Spoilers: none yet. PoA, shortly. Warnings: shoujoai, character death, mention of rape and abuse. Disclaimers: J.K. Rowling might recognize some of these characters, even after I've mauled them. Takeuchi Naoko might recognize others. Miyuu's mine. Blanca Marina is nickamano's. -<{ An End to Deviltry }>- Chapter One Innocence By St. Suika Roberts In Response To nickamano@btinternet.com's "Draco Devilism" Stories Miyuu wakes like she normally does, quickly, completely, and annoyed by it. She leaves her eyes closed, knowing she doesn't have to be awake for another few hours, then, with a silent sigh, checks her watch, bringing her left arm up under her body to avoid the girl on her back. She stretches her hand out and twists her wrist so the light reflects green off the LCD. Five 'til five. She brings her arm in tight, tucking her hand against her shoulder, and her chin against her right hand, at her other shoulder. "how'd she . . . oh, right. I was almost asleep, and she climbed in. should warn her not to do that. her back was against me when I fell asleep, though," she thinks, the girl's hair soft on her neck, her breath warm against her back, her hand on Miyuu's belly. She lets herself doze for twenty-five minutes, then grumpily pulls herself from under the girl, gently prising her hand loose and tucking her back under the covers. She steps over to one of the tansu, and pulls out a dark shirt and shorts. She unclips the P3AT from her tank, and tucks it inside before pulling the tank off. Her ID tags glimmer in the light, black rubber silencers stretched around their edges. She slips the shirt over her head, fishes the gun up by the lanyard, and clips it to the shirt's neck. Her boxers join her tank, and she pulls the shorts on, then tucks the shirt into them. She pulls a foam mat, about the size of a tatami, from the tansu, and lays it on the floor near one wall, twitching it so it lays flat. She does a couple stretches, abdominal, chest, upper back, thigh, holding each for a fifteen-count. She tucks her feet under the bar mounted low on the wall, her knees bent at a careful ninety degrees, and starts to do sit ups. She moves quickly but efficiently, jerking her light body up, then letting it fall back. Puffing gently, she gasps out the last of her count, `Kyu ryoku, kyu shichi, kyu hachi, kyu kyu, ichi maru maru,' falls back, and lays there for a moment, then rolls onto her belly. Placing her hands so that her thumbs touch, she starts doing push ups, form perfect, lifting herself until her elbows are straight, then dropping until her upper arms are parallel to the ground. After thirty she shifts her hands farther apart, just a little more than shoulder-width, and keeps pushing. After a little while she starts counting aloud again, `kyu kyu, ichi maru maru.' She lowers herself to the mat, rolls over, and tucks her feet back under the bar, knees bent. `Ichi,' she counts, sitting up to touch her right elbow to her left knee, `ni,' left elbow to right knee. Natsuko watches, eyes shining, as the young woman finishes her morning PT. She finishes her second hundred sit ups, then rolls over again. Placing her hands shoulder-width apart, she does seventy, then shifts to wide-arms, and does thirty. A faint glimmer of sweat clings to her as she turns over, and tucks her feet under the bar again. `Ich,' she says, touching each knee with the opposite elbow before dropping back, `Ni,' again, left knee first, this time. With a little groan, Miyuu rolls back onto her belly, and places her hands wide, counting roughly as she pushes, `Ich, ni, san, shi, go,' pause, then repeat. She counts fourteen times, then she pauses again for a moment, shifts her feet apart, moves her hands in close, then tucks her right hand across her back. `One,' she drops, and pushes herself back up, obviously a little stressed, `Two.' After a minute, she counts the final one, `Thirty,' her arm shaking a little as she presses herself up the final time. She collapses to her knees, and shakes her arms out. Natsuko is sitting up, watching, `How?' she asks, waving at the sweat-soaked woman. `What?' Miyuu asks, pulling off her shirt and mopping at her hair with it, the P3AT bouncing a little against her washboard tummy on its lanyard. She drops her shirt, and runs through the same stretches again. Natsuko's eyes never leave Miyuu's nearly naked form, seemingly entranced by the woman's muscular form. Eventually she remembers her question, `How do you do that?' `PT?' Miyuu shrugs, `It's something to brag about,' she smiles, `And it looks good when it's promotion time. I've been doing PT every morning since I was old enough to copy what my mothers did.' `When was that?' `I was two and a half when I started. Minako says I'd get very frustrated when I couldn't keep up,' she smiles, `and I took my first PT test at five. Perfect score,' her eyes twinkle, `Lowest I've ever gotten.' `Wow,' Natsuko says, `Aren't the Dark Kingdom PT tests hard?' `Yes,' Miyuu shrugs, smiling, `But I'm harder.' She pulls a dark bag from the tansu, then throws the previous day's underwear, and her sweat-soaked PT shirt inside. She picks up her discarded clothing, rifles through the pockets, setting four spare clips, three pens, a soft pouch of tools, and a large pocket-knife on her desk before throwing them in the bag, too. She walks back to the tansu, sets the bag down, then pulls out a bathrobe and shrugs into it, holding out another to the girl, `Bath?' Natsuko steps forward and grabs the robe, pulling it on over the pyjamas she's wearing. Miyuu grabs an oblong bag from the tansu, then the girl follows the young woman from the barely lit room into the deeper gloom of the lowest-floor hallway. At the opposite end of the hallway, across from a flight of stairs, is the bathroom. Miyuu lights the sconce-lights with a half-voiced spell and a wave of her hand, getting another suprised look from Natsuko. Then Natsuko looks around the room, and her eyes widen even further. This bathroom, unlike the others she'd seen at Hogwarts, was Japanese-style, with a floor-drain and several large tubs. Or maybe, she thought as Miyuu started one of the tubs filling, Dark Kingdom style. `Is one already full?' Miyuu shakes her head, `I drained it yesterday. Do you want your own tub?' she asks, gently. `No, it's fine. Sharing with you is fine,' Natsuko says. `OK,' Miyuu leaves the water running, `Turn it off in a bit,' and walks into the other room of the lavatory, where the sinks and toilets are. Natsuko shuts the water off about the time Miyuu walks back, pausing to hang her robe on a hook and drop her shorts on the floor. Miyuu settles onto one of the stools, pulling the mouse-gun's lanyard over her head and setting it down on a convinient shelf, just above her head, in easy reach. She picks up a small bucket, dips it into the bath, and pours it over herself, then starts to wash quickly. Natsuko hangs her robe on a hook next to Miyuu's, and sheds her pyjamas onto the floor. She watches Miyuu as she walks back, but the woman doesn't turn around, just finishes washing, scrubbing at her back with a washcloth stretched between her hands. `May I wash your back?' she asks, settling behind Miyuu and taking the washcloth. `Since you insist,' the woman says, glancing over her right shoulder, her long grey hair draped over her left. Natsuko lingers over the task, tracing her fingers over the thick hard muscles of Miyuu's back. Miyuu, in her turn, is quick and efficient, scrubbing the girl's back for barely a minute before rinsing her off. She stands, grabs the mouse-gun, and climbs into the tub, setting the gun on another shelf before settling into the water. Natsuko joins her a moment later, slowly lowering herself into the hot water. After a few moments, she dunks herself all the way under, then sits up to rest her head on the edge of the tub. Miyuu climbs out first, grabbing the mouse-gun, then a towel. The lanyard goes back around her neck, then she starts drying off. She drops her towel by the door, puts on her robe and belts it, then throws her shorts over her arm, waiting until Natsuko joins her. Natsuko waves her towel after she's put her robe back on, the pyjamas over her arm. `Drop it near the door, the house-elves will get it,' Miyuu says, then leads the way back. She throws her shorts and Natsuko's pyjamas in the dark bag, and sets it outside her door, `House-elves have me spoiled,' she smiles at the girl, `Normally I'd be lucky if I've got a washing-machine.' `What's a washing-machine?' Natsuko asks. Miyuu smiles, and starts to describe one of the wonders of modern life. She dresses while she speaks, a pair of boxers and tank identical, except for color, to the previous day's, the school's uniform, complete with tie, the mouse-gun clipped inside the waistband of her skirt. Black wool socks come nearly to her knees. She slides her wand through her belt on the other side, and puts a ring on each index finger, these, unlike the dull grey phosphated finish of the nearly identical pair on her ring fingers, shiny and polished, a star saphire bezel set on each. She pulls a box of ammo from the drawer, and feeds two jacketed hollowpoints into the short clip before putting everything she'd pulled out earlier back into her pockets, spare clips on the left, everything else on the right. The box of .380 auto Remington Golden Sabers goes back in the drawer, and she closes it. She pulls on her robe, then turns to Natsuko, `Oh, right, we'll stop by your room,' she says, stepping over to the bare area near her door, putting on a pair of jungle boots, green canvas and mirror-polished black leather, shrugging into a black packpack, clicking the chest-strap buckle closed over her flat bosom, then pulling her poncho over her head. `Why are you down here?' Natsuko asks as Miyuu locks the door. `'Cause I couldn't stand my roommates. Stuck-up, spoiled, ignorant little officer-candidates,' she starts towards the stairs, `Thought that the amount of money their parents could spend on them made them better people. Couldn't trust 'em, either. You don't steal from your buddies, where I come from,' her hands glitter as she gestures angrily, `So I found myself an unoccupied room and moved in.' `What about the mudbloods?' `No one who's not at least second-gen is dumb enough to get Sorted into Slytherin. No, we're just exiles from Malfoy's Order,' she smiles, `That'll be changing, soon, I do believe.' `He's a little bit dead,' Natsuko giggles nervously, `How are you so calm? You killed two people last night.' `I'd not be surprised if I saved more than that, last night,' Miyuu says, `It wasn't the first time, either, which helps.' `What?' Natsuko asks, a little sharpness to her voice, `When?' she opens the door to her room, and waves Miyuu in. `Oh One, terrorists. There were sixteen of them, with automatic weapons, a few grenades, and two suicide bombers. They snuck into Camp Sigmund, in Afganistan, and attempted to take over the command tent, thinking they could hold those inside hostage. Only Mama and Minako were in there,' Miyuu's voice goes a little distant, as does her gaze, `Mama went combat-form, and tore the suicide bombers into bits. Minako shot half a dozen of them before I reached the tent, running as fast as I could. Mama'd been shot a few times, but she'da probably made it if one of them hadn't been cooking off a grenade. She ripped his head from his shoulders, and dove for the grenade, trying to slap his body over it. It rolled just a little too much,' Miyuu's eyes glimmer, `I grabbed a rifle, and started shooting them. I got four, and Minako got the other three. A couple of the ones Minako shot were still alive enough to be questioned, and they'd been just a bunch of dumb kids, out to make a name for themselves fighting for what they believed in,' she shrugs, `There've been others since, but that was the most traumatic.' Natsuko's nearly dressed, and her roommates are staring at the first-year woman. One of them, a pretty little blonde girl, asks, `Who's Minako? Your sister?' `My mother.' `How old were you?' another, with red hair and blue eyes, asks. `It was four years ago. Seven,' Miyuu says, `Two months before I took my Tests.' `You passed?' the final girl, tall, slender, brown haired, asks. Miyuu pulls back her poncho and robe, letting the butt of her mouse-gun show at her hip, then lets them fall again. [Doing this, in many states, is considered "Brandishing", and can result in too much closeness with the local gendarme . . . --S] `Oh,' she says, and gulps. Miyuu turns to Natsuko, `Shall I leave you?' `I'll come with,' Natsuko replies, grabbing her wand and starting for the door. Miyuu picks at her breakfast, poking the scrambled eggs desultorily before reaching behind her, pulling a Bic pen and yellow sticky-note from her bag. She writes a quick note and sticks it to the plate before she pours syryp over her waffles and starts eating her oatmeal. `Aino, Nakajima, you'll need to report to the headmaster's office once you finish your breakfasts,' Severus says gently, kneeling next to their seats near the end of the table. `Roger,' Miyuu says, `Will you be there, Professor?' `Yes,' he says, then stands and walks back to the teacher's table. Miyuu leads the way up the spiral staircase, walking despite the escalatorish magic of it. The room is a little cramped, with the headmaster, all four heads of house, and Lucius Malfoy all crammed into the not terribly large room. `I'm supposed to have representation for a court-martial,' Miyuu says, smiling slightly. `This is just a preliminary hearing,' Dumbledore says, gently. `Good,' Miyuu says, her eyes roaming the room, checking reactions. Severus is calm, and gives her a supportive look, the tips of his lips twitching up just the smallest bit. Minerva looks severe, but her eyes are soft, and she gives Miyuu a tiny nod. Malfoy glowers angrily at her, and the look he spares for Natsuko is even worse. Albus looks a little sad, but nods gravely at Miyuu's look. Pomona is wearing a concerned face, but gives Miyuu a supportive look. Filius is glaring at Malfoy, and barely notices Miyuu, giving the woman a quick look and quicker twitch of the lips before turning back to Malfoy. `You wanted to see me, headmaster?' She asks, breaking the silence. `You killed my little boy!' Malfoy bellows, slamming his hand against the table, `Killed him!' his eyes shimmer. `Yes. He attacked me,' Miyuu says, `I defended myself.' `Don't you feel any remorse for that?' he continues, still too loud. `Not really,' Miyuu says, `If I hadn't I don't expect my body would have been found,' she shrugs a little, `Nor hers,' and she indicates Natsuko with her chin. `What! You accuse my --' Malfoy starts. He is interrupted by a multicoloured swirl of light, and the arrival of three more people, in distinctive white bodysuits and differently colored skirts, color-matched LBVs providing a miltaristic contrast to the frillyness of their uniforms, M3A2 submachine guns on their backs. They let go of each other's hands, and turn to face the adults, moving to frame Miyuu and the girl. The tallest, with long purple-red hair and a skirt the brown-black of fertile earth, steps to Natsuko's right. The shortest, with long pink hair braided down her back, red boots and a blue skirt, lays a hand on Miyuu's right shoulder. The last, with shoulder length black hair, purple boots and purple skirt, lays her left hand on Miyuu's left shoulder, an ornate polearm in her right. Miyuu looks up at her, and smiles, `Saturn.' Sailor Saturn smiles, `Miyuu-chan.' Miyuu rolls her head a little, `Chibi-Moon.' Sailor Chibi-Moon gives her shoulder a squeeze. Miyuu rolls her head a bit further, `And Earth.' `Dirt,' Sailor Earth corrects her, `You know who and what I am,' she doesn't really ask. `Yes,' Malfoy answers. The others nod. `You know that anything you say in my presence will be the truth.' `Yes,' Malfoy says. `Did you know your son was raping little girls?' `Yes.' `How?' `He was,' Malfoy pauses, fighting to soften his words, `Abusing the cook's daughter the year before he came to Hogwarts. He's been fairly open about his activities here.' Miyuu watches as the teacher's faces fall slowly into looks of pained horror. `What happened to the cook's daughter?' Sailor Dirt's eyes flash. `She got pregnant. We did memory charms on her and her mother, and relocated them.' Tears start to leak from Pomona's eyes. `How many girls did he,' Dirt pauses for just an instant, `Abuse,' another tiny pause, `At Hogwarts?' `I don't know. A few.' Minerva's eyes go wide. `A few? Five? Ten? Fifty?' `I don't know. More than ten, probably less than fifty,' Malfoy shrugs, `Most of them he bought with promises of favors.' Severus's hand drifts to his mouth, and blood drips slowly from his thumb. `And the rest?' `Threats or outright assult.' `What do you know about Goyle?' `A lot.' `What do you know about Goyle, abusing, people,' Sailor Dirt limits the question. `Draco would find him girls, or boys, depending on his mood. Goyle didn't seem to mind, most of the time.' `Were they willing?' `How would I know? Draco enjoyed it when they cried.' `Were you,' she turns to Natsuko, `Willing last night?' `No,' Natsuko says, huddling close to Miyuu. `What happened?' `Goyle dragged me out of my room,' Natsuko whimpers a little, and Miyuu wraps an arm around the girl, as does Chibi-Moon, `And carried me up to the common room. I couldn't get to my wand,' she gulps, `and he just threw me on one of the desks, and started to rip my clothes off, muttering about Cho Chang,' she takes a breath. Filius looks worried. `He had my shirt open, and my,' pause, `My panties off, and was trying to,' she pauses, blinking tears. `And then?' `I was fighting, and Malfoy was making a threat about putting me with the mudbloods,' Natsuko lifts her face, a tremulous smile on it, `When Miyuu showed up, and told Goyle to get off me. Her voice was so strong,' she glances at the young woman, `But he ignored her. She yelled at him again. He ignored her. She shot him in the head, and threw his body off me,' tears leak down her face, despite her smile. `And then?' Dirt asks gently. `She talked to Malfoy, and he tried to use /stupefy/ on her, and she shot him in the head.' Dirt turns to Miyuu, `And why didn't you use magic to disarm him, if he wasn't using a lethal spell?' `I had the gun in my hands, aimed mostly in his direction when he went for his wand. I had my finger on the trigger when he started the spell. /Stupefy/ isn't lethal on its own, but there would have been no way to defend myself or anyone else if he succeded with it,' Miyuu says, calmly. `Why are you so calm?!' Malfoy snarls, `My boy is dead! Don't you feel any distress over that?' `No. He knew I was armed, and attacked anyway. I didn't know how the others would react to the noise, or if they'd intervene,' she shrugs, `Besides, after Afganistan human life means a lot less to me,' she frowns, `I said that, didn't I?' Saturn squeezes her shoulder gently, `Yes.' `Watch your mama throw herself on top of a grenade, and see what it does to you,' she tells Malfoy, `and finally this isn't the first "use of force" inquiry I've been in.' `Oh? And how many people have you killed?' `Define "People",' Miyuu answers. `Human people!' Malfoy snarls. `Do you mean people I'd consider humane?' she smiles, `None.' `You!' Malfoy charges around the headmaster's desk, wisely not going for his wand. He stops when he notices the sharp prickle of Saturn's polearm's tip in his chest, and takes a step back, bleeding slightly. `Mister Malfoy,' Dirt says, `I'm going to have to talk to you. Come along,' she walks behind Saturn to his side, and grabs his wrists, holding them both in her right hand while she cuffs him with her left. That done, she frisks him quickly, setting three wands, a large knife, a small knife, a set of lockpicks, and his belt on Albus's desk before leading him from the room. Filius looks a bit alarmed, `Are we going to let this person question him without witnesses?' Severus looks up from studying where he'd broken skin biting his hand, `I don't want to hear it,' he says, blinking shimmering eyes. Filius suddenly goes a little green, `Neither do I,' but he gets up and follows Sailor Dirt out the door. Albus looks at the other two Sailors, `I'm sorry your visit is under such circumstances,' he tries to smile, but can't quite, `But it is an honor to have you.' `Thank you,' Chibi-Moon says, reverting to a young woman, looking maybe twelve, maybe twenty, in a black snap-brim fedora, a partly buttoned black Inverness coat, a dark blue turtleneck, black jeans, and tanker's boots. A swirl of dark sparkles mark Saturn's transformation, black hair draped over a black cape, open over a sleeveless black satin shirt, knee-length black skirt, black wool socks, and black jungle boots. Elaborate scars cover her right arm from her wrist nearly to her shoulder, and both knees. A black webbing strap crosses her body from left to right, from her shoulder to the curve of her waist. `Both of you are excused from classes for today,' Albus tells the students. `Roger,' Miyuu comes to attention, bows slightly, then steps back and holds out a hand for Natsuko. She looks at the two Dark Kingdom women, `I'm in the deepest Slytherin level, next to the north stair, on the outside. You should be able to find it.' `We should, Miyuu-chan,' the black-haired woman says. --- log: 3169/Bureaucracy/36: started 3169/Bureaucracy/38: draft finished. 3169/Bureaucracy/44: added a little warning to the brandishing scene, and twitched Miyuu's report a bit. 3169/Bureaucracy/45: added a "black" 3169/Aftermath/23: tiny fix. 3170/Chaos/16: tiny fix about Usagi's apparent age.