This is the end of Act 1 of Shieldsman.

Shieldsman
A Sailor Moon S Fanfic

All Sailor Moon characters the property of the people who have rights to
them.  Don't sue me.

***

5 - Red Star Eclipse

***

As Sailor Mars kissed Kaneda, the other Senshi watched on in a mixture of
shock, amusement, and jealousy.

"Gee, don't you think they'd need to come up for air?" Venus asked Mercury
acidly after a few long moments, her jealousy getting the better of her.

"Mina-chan," Mercury scolded softly.  As if on cue, the kissing pair
seperated.  Mars helped Kaneda stand, and they noticed their audience. 
Kaneda had the decency to blush.

"Uh, hi?" Kaneda offered.  

Mars grabbed his hand.  "Let's get out of here, " she hissed in his ear. 
She dragged him off at high speed.

"Hey!  Wait!  At least let me transform!  Aww man, my shoes..."  Kaneda's
protests faded as the two disappeared into the night.

Six stunned young women and a confused young man stared in shock after the
retreating pair.  Sailor Pluto smiled lightly.  "Wow," Jupiter finally
said.  By unspoken agreement, they all transformed back.

"You knew," Ami accused Setsuna.  "You knew he was the next target."

Setsuna shook her head.  "No, I knew it was likely, and I hoped, but it was
only good fortune that Mimete decided to choose Kaneda."  Haruka looked at
her with disbelief and disgust.  

"You WANTED him to be attacked?" she asked incredulously, as she suddenly
realized that the third member of their team was willing to take steps
Haruka would never dream of.  To actually hope that someone would be is a
level even se wouldn't sink to.  The thought sickened her, and she
exchanged a worried look with Michiru.  "WHY?"

"It had to happen," Setsuna answered simply.  "Rei had to admit to herself
that she loved Kaneda and that he loved her."

"Why?"  Minako asked softly.

Setsuna's expression went hard.  "Because if she had not, we would have
been doomed."  That enigmatic response silenced any further questions.  The
Inner Senshi exchanged nervous looks.

"I assume we've seen what we needed to?" Michiru finally asked Setsuna.

The elder woman nodded.  As the three Outer Senshi left, only Usagi and
Mamoru caught the words she whispered under her breath.  "So little time."

***

On the top of a tall skyscraper, Sailor Mars set Kaneda down.  "I think we
won't be interrupted here, Rei," Kaneda said sarcastically.  "Can we talk
now?"  Sailor Mars transformed back to Rei, and stood before him.

"Kaneda..." Rei began, but he overrode her, his anger and confusion evident
in his every word.

"You knew.  All this time, you knew.  That I loved you, way back in the
Silver Millennium.  That I still felt the same way now.  You remembered
everything."  Rei nodded and turned away, trying to hide the tears in her
eyes.  "Why did you do it, Rei?  Why did you force me away if you loved me
back?"

She whirled, tears streaming down her face.  "What was I supposed to do?"
she demanded.  "Let you die, like all the others?"

Kaneda stared at her, stunned.  "What?"  She turned away again, and walked
to the edge of the roof and stared out over the city.

"I was falling in love with you.  But then your brothers began to die, one
by one."  She paused, and pushed some strands of hair away from her face. 
"I..I was afraid.  If I let you get too close, I wouldn't be able to keep
you away, and you would die too.  I couldn't let you die, Kaneda."

Rei fell silent, and waited for Kaneda to say something.  After a long
moment, she turned, and saw Kaneda silently trembling with laughter. 
"Y-y-you were t-trying to p-protect me?" he finally stammered out.  Rei
flushed with anger and embarassment, but soon she smiled a bit and began to
laugh herself.

"Yes," she admitted.  Kaneda shook his head and managed to stop laughing. 
He walked up to her and set his hands on her shoulders, and looked down
into her face.

"Rei, I love you with all my being," he smiled.  "But that's the dumbest
thing I ever heard.  It's MY job to protect YOU, remember?."

Rei shook her head and pushed his hands off of her.  "That's why you have
to stop.  Please.  Stop being a Shieldsman.  Just be Kaneda."

"Why?"

"Because they all died!" she snapped angrily, and then her manner softened.
 "All of them.  I don't want to lose you.  If you don't stop, you'll die
too, don't you see?"

"Then I'll die," he answered her bluntly.  "A Shieldsman is what I am, just
as much as a Senshi is what you are. I could ever take seeing you hurt,
knowing I could stop it."  *Again,* he mentally added.  "Do you think Usagi
protests Mamoru's aid?"

Rei scowled.  "I am NOT Usagi."

"And I'm not Mamoru.  But I won't stop protecting you as best I can, Rei. 
I can't, no more than Mamoru could stop taking care of Usagi."  With that,
he gently took her into an embrace.  "I love you too much to stop."

The pair turned to look out over the city in silence, and Rei sighed and
leaned against Kaneda, reveling in his warmth.  "I love you so much,
Kaneda.  Don't ever leave me."

***

The Inner Senshi watched as Kaneda sat in front of a delighted Chibi-Usa,
singing songs that he accompanied on his keyboard.  "I now know how you
feel when she monopolizes Mamoru," Rei said to Usagi dryly, and scowled as
she realized the other girl was too busy stuffing her face to pay
attention. She looked up at Makoto with a peeved expression.  "You just had
to bring out food, didn't you?"

Makoto smiled lightly as she sat down.  "Just being a good hostess," she
defended.

"Stop picking on Mako-chan," Usagi scolded Rei.

"I wasn't picking on her," Rei retorted, "I was saying you're impossible to
talk to when there's food in the room!"  Minako looked up from the manga
she was reading at Ami, who looked up from her textbook.  The two rolled
their eyes and giggled.  Artemis and Luna merely sighed.

"BE QUIET!"  Chibi-Usa stood in front of Rei and Usagi, her hands on her
hips.  She was not happy.  "I'm trying to listen to Uncle Ka-chan!"  Kaneda
was trying to stifle his laughter as Chibi-Usa sat in front of him again
and he began a new song.  It was a cute little thing for children, yet his
rich tenor voice filled the room with sound.

Rei sighed and stood, stretching a little.  "I'm going to go for a walk,"
she whispered to Makoto.  "I have a few things to think about."  With that
she made her exit from the apartment.

Minako looked up from her manga, and nudged Ami.  "That's two of us," she
said.  At Ami's confusion, she explained further.  "Two of us have found
their man.  I wonder if the rest of us will find someone."  Ami got a
thoughtful look on her face.

"It would be nice, wouldn't it?" she returned.  At the other side of the
room, Usagi and Makoto were engaged in a conversation of their own.

"I envy you and Rei-chan," Makoto sighed.

Usagi stopped eating and looked at her friend with concern.  "Why is that,
Mako-chan?"  Usagi asked.

"You both have been reunited with someone special from the past.  I just
wonder if we all had someone.  It doesn't seem likely."  *Especially in my
case.*

"It doesn't HAVE to be someone from the Silver Millenium," Usagi answered
seriously, and then smiled impishly.  "You just have to keep looking."

Makoto considered that seriously, a smile tugging at her lips.  "Well,
Mamoru's cute..."  she giggled as Usagi face darkened and she took a deep
breath.

"MAKO-CHAN!"  Usagi's continued tirade was preempted by Chibi-Usa walking
over and bonking her on the head.  Ami and Minako buried their faces in
their books and attempted to stiffle giggles.

"I said, BE QUIET," she scolded, and went back to sit in front of Kaneda. 
"Sorry, Uncle Ka-chan."

Kaneda put the back of his hand to his forhead and swooned dramatically. 
"Oh, the trials a true artiste must go through in the name of his art."  He
grinned as Chibi-Usa giggled.

"I like you," she proclaimed, "you're silly!"

He laughed and switched to a funny song about a silly black cat and the
clever mouse it chased. Luna woke up from her nap and sniffed.  "Now he's
picking on us," she complained to Artemis.

"I'd like to point out he's talking about a BLACK cat," he smugly retorted,
then looked peeved as Kaneda began the next verse about the silly white
cat.  "How rude."

***

Mamoru and Kaneda exchanged looks of infinite suffering as their
girlfriends dragged them through the fair.  "Don't you have that make-up
exam tomorrow?"  Mamoru asked.

"Yes," Kaneda sighed.  "But SOMEONE used the ultra-cute look on me and got
me to come along."

"Ouch," Mamoru said sympathetically, and winced.  He watched as Chibi-Usa
ran ahead, chased by the three other girls.  He then stumbled as he was
jerked to a halt by Usagi.  He looked around to see what had stopped her
and felt horror sink into his heart.  The Tunnel of Love.  He didn't even
have time to protest as Usagi dragged him to it.

Rei started to drag Kaneda after them, and scowled back at him as he
resisted.  "Come on," she said, exasperated.

"Rei," Kaneda protested, "this is silly!"  Rei turned and used the same
wide-eyed ultra-cute look on him she had earlier in the day, and he felt
any resistance he had crumble.  "ERRRRGH."  He grumbled and sighed. "All
right, let's go."  Her brilliant smile was worth the price.

A few minutes later, Mamoru and Usagi walked out of the Tunnel, both of
them blushing slightly in embarassment.  Usagi held on tightly to Mamoru's
arm and had a dreamy look on her face as they went to meet up with the
others.

They were soon followed by another pair.  Kaneda was blushing deeply, and
Rei had a smug little smile on her face.  Kaneda stopped, and turned to
look Rei in the eyes.  "Rei?"

"Yes?"

"Where on earth did you learn to kiss like that?"  He didn't notice the
three teenaged girls listening in.  If he had, he might have been blushing
as much as Rei was now.

Rei patted his cheek and smiled enigmatically, her flush disappearing. 
"Natural talent."  She took his hand and led him off through the fair. 
Mamoru noticed the panicked look in Kaneda's eyes and began to chuckle.

"Rei-chan?" Ami whispered in disbelief.

"Way to go, Rei-chan!" Minako cheered.

Makoto only sighed enviously.

An hour later the girls were sitting at a bench while the men were standing
in line, waiting for a chance to get a famous race car driver's autograph. 
"What's so great about a guy who drives a car for a living?" Usagi
complained.

"Boys love their toys," a voice chuckled from behind them.  They turned to
see Michiru and Setsuna.  Michiru smiled indulgently.  "Haruka's up there
as well, overjoyed to meet her hero."

That was when the screaming began.

***

"Damnit, can't she choose someone ELSE to pick on?" Kaneda complained.  He
crouched on the ground beside Mamoru and Haruka.  "Singers, actors and
athletes are one thing, but this is sacreligous!"  He ducked as the daimon
tossed a table in their general direction.

The daimon was car based.  Her body was armored in what seemed to be
bumpers, hubcaps, and other chrome accessories.  Both arms ended in razor
sharp hubcaps.  Her eyes shone like the headlights of a car, and she had
already shown the ability to make a deafening honking noise.

"Oh, Automatic," Mimete called.  She pointed towards where the Inner Senshi
and the two Outers sat.  "Get them!"  The daimon made another deafening
honk and charged towards the girls, who scattered.

"Michiru!" Haruka yelled, then her voice became a whisper.  "Damnit,
there's too many people here!  We can't change!"

Kaneda growled as he saw the daimon nearly take Rei's head off.  "Screw
secret identities.  CRIMSON RADIANCE!"  He drove his fist at the ground,
and the entire combat stopped as hundreds of people saw him transform into
Crimson.  

Crimson pointed at the daimon.  "I am the Crimson Shieldsman," he growled,
"and you will not touch one hair on her head." He spun and threw his shield
like a discus.  The projectile bounced off of the daimon's head and
returned to his hand.  "Got it?"  He charged the daimon, using his shield
like a battering ram.

The daimon jumped out of the way, but not before it had scored a hit on
Crimson's leg.  Dark blood stained his thigh where the daimon had cut him. 
He tried throwing his shield again, but the daimon blocked the attack, and
flung a hubcap in retaliation.  Rather than dodge and let it hit some
innocent bystander, Crimson caught the attack on his shoulder.  *This is
NOT going well,* he thought.

***

Rei looked frantically around for some place she could transform.  Nothing.
 "He's going to get killed," she wailed.  

Makoto cursed under her breath as they cowered behind a table with half a
dozen others.  A few meters away, the rest of the Inners and the two Outers
crouched behind another.  *Too many people!*

Michiru looked over at Setsuna.  "Should we?" she asked.  The green-haired
woman shook her head sadly.

"We cannot.  If we were to do so in front of so many people, the
consequences would be dire."

"But he's going to get killed," Ami protested.  "He told us himself he
can't do anything about these things."

Setsuna looked grim.  "There is one thing he can do."  *I am sorry, Rei,
but this must be, it is for the best.*

***

Crimson reached the same conclusion as Setsuna as he took another hit from
the daimon, this one opening a deep gash on his temple.  *All these people!
 They can't transform!*  He looked towards the table where Rei hid, and saw
her looking at him as he blinked the blood out of his eye.  "Goodbye, Rei,"
he called to her.  "I'm sorry."

He knelt on the ground and laid his shield in front of him almost
reverently.  His body glowed with a buring aura as he raised his fist in
the air.  "CRIMSON..."

Rei gasped as memories flooded back to her.  The final attack of a
Shieldsman.  "CRIMSON!! Please, oh PLEASE, DON'T!"

"...ANNIHILATION..."  He began to bring his fist down, and his aura blazed
brighter, the brilliant red light reaching an almost blinding intensity.

Rei stood up and began to run out to him.  "DON'T LEAVE ME!"

"...SUICIDE!!!"  His fist impacted with his shield, and the crystal disk
exploded into a thousand pieces.  People fled as the world was washed out
in a sea of crimson light.

***

As the Inner and Outer Senshi watched helplessly, Rei held Kaneda's head on
her lap, and cried as the last of his life left him.  "Just hang on,
Kaneda.  Sailor Moon will get here, and she'll save you."  She stroked his
bangs away from his face.  "Why did you do it?"

Kaneda smiled faintly, and readed up to touch her face.  "Had to beat it,"
he whispered.  His eyes closed for a moment, then opened as a tear fell on
his cheek.  "Don't cry Rei, we'll meet again.  Serenity promised me."

"You're not going to die!" she insisted, looking fiercely into his eyes. 
"You're not going to die on me!  I don't care what she said!"

Kaneda's lips moved, and Rei had to put her ear down to his lips to hear
him.  "'When the darkness fades....the red star...will shine again.' 
Akasei...red star."  He smiled, and his eyes turned glassy as the last
breath left him.  "Love...you."

Rei looked into his eyes in disbelief.  "Kaneda?"  He didn't answer her. 
"Kaneda?  Don't die!  You have to live.  Please!"  She stared at his still
face in disbelief for a long moment, and then collapsed on top of him, her
body shuddering with grief.  She looked up as they were bathed in a soft
white light, and saw Princess Serenity standing over them, with tears in
her eyes.

Kaneda's body glowed with a familiar red light, and a ghostly Crimson
seemed to step out of him.  He stood and looked down at his shell of a body
and at the young woman he loved.  "Come, Crimson, there is little time,"
Serenity said.  Crimson smiled faintly and touched Rei's face, then melted
into a small glowing red ball.  It flew over to the Ginzuishou that
Serenity held and seemed to sink into it.  The silver crystal blazed red
for a moment, then glowed again with its warm silver light.

As they watched Serenity become Sailor Moon once again, they heard
Crimson's voice in their heads.  "Wait for me, Rei."

***

The Outer Senshi sat in Setsuna's apartment.  It was not a pleasant
meeting.

"WHY?" Haruka growled at Setsuna.  "Why did you do this, Pluto?"  She said
the name like it was an insult.  "He was probably the first one of them I
actually LIKED."

"Because if I had not, he would have aged and died in a mere fifty years,"
she answered simply.  "All of you had been touched by Queen Serenity when
the Moon Kingdom fell.  She did not only throw your souls into the future,
she made you almost immortal."  She smiled lightly.  "How else do you think
you all live for a thousand years?  I brought Crimson forward myself.  He
had to be touched in the same way.  He had to be reborn properly."  *If
only they knew the truth.*

"That doesn't explain this," Michiru said.  "This was cruel."

"It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all,"
Setsuna quoted softly.  "They WILL meet again.  That is part of the future
I am fighting for."

It was not until they had left that she allowed herself to cry.  "I am so
sorry, Kaneda, Rei.  I am so sorry."

***

In the Juuban graveyard, a strange gravestone sits.  It has a single red
crystal embedded in it, that despite numerous attempts is impossible to
remove.  On are engraved the following words:

     Kaneda Akasei
     1975-1995

     A heart of song,
     A mind of laughter,
     A soul of love.

     'Til the darkness fades.

The young woman in the robes of a Shinto priestess placed a single red
carnation on the grave, and stood before it in silence for many minutes. 
Behind her, four other teens and a little girl stood a respectful distance
away.

"I'll wait, Kaneda.  No matter how long it takes, I'll wait."


END ACT 1, watch for Ch 6, the first part of Act 2.

--
Christopher Angel
cja124@mail.usask.ca      http://www.engr.usask.ca/~cja124
-The road to hell is paved with good intentions. -Old proverb.
-People forget that the same road leads to heaven. -Response