Things Aren't Good

[Seiya Kou]

It was late in the afternoon. The crows were flying about randomly, landing in trees or landing on the ground to look for food. The Hikawa Shrine was quiet...Except for the rushed footsteps of a worried girl that quickly rushed up the stairs to the shrine.

Mizuno Ami passed the crows as she made it to where she could find Rei. She panted lightly. She had to tell Rei of the new enemy and what she had researched at the library. She knocked on the door, ringing the bell a few times.

[Sailor Mars]

"Hai, hai, I'm coming." Rei said, and sure enough a few moments later she was opening the sliding door, in her full red and white preistess robes. "Oh, Ami-chan!" Rei was slightly surprised. It was unlike the reserved Mizuno Ami to knock or ring the bell multiple times, and more unlike Ami to see that she looked like she had been running. That is, unless...

Rei put any bad idea to the back of her head for now. "I haven't seen you in a bit. What's up?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

[Seiya Kou]

"There's a new evil lurking within the city..." Ami said softly, looking up at Rei. She held books in her arms, books that didn't look like they'd be in a normal library.

[Sailor Mars]

"Sou na!" Rei says, her eyes filled with surprise and concern. She poked her head out of the door- looked left, looked right, and slunked back into the house. "I think you'd better come in." Rei says, her demeanor having changed with Ami's eight words. Her eyes paused momentairily to the books that the blue-haired girl wat clutching.

[Seiya Kou]

Ami entered the temple, hearing the door slide shut behind her. "It has to do with family members of Misaki Leahshi." She started, walking to the table and setting the books down. "Leah's sister came to her house, where I met Taiki and Leah's daughter, Maria, as well...And told us of a new darkness known as Dark Rhapsody."

[vexzel]

(( I hope you don't mind if I...... ))

Yoko had caught a glipse of Ami rushing up the stairs as she approached the shrine. She had made it a habit to come here frequently, as it seemed to keep her thirst for blood in check. But there were more important things on her mind. Yoko had been feeling poerful waves of familar dark energy latly, this lead her to a disturbig thought.

Yoko climbed the stairs as Ami began rigning the doorbell. After the two girls were distracted talking Yoko quietly moved close enoguh to overhear what they were saying. Though because this news from Ami seemed so urgent Yoko simply waited for them to finish discussing it.

[Sailor Mars]

"Dark Rhapsody..." Rei murmured. She didn't know all that much about Leah, but learned a little from bits and pieces from the senshi's conversation. "What did she tell you?" Rei asked slowly. "Did she know much?"

[Seiya Kou]

"She told us about how the boy was being controlled by his father, I think." Ami looked at the books, biting her lip. "I did some research and found that this boy, Rhapsody, is the only son of the King and Queen of Kuiper."

[vexzel]

Yoko kept listening, so far this sounded pretty bad. Though by now Yoko was certain of something. These two girls had some connection to the sensshi, otherwise they wouldn't speak so openly of these matters.

If Vexzel revives while this Dark Rhapsody is still here things could get very ugly. Yoko thought. Yet she stayed silent for now continueing her eavesdropping.

[Sailor Mars]

Rei gasped. "You're kidding. Controlled by his father?" Rei paused, thinking for a moment. "Why, do we know? Is he coming to such an age that...he might be able to overthrow the thrown?" There was another silence in which both the girls didn't speak for a moment. neither of them having been to Kuiper, they didn't have nearly the experience of a native like Leah or Rhapsody- and the latter apparently was in no condition to tell them anything.

All of a sudden, Rei stood up for a moment, staring fixedly at the door. She whirled around to face Ami and pressed a finger to her lips urgently. Rei closed her eyes, concentrating. She could sense that there was the trace of a tainted aura -though not totally evil, that was for sure- around her.

"There's someone out there," Rei mouthed to Ami. Rei's mind was racing. Who was it? Was it Dark Rhapsody or some other enemy, spying or eavesdropping or worse? Or was it only Yoko, the resident dormant vampire?

[Seiya Kou]

Ami slipped her hand into her pocket, gripping her pen lightly. She didn't want to fight anymore...There was supposed to be just peace since the destruction of Chaos...But there was just even more darkness in the world.

[vexzel]

Yoko's aura had been gradually growing darker, and it was about that time when she got the thirst for blood again. Fortunatly that was in check at the moment. Woko quietly stepped into view. "I hope I'm not interupting anything, but there is something I need to warny ou about Rei." Yoko's voice was a bit colder than usual.

[Sailor Mars]

"Eh?" Rei turned around to see Yoko, but Rei's releif was fleeting. What had Yoko heard? Was it Rei's imagination, or could she feel that Yoko's aura definitely wasn't as pure as their last meeting? "Yoko, what's wrong?" Rei asked sharply.

[vexzel]

The Darkness in Yoko's aura began steadly growing more intense. By the time she spoke it felt as though she was one little push away from becoming a vampire. "Heh heh heh heh............ your so dense because of that senshi aura. Our master is about to return, or did you forget Lord Vexzel?" Yoko's eyes had now turned blood red, and a second aura was begining to form in her shadow.

[Seiya Kou]

Ami stepped back. Vexzel already knew their identities so it wouldn't hurt to henshin. She held her pen in the air, the pen growing around her fingers. "Mercury Crystal Power, Make UP!"

Cold water and ice bubbles surrounded her as she gained her henshin, turning into Sailor Mercury.