Lunar Succession Author: ~Heartless Spirit~ Disclaimer: I don't own SM or GW. I DO own Dederi, so no stealin'! ====== Lunar Succession ====== Chapter 4-Sharing Secrets ====== The senshi, excluding Dederi, and Nova stared in awe as they stood outside Quatre's massive mansion. The outer walls were a light adobe orange, and the victorian windows accented them nicely. The red and white rose bushes lined the brick walkway, glistening with excess water from the 2:00 pm sprinklers, which had been activated an hour ago, meaning it was now about 3:00 pm. Duo put his hands in his pockets and walked into the mansion. "Man, it's good to be home. I'm exhausted." His cobalt eyes showed fatigue and weariness. After Quatre briefed the girls on where everything was, bedrooms, courtyards, recreation, etc., the pilots asked if they could ask a few questions about where they were from and why they were here. Duo was sitting placidly on the plush, beige leather sofa, next to Setsuna, Haruka, Michiru, Ami, and Rei. Makoto and Minako were sitting in the other couch with Trowa and Quatre, and Hotaru sat on a recliner. Heero leaned on the wall left from the brick fireplace next to Wufei, and Dederi leaned on the oak doorframe while Nova sat on the ground a few feet away from her. Heero spoke in his usual monotone voice. "Who are you exactly? Why did you come here?" Setsuna replied, "We are the sailor senshi from another dimension similar to yours." Then, out of nowhere, the Time Key quickly matterialized into her right hand. The guardian of time stood up. "To further explain, look at the Garnet Orb." The Garnet Orb atop the staff glowed a bright purple and enveloped the five pilots. It flashed images of the Moon Kingdom, the respective planets, the enemies they have faced, and the Moon princess, Serenity. After the "vision" was over, the pilots blinked in suprise and disbelief, even Heero slightly twitched. Setsuna put away her staff. "Now do you understand who we are?" All the pilots nodded. Duo blinked. "S-so you mean to tell us t-that you're all princesses?!" Minako winked. "Yeah." Dederi burst out laughing, her strong voice echoing throughout the study. "Except me, Venus. Except me." "Why not?" Quatre asked cautiously. "If all of them are princesses, why aren't you?" Dederi turned away, still laughing. But her voice turned serious and she stared right at Quatre. "I was the personal bodyguard of the Moon princess. No royalty is within my blood. And I must say, I am grateful my previous profession is over." Makoto stood up and growled. "What the heck do you mean by that, you murderer?!" Dederi glared, but not moving. "I mean I am glad I do not protect that weakling of a princess any longer." "Why you.." Makoto tightened her fists. "Usagi was a great leader and a great princess! She's way better than the likes of you!" Dederi laughed. "Need I remind you that I am only here because of Luna-sama and Artemis-sama? You think I would want to be near weaklings like yourself? I think not." "I'm going to kill you, you homocidal goth!" Makoto ran over and attempted to punch Dederi on her stomach, but Dederi evaded effortlessly. The raven-haired assassin sighed in annoyance. "No skill. And I thought you would be a match for me, Jupiter. I will not fight you." She walked away. Makoto attempted to jump-kick her when she turned her back. Dederi closed her eyes and Makoto flew back onto the wall a few feet away from where Heero stood. Dederi growled. "Don't come close. You will die if you attempt to kill me. I do not want to kill those I was not sent to kill." And with that, Dederi walked into the hallway and pushed the light glass doors open and into the mansion courtyard. [Unless, of course, they get in my way.] Haruka stood up and hit the oak table in front of her. "How dare she do that! She had no right!" "What I am wondering is, why would she tell us not to come close?" Quatre asked as he assisted Minako in helping Makoto up and onto the couch. "And how could Ms. Kino not kick her when Dederi turned her back?" Nova stood up. [Dederi..] She was about to walk out of the room to follow Dederi when a hand was put on her shoulder. She sighed and looked down. "What do you want, Mercury?" She turned. Ami had a worried expression on her face. "You seem to know something none of us know, Nova-kun. I am wondering what it is." "I cannot tell, gomen ne." Ami took her hand off Nova's shoulder. "Why not?" Nova smiled sadly to Ami. "I am very sorry, Mercury. I cannot. For if you found out, Dederi would have my head." She turned and left, leaving the rest of the senshi and pilots to wonder what she meant. "Those two seem very different from the rest of you." Trowa pointed out. "Why didn't those two appear within that vision, Setsuna-kun?" Setsuna sighed. "Nova is not of the Silver Millenium, and Dederi was not an important part of the Moon Kingdom's history until now." "What do you know about Youhko?" Heero queried. Michiru looked out the window. "We do not know of anything dealing with this Youhko, but we do know that he was the cause of Serenity-hime's untimely and mysterious death. Dederi-kun somehow has a connection with Youhko. She has visions of what Youhko does, such as traveling dimensions or when he enters someone's body and destroys their soul." Something suddenly clicked in Hotaru's head. [I feel evil..] Then she figured it out. "Oh no..." She hurriedly jumped over the couch and ran out the courtyard door. The pilots narrowed their eyes and followed, as did the senshi. Dederi sighed as she leaned against the blossoming cherry blossom tree. [So peaceful...] "But what am I going to do.. Peace will never last. I have to kill." "And that you shall." An eerie voice called in front of her. "Although, you will not kill me." "Y-Youhko." Dederi stuttered. [Kuso. I was right.] "Yes." Youhko, in his current state, had brown hair that went down to his shoulder blades and dark hazel eyes. He wore a black vest, pants, and boots, with white gloves. His right gloved hand glowed a mysterious black light. "You will not meddle in my affairs any longer, Dederi. You will die." He raised his right hand and threw black energy blasts at Dederi. Dederi quickly blocked them. "You're losing your touch, Youhko." Youhko chuckled. "No I haven't." Youhko raised his left hand and a energy shard pierced into Dederi's wounded shoudler. "Aaagh!" Dederi stumbled to the ground. [No..I can't die..] She lifted her head. Her body was smothered in her blood. "..You..will not get away.." Dederi lifted her hand and drew forth a black and red ki blast and shot it towards Youhko, who winced in pain. He had not expected that attack at all. Dederi the fell onto her right side and her dark raven eyes glazed over... "DEDERI-KUN!!!" Hotaru ran out the courtyard. She saw a man dressed in a black army suit. "You must be Youhko." Youhko laughed. "Yes, Sailor Saturn. Unfortunately, I must take my leave." Youhko disappeared, his menacing laugh echoing throughout the courtyard. Hotaru hurriedly ran over to her fallen 'leader' and examined her wound. The black and red blood ran freely down her sides, but so far there had been no infection or worse. "She fainted." The other pilots and senshi ran out and surrounded Hotaru and Dederi, who now lay unconscious in Hotaru's arms. "What happened?" Rei asked. [Grr..I'm gonna kill whoever did this. Even if she is a murderer.] "Dederi was attacked." Hotaru answered. Nova jumped down from the tree. "Youhko did it." Hotaru glared at the caucasian girl. "Why didn't you help her?" "Simple. Dederi went outside to see what the disturbance was. She had sensed Youhko way before you did, Hotaru. So, I followed her. But before Youhko matterialized, Dederi ordered me to jump up the tree so she wouldn't be seen. I argued with her, but she-" "Shut up, Nova, before I have to kill you." A voice below Hotaru scoffed. Duo leaped back. "Y-you-" Dederi laughed. "Yes, Maxwell. I'm conscious. Now give me some space so I can get up." Hotaru let go of Dederi's shoulders as she got up. Her legs were weak and she staggered a bit, but otherwise she was fine. "Nova, you didn't get caught, did you?" "No.." "Good." Dederi nodded. "Let's get inside, alright?" Ami supported Dederi. Dederi grunted as she went back to her old self. "Get off me, Mercury." Dederi pushed her off. Ami nearly fell, but was saved by Nova's left arm. Nova pushed her slowly back up. Nova grinned. "You must realize that it will take quite some time for us to trust you, Mercury." Dederi turned around and walked back into the mansion with Nova. Nova and Dederi walked into the kitchen to get a cold cloth to clean Dederi's wounds. Nova sighed. "You know, just because we are partners doesn't mean you have to take shots and energy blasts to save me all the time." Dederi wouldn't answer. She refused to say that she cared about Nova because she was her only friend, because then she would be showing a weakness. Nova re-wrapped Dederi's shoulder. "Fine, you don't have to answer. But tell me; why did you decline that mission when you were at the hospital?" "I do not know, Nova-kun." Meanwhile, the gundam pilots sat in the living room, talking about the two girls who claimed to be on 'missions'. The five sat down on the plush couches as they ignored Duo's musings. "Man, those girls are hot! And I mean, all of them!" Duo exclaimed. Wufei sighed. "Kisama. They're all just weak onnas." "Aww, Wu-man. You gotta admit those are some fine chicks." Wufei didn't answer. "What I am wondering is, why are those other girls so hostile to Dederi and Nova? They are kind to us, but angry to them." Trowa asked. Quatre shook his head, his platinum locks shifting. "I don't know. You asked that question before, but I've never seen any reason why. I mean, I can see that Dederi really is a good person. Like that time Heero meant to shoot Nova but Dederi pushed her out of the way to take the shot." "Well, you gotta admit. Dederi isn't as friendly as the others." Duo added. "She's very cold-hearted to people other than her partner, and she almost always glares at the other senshi." Quatre said. "And she seems like she's dedicated to her work, whatever that is." "And she's very good with a sword, much to my suprise." Wufei said. Duo looked down. "If you out these characteristics together it almost seems as if-" "As if she was the 'perfect soldier'." Trowa finished. "That onna is pretty good, I must admit." Wufei admitted. Duo laughed. "Did Wu-man just compliment a girl?" "My name is Wufei, Maxwell!" Wufei took out his katana and began to swipe at him. Duo cried as he ducked behind the couch. All the while, Heero didn't say anything. Dederi and Nova walked out to the living room, only to find five pairs of eyes staring at them. "What?" Nova asked. Heero glared. "Who do you work for?" Dederi sighed in annoyance. [Rozielle will have my head for this.] "We work for the Romeclyst Prevention. In our dimension, we are the top two assassins in the world." [I was right. Dederi IS a perfect soldier.] Duo sweatdropped. [Just great. Another Heero to deal with.] "Why are the others so hostile to you?" Quatre asked. Dederi smirked at their random questions of partnership between her and the other senshi. She thought it was rather fun. But, she'd rather be alone. She was used to it that way. Dederi shifted her gaze to the corridor to the right of her. [The training room is down that corridor. I'm out of shape.] She turned back to the six pairs of eyes awaiting her answer. "They think of me as unfit to have the title of Sailor Moon and keeper of the Imperium Crystal. On the contrary, they see me as impurity itself." That was that. She then bowed, then turned and walked towards the right corridor to find the training room. The caucasian bowed also and followed after Dederi. [Dederi's more hostile than usual. Damnit, what's wrong now?] Duo looked at her fleeting form. [Man, she's hot.] Dederi turned the brass handle of the cherry-oak door that lead to the training room. She smirked as she walked inside, her leather cloak wafting mysteriously along the wind that the door gave off when she closed it. [It's not half as good as I expected it to be. Hmph. Romeclyst's training facilities are way better than this second rate crap.] She took off her leather cloak and scarlet-red tank top. All that covered her now was her chest bindings and bandages, along with her long black pants. Dederi sat on a wooden bench and put her cloak and shirt aside. She took off her black boots and socks. The metallic 'clink' of the two daggers she hid in her two boots rang throughout the room as she tossed them aside. The raven-haired assassin stood up and walked over to five pale-blue lockers that rested behind her. She put her hand to her chin as she looked over them. They had the five pilots' names engraved on the top. [Hmm. Which pilot would have the best training gear?] She took her left fist and harshly punched the blue locker with the name "Yuy Heero" engraved on it. Her punch left a fist-sized hole in the center of the metal, causing the door of it to crash down. Dederi caught the destroyed metal locker door and tossed it aside. She could use that metal later. [Ah, there's what I need.] Dederi rummaged through Heero's belongings and scraps of crooked metal. She pulled out boxing tape (AN: I forgot what it's called. ^^;). Dederi pulled off about two pieces of the black rosin-powdered tape, three and a half feet long each. She wrapped each of them around her hands. She clapped her hands together to test how much rosin would cloud up. [Just as I thought. Perfect.] Dederi threw the leftover roll of boxing tape into the plastic garbage can next to the lockers. She looked around some more. [Two punching bags, one boxing ring, one balance beam, two iron weight-lifting machines, and an indoor swimming pool in the next room. Kuso, even Kinzoku has better equipment. Oh well, I'll deal with it.] She walked over to one of the red punching bags and began beating the crap out of it. Nova sighed as she opened the oak door to find Dederi standing over a large pile of sand and red leather. [Nani yo..Can't she control herself? It's not even her property.] She walked over to her partner and looked down at the pile of dust. "You can't take it easy, can you?" Dederi remained quiet, although she scowled fiercely as she began to pound the second punching bag into a pulp. Nova looked over at the pale blue lockers as Dederi continued. "And you can't take any consideration to other people's property, either." She continued punching the red bag. "I don't care what happens to anyone else, or their belongings." "You mean, besides your Romeclyst partner." Dederi grinned. "Hai. If you died, I would have to find another partner that I could decently spar with." Nova let down her hair at that moment, her brown-with-blond- highlights locks flowing down to her shoulder blades. She ran her fair-skinned hand through her highlighted tresses, letting the feel of her feather light hair caress her fingers. "True." Dederi jump-kicked the top of the punching bag. Nova sat down on the wooden bleachers, the smell of old, used pine going through her nostrils. She settled her elbows to her knees and looked down. "So what do we do now?" Dederi punched through the center of the bag, excess grains of sand sifting through the hole and down the sides of the leather- like material. She was suprised it hadn't fallen down yet. Dederi continued to punch. "Rozielle told me to destroy Chang. I have denied the mission. She has not told me further information, nor orders." Outside the doors of the training room, the five Gundam pilots peeked through the crack of the doorway and listened to the two girls' conversation. "Ow! Get your foot off mine!" Duo whined to Wufei, who purposely stepped on the braided-baka's foot. "Be quiet, Duo. I can't hear what the two are saying." Heero glared. Wufei mumbled something about killing Duo. "We shouldn't be doing this.." Quatre said. Ironically, though, he looked through the crack of the doorway with interest. "..." Trowa, in other words, didn't say anything. Duo noticed the fallen punching bag. "D-d-don't t-tell m-me t-t-hat-t s-s-she d-did t-that..!?" He eyed the raven-haired girl who continued to repeatedly punch the second bag. [Eep. Okay, I'm scared now...] Nova bit her lip. "When are we going home?" "As soon as possible." Nova ceased biting her lip as a small trail of blood trickled down her chin. "Dederi-kun..what would Rozielle say if I didn't want to completely go home?" Dederi stopped punching and kicking and closed her eyes. "She would say what a foolish decision you were making and you should stay by Romeclyst. But why would you want such a thing? To stay in a dimension you do not belong in?" "I..am.." Nova mumbled. [No use hiding it..] "I am..attracted to one of the Gundam pilots.." Dederi turned around, an astonished and furious look on her pale face. "You what?!" Instantly, she calmed down. Her shoulders calmed, and she turned back to immediately punching the nearly-destroyed bag. "Which one." "Pilot 02; Duo Maxwell." Dederi smiled a rare smile at her. But, it looked more like a sad smile. "I wish I could understand such human emotions." Nova, in turn, returned a sad smile. "But you are 1/3 human, aren't you? What's the difference? You still have human emotions." "You know the truth. 1/3 youkai. 1/3 dragon. 1/3 human. Full version of youkai and dragon, but the only thing human about me is my first and human form." "Still, you have, somewhat, a human heart." "Hn. Doesn't matter. I wish to understand emotions, not have them, Nova-kun. You know that." Nova smirked. "So you wish to protect, but remain heartless. Tell me, do you feel some attraction to one of the pilots as well, Dederi-kun?" Dederi jerked backwards, heat flooding her cheeks. Back behind the large wooden doors, the five pilots stood motionless. Dederi was a youkai AND a dragon but only one-third human? Duo, although furiously blushing because of Nova's previous confession, stared wide-eyed as he listened closely to the rest of the conversation, as did the other pilots. "I-I am an assassin. I have no such feelings." Dederi motioned Nova with her left hand to change the subject as she turned around, as to hide her red cheeks. Nova grinned slyly as she rested her chin on her palms. "Hey, even assassins have social lives. Look at me, I'm one of the two top assassins in the world and I just confessed I was attracted to someone." Dederi coughed. Nova growled. "Dederi.." Dederi put her hands up in defeat. "Fine, fine. I'll tell you. But if you reveal what I am about to say to ANYONE," She paused and took out her .45 calibur rifle out of no where. "You're dead." Nova nodded. She was used to Dederi's threats at gunpoint. Dederi whispered into Nova's ear. "The one I have feelings for is-" She lowered her voice and told the name. Dederi then walked back towards the punching bag to train. "Happy now?" Nova blinked. "Why do you like him? He's so defensive and, well, sure he's cute but-" Dederi just shrugged. "I don't know. I told you I don't know human emotions. I'm not even sure if I even DO like him. But it doesn't matter. We'll be back in our dimension as soon as we finish our task and destroy that soul-sucking scum into oblivion." ====== AN: PHEW! What a LOONG chapter. Are ya ppl happy? ^_^ AN2: Oh, btw. PLEASE email me for the couples..NEED HELP! All I need is the pairings for Heero, Trowa, and Wufei. PLEASE EMAIL ME, m'kay? Email: ketsekiburade@hotmail.com (btw, i changed my email address so don't be confused. I'm not using dragonsbane013@hotmail.com anymore, so don't bother emailing me using that address.)