Seeing Stars
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.


Chapter 32

"It was that bad?" Darien asked, his eyebrows creasing in disbelief.

"Well, not THAT bad, but I still think that seppuku would've been preferable to dying from 
boredom," Jason grumbled.

"Seppuku?" he repeated quizzically, exchanging a look with G.Q., who just shrugged.

"Hmm? Oh. Hara-kiri. More familiar with that term?" Darien nodded. G.Q. nodded, then 
shrugged indifferently. "Good. Well, can you see my point? Nothing but singing, singing, 
and more singing, loudly and in a foreign language with Vikings and fat ladies aplenty. It 
might've been considered a popular form of entertainment back when a man wearing lace 
wasn't considered to be a fruit, but in these modern times, it just isn't the same."

"I... see...," Darien said, feeling a little sorry for the stuntman.

"Don't you think that's a little... exaggerated?" G.Q. asked.

"A play, I can handle," he went on. "Hell, some plays can even be entertaining if done 
right and with a little bit of humor, but those are rare. Why couldn't it've been a play?"

"What opera did you go see?" G.Q. asked.

Jason stopped and tilted his head as he thought. "I forget. It was so bad that I sorta 
zoned out for the entire opera. Amy had to shake my shoulder just to snap me out of it."

Both guys whistled, impressed.

He nodded. "Yeah, it was THAT bad." He paused. "Not bad enough to merit seppu... I mean, 
hara-kiri, but VERY bad nonetheless." He grinned slightly. "However, Amy thought that my 
zoning out was really me getting into the opera, so she was really impressed with me. I'm 
not about to correct her on that, though."

Darien laughed. "Well, better you than me. I'm not all that fond of operas, myself. 
Fortunately, Serena's never asked me to go see one with her."

"Pray that she doesn't," Jason said with feigned seriousness. "It will eat your soul."

At that moment, Serena joined them with both Amy and Tanya. "Morning Jason, G.Q.," she 
greeted. She then turned to Darien. "Good morning, Darien," she said, giving him a small, 
yet sexy smile before turning toward her trailer.

"So, I see you two have been getting along famously," Tanya said with a slight hint of 
smugness in her voice.

Darien grinned. "Oh, and I suppose that know you want be to bow down before your 
indomitable matchmaking skills?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tanya smugness seeped into a visibly smug grin. "Now you recognize my true powers, Darien 
Shields," she said, playful laughter clear in the tone of her voice. "It was only a matter 
of time until the two of you would succumb to the power of love!"

"Do you realize how corny you sound right now?" Jason asked, resisting the urge to roll 
his eyes in exasperation, while Darien resisted a similar urge.

She fixed a short Well-what-did-you-think-I-was-doing look at him, then became all smiles 
again. "Come on, Jason. You know I'm only joking around," she added while elbowing him 
lightly in the side. This time, he did roll his eyes.

Amy shook her head, partly amused. "At any rate, once everyone's ready, we'll begin 
shooting the next scene. All right?" Everyone left to take care of their preparations, 
except for G.Q.

"We're about halfway through, Amy," he said with a grin.

She nodded as she regarded him with a brief smile. "I know. Many of us will certainly be 
glad once this movie's over."

He nodded as he turned his gaze over to where Serena was coming out of her trailer while 
talking with both Tanya and Darien. "It will only get more complicated as it presses on."

"I know, G.Q., but that's just the way I like it. It makes things more interesting. Nobody 
wants to see a dull movie anyway, right?" She started to leave, but paused after a few 
steps when a thought suddenly came to her. "You were talking about the movie, weren't you?"

He smirked. "Why? Did you catch a double entendre in my words?" he asked, his tone laced 
with amusement.

Amy shook her head and shrugged. "Never mind," she said as she turned toward the set, 
leaving G.Q.'s words to be pondered over for later.

            **********************************************

"Diane...."

"Unngh...," Diane moaned as someone shook her roughly. "Oww.... Could someone please tell 
those football players to stop using my head as their training field?" Set slowly sat up 
and winced, putting a hand to her head and rubbing it. She glanced up at the person who had 
been shaking her shoulder.

It was Haruka.

"Here," she said, handing her a plastic asprin bottle. "Sounds like you need some, too."

"You all right, Haruka?" she asked as she stood up. "You've got a nasty bruise on your 
right cheek."

Haruka grimaced and tried not to wince when she did. "Eh. It's not much. I've had much 
worse than this." She tried to gently move her neck and winced when she began to feel a 
sharp pain there. "I may need to see a doctor about this neck, though. It's nothing too 
serious, but still...."

"How are you feeling, Diane?" Jack asked as soon as he entered the room.

"Pretty piss poor, Jack," she muttered, grimacing. "But I'll live. So, how long was I out 
for?"

"Well, Haruka shook me awake only a couple of minutes ago, but according to the VCR clock 
downstairs, we were out for a good six hours. I think it would've been longer if she had 
been affected by the sleeping gas, as well."

Haruka snorted. "I was fortunate enough to have just been beaten unconscious instead. Lucky 
me."

"You're still alive, so let's be grateful for the little things," Diane said as she turned 
toward Jack and sighed. "So, what's the damage?"

"As you may have guessed, the Nijizuishou was all that was taken," Jack reported grimly. 
"Nothing else was taken from here; at least, nothing obvious. As for us, Haruka pretty much 
ended up taking most of the hits."

Haruka gingerly felt her jaw as she turned toward the window and stared outside at the 
blanket of white outside. "Nothing that won't heal with time," she dismissed with a sigh.

"You know, I never really cared about that thing...," she continued as the dawn's light 
began to illuminate and reflect over the carpet of snow, making the thick layer of frost 
and ice shimmer with morning light. "I used to think it was nothing but an expensive family 
heirloom. A gaudy hunk of crystal meant only for decoration. But, only now, when it's been 
stolen, that I realize that it's more than that.

"My grandmother gave that crystal to me. Her grandmother gave that crystal to her. And her 
grandmother gave that crystal to her. That crystal has been in my family for too long for 
me to let it go without doing something about it!"

"Haruka, don't worry," Diane said comfortingly. "Jack and I will get back that crystal. It 
only because we failed to keep it from being stolen in the first place." She shook her 
head.

"There's no need for you to get involved any more than you are now," Jack added, coming 
beside Diane. "Let us handle it."

The blonde racer sighed as she ambled over to a chair at one end of the room and slumped 
down into it. "Well, you are the professionals, I suppose," she finally relented. "However,
I'm a racer by nature. Sitting still and waiting don't sit well with me. You know what I 
mean?" she asked, looking up from staring down at the floor.

Both Jack and Diane nodded understandingly. "Leave it to us, Haruka," Diane told her. 
"We'll get your Nijizuishou back."

Haruka snorted lightly, but smirked as she sat back in her chair and shrugged. "Yeah, sure. 
What else can I do anyway? And besides," she added as her smirk slowly formed into a look 
of compassion, "you still have to find those two kids, don't you?"

Diane nodded solemnly while Jack quietly placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's right. 
I'm sure that man that attacked us was the kidnapper. Call it a hunch or intuition or 
whatever you want, but I'm sure of it."

Haruka gave her a scrutinizing look for a few moments, then nodded to herself. "Well, 
whatever you say. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?" She stood up and walked up to 
them, standing directly in front of them with an almost expressionless look on her face. 
"Still, if you're right and that guy did nab your friends as well as my gem, then I want 
you to do me a favor, and give him holy hell for me as well. Kids should never be treated 
like that. Ever."

They nodded. "We will, Haruka," Diane promised, then turned to leave with Jack following 
behind her.

            **********************************************

Jack walked into their hotel room feeling both tired and upset. The quick mug of strong 
black coffee that he had drank prior to leaving Haruka's house had woke him up enough so 
that he could at least drive back to the hotel without driving their car off the road and 
into a tree, so he was still good for a few more hours before the caffiene would wear off. 
It was just enough time for him to check back with the hospital to see how Tira was holding 
up.

"Hey, Jack," Diane yawned as she plopped onto her bed, "I'm gonna go back to sleep for a 
couple more hours. I don't think the effects of the gas have completely worn off yet."

He yawned in reply to her yawn. "Don't you know that yawning is contagious, Diane?"

She smiled at him as she pointed a foot at him. "Well, maybe helping me with my boots will 
help keep you awake."

"You can't take off your own boots?" he asked as he went to help her out of her boots.

"I could, but this darn sleeping gas is still affecting me," she replied as she 
dramatically placed a hand to her forehead in a show of helplessness. "I'm afraid I must 
rely on your manly strength to help free me of them, so that I may fall into a peaceful 
slumber."

Jack pulled off one boot. "You're full of it, you know that?"

She laughed at the flat expression on his face. "Aw, come on, Jack," she said as she 
presented him with the other foot. "Where's your sense of romance?"

He pulled off the second boot. "I can hardly see the romance in removing a pair of hiking 
boots from someone's feet."

Diane yawned again. "Oh, you're just not trying hard enough," she replied as she lifted one 
leg at a time to pull off her socks. "Anything can be romantic if you put your mind to it."

He humphed. "Maybe I'm not the romantic type."

She raised an eyebrow at him as she pulled the bed's blankets over her. "Now, why do I have 
a hard time believing that...?" she said, then winked before settling in to go to sleep. 
"Good night, Jack."

"Good night, Diane," he replied, deciding to forgo the crack about it being ten in the 
morning. She didn't sleep well on the way back from Haruka's.

After watching Diane settle into the beginning of a deep and restful sleep, he sat down on 
his own bed and reached for the phone. He picked up the slip of paper he had left next to 
the phone with the hospital's number on it and dialed.

            **********************************************

Max's cell phone rang as he was driving down the freeway with the top and windows down on 
his cherry red convertible. Since he sometimes received some of his important business 
calls while he was out driving, he made it a point to always wear his hands-free headset 
whenever he drove.

"Talk to me."

"I have the fourth one in my possession now."

A slow grin spread across his lips as he changed lanes to pass a slower moving car. "Great. 
So, when do you leave for Tokyo?"

"I'm in the airport right now. My flight leaves in an hour."

"Very good. Keep me informed."

"There's one more thing."

He lightly tapped his brakes as he noticed a police car entering the freeway from an 
offramp he had just passed. Normally, going 82mph on a 70mph freeway would hardly be 
commented upon, but seeing as he was all by himself without the protection of a pack of 
cars to match speeds with, he could easily be snatched up by a CHP officer who would love 
nothing more than to give someone a speeding ticket. And seeing how he was already only a 
couple points away from losing his license, he wasn't about to take the chance.

"Go on."

"If you don't mind, I'm going to spend a day down in Okinawa first. I desparately need to 
warm the cold out of my bones after spending so much time down here."

Max sighed and shook his head. "For all your talk about being a professional, you sure 
bitch a lot about being cold. I swear, you have a low tolerance for cold."

A grunt was audible from the other end. "I do not bitch, Max."

"Whatever. I don't mind if you take a day off, just as long as you stick with the schedule 
we started with. Understand?"

"That's what you pay me for." With that, the connection terminated.

Max nodded to himself as he terminated his side of the connection. "Four of seven. Things 
are going almost as well as I would've hoped for."

As he approached his exit, he quickly hit the one of the speed dial numbers on his phone 
and waited.

"Hello?" a male voice answered as he picked up the phone.

"It's me. How're our two guests doing?" Max asked.

"They've quieted down some since they first woke up, but the girl still cries every now and 
then."

"And the boy?"

"He's still going back and forth between looking for a way out of the cell and trying to 
calm his girlfriend. He still demands to see her everytime Zed goes down to bring them 
food. Zed wants nothing more than to beat the hell out of the boy for when he kicked his 
ass when we picked them up."

"And you are both certain that there is no way for the two to escape?"

"Absolutely certain."

"Then, I'll leave them in your hands."

"If I may ask, what exactly are we planning to do with them?"

"Insurance," Max said as he pulled into his personal parking space in front of Stanton 
Aeronautical and raised his roof and windows. "For now, that's all you need to know."

"Understood, sir."

            **********************************************

"Mr. Terrance, Miss Jenner is awake, but I'm afraid that she can't talk for too long," the 
doctor informed him.

"I understand," Jack said gratefully. "I just want to hear her voice, even if it is only 
for a short time. Can you please put her on the phone?"

"Hold on please, Mr. Terrance."

There was a short pause as he could hear the phone changing hands. "Jack?"

"Tira? How are you doing? Are you feeling better?" he asked worriedly.

Tira laughed weakly. "You sound a lot like how Dad used to sound whenever I got sick," she 
replied. "I never really noticed until now."

"Damn, Ti. You don't know how glad I am to hear your voice again," he said, his relief 
palpable in his voice. "I was almost afraid I lost you like...."

"...like we lost Dad?" she finished, her voice lowering to a near whisper at the memory.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, Jack...."

"Don't be," he told her firmly. "It wasn't your fault. You couldn't've known. I'm just 
glad that you're still alive. You're like a daughter to me, Ti."

"Even though I'm old enough to be your younger sister?" she said with a laugh.

Jack couldn't help but laugh with her. It was an old joke, but it meant much more than that 
to them. Their relationship began had only became like that of an older brother and younger 
sister a year before Lee's death, but since then, it had become more and more of the father 
and daughter - or rather, very young father to mature daughter - relationship that they 
shared now.

"Diane wanted to talk to you as soon as you were able to talk, but she's asleep right now," 
he explained. "We've had quite a rough night."

"Did you find the crystal?" she asked, her demeanor becoming more serious. "Or has it 
already been stolen?"

"A little bit of both, actually," he admitted. "We got to it before our man did, but he 
took us out with some kind of gas - probably sleeping gas - and stole it before we could 
stop him."

"So, the guy now has four of the seven Nijizuishou crystals, huh?"

"I'm afraid so."

There was a short pause on Tira's end. "Listen, Jack," she said urgently. "There's 
something I have to tell you and it's very important."

Tira's tone of voice was more serious than he was used to hearing from her. That could only 
mean one thing: it was bad. Very bad. "What is it, Tira?"

"Before I got shot, I was hacking around in Stanton Aeronautical's network, looking for 
anything that had to do with the Nijizuishou crystals. I figured that if Stanton had never 
filed a report with the police about his missing crystal - I asked Christy to confirm 
this - then something certainly wasn't kosher.

"After I gained access into the network, I managed to find this one file named 'Project: 
Ginzuishou' in Stanton's personal files. I downloaded it onto the computer and had just 
cracked the passwords on it before you and Diane returned. Unfortunately, I accidentally 
tripped over the electrical cord and unplugged the computer, so all that work I did on that 
file may have been lost."

"I told you that you'd trip over that cord one of these days," Jack admonished.

"Geez, now you're REALLY starting to sound like Dad," Tira grumbled.

"And I'm proud of it, thank you," he retorted with a grin, earning another laugh from her.

"Anyway, from what I can remember from what I've read of the file, the seven Nijizuishou 
have some kinda special properties that Stanton plans on using in order to create some kind 
of weapon of some sort. A prototype laser weapon, I think."

"A laser weapon?" Jack muttered. "What does he think this is? A movie? Sounds like 
Stanton's borrowing a page from the Star Wars script, if you ask me."

"That's what I thought at first, but from what I saw, the design looked pretty realistic to 
me. Jack, can you get a copy of that file to Christy? I'm sure she can get into that file 
and give you more information than I can. I'm just going by memory, here."

Jack nodded. "We're going to be heading back as soon as I get some rest, Tira. After that, 
we're going to head out to where the Blue Nijizuishou is located. Would you happen to 
remember where that is?"

"Hmm.... Let me think.... Ah! Tokyo. It's in a museum display in Tokyo, Japan."

Jack nodded. "Japan it is, then."

"Hey, Jack. The nurse is about ready to cut me off, so I've gotta let you go now," she told 
him reluctantly.

"Oh, all right," he acknowledged. "You just work on getting better, all right?"

"Yes, O father dear," Tira replied in a mocking tone, then laughed. "Seriously though, 
Jack, you're like a father to me as well. I love you, Jack."

"I love you, too... my little girl." Lee used to call her that all the time. He hoped she 
wouldn't mind.

"...thank you... Daddy," she whispered as she gave the phone to the nurse, who promptly 
hang it up.

Jack felt his throat tightening with both pride and joy. She called him... Daddy.... He 
slowly turned to glance over at Diane, who was still sound asleep in her bed. He wondered 
what she would've thought about that last exchange between himself and Tira.

It didn't really matter, though. Tira had given him some vital information as to the why 
concerning the theft of the Nijizuishou crystals. However, there was still something 
missing. If Stanton was truly behind the Nijizuishou thefts, then why was he building a 
weapon that required the crystals to function properly? Who was he building it for? Where 
is it being built?

More importantly, if these Nijizuishou crystals were that important, then was he the one 
ultimately responsible for kidnapping Hotaru and Ryoku?

There were still so many questions and not enough information. Once they were on their way 
back to L.A., then they could start looking for some more answers before heading off to 
Tokyo and the Blue Nijizuishou.

But first, he needed to get some sleep.

Taking off his own boots wasn't as easy as taking off Diane's - probably because he was 
wearing them at the time - but he managed. Once his boots were off and he had removed his 
socks as well, he slipped into the covers of his bed and fell asleep within seconds.

            **********************************************

                              To Chapter 33

            **********************************************

Author's Note: After another forever, the next chapter of Seeing Stars is out and submitted 
for your approval. I'm going to try to speed things up in this story somewhat, so don't be 
surprised if I tend to spend more time in the movie storyline than the main storyline. I'm 
just trying not to let this drag on for longer than it has to. ^_^ Next chapter: Return to 
L.A.; off to Tokyo; and a surprise from the past awaits Serena.

Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective 
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch 
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This 
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate 
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it 
anywhere else. Thank you.

Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa. 
All Rights Reserved.