S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page)

Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya.  All
other characters were thought up by me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

	The last few moments of slumber started to ebb from Miki's 
mind as she turned in her bed.  Not a large bed, by any means, but 
it was warm and comfortable, and she didn't feel like moving from 
it, anytime soon.

	Still, there was so much to accomplish today.

	That was when she noticed things weren't quite right.  What
did she have to accomplish today?  Go to her classes?  She didn't
have to go to any classes.  She had a job.  She was a dispatch 
officer for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, with an Associate Diploma
to prove her university education.

	She sat bolt upright and stared around the room.  This wasn't
her room.  It wasn't her bed, either.  She turned to the nearby 
window and looked out.  That wasn't the view from her bedroom 
window.

	She swung her legs over the side of the bed, out from under 
the covers, and stood, not quite knowing what to do next.  She'd 
never seen this place before.  It wasn't one of her friends' or 
workmates' places.  The thought of waking up in an unusual and 
unfamiliar place had always frightened her, and right now, those
fears were starting to gnaw away at her sense of place.

	She moved forward, towards the closed bedroom door, and turned
when she thought she spotted a figure moving near her.  It was only
her reflection in the bedroom mirror.

	And what a reflection.  A nice physique, coupled with 
beautiful strands of long brown hair.  Pity it wasn't HER 
reflection.

	She thought she'd seen the girl before, somewhere, and 
couldn't quite work out where.  It was only then that she'd put two
and two together and worked out that the relection was an image of 
the body she was now residing in.

	She ran up to the mirror and put her hands to her face, 
feeling the texture of the flesh, running the strands of hair 
through her fingers, staring at unfamiliar eyes through those self
same eyes....  And the height of the new body....  She was at least
four inches taller than she had been before.  It was enough to give
her a dose of vertigo.

	And yet, she still thought of the body as familiar.  Try as 
she might, she just couldn't match face to name.  She turned away 
from the mirror, failing to notice the name etched into the handle
of the hairbrush that sat on the mirror table in big red kanas.

	Makoto.

----o

Part Twenty
In Memory Alone

----o

	"Can you feel it, Sailormoon?"

	"Feel what?"  Usagi replied telepathically to the voice that
had invaded her thoughts.  She never knew she was even capable of 
the action.  More likely a link created by the invader.  All she
could think of, however, were two things.

	The warmth, and the pain....

	"Yes, the warmth and the pain.  We call it the 'Wilt'.  An 
interesting biological effect, is it not?"

	Usagi stopped at the intersection.  She had managed to get 
only so far from the refinery, where that overwhelming bouquet of 
the blood and nectar mixture had rendered her dazed, when other 
strange effects had reared their ugly heads.

	Her stomach cramped, momentarily, and she doubled over, 
clutching it.  Then the pain disappeared, to be replaced by a 
pleasurable warmth....  The warmth of immense contentedness....

	"What is this?  Why is this happening to me?"

	"It isn't often that someone who is unused to the vapours of
the liqueur's distillery receives several full lungfuls of that most
wonderful material....  It shall be interesting to see how you react
with this intoxication when you reach your next destination...."  

	Usagi felt, rather than heard, the giggling.... of the owner 
of that telepathic voice.  The giggle of a young girl who was wise
well beyond her years.  It chilled Usagi when she thought of the 
16 year old in the dark kimono, who had been involved in the taking 
of Minako, and who had been pursuing her ever since their short 
encounter within the orchard.

	"Leave me alone."  Usagi's mental message carried with it her
fear.  She looked left, right and forward.  Each way was dark, and
each way smelt of must.

	"I intend to....  For a while, at the very least."

----o

	"Hi, you've reached Mako-chan's phone.  I'm sorry, but I can't
answer at the moment.  So can you please leave your name, your 
message and a contact phone number, if required, after the tone.  
I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

	Miki blinked.  Mako-chan's home?  Who the hell was this "Mako-
chan"?

	She'd walked out of the bedroom and into the loungroom, where 
she found an answering machine with a flashing light, representing 
the fact that she had some messages to deal with....

	*BEEP*

	She wondered who would bother to send her some messages, 
especially now that she was in someone else's body.  Only it was 
more likely that it would have been this person the messages were 
for.

		"Mako-chan, this is Usagi-chan.  Don't forget the 
meeting tonight, after your college courses.  We really need to talk 
to you about things.  About what happened yesterday between Setsuna
and you.  Please...  I don't like to see any of you fighting.  Well,
seeya then."

	Usagi-chan?  Miki scratched her head.  Who in hell would name
their child after a rabbit?  Miki shook her head and yawned.  She 
felt extremely tired... lethargic.  It was like her entire body was
being weighed down by something.

	*BEEP*

	A strange feeling.  Her head felt fuzzy, and she thought she 
could hear voices.  She thought she recognised some....  Kurabuto,
Akunatsuka and the like....  But there were others.  Strange voices,
with no apparent pattern of conversation.  Just a jumble of 
memories, she supposed, of the person she was now inhabiting.

	"Mako-chan?  This is Kensuke.  We have got a delivery in for
you.  See us after college tonight.  Don't be late."

	Kensuke?  Was he a boyfriend, or something?

	*BEEP*

	The machine clicked to a halt.  There were no more messages to
listen to.  Miki sighed and rubbed her face with her hands.  A 
delivery?  What did this Kensuke mean by a delivery?

	Miki sighed and stepped into what looked like the kitchen, 
taking a glass from the cupboard and filling it with water.  Before 
she had a chance to drink it, she noticed some baking trays, sitting
on the table in the middle of the room.

	She touched one.  It made her feel at ease.  She didn't know 
why, either.  She hated baking.  Everything about it just annoyed 
her.  He mother used to bake like mad, spending the entire day in 
the kitchen for no good reason.  And her cakes and biscuits tasted
like crap, not that Miki ever had the brass to tell her this.  Her
mother would constantly complain about the waste of food, with her
efforts constantly going stale before anyone had finished eating 
them.  Just once in her life, Miki had wanted to tell her that the
reason they ended up stale was because they made a good substitute
for laxatives....


	She drank the water, feeling it slide down her throat with an
almost lazy flow, like it had suddenly turned viscous.  Time seemed
to slow down for a few moments, and then she felt herself opening 
her eyes again.

	She was lying on a stretcher, being wheeled through the front
doors of the Metropolitan Police central branch.  She could see a 
couple of concerned medics, towering above her.  To her right was 
the Commissioner, a grim expression on his face as he spoke to 
someone out of her view.

	She tried to turn her head slightly, but the world seemed to 
cartwheel.  Focusing on her surroundings was nigh impossible.  She 
closed her eyes, and the world faded from view.

----o

	The Control Laboratories of the Sacred House were a bright, 
sterile relief to the dark and slightly organic feel of the 
Compound's complex and ornate internal architecture.  Still, Rumiko
was anything but fond of it.  Not only did she dislike the bright
lights of the labs themselves, she had a lot of bad memories of this
place.  It was here, in her formative years, that her body was 
treated and coaxed into behaving the rules and regulations of the
House's codes, so the education provided to her would be effective.

	Long nights of painful medical experimentation, followed by 
the occasional operation, eventually brought her becoming to heel.
But, like everyone else who had to suffer the ministrations of the
doctors who worked there, she had been traumatised enough to become
a virtual recluse until the age of 14.

	She watched as Keiko was placed into a cold glass cylinder, 
opened at the top.  Her gaze was totally devoid of emotion.  She had 
no more emotions in reserve to give.  Sherrie was dead.  Or gone to
wherever it was their kind went to when their human physique lost 
its definition and index.

	And Keiko had removed that index from her.  It had to be done.
That was why Keiko had been partnered with them....  Rumiko had to
keep reminding herself of this.  She shouldn't hold it against 
Keiko....


	Doctor Marius Popplewood, an elderly man in his late seventies 
(and looking almost every one of his years) gently pulled a plastic 
sheet over the top of Keiko's sleeping form and closed the top of 
the cylinder.  He reached down to a small panel on the side and 
adjusted some controls, his spindly fingers acting out their learnt 
instructions.  Rumiko stared at the old man, sullenly, reminded very 
much of the fate that may, one day, lie in store for her, if she was 
not too careful.  

	There was a humming noise from the base of the cylinder and he 
stepped back, nodding in satisfaction and muttering to himself.  He
pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of his labcoat and blew his 
nose, with a pleasantly disgusting sound of free-flowing mucus.  He 
then stared at the contents of the handkerchief as if expecting to
find diamonds, wrapped it up and roughly shoved it back in his 
pocket, still muttering.  Rumiko only just recovered from her 
disgust to ask the question she'd wanted to ask before this little
display.

	"Will she be alright?"  Her tone was measuredly flat.  He 
turned to her, smiling, waving away the two burly adjutants who had 
had the job of carting Keiko from the Operations Centre to her 
current resting place.

	"Well, she did just remove the bestial index from a high-class
Resonis Major.  It'll be a couple of days before she recovers."  His
voice was dry, with the croak of age.  It also carried a strange 
warmth.  Not surprising, since Marius Popplewood had spent a great 
deal of his life studying the phenomenon of vampirism across the 
globe before his induction into the Sacred House.  Working here, on
and with people like Rumiko, had been a dream come true.


	Rumiko mutely nodded, silently rubbing her right arm....  The 
vestigial remains of the injuries she had suffered in Nobuhiro's 
attack.  After those few moments of silent thought, she turned to
Popplewood, who had hobbled over to the other side of the lab, where
his desk was located.

	"I saw her true self, you know?"

	"Hmm?"  He glanced back at her, putting on a pair of thin-
rimmed glasses he'd extracted from the same pocket as his 
handkerchief.  Rumiko thought it a wonder that they weren't covered
in green goo....

	"Her true self...."  She ignored that less than tasteful
thought.  "The personality that exists underneath the disabled 
exterior."  Rumiko took a breath.  "Her voice still rings in my 
ears, even now."

	Popplewood shrugged and started shuffling through paperwork, 
searching for an admission form to complete Keiko's procedure.  
"They're an unusual bunch, the Yokuro.  Each newborn is like a 
lottery.  You never know how they're going to turn out...."


	Rumiko nodded and stepped forward, touching the glass of the
cylinder....  Keiko's face seemed so peaceful.  It made Rumiko feel
more than a little angry.  She checked herself again.  What had 
happened to Sherrie was NOT Keiko's fault.  Sherrie allowed herself
to fall into the trap of not taking her medication.  Rumiko repeated
the thought like a psychological mantra.  And the more she thought
about it, the less likely it seemed to make sense.

	Sherrie had been more reliable, in terms of her taking her
medication, than anyone else Rumiko had known.  Considering the 
depth of the intimacy that had existed in their relationship, it 
should not have been surprising that she should have known Sherrie's
behaviours so well.

	So there was no practical reason why Sherrie should just up 
and cease taking her medication, especially since she knew of the 
potential dangers involved.  For all her personality faults, Sherrie
had not been so stupid.  Also, if she hadn't taken her medication, 
just what had happened to it?  It wasn't so easy to rid oneself of a
substance like Vasculin....  Everything, including the House's 
drains, were filtered for the purpose of checking up on the 
practices of those within....  If those filters detected Vasculin 
Orange, then it was a dead cert that Sherrie was ditching the stuff.

	Only they didn't.  Or the filters weren't working as they 
should.  Or....

	Or someone had suppressed the information coming from the 
filters and the garbage checks....  Someone who WANTED Sherrie to 
stop taking her medication.  

	Rumiko shivered and shook her head.  Now she was looking for
excuses, elsewhere.  As far as she knew, Sherrie could have simply
walked out of the House's gates with the stuff in her pocket and 
dumped it in the nearest bin.


	She turned and looked at Popplewood, who was now seated at his
desk, his back turned to her, muttering as he scribbled his next to
illegible script upon the admission forms.  Rumiko took a breath and
padded softly over to the door.  Before stepping from the lab, she
checked the pocket that lay within her black overcoat.  The stopped 
tube was still in there.

	Why did she have to check that?  Of course it was still in 
there.  She put a hand to her head and felt a moment of pain, which
faded rapidly.  She stepped from the lab, the tube's existence
vanishing from her mind.

----o

	Miki had only just avoided dropping the glass to the floor.

	Slowly, she placed it on the table, next to the baking trays,
and sat down in the nearest chair.  The world was still spinning, 
but not as badly as before, when she had her little turn.  The 
little turn....

		"Hi, you've reached Mako-chan's phone.  I'm sorry, but I 
can't answer at the moment.  So can you please leave your name, your 
message and a contact phone number, if required, after the tone.  
I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

	*BEEP*

	"Jupiter!  I know you're still in your apartment.  You know 
who this is.  Answer the phone, now!  Before it is too late, answer 
the damned phone."  Miki turned to the doorway leading to the lounge
and stared at the answering machine.  Who the hell was that?  "Look, 
Jupiter, I can make this hard or I can make it easy....  Either you 
answer the phone, or I shall come over there and do you for a 
dinner, you understand?"

	Miki swallowed hard, and stood.  For a few moments, she 
paused, shaking.  Curiosity got the better of her, however, and she
made her way into the lounge, hovering her hand over the phone 
receiver.

	"Don't just stand there like an idiot, answer the damned 
phone.  I don't have all day...."  The woman's voice demanded.

	Miki lowered her hand to the receiver, and picked it up....

----o

	Kimi smiled as her father walked along the soft, padded 
central corridor of their home.  She watched him from the relative 
anonymity of the shadows, in one of the doorways leading from the 
corridor, her fan opened over the lower half of her face.

	She could see the lights, shining into her eyes.  The lights 
of the stage.  She felt like dancing, performing to the invisible 
audience that watched her always.  She backed into the darkness of 
the room and moved, keeping in time to some ancient tune that echoed
in its elegant silence.

	Her arms moved with grace, a second fan appearing from the 
voluminous sleeve of her other arm.  Soon, she was spinning, fans 
fluttering within the air, their exquisite artwork forming a blend 
of pale colour in the darkness.  Kimi felt excited as she threw one
of the fans over her face and spun to the open doorway.

	"Kimi!"  Said the silhouetted figure of her father.  "Do you
dance to the music of your crime?"

	"What crime would that be, otosan?"  She stared down at the 
edge of the fan that covered her lower face, and bore witness to the
blood that stained it.  Quickly, she snapped the fan shut and hid it
back within her sleeve, bringing the cleaner one to bear.

	Midan shook his head, sadly.  "For so long, I have tried to
protect both your mother and yourself.  Now look at what you have 
done.  Whilst Guro was a danger to the family, his death and that of
those who followed him shall not be ignored."


	"Why, otosan....  I have no idea what you could possibly be 
talking about."  The humour in her tone was impossible to ignore.

	"No.  I don't suppose you do."  Midan put his hands on his 
hips and looked away.  "I don't suppose you feel like a feast, 
tonight?  We appear to have our larder overstocked with meat"

	"The primest choice cuts?"  Kimi cocked her head to one side, 
suppressing a giggle.

	"I know precisely what part to give you."  Midan turned and
walked away.  Kimi closed the fan and raised her head in silent 
laughter.

----o

	"He...hello?"  Miki's voice was barely a croak, and not a 
croak she recognised, like everything else about her at the moment.

	"Well, it is about time.  At least I had the opportunity to
catch you before you bundled yourself off to an early grave."  The
belligerant voice of the woman responded.

	"Na...Nani?"  Miki's voice hadn't improved.

	"Don't pretend you don't understand what I mean.  Your meeting
with Kensuke tonight....  Don't go!  That's all I have to say.  Just
stay in your apartment and wait until I get there, otherwise all 
hell is going to break loose."

	"Who...  Who is speaking?"  Miki finally managed to ask.  
There was a long pause after this question.

	"Are you... alright, Jupiter?"

	"Ju...piter?"  Miki felt a strange sensation running through
her.  "I am...  Jupiter?"

----o

	Jacquie sat on the small cushion, slowly munching on the food
that had been placed on the table before her.  On the other side of
the table, Gen and Joachim did likewise, the burly German now 
dressed in a more casual white robe, befitting the traditional 
Japanese decor of Gen's residence.  There was a strained atmosphere 
permeating the room.

	"I never realised....  The depth of her feelings...."  Gen 
stared down at the table.  "They had been together, all of this 
time.  And I....  The cavalier attitude with which I had regarded
their friendship...."

	"Surely you saw the signs?"  Joachim looked aside at his old
friend.  Gen took a breath and put down his food bowl and 
chopsticks, lying back on the soft, matted floor, staring at the
ceiling.

	"They've both been troublesome daughters.  I expected the
little adventures that Naoko-chan had experienced today, but I 
thought better of Rumiko-chan...."  Gen sighed.  "She has a duty to
perpetuate our line...."

	"What about her happiness?"  Jacquie looked up from her food,
wincing at the sharp expression Joachim had shot from across the 
table.  She dropped her head.  "Gomen na sai, Tani-sama."

	"That's alright, Maden-san.  You are friend enough of this 
family to speak freely on such matters."

	"Arigato."  Jacquie cleared her throat, suddenly feeling it
constricting with nervousness.  "I just thought that....  Rumiko
has had to endure a lot in her life.  A lot more than Naoko.  Is it
not fair that she finds herself a kind of happiness?"

	"She found herself a happiness, and destiny has taken that 
from her."  Gen's voice was flat, making Jacquie shiver.  He 
continued.  "Destiny is the body we are born with.  Rumiko, Naoko
and I were all born with a certain kind of body, and Sherrie 
another.  These bodies control our behaviours and destinies.  Once
the power of destiny takes over, we cannot control it."

	Silence fell over the trio once more.  Joachim shrugged and
continued eating, whilst Jacquie found her appetite receding.

	"Where is Naoko now?"  Gen suddenly sat up, looking across at
Jacquie.  She jumped with a start.

	"Uh....  She said she was going to take some time in 
contemplation, within the orchard."

	Gen shook his head.  "That girl....  She spends too much time
within the orchard.  I'm beginning to worry if she is listening to
the voices of the flowers a little bit too much."

	"What they have to say might be the tale of her own destiny."
Joachim didn't turn from his food.  Gen looked aside at him with
dubious eyes.

	There was a soft buzzing, and Joachim lowered his miso bowl,
reaching under the table and picking up a small mobile phone, 
answering it.

	"Schneider."  He listened to the voice on the other end, 
nodding.  "I see.  I'll be there as soon as I'm finished."  He hung
up the phone and placed it back under the table.  "The Aino girl has
regained conciousness, but is still in a dazed state."

	"What about her family?"  Gen raised an eyebrow.  Joachim 
smiled, turning aside.

	"Her family....  Yes, I think you can say we've dealt with 
them most sufficiently."

----o

	"Jupiter, this is not a laughing matter.  I know it is you, 
holding that phone.  Don't play games with me."

	"I'm NOT Jupiter!"  Miki cried, hysterically into the phone.
"I heard what that Mizuno girl said....  Jupiter was killed, just
under 24 hours ago...."  Miki stamped her feet into the floor.  "Who
are you?  What do you want?"

	"You MUST be Jupiter.  I feel Jupiter's energies coming from
you...."  The voice sounded concerned, now....  Miki could almost 
see the face of the woman....  Slightly tanned skin, deep scarlet 
eyes, long dark-green hair....

	There was a buzzing sound over the receiver, and Miki could
hear another voice, dissipating slowly over the line.

	"What are we going to...."  It was the voice of a younger
woman, perhaps still in her late teens.  A cold sensation ran down
Miki's spine, as she felt another presence within the room, standing
behind her....

----o

	Kimi watched the water drip from the verandah, outside her 
bedroom window.  She clicked her fan open and shut to the soft 
sound.  The same sound she heard when she had discovered her 
mother's body....

	"It was not a good idea to upset your father like that."  She
turned to the voice of the newcomer, a tallish woman with short, 
light hair, dressed in a sports jacket, t-shirt and jeans.  For a 
moment, Kimi shivered, then gestured for her to enter her darkened 
private domain.

	"I did not wish to upset him.  He knew it was to happen, 
anyway.  Besides, it is of no concern to you, or your beloved 
girlfriend, for that matter...."  She stepped over to the small 
table that sat in the middle of her room and knelt down, sitting 
poised.  The newcomer shrugged and stepped over to the other side of 
the table, sitting down roughly.  "I take it that you have dealt 
with the Mizuno dilemma...."  Kimi asked her with wide eyes....  
Insane eyes.  The newcomer tried to ignore them, yet they fairly 
glowed within the darkness.

	"She is now in the hands of the police.  It shan't be long 
before she makes a full confession."

	Kimi closed her eyes, smiling.  "Ah....  The honourable Doctor
Mizuno....  If only she hadn't been so impatient.  This problem 
should not have become quite so.... messy."

----o

	Miki slowly turned.  There was not only one presence, but two.
The woman, dressed in an elegant, light blue business suit, and a 
dark-haired, pale skinned, teenaged companion, dressed in a severe,
black skivvy and jeans.

	"Who....  Who are you?  How did you...?"  Miki croaked, 
dropping the receiver in pure terror.  The green-haired woman put 
out one of her hands.

	"Jupiter....  It's alright.  Whatever the drugs have done to
your mind, we'll somehow deal with it...."

	"WHO ARE YOU?"  Miki barked, taking a step back as the two 
women moved forward, tentatively.  Unfortunately, the table with the
phone was sitting behind her.  She stumbled, and fell roughly over 
the top of it.

	"JUPITER!"  Was the last thing she heard before she cracked 
her head against the carpeted floor....


END OF PART 20

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Interesting, is it not, that nobody has noted the fact that the two
Tani sisters are named in honour of Takahashi Rumiko and Takeuchi
Naoko....  Oh well, now you know.  ^_^

Next Chapter - "Moonlight Flit"

DDFA ayanami@merlin.net.au
Chief Propoganda Officer, Keeper of the Tapes
and Co-Founder of the Saitou-chan Fan Club ^_^
ADELAIDE JAPANESE ANIMATION SOCIETY
(aka the Assorted Juvenile Atrocities Sect)

Version 1.0 - 21st May 1998

IJ - There's one born every day.