Chapter One: Lost Heart
The serene early Monday morning in a particular residential area of Azabu-Juuban, Tokyo was usually a favourite moment of Yoshika Jun's. It signified the start of the week; the beauty of it hinting at happy days to come. Even the full blooms of her garden that she devoted almost all her time to were in agreement. Nothing could prevent what she acknowledged would be a beautiful start.
A shrill scream coming from her opposite neighbour's house seemed to want to challenge her.
Jun shook her head, sighing and pushed back the brim of her sun hat that had fallen over her eyes. Only the poor Tsukino girl was capable of such loud antics in the early morning. There was hardly a school week that the girl wouldn't wake up crying of her tardiness at least once. With an amused smile on her aging face, Jun returned to tending to her garden.
Fifteen minutes barely passed when the front door of the Tsukino residence burst open with enough force to draw Jun's attention. She stood up, peering over her gate to watch Tsukino Usagi stumbling out the door with an anxious look on her young face.
Her middle-school uniform screamed of lack of ironing, the black of her shoes was dulled with dirt and her light brown hair had only been roughly brushed and pulled into twin tails that were held up high on her head in buns. In Jun's eyes that had seen half a century's worth, there was nothing special about the fourteen-year-old girl. She was a little shorter than average, was more interested in playing than school, the oldest of two in a well-rounded nuclear family, and terribly prone to tripping over her own feet.
"Ah, obaa-chan! Good morning!"
Usagi had stopped outside her front gate, her mad dash to get to school on time momentarily forgotten as she waved to Jun, a wide, cheery smile on her innocent face.
Jun smiled to herself. Nothing special, save for being possibly the sweetest girl she had ever met.
"Good morning, Usagi," she greeted back. "Late to school again, I see."
The girl laughed sheepishly. "I overslept."
"Then you better get going." Jun shooed her playfully. "You don't want to start such a beautiful day on a bad note."
"You're right," Usagi cried out. With another wave, she began to run. "See you later, obaa-chan!"
"Have a good day at school," Jun called out after her. "Be careful, okay?"
Whether Usagi heard her or not was an irrelevant worry when the flurry of legs in the air and a loud wail became her responses as Usagi rounded a corner.
Jun leaned over the gate even though Usagi was no longer in view. Her expression had turned forlorn as she thought to herself, "So sweet, yet so lost."
Usagi sniffed, wiping her eyes that were beginning to water, as she pressed one palm against her hurting chin. Her knees were lightly scrapped and bruised, and her right wrist was sore from when she had reach out to stop her fall—it had only served to lighten the impact of her chin hitting the pavement. Despite what Jun had said to her, her day had already started out badly and it seemed to be continuing down that path already. Why should she bother anymore?
With a sigh, she finally stood up. She'd been having days like this ever since she could remember, and still moved on, so why change now?
A small meow behind her caught her attention. On the ground, a small black cat writhed as if in pain.
"Oh no, kitty!" Usagi knelt down and gingerly scooped the cat onto her lap. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
As far as she could tell, she didn't seem to have caused the animal any major injuries from tripping over it. There were, however, a couple of adhesive bandages stuck to its forehead that the cat was pawing at.
"Kids nowadays," Usagi grumped, reaching out to remove the bandages, "getting meaner by the years. Just like Shingo. Ow! Hey, kitty! I'm trying to help here."
After a short dance of finger versus claws, she braced the pain and quickly pulled off the bandages. Immediately, the cat stopped fighting her, going limp in her arms as she carried it to face level.
"What's this?" Usagi mused aloud. "A crescent-shaped bald spot?"
The cat merely fixed her with an intense stare that was unlike anything she'd ever seen.
"Ah, damn. I don't have time for this."
Setting the cat aside and giving it a pat as she rose to her feet, Usagi ran off down the road, hoping against false hope that her first period teacher would suddenly decide to be late.
Usagi sighed dramatically, clutching her growling stomach as she and her best friend, Osaka Naru, made their way to the open courtyard for lunch. Today was definitely not going well for her.
"Oh, don't exaggerate, Usagi," Naru was saying. "It wasn't that bad."
Usagi glared. As much as she loved her best friend, there were times when Naru's positive outlook and constant good grades were not the least wanted. "Easy for you to say. You didn't arrive late to school, get lectured by Haruda, find out you failed last week's test and end class with a two-page translating assignment due in two days!"
Naru pretended to ponder about her rant, running her fingers through her shoulder-length dark hair. "I don't believe it was just you who got that assignment." At Usagi's unspoken threat of falling into tears, she reached over and gently patted her back. "There, there, Usagi. We can work together on that assignment if you want."
"Naru!" Usagi threw her arms around her appreciatively. "You're always so good to me."
As Usagi continued to tack on praises of how good, kind and understanding Naru was to her, they finally found a relatively empty bench outside on the side of one of the school building blocks. Almost every student of the school must have had the same idea to enjoy lunch period under the sunny early summer sky. Usagi's mood even began to lighten the longer she stayed under the sun.
But when they got close enough to identify the single bespectacled male student occupying the bench, she forced herself to keep the oncoming gag an internal one. Umino Gurio irritated her. Despite his intelligence, he had a strange habit of flitting from clique to clique among her classmates, boasting about his test results and general knowledge of random facts. It didn't help that he had a tendency of running into her mother and spilling all things test-related, especially when her results were bad.
"Hi, girls." Umino slid aside to give them space to sit. "What took you so long?"
Through clenched teeth, Usagi replied, "You know what happened, you little—"
"Usagi," Naru warned.
With a huff, she withdrew and began the process of methodically, but earnestly gulping down lunch.
"Hey, did you hear?" Umino's voice grated through her like cold lightning. "There was a robbery at a jewellery store last night."
"Really?" Naru asked. "What happened? Was anybody hurt?"
Despite her best efforts, Usagi leaned in to listen.
"Apparently," Umino began, happy to have captured their attention, "it happened just as the store was closing for the night. Three armed robbers ran in and started threatening everyone and demanding jewellery and money."
"That sounds terrible," Naru said.
"But no one got hurt," he continued. "Someone fitting the description of Sailor V came in, took out the bad guys, and ran off, all in the space of mere minutes."
"Wow, her again?"
"Who's that?" Usagi asked, her mouth still full of rice.
"You don't know who Sailor V is?" Umino replied, looking shocked.
She didn't bother to hide her scowl. If she asked that, of course she didn't know. There was no need to emphasise it.
If Umino was bothered by her expression, he didn't show it—though Naru tried to nudge it away. "For the past few months, there've been sightings of this masked vigilante in sailor-like uniform saving people from those weird attacks that have been happening lately—I'm sure you know about that—and sometimes foiling the common criminals. Young female, long blond hair and stunningly beautiful were descriptions used by witnesses."
"You mean the weird occurrences where groups of people were found unconscious and had to be hospitalised for several days?" she clarified. "How are they attacks?"
"Well, rumour has it that the victims have been claiming that monsters attacked them, draining them of their energy. And Sailor V was the one to destroy the monsters."
"Huh." She frowned. "My father never said anything about that. And he's a journalist."
"Police don't really want stories of monsters to be running about," Umino explained. "But it is a pretty serious situation. A relative of mine got caught in one of those attacks last month. He said it was like being suffocated to death."
"Oh." Usagi winced. "That sounds bad."
"He's okay now?" Naru asked.
He nodded, adjusting his glasses. "Thank goodness for Sailor V. The title Guardian of Justice suits her, doesn't it?"
Usagi bit on her chopsticks, tuning out the rest of the conversation. Something was gnawing at the back of her mind; a feeling of familiarity she couldn't place. There was something about the name Sailor V that called to her.
School had ended, and Usagi was loathed to go home. Staring at the red '30' that marred her test paper, as if that was enough to miraculously change the number, she slowly made her way past shop lots, drawing on the time until she had to return home.
She got bad results frequently. It was now at the point where her mother would get angry, scold her, and the whole ordeal would be over and forgotten in half an hour. She knew she disappointed her parents, she knew she wasn't as dumb as her results claimed, but she lacked motivation. Something was always holding her back, but never telling her why. It frustrated her to no end.
"Screw it," she mumbled, crumpling the paper and throwing it over her shoulder. "Nothing'll change with this one paper anyway."
"Hey, watch it."
With a jump, Usagi turned around, ready to apologise for her rash action. The apology became stuck to her throat when she saw the young man a few years older than her with a mop of black hair peering into her test paper.
"Looks like you need to study harder, odango-atama," he said, smirking as he handed the paper back to her.
She glowered, snatching it from his hands and hoping it gave him a paper cut. "Mind your own business. You shouldn't be looking at people's test papers anyway."
He shrugged. "You threw it away. One person's trash is another man's treasure."
"How's this supposed to be treasure?" she practically snapped at him.
He grinned. "It amused me. I never thought I'd ever see such low marks."
"Screw you!" She turned on her heel and stomped away as fast as she could, doing her best to forget the rude encounter that only served to darken her already sour mood.
As she came across the Game Center Crown, she decided to go in even though it was getting late. A few rounds playing a game at the arcade wouldn't hurt. Besides, seeing Furuhata Motoki's handsome face was sure to lift her spirits.
"Usagi, how's it going?" Motoki greeted her with a friendly smile she liked to pretend was only for her and was different to the smile he gave the other customers.
"All better now." She grinned back.
He frowned in concern. "You mean it was bad before."
She shook her head. "Nothing that can't be cured with a good game with Motoki-oniisan."
"All right then," he said cheerfully, leading her toward a game machine. "We got this new game last week that's based off this Sailor V person. It's been really popular and it's really good, and no one's playing it now. I think you'll really like it."
The game turned out to be interestingly challenging. As Usagi made her character dodged and attacked random monsters on Motoki's direction, she found herself calming down and enjoying herself, losing track of time. Suddenly, she felt something furry wrapping itself around her legs.
Screaming, Usagi shot back, toppling over the stool she was sitting on.
"Usagi, are you all right?" Motoki reached down to help her up.
Rubbing the back of her head and grumbling about her second fall of the day, Usagi peered down at the thing that had shocked her.
"It's the cat with the crescent-shape bald spot from this morning," she said in surprise. It hissed at her and she shrank back behind Motoki, taking only partial appreciation at his touch. "Why do you have a cat in the arcade?" she asked Motoki.
He sighed. "It's been wandering around the shop for the past few days now. I tried to chase it out but it always comes back. It hasn't bothered anyone before, so I didn't think too much of it."
A shiver ran down Usagi's back as the cat levelled her with another intense stare. Eager to take her leave of it, she decided it was time to go home.
It was now night time, and Usagi was lying lazily on her bed, too depressed to be bothered with homework. As expected, her mother had yelled about her grades for all of ten minutes, she'd apologised, and dinner was served. It wasn't that she wanted her mother to yell at her more. Rather, she was depressed because she knew their disappointment could be easily averted.
But it was easy only in the simplicity of the act, not in the effort that she could not bring herself to exert.
A cool breeze blew through the opened window of her room, tempting sleep. Something landed on her stomach and jumped off. Usagi shrieked, scrambling toward the corner of her bed to put as much distance between her and the crazy black cat as she could.
"What the hell, kitty?" she exclaimed, though not expecting an answer.
"I have a name, you know," it replied in a disapproving, feminine voice. "My name is Luna."
"It spoke! Oh my god, it spoke!" Usagi clutched her chest, trying to keep her frantic heart in check.
"How rude." It—she—continued to speak, escalating her level of terror. "First you say I have a bald spot; now you're treating me like an unintelligent species."
"You are a cat," Usagi cried, enunciating every word in response. "I must have fallen asleep. That must be it. I'm dreaming."
Ignoring her mumbles, the cat stepped up to her with a serious gaze. "Usagi, I have been looking all over for you. There's something I have to give you."
A small, round brooch appeared out of nowhere between them. Despite her fear, Usagi couldn't help but admire the mysterious shining object. Picking it up, she tenderly caressed it between her fingers.
"You have a great magical power within you, Usagi," Luna continued when she looked to be more accessible to the cat's words. "That is your Transformation Brooch; use that to unlock the powers to protect the innocent and fight evil."
"Fight evil? Me?" Usagi laughed, waving it off. "That's ridiculous."
"You don't believe me?" Luna challenged. "Shout 'Moon Prism Power, Make Up' then."
"Why? It sounds silly."
"Just do it."
She yelped at the cat's strict tone, then, grumbling under her breath about having to listen to a cat, did as she was told. There was a bright flash of light, and—
"Nothing happened," she said to Luna, almost smug.
Just as smug, Luna replied, "Go look in the mirror."
Usagi almost screamed again when she saw her reflection. "What the hell is this? I'm blonde!"
"That's what caught your attention?"
Reeling in the shock of her hair colour—which didn't look bad on her anyway—Usagi looked over the rest of her reflection's appearance. Besides her hair, nothing of her physical looks had changed. Her attire, however, was a whole different matter. Her casual shorts and tee had been replaced with what looked to be a modified version of a sailor school uniform. A blue skirt wrapped around a white leotard with a striped blue collar and light yellow shoulder pads. There were red bows on her chest and at her back; the brooch now rested on her chest bow. Boots, gloves and a tiara were among the final touches of her strange, new look.
"I am definitely dreaming," Usagi murmured. Accepting that fact, she turned to the cat. "Okay, so now what?"
"You are Sailor Moon," Luna started. "Your job—"
"Yeah, yeah," she interrupted. "Let's skip to the best part. What magical powers do I have?"
"Magical powers," Luna sputtered. "Usagi, you did not become Sailor Moon just to play with your powers."
"Oh, you're such a nag." Usagi climbed onto the window sill, a sense of courage accompanying the strength she felt in her heart. Somehow, she truly believed that she could make it to the fence in a single leap from the window. Oh, the exhilaration of a lucid dream!
Ignoring Luna's lectures, she took a deep breath, and jumped. Realistically, the distance wasn't that far. An athlete probably wouldn't even need a running start to reach the fence, though it was something that Usagi, awake, could never accomplish. But as Sailor Moon, the jump was effortless. Her landing and accuracy, however, was much to be desired.
The toe of her boot only managed to touch the edge of the fence, but her body continued to fall forward. She had overshot her target. With a short scream, she twisted her body, breaking her fall on the soft of her bottom.
Cursing the third fall of the day with angry tears, she climbed to her feet, rubbing her backside.
"Usagi," Luna called from the window, "I'm not done with you."
With an impish grin, she waved and ran off, delighting in the speed at which she ran and the ease at which she leapt from building to building. It didn't even take long for her landing to improve.
Finding herself in the business district, Usagi slowed down on the rooftops, admiring the view at the new vantage point. People still roamed the streets, though many times less than during the day. She caught the sight of Naru walking into the local cinema with her mother.
She huffed. "Movie on a school night? Must be nice to be rewarded for having good results." Then she smiled. "Good for you, Naru."
"Usagi!"
She jumped back with another scream. "How did you get here so fast? Are you a super cat too?"
"Usagi, this is serious business," Luna chided.
"Oh, give me a break," Usagi moaned. "This is my dream. If I want to play, I'll play. If I don't want to stop jewel thieves, I won't."
"Jewel thieves?"
She pointed at the jewellery store that stood next to the cinema, noting the unusual flashes of light that shone behind dark windows. "Apparently, my dream wants me to play superhero."
"Then shouldn't you go stop them?" Luna demanded.
"And get shot at? No thank you. Even in a dream, that's scary."
Before Luna could retort, screams sounded out from inside the cinema building. Usagi ran to the edge of the rooftop, trying to peer into any openings to the building. Her anxiety heightened as she thought of Naru in trouble.
"What's going on? Luna, what's happening in there?"
"Use your mask, Usagi."
"What mask?" Her plea became redundant when the object in question appeared in her hands. Without thinking, she placed it over her eyes, watching as the view faded through the walls of the building and portraying the unconscious bodies inside. In one corner, Naru was trapped between the wall and an inhuman-looking creature, her struggles weakening.
"Naru!"
"Sailor Moon, let's go!"
Usagi looked back at the cat, then, with a determined nod, ran in to help her friend.
"Let her go, monster!"
The creature dropped a now unconscious Naru and turned around with a growl. Though humanoid in shape, it had claws instead of fingers, its hair flared as if alive, and its face was distorted into a demonic expression.
"Eww…" Usagi was suddenly rethinking her decision.
"Who are you?" the creature demanded in a low, inhuman voice.
This is a dream, this is a dream, Usagi reminded herself, trying to shake off her fear. With a steely voice and deciding to have some fun in her dream, she exclaimed, "The Guardian of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon."
The creature burst into a demonic laugh that sent shivers down her back. "I have never heard of you. Now you will regret disrupting a Youma of the Dark Kingdom."
Moans reverberated throughout the building. Usagi pressed her hands to her mouth to stop herself from screaming as the unconscious people began to clamour to their feet, and crawl out of theatres, shaking and swaying like zombies. She didn't bother to stop herself anymore when they began to attack her.
Shrieking, Usagi dived out of way of an attacking person, barely avoiding the broken glass bottle he held in his hands. She gasped at the pain and blood forming on her hurt knee.
"What's this?" she cried. "It actually really hurts."
"Sailor Moon," Luna shouted. "You have to fight."
She could feel herself starting to cry again. Even in her dreams things would not go well for her. In her hesitance, one of the controlled victims managed to wrap his fingers around her neck, and began to squeeze. Her eyes bulged; fear overwhelmed her and she suddenly forgot how to move. Her vision dimmed, pain kicked in and brought her out of her shock.
"Sailor Moon!" Luna came into view, biting at the man's hand. Someone else began to roughly pull her away, while another reached for Usagi.
With a scream, she kicked at her attackers, barely noticing that they flew away from her from a force that should not have come from her. Somehow, she got free, but was now cowering against the wall, a hand to her throat.
Oh, god, oh, god. She clamped her hands over her mouth, shaking so much she could barely see straight. Luna was by her side, yelling at her, but she was in too much fear to hear what she was saying. Her ears were thundering and her heart threatened to jump out of her chest. She whimpered when she saw that the creature was now advancing toward her.
"I can't do this," she whispered. It was just a dream—no, a nightmare—but she couldn't even be strong. What was wrong with her? Why was she just so weak?
As she curled up upon herself, cursing herself for her weakness, high pitched sounds blasted from the ornaments in her hair. The moans stopped, replaced by pained yells.
"Don't cry, Sailor Moon. Now's the time to attack."
Usagi blinked at the unknown voice. Looking up, she saw that the controlled people had collapsed and the creature was on its knees, hands over ears. The unknown voice called to her again, warm and comforting. She could feel strength building up within her again.
"Sailor Moon," Luna called, "your tiara!"
As if in a daze, Usagi reached up to the tiara on her head. Somehow, she just knew what to do. Removing the tiara, she willed it to power up, and threw the glowing weapon at the creature.
"Moon Tiara Action!"
She watched in awe as the attack worked, causing it to disintegrate into nothingness.
A man stepped into her peripheral vision, striking a dashing vision with his caped tuxedo and mask. In a voice she recognised the be the one that had called out to her before, he said, "I didn't find the Silver Crystal I was looking for, but something more fascinating has appeared."
Usagi's heart jumped.
"My name is Tuxedo Mask," he introduced himself with a kind glint in his eyes. "I'll be sure to remember you, Sailor Moon."
Usagi sleepily opened one eye, trying her best to glare in her half-wakened state at the opened window that was currently allowing the bright morning rays of the sun to land on her. Her alarm hadn't rung, but she knew it was a time earlier than when she would have to wake up for school.
For a while, she lay unmoving on her bed, recalling the vivid dream she had the night before. Talking cats, Sailor Moon, Naru and monsters…
Tuxedo Mask.
She smiled. Of course the man that would steal her heart could only appear in her dreams.
Finally, she reached over to her bedside table to check the time on her mobile phone. It was six-thirty in the morning. Usagi groaned; it was far too early for her to be wide awake. Then, noticing that her inbox had an unread message, she opened it curiously.
'Usagi! Something fascinating happened to me last night! You have to come to school early today. I can't wait to tell you all about it!'
She frowned. The message was received just after midnight, from Naru. It was then that she finally noticed the small, black lump on the rug at her bedside. The cat yawned, and peered up at her.
"You're up early," it commented.
"It wasn't a dream?" Usagi screamed. She glanced down at her knee; it was almost healed, but it was a clear sign that the deep gash she'd 'dreamed' last night was real.
"Are you still whining about that, Usagi?" Luna sighed. "Now that you have proof of your powers, you have to understand your duty of upholding peace and fighting evil."
Usagi wrapped her arms around herself, trying to calm the rising fear that was taking over. It was all real. The danger was real. She had nearly gotten herself killed last night!
"Why did you come to me?" she asked quietly. "I was a normal girl. I had a peaceful life. Why'd you have to search for me and ruin everything?"
"Usagi, you were chosen for this."
"Why did I have to be chosen?" She raised her voice. "Why me? Don't I have any say in the matter?"
"But you have the power," Luna argued.
"Then take it back. I don't want it."
"I can't do that."
"Yes, you can." Usagi slammed her fists on her bed, though it didn't create the impact she desired. "I was normal before I met you. I didn't have any powers until you gave them to me. You gave them, so you can take it back."
"You've always had the power within you," Luna said. "I merely provided you with the tools and knowledge to bring it out."
Usagi was sobbing now, hiding her face behind her knees. "Why? Do you know what you've done? Do you know the dangers you're putting me into?"
Luna's tone shifted from disapproving to sad. "I'm sorry, Usagi. I know it must be difficult for you. You're so young, and yet you're forced into a deadly battle. But the enemy is coming, Usagi, an enemy that only people with guardian powers can fight. People like you and your fellow Guardians that we have to find."
Usagi didn't reply, refusing to raise her head. The cat wasn't sorry for putting her into this life; there was no point in trying to guilt her for wanting to drag other innocent people into this.
"Usagi, your best friend Naru was a victim of the enemy last night."
She froze.
"You saw the creature; somewhere in your heart you know bullets won't work on it."
Shut up, cat, she thought.
"If you hadn't shown up, Naru might have died."
Shut up!
"The enemy won't stop. Naru may get caught in the crossfire again."
Shut up!
"If you're not ready—if you don't stop fighting your destiny—there'll be no one who can save her. Can you risk your best friend's life, your family's even, for your own safety?"
Usagi lifted her head, glaring at the cat through tear-brimmed eyes. She was confused, she was angry, and most of all, she was scared. Finally, she knew what it was that was holding her back. She was relieved to have it solved, yet she didn't want any part in it. The thought of fighting, of facing powerful enemies terrified her.
But the thought of losing her family and Naru when she had the power to save them terrified her most of all.