A/N: From reviews it's been made clear that everyone is anxiously waiting for Usagi's identity to be revealed. That's a while off yet, I'm sorry to say! I've given a rough description of the Starlights' power-up in this chapter so that everyone can picture what I've got in my head. If you're confused by the description of the skirt (I did my best, but it's not exactly an easy thing to describe), look up Sailor Kakyuu on Google. Her skirt is what I based the Starlights' skirts off of.

Now I've had this posted on my profile for a while, but I'll re-post it here. This week marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, which means that there is a chance my updates may temporarily become sporadic. I'm going to try to keep working on my fanfiction on the side, and barring any unforeseen circumstances I should be able to do that, but if I miss an update you all know what happened. Having said that, enjoy the story!


Hino Rei set her luggage down at the top of the stairs and surveyed the Hikawa shrine with a proud but searching eye, making sure that nothing had happened during her absence that she wasn't aware of. Three years after the death of her grandfather, the shrine still looked every bit as peaceful and beautiful as it had during the prime of her grandfather's youth, when both of them had been able to put everything into it. Her dream of being the head priestess of the shrine had finally been realized shortly before he passed away, and with the help of Kumada Yuuichirou and his wife, they had been able to keep the Hikawa Shrine a source of happiness and comfort to many people, just like her grandfather would have wanted.

A soft, happy laugh escaped her as two of her pet crows launched themselves into the air and danced around her, voicing a sharp greeting. "Hello, you two," she said with a smile, holding an arm out to each of them. But as though they could sense her tension, neither Phobos nor Deimos chose to land. Rei watched them fly up above the shrine with a bitter smile as the door slid open and a familiar face glanced out at her.

"Rei-san! You're back!" Kumada Masami emerged from within the shrine, dressed in her standard but simple priestess robe. She wore a broad smile as she walked down the path and stopped in front of Rei with a polite bow. "We've been waiting for you. I hope that your trip home was a safe one?"

"Hello, Masami-san," Rei greeted in return, picking up her suitcase and following Masami inside. "Yes, thank you, the voyage was quite enjoyable, actually. It was fun, but I'm glad to be home. The trip seems so much longer on the way back!" Even though she was extremely happy working as the head priestess, she occasionally had the opportunity to participate in concerts, with the proceeds going to charity. Because she still enjoyed singing and felt comfortable enough with Yuuichirou and Masami to leave the shrine in their hands, she usually agreed to do the concerts without much argument. But leaving always made her remember how much she loved the shrine, and she felt relieved to be back. "How have things been?"

"Wonderful. Yuu-chan isn't here right now, but he should be back soon. He had to go downtown to work out a small disagreement with the shipping company," Masami explained. She cocked her head and both women paused to listen to the sound of visitors. "Would you like some help when I'm done, Rei-san?"

"No, you go ahead. I'm okay," said Rei, hefting her purse higher on her shoulder. Placing her hand on the door, she turned and smiled at Masami. "Thank you, though. I think I'm going to meditate for a while."

"Alright. If you need me, just call."

As soon as Masami was gone, Rei slipped into her room and closed the door behind her. She hadn't been lying; she really did want to mediate before the Great Fire, but it wasn't just to clear her mind. This was about one very important subject in particular. Without even bothering to take a shower or unpack her suitcase, she stripped her traveling clothing off and donned her priestess robes before making her way deeper into the shrine, using hidden halls to ensure that no one, including Masami, would see her. The room where the Great Fire was housed was warm and comforting, and she felt a bit of relief even as she knelt on the cushion and closed her eyes.

Her princess was missing. The news had set Rei on edge from the moment that she had heard. Unfortunately, she'd been in France at the time, and this had been her first chance to return without breaking her temporary contract. She would have been entirely willing to do just that had it not been for Minako's call to all of the senshi on the communicator, during which the blonde, with the help of Hotaru, had used every trick in her book to reassure all of the senshi that Usagi was perfectly fine and that there was no need to sound the alarm. Rei strongly suspected that Minako and Hotaru knew more about Usagi's disappearance than they were letting on, but she knew that it was useless to press either one for more details. Their loyalty towards Usagi ran deep, and it was obvious that wherever Usagi was, both of them strongly supported her being there. That left few places where Usagi could be.

"Usagi-chan, you idiot," she muttered, her hands falling into the familiar patterns of worship. She closed her eyes and tried to let her mind go quiet. Normally, it was easy, but this time she was having a difficult time letting go of all the spare thoughts that kept racing through her head. "How could you make us worry like this? You must have known that Mamoru-san would let us know that you were gone. What was so important?"

The fire crackled and she fell silent, inhaling and exhaling to the count of seven, just as her grandfather had shown her when she was younger. Slowly, she felt her stress beginning to drain away. "Oh, Great Fire, show me where my princess is," she whispered, her lips barely moving. "Show me where Tsukino Usagi is."

A shiver ran down her spine as power danced across her skin in tune to the sound of the fire. The symbol of Mars gleamed on her forehead in brilliant red for just a moment before an image snapped into her mind: the night sky, with three spectacular shooting stars arching out over the earth. Rei's eyes snapped open and she breathed in sharply, disrupting her pattern as she loosely clenched her hands. Her heart rate began to slow as she stared into the fire, absorbing what she had been shown and remembering the struggle that Usagi had gone through when it came to choosing between the two men in her life. She had thought that Usagi had made her choice for good after the battle with Galaxia, but apparently she had been wrong.

"You really are an idiot, Odango," she said out loud, but her voice was more affectionate than anything else. It was just like Usagi to run off to be with the Starlights and not tell anyone else. No wonder Minako and Hotaru hadn't been worried! Minako was probably praying that Usagi would bring the Starlights home with her, and Hotaru had always supported Usagi no matter what the blonde did.

Rei gave a quiet sigh as she stood up and bowed to the Great Fire in thanks. Her mind was still preoccupied as she returned to her room and began to undress for a shower, but now she felt a little more comforted. There was really no need to worry about her princess. Seiya, and even Yaten and Taiki, would die before allowing anything to happen to Usagi, and Rei knew that Usagi would not come home until she'd done whatever it was she needed to do. The girl was incredibly stubborn that way. She just hoped that Usagi knew what she was doing, because once the future was changed, that was it, and there would be no going back. Not only that, Usagi was playing with the emotions of two very important people... and no matter what she chose, someone was going to get burned.

TLYM

The first thing that Seiya noticed after the light exploded was the sheer power humming through her veins. Of course, she always felt stronger as a sailor senshi than she did in her civilian form, but this was different. More potent. She opened her eyes, realizing that the brilliance of the pale blue light no longer bothered her, and glanced around with mild curiosity. All she could see was more of that endless, warm blue light that was making her skin tingle in a deliciously familiar way. Her nudity didn't bother her, but the fact that she couldn't make out her princess or the other Starlights did. Had time slowed down? Stopped entirely? Or was the battle continuing outside of the ball of light while she was just standing here? Was the same thing happening to Yaten and Taiki?

She was distracted from the questions running frantically through her mind by a sharp pain in her hands. Startled, Seiya glanced down and noticed for the first time that she was still holding onto her Star Yell. It was loosely cupped between her hands. That didn't last for long. As she watched in shocked amazement, her Star Yell began to glow with a beautiful golden light. Before her eyes, her weapon melted, for lack of a better word, into her cupped palms and was absorbed into her skin, so that it was actually her own hands that began to shimmer with that light, which slowly began to spread over the rest of her body. Seiya closed her eyes and shivered as the feeling of power became even stronger. Her new uniform began to appear, piece by piece, until she was ready for battle... except that she was still floating within the sphere of pale blue light, and she could now see herself, as though someone had set a mirror up in front of her.

Super Sailor Star Fighter was completely preoccupied for a moment, forgetting about the battle, as she was stunned by the changes that she saw. Her boots and gloves were the same, except she now had a ring of greyish blue at her ankles, the top of her boots, her wrists, and the top of her gloves. In addition, the heels of her boots were blue. There was a second, slimmer buckle around her arm, just above the first, and another choker had appeared around her neck to give her a matching pair. Even her earrings had changed. The once simple gold stars now had a smaller blue star in the middle, and a second blue star dangled, connected by three tiny gold beads. It didn't escape her notice that the star on her waist looked identical to her earrings.

Her sailor collar now had a thin line of greyish blue trim, but the biggest changes of all were her star brooch, her shorts and her tiara, which now reminded her of the sol senshi. It was a gold band similar to theirs, with a pale blue aquamarine in the shape of a five-pointed star. Her shorts no longer looked like shorts; she now possessed a grey-blue skirt made of large, interlocking pieces of fabric that looked something like feathers or leaves, which covered the yellow fabric that was a signature to all of their normal uniforms. The star brooch that housed her sailor crystal had wings coloured that same greyish blue and the tail of the star had turned white. Something fluttered against her back, and she twisted, realizing that at the spot where her uniform connected in the back, there was a smaller version of her star brooch, with four ribbons were hanging down.

"This is so creepy..." she whispered, jumping slightly when her voice echoed. As though that had broken the spell, one of her gloved hands rose, and the mirrored surface in front of her shimmered like water. The blue light exploded again.

"Oh my god. What the hell happened to them?"

"Fighter, stop standing there like an idiot and do something!"

The two voices, both speaking at the same time, snapped Super Sailor Star Fighter out of her daze and made her realize that she had returned to the real world. Apparently, time really had stopped while she was within the light, because pretty much everything looked the same as it had before, including the demon, the other Starlights and Princess Kakyuu. Except, of course, for her two sisters. Maker and Healer had received a similar power-up and uniform, except in their own respective colors of violet and pale green. Fighter spared a moment to grin at their identical looks of bewilderment before she swung around to face the demon, which was shakily climbing to its feet. It gave a wordless shriek and prepared to attack.

But the difference was, Fighter was no longer afraid. Facing off with the elemental demon, she realized that she didn't feel that same tense panic and alarm which had filled her only minutes ago, when she and her comrades hadn't been able to do anything against the enemy. It was the exact opposite. She felt strong, capable, and certain of both her place in the world and her ability to win. Where the power had come from, she wasn't sure, but she spared a grateful thought towards whatever had prompted it as she raised her right hand – just her right hand – into the air and began summoning her attack.

"Star Reflective Beams!" she called out, the words coming to her lips instinctively. Power hummed through her body and collected in the palm of her right hand to explode outward in a thousand small, star-shaped beams that struck the demon at every point on its body. Fighter watched in amazement as the demon crumbled to dust instantly and had to contain a flare of satisfaction as she swung around with a victorious smile. She wasn't expecting to be met with outright suspicion instead of gratefulness.

"What happened to you?" Sailor Star Prayer repeated, her blue eyes narrowed as she examined first Fighter and then Maker and Healer. There was a flicker of something that may have been fear or distrust in her face, but it was hard to be sure. "What was that light?"

Fighter went to respond and then stopped, honestly confused. "I don't know."

"You have attained a new power," Princess Kakyuu said, startling all of them. She had reached the bottom of the palace stairs and approached without their notice. There was a small smile playing about her lips as she spoke. "There comes a time in every sailor senshi's life when a new power comes to them. This was your time. You simply needed... the right spark."

"The right spark? What do you mean, Princess?" Healer asked. The seven of them assembled in front of their princess, looking to her for answers.

"You'll find out soon enough, Healer," the princess answered with a wink.

"Why didn't it happen to us, too?" said Giver, openly pouting as she glanced around at the new uniforms.

Kakyuu's smile grew apologetic, and she gave a subtle glance towards the bushes on the far side of the road. Fighter followed her gaze, half expecting to see another enemy waiting to pounce, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "I don't believe it was the right time for you. Perhaps you four require a different spark," she said gently. "It may be a while in coming, Giver. I'm sorry."

That meant that the princess probably hadn't been the one to generate this 'spark', as she would have no doubt given the power to all of them at the same time if she could have. Fighter frowned pensively, resolving to talk over the matter with her sisters when they had more privacy. For now, since there was no other sign of danger, she felt comfortable enough to let her transformation go and return to her civilian form. She looked down at her star brooch, which she was left clutching in her right hand, and noticed that it now looked different in its normal state. It was much smaller, about the size of a large coin, and affixed to the top of a slender rod. Yaten's and Taiki's looked similar. Her frown deepened as she tucked her own into the pocket of her skirt.

Still eyeing Seiya with a fair amount of suspicion, Sailor Star Prayer gathered the Tankei Starlights around her and spoke to them quietly for a moment before they separated. Taiki and Yaten joined Seiya and waited until they had the chance to speak without being overhead. Their opportunity came when Giver went to summon guards, Destroyer began escorting Princess Kakyuu back into the safety of the castle, and Lover and Giver headed out to patrol.

"I'm going to go finish analyzing the sample that we received," Taiki confided to her. "Are you okay, Seiya?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Seiya said. Actually, she was better than fine. She didn't want to say as much even to Taiki or Yaten, but that power... she wrapped her arms loosely around her waist and shivered, caught up in the memory of how soothing it had been. Loving and warm, it had almost felt like Sailor Moon's. But that was impossible, wasn't it?

Yaten was frowning. "Look," she said, thrusting her hands out in front of her. Imprinted into each of her hands with a thin white line, almost like a tattoo, was small, a half-pointed star. When she held her hands out so that her pinkies were pressed together, the star was whole.

"The Star Yell..." Taiki whispered, looking down at her own hands. The same tattoo was replicated on her and Seiya, although Seiya's had formed in a deep pinkish red color as opposed to white. "What does it mean?"

"I don't think we should discuss it here," said Yaten, casting an uncertain glance towards the guards that were moving in to clean up. The castle was filled with servants who loved nothing more than to gossip, and the three of them weren't exactly popular. Whatever the new changes meant, she didn't want anyone else to know. "I don't think any of us have duty tonight. Meet me in my room just after dinner."

Seiya nodded in agreement and began walking over to help the guards in whatever way she could as Yaten and Taiki returned to the castle. As she began by picking up some broken branches, she couldn't help thinking about how similar the new power-ups were to the sol senshi. Was that a coincidence? Had she and her sisters merely been influenced by the sol senshi while they were on earth? Or was there something more going on? A scowl crossed her face when she caught sight of the half-star tattoo on one of her palms again. Something strange was going on, and she was going to find out what it was no matter what it took.

TLYM

"Wake up. Did you hear me? Wake up, damn it!"

Usagi's eyes fluttered open, and she found herself staring up at the night sky. For a moment, she was utterly bewildered by the sight, until her memories caught up with her. Right. She was on Kinmoku, and the last thing she remembered was watching Super Sailor Star Fighter destroying the elemental youma. Using the ginzuishou, even if she hadn't meant to, had always exhausted her to the point where she often slept afterwards for hours. No doubt she had passed out without even realizing it. A hand touched her shoulder and she rolled over to see a young boy she didn't know standing over her. He was short but stocky, with pale blue hair and big brown eyes.

"You're Haruki-san, aren't you?" he asked. "Umeko-san's got a whole bunch of people looking for you everywhere. What are you doing sleeping in the bushes?"

"Yes, that's me. I'm Haruki," she mumbled, realizing her mouth felt like it was stuffed cotton. How long had she been sleeping? What had happened after the fight? With some effort, she managed to push herself up on her hands and took a quick look around. The front of the palace looked virtually unharmed, like the fight had never happened. "You said Umeko was searching for me?"

He rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips. "That's right. I'm supposed to tell you that if you're healthy enough to be gawking at demon fights, you're healthy enough to go back to work."

That sounded like Umeko. Rolling her eyes, she got to her feet and spotted Chibi-Chibi making a chain out of flowers a few feet away from her. "Okay, okay, you can tell her message received. Thanks for waking me up."

His expectant look had her digging in her pocket for one of the little metal coins that Umeko had given her. She handed it to him and watched as he pushed through the bushes and headed back towards the palace before she glanced down at the ground. Fortunately, he'd been in such a hurry that he hadn't even noticed the beautiful and expensive-looking locket lying on the ground. It had been hidden underneath her body and revealed when she got to her feet. Wincing, she stooped and scooped it up. The top vanished with a brush of her fingers, revealing the ginzuishou. Usually, the ginzuishou sparkled and shone with the dawning light of a thousand colors, but at the moment it appeared to be nothing more than a diamond. It was still sleeping, so how had it responded to her wish to help Starlights?

"Chibi... chi chibi chibi," Chibi-Chibi said, turning to look at Usagi. She held up a circle of pink and white blossoms. "Mama... chii chibi!"

"You want me to put it on?" Usagi asked, smiling tiredly. Chibi-Chibi giggled and nodded. She pulled her hair free of the tie, knelt, and ducked her head so that the little girl could place the chain on top of her hair. It slipped into place perfectly, just tight enough so that it wouldn't slide down around her neck. "Thank you, Sora-chan. Now if only you could tell me about the ginzuishou and why it's acting so strangely, this night would be perfect."

Chibi-Chibi beamed and picked up another flower chain. This one was made from red and white blossoms. Usagi tried to take it from her, but Chibi-Chibi pouted and clutched it against her chest. Shrugging, she scooped up the little girl and held her gingerly as they made their way back towards the palace. A couple of guards eyed them suspiciously, but just like before, seemed to be willing to allow them to pass through the front doors and into chaos. Even though it was quite late, the castle appeared to be in an uproar, with many servants rushing back and forth. She grew curious when she realized that most of them were hurrying towards the East Wing, specifically the floor that she and Umeko had last been assigned to.

"What's going on?" she asked one of the maids.

"Princess Kakyuu is receiving a visitor," said the girl. She was cradling a tall stack of towels and could barely see past it. "We've been asked to prepare the hall for when this visitor arrives tomorrow morning."

Usagi frowned slightly, wondering who the visitor was. Her thoughts landed briefly on the sol senshi, but she shook that thought away, praying that wouldn't be the case. As much as she loved and missed the senshi, she wasn't ready to see them yet. That would mean admitting that it was time for her to make a choice for good between Seiya and Mamoru, and considering that she had only just become aware of the fact that she was probably in love with Seiya, it went without saying that she wasn't prepared to make that choice. She needed more time, and she'd been hoping that her friends would understand enough to give it to her.

"Hey, come on. Get out of the way!" A man pushed her out of the way none too gently as he hurried into the hall. Once she'd caught her balance, Usagi decided to head back to her room before she was roped into helping. She could feel her side beginning to ache, and knew that she wouldn't be able to walk around much more without resting.

As they neared the servant's dormitories, one of Umeko's friends stopped her with the same message she'd already gotten from that boy. Chibi-Chibi squirmed to be put down, and Usagi obliged as she spoke to the girl. The child hurried on ahead in the direction of their room, so Usagi didn't pay too much attention to her. It only took her about give minutes to finish her conversation, as she had asked about the Starlights following the battle and received a good report, before she followed Chibi-Chibi, looking forward to the thought of a long, hot shower and being able to lie down on her bed. What she didn't expect was to see an unfamiliar girl already sprawled across her bed. Shocked, she stopped in the doorway and stared.

The girl looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old. She had pale skin and dark hair that was gathered into two pigtails, like Chibi-Chibi's. Her eyes were a deep, pretty shade of blue, and she was dressed in a loose, red-and-white striped tunic over a pair of black leggings, though her feet were bare. Chibi-Chibi was standing beside the bed and presenting her with the white and red flower chain she'd created. As Usagi watched, the girl sat up and reached for the chain with a grin. Something about that grin tugged at Usagi's heart as the girl put the flower chain on top of her hair and fixed it into place.

"Thanks, kiddo," she said, glancing up at Usagi. Her lips curved in a familiar smile as a round black ball shaped like the head of a cat rolled into view behind her. "Hello, Usagi-chan. Long time no see. Or maybe I should be calling you "Mama" now, seeing as you're the only one I've got."

That did it. Usagi's jaw dropped, and she could only just force out the words. "Chibi-Usa?"


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