AN: I have to thank you guys so much for the support you've shown! I could not ask more. I've wanted to write sooner, but it was a case of either not being in a writing mood or being too exhausted from work. For those of you who write Sailor Moon fanfiction (or just fanfiction in general), what do you do to get in the mood?

She was only fifteen minutes late to class, yet Usagi could not help but to feel that she had inevitably damned herself in the eyes of her peers for another year. It was a missed chance to start out fresh, to be known as the reliable student who was always on time to class, and her misfortune was only doubled when she discovered that her assigned teacher for the year was apparently a hard-ball. Not only was the door locked, but when she mashed her face to the small window as an appeal for mercy, the teacher from inside told her through the shut door (in what she felt was an unnecessarily firm voice) that she would only be admitted after receiving a tardy notice .

As she reflected in the school's office while waiting for a pink-slip to be written, Usagi had a difficult time controlling a surge of emotion. Her eyelids felt a little tight, and the wrinkle against her chin was overwhelming. It was only by sniffling that she seemed able to control tears from streaking her cheeks with a terrible, tell-tale blotchy red. And it was all that person's fault! She didn't know the name of the man she had met on the street, and in truth she might have been late to class any ways, but it made her feel better to push the blame on a nameless individual she's named in her head as "Person".

"He was so cruel!" she cried to the marginally sympathetic secretary, speaking about the teacher who had sent her to the office. "He could have let me in. He could have given me an ency wincy bit of mercy, couldn't he? It's only the first day..."

After the red-haired secretary told Usagi she shouldn't worry about it too much, she held the pink-slip out for the girl between an index and middle finger. "Besides, there's always a chance to make up for it later. Cheer up! There's no need to look so down about it."

Usagi's bottom lip pulled up high. "But there is! I'm being picked on. And it's only the first day. Plus." It occurred to Usagi that the teacher's voice had been distinctively masculine. It hadn't appeared odd to her at first, but as the initial upset feelings wore off, she became more aware that the person inside of her classroom was not Ms. Sakurada. Ms. Sakurada's voice was not very masculine at all, nor was she a 'he'. "Wait. Maybe that was the wrong room... I couldn't possibly be stuck with such a mean teacher—but oh, nooo! That means I'm really late; what time is it?"

As Usagi whipped her head back and forth to pin a wall-clock down in the four walled office, the secretary reexamined the pink-slip herself. "Room two-o'-three? No, Ms. Tsukino, that is the correct room for you according to my computer." She switched her attention back to the small, out-dated machine on her desk to double-check. "Usagi Tsukino, Class Two, for a Mr. Carter. Is there a reason why that shouldn't be correct?"

"Mr. Carter? But Mama said that—But Ms. Hado—"

"It seems your previous teacher was replaced. Unfortunately I can't say anything more about it." The secretary offered an apologetic smile and this time held the pink-slip out a little more insistently. "But now is class time. You should hurry back to class before you miss anything that might important. Be sure you catch up on the introductions."

Usagi wanted to complain, and to find out in more details why she wasn't getting the teacher her class was originally assigned to. Call it a gut instinct, but she felt sure that Ms. Sakurada would naturally be more sympathetic to a young girl's feminine and whimsical ways—or at least more forgiving than Mr. Cater was showing himself to be. And there was a smidge of student-loyalty within her that was certain Mr. Carter would be an inferior teacher by far! But she could tell that she was being dismissed by the secretary, so she sheepishly took the notice and returned back to the floor that her class room was located on.

Through the locked door's window, Usagi could see that Mr. Carter was sitting at his desk—the desk that should be Ms. Sakurada's—while talking to the students. The classroom consisted of Class 2 students, most of whom Usagi had known since she began the public school system. Two faces stood out more prominently than the rest.

The first was Naru, Usagi's best and closest friend. The two shared a lot of fond memories over the years, and they shared many of the same interests—such as music. It was Naru who went with her to the release of Minako Aino's newest album three months ago. They both received their special edition CD's, each coming with a booklet of their favorite pop idol in unique outfits. The outfits were so cute that the two friends had tried to reconstruct a few of them during their holidays. Usagi was never very good at sewing and quickly gave up on hers, but Naru, who seemed to have a natural knack for most things that were considered lady-like (Usagi suspected that this had something to do with Naru's upbringing), finished and kept most of them in her closet.

In fact, Naru had quite a few talents beyond normal house-keeping skills, and Usagi deeply admired her for those, whether it be academic or social related. The only person Usagi knew that could beat Naru academically within their own class was Umino, the second face that Usagi immediately recognized from the door window. But Usagi did not regard this friend with the same affection that she did the other, simply because Usagi found him... a little... peculiar?

Peculiar didn't even seem the right word. Usagi simply didn't understand Umino, and never felt much of a desire to, because for all of Umino's brains, he could not construct a formula to even be marginally charismatic. He was blunt when he should be subtle, annoyingly vague when he should be obvious, and all around a geeky know-it-all; however, his worst crime was that Usagi knew beyond certainty that he fancied her. Not in the friendship way. In the smoochy-smoochy, kiss-kiss way. This meant that she was usually stalked by him, and where his flaws could have been found cute and adorable, she found them grating as she was forced to put up with them on a near twenty-four hour basis.

That's not to say Usagi didn't like Umino; everyone has a friend that annoys them more than others, and after going through a holiday without seeing much of Umino, Usagi could not help but feel absurd happiness bubbling from inside when she saw that they had both secured a desk between themselves for her to sit at. She even wanted to tell Umino about a recent action show on TV she'd been watching, one that she knew he would enjoy if only for the sheer sake that Usagi found it entertaining herself.

However, out of the students currently sitting within the classroom, there were two others that Usagi could not recognize: a small diminutive girl with brown hair and a nose that seemed too large for her oval face, and another girl that was the opposite in every manner—as in, she was tall and rather thick-muscled for a girl of her age. Indeed, it seemed as though the school uniform she was wearing was a size too small and it stretched awkwardly over the width of her shoulders. Usagi could not help but feel that this girl must have been very uncomfortable, because she would find herself very self-conscious if her own clothes didn't fit her body cutely!

During the time that Usagi spent scoping the room through the window, Mr. Carter had noticed the blonde spy from his desk. Mr. Carter was a unique addition to the classroom setting. He was obviously a foreigner of some sort, though Usagi could not say why. His was skin was an earthy shade, and he had allowed stubble to grow against his chin and neck purposely. His hair (some shade of brown like chestnut), while a medium length, did not touch the collar of his shirt and clipped over the top of his ears. Tall, and not entirely old (perhaps late twenties?), the most remarkable feature on him was his eyes... and this is because he wore glasses. Usagi could not tell the color of his eyes until he walked over to the door and peered down at her through the glass (they were definitely some shade of hazel!).

"Did you bring something for me, little lost lamb?" he asked through the door.

"Yes," Usagi claimed sadly, but he did not admit her until she waved the written notice in her hand at him.

She was not able to immediately take the seat that her friends had claimed for her, because Mr. Carter instructed her to stop once she entered the room. "Now just wait a second. You're not going to introduce yourself to us? To me?" He had been holding a piece of chalk in his hand, and he used it to point at her. Usagi felt slightly self-conscious and eyed the chalk's end as though it were a very suspicious instrument of punishment. "Now it might just be me, but that seems a little rude... don't you think? Why don't you introduce yourself to class so we can all know each other."

Usagi felt it was rude that he was singling her from the rest of the sheep, as he so referenced earlier, but she didn't feel bold enough to call him out on it. In the face of obvious authority, truth be told, she felt downright insecure. She began folding her pink slip in half and fiddling with its edges. "Uhm! … You mean like... say my name and stuff?"

"I assumed that's how most people introduce themselves, unless you would like to write it." He took the notice from her to keep it from being further wrinkled. Despite his words, he did not seem to invite her to make use of the chalk he kept in his hand.

Usagi took a breath. She noticed Naru's encouraging smile and the small waving movement of her hand, and she felt slightly elated from it. Turning from Mr. Carter, she curtsied in front of the classroom and decided to bleat merrily to cover the fact that she could feel her knees trembling as though their bones had become wet noodles, "Hi! My name is Tsukino, Usagi, and I'm your class mate for this year! Please think favorably of me, please? I promise I won't be late every time. Uhm. Uhm. Let's do our best?"

Most, if not all of the students returned a kind smile to Usagi, including two unfamiliar faces that Usagi had spotted earlier. The positive reception made Usagi's own smile become brighter as she turned to Mr. Carter, who consequently appeared bemused. "Decent. We'll work on your delivery later. Please take a seat—oh, but not back there," he had noted the desk that Usagi was attempting to make her way to earlier, "no, no, you will be seated here in the front. I want to keep my eye on you—plus, being that you're so obviously adored by this class, you can help one of our new transfer students out. Help her get … a feel on things. You may introduce yourselves to each other after class. Now, don't just stand there staring. There's an empty desk right there at the window. Spit spot."

Usagi felt as though she might have accidentally stepped into a wad of super-glue or something. Her feet seemed unable to move in either direction. She wasn't going to get to sit by Naru? She wasn't going to be pestered by Umino's whisper's to stay focused? Her mind raced and she spoke before any inhibitions could catch her, "But... Mr...!"

"Mr. Carter," the teacher supplied while pointing with the chalk to his name on the blackboard. Though his gaze was inquisitive, Usagi felt it was more taunting than welcoming. "There isn't a problem... is there, Ms. Tsukino?"

The transfer student, the one with a nose that was a little too big for her face, spoke first. Her eyes drew up to Usagi and lips curled into a grin as they formed words, "Maybe it is because I'm the new girl, Mr. Carter?"

"Oh, no! I didn't mean it THAT way-"

"How dreadfully awful," Mr. Carter crooned as he returned to his own desk, unconcerned.

"Nooo! I didn't mean it that way!" Having picked the habit up from her Mama long ago, Usagi resorted to a third person voice to invoke understanding. "Usagi will happily sit by the new girl! She just..." She looked behind her shoulder and shared a look with Naru, who frowned and shook her head at Usagi to discourage the blonde from trying to request a different seating. Usagi took her cue and continued brightly, "She was just surprised, that's all!" Third person dropped as she felt Mr. Carter's gaze boring in on her from the side. "I'll just set my things here."

As Usagi dropped her bag and lunch box onto the assigned desk, Mr. Carter appeared pleased. "Excellent. Now that we have that sorted out, students, if you could continue looking at page three of the syllabus—oh, dear. Ms. Tsukino of course will not have one, since she is..." He checked a small wrist watch, "well, would it be an understatement to say she's a little... late? I think not. Please share with Ms. Kuroki. We were just about to start talking about how I will be grading this class, and coincidentally students, if you will look, class attendance happens to factor in..."

After class, Usagi met with Naru and Umino at the school courtyard where they felt that nobody would be bothered to listen in. Usagi talked very animatedly with her friends, very annoyed about their current teacher. "Irritating! Mean! Cruel! I don't have enough words to describe him! I... I … I could eat his stupid syllabus and spit it back out at him! I mean, if I could, I would."

Naru was trying not to laugh, and did a good job of concealing her smile with a hand. "You have to admit that he was very entertaining, though, don't you think? We will learn lots from him. He is definitely not from these parts, but I'm not sure where. I'm am sorry, though, that he made you sit away from us... It must be his sense of humor."

"Some humor," Usagi scoffed vehemently.

"Well I didn't think he was so smart," Umino nasally claimed. "If he knew what he was talking about he wouldn't have to use his arms so much to talk. Ms. Sakurada didn't have to wave her arms around to try to get an idea across!" He was referencing Mr. Carter's tendency to makes gestures with his arms as he spoke, much like any other person would use their hands.

"YEAH," Usagi agreed, her sweet face soured into an irritable squint. "Miss Haruna is better and nicer by far!"

"Usagi will be saying the same thing," Naru said aside to Umino with shut eyes, "about Mr. Carter if Ms. Sakurada comes back. You would just have to wait for her to make Usagi wash the desks or clap chalk erasers again..."

"I will not!" Usagi said indignantly as Umino had already began nodding with Naru. "Never in a million years would I prefer that Carter to Ms. Sakurada!" With that stated, Usagi seemed to wilt like a flower that hasn't been treated with water in a while as the full disappointment for the situation settled in. "Why would they replace her?"

"They didn't really have a choice," Naru answered knowingly.

Umino clarified as he tried to nudge closer to Usagi (this didn't work, because she automatically took a step back to keep the friendly distance the same distance). "Ms. Naru is part of the student council, you know? She has insider information to all the mysteries behind teachers!"

"Umino, don't be such a dork," Naru retorted at the boy with glasses, dismayed by his choice of words.

"What are you not telling me?" Usagi glanced between the two of them, her blue eyes widened with excitement. "Out with it! Why isn't Ms. Hado (this was a common nickname the students gave this particular teacher) teaching our class anymore? She couldn't have … abandoned us... not willingly?" The pig-tailed blonde made a face as though she were about to cry, though it was very obviously a pretended look of hurt.

"Well... you can't really hold me to this, Usagi, but I heard some of the teachers in the office talking. Apparently before classes started, last week... well, they said she's sick and in the hospital."

Usagi stopped pretending to look hurt and gave a sincere frown. "What?"

"I bet it's that new virus that's out!" stated Umino, but in such a prideful voice that it awarded him with two awkward looks from his friends. "I mean, I've been listening to the news. It seems a lot of people have been getting sick and ending up in the hospital, lately."

"Yeah..." Naru added with a thoughtful expression.

"Why wouldn't they tell us that?" With a hand covered over the bottom half of her face, Usagi ducked her chin to the side and tried to quietly piece it out. While she never felt any particular bond with Ms. Sakurada outside of a student-teacher relationship, it was never a comforting thing to hear that someone you know was suddenly … sick. Not well. In trouble. Something. Even if it was not her fault that this was the first time she was hearing about it, she felt distinctly guilty that she had not known about it previously. "Poor Ms. Hado..."

All three of them kept their heads bowed during the silence they shared.

"The virus is most likely going to spread," Umino concluded insensitively.

Usagi ignored him and stated with a firm fist. "We should go visit her. Poor Ms. Sakurada must feel very lonely in the hospital and without her students to teach!"

Naru gave a small smile. "I have change for a bus ticket."

Umino looked surprised. "But... Naru! You wanted to go to the arcade after class..."

"This is more important," Naru remonstrated harshly at Umino.

"I don't mean to make you use up all of your money..." Usagi muttered while nibbling on the side of her index nail, but she wasn't about to refuse it. "Now... the uhm... the hospital?"

Naru was already pulling her cell phone out from the pocket of her uniform's blazer. "We can take care of that with just a few quick calls." She smiled kindly again at her blonde friend when Usagi began beaming admiringly at her. "You really should carry a phone with you, Usagi. See if you can talk your mom into letting you have one; I feel safer with mine on me. Now, shhh." She began dialing an information operator for a list of hospital numbers.

"Hmph." Umino stated, and folded his arms over his chest seriously. Usagi figured that he was probably trying to channel some manly spirit to take charge of the situation. It was Umino's contribution, and even as small as it was, Usagi was glad and warmed to see him make one.

What they did not know was that, despite their discreet location beneath an overhanging of ivy, they were being watched passively by stray black cat.

AN: Mr. Carter is such a fun person to write. I wish I had a teacher that was half as cool as him during my school years. I won't say he's mine, because he's a borrowed character outside of the Sailor Moon universe, but I think to say who he is would spoil it!

Personally, to get in the mood for writing I listen to Sailo Moon midis. I know! So out-dated, right? I got in the habit back when I used to read all of the Jupiter Knight stories from SailorJupiter(dot)com (Incidentally, the Venus Knight stories were my favorite despite Mako-chan being my favorite senshi!). They would play midis at certain parts of the chapter to really help put the reader in the mood—and so now as I write, I find that listening to certain midis helps put me in the mood to write certain things.

I'm a little confused on how to handle Japanese words in this story, since I'm writing it in English. I want to put in the cutesy, Naru-Chan~, and Usagi-Chan~ bits, but I just don't think it would fit. I was going to use their English dub names initially, but I decided against it.

To answer reviews:

Mimi: Yes Ma'am!

James: Thanks for reading them! I hope chapters continue to be good.

Anon: NO! YoumaynothaveMORE. … Or maybe yes! Haha! That made me laugh. You know, I think that's about the only part of Oliver that I've seen before?

dainlord: ! I've read a lot of your fictions and commented on them underneath a different name. You are so crazy-talented. 3 Thanks for checking mine out!

And of course, thank you, everyone else who read. = )