SAILOR MOON: DARK JEWEL
by: Marie Kelly
CHAPTER 5



	"Usagi?" There was a light rapping at the door. "Usagi...dear.  
Open up, please. It's your mother."
	Usagi closed her eyes, though it didn't make much difference. Open. 
Closed. She still saw the same thing. Still saw Sailor Venus...Minako...
dying.  Still saw her body disappearing.
	"Usagi? Is anything wrong?"
	She had never known Minako; never gotten a chance to discover her   
personality. All she knew was that Minako appeared to be a rather kind, 
sweet,  fun-loving girl. {We would have had fun,} Usagi thought. {I know we 
would have.} She rolled over and pressed her face hard against the pillow, 
as  though that would stop the tears that would, inevitably, pour out. She 
could  no more stop crying at will than she could stop her heart from 
beating.  Perhaps some could, but Usagi was not blessed with either of 
those abilities. 
	The knocking continued. "Usagi?"
	"I'm busy, Mama."
	"Usagi...have you been crying? Let me in."
	"Mama!" Usagi snapped. "I said I'm busy! Please--leave me alone!"
	There was an audible intake of breath. "Usagi, why won't you tell me 
what's wrong?"
	"Nothing's wrong, Mama."
	"But--"
	"Mama, please. I'm fine. There's nothing you can do. Please, I want
to be by myself."
	"Usagi, something's wrong, and I think I know what it is."
	Usagi gasped, touching her locket instinctively. How--could-- was 
it possible her mother knew that *she* was Sailor Moon? Knew what had 
happened? But how?  Hadn't she done a good enough job of keeping it secret? 
What had gone wrong?
	"Please, open up and talk to me. You've been upset for a week.  Why 
don't you talk to her?"
	"What?" Usagi's face and voice both registered confusion. How could 
she talk to Minako? Minako was dead. Unless her mother happened to be 
referring to something else entirely.
	"I'm certain it's nothing that can't be handled. You and Naru have 
been best friends for years. I would hate to see you break up like a silly 
little fight."
	"Silly little fight?" Usagi sat up and parroted her mother's words. 
That meant...her mother...did *not* know. Usagi walked silently over to the 
door, and opened it. "Mama," she whispered. "That's--" She paused, and  
cleared her throat, anguish visible on her face. Usagi could not believe it. 
She had been about to reveal everything. She breathed deeply, praying that 
she would not suffer from such a lapse of judgment ever again. "That's true,
mama. It's not such a big deal."
	That much wasn't a lie. Usagi supposed that she and Naru had had a
fight, of sorts. They hadn't talked to each other in the past week. But  
Usagi hardly noticed that; Naru's strange behavior didn't matter.
	"Oh, Usagi. I hate to see you so upset. Perhaps if I talked to 
Naru's mother--"
	"NO!" Usagi shouted. "You can't do that! You'll embarass me! 
Please, Mama!"
	"Usagi..."
	"Mama," Usagi wondered. "Why? Why are you doing this? You never 
talk to me. Not like this," she amended.
	"I'm worried about you. I do love you, Usagi, and I want you to be 
happy. You seem so sad. Usagi--" Mrs. Tsukino held her daughter's chin in  
her hands so that her their eyes met. "I don't think I know you anymore."
	{Yes, Mama,} agreed Usagi with a tinge of sadness. {You don't.}

	"Where is she?" the voice was harsh, and impatient. Long, slender   
fingers tapped impatiently upon the the wood of the shrine. The speaker 
blew dark bangs out of her eyes with a heavy puff of air. 
	"Rei, relax. She's not that late."
	"Not that late!" Hino Rei snapped at the tall girl in front of  
her. 
	"Only an hour! What--does she think this evil doesn't matter?" She 
began pacing the grounds. "She should be here! What right does she have to 
skip on our meetings."
	"I'm here." Normally the voice would have been cheery, and   
accompanied by heavy breathing, that of one running. This time it was  
different, however. This time the voice was flat, and the breathing  was 
normal...as though she had merely walked here. 
	Rei didn't appear to notice this, though, as she marched up to the 
pigtailed girl and put her face in hers. "What...do you think you can march 
in here late? Who do you think you are?"
	"I don't want to be here," muttered Usagi. "So you can just leave 
me alone."
	"Wha--" Rei sputtered. "What right do you think you have to march in 
an hour late and--"
	"Bitch." The word was soft, yet crystal clear. Rei's jaw dropped,   
and both Makoto  and Ami registered shock on their faces. Usagi continued,  
not caring what the others thought of her. "Minako-chan is dead. Maybe all 
of you can get over it in a week, but I can't!"
	"Oh, come off it," Rei snorted. 
	"Rei-chan...Usagi-chan..." Ami spoke quietly, holding out one hand 
slowly, as an attempted moderatation. She *knew* Rei was correct--as did 
Makoto-but if she wanted Usagi to see it, she would have to work on her 
diplomacy  a bit more.
	"You hardly knew Minako! You were about as close to her as any of us!
Don't act like you've lost your soul!"
	Usagi blanched at that reference, turned, and ran away. 
	"Oh, dear," commented Ami, shaking her head. "Rei, please, you 
really should learn to be a bit more diplomatic."

	She sat on the swings, slightly pushing her toe in the dirt, yet 
not attempting any more movement than that. "Don't act like you've lost 
your soul!" Rei's words came unbidden to her, and she felt the bile rise up 
in her chest. She swallowed rapidly, both to keep from crying and from 
throwing up. 
	"Usagi?" Usagi felt the gentle pressure of a hand on her shoulder.
	"Go away."
	Instead of obeying her wishes, the girl simply sat down next to  
the swing. "Usagi-"
	"I said go away. Please..."
	"Usagi, please, Rei didn't mean it."
	"She was right."
	"What?" Makoto was confused. "Usagi-chan, if you know that then 
why are you--"
	"She was right." Usagi continued. "I wasn't close to Minako.  I   
admired her as Sailor V, but that means nothing."
	"Usagi-chan..." Makoto didn't know why all she could say was her 
friend's name. It pained her greatly to see her friend so depressed. 
	"But she didn't have to be such a bitch! Doesn't she care! Don't 
any of you care?"
	Makoto knew a chance, and took it. "Usagi-chan, we care deeply. 
This  has upset all of us."
	"But Rei's so mean! She doesn't care at all!"
	"Not true." Makoto shook her head. "Rei cares." 
	"So why doesn't she show it? Why doesn't she cry?"
	Makoto paused. "I don't know. Maybe it's because she's a Sailor  
Senshi."
	"That makes her cold and unfeeling?"
	"No," whispered Makoto, slowly. "That makes her able to handle  
grief." Makoto felt a pressure against her eyelids, yet she refused to 
give in to them, to let the tears fall. "That makes all of us more able 
to handle grief."
	"I'm a Sailor Senshi," whispered Usagi. "Why can't I--" Her voice 
broke off, as sobs racked her body. Makoto went up to her, attempting to 
give  a comforting embrace."I don't know," she whispered, for that was the 
only answer that could be given to Usagi's unfinished query.
	"When Rei said...Rei said...I do feel like a part of me has died! 
I never knew her--Rei's right--but, there was something about her! She 
seemed to be me! Like I could be...if I only tried hard enough. I died 
then."
	Usagi suddenly sat up. Why had she said that? How could Makoto 
possibly  understand?
	"I know what you mean," Makoto whispered softly. "I've had parts 
of me die before. When that happens, you can either let the rest of you
die, or you can...you can do things which create new life from the old,
dead life."
	"I don't understand."
	"My mother was a wonderful cook," Makoto continued, almost to 
herself. "My dad ran a rather successful housecleaning business."
	"Mako-chan..." Usagi was beginning to understand.
	"I try to emulate them as best I can. But, that's not important. 
Cooking. Cleaning. It's all outside fluff.  If I don't remember the kind 
of people they were. I have to do my best to remember their legacy."
	"I think I understand," Usagi whispered. 
	"You can't mourn Minako like this. None of us can. Cry. But at 
night, where no one can see you. Mourn, but don't let it cloud your 
judgment."
	"Minako fought...as Sailor V...as Sailor Venus," thought Usagi,
out loud. Makoto nodded. "I...I have to keep her legacy alive. Perhaps 
then I can bring back that part of me? And it will be like she's still 
here." She smiled through her tears at Makoto.
	Makoto smiled back. "Perhaps so," she said, falsely cheerful. 
"Come on, I bet you're hungry. What say I get you something to eat?" Makoto 
hated lying like this--she knew that it would not be as though Minako were 
alive;  she still felt the death of her parents, despite all her attempts 
to emulate them.; Yet, she knew with  greater accuracy that the healing 
process must begin, and Usagi would  need all the positive encouragement 
she could get.
	And she would need her friends. Makoto vowed to stay with Usagi, 
no matter what.


	"Well now, doesn't *that* sound like a bad sappy movie," Naru 
sneered in disgust as she watched Usagi and Makoto walk away. "What a 
wonderful  friend this 'Mako-chan' is. Look at how she has managed to  
comfort Sailor Moon." A cruel smile played upon her lips. "It is apparent  
now who the next  to die will be."
	"Naru! Naru!" The over-eager, super-nerdy voice drove her 
crazy. "There you are!"
	"Umino." Naru plastered a big, fake smile on her face, and turned 
around. "My...how lovely it is to see you tonight! What are you doing here? 
Never mind! How would you like to come to my place? You would! Perfect!" 
Naru did not wait for Umino to reply as she grabbed him by the lapel and 
began scooting him towards her voice.
	"Naru!" Umino managed. "I came her to talk to you about something 
very important!"
	"What?" The boy certainly had nerve. 
	"It's Usagi."
	"So?" Naru sniffed disdainfully. "Am I supposed to care about her?"
	"Well..." Umino felt a bit of fear. No, he corrected himself.  
Apprehension. He could never feel fear when he was around Naru. "She's your 
best friend."
	"Not any more." Naru spoke the truth. "She has other friends.  
Besides," There was a note of bitterness in the voice, "We've changed.  
We've grown apart. We're simply not friends."
	"But you've been friends for so long!"
	"So!" snapped Naru. "I've grown up. She hasn't." Not quite the 
truth...Usagi had done a remarkable lot of growing that day. "Our friendship 
is in the past. Let's go home."
	"Naru--" Umino didn't like the way his girlfriend was acting. 
	"Didn't you hear me? I want to go home!" snapped Naru.
	A strange feeling told Umino to be wary of Naru, who was acting so 
differently from normal. Yet such a thought was ridiculous. Obviously, 
despite what she said,  Naru was concerned about the breakup of her and 
Usagi...why else would she be acting like this? So, slightly against his 
better judgment, he decided to go home with her, so that nothing would 
happen to her.
	As it turns out, Naru wasn't the one he should have been worrying 
about. 


	Naru sighed. This was rather dull, and she hated doing it. Still, 
it must be done. She had to put Umino into the Afterlife, and remove 
Nephrite, so that she could use his energy. The Dark Jewel did not yet 
have the power to do sense the Senshi on its own...she still needed to 
take power from the one that activated it.
	"Nephrite," she whispered. "You will help me to defeat Sailor  
Jupiter."
	{No....Naru...please, cast off this evil.} Nephrite gave a cry as 
he felt the Dark Jewel invading his body. 
	Naru touched the jewel to the green candle and lit it. "Dark 
Jewel," she whispered. "Allow me to observe the Sailor Senshi Jupiter
...Kino Makoto."  I  will kill her. Yet the way...it must be perfect. 
Fill me with your knowledge."
	NOOOOOO! Nephrite screamed in agony. The horror...the horror...of  
having his energy used to power that which was controlling Naru. His whole 
body fairly shook with rage, and he willed it to stop. Willed the evil to 
end.
	Quite suddenly, he felt a release, as of a great tension leaving 
his body.
	"What?" Naru sounded surprised and visibly upset. "What is going  
on here? Why is--ah." The realization dawned upon both Nephrite and Naru,  
and they had understandably opposite reactions. 
	"It is powerful enough."
	{It is too powerful.}
	"The Dark Jewel no longer needs your puny energy!" Naru laughed 
wickedly. "I have grown ill of you for quite some time. How pleasurable this
will be." Naru gently placed the Dark Jewel against the invisible  cocoon 
which protected him. The cocoon shimmered, and vanished.
	Nephrite screamed in agony, as he felt his skin beginning to peel 
and blister. His insides felt warm--too warm--he noticed a strange burning 
smell. "How can this be! I am dead! My spirit should  flee my body!"
	Naru offered up an explanation. "Not quite. It was necessary  that 
I have your physical body, so I recreated it each time I drew your spirit
from the Afterlife. A bit of necromancy, you might say." She giggled 
lightly. "And I linked your spirit to your body. It was not supposed to be 
there. It was wrong. Therefore, whenever I allowed the air of this plane to
come in contanct with your body you felt pain. And now, I need neither you 
nor your body.  Goodbye, dearest," she sneered cruelly.
	"Naru!!!" he cried, attempting to warn her. "Please..."
	Naru closed her eyes and breathed deeply, relishing in the scent 
of death. Yes, she thought, this was far more satisfying than the first
time he had died for her.


	***You are not permitted entrance.***
	"What?" Though he was a ghost, Nephrite still used his mouth to 
speak...telepathy wasn't his strong suit. "I belong here."
	***We have no records of anybody of your signature pattern 
here.***
	"I have been here before! I am Nephrite!"
	***We have no records of your signature pattern here. You are denied 
entrance.***
	Signature pattern? Were it possible, Nephrite would have paled. No. 
It couldn't be. Not yet. The Afterlife had taken...
	"UMINO! Is there a signature pattern for an Umino Gurio?"
	***Yes.***
	Damn. "He does not belong there! I do! You must switch us!" A  part 
of Nephrite wondered why he was acting like this; he would not get a chance 
to help Naru if he was on the Afterlife plane. Yet, he knew. Naru...the 
Naru he had fallen in love with, was a sweet girl. She would be upset if s
he knew he had sacrificed Umino for his own wishes.  Nephrite could not 
upset her, not if there was the slightest chance the Naru of old still 
existed. 
	***You weary us. Your senseless babble is quite dull and serves no 
purpose. Farewell.***
	"Wait---!" Nephrite called out, though there was no reply. 
	The Afterlife had turned its back on him.


	She wiped her brow, tired.
	She had been walking...if one could call it that...for what seemed 
to be hours. Walking, in nothingness.
	"Where the hell am I?" she swore to herself for what seemed like 
the thousandth time...and may as well have been.
	"Does it matter?" A voice said.
	"Who is it!?" she turned around, and saw nothing. Nothing but the  
empty blackness which consumed this infernal place. "Who are you? Show  
yourself!"
	Though she could not see it, she could almost sense a shrugging 
of shoulders. "Are you certain you wish me to reveal myself? You are so  
innocent, wouldn't you rather remain that way?"
	"No."
	High pitched laughter seemed to come from the entire place. She 
could not pinpoint a location, and some of it seemed to be coming from her,
though of course that was impossible. "Very well. If you insist. I aim to 
please."
	She stood ready for whatever appeared.
	Save what did.
	"Oh my go--!" she gasped, utterly shocked and horrified. "It's 
a--it's--"
	She stepped forward, weakly, not believing what she was seeing 
with her own eyes. She looked at the figure standing before her. The 
figure was of average height, with wide blue eyes, long blonde hair half 
pulled up into a red bow, and an orange Sailor fuku with a blue breast bow 
and a yellow back bow. She swallowed, and the figure smiled, and spoke. 
	"I believe the word you are searching for is doppelganger. At 
least," she shrugged. "That is what one language would call what you are 
seeing."
	"What are you?" Sailor Venus asked. She was staring at a twisted 
copy of  herself. Though this other her looked exactly the same as her, 
there was something decidedly evil about it. 
	"I am Tsrif, as will you be."
	"As will I be what? What are you talking about?"
	Her doppelganger smiled. "Do you really think you can defeat me? 
Pretty young Sailor Venus, do you?"
	Anger filled her. "I don't know who you are, or why you've brought 
me here, but you can't do stuff like that!" 
	She lifted a finger. "Crescent," she intoned.
	Her doppelganger merely smiled, as if amused at all that was going 
on.
	"BEAM!" she shouted the word, and aimed her hand, index finger  
pointed out, at the mirror image. The bright, yellow, laser-like beam shot 
out, and hit the creature, who vanished into nothingness.
	"YAY!" shouted Sailor Venus, jumping up and down several times. "I 
did it! I did it!"
	"You did what?"
	Sailor Venus facefaulted. How could that be? She had seen her 
double die. How could she be here?
	"You cannot kill me Sailor Venus. Try as hard as you like. This is  
*my* world, wherein I make the rules."
	"But--I saw you die!" she protested.
	"You never saw me die, Sailor Venus." Her double reappeared. "But 
I saw you die."
	"What?"
	"Oh, you don't remember." Her doppelganger smiled. "Very well then. 
I shall brief you on the situation. You are dead."
	"Dead?"
	"But of course. You were murdered at a party. Tragic." The  
doppelganger smiled as she saw the look of horror cross Sailor Venus's 
face. She was remembering. "I used my power...with the help of my Father
...and brought you here. I shall not let you enter the outside world."
	"But you're going to go out there and take my place?" Sailor Venus 
deduced.
	Her doppelganger laughed and shook her head. "Oh, Venus, darling, of 
course not! I, too, could not survive without a host body."
	"Host...body...?" Sailor Venus stuttered, confused. "What are you 
talking about?" There was something else the doppelganger had said that  
bothered her, though she could not put her finger on precisely what it was.
	Her doppelganger smiled. "This...what you see...is but an illusion. 
I have chosen to show you the body of what I will be, not what I am. I, 
myself, have no physical form. In order to exist on that plane after what 
my sister has done, I must choose a host body. You are that body."
	"So, you're going to possess me?"
	"In a manner of speaking. I shall take over the body. The soul will 
die. You are the soul."


	Luna suddenly felt an extremely tight, rather unpleasant pressure 
around her.  She proceeded  to yowl with all the fury a cat could muster 
at whatever youma had snuck up on her while she slept,  and was now 
squeezing  the lifeforce out of her.
	"Oooh, Tuxedo Kamen," the "youma" mumbled. "Motoki. I love you 
both." Usagi then proceeded to plant kisses on the objects of her desire, 
of which Luna was forced to take the role. 
	"Blegh!" she shouted. {I really should learn not to sleep on her 
bed.} "Usagi!" she shouted. "WAKE UP"
	Usagi merely smiled in her sleep, and squeezed tighter.
	{Great,} Luna thought. {I'm going to die here and now.}
	"Usagi!!" Mrs. Tsukino called, with an expression of urgency that  
Luna had never before heard on Usagi's mother's voice. 
	"Mmmmmm," Usagi was off in dreamland.
	"USAGI!!!!!" Luna could hear Usagi's mother tramping up the 
stairs. "WAKE UP! It's important! There's a police officer here to see 
you!"
	"What!?" Usagi jumped up, upsetting Luna on to the floor. "Mama, 
what's wrong? Why's he here?"
	"I don't know," Mrs. Tsukino replied. "He asked to see a Tsukino  
Usagi. He said it's important."
	Usagi ran through her room, throwing on clothes. She ran a comb 
through her hair, brushed her teeth, and ran downstairs.
	{Minako!} she thought, quite forgetting that Minako had 
disappeared and nobody else remembered her dying. {Maybe they've found 
her killer!}
	The officer had a somber expression on his face. "Miss Tsukino?"
	"Yes?"
	"I have information that you may be friends with one Kino 
Makoto. Is that correct?"
	Usagi swallowed. Had something bad happened to Makoto? "Yes," 
she finally answered. 
	"Do you have any idea where she could be?"
	Usagi shook her head.
	"Are you certain?" The officer looked like he didn't believe her. 
"She hasn't come to your house in the past twelve hours?"
	"No." Usagi thought of the conversation she had had a couple 
days ago in the park, and prayed Makoto was all right. She couldn't lose 
another friend. "Why? Is something the matter?"
	The officer looked somberly at her. "I'm afraid so. Miss 
Tsukino," he announced, "Your friend is wanted for first degree murder."