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(A/N: *growls* This was suppose to be titled "The Last Light Of Hope", but it seems that some other....person....has recently titled their fic "The light of Hope". So, I decided to change my title (I already get bitched at enough by my dad and math teacher, I don't need to take crap from reviewers saying I stole someone else's title). Well anyhoo, this story is kind of.... "different". By "different" I mean that some parts are a little ....morbid....it's not exactly a fluffy-little-bunny-saves-the-day kind of fic, but if anyone out there has read anything else by me, they know that fluffy-little-bunny-saves-the-day material isn't really my style of writing. Well, I've babbled enough, and with saying that I don't own either anime, read on....)

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Today was just an average day, like yesterday and the day before it. No one would have suspected that the chance meeting of a woman, a little boy, and what was left of their family would change the history of the world....

....but it did.

Minako Aino walked a long the hallways of St. Mercy hospital, the clacking of her heels echoing behind her. She remembered when she first became a nurse. It had surprised her friends for they always thought Ami would be the one going into the medical field, not bubbly little Venus, but she had proved them wrong.

She loved her work, she loved seeing the smiles of recovered patients as they stepped back into the world. It was almost the same feeling she got when she was still known as the warrior of Love and Beauty. But that was gone now, history, she had resigned long ago. She was still in her early thirty's, too old for that nonsense. She had responsibilities now, a child to raise. Granted, the child wasn't hers, and it certainly wasn't a child, she was a teenager to be more exact, Usagi's teenager....left orphaned and alone... But now wasn't the time to think about what happened five years ago, she had work to do.

A candy striper who had been volunteering on the weekends tapped her on the shoulder.

"Miss Aino, there's the sweetest little boy all alone on the third floor. He seems so lonely...only four or five ears old-"

"What's your point?"

"...Well, since you're known as the miracle worker around here, maybe you could go talk to him, keep him company."

"What's wrong with him?" she asked as the two walked and talked.

"Oh, well you know that HUGE explosion at Capsule Corporation, like, a week and a half ago? Yeah, he was the only survivor. The only survivor in an entire building of executives and marketers. Wiped out Dr. Briefs family too. His wife, his daughter, his grandson, even his son in law, and he's suppose to be some body builder, or martial artist, or something that can endure anything!"

"Hmmm...I see...."

"Yeah, it was like some miracle or something that the boy survived."

"What's his name?"

"Well, his family name is Son, but I can't remember his first name. Gofen, or Gochu, or Go...Go-something..."

"Alright, I'll go and see him. What room is he in?"

"Three 'O three."

Minako began trudging up the stairs to the third floor. Normally she'd take the elevator, but it was out of commission. Some idiot had stuck eighteen pieces of bubblegum between the doors so that it wouldn't open properly.

She finally found the door to the boy's room and opened it softly so that the hinges wouldn't squeak. The small boy sat at the edge of the bed, his feet dangling over the side, his head and arms wrapped in white bandages. He raised his head to look up at the person who had intruded his hospital room, a big grin slapped on his face despite his condition. He had the kind of innocence that made even the most sadistic of souls feel happy to be alive.

She quietly tip-toed over to him. "What's your name?"

He scooted over to the other side of the bed to make room for her. "Goten, what's yours?"

She smiled at him. "You can just call me Minako."

"Did you come to talk to me like the other nurse-ladys?"

She sat down. "Sure kiddo, what do you want to talk about?"

"I dunno."

Silence.

Minako began to speak again. "Where are your parents? Are they coming to visit you soon?"

Goten's once cheerful disposition grew solemn. His eyes went bitter and his mouth drooped.

Minako tried to read his face. "Oh...were the Briefs your parents? I'm so sorry-"

He interrupted her. "No, I was just staying with Trunks' parents. They aren't my family."

"Oh, okay...." she said, a bit confused, "Then what happened to your parents?"

He waited a few minutes, glared at her stubbornly, then answered. "My daddy died before I was born."

Minako's eyes softened. She hated her nosey behavior, but it was her nature, she had always been that way, but his reaction to the next thing she said was what truly sparked her interest in him.

"Your medical records show that you had a mother and older broth-"

But she was cut off as she realized something was moving, vibrating. The bed was moving, she was moving. She looked to the left and saw that a small vase full of daffodils were beginning to shake as well. Damn, the whole room was shaking. She let out a small scream as one of the windows broke, and several of the lights went out. The television, which was currently showing reruns of Blue's Clues, completely exploded, bits of metal and glass showering the room.

And then she looked at Goten and nearly lost her breath. His eyes....had changed.... Instead of the pearls of ebony she had seen before, they had changed to blue! Blue! A bright, brilliant aqua the color of the sky. And then it dawned on her.....it was him.

This boy....isn't normal....powers....telekinesis? Extraterrestrial? Or another youma....

Minako began to step backwards towards the door, and Goten's eyes flashed back to their original color. His eyes burned into her own.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to talk about them."

Minako began to stutter. "T-that's okay, I-I'll come back some other time..."

He stretched out a hand. " No! Wait! Please come back....please don't be afraid of me....none of the nurse-ladys come to see me anymore because they're afraid of me.....my Momma's dead.....my brother ran away.....my only friend is....dead.....I don't know what's wrong with me....I don't understand why everyone is so afraid of me...."

Minako felt her heart sink as she watched a tear roll down the five year old's cheek. Minako understood the pain of loneliness, the only person that she thought could understand any better was Hotaru, or her past form anyways.... Half of that girl was mechanical, her father was a madman, someone was trying to posses her....

Yes, Minako understood that that twang of rejection from the rest of society. She also understood that right now, this boy needed someone, more than ever, and even though she didn't know him, that didn't mean she wouldn't eventually.

That one little tear slowly turned into an ocean of saltwater. Minako walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his tiny little chest.

"It's okay sweetie, there's nothing wrong with you....it's okay...."

He couldn't stop sobbing. "Th...then why does everyone hate me?"

Minako could feel the tears coming herself. "No....nobody hates you...."

Then he looked up at her with the saddest eyes she had ever seen and asked:

"Then why is everyone afraid of me?"

She smiled softly. "I'm not afraid of you."

And from then on Son Goten had a friend. Minako would come and see him at least once or twice a day. They'd talk, play cards, she'd bring him coloring books, she even taught him how to make origami (although the ones Goten made usually ended up as scraps of paper, even though Minako always said they looked nice), and finally the big day came when Goten would be discharged from the hospital, and Minako had to ask:

"Now where are you going to live?"

"With you!"

"WITH ME?!! ARE YOU NUTS?!!"

"No, but I may be a fruit...."

She sighed. "Goten, why do you want to live with me?"

"You're the only person I know."

Minako wasn't really sure about adopting Goten, a five year old boy would be a lot to handle, especially one like him. If she was the only person he knew, and she didn't take him in, then his only options would be foster care or a shelter. Those people couldn't take his violent outbursts, they wouldn't understand him like she did. They'd put him away, treat him like an animal in the zoo. She couldn't let that happen to him. So she smiled weakly, and with false enthusiasm said, "Okay Goten, you can live with me."

So everything was set, and everyone was happy except for the fifteen year old that already lived with Minako: Chibiusa Tsukino.

*******

Meanwhile, in the section of Japan that was well known for it's agriculture, a woman sat. Indeed, she was a beautiful woman, who with the touch of her fingers could make men melt--literally. Her black hair fell down in spirals, consuming the whole of her back, and part of her thigh. Any man who had a date with her would have thought he'd hit the jackpot, that is, until you saw her eyes.

The best description you could give them were twin pools of emptiness that reflected the personification of Hell. Twisted inside her was most likely Lucifer himself, seeing that she had nothing but evil intentions. She had once fought on the side of good, if there was a "good", but she didn't choose her life, life chose her.

She had once been a little girl, a little girl who loved living with her three adopted parents. But as she thought back on it, it seemed more like she was a little weakling who lived with two lesbians and a boring old spinster who didn't give a damn about her.

She licked her lips.

She had already consumed the local farmer, he had been a hearty meal, but she still wanted more. More like the Capsule Corps massacre a week and a half ago, that had been a delectable meal. Especially the man and boy who had called themselves "Saiyans". They had almost been as good as the Sailor Senshi she had once called friends. But they were all gone now....

....except for a couple she had let escape five years ago. She could track them down eventually, but back to these "Saiyans."

She wanted more of them, their souls had tasted powerful. She could tell that their kind were almost extinct....but there was at least one, no, two left. She could easily trace their scent, it was unique. Both of these survivors were half breeds, from the same gene pool as well. These could be made into targets, challenges.

She was gonna hunt them down like a hound would a fox.

And she wasn't going to stop this devastation of no boundaries until she had completed her mission:

To consume the world.

She ran into the forest, perhaps to snack on a woodland animal or two, thus was her life.

This woman had many names. Firefly, sixth planet from the sun, warrior of Silence, but the one she was assumed under now would and would always be:

Mistress9.

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To Be Continued.......