Author's note: Here is a list of things that have suffered because I've been writing this story— attention span in my Strategy and Policy class 2. My Business Government and Society class 3. My storytelling assignment due last Saturday . I'm racing to write everything that I have on my mind before the plot bunnies run away. because of this speedy writing I fear I have lots of grammatical errors. I apologize! (hontou ni sumimasen!!) I just editted things that I noticed and replaced the chapters.
Also, I am no good with the Japanese School System and Sailor Moon has no real continuity when it comes to being on time—I'm assuming that Usagi is graduating meaning that Galaxia actually occurred her sophomore year—I know it was supposed to be her freshman but I didn't want the age gap between the guys and the girls to be that evident. Usagi and the Inners are 17/18. Duo and the guys are about 20 (Trowa=21). Haruka and Michiru are 21 (Can you tell that melding the time lines of GW and SM has tainted my purist views of SM time lines?) D:
Lastly, I am finishing up reading all the manga ( watching my DVD's 4-5 time was disturbing my roommates) so I'm going to use some references from the manga in regards to certain beliefs which will reveal themselves later in the story.
Chapter 3
"Usaaagi!" Rei chastised as her best friend yet again swiped a forkful of her cake. "You have your own and I gave you a taste of mine!" she motioned to Usagi's now empty plate.
"I'm sorry" Usagi whined giving Rei a pitiful look akin to puppies at a pet store. "You gave me a taste, and it was sooo good! I can't stop myself."
Rei sighed as she delved deep into her pool of patience that she dedicated solely to Usagi. The past year had made the two grow closer together. With Galaxia behind them and the secure knowledge that there was no need to worry about anymore attacks the girls reached for their dreams. Ami had left for Germany for a semester abroad and hadn't been around for about 4 months. Makoto's skill in the kitchen had caught the attention of their home economics teacher and at her recommendation Makoto was finishing her senior year in France studying under a friend of the teacher. Minako had decided at the end of Galaxia's attack that she wanted to study drama—so she was currently studying in Osaka at a Performing arts school that will go through High School and college. Leaving just the two of them and a web-cam as communication to their other compatriots.
"Odango, what trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" a deep baritone asked from behind them.
"Haruka!" Usagi exclaimed. "How's work?" She asked mimicking a drivers wheel.
"I got some additional sponsorship from Winner Enterprises, so we're upgrading some of the systems."Haruka replied as she sat in the booth. "How about you? Are you still managing to pass school?"
"Barely" Rei interjected causing Usagi to pout. "But she's been studying with me and Molly so it's been much better" She paused as she saw two familiar figures enter. "Well, look who's here"
"Haruka-papa!" Hotaru exclaimed as she ran to the table. "look who came back this morning!" she was jumping excitedly as Setsuna arrived at the table at a more leisure pace she nodded to Haruka in greeting.
"Setsuna!" Usagi cheered as she climbed over Haruka to embrace the time guardian.
Greetings were exchanged and most people had settled down by the time Michiru arrived. She was looking suspiciously around the business and out the windows before sliding into the booth next to Haruka.
"Michiru?"
"Preventer agents showed up at our door this morning" she announced once she was satisfied no one had followed her.
"heeeeeh?" Usagi exclaimed. Haruka's eyes narrowed.
"What'd they want?"
"They wanted to know about my enrollment in Infinity College and the 'incidents' that occurred in relation to the operations there" Michiru replied. "They also wanted to know the nature of our custody of Hotaru"
"Why?" Hotaru frowned. "Papa is not well so I live with Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama."
"They were more concerned about the transcriptions that Professor Tomoe gave upon entering the institution." Michiru replied. "That and her birth certificate…they can't see her or we're going to be dealing with a lot of problems"
"What's the big deal with them seeing Hotaru?" Usagi asked.
"Hotaru's birth certificate says she's 12" Setsuna answered. All eyes fell upon the 8 year old version of Hotaru who squirmed under scrutiny of sailor scouts. After the Galaxia incident her rebirth has resulted in two years of growth spurts which ended when she hit approximately 8 years of age.
"She can stay at my place" Rei offered. "It hasn't been the first time and I'm sure the crows would love doting upon her." Hotaru giggled at the memory of Rei's beloved crows.
"However, that's the least of our problems" Michiru continued gravely. "I got bad vibes when they came into the apartment—my mirror reflected black when I checked it—one of them has purple eyes"
The table went silent as people held their breath over this fact.
"Are you sure Michiru-mama? I mean, only harbringers of death have purple eyes"
Michiru nodded remembering the shock she had to hide when the long haired preventer agent took off his sunglasses. "It was like I was looking at Hotaru's eyes—Setsuna, this has got to be the new enemy you mentioned."
Setsuna shook her head in confusion. "I don't know, I'm afraid my news is not good but—"
"Usagi?" Rei asked—her friend had lost most of the coloring in her cheeks her eyes frightfully wide and aware. "What's wrong?" she placed a hand on Usagi's arm. Usagi grasped her arm tightly to ground herself.
"My dreams…" she whimpered. "I've been reliving my final battle" She looked up with tears filling her blue eyes. Everyone's eyes hooded darkly at the memory and their failure to protect her. "I've been feeling something bad for the past month." Rei squeezed Usagi's hand. "Why are we having problems now? I thought Galaxia was our last battle."
"That's why I'm here" Setsuna replied. "It took me a while to confirm it—but we are in a paradox."
"A para-what?" Usagi frowned.
"A paradox, basically because Chibi-Usa came to the past and brought you into the future your time period became a paradox. Your knowledge of the future has affected certain decisions you've made. I've been looking into your future but I see nothing right now—there is still something left for you to do in order to get to your designated destiny. I can't even see Small Lady in your future just fog. Resolving this threat may clear it."
"Chibi-Usa isn't born in this time period?!" Hotaru exclaimed upset that her best friend's existence was at stake.
"Setsuna, where is this coming from?" Usagi asked—if fighting taught her anything it was that you were the writer of your destiny.
"Well, to get back what I discovered looking at the nodes I set up—it's very weird. When I looked it showed traces of energy from the Negaverse."
"But we destroyed the Negaverse." Rei frowned. "How—"
"Not all things from the Negaverse were destroyed by us…" Usagi cut in. Her brows knitted together as she searched her memories. "I might have to call Luna to confirm this but—from what Mamo-chan told me the four generals' essence was never destroyed. He says he'd know if they were dead—he says their dormant in eternal sleep. It was Queen Beryll's punishment for them failing to destroy us"
"If what you say is true…" Setsuna's thoughts ran away from her. "We're dealing with an old enemy with stronger powers."
"But they haven't attacked yet!" Hotaru piped up.
"But they will" Rei shook her head. "Nephrite definitely knows Usagi's true identity." She looked at the other scouts with a determined stare "I think we need to call everyone back…or at least have them all on stand-by." Everyone nodded.
"ne?" hotaru pulled at Haruka's jacket. "what's that cake Rei's got? Can I have one too?"
Haruka let out a bark of laughter. Leave it to Hotaru Sailor Scout of death and rebirth to lighten up such a dark meeting.
Meanwhile in a yakitori bar down the street
Duo and Heero were finishing up dinner and going over the notes they'd taken that day.
"We're getting nowhere even close to figuring out this whole damn incident—" Duo sighed nibbling at one of his skewers. "I find myself wishing some psycho tries to take over the world so we can get re assigned."
"Hn" Heero snorted as he looked at their first stop of that day. "She was hiding something" he commented. The file in front of him showed a school picture of Michiru Kaioh. "She kept on looking at you funny" Duo let out a bark of laughter.
"Maybe it was my timeless beauty and charm?" Duo teased batting his eye lashes.
"Baka…" Heero replied. "Dr. Tomoe at the institution said something interesting…he claimed his daughter was saved by this Sailor Moon character."
"Sailor Moon sounds like a local hero of sorts—I mean, Naru says she's been saved countless times by this girl" Duo removed a sketch and description of a girl in a sailor uniform, two pig tails and the tiara that had been found at the Moonbase. "This sounds more like a comic book story than an actual investigation."
"I would be the first to agree with you" Heero said flipping through some police reports. "However there are just so many reports that corroborate this character and these 'bouts of lethargy' the destruction of property with no evidence to why it happens."
Duo nibbled at the last of the skewers he and Heero had ordered.
"I think we should drop by this Tsukino residence. Twice during these 'major disasters' they reported a family member missing—Usagi Tsukino." Duo stated.
"What's the big deal with that?" Heero asked looking at the report. "both times she was found unharmed"
"The thing is that the girl—Usagi Tsukino was described as having pink hair and in elementary school—at the time the only Usagi Tsukino on record is blonde and in junior high." Duo pointed out. "Also these reports were 6 months apart from one another—however in one Usagi is 6 and in another she is 10." Duo continues "I also think we should revisit Michiru—this thing with Hotaru's age is really messed up"
"There's a lot of discrepancies in reporting—nothing supernatural though" Heero frowned. "The only thing connecting this to the Moon base would be the tiara this character wears. I'm going to send Une a preliminary report. This is a futile case we're on." Heero placed a 5000 yen bill on the table for the meal before leaving the bar with Duo.
"Hey!" Duo hissed as they stepped out. He grabbed Heero's arm and pointed a few storefronts down across the street. "There's Michiru Kaioh"
Heero and Duo watched silently as a group of girls exited the cafe. Michiru and a girl with cropped blonde hair flanked the group, keeping a constant vigilance around the area. Almost as if they were hiding something.
"They don't look suspicious at all…nooo…." Duo whispered sarcastically.
"Shall we?" Heero asked.
"Oh yes—" Duo licked his lips in anticipation. "Let's see what they're up to."
Meanwhile in Antartica
"You fool!" Zoicite screamed moving to hit Nephrite. Kuntzite grabbed Zoicite's upper arm to stop him from attacking. "How dare you turn your back on us!"
The general's had awakened from their sleep with a determination to destroy Sailor Moon and her cohorts. However, Nephrite was arguing against it. Zoicite and him had been arguing since their awakening with Kunzite making sure they didn't tear each other apart.
"Unlike you Zoicite" Neprhite said venomously. "I haven't forgotten that it was Beryl not Sailor Moon who tried to kill me"
"If it wasn't for Sailor Moon we would be gods amongst men—"Zoicite retorted. "If not for her we wouldn't be here in this frozen tundra."
"Hey! Look what I found!" Jedite yelled from the other cavern over. The argument over for now the general's found Jedite in front of the remains of what appeared to be a large mecha. Jedite wore a cocky smile. "Gentlemen, I think I have found our weapon of choice."
"I'm not going to be a part of this" Nephrite hissed, machines like this destroyed worlds. "I'm out" without as much as another word he teleported out.
"He will be a problem" Kunzite reported.
"He knows Sailor Moon's true identity" Zoicite added.
"Then it would be fortuitous for us to follow him" Kunzite replied. He looked at Jedite. "We can leave you here to take care of this while we take care of Nephrite? I fear he will not go down easily."
"Just remember" Jedite mentioned. "We destroyed each other when we plotted against one another- let's not commit the same mistake"
"Very well" Kunzite nodded. "Shall we, my love?" he offered his arm to Zoicite.
"Yes dear, let's"
TBC…
Are people liking where I'm going? I'm concerned about the characterization of the general's…I'll try and delve into their individual characteristics in the next chapter. Please review! :D If anyone is interested in beta-ing this you would be greatly appreciated. I really don't have the time andI want to get this story out to everyone quickly.
