Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: S

A fan fiction by Shadow of Mars.

Preamble

Well, here we are again. Over three years after "All The Small Things", I'm back with a new fiction. It's Sailor Moon again, but this time it's based on the "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon" live TV series aired in Japan in 2004. For those used to seeing the English dub of the anime, here's a quick name conversion guide.

Amy - Mizuno Ami

Mina - Aino Minako

Serena - Chiba Usagi

Raye - Hino Rei

Lita - Kino Makoto

Hotaru - Tomoe Hotaru (No change - )

Amara - Ten'oh Haruka

Michelle - Kaiyu Michiru

Trista - Setsuna

Darien - Chiba Mamoru

WARNING:

If you haven't seen the entire PGSM series yet, including the Special Act, then please DO NOT read this fiction until you have done so. This fiction takes place after the Special Act, and so contains spoilers from the start.

Also, Naoko Takeuchi is the creator and owner of Sailor Moon, and I'm not. Just to make that clear to you all.

Act 0 .:. Prologue

Sunday morning, a spring Sunday morning. As sunlight filtered in through the pearl satin curtains, Usagi Chiba slowly opened her crystal blue eyes to take in the rays, a content smile imprinted on her face.

"Good morning Mamoru..."

As those lazy words escaped her lips, she realised that something wasn't quite right. As she shifted her body left, there was no warm husband to cuddle against, just an empty half of the bed.

"Mamoru?"

Bemused, she looked behind her, confirming her suspicion in the process. Yet instead of leaning up and gazing around her whitewashed bedroom, she embedded her head yet further into her soft cotton pillow in an attempt to return to a completely unconscious state.

"Good morning, Usagi-chan."

With a creak of the door, in stepped Mamoru, a tray in hand laden with breakfast.

"Mamoru!"

Usagi's face instantly lit up to hearing the sound of her husband's arrival, and as she turned to look at him, she took note of the tray, the sight of breakfast in bed appealing to her even more.

"There we go."

Mamoru carefully placed the tray on Usagi's lap, taking care when pouring the drinks.

"Your personal favourite, Cheese and Ham Omelette, served with Orange juice."

"Thanks!"

As Mamoru lifted the plate away from the tray, an envelope sealed with a pink heart was revealed, Usagi's excitement almost impossible to contain within herself. She snatched the envelope, carefully unsealing it with the tip of her index finger before pulling out the snow white and pink card contained within.

"Happy anniversary." said Mamoru, a simple content smile on his face as Usagi leant up to hold him close, taking care not to spill her breakfast in the process. Mamoru slipped back into the satin covers, taking a plate for himself, giving his wife a quick kiss on the cheek before tucking in to his breakfast.

"You know, I still can't believe a year's gone so quickly." mumbled Usagi, consuming a hefty portion from her omelette, before drowning it in orange juice. "Everything still feels as it used to though, strange as it seems..."

"How so?" enquired Mamoru. Usagi grinned.

"I don't know, but everything just seem to feel the same as I was when I first fell in love with you." Usagi took a brief pause to gobble down another slice of the omelette. "Mmmm... This is good stuff. Anyway, we're together and still feel the same as we did when we first started going out, Minako-chan's still really famous, Mako-chan and Motoki are still as cute together as they were when they started going out, Ami-chan's still the natural-born genius doctor and Rei-chan's come back from the Kyoto Mountains but she's still as stubborn as ever."

Mamoru just lay back and smiled. Usagi was right, five years had passed, and in terms of their normal everyday lives, not all that much had changed really. Sure, he was now a married man and Usagi and company had now left High School - and University in Ami's case – and were now working full time, but in essence nothing had changed. Makoto and Usagi regularly met for coffee afternoons and the occasional Friday night out, sometimes even with Minako if she could spare the time, while Motoki still managed the day-to-day management of the Crown Karaoke Centre which had so often been the central meeting place for the girls.

"Just you make sure that you enjoy today the best you can," Mamoru had a sly smile on his face. "We have a wedding to prepare for, remember?" Usagi, now sans her omelette, buried her face in her pillow.

"But it's two months away! We have time!"

"You'd be surprised how time creeps up on you." Mamoru laid his arm across Usagi's back, trying to comfort her. "Anyway, don't worry about it today, just make sure you have enough time to get everything ready."

While Sunday morning may be a time of rest for some, for others it was a time of leisure with other methods. Her white tracksuit glowing in the striking morning sun, Aino Minako, pop star extrodinaire was on her usual morning run. Under any other circumstance, she too would be resting like her close friend Usagi, yet her health was something she valued extremely highly.

Having suffered from a Brain Tumour for several years while fighting as Sailor V, she knew the story of the Silver Millennium, along with the destructive power of the Ginzuisho. Yet, for all the destructive powers of the Ginzuisho, with a user pure in body and mind, the Ginzuisho was also the great healer.

Having destroyed Earth for the second time over her longing for Endymion, Princess Serenity had finally managed to harness the true power of the Ginzuisho to rebuild Earth and its inhabitants, effectively turning back time. Yet as time swung into reverse gear, the eternal healer also healed the very problem that had been the blight of her life; not only had her sailor Senshi brooch vanished, so too had the tumour.

To Minako, it was amazing that she would be able to see the morning sunrise for years to come, especially as she had died not three days before the Earth's destruction and rebirth occurred. It had opened up another lease of life, alongside the new feeling of life she gained when she befriended Ami, Usagi, Makoto and Rei.

Seeing an all too familiar bench come into view, Minako burst into a sprint, running as fast as her aching legs could take her towards the lonely bench. Placing one hand on the mahogany surface, Minako stopped her wrist watch and glanced at the time.

"Five minutes and forty-eight seconds..." she panted, her lungs screaming for as much oxygen as they could take.

"Congratulations, it's a new personal best."

Leaping up onto the bench beside her, Artemis look rather gleeful at Minako's achievement.

"Thanks." Minako reached down into her rucksack, opening a bottle of sports drink, the icy sweetness coating her throat as she sighed with relief. "Tokyo marathon here I come."

"So will you be going for another lap?" enquired Artemis, eager to watch Minako train further.

"No, we've got a busy day ahead with Usagi and Mamoru's anniversary party. Plus my manager's really starting to get onto my back about filming the video for the next single."

Minako grabbed her rucksack, slinging it onto her shoulder as she stood, the throbbing in her legs starting to subside, before placing Artemis on her other shoulder. The sun had fully risen, though there was still an orange tint to the cloudless sky. As the sunlight caressed the grass below, Minako couldn't help but look at her surrounding with an appreciative smile.

"It's amazing to think that things are as they are today because of the Princess..." Minako sighed. "She had the power to destroy it all, yet she also had the power to restore it all. The bringer of life and death." said Minako philosophically as she gently touched the side of her head that had once plagued her with unbearable illness. Not only did Sailor Venus owe her life to the Princess, so too did Aino Minako.