Chapter 1: Make-Up! A Rebel Princess?

The sun poured down from a cloudless blue sky, and the buildings glistened in the light. The streets were filled with people, all bustling about cheerfully. It was a gorgeous day in Crystal Tokyo, and the residents would have it no other way.
Walking aimlessly through it all was a small girl, a pale blonde with rosy cheeks. She carried under her arm a colorful tote bag, and her light blue eyes darted around with a sort of mischievous excitement.

"You do realize that if they catch you, we're both going to be in a mountain of trouble, yes?" A small grey head wrestled its way out of the top of the tote bag, aiming a glare at the girl carrying it.
"Of course I know, Loki." The girl looked down at the annoyed feline. "It won't be the first time. Besides," she looked back out into the crowd with a smile on her lips, "you haven't exactly been stopping me. Some guardian you are."
"I'd be a lot better at my job if you'd start listening to me and quit shoving me in this bag," Loki quipped. "I still want to know why you insist on doing that."
"Well, look at me. Do I look any different from any other girl wandering around shopping right now?" Loki tilted his head quizzically.
"Not exactly, no." He squirmed in an attempt to give himself a little more room inside the bag. "But I fail to understand how that answers my question, Airi." She grinned more.
"No, that exactly answers your question! I need to look like everyone else. And if I had you following me around or sitting on my head or something, everyone would know who I was." She glanced down at the bag. "And get back in there, you! I never said you could come out!"

Despite all appearances, Airi was not exactly as normal as she would appear. She had to be careful. By now, it was almost certain that the guards had been sent out to hunt her down, but such was the end to all of her days out on the town. She only wanted a couple more hours, really, just to check out a few more of the shops. That was all, really. After that, she would be more than happy to head back and tune out the inevitable lecture. Maybe.
Glancing from side to side, she slipped through an opening in the crowd and entered a small clothing shop off of the sidewalk. Browsing through the racks, she thoughtfully put a finger to her lip. She had been looking for the perfect top to match her new skirt for the past hour, maybe here...
Suddenly, the door to the shop burst open. Airi's eyes darted to the door, and she cursed under her breath. Quickly, she grabbed the first article of clothing within reach and darted for the dressing room before she could be identified.

"Small Lady! Small Lady, stop right there!" Too late. She had been caught. She stopped in her tracks, heaving a heavy sigh. The other customers of the shop whispered amongst themselves, stealing glances at the recently-identified princess as discreetly as they could manage. Airi placed the shirt she had picked up on a nearby rack, sighing again as she noticed that it probably would have gone perfectly with the skirt. Of course. She walked over to the guard sulkily.
"You just had to make it obvious, didn't you?" The guard merely gave her a stern glance and she gave another sigh. "Whatever. You found me. Let's just head back."
"Your mother will be furious with you, Small Lady." The guard turned to the door. "Where is your guardian? She will not be pleased that he has allowed this sort of behavior from you again-"
"In the bag. Where else?" Loki shifted around inside the bag, making small, pathetic mews and trying his best to feign being trapped. "Come on, let's just go back."

The walk back to the palace was miserable as always. Airi did her best to tune out the seemingly endless lecture from the guard and to ignore the stares from passers-by. Really, she failed to see how her little outings were so "dangerous." The worst part about any of it was everyone staring at her like she was some sort of freak show, not that she could somehow get hurt.
As if she really would. Crystal Tokyo had been peaceful ever since she could remember, and as far as her history lessons had told her, for countless generations past. She had no reason to worry. She was invisible among a crowd- or at least she had been- and even if she was identified, the royal family's position was secure. She had nothing to worry about.
Not that her mother would hear any of that, of course. Airi could just envision the screaming the minute she set foot in front of her queen mother-how her behavior was "unfitting for a princess," how she was "jeopardizing everything," everything she'd heard a million times and had completely stopped caring for. She'd never asked to be born a princess, and she certainly didn't want to be treated like one.

"-dy! Small Lady! Are you even listening to me?" Airi glanced up from the ground to look at the guard and was somewhat surprised to discover she'd somehow managed to miss that they'd already made it to the palace gardens. She glanced around, trying to see if she could pick up some context as to what the guard had been saying from her surroundings. All that was in the gardens were some gardeners, the plants, and the small children tugging at the skirts and pant legs of the workers.
"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" She made half an attempt at sounding personable now. It wasn't worth getting into even more trouble for poor treatment of the guards.
"I said, her highness is waiting for you inside. I will escort you in if you are ready."
"If I'm ready?"
"She was in a particularly foul mood when we were sent out to look for you in the first place. I doubt it's improved much since, Small Lady."
"Oh. Well, thank you for your concern, I suppose." She sighed. "I'm as ready now as I'll ever be. Let's go." She trudged after the guard through the large double doors of the palace and into the sparkling hallways.

Not long after the doors out to the gardens slid shut, the was a loud noise from outside, followed by what sounded like some sort of large animal.
"What was that?" Airi turned on her heel and looked back to the doors. "Did you hear that sound?"
"I did," the guard responded, glancing over his shoulder nervously. "As guardian to the royal family, I should go check out the situation. Please, proceed on to your mother, Small Lady. Please don't leave her waiting." Airi watched as the guard ran back to the door. As he opened it, she could hear shrieks coming from outside. She looked back to where she had been heading, briefly considering continuing onward as ordered. Shaking her head slightly, she dropped her bag on the ground and began running after the guard.

"Ow!" Loki stumbled out from the tote bag, steadying himself as he walked. "Where do you think you're going, 'Small Lady?' And what makes you think you can just drop me like that?"
"Sorry," Airi said, stopping momentarily in her tracks. "I forgot you were in there. But you heard that too, didn't you? I can't just stay in here! There's something out there!" With that, she turned and continued running towards the door.
"That's exactly why you should stay in here, and- argh!" Loki bolted after her. "Why do you never listen to me?"

Airi grabbed the door just before it could slide shut again and peeked out from between the cracks. Where before there had been nothing but flowers and children playing was a large wolf-like creature, bearing its fangs at the frightened workers.
"What is that thing?" Airi whispered breathlessly. "Is that what they call a-"
"Youma! Get back!" Loki called, batting at Airi's leg frantically as the creature tilted its head back, mouth filling with a strange sort of light. Airi pulled back from the door, letting it close just as the monster fired whatever it had been readying. She winced as she heard screaming from outside.
"Youma? How can it be a youma? Those haven't shown up in hundreds of years!"
"I don't know, but I can't think of anything else it could be!" Loki turned to look down the hallway as the sound of footsteps came racing towards the door. "Looks like everyone else has noticed, too."
"They'd have to be dead not to!" Airi moved quickly away from the door as a squad of guards stormed town the hall towards the door. "I hope everyone is okay out there..."

Following after the guards was the sound of much gentler footsteps, of heels against the perfect flooring. Airi flinched unwittingly at the sound. A woman with light, rose-tinted hair ran around the corner, clutching at her long, flowing white gown.
"Mother, I-" Airi began quickly, not even sure what she was going to say.
"Not now! Can't you see there are more pressing matters now?" The queen snapped at her daughter as she continued toward the door, and Airi clutched her arms. "Get away from the door and hide yourself!" The queen grabbed at the door handle and Airi ran towards her bag, scooping it up as she darted down the hallway. Towards what, she wasn't certain, but she continued running anyway.

She found herself not long later in a room full of pristine glass cases, full of portraits and heirlooms from regents past.
"She tells you to hide and you run into a room full of glass?" Loki panted from the doorway, flopping slightly against it. "Brilliant, really!"
"Shut up, Loki, I'm thinking!" Airi dropped her bag again, rubbing at her eyes. "There has to be something I can do, there has to be..."
"Like what? Come on, Airi, let's just hide somewhere. The guards can handle it, I'm sure, they've been trained-"
"Don't tell me that! You saw that thing, too!" Airi exhaled sharply. "They can't... not on their own!" She glanced desperately around the room, her eyes finally resting on a small, round object in its own case.

The brooch was old, certainly, and it showed its years, but it was unmistakable. The brooch of the legendary creator of the great peace, the legendary queen. Airi dropped to her knees before it, clasping her hands and bowing her head.
"Please... oh great queen, oh anyone, I... I've never done this before, but if you can hear me..."
"What are you doing?" Loki made his way up to her. "I told you, let's just hide!" Airi merely sat there, trembling as she clenched her hands even tighter.
Suddenly, the brooch gave off a bright light, and before Airi could even register what was going on, she felt herself almost enveloped in it. The words came to her, in a voice much unlike her own but somehow still coming from her lips.
"Moon Prism Power, Make-Up!"

She had no idea what happened next. It was a mixture of feelings like she'd never felt before, and her heart felt almost like it was going to explode. The feelings ebbed away almost as quickly as they had come, and when she opened her eyes again she was wrapped in clothing she only ever remembered seeing in her books.
Loki had backed away from her and was looking at her with wide eyes.
"Did you just-?"
"I- I don't-" Airi shakily stood. "It doesn't matter! I have to help them!" Muttering what sounded like a quick 'thank you,' she turned and ran towards the door.
"W-wait! Wait! Airi!" And with that, the two were bolting back towards the garden doors, neither of them sure of what was going to happen next.

Author's Note: Erm... well. This is interesting. To be honest, I haven't written fan-fiction in about 5-6 years, so this has really been an interesting experience for me.
I hope Airi doesn't come off as too much of a Mary-Sue! It's quite difficult... I'm trying to write a new Sailor Moon into existence, and how do you do that without making her seem too perfect? I don't know. I have plans to make her and her actions a bit more realistic, but we'll see where this goes.
Anyway, I'll stop talking now. This chapter is too long already. x_x