Family Ties: A Sailor Moon story.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters depicted herein.
Chapter 1: Tokyo, Japan. 2135 hrs.
It was a warm night for early autumn on a Saturday night in Tokyo. People everywhere were taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to go out and spend time with friends and family.
One such family, a mother and her young daughter, were on their way home after an evening out. They had enjoyed dinner together, and had gone to see the latest movie based upon one of Japan's biggest Anime sensations.
The child was talking passionately about her favourite scenes from the movie, while her mother beamed at her while keeping her eyes on the road ahead.
A man in another car was not as fortunate. He had lost his job recently, and his wife had left him, taking their young child with her.
He had spent the last of his money trying to drink himself into merciful oblivion. But that was denied him by several barkeeps that threw him out of their establishments. Now he sought oblivion in another way.
It was a cruel twist of fate that this man, and the mother and child were destined to meet in such a tragic way on what was otherwise a peaceful night.
The mother drove up to the intersection and paused waiting for the green light. Her daughter was still chatting innocently away. The light changed and they drove through. There was a bright flash of headlights from the passenger side. Neither mother nor daughter had a chance to cry out as the man's car drove into the side of their car.
Several moments after the crash, the mother awoke with a start. She could feel the searing pain from her head and arm. She tried to remember what had happened one moment she was listening to her daughter the next moment there was a crash.
She tried to lift her right arm to examine her head. It wouldn't move. She touched her head with her left hand and it came back covered in blood. Examining her arm she noticed that it was broken, and useless. The pain became more intense as she looked over at her daughter.
The young child's dark hair was fanned out partially obscuring her angelic face. She appeared to be asleep. Please, let her be all right, the mother prayed silently.
"Hotaru, are you all right?" The child's mother, Setsuna Meioh, asked tentatively as she reached over with her unbroken arm to examine her daughter, Hotaru Tomoe, who was still restrained by her seatbelt and shoulder harness. When Setsuna touched her, she slumped forward slightly, still unconscious.
"Hotaru!" Setsuna cried fearfully. Hotaru still didn't respond. Then Setsuna noticed the blood covering the seat behind Hotaru.
Setsuna's hysterical screams rang out into the night, nearly as loudly as the sirens approaching in the distance.