The name Sereniti-sama is in reference to Queen Sereniti, while Sereniti-hime is Princess Sereniti, just to make the distinction since both are referred to in the story.

One character that Takeuchi Naoko did not create is Hino Sumire, she is my own creation – Rei's long dead mother whose memory continues to haunt Rei throughout the story.

Again look for vocab at the end!

-Umeboshi

Disclaimer: Takeuchi-san knows what's hers, you should too.

Chapter II - Meiou

Rei:

I sat, itching for fresh air, my legs folded neatly beneath me. The sound of scratching pens grating against my nerves. I flopped backwards onto the makura, my long legs spreading out underneath the chabudai, wiggling my toes to try and restore feeling into them. Minako-chan hummed the lines from a new pop song softly to herself, her usually sweet and feminine voice buzzing in my ears. Even though I undoubtedly loved her most of any of the senshi, her strength often shone through her tall curves, dazzling glossy blonde hair and bright blue eyes, for a bitter moment I thought that it she lucky she was beautiful enough that she didn't need any real talent for she had none.

"Shitsukoi naa!" My voice was louder then I had anticipated, breaking through the comfortable gathering like a fist shattering glass. Four pairs of blue-black eyes stared back at me, unabashedly dazed. Ami reacted quickly after her unusual lapse in quick thinking. She began to pick up books and rearrange things on the chabudai, ordering me and the other three girls around in soft self-assured tons, her classical choppy black haircut swinging around her chin and ears and her large glasses heavily down her nose.

"Aa! Mite, we need more o-cha if we're going to do all this studying! Usagi-chan, baka, drank all of it. Rei-chan, will you go get some more?" I nodded, and feeling a little silly after my outburst hurried quickly out into the courtyard and down the hill.

The thin sheet of rain dripped steadily off of the leaves onto my head. I paused, leaning against a street sign to catch my breath. The cold metal against my wet skin made Goosebumps rise along my arms and legs. A mother and daughter stood; ready to cross the street beneath their red umbrella. The autumn air seeped through my lungs, making me feel cleaner inside then I had in months.

I sighed pressing my back against the thin metal post, and bending my knees. I ought to question nothing. Really . . . I ought to be happy knowing that I am finally, once again, with my princess. That the soldier can finally serve the queen once again. That my soul was no longer straggling through the starry heavens searching, climbing across the night sky calling out for what I had lost. We were all reunited once again, and the world could be at peace. All of the senshi had found each other in the layers of time. Sereniti-hime would soon come to the throne, and for now Sailor Moon was our greatest concern, her happiness above all else . . . her safety. Her life.

A drop of water dripped onto my nose from my limp, wet bangs. I clumsily pushed the hapless strands away from my face as I glanced up. Across the street stood a tall woman, looking very out of place. Streams of gray water ran down her neck, between her breasts, and along the lines of her legs. Her black dress clung inappropriately close to her toned body, and long black hair that shone green in the storm-light was wrapped up in a messy odango that hung low on her neck.

Her long shadowed eyes glanced back and forth over the street, a frightened deer ready to run off into the safety of green foliage once again. Before I could control myself, I found my legs carrying me over several puddles, and tugging on my own wrinkled buruuma. I stood close enough to smell her perfume, a musky, exotic scent, my mind tangled.

"Konnichiwa, hajime mashite. Hino Rei desu." The woman looked confused, her sharp, mirror-like brown eyes piercing my soul with a bitter accuracy. "You l-looked lost, may I help you?" I stuttered, and then felt like an idiot and began to turn away. I never stuttered. A sardonic grin curled the corners of her thin, elegant scarlet mouth.

"You're Hino-san, ne? Hai, then you have helped me, for it was you I was looking for." A gravely chuckle issued forth and tugged at my heart. She was the thing that had been haunting my dreams.

I could feel the icy cold water leaving a sticky trail as it ran down my back. The image of the woman began to swim before my tired eyes. I reached out a hand and unknowingly grasped her black sleeve. I felt myself begin to fall backwards as her strong arms reached forward and supported me. I fell against her, the energy gone from every muscle in my body.

The steady tapping of rain against the amando woke me up. A memory reached out to me through my hazy half-sleep state.

I was snuggled into the lap of a soft, sweet woman; her round small white hands, like blossoms,  stroked my baby cheek. 'Rei-chan, when you hear the rain tapping on the amando, you know that it is cold and wishes to come inside.' A laugh like fuurin.

I could smell o-cha drifting through the chilly house. A woman's voice talking softly in the background, Okaa-san. "Okaa-san, I don't feel good." Only after the words slipped out of my mouth did I pause. Okaa-san was gone. She wasn't ever coming back, she was dead. A hot and frustrated tear ran down my face, I had no mother and if I had my way I would never see my Chichi again. Gentle measured footsteps neared my futon and a hand slipped down through the mass of my wiry dark hair and to my cheek. "Rei-san? Are you alright?" I turned, gouging my nails into the soft flesh of my palm. No one was allowed to see my tears.

"I'm fine, doumo arigato." I froze as I took in the face that hovered above me. Long delicate features ran across the angular face. Her skin was a deeply tanned ivory, solid and yet slightly unreal. Ropes of green-black hair hung down about her neck, and her slanted brown eyes were as piercing as before.

"Sumimasen. I have not yet introduced myself," her voice was strong and controlled, even and deep, "Meiou Setsuna desu." I nodded slowly, not trusting myself to speak. Why was she here? Ojii-chan shuffled in carrying a tray with a steaming cup of o-cha.

"Rei-chan, you're awake! I've met your new friend here," he winked, a mischievous grin spreading across his wrinkled old face. "Well I'll leave you two girls to talk." He smiled again, and set down the tray.

Setsuna sat back on her heels, regarding me with an amused glint in her dark eyes. "Dou itashi mashite."

"Nani?" I sounded shorter then I had thought, and blushed in embarrassment.

She waved away my protests, "I have something to show you Hino-san, so close your eyes and don't say anything." I felt her cold fingers brush across my temples as glowing green sparks began to conjure behind my eyelids. An image took shape.

A molten green, black, and scarlet sky grew before me. The same tall, shadowed figure from my dreams standing against the strange background. A glowing gray-green orb was suspended above her hand as she began to turn a slow circle, a wall of green and black flames surrounding her.

Against a dark aurora stood a tell senshi holding a dark silver staff, the sign of meiou-sei emblazoned in scarlet on her forehead.

Setsuna-san was one of us.

My eyes felt the same heavy boring weight that they had felt when I tried to see. I tilted my face cautiously towards Setsuna-san. "Do you know why my seeings are clouded?" Perhaps within her secrets she held my answers, perhaps Sereniti-sama had finally sent this senshi to answer my prayers, to save her daughter from my sightless state.

"Sumimasen, Hino-san, but you have something to do before your eyes will clear once more." I searched her face with every sense I knew. Somewhere, hidden in those brown eyes, was the answer to everything. She knew it all.

"You would not tell me what it was even if you did know, ne?" She smiled a secret smile, drawn tight across her teeth, masking a thousand words.

"Aa! It is time you got up. You've been asleep for very long." She sank back on her heels, and then pushed herself up, not even faltering in the liquid movement. She turned, hair glinting in the light, and moved silently from my room. My head reeled, bemoaning the fact that sleep was not everlasting. Meiou-san had not yet told me why she had been looking for me; I wrinkled my forehead, wondering what the elegant senshi had wanted me for? She was so unlike the other five of us, not to mention the princess herself.

            I knelt on the floor in front of my low kagani. The objects were well worn, things that I had known since I was little. Old tubes of lipstick stood lined in rows against the glass, Ojii-chan lent me the yen every year to refill them with new colors. I slid off the cap of one, twisting the silver base as the deep red glided out of its gleaming sheath. I smudged it over my lips and onto my cheeks, bringing out the brilliant ruby of my features. A pale wooden comb rested, several long black hairs caught in the teeth. Along the edge of the delicate surface was carved the name Hino Sumire. I blinked back my memories, pulling the slender thing through my hair, and placing in back on the table.

            I stood, wriggling into a purple dress. I slid the fusuma open and scanned the jinja for Setsuna-san. She stood waiting for me by the torii, a maple leaf crowning her dark hair. "Sumimasen, but where are we going Setsuna-san?"

            "We're going for a long walk – that's all you need to know Rei-san. You need the exercise and I have never seen much of Tokyo in person." I barely had time to wonder what she had meant before she took off down the hill. I ran, marveling at her speed and balance in the crocodile black high-heels that stemmed off of her long pale legs.  We spoke little during the walk, leaving me to marvel at the diverse stranger I had chanced upon only the day before. Certain things seemed to baffle her, the speed of cars, flickering street signs, and the food that yatai sold. I wondered if I had discovered an ancient princess, suddenly thrown into the present. But were not all of the senshi something of the same thing? Out of place in this world where ancient promises and loyalties meant little, and the love and memory of a past life meant nothing.

            Her pace slowed as we neared Nihonbashi, and she glanced back at me assessing my condition. She stood, both hands on the railing, staring out into the water with a calmly. Out of breath, and feeling redder than I had intended, I pulled myself up onto the railing, leaning over so that the world seemed to spin sideways. "Aa! Watch out Rei-san! That's dangerous!" The note of fear in her voice was higher than I had expected, her serious brown eyes narrowing to an even thinner line. I laughed at her, feeling the  air washing away the darkness of my recent mood.

            "Where do we go now Setsuna-san?" I felt like a little child once again, a pudgy girl reaching for her Haha's hand and flushing with excitement. She shot me a quizzical smile, privately chuckling over my lost dignity but I merely smiled in return, refusing to let her ruin my joy.

Translations language wise and explanations:

Makura – cushion

Chabudai - Low table

Shitsukoi naa – translates to: Stop that (it's so annoying)!

O-cha – tea

Baka – translates to: stupid/idiot/fool

Odango – dumpling, but in BSSM is usually used to refer to the buns in Usagi's hairstyle.

Buruuma –  girl's gym shorts

Konnichiwa, hajime mashite. Hino Rei desu – translates to: Hello, nice to meet you. I am Rei Hino.

Hai – translates to: yes.

Amando – heavier sliding doors on the outside of houses.

Fuurin – temple bells.

Okaa-san – mother (mother can also translate into Haha).

Chichi – father.

Doumo Arigato – translates to: thank you.

Nani – translates to: what

Meiou-sei – the name for the planet Pluto.

Kagani – dresser

Jinja – Shinto shrine.

Torii - gatepost in front of a Shinto shrine.

Yatai – street vendor

Nihonbashi – bridge in Tokyo.