Chapter 1

Rising from its ashes, a new hope is born, with frail beginnings ahead

Forcing a smile upon her sullen face, Elidi walked over to her aunt and cousin, knowing they were hurting just as much as she was. She didn't remember much about her cousin, just that they looked a lot alike. Elidi stood a little taller than Usagi, not letting on that Elidi was two years older. The only way to really tell them apart was their hair. While Usagi had her long, flowing, golden blonde hair in pig tails with the buns on top of her head, Elidi had long blonde hair with natural pink streaks her hair not necessarily in a bun, but close to it, almost cone shaped if you will.

She was embraced by her aunt with a hug and a sad smile, and the cousin she couldn't remember stared at her with a look in her eyes that Elidi couldn't decipher. She hoped it was something good and not so much pity. Maybe empathy?

"Hi, thank you for taking me in," she spoke in English with a bow in respect. Her cousin looked at her with a funny look on her face and her aunt giggled, showing her humor.

"She doesn't know very much English Elidi," her aunt explained.

"Ohhhhhh," she grasped. "Gomenasia Usagi-chan I'm so used to speaking English I almost forgot I'm in Japan," she rubbed the back of her neck.

Usagi gave a laugh, "Its' ok Elidi-san, I'm sure we'll be good friends." Both smiled at each other, sensing how easy it was for them to like each other.

*Maybe this won't be so bad,* Elidi thought to herself.

"Let's go get you're things okay Sunbeam?" her aunt used her pet name. It struck a chord in her heart but she didn't want to let it show. Her parents gave her that nickname when she was very little, so of course her mother's sister knew it.

Elidi put on her best smile and nodded. "Hai, I only have a few bags."

"I'm sure you're tired after traveling so far, so you're room has already been set up. You can rest all you'd like when we get back," her aunt soothed, "and if you're anything like Usagi you'll be sleeping all day."

"Mooooom," Usagi whined in protest. "I do not sleep all day… just enough so I have my beauty sleep," she huffed then blew out a raspberry playfully.

Elidi started giggling almost uncontrollably. Her aunt smiled, glad that things were going so smoothly with the current circumstances. "Oh that's right you like music don't you Elidi?" she asked picking up her guitar coming through the baggage pick up.

"Hai," Elidi replied, though not as enthusiastically as she once would.

"When you're up to it maybe you could play for us sometime," she answered, sensing her niece's discomfort.

Elidi gave her one of the best smiles she could and grabbed the rest of her things. Looking at her cousin again she kept getting a nagging feeling in the back of her head, but it was something she couldn't quite place. Usagi felt the same nagging feeling, the difference was, Usagi sensed it was something good. Going with her feelings, Usagi gave her older cousin an innocent smile that had Elidi smiling back.

"Is Usagi home?" a concerned Makoto asked at the door. At the same time the car pulled up into the driveway with the three girls in it.

"Actually that should be them right now. Hey honey do you need help with the bags?" Usagi's father asked with his own concern. He had decided to stay behind so there would be room for all of the bags in the small car.

"If you don't mind, that way Elidi can get comfortable," she replied stepping out of the car. Of course by help she meant he grab all the bags, that's why she piled all of them into his arms.

"Makoto-chan! What brings you here?" Usagi asked excitedly. While in the car, she learned quite a bit about her cousin. They were alike in many ways, like their sleeping and eating habits. Which then, of course, made Usagi vow to take her to the best dessert spots in town.

"Well, you were supposed to meet us at Rei's house and you never showed up. At first we thought you were late again, but then we got worried when you didn't show up at all," she explained, looking over at Usagi's almost exact copy. Makoto blinked a few times, looking between the two trying to piece together what was going on.

"Um… Usagi-chan?" Elidi poked her cousin in the side. "I'm going to go take a nap, maybe you can show me around later?"

"Oh, hai, of course! Have a good nap Elidi-chan!" Usagi waved to her happily while her cousin carried her guitar and carry-on bag up to her new room.

"Usagi-chan?" Makoto looked at her friend curiously. "Um, who is she?"

"Oh Elidi? She's my cousin from America; I wasn't at Rei's because my mom wanted me to come with her to pick her up."

"She's from America? But her Japanese is really good," Makoto asked astounded.

"That's because she lived here when she was very young. She's really nice when you get to know her," Usagi replied in her usual cheerful manner. "Though… now that I think about it…"

"What is it? Is something off about her?" Makoto asked curiously, not even thinking about the Rei's visions of evil.

"I think she was trying to distract me and my mom from worrying about her…" Usagi realized. "Her parents died in a car accident over in America, so that's why she's living with us now…" Makoto's demeanor immediately changed, she knew all too well what Elidi would be going through. "I know I don't remember her very much at all, but she's a really nice person. You'll try to be her friend too, right Makoto? I want everyone to like her so she won't have to go through anymore pain, at least for a while."

Makoto nodded in agreement, "After her nap why don't we introduce her to everyone? We can all go out to eat together to get to know her."

"Hai, I like that idea," Usagi agreed happily. Turning somber, she added, "I don't think she should be alone for too long… I feel so close to her already… almost like we're more than cousins. Weird, huh?"

Luna listened from the corner ready to go back inside to investigate further. So far her suspicions were coming to light. She just needed to find out a few more things to make sure she was right. With her cat grace, she slipped inside and sauntered up the stairs toward the mysterious girl. Luna peeked around the corner before trying to sneak into Elidi's new room. The girl was trying to put things away, trying her hardest to make things as homey as possible. Sitting down on her new bed, she pulled up her guitar, careful to pull it from its case as to not disturb the hours of tuning that had been done to make it just right. She set it on its' stand as if it were something holy, letting her hands linger on a recent memory about her fingertips.

Luna took her time stepping into the room, allowing her presence to be known with a light, "Meow."

"Oh hi there kitty," Elidi gave her as heartwarming of a smile that she could bear at that moment. "You're Luna right? You're such a pretty kitty," she added whilst picking her up gently into her arms, petting her ever so gently on the head. Luna meowed in delight.

*Oh I definitely like her,* Luna mentally purred to herself. *Well down to business, it seems like she doesn't recognize me so she must either not be her, or she cannot remember the past. Either way it is best not to disturb the delicate balance in this girl's life. *

"I don't know how you like your cat naps, but do you want to join me for one? That plane ride was exhausting," Elidi asked, reverting back to English. Luna looked at her cocking her head to the side as if to say, 'what are you saying?' "Oh, I get it, you must only recognize Japanese. Aren't you a smart kitty," she smiled at the revelation. "I was just asking if you wanted to join me for a nap, I've had a long plane ride."

*Well, I was up all night, so I don't see why not, and I'm sure Usagi doesn't want her alone to begin with. So, sounds good to me,* Luna curled up next to her new companion with a mew of delight. Both drifted off into a deep slumber.

*With Usagi*

"Makoto-chan! I'm so excited! Elidi-san likes a lot of the same things I do, especially food! We should throw a welcoming party for her! Don't you think that would be fun?" Usagi pranced up the sidewalk toward Rei's temple.

Makoto smiled at her future queen's enthusiasm. "Hai, I think it sounds like a wonderful idea. I think a welcoming party is a great idea."

Stopping short, Usagi pulled Makoto back before heading up the stairs to the temple. "Um, Makoto-chan, about Elidi-san… I don't want to tell everyone about what happened to her, I think it might be something that when she's ready, she'll talk about it. I know it sounds weird, but from the moment I met her, we feel like more than cousins, and I don't know how to explain it. I just, don't want anything bad to happen to her and I want her to be happy," Usagi explained secretively

Makoto nodded knowingly. "I know what you mean. She's not going to want to open up right away, so we can't pressure her. All we really can do is wait for her," She explained. Both agreed whole heartedly.

Usagi began to smile happily again, ready to walk into the temple to spread the news. "Oh and we can make food, and maybe you could make those little cake things, and some cookies, oh and then afterwards we can go get some ice cream!"

Makoto had a sweat drop at all of the plans her friend had in store for the blissfully unaware and currently slumbering girl. "Usagi-chan I don't know if we can get all of that finished before she wakes up."

She jumped at the thought. "Makoto-chan! You're right! We have to go tell everyone right away!" Faster than she's ever moved before, Usagi dragged Makoto all the way into the temple, leaving a trail of dust behind them.

Surprising everyone, Usagi burst through the door, the look of sheer determination evident on her face. Taken aback, Ami asked, "Where's the fire Usagi-chan?"

Her demeanor changed for the millionth time that day, she replied worriedly, "Fire? What fire? Where? Are we in danger?"

Everyone dropped to the floor, not prepared for that one.

Scowling, Rei sat back up quickly, "She meant what's the rush you meathead!"

"I AM NOT A MEATHEAD!" she screeched back.

Makoto nearly had a sweat drop forming when she decided to remind her friend of the task at hand. "Usagi-chan, remember? Your cousin?" she reminded quietly, grabbing Usagi's attention.

"Oh, right! My cousin Elidi-chan is in town to stay with me, and I wanted to throw her a big welcoming party from all of us," she replied happily smiling. "Can we have it here Rei?" Usagi pleaded with big eyes.

"This is a temple, a place of worship and prayer, not a party house," She retorted back.

"But Rei!" Usagi tried once more.

Makoto decided to step in, "Usagi-chan, we can have it at my place. How long do we have to plan for it again?"

"I was hoping until she was done with her nap," she replied innocently.

"U-Usagi-chan, that's a lot to plan in a short period of time," Ami said hesitantly, carefully calculating everything in her head.

"But she's like me, so she's gonna be asleep for a while," Usagi giggled at the thought.

"Two Usagi's? I can hardly handle just this one. This is going to be a headache," Rei twitched while holding her head in her hands.

"That's not very nice Rei, you haven't even met her yet," Minako steps in before Makoto could.

"Either way, we should head over to my house then, if you want to make those cakes, I've gotta get to work," Makoto smiled at her friend, comforting her.

"Hai!" everyone agreed in unison.

"I'll go get the streamers!"

"I'll get the balloons!"

"Everyone else can help me in the kitchen," Makoto agreed. After thinking for a second she added, "Except for you Usagi, we need you to go make sure she comes to the right house and doesn't come over until we're ready."

The look of sheer determination returned to the future queen's face. "You can count on me!"

(A/N) Well I decided to end it here for now to update sooner, and it'll leave a good way to open up the next chapter ^_^

Thoughts? Keep going? Stop now before this ends badly? Well, I'm gonna keep going anyways cause I want to see how this turns out, but still thoughts are good…

And special thanks to my new muse: sangoscourage! You get the extra special internet cookie ^-^