` If That's What It Takes `

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As Saffir wandered into the laboratories a couple of days later, he threw his folder at the desk only half-heartedly. As a consequence, it skidded across the surface, successfully knocking over the steaming cup of coffee, which dumped its contents all over the immaculate white floor.

"Oh, shit," he muttered, earning himself a glare from Eudial as she stalked into the room.

"Did you do that, Saboru-san?" she snapped, hands on hips as she turned to face him.

Saffir rolled his eyes, pushing past her to move over to the coffee machine in the corner. "No, the little blue fairies from Pluto did it -- but as I'm an old friend of theirs, I'll clean it up for them."

"There's no need to be sarcastic," she said, sounding almost surprised at his tone of voice. "Is there something wrong?"

"Something's always wrong," he muttered before remembering his manners. With a sigh, he looked up at the woman and smiled tiredly. "Gomen nasai, Eudial-sempai... I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Still not settled in your new apartment?" she asked, getting two fresh coffees from the machine. She indicated Saffir should sit as soon as he finished throwing the sodden towels in the trash can. He did so, and gratefully accepted the hot cup from her cold hands.

He blew on the liquid and took a tentative sip before bothering to reply to her question. "I suppose you could say that... but I was having trouble sleeping even before I moved in, so I can't really blame the move."

Eudial took a sip of her own coffee, crossing her slender legs as she regarded her younger student. "No troubles here at work, I assume? I'm sorry I haven't been around lately, I've just had... some pressing matters to attend to."

Saffir nodded, only half listening. His attention had wandered to the sound of a voice in the hallway. He cocked his head for a second, listening to the loud and incessant voice, an annoyed female voice that was apparently taking the mickey out of some poor subordinate. "Looks like Kaori's back from her little sojourn," he remarked, eyes narrowing.

Eudial caught the dislike in his voice easily enough. Surprised, she put her glass down and gave him a speculative look. "Not too fond of Kaori, are we?"

Saffir snorted, taking a burning swallow of the coffee. "In the long run, I'd have to say no. Even though she's been absent from here for days, I've run into her countless times when I've been at the Tomoe house." A dark look of dislike crossed his face as he remembered countless incidents at that oddly haunted mansion involving Kaori and Hotaru. "I can't say that her behaviour has particularly impressed me."

Eudial looked up, a seed of an idea suddenly germinating in her conniving witch's mind. "In what way?"

Saffir sighed, putting the coffee cup down as Kaori's voice trailed away. Actually, from the sound of it, it sounded like she was chasing her poor associate down the hallway. "She's obviously not terribly fond of Hotaru. That alone annoys me, but what really gets on my nerves is the way she takes on the role of her mother."

Eudial tried to hide her smile, her idea becoming a fresh young shoot. "Go on...?"

"I think Kaori personifies the very idea of an evil stepmother," Saffir added, looking angry and frustrated. "It's obvious she wants to marry the professor and take over as the female lead of the household, but that's not the problem... she treats Hotaru so badly, I can't imagine what it would be like for the poor girl to have that woman around permanently."

Eudial nodded in false sympathy, though inside, her idea had finally flowered. The passion with which Saffir spoke of the injustice of Tomoe Hotaru's life, it had to be a sign of something... "I've never really met his daughter, but I can say for a fact that Kaori-sama is quite capable of genuine malice when she wants to be."

"You can say that again," Saffir muttered, finishing his drink. "Since you're here today, Eudial-sempai, perhaps you would be kind enough to help me out with some of the work you left for me when Tomoe-kyouju gave you your other assignment?"

"Sure, I can help you out for awhile," Eudial smiled, though her mind was working away on a completely different level. "Actually, Saburo-san, there was something I wanted to ask you."

Saffir crumpled the polystyrene cup in his hands before leaning back in his chair and pitching it into the waste basket. "What?"

"Would you like to join me for dinner tonight?"

The mathematician almost fell off his chair. "Excuse me?"

Eudial laughed slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you were... involved with somebody else..."

"I'm not," Saffir replied slightly too quickly, running a hand through his bangs in a nervous gesture. "Your offer just surprised me, that's all."

She smiled openly, leaning back in her own chair as she carefully assessed his form. "Why is that? You're an attractive, intelligent young man, not to mention you appear to be fairly wealthy."

Saffir snorted, but he was smiling -- though this smile was certainly uncertain and more than a little paranoid and uneasy. "At least you're honest about why you want to take me out on a date. I take it that this means I'm paying?"

Eudial shook her head, almost laughing in reply. Things were going just perfectly. "Oh, no, Saburo-san -- I'll make you something at my apartment. You were complaining the other day about always having to eat out, weren't you?"

He looked a little embarrassed as he nodded sheepishly. "I am simply the lousiest cook in the history of defective chefs..."

"I'm not a bad hand at cooking myself," she said, a little arrogantly. "Join me for dinner tonight, and I'll cook you something delicious. You do want to come over, don't you?"

Saffir sighed internally, realising he really couldn't get out of this without offending the woman. A Nemesian he was, through and through, and he hated being rude about anything. On the other hand, he wasn't really in the mood to spend the evening with his co-worker. He'd honestly thought she'd only been having him on.

"I suppose so..."

She took on a haughty look, but she didn't look like she'd taken much offence. "Oh, come on, I'm sure you can sound a little more excited."

Saffir made to reply to this, but a skinny blonde woman more or less bounced into the room, crying out "Sabuuuroooo-saaaan!" as she did so. The pair in the room instantly made to cover their ears against the pitch of her voice, but Saffir was prevented from doing so when Mimete grabbed his arm and chortled merrily. "Can you come and give me a hand with these calculations? I broke my calculator again, and Ptitol wouldn't let me borrow hers, so I automatically thought of our human calculator, so..."

She dragged him out of the room even as he cast a harried look over his shoulder and begged with his eyes for help from Eudial. She merely smiled and waved goodbye, trying not to laugh. Hirosada Saburo was proving to be most useful to most of the members of the Witches 5. Mimete, in particular, had found him useful in mathematical computations, and he had unwittingly helped Eudial on the road to improving her computer's locating programme, the one that ran through the entire Japanese population, searching for the holders of the talismans. She hadn't perfected it yet -- the best it could do was locate definitely pure hearts -- but she had no doubt she'd get there in the end.

Yes, Saburo most definitely had his uses. In fact, she found it to be quite distressing to think of what a loss he would be if her instincts turned out to be correct. After all, Saburo had been a surprisingly helpful scientist ever since the Professor had "acquired" his services, and without him, it would definitely slow down some of the projects around here somewhat.

That was the simple truth about Mugen Gakuen and her associated laboratories; all were somehow -- whether indirectly or directly -- involved in the plots of the professor. Saburo had lent his vast intellect and intuition to their cause in more ways than he was actually aware, and it would be a great pity and loss if she had to go through with this...

Sighing, Eudial went back to her computer, looking over Saburo's latest work... and went back to planning dinner that night.

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Demando stopped in the middle of the street, a sigh escaping his throat. He was dressed quite neatly in twentieth-century civilian style, and from the documents he carried on his person, he did indeed exist here in Tokyo. In fact, he was a well-known freelance political journalist and sometime-novelist, not that that really mattered right now. His identity was merely just a cover... in case he needed it.

He had gone to the hotel where Saffir had been "left" after Demando had put him in the hypnotic, memory-dulling trance, only to discover that Hirosada Saburo had left. He had got a forwarding address easily enough; after all, his own documents identified him as being Hirosada Mankichi, Saburo's elder brother.

However, Demando had not yet gone to the apartment; besides, the ever-helpful workers at the hotel had assured him that he would hardly be home at this time of day, anyway. He had a job at some laboratories, and apparently, while staying at this hotel, had spent most of his time there.

Sighing again, he looked about, wondering what he should do now. It was fairly early in the morning, just about time for school to start. That was why he smiled slightly sarcastically to see a blonde girl streaking down the street, obviously late for school.

What he didn't expect was for the girl to suddenly halt, the white cat running with her crashing into her legs as she stared at him, mouth open wide. "Demando!" She turned to the cat and snapped "See, Artemis? I wasn't lying! I really do see Demando when I'm running around Tokyo!"

He stared back at her, suspicion and anger evident on his face as he ignored the cat and directed the question at the blonde. "Who are you, and how do you know my name?" he asked, hostility tingeing his words in a most unsettling way.

The blue-eyed blonde continued to gape at him for a moment; her pretty face then took on an expression of insulted outrage. "Why, I'm Sailor Venus, ai no senshi, fighter for love, justice-"

He interrupted her speech by tiredly shaking one hand in dismissal, wincing as it pulled at the almost completely-healed wound in his side. "Yes, yes, now I recognise you... you just don't look quite as ridiculous in your school uniform as you do in your fuku."

She instantly put her hands on her hips, looking put-out. "I do NOT look ridiculous in my fuku!"

"Perhaps not as a cabaret dancer, but as a warrior?" Demando chuckled tiredly to himself, shaking his head. "You wouldn't catch any of my army prancing around in high heels and short skirts."

He would have continued on in his half-joking mockery of the seeraa-fuku, but he bit his tongue when Minako stomped on his foot. "Why you little-" he swore creatively, leaping backwards from the girl and resisting the temptation to hit her back. However, it was never polite to hit a girl, especially in a public street.

"And I'm sure your armies can't control the power of their planet and embody an element or emotion, either," snapped back Minako, looking satisfied with her handiwork.

Artemis rolled his eyes, looking exasperated. "Mina, you're going to be late AGAIN if you don't stop talking and start running."

"Chotto matte," Minako said in an irritated voice, turning back to Demando. The Prince by now had stopped cursing and swearing, though she noted that he wasn't leaning much of his weight on the injured foot. "Prince Demando, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing," he snapped, looking at her in a manner that assured her he was probably never going to forgive her for stomping on his foot. It seemed ridiculous that a Senshi had bested him by such a childish attack, but he knew there was no way in Hell he could retaliate out here. Not unless he wanted to get himself arrested for assault, that was... "And I'd appreciate if you kept out of my way, Senshi -- I've noticed you about town, too, and it's really beginning to annoy me. Just keep out of my business, okay?"

"I most certainly will not!" she almost shouted self-righteously. "You have no right to be back here! After all, are you not the Prince -- OW!" She turned from Demando to glare at the cat who had bitten her on the ankle to get her attention, eyes blazing. "Artemis, you JERK!"

"I don't think your teachers will accept talking to royalty as an excuse for being late AGAIN," Artemis said, quite clearly. Demando cast him a look, finally realising that Artemis was a cat.

"Ah, so that's what you look like," he remarked, giving him a stare that made Artemis acquire a sweatdrop. "You know, I thought you'd be a bit bigger -- I daresay Rudra-sama is a lot bigger than you are."

Minako's brow furrowed in interest as she stared at him. "Rudra-sama?"

Demando gave her a half-interested look, seeming to tire of the conversation. "Yes, he's... a friend of mine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to attend to." Haughtily he turned away, disappearing in the direction that Minako and Artemis had entered by.

Artemis scratched the side of his head in a decidedly human gesture as he watched Demando stride away. "Do you think he meant to imply there are other Mooncats·?"

Minako shrugged, but she looked intrigued. "Wouldn't that just be so sugoi?! This Rudra must live on Nemesis... hey, don't you think it would be great just to go to Nemesis, see what's actually there? Hey, if Demando can wander back and forth, why can't we?"

Artemis shook his head wearily, and pointed up the street. "School. Now."

Still, even as Minako grudgingly walked the well-worn path to the academic buildings, she continued on with that same thread of thought. "... and don't you think it would be just so fun?!"

a a a

The day at the laboratories had been relatively uneventful -- for once. Saffir had spent most of it in the company of Mimete, but for once, she didn't take it upon herself to be irritating and pesky. Instead, she behaved most impeccably for the first time in her life, though her voice forever stayed a few octaves too high.

After he decided enough was enough just after five, he had wandered over to visit Eudial to ask her when she wanted him to drop by. She had told him to swing by her place around eight -- unless, of course, she wanted her to pick him up?

Saffir's decision had been relatively quick. He wanted to keep his body in one complete piece. He would walk.

As he then left the building, he sighed slightly, holding his folder under one arm. He had some work he wanted to do tonight, so he hoped Eudial wouldn't try to detain him for too long. After all, they both had work in the morning...

Sighing, he wandered up the Tomoe residence, staring up at the sprawling white mansion for a brief second. On the balcony above the porch, a girl reading a novel started, standing slowly from her chair to walk carefully over and lean down to call to her companion. "Konnichi wa, Saburo-oniisama!"

"Konban wa, Hotaru-chan," he replied easily, raising his other arm to wave at her. "I suppose the door's unlocked, right?"

Hotaru leaned over the balcony, smiling slightly as she did so. "Yeah, it should be, unless Kaori-san has locked it in the last five minutes." A black look crossed her face, uncharacteristically angry for the melancholy young girl. "Actually, I wouldn't put it past her. Here, please wait a second while I come downstairs."

It was actually several minutes before Saffir heard the rattle of the chain and clicking of the locks. He wasn't surprised; Hotaru had not looked terribly well when she had called down from the balcony. He had further proof when Hotaru finally opened the heavy door, her face looking more gaunt and pale than usual. "Gomen nasai for taking so long... I had a small spell..."

"That's all right," he reassured her, stepping inside and removing his slippers. "Are you feeling all right?"

Hotaru sighed, locking the door with her careful fingers while Saffir tidied away his jacket and outdoor shoes. "Not really. I didn't go to school today... and I've been having nightmares again. They're the same ones I told you about, but they're getting worse." She looked so pensive -- and so bewildered -- that Saffir instantly felt his old sympathy welling up. "It's the whole Silence thing again... and the messiah..."

A cold wave suddenly hit Saffir as he realised something. The Nemesian histories stated that during this time, there had been a silence-scare, something about powerful enemies who tried to silence the world using the sacred cup. They didn't know much about them, but there had been mentions of messiahs, Silence and rebirth...

Saffir stared at Hotaru. And he wondered... why was it that he felt as if he had met her somewhere before...?

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"And if we could go to Nemesis, we could meet all those people that Petz and her sisters once told us about, and we could see how much sunlight they really don't get, and then we could go and visit this Rudra-sama person -- or whatever he is -- and announce that we're-"

"Mina, shut up before I stuff your henshin wand down your throat."

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The dinner, he had to admit, had tasted perfectly fine. Eudial hadn't been bluffing when she had bragged that she was a decent cook. Now, maybe she would never match up to the standards of the royal cooks back on Nemesis, but it was edible, which was more than he could say for his own creations in the kitchen. His culinary prowess was about as spectacular as Esmeraude in a calculus exam.

However, he had made the mistake earlier of accepting Eudial's suggestion of wine with dinner. Saffir had long been wary of alcohol; he had particularly despised watching his brother drink it. It wasn't that he ever suspected Demando was an alcoholic -- Saffir knew better than that -- it was more the fact that he firmly believed that alcohol clouded one's judgement.

Somehow, Eudial had managed to talk him into drinking just one glass... and then another... and then another... before he even realised that he was really drinking it down.

He looked at the woman seated across from him, dressed in a long and seductive gown of black velvet. He himself was not so formally dressed, but he didn't really give a damn. It had surprised him to find that Eudial had dressed as such, as well as dismaying him; he had already been the unfortunate victim of one doomed seduction, and he really didn't want to start another one of those fiascos again...

Saffir took the glass into his hand again, taking a large burning swallow of the alcohol. He still loathed liquor, but he was getting to the point where he really didn't care. Only Tomoe Hotaru kept him sane these days, though that itself seemed the most insane thing out.

Yeah, I've fallen in love with a thirteen year old child. Well, considering I pushed the woman I loved aside in favour of my brother, the brother who dumped me so I couldn't interfere with his life and loves anymore, I'm really keeping up with my tradition of having a totally fucked-up love life. Oh, and let's not forget -- I'm now in the apartment of my co-worker, who is dressed in such a provocative way it's obvious what she wants. Too bad I feel about as romantic as a twenty-year-old vacuum cleaner on a Thursday morning.

Saffir finished downing the glass, looking upwards at the attractive red-head slightly woozily. "Y'know, Eudial, I really would like some more of that wine..."

Eudial carefully leant over the table to remove the glass from his hand, the candlelight glinting in those remarkable eyes. "I think you've had quite enough, Saburo-san," she all but purred, reaching over with her other hand to gently take his. Even as he watched with absolute apathy, she raised his hand to her lips and kissed it gently. "Why don't you come with me, Saburo-san? I want to do something to you that is as exquisitely beautiful as it is dangerous."

"Sounds a little like you," muttered Saffir. Even though he was verging on "tipsy," he was not yet well on the way to being drunk. However, the thought of being dead drunk was becoming surprisingly appealing to him, this man who had hated watching his brother have so much as half a glass of any spirit. "Eudial, surely you have some more wine tucked away-"

"Oh, you don't need any more of that," she said with a touch of impatience. She then threw aside this expression, and easily as a mask she put on a dreamy eyed, romantic look, seeming a million miles away. She carefully stood and drifted around the table, reaching over to take Saffir's hands, pulling him to his feet. "Take my hand and I'll take you to heaven, Saburo-san..."

"I hope it's not a return trip," he mumbled, not in the mood to protest. Suddenly, his apathy of the last few weeks built up to a climax... he just didn't give a damn anymore.

Eudial laughed deep in her throat, a purposely sexy sound that appealed to Saffir about as much as a vomit sandwich. She wrapped her long fingered hands about his left arm, pressing into his side as she delicately lead him from the dining room to a dimly lit bedroom.

Ever-so-carefully, she brought him over to the bed, giving him an affectionate peck on the cheek as she pressed him down on the soft eiderdown. "Here, Saburo, just lie down a moment, and it'll be fine... the pain will only be for a moment, but then you'll be calm, peaceful... it doesn't have to be bad. For you, I'd want it to be sweet. Only for you... because you could've been one of us, Saburo-san..."

Drowsily, Saffir opened his eyes, confused. "What are you talking..."

His voice faded away as colour drained from his face completely. Eudial stood at the foot of the bed, a strange looking projectile device held knowingly in her hands. The first thought that shot through his mind was ironic, sarcastic.

Now I'm really keeping up with my traditionally screwed love-life -- congratulations! We can now add a homicidal maniac to the ever growing list of nutbars and fruitloops that are Saffir's companions!

However, his thoughts turned decidedly panicky as she levelled this odd bazooka-like gun at his chest and said, quite politely, "Would you mind moving a little to the right?"