Angel and Kat entered the smaller room and breathed a sigh of relief.
�Well, he was more persistent than I gave him credit for,� Angel said as she started to close the door.
�Oh, wait! Angel! Please don�t close that all the way?�
�Why? Afraid of the dark?� Angel�s voice was teasing, but as she hit the light switch, Kat could see that she was a little upset. It took her a second to figure out that she must have thought that Kat didn�t trust her. Although she was embarrassed by her irrational fear, Kat thought she should probably explain.
�I- I�m just kinda claustrophobic. So please don�t close the door, please.�
�Oh.� Angel relaxed a little. �Ok, I promise.�
�Thanks. And, uh, thanks for the dance lesson.�
Angel laughed. �No prob. It�s a shame, though, that we had to cut it short.�
�Well, that�s Joe for you. Hey, at least he knew you were a girl!�
Both looked away and blushed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Mitch tapped her foot impatiently. *Now where is that boy? Five minutes ago he was begging for my undivided attention and now he�s gone. Kat�s so right, boys are dumb!*
Her thoughts were interrupted by a crash and screams from the crowd. She looked up to see about six monsters shaped like musical instruments standing on the stage. �Holy smokes!� She scanned the quickly retreating crowd for her siblings. As soon as the crowd was cleared, they�d have to transform and fight.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Gaby just barely caught Joe before he managed to escape. �Hello Miss Starlight. Perhaps you�d be interested in fighting today.�
Joe looked back at the instrument monsters and shook his head. �Instrument monsters are bad. They make annoyingly loud and awful-sounding noises. I don�t want to imagine the sirens and bells that will come out of those things.�
�Look, I know that stuff gives you a headache and all, but best case scenario, we�ve got 6 v. 6. So you gotta stay!�
Joe recounted, but could only come up with five new Scouts (including the Knight). �Who�s the sixth one, again?�
�Well, I�m not sure, but Angel might be one.�
�How do you figure?�
Ha, Joe hadn�t realized that Angel was related to Uranus and Neptune. �Well, duh, being Sailor Uranus� son, don�t you think it�s possible that he might be a Knight� or a Starlight, I suppose.�
~*~*~*~*~*~
Joe smirked. Kat might have known, but apparently none of the rest of her family knew that Angel Tenoh was a girl. How funny! Watching their reaction to her transformation might be worth fighting against the yoma. A Knight? Whatever!
He looked bravely at the monster that most worried him � it was made from a synthesizer. He shivered but said, �Alright, let�s do it!�
~*~*~*~*~*~
Jian-wa entered the room silently and watched Kat and Angel on the other side. They were sitting on a table talking to each other, totally oblivious to his presence. Well, it was time to change that.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kat was jolted out of the deep conversation she and Angel were having by the click of the door shutting. She looked up panicking, but only found Jian standing at the front of the room. *That idiot! He knows I�m claustrophobic, why�d he do that?*
�J- Jian, wh- what are you doing here?�
~*~*~*~*~*~
Jian-wa had forgotten that Kat was claustrophobic. She had gone white the instant she had realized the door had shut.
That�ll make it easier. Just do it! Kill her now while she�s flustered and untransformed!
He ignored that command as he flung a throwing star at Angel instead.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kat didn�t even think about it. She instinctively reached out and caught the throwing star with her left hand before it hit Angel. She felt the searing pain as the star�s blades tore through her hand. But she managed to keep a hold on it, or rather, it lodged itself into her hand. She pulled it out (not quite a painless operation in itself) and threw it on the ground.
She jumped off the table attempting to put herself between Angel and Jian, and faced him. �Jian-wa,� she said in an angry almost-whisper, �what do you think you�re doing?!�
She felt Angel stand up behind her and take her wounded hand for support. That act alone made her feel better, but she still couldn�t comprehend what had just happened. It didn�t make sense. No amount of jealousy could possibly affect her best friend in this way, could it?
�J- Jian-wa?� she asked pitiably. She looked into his eyes and couldn�t believe what she saw there. It wasn�t jealousy. It was hatred.
It was evil.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The general frowned. The boy had disobeyed her and it might end up costing him later. *He should have attacked the Mizuno girl first, not the Tenoh girl. She doesn�t have any power.* She sighed.
Oh well, it didn�t really matter. Kat had taken the attack anyway. And the way things were going, even if the two in the room with him survived and took him out instead, it would be no problem to fight Sailor Eriks by herself later. There was no way the other four Sailor Scouts would survive fighting the six instrument monsters.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Angel felt as if she had been jolted out of a dream and set into a nightmare. Jian had apparently just snapped!
While keeping an eye on Jian, she tried to focus on Kat�s hand. It was bleeding a lot. She tried to put some pressure on it, but could tell that that hurt Kat more and she was reluctant to do that. Moving to Kat�s side, she took the wounded hand between both of hers and just held it. She didn�t know why, but for some reason she felt as if she were actually helping by doing this.
She glared at Jian-wa. How dare he hurt Kat like that!
~*~*~*~*~*~
How dare he glare at him like that! As if he were the bad guy here!
That�s right! Don�t let her act as if she�s better than you. That�s how they justify everything they do. But you know better.
For a second Jian-wa was confused. She? Then it dawned on him, of course. Angel looked so much like her mother, how could he not have known. And they hadn�t bothered to correct him either, had they?
Just another lie. Another betrayal.
Enraged, he sent off an attack.
~*~*~*~*~*~
