"Oops. Um... Hi, Oneesan..." Sakura Yugure said lamely. {I was really hoping for us to be able to just sneak out after we cured my friends,} she thought as she cringed a bit. {I guess that's not going to happen.}

Morrigan was looking around the room, taking in the sight of the *non*- vampiric girls with the look of someone who both cannot believe, and is appalled by, what she sees. "What have you *done..?*" she asked quietly.

Sakura fought off exhaustion to get to her feet as she tried to explain. "I'm sorry, Oneesan, really I am. But during that last night here before the wedding, I had a dream that showed me how my friends *really* felt, in their souls, about their condition. Once I knew that, I couldn't leave it be... I *had* to help them!"

Morrigan shook her head. "Yes, but undoing vampirism...? Only Aballam the Mad God has ever accomplished that. If word gets out that it's possible by other means, everyone who wants to undermine Demitri's power will seek it out!"

Sakura wracked her brain for a way to talk Morrigan out of drastic action. "So... so who says anyone has to know? I and my friends go back to Tokyo, in Ningenkai, and never bother you again... and you just let the rumour spread that you got tired of your servants and disposed of them somehow. You made me study the Aensland histories, I know other Kings and Queens of the Clan have done that."

Morrigan shook her head. "If they weren't rather important to Demitri's demonhunter forces, I might agree with you... but I'm afraid I can't simply let you walk off with the most lethal combat team he has." In an undertone, she murmured, "Not that I'm not tempted to, just to end their simpering and cooing over *my* husband..."

Sakura's head began to droop as it seemed there was no way out. {Even if I wanted to fight Morrigan for real, we're too exhausted to fight our way out of Castle Aensland, and I'm too tired to Ashura Warp even one of us home anyway! The *last* thing I want is a battle, especially where I might have to choose between my friends and my... sister.} Suddenly, her head came back up. {Hang on! Fight? Sister? Castle Aensland??} she thought as something occurred to her, a possibility from the histories, and what passed for laws, of Nocturne... that Morrigan, ironically enough, had made her study.

"I'm sorry, little sister, but I'm going to have to insist that your friends stay here for the night and come with me to Demitri in the morning, where he'll decide what to do with them..." Morrigan was saying, then trailed off as Sakura drew herself fully upright and changed, assuming her Aensland form.

"I'm sorry too then, oneesan," Sakura said in formal tones, the purr of her voice seeming to reverberate between them. "Then I, Sakura Aensland Yugure, formally challenge you, Morrigan Aensland, to a duel for the right to determine the disposition of the retinue given to you by Demitri Maximoff!"

Morrigan drew back in surprise, but soon gave Sakura an appreciative smile. "My. You *were* paying attention during the history lessons! I thought you were falling asleep! I'm happy to be proved wrong, though, especially in such an... *interesting...* manner. Will the duel be combat, or..." Morrigan trailed off, but let her sultry grin and provocative posture speak for her.

Sakura blinked twice, then reverted to human form in a hurry. "Aak! Combat! COMBAT! ...Of course! Geez, Oneesan, do you think I'm crazy?? No WAY am I dueling you... well, the *other* way!!" she vehemently denied, a blush finding its way to her cheeks.

Morrigan pouted. "That's a shame. Well, then, I choose the time and place of our battle as tomorrow at noon, on the Dueling Ground," she stated, referring to the huge elevated platform to the rear of Castle Aensland's turrets that served as a locale for duels such as this. "Until then, you are not to leave the castle, but you will be my guests..." She paused dramatically, and all the girls leaned forward to catch her next words.

"Does anyone want dinner?" the Aensland Queen said, and smirked at the nine-way facefault she had just provoked.

Noon was unusually bright the next day, as the Senshi and Devil Hunters gathered with Sakura on one side of the Dueling Ground and Morrigan landed lightly on the other side.

"You *do* remember the rules, little sister?" Morrigan called across the nearly 100 yards of platform.

"Of course! Anything goes between the two fighters. Outside attacks on a fighter are not permitted, and are a forfeit for the fighter not attacked. If you fall off the platform and hit the ground, you lose... but at this height, that's academic. If you get knocked out, give up, or die, you lose. That's about it." Sakura yelled back.

"Very well. Leave your companions and meet me in the center of the ring, and we'll begin," Morrigan called back.

"Good luck, Sakura," Sailor Jupiter called out.

"Likewise." "Kami bless you." "Ganbatte! (Don't give up!)" "Now remember to pay close attention to the strategy of your enemy. A proper counter is the key to victory!" came from Venus, Mars, Moon, and Mercury (was there any doubt?) respectively, while the three Devil Hunters stood in a cluster and looked anxious.

"Don't worry... I'm *not* going to lose," Sakura called back, then marched out to a point ten yards away from the center, matching Morrigan's position.

She jumped a bit when a voice reverberated through the air. "SAKURA VERSUS MORRIGAN. FIGHT!"

Morrigan shrugged. "I learned in Ningenkai that every fight needs an announcer. Soul Fist!"

Morrigan had been expecting a replay of their first fight, with the two warriors feeling each other out with fireballs before closing to melee. It was an amusing enough way to fight.

What Morrigan had failed to take into account was that, while *she* was there at least in part for entertainment, Sakura was there to fight for her friends' lives... and was thus there to *win,* and win *fast.*

The Soul Fist passed harmlessly through an outline left behind by the Ashura Warp as Sakura shifted space to appear right *behind* Morrigan. The succubus turned around just in time to recieve a double-axhandle swing under the chin, followed by a kick to the gut, which flowed into a backhand punch as the Senshi cheered.

Then Sakura began flaring her blows with Satsu fire.

Each strike landing in as vulnerable a spot as Sakura could find, each blow leading into another, Sakura grimly shutting out what she was doing to her adoptive sister and focusing her anger, going for the win. Each blow began to blur into the next for her, her mind falling into the pattern Shin Akuma had spent most of a month trying to drub into her head... the relentless, remorseless pursuit of victory over all else.

What she was doing only sank home when she kicked Morrigan under a scorched chin and caught herself sliding into the posture to begin the Shun Goku Satsu. {What am I *DOING?! I want to win, but that could kill her!!} Sakura screeched at herself, then sprang into a dash, performing the Midare-Zakura instead. As the flurry of blows concluded with the uppercut, Sakura slapped herself repeatedly on both cheeks. {Wake up, girl! You have to *think* in a fight, not just let your instincts take control!} she berated herself.

"Well, little sister... I see I didn't appreciate how serious you were," Morrigan's voice came to her. "I *would* have been content to play, but if you insist... I can fight seriously."

Sakura glanced up to find Morrigan, her many burns and wounds already on the mend, dashing in at her. With an 'eep!' she threw out a side kick to keep her at bay-

-and had the leg gashed by Morrigan's wing as it extended. "Gah!" Sakura screeched, retracting the limb. Wincing in pain, she tossed out a jab - and Morrigan swung up her leg, the heel of her shoe morphing into an axe blade. Sakura barely yanked her arm back in time to save her hand. A swinging roundhouse kick ran into a Morrigan knife-hand thrust, piercing that calf to match the other leg's slash, and the rout was on.

Sakura's every effort at offense seemed to run headlong into blades or spearpoints. Attempts at the Hadoken were stuffed by Morrigan's bladed roundhouse kicks and wing-sweeps. The Sho-Oh-Ken was shut down before it even began by a short Shadow Blade. Trying to use the Shun-Pu-Kyaku spin kick either got Sakura swept or snatched out of the air and given a ride via Morrigan's Vector Drain throw. Through it all, the Aensland Queen maintained a distance of no more than five feet from her adoptive sister.

{She's... she's making a *point,*} Sakura realized with a chill. {I got too big for my britches and now Big Sis is shrinking me back down. She could finish me anytime she wants at this rate. I've got to get away from her so I can regroup!!}

In desperation, she swung her arm in an uppercut - and got slashed for it - and at the same time, tensed her legs and sprang with the full force of body and *chi* behind it. The superjump carried her up past the range of the Shadow Blade, and for a brief moment Sakura savoured her victory and began to heal her wounds.

"Soul Fist!"

Then the fireball shot her out of the air.

The brief and uncontrolled fall gave Sakura time to hear her friends shrieking her name in horror before she slammed into the platform, shattering a paving stone and raising a cloud of dust. {I have to get Morri-neesan off her game somehow so I can get back onto mine,} she reasoned, thinking fast. {But how...?}

After a moment, an answer occurred to her, and focusing her thoughts carefully, she began to change to Aensland form.

Morrigan approached the dust cloud cautiously, but anger still filled her stride. "That precocious little imp! How *dare* she make me look so foolish in my own Castle!" she fumed aloud, coming to a halt a few feet from the whirling dust. {Still, I have to admire her. She definitely has the heart of an Aensland... figure out what you want, and then don't let anything stand between you and it,} she mused.

A form arose within the settling cloud, and Morrigan set her stance... only to pause at a flash of colour from the figure's head. {I don't remember Sakura having that shade of blue on her in either form,} Morrigan thought-

-Then recoiled. Lunging out of the mist at her, a childlike joy in her expression that belied her original intent to steal Morrigan's very body from her, was none other than her blood-sister, *Lilith!!*

"Hi, big sis!!" the girl chimed, snapping out a pair of punches and a kick in the circular Aensland style.

{How in all Makai did she get here, how did she come back to life, what's going *on?*} Morrigan babbled at herself... up until the shade of the hair before her deepened somewhat, and the small batwings vanished from the head, leaving another Aensland entirely.

"Gotcha, oneechan! HARU-ICHIBAN!!!! Sakura, in a modified version of her Aensland form, yelled.

No sooner had Sakura finished the helicopter kick Super than she pulled her hands into Hadoken position. Instead of making an attack, however, she cried out to the heavens as if in ritual chant.

"I will Defend my friends! I will Avenge your arrogance! And by putting right what was wrong, I will see Justice done!!"

{~Finally, we are invoked!~} Defender noted.

{~And rightly. The succubus needs a comeuppance!~} Avenger snarled in angry delight.

{~Now let us work with our Ego-self!~} Justice added, and Sakura was once again wrapped in a golden glow as her three Aspects united.

As Sakura landed on her feet, Morrigan crashed to the ground across the platform, quickly rolling to her feet to face her upstart sister.

"It's over, oneechan!" Sakura yelled, and pulled her hands further back. "SHINKUU..."

Morrigan eyed the golden aura curiously, shrugged, and wrapped her left hand around her right forearm. Her bats separated momentarily, then came back together as an object Sakura had seen once before: the 'beam cannon' assembly that assisted Morrigan in gathering energy to replicate the Shinkuu-Hadoken beam. "SOUL...." the Aensland queen began.

Sakura let go of the energy she was holding in check. "...HADOKEN!!"

Morrigan replied in kind. "...ERASER!!"

The two beams clashed with a flare and crash of titanic scale. For a moment, they were evenly matched... but then one was overwhelmed.

Sakura's.

Hurled backward by the force of Morrigan's beam overpowering hers, Sakura plowed into the ground, cracking paving stones again as she tumbled over them. Getting to her feet, she risked a moment to heal her crushed and bruised muscles as she spat out blood from her mouth. "What the...?" she blurted out, only then noticing that she'd lost touch with her Aspects in the crash. {She *can't* be that powerful!! Overwhelming me when I'm *synchronized...??*} she thought frantically. "Hey! How did you do that??" she yelled to Morrigan.

Though she was distant, Morrigan's smirk was clearly visible. "Little sister, we *are* in Castle Aensland. The Castle lends its power to the Queen - or King - at need. You can't oppose me in power here."

Sakura paused in shock for a moment, then yelled out indignantly, "HEY! This is a one-on-one duel with no assistance! I call for a forfeit!!"

Morrigan looked across the platform at her condescendingly. "Sister, you weren't paying as much attention as I thought you were... What, precisely, is the rule about assistance?" she asked.

Sakura paused, her outrage derailed as she thought about it. "Um... 'Outside attacks on a fighter are not permitted, and are a forfeit for the fighter not attacked...' Oh, DAMN it!" she cursed as the distinction became clear.

On the stairwell side of the platform, the Devil Hunter (in training) Asuza turned to Sailor Mercury. "I don't get it. Why is this allowed? Morrigan's getting assistance, right? Right??"

Sailor Mercury shook her head worriedly. "I'm afraid that Morrigan is correct. It is not outside *assistance* that is forbidden, but outside *attacks.* As long as the castle doesn't attack Sakura directly, its intervention is legal!"

"Oh..." Asuza said quietly, then turned to face the fight, also worried.

Morrigan raised her right arm again, and as she began to glow faintly, clasped her left hand around it.

"You can't honestly think I'll stand here and let you hit me again," Sakura shot back. "The drawback of your manifesting the cannon is that it's awful to try and aim!"

Morrigan's smirk was malicious. "Oh dear, you're right! I suppose I'll just have to aim randomly and hope I hit you. Say, *this* way?"

Her arm, and the forming cannon, swung over to aim at the stairway gate...

...and the crowd of Senshi and Devil Hunters in front of it.

"NO!!" Sakura screeched, and leapt, even as Morrigan's cry rang out.

"SOUL ERASER!!"

Sakura skidded to a halt in front of her friends, crossed her arms, and howled in defiance as she thrust the crossed limbs forward, manifesting her *chi* in the Advancing Guard. {Maybe with the range and focus on my side, I can repel the beam...?} Sakura hoped desperately.

To her credit, it almost worked. It was only the last half-second or so of the beam that plowed through her defenses despite her best efforts, sending her for another stone-crushing tumble to land almost in the midst of her friends.

"Give up, little sister," Morrigan called. "I'll ask Demitri for leniency. You did all you could."

{She may be right,} Sakura thought in despair, recognizing the cold, empty feeling within her from her battle with the Shadoloo android. Her reserves were nearly used up... and worse, she'd landed on her left shoulder, crushing the muscles again and this time, dislocating the joint.

"Sakura! Heal yourself!! Like you just did!!" Yohko cried out from behind her. "You can't fight her like that!!"

"It's... not that easy, Yohko-chan..." Sakura panted through gritted teeth. "That takes energy, namely *chi,* and I'm just about out of energy right now. Even if I were healed, I couldn't stop her beam anyway..." she finished in despair.

Behind her, the Devil Hunters exchanged glances while the Senshi began to whisper among themselves.

"I'm... not quitting, Oneechan. Bring it... wha..?" Sakura began to challenge, vainly reaching for enough power to heal herself... and then, suddenly, finding some. "What's going on..?" she asked, looking around for some clue even as she healed her wounds... and seeing Yohko, Ayako, and Asuza with their palms raised, sparkling paths tracing lines from them to Sakura's back as they put their own training to use, channeling their own *chi* to her. "Thanks, you three! Hey, wait!" she said as her wounds finished healing, and still the three gave her their power. "That's enough! I'm okay, I'm healed!! STOP!" she protested as they kept going.

A moment later, Asuza collapsed to her knees, followed by Ayako and finally, Yohko. "You needed everything we could give, Sakura-chan..." Yohko whispered as the other two sagged to the ground. "Healing won't make a difference if... you don't have... the strength to win... it's.. up to.. you now..." she finished, collapsing in turn.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to let her tears flow. "You idiots!! Even at full strength, neither my attacks nor my defenses can stop her beam!! You did this for nothing..."

"That's not like the fellow scrapper I met!" said a voice from behind Sakura. As she cast a glance back at the speaker, Sailor Jupiter went on, "So you're outpowered. You just need to take it up a notch! Remember the fight at Toyko Tower??"

Sakura stopped dead as the memory came back to her. Fighting an enemy on the observation deck of Tokyo Tower, they had found that their attacks were ineffective. Mercury's scans had indicated that even the Sailor Planet Attack was too unfocused to work, and Sakura had gone out on a limb and suggested that since the Planet Attack was pure energy and the Shinkuu-Hadoken drew upon ambient energy, maybe they could concentrate all their power into the one attack.

"It's worth a try!" Sakura nodded, and cast a glance at Morrigan while the Senshi ran to get into a circle around their fuku'ed friend. The Aensland Queen was watching with a bored expression on her face, and as she saw Sakura's regard, she waved in a go-ahead-and-try manner. {I'm going to make you regret that, Oneechan,} Sakura vowed silently.

The Senshi had finished their circle, spaced evenly around Sakura with Sailor Moon directly behind her, leaving the firelane to Morrigan as clear as possible. As one, they pulled out their transformation pens and concentrated.

As she had on Tokyo Tower, Sakura drifted upwards in the beam of light that began to rise from between her friends. Slowly and carefully, she began the motion for the Shinkuu-Hadoken as she drifted in midair.

First, she extended her right arm high and her left arm low, her hands slightly cupped.

Then she swung them outward so that they were extended to her sides.

Then, finishing a circular motion, she swung them around so the right arm was low and the left was high, pulling the hands to within a foot of each other as she did.

Finally, she pulled the hands back by her hip, completing the spiral to draw the energy, and swivelled to her right as she did, to get that much more force when she released it.

{I just don't know if it's going to be *enough,*} she worried. {I don't feel that much more energy coming in yet! If I've gotten too much stronger, will this even make a difference...?}

Then the Sailors began to invoke their planets.

"MERCURY PRISM POWER!"

A surge of energy made Sakura flinch.

"MARS PRISM POWER!"

Another surge. Sakura's hands began to tremble with the effort of controlling the energy. {Kami! How much stronger have they gotten since then??}

"JUPITER PRISM POWER!"

"VENUS PRISM POWER!"

Sakura's whole body was shaking as the ball of energy began to form. There was a pause, and without even looking, she knew Sailor Moon was hesitating, not wanting to risk her friend. For a moment, Sakura considered agreeing... but then she remembered the awful power of Morrigan's casually released attacks. "DON'T STOP!" she cried.

Sailor Moon's reply came with another rush of energy as the sphere finished forming.

"MOON ETERNAL POWER!!"

It was as if the sun had risen between Sakura's hands. Little arcs of lightning snapped from the ball to Sakura, the Senshi, and the ground, which Sakura was now hovering a good ten feet above.

Morrigan squinted against the glare, and focused her power, and the castle's with her, seriously for the first time in the fight.

Sakura pulled her hands back a bit farther as Morrigan manifested the cannon. A fit of whimsy overtook Sakura as she began to cry her attack.

"SAILOR... PLANET..."

"SOUL...."

"...HADOKEN!!!"

"...ERASER!!"

Sakura swung her arms around and let fly.

Morrigan fired.

As soon as it was clear of Sakura, the ball of energy expanded to a good ten feet across. As it slammed into Morrigan's beam, energy scattered in all directions.

Slowly, as the excess energies laid waste to the Dueling Grounds, the ball pushed forward, grinding its way to Morrigan through her beam. As it closed to within twenty feet, the Aensland Queen grunted and bore down, and it slowed to a halt.

Sakura howled in determination, and slammed all the energy the Devil Hunters had given her into the beam, a pulse that raced down the column of power to the ball and shoved it forwards again.

Morrigan appeared to make a final effort of her own, intensifying her beam...

...but then, just as the globe got within five feet of her, it exploded.

For a moment, everything was smoke and chaos; then Sakura picked out Morrigan's form, tumbling through the air, limp and with one wing blown ragged - and on a trajectory that would take her over the edge of the ring.

"ONEECHAN!!" Sakura screamed, and without even being conscious of it, was airborne, ignoring the renewed hollow feeling to change to Aensland form, folding her wings to plunge after Morrigan in a power-dive.

Twenty feet from the ground, she caught up, and managed to brake enough before she hit that she only blacked out instead of crushing bones again.

A day later, once Sakura and Morrigan had both been tended to by Aensland healers and declared fit, they met in the audience hall, the only others there being Sakura's friends.

"I concede that you won, little sister, I'm just not happy about it," Morrigan said.

"I figured that, oneechan," Sakura purred, still in her Aensland form. It hadn't been worth the effort to change, and besides, it was more than a bit fun. "But I now have charge of the retinue Demitri gave you?"

"Yes, yes, and you speak with my and Demitri's voice in this. Get *on* with it," Morrigan finished in aggrieved tones.

"Fine!" Sakura replied, her purr now in a satisfied tone. "You all heard her. By the power vested in me through our kicking of Oneechan's curvy little butt, I order you all to return home and resume your lives as if you had never fought Demitri. Oh, and to ignore our authority over you hereafter. Now, shall we go home?"

As Sakura walked forward with arms spread for a hug, Sailor Moon took a step back. "Um... Sakura... could you do me a favour...?" she asked.

"Hmm? What?" Sakura replied, a bit hurt.

"Um... change back to normal..? You, um, make me a bit nervous," Sailor Moon pleaded.

"Eh? Oops!" Sakura exclaimed, changing back. "OK, we're ready, Oneechan," she called over her shoulder.

"Oh, be off with the lot of you," Morrigan waved, teleporting them across the dimensions to Tokyo.

She waited a moment to be sure there was no one else in earshot before chuckling. "Good riddance - and no one need suspect that it was the outcome I was aiming for. Now to see if the rescuees react as I think they will," she murmured to herself, vanishing in her turn.

That night, there was a party at the Cherry Hill Shrine in Juuban, Tokyo. Having assumed their civilian guises, the girls had gone there once they were in Tokyo. There was a great deal of rejoicing from Grandpa Hino and Yuuichiro that Rei and her friends had returned. Phonecalls had been made, and the various parents were on the way to pick up their children the next morning.

The Hino elder had laid out a spread of food and Makoto had helped to cook some of it, ensuring that everyone spent a good deal of time at the buffet table. Sakura enjoyed the food and the quiet congratulations, and if small groups were often with Rei over in the corner out of her hearing, she paid it no mind. {After all, they've been through a lot... several months of vampirism. They're really the only ones who can understand what they went through.}

It was late in the evening, after Grandpa Hino and Yuuichiro had retired, before the party began to wind down. Sakura gulped back a cool glass of cola... and stopped as she noticed that at some point everyone had transformed into their Senshi or Devil Hunter attire. Swallowing quickly, she turned to Sailor Moon. "What's up? Diamon? Youma? Random monster attack? I'll come help. I want to get this done quick and get back to the party!!"

Sailor Moon glanced down at the ground. "It's... not that," she murmured.

Sakura blinked. "Huh? Why the uniforms then?" she asked, puzzled.

To Sakura's surprise, Sailor Moon dithered. "It's just... I, um, we, you-"

"Oh for heaven's sake, meatball-head! It'll take you forever!!" Sailor Mars interrupted. "Look, Sakura, we have to talk. About you."

"About *me?*" Sakura gave a puzzled reply.

"Yeah, about you. Look, you described how we were - pretty accurately, I might add - as 'transformed in the mind as well as the body' or something like that. Basically, humans made into something darker and who were convinced that they liked what they were made into."

"So?" Sakura asked, honestly wondering where this was going.

"So who else in this room might fit that description, Sakura?" Mars shot back, giving the fuku'ed fighter a gimlet stare.

Sakura took a step back. "You mean... *ME??*" she blurted out.

"Yup," Mars rejoined. "Look, Kasugano, at least let Sailor Moon *try* to heal you, OK? You know, so we know we haven't left you to the same curse we almost were stuck with?"

Sakura's mind flashed back to the searing, scalding pain the Crystal's power had given her and instinctively recoiled, coming up against the buffet table. "NO!"

A pregnant pause.

"Um, hang on, there's something you don't understand here," she tried to explain as various glances were exchanged among her friends at her vehement response. "OK, first off, I'm *not* Sakura Kasugano - I told you all about this at Castle Aensland before the wedding. I'm Sakura Yugure because the original Sakura created me from her own spirit and memories with a big dose of power from the Satsu no Hadou, remember? My whole *body* is composed of Dark Energy by your definitions. If you purify me with the Crystal, it'll kill me!!"

Sailor Moon stepped forward. "But we've seen things like that too, Sakura. You're a part of your original self, divided, apart, but neither of you are complete alone. Even if your body is destroyed here, your spirit will go back to the original Sakura, and you and she will be whole again," she explained, her understanding eyes boring into Sakura's... until Sakura wrenched her gaze away.

"No. No! I've never felt incomplete, or less of a... a person, I guess! I don't *want* to be her anymore. I want to be *me,* Sakura Yugure, and live my *own* life! Dammit, I've changed! I've become an individual even if I wasn't one originally - and I'm *not* going back!" Sakura denied, swiping her hand across in emphasis.

More stares were exchanged, and then the Senshi turned remorseful looks back to Sakura. "Sorry, scrapper," Sailor Jupiter murmured, "but that's a lot like the 'I will die without Lord Demitri' that we were spouting."

Sakura stared from one girl to another, trying to find even one head raised in agreement with *her* side. "But - but I'd never have *forced* you to-!"

Sailor Mercury's head came up. "You mean, if we had refused, knowing what we were going through, you would have given up? Simply left us to our suffering?"

"What? Mercury, how can you even *say* that!?" an appalled Sakura replied.

"Then you understand our point of view," the blue-haired Senshi shot back. "Now just wait there, and-"

Sakura had been under a lot of stress over the last month, and the last few days in particular. So while it wasn't the wisest move she could have made, it should be understandable why she screamed and charged, bowling over Mars and Venus and heading for the door, and the hall to the compound beyond that.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

That plan was aborted as Sakura skidded to an arm-waving halt just outside of the block of ice that Sailor Mercury's attack had produced. {Geez, if I hadn't sensed it coming I'd be in cold storage! They MEAN this!!} Sakura thought as she shifted course and aimed for the room's other door. {I've gotta get out of here - and I can't hurt them, either, not after all they've been through!}

"Take this! Mano Family Whip!"

"Venus! Love-Me Chain!"

Sakura had to leap over Ayako's extending whip and twist crazily in midair to avoid being entangled in Sailor Venus' chain attack.

"Sorry, Sakura! I still think you'll thank us later," Jupiter grunted as she, Yohko, and Asuza tackled the fuku'ed fighter, bearing her down.

"Okay, just hold her there for a sec. I'll pin her with a spirit-ward and Sailor Moon can heal her," Sailor Mars ordered as Sakura thrashed.

"I don't - mean - to *die* today! GET OFF ME!" Sakura roared, unleashing her battle-aura and blowing the three grapplers off her, then dashing through the door.

"Akuryou.."

At the sound of Sailor Mars' spirit-ward chant, Sakura cut to one side and ducked through a door into a small room, slamming it behind her and jamming a cabinet against it, pinning the door shut.

It wasn't until she looked around that she realized she'd just dashed into a storeroom with one door and no windows.

The door rattled as someone tried to open it.

"I'll blast it open!"

"Don't! That's a small room, you'll hurt Sakura!"

"Hang on. Ayako, quick, cut through the door with your Soulsword!"

Sakura's eyes began to tear up as the voices drifted through the door to her. "Dammit... DAMMIT, Mars, you brought this on YOURSELF!" she roared as she cupped her hands to her side.

"Everyone! Get back! Her energy is spiking, I think she's going to *attack!!*" Mercury cried out in alarm, evidently watching her computer's scan readings.

"What? But dark or not, she's still Sakura! She *Wouldn't-*!" Jupiter replied.

"SHINKUU-HADOKEN!!"

The blast punched a hole right through the Shrine walls, and Sakura wasted no time in sprinting down the new hallway - aimed *away* from anyone in the Shrine - and once outside, using her superjumps to take to the rooftops and flee, wiping tears from her eyes as she ran, and sobbed.

The Senshi and Devil Hunters got outside just in time to see her vanish over a neighbouring two-story building.

"AHH! MY SHRINE! MY *HOME!*" Mars shrieked as she took in the damage, which was substantial.

Sailor Moon was more subdued. "Guys... I don't think we were doing the right thing. I know we're all spooked about this, given what happened to us, but...?"

She was interrupted by a quiet voice from behind them. "*What* has been going on here??" Sailor Pluto said as she stepped out of the Shrine gate.

Sakura leapt off the rooftops she'd been bounding across and down to the street, where she panted and sobbed. {Why? I saved them! I *told* them what happened to me... and they still.. and they...} Her mind veering away from that thought, she stopped thinking and simply cried, letting her grief out for several long minutes.

Until a voice rang out behind her.

"Sakuraaaa-chaaaan! Maaaate!" (Waaaiiit!)

Sakura's head jerked up at the cry to see Sailor Moon pelting down the street towards her at a full run, the other Senshi a block or two behind. Even more distressing, above them on a rooftop, Sailor Pluto was visible, standing still with the Garnet Rod grounded beside her. Sakura's eyes filled with tears at this apparent double betrayal, and she screamed, "Mou, DAME!!!" (No MORE!!) "If that's the way you want it, you'll never *SEE* me again!!"

In her emotion, she did something she had refrained from doing since Sailor Moon had revealed her nervousness: she assumed her Aensland form. A superjump carried her high into the air, where she soared away on her wings, leaving the Senshi behind one final time.

Below her, Sailor Moon came to a halt as she watched Sakura go with sad, worried eyes. "...but all I was going to do was apologize..." she murmured, her eyes following the bat-winged silhouette as it glided away to the northwest.

Sakura landed on the same slope of Mount Fuji that she'd orignally made plans to rescue the Senshi on, and reverted to her normal form, wrapped her arms around herself, sat down, and sobbed. Her thoughts ran in a circle around a single question: {Why???}

Eventually, she began to calm down... and that was when she noticed the ghostly presence near her, teasing her senses like a wisp of blue silk against a clear sky. Reflexively, she tensed... and then relaxed. "Come on out, Oneesama," she called.

Morrigan faded into visibility. "Hello," she said, sitting down beside Sakura.

There was silence for a time, then Sakura spoke. "You're not mad at me."

"Hmmm... no, it seems not, doesn't it?"

A sigh. "Oneesan, you threw that fight, didn't you?"

"Who, me?" An innocent look.

In reply, a stare. For several minutes.

"My, you're stubborn. All right, I didn't *have* to blow up your blast... I suppose it was at least possible for me to have deflected it away."

"I thought so. Oneesan, I want a straight and truthful answer: did you make my friends do that to me?"

"No, dear," Morrigan replied, staring Sakura in the eye. "That was your friends' own doing. I suspect that they were moved by a bit of antipathy towards Dark creatures, aided by a good dose of paranoia about the situation they were recently liberated from."

Sakura sighed once more. "Still, it hurt. And I don't know if I'll ever feel safe about being with them again..." Her eyes began to fill up again.

"Oh come, little sister, tears don't suit you!" Morrigan cajoled. "Surely in all your adventures, you've learned there are many who'll have *no* trouble accepting you for who and what you are?" Morrigan looked away coyly, thiking to herself, {And what fun it'll be having my sister in Makai for a while. Ah, the sights I can show her once she gets my meaning and asks to stay at the Castle for a while...}

Her musings were cut off by Sakura's bouncing to her feet. "You're right, Onnesan. I'll go back to Akiko-sensei at the Rindou Dojo for a while- Oneesan? Is something wrong?" she asked Morrigan, who had facefaulted for some reason.

"N-no, nothing at all," Morrigan replied, getting up. "And what will you do after that?"

"Hmm. I think I'll see if there's any school where I can fit in. I'd like to at least *try* and finish my education," Sakura finished jokingly. "And it'll keep me out of your hair and out of Demitri's way." She took a look at Morrigan with all her senses again, had a brief debate with herself, then decided to speak out, pointing at Morrigan's belly, where she could see the bare beginnings of a separate aura.

"After all, with a little one on the way, you don't need me wrecking up the Dueling Ground every week or two. You *must* have enjoyed the wedding night!"

And with that, Sakura Ashura Warped away before Morrigan could formulate a reply, a big grin on her face.