“Do we really have to be here?” Usagi asked, her voice trembling.
“Yes. It's educational,” Ami replied. “Besides, what could the dead do to us?”
“You never know. They could come back to life and attack us.”
“You've watched too many zombie movies, Odango,” said Haruka. “We don't have any time to stop and chat, the enemy is here.”
“Really?” Usagi asked.
“I think I did see her come in,” Rei said.
“But...” the other girls began.
They heard a loud, disturbing smack. “Herbert!” Dan shouted. They then heard Herbert laughing.
“You're so infuriating!” Mimete said.
“Oh no...” Usagi gasped. “The enemy really is here. We have to do something. Let's transform!”
All the girls scrambled to get out their transformation items, knowing that time was of the essence.
“Pluto Planet Power...” Setsuna said.
“Neptune Planet Power...” Michiru said.
“Uranus Planet Power...” Haruka said.
“Venus Star Power...” Minako said.
“Jupiter Star Power...” Makoto said.
“Mars Star Power...” Rei said.
“Mercury Star Power...” Ami said.
“Moon Prism Power...” Chibi Usa said.
“Moon Cosmic Power...” Usagi said.
“Make Up!” they said at the same time.
They all transformed and ran in to see what was happening. They found Dan holding Herbert.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dan saw the girls in sailor uniforms enter the room. He looked up at them, his eyes red and puffy from crying. “Please save him,” he begged, on the verge of crying again.
The girl with blond hair in buns and long pigtails in blue and dark pink stepped forward. “We must protect the pure heart of someone who cares deeply about his friends. Revenge will not be forgiven. I fight for love and justice. I'm the pretty sailor suited soldier Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon I will punish you!”
“Pink Sugar Heart Attack!” said a cute little pink haired girl in pink and red holding up a pink wand. Little red hearts shot out of the wand on her second try. That's some attack...
“Ow, ow, ow! That hurts!” exclaimed U-Kangofu.
“World Shaking!” a golden ball shaped like a ringed planet rushed past Dan's head, hurled by a woman with short dark blond hair and deep green eyes, and collided with the monster shaking it around. She wore blue and yellow.
“Sparkling Wide Pressure!” a tall girl with brown hair and green eyes tossed a disk made of electricity at the monster. She wore green and pink.
“Venus Love Me Chain!” said a pretty blond girl with bright blue eyes who reminded Dan of Meg too much for his comfort, whipping the monster with a chain of orange hearts. She wore orange, yellow and blue.
“Burning Mandala!” said a girl with long black hair and purple eyes. She threw fire triangles at the monster. She wore red and purple.
“Deep Submerge!” said a young woman with wavy aqua green hair and deep blue eyes in dark aquamarine and blue. She threw a watery ringed planet at the monster.
By this point Dan had noticed that Herbert had become progressively colder and paler. His breathing had become slow and nearly non-existent. Dan turned pale himself, wishing it wasn't true that Herbert wasn't just moments away from death. Herbert... “Please hurry, there isn't much life left in him.”
“Shine Aqua Illusion!” A girl with short blue hair and light blue eyes in blue and ice blue splashed the monster. She then knelt next to Dan and began checking Herbert's pulse and vital signs. “You're right...I am sorry.”
Dan looked at the girl, an enraged look on his face. “Sorry doesn't cut it!” He burst into tears and rested his head on Herbert's chest, feeling his own heart shatter into a million tiny shards. “I'm sorry, I'm just so worried about losing him for good because he's my closest friend and the person I care about the most.”
Sailor Moon held up a pink, ornate cup. “Crisis, Make-Up!” she said. New decorations appeared in her hair, the heart on her choker and her choker switched colors, the stripes in her collar became yellow, her brooch changed and a smaller version of it appeared on the area above her skirt on a gold belt. Her earrings became golden crescent moons, her boots gained high heels, the sleeves on her shoulders became elongated and transparent, the bow on the back of her skirt became long at the bottom and turned white and her skirt became white with intersecting layers of blue and yellow, forming a pretty shade of green in the center. She's beautiful, she seems otherworldly like a goddess...I can trust her with Herbert's life.
Sailor Moon held up a wand similar to the little pink haired girl's wand. “Rainbow Moon Heartache!” she said, twirling the wand and posing.
The monster was hit with a rainbow and a clear ribbon with hearts on it. It then died, giving up Herbert's heart crystal. This sent the enemy running. Sailor Moon walked over and picked it up. She walked over to Herbert and put the heart crystal back in his body.
Dan smiled through his tears. “Thank you,” he said. “You saved him at the right moment.”
“You're welcome,” Sailor Moon said with an angelic smile on her face. She and the other girls left.
- - - - - - - - - – - -
Herbert's eyes slowly opened and he saw that Dan had been crying. “Dan, is something wrong?”
Dan heard that voice and began crying tears of joy. “You were so close to dying.”
“I know. I could feel my life slipping away, quite against my will, and it scared me. I was scared to leave you alone.”
“I was scared to lose you.”
“Of course you were, I'm the best thing that's ever happened to you.” Herbert wrapped his arms around Dan. “Maybe we should do something to celebrate our mutual happiness...”
“Yeah,” Dan smiled. He helped Herbert stand and they walked over to the autopsy table. He helped Herbert onto the table and lay beneath him. “I say we finally get around to rewarding you for putting up with the girls and letting them come with us.” He pulled Herbert on top of him and began kissing him. “I'll do all the work.”
“That sounds great, but you should restrain yourself, we are in public. And we have company.” They both sat up.
The girls walked in. “Were we interrupting something?” they asked.
“Maybe you ought to announce that you are entering the room from now on,” Herbert scowled.
“Manners, Herbert,” Dan said.
Herbert cast a quick, deadly glance at his friend. “Daniel...” he snarled.
“Herbert, don't do that!”
“Don't do what?” Herbert asked innocently.
“I hate it when you're bossy around women!”
“Where have you been the past few months? I don't like women. I especially hated your dear Meg.”
“Don't talk about her like that!” In a flash, Dan had viciously slapped Herbert.
“Dan, look at yourself.” Dan looked down and moved his hand.
“I'm sorry you had to see that,” Dan told the girls. He then felt Herbert move closer to him. “Yeah?”
Herbert got on his knees so he could reach his lips to Dan's ear. “Am I the only one that found your slapping me a bit...arousing?” he whispered, finally locking onto Dan's earlobe, a place he knew was sensitive. He bit down as he wrapped his arms and legs around Dan.
“Herbert!” Dan jerked from every single stimulation he felt due to Herbert. “Later.”
“Okay.”
Herbert and Dan turned around and held hands as they watched the girls interact.
“I still don't think we should be in here,” Ms. Tsukino said nervously.
Ms. Hino approached her from behind, moaning like a movie zombie. This elicited a nervous squeak from the shorter blond girl.
“Rei-chan, you're horrible!” she yelled at her friend.
Ms. Hino shuffled toward her friend stiffly, still moaning. The other girls started laughing, only three of them politely hiding it behind a hand.
Dan and Herbert looked at each other, smiling a little. “Kids, so cute,” Dan said.
“If only they knew.” Herbert caressed Dan's hand, resting his head on his friend's shoulder. “Is that what you were like when you were young?”
“Yeah. What about you?”
“I was the same as I am now.”
“I'm honestly not surprised.”
Their eyes met again and they could no longer deny the spark between them. They got off the autopsy table and sped past the girls and out the door. “We have to go,” they said together. “We'll see you tomorrow.”
“Where are they going?” Chibi Usa asked, truly curious about the whole thing.
“We did interrupt them while we were coming in here,” Ami started. “They went to finish what they started.”
“And what is that?” the still bewildered young woman asked.
“When two adults love each other very much they sleep together,” Ami responded.
“So, they're having a sleep over?”
“Something like that,” the other girls answered together.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“I like when you do all the work,” Herbert said, resting his body across Dan's. “You should do that more often.”
“I'd be glad to.” Dan ran his fingers through Herbert's hair. “So, tomorrow's our last day at the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“I'm going to miss the girls.”
“I suppose I will too.”
“When we get home, we have to talk about something.”
“What?”
“I'll explain later. What do you say we do that...again?”
“Dan, your stamina is...amazing.”
“I guess there's an upside to your reagent after all.”
Herbert smiled. “Now, let's follow my rules this time. But you still have to do all the work. Alright?”
“Alright.”
“Good boy.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“We have to make this going away party perfect for them,” Usagi said.
“I'll make lots of delicious treats,” Makoto volunteered. “But you can't eat them all by yourself, Usagi.”
“Awww...”
“We'll make sure she doesn't,” Rei and Chibi Usa said together.
“You're so mean, both of you!” Usagi whined.
“Stop whining, Usagi-baka!” Chibi Usa said, tongue sticking out.
“You're so not cute!” Usagi fired in response. She stuck her tongue out as well, much to the chagrin of her friends.
“Please stop fighting,” Ami requested, as level-headed as ever. “West-san and Cain-san will be arriving at the hospital in a couple of hours, so we must make our preparations as quickly as possible.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Herbert helped Dan dress up as nicely as he could get him to, seeing as today was their last day in Japan. He smiled at his hard work as he and Dan left their room. They arrived at the hospital and made their way to Dr. Mizuno's office.
“Dan, you look so handsome right now,” Herbert said as they got closer to her office. “You should dress up more often.”
“We should go to the opera some time...or something like that.”
“I would be delighted to do that with you. You need to be more cultured if you want to stand a chance with me.”
“I'm cultured enough,” Dan muttered as they went through the door.
“Good, you two are here right on time,” Saeko said. “Please follow me to the cafeteria.”
Herbert and Dan looked at each other, completely bewildered. “Why are we going there?” they quietly asked each other.
Saeko opened the cafeteria doors. “Surprise!” shouted the girls and Mamoru.
“What are you doing here?” Herbert and Dan asked. Herbert was still too confused to sound angry.
“We're giving you a going away party. We really liked meeting you and we're going to miss you, so it's the least we could do,” explained Ami.
“Thanks,” Dan said. “We liked meeting you too.” He looked over at Herbert who looked a little upset. “Herbert thanks you too, he just won't say it.”
The two of them were seated at a table. Makoto walked into the kitchen and brought out all of the food she had made. The girls assisted her by bringing out the drinks, cups, plates, plastic silverware and napkins.
“I made all of this just for you two,” Makoto explained. “Oh, and a little extra for us.”
“Thanks again,” Dan said.
The girls and Mamoru sat down at the table after opening the drinks. “It's time to dig in!” Usagi exclaimed.
The group ate and enjoyed their beverages, talking a little once in a while.
“Do you think we should get to work now?” Herbert asked.
“I guess,” Dan replied. “Thanks again, all of you.”
They finished working and made their way back to their hotel, eager to get back to the US.
“Herbert, there's something we have to talk about on the way home,” Dan said. “I'll tell you about what later.”
