Tuxedo Mask jumped from the roof of one building to another and gracefully landed before taking off once more while looking in one more section of town that he had yet to personally comb through in his search for the missing young leader of the Sailor Scouts. In the weeks since Serena had disappeared, there hadn't been any clues as to where she had gone. Not a single person that he'd come across had any information to give him about the missing teen.
Ever since Serena had first ran away, Darien had wondered just how he had missed that she had been so miserable. Miserable enough to neglect her responsibilities and just vanish seemingly off of the face of the Earth. What could have pushed Serena to the point that she just decided to take off without looking back? Darien had been trying to get her to take her schooling and scouting more seriously lately but he never thought that she'd bail instead. Tuxedo Mask stared out at the cityscape in despair. Why didn't Serena just talk to him before she got to the point that she just threw in the towel?
Still contemplating his missing girlfriend and her disappearance, Tuxedo Mask sighed and decided that it was time to head back to his apartment for the evening. Serena wasn't going to show up tonight. He reluctantly turned back toward the direction of his home but paused as he saw a shadow off in the distance that seemed familiar. He raced after it and caught up within a block of a familiar set of pigtails. His heart jumped in his throat. Here it'd been weeks since Serena had disappeared and now that he'd finally found her she was running away from him. What he couldn't figure out was why. She had never run away from him.
Tuxedo Mask increased his speed and finally got within arm's reach and grabbed Sailor Moon's arm and spun her around to look at him. When he got a good look at the young woman he realized that she wasn't who he had expected. This young woman could be Serena's twin sister if she had one but she had a harsh look on her face that Darien had never seen before. Her Sailor outfit was different too. While the woman's uniform looked nearly identical to Serena's, the jewels in her hair, tiara and locket were all just as black as night.
"What is this? You're not Sailor Moon. What have you done to her?"
Shadow Moon gave Tuxedo Mask a look up and down before giving him a flippant grin. "Poor, Tuxedo Mask. Always the last to figure things out as usual aren't you? Well you are right; I'm not your Sailor Moon."
"Who are you?" Tuxedo Mask asked as he tightened his grip on the imposter.
"You don't really think that I'd tell you, do you? If I gave you all of the answers then just what fun would that be?" With that, she then got a gleam in her eye and snickered, "But for now you can call me Shadow Moon."
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she spun around and kicked Tuxedo Mask hard. So hard that he found himself back tracking in his steps and fighting to stay on his feet. The woman then slipped back into shadows and out of sight. When Tuxedo Mask found his footing he looked around and couldn't figure out where the Sailor Moon duplicate had disappeared off to.
Shadow Moon? A strange woman comes to town dressed and looking just like Serena not more than a few weeks after she had disappeared. Darien didn't like this. Something in his gut said that the coincidence was just too big for those events to not have something to do with one another. This Shadow Moon had to have something to do with Serena's disappearance. What if he and the Scouts had it all wrong? What if she hadn't taken off on her own free will?
What if…
Tuxedo Mask narrowed his eyes at the thought. He then pulled out his communicator. The others needed to know about the latest development. He just might need their help in tracking down this new enemy who went by the name of Shadow Moon. In turn, he hoped that when they found her that they would find Serena as well; safe and sound.
Serena looked at her watch and was surprised to see that her shift seemed to go so fast. Already it was nearly time for her favorite customer to come in at his usual time. Every evening the young business man with a great smile would come in to eat his dinner and flirt with her a little a time or two when she would show him to his table. The fact that the man didn't flirt with any of the other women who worked at the restaurant made Serena feel special. Of course the flirting was very subtle as well. A smile here, a glance there, just enough to make Serena's heart skip a beat each time she saw him.
Serena knew that nothing would ever come of the harmless flirting; the thought that she could really catch the eye of someone so handsome and a obviously successful like Mr. Garret was ridiculous. Still, it was fun to pretend. Even on nights like tonight when he came in with other women. The woman that he was with tonight looked similar to him in the way that she was attractive with blond hair just the same as Kyle Garret. She seemed to be well-known to the young professional but (at least Serena hoped) didn't appear to find the younger man of any romantic interest. That meant that Serena could hold onto her fantasies of the man who could only be a couple of years older than her for just a while longer without feeling guilty.
Across the room the same man who Serena was daydreaming about was doing a bit of daydreaming himself. In fact he barely even registered the sound of his older sister's voice as she went over the schedule of an upcoming merger meeting that he was expected to attend. While he was the youngest of the Garret family he had a business sense that defied his relative young age of just a little over twenty years. Kyle was still officially in business school but he had been given free rein when it came to his ideas of expanding the family fortune so long as he kept his sister and parents in the loop of what he had planned.
Tonight, however, it was not finances that was on his mind. Instead he couldn't stop himself from watching the young hostess who had only been working at the restaurant for a short time. He couldn't help but notice that she always had an easy smile at the ready for anyone who needed one. Even now he could hear the sweet melody of her laughter all the way across the room as she greeted one of the elderly couples that came here to eat about once a week.
If he had been sitting closer, Kyle was certain that he would have heard the young hostess ask Mr. Peachtree how his game of golf had gone today before asking his wife about her bursitis and saying that she was glad that she seemed to be feeling better lately. Kyle had to fight a snicker knowing that the Peachtrees rarely took to strangers easily but both adored the red-headed woman with whom they had an easy rapport with. It was only when his sister poked him on the arm that he looked back and felt himself blush at being caught staring the woman who seemed to haunt his thoughts lately.
"What?"
"You know what," Wendy said with a laugh. "Do you have any idea what I've been telling you for the last half hour?" As her brother began to scan the papers that were littered on the table for any clues to answer her question when she leaned in and whispered, "You know, you could just go ahead and ask her out."
"Who?"
"You know who; the woman that you've been staring at since the moment we walked in here." Wendy knew that her brother was usually very reserved around women and loved to tease him about it.
"I wasn't staring. I was just…" Kyle sighed. Who was he kidding? Of course he was staring. "Fine, I was staring. But it's not something that you have to make a big deal about."
"Uh-huh," Wendy started to shuffle the papers back into a pile since she doubted that she and her brother would get much done tonight anyway. "So what do you know about her? And don't tell me nothing because I know you."
Kyle shook his head, "Wendy… All I know is that she just sort of showed up out of nowhere. No family around or anything. But you can see for yourself that the customers love her. Even the Peachtrees."
"No small feat," Wendy chuckled since she knew that the old couple was notorious for complaining about the slightest thing that wasn't to their liking. "I say that qualifies her for employee of the decade right there." Wendy then eyed the young woman from across the room before repeating, "You should ask her out. You know that you want to."
Kyle snuck a glance back at Serena before looking back at his sister. "I don't know… I'm not sure that'd be a good idea. I'm not even sure what to say."
"Simple, you act like you're not shaking in your shoes and ask if she'd like to go out to dinner or a movie sometime." When Kyle gave her a look that spoke of just how much acting that would take, Wendy nearly choked on her salad. "Come on, you're a Garret. What's to feel nervous about? She's not likely to turn you down. Besides, I think it'd do you some good to do more than just stare from across the room. I dare you."
Kyle arrived at the restaurant and went to the very familiar podium where the woman who haunted his every waking hour and stalked him in his dreams could routinely be found. As usual, she had a bright welcoming smile at the ready as he approached. Something that Kyle liked to delude himself into thinking was just for him. In the weeks since she'd first come to town he had not been able to stop thinking about her.
After days of his sister's prodding, Kyle had decided that today would be the day that he'd ask Serena out on a date. The fact that Serena didn't appear to know exactly who he was only made her all the more attractive to him. She wasn't a gold digger looking to get rich quick by landing a wealthy man. She had instead captured his attention just by simply being her pleasant self.
Serena was glad to be able to distract herself from what day it was. Today would have been the beginning of her final segment of high school. Which meant that in just a few short months she and the rest of the Scouts would be graduating. That is if they'd let her graduate. She never had gotten the swing of taking tests. Not in all the long years that Ami had been trying to help tutor her. Serena could know the material but when a test was put in front of her she just completely blanked out. As a result she rarely passed the most important tests which left others with the impression that she was dumb.
Serena suspected that by now she was nothing more than a distant memory for all of her former classmates. She had done her best to not think about all that she had missed out on since leaving home. It was only after she had gotten to work, though, that she had been able to completely push such thoughts aside.
"Mr. Garret, how are you this evening?" Serena asked while taking in the appearance of the man who only grew more handsome every time he came into the restaurant.
"I'm doing alright," Kyle said before gathering up his nerve. "But there is one thing that could make the evening even better."
"Oh? And what's that?" Serena asked since one primary job that she had was to make sure that the customers had all that they needed.
"You agreeing to go out with me on your next night off."
Serena's eyes grew wide as she tried to see if this was an extension of the flirtation that they had exchanged for the last couple of months. "Go out? With you?"
"That is unless you'd rather not. I just thought that we might could enjoy an evening together," Kyle said while trying to sound as if Serena's answer (one way or the other) would not faze him at all.
"Oh, well, it's not that I wouldn't want to go out with you..." Serena said completely taken a back. This was the last thing that she had expected when she came to work. "But I sort of thought that you were seeing someone. A few nights ago you were in here with-"
"My sister, Wendy," Kyle said with a smile.
"Oh," Serena said a bit embarrassed. "Well, in that case..." Serena bit her lip then continued, "I'd love to."
The Sailor Scouts went running down the alley way as they pursued the mysterious Scout. Tuxedo Mask was on the other end of the alley waiting for them to chase Shadow Moon his way. When they finally blocked Shadow Moon between themselves and their comrade they were certain that they could finally get some answers after having chased this Sailor want-to-be for months.
"Alright, there's nowhere to go!" Sailor Jupiter shouted out with her adrenaline pumping. "Now where is Sailor Moon?" After months of trying to solve the mystery of where their leader had gone only to have this imposter show up shortly afterwards Lita had drawn the conclusion that the two had to be linked.
"If I knew, I wouldn't tell you," Shadow Moon said with a glare. "Shadows! Attack!"
From above the Sailor Scouts other Scouts jumped from the roof tops and landed around the Sailors poised for battle. The Sailors Scouts all stared at mirror images of themselves. Opposite of Sailor Mars was Shadow Mars. An exact copy of her; long, dark hair, wearing a short red skirt just like her. The same were opposite of Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus, and Sailor Jupiter. Tuxedo Mask glanced back and forth between the Sailors and their doppelgangers.
"What's going on?" Sailor Venus asked as she took in her own twin.
"You don't really think that we'd put all of the pieces together for you?" Shadow Moon said with a smirk. "Take care of them. I have to go." Shadow Moon spun to leave only to be come face to face with Tuxedo Mask. "Out of my way, Pretty Boy!"
"No chance," Tuxedo Mask said as he flipped his cape over his shoulder to give him a better stance to fight.
"You wouldn't hit a girl now would you? Especially one that could very well be your girlfriend?"
"You are not Sailor Moon. But if you've done anything to her then I have no problem with hitting you!" Tuxedo Mask said.
Behind Shadow Moon he could see the Sailors and Shadow Scouts engaging in battle. He then launched himself at his own opponent. It soon became obvious that the Shadow Scouts had the exact same strengths as their duplicates. The only difference seemed to be that Shadow Moon didn't have a Moon Crystal of her own. Still, even without the Crystal, Tuxedo Mask was surprised at how powerful the blonde was. Just as the other Scouts were surprised when they battled their Shadow copies. Mercury was having a difficult time trying to get in any blows since Shadow Mercury seemed to be able to predict her attacks. The same was true for the rest of the combatants.
It was only once all of the combatants were exhausted that the five Defenders of Light heard, "Shadows, disperse!" The next thing that Tuxedo Mask and the Sailor Scouts knew, they were alone in the alley way. Tired, battered and confused.
"I don't understand, who were those creeps?" Lita said after she and the others transformed back into their everyday selves.
"And why did they have our powers?" Mina added as she rubbed her shoulder. Shadow Venus had gotten in a really good blow to Mina's right shoulder so she was likely going to be favoring it for a while.
"Maybe we should all go to the temple to see if we can find anything out," Rei said since she planned to consult the flames just as soon as she got home anyway. She couldn't explain it but somehow she'd convinced herself that this Shadow Moon was just Serena trying to get back at them for pushing her so hard before she disappeared. Now that these other Shadow Scouts have appeared she wasn't sure what she should think.
"I think that is a good idea," Luna agreed. "Then Artemis and I will try to see if we can find anything else out from Central."
The Scouts and the felines all headed off toward the end of the alley way but Ami noticed that Darien (who had yet to change out of his alter ego) was staring off in the direction that they assumed that the Shadows had gone. "Darien? Are you coming too?"
"No," Darien said softly. "Just let me know if you learn anything." Tuxedo Mask then leapt up to head home by the way of the rooftops.
Ami silently sighed then followed the others to the temple that Rei had lived at for nearly half of her life. She and the others had hoped that their missing leader would have returned by now. Instead, one of the most important times of their lives was shadowed by their anguish over Serena's absence and what appeared to be the arrival of a new enemy.
When Serena made her way up to her fourth floor walk-up to the small room that she was renting at the boarding house, she had a bit of a lighter spring in her step. She and Kyle had agreed to go out on her next night off. Next Tuesday evening. Kyle Garret would surprise her that night as to where they would go. She looked forward to the date immensely.
Serena opened her door and slipped into her room still feeling like she was floating on air. She never had thought that she would be going out with such a handsome and kind (not to mention wealthy) man like Kyle Garret. This type of anticipation was something that she hadn't been able to experience with Darien. They had gone straight from not being able to stand the sight of one another to acting as if they'd been together for a millennia. Which in a sense they had been.
She couldn't remember a time where Darien had tried to impress her as Kyle seemed to try to do tonight as he spoke with her about their upcoming date. And what's more, Serena knew that Kyle wanted to date her for her. Not because of her alter ego or her past life.
Serena shook her thoughts of everything that reminded her of the life that she'd left behind. She knew that she'll need to get a new outfit for the date. Most of her clothes were strictly sensible since she had only brought warm clothes with her when she had left home. Serena had bought a few outfits to lounge around in or do her daily marketing in but nothing suitable for a nice date. She was glad that she'd been frugal with her earnings from the restaurant. That way she would have enough to buy something that she could feel good about without feeling like she'd embarrassed Kyle while they were out.
Serena drifted off to sleep with a smile on her lips as she was barely able to wait until next Tuesday night. She felt as if everything was going so perfect. If she had been back in Tokyo she'd be waiting for something or someone to come and take this happiness away from her. Instead she felt certain that nothing could threaten her new life.