Disclaimer: The name Ken McKay belongs to Robert Frezza. The name Kane Fletcher belongs to Johanna Linsay. The name John Hawk belongs to Simon Green. The character of Roger McClintock and the Bronze Battalion belong to David Weber and John Ringo. All Sailor Moon references and characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi, TOEI, Kodansha & Pioneer.
Kyuusai bowed, gracefully indicating his ward to his left. "It is always an honor to accompany my master to such grand places."
The woman on his left giggled. "Kyuu-kun, does adore shiny things and this palace, your majesty, is the shiniest of all."
The Queen smiled. "Why, thank you, Temple no Miko. To hear such praise from one of the system of Temple, source of all artistic ability, is quite a shock."
"I wouldn't be too impressed, your majesty," this from far to Kyuusai's left, the Temple no Miko's other guardian, "We are a newly established system and even my master has not yet surpassed her music mentor."
"That's only because my brother is the greatest musician to ever live and he's got his own system to take care of," protested the miko. "I don't get nearly enough time with him."
The Queen nodded. "I would very much one day like to hear him perform. It would be a good experience for my daughter as well."
"I don't know if that's a good idea, your majesty," Kyuusai replied without much thought. "You need to watch him like a hawk around beautiful young things like the Princess."
She smiled thoughtfully. "I will keep it in mind if he agrees to perform. You will ask him for me, Temple no Miko?"
"Absolutely, your majesty. And please, call me Rohanu."
Well, it was a dream, wasn't it? What did it matter? "Rohanu" could have come from anywhere. And "Nandemonai Kyuusai..." "Yeah, anywhere," he said aloud sarcastically. "Just any old Japanese sounding names. 'Cause I dream in Japanese all the time. Ri-ight. Viva Nippon!"
He glanced at the glowing red numbers of his alarm clock. Four-thirty. Great. Now that he was awake, he'd never be able to get back to sleep. He shoved off the blankets and pulled on the shirt he'd left on the floor the night before. He just knew this was going to be the least productive day of his short life.
Hawk took a long drag off his cigarette and then responded with a long trail of smoke. "Don't get so cocky, Rodent. All that was due to my guys. I told you Axe was more than a petty gang of thugs," he added for Damien's benefit.
"And I told him to stay out of this," supplied Roger, entering the room and the conversation.
Damien scowled. "And I told you that I'm already involved." Besides, he added in his mind, I just know that dream has something to do with this. He'd been thinking about the dream, and the dream girl, all day. A feeling of urgency had struck him after waking. Unfortunately, Damien didn't know either where the urgency had come from or what it was trying to draw him to. "What is all this?" he asked, indicating the papers.
"Police file cases. Newspaper clippings-" began Ken before being cut off by his Fearless Leader.
"None of your business. Period. Walk away, Hellspawn."
What a cocky asshole. "I don't think so, Your Highness." Damien locked eyes with Roger. "Any of you speak Japanese?"
Roger's death glare morphed to confusion. "What?"
"The language Japanese. You understand it? You speak it?"
Roger seemed to realize his puzzlement was being broadcast and soothed his features into their normal state of slight snobbery. "No, I don't."
"Yeah," Damien said quietly, "Me neither, but last night I had an entire dream in Japanese, understood every word and awoke repeating some of the words."
"What were they?" This was from the ever-smoky Hawk. "I understand Japanese."
Okay, that was kind of weird. Damien could relate to the scholastic-looking Ken or the aristocratic-acting Roger to understand a foreign language, but Hawk? Never in a million years. "Um... Temple no Miko... Nandemonai Kyuusai... Senshi... Selenity-sama... and Rohanu."
Hawk nearly choked on his cancer-stick. "Shit! Did you just say Selenity-sama and senshi?" Damien nodded. "Ken?"
"Uh... Selenity-sama, or Queen Serenity, was reportedly the queen of the moon a thousand years ago. She and her daughter's bodyguards were referred to as senshi--warriors. That's also what those girls in Tokyo call themselves, Sailor Senshi."
"As far as the rest of it goes, Temple no Miko is simply Priestess of Temple, Nandemonai Kyuusai sounds like a name but translates to harmless salvation. I haven't a clue as to what Rohanu means, but it was probably a name, right?" Damien gave a single nod.
"Priestess of Temple?" said Ken unexpectedly, a dreamy lull slipping into his voice. "Rohanu? I know that name. Rohanu was the Temple no Miko. She was Bonsatsuno Makkourohan. She was my sister?... Yes, she was my sister. My little sister."
"Ken, your sister's name is Tora and she's two years older than you," said Roger reasonably.
Ken seemed to wake up. He caught Damien's gaze. "Tora's my sister now, but then it was Rohanu."
Roger shook his head. "Then when?"
"Then, a thousand years ago," supplied the Hellspawn. "You were Nezumi Tansei, also known as Gesshiruiou--Rodent King," he continued to Ken.
"Pestilence," finished Ken.
"What in Hell are you all talking about?" Kane had entered the room just as Roger last spoke.
"I'm not sure," said Ken, "But it's worth investigating."
"Does the name TerraCross mean anything to you?" This was from a new voice, a voice recognized by everyone in the room, a voice not heard for a thousand years.