A/N: Okay, I am following the manga timeline almost exclusively. That means that Mamoru has gray eyes instead of deep blue and Artemis isn't such a goofball all the time. Oh and Naru/Molly and Melvin/Umino aren't dating, however cute they are together in the anime.

The other series in this chapter that gets mentioned is YuYuHakusho, but don't worry if you're not familiar with it; I will do my best to write it so that you don't have to know anything about the series. That said, for those who are familiar with it I am following the manga, so no fire-engine red hair, emerald green eyes and don't call Kurama a girl because it pisses him off. Also there is nothing romantic between him and Hiei.

As for those of you unfamiliar with the Japanese names of the Sailor Moon crew, or the honorifics used in Japanese, here they are:

HONORIFICS

'-chan' an affectionate suffix usually used by girls and/or for girls.

'-kun' is the male equivalent of '-chan'.

'-san' is similar to Mrs., Mr., Miss, ect.

'-sama' is very respectful, usually translated as 'lord/lady', which isn't entirely accurate.

'-dono' is even more respectful than '-sama' and - as far as my brother, who is learning Japanese can make - out generally only used by warriors.

NAMES

With Japanese names it's surname first, given name second. To hopefully make it easier to remember think of it this way; "I am from _ family and my name is _."

SailorMoon/Serena – Previously 'Tsukino' Usagi, now Chiba Usagi ('Usako', used only by Mamoru/Darien)

Tuxedo Mask/Darien – Chiba Mamoru ('Mamo-chan', used only by Usagi)

Sailor Mercury/Amy – Mizino Ami

Sailor Mars/Raye – Hino Rei

Sailor Jupiter/Lita – Kino Makoto ('Mako-chan')

Sailor Venus/Mina – Aino Minako ('Mina-chan', so it should be easier to remember her Japanese name)

Sailor Neptune/Michelle – Kaioh Michiru

Sailor Uranus/Amara – Tenoh Haruka

Sailor Pluto/Trista – Meioh Setsuna

Sailor Saturn/Hotaru – Tomoe Hotaru ('Hota-chan')

Molly – Naru

Luna – Luna

Artemis – Artemis

Diana – Diana

Melvin – Umino

Andrew – Furuhata Motoki ('Furu-chan', by the girls)

The cats - obviously - don't have any known surnames and I can't remember Naru's or Umino's.

Twenty year old Chiba Usagi – formerly Tsukino Usagi – woke up in the arms of her beloved prince and, like most mornings, smiled, happy to be married to him. Usually he'd already be up and making breakfast since he refuses to let her turn the kitchen into a disaster zone... Unless she wanted to make some curry or chilly, both of which she's quite good at making. According to Artemis food on the Silver Millennium had been spicy and Princess Serenity had been quite the cook when she felt like it.

Mamoru stirred and opened his gray eyes to stare up at Usagi groggily for several moments before her smile infected him and he smiled back.

"Morning Usako." He greeted.

Her smile widened a bit more and she returned the greeting, "Morning Mamo-chan. Did you have to stay really late at work last night?"

Normally she would have tried to stay up and wait for him, but at two and a half months pregnant that was not an option as far as her body was concerned. It was in the process of making a new life and that was tiring; her body demanded sleep and her husband insisted that she listen. Who was she to argue with the doctor's orders?

"Yeah. There was a bad traffic accident." He answered, "Then someone picked a fight with a Youkai."

For the last three years Youkai had stopped hiding themselves from Humans for unknown reasons and Humans haven't always been reacting well. More than once the Senshi had to intervene before someone got killed – and it wasn't always Humans that they had to save. Amazingly the police had been staying fairly neutral in their judgments regarding the incidents, not always, but most of the time. Usagi suspected that this was Venus' and Artemis' doing since they were the ones on the police force in the Inter-Racial Investigations Division (IRID), though the other girls had been considering joining as well for legal reasons.

An uncharacteristic smirk pulled at one side of Mamoru's mouth and he added, "It was the Youkai and his Human buddy that brought the Human into the ER. I think his friend called him Yusuke."

"Was Yusuke the Human or the Youkai?"

"He was the Youkai."

Usagi giggled.

"I think he might be the same Yusuke that Mina-chan has worked with a couple of times. He owns a noodle shop... Oh, poo, I can't remember where."

Her husband chuckled, rolled until he was half on top of her – she rolled as well, since she was on her side – leaned down and gave her a lingering, bone-melting kiss. When he pulled away she let a little content sigh as a smile pulled at her lips.

"I'll go make breakfast." He murmured against her mouth.

She pouted as he pulled back; the kiss he had just given her had made her think that they were going make love this (late) morning.

"We still have to meet up with the others Usako." He reminded her with a slight smile "But tonight should be calm, so I probably wont get called in."

One of the advantages of him being able to use his Golden Crystal now was that it amplifies and gives him full access to his powers, which had been steadily growing since he had been revived from Galaxia killing him. That means that always in the background of his mind now is a sense of what's going on with the planet in general and the area he's in, or someone he knows. It is very literally impossible to hide from Mamoru as long as you're on the planet, he knows you and he wants to find you.

He gave her a peck on the nose, then rolled off of her and climbed off of the king-sized bed. When Usagi had first moved into the large apartment everything had been dark colors and leather. She had since added a few feminine touches, particularly to the bedroom, although Mamoru refused to have a bunny-print bedspread. He had, however, compromised with with the bedspreads. This one was a black and white floral print comforter with gold-thread embroidery accents. The sheets were all white and the and two of the four pillows on their bed had black pillowcases, while the other two had a matching print to the comforter.

The two side tables on either side of the bed were dark-stained wood with simple lines. On Usagi's was a pink and white bunny lamp that went with her pink and white vanity against the wall opposite the bed. The walls had, once upon a time, been a stark white, but Usagi had talked him into painting them. After some arguing over the matter of what color to go with they had managed to agree on a mural of the Silver Millennium and the Solaris Palace where Prince Endymion had grown up. It had taken some begging and pleading on Usagi's part, but Michiru – Sailor Neptune – had eventually agreed to paint it, so across all four walls was that mural. She had done both at sunset, so on the ceiling she had painted a sky that faded from the brilliant colors of dusk into stars.

These days Michiru was making a lot of money painting murals all over Japan and – for the rest of this month – in other countries. Her most famous ones, though, were depictions from that long-gone era; people were simply fascinated by them, speculating – mostly erroneously – about stories going on in those images. Michiru was always careful not to depict her friends, except in the background, if at all.

Still pouting, Usagi rolled out off of the bed and – like her devastatingly handsome husband – started changing out of her less-than-sexy pajamas and into some pink denim shorts, with a matching, short top, pulling on a darker pink belt. She pulled on some white socks, then slid her feet into her fluffy, bunny slippers; a gift for her last birthday from Mamoru. Usagi had been so happy when she got them that she had squealed loud enough for the neighbors to ask later about what they had heard. She had sheepishly explained.

The happily married couple exited the bedroom, went down the cheerfully painted green hallway and stepped into the livingroom. They had almost painted the room a dark red, but Michiru – who, by then, had really gotten into helping them paint the apartment – had convinced them to do the kitchen in that color instead and let her do another mural. This one was only on one wall because the others weren't available for it; one led straight to the front door, the wall opposite had a floor-to-ceiling window with a sliding glass door and where that one met actual wall it led into the kitchen. So it was the wall with the TV that got the mural, though only on the upper half. The lower half was painted a softer green with a flowering vine as a divider and, above that, a depiction of Elision's temple; Pegasus flew in the sunny sky and, if you looked closely, Helios stood, looking out over the crystalline, clear lake that was so close to the back of the almost Greek-style temple.

It was a beautiful, fanciful and magical depiction that the couple loved, and new their daughter would adore.

As Mamoru went to the kitchen Usagi headed for the phone, passing by the spot Mamoru used to keep the Shitennou's stones. About six months before she and her beloved had said their vows he had finally told her about the guys and introduced her to them, since she hadn't met them in this life except as the brainwashed minions of Beryl. When Kunzite had told her what had happened to their bodies Usagi had berated them all for not telling her sooner what had happened and restored them. They had decided afterwards that they would keep their distance and asked that they not tell the girls. They still occasionally came by for a visits though; Usagi had even seen them discreetly watching the wedding ceremony that they had politely declined coming to. It had earned them being called hypocrites by the annoyed couple for sometime afterwards. They had taken it in good stride. But neither of them had ever pressed the four to make their revival known, or let her and Mamoru tell the others for them because they both suspected that it was guilt that made them keep their silence.

Usagi picked up the phone and dialed Ami first. After graduating highschool the Senshi of Ice and knowledge had decided to take a four year break – which was coming to an end come next spring – before entering into medical school. Although she still had a habit of studying rather late... On top of that the girls often have to run around alot, intervening in inter-racial incidents. As a result they can get rather busy and plans often get canceled because of this, especially in summer. Up until two and half months ago Usagi had been running around with them. Then, abruptly, she couldn't transform anymore. Her husband was the one who had figured it out, although he had gotten Mercury to confirm her preganancy.

Usagi reconfirmed with each of the girls that they were all still meeting up at Rae's, although Venus and Artemis would be held up at the police station for about a half hour. That done the expecting mother then picked up the baby clothing magazines off of the glass-topped, metal coffee table and made a mental note to talk to Mamoru about getting one that's a little more child-safe.

Earlier in the morning both Aino Minako – aka, Sailor Venus – and her white-furred, green-eyed tomcat partner had been rudely awakened at 4AM when a club had been attacked. The tech guys had estimated that it would take awhile to clear up the fuzzy images they had of the assailant, which was why she had told Usagi that she would be a bit late. The others on the force had overheard her conversation, though, and when it became obvious that it was going to take longer than expected they had told her that she was good to go since she can't help anymore anyway; they'd call her when they had something. This was not how things were usually done, but the IRID (Inter-Racial Investigations Division) knew full well about her duty to her princess and even knew – out of necessity, though it had taken them over a year to earn the Senshi's trust enough to be told – the identities of all the girls and Mamoru.

In the case of the former Prince of Earth they had figured it out since Usagi hadn't wanted to tell them. But he had saved more than one of those on the force via healing while helping the girls and also while as a doctor and they had just put two and two together on their own. Sometimes those two could be a bit over protective of eachother, but that isn't very surprising.

Stepping out of her sweltering car – despite the windows being down – Minako gasped as steam seemed to float up from behind her and cursed her broken AC as she stumbled a few steps away. Artemis fell onto the ground at her feet and clawed his way across the cement and away from the giant steam-box of a vehicle. Once suitably far enough away from the death-trap he passed out.

"Oh my God! Artemis!" Minako ran over, forgetting in her hast to close her car door, and dropped down next to the tomcat, "I promise! I will get a convertible this year!"

Fishing around desperately in the pockets of her long, white cotton vest – none of the buttons done up at the moment – Minako couldn't find her cell phone. Giving up, she used the communicator on her wrist, deciding that this qualifies as an emergency since her partner was currently being baked alive on the cement; heat exhaustion, if untreated and/or exacerbated, can kill a person.

The communicator had since been updated to work over longer distances – anywhere on the globe – and was designed to call any or all of the girls, the cats and Mamoru. Consequently, it now looks different from the way it did before; the communicators are now wide bangles in each Senshi's respective color with a symbol for everyone on them arranged in two triangles on either side of the round gem in the middle. The crystal itself is both the computer system for the device and their Sailor Crystals; their powers had 'upgraded' about a year and a half ago during The Incident and their communicators now doubled as their transformation devices.

Taking the bangle off by grabbing one end of it and pulling to make it straighten out Minako pressed the Mercury symbol, flipped it over and waited impatiently, ignoring the discomfort of her feet sliding forward in her white, wedge sandals. The crystal pressing into her palm warmed slightly – though it would get no warmer than that – moments before Ami's worried face appeared on the screen.

"Mina-chan, what is it?" She asked anxiously.

"It's Artemis! He's collapsed from the heat! I need help! I can't pick him up, or I'm going to make it worse!"

"Alright, I'm on my way," Minako could see the background behind her friend move in a way that clearly showed she was standing up, "But I don't know what I can do..."

"The water in my water bottle is about as cold as the Sahara desert in the middle of the day right now."

Understanding dawned on Ami's face and she said, "Oh! Alright, I'll see you in a few minutes... Uh, where are you?"

Minako told her which parking lot they were in and her fellow Senshi nodded once, reiterated that she would be there soon and cut the signal. The back of the bangle went blank again. Minako stood up, pressed the communicator onto her wrist and let go so that it wrapped around again. Anxious, she started pacing. Noticing that her car door was still open and the windows all down she climbed into the drivers seat – trying to ignore the waves of heat radiating from the vehicle and baking the inside of the car – long enough to use the button to roll up the windows and use the power lock for the doors. While she was climbing out of the sweltering car Minako wished that the parking lot had some shade... And then realized that it might be a good idea to stand between the tomcat and the sun so that he at least had some shade.

Pushing the car door shut with a bang, she walked over to her partner.

A few minutes later and Ami found Minako – her thick, blond hair caught up in a large, slightly messy bun high on her head to keep it off of her neck – still standing over Artemis, providing shade. Rushing over Ami immediately dumped the freezing cold water in her one liter water bottle onto Artemis. The contents of Makoto's – Sailro Jupiter's – bottle followed next, effectively waking Artemis up.

"Are you alright?" Both girls asked at the same time.

Picking himself up with a groan Artemis looked over at the two anxious girls, a bit embarrassed at the situation. After a moment's debate he decided to not shake the worst of the water off and instead leave it to evaporate; it would keep him cooler for longer that way.

"I'll be fine." He told them, "Let's just get to Rae's."

"Are you sure?" Ami asked, still concerned.

"Yeah," He answered, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

The two girls nodded and straightened, letting Artemis lead the way.

For this blistering heat Minako had on under her airy vest a lilac halter top that left her entire midriff bare and hip-high, draw-string, light yellow, cotton shorts. Holding her hair in it's bun was a black hair tie with a thin, red ribbon attached to it. Keeping her bangs out of her face were a plethora of barrettes. On her fingers were rings; one had the Venus symbol on it, another a plain band, a different one had a crescent moon and on one of her pinky fingers was one with a ruby cut into the shape of a heart.

Ami, in her turn, was wearing a pale blue, halter top, button down shirt with a flaring collar and a London blue, short, satiny skirt. The shirt was unbuttoned surprisingly low for her. Holding her hair back was a hairband that matched her skirt. On her ears were a pair of large pale blue earrings. On her feet were white, Roman-esque, but simplified, sandals. On one of her pinky fingers was a ring with a ruby cut into the shape of a heart.

The rings had been a gift from Usagi to everyone when she and Mamoru came back from their honeymoon. Everyone had one on one of their pinky fingers, including Luna and Artemis when in their Human forms. Their princess had explained that the rings represented their connection to eachother through their hearts and through fate and destiny. Even the prince and princess wore one, though Mamoru's – like Artemis' – was a garnet and set in a band in an attempt to make it look at least a little more masculine.

And yes, the rings had been very expensive, though no one had asked how much they had cost.

"Mina-chan, hand me your bottle, please."

Surprised, Minako handed it over to Ami, then watched, pleased, as the blue-haired woman cooled her water until the bottle looked almost frosted. She handed it back to the blond who gratefully unscrewed the top, stopped walking and took a long chug, ignoring the brainfreeze that it gave her. Ami called to Artemis to wait and the tomcat obligingly stopped, looking back over his damp shoulder, wisps of steam rising from his dense, white fur, green eyes inquiring. Seeing Minako he suddenly realized how thirsty he is.

Her thirst quenched, she pulled the bottle away from her mouth, wincing at the cramp that felt like it was inside her skull. Artemis watched as she lowered the bottle down to her bare waist. Noticing the way he was eyeballing her water bottle Minako glanced around to make sure that no one was within sight, then said, "I don't have a bowl with me, Artemis, so you'll have to go into your Human form if you want some water."

She had barely finished speaking when he was already turning around and shifting forms. It was a bit like watching a very well done werewolf transformation in a movie, but in reverse, with alot less theatrics, alot more grace... And he's a cat. By the time his large hand snatched the bottle out of her's he was fully Human in appearance, though the crescent moon on his forehead was still present. The same symbol hung from it's two points around his neck.

He had recently taken to actually changing his outfit every once in a while since he now had to take on his humanoid form fairly regularly – causing his white outfit to get rather dirty on more than one occasion – due to his job with the IRID, though it was still mostly white. At the moment he had on a white, long-sleeved, wide v-necked knitted shirt that showed off his toned chest. The knit was loose enough that you could easily see the pale skin underneath. As per usual he had on pale slacks – gray, not white for once – and matching dress shoes, though said shoes had soles that would normally be found on a pair of hikers. His butt-length hair was currently braided and was as soaked as his fur had been. Actually, so were his clothes... It was a good thing that, for once, he wasn't wearing white slacks since all of his summer pants were made of cotton.

He finished off the water and all-but pouted when he realized that there wasn't any left in the bottle. Minako rolled her eyes and took it back, screwing on the lid again. Out of all of them he was often the most adult, but sometimes...

"There'll be more at the temple Artemis." She informed him, "You might want to stay in this form though since you wont overheat as readily."

He thought about that for a second, then said, "I agree."

Turning back around he started walking again and the two girls followed. This time Ami struck up conversation about their work by asking about Minako and Artemis' latest mission.

Minako was just telling Ami that it might be a good idea for her – Ami – to give the techs at the precinct a hand with the images if they keep having trouble when the three got to the bottom of the tall stairs leading up to the Hikiwa shrine. Artemis was no longer feeling quite as nauseous, but it was still persisting. Halfway up the stairs they found Usagi bent over, losing whatever she had eaten earlier as her husband held her amazingly long, now-white hair out of the way for her with one hand and rubbed her back with the other. Both girls grimaced in sympathy.

The change in hair color had come about a year ago along with the golden crescent moon becoming permanently emblazoned on her brow, which she kept covered with foundation.

"At least now I know why I've been feeling sick." Minako commented.

Ami nodded in agreement. If Usagi wasn't careful all of her friends – even Naru and Motoki – started feeling her pregnancy. Mamoru had it the worst, but seemed to be dealing with it the best. As one might have guessed, just because they feel the nausea doesn't mean that they actually throw up. In fact that was a bit of problem at first; when Usagi had first started feeling sick everyone would all rush for the nearest safe thing to vomit into, but nothing would come up and, consequently, there was no relief and the feeling lasted longer for them than it did for their princess. They had all eventually figured out what was going on after about the fourth or fifth time this happened.

Artemis and the two Senshi mounted the stairs and climbed up to where their liege was – by then – groaning in misery.

"I hate this part of being pregnant." She understandably complained to all present.

"Yeah," Minako agreed wryly, wishing that she had another bottle of water, since it usually works to settle her stomach, "I think we all do."

"Minako! Be nice!" Artemis chided warningly, looking a bit cross even as Usagi straightened and gave her an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry Mina-chan, did I-?"

"For crying out loud! It was just a comment!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up, one of them still holding the empty water bottle, "C'mon," She added, starting up the stairs again, "Lets just finish climbing these stairs so that we can have something to drink!"

Usagi stared after her near-twin, surprised, as her nausea finally started to abate. Sighing, Artemis explained.

"We got woken up at 4AM for an attack on a club and she hasn't gotten the chance eat since."

"Good thing Mako-chan brought so much food again." Ami commented.

Artemis' stomach chose that moment to inform them all that it needed filling as well. All of them stared at him, surprised.

"What?" He demanded, "I need to eat too!"

"Artemis... Did you shapeshift on an empty stomach?" Ami asked, worried.

If he had then it wouldn't matter how nauseated he was feeling; he'd still be hungry enough to eat twice the amount Usagi can pack away. Even if it meant that he'd just throw up, all, or most of it, a couple minutes later. On the other hand, if he didn't get at least a bit down he'd probably faint very soon.

"Er..." He answered.

"Artemis, you shouldn't do that!" Usagi chided, "You're going to make yourself pass out!"

Once again embarrassed, the tomcat turned back around and started up the stairs. When they crested them Grandpa Hino was talking to some giggling girls. Noticing them he cheerfully told the four of them that the others were around back. They thanked him and headed for where Rei had taken to setting things up for these summer get-togethers. When they came around the corner of the Senshi of Fire's home they found Minako was already eating what Makoto had brought, a half full water bottle next to her plate. Usagi and Mamoru were a bit stunned at what was laid out on the two picnic tables Rei had picked up last year when she got access to her trust fund; this was a lot of food even for the Senshi of Jupiter.

Artemis – being a cat, and, therefor, a carnivore – pounced on the cold meats, which, in Japan, can be a bit expensive. He took a seat next to Setsuna – Sailor Pluto – who was the only one of the Outer Senshi currently present. Makoto saw the married royals' expressions and explained.

"Artemis called pretty early this morning and said that he and Minako were going to need some food, so I a brought some extra, figuring he'd be in Human form by the time they got here."

"Good call." Usagi muttered, still stunned.

"No kidding." Mamoru agreed.

Ami walked past them to get some food as well, snapping the couple out of there reverie. The two followed her, making their way over to the tables and finding a place to sit. Usagi immediately started filling her stomach again; even 'morning sickness' couldn't curtail her appetite.

The next couple of hours were spent companionably together as they all caught up on eahcother's lives. Artemis mostly just listened to the conversation, having thrown up and still unable to eat until he was full due to continued nausea and a distaste of throwing up. After getting down what he could he now lay sprawled out on a blanket one of the girls had retrieved for him from inside. Under his head was a pillow and beside him was a concerned Luna – in a denim skirt, flats and a floral print tank-top, her hair down from it's usual style and up in a pony-tail – who was fanning him. Occasionally he added a comment or two to whatever Minako said; the young woman didn't always like what he had to add though.

It was while Usagi was telling everyone about her upcoming sonogram appointment in a couple of weeks that everything came to a screeching halt. The light all around them dimmed and a spiral of pink smoke formed in the air, catching all of there attention. Everyone stared, Artemis going up on his elbows to see more clearly.

All eight of them, upon seeing the pink smoke, had expected a cheerful Chibiusa to drop down out of it. Instead Eternal Sailor MiniMoon – her uniform nothing more than tatters, her hair half fallen out of her buns and her young body covered in bruises, cuts and burns – fell down onto the ground and didn't move. Luna-P bounced down next to her and rolled in a tight circle, it's eyes flashing red over and over.

A/N: Well, I hope that wasn't too long for a first chapter. Please tell me what you think and suggestions are welcome!