In the past nine years, the acts of Tsukino Usagi and the rest of those Sailor brats had gradually been recognized by the rest of the world. By the time Tanzen had found the orphaned son of Safiiru and Petz, Sailor Moon was a renowned superheroine around the world. About that time, humans had finally created the means to colonize the moon and other planets. Sailor Moon was on the fast track to enjoying the same future that Tanzen had observed when Death Phantom had attacked the present Earth.
Jian-wa understood little of Tanzen�s plan. She tried to explain about Princess Serenity, who wasn�t born yet, but whom Tanzen had seen. She tried to explain to the young boy how she was going to prevent him from aging until the unborn princess was his age. He didn�t get it. But he would follow her orders.
Tanzen had saved him from a crummy foster home and told him information about the parents he didn�t really ever know. She had told him the �truth� about the Sailor Senshi � how they had mercilessly killed his father just after he had gotten Petz pregnant. Petz had been heartbroken by his death and ran off to China, where she had died, miserable and alone. All thanks to the same �superheroes� that were praised everywhere he went. It made him sick.
There was another reason he�d follow her orders without question. It was a bad idea to disobey Tanzen. She was some kind of general and did not like her orders questioned. She had never raised a hand to him, but he knew without question that if he disobeyed her, she would make his abusive foster dad look like a prince.
On the other hand, he was granted a great deal of freedom from Tanzen. As long as he was there when she wanted him, did what she told him, and didn�t get kicked out of school, he could pretty much do what he wanted. This might sound like all he did was run around with friends and get into trouble, but the requirement to stay in school was actually a very smart unseen control put on him by Tanzen. It required behaving in school and studying a lot, leaving not so much time for getting into trouble. Plus, he knew that if he got into serious trouble, say with the law, he�d be in a world of pain.
No, Tanzen was smart. She kept him on a short leash, while giving him the illusion of being allowed to do whatever he wanted.
Jian-wa knew on that particular day he was to be home directly. Tanzen had made it clear that today was instrumental to the entire plan. Today she was going to be able to unfreeze Jadeite. Jadeite had been encased in a crystal by Queen Beryl over a decade ago, but recently Tanzen had discovered a way of combining her own Negaverse magic with some old dark magic to lift Jadeite�s curse. The spell required Tanzen to transfer the �Eternal Sleep� to someone else temporarily � temporarily being at least a thousand years, after which only the caster or a powerful magic of the opposite type could unfreeze the victim. Knowing that Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask�s daughter would not be born for over a thousand years from now, and that the world would be frozen for a majority of that time, Tanzen was willing to sacrifice her most loyal servant for that.
In fact, it was the most perfect turn of events that Tanzen could have hoped for. She could only have dreamt that finding a cure for Jadeite would provide her with the knowledge of how to preserve Jian-wa to be Princess Serenity�s age when it came time for him to attack. Now it was just a spell away. She merely had to set events in motion towards the end.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jasper ran ahead and picked up the chair so Jian-wa could lay Mi-chan down in it. �Any ideas on how to find Neko-chan?� he asked solemnly.
Jian-wa shook his head. �You?�
Jasper grimaced. �I hate to say it, but I think we need Michiru-san. Even with Neko-chan unconscious, she should be able to find her, just as long as she�s focusing on Neko-chan, rather than� other things.�
�Yeah,� Jian-wa agreed reluctantly. Mi-chan was not going to be happy with either of them.
Jasper hesitated a moment, then put his hand over Mi-chan�s forehead. After a few seconds, he put the other on the right side of her neck, where Jian-wa had used the pressure point to knock her out.
�Um, I�ve never done this for this kind of� injury. It�s not working very well.�
Jian-wa didn�t know that much about how this supernatural healing worked, so he had no suggestions to give, but Jasper soon gave his own theory. �I�m sorry, Chang-san. It�s really hard to want to wake her up. I think my power knows that subconsciously I don�t want her to wake up and knock me senseless.�
�But, Neko-chan��
�Look, I know she�s at stake! I�m trying! Give me a minute!�
Jian-wa thought of the times he had seen or heard about Tenshi healing Neko, seeking a way to speed this up.
�Hey, try kissing her!�
Jasper gave him the most incredulous look ever. �I am NOT kissing her!�
Jian-wa gave an aggravated sigh. �On the forehead,� he clarified. *As if I�d be offering for anyone to kiss my girlfriend on the lips!?* �Tenshi-kun says it�s more efficient. Just� Just pretend she�s Neko-chan.� Jasper was still gawking at him. �Look, if it will get us that much closer to finding Neko-chan�. She�s not exactly ugly, you know! Just do it, already!�
Jasper pushed past Jian-wa, and at first Jian-wa thought he was going to bail, but instead, he went to the other side of the room and picked something up off the table there. Jian-wa recognized it as the tie Neko had worn to the rehearsal yesterday �as a joke,� with the dress she wore to the rehearsal dinner.
�I�ll do it, but I�m tying her hands up first.�
Jian-wa helped him and then backed up, quite eager to let Jasper be the first person Mi-chan saw if this worked.
He had expected Jasper to only be willing to peck her on the forehead, but to his surprise, Jasper�s kiss was actually a nice tender kiss to Mi-chan�s forehead. If he truly was imagining Mi-chan was Neko, Jian-wa could certainly see why Neko would get the idea of Jasper as her �big brother.�
Whether it was the kiss or Jasper imagining it was Neko or what, the trick worked, and Mi-chan opened her eyes just as Jasper ended the small kiss.
