Planet Bound: Venus
by Marj
Note:
minna - everyone
Please e-mail your comments and constructive criticisms at
. Thanks!
Disclaimers: The characters of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon were created
by Naoko Takeuchi-san, its copyright owned by Toei Animation, Kodansha,
Nakayoshi, Sterling Animation Inc., and many other companies scattered
throughout the world. Meaning, I cannot claim the characters as my
own, and am mearly borrowing them. The character Ayukawa
Himeru is mine. So please don't sue, as I don't earn anything from
this other than the satisfaction of making a story.
Chapter Thirteen: An Identity Revealed
Even though Minako had said that she might not enroll anymore, she did
the exact opposite when school started early April. She realized that
there was nothing bad about learning even if she might not make it to
the very end of the school year. Besides, her parents had convinced
her to continue her studies despite the odds.
Time passed by. Her maternal grandmother came to help her daughter
with her pregnancy. On the month of September, Kimiko was already on
her eight month. During most of her free time Minako helped her mother
and grandmother with the chores at home - despite their protests.
She was also spending more and more time with her friends and Himeru.
Although most of the girls in school thought Himeru was already her
boyfriend - and hated her for it - in reality, they were still nothing
more than close friends. At least, that was how Minako saw it.
Her doctors thought that she was quite lucky to still be up and about
despite the fact that she was noticeably weaker, since the deadline
they had given her for living was late September. So they said that
she might live to reach her seventeenth birthday. It was possible that
she might even be present for the birth of her new brother or sister.
Makoto, being the oldest, had already turned seventeen during the
previous year, on December 5. Rei's birthday came next on April 17.
On June 30, it was Usagi's turn, followed by Ami, whose birthday was on
September 10. Minako was supposed to be next.
One afternoon, Usagi, Ami, Makoto and Minako - together with Luna and
Artemis - went to the Crown Parlor to meet Rei after school. While
they sat there, eating and talking at the same time, they heard screams
coming from outside. They rushed out, and found themselves face to
face with a youma . . .
"Youma?!" Luna blurted out.
"Hey! I . . . I thought we already defeated Chaos? Who is this
now?!?" Usagi demanded.
"You didn't defeat Chaos! You only defeated Galaxia, but Chaos is
still somewhere out there!" Rei answered.
Minako quickly gained her composure as the leader of the Senshi.
Looking around to see if the street was deserted because of the youma,
she shouted, "Minna, get out your dusty transformation pens and
transform!"
The black and white monster actually looked like a normal human being -
only it possessed huge, bulky muscles and a horrible face. It
destroyed everything in its path, from fire hydrants to concrete walls,
with powerful waves of energy.
Artemis shivered from the sight. It was the youma who had caused
Minako's death in his dreams.
*****
"Stop this endless destruction!"
The youma turned around to see who had spoken. Of course, it saw
Eternal Sailormoon and the Sailor Senshi standing in the middle of the
road.
"For endangering people's lives and destroying the peace and
tranquillity of normal teenage life, I cannot forgive you! In the name
of the Moon, I'll punish you!" Sailormoon said with her usual battle
stance. "Gee, I haven't done that in a long time," she muttered.
"No wonder it's cornier than ever," Super Sailormars smirked.
"Shut up."
The youma stood up straighter, and to their complete astonishment, it
spoke properly. "It seems that my mission would be shorter after all."
"What are you talking about?" Super Sailorjupiter demanded.
"More importantly, what do you want?" Mars asked.
"I was sent here on a mission by the honorable Duke Ares."
"Ares? The Greek God of War?" Super Sailormercury asked, confused.
"Whatever. You'll have to get through us first before we'll allow you
to do anything!" Super Sailorvenus warned.
The youma stared at her, then bowed gracefully. "As you wish, Your
Highnesses." Then, it started to attack.
"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter shouted. Thunderbolts headed straight
towards the youma. It disappeared. "Boy, that was easy. I didn't
even use my Jupiter Oak Evolution," she commented.
"Look again!" the youma said. The senshi looked up. It was flying
right above them!
It channeled some of its energy towards its hands and sent it flying
towards the senshi. They jumped out of the way, but were still caught
in the explosion. Particularly Venus, who had less control over her
reflexes since she had already been weak to begin with.
"Now I'll take my prize!" the youma laughed, and headed straight
towards the weakened Senshi.
"Mercury! Cover us!!!" Sailormoon shouted.
"Shabon Spray!" In seconds, the entire area was covered with fog.
But the youma was already headed for Venus. It wasn't long before the
Senshi heard her scream in pain as it crashed into her at top speed,
rendering her unconscious. It grabbed her around the waist and started
to haul her away, but Mars was right behind it.
"Leave her alone!" she demanded. "Mars Flame Sniper!"
Her attack grazed the youma along its arm, causing it pain, but it
didn't release the injured Senshi. A rose came flying towards it, and
it dodged out of harm's way. As the fog lifted, it stared at its new
adversary. "Who are you now?" the youma asked.
"Tuxedo Kamen-sama!" Sailormoon said, hearts where her eyes once were.
The youma didn't even wait for a speech as it rushed towards Tuxedo
Kamen and tackled him, Sailorvenus still in its arms.
"ENOUGH!!!!!"
Tuxedo Kamen, the youma, and the remaining Sailor Senshi turned towards
the direction of the voice. To the Senshi's surprise, the person
standing there with a flaming sword in his hand was Himeru. And he
looked pretty mad.
*****
Artemis stared at him, his mind whirling.
The features of the young man in his dream remained in his head, and he
slowly started to remember . . .
*****
"Leave them alone! This is my mission, not yours!"
The youma snorted. "Look who's talking. Who's the one performing his
mission, huh, Your Highness?"
"I have been searching for her in ways you don't know, and now it is my
duty to bring her back!" Himeru argued.
"No! I will be the one to take her back! I shall take the honor, not
you! I was the one who found her, and I was the one ordered by your
brother to retrieve her, because you've been busy concerning yourself
with that mortal . . ."
"I don't care what my brother says - this is my duty and he knows that!
And you didn't have to hurt her to take her away! You could have asked
her nicely!"
The Senshi were very confused with the events taking place. Mercury, always the questioning one, thought.
In Sailormoon's mind, though, her concerns were more focused on the
still unconscious Sailorvenus.
"Go away! Why don't you concern yourself with that dying mortal who
has apparently stolen your heart and has taken your loyalty away from
your family and the queen of-"
"SHUT UP!!! You don't know anything! Oh, yeah, I forgot. You're only
a youma . . ." Himeru's eyes blazed with hatred and anger, the sword in
his hands flaming even stronger. "And youmas die . . . even if you
were created by the hands of my brother . . ."
The youma suddenly looked frightened. "Your . . . Your Highness . . ."
"You think you can stand a chance against me? Let's see how well you
are at fighting against an immortal!"
"Immortal?!?" the Senshi gasped. Tuxedo Kamen stood in the distance,
completely forgotten.
The youma tried to look for ways to escape, but Himeru was having none
of that. To the Senshi's astonishment he leaped high and landed right
on top of the monster, thrusting his sword deep within it.
The Senshi watched as the monster was engulfed in a flashing light, and
disappeared. Sailormoon was amazed because Himeru had managed to kill
the monster without her help.
“It could have been killed by anybody,” Mercury said as she analyzed
with her computer. “If Mars had managed to hit it with her sniper at
dead center, it couldn’t have withstand it.”
“Why make a youma that is powerful enough to destroy buildings, and yet
so easy to destroy?” Jupiter wondered.
Mars watched Himeru’s next move carefully. Himeru took Venus's limp
body and started to walk away. She quickly moved in front of him and
blocked his path.
"Out of my way," he said gruffly.
"Who are you?!" Mars demanded. Jupiter moved to stand beside her.
"My name is Ayukawa Himeru . . ."
"We know that! Who are you really?!"
Jupiter started to take the unconscious Senshi from Himeru's arms, but
he pulled back. "Keep your hands off of her!" he growled.
"What right do you have over our friend?" Jupiter growled back.
"I am Anchises, youngest Duke of the planet Venus. My mission is to
find the Princess Venus and take her back without delay . . ."
"The duke - that’s why he looks familiar!!!" Artemis suddenly blurted
out. "But I thought they only had two . . . "
Himeru looked at him in surprise.
"Hey aren't you Minako-chan's cat? You can . . ."
"Apparently, he doesn't know who the Senshi really are," Luna told
Artemis.
"Yeah, whatever. I have to go now." Himeru said, starting to walk
away. "I mean you senshi no harm. I must simply bring my princess to
her home world."
"Wait!"
He turned around. Sailormoon was looking at him.
"What is going on, anyway? What about Minako-chan?"
Himeru stared at her for a long time. "How did you know about . . ."
He looked away. "Since you know her . . . tell her I'll be back to see
her again, but don't tell her who I am. And if by any chance . . . if
fate would bring me back . . ."
"Umm . . . do you think it would be all right if we . . .?" Mercury
whispered. "I mean, he doesn’t know that Mina-chan is . . . well, you
know." She took a deep breath.
"For once, you’ve given us one crazy idea," Mars hissed. "If we show
him that Venus is indeed her, then all the more will he take her away
from us! And I don’t trust him!"
"It's all right, girls. He's on our side." Artemis said.
Sailormars still looked skeptical. "And how would you know, Artemis?"
"Trust me. I . . . I remember his family."
Artemis took a deep breath. "And he’s got a right to find out."
"Are you sure?" Jupiter asked.
Artemis raised an eyebrow at her. "If I don’t trust him, would I force
you to show your identity to him?"
Jupiter shrugged.
Checking to see if there were any people around to see them, they
detransformed. Himeru stared in shock as Usagi, Ami, Rei, and Makoto
stood before him. "You . . . you're all . . ." He looked at Venus.
"So that means she's . . ."
The others nodded.
Himeru suddenly looked devastated. "Wha - what’s wrong?" Usagi asked.
"Nothing . . . umm . . . Rei, your shrine's nearby, right? Let's let
Minako get some rest there."
Rei looked at him as if he had grown two heads. "I thought you had to
take Minako-chan to Venus without delay. We were quite ready to force
you not to take her, you know."
"I . . . I want her to decide for herself," Himeru said, looking at the
girl in his arms.
The others shrugged, and Rei led the way towards Hikawa Shrine.
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