Hirokazu sat up with a groan. He didn't know how long he had been passed out in the warehouse, but his muscles were still sore and standing was difficult.

"I'm old."

With a laugh, he stumbled out and sneezed when the bright sun shone down on him. A fresh-looking paper that was blowing by said he had slept for three days following his strenuous run and he kicked it. "I need to… get home."

Tracking his crystal that he left back at the motel, he began to make his way back. His legs felt like they were filled with lead and he was ready to collapse.

"Damn… come on, Hirokazu. Get… up." He held a wall to steady himself as he kept going before hitting the ground. He wasn't getting back up. "Great… do I just call for my brother, or will he find me?"

For the first time since his 'grand adventure' began, he found himself desperately desiring the warmth of the castle, and his own bedchamber, getting the cute maid to come help him. If he couldn't move, he couldn't get away and Yukio would find him eventually.

A shadow fell over his face and he laughed. "There you are, brother. Well… I shouldn't keep mother waiting, should I?"

He held his hand up to be lifted and was surprised when two freezing cold hand grabbed them and pulled him to a sitting position. He rubbed the side of his face and saw Hotaru standing over him.

"Hotaru?"

She smiled and tried to help him stand. When it became obvious his legs were injured, she knelt down in her school uniform and put her hands over his knees. A faint glow engulfed his entire lower half, and he felt the pain and the cramping begin to vanish.

"Are you okay, Hirokazu?" The light lifted and she seemed… unusually tired. With a cough, she collapsed in to his arms. He kept her from touching the ground.

"How… how are you here?" he demanded. Standing, he saw a very nice car stalling, waiting on the girl. Without permission, he got in the backseat with her and shut the door. The driver continued on his way as though picking up a disheveled young man was an ordinary day. Hirokazu saw his face in the rearview mirror. He seemed… empty of a soul. A black star was emblazed on his forehead.

"I was being driven from school and I saw you laying there. You looked cold, and hurt." She blushed and looked down. "I-I wanted to help you."

Hirokazu warily turned from the soulless man and nodded. Something was very wrong. Her eyes seemed darker than he remembered. "That was a great help. How did you do that?"

"I've always had this power. I inherited it from mama, before she died in the fire."

Hirokazu felt a pang in his chest. "I'm sorry."

The girl shook her head as if it were something she didn't want to talk about and looked out the window. "You went out of your way to protect me the other day, I wanted to return the favor. I can ask the driver to take you back to your motel, if you'd like."

Hirokazu glanced out his own window at the sky, where the Moon hung low. His eyes narrowed as he saw something running along the rooftops after them.

"No… I can walk from your home. I'd like to see it for myself, anyway," he said. 'A Sailor Soldier… one I don't recognize. She'll leave me alone as long as an innocent is with me.'

They sat in silence for most of the ride.

"So, what did the doctor say?" Hirokazu asked.

"The… doctor? Oh! Um… to be honest… I called my papa at once. I didn't… see the doctor." She flushed and looked to the floorboard of the car. "I'm always cold. Don't worry."

Hirokazu didn't notice the little glances she was throwing at him, he was far more concerned about their tail. 'Is this one Wind-based? She runs like the wind.'

His eyes went wide. "GET DOWN!" He threw himself on the girl, missing having his head taken off by an inch as a ball of light ripped the top of the car off. The vehicle was thrown in to a field, dumping all three passengers on the grass.

He still had her cold hand in his own when he looked up to see two Sailor Soldiers tower over them. One had sandy colored hair and a blue uniform, while the other was aqua haired with a green uniform. Sandy had a sword, and Aqua had a mirror in her hand.

"You don't know when to give up," Hirokazu growled. He stood up, only to get a heel to the gut and forced back down.

"You will stay down until we are finished, dog of the Dark Kingdom. You are not our target today."

Hirokazu blinked. "What? I'm the prince of the Dark Kingdom, and you're NOT after me? Then-" it fell in to place. "You're the ones from the other night… you were targeting Hotaru!"

Sandy smiled and held her sword out. The blade was made of pale energy and he could feel the heat pouring off of it. "Stand aside and let us finish our mission."

Hirokazu growled and pulled Hotaru in to him, holding her there. If he opened a portal home with every bit of his energy, he could make it to the throne room, where his mother could fight them off. She fought off the four Inner Senshi while heavily injured; surely two wouldn't be more than a bit of trouble. With a growl, Sandy raised her sword up and went to bring it down.

Hotaru's eyes flashed. The driver, who Hirokazu had thought died, stood up and began to… mutate. His body twisted and contorted until he transformed in to one of those monsters. He looked from it to Hotaru and saw the sign burn on her forehead.

Saturn.

The monster roared and attacked Sandy, swiping at her with its claws. Her attacks did nothing to it but make it angrier as they passed harmlessly through.

"Are… are you doing this?" Hirokazu asked, looking down at Hotaru. He didn't recognize the look on her face. She looked like the devil at that moment. Energy began to radiate from her fail body and she floated up, out of his arms. The two Guardians looked panicked. Clearly, they were expecting an easy kill.

"Regroup! Wait for Pluto!" Sandy shouted, backing away.

"Uranus, we have her cornered! We can't just back off now!" Aqua yelled.

Uranus glared. "We don't have the method to fight these things, Neptune! Wait for Pluto, and fall back!"

The two of the fled, followed by the monster. However, before it could get out of range, it roared as though in pain and vanished. Hotaru's eyes closed and she fell to the ground. Hirokazu caught her before she could hit.

"Hotaru? Hotaru! DAMN!"

"So, do you plan to tell me how you managed to transform?" Yukio asked. He and the princess sat in one of Prince Endymion's safe houses just outside the main city. As his fiancée, Serenity had unrestricted access to his castle and outlying estates. She looked at the tea cup in her hands and sighed.

"I don't really know how. It's… complicated."

Yukio sat the tea pot down and stirred his own cup. "I have time to listen, cousin. I take it none know of it."

"No." She took a long sip and coughed. "Officially, I am… 'lost'. Endymion has sent his four generals to the corners of the planet to find me, which is why I am staying transformed."

Yukio frowned. "Let me guess, we are responsible for your disappearance?"

"Mother claims this, but Endymion believes that I am in hiding. He… he knows the Lady Earth would not harm me. Whatever she became following the war, she is not a killer."

"That would explain why I've heard nothing of the prince. If he doesn't think we've done anything, why expend efforts to hunt us?" Yukio leaned back in his chair.

"He has told mother that he will not lend his soldiers to her 'cause' until he locates me. After Selene left him… he refuses to lose me."

"Enough on the prince. Your transformation is what fascinates me. That Guardian – Safa? – what did she mean when she called you 'Lady of Light'?"

Serenity smiled and stared at her reflection. "The transformation is… that of the Angel, the very one that brought your queen to Earth and founded the Moon Kingdom. She gifted us the crystals and then vanished."

"Then how is it you have her transformation?"

"I don't know. This," she touched the purple locket on her chest "I'd suspect. I found it in the vault one day, as a child. And I saw someone there. I… couldn't see the face, a blue mask was covering it. I think it was a man, and he just stared at me. I remember he motioned to the locket, like he wanted me to take it. When I touched it… it vanished."

"Vanished? Things don't just… disappear, cousin." Yukio tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean, it 'vanished'?"

Serenity shook her head. "When I touched it, it was there for a moment and then it was gone. But the man was still there. And for years, I would see him all the time. Always in the shadows, or the rafters, watching me. He never came close, he never… you know, looked when it would be immodest. But he was there. He led me to safety when your people stormed the castle, he stood guard outside the room I was hidden in… like a guardian angel."

"My people said nothing of a man in blue standing outside a door. Or on the battlefield. Of course, I was so preoccupied with taking the throne for myself, I may have not listened."

"They wouldn't have seen him. No one sees him but me." She looked to the side as if something was hidden from view, then back to Yukio. He saw nothing. "A few months ago, however, I was… lamenting. Sometimes I cry, for no reason, for hours at a time. This day, I was lamenting my lack of power to do anything when one of those creatures came in to the palace. It was an uproar. He led me again to a hiding place, but the monsters found us. He stopped some of them, but not all. One grabbed me."

"Like I was grabbed," Yukio deducted. He recalled the feeling.

"Yes. But I… felt nothing. That's when he leaned in to me, and spoke for the first time. 'The password is Silver Moon Crystal Power'. That was when I first transformed. I fought back. My hair came undone in the battle, and when I drove them off, the Senshi and the Guardians did not recognize me. I knew then that I could fight back, and be useful in this war."

Yukio sighed and rubbed his forehead. "This is getting tedious, cousin. These monsters that attack, your transformation, Sailor Saturn… when does it all end?"

"It ends when mother decides to end it."

"That statement does little to inspire confidence in me," he warned.

Serenity sipped on her tea again. "It ends… when mother decides to kill all of you."

Hirokazu had made it to Hotaru's home, thanks in large part to a phonebook that listed her father's address. The staff allowed him in with the frail girl who was still unconscious and took her from him almost at once. He was refusing to leave until he knew she would be well.

So now he was sitting in a small living area, trying to not look as impatient as he actually was. He was still covered in grime and filth from the past few days and looked like hell. He jumped to his feet when a woman with that same black star on her forehead walked in.

"How's Hotaru? Is she going to be okay?" he demanded.

"Professor Tomoe is seeing to the young miss at the moment. He has requested that we offer you use of the bath while you wait," she said. There was little emotion in her voice. She sounded almost like a computer. He'd seen his mother use them before.

"Oh, uh… yeah. I could use a rinse."

He was led to the bathing room and after a full hour, he was clean and redressed, sitting in that same waiting room. He was wearing a hole in the floor with his pacing. What was this place? The staff had those same stars on their foreheads as the driver. Could they turn to monsters, too? Hotaru had controlled the thing, hadn't she? Were they native to Saturn?

He knew nothing of the people of Saturn, only the stories of how his mother killed their royal family. But Hotaru proved that they had survived somehow. Or was she a reincarnation?

His head was beginning to hurt from thinking too much and he sunk back in to a seat when that same woman walked in. He was back on his feet not a second later.

"Hotaru?"

"Would you like something to drink while you wait?" the woman asked.

"No. I want to see Hotaru." He was getting short in his answers.

The woman bowed and walked back out. He was pacing once more, wondering why it was taking so long. Was she going to be okay? She hadn't even been touched in the attack, he'd seen to that personally. Maybe it was because she was sick.

It was another hour before a man walked in, bearing that same star. "Hirokazu? The young miss will see you now."

Hirokazu shoved his way past him and ran down the hall to where they'd taken her on their arrival. He threw the door open to see her rolling down her sleeve. Her skin was so pale it was almost see-through.

"Hotaru, are you okay?" he demanded. "They didn't hurt you, did they? I tried to stop them, but-"

"I'm okay," she said as she looked away. He was relieved.

"Thank god. Are you her father?" He turned to the man with white hair. "Are-are you from the priest caste?"

"My mother was, but she married a noble," he responded. "Thank you for protecting my daughter. I am told you… saw an unfortunate event."

Hirokazu scratched the back of his head and thought. "Well… it's not every day one sees a man transform in to a monster."

"These people who you see marked with the stars are… my mother's charges. Until she died, that is. These poor people hold in them monsters, called 'Gnosis'. It was the job of the priest caste to keep watch over them. Mother's family has the power to keep them in check. When Hotaru was injured, she lost control of the driver, and he mutated. I hope you won't think ill of us for it."

Hirokazu's eyes narrowed, but he shook his head. "I'm sure it happens to the best of you. I'm just happy she's safe."

The professor smiled. "Please, stay for dinner. I am sure Hotaru would be happy to have a friend over. Or, perhaps you are more of her guardian, she told me why she vanished the other night."

"Another time. I should head home and check on my plants. I'll see you on your offer of dinner, though. Soon." He nodded to Hotaru who seemed sad that he wasn't staying. Hirokazu left the manor and began to track his crystal once more. He had to contact his cousin somehow.

Hirokazu knew the priest caste. His mother had been of them. Ukito had been of them. Their job was to protect the Golden Crystal and, by extension, the planet itself.

Professor Tomoe had just lied to his face.