Seeing Stars
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.


Chapter 36

Amy was talking with G.Q. when she spotted someone waving at her. She turned to see a blonde 
woman in a white blouse and red skirt with a large red bow in her hair walk up to her, 
smiling cheerily. She recognized that red bow, as well as the woman wearing it.

"Good morning, Miss Blake," she said as Mina joined the two. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, I just wanted to check up on Darien," she replied. "You know, see how he's doing. You're 
not working him too hard, right?" she added playfully.

"Miss Blake is Darien's agent," Amy explained to G.Q.

"You can just call me Mina, babe," she said, extending her hand. "Or, you can just call me," 
she added with a wink.

G.Q. blinked for a moment, then smiled. "A pleasure to meet you, Mina," he said as he shook 
her hand.

"It's just as well that you're here, Miss Blake," Amy continued. "I wanted-"

"Amy, Amy, Amy...," Mina sighed as she shook her head. "I thought I told you to call me Mina. 
I hate all that formal 'Miss' stuff." She paused. "What was it you wanted, Amy?"

She repressed the urge to sigh. "It's about Darien, actually."

Mina's smile dropped. "It's nothing bad, right?" she asked.

Amy quickly shook her head. "Oh, no. Quite the opposite, in fact."

"Reeeeeally...?" Mina said in a slow drawl as her smile returned. "Well, then let's hear it."

"We're very pleased with the work I've been getting from Darien. I've spoken with Melvin and 
we want to contract him for two more movies."

Mina's jaw almost dropped. "You're serious?"

"Yes."

The blonde agent clasped her hands together and stared starry-eyed at the ceiling. "Oh, I 
can't believe it! My Darien's becoming a star!"

Amy resisted the urge to roll her eyes in exasperation at Mina's antics. G.Q. blinked again, 
then shrugged. Must be an agent thing.

"So, where's Darien, anyway?" she asked as she glanced around the set. "I can't wait to break 
the news to him!"

"I haven't seen him yet, but perhaps we should discuss the contract first before you break 
the news to him?" Amy suggested.

Mina blinked, then slapped a hand to her forehead in chagrin. "Ah, silly me. Of course, we 
should."

As Amy turned to leave, she glanced over at G.Q. "Would you let me know when Serena and Darien 
get here? We'll start then." G.Q. nodded and she left for the conference room with Mina 
following behind her.

            **********************************************

"I told you that we're gonna be late!" Darien said as he ran through the studio doors with 
Serena a step behind him.

"Oh, shut up," she retorted. "I don't recall you worrying about being late an hour ago."

"I had my mind on... other things, then," he replied as they slowed to a walk. They were in 
the studio now, so they didn't need to run anymore.

Serena smiled slyly. "Of course, you did. And don't tell me that you don't think that it was 
worth it."

He smiled back. "Oh, it was most definitely worth it," he agreed. "No arguement there." He 
glanced around as a puzzled look came across his face. "Hey, do you see Amy anywhere?"

"No, I don't see her anywhere, either," she replied. "How strange. She's usually one of the 
first people here." She stopped as she spotted Melvin speaking with the Evans twins at craft 
services. "Hey, Melvin! You seen Amy anywhere?"

"Fashionably late?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow as they joined them.

"Quiet, you," Serena said warningly. The stuntman replied with a dramatic, elaborate bow. 
"And knock that off!"

"It's only fifteen minutes, anyway." Lita said, elbowing her brother in the side. Jason just 
grinned.

"Last time I saw Amy, she was talking with G.Q. over...." Melvin trailed off as he noticed 
G.Q. walking over to them. "Ah, here comes G.Q. now. You can ask him where she is."

"Darien, Amy wants you and Serena to get ready for the next scene," G.Q. said as he approached 
the group. "Amy will join us shortly. She's in the middle of speaking with Darien's agent 
right now."

Darien blinked in surprise. "My agent? She's speaking with my agent right now? Why?"

"Amy will let you know when she's done," G.Q. replied.

"Well, I guess she'll tell you when she tells you," Serena said. "Shall we go and get ready 
for the next scene?"

He shrugged. "Might as well."

            **********************************************

After he had finished preparing for the next scene, Darien decided to hang around craft 
services until Amy was ready for him. Tanya was hanging around with him, looking slightly 
bored.

"Man, how long am I gonna be stuck in that bed?" she complained as she grabbed a small 
bag of chips. "Can't we get to some scenes where I'm out of that damn bed already?"

Darien tried to suppress the urge to grin. She was almost pouting, and she looked silly 
pouting. "You almost sound like a little kid," he told her. Well, a little teasing 
couldn't hurt....

Tanya turned and stuck out her tongue at him. This time, he did laugh. "So, I like acting 
immature every now and then. It's fun. You should try it sometime," she added with a grin, 
then leaned toward him conspiratorily. "Don't tell her I told you this, but Serena and I 
used to do this a lot. She can pull off the dumb blonde act so well, you'd believe that 
she actually was one."

"Really?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "I can hardly see her as a dumb blonde. She's 
obviously anything but." He bent down and grabbed a soda from one of the ice chests and 
opened it. "Not that I think she couldn't do it, of course," he amended after taking a 
short drink.

"Oh, she's really convincing, all right. Trust me."

Darien was about to reply when he heard someone shout his name.

"Darien! Sweetheart!" Mina said as she ran up to him and all but tackled him in a huge 
bear hug.

"Uh... friend of yours?" Tanya asked, blinking in confused surprise.

"Excuse me."

Darien stiffened immediately. That was Serena's voice. And it didn't sound happy. 
Considering what this looked like, he could understand, but this wasn't what it looked 
like.

"Um... this... ah, this isn't what it looks like, Serena," he explained sheepishly.

"Darien, I just can't get over this!" Mina gushed as she let him go and clasped both 
hands together eagerly. "It's so...." She flung her arms to her sides excitedly. "Wow! 
I knew you had potential, babe, but you managed so much more than I thought you would!"

Serena and Tanya both blinked, exchanged puzzled looks, then looked back at the blonde 
bundle of enthusiasm again. "Darien, who is she?" Serena asked, her voice no longer as 
cold as it was a moment ago, but still wary.

Darien was about to answer when Mina turned around to see both Serena and Tanya staring 
at her. "Oh! Serena Moon and Tanya Cambridge! It's such an honor to meet the both of you!" 
she gushed as she reached out to shake their hands. "The name's Mina Blake. I'm Darien's 
agent."

Serena tried not to stare again as she and Tanya shook her hands. SHE was his agent? This 
hyperactive, breezy poster-girl for dumb blondes? 'Wait. Maybe she's only acting like this 
because she so excited over something,' she thought. 'But what's she so excited over?'

"Why're you here, anyway?" Darien asked, curious.

"What, can't a girl check up on her client?" Mina asked as she put a hand on her hip and 
gave him a level glance. "You know, see how he's doing? I wouldn't be much of an agent if 
I didn't drop by see how you're doing every now and then. Besides, I had some possible 
parts for you to take on after your work here was finished, but after speaking with Amy, I 
can safely say that we can toss them out the window," she said as she calmed down. Her grin 
began to widen considerably. "Amy and Melvin want to contract you for another two movies! 
In fact, she's speaking with him and G.Q. right now on that exact subject."

"What?!?" Darien exclaimed in disbelief. "You're serious?"

"Damn serious," Mina agreed with a curt nod. "Right now, we're in the middle of negotiations 
for that contract."

Tanya gave him a congratulatory slap on the back. "Way to go, Darien!" she cheered. "You're 
on your way to becoming a star!"

"Well, damn," Serena said as she folded her arms and smirked. "Looks like you're on your 
way sooner than I thought, Darien."

"Two more movies...," he breathed, his eyes wide in joyful disbelief. "I can hardly believe 
it."

"I know what you mean," Mina agreed and hugged him again. "I knew you'd eventually get your 
big break, Darien. I'm just so happy I was able to play a small part in making it happen."

"Not to mention that you're making that much more now that I'm playing bigger roles," he 
teased wryly.

Mina smiled and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Well, yeah. That, too," she 
admitted. "A girl can have more than one reason to be happy, you know."

"Are you both ready for the next scene?" Amy asked as she walked up to the group.

"Sure," Serena confirmed while Darien just nodded.

"Good. Take your places, then." She turned to Mina as the two actors took their places. 
"So, you wanted to see how he acts in a role of this caliber?"

She nodded seriously. "I've mostly seen him do extra work and small parts. If he's going 
to be doing more important roles such as this, then I need to know how well he can really 
act. That way I can figure out how much his acting skills are really worth. I won't have 
my client sign a contract that pays him less than he's worth."

Amy nodded thoughtfully as she took that in. "You're certainly more shrewd than I took you 
for earlier, Mina," she remarked.

Mina smiled knowingly. "I get that all the time. My personality kinda throws people off 
sometimes, ya know? They tend to underestimate me, which I certainly don't mind taking full 
advantage of. Besides, I prefer to let my work speak for itself," she added with a wink.

"I see," Amy said, amused. "Well then, shall we go?" she asked, nodding her head toward 
the set.

"Lead the way."

            **********************************************

Jack couldn't help but stare in awe. He had never seen a Nijizuishou crystal until now, 
and it certainly was a thing of beauty. The gem was almost like a diamond in shape - right 
down to its traditional round cut - but certainly not color.

He had never seen a violet diamond before.

The light shining from the top of the display was set in just the right position to cause 
the Violet Nijizuishou to reflect a dazzling display of violet light in many different 
hues. It was almost like a rainbow of violet.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Diane said as she walked up beside him and took his arm in hers.

"Yes," Jack nodded as he glanced down at Diane. "So," he asked, lowering his voice, "what 
did you find?"

She leaned closer to him moved her arm around his waist, instead of around his arm. They 
were supposed to be just another couple visiting the museum. If the people around them 
saw that they were talking quietly amongst themselves as they wandered around the museum, 
that was hardly out of the ordinary, right? And if they were leaning close together like 
they were doing now, they're supposed to be a couple, right? Couples do those sort of 
things. And if Diane happened to enjoy having Jack's arm around her shoulders like it was 
right now, then it was all the better. Nothing wrong with enjoying herself as she worked. 
Whoever said that mixing business with pleasure was a bad thing obviously didn't know what 
they were missing.

"There are at least four security cameras in every single room," Diane began as she leaned 
her head on his shoulder and stared at the Violet Nijizuishou crystal. "Not only that, 
but armed guards patrol the museum regularly every hour." She didn't know why, but she liked 
Hotaru's Orange Nijizuishou better than this one. Maybe it was because it was Hotaru's. 
'Damn, I miss that girl. I hope she's all right....'

"Guard complement?"

"I counted around seventeen guards total," she continued. "Three guards remain in the 
security room at all times, watching the monitors. There is a monitor for each room, however 
each monitor can only show the display from one camera at a time."

"Good to know," he murmured quietly to himself.

Diane frowned slightly as she caught the small undertone in his voice. "Something wrong, 
Jack?" she asked as she lifted her head to look at him.

He started to shake his head, but sighed instead. "Tanya would've loved to be in on something 
like this."

"Oh?" she asked, amused. "She wanted to rob a museum?"

He gave her wry look. "Of course not," he replied flatly. "The planning, though. She would've 
enjoyed something like this. She loves challenges and the idea of trying to catch a thief at 
his own game would certainly appeal to her." He shrugged and gave her a small, wistful grin. 
"Considering what we're up against, it's just as well she's not here."

Diane awarded him a small comforting smile. "I think she'd understand," she said as she laid 
her head back down on his shoulder. "Now, what did you find out?"

"It's a standard museum jewelry display," he told her. "I nudged one of the ropes ringing 
the display and no alarms went off, so they're just for show." He reached into his shirt 
pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. "Here. Put these on."

"What are they?" she asked, assuming that the shades weren't as ordinary as they looked.

"I had these made a long time ago, back when I first started working as a private 
investigator," he explained. "I knew a guy on the force who maintained all the infrared 
and night vision goggles that the SWAT team used. He owed me a favor and built these out 
of an old pair of infrared goggles that weren't serviceable anymore."

"I know this's a silly question, but why do you have a pair of infrared sunglasses?"

"They come in handy whenever I have to make plans for robbing a museum."

Diane blinked. "Right. Ask a silly question...."

"I needed them for a job one of my first clients gave me," Jack continued. "Short version of 
the story is that my client suspected that his neighbor had stolen something of his, but he 
needed proof. So, I went to take a look around. However, the guy was a total security nut. 
Security cameras just about everywhere, guard dogs... and infrared lasers surrounding the 
top of his walls. Big mess, that was."

She blinked in surprise. "You're joking."

"You've got those shades in your hand, don't you?"

More blinking. "You're serious?"

"Being a private investigator can be harder than being a cop sometimes," he told her.

"How did that job turn out?" she asked, intrigued.

"Remind me to tell you more about it later," he said after a second of thought. "Now, put 
those on and look at the display."

She did so and glanced up at the display. She blinked as several beams of infrared light 
became visible to her.

"There's a column of infrared lasers ringing the display case," he continued. "I can't 
get close enough to the beams without crossing the ropes and causing security to become 
suspicious of us, but I can guess that there is barely enough room to fit the crystal 
through without tripping the alarms.

"Getting to the crystal through the glass case without tripping the alarms is another 
story. It'll be hard to cut the glass with the lasers in the way. Also, there's really 
no way of telling if there's a pressure-sensitive alarm underneath that crystal."

"So, getting this crystal isn't going to be as easy as all the rest, huh?" Diane said as 
she turned to leave, tugging on Jack's arm to get him to come with her. "Come on, Jack. 
I don't think we can learn anything more today. We might as well go back and start making 
our own plans."

            **********************************************

Artemis' cell phone rang just as he was about to turn in for the night. Setting down his 
book, he reached over toward the end table for his phone. "D'Loire here."

"Hey, Artie. Guess who?"

"So, where are you now?" he asked promptly.

"What? No 'Why, Diane! It's been so long! How've you been?' Just 'Where am I now?' You hurt 
my feelings, Artie," Diane pouted.

"Cut the bull, Diane," Artemis said tiredly. "Where are you now?"

There was a pause before Diane spoke again. "We're in Sydney, Artie," she replied in a 
slightly subdued tone of voice. "Is something wrong? It's not like you to snap at anyone; 
least of all, me."

Artemis sighed heavily. "I'm still staying with Professor Tomoe and Mrs. Kino, Diane. Kaye 
is beside herself with worry over the both of them and asked me if I wouldn't mind staying 
here until this is over. She says that they would feel better if they had some law 
enforcement official here, in case something happens.

"Mrs. Kino isn't eating and Professor Tomoe still refuses to leave his lab," he continued 
solemnly. "I just went to see Mrs. Kino this afternoon and she's looking really terrible 
right now. I don't think she's slept well in weeks. And I can just imagine what Professor 
Tomoe looks like. Diane, please tell me you've got something encouraging to report."

"I don't know if this's good enough, Artie, but Jack and I waiting for our kidnapper/thief 
to show up here so we can nail him," she replied. "As soon as we grab him, I figure I can 
get the information out of him. He'll tell us where they are."

"How can you be so sure?"

There was a pronounced silence on Diane's end. "He'll tell us, Artie," she said coldly.

"Now, Diane," he said warningly. "You're not going to do something that'll-"

"Dammit, Artie," she cut him off, "I don't give a rat's ass about all that right now! 
What has to be done, has to be done. If you've got to arrest me for it, fine. But, I will 
find Hotaru and Ryoku first."

Artemis dropped his hand into his lap, along with his phone, and sighed deeply. "Damn you, 
Diane," he muttered under his breath. "You're going to be the death of me, yet." He raised 
the phone back up to his ear. "I'll trust you to do what is best, Diane. But, remember that 
you will be held accountable for all your actions, even if you aren't officially on this 
case. Remember that."

"I will."

"Good," he said with a nod. "Now, is there anything else, Diane?"

"There's one more thing, Artie. I need a favor. Before we left for Sydney, we did some 
research on the final two Nijizuishou crystals, which is how we knew to come here to 
Sydney when our man comes for the Violet Nijizuishou crystal. However, we need to warn 
the owner of the Indigo Nijizuishou crystal that there is going to be an attempt to steal 
her crystal."

"So, you want one of us to call the owner of the Indigo Nijizuishou crystal and warn her?" 
Artemis asked.

"No, I'd rather warn her myself," she replied. "I just need you to get me her number. Her 
name is Michiru Kaiou. She's a professional violinist and she lives in Hong Kong."

Artemis nodded to himself as he wrote down the information. "All right, Diane. I'll have 
someone on it shortly."

"Thanks, Artie. I know it's getting late over there, so I'll let you get back to whatever 
you were doing."

"All right, Diane. Thanks and keep me posted."

"You got it, Artie. Bye."

Artemis hung up his phone and set it down in his lap for a moment. "Good luck, Diane," he 
murmured to himself. "I sure hope you know what you're doing. And I hope it's not 
something reckless or stupid. I taught you better than that."

With another sigh, he picked up his phone and dialed one of the agents on duty. He had been 
sighing an awful lot lately, with good reason. He wasn't young anymore and this case was 
certainly aging him. But he made a promise to Kaye and to Professor Tomoe and Mrs. Kino. 
He would stick with this until the end.

He promised.

            **********************************************

It had been a long day. She had a concert in only two more days and some of the orchestra 
still hadn't gotten their parts down yet. Her accompaniment was an essential part of her 
performance; she wouldn't sound as good without the accompanying music to play along with. 
Her violin music would sound empty and dull without it. At least, it would for the song 
she was performing for that concert. It was too late to change to a violin solo or a 
song with a smaller accompaniment. Which meant that the orchestra needed to pick it up, 
or they'd all sound bad.

Michiru sighed as she plopped down onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. There wasn't 
much left that she could do. It was all up to those few orchestra members to practice and 
improve.

Anyway, she was too tired to care about all that right now. All she wanted was to just 
stretch out on her bed and relax.

The sun was about to go down soon. She lived on the top floor of a huge forty-floor 
condominium in the downtown area, which gave her a view which most people would envy. 
Especially during sunset and at night. The fluorescent and neon lights made Hong Kong seem 
more alive than during the day.

Sitting back up again, Michiru pushed herself up off her bed and made her way back into 
the living room. She walked over to her stereo system and turned it on, along with her CD 
player. She opened one of the lower drawers of her entertainment center and looked through 
her CD collection. After poking through the collection, she finally selected one, inserted 
it into her CD player, and queued it up to track five. The opening notes to Pachebel's Canon 
began to fill the room. With a contented sigh, she turned to go back into her bedroom.

From her bedroom, Michiru went into her bathroom, where she kept her bathrobe. A nice, long 
would do wonders for her right about now. Besides, there was this knot in her neck and 
shoulders that was still bothering her. It was a minor irritation, considering everything 
else, but now that she was home, that minor irritation was now anything but minor.

Yes, a long soak would be wonderful.

The bathroom was painted a beautiful sea-green, a few shades lighter than her own hair color. 
The floor tiles were a dark shade of blue, which complemented the sea-green very well. On one 
side of the bathroom, there was the sink and toilet, both the traditional porcelain white. On 
the other side, there was the bathtub, colored to match the floor tiles. She originally 
wanted the tub the same color as the rest of the bathroom so that it would almost look like 
she was soaking in the ocean waters whenever she bathed, but the bathtub's color slowly grew 
on her.

Michiru slipped off her clothes and placed them in a neat pile to one side and slipped on her 
bathrobe. It was pure white cotton; not very fancy, but it was very comfortable. She turned 
on her tub and let the water warm up before plugging the drain. The water level was almost to 
the point she usually preferred when the phone began to ring.

"Oh, not now," she grumbled as she turned off the water and headed into her bedroom. "This 
better not be about work. I swear, if this's who I think it is, I'm going to tear him a new 
one when I next see him." She picked up the phone and sat down on her bed. "Hello?"

"Hello. Is this Michiru Kaiou?"

Michiru almost sighed with relief. A female voice. Okay, so it wasn't Hu. Good. The last thing 
she needed was to hear about how she was overworking his string section. It wasn't her fault 
that some of them were new and not used to the caliber of music she played. They needed to 
practice some more. They were professionals. They should expect things like this. That's what 
they're paid to do, after all.

"Yes, this is she," she replied. "May I ask who is calling?"

"My name is Diane Silver, United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. I'm calling in regard 
of a certain item you are known to possess, your Indigo Nijizuishou crystal."

Michiru blinked. "My...? What about it?" she asked as she started to get up from her bed. She 
strode over to the far end of the wall, where she had her wall safe installed and hidden behind 
one of her paintings. It was cliché, but for the most part, it worked well enough, considering 
that the safe itself was hidden behind a false section of wall that would slide out of the way 
when pressed and slid by hand. The false wall section was hard to detect and would pass a 
cursory inspection, but not a meticulous inspection. "No one's broken into my home and stolen 
anything," she continued as she moved aside the painting and slid the wall section aside. She 
turned the combo lock through its combination and opened the safe.

Just as she thought. It was still there.

"I know, Miss Kaiou," Diane answered. "I'm calling to warn you that someone will be after your 
crystal soon. Already, four Nijizuishou crystals have been stolen, and perhaps a fifth one by 
now."

She frowned. "I've read that the Blue Nijizuishou was just stolen from the Huruato museum in 
Tokyo a few days ago."

"Damn! Listen, my partner and I have been chasing the thief responsible for robbing that 
museum as well as several other places, in order to get to the Nijizuishou crystals. We're 
now in Sydney, in case he had already gotten to you first, but it seems that we've made it 
here too early.

"Miss Kaiou, you will have to be careful," Diane continued. "The man we've been chasing is 
considered armed and dangerous. I can give you all the information we have on this man, so 
that you can alert the Hong Kong authorities, but please do not attempt to stop this man 
yourself."

Michiru swallowed as she nodded. "I understand."

"Good. Now, do you have something to write with?"

"Yes."

"All right. The suspect is male, Caucasian, with short blonde hair and green eyes. He is 
approximately five foot, eleven and weighs around 190 pounds. No distinguishing marks." She 
paused for a few moments. "Did you get all that?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Please do not hesitate to call the local authorities, Miss Kaiou," Diane warned. "This man may 
already be in the area."

"Yes, thank you," Michiru replied and hung up after hearing Diane hang up on her end. She 
quickly closed her safe and slid everything back into place. With that done, she turned back 
toward the bathroom and her neglected bath. Perhaps the water was still warm enough for her to 
enjoy. She'd call the police after that. Her Nijizuishou crystal certainly wouldn't be going 
anywhere for the next hour, anyway.

            **********************************************

Outside Michiru's condominium complex, Jed slowly let his car come to a stop and parked his car. 
This was the place. The sixth Nijizuishou crystal was here. The violinist was home, but she 
wouldn't pose too much of a threat. There was no time for complex plans or sneaking around. 
There were people on his trail and he needed to finish this job before they could catch up to 
him. He would be damned if he let a couple of amateurs catch a master like himself.

The sun was setting now. It was a good a time as any. He might as well begin now.

            **********************************************

                              To Chapter 37

            **********************************************

Author's Note: It's the return of the blonde-haired agent extraordinaire, Mina! Well, I guess I 
felt she needed more than just that small part at the beginning, but it would make sense for 
her to check up on her client. At least, I think so. I forgot who gave me the suggestion, but 
thanks for the suggestion. Anyway, the movie part of the story is drawing closer to the finale! 
Oh, and if you're wondering if those two movies I mentioned are going to be part of Seeing Stars, 
sorry, but once this movie is over, Seeing Stars is over as well. Next chapter: The struggle for 
the Indigo Nijizuishou crystal; Christy and Shingo learn of Project: Ginzuishou; and Serena 
makes an unpleasant discovery.

Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective 
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch 
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This 
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate 
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it 
anywhere else. Thank you.

Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa. 
All Rights Reserved.