Disclaimer: All hail Queen Takeuchi! I am but a lowly fangirl, flexing my creative muscles!

Author's Note: This one was a lot of fun to write. It always bothers me when Usagi shares her secret identity with her family, and they react in ridiculously overdramatic ways. The fainting trope, ugh, don't even get me started. This is my attempt to rectify the severe lack of well-written reveals out there!

So much gratitude to flaxj, SereStarofGaea, ZeroAmada, xSapphirexRosesxFanx, Guest, TropicalRemix, 0Tenshi-no-Tsubasa0, Bunchan529 and AshPhoenix93. Your reviews keep me motivated, even when the last thing I want to do is write. They are like a gentle prodding - "Keep going. You can do this. Keep going!" So please, don't stop. I appreciate and cherish hearing from every last one of you dear readers, more than you can possibly know... unless you are an author yourself!

Anomaly

~Chapter 10~

Usagi's nerve was just about shot by the time all household inhabitants were gathered in the living room. Shingo, Kenji and Ikuko sat side-by-side on the couch, with Usagi perched apprehensively upon the ottoman that she had pulled center stage, right in front of the television. It was nothing short of pure unadulterated terror to have so many different and expectant sets of eyes on her, and she wondered for perhaps the umpteenth time what reaction her news would garner. Those eyes - so kindly, comforting, and familiar - what would they forecast, once she was through?

Unbidden, a sudden image of her family leering at her with cold, unrecognizing eyes flashed across Usagi's vision, and she shivered.

No. Remember Luna, Usagi chided herself, and she thought about the words that had become a soothing sort of mantra for her. They'll love you all the more!

"Uuuggghhh. Do we really have to do this? I was just about to beat the last level on my game! And Mika-chan could be calling any minute!"

"Shingo," Ikuko scolded sternly, wagging an imperious finger at her whining son. "Don't be rude. Usagi has something important to tell us. Don't you, dear?"

Kenji shifted uneasily in his seat, before he too was reprimanded in only one look. "Ah, Usagi... sweetheart... you know we'll support you no matter what... but if there's a boy Papa needs to attend to..."

"This isn't about a boy!" Usagi exclaimed exasperatedly. "Not... really..."

She sunk back in on herself, still trying to summon her Senshi's courage. She tried to keep in mind that she had faced down worse, defeated greater monsters than her own self-doubt, but it was a near futile endeavor. The girl was petrified. Her family continued to stare at her, waiting, some patiently... and some not at all.

Shingo threw his arms up in the air. "Jeez, c'mon! Spit it out already, sis!"

"I'm... I'm Sailor Moon," Usagi mumbled, to her feet. She could literally feel the silence that met her declaration, like a heavy pall had descended over the room. No one said anything; no one moved. It was a suffocating sensation, cruel in its indeterminacy, and Usagi clenched her fists against the maelstrom building inside her chest.

"I'm Sailor Moon!" she announced, louder, fiercer, finally lifting her chin to greet her achingly unresponsive audience.

A beat, a hitched breath, and then the room was overcome with the cacophonic sound of hysterical laughter. Kenji and Shingo were nearly falling over each other with the intensity of their mirth, both completely doubled-up and at the point of wiping away tears. If Usagi had been less affronted, she might've seen that while Ikuko was indeed frozen with shell shock, there was also a light dawning in her eyes. Something akin to stunned realization - like pieces of a puzzle had finally clicked into place inside her brain.

"Oh, oh, oh. Good one, Usagi! You really... you really had us going there for a minute," Kenji said inbetween gasps, reaching up to rub behind his glasses. Shingo however had yet to settle, still slapping his knee and howling inconsolably.

"You really think we'd believe that a crybaby like you could be Sailor Moon!? Stupid Usagi, that was a really dumb joke," Shingo guffawed.

Usagi stood up, a righteous anger and unflinching resolve pulsing through her veins. She flung her broach heavenward.

"MOON ETERNAL, MAKE UP!"

A brilliant display of light and color engulfed the living room, so dazzling, so blinding, that a number of occupants had to shield their eyes. All traces of humor quickly evaporated as the Tsukinos looked upon the angelic figure that now posed before them, her chest heaving and limbs trembling as she awaited their judgment.

"H-h-holy shit," Shingo spluttered. Kenji too seemed at a loss, unable to form even the simplest of locutions. He just gaped, incomprehensible. It was Ikuko who made the first move, literally, as she sprung up off the couch. Usagi's heart just about fled her ribcage, instead assuming residence somewhere closer to throat level as the indigo-haired woman approached.

What was she thinking? Why wasn't she running in fear from this strange alien entity invading her perfectly normal family in this perfectly normal house in the middle of perfectly normal Juuban District? Isn't that how people usually reacted when they learned a secret of this enormity? Wasn't that exactly what Usagi was expecting? The emotionally overwrought savior of the world swallowed painfully.

Ikuko stopped just shy of Eternal Sailor Moon. Her azure eyes were wide and shining as she reached forward to take the girl's face in her hands, one splayed across either cheek. "It's really you in there, isn't it?"

"Yes," Usagi choked, and the lump in her throat was hard to speak around. "I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you for so long."

The seventeen-year-old was taken aback when Ikuko threw her arms around her small frame, and gripped the heroine in a hug so bone-crushing she went light-headed. It was wonderful.

"I had a thought once, or maybe it was a dream. Years ago. The persisting sense that something utterly undefinable to me had grasped hold of you. Changed you. I didn't know what it was. But I'd wake up sometimes, in a cold sweat, without any rational explanation why. Call it premonition; call it a mother's instinct... But I think I knew, even then, that it was because of you. Knew - without actually believing. I had seen footage of the mysterious warrior everyone was talking about. Read all the headlines. Sailor Moon. 'The Champion of Love and Justice'. And I remember thinking, god, she looks so young. Gutsy, focused, formidable... but so very young. Maybe even around my Usagi's age. And I wondered then, just for a moment... what if?

"I confess... I brushed the notion aside. Impossible, I laughed. My darling little Usagi, afraid of thunderstorms and dentists and all forms of responsibility, out there fighting monsters and saving the world on a daily basis? It was ridiculous."

Ikuko pulled back, and she had the grace to look sheepish. Regretful. She squeezed Usagi's upper arms. "So you see, I'm the one who should be sorry. You have been so much wiser, braver, and more responsible than I ever gave you credit for, Usagi. You grew up - and I didn't even realize it!"

The Tsukino matriarch shook her head and chuckled with rueful affection.

"My baby. My baby is Sailor Moon. I just..." Ikuko's eyes began to spill over as she continued rambling in disbelief, and Usagi marveled, through a joyous haze, that she was crying too. This whole moment just felt so surreal; like a wish so long and dearly desired was suddenly coming true. Her parents knew. They finally knew, and they still loved her. She found herself ensconced once more in Ikuko's arms. "I'm so proud. So, so proud."

"Your mother's not the only one," another voice, gruff with emotion, chimed in. Usagi opened her eyes, hardly aware she'd let them flutter shut, to see her father standing by. He still looked mildly ill, but there was an awestruck smile burgeoning across his countenance.

"Papa..."

"Here I was, worried you were dragging us all together to tell us you were pregnant - and instead you drop this bomb on us. I'm not sure which is worse for my poor heart!" Kenji teased weakly. "You do realize I'm sorely tempted never to let you leave the house ever again, right?"

Usagi hailed him with a watery laugh, but her features grew solemn as she extricated herself from Ikuko. She took her mother's hand in one of hers, and her father's hand in the other. "I understand what a shock this is."

"That's an understatement," the youngest voice in the room snorted. "My friends would never believe me."

Usagi glanced sharply at Shingo, still sitting dumbly on the couch, still whiter than the freshly laundered sheets on her bed upstairs. Her tone was harsh, brooking no argument. "You can't tell anyone. Not ever. Shingo, please. You must listen to me. It's not just about my safety. It's a matter of everyone's safety. Yours, your friends', my friends'... Mama's and Papa's..."

Shingo flushed.

"I didn't mean I would," he mumbled, apparently finding it easier to make eye contact with his knees rather than Usagi. She felt her gaze soften, taking pity on him, knowing how strange, how jarring, it must be, to witness his ditzy sister's transformation into the hero he idolized. The boy remained quiet after that, so Usagi let her attention rove back to those still in her grip. She squeezed their hands, wishing the pair would quit looking so stricken.

"Hey now. No need to look like someone just died. I'm still here, aren't I? Yes, what I do is dangerous. But I've been battling evil for a long time now. I know how to handle myself. I'm quite careful. I wouldn't reveal myself unnecessarily. It's just..." She sucked down a deep breath. "Certain circumstances have forced my hand."

"I guess that begs the question... why now?" Ikuko queried gently.

Usagi closed her eyes and let the winged garb of Eternal Sailor Moon fade away, to be replaced again by her infinitely less flashy civilian clothes. She nervously smoothed out the obstinate crinkles of her skirt, peeking over at Shingo and hoping he felt more comfortable this way. It was uncharacteristic for the fourteen-year-old to be so chary. It made Usagi rather disconcerted. She wondered what was going on inside his head right now.

"Well... to tell you that, I have to tell you a lot of other things first. Context," Usagi clarified, with a slight upturn of the lips. She amusedly allowed Ikuko to claim her hand once more. It was as if the woman couldn't bear to let go; as if she would have begun to doubt the reality of the situation unless her daughter's warmth intermingled reassuringly with her own. Usagi was led back to the couch, where Ikuko insisted she join the family - where she belonged. Usagi felt lighter than she had all night. All week, really.

Kenji himself lugged over the ottoman and plopped down upon it, as close to Usagi and the others as physically possible. He leaned forward, a distinctly mischievous twinkle in his dark charcoal eyes. It reminded Usagi of someone else. Someone currently napping outside. "Why do I feel like I'm going to need a good stiff drink when this is all through?"

oOo

A raised hand split the air, halting a voice mid-sentence.

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me make sure I've got this straight. So you're saying... you're the... reincarnation?... of an ancient princess who lived on the moon."

"Yes."

"And Mamoru-san was the earth prince Endymion, who sacrificed himself for you - er - Serenity when the kingdom fell. The, er, Golden Millennium?"

"Silver, Papa. But yeah."

"And your friends, those girls you hang out with, they were - are - your protectors? The other Sailor Senshi?"

"There are more Senshi besides Rei-chan, Ami-chan, Minako-chan and Mako-chan. But yes. Pretty much."

"And Luna... your cat... is your adviser? A talking cat who told you you were Sailor Moon, and gave you your broach, which grants you the ability to transform into said superhero?"

Usagi nodded vigorously. It was as if her mood had performed a complete 180; she couldn't help but feel absurdly cheery. They knew!

Kenji, however, pinched the bridge of his nose. Hard. "Oh boy. I'm definitely going to want that drink."

On Usagi's right, Ikuko issued a strained chuckle. "It is rather outlandish sounding when you lay the facts out in black and white like that, isn't it? And yet... look what we just witnessed - the proof, right before our very eyes."

Ikuko inclined her head toward the broach Usagi was currently fiddling with in her lap. "Do you think... Could I touch it, Usagi?"

The girl happily passed her transformation broach over, glad for the opportunity to share these important pieces of her life. Her mother reverently accepted the offering, inspecting the ornate handiwork with a delicate finger traced over cool metal ridges. "It's beautiful."

"Might not look it, but that thing's brought me back from the brink more times than I can count," Usagi intoned wryly. Ikuko and Kenji stared at her with wide eyes, then at the broach. It seemed to be fairly thrumming in Ikuko's palm, like a conduit for its master's excess energy... of which Usagi had, well, an excess. She was nearly bouncing in her seat. It was as if the floodgates had burst open - she wanted to tell them everything, everything they had missed these past few years, but she was also wary of frightening them with her information overload. Hence the insatiable, pent up need to move.

"I have a question," Shingo spoke up at last. He looked up through his shaggy blonde fringe at Usagi, something unreadable tainting his features that seemed the very epitome of puberty, torn as they were between the chiseled definition of adulthood and the plump softness of childhood.

"Yes, Shingo?"

Shingo chewed on his words for a moment. "So... if you're this Princess Serenity character from a thousand years ago... does that mean... you're not really my sister?"

A hush followed his pronouncement. Ikuko seemed to clutch the broach ever more tightly, knuckles paling around the compact's shiny golden hue. Kenji went tense on the ottoman, like he was afraid to even breathe for fear of shattering into a hundred tiny, irreparable pieces. Usagi wanted to roll her eyes at the seriousness of them all.

"Of course I am, silly. We came out the same place, didn't we?"

"USAGI!" Ikuko barked, but the flaxen haired teen just giggled mulishly.

"It's true!" She focused more intently upon Shingo, and her gaze gentled. "I can't say I'm familiar with the scientific rationale behind it. That's Ami-chan's forte. But I am just as much a being of Earth as I am a descendant of the Moon. As much Serenity as I am Usagi. The same blood that runs through your veins runs through mine. Doesn't that make us family?"

Shingo seemed to deliberate on that for a second or two, and then he nodded, apparently satisfied.

"Now. Speaking of family... I think we've come to the crux of the matter. The real reason why I chose to reveal my identity to you all tonight." Usagi raked her brilliant blue orbs over the group before her. "I think it's time I brought the girls inside. I'm... afraid the shocks aren't over, quite yet."

Ikuko and Kenji had been regarding their daughter with varying shades of curiosity, but at that announcement, they began to look just a little bit faint.

"What else could there be?"

Author's Note: Next chapter, meet your granddaughter from the future! Or... have we met already?

I must say, I love writing Usagi's family. Especially Ikuko. I have always thought it would add an interesting new dimension to have them aware of Usagi's Senshi identity, particularly during instances when she has to head out to do battle. It's an idea I wish had been explored in the show. For all those enjoying this as much as I, don't worry - I intend to keep the Tsukinos around a bit longer ;D

Now. What are you waiting for? Get down there and send me some feedback! Did you like the reveal? Are you excited for what's to come? What do you think this new enemy is all about? *evil cackles*

AngelMoon Girl