Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ The Needs of the Moon (Chap 32) ( Chapter 32 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Fragility of Time BOOK TWO: "Falling Towards
Apotheosis"
Chapter 32 "The Needs of the Moon"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
Lasted Edited: 5/1/04

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

Hearing the door to the house open, Mercury looked up
from her book and saw that it was Usagi and her family
returned from their trip. Glancing back at her textbook
she memorized the current page number before closing the
book and placing it down on the end table. Standing up,
she proceeded to summon her computer and visor while
walking over to Usagi. By the time she reached her best
friend, she was already running a detailed scan of the
other girl's vitals. Consequently one would have thought
she would have noticed the warning signs of the pending
brain activity crash in Usagi. However, she didn't and
was instead only alerted to Usagi's fainting by the
sudden high pitch trill her computer emitted, barely
giving her enough time to catch Usagi.

Though catch was probably too generous a word for what
Mercury was able to do, as she was not able to arrest
Usagi's downward momentum, only gently guide the two of
them down to the ground. With Usagi laid down beside
where she now knelt on the floor; an apologetic Mercury
looked up at her friend's mother, hoping that the other
woman did not blame her for what just happened. But she
didn't have long to worry, as Usagi began to stir almost
immediately having only momentarily blacked out.

"Ooh, that was not fun." The silver haired girl
complained from where she. Looking up at her savoir, he
brow crumpled as she tried to remember what was going on.
The last thing she could remember was arriving home, but
Ami was in her Mercury form?

Seeing the obvious confusion on her friend's face,
Mercury decided to help her out. "I'm only in this form
because Minako-chan decided to come along and help."

"Mina-chan is here?" Usagi replied enthusiastically. And
then with some confusion continued, "But that doesn't
explain why you are in your Senshi form."

Ikuko, standing at her daughter's feet, on the other hand
did understand how Minako was the simple and very
complete explanation as to why Sailor Mercury was here
instead of Mizuno Ami. And she was very glad that Ami was
here as Sailor Mercury and that she would not be having
to live through first hand some of those horror stories
ChibiUsa had recounted to her. And for this reason she
said a silent prayer of thanks to Kami-sama.

Releasing a sigh, Ami raised her right hand and pointed
towards a frozen statue of Minako, "I am in my Mercury
form because I had to do that."

"You froze Mina-chan?" asked an incredulous Usagi, as she
scrambled to her feet and dashed to check on her friend.

"Hai, I did. If I hadn't this house would be a disaster
area. As it is, it took me the better part of three hours
to put things back together and I had only finished a few
minutes before you arrived." Ami explained as she
reverted back to her civilian form. With her Senshi form
released, her control over her spells was also released
and the ice trapping Minako vanished.

Released of her icy prison, the warrior of love collapsed
to the ground with uncontrollable shivers while also
uttering, "… what are you doing?" the sentence that she
had been speaking prior to her being flash frozen.
However the shivers were short lived now that she was
free of the frigid cold of Mercury's spell. And on top of
that, she quickly found herself wrapped up tightly in
Usagi's arms.

She lay in Usagi's arms for a few minutes, enjoying the
warmth of the other girl's embrace. While she couldn't
see anything other than Usagi's blouse and had not had
time to focus on anything other than the floor before she
was wrapped up in this embrace, she realized from the
commotion about that the Tsukinos were back and knew
instantly from the love that was radiating from the one
holding her that it was Usagi who was holding her.

When she finally decided to break free of Usagi's embrace
she pulled back slightly so that she could look the other
girl in the face. As she did, she remembered that Usagi
was the sick one and the prior incident with Ami was
completely forgotten, as she once again became Nurse
Venus. "Usagi you're back. Don't worry about anything,
Nurse Venus is here to take care of you." Minako declared
as she suddenly pulled out of Usagi's embrace and
adjusted her position so that she was now holding the
other girl instead.

It was at this point that, Usagi first took notice of the
nurse outfit that Minako was wearing. Unsure of why she
was suddenly feeling trepidation to this declaration,
Usagi mumbled an uncertain assent.

"Come on lets get some soup into you. My grandmother's
secret recipe is bound to have you feeling better in no
time." Minako announced with enthusiasm. Then glancing
briefly at Ami, added with a less pleasant tone, "I would
already have had a bowl ready for you, but someone
decided to pour it down the drain.

Guilt crossing Ami's face, she defended herself by
saying, "I am sure that your grandmother had a great
recipe, but I don't think it called for two chili
peppers, four cloves of garlic, raw eggs in addition to
whatever else you put in it. If she had drunk that, she
would have spent the next two days in the bathroom
thoroughly cleaning out her digestive system."

"Bah, you just don't have faith." Minako replied, not at
all fazed by what Ami had said.

"When I poured it down the drain, it violently reacted
with what was in trap." Ami's attempts to defend her
actions were silenced as Ikuko come up beside her and
placed a soft hand on her shoulder. Looking up at the
older woman, she allowed herself to be led back to the
couch.

Sitting down beside Ami, Ikuko said, "Don't worry, I know
that you had Usagi's and our best interests at heart with
what you did. And I am sure you did not take the action
of freezing Minako without trying every other option
first. ChibiUsa told me about Minako and her attempts to
help the sick this weekend." Hearing that Ikuko knew full
well what Minako was capable of the tension in the blue
haired girl's body faded, no longer worried about having
to defend her actions. "Now you just sit here and relax,
I'll go watch Minako. Here you can continue reading your
book." Ikuko trailed off at the end as she saw exactly
what book Ami was reading. <Well if anybody should be
reading a Steven Hawking's book, it should be her.>

Getting up from the couch, Ikuko headed over to the
kitchen. Walking in she saw ChibiUsa barely constraining
her amusement while Minako attempted to make something
and Usagi looked on dubiously.

"Now we just need to puree it for five minutes in the
blender and then nuke it for thirty seconds and the
patented Aino family instant energy drink will be ready."
Minako declared as she poured the contents of a mixing
bowl into the blender. Putting the bowl in the sink she
placed the lid on the blender and pushed the on button.

In the future when Ikuko thought back to this incident
she never was able to figure out what happened next. The
mixture, whatever it was (and from some of the makings of
it scattered on the kitchen counter she never dared to
hazard a guess as to what Minako was putting in that
drink) did not appear to be anything that should have
given the blender any trouble. There was no logical
reason why the blender should have just exploded as it
did, bit it did. The motor hadn't even started when the
explosion occurred. All she knew was that from one moment
to the next tranquility became chaos. She just counted
herself lucky for listening to the sudden gut need to
bring her arms up over her head and to turn her body away
from the table.

Lowering her arms and turning back to look at the
devastation, Ikuko discovered that she was wearing some
of what she now realized to be a quite awful smelling
broth. The walls of the kitchen were covered in many
areas by that broth as well and she could see fragments
of the blender in some of the cabinets. That ignited her
motherly instinct, suddenly fearing for injury of the
three girls.

Rushing forward she found Usagi lying on the ground on
her back with her crystal lying on her chest. Even before
she knelt down to look at her daughter, Usagi was
attempting to sit up. "Ooh what youma hit me that time?"
she said as for the second time that day she found
herself waking up after being knocked out. Releasing a
sigh, Ikuko turned to locate the other two girls, though
a part of her mind was telling her that something was up,
especially since Usagi was lying a decent distance from
where she had been standing only moments before.

Looking for Minako and ChibiUsa, Ikuko noticed that the
kitchen table was now upturned and on the other side of
the room. Not even trying to figure that one out she
instead just located Minako and ChibiUsa. Minako was on
the ground not that far away, though she was leaning on
the dishwasher door with a clearly perplexed expression
on her face. ChibiUsa for her part was still sitting on a
chair by the door to the rest of the house, but had a
very clear "I am not amused" expression on her face and
was completely drenched in Minako's concoction.

"As it looks like the kitchen is going to be out of
commission for a while, I suggest that the two of you all
head up stairs and wash off. Usagi, could you find some
clothes that Minako can borrow. Make sure to bring down
the clothes that you are currently wearing so that I can
throw them into the wash."

"Hai." The three girls agreed as they began to move. Upon
standing up, Usagi looked around and not understanding
what had just happened asked, "What happened?"

"Minako-chan blew up the blender." ChibiUsa stated with a
hint of amusement in her voice as she headed out of the
kitchen.

"But that doesn't explain why Usagi has the Ginzuishou
out." Minako added, stopping her exit.

"Actually it does. The crystal must have reacted to
Usagi's sudden feeling of danger the only way it could in
the split second it had." A voice explained from the
doorway. Looking that way, the four occupants saw a very
amused Ami standing there. Then continuing, Ami said,
"The crystal released a pulse of energy, knocking
everything away from it. As a result, Usagi was spared
from the blender debris. However, being caught off
balance she was knocked over by the force of the blast."
Then suddenly producing a small camera she snapped a
picture of Minako and then one of ChibiUsa before
returning to the couch.

Minako was about to give chase to Ami to get the camera
back, however she caught the eyes of Ikuko before even
one foot had left the ground. The reproving look she was
given ended those thoughts and instead she headed
upstairs with ChibiUsa to get changed. Usagi for her part
stayed in the kitchen with her mother.

Usagi was looking around the kitchen and taking in the
full scope of the disaster when her mother said, "Don't
worry, I'll get it myself. After ChibiUsa and Minako
finish getting washed up, I want you to take a long soak
in the furo. You may be feeling better, but you don't
want to push yourself too much and this will help relax
your muscles after the long car ride.

* * * * * * * * *

Thirty minutes later found Usagi enjoying the warmth of
the hot water. Instantly upon getting in the furo, she
had felt the tension in her wing muscles fade away. So
content she was, that she did not notice the knocking on
the room's door at first. It was only when the tepid
knocking repeated itself that she realized that someone
was trying to get her attention.

"Yes?" she responded.

A timid voice then proceeded to ask, "Usagi-chan may I
come in, I would like to run some scans."

Usagi could clearly tell by the tone of Ami's voice that
something was bothering the other girl quite a bit. Not
even considering the loss of privacy she replied, "Hai,
you can."

"Arigatoo, Usagi-chan." Ami said as she entered the room
and walked over to where Usagi was soaking. She avoided
looking at Usagi as she walked over and even still after
she had sat down on the floor and began to run her scans.

The two of them remained in silence for a couple of
minutes with Usagi continuing to relax in the tub while
Ami scanned her. However, upon glancing over at her
friend, she realized that Ami wasn't paying any attention
at all to the computer and instead appeared to be lost in
thought. She also instinctively knew that Ami wasn't lost
in her analysis of the situation and her efforts to find
the solution. No she knew that Ami was lost in thoughts
of worries.

"Ami-chan, what is wrong?" Usagi asked with a comforting
voice.

"Mom arrived a little while ago and she and your mom have
been talking about what happened at your aunt's place. My
brief scan from when you first arrived did not turn up
any signs of infection or disease. Of course I could
easily have missed something. But I am just worried that
this is related to what is happening when you try to use
the Moon Tier." Ami explained. Initially as she began to
talk, she continued to stare out into the same spot in
space nor did she adjust her position at all. But then at
the end she turned to look at Usagi with barely held back
tears.

Seeing those tears, Usagi got up so that she was kneeling
at the side of the tub and opened her arms. Ami did not
need any prodding and was a moment later nestled inside
of Usagi's arms against the girl's chest. Holding Ami
tight, Usagi also wrapped her wings around her friend.

Letting Usagi rock her back and forth, Ami continued her
explanation, though this time it was partially broken up
with sobs and hiccups. "I… I'm just worried that this
means that something is going to happen to you. That
before long you'll not be able to sustain yourself
anymore and you'll die."

Usagi's eyes went wide as she heard Ami explain her
fears. She had never considered the possibility that this
was anything more than just some minor nuisance. Though
even with hearing Ami voice those fears, she did not
consider that possibility any more likely.

"If something were to happen to you, I just don't know
what I'd do. You mean so much to me. You're the one who
was able to see through my intelligence to see the real
me inside, the one who brought that me out of hiding. But
I don't think I can continue to remain this way without
you here with me. Also you are the glue that holds all of
us together, we wouldn't be the same without you."

Usagi listened to Ami's words never having thought about
how she was the glue that had brought the very divergent
group of girls together, making them friends of one and
another. She wanted to believe that they would continue
to be there for each other even if something happened to
her. But for some reason she knew that Ami was right, the
group would last for a little while, but eventually they
would start to drift apart. And then there was Naru, Naru
didn't even have the others should something happened.
Thinking about her best friend for a moment, Usagi
realized that she had been neglecting her friend. Before
there was the excuse of them being Sailor Senshi, but now
that Naru knew everything there was no reason why she
couldn't be part of the group activities.

But those thoughts were not for now; right now she had to
find a way to reassure her very distraught friend.
Resting her head against Ami's, she made soothing sounds
as if she was quieting a baby now that Ami had finished
talking. As she slowly felt Ami's grip loosen from a
death grip to something more relaxed she finally spoke,
"Ami don't worry I'll always be here for you."

Unwrapping her wings and arms from Ami, she pushed the
other girl back and bit. A glance at Ami's face showed
that her friend was not buying it, but Usagi continued.
"Yes its true, no matter what happens, I will always be
with you. I will be here in your heart guiding you even
if I am no longer left." She said this as she placed a
hand on Ami's chest making the point. "My mother, Queen
Serenity is still here to guide me as a ghost and I will
guide you one way or the other. But don't think that I am
going to be dieing anytime soon. Mamo-chan still needs to
marry me and there's still more of Rei's Manga that I
haven't read, oh and there is sale at the mall in three
weeks, plus the new Sailor V video game…"

By the time that Usagi got to the Sailor V video game as
a reason why she couldn't die anytime soon, Ami found
herself unable to control her giggles. "There feeling
better now?" Usagi asked the giggling girl.

"Hai, Arigatoo Usagi." Ami replied.

"No problem, however we should think about finding you a
change of clothes as well."

"Why?" Ami asked before she looked down at her own
clothing and realizing that they were dripping wet, that
being the one downside of getting hugged by someone who
was in the tub. "Oh." She said as she realized the
answer. Usagi smiled as she got out of the tub and
wrapped herself up in a towel and then proceeded to lead
Ami to her room so that the two of them could put on some
dry clothing.

* * * * * * * * *

By the time that Ami and Usagi returned to the living
room, Ikuko and Rikou had moved beyond talking about
Usagi's condition and unto other topics. Hearing the
steps of the two girls as they entered the room, Rikou
looked up. Seeing her daughter clothed in some of Usagi's
clothing she raised an eyebrow, but did not say anything
more, given that Minako was also borrowing some clothing
while her clothes were washed. Though Rikou had thought
Ikuko had said that Ami was not in the kitchen during
Minako's failed attempt to make a "power" drink. And
while she felt guilty for thinking it, she was silently
glad that the blender had exploded, as she was sure she
would be in the hospital right now having Usagi's stomach
pumped if Usagi had actually drunk that concoction.

Rikou waited for Usagi to sit down first and to then take
one of the cookies, which she had brought over, off the
table to munch on before she got up. "Usagi-chan I would
like to give you a quick examination."

Pulling back her hand, which had been reaching for one of
the two untouched teacups, Usagi looked up at Mizuno-san
and said, "Ok, go ahead."

"Don't worry this won't take too long and then you can
have your tea." Rikou said. Then turning back to the
table for a moment she picked up her medicine bag and
placed it on the table. Opening it out she took out her
stethoscope and pressure cuff. She started by first
taking Usagi's blood pressure and measuring her heart
rate, she skipped taking the girl's temperature given
that she had just come from a hot bath. Following that
she moved on to check Usagi's eyes, ears and throat.

Finishing up some minutes later, she placed the
disposable parts of her instruments into a medical waste
bag and then put everything back into her bag. "I am all
finished Usagi, you can have some tea and some more
cookies now." she said with a smile, before walking back
over to where she had been sitting before. Taking a seat
she said, "Well to my cursorily examination Usagi appears
to be perfectly fine. It is entirely possible that
whatever she has may be in remission. Even still there
should still be some evidence of it in her blood and
there are a couple of blood tests that I would like to
run, though you'll need to bring her by the hospital
tomorrow so that I can draw her blood and run those
tests." That request did not earn a happy face from Usagi
who very much did not like needles.

"As it is right now, I have no idea what was wrong with
her and I don't understand how she can appear to be so
healthy now after your description of how she was the
past few days. I guess it is possible that she had caught
a nasty flue bug but that her unique physiology allowed
her to fight it off faster. That is my best guess right
now, but I can't really be sure. All I can say is to
continue watching her for the next few days and if
anything appears to be off give me a call." Then
remembering that her daughter had that computer of hers,
she looked over at Ami and asked, "Ami does your computer
detect anything that might be wrong with Usagi?"

Looking up from her computer, Ami replied, "Iie, all my
scans show Usagi to be perfectly healthy and fully
regained of her energy." While she had some concerns of
which she had just recently partially voiced to Usagi,
she gave no hint of those to her or Usagi's mom. She did
not have anything concrete to base them on and did not
want to needlessly worry Usagi's parents; she also felt
that she really should not have bothered Usagi with those
fears either.

* * * * * * * * *

Later that night found Artemis and Luna outside of the
Ami's bedroom's window. Hearing their light scratching of
the window, Ami got up from her desk where she was still
staring at her computer scans and walked over to the
window. Opening the window, she let the two cats in.

"Luna-chan, Artemis-chan, what are the two of you doing
here?" she asked.

"Luna here thinks that something is bothering you and
therefore concluded that that means that something is
wrong with Usagi. I tried to tell her that you would have
told us if something was wrong… owe!" Artemis yelped the
last bit as Luna gave him a swipe with her claws.

Luna did not give any explanation for her swipe, but
anyone looking at her face could tell that she was not at
all pleased with Artemis's explanation and how he
portrayed her concern. Nothing was said for the next few
minutes as Ami sat at her chair looking at the two cats
that patiently sat on her floor.

Six minutes after she had let them in, Ami spoke, "At
first glance Usagi appears perfectly healthy. But that is
the problem; she is too healthy. There should be some
indication of her illness, especially given how low her
energy was this morning and yesterday. The way ChibiUsa
described Usagi's moon mark indicates that something was
directly effecting Usagi's energy levels, however my
scans this evening show that everything is perfectly
fine, that she was fully recovered. But that should not
be the case. Ugh!" Ami exclaimed frustrated by her
inability to solve the problem as she threw up her hands.

"Ami-chan I am sure that you will figure out what you are
missing." Luna said.

"Hai, and remember that Usagi is okay right now so don't
kill yourself trying to solve the problem." Artemis said

"Hai, I know, but even still."

Already knowing what Ami was going to say this, Luna and
Artemis had gotten up from where they had been sitting on
the floor to climb into her lap where they began to purr.
No further conversation followed. An hour later, the two
cats bid their farewell to a now relaxed Ami-chan who
proceeded to turn in.

* * * * * * * * *

Racing through the halls Thursday morning, Usagi turned
the corner and entered her classroom a whole five minutes
before the bell. Only slightly out of breath she found
Naru and walked over to her best friend. Naru saw the
silver-haired girl walking over her way and thanked Kami
for sending her salvation from Umino's "fascinating"
description of the life cycle of the humble earthworm.
She couldn't remember what had started him down this
track. They had started by discussing some of the latest
gossip, but how that had migrated to earthworms she had
no clue.

"Umino-kun, sorry but I need to go speak with Usagi a bit
before class starts. Girl stuff you know." she said as
she extracted herself from Umino.

"Hai, don't worry we can continue during lunch, their
reproduction is quite fascinating."

Naru tried to avoid showing any emotion other than
looking utterly forward to that discussion. Then turning
to look at Usagi she gave her friend a large smile as she
said, "Usagi-chan you're on time this morning."

"Don't act so surprised Naru, I have been getting
better."

"Hai, you're right, you were only late once in the past
two weeks." Naru agreed.

"So what was Umino telling you about? It did not appear
to be the latest gossip."

"Iie unfortunately gossip somehow migrated into
earthworms." Naru said while making a gagging expression
flowed by a chuckle that Usagi joined her in.

"Well that's Umino for you. Say what are your plans for
this weekend? There's that new movie opening Friday
night."

"Hai that sounds great, though Friday doesn't work for
me. My mom needs me to help her with the end of the
monthly financials at her store. But I should be free
Saturday, and that will keep me from having to help her
clean out the storeroom." The last bit she said with a
smile.

"Ok, how about I meet you at that sushi place for lunch?"
Usagi suggested.

"Iie." Naru replied while shaking her head. "If I do that
I will be there for a few hours while you sleep in some
more. No I will come by your house at 11 to meet up with
you."

"But that means I have to get up earlier…" Usagi whined,
but was cut short by the bell. And the two girls joined
the rest of their classmates in taking their seats as
Haruna-sensei entered the room.

* * * * * * * * *

That night the Sailors sat around the Tsukino household
munching on cookies that Ikuko had prepared for them. Off
to one side Ami sat punching away at her computer while
Luna, Artemis and Setsuna looked on. The four talked
softly amongst themselves, making sure that they all
agreed with Ami's analysis and conclusions. Luna had of
course seen the results the previous day and had then
called for this meeting. Even still she was closely
looking over the data a second time trying to discover
some error she had made; unfortunately she found none.

"Ami-chan while I do know some of what is happening to
the princess. The specifics of her condition are unknown
to even me, as this power that she is coming into was not
supposed to occur until later. Some of it even millennia
in the future." Setsuna said. <That and the final
awakening marks the end of my guardianship and hence my
knowledge of the future>. Setsuna added to silently to
herself. "With that said, I have to agree with your
analysis."

Setsuna's mention of Usagi coming into this power
millennia in the future caught Ami's attention and she
filed it away in the back her mind as another clue to
puzzle over later. Looking at Luna and Artemis and
getting nods from the two of them, Ami stood up and
walked over to where the rest of the group was sitting.
The others quickly noticed Ami's arrival and lapsed into
silence. Usagi and Rei who were stalking Shingo with
murder in their eyes also moved away from the boy and
found seats with the others.

"Minna-san I think I have an idea of what caused Usagi's
illness last weekend." Ami said. "Both the tests that I
ran using my computer and that my mom ran on the blood
sample from Usagi did not turn up any sign of disease. As
far as we can tell, Usagi was never sick last weekend.
And while it is possible that maybe her body or the
Ginzuishou was able to fight off the illness and
completely eradicate it, none of us think that is
likely." This she said while gesturing at Luna, Artemis,
and Setsuna.

"For one thing there is the coincidental timing of her
recovery with their return to Tokyo and that it resulted
in a full recovery by the time they reached home is also
significant. I have theorized for a while that there is
something special about Tokyo that draws the demon
attacks here. After all, if Beryl had taken her energy
collecting missions to another continent we would have
been unable to do anything. And she actually did start
her operations in England, but yet moved here and decided
to continue sending new generals here after we took out
each one out.

"And while some of what is motivating Rubeus may be a
psychological war plan, given that he is fighting a front
of a war taking place against us in the future and there
is the search for those talismans." The mentioning of the
talismans caused the Guardian Soldiers to look at Haruka
and Michiru with annoyed glares (there were still some
hard feelings over the delay in the retuning of Rei's
heart crystal and that she might have been sacrificed to
retrieve one of these talismans that Uranus and Neptune
were also searching for, a mission that they insisted on
doing themselves). "Still he should be attempting to
carrying out his energy collection missions in other
areas than Tokyo, even just an hour train ride a way
would be sufficient."

"No there is something special about Tokyo that is
drawing all our foes here. And while Setsuna won't tell
me what it is, she has confirmed for me that there is
something special about Tokyo, something that we will
discover in the not too distant future." At this point
Ami paused to take a breath and to run her calculations
through her head one more time. Opening her eyes to
regard the group again, she saw the warm smile on Usagi's
face and all of her doubts faded away. "I believe that
Usagi is also affected by this power, for lack of a
better word, that exists in Tokyo. Somehow this is a
source of her power and strength. When she left Tokyo,
she left the power nexus and as a result was weakened. It
was these symptoms that created the illusion of a nasty
flue bug."

"But Ami-chan, in the future momma goes to countries.
Last year we went to Moscow." ChibiUsa replied
defensively.

"That is true small lady. However, what is happening to
the princess is causing problems not so much because it
is happening but because it is happening sooner than it
was originally supposed to. Some of what is happening now
has not even happened yet in the future that you come
from. She is coming into her own before her body is ready
to handle that responsibility. What the end results of
this strain will be I do not know. I can only hope to
weave a path back to the future that once was, but never
knowing if I have enough thread left to make it back."
Setsuna answered.

This pronouncement caused a somber mood to fall over the
group. The moment of silence created by Setsuna's answer
extended from just a moment and into a minute and then
five minutes before Makoto finally broke the silence. "So
how does this change things? Usagi is back to her old
self, the only difference being that she might be
constrained to remaining in Tokyo for the near future."
Makoto said in a forced upbeat voice.

"Hai that is right." Luna agreed, "Ami's findings are
also still preliminary at this moment, as she has not
been able to get a scan of Usagi's body when she is away
from Tokyo. Only after then will we know if this is the
case and what this means."

"So then lets throw Usagi in the car and go for a drive."
Haruka suggested.

"Actually a drive would not be best. I really need to see
what happens when she is suddenly removed from Tokyo,
thereby eliminating any complicating factors. We can do
this using a Sailor Teleport. After talking with Setsuna
and consulting with Luna and Artemis and I have found a
way to do the teleport so that we can take Usagi as a
passenger and additionally be able to teleport back
immediately should the need arise.

"What will happen is that for the first teleport: myself,
Minako, Makoto, Rei, ChibiUsa and Setsuna will do the
teleport taking Usagi, Haruka and Michiru as passengers.
Then after we arrive at our destination, Haruka, Michiru
and ChibiUsa will teleport back here with Usagi as their
passenger. I know Mamoru-san can aid us by acting as a
catalyst to Usagi and ChibiUsa, so he will stand near the
circles helping ChibiUsa but not traveling with us."

"Can this really work?" a disbelieving Haruka asked.

"Yes it can, you can look over the math yourself." Ami
replied as she pulled out a clipboard that contained a
dozen sheets of paper utterly crammed with various
equations (not all of which were written in any language
currently spoken on the Earth).

"Oh, I think I'll take your word for it." Haruka said.

"Oh and Usagi, you will need to lend ChibiUsa the
Ginzuishou for these teleports."

"Nani-ka!" exclaimed the Sailors minus Setsuna.

"Small lady will need to use the Ginzuishou to focus and
amplify the teleportation magic for this to work. Don't
worry; the level of control and use of the Ginzuishou is
easily within ChibiUsa's ability, even if she hasn't had
any lessons in the future yet in using the crystal. Also
there is no danger to her life from over using the power
of the crystal. What she is attempting to do could be
done with just a simple spell focusing crystal,
unfortunately we don't have any so we will have to use
the Ginzuishou instead even though it is overkill. This
is also the reason why Small Lady is participating in
both teleports."

"And before we do this for real we are going to do a dry
run over at the shrine, tonight. Then if everything works
fine, tomorrow afternoon after school with you all
rested, you will do this for real." Luna added.

"Well then I guess I should get some dinner ready for all
you girls." Ikuko said as she got up from where she had
been sitting beside her husband off to one side of the
room.

* * * * * * * * *

Later that night found the girls on the shrine grounds
talking amongst themselves while Ami was making some
final adjustments to her computer program.

"So where are we teleporting to?" Makoto asked as Ami
finally returned to the group.

"School" was her one word reply.

That of course elicited a sharp chorus of "school!?" in
response.

"But school is over for the day and tomorrow morning is
still a long way off. I don't want to go there. Why don't
we go to the video arcade" Usagi whined, a whine that was
agreed to by a vigorous nodding Venus.

For her part, Jupiter muttered, "Why am I not surprised
under her breath."

"Well we just want to go a short distance. And to make
this easier we should go to someplace that we know, and
appearing at the school should draw the least amount of
attention since it should be deserted now." Ami
explained. And while some of the girls did see her logic,
Usagi and Minako were still not happy with Ami's
explanation.

"As Usagi so eloquently pointed out you have school
tomorrow so lets get this test underway so that you can
all head home and get some sleep." Luna stated from where
she, Artemis, Diana, and Urawa were sitting off to one
side.

With those instructions the girls began to form up into
their teleportation circles. Ami directed Usagi to stand
in the center with Haruka and Michiru flanking her; she
then had ChibiUsa stand slightly in front of those three.
Finally she had the rest of them form a circle around
those four, holding hands and facing inward.

"Okay Usagi hand ChibiUsa the Ginzuishou." Ami
instructed.

"Hai." Usagi replied as she removed the broach from her
chest and handed it over to ChibiUsa.

"What am I supposed to do?" an anxious ChibiUsa asked,
her previous experiences with the mystical crystal of the
Moon empire not being ones to inspire much confidence in
her abilities. The strongest memory she of course had was
of her first attempt to use it when it vanished. And then
there was the hazy memory of the final battle with the
Wiseman. She only really remembered discovering that the
Ginzuishou had been inside of her all along when her
tears had brought it out. That part of the memory was
firm, but from then on what happened was more of a dream
than a memory. She could remember feeling as if both
Usagi and her mother's future self were there with her
guiding her with what she had to do.

The eyes of everybody, except Setsuna turned to Usagi,
who upon seeing their looks said. "Don't look at me, I
have no idea how it works. It didn't come with any
instruction manual."

"Usagi no baka." was Rei's response.

"Its okay Usagi-hime." Pluto said. "You were only just
beginning your lessons into using the Ginzuishou at the
time of the fall. However, even if you were fully trained
in the use of the crystal that would not be of any help
to you now. Your use of the crystal is on an instinctive
level; very different from the way the previous Moon
queens have used the crystal. Knowing how they used the
crystal would only confuse you and while you would be
able to do some things that you can't now, you would not
be able to bring out as much of its power as you can."

"Okay." A now confused Usagi replied.

"Small Lady, just open your mind to the crystal and the
Sailor Teleport. Don't push; just guide the flow of
energy. If you push, the crystal will begin drawing on
your own energy, but if you just guide the flow, it will
work as an amplifier and not pose any danger to you."

"Uh huh." ChibiMoon replied, know holding the crystal
slightly away from her body as if she was afraid that it
would suddenly bite her.

"Well then if everyone is ready lets get this seesaw on
the road." Venus said. The others didn't even attempt to
parse her mangled expression.

With that Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus and Pluto began
the teleport. With only four soldiers teleporting three
passengers the teleportation spell built very slowly,
appearing to be unstable and near collapse at many
points. But ever so slowly the summoned energies began to
coalesce into a sphere of energy around the group,
slightly lifting them off the ground as it beet into the
ground. When the four appeared to have given all they
could, ChibiMoon held aloft the Ginzuishou and opened
herself to its energies. From just outside the glowing
sphere of energy Tuxedo-Kamen held aloft a single red
rose as he focused in on his love for his future
daughter, lending her his strength and guidance.

Feeling the reassuring cool damp energy wrapping around
her from Tuxedo-Kamen, ChibiMoon felt the Ginzuishou
pulse with energy. As she felt their warmth, the physical
world around her faded away and was replaced by one in
which only the magical energies summoned by her friends
existed. With her mind she was able to reach out and
touch the energy of their planets and direct them to pass
through the crystal during their orbits. To the cats
watching from a safe distance the flickering blue, red,
green and violet energies suddenly began to grow in
strength and stability and as they did so the group
became enveloped in a silver glow. Then with a massive
explosion of energy, a silver pillar arced up into the
sky, blasting the earth beneath it every which direction.

The downwash from the teleport washed over the assembled
onlookers. The cats where thrown helter-skelter with
Artemis landing in a bush. Tuxedo-Kamen was knocked off
his feet and blown backwards, however with a twist of his
body he managed to land on one knee. Ryo was the only one
who managed to remain on his feet, though his front side
was nicely covered with a layer of dirt.

Climbing out of a bush that he had been blown into,
Artemis said, "Next time remind me to stand much farther
away when they try that."

"Luna that didn't happen last time did it?" Ryo asked.

"Iie, it didn't. I don't think it happened back during
the Silver Millennium either. I think this teleportation
downwash is caused by the girls only having barely enough
energy to make the teleport. You see when you cast a
spell its much harder to control the side effects if you
barely have enough energy."

"But didn't this use up a fair bit of their energy?" Ryo
asked while gesturing towards what many would think had
been the result of a mini-tornado.

"Yes it did, and as a result it is less taxing to cast a
spell when one is fully rested then when one is
exhausted." Luna replied

And to that Artemis added, "It much like it how you are
more prone to make errors when you are tired or
exhausted."

"I think I understand." Ryo replied, "Though it would
have been nice if my gift had been kind enough to give me
a warning to this side effect." That comment gathered
agreeing nods from the others.

Ryo had only just turned to look back at the spot where
the girls had left when he felt his skin stand up on end.
The sensation was not one that his body was so much
feeling, but the magic that he had been granted the
ability to use first by Metalia and then by Usagi was
feeling. He instantly knew that the arrival of the others
was only moments away and he was proved correct when just
seconds later the inner circle of 4 Sailor Soldiers
appeared.

When the light flash surrounding the girls vanished,
ChibiUsa's eyes went vacant as her arms dropped and the
Ginzuishou fell to the ground. Bursting out from between
Haruka and Michiru, Usagi caught ChibiUsa, who was know
dressed in a gown instead of her Sailor Fuku, before she
had fallen more than a dozen centimeters. Dropping to her
knees she laid ChibiUsa down while holding her daughter's
head in her lap.

"Don't worry, she's just tuckered out from those two
teleports. I could use a nice long nap myself." Haruka
said as she came up beside Usagi.

"Here place her head down on the ground and raise her
legs." Michiru added as she adjusted ChibiUsa's position.
Then seeing the confused look in Usagi's eyes and the
girl's strong reluctance to let ChibiUsa out of her lap,
Michiru added, "This is how you treat fainting. She needs
more blood in her head, keeping her in your lap won't
help."

Not able to help herself, Luna took a jibe at her charge,
"Usagi-chan, didn't you just have a unit on first aid a
few weeks ago?"

Looking quite guilty, Usagi looked at Luna and said,
"Hai, I did. But it was so boring. Anyways why would I
have need for any of that? Its not like I want to be a
doctor."

From where she was standing, Haruka looked down at
Michiru and quietly said, "She didn't just say what I
thought she said." The resigned shrug that she got from
her love, was all the confirmation she needed, and Haruka
just sighed. She was not alone in sighing, as Luna had
been left speechless by that comment.

"Your highness, remember that we are soldiers. You may
not be looking to make a career in medicine, but you have
fought enough battles when one of us has been hurt. And
while Ami has done a great job so far, what if she is the
next one to get hurt?"

Haruka's explanation only took a few moments to sink in
and the result was instantaneous with Usagi's expression
changing instantly to one of guilt and horror. Knowing,
Usagi's mood swings; Luna had an idea of the scenes that
Usagi was contemplating right now. But before she could
try to head off Usagi's thoughts, they reached the
boiling point and Usagi broke out into a loud wail over
how she doesn't want to kill Ami-chan.

ChibiUsa for her part had regained consciousness soon
after Michiru had stretched her out on the ground. After
opening her eyes and looking around and seeing nothing
interesting happening and realizing that she was quite
tired she had decided to just lay there resting a bit. A
part of her mind also wondered if she might be able to
get Usagi to carry her home. Her mother's loud wail
brought an abrupt end to her resting. "Usagi no baka,
some of us are trying to sleep here." She yelled up at
Usagi while getting up slightly and turning to face the
older girl.

Hearing ChibiUsa's voice instantly diverted Usagi's
attention and she stopped in mid wail. Reaching out she
pulled a surprised ChibiUsa into a hug, holding the other
girl tight she said, "You're all right. I was so worried
when you passed out."

ChibiUsa debated with herself on how she wanted to
respond to Usagi. Part of her wanted to continue being
difficult and to tease her mother some more. But another
part of her wanted to give into the warmth that she was
feeling in this hug. Finally the desire to feel the
warmth won out. "Hai I'm ok. I'm just tired." ChibiUsa
said with a yawn

"Then lets go home." Usagi said as she pulled ChibiUsa in
closer and then stood up with the younger girl still in
her arms.

Watching the two begin to walk down the steps, Haruka and
Michiru followed behind, knowing there was no way Usagi
could make it all of the way back to the Tsukino
household carrying ChibiUsa. And so Haruka planned on
offering Usagi a ride home, plus she wanted to make sure
her princess was not stupid enough to try to carry
ChibiUsa down the shrine steps.

The cats and Mamoru followed behind Haruka and Michiru
leaving Ryo as the only one left. Smiling to himself, Ryo
thought for a moment of what it would be like to have his
own child. To the younger part of his soul it was
something mysterious and far off in the future, for the
ancient part of his soul it was a reminder of a happier
time. Pushing aside the two different set of feelings his
thoughts turned to Ami-chan. There both parts of his soul
agreed and felt the same love for the blue haired girl,
both hoping that he and Ami shared some fraction of the
depth of love that Usagi and Mamoru shared.

Ryo was about ready to leave the shrine when something
glittering caught his eye. Walking over to look at it, he
realized that the Ginzuishou had been left forgotten on
the ground. Reaching down to grab it, Ryo suddenly
stopped himself when a powerful vision suddenly assaulted
his mind. Coming to a few minutes later, Ryo found
himself lying on the ground with a blinding headache, his
form having also shifted back to its natural state. <Wow,
what happened?> he thought. Trying to force his memory to
recall the vision he drew a blank. Not satisfied he tried
again and again, finally by looking at the crystal while
forcing his mind to recall the visions was he able to
recall a few fragments.

However those fragments were not much help. All he could
remember was some memory of the city, but as it must look
in the future with various points glowing. He wished he
could remember it more clearly, but he could not remember
where any of those points were or even how many there
were. The second fragment he was able to remember was of
just the crystal itself and the shearing pain of it
exploding into a million fragments, each one sharp as a
dagger. What was also strange about those visions was
that they felt like they were visions of a vision. That
was just too strange for him. Though he made a mental
note to speak to Rei about them, maybe she would have an
idea of what the fragments meant.

Now standing up, Ryo realized that he had had one more
vision, and now having dealt with the other two he could
remember this one very clearly. This one required no
explanation, as it was a simple warning of what would
happen should he touch the crystal with his own hands.
Shifting back to his human form, Ryo took off his jacket
and used it to pick up the crystal. Then wrapping the
crystal he began the walk to the Tsukino household,
knowing that the others had already left.

Some minutes later found Ryo arriving at the Tsukino
household. And just as he was opening the gate to go up
the front steps, he saw the Tsukino car pull into the
driveway. Tsukino Kenji proceeded to get out of the car
once it was parked.

Seeing the young lad, Kenji said, "Ami-chan called Usagi
up on her communicator a little while back and said that
she and the others were too exhausted to walk back to
their homes and asked if we could come give them a lift
back. As Haruka-san was still here, the two of us headed
over to give them a lift home." The last part explaining
why he was back so soon from giving the others all lifts
home.

"I'm not surprised that they are tired out from their
teleport, Haruka and Michiru did not look that better off
and they only had to take one passenger. Oh, Usagi left
her crystal at the shrine." Ryo said as he brought his
left arm forward and using his right hand opened the
jacket wrapping the crystal.

To Kenji the unveiling of the crystal like that was very
memorizing, even though Usagi had shown it to them
before. There was just something about seeing it slowly
unveiled all by itself and the darkness of the night
accentuated its internal glow. Snapping himself out of
the trance he had fallen into, Kenji asked, "Why did you
have it wrapped in your jacket, It's a bit cold to go
around without a jacket on."

"At first I was going to pick it up with my bare hands,
however I got one of my future flashes. Unlike my normal
flashes this one showed me a possible future, what would
happen should I actually touch the crystal. For me it
would be instant death. Even for a human like you the
consequences would not be good. The crystal holds so much
raw power that only the purest soul could wield it and
not be corrupted. I don't think even the others could
withstand the siren call of the power in the crystal for
long with out succumbing. Not even Ami-chan." The last
bit he added quietly in a side to himself.

Kenji did not know quite what to say to that. Luna,
Usagi, and Setsuna had all told him and Ikuko that the
crystal was a very powerful artifact and that its power
was unrivaled across the galaxy, which was why so many
coveted its power and why Usagi and her friends had to
fight these wars. But to be able to corrupt anyone just
because of the shear power that was contained in the
crystal that was a level of understanding that he had not
known. Though as he thought about it, something that had
the power to pull life from death and to stop a war in
its tracks would have to be a very powerful object. But
why would the crystal kill Ryo instead of just corrupting
him, wondered Kenji as his thoughts began to turn to the
first part of Ryo's statement. <Wait didn't he mention
something about it having bad consequences even for
humans? What did he mean by even Humans like me?> "Ryo-
kun, what did you mean by distinguishing yourself from
humans?

Realizing his slip of the tongue, Ryo sighed. Though the
girls all knew of course what he really was no one else
did, not even his parents. He also knew that Kenji and
Ikuko were not going to suddenly fear him when they
learned his secret, even still he wished that he had not
let this out. "That is because I am not quite human and
in a very different way than Usagi. I am also reborn from
the time of the Moon Kingdom. However, during that war I
was not on the side of the Sailor Senshi, I was one of
the invaders, one of Beryl's elite Shadow Warriors.

"There were seven of us, elite warriors from another bane
in the megaverse, entranced by the power that Queen
Metalia had offered us. During the battle we killed the
Guardian Soldiers, but when Queen Serenity unleashed her
power she sent us into the future along with her daughter
and guardians. She gave the seven of us a second
opportunity at life, a chance to start anew. She merged
each of our souls with a piece of the Ginzuishou, binding
our past and essentially creating a new soul.

"As such I was born human and lived as a human for 14
years. But then when the Dark Kingdom came to claim the
Ginzuishou fragments, the ancient part of my soul was
released. During my awakening the two parts of my soul
found harmony and I regained access to what I was before.
I am now a teenager who has memories that cover millennia
and whose natural form is that of a creature not of this
bane and one of nightmares. But my human side is dominant
and I am not the one that I once was, I only have his
memories, I am instead Ryo Urawa."

While Ryo had been giving his explanation, Kenji had come
in close. Reaching an arm around Ryo, he embraced the
young man. "I know that was hard for you, especially to
admit that you at one time once attacked my daughter. But
I trust you and I know that you are no longer that
creature. Come why don't we head in so that you can give
Usagi back her crystal."

Ryo nodded his agreement to that and pushed back the
sadness his story was threatening to bring up.

"Anyways if you had any ounce of evil left in you, I know
that you would not be here with that crystal. Instead you
would be out there forcing the teachers to give extra
tests and requiring 16-hour school days." Kenji said with
a smile on his face, hoping to get a similar reaction
from Ryo. And he was not disappointed, as Ryo could not
hold his chuckles in for more than two attempts.

By the time Ryo arrived up at Usagi's room he had managed
to get his chuckles under control, however he did have a
massive grin across his face, a grin that instantly
caught Usagi's attention. "Ryo-kun! What are you doing
here?" Usagi asked, quite surprised to see Ryo. "And what
is so funny." She asked after realizing that her dad also
sported an identical grin.

"Ryo-kun and I were just discussing what he should do
should he ever decide to take over the planet. I think he
had finally decided on 4 extra hours of homework a night
and 2 additional hours of school each day." Kenji replied
with a very large smile.

"Ahhh!" Usagi screeched, "Who in their right mind would
ever want to increase the amount of homework and school?"
From where she sat on the bed flipping through a manga,
ChibiUsa vigorously nodded her agreement. And while Luna
would normally have scolded her charge for screeching as
she had just, she did have to agree that Ryo's fantasy
seemed just a bit unpleasant.

"As to why I am here, you left this at the shrine." Ryo
said has he once again held out his jacket and unwrapped
the Ginzuishou.

Kenji and Ryo could see in the reactions of the three
room occupants the mental hand slapping against the
foreheads that was going on. Luna began to open her mouth
to yell at Usagi for forgetting the crystal, but closed
it when she realized that she herself had also been there
and so was therefore also partially responsible.

Usagi silently accepted the crystal and returned it to
her locket. Deciding not to add to the guilty feeling of
the others, Ryo and Kenji left the room and headed back
down the stairs. Taking his leave from Tsukino Kenji, Ryo
opened the door and walked out. However, Kenji followed
him on out.

"I am guessing that you haven't told your family your
secret yet. I think you should. You need all your loved
ones, not just Ami, to know the truth about you. I
understand if you are scared about telling them and don't
worry I won't tell them." That bit caused Ryo to let out
a small sigh as he had been starting to worry that Kenji
was going to go tell them if he didn't. "And if you ever
feel the need to talk to someone, you can always come and
talk to either me or Ikuko."

"Arigatoo." Ryo replied suddenly finding that he felt
relieved knowing that he had an adult he could turn to,
someone who knew about the real him. "I'll think about
it." Ryo said, with the standard teenager intent of not
following through, but also knowing that he was going to
have to face it that he would not be able to hide away
the need to talk to his parents forever.

* * * * * * * * *

School the following day passed quickly for the various
warriors, each more lost in their thoughts over what was
going to happen during the teleport than paying attention
to their lessons. While they now knew that they could
make the teleport, each was worried as to what would
happen to Usagi and what this would mean for their
friend's future. Each loved her dearly and wished there
was some other way to test Ami's theory so as not to put
Usagi in any discomfort. Besides Setsuna, only Ami had
any idea of how dangerous this test could really be for
Usagi.

With the ringing of the bell sounding the end of day, the
Sailors along with Ryo and Naru left the school grounds
and headed for Rei's shrine. Arriving at the shrine they
found that Minako and Rei had made it there before them.
Grabbing some brooms they helped Rei with her chores
before the ensemble cast retired to her room to begin
their schoolwork. Or as was normally the case, some did
their schoolwork and others tried to sneak into Rei's
manga stash. In all it was a typical study session for
the gathered friends, if a bit more somber in mood than
normal.

As the hour approached six, ChibiUsa arrived at the
shrine, having spent the afternoon with Hotaru.

"Konichiwa ChibiUsa-chan. How was school?" Yuuichirou
called out as ChibiUsa entered the Hino residence.

"Konichiwa Yuuichirou-san." ChibiUsa replied. "School was
ok, but then me and Hotaru-chan went to the park and that
was lots of fun." ChibiUsa finished her statement with a
very large smile.

"Usagi-chan and the others are in Rei's room. However
dinner is just about ready, so why don't you go let them
know while I set out the food."

"Hai!" ChibiUsa agreed

* * * * * * * * *

Grandpa Hino was strolling through the courtyard of the
shrine when he heard the footsteps of someone walking up
the steps to the shrine. While he had no watch on he had
no doubt that it was precisely 7:15 and that this was the
final guest that Rei had told him would be joining her
group. Heading over to great his guest he saw that she
had a peculiar greenish tint to her hair. He also had a
hard time believing that this lady was here to see his
daughter and join in the study session. She appeared to
be at least in her mid-twenties and looked to be very
well off and probably an executive of some company from
the way she was dressed.

"I take it you must be Meiou-san." Grandpa Hino said with
a bow.

Setsuna returned the bow. "Hai I am. You have a very
lovely shrine here, thank you for lending me the honor of
visiting it."

"It is not much, but me and my daughter along with my
disciple try our best to maintain it. Here let me escort
you to where my daughter and her friends are."

"Arigatoo." Setsuna replied before following the older
gentleman off towards the living quarters.

As they walked Hino-san finally asked, "If you don't mind
Meiou-san, but could you tell me what your connection to
my granddaughter is?"

"Don't worry I am not connected to Rei's father in any
manner. Actually my connection is not so much to Rei as
it is to Usagi. I have been away for many years, but I
was a good friend of Usagi's mother and Usagi herself
when she was much younger. My work still keeps me quite
busy, but I still try to make time when I can." Setsuna
replied making liberal use of neglecting a thousand years
here and there.

Grandpa Hino nodded his understanding to what Setsuna
said. <I wonder how old she actually is, if she knew
Usagi a long time ago and was friends with Ikuko-san
then. She has to be at least in her mid thirties if not
over 40, if what she is saying is true.> "However that
still does not explain why you are here tonight."

Setsuna gave Rei's grandfather a smile knowing that he
would not be easily deceived by her normal way of
responding but not actually answering the asked question.
Then with a larger smile she replied, "I am sure you know
Usagi-chan's father's reputation with regard to boys,
especially older ones. Usagi-chan and Mamoru-kun plan on
going on a date tonight after she finishes her studies, I
will be tagging along discreetly to satisfy Tsukino-san."

That response was met by a very hearty chuckle from
Grandpa Hino. "Hai, I do know Tsukino-san's habit of
threatening to kill anybody who would think of dating his
daughter. I am glad to see that he has found a slighter
better solution. Though of course my granddaughter won't
be dating till she is thirty. Oh here we are, well have a
good evening Meiou-san."

"Arigatoo, Hino-san for showing me the way." Setsuna
replied with a bow before entering the room. Inside she
saw her princess and fellow warriors, Mamoru, Naru,
ChibiUsa, Urawa, and of course the three cats. How they
all were managing to fit into this small room with out
some kind of fight breaking out amazed Setsuna. But now
was not the time to worry about that bit of good luck,
now was time for their teleportation attempt.

* * * * * * * * *

Once again Ryo watched in awe as colored pillars of
energy formed into a single silver pillar before
streaking out into the night sky. And once again Tuxedo-
Kamen was blown backwards, though this time he was not so
lucky and hit a tree. Ryo and the others this time,
however, had the foresight to stand a further distance
away from the teleportation. Unfortunately Tuxedo-Kamen
helping as we was in the teleport did not have that
option.

The silver rainbow had only been gone for a minute when a
return arc of energy followed, depositing Uranus,
Neptune, ChibiMoon and Usagi on the ground. From where
she was standing, Naru did not like the lifeless way that
Usagi had slumped to the ground with the others upon
their return. She was sure that Usagi had told her that
she was the only one who did not participate in any of
the teleportation, which could only mean that something
was very wrong.

Consequently when Sailor Uranus barked out, "The princess
needs help!" Naru was already running as fast as she
could to the recent arrivals.

The statement instantly stirred Tuxedo-Kamen back to his
feet and he also began running along with the others to
Usagi. He arrived second, just after Naru had picked
Usagi up from the ground to cradle in her lap and sat
down beside the girl.

Arriving third, Ryo walked over to where Mercury's
computer lay on the ground and was emitting a very
erratic set of beeps. Picking it, up his eyes went wide
as he saw the currently displayed history.

Even though ChibiMoon had passed out again after
completing the teleport, she had only just hit the ground
when she woke back up. Not having the energy she crawled
over to where Mamoru and Naru were holding Usagi.
Dropping her head onto Usagi's belly while wrapping her
arms tight around the girl's waist, she tearfully cried,
"Momma wake up! Please wake up."

Rolling herself onto her side, Michiru propped herself
up. "Everything happened so fast, we are not sure what
happened." She began, trying to explain why Usagi was in
her current shape. "Even before we had finished the
teleportation, Mercury's computer began to beep very
rapidly and then suddenly its tone became continuous and
Mercury screamed at us to teleport back immediately."

"What you mean?" asked a very agitated Luna.

"Luna don't take out your frustration on them, they did
the only thing they could do and that was to teleport
back here as fast as possible." Artemis said as he came
up beside Luna and began to purr, trying to calm her down
some.

"Artemis is right. According to these reading from Ami's
computer Usagi fat lined moments after they arrived at
their destination."

"You mean she's… ?" Luna asked, unable to finish the
question.

"No, death only occurs if that is allowed to continue.
And while the readings are not very good, they do
indicate that she is still alive." Ryo said.

"Hai, she is still breathing." Naru said, being able to
easily tell as she was holding the other girl after all.

"Even still I don't like what the computer is showing me.
We need to get her to a hospital and fast. Without
immediate medical care she will likely get far worse."
Ryo said, having to call upon the ancient part of his
soul in order to keep his emotions in check. <Even if we
do call an ambulance, I don't think they will be able to
get Usagi to a hospital in time.> Ryo thought to himself,
he did not want to share that fear with the others,
knowing that they needed at least some hope to keep them
going. <I just wish that there was something I could do
for her. I have all this power to kill and take life,
power that I no longer want but I am powerless to help
one who means so much to me. Wait, before the greet
sleep, Metalia had punished me sometimes by taking away
my strength and at other times had invigorated me my
giving me extra strength. I wonder if the same is now
true of Usagi, given that she is now my liege and in a
way my master.>

Grasping onto that single ray of hope and kindling it
into a bright light in his heart, he let go of the
Mercury computer and began to walk towards Usagi. As he
approached his form shifted away from his human-self to
his Shadow-shelf The others all instinctively pulled away
from this creature of the night, which walked on many
pointed legs and had eyes which seemed to bore into one's
soul. Only Mamoru, ChibiUsa and Naru stayed where they
were. ChibiUsa had her face lost in her mother's shirt,
having not relented the least on her death grip and Naru
was of course unable to move, given as Usagi was lying in
her lap.

Even though their base instinct was one of fear and
fright, they all knew not to be afraid of Ryo. Not just
because they knew who he was, but also because the bright
glowing crescent moon on his forehead reassured all who
looked at it. Moving to kneel down on the other side of
Naru from where Mamoru was, Ryo reached out and placed
what went for a hand in this form on Usagi's shoulder and
closed his eyes. Looking into his soul he tried to find
his connection to his liege, but he was unable to find
any hint of that connection.

Growling a mind-shattering screech of frustration, Ryo
redoubled his efforts to find that connection and was
finally awarded to find her presence at the very edge of
his senses. He could instantly tell that she was quickly
slipping away from the rest of the world. Now with a
focus he attempted to in his mind's eye to reach out and
grab a hold of Usagi. But every attempt he made was met
with failure. The first time his fingers grazed the edge
of her body. He then tried a second, third and a twenty-
fourth time, but each of those subsequent tries fell
further and further short. <This is hopeless; there is no
way that I am going to be able to reach her. If only I
had tried this sooner; I would have reached her, I just
needed only a few more seconds.> Ryo thought as utter
failure fell on his shoulders.

"If you want to save her, I can help." Stated a female
voice.

Confused Ryo turned to find the speaker. He had no idea
how someone could be here with him in his mind's eye.
Finding the speaker, he was unable to make out any of her
appearance, as shadows clung to her body as if they were
a second skin.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Your master."

"I serve no master any more. I am in the service of
Tsukino Usagi, Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom."

The shadow figure chuckled. "How deranged you are to
believe that lie. You think a simple rebirth could
cleanse your soul? You are mine for all time. There is no
way for someone as pure as Sailor Moon to have you in her
service. This is only a short respite, once again you
will become the soldier of death and march to my tune."

"I will not…" Ryo yelled as he lunged at this figure.
However, before his feet could even leave the ground a
staff was jammed into his gut sending him down to the
ground and in quite a bit of pain. Walking up beside Ryo,
this "master" jammed her staff down on his chest and then
proceeded to hold it in that painful position.

"You will."

Looking up Ryo was finally able see something more than
just shadows, he was able to see very cold violet eyes
looking down at him. But then suddenly they softened and
the staff was gone. Finding himself back on his feet and
this time in an open field with Usagi laying not too
distant from where he stood he looked at this "master" in
confusion.

"You called upon me for a reason. I am not cruel; I just
have the task of bringing an end to creation. However it
is not her time and I have decided to help you accomplish
your noble task. Now go kneel down beside her and place
your hands on her chest and concentrate, don't force it."
Ryo did as she instructed and was able to quickly feel a
warm glow build at his hands, which flowed from there
into Usagi's body.

Looking back at the shadow figure in order to thank her
he did get the change as reality shifted back to normal
and his mind's eye world vanished. Turning back to Usagi
he saw that Mamoru also now had his hands on Usagi's
chest and they were glowing with a golden glow.

Looking at Usagi's face he could already see the
difference that their combined efforts were making. Color
was returning to her cheeks and he could now hear that
her breathing had become steady. Looking into her
sleeping eyes, reality once again faded away. This time
it was replaced by a battle taking place somewhere in
Tokyo. The droid the Senshi were facing threw Sailor Mars
into what appeared to look like a building made out of
crystal. Mars left a noticeable dent in the side of the
building before falling down onto a Model T Ford parked
at its base.

The vision then suddenly shifted forward in time to all
the Sailor Senshi except for Sailor Pluto staring up into
the sky at a floating red headed man, whom Ryo figured
must be Rubeus. He could not hear what Rubeus was saying,
but he did see him snap his fingers. With the snap of his
fingers, time came to a crawl for Ryo's mind's eye. He
could hear the others suddenly cry out "Sailor Moon, NO!"
But as that was happening his view moved to an eagle eye
view of the city. As the city became but a backdrop
intense points of light became visible on the city, each
one crawling with energy. Then in time with the end of
Rubeus's snap, the points of white energy suddenly
flickered and became as black as night. As each one gave
over to darkness, a tendril of black energy snaked out to
connect it to one of its neighbors and then when they
were all connected the manna nexus erupted into the
afternoon sky.

Ryo had a sickening feeling as his mind processed the cry
of the others from before and linked it to this nightmare
of dark energy he saw in front of himself and Ami's
theory on what was happening to Usagi. In confirmation of
that feeling of dread, the vision returned back to street
level and time resumed its normal pace; this time
allowing him to see the lifeless dead body of Sailor Moon
fall to the ground, her fuku dissolving into nothing but
pink ribbons, which themselves faded into nothingness.

Her was forced to gaze into her vacant eyes for many long
minutes before his vision refocused to be looking at
Mercury's computer. He watched the flat line readouts
from her computer as the device produced a single solid
tone. The others were too stunned to say anything, but
Rubeus was not. He was laughing to the success of his
attack. A laugh that continued to haunted Ryo even when
the vision finally ended. Desperate to get away from that
laugh and vision Ryo immediately began to back paddle
upon the return of reality. However, as the horror of
what he had seen continued to sink in he found that he
could no longer hold down his dinner. For Naru he had
thankfully just gotten far enough away from her that he
did not cover her with any of it.

As Ryo lay on the ground emptying his stomach contents,
Haruka who had returned to her feet, came over stand
beside him and laid a comforting hand on his back. Even
when he emptied his stomach the heaving continued. And it
was not till six minutes later that he finally was able
to get everything back under control. And the final
return of control only came as a second hand was placed
on his back and a soft voice asked, "Ryo-chan are you
okay?"

"I think that I am going to be okay now." Ryo said as he
turned to see that Usagi was the owner of the voice and
second hand. Ryo wanted to ask Usagi why she was up and
about and to find out how she was doing, but seeing the
concern in her eyes he knew that would only occur after
he had relieved her concerns over his own welfare.

"I had a vision." Ryo said, trying to figure out how to
tell the person next to you that you had just seen her
death.

"What did you see?"

"Not now, I am still trying to sort it all out. Hopefully
Rei might be able to make sense of what I saw both now
and last night. <And maybe if I am lucky it will turn out
that my Shadow-self is skewing what I am seeing in these
visions. I just hope that I am not seeing the actual
future.>

* * * * * * * * *

"TELEPORT NOW!" Mercury screamed

"Wha…" Sailor Uranus began to say.

"NOW!" Mercury screamed back.

Looking to quickly get away from Sailor Mercury who
looked like she would kill them if they waited any
longer, Uranus, Neptune, and ChibiMoon initiated their
return teleport. As soon as those three along with Usagi
had left Mercury slumped to the ground.

"Ami what just happened." Rei asked in a very icy voice
as she stalked towards Mercury.

"Yes what was with the hurry and why was your computer
making that steady tone?" Venus asked.

"The princess fell into cardiac arrest." Pluto simply
stated.

"Nani-ka?!" the other three exclaimed.

"My calculations were wrong." Mercury meekly said from
where she knelt on the ground and not having the strength
of heart to look up at the others, just stared into the
dirt. "She was still benefiting from Tokyo's energy nexus
out in the country. But here on the other side of the
planet where she is fully isolated from that energy
nexus, she is unable to live at all. I was sure that the
worst that would happen, might be her falling unconscious
till we got her back. I never thought that taking her
away from Tokyo could actually kill her."

"NANI!" Mars shouted at Mercury. "How could you do that
to her! She trusted you!"

"Rei calm down." Jupiter said. She and the others had
seen Rei's temper before, but her worst temper explosion
was mild compare to how Rei's temper was boiling now.

Rei just ignored Jupiter as she began to advance on
Mercury. "WELL?" she challenged Mercury while her hands
began to glow with the energy of Mars.

Mercury for her part just lowered her head even more,
presenting Rei the back of her neck, making no move to
defend herself.

"That does it." Jupiter exclaimed as tackled the
advancing Mars. Completely focused as she was on Mercury,
Mars was caught unawares. Slamming Mars into the ground,
Jupiter moved quickly to take advantage of the element of
surprise and rolled Mars into a wrestling hold. Looking
up at Venus she said, "Venus get Mercury out of here, I
will take care of Mars."

"Jupiter you sure?" the blonde asked, not wanting to
leave Jupiter with Mars in her current state.

"Hai, now go! The sooner you get Mercury away from here
the sooner we will be able to calm Mars down." <Assuming
that I can get her to listen to reason at all.>

Not wasting any further time, Venus run up to Mercury and
picked up the other warrior in her arms. Mercury did not
react at all to Venus picking her up and Venus knew that
if she wanted to get Mercury to safety, she would have to
carry her. Adjusting her hold of Mercury to better hold
the younger girl, Venus began to race across the large
park they had arrived in, heading for the buildings that
lined the park and paying no attention to the very
perplexed tourists. <Have to ask Ami later what that tall
pointy building is that we arrived next to.>

Venus did not break stride as she came to the end of the
park and arrived at the edge of the street, instead she
leapt into the traffic causing drivers to slam on their
breaks. However, she never noticed since her leap was
aimed to land her on the roof of a passing truck and from
there she jumped to the roof of a building awning and
then up to the rooftops.

Once she reached the rooftops, she took off on a
diagonal, hoping that might confuse Mars if she got loose
from Jupiter and Pluto. As she ran she kept checking
behind herself, trying to see if Mars was in pursuit.
After traveling many blocks, she felt that they had put
enough distance between themselves and so she found a
nearby alley and dropped back down to street level.

Putting Mercury down on her own feet, Venus released her
transformation. Now with the adrenaline rush from getting
away from Rei's wrath gone, she began to succumb to the
exhaustion of the teleportation. Stepping backwards, she
leaned up against the side of the building while she
tried to catch her breath. Looking over to where Ami was
standing she saw that the other girl had at least also
released her transformation. But that was all; Ami still
had that vacant resigned look on her face.

The trilling sound of their communicators drew, Minako's
attention. "Venus along with Mercury here." She said as
she opened it.

Pluto, Mars and Jupiter also proceeded to chime in on the
line.

"Just to let the five of you know, the princess is doing
fine now. Ryo-kun was able to somehow fully heal the
princess and now she is busy fussing over the rest of
us." Haruka's voice said over the link.

"Thanks." The four said before closing the link.

"Ami-chan don't worry Usagi is doing perfectly fine."
Minako said as gathered what strength she had to move and
embrace her friend.

"But I… I almost killed her. I… If it wasn't for Ryo-chan
she would be…" Ami tried to say as she broke down into
tears.

"That is very true Ami-chan." said Setsuna who had some
how appeared right next to the two, startling the heck
out of Minako. "However if you hadn't acted as you did,
then the princess would be dead for real very soon. As
foolish as this test was, it was needed to cause
something else to happen."

Minako did not even try to puzzle out how Setsuna had
found them or how she had gotten here so quickly and did
not appear to be the least bit out of breath. Looking
over at Ami, Minako saw that she did appear to be mulling
over what Setsuna was saying.

"Know that my duty above everything else is to protect
the princess. Even Small Lady's life is expendable if it
will save the princess. Consequently I would never have
agreed to this if I thought that it would kill her.

"Now I suggest you go and enjoy your time here in this
city. It will be some hours before everyone is ready to
attempt another teleport. And you know that the princess
will be very unhappy with you if you mope around getting
depressed over what you did."

"Hai, Setsuna's right. Heck Usagi probably has already
forgiven you for what happened. That is if she ever even
thought to blame you. You'll just make her sad and feel
guilty if she knows that you spent your time here like
this. Anyways I know you had a good reason for picking
this city as our teleport coordinates, now didn't you?"

Looking up at Minako sheepishly, Ami admitted, "Hai I
did. I wanted to go visit some of the Smithsonian
museums."

"Then get going. As for myself I am going to go find a
nice café to rest at." Minako said

"You sure? You look tired, I could join…" Ami began

"No, you are going to go enjoy yourself. Now get yourself
going girl." Minako said as she practically threw Ami out
into the street.

After watching to make sure that Ami was indeed heading
away, Minako returned to the alley and collapsed to the
ground. "Boy am I pooped."

"Here let me give you a hand, I know of a good place to
get a bite to eat not far from here." Setsuna offered.

"Hai, that sounds great."

* * * * * * * * *

Three and a half hours later, found the five warriors
from Japan reassembled at the Lincoln Memorial. Setsuna
had suggested this as a location for them to meet at
instead of the Washington Monument where they had
arrived, since they would need to find someplace with
cover in which to henshin. Being out in the open with
tourists and their cameras everywhere is generally not a
good placed to henshin if one wants to keep secrets.

Surprisingly it was Rei who was the last of the group to
arrive at the meeting place. Of the five, she was the
only one who had not wandered far from their initial
arrival location. She had instead decided to tour the
various memorials. Early on she had come across the
Vietnam memorial and that was where the rest of her time
had been spent. She had slowly moved down along the
length of the memorial saying a separate prayer for each
name that was on that wall and then some more for the
fallen of wars not remembered.

Her spirit refreshed after paying her respect to those
who had valiantly fallen in the line of duty she had
found another Japanese tourist so that she could ask
directions on how to find the Lincoln Memorial. With the
quality of her English skills she did not want to try to
get directions from one of the Americans, figuring that
she would just get herself even more lost.

Finally she did arrive at the meeting place and
immediately walked towards Ami. She inwardly flinched as
she saw Ami pull back slightly and a flicker of fear
cross the other girl's face. Bowing very deeply to Ami
she said, "Moshi wake arimasen. Mizuno-san I am very
ashamed for my actions earlier. There is no excuse for
how I acted and even less excuse for how I would have
acted if Makoto hadn't restrained me."

"Rei…" Ami began, however Rei did not stop her apology.

"No not even my concerns over Usagi's safety excuse what
I did. I know she will not approve of what I did and even
if she had been lost to us, that still would not excuse
what I did." While the other three knew that Rei would
end up apologizing what Rei did next took them all by
surprise. "After my actions this afternoon I don't
deserve to fight alongside you anymore." Rei said as she
handed over her transformation wand.

As Ami took a hold of it, she felt the power of Mars flow
out of Rei and into the wand. Watching as she was from
the side, Setsuna's eyes went wide as she felt that
transfer of power occur. <This can't be. Rei has
renounced her right to wield the power of Mars? She has
embedded her Star Seed into that wand, preventing herself
from ever calling upon the power of Mars again. The wands
are just focusing tools, but she has made it the actual
container of her power!> Looking down at the wand she
held, Ami saw that it had changed from being metallic in
construction to now being constructed of some type of red
crystal.

"Whether you choose to take me back with you or leave me
here that is your decision." And with that Rei turned her
back on the others and began walking away.

Ami looked down again at the wand that she held in her
hand, she did have to think about what she needed to do.
Any other choice was unacceptable. Closing her hand
around the wand she took off after the quickly
disappearing Rei.

Makoto for her part moved to follow Ami, however Minako's
hand restrained her. "What are you doing?" Makoto asked
with an edge to her voice.

"This is something Ami has to do herself. The rift
between the two of them needs to be fully healed now. If
not, Rei will never be able to accept the power of Mars
again." Minako said

"And if she does not, then she will die." Setsuna said
from behind the two girls. Ignoring their reaction, she
continued, "Your powers are inherently interwoven with
your soul. There is no way to separate them without
killing the soul. Remember what her highness said before
reawakening your powers? Rei may look fine now, but her
soul is dieing. In an hour or so her body will begin to
fade away as what is left of her soul finally fades away.
In two hours, Rei will be no more and nothing not even
the Ginzuishou will be able to able to bring her back."

* * * * * * * * *

"Rei, Rei-chan wait-up." Ami called as she followed Rei
out of the building and down the steps. Only when Rei
reached the edge of the reflecting pool did the priestess
stop walking and instead take a seat.

Taking a space beside Rei, Ami saw that Rei was avoiding
her eyes. "Rei-chan look at me." Ami commanded, knowing
that right now she needed Rei to do as told, later would
come the healing. And Rei did respond and looked into
Ami's eyes. "Rei I accept your apology from before, but
this is not the way to make it up to me. We need you,
Usagi needs you. Along with Naru you are Usagi's best
friend. I know that you love her more than anything and
probably more than you will ever love anyone else. And as
such you push her to be the best that she can be. I know
that every thing you do is in her best interests and that
it was only your love for her that caused you to act
before.

Seeing Rei attempt to say something, Ami held up her hand
to silence the other girl. "Just listen to me Rei. You
made a mistake we all make mistakes. But no matter how
bad the mistake is, Usagi always finds it in her heart to
forgive. Remember Ann and Ail, they almost killed her yet
she still considers them to be very good friends. She
took Ryo into her service even though he served Metalia
and was one of the warriors responsible for our own
deaths.

"What you are doing is not going to undo anything that
you had done, nor undo what you wanted to do to me. Nor
is it going to make anything better. You are just going
to hurt Usagi very deeply when she hears that you have
given up your powers. That will hurt her far more than
even if you had killed me. You know she will just blame
herself for your actions.

"Furthermore none of us can fill the role you play.
Without you, there is no way that Usagi will be able to
become the queen and mother that ChibiUsa knows. She
needs you, we all need you.

"If you want to leave, then I can't return either for I
am the root cause of this. If I hadn't made those
unwarranted assumptions none of this would have
happened." Ami said as she pulled out her own
transformation wand and channeled her own energy into it.
"Let me know what you decide." Ami said while dropping
the wand into Rei's hand. However, not as trained with
the spiritual powers as Rei, she had over exerted the
channeling of her power into the wand and had trapped so
much of her own essence in the wand that it not only
changed to a blue crystal wand but now glowed very
brightly and Ami immediately fell to the ground, her body
appearing as if it was fading away.

The normally stoic Setsuna cursed under her breath as her
keen eyes caught Ami falling to the ground. Surprising
the other two girls she broke into a run as her form
shifted to that of Sailor Pluto. <How did I miss that
knot in the tapestry? There is no way I should have been
blind to one of us completely loosing our Star Seeds.>
Pluto thought to herself as she sprinted the distance,
knowing very well that Ami only had minutes at most to
live before she was lost forever.

Rei just watched in horror as Ami suddenly collapsed to
the ground. Forgetting about the wand that Ami had
dropped into her hand, Rei moved quickly to catch the
other girl and lowered her to the ground. <What's going
on, why is her body fading like this? It almost feels
like I am holding air. Is this what was going to happen
to me? I know that I would die, but like this?> Rei
thought to herself as began to recite prayers to save
Ami's soul.

Hearing footsteps, Rei looked up and saw Sailor Pluto
along with Minako and Makoto arrive. "What's happening to
her?" Rei asked in between two prayers.

"Ami has released her soul and without it her body is
fading away." Pluto replied

<She must have messed up the channeling and caught her
own soul in with the planetary power.> Rei wrongly
thought to herself. "Is there anything we can do?"

"We no, but you might still be able to save her." Pluto
said.

"How? I will do anything." Rei said without hesitation.

"Then take up your transformation wand and call back your
power. When you do so place Ami's wand on her chest and
hold it there with your hand. With luck because she gave
you her power you will be able to return it to her."

"Hai." Rei said as she reached out her arm and snagged
her transformation wand from where Ami had dropped it.
After transferring it to her other hand she reached
behind herself to grab Ami's wand her from it had been
dropped. Then following Pluto's instructions, she placed
Ami's wand on the girl's chest and held her wand high in
the air. "Mars Power Make-Up!" she called.

The blast of energy from her wand almost overwhelmed her
senses and the energy she had given up came crashing back
into her body. The experience was like nothing that she
had felt before and made the sensation of that first
henshin seem mild in comparison. As the fires of Mars
burned off her civilian clothing and reformed into her
Sailor Fuku she felt the fires begin to turn to ice in
her left hand where she held Ami's transformation wand.
Then suddenly her hand felt like it was flash frozen in
liquid nitrogen as the power of Mercury awoke and flowed
into Ami.

Releasing Ami's transformation wand, she pulled back her
hand and instantly the cold sensation was gone. Sitting
back on her legs she knew that she never wanted to
experience the loss of her powers again. They were so
much a part of her soul that she was not the same without
them. And then to her delight she noticed that Ami's body
no longer looked like it was on the verge of fading from
view and even better Ami began to slowly open her eyes.

"Ami-chan you're okay!" Rei exclaimed once Ami had fully
awoken and pulled the other girl into a big hug.

"Well so much for trying to keep a low profile." Minako
said quietly to Makoto having taken notice of the fact
that they appeared to have everyone's attention and quite
a few flash bulbs were going off.

"Guess we might as well finish off the light show."
Makoto replied as she produced her own transformation
wand. And after getting an agreeing nod from Minako, the
two girls henshin as well.

"Don't ever do that again." Rei said to Ami in between
the tears she was shedding as she held the other girl.

"As long as you agree not to do anything stupid like that
either." Ami replied with a smile.

"Agreed. I was letting my emotions carry me away again."

"I know, I did too. You need to let those emotions out
more frequently so that you can control them better. Your
over reacting is a result of how you bottle up those
emotions. You try to not let out your love for Usagi and
as such you loose it when her life is on the line." Ami
said moving into her doctor mode.

"Hai, I'll try better. Maybe Michiru, Makoto, or even
Usagi might be able to help me." Rei agreed.

Ami simply nodded. "Come lets go home" she said as she
stood up and pulled Rei to her feet.

"Hai!" Rei agreed with a smile.

- End Chapter 32

End Notes:

? Well I decided to skip on the promised cameo of Jack
Ryan, just couldn't figure out a good way to write
it in. I had it thought out in my head about two
years ago (has it been that much time, yikes), but
unfortunately never scribbled down any notes. As it
was I think the cameo would have taken away from
that part of the chapter.
? Well lets see I am only about four months late in
getting this chapter out, and I thought I was
getting back on top of things. Well what are my
excuses, well there were some really good fanfics to
read, then there of course is work and life. The
light nights at work don't really do it, it is when
it is time to right those final reports. When I am
doing those, my desire to write is burned out by the
time I get home. But that is what I get for being a
contract researcher. But I get to play with fun
things as well – like writing code to turn digital
video into time lapse photographs.
? The mystery of the time travel from the future
should be revealed in two chapters I think. I wonder
how many have figured out who Ryo's master is. And
for those who are wondering while Black Lady will
not be making an appearance her evil "twin" sister
will be.
? Before I leave you all, thought I would leave you
with some other good stories to read to keep you
happy till the next ice age, since my writing pace
seems to have fallen to glacial speed.
o First there is Sailor Moon V: The Dark
Adventures of the Sailor Scouts by Troy
Silverton. This fic uses the American dub
names, but is very very good, it is also for
more mature audiences (though the first
installment can be read by all – "For the Love
of Mercury"). Just don't make the mistake I
made when I found his website with a couple
chapter I hadn't read, make sure you don't read
them all at once.
http://www.sailormoonv.net/da.htm One nice
thing is that after you get up to date, he
often makes small updates one or more times
each week to the story.
o The other fics I have to recommend are actually
Ranma 1/2 fics. On fanfiction.net you can find
"Ranma a Different Path Taken" by Kayemsi,
"Neko's Mate" by Shall-Iin (a series of loosely
related one-shot stories), and the "Journey" by
Druth. and then at
http://www.iamnota.net/fanfics/ctcd/ "Comes the
Cold Dragon" by Don Granberry (another very
good story).
? Oh and "Princess Mononoke is very good movie if you
get the chance to rent it.