A/N:This is a Sailor Moon and Harry Potter crossover. I'm sorry I couldn't put that in the summary, but it was the best one thus far and I didn't want to delete anything from it. For another, it will be Usagi/Mamoru. No Usagi/Harry here.

Right, this is my first crossover, so I'm warning you guys now. Also, I am, to put it bluntly, screwing with the entire storyline. If you're a canon!Sailor Moon/Harry Potter fan, turn back now. Also, I'm sorry for putting this in the Sailor Moon section, but the Sailor Moon Crossovers keeps spitting it back out. Apologies in advance.

That's it, and please review!

This chapter is dedicated to Wren Truesong, my favourite Sailor Moon fan and SM-nitpicker. Welcome to the beta gang.

Soul of Fire, Heart of Ice

Chapter One

'The True Beginning of Our End'

Usagi blinked blearily at the ebon-haired young man across from her. He winked a roguish green eye before reverting to his sterner persona, that of her Weaponsmaster. "Focus!" he barked, tapping her none-too-gently on the head with the butt of the globed staff he carried.

She forced weary muscles to lift her own weapon in a parry of his next attack. "Harry, please, I don't think I can do any more today…"

"You'll do more if I say so, Usa." He eyed her with no small disappointment even as he scored a hit in her left side, and before she could even begin to block him again, another on her collarbone. "I am here to train you, not only in skill and power, but in endurance and stoicism. Focus!"

Anger's dragon uncoiled ominously somewhere in the regions of her lower gut. "Harry –" she was cut off abruptly as he struck.

A sharp pain to her thigh –

Another to her jaw –

And a blow to her temple that made her see stars swimming hazily in darkness.

The dragon reared fully in pained rage, and roared.

Usagi found deep reserves of strength in her fury. She was tired, she was hurting, and both added to her ferocity.

Harry's laugh of delight only enraged her further, as did the way he carelessly and fluidly block each lunge, blow and sweep she aimed at him. "Focus, Tsukino, focus! Direct your anger in a more productive manner; you're simply wasting energy right now." He dodged a swipe aimed at his neck and settled into an easy, defensive rhythm. "Don't forget what I've taught you! Be cool, be calm, be calculating. That is the way of the warrior!"

Slowly, her movements lost the jerky, forced timbre and flowed from one pattern into another with the casual grace of an expert. Harry's smile was approving, and it stayed that way as he locked their weapons together. Usagi held back her flinch; she knew she had lost.

If she held onto her weapon, he would either yank it out of her grip or use her grip on it to throw her over his shoulder. If she let go of it and attempted to escape or press an offensive, he'd trap her with magic or use his frighteningly quick reflexes to disable her.

Still, it was worth a try.

Letting go of her trapped weapon, she spun around, her leg sweeping beneath him a split second after he jumped, somersaulting over her head and landing behind her, weaving a dome of power as he span through the air. The power solidified within heartbeats, a crystalline substance taking its place and effectively trapping his student.

Harry turned to his enraged pupil, who glowered steadily at him, beating little fists against her prison. "Feh! Why I even bother to try and beat you, Harry, I'll never know. And using your magic is cheating."

The grin died from the nineteen-year-old's face. "In a life or death situation, nothing is classified as 'cheating', little rabbit. It's all about staying alive. Harm will come to one or the other either way."

"Point taken. Still, I'm tired. I'm supposed to be using my sleep as a way to recuperate from the aches and pains of the previous day, Mister Wizard – it's no wonder I always wake up late now."

"Your destiny does not allow luxury, Tsukino Usagi, just as mine didn't."

"Yeah, well, your destiny's over."

"And yours is just beginning."

Usagi sighed. She really didn't know the hows or the whys. One night a couple of months back, Harry had simply appeared in her dreams and attacked her. After reaming her thoroughly for being relaxed while she was dreaming, he relented and began to train her. For what destiny, she did not know, because he told her nothing save that he was real only in his universe, or reality. Apparently, someone who guarded the Gateways had charged him with teaching her the Warrior's ways.

Her warrior master was strange to her in many ways, one of which was the brand of magic he wielded. His people used a wand to channel their magicks, although he himself had long surpassed that stage, just as he had overcome what he had been destined for.

Usagi accepted the waterskin he held to her and drank deeply, studying her mentor. He had a kind heart, and a pure soul, that much she knew. He was also…well, gorgeous. His eyes were the most beautiful, crystalline green she'd ever seen, and long, dark lashes framed them. His hair was jet-black and endearingly untameable, and he was tall, although leanly built. His strength lay within his speed and endurance, although she knew few men that would dare go up against him. High cheekbones and a straight nose hinted of aristocratic origin while bronze skin and callused palms contradicted the claim in question.

"Say Harry, do you have a girlfriend?" Usagi cringed at how it sounded even as the older boy turned amused green eyes on her. Despite their purely platonic relationship, she felt her heart skip a beat.

"Why do you ask, Usa-chan?" He dropped his trademark 'unfeeling guy who beats the crap out of little girls for their own good' persona for the first time in hours as his lips quirked. "See something you like?" He pretended to flex his muscles, and Usagi couldn't help but laugh.

"As if I'd ever be interested in a horrible, scrawny thing like you," she retorted. "Always bellowing about this 'Constant Vigilance' and giving me the stink-eye when I don't jump when told."

"You deserve it, you lazy-boned tart."

Usagi made a noise of strangled outrage. "Did you just call me a slut?"

"…Erm, no?"

"Damn you, Potter."

"Language, Tsukino. And no, I don't have a girlfriend." Usagi blinked, surprised despite the satisfied warmth that filled her to the brim.

"You don't?"

"You heard me the first time round. No, I don't, and I don't want one, either." He sounded uncharacteristically bitter. Harry was moody, sarcastic and harsh, but bitterness was not something she'd seen from him very much.

"Why not? You seem kinda lonely sometimes." Usagi knew it was the wrong thing to say almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth. He stood up abruptly.

"You've improved, Usagi. Remember, you always have that last-ditch reserve. Next time, we're going to try and tap into that without you getting so riled that your emotions rule you. Sleep now, Usagi." He turned to go and paused, various expressions flitting over his face.

"Harry?" she probed.

He squared his shoulders and continued on his way. "I'll be seeing you soon then, Usa-chan."

As he walked off into Dreams, she felt her lost energy replenish itself, like it always did. This time, however, she did not let her consciousness fade like it usually did after her training sessions with the otherworldly wizard-teen. Instead, she stood there for an undeterminable amount of time, contemplating Harry Potter, the nineteen-year-old that had been her mentor in physical training as well as the boy who she had come to see as a brother.

"Harry…"

Usagi dashed down the sidewalk, a piece of toast clutched in her hand, her lunchbox in the other and curses blistering the air. "I'M GONNA BE LAAAAAAAAATE!" she wailed, her voice splitting the peaceful morning air. Pedestrians leapt out of the way of the crazed blonde and stared after her, their eyes disbelieving as she motored past them at a speed that should be illegal on curbs.

Usagi was mortified. She had overslept, something that seldom happened, and as a result was late to her first day at a new school. She had spent hours wandering the dream world, looking for her friend. Harry, however, was nowhere to be found, and it had been that way for nine days. Usually, he visited her every day, and if not, at least every second one. His silence unnerved the blonde, and she was nearly out of her mind with worry. Stuffing the toast in her mouth as she ran, she made it to the school in record time, never once noticing the ebon-haired man trailing her.

As she motored through the front gates of Juuban Junior High, he chuckled deeply, emerald eyes dancing in amusement. "Usa, you really are a sweetheart. I've got to work on your awareness skills, though." He frowned slightly.

"She's just a teenager!" A bossy voice interrupted him and he rolled his eyes at a sleek black cat sitting regally beside him.

"She may be a teenager, milady Luna, but she has a destiny. It's my job to train her, and yours to counsel her." The man's tone was sarcastic and scathing. "Sentimentality is all very nice, but it's not going to help her on the battlefield.

"Constant paranoia and constantly getting into fights isn't going to help much, either, Harry Potter!" The cat's tone was sharp.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Since when did you become my mother?" he asked dryly, feeling a familiar, somewhat dull pang in the region of his heart as he did so. "Besides, fighting is fun."

Luna gave him a Look. "Listen to yourself," she sniffed. "'Fighting is fun', he says."

"Yes, 'fighting is fun', I said." Harry shrugged. "Well, now that you put it that way, a lot of things are fun. Fighting, feeding and fuc –"

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

He simply smirked.

"Why on earth were you given this mission, anyway?" she asked the air irritably. "Find the senshi, assemble the seven rainbow crystals, and when the Ginzuishou appears, find the Princess."

"Serenity-hime will reveal herself when the Ginzuishou appears; it's part of her heritage, and she's not going to give it up without a fight."

"Great Mother! Is that all you think about? Fight, fight, fight. The princess is gentle, demure, graceful. She is not one of the senshi; she does not fight!"

Harry merely rolled his eyes. "She must be a wimp, then. Remind me: why are we looking for her again?"

Luna'd had enough, and Harry's hiss of startled pain confirmed that the way she'd dug her claws into his leg was punishment enough for his absentmindedly spoken words. "She is the key to our Utopia!" she spat. "She will remake paradise and grant us all the ecstasy of freedom from tainted thoughts, touches, ideals!"

Harry couldn't resist. "Ah, I never knew you liked it that way."

It took Luna a few moments to catch the hidden meaning in the deceptively innocent words.

"HENTAI!"

Furuhata Motoki looked up as the automatic doors to the Crown Arcade slid open, pausing his wiping down the counter. He didn't know why he did; customers came in all the time. Something, though, had compelled him to look up.

A woman a little younger than Motoki himself, seventeen or so, paused in the entrance. Flashing cinnamon eyes were set in a heart-shaped face, the features delicate and strangely regal. There was strength in that face, enhancing its charisma and beauty. The stranger was slender, willowy, and possessed a glorious mane of fiery hair that tinted every shade of golden-auburn-autumn-flame there was, and tumbled down past her back. Her attire was simple, a pale yellow sundress that floated about her frame. He noted with some surprise that an elbow-length white glove covered her left hand. Although it was mid-September, the weather was still unusually warm, and the single glove mystified him.

Then she smiled, and Motoki had to remind himself to breathe. She crossed the room and stood before him, brushing a flame-hued curl out of her eyes. They were flecked with amber, the floored blond registered belatedly.

"Excuse me, sir, but have you seen a man hereabouts?" She gestured as she spoke, swift, graceful movements. Her voice was sweet and low, with the tantalising trace of a foreign accent.

Motoki smiled kindly at her. "You're going to have to be a little more specific than that, Miss…?" A smile turned the corners of her lips up.

"My name is Ginevra. Ginevra Weasley, but my friends call me Ginny." She offered a hand to him, pale and delicate like the rest of her.

"Furuhata Motoki, Motoki to all." he responded. "Now, this man you're looking for?"

"He's tall, past six feet in height, with black hair and green eyes. Handsome, too, slender-ish strong build: you know the type."

Motoki nodded distractedly, absorbing what she had described. "Iie, I haven't seen someone like that. If I do, though, should I give him a message?"

Her next smile was dangerous; it was a tiger's lazy smile in a kitten's face, even as she turned away. "Tell him…tell him that his best friend's little sister is looking for him."

Motoki smiled cheerfully, a little unsettled by the darkness in the expression crossing her features. "Sure I'll tell him. Would you like to place an order?"

She shook her head as she slid gracefully off the stool. "No." She paused at the entrance again, the morning sun illuminating her figure, turning her hair to fire and enhancing her to the point of divinity. "Just tell Harry Potter I've come to kill him." Her voice floated to him clearly, and then she was gone.

Motoki blinked in disbelief before looking at the rag he'd been scrubbing the spotless counter with. He felt dizzy, suddenly, and buried his face in his hands.

A shadow fell across him, but he didn't look up. "Motoki, man, what's up with you?"

The blond shook his head and scrubbed at his eyes with his hands. "I…I don't know." He frowned at the quiet arcade, which was nearly empty due to it being a school and work day. The arcade manager sighed as his best friend, a Chiba Mamoru, slipped into the seat that the fire angel had only recently inhabited. The dark-haired seventeen-year-old looked at Motoki with some concern. Mamoru's dark blue eyes met the blond's green-gold ones.

Mamoru nodded and lapsed into silence. He never pressed anyone for answers, but played the waiting game. If they wanted to speak they would speak, and if they didn't want to they would when they were ready, which was why it didn't really surprise Mamoru when Motoki broke the silence a few minutes later as he slid a cup of steaming black coffee over to him.

"She was beautiful," his friend's whisper was reverent. "She was fire and golden and…" he shuddered, "dangerous."

Mamoru snorted softly. "You've got a girlfriend, Furuhata."

Motoki gave him the stink eye. "Nothing wrong with looking, Chiba I-have-girls-falling-at-my-feet-all-the-time-despite-my-ugly-green-jacket Mamoru."

It was the darker-haired man's turn to give the smirking blond a Look. "I'll have you know that I like this jacket, okay?"

"More like adore it," Motoki mocked his friend cheerfully, his sunny demeanour returning with a vengeance as he teased his friend. "I can count the number of times I've seen you without it on my fingers." He sobered quickly, though, and looked at the arcade entrance again, sighing. "She was kinda psycho, though. Said she was looking for someone and that she'd kill them."

Mamoru rolled his eyes, something the dignified college student didn't often do. "Rather blood-thirsty for your tastes, ne?"

"Shut up, baka. You'd be kinda freaked if a would-be-murderer walked into your arcade without so much as a by-you-leave."

"You're the baka, baka." Mamoru shook his head in amusement. "Did it ever occur to you that she could be joking?"

Motoki shuddered, remembering the look in her eyes. Eyes that could be gentle and warm, as well as passionate and dangerous. "Iie, she was frightening, really."

Mamoru shrugged as he took a sip of his coffee. "Tell me." He listened patiently to the tale of the short encounter and chuckled when it was done. "You're worrying about nothing, Motoki."

"Maybe you're right, maybe I'm wrong." Motoki shrugged. "Still, she made my skin crawl when she smiled like that."

"Reika makes your skin crawl, too, and for different reasons, I'm sure." Mamoru drawled, referring to his friend's absent girlfriend.

Motoki didn't even look at the smirking man opposite him as he punched him good-naturedly in the shoulder. "Stop having ecchi thoughts about Reika, Chiba."

"Who, me?" They laughed as Mamoru drained his cup and stood. "I better get going now; there's a test on Biochemistry tomorrow that I want to study for."

"Come by again in the afternoon, Mamoru, you don't get out quite enough." The two exchanged the appropriate 'manly' goodbyes, clapping each other on the shoulders, and Mamoru left.

Motoki sighed. "Demo, she was beautiful…."

Usagi sighed gustily as the bell rang, signalling the start of lunchtime. Class had been just so boring! She glanced down at her notes, which were cheerfully defiled with horrible depictions of butterflies, bunnies and hearts. Shuffling them irritably, the blonde began cramming them into her bag as quickly as she could.

There was a very polite cough from behind her, and she whirled around, letting out a muffled squeak as she came nose to nose to the shy-looking bluenette who sat two seats over from her in the same row. The blue-haired girl looked rather flustered herself, almost thrusting a piece of lined paper at Usagi's face. "I believe this is yours, Tsukino-san."

Usagi forgot her startlement as she grimaced. "Call me Usagi, or Usagi-chan if you will, onegai. Mizuno Ami, is it?"

Ami nodded meekly, eyes that were a darker hue than her hair meeting the blonde's cerulean ones. Usagi smiled brightly. "Well, Ami-chan, I'm new here, and feeling kinda lost. Would you mind showing me the ropes of this gig?"

The other girl flushed slightly. "I'm afraid I'm new myself, and –"

"Say no more!" the blonde declared. "We shall get lost together, brave the crowds together, hide from teachers together!" She paused before chuckling. "I was only joking, by the way. Come on, I think I saw a nice place outside where we could eat." She blushed slightly, realising Ami hadn't spoken yet. "That is, if you don't mind."

Ami smiled tentatively. "Iie, it sounds wonderful."

Usagi took the proffered paper, which was covered in near-indecipherable scribbling about ionic bonds and covalent bonds and other such nonsense. Almost of its own accord, the hand holding the page turned it over, and Usagi blinked.

A beautifully crafted brooch was sketched in the right-hand top corner of the page. She knew it was a brooch, even though it was simply a heavily shaded circle bearing a crescent moon – its points turned skywards – on its lower half and a large gem resting within the crescent's curve. Four stones composed the points of the compass. Although the drawing was done in pencil, she knew instinctively the gems and their locations. "Northern ruby and southern sapphire, eastern emerald and western topaz," she murmured.

Ami cocked her head quizzically at her new friend. "I beg your pardon?"

Usagi shook her head forcefully. "Nothing," she said somewhat abruptly. She smiled apologetically at the bluenette. "Lunch calls," she laughed gaily, folding the piece of paper and shoving it into a side-pocket in her bag. Picking up her lunchbox, she skipped down the hall, Ami following in amused resignation. The blue-haired genius knew and comprehended many things, but one that she couldn't even begin to understand was how she felt that, armed with Usagi's friendship and their newfound camaraderie, she could take on the world, and how, without it…

Ami shuddered, and the pleasant September noonday suddenly felt a lot colder.

The two shared their lunches and spoke at great length about themselves. Usagi learned that Ami was an only child, that her mother was a doctor and that her father had left them both while she was very young. The bluenette had gone to a prestigious school in another neighbourhood, one that the Juuban Crossroads students had christened the 'Brain Farm'. For her, first impressions counted, and she was a very practical person. Science and logic played a large role in her life and views. She was not easily prejudiced, but as stated before, first impressions counted. Yes, her hair was natural, and she found the school fukus' short skirts embarrassing.

Ami found that Usagi was a very layered person; she was ditzy and airheaded only to a point. Press her and you'd find the calculating mind behind the entire façade. Usagi's father was a reporter and her mother stayed at home. She had one younger sibling, an 'annoying' boy named Shingo. She and her brother had been home-schooled until this year. She was almost obsessed with video games, and Sailor V (an urban legend in London as well as the subject of much of her manga) was her idol. She admitted herself that she was lamentably clumsy. Her views of the short skirts were rather divided. They were useful in that they allowed free movement (should you be someone that didn't mind flashing the world when you took advantage of that fact) and annoying in that the boys' eyes seemed glued to the hems, just waiting…

Ami found herself laughing harder and more than she remembered doing, and finally voiced the question that she'd been itching to ask ever since she'd laid eyes on her new friend. "Tsukino-sa – erm, Usagi-chan?"

"Hai?"

"Why do you wear your hair like that?"

Usagi blushed furiously. "If you're going to give me a hard time about it –"

"Oh, no!" Ami spoke in dismay. Did Usagi really think she'd tease her about it? "Your hair is so long, smooth and golden. It's beautiful!"

Usagi ducked her head shyly. "You really think so?"

"Yes, I do," Ami reassured her.

The blonde reached up to feel her unique hairstyle; two neat buns with her ankle-length hair streaming from them in little ponytails. "I don't know." She scrunched her hair up, trying to remember. "I started wearing these when I was three or four – I think I remember dreaming about a beautiful lady dressed all in white and gold, and she had her hair like this. I know it makes me sound like some kind of wannabe, but it felt good to have it up like this, you know? Like it was my right."

Ami smiled softly. "Well, it was your dream. For all we know, that beautiful lady could be you in the not-so-distant future."

Usagi laughed. "Me? No, too clumsy, too many gluttonous tendencies, too lazy –"

"And a heart of gold," Ami cut her off. "Don't put yourself down so, Usagi. All teens go through the clumsy stage. Obviously you are accustomed to eating a lot, yet you still have an admirable figure. Laziness is a vice, but it's also a phase."

"Arigatou, Ami-chan, you are a love."

Ami felt somewhat strange. Never before had she spoken so strongly about something in the presence of someone her own age, or even older. She was shy by nature, she knew, and preferred to concede a point rather than make a debacle of herself trying to fight for it. With Usagi, however, she knew that this change was welcome. The two rose as the bell rang again, Usagi groaning. "Kami-sama, another two hours of Haruna-sensei droning on about geometry…somebody shoot me."

Ami laughed as Usagi linked arms exuberantly with her, marching her back indoors. "Ah, Ami-chan!"

"Hai?"

"I'm going to this arcade after school. It's called the Crown Arcade – do you want to come along?"

Ami bit her lip regretfully. "Gomen, I've got cram school after school today."

Usagi threw her hands up in mock-disgust. "Ah well, you can't win everything. C'mon, that was the warning bell. At least let me walk with you there? The Arcade's on the way."

Ami merely smiled. "Thank you."

Harry clicked his tongue impatiently as students poured out of the school, the last bell ringing exuberantly. He searched for a pair of golden buns, and gritted his teeth when he couldn't see them. "Morgana's Bane, where is she?"

The black cat in his arms merely stretched, yawning. "Growling and grumbling won't get her out here faster, Harry," she muttered rebelliously. "How in Selene's name did you get involved, anyway?"

His one-word answer froze the blood in her veins. "Pluto."

Digging her claws firmly into his bare arms, she turned to fix her red eyes balefully on his green ones. "Sailor Pluto? The Guardian of the Timegate?"

"That's the one," he drawled with an insolent wink before wincing as her claws dug in further. "Damnit! Watch those things, you mangy cat!"

Luna ignored his insult on her person in favour of more important matters. "There she is!"

Usagi and Ami ambled amiably down the crowded streets in an easy silence. Everything was going pretty well until they turned the corner and Usagi walked slap-bang into a hard chest.

As she lay there on the curb, feeling little stars fluttering around her head, everything was snapped suddenly back into focus by a taunting, horribly familiar voice.

"Well, well, well…if it isn't the Odango Atama. How are you doing today, Odango? Knocked any poor pedestrians into the ways of speeding cars?"

Usagi winked surreptitiously at Ami and then responded in a way the baka least expected. "WAAAAAAAAAH! WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN TO ME, MAMORU-BAKA?" She sniffled for added effect and choked down a giggle as she felt tears well up in her eyes. Perfect. "I've just fallen on my butt and have probably broken my butt-bone and am hurting and all you can do is stand there and call me names and tease me. WAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Ami choked, trying desperately to quell her giggles, both at Usagi's 'crying' and the dumbfounded expression on the man's face. Kneeling beside her, Ami, patted her on the back soothingly, her blue hair falling forward to hide her grinning face. "There, there, Usagi-chan, ignore the mean man, now. How about we go get one of those nice, triple-fudge sundaes you've been telling me about?"

Usagi sniffled exaggeratedly and opened a teary blue eye. "Promise, Ami-chan?" She hiccoughed loudly.

Ami snorted loudly before she could stop herself, and, helping the 'distraught' blonde up from the pavement, they walked away from a bemused Chiba Mamoru.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Ami burst out laughing. "Butt-bone? There is no such thing as a butt-bone!"

"Hai, demo, he knows me as a complete simpleton," Usagi explained, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Speaking of which, how do you know him? He seems to be rather –"

"Mean? Oh, yes. We made a rather bad first impression on one another, I'm afraid."

Usagi slouched down the sidewalk, kicking a flattened aluminium Pepsi can as she went. "Stupid Shingo," she muttered. "Him and his baka friends…" she sighed, kicking the can a little more enthusiastically. "Locking me out of the house because it's funny. I'll give them funny when Mum and Dad get back. They'll let me in, and then I'll show them…" She kicked the can hard, letting out an embarrassed exclamation as her right clog flew off and hit a guy wearing an ugly green jacket in the small of his back.

"Ow!" The man rounded on her bad-temperedly. She noted absently that he was very handsome, and possessed untidy black hair and ocean-blue eyes. "Do you go around hoiking clogs at people all the time, Odango Atama?"

She forgot about his good looks and how to feel apologetic when he spoke. "The fact that I accidentally kicked my shoe at you does not mean that you can insult my hair! And I am not a dumpling head!"

"I beg to differ, little miss," he drawled with a condescending smirk. Ignoring her furious sputtering, he held up the offending shoe wear. "The heels on these things have got to be at least two inches thick! Are you trying to compensate for your being such a midget?"

"You baka! I was trying to apologise, you know."

"Can you really apologise for throwing a two-inch-heeled wooden clog at my back? I'm surprised I'm not paralysed from the waist down, really; these things are lethal."

"I've been bumping into him ever since," Usagi finished wearily, eliciting a smile from the staid bluenette.

"I think it's pretty amusing, actually. Also –" she broke off, horrified. "Kami-sama! I forgot about cram-school! I'm going to be so late!"

"Not if you run, you won't," Usagi reassured her friend, breaking into a fast trot. "C'mon!" They ran on, unaware that they were being stalked by an aloof cat and grumbling man.

Usagi slowed down and waved at Ami as the bluenette ducked into the building. Sighing, she continued on her way to the Crown Arcade. Absorbed in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice the redhead until it was too late.

Both of them taking one step to the side and one forward in the same direction, they ended up colliding anyway. The older girl managed to keep her balance with a series of graceful, dancing steps, but Usagi went sprawling for the second time in less than half an hour.

"Gomen nasai," she apologised politely. The stranger's delicate red lips turned upwards in a gentle smile.

"It is quite alright," the redhead shrugged gracefully, leaning forward and offering a slender, gloved hand. "Gomen, are you in a hurry?"

"Iie, are you?" The older girl was probably around eighteen or nineteen, and was almost ten inches taller than Usagi herself.

"I'm just exploring the area, actually. I hear there's a lovely mall roundabout here."

Not knowing why, but feeling compelled to do so, Usagi spoke. "I can take you there, if you like. Are you a tourist?"

The red lips smiled again. "You could say that."

Cerulean eyes met sparking cinnamon-amber. In that split-second, each felt the presence of a kindred spirit, and they smiled at each other. They were sisters before they even learned each others' names.

"Shit!" Harry's eyes were wide in disbelief as he peered at the schoolgirl and the 'tourist', both of whom were chatting amiably.

"Potter, watch your language!" Luna reprimanded him sharply.

"But she's there! How in the seven hells and skies did she manage to follow me?" 'How could she follow when she knows the peril she has willingly walked into?'

"Why are you so concerned? Is she dangerous?" Luna was starting to get a little worried herself, now. If that woman could jeopardise their mission…

"'Dangerous'? Oh, hell yeah, she's 'dangerous'! With a friggin', capital 'D'!" Harry raked a calloused hand through his untidy hair, making it stand up even further.

The cat was now nice and panicked. "How so?"

Harry was silent for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was cold. "Don't worry about it, Luna. Just forget it." 'She is my problem; I will handle her,' he vowed silently. Tuning back into the spitting cat, he winced as her voice threatened to shatter his eardrum.

"HOW CAN I FORGET IT WHEN –" Harry shrugged off his jacket swiftly and bundled the cat into it, muffling her yowls.

"Baka," he hissed. "Do you want to screw things up? Shut. Up."

He took the cat's silence for acquiescence and let her free, dodging her retaliatory swipe with a grin. Turning back to the street, he found that Ginny and Usagi were gone.

The resulting curses that issued from the dark-haired man's mouth would have made Voldemort blush.

"Jadeite," a woman's voice snapped.

A slender, blond man dressed in a nondescript grey uniform stepped forward and bowed deeply. "My Queen?"

"The wheel has been set in motion. You know your mission. Should you fail, you will suffer pain beyond imagination. Succeed, and the Shitennou will be honoured for millennia."

The blond did not look up from the marble floor. To look the Queen of the Dark Kingdom in the eye was a challenge to her status, and a challenge meant certain death. "I hear and obey," he said, wondering why the words he had spoken so many times before now felt sour in his mouth. Deciding not to dwell on it in his Queen's presence, he stood, bowed again, and left.

An auburn-haired man met Jadeite outside the hall, green eyes intense. "Her Majesty has finally asked it of us, has she not?"

Jadeite nodded curtly. "Hai," he replied, feeling the first giddy waves of excitement now that he was out from under the intense scrutiny and distant disdain of the Queen of Darkness. Controlling himself, he smiled coldly. "Should I succeed, Nephrite, our brotherhood will be cleansed of the taint!"

Nephrite's eyes were fierce. "And should you fail, the Shitennou will be disgraced for all eternity. Do not fail, Jadeite."

The blond smiled confidently at his brother. "No worries, brother." He summoned a fist-sized flame to his right palm. "Should any obstacles appear…" he tossed the conjured fire to his left hand and savagely squeezed it, causing the light to die abruptly. "They will meet the same fate as that."

Nephrite gave him a flat stare. "For the sake of our integrity and honour, Jadeite –"

"For the Shitennou," Jadeite tossed his head and laughed.

A/N: Okay, people, just a reminder that you can find a list of the Japanese terms you may not have understood posted on my profile. It will be at the very bottom. Thank you for reading, and please review.

Cookies and hugs to the person who tells me where I got my chapter title from. /grins/