OBLIGATORY LEGAL DISCLAIMER : None of these guys are mine. The Sailor 
Senshi belong to DIC and Kodansha, while the Yoroiden are owned by 
Sunrise and Graz Entertainment. Okay? So don't bother suing me. I'm a 
student. 

                    RONIN SUMMER 4 : INNER BATTLES
            
         A Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cross-over

             by Morgan Hudson (dataraven_659@excite.com)



Part 2 : BLOOD IN THE WATER

	Rei Hino nervously drummed her fingers on her purse as she 
walked along the docks. She hadn't really given this much thought : 
some inner voice had simply been screaming at her to GO TO SHIN, and 
she had no choice but to obey. 

	After getting off the train in Yamaguchi, it had been a short 
bus ride to get to Hagi, a town on the coast of the Hagi Sea. Shin 
Mouri was easy to remember : practically everyone she asked had 
pointed her towards the docks, and she hadn't even had a picture to 
show them. 

	Now... she was watching Shin haul a tank full of fish and 
trying not to swallow her own tongue. Ye gods! Couldn't that boy put 
on a shirt or something? Another man stood nearby, his long black 
hair held back by a headband similiar to Shin's. The two wore hakama 
and little else. 

	"Good job, Shin! I swear you can talk these fish into the 
tanks! Let's get these little beauties back to the Marine Institute 
and see why so many keep washing up on shore, eh?"

	"Yeah, whatever, Ryuusuke." Shin had his back turned and had 
yet to notice her, Rei realised. "I'm just glad to get of there for 
a few hours : she's really beginning to look... REI?" He nearly 
dropped the tank on his foot, catching it at the last moment and 
sloshing a few litres of seawater onto the already soaked planks, 
which didn't seem to mind overly much. 		

	"Uhm... hi, Shin!" Rei smiled tautly. "What a..." She cleared 
her throat. "What a coincidence we should meet here of all places!"

	"Rei, what are you doing here?" Shin looked back and forth 
from his partner to the Senshi. "Is something wrong back in Tokyo? 
Do the Troopers need me?" 

	"Ah, no... everything's fine back home..." Rei smiled again, 
reflexively. "It was just... something I can't explain right now. 
Can we talk... later?" 

	"Sure," Shin said a brief pause, "what are friends for? If 
you want, you can come with us to the Marine Centre and we'll talk 
while my sister examines these fish. " 

	"Okay! That would be great!" Rei waved and headed back down 
the docks.

	"Who was that?" The older man asked calmly, remembering to 
blink. 

	"Rei." Shin, on the other hand, was doing a passable impression
of the fish in his tank. "She's a friend of mine, from Tokyo. A Shinto 
priestess."

	"Oh." Ryuusuke watched as the girl and her miniskirt receded 
into the distance. "Didn't know priestesses dressed like that..."

	"You're staring, brother."

	"I'm married, Shin. What's your excuse?"

**********

	Unnoticed by the two men as they carried their load of fish off
of the boat and headed down the docks, a single figure lurked in the 
sea, just barely peeping above the water's surface as he clung to the
side of their boat. Eventually, he spoke to himself in English. He 
spoke to himself because nobody else was listening, and he used 
English because it pleased him to.

	"Well... now there was a pretty little bird." Releasing the 
boat's hull, he glided over to the dock with little more than a ripple 
to mark his passage. "And it seems my hated enemy has a soft spot for 
her, too..." 

	The mysterious figure snickered to himself. "Shin Mouri," he 
whispered, "I do so hope you're enjoying the show..." 

**********

	Shin dumped his tank of fish into a larger tank of fish that 
sat on one of the many steel tables crowding his sister's spotless 
white laboratory at the Marine Institute. After watching the tank 
for a few seconds to make sure that none of his finny little friends 
had died in transit, he turned to the girl standing behind him and 
forced a casual smile. 

	"Okay, Rei, we've got a few minutes before my sister Sayoko 
can set up the equipment to examine these little guys." Shin seemed to 
take a second and put on his most helpful face. "What seems to be the 
problem?"

	Rei shrugged in response, her thick curtain of sable hair 
waving hypnotically behind her as she walked over and leaned against 
one of the nearby specimen racks. "I'm honestly not certain, Shin. I 
was consulting the sacred fire in my temple, and I just got the 
overwhelming feeling that some evil force was endangering you. I 
thought I should warn you, and maybe even... help?"

	"Endangering me?" Shin looked adorable when he was confused, 
Rei decided. "But how could I be in danger? Not even I knew I was 
coming home until a few days ago. Unless..." The Yoroiden of Suiko 
suddenly grabbed the edge of the table he sat on, gripping it until 
his knuckles turned white. 

	"What is it, Shin?"

	"My mother. I came to Hagi because I found out she had fallen 
ill." Shin laughed bitterly as he stared at the tiled floor. "Listen 
to me. She's dying, Rei. The doctors aren't sure what it is : some 
strange new kind of virus, they think. It's been sweeping the town. 
You don't suppose..."

	"Some kind of an attack? A youja, or a daimon, trying to lure 
you here?" Rei considered it. It was possible, she had to admit... 

	Unnoticed, Ryuusuke and Sayoko Mouri entered the laboratory, 
dressed in lab coats and carrying a tray of instruments, as well as 
a cart with a few sheet covered objects.

	"Shin, Rei, you might want to see this." Ryuusuke waved the 
two over, as his wife pulled the sheets off to reveal several dead 
fish. Shin quickly pulled on a spare coat and rushed over, wincing at 
the unpleasant smell of dead and rotting fish. 

	"I know," Sayoko said quickly as she began cutting into the 
first of the fish, "it isn't the greatest smell in the world. We make 
do, right?"

	Shin nodded grimly as his sister sliced the fish open 
laterally, peeling back the scales and muscles and pinning them out 
of the way. "Hmmmm... Ryuusuke, take a look at these gills. What do 
you think?"

	Her husband leaned over, his hair held back by a thick group 
of elastic bands. "I'm not sure... could this have happened after it 
washed up, perhaps? Part of the ordinary decay process?"

	"Hard to tell." Sayoko snapped her latex gloves off and 
dropped them in the nearest biohazard container. "But until we're 
sure, I think we might want to get some face masks. Look at that 
liver : it's practicaly jelly. I don't want any of us breathing in 
whatever caused that kind of a reaction."

	"What's going on?" Shin grabbed his sister by the sleeve as 
she was heading out of the room. 

	"I don't know, Shin. At first, when the fish started washing up
on shore, I thought maybe we had a case of mercury poisoning. Maybe a 
disease like the one infecting mother, although it's rare to catch 
viruses from fish. Now..." She shook her head. "I can't be sure until 
we cut open the rest of these dead fish, and get a few samples from the
live stock you brought in, but I'd have to say poison. Someone pumped 
these little guys full of the nastiest shit I've ever seen."

	"Kuso..." Shin ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, do 
what you have to, Sayoko, and let me know. I need to check on mother."

**********

	Rei Hino slept uneasily that night, and awoke to the sound 
of breaking glass. Sitting bolt upright on the futon Sayoko had lain 
out in the guest bedroom for her, she wrapped a robe around herself 
and rushed outside to investigate. 

	The rest of the house was eerily quiet, as she navigated down 
the halls. Slowly, another sound began to register over the chirping 
of crickets and the soft creaking of her own footsteps. It was 
rhythmic, and strangely familiar. Walking down the stairs, she opened 
the door to the bathroom. 

	Shin Mouri was kneeling on the floor and sobbing, surrounded 
by shards from the shattered mirror hanging above the sink. His right 
hand looked like it had been run through a meat grinder. It was this, 
Rei realised as she listened to his deep, ragged breathing, that she 
had been hearing. For a brief instnat she considered going back to 
bed. 

	Instead, she picked her way across the glass littered floor 
and kneeled before him, gently lifting his hand and examining it. 
Shin's crying slowly began to subside, as his body shuddered with 
wracking sobs. Opening his red-rimmed eyes, he looked up at her and 
blinked. Rei smiled as gently as she knew how, and stood. 

	"I'll get some bandages," she said simply, and did. As she was 
wrapping his hand, Shin finally spoke. 

	"My father died when I was four," he croaked, "and I barely 
remember him. She had to raise me by herself." 

	"I see," Rei murmured, and continued tending to his battered 
hand. It had been cut in several places : he must have kept hitting 
the mirror even after it broke.

	"The doctors say she won't last much longer." 

	"I understand."

	"Rei?" Shin met her gaze again, and Rei nearly cried herself 
at the look on his face. "I'm scared." 

	"I know you are, Shin." On impulse, she leaned forward and 
kissed him on the forehead. "Try to get some sleep."

	"I haven't slept in two days, Rei." Shin slowly leaned back, 
resting against the wall and cradling his head in his hands. "I'm 
just so afraid that I'll wake up and she'll be..."

	"I know, Shin." Rei looked down at him and smiled sadly. "Try."
As she left the bathroom and turned out the light, she silently cursed 
whatever was behind this. Shin was at the end of his rope : as weak, 
and exhausted, and distracted as any daimon could want him to be. And 
that, she realised, was why SHE was scared.

**********

	That morning, Shin Mouri went outside, and began to practice 
his spear kata. If he had slept, Rei thought to herself as she watched 
from the patio, it hadn't been for long. He had been on the beach since
dawn, dancing with the Suiko Yari as if it were a lover, his feet 
sweeping gracefully from one form to the next as the massive trident 
moved like an extension of his body. 

	Rei watched as he thrust and parried, battling opponents that 
only he could see. The heavy trident hummed as it spun from one hand 
to the other, and his kata slowly began to increase in its complexity.
Soon, the weapon was little more than a blur of motion as he leapt 
and rolled across the beach, striking and killing countless invisible 
demons. Rei sipped her tea and wondered if he was winning. 

	Ryuusuke somehow snuck up behind her, his eyes bloodshot. 
"They sent out the fishing boats," he said listlessly, "and found more 
dead fish on the beach. I left when they reached ninety. They were 
still counting." With one hand, he poured himself a cup of tea. With 
the other he set an empty sake bottle on the table. 

	Together the two stood and drank their tea and watched Shin 
perform, each in their own little world. After a while, Ryuusuke began 
to speak. 

	"How long have you known Shin, Rei?"

	Rei shrugged and sipped her tea. "About four or five months, 
now, I'd guess."

	"And how long have you been in love with him?"

	Rei smiled to herself. "About four or five months."

	On the beach, safely out of earshot, Shin continued to perform 
his kata. The bandages covering his hand were soaked through with 
blood, and sweat was dripping off of his body, but he continued like 
a man possessed. Perhaps he was.

	"This whole town is dying, Rei. The people are sick, the fish 
are dead, and the boats come back with nothing to show for their work 
but empty nets and emptier stomachs." Ryuusuke bowed his head. "Shin 
Mouri is still the head of the Mouri family. It is his family's 
responsibility to care for the Hagi Sea. I think he believes that 
he has somehow failed us."

	Rei sighed. "I think he's a scared little boy who doesn't want 
his mother to go away and leave him alone."

**********

	Shin rammed his trident deep into the ground and leaned on it,
his shoulders heaving as he gasped for breath. Slowly, he sank to his 
knees and rested his forehead against the cool shaft of the Suiko 
Yari. Ryuusuke explained that Shin would usually sit like that for a 
few hours every morning, if not sleeping then at least resting. Rei 
decided to let him be, and walked back into the house.

	A strange young man was sitting on the kitchen counter and 
eating an apple. He was dressed rather nicely, in white cargo pants 
and a black shirt with crimson suspenders that matched his firey red 
hair. He was quite attractive, she thought, but only because he looked 
like Shin. 

	EXACTLY like Shin. They even had their hair cut in the same 
style. In fact, she thought to herself, the only part of him that 
didn't look anything like Shin was his smile. Predatory was the only 
word Rei could think of to describe it as he grinned and tossed the 
apple core over his shoulder. 

	"Good morning to you!" The strange young man hopped off of the 
counter and landed like a cat, crouching low and touching the ground 
with his fingertips before rising to face her. "Don't mind me : I'm 
just passing through. You know how it is, places to blow, people to 
whack..."

	"You're him." Rei quickly pulled a chair between them, stepping
back and raising her hands in a warding gesture. "You're the one from 
my vision..."

	"Oh, man of your dreams, am I?" The man winked. "Sorry, toots. 
You got me confused with the sap outside. I don't play quite as nice."
Grabbing the chair, the red haired man easily broke it in half. 
"Pretty crappy craftsmanship. I barely even touched it." 

	"Stay away from me, whoever you are!" Rei continued her 
retreat, eventually backing completely out of the kitchen and pressing 
her back against the wall. The man kept advancing, stopping only an 
instant before their noses touched. 

	"The name's Nise Suiko. Some folk call me the Red Torrent. 
And as for who I am..." He grinned again. "I'm a hurricane, baby. 
I am death, destruction, pestilence, and chaos. And I LOVE my job."
He chuckled.

	"You're the one threatening Shin. The one who's going to..."

	"Bingo!" Nise Suiko stepped back and bowed dramatically. "But 
of course, where's the fun in just offing the brat? First, I figure 
I'll kill everyone who's ever fucking HEARD of him. By the time I'm 
done, nobody will remember that Shin Mouri existed at all." He reached 
into the pocket of his shirt, and drew out a pair of wire-rimmed 
sunglasses. "So believe me when I say this : I WILL catch you later. 
Ciao!" 

	On his way out the door, he stopped and looked back over his 
shoulder. "By the way," he sneered, "too bad about the old lady."

**********

	That night, Rei found Shin standing out on one of the docks, 
gazing at the sea. He was in his undergear armour, and clutching the 
Suiko Yari so tightly it trembled in his grasp. Dressed only in a silk 
kimono, she hugged herself and shivered in the chill breeze blowing 
off of the water. 

	"Shin," she said softly. "I'm sorry. I know how much she 
must have meant to you..."

	"I hate him, Rei." Shin's voice was surprisingly hard, and 
he didn't bother turning to look at her as he spoke. "I've never 
hated anyone before, but I hate him. I'm going to find him, and when I
do, I am going to rip his black, twisted heart out with my bare hands 
and feed it to him." What truly frightened Rei was the simple way Shin 
said it. He was perfectly calm, not ranting and raving but simply 
describing a well thought-out plan. 

	"Sayoko and Ryuusuke are back at the house : they made 
something for dinner. It's not much, Shin, but they're trying! Why 
don't you come back, Shin?"

	"No. I'm going hunting." Shin lowered his head, and a single 
tear drifted away on the breeze. "My home died. One way or the other, 
Rei, I will never set foot in that house again."

**********

	The full moon shone coldly on the velvety black water as Shin 
Mouri strode along the beach, the frigid surf lapping at his ankles. 
The Suiko Yari dangled from his fingers, nearly digging into the 
sand with every step. In his mind, he tried to replay the past 
fifteen years of his life, capturing each moment with his mother and 
examining it like a precious gem. Eventually, be it minutes or hours 
later, he snapped out of his reverie. A dead fish drifted past his 
ankle. And another. And six more. 

	"Nice night for a stroll, isn't it, Suiko?" A sickeningly 
familiar voice drifted through the night air, all the more disgusting 
for being his own. Shin glanced out to sea, and watched as a young 
man with glowing eyes and brilliant red hair rose from the water like 
an ancient sea god, long forgotten by his worshippers. 

	"You." Shin spun the Suiko Yari into a ready position. "How 
did you do it? I killed you, blasted you into a million pieces last 
year."

	"True," Shin's crimson double agreed, "but you didn't keep 
track of where those pieces went, did you? Here's a hint : the 
ocean. Some raw sewage, an oil spill, a couple of leaky drums 
of toxic waste, and I was back in shape in no time! Of course, by 
then I was in Canada..." He shrugged. "I would've come back for you 
sooner, but I was having so much fun killing those cute baby seals 
that I got a little sidetracked." 

	Shin frowned and twirled the Suiko Yari. "Shut up and fight."

	"What, no transformations, no dramatic speeches?" Nise Suiko 
grinned as he strode across the surface of the water, a twisted and 
gnarled harpoon, a mockery of Shin's own trident, sliding into his 
hand. "Fine by me." 

	A resounding clang echoed across the beach as their weapons 
clashed, and Shin Mouri gritted his teeth as the shock rippled down 
his arms and into his shoulders. Nise Suiko smirked insolently. 

	"Face it, old man. You're tired, you're slow, and you don't 
have a chance. I was going to wipe out the rest of this town first, 
but frankly you're so damn pathetic I just want to put you out of 
everybody's misery." Nise broke free and swung at Shin's legs, only
to find the Suiko Yari effortlessly intercepting his blade. "Then," he
continued, "I plan to score with your girlfriend. But that's mostly 
just to rub it in."

	Shin growled and thrust, the outer tines of his trident 
clamping shut around Nise Suiko's arm and shearing it off like a giant 
pair of scissors. A fountain of steaming red liquid gushed from the 
stump, then suddenly congealed into a new arm. 

	"You know," Shin's double sneered, "you really ought to thank 
me. I can gaurantee that your face was the last thing Mommy dearest 
ever saw..." Backflipping, he snagged the discarded harpoon and 
brought it up as he landed, blocking an overhead chop by Shin. 

	"It's the last thing you'll ever see, too!" Shin faked left 
and stabbed again, ramming his trident deep into the spirit's stomach. 
A thick red mist began to pour from the wounds, and Nise Suiko 
grimaced. 

	"Do you have any idea how much that hurts?" He asked, and 
rammed his harpoon deep into Shin's shoulder. The Yoroiden of Suiko 
hissed in pain, leaning back and slowly beginning to hoist the other 
creature into the air. Nise Suiko snarled. 

	"You idiot! You really think you can beat me? Anything you 
cut off, I grow back! I'm never going to stop : I'll hunt your sister, 
your brother, your classmates, your friends..." Unnoticed, his free 
hand slid behind his back and drew a long dagger from the waistband of 
his pants.

	  "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou 
taisan!" The scrap of paper fluttered out of the darkness straight and 
true, adhering to Nise Suiko's forehead. The creature that wore Shin's 
face began to shudder, and the mist rising from his wounds suddenly 
turned to wet, sticky blood. 

	"Hey," he shrieked, "no fair! I wasn't told this was a damned 
tag team match! I call shenanigans!" The dagger fell to the ground and 
his twitching fingers slid free of the harpoon shaft as he clutched 
the scroll stuck between his eyes, tugging fruitlessly at it. 
"Somebody get this damn thing off of me!"

	Shin's eyes narrowed. "Gladly." With a single smooth motion he 
jerked his trident free and brought it around in a sweeping arc, 
the razor sharp blades glittering in the moonlight as it passed through
Nise Suiko's neck. The head flew into the distance, and the body 
fell backwards into the sea, dissolving into a red taint that was 
quickly washed away on the tide. 

	Shin lowered the Suiko Yari and turned to stare at Rei Hino, 
who was still wearing the purple silk kimono he had last seen her in. 
Her one arm was extended, and her other hand clasped another of the 
scrolls. "I said I wanted to help," she explained as he walked towards 
her. "Fortunately, I came prepared. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

	Shin sighed. "It's okay, Rei. I'm fine. I'll be just fine."

	"Really?" Rei's big dark eyes met his, and the Yoroiden of 
Truth knew he couldn't lie to her. 

	"No." He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned his head 
away, looking out at the sea. "I miss my mother, Rei." 

	After an awkward moment, she stepped forward and wrapped her 
arms around him, holding him close and pressing his head against her
shoulder as the rising tide swirled around their knees and he gently 
returned her embrace. "It'll be okay," she whispered as she stroked his
soft brown hair and breathed the intoxicating scent of his aftershave,
"I'm here for you. Tomorrow, we'll go back to Tokyo, and everything 
will be just fine... You'll see..."

**********

	A faint red tinge flowed into the underground caverns beneath 
the Hagi Sea. Oysters and other shellfish had thrived here for years, 
and never so well as in recent weeks. Shellfish can actually live 
off of toxins and poisons, of course. 

	The crimson haze floated up out of the water and into the air 
pocket of the cave. Hanging in the air as a red cloud of mist, it gave 
the noncorporeal equivalent of a disappointed sigh and began the 
tedious task of reforming its body. 

	"Real shame." A figure walked out of the shadows, and shrugged 
helplessly. "Frankly, I was pulling for you, but hey! We all kind of 
knew you weren't going to succeed. Too subtle, too easy for the whole 
shebang to fall apart on you." 

	The cloudlike creature burbled angrily and lashed out with 
tendrils of its own body, burning through the rock its unwelcome 
visitor had once stood on. 

	"Hey! I'm actually on your side here, pal. Cut me some slack." 
Jadeite pulled out a mirror and carefully smoothed his short blond 
hair back into its usual style. "See, I've been suffering a decrease 
in the quality of my henchmen lately... which, of course led to a 
decrease in the quantity of my henchmen. Long story short, I figured 
it was high time I did me some recruiting."

	"Recruiting?" The cloud rumbled. 

	"Yeah. I already have an army of cannon fodder, but I need 
some real heavy hitters. Demons, dragons, cyborgs, mercenaries, even 
have a few sorcerors lined up..." Jadeite shrugged. "Problem is, 
I don't have a general to lead this elite squad. Which is where you 
will come in."

	"Screw off, pal. You have nothing to offer me."

	Jadeite suddenly snarled with rage, biting his lip until it 
bled. Then, he noticeably calmed himself down and brushed at the 
sleeve of his grey uniform. "Oh, really? How about revenge? I can get 
you Shin Mouri's head on a plate. The girl, too : Sailor Mars. I'm 
familiar with those damn scrolls of hers."

	The cloud swirled in silence as it considered. "You make a 
compelling offer." Slowly, a trendril of smoke broke free from the 
main mass and formed into a hand. By the time Jadeite had finished 
shaking it, Nise Suiko had resumed his human form. "So when do we 
start, mon capitan?"

	Jadeite grinned, a ruthless smile echoed by his new general. 
"My boy, we've already begun..."

TO BE CONTINUED...