Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ "Soul Mates" ( Chapter 7 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Fragility of Time
Chapter 7: "Soul Mates"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle
Lasted Edited: 9/9/00

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story,
all rights are owned by others.
If you distribute the story, do only
so freely and inform me of where you post it.

_______________________________________

It had been a couple of days since the last demon attack and the
Usagis were enjoying an afternoon in the park with the rest of the
Senshi. Usagi currently lay on the grass staring off into the clouds
and dreaming about Tuxedo-Kamen. Ami as could be expected lay against
a tree entirely involved in a massive book. However, unlike her
normal reading this one was an ancient text supposedly dealing with
the magical arts. Her mother was slightly confused by her daughter's
recent fascination with the supernatural. Makoto was preparing lunch
with the aid of Rei, while Minako was having entirely too much fun on
the swings. ChibiUsa, herself, had wandered off slightly into the
park.

ChibiUsa was admiring the nice weather, when a gust of wind caught
her sun hat and blew it down the slope she was standing on. Her
initial attempt to catch the hat as it blew off failed and instead
she tumbled down the slope, scraping her knees. With tears, from the
pain, slightly clouding her eyes she attempted to standup, but
stopped when she noticed another girl slightly older than her
standing in front of her.

"I believe this is yours." Said the sickly looking girl with black
hair.

"Thank you" replied ChibiUsa while sticking out her hand "my name is
ChibiUsa. What are you doing?" she asked referring to the jars with
fabric covers nearby.

"Nice to meet you ChibiUsa-chan, I am Hotaru. I am collecting
sleeping fireflies from bushes. Would you like to collect some as
well?"

"Hai" replied ChibiUsa, and the two began to look for fireflies on
the undersides of bush leaves.

A friendship very quickly developed between the two girls. Hotaru
found herself with her first real friend. The other children in
school were scared away either by her sickly condition or by her
strange healing powers. While ChibiUsa so far did not know about
those healing abilities, Hotaru had a strange feeling that things
would be different with this girl. For Hotaru, unfortunately one of
her spasm attacks hit too soon.

Noticing her new friend dropping to the ground, clutching her chest
with some apparent breathing trouble "Hotaru-chan! What's wrong?"
exclaimed a very concerned ChibiUsa as she moved to Hotaru's side.
Grasping the older girl's hand, she tried to will her better.

"Don't worry ChibiUsa, the spasm will pass." Said Hotaru as she tried
to reassure the scared child. And about half a minute later, the
spasm did pass allowing Hotaru to get back up. "Thank you ChibiUsa."
She said while releasing the hand she had been holding through most
of her spasm.

Then looking down she noticed the cut on ChibiUsa's knee. "Did you
get this when you fell down the hill?" She asked ChibiUsa. With the
other child's nod, she placed her hand over the knee and a warm
violet light began to glow between the hand and the knee. "Here let
me help make it better."

The excitement of making a new friend here in the past had
temporarily caused ChibiUsa to forget about the cut on her knee. But,
with Hotaru, pointing it out she could once again feel the stiffness
and dull ache that accompanied a wound. However, as Hotaru placed her
hand over the knee, ChibiUsa felt the pain begin to melt away. Then
as she looked down when Hotaru removed her hand, she noticed that the
wound had been fully healed.

Hotaru pulled her hand away and began to look sheepishly away. "The
others at school are afraid of this healing power that I have."

Hotaru still expected ChibiUsa to scamper away in fright, in spite of
her earlier conviction that things would be different with this girl.
Instead, she got a sudden hug from a very grateful ChibiUsa. "I think
that power is a incredible and wonderful gift Hotaru-chan." That
statement by ChibiUsa made Hotaru's day and she wholeheartedly
returned the hug to ChibiUsa happy to have finally made a real
friend.

The final exchange including the healing had been witnessed by
another girl with her hair done up in odangos. She had been walking
the path looking for her daughter to inform her that lunch was ready.
Moving up to the two "ChibiUsa-chan who is your new friend?"

A slightly startled ChibiUsa looked behind her to see her "cousin"
standing nearby. "Usagi this is Hotaru. Hotaru-chan this is my cousin
Usagi whom I am staying with."

"ChibiUsa lunch is ready, why don't you ask your friend if she would
like to join us."

Hotaru attempted to politely decline the offer, but very quickly
discovered that it was a battle that she was doomed to loose. As
such, she soon found herself seated with ChibiUsa's cousin's friends
eating lunch. Initially she was nervous about being around them, but
they seemed to treat her with an open heart as well. An hour later,
she finally had to part ways with ChibiUsa, but not before promising
to stop by her house sometime and extending a similar offer to
ChibiUsa and her cousin.

A green haired lady watched the group walk off. She had been
observing Hotaru all afternoon trying to get a feeling for the flow
of time around her. But as usual, she could not detect how time would
flow with the Senshi of Destruction. Instead, all she got a sense of
was time coming to an end and beginning again. This was not
surprising given Hotaru's powers, but it was still unnerving to an
individual accustomed to knowing all the answers. She was interested
in whether or not the Death Busters would move sooner this time, but
as she expected she was unable to find anything out be observing
Hotaru.

* * * * * * * * *
Later the evening at a concert hall

Michiru left the stage with rounds of applause following her violin
solo. She did not know where the music she just played came from. The
piece had started out normal, but part way through it she found
herself playing to a different score instead of the one she had
practiced for this concert. Part of herself told her that this was a
very old piece that she knew very well, but she could not remember
ever hearing it before much less practicing it. In fact, those of the
earth had never heard this piece, and the last time it was played was
a thousand years ago.

Her soul had been moved to play this piece following the feelings
that she had been having all week. Initially the aqua-haired
performer tried to dismiss the feelings has performance jitters. But,
deep down she knew that something was about to happen that would
change her life forever. Haruka tried to comfort her, however, the
blond did not comprehend the feelings that Michiru was having. As
result of these feelings of pending change, Michiru was not at all
surprised to find a strange woman with green tinted hair waiting for
her in her dressing room.

"It is time isn't it?" she asked her visitor.

Pluto was taken back for a moment, "I am afraid so. I had hoped that I would not need
to awaken you for another year, but time has changed." With her
words, she let her glamour fall, revealing the Senshi of Time.
Bringing her staff up the Garnet Orb pulsed and memories began to
flood back into Neptune's mind.

With a flick of her wrist, she summoned her transformation wand, and
then sent the energy of Neptune pulsing through it replacing her
human body with her true form. "The princess?" questioned Neptune.

"She is reborn as well, along with the rest of her court and her
love. The time is not yet right for you to be introduced, but it will
be soon. Take this, it will allow me to contact you." As Pluto handed
Neptune two communicators, she opened a portal and stepped through.

wondered a slightly confused Neptune.
Her thoughts did not get far when she heard her door open. thought Neptune as she turned around trying to
figure out how to explain her current dress to her love.

She did not have to have troubled herself. As Haruka spoke even
before Neptune finished turning around. "You look beautiful as always
Neptune." The sight of Neptune before her had caused the memories of
Haruka's past life to flood back. With a grin at the confused
Neptune, she reached her hand up into the air to summon her
transformation wand and called down the powers of Uranus. And in the
next moment, the Sailor Senshi of Neptune and Uranus stood reunited
and ready to return to their duties. "I guess this means that our
vacation is over." Uranus spoke with a dry humor in her voice.

"Pluto says not quite yet, my love. But I have a feeling that our
vacation will only last a little bit longer before the call of duty
summons us."

* * * * * * * * *

The Senshi of time had opened the portal to a forest that lay along
the outskirts of Tokyo. This was a location that she discovered where
she could go to avoid distractions and think about her task. It was
close enough to Tokyo that she could still feel most of the pertitant
pulls of time, but rarely did she see another soul. The solitude was
particularly important as during her mental wanderings she liked to
remain in her true form.



An irate Pluto swung her staff at a tree, breaking the tree into two.
With her frustration partially released, she decided to pay a visit
to the moon to seek relaxation. With that, she opened a portal and
left the forest. A pair of hikers arrived on the scene just in time
to see the tree fall and mini-skirted clad women open a portal and
then step through. The two paused, rubbing their eyes before both
agreed that they should take a break, attributing what they saw to a
hallucination caused by dehydration.

* * * * * * * * *
The Moon

Arriving on the moon, Pluto took a moment to look around before
walking slowly over to her target. The moon now was a lifeless
wasteland, with no hint of the great kingdom that once ruled the
solar system from her soils. All evidence of the Silver Millennium
was erased when the Senshi of the Far Reaches of the Solar System
summoned Saturn. Saturn after seeing the destruction knew what had to
be done. With a tear in her eyes, she brought her Silence Glaive up,
which was now sprouting thin translucent ribbons and began her Death
Reborn Revolution. With a final thrust of the glaive blade into the
ground, the ribbons exploded out taking all elements of the Silver
Millennium with them. Neptune and Uranus joined Saturn in death on
the moon that day. Pluto, with her duty to Time, was forced to watch
their death and leave without being allowed the purification of a
rebirth. Instead, she had to return to the Gate of Spacetime where
she would learn all the grisly details of that final battle.

Lost in her thought as she was, she almost did not realize that she
had arrived at her destination: the location where Queen Serenity had
died. Kneeling down in prayer she asked the spirit of her former
queen to give her guidance and the hope that Crystal Tokyo would
still come to be. Pluto remained this way for what she thought was a
couple of hours, but was really two weeks. The spirit of Queen
Serenity was still anchored to this spot, and she desired to help her
daughter. She longed to aid her daughter, but the magic that
protected her daughter's true identity also prevented her from
reaching out to her daughter. But, she knew that magic was soon to
break partially, and that was what gave her the strength to do what
she knew she had to do: to keep Pluto here away from the next set of
battles to be waged between the Senshi and the Dark Kingdom.

* * * * * * * * *

Usagi walked towards her house with her daughter at a slow pace. Both
of them were beginning to feel the grueling training program that
Luna, Artemis, and her father had devised. While she still enjoyed
learning from V-chan and did want to get better so that she could
better protect her daughter, she was starting to look back at those
earlier days when her body was not quite so exhausted with envy.
While the Senshi training was only a couple times a week, he father
decided that she and her daughter should be enrolled in a martial
arts program.

The additional martial arts training was his one stipulation for her
continued fighting, and of course, Luna thought it to be a great
idea. What resulted was an extensive survey of the various
instructors in the area by Rei, Ami, Luna, and her father. They had
finally made their decision and somehow managed to get the two of
them private lessons together. Today was her first lesson with the
martial arts instructor. To Usagi about the only thing good that
happened during the lesson was that the instructor was able to see a
hidden warrior inside her that just needed to be coaxed out. Of
course, that meant that he only expected the best from her, and had
been very demanding in the drills. At least the lesson was over for
the day, but tomorrow she and ChibiUsa would return for another
instruction.

Usagi looked down at her daughter while the two walked. ChibiUsa was
also starting to show the strain of the heavy workout program, but,
she also appeared to be enjoying herself at the same time, which was
good. As the two passed an ice cream shop, Usagi was tempted to stop
and get some to eat for the two of them. But, with a slight sigh, she
decided that since they were to eat upon arriving home, that she
should avoid the treat for now.

ChibiUsa noticed Usagi's attention diversion by the ice cream parlor,
and had expected Usagi to stop instead to get some to eat.
Consequently, she was quite surprised when Usagi only sighed briefly
before continuing on home. ChibiUsa was still having trouble
adjusting to this more mature version of her mother's younger self.
She kept expecting Usagi to revert to her old habits.

Usagi for her part had let her thoughts drift back to the school day
itself. A new student had transferred into the school a couple of
days ago. Like Ami, he was an apparent genius nailing every exam.
Usagi's eye had noticed the way that he watched Ami every time that
she was around. Ami as well seemed to give him a slightly longer look
than others in the school. This was enough for Usagi's matchmaking
instinct to kick in. So she was know trying to figure out how to get
Ryo and Ami together.

So involved in her matchmaking scheming, Usagi did not notice the
shape that stepped out from a building. ChibiUsa might have been able
to shout a warning, but she to was too caught up in thinking about
her mother's past self and did not even notice Usagi missing for a
few moments. When she turned around to figure out what had happened
to Usagi, she found her mother's and father's past selves in a heap
in the middle of the sidewalk. With a giggle, she walked back towards
the two of them.

Mamoru should have been able to dodge a sedately walking Usagi.
However, he too had been caught up in deep thought. His thoughts
concerned the recent dreams that he had been having and the nagging
feeling that he had a major piece of the puzzle but just could not
remember it.

For both Usagi and Mamoru it took them a few moments after hitting
the ground to realize that they were no longer walking towards their
destinations. It took them another moment to realize that they were
on the ground and must have collided with someone. Already guessing
the answer, both looked and the normal exchange of apologies from
Usagi and taunts and suggestions to look where she was going came
from Mamoru.

With a huff, Usagi got up, dusted herself off and walked over to
where her daughter was suffering from another spat of giggles. Taking
the young child's hand the two began to walk off. ChibiUsa's good
humor quickly warmed Usagi's heart and she forgot about the incident.
She was glad to see that the pink haired child was in better spirits
these days.

Mamoru watched the two Odango-atamas walk off. The child that now
seemed to be always present around Usagi seemed familiar to him
somehow. With that thought, he realized that lately he had been
having many of these deja-vu feelings. Watching them disappear around
a corner, another question about that child crossed his mind. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear it
he began his walk back home.

* * * * * * * * *

"Zoisite is the trap ready?" questioned Kunzite.

"Yes, hopefully that amplification device that you rigged will draw
the Moon Princess to the Nijizuishou carrier. I have placed to Youma
in the east end of the district, opposite of where that cat carrier
of a Nijizuishou Crystal is leashed."

"Good, go await the other Senshi and release the first of the two
Youma in ten minutes."

Acknowledging Kunzite's command, Zoisite teleported away, to await
the arrival of the other four Senshi. While they felt that they
probably could get the Moon Princess away from the Senshi of Mars,
Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter neither felt that they would have any
chance in separating her from the Senshi of the Moon. They had
postulated that the Senshi of the Moon was likely the personal
protector of the princess, to always be present around her. Though
too bad for her, that the magic that choose her protector could not
have chosen one with fighting skills on par with the rest of the
Senshi.

With Zoisite's departure, Kunzite activated the amplification
crystal. The cat in question lay in the middle of the small park they
were in, tied to a tree (he had acquired it earlier in the day).
Deciding the trap was ready, he moved into the bushes. To minimize
the chance that the other Senshi would show up, he would initially
let the Moon Princess have this crystal.

* * * * * * * * *
The Tsukino household

Dinner for the family had recently finished. Now, the two Usagis were
busy clearing the table and cleaning up. Shingo was the first to
notice the beeping of Usagi's Crescent Moon Wand.

"Uh. Usagi your Wand thingy is beeping." Shingo said nervously. Of
all the members of the household, he probably was having the most
trouble adjusting to Usagi's identity as Sailor Moon. In much the
same way that Usagi idolized Sailor V, he idolized Sailor Moon, or at
least till he found out the truth. He had become a devote fan of
Sailor Moon, ever since that day she had rescued him. And, like any
boy he had had fantasies about her, though with his age they were
still limited to just holding hands and maybe a kiss or two. But,
finding out that his idol was really his sister had turned his world
upside down.

"Thanks Shingo." Replied Usagi as she quickly left the kitchen to go
to the living room where she had left her bag. Sure enough, her wand
was beeping. While it had not done that before, she instinctively
knew that it meant that it had detected one of the Nijizuishou
crystals nearby. With ChibiUsa in tow, she left the house after
giving a quick Sailor Business explanation to her mother.

thought Sailor Moon as she
ran following the leading of her wand. As the two reached the park,
they noticed a cat tied to a tree, apparently to keep it from running
away while its owner did something else. then activating her communicator "Minna me and ChibiMoon
have found one of the Nijizuishou carriers, and there appears to be
no sight of the Dark Kingdom yet."

* * * * * * * * *

Makoto closed her connection and continued walking home. Unfortunately, as she turned the corner,
she discovered what the Dark Kingdom was keeping itself busy with.
There in the center of the street was a youma, which was creating an
enormous mess of the neighborhood. Reopening her connection, "Minna
there is a youma a block from my apartment."

"Everyone expect for Moon and ChibiMoon head over to contain that
creature. Sailor Moon after you have gathered that crystal join us."
Came Venus's voice over the link, followed by a chorus of "Hai."

Ducking into an alcove, Makoto called upon the power of Jupiter
before stepping out to confront the youma. "Streets are for quick
movement of vehicles, not playgrounds for the like of you. In the
name of Jupiter I will punish you." As Jupiter finished her speech,
she unleashed a thunder blast at the creature.

While Jupiter was one of the strongest Senshi, even she could not go
toe to toe with a youma for long. However, as she began to tire
relief came in the form of the three other Senshi. The four Senshi
were quickly able to begin to contain the demon. Unfortunately, with
the arrival of the other three, Zoisite decided it was time to
release the other Youma.

A blast caught the Senshi from behind, sending Venus and Jupiter
flying. Turning around Mars saw the cause of their trouble. "Give me
a break, not another one of those demons."

Mercury called forth her Shabon Spray giving the Senshi time to
regroup and attempt to come up with a plan on how to deal with not
one but two demons. Their original plan was to contain the one until
Sailor Moon could arrive, but they would not be able to contain two
demons at the same time. This was the first time the Dark Kingdom had
attacked with two youma at the same time, and it had truly caught the
Senshi off guard.

"Kami-sama no!" exclaimed Mars, at the questioning looks of the other
Senshi. "These demons are decoys, to keep us busy while they take out
Sailor Moon and ChibiMoon." The other three and two cats realized the
truth in the statement, but they also knew they could not leave these
two youma running free here. Usagi would never forgive them for
putting her life above the rest of the city. Their only hope was to
quickly destroy these creatures and go help Moon. Unfortunately their
cover had run out and a blast from both demons sent them sprawling
across the street. A figure cloaked in white prepared to aid the
fallen Senshi.

* * * * * * * * *

"Moon Healing Escalation" called out Sailor Moon as she swung her
wand. The energy from the spell impacted the cat and released the
Nijizuishou Crystal while destroying the soul of the Shadow Warrior
at the same time.

As Sailor Moon moved to collect the crystal, she noticed an energy
barrage flying towards ChibiMoon from the corner of her eye. Without
hesitation, she threw herself in the path of the energy bolt.
ChibiMoon herself wondered why Sailor Moon had just jumped, but the
screams of agony that suddenly came from her mother answered the
question. Forgetting about the crystal, she ran to her mother and
threw her arms around her.

Zoisite teleported in, grabbed the crystal, and prepared to attack as
well. "Now you die princess."

With a quick motion, Tuxedo-Kamen stood between Zoisite and the two
girls. However, he became out numbered when Kunzite stepped out from
the bushes, where he had let go his initial blast. Tuxedo-Kamen
attempted to adjust his position, but knew that unless the other
Senshi showed up soon, he and the two Moons would soon be dead.

* * * * * * * * *

Two lovers walked aimlessly through the city, both lost in thoughts
on what the future held. They both held fragmented memories of their
past, and both desired to see their princess alive and well again.
However, Pluto had told them that now was not yet the time to make
themselves known. Michiru concluded that Pluto must want to keep them
as an ace in the hole against the enemy.

While Michiru was content to wait until Pluto thought it best for
them to become involved, Haruka wanted to join the battle now. Like
Jupiter, she had a warrior spirit that did not like sitting on the
sidelines waiting the appropriate time to join the battle.
Additionally she wanted to try out her powers, which had not been
used for a thousand years.

Turning into a park they saw a Sailor Soldier laying on the ground
with a pint sized one crying over her and some wacko dressed in a
tuxedo trying to protect the two. Advancing on that trio were two
men, obviously, the enemy that they were awaken to fight. "We better
do something or they are not going to survive." declared Haruka.

With a nod from Michiru the two henshin into their Sailor forms.
Moving around the battlefield, they came upon the enemy from the rear
and released their attacks from the shadows. Without warning Kunzite
was hit with a Deep Submerge while Zoisite got a World Shaking.

The two attacks knocked the generals down, allowing Tuxedo-Kamen to
grab Sailor Moon and bound out of the area. ChibiMoon followed him up
on top of one of the buildings. "Take good care of her, I will be by
later" stated ChibiMoon as she bounded off the building towards where
the other Senshi were located.

Her departure left one slightly confused Tuxedo-Kamen. Putting his
thoughts behind himself, he began the trip back towards his
apartment, with the unconscious Sailor Moon in his arms. He wondered
what had taken out those two Dark Kingdom Generals. He did not see
anything more than a silhouette of what might have been two Sailor
Senshi, but he was not sure.

* * * * * * * * *
Back in the park

A very annoyed Kunzite and Zoisite picked themselves up from where
they had been thrown by the blasts.

"Great not only do we get blasted by someone, but the princess got
away unharmed. That blasted Sailor Moon threw herself in the way of
by blast at the last moment." Complained Kunzite.

Holding out the Nijizuishou crystal Zoisite replied "Well at least we
did manage to prevent them from getting one of the Nijizuishou
crystals this time. That should at least partially appease Beryl. And
you did severely hurt Sailor Moon. But I want to know who blasted us
from behind."

And with that, the two Dark Kingdom Generals teleported back to their
base to face their queen.

* * * * * * * * *
On the other side of Tokyo

The battle for the Sailor Senshi was not going very well at all. They
were slowly losing the battle, without the ability to eliminate
either of the two creatures they were forced into a war of attrition.
Deciding that he had to act now, the final observer released a
barrage of Dark Energy spheres at the two youma.

The Senshi and the two cats looked back towards him to discover the
source of their savor. thought Luna.

"Senshi pool your powers, I know you have the ability to destroy
these pathetic creatures." And with that, he released another blast
of energy to knock the now recovering youma back down before
departing.

"What does he think we have been doing?" complained an irate Mars.
She had a bad feeling that something had happened to Usagi and every
moment that she was detained by these demons made her even more
irate.

"The Sailor Planet Attack." Artemis announced as he suddenly realized
what the stranger was referring to.

His announcement was first met with further confusion from the
Senshi, but then understanding as the knowledge came to their minds.
With knowledge on how to defeat these creatures, they created a
circle and began to summon all their powers together before
unleashing a blinding burst of energy. The weakened youma were
quickly annihilated by the blast, leaving a couple of piles of moon
dust.

With the final blast, ChibiMoon arrived on the scene. "ChibiMoon
where is the Sailor Moon?" questioned Mercury

"She got hit protecting me from a surprise attack. She is hurt badly,
but Tuxedo-Kamen is taking care of her."

"How could you let him take her, we don't know anything about him."
Complained a worried Luna.

"Don't worry Luna she is fine with him." With a wink, she leapt clear
and headed off to her next destination.

Luna made to go after the quickly disappearing child. But was
restrained by a foot of Mercury which had found her tail. Instead,
she gave a screech of pain and turned to look at Mercury. "Now why
did you just do that." She asked dangerously.

"Luna trust her. Remember she knows things that we don't. I have a
feeling that she hasn't told us all that she knows about this tuxedo-
Kamen." Answered Mercury.

Luna gave in as she looked around and noticed that the other Senshi
also seemed to agree with Mercury. As she walked back to the Tsukino
residence on her own she did mutter under her breath that she did not
have to like the situation.

* * * * * * * * *
Mamoru's apartment

Upon arriving back at his apartment, Tuxedo-Kamen laid the still
unconscious Sailor Moon down on his bed. He then walked into his
living room while thinking about how best to treat her injuries. She
was badly beaten up, with large burns covering most of her skin, and
her uniform burned away in many places. But, he also for some reason
knew that she was okay, and would be better soon.

Standing in his living room, he released his powers. With the
confusion, that normally accompanied his return to his normal self
Mamoru looked down and noticed he was holding a crescent shaped wand.
He wondered where he had obtained it, and then suddenly the blocks
that kept his Tuxedo-Kamen and Chiba Mamoru memories separate
shattered and he remembered the recent battle. With the collapsed of
the barrier some of the confusion over the dreams he had been having
left, though he still did not know who that girl in them was.

Getting a first aid kit, some towels, and a bucket of warm water he
began to treat Sailor Moon's injuries. As he treated her, he felt a
connection with her, something that sparked the reason why he always
seemed to know when she was in trouble. He wondered who this angel
was outside of her Senshi form.

A ringing of his bell interrupted his musings.
however, to his relief when he opened the door it was not Motoki, but
instead the pink haired miniature Odango-Atama.

"Mamo-chan how is Usagi?" asked the child as she quickly pushed past
him and made a beeline towards the bedroom.

A confused Mamoru closed the door to his apartment and moved to
intercept the child. However, she beat him to the bedroom door.
Thankfully, he had mostly finished his work on dressing up Sailor
Moon's wounds. "Oh Onee-san you are okay." Cried the child as she ran
forward and hugged the unconscious Sailor Moon.

His subconscious was able to put two and two together; however
telling this discovery to his conscious mind was another story.
Instead, Mamoru stood with his mouth hanging open as he watched the
child grasp Sailor Moon. Then after a moment, he was thrown for
another loop as the child stood back and placed her hands on Sailor
Moon's chest. A soft pink glow came from the child's hands, then
Sailor Moon's outfit became ribbons, and then lying there on the bed
before him was Tsukino Usagi. As his conscious self came to the same
conclusion that his unconscious self already came to he passed out.

However, for him the impact of his head hitting the ground was enough
to bring him out of it. "Odango-Atama is Sailor Moon?" he exclaimed
incredulously. But, he knew inside himself that was the truth.

"She is also the princess that has been in your dreams." Announced
ChibiUsa. "I will be by in the morning with her stuff for school. Ja
ne." And with that, ChibiUsa let herself out of the apartment.

Mamoru remained on the ground for the next fifteen minutes trying to
puzzle out the conflicting emotions that were running through him. He
realized that he felt something for that klutzy scholastic
underachiever. Deciding he had enough for one day, he finished his
treatment of Usagi and then tucked her in, before lying down to sleep
on the couch.

* * * * * * * * *

Ikuko looked up when she heard the front door open and closed.
Concern crossed her features when she noticed ChibiUsa come in alone.
"ChibiUsa where is Usagi?"

"She was hurt badly during the fight and is spending the night at
Mamo-chan's."

"She is with a boy, spending the night!?!" came Kenji's very irate
response "Young lady tell me where he lives."

"No" stated ChibiUsa while backing away from Kenji

Luna and Kenji began to stalk towards ChibiUsa while commanding her
to tell them where Usagi was. Ikuko moved next to ChibiUsa and picked
her up. "You don't have to tell them where she is."

"Nani?!?" shouted Luna and Kenji. Both lost as to why Ikuko was
taking ChibiUsa's side.

"He is your father isn't he." Questioned Ikuko. She had watched
ChibiUsa's facial expression the whole time and her mothering
instincts gave her the untold truth.

"Hai, he is. But you cannot tell either of those two that he is my
father."

The simple question and answer deflated the advance of Luna and Kenji
and the two sunk down to the ground. Confusion once again swarmed
through the mind of Kenji. He still wanted to keep his innocent
daughter away from guys. But, she was a Sailor Senshi and could look
after herself. Moreover, she was now with the one who would be the
father of this child who stood in front of him. "At least they won't
be having children till the 30th centaury." He stated, that being the
only thing he could find comfort in.

However, his comfort soon vanished as he noticed ChibiUsa give a
nervous laugh, turn her head to the ground and drag her foot around.
He had enough experience with his two kids to know what that meant.
"ChibiUsa what are you not telling us." he asked.

"Well you see, I am kinda of, well I am over 900 years old." She
finally blurted out.

"Nani!" came the expected response from the two adults.

Luna herself had been half expecting something like this. She had on
previous occasions thought long and hard about this future daughter
of her princess, and what effects being half human would have on her.
Her biggest question was why the child did not have a crescent moon
on her forehead, unlike Usagi she was not currently cloaked in any
glamour magic. "It is a result of you being half human and half
Lunarian, isn't it?"

A shy look came over ChibiUsa as she nodded her head. "I just
suddenly stopped growing one day and remained five years old for
almost 900 years. People were saying that I was not a real princess
of the moon, because I could not use any of the powers, and I did not
have the crescent moon on my forehead." The child was now in tears as
she began recalling the events that lead up to her role in the Dark
Moon crisis. "I took the Ginzuishou and tried to make myself a lady
like mother, but it vanished and then the war came." At this point,
her story started to break down as she was wracked with tears. Ikuko
wrapped the child up in a hug, trying to comfort her. She silently
wished that Usagi was here, Usagi was much better at easing the tears
of this child.

After a bit, ChibiUsa continued with what Princess Mercury had told
her shortly after her return about a year ago. This was when Mercury
had confirmed that Small Lady was indeed growing once again. She had
wondered why she had stopped growing for a long period. Her questions
eventually led Mercury to tell her that normally a Lunarian could not
have a child with a human; their DNA was just
too different from a regular humans. But the Ginzuishou allowed small
lady to be born.

"What is this Ginzuishou?" asked Kenji, now at least partially
relieved in knowing that he should have some warning before his
daughter became pregnant, after the shock of learning that the child
in front of them was over 900 years old.

"It is a very power magical artifact, which can only be safely
handled by those of the royal blood of the moon. For some reason
after Queen Serenity used it a thousand years ago it shattered into,
I believe seven fragments, of which we are attempting to collect
now." replied Luna

* * * * * * * * *

Later after ChibiUsa headed up to bed, the two adults and one cat
discussed again, what they had learned from ChibiUsa. While Kenji
wanted to confront this new boyfriend right away and find out all
about him. Ikuko reminded him that they had to let the romance
between the two develop first, for ChibiUsa's sake. They had to be
careful to avoid poisoning the budding relationship. They decided to
pretend to be clueless parents for the time being, while Luna agreed
to keep a close eye on Usagi and inform them of developments with her
boyfriend.

End Chapter 7

Author's notes:
Sorry about taking so long in getting this chapter and the last
one out. But between going home for a few days and getting
sick, I had trouble getting these two parts out. Also, this
chapter was difficult to write. While I knew the general gist
of what I wanted to happen (much more than in many of the other
chapters) it was difficult to correctly write it so that it
came off.

I am taking a deviation here from the Anime, in that Rei is not
involved with Mamoru. For those wondering what about the
Tribbles reference. It refers to a great original Star Trek
episode: "Trouble with Tribbles" In a nutshell Tribbles are
extremely kawaii creatures, which eat and reproduce faster than
rabbits. There is even one point where Dr. McCoy speculates
that they must be born pregnant to save themselves time in
reproducing. Suffice to say they are a real hindrance to ship
operations, but are just too kawaii to kill.

Well next time we will find out what Usagi thinks about waking
up in Mamoru-san's apartment.