AN: Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. Let me know your thoughts on what's going the right way and what isn't! I like everyones opinions whether I agree with them or not! One of my reviewers told me off for waiting so long between posts and they were quite right so I wanted to get this one out as soon as I had written it!

"So", Rei said once Luna had left, "what do you think?"

"It's a lot of new information all at once." Makoto answered.

"Do you think we will get to meet Sailor Venus soon?" Ami asked.

Rei wasn't sure: "I'm sure we will meet her, but I don't think it will be soon. If this was us we would be wary of any new Sailor Senshi, we would want to find out more about them before we met them face to face."

Mako nodded in agreement; "She's never even participated in any of our battles yet, and I haven't seen anyone around watching either."

"How would we even know it was her watching us? You've seen how the press are always trying to get pictures of us. We even have our own fan clubs now, we would never be able to accurately ascertain whether it was her or not." Ami explained.

"I'll consult the fire and see if it can give us any clue to her identity or not. Even though Luna has told us as much as she feels comfortable telling us I get the feeling she's told Sailor Venus more about us. I bet it won't be too hard for her to figure out who we are." Rei contributed.

"Apparently it wasn't that hard, and you should take more care when talking about such things, anyone could walk in and hear."

The three girls almost fell over each other in their haste to turn around to see who was speaking to them. Standing in front of them was a tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed goddess. Her hair went down to the backs of her knees and was held away from her face by a pretty red bow. Her eyes though sparkling in amusement at their reaction held a certain amount of maturity behind them. She was wearing a simple orange summer dress but it was obvious even to their untrained eyes that she had a figure of a model, she was slim but toned and looked every inch that of a film star.

"Who are you?" Makoto managed to get out.

"My name is Aino Minako, but you can call me Mina. I am Sailor Venus."

Mars stood up, instantly wary of the newcomer. "How do we know we can trust you?"

Mina eyed the girl up and down. "I could ask you the same question."

The girls looked at each other.

Mina continued: "How do I know I can trust the three girls that pushed their already fragile leader away from them? Away from the safety and comfort of friendship and trust and out into the harsh truths of loneliness and lies?"

Rei blanched at the bluntness of Minas question and Ami and Makoto looked away. But Rei was never one to back down from a fight.

"We will always and have always had her back. We want her to be the best she can be and she could never achieve that by us babysitting her."

"So instead of encouraging her and supporting her you pushed her away and tried to force it out of her."

Reis eyes flashed, "We never wanted to hurt her, we can see her potential and wanted to get the best out of her."

"Patience is a virtue." Mina replied.

"A virtue that we do not have time for. The attacks are getting more frequent, the enemy is getting stronger. The time is coming when something shall awaken and if we, if she, is not ready then we shall fall. We do not have time to go down the slow path of discovery and joy."

"You have seen something." It was not a question, but a statement that came from Minas mouth.

Rei looked away.

"Rei-chan?" Asked Ami, "What have you seen?"

"It is not set in stone." Rei answered.

The tension in the room was heavy. "Rei-chan, what have you seen?" Makoto repeated Amis question, static coming from her at the fact that her fellow Senshi had hidden something from them.

Rei looked back at them with the promise of tears glistening in her eyes. "I saw her death. I saw her die because we weren't strong enough, because we hadn't been able to defend her."

Makoto went white and Ami looked like she was going to throw up.

"This is why", Rei continued, "She needs to be stronger. She has to be able to protect herself."

She turned to Mina, "I am not going to stand-by and watch her die. If this means pushing her away from us then that's a danger I'm willing to participate in if it saves her life."

She wasn't looking to Mina for forgiveness or understanding. She didn't need this new Senshis acceptance of her behaviour. Until then only she had really understood her true intentions behind the decision to cast out Usagi.

Mina couldn't deny that she wasn't impressed by the young Priestess but she wasn't finished.

"You know only tough love Mars." Mina calling Rei by her Senshi name was the trigger. In a flash Sailor Mars was standing in Reis place and staring back at her was Sailor Venus.

"I do not care for your opinions Venus, they are neither asked for nor wanted."

"You are in danger of losing her. She believes you to think her weak, useless, a burden."

"And she will overcome this, she is stronger than you give her credit for. You do not know her."

"And what if she is weaker than you thought? What if the accusations you shoot her way are thoughts she has been having for months? What if she breaks?" Venus and Mars had ripples of anger coming off them in waves.

"Then we will be there to pick up the pieces." Ami interjected. "Though Jupiter and I may not have agreed with Reis decisions every time, we were in agreement that Usagi-chan needed to be pushed, we have always cared for her."

"Rei-chan," Makoto touched Sailor Mars' arm and she changed back, "You should have told us about the vision."

"I didn't want to make it real. I've been so worried about it becoming a reality that if I spoke the words it would be true and we would lose her forever." Reis voice was on the verge of breaking.

Mina had changed back as well. "I didn't want our first meeting to be like this, maybe we can have another try at it on a different day. However, for the foreseeable future you shouldn't be surprised to see me going into battle with Sailor Moon."

"That is your decision then? To go against the plans we have put into place? To further drive her away from us?" Reis emotions were still heightened.

"You have made your decision and I have made mine. We both have our own paths to take, you more than all should know this."

"But you are deliberately going against our wishes."

"Wishes that she be left alone struggling to deal with the loss of her friends?"

"You're twisting the situation!" Makoto spoke up. "We've all been trying to see her reach her potential, we know how great she can be. We've also been trying to speak to her, but she won't talk to us."

"That is exactly why she needs a friend right now and it is my choice to make. I would never push you further away from her, I want to bring us all together."

Mina turned to leave and was at the doorway before Ami said: "Minako, please keep her safe."

Mina nodded and walked away.

The very same morning Usagi had gone to the arcade in the hope that she hadn't completely scared Mamoru off with her energy stealing kiss.

When she got there his spot at the counter was conspicuously empty.

"Usagi-chan! I haven't seen you in over a week. Have you and the girls had a fight?"

"Hi Motoki-onii-san. Yes you must have realised by now that we aren't currently speaking, but I don't really want to go into that. Have you seen Mamoru-san by any chance?"

Motoki was dumbfounded, "You want to see Mamoru? You called him Mamoru-san? Usa-chan are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, fine. Mamoru was going to come with me to the Botanical Gardens today, but I don't know where he is, he's usually early to everything."

Motoki felt like the world was upside down; Usagi wasn't speaking to her friends but was apparently best friends with her until now mortal enemy. What was next? Was he going to encounter some flying pigs?

Just to check he looked out the window, but the sky was happily free of pigs. He looked back to Usagi and saw her shoulders drop and her eyes darken.

"Usa-chan, he'll be here, he's not that much of a jerk."

"No Motoki-kun, he would've been here by now. I think, I think I must've scared him." She shook her head not wanting to appear so upset in front of Motoki.

"Never mind, I'll just go and have a nice time by myself!"

Motoki could tell she was putting on a façade. "Usagi-chan, I can give him a ring if you want."

"No, don't ring him, don't worry! I'll see you later, bye!"

She waited until she was far enough away before collapsing onto a bench and wiping her eyes from the few tears that had slipped out. Why am I so upset? It had only been in the last couple of weeks that he had been nicer to her, before then he had always been Mamoru-baka. Why did she think he had changed? He was obviously only being nice to her because he felt bad for her. But maybe he had finally realised she wasn't a little kid anymore and had wanted to be friends with her, maybe even more if that kiss was anything to go by. And then she had to go ruin it with her stupid alter ego energy stealing ways. Ugh she was so frustrated with herself! Sailor Moon had taken her friends, had taken her normal life, and had now taken the possibility of a relationship.

She thought she was past this by now, she thought she had overcome the obstacles that being Sailor Moon had presented. It seemed she would always be fighting against the effects of being a Super Heroine.