What it Takes

by JPandS

Luna is kidnapped and the scouts now have a choice. Find Luna or leave her be. Centered on the inners.

Rather than start a new story that is likely to never be finished, I've decided to revisit old stories that I've lost interest in and try to revamp them in hopes of clearing my writer's block and laziness. This here story had 3 chapters for a number of years which I have combined into this single installment. The next chapter will be the first chapter of the revised version. I cringed a lot when reading through this so I don't blame you if you do the same XD. Anyhow, if you choose to read this chapter, good luck. -JPandS

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Luna was walking briskly to the next light with heightened worry in the back of her mind. She could have sworn that the man in the black suit was following her but as she thought about it she shook it from her mind mentally hitting herself on the head for her paranoia. She was watching too many spy movies with Usagi that's all. With that resolve, she finally slowed down. She turned to look and the man was not there and she sighed. She would most definitely have to keep her mind straight and not tainted too much by those movies with secret agents and what not. With a smile she then trotted lightly on her usual path back to Usagi's house. The princess would be home soon and Luna would have to be there to make sure she was staying on top of that school work.

She turned the corner and suddenly felt the hair on her back stand again. The street was filled with innocent pedestrians but she suddenly got that feeling again, the feeling that she had been getting for the last week but this time it was more prominent. Her stomach churned as the image of the man in the black suit came back to mind.

'No Luna,' she thought to herself. 'You're just overreacting.'

She forced herself to continue walking despite the feeling that could not be pushed aside. Her timid steps soon increased in speed as they were before and she suddenly found herself sprinting to Usagi's house. 'Almost there,' she thought in relief. She then turned the last corner and froze.

"Here kitty," said a man on his knee with a finger beckoning her to come closer. Luna's eyes widened as she looked him over with his black suit and sun glasses. 'You must be joking,' she cried in the depths of her find. Slowly she inched away from him and turned to run but was caught by another man in a suit that she hadn't seen before.

"There, there kitty," he said while trying to tame the squirming black cat in his hands. The other one came towards them and placed a collar on Luna while his partner held her down. Luna then bit the man that was holding her and leapt out of his grasps. She could feel her legs ready to sprint but suddenly dropped violently to the ground suddenly twitching at the sudden surge of electricity through her small cat body.

"Damn cat," cursed the man that she had bit.

"Don't worry she won't be doing that anymore especially with that collar now won't you?" said the other as he went to pick her up. She didn't even bother trying to jump from his hands in fear that she'd be shocked again. She was weak from just that one shock and was not willing to test if she could take another one.

"What do they want with a dumb cat anyways?" asked one of them as he wrapped his hand with a bandage.

"We're gonna have to find out."

…

Usagi sat with her chin propped on her hands. Her cerulean blue eyes were crossed and focused on the pencil that she had been trying to balance on the tip of her nose. It fell to the table and she promptly looked at it and grabbed it to put it back on her nose. Over and over again she repeated that same process in pure boredom. Finally, she gave up the useless task and fell onto her back with her hands laid above her head. 'Where's Luna?' she thought. She glanced sideways out of the window and frowned. It was dark and there was no Luna in sight. A tinge of worry tugged at the bottom of her heart and she sighed. Luna was fine, she always was. She'd probably just show up later like she always did. With a shrug she then got up and went downstairs to eat dinner.

She yawned and glanced at her watch then looked back at her watch. 6 PM ALREADY! She rushed up to her room and shoved all of her books into her bag and almost fell down the stairs with the sudden weight that she had to take down with her.

"Usa," said her mother. "Aren't you going to eat?"

Usagi froze at the door and let the strong aroma fill her nostrils. She dropped her bag in defeat with her head hung low. Just a small bite wouldn't hurt. She rushed to the kitchen nearly tackling her younger brother and shoveled the food into her mouth.

"Wow mom this is really great," she said with a mouth full of food.

"You like it?" she responded. "Would you like desert too?"

Usagi groaned knowing that her mother had made her favorite but looked to her watch. She was supposed to be at the temple for the scout meeting but her mom had made her favorite! This only happened like once a month. She sighed and forced herself to do something that she knew she'd regret.

"Sorry mom, maybe another time," she forced herself to forget her stomach for once and sprinted out of the door. She skillfully dodged crowds of people she passed and patted herself on the back. Man, I'm getting pretty good at this, she thought to herself suddenly slamming into someone hard and falling backwards.

The man growled as he glared at her. She hadn't noticed one bit only paying attention to the pain that suddenly came over her rear. Why me? She asked herself mentally.

"Are you gonna apologize or do I have to make an example of you?" snarled the man and the others around him snickered.

"Sorry, sir, I wasn't watching where I was going," she replied quickly picking herself up from the ground.

"Got that right," he retorted. Usagi laughed nervously and tried to walk off but one of the others stepped in front of her.

"Hey, not so fast babe," he said with a smile. "No one just runs into us and gets away with only a measly apology. There are prices for that."

"Prices?" asked Usagi already not liking where this situation was headed.

"Yeah, prices."

"Like what? Money? I've already spent all of my allowance so I've got nothing left to give."

"Well, we do accept other forms of payment," he said nonchalantly with a toothpick sticking out of his mouth. Now she knew what he was heading towards and she didn't like it at all.

"No," she said as she tried to go past them again and was grabbed by him. He gripped her arm tightly and she paled in color looking around for someone to help but found the streets to be empty.

"No!" she screamed trying to kick him but he grabbed her tightly from behind holding her in place.

"She's a feisty one," yelled one of them and she suddenly grew disgusted as she watched them slowly close in on her.

"Get off me!" she yelled but they all laughed.

"Hey!" came a familiar voice making Usagi relieved. Thank goodness!

"Huh?" before any of the men could react they found themselves thrown roughly against the wall. The one who was holding Usagi suddenly let her go and charged at the newcomer with a knife at hand but they skillfully knocked it from his grip doing a sweep kick and swiftly kneeing him hard in the gut.

"This girl's crazy!" yelled one of them and he ran off along with the others who had managed to keep consciousness.

"Next time I'll be sure to put you in a coma you sleazy no good wimps!" she yelled.

She walked over to Usagi and helped her up.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, thanks to you," replied Usagi. "You're gonna have to teach me out to fight like that Mako-chan."

"Usa, we already tried, remember?" replied Makoto with a laugh. "You ended up drop kicking Artemis and managed to break everything around you in the process. Not to mention you got upset with me and kept yelling at me saying that I was being too mean and that I hung around Rei too much."

"I wasn't mad," replied Usagi.

"Well if you weren't mad then you sure made it seem like you were when you didn't talk to me for a week and refused to eat anything that I cooked. I even made you your favorite and you wouldn't even touch it!"

"Oh," said Usagi. "I guess I was a little upset, but that was only because you made me work so hard! I would've been fine if you were nicer."

"Usagi, we were just stretching and you were already complaining!"

"Okay, okay," said Usagi. "Let's just forget about that and move on."

"As you wish."

"Say, why are you late?" asked Usagi as she realized why she was out there walking in the first place.

"Oh," said Makoto. "I had an unexpected visitor and I had to talk to him."

"Him?" said Usagi he interest suddenly rising.

Makoto hit herself mentally for the slip-up and searched her mind for a good lie.

"Yeah," she said as if it was nothing. "Him."

"Who him?" asked Usagi.

"Well, him," she said in response.

"Mako, com'on! Tell me! Who was the guy?"

"Just an old friend Usagi, really, it was nothing serious." Usagi frowned in dismay at this and reluctantly let the subject drop.

"Are you ready for an earful from Rei?" asked Usagi as the temple came into view.

"Nope," replied Makoto. "But at least we'll go through it together."

They opened the door slowly and stepped in cautiously bracing themselves for the ear piercing scolding that Rei always had to give to anyone who was late especially if it was Usagi. To their surprise, there was only silence.

"What, is Rei not here?" asked Usagi as she opened her eyes. The others were just bunched around Ami's computer watching something. "What? What are you guys watching?"

"Shh, quiet meatball head, don't you have any common sense?" retorted Rei coldly. Usagi growled and was about to reply with a good come back when she suddenly caught view of what they were watching.

"Here Kitty," came the voice of a man. He was in a black suit beckoning for a small black cat to come to him.

"Luna?" said Usagi softly.

They all watched silently as the man grabbed Luna and flinched as they watched them throw her roughly into the back of a limo. Artemis paced uneasily looking to the screen and away in disgust. As the screen flickered off, they sat there without a word.

"What could they possibly want with Luna?"

"They must have found out that she was somehow able to talk or maybe they noticed that she was some way connected to the sailor scouts." Said Artemis.

"How could they have found that out?" asked Usagi. "She's usually good at making sure no one is around when she does talk."

"Could they be from the negaverse?" asked Minako.

"I doubt it," said Ami. "It seemed that this was more on the grounds of regular humans."

"You mean special trained humans." Said Rei.

"Special trained humans?" said Minako ridiculously. "It took two of them to retrieve a cat! What's so special about that?"

"It was done in public view, Minako. They couldn't just go out and take her out with a sterilizing gun." Said Rei. They all went quiet again.

"How did you guys get this?" asked Makoto finally speaking for the first time.

"I was able to hack into the city's surveillance cameras." She replied.

"You know how to do that?!" cried Minako and Usagi in unison completely forgetting about the real issue at hand.

"More importantly," interrupted Makoto. "How did you know to do that?"

"Oh yeah," said Minako and Usagi sweat dropping. "How did you know?"

"The fire told me," said Rei. "So as soon as I got the premonition, I called Ami."

Ami nodded in agreement. "I didn't like the idea but it had to be done."

They all sat in a circle silently contemplating their next move. What could they do? They never had to do work involving kidnapping by normal humans! Think, think, THINK! Still, nothing.

"Why didn't we ever make communicators for Luna and Artemis?" inquired Minako. They all shrugged in defeat.

"There's no use thinking about what we could've done to avoid this," spoke Artemis heatedly. "She's been kidnapped and we need to do something about it!" The girls flinched at his aggressiveness but understood that he must have been suffering even more than they were.

"But what can we do?" Spoke Rei, much to the surprise of everyone. She was never one to openly give up. "We're school girls and suddenly we're supposed to become secret undercover agents? These guys have most likely spent half their lives training to be where they are and we're supposed to be that in the time span of a day? It's more than likely that they have real guns with real bullets and aren't too shabby on their aim either. Have any of us even held a real gun? Nonetheless shot one?"

The room tensed. Each girl stared painfully at the ground. They knew Rei was right. This kidnapping was not in their field. If they took it to the cops then most likely they'd be coaxed into buying a newer younger cat that would never be like the black cat they were advised by. Makoto gripped her pants in frustration. Even she was giving up hope.

"If we were to go after Luna," said Rei. "The only one who would even stand a slight chance would be Ami because she knows how to do more technological things than any of us. But regardless of how much we try, they'd have guns and that would be the end of it. Even an idiot can kill the smartest and strongest person if they have a gun with a single bullet."

Artemis' eyes widened as he realized the girls' desire to find her diminished with every fact that Rei stated. Yes, he wanted to push them not to give up; but the reality of it was simple. They wouldn't survive and they wouldn't stand a chance against those guys. He loved Luna surely but he was also a guide to the scouts and leading them to their deaths was not part of the deal…but of course, hadn't he always been leading them to death ever since he met them? He shook the idea from his head.

"Then," said Minako. "What does this mean? Are we…are we giving up?"

Silence fell over the group again. No one wanted to answer but they each knew what would come out. Rei frowned as she stared at Artemis who looked dazed. She could see that he was already preparing himself to let go if he had to. Whatever sacrifice it took he would take whether he wanted to or not. That was the true meaning of duty and they each understood that. Rei suddenly caught glimpse of a pool of tears at Usagi's knees. She watched a lone tear fall timelessly splashing onto the floor and watched as Usa's body shook dangerously as the silent tears trickled from her shadowed eyes.

"Usa," whispered Minako. She shook her head.

Usagi's voice was raspy with pain and shaken with every sob. "I'd rather burn in hell then to have my best friend be taken by some damned men dressed in suits and sunglasses. I will save my friend even if I have to blow down their walls with all my power. I'd never let you guys so easily, so why would you let Luna go that way?" She lifted her head to stare into the eyes of all her scouts. "I guess I never realized that we were nothing but a group of cowards." Everyone straightened at this ready to reproach her but was caught when they realized the truth in this.

"Usagi-hime," said Artemis with a smile. She looked to him and wiped her eyes.

The room was silent once more as Usagi sat upright looking at the ground, as were the others.

"Heehehee," broke out Minako, finally she couldn't hold it in and started rolling on the ground with laughter.

"Minako," said Ami with a look of disdain. The others could only arc their eyebrows in question. Sometimes Minako had those "Looney" moments and this most certainly was one of them.

"I-I'm sorry," she managed to spit out between laughs. "I-I just can't-…I just can't take Usa acting so seriously!" She let out in another fit of laughter. "Maybe it would be better i-if you just kept crying!" she splurged as she rolled onto Rei's lap. Rei harshly shoved her off and folded her arms across her chest.

"I swear you're such a kid!" she yelled.

Usagi had just stared and cracked before she too broke into a light laughing fit. That was pretty out of the ordinary and looking back she could see why Minako would laugh. Artemis shook his head as he watched from the side. Minako and Usagi were rolling with laughter, Makoto had not yet known how to handle this, Ami smiled as she watched and Rei kept yelling obscenities to both blondes.

"Guys, guys," said Makoto as she shook her head with a scoff. "Com'on lets figure out what we're gonna do now that we know we're not giving up." Minako and Usagi stopped letting out small giggles and Rei smoothed out her robes.

"Well," said Ami. "We need to look at this from a logical viewpoint. Luna has been kidnapped by men that we can't even get a clear profile of in this video. The likelihood that we'd be able to find help in getting someone to search for her is low and who is to say that they don't know that she has a connection to the scouts? If we go after her then they'd know that we either are the sailor scouts or that we are an even closer link to the scouts."

"What if we're just giving them too much credit?" asked Minako. "I mean really, Luna never slips up and she's never seen at the fight scenes so how can they know she is related to the scouts? Maybe they just wanted her as a pet and knew Usa wouldn't give her up,"

"That's ridiculous!" retorted Rei. "Why would they take Luna?"

"Hey!" yelled Usagi. "Luna's a great pet, who wouldn't want to take her?"

"That's besides the point," said Rei obviously annoyed. "There are shelters all over the world filled with kittens and cats that they could've chosen over Luna so I doubt that they took her for the simple reason that they wanted her as a pet! They had to have known that she was special in some way."

"I guess that's reasonable," said Minako with a sigh and Rei scowled at her nonchalant behavior.

"Why you-"

"Well then," interrupted Makoto. "Now that we've figured that much out, what should we do?"

"Well," said Ami. "As much as we might like to, we cannot use our powers in this situation. If we do then the government might start paying more attention to the sightings and pinpoint our main activity here. A good number of people do not believe in our existence and that's good but if we are too reckless then we'll not only be searching for others but others will be searching for us too. It would be more difficult for us to stay inconspicuous with people on our tails."

Usagi groaned at this. "Not even a small use would be okay?" She asked.

Ami shook her head. "For us we need to transform to use our powers which is too problematic. We'll just have to forget our powers all together."

"Gosh," groaned Minako. "I'm getting to feel like we have no chance again."

"That's for sure," mumbled Makoto and Rei nodded in agreement.

"Well, let's just figure out what needs to be done instead of what may happen," said Ami.

"We'll need to train," said Rei.

"Train?" Said Usagi. "How?"

"Hand-to-hand combat and gunmanship," said Rei with a frown.

"Well Mako-chan can do hand-to-hand-"

"I don't know," interrupted Makoto. "What if it doesn't match up to-"

"Mako-chan," Artemis cut in, "Don't question your strength. Remember, you battled youma without your powers and they weren't exactly keen with the idea that you had more to give them."

Mako blushed at this. "Sorry, I didn't think of that."

"It's okay, Mako-chan," Artemis coaxed. "We're just scared, that's all. We've never faced a situation like this." With a nod Makoto considered this and smiled.

"Then that leaves gunmanship." Immediately all eyes fell on the raven-haired beauty.

"What?" she spat out bitterly.

"Well, you're the closest we can get to gunmanship," said Minako. "So you're going to have to train us."

"Baka!" she yelled. "I use a bow and arrow, that's nothing like a gun."

"Hey, then why don't we just train using that?" asked Minako. The other girls shook their heads in disapproval. "Well, it would be original and easier for us being as there is no one here that really knows how to work a gun."

"No one's using a bow and arrow because it doesn't match up to the danger of a gun with bullets, Minako," muttered Rei. Minako sighed with a frown.

"Rei please," pleaded Usagi. "We need you. No one else comes close like you do." With a scowl Rei reluctantly accepted the task at hand.

"So far, we're training," started Minako. "That's not a bad start. Then again, I don't think I would know what a good start was…"

"Locations," said Ami. "We cannot do this in the open. We need a designated spot and need to find an efficient way to meet. We can't just walk there all together because someone may want to know what we do. If they don't know we're meeting to train then they'll never ask."

"There's an old abandoned warehouse down the street from my place," said Minako.

"That location is too attractive to others, Minako, we don't want to chance getting caught by anybody," replied Ami.

"We could do it in my basement," said Usagi. They all stopped to consider this and frowned.

"It's too small, we need something bigger," said Rei.

"What I want to know is how we're going to get guns," muttered Minako. Each girl gulped at the said problem but didn't quite know if they were nervous because they had no way of buying a gun or if it was the idea that they would have to use them.

"Let's not worry about that yet," said Rei.

"I have a friend that owns a junkyard," said Makoto slowly. "He might let us use it."

"A junkyard…" started Ami. "That's perfect."

"Yeah," nodded Rei. "Who would go looking for us there?"

"Better yet, how are we going to get there without people seeing?" Asked Minako. Unanimously the girls glowered at her.

"Well you're just a big ball of sunshine aren't you," remarked Artemis sarcastically.

"What," said Minako in her defense. "I'm just trying to make sure we don't leave any gaps that's all."

"Well, you can be a little less pessimistic sounding and more helpful," retorted Rei. Minako sweat dropped and scratched her head.

"Sorry guys, I guess I was being a little annoying."

"A little?" questioned Rei.

"Okay Rei, I apologized already, isn't that enough?"

"Guys, guys, that's enough. Please, let's figure everything out so that we can start," said Makoto.

"Tomorrow," started Ami. "We each need to do what we usually do. I'll figure out a way to get to the junkyard without anyone seeing and we'll have another meeting here at the same time. I'll tell you the plans but I will not type it out for you nor will you write it down anywhere. We need to keep this in our heads and resume life as if nothing happened."

"Wow Ami," said Minako with a giddy expression on her face. "You sound like a pro!"

"This is so cool!" cried Usagi with throbbing heart-eyes. "I feel like a secret agent already!"

"Baka," muttered Rei under her breath.

Ami sweat dropped at both of them and continued.

"Tell no one of this and don't even make mention of anything near close to what has been discussed in this meeting. Do not worry about anything that we have to do yet, just leave it for tomorrow. Guys, I want all of you to relax tomorrow and enjoy yourselves because we don't know if we'll be so lax later on," with that said that girls sat in silence.

"I will not fail," said Minako cheekily and burst out laughing along with Usagi and Makoto.

"You're so dumb," scoffed Rei, as she too couldn't hold from laughing.

Artemis shook his head and smiled. Ami had started laughing and a small pillow fight had broken out. They were so young and although they had seen more than any other adult, he knew that they were as naïve as every other typical teenager. He frowned as he pictured them being different from how they were now. Would training taint their personalities? Would they become the heartless soldier with eyes only on duty and completed missions? He suddenly felt himself start missing the sparkling eyes, drooling over boys, bad grades and meaningless fights that he knew he'd see less of. If nothing good came out of this he only hoped for one thing. That they wouldn't grow apart and lose each other before they figured out how cold regular human interaction could be. And more than anything, he prayed that they'd still be the smiling, imperfect, cheeky and clumsy girls he grew to love but somehow his mind doubted it. They'd find something different in this journey and they would never be the same again.

The feathers in the pillows seem suspended in the air as the girls panted in exhaustion. Minako looked over to Rei and took a side-glance at Makoto slightly nodding towards Artemis' way. The brunette and the raven-haired girls smiled broadly in understanding and yelled in harmonic unison.

"Pillow Fight!" they cried and smothered Artemis who had expected the blow. He jumped over Minako's pillow, ducked under Makoto's, moved to the side from Rei's, narrowly escaped Ami's and got clobbered by Usagi's relentless cotton pillow. Usagi stood triumphantly as the girls cheered and Artemis' eyes resembled nothing less than swirls.

"Uhhh…" he groaned as he swayed back and forth like a drunk kitty and dropped.

"Aww," droned Minako as she affectionately picked Artemis up into her arms. "Poor kitty."

Luna's eyes fluttered open to view pitch-black. She hissed as she felt a sharp stab of pain on her right side. She tried to stand but failed pathetically. She was moving, or at least the thing she was in was moving. She flinched as she felt the box land harshly with the surface of a floor or wooden table. She could hear a delighted squeal and closed her eyes when the unsuspecting light filtered into the now opened lid. She forced herself to look up and could only see the gleaming charcoal eyes of what seemed to be a thrilled adolescent. Confusion filled her head as she could do nothing but stare.

"Hello kitty."

…

Minako yawned as she made her way up the steps to school. It was a long night last night and she wasn't too sure that what had been discussed there was real or not. With a shrug she disregarded the thought for Ami's voice had echoed in her mind.

"I want you all to relax tomorrow and enjoy yourselves because we don't know if we'll be so lax later on."

It all seemed so unrealistic. Sure, she had seen many "supernatural" things but last night's meeting was well beyond what she considered normal. She felt as if they had all been sucked into some movie.

"Hello Minako-san," said a boy with a wave. She just smiled and waved back. "Will you be playing volleyball with us at lunch today?"

"Sure thing!" she said. "Why? You nervous?" she teased with a wink.

The boy scoffed, "No, you're on my team remember?"

"Oh yeah," she said as she scratched the back of her head.

"Well, see you then Minako-san."

"Minako-chan!" wailed a girl from down the hall. 'Geez,' she thought, 'I never knew this many people knew me.'

"Good morning Saia-chan," she replied with a wave. The said girl gave a lopsided grin and paused temporarily trying to catch her breath. "What's up?" asked Minako.

"You're the vice-president of the Friends' club aren't you?" she asked and Minako nodded in confirmation. "That's great! Well the president isn't here today and well you're next up in line."

"What, is it some orientation speech or something?" asked Minako.

"No," said Saia. "There's a new student."

"New student huh?" asked Minako. It wasn't often that people moved into their school district so this sort of seemed like a surprise. After all, she was the newest student in the school besides the freshmen and she had moved there three and a half years ago.

"Yup," said Saia. "Will you show him around?"

"Him?" said Minako with a raised eyebrow a sly grin suddenly curling on her lips. "With pleasure."

"Great!" Exclaimed Saia. "They say that he's pretty shy."

"That's even better!" said Minako with a broad grin. "Shy is always so mysterious…" she drooled.

"Whatever you say Minako-chan. You're supposed to meet him at the front office."

"Okay," she said. "I'll head over there now."

"Thanks Minako-chan."

"No problem," she winked. Already, possible scenarios were playing through her head about the "meeting". She sighed as she dwelt on a picture of a tall, dark-haired boy with broad shoulders, nice muscles, and an untucked white collared shirt with a loose fitted tie, hands in his pockets and willing to sweep her off her feet. A small blush crept onto her cheek as she thought of him and her eyes grew into big sparkling blue sapphires. He'd be shy, of course, but she'd bring him out of that bubble soon enough. She paused momentarily before she opened the office door.

"Minako," said the secretary. "Right this way," she said directing her to the principal's office.

"Thank you," said Minako politely with a small bow.

"Minako-san," said the principal lightly. "I'm glad you could make it."

She nodded and took a glance at the boy to her side. Long chestnut brown hair pulled into a long braid. He looked foreign which was even better for her and his eyes were the prettiest blue she had ever seen in her life. Sure her eyes were blue but they were bright, his were dark and mysterious. To her dismay though, his shirt was neatly tucked in and his creased pants were wrinkle free. Nonetheless, he was undoubtedly "hot" to say the least.

"I'm glad I could be of assistance," she smiled. The principal nodded approvingly and moved to introduce the new student.

"This is-"

"Duo Maxwell," interrupted the boy as he put a hand out for her to shake. She arced an eyebrow and shook his hand. 'So he's shy huh?' she mentally asked herself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said.

"Oh no," he replied with a lopsided grin. "The pleasure's all mine." He said lightly kissing her hand. If the principal wasn't standing in the room then Minako was sure that she'd be jumping into his arms. Forget the shy mysterious ones, this one was too much for her to handle!

She blushed madly as she took back her hand and struggled to keep from shaking all over. "My name's Minako, by the way."

"Minako," he repeated in his low sultry voice. "How enticing…" she gulped. She had to hand it to him; he was a really good flirt. Whether he meant to be or not, she couldn't see how any girl could get away from him so easily.

"Thanks," she muttered trying to avert his gaze.

"Well," said the Principal. "I leave you in good hands Duo Maxwell, Minako will show you your classes and I'm sure she'll help you make some new friends."

"I'd be fine with just Minako-chan as a companion," he said with a wink completely skipping formalities and assuming friendship. Again she blushed.

The principal chuckled. "Well then, I'll let you two go. If you need anything Duo just ask."

"Thank you sir," he said respectfully with a bow suddenly turning and taking Minako's hand in his. "I'm sure I'll learn to love this school." With that he proceeded to walk out of the room with Minako's hand still in his.

"u-uh," she stuttered. "C-can I g-get my hand back?" she asked. He stopped and turned around looking at their interlocking fingers in question.

"hehe," he laughed. "Sorry, I sometimes lose my manners when in the presence of a gorgeous lady." Her cheeks were burning now. She couldn't remember any other time that she had been so nervous around a guy and she wasn't sure if this would be good for her health. He released her hand and scratched his head.

"So, where do we start?" he asked.

She just stared at him. Wow, he was even taller than Mako-chan. What a hunk! She shook her head in dismay. What was wrong with her? Sure she was boy crazy but her mind was running overtime with her imaginations.

"Let's just start with the cafeteria," she mumbled sickly as she felt her stomach churn with uncertainty. This guy would be the end of her if she didn't get herself together.

…

Usagi sprinted along the sidewalk. Late again! Her teacher would kill her! She only hoped that the teacher wouldn't spring a surprise quiz on everyone at the beginning of class. She panted as she pushed her fatigue to the back of her mind. Why did she always have to be so late? If only school had started a bit later…

"Hey, Usagi-chan!" cried a familiar voice.

"Mako-chan?" responded Usagi as she skidded to a halt. She stopped and pointed a finger in her friend's direction. "You're late again!?"

Makoto sweat-dropped and nodded. "I could say the same about you," she said sticking a tongue out as she linked arms with Usagi and dragged her along towards school.

"Ah! Mako-chan you run too fast!" yelped Usagi as she felt herself being pulled harshly towards her destination. 'If only my legs were as long as Mako-chan's,' she groaned mentally as she finally gave up and just let Mako haul her the rest of the way. So there she was, her arm linked with Makoto's her body flailing in the air behind her tall brunette friend. Well one thing was for sure; she wouldn't be out of breath when they reached school so that was a plus!

Mako suddenly stopped and Usagi somehow ended up on her feet right behind Mako looking at the door to their classroom. Mako took a few seconds to catch her breath and finally opened the door.

"TSUKINO-" the teacher stopped blinking in disbelief. "Kino-san?"

Mako nervously scratched the back of her head and Usagi tried to sneak in behind her friend unnoticed which ended horribly.

"Oww!" she yelped as she hit her head against something. There was a low growl and Usa quickly looked up in fear that she had rammed into a dog or something but looked to meet the charcoal eyes of a Chinese boy...a very cute Chinese boy at that; she quickly shook that from her head and started apologizing profusely.

"TSUKINO, USAGI!" yelled the teacher suddenly forgetting her surprise all together. "NOT ONLY ARE YOU LATE, BUT YOU'VE ALREADY STARTED HARASSING ONE OF THE NEW STUDENTS!" By then Haruna Sensei's eyes were spitting fireballs and Usagi-chan somewhat inched slowly to hide back behind Makoto who was smiling nervously and sweat-dropping.

"It's quite alright Haruna Sensei," spoke up a young light haired blonde will royal blue eyes. "Wu-Fei has seen worse," he said with a light laugh. Instantly Usagi's eyes turned into hearts. How cute! He was trying to rescue her! A true knight in shining armor!

The teacher groaned. "Fine, Usagi take your seat and you too Miss Kino. I'll discuss your punishment after class." Makoto sighed appreciatively and was about to walk to her seat as she noticed that Usagi was glued to the ground she stood. With a slight look of embarrassment Makoto dragged Usagi for the second time today as the blonde ondago-atama just stared helplessly at the blonde boy drool showing clearly from her mouth.

The boy blushed as she passed him and scratched his head nervously.

"Usa," scolded Mako-chan. "Show some kind of dignity sheesh!" But the words fell on deaf ears as Mako almost nearly had to push Usagi into her seat. Makoto smiled clearly out of embarrassment and sighed as she finally reached her seat and sunk into it as if to hide from the stares she assumed were directed at Usagi and herself.

"Well," started Haruna Sensei. "These are our new students. Please give them a warm welcome. Now boys if you'd be so kind as to introduce yourselves."

With a nod the blonde stepped up first. "Quatre Winner," he said with a smile and a wave and Usagi waved helplessly back. 'Oh jeez,' groaned Makoto to herself as embarrassment from her friend was rekindled. Quatre had only smiled wider at Usagi's actions.

"Wu-Fei Chang," said the Chinese boy with a stern look. Makoto frowned as she watched him glare at Usagi who was too far gone to even notice.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meat you two. You may take any seat that is open," said Haruna Sensei with a smile. The boys nodded with thanks and headed towards the desks. "Now, pop quiz!" The class groaned unanimously and somehow those words seemed to reap a look of terror on Usagi's once love-bound features. Makoto laughed and stopped as the Chinese boy suddenly took a seat to her left. She chanced a glance and met his cold stare which she unconsciously matched and shook it off as the teacher "ahem"ed to her right as she placed the quiz on her desk.

"No cheating," she said and gave word for the students to start. With a sigh Mako shook off the feeling of suspicion from her mind and turned the paper over to see what kind of damage she could do this time. Oh boy, this most definitely meant she'd be doing extra credit later…

…

Rei walked leisurely through the halls finding herself getting annoyed at the giggling groups that she passed. Giggling girls was something she found highly irritating these days. She walked briskly past them making sure not to show any interest in the topic of their discussion and couldn't help but pick up "did you see the new teacher?" Her mind seemed somewhat interested in this. Girls were giggling about a new instructor? That was strange, either the teacher looked ridiculous or they did something outrageous either way she shook it off and continued to class.

To Rei's terrible dismay she had walked in to find even more groups of giggling girls. She groaned. 'Can't they just grow up,' she complained mentally. Still she ignored the chatter and took her seat waiting as patiently as she could for the arrival of their teacher.

…

"Good morning Ami," said the professor with a nod.

"Good morning sir," she responded with a slight bow.

The professor smiled. "Would you mind doing me a favor?"

Ami blinked and anxiously responded. "Of course sir."

He extended his arm then to a boy that she had yet to take notice of. "This is Heero Yuy," she nodded and he did so back. "He's new to our school and I was hoping that you could possibly help him catch up on the class material?"

"Of course," said Ami again. "It would be no trouble."

"Just what I like to hear," said the professor approvingly. "Then Mr. Yuy, you may follow Miss Mizuno to your seat."

With another nod "Yuy" obediently followed Ami to their said workstation.

"I'm Ami," she said politely with an outstretched hand.

"Heero," replied Yuy as he ignored her friendly gesture and took his seat next to her. She blushed in embarrassment and retracted her hand. This would be interesting….

…

Rei stared mindlessly at the blank scene before her. Pitch black and she stood in the middle of it in her priestess robes.

"Rei," came a faint whisper. She jerked her head in the direction she heard it and saw nothing. "Rei," she heard again but still no owner to the voice. It was Makoto she was certain.

"Mako-chan, where are you?" she said aloud as she began to walk in the direction she thought she'd find her.

"Rei" came another faint whisper behind her. She turned and gasped when Makoto's figure slowly appeared on the ground in front of her. Rei rushed to her side frantic. Makoto's eyes were teary and her body shook in Rei's arms. Warm blood was soaking her robe as she held her and Rei grew anxious.

"Mako-chan, we'll make it," she said and Mako scoffed. Her clothes were drenched in crimson and her breathing was rugged and harsh.

"Get out of here Rei," she said and Rei shook her head in disobedience. Makoto's eyes turned to pleading. "Go." She said and her body started to dissipate. Rei's heart throbbed as she kept trying to grab at Makoto's fading body as if to pull her back and keep her there.

"Makoto!" she yelled as tears just started pouring.

"REI!" came a yell that sounded like Usagi's voice. She looked up to face what looked like an explosion of fire coming right towards her. She froze and looked to the side and watched as Usagi with her muted screams was reaching out to her but being held back by her blue-haired friend. Usagi's features were frantic and Ami was crying as all she could do was watch. Rei stared and everything seemed to go in slow motion. She nodded towards Ami knowing she did the right thing and stood up. In an instant she faced the fire that barreled towards her and closed her eyes.

Rei shot up from her seat in a cold sweat and heard the girls around her giggle. She hastily apologized and seated herself with her chin resting on her desk. The girls around her were whispering and Rei was too caught up in her dream to even notice. What did it mean? She couldn't tell. She only hoped that it was just a dream and not a premonition…

The bell rang and Rei snapped out of her trance to gather her things. She put the strap of her bag over her shoulder and walked head down towards the door.

"Enjoy your sleep?" said the new instructor who she had completely forgotten about. Her head slumped down lower.

"Gomen nasai sensei," she whispered. "It won't happen again." With that she rushed out the door before he could say anything back. He stared after her with his one visible eye then averted his gaze to his desk when she was out of sight. He hadn't really cared if she slept in his class, as a matter of fact he wouldn't care much if they all decided to nap in his class but he had to make a good front whether he like it or not. He sighed and gathered his things. The price he must pay for missions like these.

Usagi dragged herself through the front door. Another long laboring day at school ugh. When would this be over? She shrugged and dropped her bag at the door and headed for the fridge. Ah! Mom didn't go grocery shopping yet. She whimpered and closed the door in disappointment and shuffled up the stairs to her room.

"Not now," she said to her brother as she felt some kind of snide comment coming her way.

"Ugh, what's wrong with you?" he mumbled and she just walked into her room and closed the door. She spread herself across her bed and stayed there in silence. Her ears were peeked listening to anything and everything. She could hear her brother clumping through the hallways and could faintly hear the sound of the air conditioning. She continued listening and suddenly heard creaking noises. She grinned smugly and waited until the creaking got louder and finally when it was loud enough she grabbed a pillow and threw it full force at the edge of her bed.

"Agh what the heck?"

"HAHA Luna you know better than to try and sneak up on me," exclaimed Usagi as she stood triumphantly on the top of her bed with throbbing stars in her eyes. There was choking coming from under the pillow that distracted Usagi a bit. "Oops did I throw that too hard?" she whispered to herself with a finger on her lip. Then she smirked. "Hehe maybe I'm getting stronger!" and again she returned to her triumphant pose with star-filled eyes.

"Ah, air! Finally!"

Usagi giggled. "That's what you get Luna! I told you I'd get you back for all those times that you scratched my f- - Artemis?" she froze.

"Yeah," he said as he shook himself then licked his paw. "Next time I'll knock."

Usagi slowly lowered to a seated position. "Sorry," she mumbled, as her eyes grew darker. "I thought you were Luna…"

Artemis' ears perked as he heard the depression in her voice.

"We'll find her Usagi don't worry." She nodded.

"So what are you here for Artemis?"

"I have a message from Ami."

…

Ami cringed with every step she took. Why was it that this was so painful? After all when they would fight monsters she hardly remembered being this sore afterwards. Could it be that working out was that much more difficult than battling real live demons? She shook the thought and sighed. Supposedly the soreness would go away after a week but this was lie. It had been two weeks and she could still feel the pain, of course her stamina had increased slightly but it wasn't enough to distract her from the aches.

She turned the corner and could see the cafeteria and the long line stretching from the cafeteria doors to the restrooms. Good thing she brings her own lunch. She continued forward weaving through the horde to get to her destination and stopped once she reached the outside of the crowd and sighed in relief. Sometimes people were just so inconsiderate they couldn't just congregate in an open area they had to do it where it was inconvenient. She shook her head and jumped when she heard the familiar shrieking she had learned to love over the years.

"AMI-CHAN!" the blonde ondago-atama barreled through the students having a bowling ball effect on them and Ami laughed. Serves them right for standing in the way. The blonde was waving a paper high above her head triumphantly heaving. Their tall brunette friend was close behind shaking her head in amusement apologizing to the group that had been tackled and giving dirty looks at the pigtailed girl.

"Usa, try to be more careful next time," Makoto voiced smiling.

"Oh, right," nodded Usagi and then shoved the paper towards Ami.

"What's this?" Ami asked and Usagi started jumping up and down with her hands together and her eyes resembling an upside-down U.

"Look at it!" She squealed.

Ami looked questioningly at Mako who shrugged in return. She looked at the paper and arched an eyebrow.

"SEE!"

"See what?" asked Ami a bit confused.

Usa's vehement jumping then stopped as disappointment showed in her eyes.

"Helloooo!" she said taking the paper and lifting it in front of Ami's face pointing at the letter at the top of the page.

"C minus," read Ami and again Usa started to hop uncontrollably with her hands together.

"Isn't that great?" she cried pulling Ami into a tight hug. Ami choked.

"Th-that's fantastic," she managed to spit out. Meanwhile Makoto was chuckling.

Usagi then released her and looked back at her paper.

"MAN!" she said excitedly. "I can't believe it!"

Ami looked at her in disbelief and then laughed. This was true Usa rarely got C's, matter of fact Ami was a bit unsure of how Usagi had been able to pass all these years. After all every time Ami checked on her she had an F…ah one of the unsolved mysteries of the world I guess. The three then proceeded outside to find a spot under a vacant tree.

"HA! And Haruna sensei thought I was gonna fail!" Usagi said with a humph.

They found a nice shady area and sat together. Ami pulled out her lunch and chopsticks and Makoto pulled out the two lunch pails from her bag, one for Usagi and one for herself. Usagi licked her lips and shoveled the food excitedly into her mouth as normal and the other two just smiled.

"Hey guys," said a soft female voice. The girls looked up to see the violet haired blue eyes and they smiled back.

"Hey Sashimi," they said in unison. The said girl then smiled directing her attention towards Makoto.

"Mako-chan," she started. "Are you joining us today after school?"

Makoto choked as she heard this and had to cough to clear her throat. Crap! She forgot all about that.

"Uhh," she droned. "Umm, I-I don't think I can-" she looked up and cringed as she saw Sashimi's head turning cherry red and expanding. Her eyebrows seemed to have spiked and her nostrils were flaring dangerously. Mako's eyes widened. "Uhh, yeah I'll be there!" And in the instant that she said that Sashimi's head immediately shrunk to its normal state her eyes bright and sparkling.

"Okay, I'll see you then," she said cheerfully. "You won't be late will you?"

"Nope," Makoto replied quickly. "Of course not," she said laughing nervously and rubbing the back of her neck. Sashimi looked at her and nodded.

"Alright," she smiled. "You guys have a nice day!" she said and ran off. Makoto dropped her head in a sigh of relief and groaned.

"Wow," was all Usa could say about that situation. She sat there staring at the spot where Sashimi had just left Usa's mouth open in disbelief. Ami too was pretty surprised but ignored it.

"Its okay Mako-chan," said Ami. "You should go."

Makoto looked at her and nodded. She wanted to ask why but she figured Ami would explain later but Usa didn't get that message.

"But we have-"

"We'll skip today," Ami stated. "I'll explain everything later."

Usagi nodded disappointment clear in her façade.

"Besides," interjected Makoto. "Now you can go home and show your mom your grade." Usagi's demeanor then brightened.

"Oh yeah," she yelped and bounced up and down. "Then I can rub it in Shingo's face." She giggled maliciously and her comrades sweat-dropped.

Minako smiled as she noticed the blue eyed American boy walking in her direction.

"Looking for something?" she asked playfully.

"More like someone," he said giving that cute little lopsided grin. He fell into step with her and walked by her side his arms on the back of his head. She scoffed at his nonchalant manner and took interest in the huddled girls that kept throwing dirty looks at her. She heard him laugh.

"You got a lot of fans eh Minako-chan," he said looking over at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Its all your fault," she mumbled. "You keep hanging around me, don't you have any other friends?"

Duo exaggerated a huge gasp with a hand over his heart. "Ouch Minako-chan if I didn't know any better I'd say you wanted me to leave you alone." Minako looked at him and shook her head.

"Duo, I have a feeling that even if I was serious you wouldn't leave me alone," she scoffed. He laughed.

"Well I can't help it. You're too beautiful for me to leave alone," he winked. Had this been the first day they met then she would have blushed but two weeks of this had seem to aid her in being accustomed to this kind of behavior from him. He was a shameless flirt there was no doubt about it.

"So what does one do around here in their free time," he asked as they continued down the hall.

Minako shrugged. "I don't know, a lot of stuff I guess. Go to the movies, hang out with friends, play at the arcade." Duo nodded and grinned.

"What do you do in your free time?"

She smiled. "Stuff," she answered.

"What kind of stuff?" Duo asked. She stopped walking and looked at him. Her eyes traveling from his chest to his beautiful neck and then to his eyes, those cobalt blue eyes…She gently tugged at the top button of his shirt biting on her bottom lip and he subconsciously moved his head closer to hers their foreheads nearly touching. Her eyes were sparkling mischievously exciting him beyond control.

"Fun stuff," she said with a shrug and opened the door behind her and walked in. Duo nearly fell forward and stuttered as the door shut behind her. He groaned. She was an evil tease! He smiled.

"Pfft and you blame me for why girls don't like you," he scoffed straightening up his shirt and went his way.

Minako laughed as she found her seat. That Duo Maxwell was sure fun to flirt with. She smiled. Hopefully he'd be around for a while. Earlier he had explained that he was going to school as a kind of trial basis. He didn't know if he wanted to go to school overseas or in his homeland so he wasn't sure how long he'd be here for. She sighed. The boys in her school were nice and plenty good looking but she just hadn't felt that spark like she did with him. Not that it was a romantic spark it was just that she liked his company. He was easy to talk to and she never felt awkward in the sense that he was a guy and she was a girl and they should go out. They were just good friends.

She was snapped out of her reverie by the beeping of her watch. She looked to her sides and opened it once she was sure no one could see the screen.

Training canceled. Meeting at the temple 12AM.

Minako whimpered to herself. She'd rather train and get her butt kicked than have a meeting at midnight that meant less sleep for her. Hopefully the meeting was short and to the point. Lately she could tell Ami had been constantly observing people in the streets and at school. It seemed like was always strategizing thinking about every possible aspect that could give them away and planning how to train without people finding out about it. So far everything seemed fine. Despite the fact that four of them were pretty much limping the first week of training she thought they were holding up pretty good and then Ami's quote popped up in her mind.

"Don't get comfortable, the moment that you are will be the moment that you get caught."

Minako exhaled. All this training and still no lead on Luna's whereabouts. She frowned as she thought about Artemis. He was noticeably more frantic. He could hardly stay in one place while Luna was still missing. And with this he also became more paranoid. He hardly went out in the open and when he did he made sure to do so without anyone seeing him. As a matter of fact he often popped up out of nowhere with the girls and would leave without them noticing. Minako rarely was visited by him at school but understood why. Hopefully their luck in their search would improve because as of late there was nothing. Ami continued to do her hacking to find clues; Rei was constantly searching the fire for answers and Mako, Usa and herself were busy thinking of what they might come up against once the time came to get Luna. It was all they could do and she only wished they could at least get a name or some kind of sign and then everything wouldn't seem so useless.

Rei was gasping for air when she reached the top of the stairs of the temple. Her white tank was drenched with sweat giving onlookers a clear view of her black sports bra. She could see older women shaking their heads in disapproval as she passed by but she could care less. She sat down at the top of the stairs her breathing steadily slowing down and looked out at the street. Lately the fire had been giving her strange visions that she wasn't able to decipher yet and she couldn't quite tell if it was something to do with Luna or if it was about a possible threat. All she ever saw was pitch-black. So really it was possible that it could be nothing at all. She leant forward resting her elbows on the inside of her thighs scanning the sidewalk. She noticed an elderly man making his way up the long flight.

"Good afternoon, young lady," he called from half way up the stairs.

"Good afternoon sir," she replied bowing her head respectfully.

"Quite a nice workout eh?" he said joyfully.

"Yeah, it is," she smiled. "You can thank my grandpa for that."

He laughed. "Ah, he must've picked this location when he was young and agile."

"haha, well in my grandpa's mind he still believes he is young and agile so I suppose you're right." She walked down and helped him up the rest of the stairs.

"Thank you," he said and she nodded back. "You must be the young priestess I've heard so much about."

Rei looked at him curiously and bobbed her head to confirm. "I wasn't aware that there was much talk about me."

He chuckled. "You'd be surprised." She looked at him again trying to see if she could recognize him. Maybe he was an old friend of her grandfather's?

"Did you want to see my grandfather?" she asked.

"Oh no," he replied courteously. "I've actually come to see you."

"Oh alright," Rei responded. There were no bad vibes coming from him so she shook off her unexplained anxiety and took him into the temple. "Would you like some tea?"

"If it isn't any trouble…"

"Of course not, I'll be right back." She went into the kitchen and put on a kettle of water. She took the time to quickly clean herself up and put on her robes despite her mental protests. She just went jogging she should've taken a shower first but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. Somehow she felt a bit drawn to this man's aura. She couldn't feel it outside until she was closer. She couldn't explain it really it was extraordinary. There was no threat in it but it still unnerved her.

Soon the kettle started whistling and she turned off the heat. She grabbed the tea bags and pulled out two. She placed the cups yet to be filled on the tray along with the kettle and took it to where the man was waiting. She carefully set the tray atop the table and carefully poured in the steaming water.

"So how can I help you?" she asked handing him his tea. He bowed politely and sipped.

A deep sigh exuded from him and he looked her in the eyes.

"Actually, I've come to help you."

Makoto sighed before she opened the door trying to convince herself that this would be fun but it just didn't seem to be working. Sure she liked extracurricular activities but this club was just so boring. She could feel herself dying every time she was in there. These people really knew how to ruin a good thing and she wasn't sure she could handle another year taking a part in it. She would have quit a long time ago but Sashimi, the president of the club, was pretty scary even to Mako-chan. She didn't know what it was. Maybe it was her bi-polar attitude, or the way her head starts to throb when she hears something she doesn't like or how people always seem to have terrible mishaps when they disappoint or cross her…I mean that might be it but Mako couldn't tell for sure. She finally opened the door and groaned. Still the same faces.

"Mako-chan!" They all squealed in unison. She huffed and looked at them all with an 'are you serious' kind of look and nodded.

""sup," she said and moved to a spot where hopefully she could avoid as many people possible. She then saw Sashimi who was glaring at her and Makoto smiled enthusiastically.

"I mean HEY GUUUUUUUYS! ISN'T IT A GREAT DAY FOR THE GARDENING CLUB TO MEET!" she said and they all started to nod vehemently in agreement commencing in a large discussion about how plants are the true heroes of the world and that they have been victimized by the human species too long and should take a stand because they are living organisms too and they nurture the planet and what not. Makoto had once been in a sadistic mood and mentioned that if they really wanted to make a statement they should commit mass suicide to get their point across. She was half joking but they took serious thought in this and declared it an outstanding proposal automatically calling her to the vice-president position which she stepped down from and gave to Carol who had been working for that position ever since she was a freshman. These people were pretty "abstract" as Makoto liked to say.

She sighed and sat there watching everyone mingle. She was going to quit this club, she was determined, she needed to end this. So what Sashimi approached her with that strange persuasive skill she had she was going to tell her or maybe she would leave a strongly worded letter…

"Hello everybody," she heard Sashimi say and looked forward. "As president of the gardening club I would like to say welcome! For our first order of business, I would like to introduce our newest member, Quatre Winner." Everyone cheered and unanimously greeted him.

'Poor poor Quatre joined the occult.' Makoto thought to herself feeling great remorse for the new blond student that had been winning Usagi's attention in the classroom. Hey you know what? That's probably how she got a C-; she cheated off of Quatre while she was staring at him with her heartthrob eyes. Makoto chuckled. But Quatre seemed like a smart guy so if Usa did cheat she was terrible at it.

"Hello everybody," said Quatre. Sashimi had asked him to say a few things about himself and why he joined the gardening club. "I just recently moved here and thought that I should get involved in the school so I started researching the different clubs here. I thought it would be interesting to join this club so that I can learn about plant life and hopefully use the knowledge to help my homeland. You see, where I'm from the land is very barren and learning about botany will aid me in my research to making plants that can survive harsh terrains." Everyone applauded his reasons and Makoto smiled. Mr. Quatre Winner as noble as ever.

Makoto looked to the side as she noticed another body had seated himself next to her. She smiled. "Sasha!" she greeted giving him a shoulder nudge. He chuckled with that deep low voice of his.

"Mako-chan," he said with a nod and a smile. Or at least she thought he was smiling. Supposedly he had some kind of skin condition where he had to cover most of his body. He could get away with showing the top half of his face because his hair helped shade it so he wasn't completely covered. But man, Mako could tell from the way he walked that he was a fighter even though he often denied it. His posture and build clearly gave him away. And although he was pretty much covered everywhere, Mako could tell he was a hunk underneath his "disguise".

"You working today?" she asked chewing on her pencil.

"Yeah," he said staring at her with an arched eyebrow. She didn't notice it.

"Cool, you wanna walk with me?" she asked looking over to him and stopping. "What?"

He looked at the pencil and moved it from her mouth. "That's a bad habit." Mako laughed in embarrassment.

"haha, sorry I didn't realize I was doing that." He laughed.

"Yeah I'll walk with you," he replied his charcoal eyes warm and cheerful.

"Cool," said Mako and averted her attention to Quatre. She waved and he waved back making his way over.

"Hi Mako-chan," he said in his usual kind tone.

"Hey," she replied with a smile and introduced him to Sasha. Quatre was surprised at the mention of his name and tried to hide it but Makoto could still see it. She didn't blame him though. She too thought it was a pretty girly name for a guy but Sasha didn't seem to be bothered when people laughed at his name. In fact, Sasha hardly ever cared about what people thought of him. When he was first there people would stare and point fingers calling him names but he was unfazed…pretty enviable really.

"Well, we should probably get started filling out this worksheet," Makoto said with a grimace. What kind of club gave you worksheets? She groaned putting her head on the desk. Quatre laughed and Sasha shook his head as he patted Mako on the back.

"Don't worry Mako, we'll get the answers pretty quick." He said and started writing. Makoto nodded and sat up answering everything. Luckily this worksheet had questions where the answer came to her quickly otherwise she would've quit on the spot. After all if she did it wasn't like Sashimi could do more damage to her than one of her previous enemies could…could she? She pushed the thought from her mind.

"Eh you know," Mako started. "I don't think this year'll be that bad in here." She shrugged.

"Duh, Mako-chan," said Sasha with a nudge. "It's cause I'm in here." She scoffed.

"No, Sash," said Makoto teasingly. "It's cause Quatre joined so now I think it'll be more interesting," she said with a wink and Quatre smiled.

"Well, I'm finished!" she said and stood up stretching. "How bout you Sash?"

"I've been done," he stated sitting with his arms crossed. Mako rolled her eyes and looked over to Quatre.

"I think I'll stay behind and mingle," he said with a smile.

"Okay," replied Makoto. "See you in class." She waved as she and Sasha went to give Sashimi their papers. Sashimi looked at them critically and sighed signaling Mako and Sasha's exit. Thank goodness it was over!

Usagi snored loudly as she lay sprawled on her bed sheets. Originally she had wanted to go home and gloat about the C she got on her test but Shingo was nowhere to be found and she remembered he had soccer practice. Then she went to go tell her mother who had said something like "Good, that's what you should be getting in your sleep!" which was pretty depressing really and her dad well…he was buried behind the newspaper. So she made her way upstairs tossed her bag on the floor of her room and dropped onto her bed. In an instant she was fast asleep. Those training sessions really took their toll.

"Usa."

….

"Usa."

…

"Usa."

…

"Usagi-chan."

…

Shingo laughed as he stood at the door of her room.

"That's no way to wake her up," he said with a scoff. "Here lemme help."

He walked in with a camera in hand and you could hear the shutter snap.

"AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" came a loud shriek from the blond as she jumped out of her bed chasing the young brunette boy.

"HAHA!" He teased as he ran in circles around Ami who was sweat-dropping. "I'm gonna email this to everyone in your school!"

"You little UGH!" screamed Usagi as she ran after him. Surprisingly she managed to pin him to the ground and grab the camera.

"Ami!" she yelled. "Come hold him down!"

Ami cringed. "Umm, what?" she stammered.

"HOLD HIM DOWN," she cried as she struggled to keep him pinned.

"I-I think I'll pass," she managed to let out.

"ARGH!" she growled and again pinned Shingo to the ground and his expression was like "wtf?!" Now that Ami could laugh at.

Usagi opened up the camera and her eyes widened as she let out an ear-piercing screech. "It's empty! You little turd!" she yelled throwing the camera at the laughing Shingo.

"You're such a loser Usa!" he said as he stood up and walked out. Usagi was breathing heavy waiting for him to exit and then slammed her door.

"SORRY FOR PUTTING YOU ON THE SPOT," Usagi yelled still amped up from the little wrestling match she had.

"No problem," she said cleaning out her ears. Usagi finally calmed down and exhaled.

"So, what's going on?" she asked and Ami seated herself by the table in Usa's room.

"I've decided that in order to prevent people from detecting us in our activities, we need to be more sporadic."

"Yeah…I agree?" Usagi replied. Ami laughed.

"We can't leave a pattern," she explained.

"Oh, okay," said Usagi. "So what does that mean?"

"If we continue like we have these past two weeks then someone will wonder what we're up to. We need to continue to do the things that we would normally do and then train on top of that but not at a scheduled time. Also we can no longer verbally discuss when we're going to meet to train. Just recently I found out that our communicators do not use satellites to transmit, it actually manipulates the stars and the moon to transmit. Therefore, we won't be able to be traced," said Ami.

"Really?" asked Usagi in amazement, as she looked her watch over.

"Mmhmm."

"So how come you're telling me this now?" she asked.

"I just want you to know first Usa. I was planning on telling everyone else tonight."

Usagi nodded.

"As you might of guessed, it is important that we all be familiar with computer systems, codes and viruses, having to depend on one person being able to do this is detrimental its better that everyone be able to comprehend how systems work…"

"oooooh," groaned Usagi as she shrunk in her place. Ami smiled.

"I'm going to begin tutoring sessions again amongst us, however those tutoring sessions will be over regular course work and then we'll have individual tutoring sessions involving computers." Usagi's eyes nearly bulged out of her head.

"TWO?" she shrieked and Ami nodded.

"Usa, just like how we said its important that everyone be able to fight well in hand-to-hand combat its important that we be able to analyze and think fast in case we get separated or captured. I don't want us to miss something," she informed and Usa frowned in compliance.

"I understand."

"Good," said Ami. "Now, you can't go let others know what you're doing concerning computer science but for the other classes feel free. Just be careful."

"Don't worry Ami, I hardly talk about school when I'm there I don't think that'll change."

"Alright then, another thing." Usa grimaced. "We need to be able to practice on our own. We can't always meet together as a group but we can do it individually or in pairs. Either way we can't be seen. We must convince onlookers that we haven't changed in one bit else they'll start paying more attention."

"Wow, Ami you've really been thinking a lot about this haven't you?"

"Well when I can't find traces of where Luna might be I spend time thinking of ways we could be inconspicuous."

Usagi frowned being reminded of their situation and suddenly a wave of determination surged through her. She was going to do what ever it took to find and get Luna back even if it meant a lot of sacrifice. After all, Luna was worth it…wasn't she?

"Okay," said Usa. "When do we start?"

Ami smiled and pulled a ten-inch thick text onto the table and Usagi's face slammed straight into the floor. Ami laughed nervously scratching the back of her head.

"It's not as long as it seems, you'll see!" She said and opened the flap.

"Eh, I'll just pretend like I believe you," Usagi muttered staring disbelievingly at the book from the side of the table. Boy…the things she had to do…

o

Rei rubbed her head slowly bringing herself from the ground. "What happened?" she muttered to herself the room dark and still a bit fuzzy. She shook her head as if to clear her vision and looked around. Everything seemed to be in order…

She looked down at the table expecting to see something but it was clear and shining like any other night. She looked skeptically around her thinking she was forgetting something but could find nothing to help her regain what that might be. She sighed. She probably was just too tired that's it. With a decisive nod she accepted that excuse and went to the kitchen. She put on a kettle of water and paused feeling as though she had done this before. She shook it off and stood across from the stove leaning on the counter. She stared at the flames caressing the bottom of the kettle enjoying the intricate dance it was performing. She enjoyed watching fire she had to admit. It was pretty soothing for her; it made her feel as if she was dancing too.

She continued staring, her headache slowly receding. Her unblinking eyes had a perfect reflection of the wild fire. Soon her mind was so engrossed in her own thoughts that all she could envision was pitch-black. There was nothing to be seen, no light, no objects, nothing. Her mind was completely blank. A small glimmer however then caught her attention. Curiously she willed her mind to zoom in on it. As she got closer she could see the object grow larger and realized it was much taller than she expected. It stood stories above her and appeared to be a large robot. She gently placed her hand on the cold metal and could feel an enormous amount of potential energy seeping out of it. Rei continued to examine it her mind racing with possibilities of what this could mean. She then stopped as she saw a familiar face. Her heart raced excitedly quickly abandoning the large robot and pursuing another figure. Just a little closer, she kept telling herself and soon she was sprinting. Her eyes shined with exhilaration her heart so high it nearly lifted her from her feet.

"I-"

"REI!" cried out a familiar voice. Rei jumped.

"Grandpa?" The scene in her mind quickly dissipated and she looked to see the short bald man running with a bucket of water towards the stove and dumping it unceremoniously. Rei blinked looking perplexed at the scourge marks on the counter and around the kettle. There were even signs of char on the bottom of the cabinet above the stove.

"Are you okay?" he asked grabbing Rei.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," she stammered still trying to piece together what just happened. Her grandfather was speaking but she couldn't hear him. Her vision stayed focus on the stove and she kept reenacting what had happened. The flames were ridiculously large they pretty much engulfed the kettle and how? Even if the gas valve was faulty it wouldn't have caused such a large flame. There were no flammable objects next to the fire or on the kettle so what happened? She gulped as a small voice in the back of her mind echoed in her thoughts but she shook her head in disbelief. Her mind then quickly paced back to what she saw before her grandfather had entered and her enthusiasm was quickly resurrected. The meeting tonight would not be futile.

o

"Order up!"

Makoto looked up quickly grabbing the plate and walking to the table where their last customer for the night sat patiently.

"Here you go sir, sorry for the wait" she said carefully placing the plate in front of him. "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

The elderly man looked up at her with a meek smile. "You remind me so much of my granddaughter," he said his voice raspy and worn. Makoto smiled.

"I'm flattered," she replied and again asking if he needed anything else. He looked to the seat across from him in thought and finally nodded his head slowly.

"Actually if it isn't any trouble…" Makoto raised an eyebrow. "Could I get some ketchup?" She let out a small laugh and he smiled.

"Of course, it wouldn't be any trouble at all." She then retrieved a bottle of ketchup and placed it at his table.

"Thank you young lady, you in deed live up to your reputation," he smiled and commenced eating his dinner. She was somewhat taken aback by this. What did he mean by that? If anything her reputation was quite intimidating or so people thought. She was known as the girl you don't mess with, the "karate maniac"…she grimaced at the thought.

"Anytime," she muttered although puzzled she still appreciated the compliment.

She walked back to the counter and took a seat, and Sasha was behind the counter cleaning.

"You okay?" he asked. Makoto looked up.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she asked with a shrug. He shrugged back.

"I don't know. You just look like you're deep in thought," he commented momentarily pausing from wiping. "That guy say something to make you think?"

She smiled. "Nah, I'm just daydreaming."

He sighed. "You should stop daydreaming about me Mako and just ask," he said with a wink and she laughed.

"Ask what?" she retorted playfully.

"If I'm single," he responded. She shook her head. "I am by the way…"

She smiled looking affectionately at him. His untamed black hair and charcoal black eyes complimented his glistening golden brown skin. "I don't date co-workers," she said apologetically and he laughed.

"That's too bad," he replied. "Ah well." Makoto laughed.

"You bounce back quick."

"I'm not one to stay down," he smiled, or so she imagined. She then turned to check on their customer and was surprised to see he had already left. She didn't even hear the door close. Strange…

She walked over to the table and took the cash he had left for the meal and put it in the register. She cleared off the plate and gasped when she picked up the silverware dropping it to the ground.

"Ouch," she cringed waving her fingers to try and wave away the pain.

"You okay?" asked Sasha.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said as she examined her finger. "I just got a little shock."

"Stop dragging your feet," he said over the counter. "You're making too much static electricity."

Yeah he was probably right. She continued to clear the table and pulled out the chair to see if any crumbs had fallen onto the floor. There on the seat was a small daisy. She looked at it curiously and picked it up subconsciously bringing it to her nose to smell. It was surprisingly strong, so strong she had to shake her head a little to knock out some of the aroma. She put the daisy in a pocket and finished cleaning. What a nice man she thought as she looked again at the flower.

"Ready to close up," asked Sasha as he removed his apron. Makoto nodded.

They then locked up the shop and parted towards their homes. Makoto rubbed her eyes. Whew she was more tired than she had anticipated. She reached her apartment complex nearly falling asleep as she climbed the stairs and opened the door. She dropped her bag on the floor set the timer to go off in an hour and sat down at the table. She pulled the flower up for another sniff and sighed…that was nice…she struggled to keep her eyes open until she finally gave in. Her body dangled dangerously and fell off the side of her seat laying motionless on the ground.

o

The boys sat quietly in the living room awaiting the arrival of the infamous Dr. J. He was finally coming to explain why it is they were all stationed there and what their mission was beyond finding this new enemy and destroying them. Duo yawned obnoxiously and stretched out his arms.

"Gah, when's he gonna get here I got school tomorrow," he complained with a lopsided grin.

Wufei looked at the American scathingly and Duo laughed nervously. "Geez Wum- I mean Wufeeeei, chill out I'm just asking."

The Chinese shook him off and went back to meditating. Trowa looked at the two of them and then went back to staring off into space. Quatre sat comfortably reading a book while Heero sat observing photos they had received after the destruction of one of the last operating space colony.

"He's here," said Trowa pulling everyone out of their thoughts. Quatre then got up to open the door.

"Hello Doctor J," he said allowing the said man to enter.

"Hello," he nodded. They all looked attentively at him ready to absorb whatever it was he had to say.

"As you all know the last space colony was attacked by an unknown contender and until recently we were unable to track any leads in who this might be. We were unable to acquire an image of the weapon used but through much tribulation, I have been able to detect a particular energy signature unlike anything we've ever seen. This energy signature has been spotted in this district. Now, only three soldiers survived from that colony and from the information we got from them we think that the unknown energy signature belongs to a mobile suit. We've devised that the destruction of the space colony was a "test drive" for the newly developed suit so their intentions are yet to be unveiled. We have no leads as to who is behind this or what they're next move might be. You're mission is to identify the new threat, infiltrate if possible and retrieve as much information as possible about their motive, origin and founder."

"So basically we're swimming in the dark?" asked Duo.

Dr. J nodded. "Do you accept the mission?" Duo sighed knowing full well what the answer would be.

"Mission accepted," replied Heero. Dr. J smiled and went to the door.

"Good. I expect daily status reports from each of you, good luck." With that he walked out and Duo groaned.

"We don't even know where to look!" he complained and the others ignored him. There was no doubt that they would be staying there for a long time.

o

Artemis' ears perked up as he lay on the end of Minako's bed. He pushed himself up and went to the window.

"What is it?" asked Mina as she looked over from her desk. Artemis just stared out watching the clouds gather. That was odd.

"Artemis?" said Minako as she stood over him at the window. She looked out to see what he saw and frowned.

"Looks like we're gonna have a thunderstorm, I better wear a jacket tonight huh?" she said petting Artemis on the head and walking back to her desk. Artemis' eyes stayed trained on the clouds. Something strange was happening…he could feel it.

…

Quatre smiled appreciatively at the beautiful weather they had been blessed with. The sun was shining, the breeze was cool and the people were happy…well most of them were. Wufei and Heero had vacant expressions completely oblivious of the scenery. Quatre sighed. Hopefully by some chance they would learn to enjoy the simple things in life.

"Morning Quatre!" The said blonde turned to smile.

"Good morning Mako-chan!" He said with a wave and then noticed the group of girls that were accompanying her. "And good morning to you as well Usagi-chan," he said sweetly. Usagi's eyes immediately started throbbing hearts.

"Hi Quatre!" she said clinging to his left arm. He blushed madly at this and laughed, scratching the back of his head.

"Gah, meatball-head, squeeze him any tighter and he'll lose circulation in his arm." Commented a raven-haired beauty. Her violet eyes looked scathingly at her blue-eyed comrade. Usagi poked her tongue out at her in response.

"Nobody asked for your input Rei!" Rei rolled her eyes.

"If someone says hi, it doesn't mean you can just jump on them." She said yanking her head up in disgust.

"I did not jump on him!" argued Usagi as she let his arm go putting her face against Rei's.

"You did too!" Rei said pushing her head back against Usagi's.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not! Did not! Did not!"

"Did too! Did too! Did too!"

They both growled as their heads pushed back and forth against each other yelling the same things over and over. The other girls laughed nervously scratching their heads in embarrassment, Wufei was watching them scornfully, Quatre stood there unsure of what to do and Heero had shown no indication that he had even cared.

"Guys," muttered another blonde with a hand up hiding her mouth from the boys. "Do you really have to do this now?" However, the question fell on deaf ears. "I tried," said Minako and shrugged.

"I hope I didn't-"

"Oh don't be ridiculous Quatre," spoke up Makoto. "These two are always like this, it's not you're fault." She said reassuringly, her other two companions nodding to confirm.

"Well," said Minako in an attempt to change the subject. "I don't think we've all met before," she said with a smile.

"I'm Quatre," the blonde boy immediately responded. "And these are my friends, Wufei and Heero." The said boys then nodded.

"I'm Minako," she bowed. "And the two fighting are Usagi and Rei, they're really nice when they're not like this," she grinned.

"I'm sure," replied Quatre.

"Ooh, and what do we have here?" Minako tensed as she felt someone's arms wrap her around her shoulders from behind temporarily distracting Usagi and Rei from their bickering.

"Hey Rei who's that?" Usagi asked and Rei shrugged.

"How should I know meatball head?" she retorted.

"He's a total hottie!" Usagi's eyes then squinted in excitement.

"Mina!" she whined now nudging Minako. "You didn't tell us you had a boyfriend!" Minako shook her head.

"That's because I don't," she said ducking out of the newcomer's hold. He pouted.

"Oh com'on babe, it's about time they knew," he said with a wink. She rolled her eyes.

"This is Duo," Minako introduced. "He likes to think that we're more than just friends." Duo faked a pained expression in response but soon laughed.

"Hey well, she says we're just friends for now so I guess I just have to go with it," he smiled sheepishly. Usagi was laughing quietly to herself, little red horns protruding from her angel-colored hair with a small pointy red tail creeping up behind her.

He's completely perfect for Minako! She screamed mentally. Already she was scheming on ways to get Minako to take him seriously.

There was a man panting as he raced through the halls filled with flashing red lights. The alarms were sounding but were deafened as all Rei could hear were his feet clinking across the floor and his pounding heart. He came to a stop at a large steel door shakily punching in a sequence of numbers. He stealthily rushed through as the door opened to reveal a hangar, where dwelt a gigantic lifeless robot. Rei stared at it hesitantly and watched as the man sprinted up the stairs to a computer and started typing. A large rumbling ignited as the chest cavity of the robot opened to reveal a seat. He jumped in and Rei watched as it closed exuding a low humming sound. Everything surrounding it shifted away and a large force of wind started to tug at her as she noticed the door of the hangar opening on the other end. She watched in surprise as she saw a group of meteors trailing across the sky and the moon so close in orbit. Was she in space?

Her ears suddenly perked as she heard a high whistling sound coming from the robot and watched as it shot out of the hangar. She was then taken to a scene outside. The sky was dark filled with floating rocks and small speckles of light. There was no doubt about it, she was in space. A large explosion then captured her attention. A horde of giant robots were floating about shooting large guns in every direction. She raised an eyebrow. Seems like there was a battle waging but what were they fighting? The robots seemed to be cautiously floating observing their surroundings for their target. She turned around.

Rei froze as she stared into the large cynical eyes that were hauntingly familiar. A strange dark energy was scourging out deeply chilling her spine. What was this? It laughed exuding a low snigger making her shiver.

"Hello young miko," she cringed. How? He laughed again and averted his gaze to the group of floating dolls. She could feel it smiling as it stared at them. Rei suddenly flew back a couple feet as a gust of wind picked up from seemingly nowhere. The machine zoomed past her, disappearing in the group. All of the robots seemed oblivious of the monster's whereabouts. Even she was having trouble only able to see small glimpses of sleek black. She watched as one by one the robots exploded and were chopped to pieces. Her heart pounded in her chest as the last one standing was split in half, the pieces floating aimlessly out to space. The giant emblem of darkness stood holding a large glaive chuckling.

"And so it begins."

Rei gasped as she came out of her vision, looking disgruntled. Her heart was beating heavily in her chest. Something sinister was out there, and it was coming…she could feel it.

A/N: The next chapter is the first chapter of the revised version. This version will no longer be continued. -JPandS