The Realization of Plan B

Cyrus stared down into one of the brightest gardens in the Temple, one he knew belonged to some of the Sailor Jedi. Every green leaf dripped with life, and the scent of the vibrant blossoms had to be the scent of love itself. The garden was nestled safely onto a quiet terrace framed by a few of the thousand indoor waterfalls, making it fairly secluded, but Cyrus had found a suitable vantage point on a lightly-traveled walking path a story or so up.

It seemed empty now, except for a slight movement under one of the lilac trees. He knew exactly who was down there but still peered through the lace of green foliage and columns of fragrant purple blossoms at the busy gardener. She was sitting awkwardly on the ground with her legs angled out in front of her, leaning over to dig small holes in the dirt between them. Occasionally, she would reach back and pull a gray tray into her reach, popping tiny, yellow-flowered plants out of the tray and stuffing them into each new hole.

He could sense her mood through the Force; she was happy, enjoying her task, vaguely daydreaming as she worked. Her thoughts didn't linger long on any one subject, like a small bird so thrilled with the idea of flying that, after alighting on one branch, only waits a heartbeat before she tilts her head, hops a few steps, and takes off again. Every so often, he sensed her blink back into the present, usually due to one of those strange talking cats brushing up against her elbow, or a warm, spiced draft coming from the girls' kitchen, or some other distraction Cyrus had learned was typical among the Sailor Jedi.

As he watched her obliviously dig, the Jedi began formulating the final details of his plan. He'd learned early on that he couldn't rely on using his Force skills around this child, and also that she'd taken to avoiding him. So Cyrus knew he'd have to use somewhat indirect methods to get her into a vulnerable spot - fortunately, he had just the thing for that!

Down in the garden, the girl smiled at some sweet thought, and Cyrus momentarily forgot his own.

Enough, he scolded himself, blinking his light blue eyes as he tried to recover his previous train of thought. It annoyed him: The more he watched her, the more often he was distracted by her small expressions of happiness. He grew increasingly impatient every time he found himself infected by the joy in her heart. But it wasn't the joy that scared him - it was the fact that it was growing extremely difficult to dislike this girl.

He calmed a bit as he noticed her smile relax a little, showing she'd moved on from whatever thought had brought it about in the first place. Cyrus's resolve was back in a moment as he thought of the promise he had made years ago, and the events it had stemmed from. Though dislike was growing difficult, hate had never been easier.

The Jedi's pale eyes never left the girl in the garden, but his mind was parsecs away. He could see the forests of Myrkr clearly; they were somehow easier to imagine in her presence, almost as if her muddy hands and short, ribbon-bound hair carried something of that planet with them. It was, of course, all in her effect on the Force and had nothing to do with her hair or hands or anything... Despite knowing that, Cyrus was certain there was nothing other than Myrkr's blue sky in her eyes.

He hated them. They might have been beautiful, just as Myrkr's sky might have been beautiful - probably was beautiful, in fact, at first. But to him, there was no longer anything about Myrkr that was worth beholding, and certainly nothing was beautiful. A life had ended on Myrkr; one promise had been made and later broken; and finally, one more promise was made. That one was his - and he would keep it.

"YO CHIKAKO!"

Cyrus jumped at the shout, which originated from a being only a few feet away. He had been so deep in his reverie that he hadn't even sensed the approach of a strangely dressed boy with bright (mostly) orange hair. He stepped back slightly as Chikako's blue eyes turned up to where he and the screamer were standing. He felt a little better about not sensing him as he realized the boy had one of the weakest Force signatures he'd ever sensed.

"Watch me jump down there!" the boy said and swung a leg over the protective railing along the high walkway. Obviously, he was no more intelligent than he was strong in the Force.

Chikako's eyes went wide. "Peetie, don't you dare!" she squealed, still clutching a baby plant in one hand and a spade in the other.

"No, do it!" yelled a girl in the garden named Yoshiko with long pink hair partially done up in heart-shaped buns. She was carrying a holocamera and had three other girls in tow, each with similar hairstyles.

"What?!" Chikako cried.

"We'll catch you!" said a young Jedi named Sutaru, her 'odango' dark brown and flanked by broad ponytails. Her best friend - whose hairstyle looked remarkably like a Gungan's head - nodded vigorously.

"Promise?" Peetie said mischievously, now dangling his other foot over the railing.

"Peetie!" Chikako said, aghast.

"Promise!" shouted the last girl, who was much smaller than the others, with icy blue hair and a big grin.

Peetie let go of the railing. Chikako dropped the plant and the spade, and her soiled hands flew to her already dirt-smudged face, finishing the job of making her look a mess. Yoshiko zoomed in with the holocamera while the others concentrated on using the Force to break the daredevil's fall. Cyrus felt most of the energy slowing Peetie's freefall was from Sutaru. The others contributed, too, including a surge of Force energy from Chikako, but the boy still seemed to be in for a hard landing. Suddenly, though, a very strong presence entered the scene and focused in on Peetie. He floated slowly down the last few feet and landed softly, as if he had simply stepped off the bottom stair. In fact, he landed with even a little more grace than he usually possessed.

The young woman stood on a landing facing where Cyrus stood. She was smiling down into the garden, but the moment Cyrus spotted her, she met his eyes with her bright blue ones, and her expression darkened.

He frowned. This dark-haired girl was Xarae, the one who'd been with Chikako the day he'd introduced himself. He'd wondered if this Force-sensitive woman had had anything to do with Chikako's avoiding him.

In light of the way she was looking at him now, he was sure she'd been responsible.

Cyrus finally tore his gaze away from Xarae's eyes. They'd had all the conversation he ever cared to have in that moment of silent staring across the Room of a Thousand Waterfalls. Resisting the urge to steal one more glance into the garden, he turned and left.

Down in the garden, Chikako laughed. Aisu was spinning: arms out, ponytails flying, giggles abounding. The picture of the little girl spinning simply because there was no reason not to spin captured Chikako's mood exactly. She looked up at Kairiku. "I'd spin too," she assured her, "but I'm quite busy playing in the dirt."

Kairiku raised an eyebrow, smiled, and opened her mouth to reply but was swept off her feet (quite literally) by Peetie, who was loudly proclaiming that he was a human bulldozer. He and his helplessly shrieking victim were followed closely by Yoshiko with the holocamera and a giggling Sutaru, leaving Chikako alone again with the twirling Chibi.

Xanthus Sloane made his reluctant way to the spot in the Room of A Thousand Waterfalls Cyrus had directed him to. He rather regretted telling off his Master a few weeks ago - at least, he regretted the consequences. Under threat of death, he'd done his part and gotten Chikako alone outside the restaurant. But when Sailor Myrkr became Super Sailor Myrkr and defeated the youma that was supposed to defeat her, Cyrus's plan fell apart. Xanthus had let some angry words slip and turned his back on his Master, becoming aware, even as he walked away that night, that it would probably result in his own death.

However, Cyrus had a Plan B, and that plan revolved around Xanthus.

The young man didn't much like being used, especially when it meant being an accessory to murder (although Cyrus for some reason considered this Justice). But when it came down to either playing along with "Plan B" or being "disposed of," Xanthus was willing to do what he had to do.

"Hello?" he said, entering the quiet garden. It seemed empty, and his words were absorbed by the softness of the flower petals and the rush of nearby water. He listened closely, though, as he ventured further in, and soon heard the not-so-distant shriek of a laughing child above the muffled waterfalls. "Hello?" he said again.

This time he was answered by a daffodil patch with a large pair of silver eyes, which upon closer look were framed by blue pigtails topped in round buns. "Hello," said the daffodils. "Who are you?"

"I'm Xanthus," he said. "Who are you?"

"I'm... I'm Aisu!" she announced, bursting out of the flowerbed.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Aisu," he said, laughing and shaking her hand.

Aisu giggled and ran away - she wasn't often greeted with handshakes.

Xanthus smiled and followed the former flower-fairy.

Chikako, hearing giggles and Aisu's loud end of a conversation, pulled herself out of the flowerbed beneath the lilac tree. She swung around the thin trunk of a cherry tree, sending pink petals everywhere, to see who the little girl was bringing down the main path.

When she saw who it was, she swung back around the cherry tree, sending more pink petals flying, and froze a moment before deciding to run deeper into the garden.

Xanthus and Aisu walked around the cherry tree. "Chikako!" Aisu exclaimed, looking at the empty flowerbed beneath the lilac bush. "Where did you go?!" She turned to her companion. "She must be hiding from us."

Chikako could hear their voices getting closer, even as she reached the back of the garden. An impressive wall of climbing pink and yellow roses greeted her. Perhaps she could circle around and go back to the front gate, passing Aisu and Xanthus on the far side of the garden?

"I'm sure she's here somewhere," Aisu assured Xanthus, sounding nearer than ever. Chikako panicked. She'd never be able to sneak past them on her way out - they were too close! She looked furtively around. She wasn't quite desperate enough to climb a wall of roses... an apple tree, however...

Aisu's odango came into view and stopped so Xanthus, who was taking his time, could catch up. His blonde head appeared a moment later. Keep on walking, keep on walking! Chikako pleaded, holding still and trying to blend in with the pink apple blossoms and green leaves. Hopefully they wouldn't think to look for her in a tree.

"This is such a nice garden," Xanthus said, plucking a bright yellow rose from the back wall of the garden. "Whose is it?"

"Oh, a bunch of peoples'," Aisu said, waving her hand in a kind of uninterested shrug. She bent over and peeked under a bench.

"Not there, is she?" Xanthus teased.

"No," Aisu sighed, now looking up, her eyes falling on the apple tree. Xanthus started walking again.

Chikako put her finger to her lips, silently begging the little girl not to say anything.

"What are you doing in a tree?!" Aisu exclaimed. "Here she is, Xanthus! Xanthus," she ran up to him and pulled on his robe. She grinned up at him. "I found her!"

Chikako pulled a full branch of leaves down in front of her to hide the nice fuchsia shade she was turning.

"Hello up there," Xanthus said, stepping back into view. Chikako cringed as she noted his amusement.

"Hello," she squeaked.

"What are you doing?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but quickly realized anything she could say would simply make her seem stupider. "I just... like... climbing... trees," she finally replied haltingly.

"Me too," Xanthus said, took hold of a low branch and pulled himself up. Within a second, he'd climbed nearly as high as Chikako and stood on a branch that put him face to face with her. He smiled and held out the rose he'd just picked.

Chikako reached for it with her soiled hand and was suddenly reminded that she was covered with dirt from head to toe. She blushed again (though under all the mud, it was hard to tell), and nervously pushed loose strands of her hair behind her ears, dislodging several cherry blossoms that had landed on her earlier.

Aisu knew opportunities when she saw them, and immediately sprung into action:

"CHIKAKO AND XANTHUS SITTIN' IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I--"

The serenade was interrupted by a shriek from the singer herself when Peetie, now declaring himself a human zamboni, flew out of a raspberry bush. He was full of threats to flatten Aisu but instead whisked her onto his shoulder and was off. The raspberry bush rustled a bit more and produced Yoshiko with the holocam. Sutaru and Kairiku came out after her, but, in the middle of some deep discussion, only followed a few more steps before changing their minds and going back into the raspberry bush.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!! FIRST COMES LOVE, THEN COMES MARRIAGE...!" The pair in the tree laughed a little, and Aisu's song faded as she was carried away into some other region of the garden.

"Um," Chikako said, breaking a moment of somewhat awkward silence. "I'm kind of dirty. I should probably go get cleaned up before dinner..." She made a hasty move to climb out of the tree, but her foot didn't catch the right branch and she slipped. Reflex told her to grab whatever was in reach, and she ended up wrapped around Xanthus's neck.

He lifted her back onto the more secure branch she'd been sitting on and placed his right hand on it, leaning on it enough to block her only practical escape route. "Why are you always running away from me?" he asked.

Chikako, whose heart was beginning to slow to normal rate after nearly crashing to the ground, found herself stumped once more.

"If you want me to leave you alone," he said, "just tell me. You'll never see me again."

Chikako looked down at her hands folded in her lap. For all the running away she was guilty of, that was the last thing she wanted. She sighed as she realized that. Xanthus misinterpreted the sigh and stepped down a branch. "I'll go," he said quietly.

"No," she said. "You can stay."

His green eyes got brighter at her words. Chikako shrugged and managed a small smile. To say she completely trusted him would be a lie... but somewhere, she'd heard that without Risk, there would never be Romance.

But without Trust, how can there be Love?

Chikako frowned inwardly at the contradiction building up in her mind. Risk, Trust, Romance, Love? Surely one couldn't base a life on all the "old sayings" one knew. But then again, there had to be some truth in some of them... but which ones? And how would she know if it applied to her? And she said he could stay... was it too late?

She looked questioningly at Xanthus, though she certainly didn't expect him to have an answer to the confusing circle of thoughts inside her head. And he didn't offer one.

Instead, he leaned forward and kissed her, sending all of Chikako's uncertainty to some place at the back of her mind where it wouldn't be interrupting. Perhaps there would be time for logic later.

Chikako slid her bedroom door shut and then turned around to bang her head against it. "I cannot believe I let him kiss me!" she squealed. "Ari!" she reared on her droid, tittering innocently in a corner. "What am I doing? What does he -" She looked in her mirror. "Look at me! I'm a mess! I can't believe he kissed this - Oh, Ari, we're having dinner tonight - I need to get cleaned up!" She disappeared immediately into her bathroom, leaving RE-4b whirring and rather puzzled.

She burst out of the bathroom a few minutes later, no less frazzled but much cleaner, with a wide orange bath towel loosely wrapped around her shoulders. "Oh my goodness. What did I agree to?" She grabbed a handful of the beaded curtain in front of her closet door and threw it around her lamp. It unraveled and came back to smack her, as she was rather distracted with finding a suitable outfit. "Ow," she whimpered, rubbing her face where the flower-shaped beads had hit hardest. She grasped the long strands again, this time knotting them and securing them behind her lamp. "Now what am I going to wear?" she lamented, strewing her bed with dresses. She pulled out the dress Miyuki had given her for her birthday and held it up. "What does this say, Ari? High on romance, low on commitment? Touch me and die? Marriage on my mind? Kiss me, you idiot?" She frowned. "It would help if I knew what I wanted it to say..."

Ari made no notable response, and Chikako stepped closer to her mirror, fingering the beaded straps of the pink dress. The fabric shimmered against her newly-clean skin in the lazy lamplight of her room.

Cyrus smiled just a little and turned to face his Padawan, who'd just told him about what'd happened in the garden. "Good," he said. "Now don't push it tonight. The last thing we need is for you to scare her away. Get her to trust you."

"That might take a while," Xanthus said, still standing just inside the room, his back against the closed door.

"I can wait," Cyrus said softly.

Chikako was now fully dressed and accessorized. Miyuki went all out with this outfit, she thought as she pushed the matching headband in place. "How do I look?" she asked.

Ari beeped and whirred his top around to shine a beam of light in the direction of Chikako's nightstand.

"Oh, right," she said, walking over and picking up her henshin locket. She paused and flipped it open, examining the two purple petals in place within. There was room for seven. This had to have been the thousandth time she'd examined the locket since she'd received it; every spare moment she would take it out and play with it, no matter where she was. She was half-surprised she hadn't set it down on a public transit system somewhere and left it.

Every time she opened the locket, the desire to complete the flower inside grew stronger, though she wasn't even sure what that would mean. Would it complete her power? Still, the galaxy was so immense! Where would she look to find five tiny flower petals? Myrkr might be a place to start... but how many, in the course of thousands of years, had blown into open cargo holds or gotten carried away with the passengers of star-faring ships? And what made her so sure they were still intact at all? Only the musings of a young General, her real father: "In time, she would find them all." She thought there was a hint of prophecy in his voice as it echoed on her imagination.

Finally tearing her thoughts away from what was rapidly developing into her Latest Personal Quest, Chikako snapped the locket shut and slipped it into the shimmering pink purse that coordinated exactly with the rest of her outfit. With one more nervous sigh, she flipped off the lamp and ventured out into the wide world of dating.

Chikako took a very deliberate route in order to get to the main entrance of the Jedi Temple - her aim was to meet as few Senshi as possible. It wasn't that she wanted to keep the date a secret, really... it was more that the idea of explaining it to anyone made her extremely nervous, as if the word AVOID was flashing over the scenario.

She almost made it.

Her last staircase was completely deserted, till she got to the last flight. She froze when she heard the shouts, several steps before anyone could come into view. It was a voice she knew, but couldn't quite place... she tiptoed down, as best as she could in heels, until a head of hair jelled up in spikes brighter than the morning sun came into view. It seemed Peetie had grown board of toting Aisu around the garden.

A few steps more, and she discovered that the first voice she'd heard belonged to Luke - Sutaru's brother - a new guy. The pair, apparently, was spending the evening perfecting the art of sliding down banisters. An abandoned holocam and some discarded sweaters on the lowest step told Chikako that Yoshiko - and maybe Mika? - had been there at one point.

She sighed. There were two options: first, retreat, and try and find an alternate route at the risk of running into still more people; and secondly, face the boys. It was entirely possible that they would ignore her completely...

Chikako rounded the bend and came into full view just as Peetie landed from his best banister slide yet. He turned to congratulate himself to Luke but got distracted.

"Holy dude! Where are you going?"

Luke looked up the stairs to see who Peetie was talking to and spent the rest of the exchange trying to think of the girl's name.

Chikako went crimson and continued down the stairs as fast as she could without falling down them. "I'm going to... the store."

"Must be a... good store," Peetie said. "You look more like you're going to a... uh... a bar mitzvah." He furrowed his brow, confused at his own statement, and watched Chikako flee the stairwell.

Xanthus was waiting when she got to the entrance. "You look nice," he said, offering his arm as they started off to the restaurant.

"You too," Chikako mumbled, glancing longingly across the street at the newspaper stand and the boy who worked there. Things were so much easier when the relationship never left the happy confines of a Coruscant Times news kiosk...

"So tell me about your family," Xanthus said and put a piece of fish in his mouth. Chikako sipped her chocolate soda thoughtfully and gazed at him over the candle shining in a big round jar. Instead of an actual restaurant, he'd taken her to a café on the terrace of some high building, serving a random assortment of good food in a festive, laid-back atmosphere. The trees that lined the café, closing it off from the crowded Coruscant skyscape, were dotted with strings of white lights; there were live musicians playing in one corner and an ice cream counter just inside the building. Chikako hadn't been sure what to expect - not this, though, and it relieved her when she saw the small café.

"I grew up with my dad," she finally said. "My mom died when I was little. I don't remember her much."

"No brothers or sisters?"

"No..." she said, thinking about Kamaria. She could say she had a much older sister - but then again, Kamaria was born when Chikako was about four. But if she was going to talk about Kamaria, that would bring in Justen and Nyssa as her real parents, rather than Yuria and Leilani Samara... "Nope!"

"Okay," Xanthus said smiling, raising an eyebrow at her deliberation on the topic.

Chikako shrugged. "Well, I did have Maiko, who was kind of like a sister to me. But anyway, how about you?" She took the reversal as an opportunity to devour a piece of round bread.

"I have parents... well, I don't really know," he looked up at her. "I came to the Temple when I was so young, and no one ever came to visit or anything. I have no idea what my family's like, really."

"Mm," she said.

"Any pets?"

Chikako shook her head.

"Me neither," he said and pushed his empty plate away, shooting her a small grin. "I'll be right back."

Chikako smiled as she watched him head in and stop in front of the ice cream counter, and reached for her soda. There was something about the café's atmosphere that made her feel very content. She breathed in deeply, looking around at the trees and the band and the candles. Inside, Xanthus was behind a few people in line. Chikako reached into her purse and pulled out the locket. It shined warmly in the light of the café. She flipped it open, amused at her behavior: perhaps if she stared long enough, she could will the other petals into being!

"I hope you like this kind," Xanthus said, setting a crystal dessert bowl down in front of her. He had another in his hand, filled with the same ice cream.

"I like every kind," Chikako assured him, and picked up her spoon.

"Excellent," he said, and sat down to do likewise.

"This was nice," Chikako said, suddenly feeling very shy again as they entered the Jedi Temple.

Xanthus nodded. "I hope we do it again sometime."

"Mm-hm..."

He leaned in and kissed her quickly before turning to go off to his own quarters. He glanced back over his shoulder once and smiled, and then disappeared. Chikako entered the Room of a Thousand Waterfalls with a big sigh, both intensely relieved and a little sad that dinner was over.

After ducking behind one of the waterfalls, she spent a moment just standing there between it and the door to the aptly-named Room Behind the Waterfall. Finally, having had enough pounding white noise, she took a deep breath and went inside with the intent of going straight to her room.

However, things changed when she walked into the common room just in time to hear Kirana say, "There she is!"

The small group of Senshi gathered there looked at her expectantly, some glancing up and down at her outfit. "So how was it?" Chouko asked.

"How was what?"

"Your date!"

"Date?" Chikako scanned the faces present. She looked for Peetie first: he was there but wore a believably blank expression. Mika, Chouko, Yoshiko, Minae, and Ippin all seemed innocent enough; it was Kairiku and Sutaru who were biting back smiles. Chikako shook her head.

"We weren't spying!" Kairiku exclaimed. "We had no interest whatsoever in you or Xanthus -"

"Till you kissed," Sutaru threw in.

"We just happened to be in the same area," Kairiku continued apologetically, only acknowledging the interruption with a strong nudge in the other girl's side. "We couldn't help but overhear."

"Nor could they help making sure we knew about it, too," Chouko grinned.

"I knew you weren't really going to the store!" Peetie suddenly exclaimed.

Cyrus was reading a book when he sensed the presence of his Padawan outside his chamber. He used the Force to slide the door open, and Xanthus entered. He closed his book. "You seem pleased."

"I think she likes me," Xanthus sang, playfully imitating a love-struck teenager. Cyrus complied with a bittersweet smile. "Seriously," the young man continued in his natural voice and sat down. "It went all right. She's nice."

"Don't get too attached."

Xanthus raised an eyebrow. "How often have you seen me attached?"

"Yes, I know you well enough, Xanthus," Cyrus said irritably. "Now tell me - will she trust you enough for you to bring her to me?"

"Eventually, yes."

"Good." He looked down at the cover of his book, and Xanthus stood, but didn't leave. Cyrus looked up at him. "Is there something else?"

It wasn't too long before Chikako finally reached her bedroom, though it seemed to her like several long hours of humiliating interrogation. As soon as she closed the door, she slipped the beaded straps off her shoulders and stepped right out of the pink dress and into a green cotton one that was far more suitable for staying locked in her room. She walked around her bed a few times, feeling much too restless to sit down but still wanting to be alone. She absentmindedly picked up the black box Koumi had Force-molded for her out of an old blaster, opened it, and closed it before the enclosed holovid had started playing. She set that down, opened a drawer, closed it without taking anything out, and took off her shoes. Next, she made her bed, moved her shoes into the closet, and picked up her pink dress and her purse. She threw the dress onto her bed and reached into the purse -

The room lurched when all she found was a makeup compact and her lightsaber.

She dumped the purse out to make sure: her locket was gone.

"Oh no," Chikako whimpered as she tore her bed apart in a panic, pulled the dress shoes out of her closet, checked pockets she didn't have, and dumped out her nightstand drawers. "Please let it be here," she prayed. "Or downstairs," she gasped suddenly. She pulled boots over her feet without tying the laces and abandoned her disheveled room.

When she reached the common room, some of her friendly interrogators were still there. "Did I leave my locket her?" she asked breathlessly.

"Your henshin locket?" Kairiku asked, concern in her voice. Chikako nodded, and her friends helped her look under couch cushions and backtrack her steps. The young blonde shrugged helplessly after looking everywhere and tracking down everyone who'd been there.

Chikako sighed and covered her face with her hands. "I took it out at the café," she lamented. "Why am I so stupid?"

Kairiku grimaced.

"Kairi-chan, help me find it!" she cried, frantically grabbing the younger girl's arm. "I'll give you candy!" she said and pulled her out of the Room Behind the Waterfall before there was even time to consider the bribe.

Cyrus held the silver locket in the palm of his right hand, gazing at it from a distance. "It was very risky to take this," he said.

Xanthus, still standing, said, "She doesn't know I took it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

Cyrus rotated the locket with his thumb. "Then you've done something useful," he said. Xanthus said nothing. "This is how she becomes a Sailor Soldier," the Jedi Master continued. "Without it, she has no power. She could be easily killed." He flipped it open. Things might be easier than he thought.

Xanthus cleared his throat. "But, if she can't transform... there are dozens of other Sailor Jedi. I don't think she'll go very far from them without this locket."

Cyrus nodded gravely as he examined the inside of the locket. "She'll be looking for it soon. She may be careless, but she'll miss this." He was silent for a moment, then held the locket out to Xanthus. "When revenge gets too easy, it loses its sweetness, you know. Give this back."

Xanthus took the locket, looking a little disappointed.

"You've done well," Cyrus reassured him. "Seeing the inside of this locket has given me much insight."

The girls' search was fruitless.

"I left it there and somebody took it!" Chikako said for the thirtieth time on the way home from the café. Kairiku had stopped answering a while ago. Besides, all she had been saying was "that's really bad," which wasn't helping much. But then again, losing a transformation object was really bad.

Chikako sniffled. "Does this mean I'm not Sailor Myrkr anymore?" As soon as they reached the Room of a Thousand Waterfalls, she collapsed on a dry boulder with a pathetic sigh. "What am I going to do?"

"What's wrong?" asked a young man nearby.

"She lost something," Kairiku said.

"Yeah," Chikako said, not even looking at him.

"Something really important?"

"Oh yeah," Chikako sighed.

"Well if it found its way to you in the first place, I'm sure it will find its way back," the boy said.

Chikako finally looked at the speaker. He was about her age, with tousled sandy hair and brown eyes. "What a strange thing to say," she said. "What makes you think that?"

"That's how things always seem to work around here. Don't you think?"

"I don't know," Chikako said. "Probably not always. Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Kalei."

"Chikako!" somebody called. She looked up and saw Xanthus coming towards them. "When I went back to leave a tip, I found this on the table. Is it yours?"

"Oh, my locket!" she exclaimed, taking it from him. "I am so glad you had it!"

"I put it in my pocket and then forgot all about it till I got home. Sorry if you were worried."

"Oh, she wasn't worried at all," Kairiku said sarcastically. "I'm gonna go tell everyone you found it, in case they're still looking," she said and left for the Room Behind the Waterfall.

"It's really pretty," Xanthus said. "Where did you get it?"

"Um... it was my grandmother's," Chikako said, nodding.

"Oh."

"Hey, that boy was right!" she said suddenly, looking around for him. "Wonder where he went?"

"What boy?"

"There was a boy here... his name was... darn. I totally forgot. Oh well," she said, still looking around the room for him.

"Hm," Xanthus said.

"Yeah." They didn't talk for a minute, but just sat listening to the waterfalls while Chikako played with her locket. Xanthus finally spoke.

"Chikako, do you want to go for a walk?"

She shrugged. "Sure, I guess so." She slid off the boulder she'd been sitting on and they began a slow stroll through the Room of a Thousand Waterfalls.

From a vantage point somewhere far above them, Cyrus suffered the mist of a nearby waterfall as he watched the pair. Chikako, in her green dress (How nice, she's wearing his favorite color, he thought), with one boot untied, clutched her locket in one hand and clumsily let Xanthus hold the other. She was smiling as he talked.

The evening had turned out more productive than he'd hoped. If things continued like this, the Soldier of Myrkr would soon be following Xanthus anywhere - with a little deceit, maybe - and Cyrus would finally have revenge. And it certainly helped to know about the five missing magic flower petals inside that locket - this opened up a whole new realm of possibility.

"Yes," Cyrus mused to himself as the young couple continued down a garden path. "Plan B is working out quite nicely."