Chapter 11: Chizuru's Labyrinth

Despite the lack of attention Tsubasa normally paid to her surroundings, even she could sense something important was going to happen when she and the "Outer Senshi" got the call to come to the Hikawa Shrine. Rei and Usagi sounded quite urgent, perhaps Rei had had a vision? However, when Tsubasa arrived there, she found herself trapped in a fog that seemed to cover the entire shrine, blocking her vision.

"Mommy? Hotaru? Anyone?" she called out, frightened. A cold hand touched her on the back and she yelped, jumping forward and crashing into someone.

"OW! Who did that?!" cried the person she had landed on. As Tsubasa's vision began to clear, she realized she was laying on top of Rei Hino, and that they were in a lavender crystal cave.

"This isn't the Hikawa Shrine. What's going on here, Rei?" came Hotaru's worried voice as she and Haruka came into view. Rei sat up, just as confused as everyone else.

"I dunno. I just remember coming outside, and I thought it was very foggy. Next thing I know, I'm in this weird cave with all of you. Let's see...Haruka, Hotaru, Tsubasa, and..." Rei paused, looking behind her. Yaten was also there, so she counted her too.

"Where's Yohko? And Chibi-Usa? I thought they lived here too," Haruka commented. Haruka just looked worried.

"They've probably disappeared. If the yard outside the shrine's been turned into a cave, then they must be buried under the rocks, dead," she said seriously. When she heard that, Tsubasa began to cry.

"And that means everyone else is gone too! I want Yohko and Miaka back! And Minako! I wanted them to fall in love!" she wailed. Yaten glared at her.

"Will you quit that?! If that's successful, then you won't be born! You'll cause an immense time paradox!" she snapped.

"I don't think they're dead. I would be able to sense it, I think. They're all alive, and we just need to find them," Rei declared, trying to reassure Tsubasa.

"How are you going to find them when you're dead?" sneered a voice that was most definitely Naru's. A bunch of vines slithered across the cavern floor, grabbing Haruka and pulling her away from the group.

"No! Haruka-papa! Saturn Crystal Power, Make Up!" cried Hotaru.

"Mars Crystal Power, Make Up!"

"Healer Prism Power, Make Up!" Rei and Tsubasa transformed too, although Yaten could not since she had given up her powers.

"You may be able to fight me and Naru, since you didn't know us as well as Usagi. But can you handle fighting your own grandfather, Rei?" sneered Kuriko, who stepped out of the shadows, Rei's grandpa next to her.

"Aren't you guys calling each other by those color names? You just called her Naru," commented Tsubasa innocently.

"We decided we didn't need them anymore. It was fun for a while, but I decided that it was better to be Naru instead of Ruby," Naru shrugged, "That way, you'll hesitate to fight me. Usagi would be very sad if you killed me."

"Usagi's already sad! And it's your fault! Why did you join Chizuru?! She wants to get rid of Usagi!" shouted Sailor Mars. Naru became unsure at this.

"She told me Usagi was bad, now that she was Sailor Moon. That if I captured her, I could make her pay attention to me again," Naru protested.

"That's not what she told me. Chizuru and I tried to attack her, but Mercury and Venus messed it up. She told me she was possessed by the evil spirit of Sailor Moon and that Usagi had to die," Grandpa Hino exclaimed.

"Same to me. She also told me not to let Usagi get close to Seiya, since they would destroy everything if they were together," added Kuriko.

"I agree with that, but it's no reason to attack Usagi! It's not her fault every guy seems to want to take her away from Mamoru," snapped Haruka, who was still in the clutches of Naru's vines.

"I think Chizuru is tricking all of you into fighting for her. If you just talked to Usagi, maybe she would do things with you again, Naru. And I don't think she's going to marry Seiya, that would kill Chibi-Usa, and she wouldn't want that," Sailor Saturn explained gently.

"Who's Chibi-Usa? Why would Usagi marrying Seiya kill her?" asked Naru.

"Chibi-Usa's that girl who lives at the shrine with Usagi. She's Usagi's cousin," said Grandpa Hino.

"No, she's Usagi's future daughter. Just like Yaten is my mother," said Tsubasa, "She traveled through time to help Usagi fight villains."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?! Quit tricking me!" shouted Kuriko, and she flung a bolt of electricity at the girls. Sailor Saturn tried to block it with her Silence Glaive, but the metal scythe conducted the lightning and she took it full force, yelping in pain and falling to the ground.

"Hotaru never did anything to you! Mars Flame Sniper!" Sailor Mars yelled, shooting an arrow of fire at Kuriko. Naru shoved her out of the way frantically.

"Stop it! I believe them! I don't know who the others are very well, but I know Sailor Mars. She and the other girls helped me with Nephrite," she pleaded, turning teary eyes to Grandpa Hino. "You understand, right? You can't sense any evil from those Sailor Senshi, can you?" He blinked in surprise. The pretty redhead was right--the Sailor Senshi were NOT evil! He would've sensed it if they were, he was sure of it! Not to mention his granddaughter was one of them...

"I don't know about you, Naru, but I think I'll go back to being with Rei. I don't think she would be with evil people," he said, standing in front of Sailor Mars to show that he was coming back to align with her. Naru let Haruka out of her vines, and went to stand next to Grandpa Hino.

"Now it's just you against all of us, Kuriko. I'm not going to hurt the Sailor Senshi; they're not bad guys," she warned.

"I don't believe you! You're all protecting that evil girl who wants to destroy everything! You, Tsubasa! How could you threaten your own existence, and the lives of your friends, and even Chibi-Usa?!" Kuriko accused.

"I don't understand. I never tried to hurt Miaka, Yohko, or Chibi-Usa," Neo Sailor Star Healer pleaded.

"Because you want your mother and Minako to be a couple. If they came together and had children, it would change the future so you wouldn't be born. The same for Seiya being with Usagi, and Ami and Taiki," Kuriko snapped.

"I just read it in a book by Chizuru! I thought they were cute couples!" Tsubasa protested, and then she got a dreamy look in her eyes. "And maybe, Minako would be my mother instead of it getting rid of me."

"You are such an oafish idiot. Chizuru didn't write the book to make you like those pairings, she meant for you girls to read it and to hate Usagi, Minako and Ami! She wanted you to fear them, fear that they would steal your parents away and jeopardize your existence! You completely twisted her purposes!" Kuriko ranted. Yaten glared at Tsubasa.

"Is this true? What were you doing, reading Chizuru's books?! You're lucky you didn't start hating the Earth Senshi and join her!" she shouted at her quivering daughter. Kuriko snickered at them.

"How strange of you, Yaten, your kid is taller than you. Maybe I should wish that you'd get together with Minako and get rid of her," she smirked.

"Kuriko, I don't want to fight you. We want you to come back and understand that Chizuru has been manipulating everyone into hating the Sailor Senshi. She just was using us to do her dirty work of killing them off so she could take over the future Crystal Tokyo!" Naru blurted out.

"Crystal Tokyo?! She never told me about that! I don't understand!" wailed Kuriko, who was wavering in her resolve to fight not only the Senshi, but Naru and Grandpa Hino.

"Then it's just a sign that she's leaving you in the dark, if Naru knows about it and you don't. Maybe you should come with us and confront her about these things you don't understand before trying to fight it," Sailor Mars said.

"Then I'll do that. I'll find out if she's tricking me and making me battle the Sailor Senshi for no good reason, or if she's correct about you being evil," Kuriko declared, finally coming to join the others.