masato and I came in his car – besides, we’re staying a little longer. We need to talk to Zoya."

She shuddered, and Mamoru’s brow creased in confusion. He vowed to speak to Zoya about this the first opportunity that they were alone.

The Senshi moved to the door, and Naru followed. "Can I squeeze in?"

"Sure," replied Mamoru, but Makoto interrupted.

"I’m going to walk, so don’t worry – I live around the corner, remember?"

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As the gang moved down the stairs, Ami and Usagi held back, as the cats looked to them. "We’re going to stick around," confirmed Artemis, looking to the two girls in such a way that they knew arguing would be pointless. "We’d better get back inside before Mamoru shuts the door – he’s still talking to the bizarre trio."

They nodded, and ran lightly to join the others, though their hearts were heavy. Leaving Luna and Artemis alone with the three ‘kings’ was not something they particularly enjoyed doing.

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Zoya looked at the floor purposely as Mamoru left, casting her another pensive glance. She stood alone by the door, while Masato remained in the couch he and Naru had been sitting on originally. He continued to sip wine from a crystalline glass, while Jonathan lounged against the mantelpiece, arms folded.

"What’s wrong with you, Jonathan?" asked Zoya softly, looking at her brother with wounded eyes. "You’ve been acting strangely lately – what’s wrong with you?" She repeated it with increasing demand.

"Relax, Zoya – I was just testing you, dear sister. Just seeing how much you knew."

"About what?" She moved hesitantly toward the glass of wine, then she decided. Taking a long slug directly from the bottle, she then sprawled on the couch she had sat on with Mamoru. "That’s good stuff – where did you get it from, Massey-sama?"

Scowling, Masato looked at the bottle in distaste. "Did you HAVE to do that?"

Jonathan cackled – and the others gave him uneasy glances. He accepted them without protest, smiling wickedly. "Do you two remember the Red Dwarf drinking game we played two summers ago?"

"That wasn’t fair!" cried Zoya, looking embarrassed. "You gave me the worst rules…every time talkie said ‘do you want any toast’…shit I was…"

"Pissed into oblivion," snickered Masato, picking another bottle of wine up out of the double case he had brought. Jonathan tossed him the corkscrew.

"How’s Karl these days?" Zoya stopped dead at his words, eyes very wide. Masato continued to open the bottle, unperturbed.

"How do you know Karl? You’ve never met him…"

His eyes glinted with an unnatural light. "I have my ways."

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Mamoru drove like a demon, Usagi behind him in the front, the other four squished in the back. Racing through the brightly lit streets, Usagi felt dizzy when she looked out the window. So she turned her attention to the more interesting view of Mamoru. "What is she to you?" she asked bluntly.

Appearing loathe to answer the question, Mamoru remained silent. Usagi sighed helplessly, and turned her tear-filled eyes out the window again. There was no denying it – she was losing Mamoru, slowly but surely. It wasn’t the same as Rei-chan and Mamo-chan either. That wasn’t real…Zoya was somehow a much more sinister threat, more able to take Mamoru away from her than Rei.

They reached Usagi’s house first, and she had the uncomfortable feeling that he was trying to get rid of her. She stepped out of the car, to see several figures step out of her front door. She recognised her mother, and then Naru’s mother…with them was a tall, unfamiliar woman.

Naru shrieked in delight, rushing to give her mother a hug. The other Senshi waved to Usagi as Mamoru pealed out of the space in front of her house.

The girls regarded the woman with curious eyes. Tall she was, even though she wore flat heeled boots. Also she wore a short blue skirt over black boot-leg pants, a tight black long-sleeved top, over which she had a crocheted white sweater. Her hair was as inky black as her pants, and cut in a straight, sleek bob that added edges to her already sharp face. The eyes were intelligent, dark, as violet as stormy skies at midnight. Her smile conveyed no warmth. "Hello," she said in halting Japanese, a thick English accent causing her Japanese to sound even worse. "My name is Morgan Shepherd. I’m Naru’s cousin…"

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Mamoru slipped into the apartment haltingly, hit by the irrational fear that he would be entering the Dark Kingdom. Zoya, however, was alone on the balcony, the others obviously long since departed. "Zoya?"

Turning in shock, she smiled tiredly at him. "Hey, Mamo-chan. Nice night for a drive?"

"Not with Usagi-chan beside me. And it seems Naru’s relative from England has arrived. I saw her mother and some weird girl step out of Usagi-chan’s house…I think…"

"What?"

"Oh, I don’t know…she had a weird aura. She seemed…familiar, yet I’ve never met her."

The pair looked together over the slumbering city, and he instinctively reached out to her, wrapping her in his embrace. "What did Jonathan want to talk to you about?"

She shrugged. "He’s just gotten really weird of late – and I have a feeling that maybe Masato knows something. And his involvement with Minako can’t be anything good."

"They’ve known each other for what – less than a week? It can’t be serious."

Sombrely, Zoya looked Mamoru directly in the eye. "What about us, then? We barely know each other, yet we’ve made confessions of the heart…you said you loved me, Mamoru-sama. And I gave you my love in exchange. This is too quick, too untaught, too fast…yet I know in my heart nothing this right could ever be wrong. And if it’s wrong…my heart won’t let me right."

Their lips met again while they stood alone on the balcony, and it seemed an eternity before they could pry themselves away for long enough to speak. "If you don’t want to, Zoya…"

She smiled at him, both enthralled and melancholy. "I want you, Mamoru. Live for the moment, and all that shit. But…don’t get me wrong, you’re not a replacement. I love you for you, even though I barely know you. Yet, I know you in and out, Endymion…"

He held her tighter to him, even though the name had terrifying undertones. "And I know you, Zoisite."

Even though the strange names were a regression into a world that meant hatred on both sides, neither reacted to it. All they did was fall deeper into one another, as they let time melt into oblivion…like the clocks over their mantelpiece. They had fallen hard. Even through The Persistence of Memory…

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The girls wandered with Morgan through the park after school the next afternoon, just basically giving her the run down on life in Tokyo. Unfortunately for all, Morgan spoke very little Japanese, and she seemed to have no interest in learning it. It was her arrogant belief the others should worry about learning English.

"This rose garden is very famous," Usagi said loudly to Morgan, as if raising her voice would make the meaning of her words any clearer. Morgan scowled heavily, a look that Naru and Usagi were realising that rarely left her features. Usagi sighed, then her breath caught in her throat. "Naru-chan, isn’t that…"

"That weird guy at Mamo-chan’s last night!" concluded Naru, looking shocked. "He sure is cute when you get him in full light, though."

"He’s wearing black again – complete black. Mamo-chan said he did that a lot…hey, Karl! Rutherford-oishasan!" she cried out the last words.

Swinging around, the young doctor looked startled to see a blonde girl waving at him, while a red head and a tall dark haired woman pretended not to know her.

He moved swiftly to the group, having eyes only for Usagi. "Have we met?"

"I’m Tsukino Usagi – a friend of Chiba Mamoru. I saw you last night…"

"Ah, yes. When I so very rudely appeared then vanished." He smiled faintly, taking her hand. "Do forgive my earlier rudeness – I’m not used to being called out to by strange women."

He turned cool blue eyes upward, in an easy manner, then sharply drew in his breath. The action was mirrored by Morgan. "Forgive me, lady, but…have I made your acquaintance before?"

"Never," snapped the girl, giving him a dark look. He laughed – and spoke in English.

"Not from Japan, hmm? Don’t worry – I speak perfect English. I am from New Zealand. Originally, anyway."

"Aoteroa – land of the long white cloud. Kind of poetic, wouldn’t you agree?" Morgan tossed her head. "My name is Morgan Shepherd – I’m this girl’s cousin, I arrived here from London yesterday."

Karl shook her hand warmly, and the uptight girl seemed to relax somewhat, especially since she knew she could speak English around the man. "So you know these girls?"

"No – I only know of them through a friend of a friend, Mamoru Chiba. Otherwise, I only caught a fleeting glance of them last night."

Morgan slipped a long fingered hand into her bag, the two girls noticing for the first time her unusual silver bracelet with the pretty crystal shards that sparkled in the light.

"I have to go," Karl said, looking towards the tall buildings of the business hub of Tokyo. "I have an appointment with that millionaire idiot, Sanjouin Masato."

"You know him?" asked Usagi in horror. Karl seemed amused.

"Through friends – Jonathan Troubetzkoy, to be precise. Zoya doesn’t know that I’ve known her brother for many, many years. I just never met Zoya until two months ago."

Morgan looked at him as if she were studying his very molecular structure, then she smiled darkly. "Will I be seeing you again, Karl?"

Glaring at her, he seemed to be disturbed by her self-sufficient beauty. "What makes you think you intrigue me, little star?" He sounded like he was taunting her, daring her to enter his games.

She accepted. "I intrigue all, Doctor. Don’t you wish to study me, know me, understand me?"

"I don’t think I’d like to understand you, child. Odaiji ne." He moved away, with a passing wave to the two girls.

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Minako sat at Jonathan’s side in the blue convertible as it raced down the motorway, delighting in the way the wind pulled long fingers through her blonde tresses. She woo-hooed loudly, and Jonathan looked over, chuckling. "Enjoying the ride?"

"I enjoy the company more," she said boldly, not completely in character. But…she had felt this way ever since the nightmare. She had changed from the morning she awoke in tears, after she dreamed that Phoebe, her dead friend, had come to avenge her own death.

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Phenakite snorted, watching as the pair took a corner at a suicidal speed. Humans – they always got distracted. Even when they DID remember what they were supposed to be doing.

But what of Karl, Masato…and Zoya? Damn Zoya…though…a smile touched her taut, bloodless lips. ‘She’ had certainly found something to amuse herself. Beryl would not be impressed…but then, when was she ever? She didn’t know about Zoya’s amusing pranks, though. The bitch-queen had her own problems, and Phenakite had pleaded innocence to any knowledge of how the ‘accident’ had come about.

These human lives, they were the real accident. She had lost Kunzite in Tokyo…but even now, though she had found him through Jadeite, she couldn’t touch him, go near him. It was the point of disremembrance – to regain their fallen powers. The choice had been made. However…

The darkness of power would lead to the darkness of heart.

She laughed cruelly, and yet, she felt a deep aching in her soul, for what she had become. She shoved it aside, letting the darkness creep back in.

Only one shred of her sanity remained – a name, a desperate phrase.

Leucite…how could you have let this happen to me?

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