"Shadows in the Moonlight"
by Vega

Chapter 5

Tuxedo Kamen scooped up Sailor Moon and leapt lithely over the fence, followed by the other three Senshi.

"Where now, Mercury?" Jupiter whispered.

"This way."

The five figures crept slowly and carefully across the lawn, eyes and ears wide open for the slightest sign of Nega-activity.

Venus crept around the side of a rounded building, sticking to the shadows, and consequently was the first Senshi to stumble upon the whereabouts of Sailor Mars. She gasped, covering her mouth, afraid that if she made a sound, the man who had his arms wrapped around Mars would blast her with energy or something. Eyes narrowed with determination, she sprang forward from the shadows, a battle cry erupting as she smashed her body shoulder first into the grey-suited man's.

The guy fell to the side with a shout of surprise and Venus landed right on top of his chest. She scrambled to her knees, consequently kneeing him in the gut. The man let out a "wwwof!" and threw up his hands, "Don't shoot!" as Venus pointed an energy laced finger in his face.

"Who are you?!" She demanded, "And what are you doing to Sailor Mars, you sicko?!"

"Venus!" Mars shrieked from the side, her face as red as her fuku. "What the Hell do you think you're doing!?"

Venus was confused. "Did he... wasn't he trying to.. Uh... Mars?"

The Fire Senshi pushed the Love Scout off the man and helped him to his feet, coddling his bruised arm and worrying over his well being. Venus scratched her head. "But... I thought he was the bad guy!"

Mars sent a scalding glare in her friend's direction. "Jadeite isn't bad anymore!"

"Jadeite!" Venus yelped. "This is Jadeite?!"

The General covered his ears. He'd never met this 'SailorVenus' before, but already he knew her voice could probably out-screech Sailor Moon's. Another unfamiliar Scout came barreling from around another corner, her fuku green, and her face taught with determination.

"Okay, NegaCreep!" she shouted, crossing her arms across her breast, "Let go of Mars right now or feel the rage of Jupiter!"

Mars rolled her eyes as Jadeite cowered behind her, his face buried in her raven hair. "Jupiter, cool it!" she raged, "He's not under Beryl's control anymore!"

Jupiter blinked, the sparking energy that had begun to leap between her fingers calming. "He's not?"

"No!"

"Oh."

From above, there was a high pitched whistle, and all four figures on the ground craned their heads up to stare at the two silhouettes on the roof. "Hey, You, Jadeite! Yeah, you, NegaCrumb!" Sailor Moon's voice pierced the night, "What ever you thought you were gonna do to Mars, give it up! ‘‘Cause I'm Sailor Moon! And I'll punish you!"

"No, wait..." Mars began, but was too late, as Sailor Moon touched her locket.

At the same time Sailor Moon was activating her Healing power, Tuxedo Kamen was lecturing Jadeite. "You would take advantage of this innocent girl's love? You villain!"

"WOULD YOU ALL JUST PLEASE SHUT UP?!" Mars screeched, and everyone paused in mid-action. "Now, listen," she said a little more quietly. "Jadeite wasn't hurting me and he's already been healed, and yes I snuck away from Tokyo to be with him, and no I'm not in danger, so would all of you just BUTT OUT?!"

There was a very long, very stunned silence.

Bulma broke it by clearing her throat from the door way and saying, "Um, Sailor Mars? Could you and your friends keep it down? Gohan's asleep, and Chichi'll blow if he's woken up." There was the sound of a frying pan crashing against a thick skull, and Bulma ducked as it flew out of the building at an inhuman speed.

"Owowowowowoowoowwww! Chichi?! What'd I do?!" came from inside, which was followed by another shriek of rage and deep throaty laughter.

"Too late." Bulma sighed, and gestured for the scouts to follow her inside. At first they were reluctant to go in, with the sounds that drifted out into the night, but curiosity won over, and they followed the Teal-haired woman into the compound.

***

Nephrite was sick of shouting at the pond. "No one can hear us!" he hissed dismally. "This IS Hell."

He then pulled himself up to rest his chin on the edge of the basin and dragged his hands through the cool water, rippling the images. "Makoto..." he whispered, wishing vainly he could spy on her life, but too terrified to, afraid that she might've found someone else, or that he'd discover that she was hurt, and wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

The pond, not knowing the difference between a sigh and a command as it was only an inanimate object, rippled and flashed, and Nephrite sat up a little further when he saw a flash of brown hair.

"Makoto!" He shouted in joy when he focused on the image. "Oh, Makoto..." It took him a moment to work out the context of the picture he saw, but after a quick glance around the scene, it became obvious to him that she was in the middle of a battle, as she wore her Senshi fuku and was in the middle of summoning lightning.

Nephrite blinked in puzzlement as Makoto herself paused in confusion, her energy dissipating. The General commanded the scene to shift, and he saw the source of his beloved's puzzled expression.

Jadeite.

He sighed, and leaned an elbow on the edge, resting his chin in his gloved palm. He was loathe to allow anyone else to see him in this lovelorn pose, but at the moment he was alone, and enthralled with his Thunder Princess.

"She's very lovely." A blubbery voice said suddenly, coming from behind Nephrite, and the General jumped to his feet and spun in the direction of the unfamiliar sound.

"Who are you, Catfish?" he hissed at the big blue thing.

"Hrumph." it huffed, insulted, "I come all this way to help you, and you yell at me? Maybe I'll just leave."

"No!" Nephrite cried out as it turned away. The fellow paused, "Please, no, help me."

"Well..." the thing seemed to ponder, then smiled and turned back "Okay. My name is Kaiou-sama, and because you beat those ogres, I can put you in touch with someone on Earth who would be willing to aid you."

Nephrite didn't know what to say.

Then he whispered, "You can contact Sailor Mars... or Jadeite?"

"No!" the fellow laughed, his antennae -which Nephrite hadn't even noticed up until that point - flipping forward. "Even better..." then he folded his hands behind his globular back and called out in a sing-song voice, "Oh, Goku..."

***

Inside the house at the Capsule Corp. compound, the Saiyan in question jumped to his feet, spilling the coffee he held in his hand all over the floor.

"Goku!" his wife scolded, but he wasn't paying attention.

"King Kai?" he mumbled, and everyone around him instantly shut up, either knowing the routine, or following by example. "Yes.... yes." he turned puzzled eyes to where Jadeite and Sailor Mars were tucked into the corner of Bulma's couch in the next room.. "Yes... he's here. Yeah, so are the Senshi. King Kai, what is this abou–– oh.... uh-huh.... Oh! I see! Yes, of course, we can use Bulma's Dragon Radar. Okay! Bye!"

Before he even fell out of the trance, Bulma was already up and out of the room. When she returned, she handed the Radar unit over to Sailor Mercury, who seemed to be the Senshi best trusted with electronic equipment, and sighed.

"Hey, Gang!" Goku cried happily, waking up Gohan in his mother's lap once more, "We're going DragonBall hunting!"

***

After a few hot minutes of discussion, it was decided that Goku, Gohan, and Jadeite should be the ones to run around the world searching for the magical spheres whilst Bulma and Chichi remained behind to explain the use of the DragonBalls to the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen.

However, Goku forgot to mention why King Kai wanted him to collect the DragonBalls and summon Shenlong, only that he had to. Sometimes details like that tended to slip his mind.

When a few hours had passed, and Mars and Venus had dropped off into slumber land on Bulma's couch, the teal-haired inventor ventured, "So.. Do you people always dress like that? I bet those fuku's are a bit uncomfortable. If you want, I can get you some sweats to sleep in."

"Oh, no." Mercury waved her offer away, "Our suits are quite comfortable... and to tell you the truth, I don't think they can come off." the shy Water Senshi blushed.

"Oh," Bulma pondered the scientific possibilities of magical uniforms as she watched Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon cuddle in the next room, then turned her eyes outside to the dawn, in which Jupiter and Vegeta were sparring, as the Prince had been delighted at the prospect of sparring with yet another creative and powerful opponent. Secretly, Bulma hoped Vegeta wasn't enjoying that lock he had around Jupiter's chest TOO much. Then she wrenched her mind back to the conversation at hand. "So, you live in those suits? How do you, y'know.... go to the bathroom?"

Sailor Mercury laughed. "We can de-transform. I'd show you, but then you'd see what I really looked like." the Senshi shrugged. "Secret identities and all."

"Oh." Bulma said, again lost in the scientific possibilities behind the magic.

***

"What the Hells does the Prince see in that weakling?!" Radditzu roared as he watched the evening's events in the pond.

"Shut up, Radditzu." Nephrite said irritably.

The large Saiyan snorted in disgust, "You stupid love-sick bakas." And marched out.

The Three Kings exchanged glances, then each resumed his gaze upon his own Princess.

***

It took them just a little over twenty-four hours, but when Gohan, Goku, and Jadeite returned, tired, hungry, and torn up, they brought the seven DragonBalls with them.

The five Senshi, Jadeite, and Tuxedo Kamen waited anxiously for the Eternal Dragon to appear as Bulma activated the magical globes, while the others smiled, anticipating the next action.

The sky darkened and with the usual stream of golden light, and Shenlong slithered into existence. "You have summed the Eternal Dragon," he rumbled, his voice like thunder, "You may have any one wish that you desire, but I will grant only one."

Everyone assembled on the ground turned wide eyes to Goku. It took the Saiyan a few minutes to realize why, but then Gohan poked him and said, "You're the only one who knows the wish, Dad!"

Goku laughed and blushed, then jumped up into the air and floated over to whisper into Shenlong's massive ear. Everyone else strained to hear, but could not over the slow rumbling laughter that emerged from Shenlong's mile-long throat. "Very well." the massive Dragon murmured, his lips peeling back into the semblance of a smile. "Your wish is granted. And now I bid you... farewell...!"

The Dragon disappeared and the DragonBalls shot away in seven different directions. The four-star ball flew straight towards Goku's head and he caught it easily with one hand and dropped it carelessly into his gi pocket.

He then dropped to the ground, a vacant smile plastered on his face and satisfaction in his walk.

"Well?" Bulma asked impatiently.

"What?" Goku asked innocently.

"What was the wish?!" Sailor Moon yelled, even less patient than Bulma.

"Oh." Goku shrugged, "Well, normally, the Dragon can only bring one person back to life at once, but King Kai called in a few favours so we could wish back three." He said over his shoulder, then grabbed his wife around the waist and leapt into the air, Gohan deciding to trail behind as Chichi's voice was distinctly audible:

"Who did you wish back, Goku-saa?!"

"Yeah, who was it?!" Jupiter called after Goku, but got her response not from the receding Saiyan, but the one standing beside them.

"Open your eyes, baka." he growled and pointed behind her.

Jupiter turned, then froze, a gasp escaping her pursed lips. "Nephrite...?" she whispered, incredulous.

"Makoto... my Thunder Princess..." he responded, emerging from a haze of white that had suddenly shimmered into existence on Bulma's lawn, his arms wide.

Jupiter threw herself into them, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, and kissed him passionately.

Around her, the other Senshi were likewise greeting their soul-mates, Minako and Kunzite holding each other fiercely, their mouths locked together, and Ami and Zoicite, standing with their arms wrapped around each other's waists, their kiss soft. Jadeite and Mars stood to the side with Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, each couple's arms' entwined.

In fact, the only couple who weren't whispering love vows or were entwined in each other's embrace were Bulma and Vegeta.

And really, Bulma mused as she stared at the Prince, whose lips were curled back in disgust at the open displays of affection, they couldn't exactly be considered a couple, as all they'd really done was sleep with each other a few times. "Awe, Hell..." she smiled and caught Vegeta's eye, winking and turning to go inside.

As she padded up the stairs, she could hear the Senshi and their Kings exclaiming their thanks and good-byes, and she was a little heartbroken as she realized she'd probably never get another chance to analyze or converse with the Senshi or their strange partners ever again.

But more importantly, she could hear the soft footsteps of her Saiyajinn Prince behind her, following her up to the bedroom...

***

END