Chapter 16 Breathless after a passionate session of celebratory lovemaking, Akira rolled over on his back, a satisfied smile on his face as his lover snuggled up next to him, her hand rubbing circles across his chest. “I still can’t believe things turned out so well with the board,” he admitted once he had caught his breath. “It feels unreal, doesn’t it? Like something out of a dream or something.” “If it is a dream, then I don’t ever want to wake up,” Ami said, kissing his shoulder. “Let’s stay like this forever, Akira, just you and me in this bed for all eternity…” Akira chuckled. “That rather defeats the point of me getting my job back, doesn’t it?” he teased. “But it does sound awfully tempting, I do admit.” The blue-haired girl propped herself up on her elbow, smiling down at him. “Well, at least we can see each other as much as we want without worrying about somebody seeing us together, right?” “Yeah.” Akira’s head was already exploding with countless ideas of places to take Ami now that they could publicly go out as an official couple. For their first “real” date, he planned to take her out for a romantic dinner at the new restaurant that had just opened by the bay, followed by a moonlit walk along the shore. For an encore, he thought he might take her to the downtown aquarium. Akira knew Ami loved fish, so she would probably enjoy that. Next, they would hit all of Tokyo’s museums, both artistic and scientific, as well as the observatory. After that, who knew? Movies, concerts, dinners… The sky was the limit, and Akira fully intended to make up for all the dates they had missed by being forced to hide in his apartment. But, at the moment, he was perfectly content to lay entwined in his lover’s arms. Just as they were about to resume the celebration, however, there was a loud knock on the door. Akira swore under his breath at the interruption, and, lifting his weight off Ami‘s body, he craned his neck to look back over his shoulder. “Talk about bad timing,” he muttered, wondering who in the world would be coming for a visit. Letting out a disappointed sigh, Ami fell back against the pillows. “Just ignore it, Akira,” she suggested. “It’s probably only a reporter or something.” “Yeah, you’re probably right,” he agreed. He knew from recent experience how persistent those journalists could be, especially those from the tabloids who had had a field day with their story of forbidden love and sex. In the weeks since the scandal had broken out, it seemed like they had been hounding him at every corner. Putting the knock out of his mind, Akira again lowered himself back down and began nibbling on Ami’s ear, his lover responding with a lusty moan. Encouraged, his lips traveled even lower, tracing her jaw line and trailing down her slender neck until they reached the valley between her breasts. Ami gasped, tightening the grip she had on his shoulders, and Akira smiled, landing short, fleeting kisses everywhere but Ami’s pert, pink nipples. Unfortunately, their unwelcome visitor apparently refused to get the message, the continuous banging on the door growing even louder and more impossible to ignore no matter how hard Akira tried to focus his mind on other, more pleasurable, things. Finally, he had enough, and, tossing the blanket aside, Akira sat up and reached for a pair of discarded slacks laying on the floor. “Akira, what are you doing?” Ami asked, pulling a sheet over her nakedness as Akira shrugged into the pants. “It’s probably nobody important. Ignore them and they’ll bound to leave sooner or later.” “I’d prefer it sooner, rather than later,” he replied, zipping his fly. “Don’t worry, this won’t take long. I promise. I’m just going to tell whoever it is that we have no comment and show them out the door.” “Promise?” “Two minutes, tops.” Akira kissed the top of Ami’s head, then headed to the living room, where he opened the front door. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw that instead of the reporter he was expecting, a young woman from one of his classes was standing in the hall. “Yokoyama-san?” Yokoyama Yui smiled pleasantly. “Konnichiwa, Kitagawa-sensei. I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything important.” “Well, actually…” Akira glanced back at his closed bedroom door with longing. “I am a little busy at the moment, Yokoyama-san,” he confessed. “Now really isn’t a good time. Perhaps if you came back tomorrow --” “Oh, but this will only take a moment.” Without an invitation, the titian-haired girl entered the apartment, her polite façade fading away as her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You see, I’m actually not here for you, sensei. I’m here for Mizuno-san,” she declared. “Mizuno-san?” Akira repeated, playing dumb. Even if their relationship was public knowledge, that didn’t mean he needed to advertise the fact that Ami was currently naked in his bed, waiting anxiously for his return. Light blue eyes rolled, obviously not buying his fake ignorance. “Please, sensei, I know she’s here. I saw you two come in.” “Y-You were following us?” Akira didn’t know what disturbed him more: the fact that Miss Yokoyama had trailed them back to the apartment, or the cool, almost threatening, tone in his number two student’s voice. Something was definitely wrong. Granted, he didn’t know Miss Yokoyama that well, but he knew enough to know something had changed. Where once her eyes had shone with intelligence, they now burned with anger, giving her the look of a crazed woman. To be honest, it was beginning to give him the creeps. “Yokoyama-san, I think you should leave,” Akira said. “I really am busy at the moment, and you probably --” “NO!” Miss Yokoyama slammed the door shut behind her, her façade broken. “Where is Mizuno?” she asked again. “Where is that slut you call a girlfriend?” “I told you, she’s not here.” “Liar!” “I’m asking you nicely, Yokoyama-san. Please leave.” “No, I’m not leaving until Mizuno and I have a little chat,” she announced, coming further into the apartment. By that time, Mercury, who had been napping on the couch, had noticed her presence and began growling. “Shut up, you stupid dog!” the girl yelled, picking up one of the chew toys littering the floor and throwing it at the Corgi. The toy smacked Mercury right in the face, causing him to jump off the couch and run whimpering toward the kitchen to hide. “Yokoyama, that was uncalled for,” Akira said, moving to reopen the door and show her out. “I want you to leave. Whatever problems you have with Mizuno-san, you can settle later, on your own time.” Miss Yokoyama, however, refused to leave, shoving him backwards and again closing the door with a slam louder than the first. “I’d rather settle them now,” she said, giving him no choice in the matter. ***** Meanwhile, back in the bedroom, Ami was growing restless waiting for Akira to return and resume where they had left off before the interruption. He should have already gotten rid of whoever it was at the door, so what was taking so long? Growing concerned when she heard the front door slam for the second time, Ami slid out from underneath the sheets and reached for Akira’s dress shirt, which was sitting on the trunk at the foot of the bed. Pulling it on, she quickly buttoned the shirt and headed to the living room. “Akira, what’s taking so lo--?” The last word of Ami’s question was cut short when she walked in the room to find Akira was not alone. With him was a titian-haired girl she recognized from a couple of her classes, the one who usually took the second spot in the standings. “Yokoyama-san?” Blushing, Ami tugged at the hem of Akira’s shirt, wishing she had gotten properly dressed before coming out. “Um, I didn’t realize we had company. Let me go change into something more appropriate.” Ami turned to leave, but Miss Yokoyama shook her head, shooting her a disapproving look. “Don’t bother, Mizuno,” she said, her hand slowly reaching for something inside her purse as she walked toward Ami. “I’ll allow you the comfort of dying in the shirt of your ‘beloved’. It’s the least I can do.” “D-Dying?” As Ami watched in horror, the girl pulled out what appeared to be a kitchen knife from her purse, the blade gleaming in the light of Akira’s apartment as she raised it above her head in preparation. “Ami, watch out!” Akira shouted. Taking heed of Akira’s warning, Ami stepped out of the way of the swinging knife, just barely missing being stabbed in the shoulder. She didn’t understand what was happening, but her senshi reflexes immediately kicked into full gear as she went on the defense. “Why are you doing this?” Ami asked, stepping back toward Akira’s bedroom. Her first instinct was to run out the door and out of the small apartment, but, over the would-be killer’s shoulder, Ami could see Akira quietly advancing toward them, a baseball bat in one hand and a finger pressed to his lips in a silent signal not to give him away. For the moment, Miss Yokoyama seemed to have forgotten he was there, so Ami knew she couldn’t risk drawing attention to him. “As if you didn’t know,” Miss Yokoyama growled. “From the first day we arrived at Toudai, you have been the proverbial thorn in my side, Mizuno -- or should I call you Little Miss Perfect instead? It’s more suited to you, don’t you think?” “Perfect? I’m far from perfect, Yokoyama-san,” Ami said, trying to buy as much time as possible. “I-I have my flaws, just like everybody else does.” “And she’s modest, too. How sickeningly perfect for you to say.” “N-No, it’s the truth! I’ve made plenty of mis--” “Urusai!” Again, the knife came at her, but Ami managed to dodge it at the last moment. “Don’t patronize me!” “I’m not!” “No? Then how do you explain your outstanding academic record?” “T-There’s no secret. I just study really hard, that’s all.” “Ha!” Miss Yokoyama exclaimed. “You might have those idiots on the board fooled, but I know the truth. You never fooled me, Mizuno, not for a second. I knew the moment I saw you and sensei together in the lab what was going on.” “Masaka,” Akira whispered, momentarily stopping in his advancement. Fortunately, Miss Yokoyama didn’t seem to hear him, her pale blue eyes remaining focused on Ami, who brought a hand to her mouth in horror when she realized what the girl had just said. “It was you, wasn’t it?” Ami asked. “You were the one who taped us!” The redhead applauded, clapping her free hand against the arm she used to hold the knife. “The girl genius does it again,” she drawled. “Really, I’m disappointed in you, Mizuno. I thought for sure somebody as smart as you would have figured it out much sooner.” “B-But why?” Ami asked. “What did we ever do to you, Yokoyama- san?” “It wasn’t just me. Because of your complete lack of ethics and morality, the rest of us never had a chance. Tell me, how many other teachers did you have to screw in order to get to the top?” “Yokoyama-san, you have the wrong idea! I would never--” “--never sleep with a professor to get a high grade?” Miss Yokoyama laughed. “And I’m the Empress of Japan!” “Our relationship was nothing like that!” Akira declared, breaking his silence. Miss Yokoyama whipped around, glaring, as Ami felt her heart jump in her throat. What was Akira doing, bringing attention to himself like that? If he wasn’t careful, he was going to get himself killed. “Spare me the crap, sensei,” the girl snapped. “You’re almost as bad as she is. What kind of teacher has sex with one of his students? Couldn’t get it anywhere else?” She made a disgusted face. “The whole thing sickens me!” “You have to believe us,” Ami cried, trying to get Miss Yokoyama’s attention back on her. “It wasn’t like that at all!” Her effort was successful, for the redhead once again turned back to Ami, who suddenly found herself up against the closed door to Akira’s bedroom with little room to spare. Keeping her eyes on the crazed woman advancing toward her, Ami blindly felt for the doorknob somewhere behind her and tried to remain calm. “Why should I believe you?” Miss Yokoyama asked, twirling the knife around in her hand so the blade menacingly caught the light. “You both are a bunch of liars. No wonder you two get along so well. Too bad one of you is about to die.” “Please, Yokoyama-san… You don‘t want to do this…” “Shin’ne!” “Ami, watch out!” Akira shouted as the knife came at her. ***** Arriving back at his apartment, Hideki let out a huge sigh of relief as he let himself in and plopped down on his couch. Finally, the scandal had come to a close and everybody‘s lives, including Professor Kitagawa’s and Miss Mizuno‘s, could return to some semblance of normal. Hideki still felt guilty about his role in what happened, but he was glad that the professor was able to keep his job and that he would be able to continue to see Miss Mizuno. He had caught glimpses of the couple during the hearing, and anybody with half a brain could plainly see they truly cared about each other. There had been nothing wrong or indecent about their relationship at all, unlike the picture Yui had painted when she first learned they were dating. Yui… Reaching for the wooden picture frame sitting on the end table beside the couch, Hideki sighed as he stared at a happy photograph of him and Yui taken last summer. They had gone to the beach to celebrate their three month anniversary, and he remembered fondly the fun they had that day, playing in the crashing waves of the Sea of Japan and walking hand- in-hand under the moonlight once most everybody else had left. What had happened to that once adorably chubby girl who loved eating saltwater taffy and analyzing seashells? Unable to answer that question, Hideki placed the picture back on the table, face-down, and, for the first time noticed that the red light on his answering machine was blinking. A quick look at Caller ID showed that the call had been made from a pay phone about a couple of minutes before he arrived home. Curious, Hideki pressed the “Play” button and frowned as a familiar voice started speaking after the machine played his pre-recorded message. “Hideki, this is Yui. I know you don’t want to talk to me right now, but things are about to change. By the time you receive this message, the source of all our problems will be gone. We can start over again, Hideki! I’m doing this for you, all for you. Remember that. I’ll see you later. Aishiteru.” The message ended with a click, and Hideki’s eyebrows knotted together in confusion over the strange, cryptic message from his former girlfriend. He knew it was probably another lame attempt by Yui to get back together, but when he moved to press “Erase” and get rid of the message, something made his finger press the “Play” button instead, unable to let it go. “What does it mean?” he asked himself after he listened to Yui’s message a second time. “The source of all our problems…?” And that was when he heard the scream. ***** “AKIRA!” Yui barely blinked an eye as the chemistry professor fell down at her feet, blood oozing out of his stomach cavity. It was his own stupid fault he got in the way. Stepping over his body, Yui wiped the blood off her knife with the bottom of her white blouse and focused her attention back on her intended target. Miss Mizuno, during the scuffle, had finally managed to get the door open, but instead of doing the smart thing and locking herself inside, the blue-haired girl remained standing in the doorway leading to the bedroom, in shock over what had just happened. “How could you do something like this?” she demanded to know, clenching her fists at her side. “Don’t you have a heart?” “I did, once,” Yui said as she advanced toward her rival, “until it was broken.” At that moment, the front door swung open, and she heard a horrified gasp. “Yui!” Lowering the knife, Yui smiled and turned around to greet the new visitor, recognizing his voice instantly. “Hideki!” she exclaimed, bursting with happiness. She had hoped he would come in time for him to see the depths she was willing to go in order to prove her love for him. “Look what I’ve done, Hideki! It’s almost over. Once I take Mizuno out of the equation, we can be together again. I did this for you!” Stepping inside the apartment, Hideki carefully made his way over to where the professor lay bleeding on the ground and kneeled down beside him. “You did this?” he asked in disbelief when he carefully rolled Dr. Kitagawa’s body over to better look at the wound. Behind her, Yui heard Miss Mizuno gasp at the sight of her lover pale and barely conscious from the severe loss of blood. “What have you done, Yui?” Hideki demanded to know, rising. “What are you doing?” “I --” “Drop the knife, Yui,” he ordered, not even giving her a chance to explain. “If you ever loved me at all, you’ll end this madness. This is not what I want.” “B-But I did this for you,” Yui said, confused. “I thought if --” “You thought wrong!” Coming toward her, Hideki held out his hand. “Give me the knife, Yui,” he commanded, his voice full of the authority he often lacked while they were dating. “Now! I won’t allow you to hurt anybody else.” Yui hesitated, looking down at the blood-smeared knife she held in her equally stained hands. Only at that moment did she begin to truly realize what she had done. Professor Kitagawa, at one time her favorite teacher, was bleeding to death by her own hand, and Hideki, the person she had done it all for, was staring at her in disgust. It wasn’t supposed to be this way… “What have I done?” she whispered. Miss Mizuno took Yui’s moment of indecision to run over to her fallen lover and crudely attend to his wound while Hideki made his way over to Yui, his face softening to one of pity. “Please give me the knife,” he repeated in a gentler voice than before. “You don’t want to do this, Yui. Please, end this now before somebody else gets hurt. Let me help you.” Nodding, Yui started to do as he asked when she was struck by another thought: *Hideki doesn’t want me anymore.* That single sentence kept repeating itself over and over in her head. His kindness at the moment was just an act, a way of getting her to do what he wanted her to do. He didn’t really mean it. Once he got a hold of the knife, Hideki would turn on her again, those beautiful hazel eyes staring at her with the same hate and disgust she saw when he first stepped in the apartment and saw the professor’s body on the floor. She wouldn’t allow it. She wouldn’t allow the man she loved to look at her that way ever again. “No,” Yui said, abruptly yanking the knife back just as Hideki was about to take it from her. Any closer, his hand might have been injured. “No?” he repeated, confused. “Yui, don’t be ridiculous. Give me the knife. This isn’t some game.” “I’ll give you the knife, but first you have to do something for me,” she declared, holding her weapon protectively against her chest. “Anything, just give me the knife!” His voice was beginning to border on hysterical. “Tell me you love me.” “What?” “You heard me the first time, Hideki.” Letting the knife drop to her side and behind her back, Yui bridged the short gap between them and brought her blood-covered hand to the side of his face. Her former boyfriend flinched at her touch. “Three simple words, and we can pretend this was all just a horrible nightmare. Don’t you want to go back to the way things were before?” “It’s impossible,” Hideki answered hoarsely. “We can’t go back. Too much has changed. *You* have changed.” “But I can change back! I’ll go back to the way I used to be, when we were happy and in love --” “Yui, stop!” He pulled her hand away from his face and brought it back down to her side. “What we had is over. Any declaration of love I made today would be nothing but a lie. I’ll always remember our time together fondly, but it’s time for us to both move on with our lives. I‘m sorry.” “I see.” Yui turned around, bringing the knife once again in front of her. In the reflection of the blade, she could faintly see the beginnings of tears in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away with the sleeve of her blouse. She would not let him see what he had done to her. If Hideki could not find it in his heart to forgive her and take her back, then there was only one thing to do. Hideki had to die. ***** Ami tried the best she could, but the bleeding would not stop. The swatch of fabric she had ripped from the sleeve of the shirt she wore to act as makeshift dressing for the wound was now colored more red than white, and Akira was losing consciousness more and more often, briefly awakening at uneven intervals only to pass out from the pain once more. If she had to make an educated guess as to his condition, Ami judged he was in shock. “Akira, stay with me,” she ordered softly as she ripped her other sleeve off and applied more pressure to the wound. What remained of the shirt she had borrowed from Akira was splattered with blood. “Don’t you dare die on me now, not when we can finally be together without shame. Today was only supposed to be the beginning, not the end.” Choking on the sob rising in her throat, Ami forced herself to concentrate on keeping Akira alive until help could arrive instead of dwelling on the possibility of his death. She now understood why doctors were advised not to operate on their own family members and loved ones. It was difficult to keep emotions in check when facing losing somebody she cared about. Trying not to think about that possibility, she thought back to her lessons in first aid and proceeded to do everything in her power to stop the bleeding. Occasionally while she worked, Ami glanced over her shoulder at Miss Yokoyama and the young man who had come to their rescue, whom she recognized as Mercury’s dog walker, the one who had walked in on her at the apartment that one day. She remembered that Akira had mentioned he was Miss Yokoyama’s boyfriend, and it seemed as if he was the only one she would listen to. Eventually, Hideki managed to calm the girl down, convincing her to give him the knife. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ami stretched her arm up to reach for the telephone she knew was sitting on the table behind her to call for the ambulance, but before her fingers could even wrap around the cordless receiver, Miss Yokoyama had begun her rampage anew, this time her anger focused on the young man. Hideki managed to grab the girl’s arm before the knife plunged in his chest, but he was locked in a life-or-death struggle. Horrified, Ami was momentarily frozen in place until she realized what she needed to do. She couldn’t allow Miss Yokoyama to hurt anybody else. After she guided Akira’s hand over his wound to replace the one she had been using to apply pressure, Ami slowly stood, her heart never filled with such pain and hatred than it was at that moment. Closing her eyes, she felt her long-dormant powers awaken and called out, “Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!” The bright blue light of her transformation temporarily distracted both Hideki and Miss Yokoyama, the two pausing in the middle of their fierce struggle to watch, amazed, as the power washed over Ami. However, Hideki quickly realized it was his chance and grabbed the knife from the would-be killer’s hands while she was still entranced by the magic filling the room. “Hideki-san, get out of the way!” Ami shouted as soon as she had completed the transformation, the Mercury Harp forming in her hands. “Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!” Dropping to the ground, Hideki rolled safely out of the away just as Ami released her attack of freezing cold water. Miss Yokoyama didn’t even know what hit her. Her mouth opened as if preparing to scream, the redhead was instantly encased in a crystal of ice as her boyfriend looked on, his breathing heavy as he tried to catch his breath. “M-Mizuno-san?” Hazel eyes stared over at Ami, full of confusion and shock. “M-Mizuno-san is --” “Are you okay?” Ami asked, kneeling beside Hideki. At the moment, the revelation of her secret identity was the least of her worries. “Did she hurt you?” Hideki shook his head, sitting back up. The front of his shirt was spotted in blood, but it didn’t appear to be his. More than likely it came from the knife, which he had been holding protectively against his chest. “I’m fine,” he said. “But how did you…?” “I’ll explain later,” Ami promised, standing up and walking back over to Akira. Her lover was still unconscious, appearing even paler than before. Falling to her knees, Ami ripped off the top tier of her ruffled skirt and replaced the bloodied makeshift bandage from before. Tears rolled down her cheeks despite her attempts to remain strong. He was so weak… “Akira?” she whispered, bending close to his ear. “Akira, can you hear me? It’s me, Ami. Please, say something.” Hideki, his legs shaky, stood and walked over, letting the bloodied knife drop to the floor. “Is he-- Is he dead?” Reaching for Akira’s wrist, Ami shook her head. She could still feel a pulse, though it was very faint and erratic. “No, but he’s lost a lot of blood. He needs to get to a hospital.” “I’ll call an ambulance,” Hideki offered, grabbing the cordless phone sitting on the table. “Thank you.” Giving them some privacy, the young man headed for the kitchen to make the call as Ami brought Akira’s hand to her cheek, his skin clammy and cold. She choked back a sob, her eyes closed in silent prayer. Why wasn’t he regaining consciousness? “Akira, it’s me,” she said again, her voice wavering with emotion. “Can you hear me? Please, you have to wake up. Please!” “A…A-Ami?” The voice was so soft and weak, at first Ami thought she had imagined it. When she looked down, though, she saw jade green eyes flutter open, and that time, she really did sob, unable to contain her happiness. “Ami?” Akira repeated, his voice a little stronger. “No…not Ami… Who are you? Where’s Ami?” In her concern over Akira, Ami had completely forgotten she was still transformed. Smiling through her tears, she brushed back a lock of hair from his eyes and shook her head. “Shh… Save your strength, Akira, I’ll explain everything later. Promise.” ***** “He received a stab wound to his gut. His girlfriend is trying to stabilize him. She‘s pre-med… Hai, we have the stabber… No, I don’t think she’s a threat anymore. She‘s been…knocked out… Please, just send an ambulance and the police. Kitagawa-sensei is losing a lot of blood… Fukami Apartments near the university. We’re in apartment 518... Thank you.” Finishing his call, Hideki hung up and sighed as he sat the cordless receiver down on the kitchen counter. He was still trying to wrap his mind around what had happened. Somehow, it didn’t seem real, especially when factoring in the fact that Miss Mizuno apparently possessed some kind of strange water-based magical power. He was half- convinced it was some crazy nightmare brought on by playing too much Final Fantasy, but, when Hideki reached over and pinched his arm, the pain brought real tears to his eyes. “So much for it being a dream,” he muttered, for the first time noticing that he wasn’t alone. Underneath the kitchen table, the professor’s dog was whimpering, more than likely scared off by the commotion from before. Hideki walked over, and, stooping beside the table, reached out a hand to comfort the poor thing, surprised when the Corgi began growling at him. Yui must have frightened him badly. “Hey, Mercury, it’s just me, boy,” Hideki said. “Your buddy Hideki. Remember me? It‘s okay. It‘s over.” Mercury ceased his growling and gave Hideki’s hand an experimental sniff. Apparently he passed the test, for the dog walked over and started lapping at Hideki’s cheek with his tongue. Hideki gave Mercury a hug and petted him until the dog calmed down. Hideki then stood back up and started searching the cabinets for dog food. With Professor Kitagawa undoubtedly facing a long stay at the hospital, Hideki decided he would take care of Mercury while he was gone. It was the least he could do after what had happened. He found the food in the last cabinet, along with a basic first aid kit for kitchen emergencies. After packing the cans in an empty plastic grocery bag that he found laying around on the counter, Hideki opened one for Mercury, then headed back to the living room with the kit. “The ambulance will be here in a few minutes,” Hideki announced, almost feeling as if he was intruding as he walked over and held out the first aid kit to Miss Mizuno…or whatever she called herself in that form. “Here, I found this in the kitchen. I don’t know what all it has, but I thought it might be helpful.” The blue-haired girl dressed in the fanciful sailor suit smiled in gratitude, taking the kit. “Arigatou, Hideki-san.” While Miss Mizuno expertly dressed the professor’s wound with a proper gauze bandage, Hideki, having nothing else to do, found himself drawn to the large ice crystal still standing in the living room. Looking upon the body of his former lover frozen inside the giant clear boulder, her mouth opened in mid-scream, Hideki honestly didn’t know what to think, his heart filled with conflicting emotions. “Will she be okay in there?” he asked Miss Mizuno. She nodded. “Yokoyama-san is perfectly safe. I used a low-level attack. Once it unfreezes, she’ll be unconscious for a few minutes, but physically unharmed. She probably won‘t even remember what happened.” “I’m glad.” Navy blue eyes glanced over to where he stood staring at the crystal. “You love her, don’t you?” the superheroine asked softly, much to his surprise. He hadn’t thought she paid much attention to the argument between him and Yui over the knife. Hideki didn’t answer her question right away, unsure of the answer himself. Instead, he moved even closer to the crystal, placing a hand against the smooth surface. The ice was warmer than he thought it would be, a strange feature of the magic keeping Yui from developing hypothermia, but still relatively cool to the touch. “Yui…” he murmured, finally shaking his head in response to Miss Mizuno‘s question. “No, I loved the girl she used to be. This girl -- I don’t know her at all.” “It’s sad,” Miss Mizuno said, turning her attention back to treating her lover’s wound. “She had such a bright future ahead of her.” “I always knew Yui had an obsessive personality, but never in my wildest dreams would I have suspected she would take it this far… How could she have done something like this? What made her so desperate to go to such drastic lengths?” “I don’t know, Hideki-san, but I hope she gets the help she needs.” Hideki nodded in agreement, turning back around. He could hear sirens blaring in the distance, the sound getting louder and louder the closer they came toward the apartment building. It wouldn’t be much longer until they arrived. “That’s probably the ambulance,” he said, walking over and lightly touching Miss Mizuno’s shoulder. “You should probably transform back before they get here.” “Hai.” Closing her eyes, the she let go of her transformation, changing back into the bloodied, torn dress shirt she wore before, and releasing Yui from her prison of ice. Moments later, the police and medics arrived. DISCLAIMER: “Sailor Moon” is the property of Takeuchi Naoko. AUTHOR’S NOTES: Any comments or criticisms can be sent to me at ElysionDream@aol.com. Special thanks to my editors I Abibde/Samuraiter and Starsea.