Silver Millennium Soldier
-14- Fiery Shrine Maiden
by
Mike Macdonald
(Age: 27)
copyright 04-22-2006
Age Rating: 18 to 127
Amy Anderson lost herself in the serene atmosphere of the Hikawa Shrine that morning, attributed to its lovely grove of cherry blossoms and the light breeze slipping over the courtyard wall. She wandered about, paying no heed to the stone walkway leading to the front of the house, scouting the grounds like an amateur director in search of the perfect place to shoot her next scene. Serena watched in amusement as Amy would stop to take in a particular angle before giving an indecisive frown, then turn a few degrees or squat down, without diverting her eyes from whatever part of the courtyard she was losing herself in. Or she would move to an entirely different spot and repeat her odd little routine.
“Why are we here again?” Serena asked the white cat walking just ahead of her, losing interest in her eccentric friend for a moment.
Artemis hadn’t paid much mind to Amy’s unusual behavior since his head still ached from his struggle to wake Serena up earlier that morning, when she’d twice flung him clear of the bed with a sweep of her arm. He had to lick her foot to startle her awake and get her to cooperate.
“Someone living at this shrine pinpointed the Black Moon agent at the high school,” the cat replied. “We owe them our gratitude at the very least, but I was thinking their services could be of use to us in the future.”
“How?”
“Shinto priests have the ability to sense evil auras and have the power to combat malicious spiritual forces.”
“No, I mean, how did they know to alert you about the insurgents at the high school in the first place?”
“Mina received some kind of telepathic SOS, and when I investigated I found the miko that lives here sitting in the school library, using herself as a homing beacon to call for Sailor Moon's help. She helped Mina identify the threat, and we called you.”
Serena stared into the looming face of the feudal household in front of her. It wasn’t much more inviting than the eerie pair of demonic-looking stone lions acting as the doormen to the smaller and front-most of the shrine’s two buildings. She’d taken one glance at the beasts and immediately dismissed any further thought on them.
“Does she fly on broom handles, too?” she said.
“The people who live here are very traditional,” Amy said, suddenly a timid young girl with a shocked look on her face, even covering her mouth partly with her hand. “Please try not to offend them.”
“They probably can’t even understand me…”
Serena gave the front door three gentle raps and sent a flat Japanese greeting, and the trio stood and waited.
Several voices, all using Japanese tongues, immediately erupted in sequence. First the deep, gruff voice of Toshiro Mifune barked an order. Then a shrill-yet-somehow-equally-gruff old woman reiterated it and added a string of additional commands or possibly insults, nobody was really sure. The third voice was vaguely familiar, certainly young, and acknowledged everything the first two said with “Hai”, and very quickly degenerated to replacing that with increasingly aggravated remarks. And all three were very, very loud.
The third voice became louder with each acknowledgement, until finally the door flung open in mid-shout and startled everyone on the porch. Then the shrine was quiet and serene again, and Serena stared back at the almond-shaped eyes of the inhospitable and mildly surprised Rei Hino, decked out in the ever-charming red and white uniform of a Shinto priestess.
“Hi,” the miko said finally.
Serena shot a glance at the white cat and jabbed a thumb at the priestess in front of them.
“This bitch is our fancy new ally?”
“Excuse me?” Rei shot back.
***************************
The walls of the shrine, like all old school Japanese buildings, were primarily wood and rice paper, and might’ve easily been toppled in upon themselves with a strong enough breeze. The two girls and the cat sat on the floor at a short table in a side room, and Serena noted the rich smell of polished wood and incense in the air as she shifted uncomfortably on her flat cushion, wishing the land of the rising sun had been more eager to trade with westerners if only to adopt the concept of furniture. To make her even more uncomfortable in the greatly outdated home of one of her least favorite human beings on Earth, the only sound inside the shrine was the trio of deafening voices they were greeted with before they left their shoes at the door. For wood and rice paper, the walls sure reflected sound well.
“And if they selling anything,” the shrill voice yelled, “tell them we not buying anything! We not have money to buy anything!”
“They aren’t salesmen, Grandma,” Rei said in the outer hall. “Don’t worry. I’m just bringing them tea and talking with them.”
“Make sure you be polite! You represent our family here!”
“Yes, Grandma, I know.”
Toshiro Mifune shouted something in his native language as Rei returned to her guests with a pot of tea and three stone cups. Grandma shouted urgently before he’d even finished.
“And no offer them our sake! It for special occasions! Not for foreigners!”
“Yes, I know, Grandma.”
“And no offer them cigarettes! No smoking in temple!”
“I don’t smoke, Grandma!”
She flung the door closed behind her with a swift kick and set the tray on the table. Her sigh made it pretty clear that this was how the family normally communicated and that she’d been at the job long enough to lose interest in greeting visitors with cheerfulness.
“Excuse my grandparents,” she said. “They scare a lot of our visitors away.”
“I’m sure they’re nice when you get to know them,” Amy said thoughtfully as she blew on her steaming cup. Rei scoffed and immediately began sipping her own scalding tea without any outward signs of pain.
“So what can I do for you?” she said with a little interest in the girls’ presence finally showing in her voice. “The meditation seminar’s over, you know.”
Serena cocked an eyebrow. “Believe me, if I’da known you were working here, I’da stayed in bed.”
“Yeah, well, don’t tell anybody. Modern Japanese kids thought I was weird enough doing this stuff back home. The gods know what white people would think of me. Probably tie me up and burn me at the stake.”
“Why do it if you don’t believe in it?” Serena said. As soon as she smelled the jasmine in the tea, which she adored, she eagerly began blowing on it. Amy noticed this and, giving her a knowing smile, stroked the lip of her friend’s cup with an icy finger and lopped ten degrees off in an instant.
“Didn’t say that,” Rei said. “You wouldn’t believe the impossibilities I saw at Grandpa’s house when I was a kid.”
“I doubt that,” said the cat with as much of a smile as a cat could express. “I’ve seen some pretty strange things, myself.”
Rei looked at the cat for close to five seconds without saying anything. Then she sipped her tea and remarked with the same composure as before, “So that was you in the library. Animals aren’t allowed on campus, I thought.”
“Oh, good,” Artemis said. “Someone who doesn’t go into emotional shock when I talk to them.”
“A shape-shifting fox that tried to seduce me when I was fourteen kinda beat you to that one,” Rei said, then addressed the annoying blonde. “What’s with the talking cat?”
“I’ve got two,” Serena said. “And they never shut up.”
Over the next hour, the white cat explained the reason for their visit and detailed his own background and that of the Silver Millennium, and eased her confusion about the monstrous strangers that made an attempt on her life in that dingy alleyway the day before, with additional comments from Serena as she saw fit. Amy, of course, sat and listened without saying much of anything. When everyone said all that needed to be said, the cat voiced his hope that she was following it all thus far, to which she responded with a thoughtful sigh and pouring another scalding cup of jasmine. Serena was surprised that the pot was still steaming after sitting for so long.
“Well,” Rei finally said after digesting it all for a couple minutes. “I can’t say I’m buying the whole bouncy-bubbly bimbo playing the savior of civilization…”
“Whore! AWK!” screeched a fourth voice from the ceiling, where Serena nearly would have ended up if she’d jumped a foot higher.
Even Artemis was somewhat frightened at the sight of two giant black birds perched in the rafters above the conversation, their heads cocked to one side so as to watch the larger creatures below them chatter amongst themselves as if they could understand every word. Artemis was perhaps more intimidated than the humans because the birds were large enough to carry him off like a field mouse.
“Jesus, how long’ve those been there?” Serena squealed.
“That's Phobos and Deimos,” Rei said offhandedly as she poured Amy another cup. “Childhood companions of mine. Deimos has a potty mouth. Excuse him.”
“He has a potty mouth?” Serena said. “I’m sure he’s not mimicking your grandpa.”
“Shut up.”
“The moons of Mars?” Artemis said, grabbing the miko’s attention from the blonde again.
“Yeah. Study astronomy, do you? Well-read cat.”
“Why name them after the twin moons of Mars, might I ask?”
“I dunno. I figured since I was born an Ares and since they’ve been orbiting me since that day, I’d name them accordingly. Why so interested?”
“Nevermind that for now,” the cat said, waving its paw in the way Serena had become accustomed to when talking with the black one. “What was that distress signal you sent from the library? Have you always been able to contact others spiritually?”
“Well, yeah, since I was a kid. Grandpa taught me how to channel my aura for others to hear, like I did before. But it’s easier with a flame. When I’m here, I just start a fire and I’m instantly connected with the spiritual plain. I guess I got stuck working here because I have a talent for it.”
Serena looked curiously around the room. “I don’t remember seeing a fireplace on the way in.”
Rei took another sip and stared into her cup for a moment. They said they'd come for her help, after all. Besides, one phenomenon for another seemed a fair trade, and a talking cat was pretty amazing to most folks. She put her teacup down and sat up straight in a proper prayer position.
“Promise you won’t tell anybody?” she said.
The house became very hot all of a sudden. A heatwave slapped Serena, Amy, and Artemis in the face as the room seemed to spontaneously combust, but rather than spreading and devouring the shrine in an instant the flames bundled together and compressed themselves into a basketball-sized sun; a tight, churning sphere of liquid flame now levitated three feet over the table. As everyone was preoccupied for obvious reasons, the boiling teacups went unnoticed.
Then there was the musty smell of smoke and the orb was gone. Rei downed her reheated tea and watched the astonished expressions of her guests as an amused smile crept across her lips.
“I use my talents a lot every day, but I try to be subtle about it in public.”
“You’re a pyrokinetic!” Amy said, reverted to her shocked little kid mode.
“A what?” said Serena.
“A firestarter. Person born with a mental power that enables them to make things spontaneously combust.”
A wry chuckle escaped from Rei’s chest.
“Wow,” she said. “A dozen bad memories just flashed in front of me at once…”
The cat never missed a beat. “Have you been seeing anything strange in your sleep lately, Miss Hino?”
Rei shook her head. “Nothing I haven’t come to expect. Since I started training here, I’ve seen all kinds of things.”
“Care to fill us in?”
Rei’s teacup stopped at her lips and hovered there for a few moments before she answered.
“Nothing like what you described about this kingdom of yours. If that’s what you’re implying.”
“Are you sure?” Artemis said.
The miko said nothing. She hesitated again before sipping her tea, and Artemis adopted an air of resolve. She was suddenly alert even before he mentioned the name of the Roman god of war and slaughter. Her eyes bulged and her mouth gaped.
“Wait, wait, wait,” she said. “You trying to tell me I’m some kind of reincarnation of a mythical warrior princess from an ancient dynasty on the moon? Just like these two?”
“That sounds about right,” the cat said with a nod.
Rei drank the rest of her tea and stood hastily to her feet.
“Alright,” she said. “Let’s go outside to talk about this.”
She didn’t even wait for anyone’s answer as her bold stride carried her to the shrine’s entrance.
“Why?” Serena said.
“I need a cigarette.”
******
In the Silver Millennium, the Oracle of the Dancing Flame’s reputation as the Sylvan Queen’s strategist was legendary. She was the first one to know when something was amiss thanks to her premonitions and her abilities as a seer, though rather than a pool of water or a crystal ball her scrying tool was the fire she summoned and commanded like a faithful dog to its master. To aid in her task of keeping her lords up-to-date on everything happening between the Sylvan and Black Moon kingdoms, her loyal winged servants, Phobos and Deimos, scouted the two lands daily, and reported anything that seemed out of place to their mistress. It had been centuries since Artemis had spoken to her last, but now it was undeniable: Considering the pyrotechnics from earlier, and considering the pesky ravens, the Asian maiden smothering her cigarette under her sandal with her ever-present scowl had proven her heritage. She had the same matter-of-factness about her character. Even Deimos’s potty mouth hadn’t changed.
Shaking her head, Rei placed a second cigarette between her lips and snapped her fingers, sparking a small flame on the knuckle of her right index finger. She lit up, then smothered the flame with her thumb while taking her first drag, and emitted a cloud of smoke with an unhappy sigh. She carried anger and melancholy in her eyes that was unfamiliar to Artemis. Mars was hard-headed, but even she could show signs of good humor that this girl simply refused to.
“I don’t know,” she said, ignoring the blonde’s childish exclamation at the Zippo trick. “I just don’t know…”
“About what?” the white cat said.
“That was so cool!” Serena said, once again ignored by the other two.
“About this whole legendary magical heroine thing,” Rei said.
Serena was insistent. “Can you do any other cool tricks like that lighter thingy?”
“Yeah. Watch this.”
Rei roughly slapped a slip of paper to Serena’s forehead, and the big-eyed blonde suddenly found herself unable to move any part of her body excluding her eyes and mouth. Naturally this displeased her somewhat and she let everyone know right away.
Rei, of course, ignored her and took another drag. “I mean, Grandpa put me through some nasty trials to train me as a miko. My soul grazed the surface of the abyss, I’ve cast demons back into hell, I’ve sealed an evil spirit in a cave, I’ve done a half dozen exorcisms on haunted buildings, I exorcised a spirit from somebody's cat once…Now you’re asking me to reclaim my long dead birthright as some warrior maiden in a tacky outfit who fights for justice by burning shit. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds fun and all…”
“I’m not offering you the choice to become a Silver Millennium Soldier,” Artemis said. “You are one. What’s better, you’ve already harnessed your elemental powers.” This was met with a roll of the eyes from the miko. “With a little practice, you can sharpen your skills and regain the power you had in the Silver Millennium in record time.”
“From the looks of things,” Rei chimed in with a snide smile, “I do have a choice this time around. And I choose college. Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Sailor Moon needs you,” Artemis said.
Rei chortled. “Yeah, I bet. Look at her.”
“I can still spit on you, you bedeviled skank!” the pigtailed statue hissed.
The scroll self-destructed in a puff of searing flame. Serena collapsed to the patio with a squeak and a scent of burnt hair, rubbing her face to make sure her eyebrows were still intact. Amy had gone as unnoticed as ever up until this point when her timid gasp reminded everyone that she was still breathing.
“You wanna try one that keeps you from talking?” the miko snapped.
“Damn witch…” Serena muttered as she rejected Amy’s offer to help her to her feet, and her insistence that she try to be more civil with their hostess.
Serena wasn’t finished with the unpleasant Asian girl, but the sight of an approaching black cat silenced her, if only to prevent a volley of bitter nagging from two black-haired sources.
“There you are,” Artemis said.
“Did you brief her on the situation?” Luna said with a friendly smile, such a sudden lapse of professionalism (for her, at least) that Artemis forgot what he was going to say.
“Yeah,” Rei said with little enthusiasm. “Neat little fairy tale, that. I’ll think about it. But right now, I got things to do in the shrine. And my normal life, come to think of it. The one where I don’t serve in a mythical army.”
The black cat presented Rei with a slender object tucked under her collar, embroidered with the Sylvan kingdom crest and the symbol of the red planet.
“Here, then,” Luna said. “This will summon the armor of Sailor Mars so long as you keep it on your person. Please hang on to it.”
The miko took the object reluctantly. She admired its craftsmanship and appraised it with the thought of paying the local pawn shop a visit.
“It also doubles as a pen,” Serena said with an exaggerated grin. “Neat, huh?”
The black cat didn’t bother saying anything and just snorted as she headed back to the shrine’s gates, gesturing for the rest to follow.
“Please, don’t take too long to let this sink in,” the white cat said. “The Dark Moon agents are on the move, and we’re struggling to keep up as it is. This isn’t a job offer. It’s your destiny.”
Rei smothered her cigarette and incinerated both the flattened butts on the porch. The breeze scattered the ashes and expelled the noxious odor.
“Sure, whatever,” she said without making eye contact. “Come back again. Nice to have company that doesn't scream at me all the time.”
She took up the broom just inside the front door and began to sweep away, pretending not to feel the cat’s desperate eyes following her. The next time she looked up, the whole party was already near the front gates, and neither cat was in sight.
“Chibi-chan?” Grandma shouted from inside. “Where are you? You out on front porch?”
“Coming, Grandma!”
The gruff voice of Grandpa Hino yelled angrily again, and his wife followed suit.
“You put that cigarette out this instant, you smoker!”
“I’m not smoking, Grandma! I don’t even have a lighter!”
Japanese voices reach pitches that most animals can’t emulate. Even while descending the stone steps leading to the shrine’s gates, Serena heard this exchange as if she were in the building with them. She shook her head and suddenly felt her relationship with her own family was considerably healthy.
Amy walked down the street gazing at her boots as she often did while lost in thought. Visions of pink and white trees and lush green grass swayed gently in her mind’s eye.
“So,” she said, “are we going to work with her?”
“Eventually,” Luna said, just as lost in her own thoughts. “Hopefully.”
Artemis laughed. “Hey, you remember how Mina was when we first tried to recruit her? If we succeeded there, we can convince anyone to join us.”
“Is this Mina chick Sailor V?” Serena asked. Amy looked up curiously.
“Sailor Venus?” Luna said. “Yes.”
“Cool! When do we get to meet her?”
“When you grow up,” Artemis said.
Serena made a face at him while Luna actually answered her question.
“At the moment, Venus has her own agenda. Once we’ve located one more Silver Millennium Soldier and formed an effective team, she will join you and act as your lieutenant as she did before.”
Luna’s mind returned to the disagreeable miko at the shrine, dreading all the future squabbling she would surely have with Serena if they did get the chance to work together; she was nothing like the quiet Anderson girl.
“I only hope the next one is more eager to aid our cause,” Luna added.
“She did seem a little irritated,” Amy said.
“What’s she like?” Serena said, still stuck on the previous subject.
“Worse than you are,” Artemis said.
“Y’know, you can just ask. I’d be more than happy to punt your furry butt across the street.”
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