10:30pm
Rei sat on the swing, pushing and propelling herself through the air with
her legs swinging, feeling the soft breeze of the night air running through
her hair as though it was caressing her to the roots of her being.
With her eyes closed, she felt her imagination soar, she was no long like
an eagle trapped in a small cage that was ill-fitted to her size, she could
now feel her wings spread, reaching grounds she had never known, never
dreamt of seeing; it was as though her soul was discovering a previously
no-man’s land within herself. Her eyes snapped open as she felt a
fiery presence appear before her – she had not felt this presence’s approach…
the presence had merely materialized before her.
On opening her eyes, she found an olive-colored skin woman with sparkling dark brown eyes looking at her intently. Those eyes were piercing and hard; eyes that had seen too much Rei decided, but still held strong mixture of emotions that could barely be perceived. The woman wore a orange-red loose-fitting dress, made with layers and layers of chiffon flowing around her, the material danced around her body despite the night air having ceased its movement since her appearance, it seemed that the dress had brought its own wind to swirl around her. The movement contrasted sharply with the thick, heavy braid of shiny dark mane lay limply and haphazardly across her shoulder, it was tied loosely by a bright red velvet ribbon approximately one centimeter wide, dangling a gold locket etched with engraving. The locket, although unimpressive in style and design, caught her eye; she traced the engravings and found that it was traced in words of the old Japanese that she could not read clearly.
She wondered who this woman was – for she hadn’t spoken a word as yet, and it seemed that this woman was scrutinizing her as attentively as Rei had been. The woman’s hard, unflinching gaze disarmed her; it wasn’t often that anyone could create such an effect on her. The silence continued, until Rei decided that they would evidently remain there without a word passing between them if she did not begin the conversation, her courage finally returned, and she spoke harshly to hide her startled interior, “what do you want, and who are you?”
The woman merely raised her eyebrows but did not respond; it was as though she expected that Rei would have the answer.
Truth be told, Rei had her suspicions, but saying it would have been equivalent in irrationality to her jumping off her seat, offering her hand to this woman and saying ‘hi, I am SailorMars’. Instead, she prodded her memory to think of an alias that she had once heard the person this woman reminded her of, use, some time in the past. “Mara?” she ventured. (Refer to Remember Me)
The woman finally smiled, her gaze softened at the name, “the Princess that I knew never hesitated, has the Earth mellowed you so?”
Rei did not speak until she was sure that she had regained her composure – not only was she shocked because this was the Lady of Mars standing before her, but also because she knew of the predicament that would be by her appearance, “is it time?”
“Yes,” came the soft reply, “but before I leave you on your way, I have two gifts for you, to assist you in your adventures.” Without another word, Lady Mars took the ribbon and locket off, leaving her braid to fall loose slowly, she held the gifts in her palm for a moment as a strange energy seemed to pass through her to the locket, then, she wordlessly handed them to Rei.
Rei fingered the locket nervously, her fingers finding a hinge and clasp on the other side. She fidgeted and started digging her nails between the two pieces of the locket to pry open its contents, but the locket remained closed. “Shh…” the goddess reached out and covered Rei’s hands with her own, “the ribbon will heighten your powers of perception, and the locket holds two powders, one to purify, and the other to revive.”
Rei’s eyes widened, she knew immediately what the contents of the locket were. It was the much talked of medication from the ancients, a form of the ancient arts so revered that it was never widely passed on to the next generation. The art of the mystical powers had been lost overtime by masters zealously protecting the sanctity of the knowledge, or merely afraid to let their students know all of the arts so that the student could surpass the master.
“My princess, the locket will open when it is time. I have little more to say to you now, just a reminder that you must take care, and keep your heart open.” Lady Mars grasped Rei’s hand tightly, then took the gifts from Rei, and tied it on her wrist, “I give you my blessing, and wish you much luck my dear child.”
Rei closed her eyes as she felt the powers of her body connect to the new powers of the locket and ribbon, she bowed low to her protector and waited until the great lady had faded into the night air before reopening her eyes. Fingering the locket, she looked up into the night sky, there were no stars, only clouds, she wondered if her future was as murky as the night, but her strengthened sense of perception and future-telling told her otherwise. The breeze began once again, and she shivered from the chilly air feeling cold. Turning around, she returned to the house, as she walked in, she noticed a guard by the doorway lighting a cigarette. She nearly yelped as she saw the face of a man – the same face she had seen in the sacred fire only two nights ago, in the flame of the cigarette lighter. Rei felt a shiver up her spine, realizing just how much her senses had been fine-tuned, giving the guards a slight nod; she climbed the stairs and returned to her room.
11:10pm
Seira, dressed in her nightgown, sat at her desk, busily writing on a pad
of thick elegant paper with writing that was not her own. The words
came as a frantic scribble, despite the errors littered over the page,
the meanings were clear. It had been less than an hour since the…
unfortunate accident, she smirked, she would not have been found, as there
were no guards standing in that area of the grounds – she had made sure
of it beforehand. As she placed her pen down, she folded the letter
unevenly and pushed it into an envelope marked for Inouye Kenta, smiling
in spite of herself, she knew that there were no stronger accusations than
that from the dead.
She felt the pulsations of power that coursed through her body, the power that emanated from the ruby earrings that had been presented to her by Himaga. As she walked towards her mother’s room she took a slight detour to pass in front of the guards that guarded the main corridor; very few people knew of the elusive passageway between the two rooms. As she passed the guard she smiled at him seductively, she felt his eyes follow her as se knocked her mother’s door and entered, in her mind she couldn’t help but laugh at the stupidity of the guards, they had played right into her hands. Speaking loudly, she called for her mother as she walked towards the night desk and placed the envelope strategically. She quickly went to the opened window, seeing the woman who was a stranger to her mind, lying there, as yet undiscovered. Her eyebrows twitched slightly, whispering to herself she said in satisfaction, “it’s show time.”
“HELP!! GUARDS!!”
11:30pm
“Kyoru-san, we apologize for taking so long, but would we be able to ask
you some questions about what you saw?”
Seira felt her father’s arms go around her protectively, leaning into his arms she feigned tiredness, her father sighed, “is this really necessary? We’ve been through a lot tonight, and I think my daughter needs some…”
“No papa, I must, if I could help in anyway to discover mama’s murderer…”
“Kyoru-san, we must tell you that we are treating this as a suicide.”
“Iie!” Seira’s voice was stronger now despite the faraway look in her eyes, “mama would not commit suicide, something must have happened, someone… it must be so.”
“We found a letter on her nightstand stating that she was extremely upset over the publicity in regards to the end of Inouye Kenta and your engagement. It seems that she was taking it very hard, we are considering that as a possible reason for the suicide.”
Leaning into her father’s arms, she collapsed into tears, “oh mama, I… I didn’t know, she… she was so fond of Kenta, even before the engagement… he was… he was like her son… I… I was so upset that… I didn’t notice it… its my fault… its…”
“Kyoru-san, it is not your fault, you cannot blame yourself for…”
“Officer, you must do something!” Seira clutched the policeman’s arm, “surely you must be able to do something, arrest him, he murdered my mother, officer, you cannot let her die like that; there… there must be retribution.”
“Please, calm down, there is no conclusive evidence. I’m afraid that I have upset you terribly, perhaps we will ask you some questions tomor…”
“Iie, I will try my best to answer them now.”
The officer was taken aback by the strong tone and determination that had set into her eyes. Dressed in her nightgown and completely void of makeup, Kyoru Seira still managed to stun despite the tears that streaked across her face. “Kyoru-san…”
“Seira, I am at your service.”
“Seira-san, at what time did you enter your mother’s room tonight?”
“Approximately 11:00pm, I went in to say goodnight to her, there was a guard there… he was just at the corridor, he must have seen something…”
“Do you mean he must have seen you going into her room, or, what do you mean by he must have seen something?”
“I don’t know, both.” Her voice cracked in desperation, “I’m so sorry, I am making assumptions, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“There is no need to apologize, now, what did you see when you went in?”
“I… nothing, I was calling her, and there was no answer. There was no one in the room, I thought maybe she was in the bathroom. Then, I saw that the French windows open, and… it was cold. I was shivering, I… I… I went to close them. And then… I looked down…, officer… I saw her… she was just there, I… I screamed and then, I… the guards came. She was dead, my mother… she’s dead!”
“Now, I know you are just doing your job, but this is too much. If you still need to question my daughter, you will have to do it tomorrow, she is far too upset to talk about this. Surely you know how this must be affecting her; first the marriage, then this. I will not have her driven over the edge, I have lost one family member today and been betrayed by someone who would be my family, I will not lose my daughter as well. If you continue, she will go mad; already our doctor is at hand to administer some sedatives to calm her, I cannot lose my daughter.” Kyoru Aki held his daughter in his arms protectively, his eyes daring the officer to ask another question, when at last the officer signaled that he would leave, Aki stood up with his daughter, “thank you officer, I appreciate your sensitivity to this matter, I trust that this will not be the front cover tomorrow morning? I don’t think that we would be able to take it.”
“We will try our best for you, goodnight, Kyoru-san, I give you my sympathies.”