1: School Day (or: "OMG!! Im leik totaly go'n 2 schol wit Sailor MOON!!")

Rei couldn't sleep. It wasn't that she didn't feel tired. No, she felt as though she would fall asleep the instant she climbed into bed. The cause for her sudden and incredibly irritating insomnia was a feeling; some tickling at the back of her mind that usually only went off when something extremely not good was brewing for the near future. Kneeling silently before the sacred fire, she attempted to coax a vision of whatever it was to come forth, yet no such vision came. With the light of dawn slowly seeping into the room, the young woman gave a sigh of defeat. She had the strangest feeling that she wouldn't be getting any information out of the fire, no matter how long she stayed there, and the urge to sleep was beginning to cloud her judgement.

"Something evil is coming," she said out loud to herself as she got to her feet, "I only hope we can stand against it…"


"Please be seated, class, I have an announcement to make!"

Usagi hurriedly scampered to her seat, hoping that the teacher hadn't noticed that she'd just quietly slipped in during the pre-class confusion. A row across from her, Minako rolled her eyes in a manner that clearly said, "Late again?"

Usagi frowned a bit, shook her head and gave a little shrug, which more or less translated to, "Only by a few seconds, like you're one to talk, Miss Usually-Has-To-Run-To-School-With-Me-Because-She's-Just-As-Late!"

The wonders of non-verbal communication.

"Now, before we begin," the teacher said, interrupting any further conversation, silent or otherwise, "I'd like to inform you that we have a new student joining us. Please welcome your new classmate,"

The door to the classroom slid open and in stepped the classmate in question. Usagi paused in her covert attempt to liberate some rice balls from her lunch box (she had woken up too late to eat breakfast, again, and her she knew her stomach would start imitating something loud and growly if she didn't get some food in her) to take a look at the new student.

It turned out to be a girl, with long, white-blonde hair that seemed to radiate with the light of a thousand rainbows, which was weird in itself, thought not as weird as the fact that the girl's eyes seemed to change colour with every step she took, which was just downright impossible. Usagi supposed that the girl might have been described as incredibly beautiful and sexy for a seventeen year old, but the creepy, hungry look in her eyes, coupled with the wide, too-bright smile made the girl look, well, rather terrifying.

"Hello everyone!" the girl said in a sing-song voice that would have been lovely were it not so full of self importance, "I'm Aurora Marie Susanna Moonbeam McAwesome the First! I just transferred here from America, where I was a professional singer/dancer/actress/model/martial arts protégé/genius/stunt driver/musician/fashion designer/firewoman/princess/ballerina/astronaut/cowgirl/pirate/ninja/mercenary-for-hire/neurosurgeon/veterinarian/nurse/Iron Chef/first female president! I hope to be good friends with each and every one of you!"

She said all of that without a pause for breath, the creepy smile never leaving her face for an instant.

Usagi watched as Aurora's eyes roved the classroom, stopping behind her where she knew Ami and Makoto were sitting, then shifting to Minako, then finally to herself. The sudden urge to leap out of her desk and scream at Aurora to leave her friends alone, or in the name of the moon, she would punish her, caught Usagi completely by surprise. Why did she wish to perform violence upon this strange girl? Yes, Aurora McAwesome put the creepy back in creepy, but that was no reason to smash her into atoms with a Therapy Kiss, right? Usagi forced herself to calm down as the teacher continued talking.

"Now, where shall we seat you?" the teacher said, glancing around the classroom for an empty seat.

"Oh, there's a place right there!" Aurora sang, pointing to the desk to Usagi's left.

Glancing to her left, Usagi gave a little gasp of shock. The seat was, indeed, empty, when she knew for a fact that there was usually a dark haired guy that sat there (she knew this for a fact because she had sometimes tried to sneak peeks at his papers during particularly hard tests). She had sworn he had been there when she came in, but maybe he was out sick?

"Alright, nobody sits in that seat, so it's all yours!" the teacher said helpfully, and Aurora positively flounced over into the empty desk.

"Um, but Sensei?" Ami asked hesitantly, "That's where Yamada-kun sits. He's sat there all year!"

Checking over the attendance roster once more, the teacher shook her head, saying, "No, I don't have a Yamada in my class. You must have mixed him up from another of your classes."

Now Usagi knew something was very wrong. As far as pretty much anything was concerned, Ami's word was law. Glancing over at Minako, she saw the other blonde glaring at the teacher as if she had just said something insanely rude.

Usagi sighed, thinking that maybe the stress of teaching was making the teacher a little absent-minded. Turning back to her own desk, Usagi gave a startled yelp and nearly toppled out of her chair. Aurora was practically hovering over her, her school bag clutched to her chest, and that scary grin nearly splitting her face in half.

"Excuse me," she babbled, "But I forgot my textbook at home. May I borrow yours?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Usagi stammered, holding her textbook out in front of her in the same manner one would offer a slab of beef to a hungry tiger.

Grasping the book in rainbow-painted talons, Aurora's grin grew impossibly larger, and then she floated back to her seat.

Grabbing her desk, Usagi scooted next to Minako, partially so the two of them could share textbooks, but mostly to get as far away from the creepy new girl as possible.

As the teacher began the lesson, Minako positioned her textbook between the two desks, then slid a piece of paper over to Usagi.

On it was written, Are you alright?

I'm fine, Usagi wrote back, Just a little creeped out.

I don't blame you. She was hanging over you like she was going to bite your head off or something.

Oh thanks, like I needed that imagery. But what about Sensei forgetting about Yamada-kun?

I know! I know I saw him in here this morning!

But she checked the attendance and everything! Are we the only ones who think it's weird she didn't see his name?

Well, maybe she's tired and only just scanned it quickly. Yamada-kun was kinda quiet, so maybe she just forgot him? It's got to be hard to remember the names of all your students.

Still, it's weird. We'll have to talk with Ami-chan and Mako-chan after class.

In the meantime, you stick by me. There's something off about that McAwesome girl. I don't trust her. She might be another enemy after us...

Despite that cheery note, the rest of class went on as it usually did, though Aurora kept shooting them covetous glances whenever she thought they weren't looking. When the bell finally rang, Aurora zipped over to Usagi and Minako, clutching the textbook she had borrowed as if it were her most valued possession.

"Thanks for letting me borrow this," she simpered, her omnipresent grin still plastered across half her head, "It was a big help!"

"Ah, great!" Usagi laughed nervously, taking the book back carefully. A shadow suddenly fell over her, and Usagi found Makoto standing protectively before her.

"Come on," the taller girl said, taking one of Usagi's arms, "We don't want to be late!"

"Oh, hey!" Aurora called cheerily as Usagi was escorted from the room, flanked by her friends, "Maybe we can hang out after school or study sometime!"

"Sorry, we usually study at a friends, and she's rather antisocial and reacts quite violently to strangers!" Ami replied just before she left the class, shoving Usagi ahead of her.

As the other students packed there things away and left for their next classes, Aurora took her time. Why should she, the great Aurora Marie Susanna Moonbeam McAwesome the First have to rush around for anyone, let alone a teacher? She was above such trivial things as learning anyway. But her true reason for coming to school, this school in particular, had just been marched out of the class. It was no matter, though. She always, always got what she wanted, but it appeared that it would just take her a bit longer than she had thought it would. She could wait. It wasn't as though she had anything better to do anyway.


In the heart of Tokyo, atop a tall apartment building, a young woman awoke with a gasp of pain. Rolling over onto her side, she threw her hands over her head, shielding her eyes from the blinding sunlight. She felt dizzy, disoriented, and generally unwell. After a moment's pause, she rolled onto her front, and forced herself upright with more than a little difficulty. She was shaky on her feet, as though she had not stood on her own for a very long time. She gazed around at her surroundings, holding a hand before her face to ward of the bright light. A glint on her wrist distracted her, and she saw that the shine was coming from a silver bracelet. It consisted of what looked like a metal straw, through which was threaded a thick, rope-like chain. On the straw-ish part was a word of some sort, but she seemed to have lost the ability to read. Looking down at the rest of her, the girl discovered she was wearing a white t-shirt and black jeans, with a grey fleece jacked tied about her waist. On her left wrist she wore a black and silver watch, while from a chain around her neck dangled a pendant. Lifting it up as to see it better, she saw that the silver pendant was shaped like a book, with a word etched across the cover. She sifted through her hazy thoughts to see if she could remember something to tell her what that word was, but she couldn't seem to recall anything. Literally. She knew she had a name, but she couldn't recall what it was, nor could she remember why she had been lying around on the roof of a building. All she did know was that she was there, in that city, for some reason beyond her recollection. Stumbling towards a nearby door, she wrenched it open and descended into the cool darkness of the stairwell.