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Devi's shoulder had been killing her. And this was not the time to have no use of one arm. Between her duties to protect the city as Sailor Requiem and her duties to complete college applications as her normal persona, she had a lot on her plate.

This injury was far too distracting. It had only been a few nights since Captain Sassolite shot Sailor Requiem with an arrow, clean through her right shoulder. She tried to fix up the wound herself, applying heavy gauze and wrapping the wound, but that didn't make the pain any less severe. She had been popping Advil when she can - no more than recommended - but that's nothing. She had no idea if her treatment was at all proper.

But there was someone who might: Ume McDougall. The two girls had been friends for years, and Ume knew plenty about medicinal stuff. Knowing that seeking professional medical attention would only lead to her parents finding out, she had no other choice but to seek the aide of her close friend.

On the way home from school, Devi stopped by Ume's and approached the door nervously. How was she going to describe the wound to her friend? This was clearly not a simple accident - she was shot by an arrow! Unsure of what was going to come next, she knocked on her friend's door, wincing in pain from the effort that the simple action took.

"I look like hell?" Devi questioned. She was sure that it wasn't a compliment, but she'll take it. "Thanks, because I feel like ******** s**t. I need to show you something. Its private. Can we go to your room?"

Devi knew she was coming off a little awkward here, or at least over-dramatic. But it was a rather serious situation, she had a few times worried about getting an infection.

Devi didn't say a word until they were in Ume's room and the door was shut for privacy. Then, Devi pushed the collar of her shirt over her shoulder, revealing the bandage with the large blood spots seeping through. She quickly unwrapped the bandage, revealing the ugly bloody wound. Now it was time for some explanation, but what?

"I uh," she started. She was always a terrible liar. "Got attacked? By an owl. It plucked at my shoulder. Uhm. Is there anything you know how to - ow, ow - treat it?"

"Yeah, the owl just came from nowhere and then flew away, it was weird," she said, trying her best not to scream in pain as Ume examined it. "I'm sure its pretty uncommon, but surely something like this has happened before? It was kind of like an arrow. Yeah, it was like I got shot in the shoulder with an arrow, with the arrow as the bird's beak. Just look for arrow wounds. But its really an owl that hurt me, not an arrow."

Devi was a terrible liar, and she knew it. She felt so bad lying to her friend, but she couldn't tell her friend the truth.

"You know, maybe I did get shot with an arrow, I don't really remember," she lied. The most obvious lies at all. She was pretty confident that if you were shot by an arrow, you'd remember it. You'd remember every damn second of it. She sure as hell did.

She sighed. Ume was too smart for Devi, she couldn't keep on lying to her. "Fine, I was shot with an arrow. Listen, you can't tell anyone, but I'm not just a seventeen year-old girl. As much as I wish that's all I could be, I can't." Devi wasn't sure how to say this. She knew she couldn't give out her secret, but what choice did she have at this point? She had cornered herself. "I'm only of those Senshi girls you see on the news. You know, with the powers?"

Devi took a step back. How did Ume know so much about the Senshi? She knew about the cats and the pen - hell, that was almost as much as Devi knew! She was still fairly new at it all, and knew very little. Perhaps this was another Negaverse agent? She prepared herself for anything and slowly pulled out her henshin pen, holding on a tight grip. She showed it to Ume, but didn't want to hand it over.

"The cat was a little one," she said, emotionless. She was too shocked and worried about what was to happen next to give any tone to her voice. "Derpaline."

"How do you know so much about this stuff?"

Ume was a Senshi as well? Devi went from afraid to just startled. How long had the two girls been keeping their secrets from each other? Devi only became Sailor Requiem two or three months back, but had Ume been keeping her identity a secret for longer? Devi wouldn't be offended - she understood why it needed to be kept a secret - but she could hardly believe that one of her oldest and closest friends had been carrying around the same secret she has with little notice.

"I don't know who shot me," she started, feeling flustered. "It was some red-headed b***h. I put gauze on it but that's about it. But that is so not important right now! OW, OW, okay, maybe it is. But we're both...you know. Senshi? I have so many questions! Don't you?"

Devi was frightened. Chew on a spindle of lace? That advisement gave her a good indicator of what kind of pain she was going to experience - unbearable pain.

"Okay," she said reluctantly. What choice did she have? The wound clearly needed medical attention, even if she had so many other questions on her mind. What was Ume the Senshi of? Have they crossed paths before? Oh s**t - what if this was one of the Senshi that Devi trapped in the coffin during the masquerade? It was unlikely, but so many ideas raced through her head. And what did she mean some Senshi were evil? Was she one of those?

To force herself from stop asking the questions, she stuck the spindle of lace into her mouth and bit down hard, ready for whatever pain that Ume's treatment might bring. "Ready," she tried to say, but she was hardly audible.