Book 2: Sole (and Soul) Searches
Section 1: Five Years' Conclusion

Chapter 2-Stimulating Dialogue

Late one night, the aftermath of a pleasantly springlike day, Kou Yaten, Meiousei Meikyuu, Kaiousei Uzushio, and Dosei Sosei were enjoying the cool night breeze from a shaded pavilion with a glass-domed roof. Through the polished panes of clear glass, they could see many stationary stars, shooting stars, and other planets–especially Earth, a great blue-green marble covered with hazy white mists that visibly inched across its surface. Their quartet of chairs were arranged in a neat semicircle, forming a crescent moon type shape. Leaning her chin on her hands wistfully, the raven-haired girl let her dark hair fall forward so that her view was obscured by silky locks of hair as black as the deepest pats of space. Casting a sideways glance at her so-far silent companions, she let out her breath slowly and murmured, "It'll be a change going out into the world again, you know. That's something I don't like about senshi training: they seclude you from the world, set you with all types of rules and regulations, then for two years–poof! You're free to go anywhere at any time, and no one will be watching."

"Someone is _always_ watching."

Tilting her head slightly to look at Meikyuu, who stared ahead without movement, the aqua-haired girl sighed and ran her fingers through her wavy, wind-tousled tresses. "Mei-chan, there's something about these journeys that bother me. How will we know when to leave? Our five years are up...demo..."

"When the time comes, you'll know," the only male of the group answered, surprisingly without the customary smirking note in his tone. Yaten's long silver hair was bound back into a single ponytail, which was only marginally less lengthy than his hair unbound. His hands were nestled deep in the pockets of his dark trousers as he leaned back casually in his chair.

Glaring at him, Sosei asked, "How can you be sure? It seems like a lot of guesswork to me. What if it's not the precise moment? What if something bad happens? What if we were all supposed to have gone by now? One day, we'll just up and go without any warning...is that it?"

For answer, the older girl next to her merely remarked, "Venus is particularly bright tonight. I wonder if Sari's planning to return? Would you like to visit Venus, Sosei-chan?" Uzushio's voice was neutral and quiet as she spoke, but her eyes were affixed on Meikyuu's face rather than Venus. Nevertheless, the planet _was_ extraordinarily bright, and it was usually one of the brightest objects in the Solar System–besides Sol, the sun, that is.

"You didn't answer any of my questions, Uzushio."

"I don't think anyone can." The silver-haired boy exhaled deeply, his gaze picking out another shooting star to follow on its path through their Milky Way. Thoughtfully, he noticed the intense blackness of the universe...it was akin to velvet, soft and textured. The burning balls of gas, numerous planets, and orbiting satellites could be the decorations on a piece of material: cool silver buttons or embroidery, picked in flashy gold with a careful but flamboyant needle.

"Unless, of course, you are a believer that the Time Stream holds all the answers. That life is controlled by the greater deities, and that everything will happen because of fate and destiny. There are more important things than fate and destiny! Things can change; people go off the beaten path, and sometimes it's for the better. I hate to think that we may be made a certain way, with our personalities, so that when the choices come, we'll pick a certain way to go because of our personalities. What if kami-sama just made us the way we are, with the foreknowledge that we would make choices the way we do?"

Meikyuu rose unexpectedly, olive green hair swirling noiselessly around her as she smoothed her crisp blouse and skirt. The white practice shirts and trousers would have been impractical while traveling the Solar System, although it was lightweight and of a convenient material. Thus, the girls had gone shopping with Luna and any other female guardians interested (choosing clothes was one of the activities that Artemis was most uncomfortable with, despite the fact that he always took great pains with his _own_ clothing) to buy the garments that they would wear on their trip. Queen Serenity had granted them full purses, because they had all come to the Moon penniless–even Uzushio and Sosei. Nodding shortly to them, a tight weariness to the set of her wine-dark eyes, lips, skin evidence to her displeasure. "Oyasumi nasai," came the quiet farewell as she disappeared indoors.

Looking after her with a slight red color rising in her cheeks, Sosei questioned, "Do you think I made her angry?"

"Not really. She's got a lot on her mind being Time Guardian, you know, and those comments of yours were more than slightly cutting. They're questions every intelligent person has on their mind, demo...you have to understand that her position won't allow her to be open-minded about things like this, and Meikyuu-san is concerned about what decisions she'll have to make in the future. She won't be able to side with her heart for the good of the world."

Shivering slightly at the prophecy in Yaten's subtle warning, the girl to his left wrapped her arms around herself as she glanced back at the sky. Suddenly, it no longer seemed as comforting as it had been before. Certainly it was beautiful, but there was a hardness to the picture, a reminder of unreality. The planets might look one way in space, but they were different when one actually lived or visited one of them. Uzushio wondered if it was the same with people, particularly the senshi. They might look and behave one way, but in person....

"Are you cold? We should head back in then, because it is a little chilly." He rose courteously to open the door, but both girls shook his head.

"Iie, I was just worried..."

Nodding, Yaten said, "I think I'll go talk to Seiya, then. Where did you say he was?"

Smiling to herself, Sosei answered, "Probably with Usagi and Kasei. Taiki-kun is with Kai in the technology room, and so is Sora. Who are we missing? Right, Hana, Kingusari, and Kakyuu. They're probably in the kitchen; I heard Hana mention something about teaching Kakyuu and Sari to cook...and Kasei's sleeping already. She was really tired today."

"Thanks for the lowdown; it was more than sufficient." With a backwards wave, he too vanished into the Moon Palace, and Uzushio and Sosei were left to the not-quite-empty vastness of the heavens...
~~~~*~~~~
Akatsukinosora wrinkled her nose in annoyance as she stared at the crystalline computer screen in blatant disbelief. There were three members to this late-night idiosyncrasy: herself, Mitsukai, and–lo and behold–Taiki. Actually, having the brunet boy there wasn't really a surprise: the quartet of three boys and one girl had been visiting the palace more and more recently. What _was_ surprising was that not one of the guards had even raised their eyebrows at the would-be trespassers who merely slipped in by a convenient side-entrance without as much as batting an eyelash at this odd permit. All other unauthorized strangers were either escorted immediately off the grounds or questioned thoroughly before being carted off to some high-and-mighty official in charge of security. Seiya, Taiki, Yaten, and Kakyuu were basically the only friends the girls had made besides the friendships formed in and among themselves, but both parties were still extremely close-mouthed with each other. The only thing Akatsukinosora recalled (dimly) about them was that they were citizens of Kinmoku, a giant red celestial body somewhere nearby but not contained within the Milky Way. At the present, she couldn't quite remember many more details about Kinmoku, which they had discussed in geography lessons but figured it wasn't something of extreme importance at the moment. It was very late at night, and after a day of lessons and practice, she was ready to go to bed–too bad no one else felt the same way, except Kasei, but she had a good excuse.

Yet another of Mitsukai's ingenious ideas had her trapped in the technology room of the Senshi Hall, battling with a computer that was obviously too smart for its own good and winning a fight that it probably had no idea existed. Growling at it, she snapped, "You think you're smart, do you? Think again!" Then she dropped her head onto the hard table in disbelief as an error message appeared on the screen, deleting her hard work. Before the blond-haired girl could raise her spirits to do battle with it once more, a hand dropped into her lowered vision and made a few quick taps on the keyboard. When Akatsukinosora looked up, she was elated to see that her work had returned. A little grudgingly, she met Taiki's amused eyes and mumbled, "Domo arigato."

"It was nothing." Trying to hide his wide smirk (rather unsuccessfully), the brown-haired boy made his way back to his chair as Mitsukai cast Akatsukinosora a perceptive glance that she ignored, pretending to be engrossed in her work once more.

As she turned back to her own task, mapping the time and year difference among the other planets as compared to the Moon, a thought suddenly occurred to the blue-haired girl, and she asked her friends, "How long has Metallia been around?"

Shrugging, the boy next to her twirled his pen out of habit more than intent, oblivious to the fact that he was spraying liquid ink all over the blonde. "I guess it was old news to Usagi-chan's obaa-san that Metallia was around. Youma are her creation, you know? She's actually youma herself. It's rumored that Metallia was once a human but corrupted by her own ambition and evil that she was consumed and became youma. That's what youma are classified as: walking, breathing, fighting monsters who do mindless killing just because."

Akatsukinosora scowled as she tucked her long legs underneath her, an awkward position in the uncomfortable, hard chair. "If everyone _knows_ that she's camped out in Sol's core, why doesn't anyone just...well..."

"Go hunt her down? Eliminate her?" finished Taiki. When she nodded, he shook his head and smiled indulgently. "You're very young, Sora-san."

"I'm older than you!"

"I didn't mean in terms of age. You're very naive, for a fifteen year old." Before she could give a stinging reply, promised by her blazing sky blue eyes, he held up his hand for quiet. "Wait. I didn't mean to imply anything the way you're thinking. You'll be Tennousei-sama. Demo...as the girl you were, the world you saw was the make-believe world of nobles. You remember that well, ne? The pretty dresses, pointless balls, your parents roping you into etiquette lessons? Making you into the perfect lady? And what for?"

She glanced away as Mitsukai looked on, wide-eyed and silent. "To be married," the sandy-haired one answered.

"Right. That's all nobles do, basically. Spend the first fifteen or so years of their lives learning to be dutiful, model husbands and wives–then they marry whoever their parents want them to, and then the children are born. Those children are raised exactly the same way their parents were, because that's how it's done. People are becoming foolishly and dangerously closed-minded. Anyway, Sora-san, this is a load of horse dung. Ano, you remember your horses? Your way of breaking out of the uniform life of all girls your age? It was another pretty little pretend. What did you accomplish by doing that? Almost nothing. You thought that it would change your parents' opinions. Sooner or later, they would have begun more painful methods of making you behave. Do you see the system now? Do you see the way people are living? There are things out there, things that you and Kai-chan have no idea of. I know you saw the youma at the village. In other places, youma aren't the only ones who commit crimes like those against humanity. Humans do it to themselves, and I've seen it. So have Seiya, Yaten, and Kakyuu. You've just begun opening your eyes, and don't throw all that lesson stuff at me. Information absorbed from textbooks and the schoolroom is worthless if you can't apply it to real life properly. That's what your journeys are supposed to teach you: what your guardians can't or won't teach you."

Abruptly, Akatsukinosora stood up at the end of his long recitation, full of angry words that were not directed at her but which had somehow struck chords deep inside her. She departed without a word to either of them, and they looked after her in astonishment.

Sighing, Taiki cast a sideways glance at the girl left and murmured, "Gomen nasai."

She stood up as well but lingered a while longer. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Taiki-kun. I suggest you do it when she's cooled down. But I'm curious–you never answered her question. Why _hasn't_ anyone tried to go after Metallia?"

"Have you heard the legend of Queen Serenity's closest childhood friend? Who stayed her advisor until seven years ago? It was two years before you came here; Usagi-chan was six years old, and her father died just before she was born, actually. That man, whose name is now forbidden by the order of Serenity-sama herself, attempted to infiltrate the Dark Kingdom. To the general populace, it appeared as if he had been nothing but a greedy rogue who had played off the Queen's friendship. Very few people knew that his actual intent was send back information from the sun's core. He never returned, and it's assumed that he's dead. But before the news of that reached us, he turned traitor. Everyone who has gone into Sol has either been murdered, turned traitor, or transformed into youma. I'm told it's an excruciatingly painful process."

"How do you know that? About Serenity-sama's friend? We only learned that he disappeared into the Dark Kingdom, never to be heard from again..." Mitsukai's voice trailed off as her eyes narrowed as she remarked coolly, "That's a very unclear summary of events. You know more than you're telling me."

"We always know more than what we tell others," he replied, giving her an eloquent bow.

Glancing away, she asked, "What about armies? Surely single person kamikaze missions are less effective."

Taiki smiled again, a bittersweet smile that was more like a sneer. "The last time there was an attempt like that on Sol, the army was a joint crusade between Kinmoku and the Moon. The soldiers that weren't fried trying to get past the sun's outer barrier possessed magic that protected their physical bodies. Unfortunately, their minds were burned out with exhaustion." His eyes flitted quickly around the room, seeing things besides the bland walls and tangles of gray wire. "There were three fighters left. They were senshi, actually–not planetary senshi, the famed group of eight, but other senshi. You did learn about them, ne? But of course, everyone knows the sailor senshi, as they're called, are much more important than these _other_ warriors."

"Demo...I thought we would be working together," she whispered.

"Dreaming, Kai-chan. Your teachers should have beaten that out of you the way it was beaten out of my brothers and me. And Kakyuu-chan. These other senshi...they already despise the sailor senshi, for their legends, how they're acclaimed, the way that they're worshiped. You'll be a demi-goddess, you and all the others. But no one remembers each generation of senshi, ne? They all fade and blur into each other...each Suisei-sama's image melding with the next. Whose face will you wear, Mitsukai? Yours or theirs? The public will only see theirs...but anyway, you're right. I should continue with the bedtime story.

These three senshi were from Kinmoku: Sailor Stars, Sailor Starfighter, Starmaker, and Starhealer. They faced Metallia...and she killed them. Their bodies were returned to Kinmoku, corrupted with dark energy, burned to a crisp by the sun's heat.

They've let things to too long, Kai-chan. But you never realized that, did you? Not now, and now when you were living on Mercury. The populace has no idea what happened. It's a strange thing to find out that the wonderful, shining Queen Serenitys aren't perfect, isn't it?

Besides that, there are people who say that the generation of Sailor Stars that fought Metallia deserved what they got. They were transvestites, because they were male. And all senshi have to be female. People here and on Kinmoku don't appreciate oddities like that."

"They judge cruelly," Mitsukai whispered, closing her eyes. She didn't like the bitterness in his voice, the hurt blazing in his eyes. She wasn't sure who the angry words were directed at: her, human failings, or Metallia.

"Why are you sad? Why are you crying? Angels shouldn't cry, you know that? Angels never cry–neither do senshi. They're one and the same, ne?"

She opened her eyes and glared at him, lucid blue eyes burning. As her hand made contact with his cheek, snapping his head to one side, she had no time to think about what she was doing. "Who do you think you are, to say something like that? If that's the way you judge us, you're as ignorant as the ones you hate and criticize. I may be naive in many things, but if we don't know a lot about you, you know even less about us. I've seen things as well–maybe not to that magnitude but enough."

Taiki shrugged and turned away from her, humiliation also coloring his tanned skin along with the imprint of her hand. "And where have you seen such atrocities? In the market, where the buyers cheat the merchants and vice versa?"

"Iie. I was a slave on Mercury. You didn't think I was a noble lady or something like that, did you?" It was her turn to smile humorlessly as she rolled up her sleeve up past her elbow. Showing him the brand forever seared into her skin, even as he gazed stubbornly in the other direction, she knew he had seen. "If I can get over something like that, you should as well, before you're consumed by your own hate. Oyasumi."
~~~~*~~~~
Hitohana, Kingusari, and Kakyuu were all heavily floured to match the white stiffness of their crisp uniforms, but the alabaster mixture coating their hands, faces, and hair was far from the normal starchiness meant for cloth. Sinking to the ground next to a large cabinet, out of breath from laughing hysterically, the brunette combed back her whitened hair and looked up at the other two girls. "I don't know why, but I've always liked sitting on the ground next to the oven. It gives you a warm and homey feeling."

Smiling good-naturedly with more than a touch of her usual abundant cheer, Kingusari plopped down readily on the floor, disregarding its fresh and unnatural layer of powder. "Venusians like it hot. What about Jovians?" she asked teasingly.

As the red-haired girl sat down, facing them with a rather resigned look on her face, Hitohana shrugged. "All I know is, it's very stormy on Jupiter. I've forgotten a lot about it...but not everything. I'll remember enough to find my way home."

"Don't forget, Hana-san, that only birds can return to old nests," Kakyuu reminded gently. There was a deep sadness to her fire-gold eyes that conveyed to them the solemnity of her quote.

Looking around the room, away from the gravity in Kakyuu's voice, Hitohana's eyes joyously took in the surroundings of the kitchen. The Moon Palace had many kitchens besides its gigantic main ones, where the furnaces ran full blast all day. Here was a kitchen that was usually free and with which she could usually cook with if no one else was about. Cooking was her mode of expression. She could have stayed forever in this safe haven, making masterpieces for other people to savor. It was her way of making people happy in lives that were so sad, so short, and often wastd. There were so many new techniques to learn, new ways to arrange foods to make them look more appetizing, and all kinds of utensils. Jars and jars of spices lined the shelves and racks; opened, they each cast their own unique fragrance out to the world to be scented and enjoyed. She had yet to find an herb whose scent she didn't like. Also among the shelves were seedlings Hitohana was raising, mostly things like basil, thyme, and chicory. It was a peaceful time...like the calm before a storm. But she adored storms, like any good Jovian. Unfortunately, very few people knew that the coming gales were not ones to be desired...
~~~~*~~~~

AN: An odd cliffhanger and an extremely late chapter in which we have received late and muddled history which makes no sense at all. >.< Gomen nasai. I needed more input from the Starlights...sort of...and I'm having trouble writing. *sigh* This is basically a rambling chapter. Next chapter, some of the gals are supposed to transform...notice the supposed to? They were "supposed to" transform in _this_ chapter, until I decided to make it ramble on forever and ever –; After all, it would have been mean to send them into the world without any defense. *sigh* I've been submitted to everything, and nothing's working: good fanfiction, bad fanfiction, nice reviews :), nice guestbook signings....hopefully inspiration will return.

Caelum