Disclaimer - I do not own Sailor Moon, or any of its characters or concepts. This is a not-for-profit work intended to be enjoyed by fans of the series. Any original characters belong to me.

Corey McLeod rolled his eyes as his cat began lecturing him. To any normal person, this would be quite strange. But then, this wasn't a normal situation, and Titus wasn't exactly a normal cat.

"I'm just saying, Corey, that you need to take your education seriously. You can't live off a part-time job and money from your mother forever. You need a career!" The ginger cat peered out into the street. "Fighting the Dark Kingdom doesn't exactly pay well!"

"Fighting the Dark Kingdom pays nothing, Titus, and I'm actually trying to get to class, if you hadn't noticed!"

"Uh, yes…" The cat peeked out the door again but didn't move. "I just worry about you, you know?"

"Should you really be talking? I mean, sure, the foyer's empty but there are people walking past out there." Corey gestured toward the open door Titus was standing in. As if to illustrate his point, a man in a suit strode past. "What the hell are you looking for anyway?"

Titus approximated a shrug as best he could. "They're far too busy to notice a talking cat. And who says I'm looking for anything?"

"Whatever you say, buddy. Anyway, I'm out."

"Uh, wait!" The cat seemed panicked. "Do you…have your lunch?"

Corey froze and blinked in confusion, surprised by the random question. "Yeah?"

"Oh, well, good…you'd better run, wouldn't want you to be late to class!"

"I was leaving ten seconds again," Corey muttered. "See ya, Titus."

"Bye!" the cat called, already disappearing up the stairs.

Corey ran a hand through his unkempt brown hair and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Something hit him hard, knocking him to the ground. He opened his eyes to find himself looking up at the sky…and a pair of very blue eyes. He felt a light pressure on his chest, and realised a young blonde woman was lying on top of him. She was looking back at him, eyes wide in shock.

"I am so, so, so, so sorry! Please be okay!" she pleaded.

He rubbed the back of his head gingerly and tried to sit up. The girl hadn't moved, still lying on him and babbling incomprehensively. He cleared his throat to get her attention. "I'm fine, miss. Do you think you could, maybe…move?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed, leaping to her feet rather gracefully. Considering she'd just quite literally run him over, Corey was surprised. "I'm really sorry about that! I'm late for class, and I didn't see you!"

"Oh, it's my fault entirely," he said, rubbing his head again as he stood. She was rather…energetic. "I've really gotta learn not to just step out of my building like that. What was I thinking?"

She blinked a few times, but didn't reply. He wondered briefly if he'd misspoken; his Japanese was pretty good but definitely not perfect. Her eyes widened in comprehension a moment later, and she shot him a hurt look. "Oh, you're making fun of me."

He didn't know why, but seeing her pout made him feel terrible, and he had a sudden urge to apologise. "Yeah...sorry. I have this bad habit of using sarcasm when I don't what else to say." He was suddenly nervous; something about this girl was maddeningly familiar, like he knew her but just couldn't remember from where.

"Well…I ran into you, so I guess I should give you a break," she admitted. "Are you sure you're alright? I hit you pretty hard."

He snapped out of his trance. "Oh, yeah…nothing's broken, anyway. Don't worry about it, miss."

She thrust her hand out. "My name is Usagi Tsukino, it's nice to meet you!" He took her hand and shook it gently. Or, tried to, as she pumped it up and down enthusiastically. Her eyes drifted down to her watch and she shrieked, snatching her hand back abruptly. "Sorry, gotta go, now I'm really late!" She took off in a run, narrowly avoiding a repeat collision with an elderly man.

Corey chuckled as he watched the old man rant and rave after the blonde. As he bent to retrieve his bag, he noticed something else lying on the ground; a pink purse. It must belong to Usagi, he thought, picking it up and opening it. Sure enough, her student ID card was right in the front. Juuban District University…she goes to the same university as me? How odd. He slipped the purse into his bag. At least it would be easy to return. He glanced up at his window, noticing a flash of ginger fur. Had Titus been watching? He shook his head gently. That cat was getting stranger by the day. He slung his bag over his shoulder and starting walking. It wouldn't do for him to be late.

Usagi groaned loudly. Her purse wasn't in her bag. I must have left it at home, she thought. Along with my lunch. Right on cue, her stomach growled loudly, and she blushed bright red. Fortunately, nobody seemed to notice. She walked slowly across the campus, pausing outside the cafeteria and sighing. There were no words to express how hungry she was.

"There you are."

She turned to see the brown-haired guy she'd run into that morning. She blushed again as she remembered. I really did run into him. Literally. Haven't done that for a while.His emerald green eyes sparkled, and she thought he looked amused as he held up a familiar pink object

"My purse! You found it?" She took it from him as he handed it over, her lips curling upwards into a beaming smile.

"Yep. It must have fallen out of your bag this morning. Luckily, we go to the same university, so I figured I'd look for you on my lunch break and bam, here you are."

"Thank you!" She bowed deeply, almost laughing at his look of discomfort with the gesture. He was definitely a foreigner. Usagi searched her mind for a moment, trying to recall his name. Right, she thought, I ditched him without learning it! "Uh…I'm sorry, I ran off without getting your name this morning."

"It's Corey," he chuckled. "Corey McLeod."

"Nice to meet you again, Corey! Would you like to join me for lunch? My treat!"

He seemed uncomfortable with the idea. "Well, I dunno…I've got lunch in my bag…"

"Oh, come on." She flashed her most charming smile. "It's the least I can do after you returned my purse. At least let me make up for knocking you down this morning!" Her smile faltered, just a little. "Besides…I don't know many people here yet, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to."

He sighed gently, and returned her smile. "Okay, Usagi, sure."

They headed inside, and a few minutes later they were seated opposite each other at a small table in the corner.

"So," Usagi said, biting into a fry, "you're American, right?"

"Good catch. Accent give me away?"

"Only a little. You speak Japanese pretty well!" She picked up her burger. "Have you been in Japan long?"

Corey swallowed and shook his head. "Only a couple of weeks now. I have to admit, it's been a bit of an adjustment. I grew up in the suburbs of Des Moines, in Iowa. Pretty much two things we're known for in Iowa. Corn and beef. Not exactly the most exciting place on Earth."

Usagi stared at him curiously. "What made you decide to study in Japan?"

"Well, I've always been fascinated by Japanese culture. The history, the food." He glanced downwards, clearly embarrassed. "The anime." He stared at his plate for a moment, seemingly gathering his thoughts, before continuing. "I guess it just seemed like a good way to get out of my comfort zone. See and do something new and different, you know? I always wanted to travel the world…Japan seemed like as good a place as any to start. Actually getting accepted into university here definitely helped me make up my mind, though."

The blonde chewed her food slowly. Something about his response seemed almost…rehearsed. She wasn't sure exactly what gave her that idea; it just didn't sound right. "What are you studying?"

"Mechanical Engineering. What about you?"

"Political Science," she answered. "Mechanical Engineering sounds harder."

"Well, like my mom always told me, nothing worth doing is easy," Corey said, laughing. "I've always been fascinated by how things work, so it seemed like a good fit." He gestured towards her. "What about Political Science? Are you planning a career as a politician?"

Usagi blushed lightly. "No, nothing like that. It just seemed really interesting when it was time to choose what I was going to do after high school. Plus, I suppose being some kind of journalist or political correspondent doesn't seem like a bad job." She felt a little bad, considering her own hypocrisy in lying to Corey after her earlier doubts about his story. That only lasted a second; she could hardly tell him she was studying to be the future Queen of the world, after all.

Corey nodded as he took a bite out of his burger. "You don't sound convinced."

Seems like he picked up on that, she thought. "Well…to be honest, I was a pretty average student for most of junior high. It was only with the help of my friends that I pulled things together and really focused in high school. Still…I had no idea what to do after I graduated. My boyfriend, Mamoru…he suggested it as something that might interest me. So far, he was right."

"Seems like he knows you pretty well," he observed. "Been dating long?"

"Three years now."

Usagi waited for him to follow up with another question, but he just nodded and said something that sounded like 'cool'.He was apparently done asking questions. She polished off her own burger in short order. "So," she asked, "do you know your way around the city yet?"

"I'm getting there. I've got the basics down, like my local convenience store, but Tokyo is quite a bit bigger than I'm used to."

"You're actually not too far from Mako's place," Usagi said, thinking aloud.

"Mako?" Corey asked, confused.

"Oh," she laughed, "my friend, Makoto. She lives not far from you. I was just thinking that she probably knows where all the best places are, especially for food." At his continued blank look, she elaborated. "She's a really good cook, so she'd know all the best places to get food and herbs, you know?"

"Oh, right. I don't cook."

"But you live alone, right?" she asked, watching as his cheeks coloured slightly.

"Well, yeah…"

"Then what do you eat?"

He cleared his throat and shrugged. "Bento, mostly."

Usagi giggled, despite herself. "You live off bento?"

"Yeah. There's variety, a good mix of meat and vegetables." He sounded vaguely defensive. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing's wrong with it, Corey," she laughed, "But don't you ever want something home-cooked?"

"Never gonna happen," he muttered. "I once managed to burn water. I still don't know how, but I learned that day that cooking is not for me."

Usagi broke into full-fledged manic laughter at the image his words conjured up. She looked over and saw that despite his feigned irritation, he was laughing as well. She was about to tell him about the time Minako burnt down Makoto's kitchen, when his watch made a sudden beeping sound.

"Oh, uh…shoot. Sorry, I forgot about an appointment. Gotta run!" He stood abruptly. "Thanks for lunch, Usagi, I had fun hanging out. See ya round!" He shot her a quick smile and a wave before practically running from the cafeteria.

"Bye!" she called, watching him go. And people call me flaky, she thought. Oh, well. She popped another fry into her mouth. This had been an odd day so far.

"What took you so long?"

Corey rolled his eyes subconsciously at the annoyance in Titus' voice. It had started as soon as he answered his communicator, and was only getting worse. The cat could be a real slave driver sometimes. "I got here as quickly as I could, Titus. You do realise Tokyo's a bit bigger than Des Moines, right?"

"Oh, yes, yes, fine!" Titus sighed. "Now, look!" He gestured towards the street. Corey stepped out of the alley to take a look and froze. It was like someone had scooped a hole out of reality – a gaping black maw extended about eight feet into the air from the middle of the street. There was a sizable crowd gathered around, taking pictures on their cellphones. A police officer stepped in for a closer look, slowly making his way around the disturbance. As Corey watched, he stepped behind it and disappeared from view, before reappearing on the other side of it.

"Intriguing!" Titus said, watching carefully. "A truly two-dimensional object. It has height and width but absolutely no depth."

"What the hell is that?" he wondered aloud.

Titus stared into the blackness for another few seconds before turning back to Corey. "I think it's some kind of portal," he answered. "Something like this was described to me once, back in the Moon Kingdom. It had something to do with Queen Metalia arriving on Earth."

"Metalia?" Corey was deadly serious now. "The Dark Kingdom? Could they be back again?"

"I don't see how," Titus said, his ears flattening. "You destroyed the last of their bases in America over three months ago. They were practically crippled…leaderless." He shook his head. "No, I don't believe it's them. We've never seen them use this kind of portal before."

"I suppose not." Corey agreed. "Well…if not them, who else could it be?" He looked down at Titus, a frown on his face. "Someone new?"

"Perhaps," Titus said, peering around the corner to study the portal again. "That would seem to fit the evidence we have so far."

Suddenly, a mass of black shadow emerged from the hole, hitting the street with enough force to crack the asphalt. The crowd jumped back immediately, although the camera flashes continued. It never ceased to amaze Corey just how thick some people could be. Some unknown danger appears in the street, and you all stand around taking photos! Incredible! He shook his head in disgust. "It makes it really hard to save people when they insist on putting themselves in harm's way."

"Mmhmm." The cat agreed noncommittally, totally absorbed in what was happening.

Corey's gaze followed the police officer as he approached the object now embedded in the street. "I've got a bad feeling about this, Titus."

Titus nodded. They were clearly in agreement. "I think you'd better transform."

"Right." He reached behind him, into the pocket of subspace behind his back, and retrieved his sword, Justiciar – it was the traditional symbol and weapon of the Guardian Knight of Justice. He held the broadsword aloft and closed his eyes as he invoked its power. "By Selene's divine grace, I am Justice!"

A bright golden light surrounded him. Gleaming steel armour materialised around his body, covering him from head to toe. Pauldrons blinked into existence over his shoulders, and a long, black, gold-trimmed cape unfurled to hang behind him. His helmet appeared over his face; small ornate, golden wings extended out and back from the temples. The light faded and Justice, Guardian Knight of the Moon Kingdom, now stood in Corey's place.

On the street, the police officer gingerly nudged the shadow with his boot. With a horrible cracking sound like bones breaking, the shadow unfurled into a gangly, misshapen approximation of a human being. The officer leapt back, but the shadow creature gripped his ankle in its claw-like fingers and pulled him to the ground. In a flash, it was atop him; he struggled in its grasp but it looked far too strong for him to handle. He stiffened suddenly, then went limp as an odd luminescent energy began to stream out of him, into the creature's waiting hands.

"That's his life energy!" Justice shouted. "It's draining him!"

He charged out of the alleyway and crashed into the shadow creature at full speed. It was knocked off its victim and into a parked car, landing in a crumpled heap of shadowy limbs. Justice pulled the officer to his feet and shoved him towards a couple of onlookers, stabbing a gauntleted finger at them. "Get him to safety!" His green eyes glared out at them from behind the T-shaped slit in his helmet. "Everyone else, get the hell out of here!"

The crowd began to thin as the majority broke into a panic, screaming as they ran. A few brave – or stupid – individuals remained behind. One girl even had her phone out. Justice muttered a few choice curse words under his breath. People never listened.

The shadow was back on its feet, and seemed to be studying him. He took the opportunity to do the same. It was vaguely man-shaped, but thin and gangly, with no identifiable features. Its face, if you could call it that, was a featureless black void. Its arms looked normal, but its fingers resembled the talons of some kind of bird-of-prey; long and wickedly curved.

"What are you? Some kind of…shadow youma?" he murmured. It was as good a name as any. The newly-named shadow youma leapt at him with surprising speed – he barely managed to parry the blows with his sword, retreating with two quick steps back. Those definitely weren't fingers! It felt like it was swinging a sword at him. It attacked again, and once more Justice was forced to give up ground. Despite its translucent, shadowy appearance, it was strong and definitely solid. Justice cut towards the youma's midsection and was unsurprised as it dodged backwards. He grit his teeth beneath his helmet; fast and agile was an annoying combination. No matter how much he'd trained in the last three years, a man in plate armour could only move so quickly.

He maintained a defensive posture. It would be all but impossible to hit the youma on the offensive. It was too fast. It lashed out again and he spun left. He heard a scratching sound as the youma's claws cut into his left pauldron. Far too close for comfort! He may not be able to hit it, but perhaps he could draw it in, catch it by surprise.

Justice held his sword before him, steady and unwavering, waiting for the youma to attack again. It circled around, stalking him like an animal looking for an opening. Justice let his sword drop ever-so-slightly, feigning pain in his left shoulder. The youma took the bait, dashing forward with another burst of incredible speed. At the last second, he spun right, ducked under its attack and swung his sword in a high cut. He was rewarded with a shriek of pain as he cut into the youma's chest.

A thick, black smoky substance curled into the air from the youma's wound. Justice wondered if that was how it bled as he watched it stagger towards the portal. Before it could enter, the gaping black maw shrunk away into nothingness, leaving it stranded. He smirked behind his helmet. You're not going anywhere, my friend! He brought his sword above his head, focusing his energy into the blade. It began to glow with a brilliant white light, and as it reached its full power, he swung it down in a diagonal slash. A crescent blade of golden energy shot out towards the youma. It screeched, unable to dodge before the light cut straight through it. Justice watched with satisfaction as the youma crumbled into dust.

Scattered applause broke out from the assembled onlookers, and he noticed a decent number of cellphones pointed his way. A young woman ran up to him, microphone in hand and a cameraman in tow. Crap, a reporter, he thought. Not good! A second journalist was behind her, a man in a suit, with another cameraman following him.

"Sir? Sir! Can you tell us who you are and where you're from?!"

"What was that thing and how did you do all that?"

"Are you affiliated with the Sailor Senshi? Where are they?"

Flashes continued from the assembled crowd as countless people took his picture with their cellphones. Panic started to set in. It had never been like this back home. There were just so many people here. At this rate his image was going to be plastered all over the place in minutes. Justice looked around, searching for an avenue of escape. Finding none, he did the only thing he could think of. He sheathed his sword, focused his energy inwards, and blinked out of existence in a flash of light.

"I think the teleport was a nice touch," Titus remarked dryly.

They were in Corey's apartment, watching the twenty-four hour news channel. Guardian Justice's heroics were the top story. He'd teleported straight back here from the street; it seemed like the safest location at the time. Titus had climbed through the window fifteen minutes later, as Corey was watching himself defeat the youma for the third time. The cat was surprisingly calm, all things considered.

Corey sighed and folded his arms across his chest. "What do you want me to say? I'm sorry. I didn't even notice the news crews until it was all over."

"It's not your fault," Titus said, managing to shrug reasonably well for a cat. "Tokyo does have a much denser population relative to Des Moines. It was only a matter of time before somebody caught you on film. I didn't think it would be to this degree, but…what's done is done. Anyway… your thoughts on that creature?"

"It was fast. And ridiculously agile." He pointed to the television. "See…here. I take a swing at it and it dodges without even trying." Justice was driven back on the screen, blocking attacks furiously. "When it swung at me, it just kept coming. I could barely keep up."

"You did well drawing it in," Titus observed, focused on the fight. "By the time it realised you weren't really injured, it was too late."

"Not very honourable," Corey remarked, running a hand through his hair.

"Honour is meaningless if you're dead, Corey. You did what you needed to do in order to win."

"Yeah, I know." He folded his arms across his chest, staring as a close-up image of the shadow youma was displayed on the television. "It was pretty stupid in the end… perhaps smart enough to follow orders, but not make decisions on its own?"

"Some kind of advance scout, then?"

"Perhaps," Corey murmured. "Whatever it was, I've never seen it before." He glanced at the cat, his lips pressed into a tight frown. "That means someone new."

"Indeed," Titus agreed. "This city could be in great danger." He glanced at the youma on the screen one more time. "We need to find the Sailor Senshi."

Minako clicked save and closed her paper, reaching up to rub her tired eyes. It was almost eleven, and she'd just spent the last three hours fighting through an assignment; she was done. Nothing left. The blonde logged into Facebook without even thinking about it.

"Might as well get caught up with everyone," she murmured, scrolling through her updates. Random status update, pictures of someone's dinner, silly meme, an idol signing. Then, she saw it. One of her friends had commented on a news story. "Medieval knight battles monster in the streets. What?" There was a video linked to the article, which she clicked. Minako watched the battle unfold, not noticing Artemis jump onto the bed and sit beside her.

"Mina? What are you…" He trailed off as he caught a glimpse of the monster. "What's this? When did it happen?"

"Uh…today, just after one PM," she replied, pausing the video on the man in armour. "I wonder who he is." After a few seconds with no reply, Minako turned to look at Artemis. The cat was frozen in place, staring at the image on the screen with wide eyes. "Arty? You okay?"

"Minako…you need to tell the others about this. Right now."

She stared at him, caught off guard by his panicked tone. "What? Why? Who is he?"

"That man is a Guardian Knight."

"Guardian Knight?" she asked. "That doesn't sound like such a bad thing." At Artemis' continued silence, she grew concerned. "Is it bad, Artemis?"

"Yes," Artemis said, still staring at the armoured man. "If he's here, then Usagi may be in terrible danger."

AN: Phew, first chapter done! I'm eager for feedback, as this is my first writing effort in a while. If you enjoyed it, please let me know you'd like to see more. If you didn't, let me know too. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Real life is proving to be a lot more of a distraction than I'd anticipated, but chapter two is underway. I hope to have it uploaded soon.