Character Sketches #1, Sailor Mercury - Part II, "Mizuno the Senshi"
Chapter 1: In which is found a new appreciation for the fine arts.

"One of the brightest international stars to come to JHU this fall is Amy Anderson, who chose Johns Hopkins over other prestigious schools both in Japan and the United States. Amy, a native of Tokyo, Japan, said that she wanted a change.

"'Well, you know, what with all the work going on in Japan with the rebuilding process, I just wanted to go someplace quiet,' said Anderson, whose prodigious intellect made quite a splash on our campus, where students and teachers are used to begin among the best and brightest."

-Paula Harding, "International Students come to Johns Hopkins," in the university's student newspaper, October 15, 2000.

"Smart? Yeah, I guess you could call Ami smart. Kind of like saying that Usagi was a klutz."

-Minako Aino, _The Autobiography of Sailor V_, Harcourt Brace Jonovich, New York. 2001.

The room was dark, and not a bit cold, notwithstanding the temperature without. It was his wish that it be cold; the better to test their mettle. His cold chamber matched the cold black hair he had, which, if seen in just the right light, had just a hint of blue in it. Most people wrote it off to some visual trick, and occasionally they were right.

The tall, dark man stalked slowly, back and forth, peering at his flanks, looking for the slightest mistake, the tiniest chink in their armor. They all watched him nervously. All of them knew he was watching, and they all knew their fate if they failed in their quest.

He drew up at the head of the chamber, as a slow, sly smile crossed his lips. "Success," he murmured. Now it was time to get their attention. He cleared his throat menacingly.

"Okay, kiddies, you've finally done right."

Audible sighs of relief could be heard, which seemed to amuse the handsome gentleman.

"That's right, you have finally mastered the earlobe. Now, we've still got a few minutes left, so let's begin with next week's lesson, okay?"

Near the back of the classroom, were two interesting items. The first was a red double door, with the legend "Emergency Exit" emblazoned upon it. Anything that forced one to use it would be a real emergency; it opened onto absolutely nothing but air, and a rather nice view of the Homewood campus. If one felt lucky, one could try to jump the twenty or thirty feet down through where there used to be a set of stairs. The second item wasn't an item, so much as it was a pair of people. Amy Anderson and Jennifer Talbot sat behind their easels, which held two sketches of enormous earlobes.

"Rather an interesting way to start a course," remarked Amy quietly. "And a difficult one." Thirteen of her previous attempts at an earlobe lay crumpled on the floor around her, giving testament to her words.

"I don't know, Amy, I thought a teacher was supposed to give positive reinforcement. Somehow, 'This is the worst excuse for an earlobe I have ever seen' doesn't quite cut it."

Amy couldn't help but giggle at Jen's near-perfect impersonation of their teacher's light tenor. "Well, what he lacks in tact, he makes up for in looks, wouldn't you say?"

"You've got that right" responded Jen vigorously. Her enthusiasm, in fact, drew the ire of another pair seated near them; they, as opposed to Jen and Amy, were paying total attention to what the teacher said, in addition to his body. Trying to devote more attention to the aforementioned articles, they directed a "shh!" towards Amy and Jen.

By the accounts of almost all his female students, he had quite a body. To be more specific, he was described by most as the pinnacle of masculine beauty; not too muscular, but not too skinny, either. Some said that they had taken his class in the false hopes that its name was "Drawing the Henderson Form I," rather than the human form. And on a campus as focused on work as JHU, such outright ditziness was quite surprising. After all, it routinely won awards for being the most boring and least fun campus in the country. (Author's note: that is not a joke.)

Then again, David Henderson tended to inspire such traits in his rather gifted students, including Amy.

"I mean," continued Amy, "I first took this class because it was required, but...." She gazed at David for a full two minutes before continuing. "I think I'll be liking this class a lot more."

"Ladies, I'm quite sure that your little chat is of the utmost importance, but unless you can draw a perfect anatomical sketch from memory, I suggest you pay a bit more attention."

They looked about to see the eyes of everyone in the room gazing upon them in abject disapproval. "Um, terribly sorry, Mr. Henderson. Won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't, Ms. Anderson. Now, as I was saying, you must be aware of the...."

"Did you see that? He talked to me!"

"Settle down, Amy, no need to go dreamy on me now."

"But...do you think he would go on a date with me?"

"Cripes, Amy, he's old enough to be your father! He's just too old."

Amy thought back to Usagi and Mamoru. "Age isn't everything, you know." Then she thought about the full-fledged war between the two when Mamo-chan had come back from the desert to find Tokyo in ruins and Usagi in extraordinary distress. It had been a year until they had even spoken to each other again, and Usagi's friends had feared that all the emotional progress she had made was about to be thrown down the drain.

"Then again--oh, better look busy."

David strolled by them, ignoring the other students who were packing up and leaving. "Ladies, I would appreciate it if you were to pay a tad more attention to me when I'm trying to teach. Somewhere around the level of 'actually hearing my words' would work nicely. Perhaps then you would know when I dismiss class. Or perhaps you found the subject so engaging that you're willing to sit through it another time?"

For a moment, his tone reminded her of another, a mocking baritone who had forced her to...no, she would not fall apart in front of him. Not now.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Henderson-"

"David. Just David will be just fine."

"-David-sensei-"

"Just David, please!"

"-David-s...David, but we were just discussing..." Dissembling had never come easily to Amy, and it showed. "...um, we were..."

"Discussing the finer effects of shadows and shading in reproducing the more intricate details of the aural cavity," hazarded Jen. "Amy seems to think that the albedo of most of them renders such an attempt useless, but I disagree."

"Do you?" David seemed to be completely serious, but his eyes radiated mirth. "Well, perhaps you'd feel up to discussing it with me some time?"

Jen quickly decided that sometimes the gift of BS could also be a curse. "Um, that's nice, but I've got to be getting to class. Bye!" She then wasted no time in scurrying out.

And then it was Amy and David alone in the class. Her quick mind raced through the possibilities. In some corner, it found some remorse and fear left over from her nightmare, and shoved it aside to make room for other thoughts. Most concerned getting David to pledge his undying love to her.

David, on the other hand, had other things on his mind as he looked at the retreating figure of Jen. "Exactly where did she learn to come up with stuff on the fly like that?"

"Oh, she's an English major. Wants to go into law. Um...actually, I did have a couple questions about pencils..."

"Don't worry about stuff like that. 99.5% of the time, you'll be okay with a good old #2. If you like, you can try charcoal, but most introductory students find Mellow Yellow good enough. But...I think that a girl of your...talent...might be better off with more advanced materials."

"Okay. And my other question was..." She lost her train of thought for two reasons, one far more important than the other. The first was the correlation she drew between his remark and another conversation she had had with her friends back in Japan, when all they had to worry about were aliens who had come to suck energy for a sentient tree. True, she had grown in the years since then, but her "talent" was nowhere near...and then she realized what he meant. "Get your mind out of the gutter!" was the thought that flitted across her mind.

The second reason was that she happened to look into his eyes. Blue they were, and although she was never one for cliches, she had to admit that she lost herself in them. In fact, they looked totally amazing...the only other set of eyes she had seen described like his were her own. Of course, she had merely dismissed those remarks as attempts at flattery.

"Was what?"

"Oh, of course, I forgot. Silly me...always...no! I'm sorry, sir, but I've got to go. Bye!"David watched the retreating black-haired figure amusedly. "Not the first time a girl's gone gaga over me," he muttered, making his way back to his quite cluttered desk.

"Probably not going to be the last, either." He picked up the phone on his desk (really a top-notch school, he thought absently), and dialed the records office. "Hello? Barbara? Yeah, it's me again. Yes, could I have the file on Ms. Amy Anderson? A-N-D-E-R-S-O-N. Usual authorization, yeah. Sure, by all means. Um, lemme check...damn gadgets...uh, dhhenderson at faculty dot jhu dot edu. Well, I suppose we'll be using the things to brush our teeth soon enough. Ha ha, you betcha. Okay, bye."

He leaned back in his rather well-padded chair and mentally prepared himself for the next class. "First question to find an answer to: what is a Japanese girl doing with a name like Amy? And second, why have I fallen head over heels for her?"