I Don't Want To Be Forgotten

By Michi-chan

She took a long, hard look around her small apartment. There was one room, one kitchen, one bathroom, and one sitting room. Had her apartment always been so large? She tossed her books aside on the love seat and sighed as the sound echoed off the walls. It has been two weeks since both Ami and Minako went into their crystallized sleep, or so that's what Luna called it. The meeting of the remaining scouts was still fresh in her mind. It had only been yesterday though.

"It seems to me," Luna said. "That since we have entered a time of peace, the need for your sailor power is decreasing. Your powers are lying dormant within you and soon they will fade completely. Since you all need to survive for the future your bodies and your powers are putting you into a state of sleep and your bodies will be protected by your powers in a crystallized form."

"So you're saying... that Ami isn't dead?" Makoto had asked.

"No. Her soul has been dismissed but her body still lives in suspended animation."

"Her soul?" Rei looked confused.

"Yes." Luna walked across the stones of the Shinto shrine and climbed up the stairs, turned, and faced them. "Their souls have gone to a place where their deepest desires could be filled. Something their soul has wanted since their first life and maybe beyond. You see..." Luna stopped.

"Minako..." Usagi whipped her eyes. "Why would Minako want to be with Kunzite? He was our enemy, it makes no sense."

"That's not entirely true." Luna nodded her head to the tall handsome male sitting beside her, "Mamoru." H was silent for a little bit, thinking of the best way to deliver this new, and possibly startling fact.

"In the past, Kunzite and the others were my protectors. However, in the past they had relationships with the senshi. I think Kunzite and Minako's bond was the strongest and it suffered the most when the Moon Kingdom fell to ruin." Usagi stared at him in awe. "I don't know the entire story, but from what I was able to gather Minako and Kunzite were unable to experience the full of their relationship due to complications and an early death."

"And what about Ami? Where is her soul? Rei asked.

"In the water," Makoto said. The others looked at her, but she did not seem to notice. "When it started to rain... I could feel her presence. And I saw her, in the water. She was trying to talk to me but... I couldn't make it out, but I know that it was her, Ami."

"Now that we know that," Rei snapped. "But what about this whole business about Ami's mom saying that she didn't have a daughter, that she never had a child even? Explain that Luna." Luna sighed and shook her head.

"You are senshi, and your identities have to be kept a secret. Even in death your parents could never know. Their memory of you would be erased upon your departure. They would never know the pain of loosing a child. The Queen set it up that way when she sent you to the future. She didn't want anyone to suffer like she did. She knew... I went to Minako's home... Her room is a guest room now. All her possessions are gone, there is no trace of her." Luna paused and the added, "Or Artemis."

"Mako-chan, where have you been?" Mako stopped short as she entered the store. The young woman, about twenty-five years in age, greeted her. Natsuko Kiba, the daughter of Lina Kiba, worked at the little corner grocery store part-time. Lina owned the store and Makoto was a very frequent customer there.

"Oh, hi Natsuko-san." Makoto moved slowly around the small store and brought her things to check out. Everything seemed so ordinary, so simple, so fleeting. It was disturbing to know that any minute now she could disappear and no one would have any memory of her. Such was the lonely side effect of being a sailor senshi.

"Why so down Makoto-chan? Boy trouble?"

"Huh, oh, yeah."

"Well, don't you worry, I'm sure that it'll all work out. These things always do. I remember when Kenichi and I had love problems. Oh sure we would fight, but we could never stay mad for very long." Natsuko prattled on and on, spewing out sound advice; her words fell on deaf ears. Makoto's mind was elsewhere. Would Natsuko forget about her? What about Tamia-san, her landlord? Her neighbor Menori-chan? Old Gigi-san, the war veteran one floor down? All these people were a part of her life. They were all important. She didn't want to fade from their minds. She didn't want her existence to disappear at all.

"Jupiter Star Power, Make Up!" She could feel the power flowing over her naked body. It spread across her chest, down her stomach and legs to her toes. She opened up her balcony door and stepped out into the night. The streets seemed alive with the night dwellers. The lights flickered on and off and horns bellowed in the air. The sky, as dark as the deepest hole, loomed over the city like a blanket. She could hear the people laughing and living. She would not leave this world without leaving her mark first. She refused to be forgotten.