Celestial Warrior Moon:

Disclaimer:I do not own any Sailor Moon related properties. Sailor Moon is the property of Toei Animation and Naoko Takeuchi. This is a fan work created to celebrate the opus. It is not intended to infringe on any copyrights.

SomeoftheFame: Thank for you for the help. Much appreciated I can't believe how many mistakes I missed. I glad you liked it despite the lack of action. I was hoping that the important plot points happening would give this chapter enough of an edge that it wouldn't need it.

enchanted-legend: Well, I guess it is a 'blink-and-you'll-miss' moment. Basically, Mamoru overheard Usagi and Makoto talking back in 'Chapter 10: Mars: Princess of Mars', but pretended not to know anything more than they were snooping around. He also outright saw Rei's first transformation into Mars. The only identities he doesn't know yet are Mercury and Sailor V's. As for Takashi's meddling: oh, you are going to feel cathartic when the time comes.

James Bindsong: Thank you.

Ash Devil Sadist: Thanks. I also think you'll like where this all going. I'm glad not sick anymore, too!

Drew L.: Thank you. That actually puts my mind at ease over the lack of action in the last chapter.

LoveInTheBattleField: You know it!

Toast: Well do. I am to please. :)

Chapter 27

Dream of a White Dress; the Mysterious Sleeping Illness

5:43PM, Monday, May 31st

"An exploratory mission? An exploratory mission?! Preposterous!" Pious shouted.

"Pious, calm yourself," Myddin said.

"Yes, one of your tantrums will not change anything, and please not in one of our own conference rooms," Jocelyn said.

That only seemed to enrage Pious more.

"Don't ask me to be calm! The Japanese Parliament has no idea no idea what it's sticking its nose into! If they convince the UN to send a military unit into the North to hunt for D-Point, it'll be like a child poking a hornet's nest with a stick on a massive scale!" Pious shouted.

"Yes, we understand the gravity of the situation, Pious, and we are taking precautions to ensure that no such decision is made," Myddin said, adamantly.

"Oh, are you?" Pious asked, cynically.

The three High Keepers were in a conference room, gathered at the front near the podium where they'd be in full view of the occupants of many, many rows of folding chairs. At the moment, the chairs were all empty, the only person around was Professor William Hollingshead, who was busy preparing slides and an overhead projector while trying to ignore the conversation going on behind him.

Artemis picked this particular moment to enter the room.

"And you!" Pious shouted irately, pointing a finger at Artemis.

"Me?" Artemis asked, clulessly.

"Yes, you!" Pious replied as a vein throbbed in his forehead. "You were in charge of crime scene clean up on all cases concerning the Warriors and Sailor V! How the hell did they get their hands on any specimens?!"

Artemis stopped dead in his tracks and began to back up as Pious marched right up into his face.

"Hey, the Dark Kingdom has been teleporting the bodies of important soldiers off battlegrounds for centuries. I had no reason to believe anything else was happening when we found some of the crime scenes missing a monster," Artemis said defensively.

"Oh, didn't you, now?" Pious said snidely.

Pious massaged his temples.

"Please tell me you at least know who actually took bodies from the crime scenes," Pious said, tiredly.

"I have a very good idea who it was, yes," Artemis replied.

"And?" Pious asked, impatiently.

"My people are looking into it. By morning, they'll have a report any suspicious movements, if any, that this guy has made," Artemis replied.

"And who is this suspect?" Pious asked.

"That's on a need to know basis, and you'll need to know when I've confirmed whether or not he was actually responsible," Artemis replied.

Pious stepped in close, so close that Artemis could feel the older man's breath on his face.

"Know this, boy. Any more screws like this, and managing crimes scenes and Sailor V will be given over to someone else. I'll make it happen, mark my words," Pious said threateningly.

"I think Mina will have a thing or two to say about that," Artemis replied.

"The girl's opinion will be irrelevant. Shape up!" Pious countered heatedly.

"Why you…" Artemis started to retort, but he was cut off.

Pious back-handed him in the face.

"Don't talk back to me, boy!" Pious growled.

"Pious!" Jocelyn said in utter disbelief. "THAT will be enough!"

"Pious, you will calm yourself or you will be removed from this meeting," Myddin said, authoritatively.

Pious glared at the other two Keepers, but backed away from Artemis, just the same. Artemis held a hand to his stinging cheek giving the balding man an ugly stare. He slicked back his white hair, trying to pass off the strike as nothing major. Myddin turned to Artemis and approached the younger Keeper.

"But Pious is correct about one thing. You were very careless, Artemis," Myddin said.

"I'm…sorry," Artemis said.

"I believe you, but still… I was going to tell you this during your appointment in my office, but seeing as the issue has already been brought up, your duties concerning crime scene clean-up are hereby suspended until further notice. You will instead concentrate on the completion of your mission with Sailor V," Myddin said.

"But, sir…!" Artemis started to protest.

Myddin held up a hand.

"No further arguments, please. The responsibility has already been given over to Rusila," Myddin stated.

Artemis shoved his hands into his pockets and just nodded.

"Yes, sir," he sighed.

"Good," Myddin said.

The head of the High Keepers looked everyone in the room in the eye with a serious manner.

"The girls will be here shortly. They must not see the Keepers in such disarray. Have you finished preparations for your presentation, Professor Hollingshead?" he said.

"Yes, Myddin," Hollingshead replied, and turning from the device for the first time.

"Good," Myddin said, giving a nod of approval to Hollingshead.

Then he turned to Pious and Artemis again giving them both a 'behave yourselves' look.

"The important thing for now will be for everyone to remain calm. We will deal with this new situation in a rational manner," Myddin said. "There has always been a risk of D-Point's discovery and what subsequent actions the world may take, especially since science and logic have advanced as they must. We will proceed cautiously."

A short time later, Luna, Haruka and the girls arrived. Professor Hollingshead sat by the projector, front and center while Jocelyn, Myddin, and Pious were to his left, and Artemis leaned against the wall to his right.

"Hello, everyone. Looks like we're on time," Luna greeted her fellow Keepers.

"Excellent. Now, if you will all have a seat, we will begin the briefing," Pious said.

He gestured politely to Professor Hollingshead.

"This is Professor Hollingshead, our astronomer who discerned that the Dark Kingdom was using the stars to choose their victims."

"Hello," Hollingshead gave a short wave to the girls.

When they were all seated in the front row, Hollingshead put on the first slide.

"This is Helen Lambert, their latest target," he said.

"Hey, that's the woman I saw in my vision!" Rei exclaimed with relieved delight.

She had feared that she just hadn't given them sufficient information that would allow them to identify her in time to save her. She and the others listened closely as Pious and Professor Hollingshead quickly walked them through the details of the mission.

"They're going to kill her on her own wedding?" Makoto asked, angrily. "That's just low!"

"I would have to agree," Hollingshead answered.

"Yes, and her energy will not reach all time peak until after the wedding has actually began," Pious explained. "That means that either Jadeite or Nephrite, possibly both, will be in attendance. That means you will all have to be there as well. And there is one other issue to take into accord."

"The time difference?" Ami asked.

"Yes. The wedding is at 9 in the morning on their Wednesday, which will be 3AM, Friday morning for you girls, but that's not all," Myddin answered.

Usagi's head thumped into the desk.

"Aw, man, and we have school!" she whined.

"At least we don't have any tests this Friday," Makoto said, limply.

"Which brings us to our next point," Jocelyn put in.

She turned to Hollingshead.

"Show them the slides, please," she said.

"Yes, ma'am."

Hollingshead put on the next slide, which depicted the night the ruin that was Peisinoe's House of Fortunes, and then the shrine on the day Rei became Sailor Mars, and Dream Land.

"Past missions?" Rei asked.

Pious cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Warriors, I have very distressing news to divulge to you, and this was meant to be explained to you all last Friday, but obviously, the…circumstances changed," he said.

"You can say that again," Usagi muttered.

"Eh? What's up?" Makoto asked.

Pious gestured to the four slides.

"These are four of your missions, but am I afraid that I have to inform that each of these events were distractions set up by the Dark Kingdom to keep us blind to their true purposes. While you were thwarting these schemes set up be either Zoicite or Nephrite, there were other machinations going on," Pious said.

Makoto and Ami stared ahead in shock for a few seconds before anyone said anything.

"Wha-what?" Makoto demanded.

"Well it's true. Observe," Hollingshead said.

He put in the next slide, which depicted three people. A girl in her mid teens in a tennis outfit, a boy, maybe a little older, who was holding a camera, and an older man in a wide brimmed hat who was crouching next to some flowers at what had to be a park.

"Who are these people?" Ami asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.

Pious regarded her grimly.

"Who were these people, you mean," Pious corrected.

"You're kidding. They're all dead?" Makoto exclaimed, a bit shrilly.

"Afraid so," Rei answered, with a hint of controlled sadness in her voice.

Makoto and Ami looked over at Rei. Usagi raised her head up from the desk, deciding now was a good time to put in her cents.

"Yeah, Pious talked to us about 'energy drain victims' on Friday before…things happened, and these are the people who have been killed by having all their life energy sucked up. Each one happened while we were distracted by the Doom Bus or whatever," Usagi answered.

Makoto looked at Usagi, and then at the slide, and then she groaned. She let her face fall into the top of the desk while she clutched strands of her hair tightly in her hands. She squeezed her eyes shut, tightly.

"You mean we've been suckered all this time?" Makoto moaned miserably.

"Well, the whole ordeal with The Rake, that night at Osaka Jewelry, our trips overseas, exposing the Crystal Seminar, and Triple Threat Friday were all legit," Rei said.

"I guess that kind of makes me feel a little better," Makoto said deprecatingly.

"Yeah, and we were going to tell you two, but, uh, Triple threat Friday happened…and I guess we kind of forgot with Entomon showing up…and…getting away…" Usagi answered, uneasily.

"That's understandable," Ami said.

"Yes, Usagi and Rei are quite correct," Pious said.

"Tell us some about the three victims," Ami requested.

" The girl was named Katie Sandler, a rising tennis player from America who was actually going to compete in Japan, the boy was Peter Fisher a prodigy photographer from England, and the older gentlemen was one Keith Baxter, the caretaker of a park in Sidney, Australia. For a long time, we were uncertain of how they were being targeted, because as you can see, there is literally nothing connecting the three of them," Pious explained.

"So why weren't we told about this a lot earlier?" Ami asked.

"Because you had enough on your plate without having to worry about something like this. Besides, we had nothing to go on until very recently," Luna replied.

Makoto sat back up, still looking very miffed at the thought that some of their attempts to keep the peace were mere smoke and mirrors.

"Precisely, and it is not as though you weren't saving lives. You were. All those people would have died without your intervention, a diversion or otherwise," Myddin put in.

Those words hardly made Makoto or Ami feel any better. That just meant that The Dark Kingdom was willing to toy with lives in order to put on a show.

"That brings us to our next point. With Jadeite and Nephrite targeting Helen Lambert on Wednesday, then Zoicite will have his next diversion in the making by then as well," Myddin explained.

"Oh, I get it!" Makoto said, punching a fist in the palm of her other hand. "Someone's gotta stay in Japan and make sure Zoicite doesn't harm any innocent people!"

"Exactly," Myddin nodded.

"At the moment, there are enough of you that we can safely leave one Warrior behind with a team to deal with whatever Zoicite has planned. With the possibility of Jadeite and Nephrite working together on energy collecting, I wouldn't feel comfortable with any less than three of you attending that wedding," Luna said.

"I can handle Jadeite," Usagi said with surprising confidence. "I would've taken care of him if Nephrite hadn't gotten in the way back at the Crystal Seminar."

"Which is why I want three of you there," Luna said. "Nephrite is much more used to fighting than Jadeite, who has always relied more on magic over blades."

Ami let out a whoosh of air.

"Getting into a fight in a crowded sanctuary," Ami said. "Could we get them to take the fight outside? I don't like the idea of getting all those people mixed up in this."

"It won't take much to get them to you follow you out, assuming the guests themselves aren't quick to vacate the premises," Luna said. "They're Beryl's generals, and would love nothing more than the chance to kill you all. With even one Warrior out of their way, life would become so much simpler for them."

"That will also be true to the Warrior who stays behind," Jocelyn said. "Even if his actions are nothing more than a smoke screen, Zoicite will take the opportunity to kill one of you if it falls into his lap."

"So that means whoever stays behind will have to be able to take care of herself," Makoto said.

"I guess that leaves the new girl out," Ami meekly.

"Hey, don't sell yourself short," Makoto said, putting a hand on Ami's shoulder. "But, until you have a little more experience on the field, you should stick with at least one partner."

"Very well. Mercury will be heading over to the States," Luna said.

She paused, looked over the remaining three.

"Then Mars and Jupiter will…" Luna started to say.

"I'm going to that wedding," Usagi said firmly.

"Usagi…this is nothing against you, but Makoto, Rei, and Ami are all better English speakers than you," Luna replied, calmly.

"[I'M GOING! I've been practicing whenever I have a moment, both with Rei and by myself. I can speak English well enough for one day in another country. I'm going to help stop them from killing Helen Lambert and ruining the future she could have her true love!]" Usagi shouted in remarkably good English.

Luna leaned back in her chair, a little surprised at what she'd just heard. This was the same girl who was hopelessly lost that day in England? She glanced around the room at the other Keepers. Artemis wore a look of amusement and shrugged uncaringly. Pious didn't seem to have an opinion one way or the other, and Myddin and Jocelyn seemed just as entertained as Artemis was. Makoto and Ami were both giggling at Usagi's retort. Haruka just smirked.

"Well, of course, her English has improved a lot. She's started practicing it with me," Rei said, proudly.

"Oh, let her, Luna," Jocelyn said.

Luna sighed, and turned back to the odango head.

"Fine. If you're going to go on the main mission, then we need our other main fighter, Jupiter, to stay behind," Luna said.

She glanced from Usagi to Makoto.

"Is that fine with you, Makoto?" Luna asked.

"Hey, no problem! You can count of me!" Makoto gave the thumbs up.

"Very well, Makoto, you will be working with Haruka and another Keeper, Yoshiro, on this case. Keep a sharp eye out. Zoicite is already working his mischief," Luna instructed.

Haruka let out a quiet groan and rolled her eyes at the mention of 'Yoshiro'.

"Oh, not him," she thought.

"So how are we going to handle the wedding?" Ami asked.

"Well, simply put, three of the reception staff suddenly won the lottery and quit their jobs. Three replacements are needed," Luna replied.

"You rigged the lottery?" Rei asked, simultaneously impressed and disapproving.

"Hello! A life is at stake here!" Usagi exclaimed.

"Fine," Rei grumbled.

"Then if everything is decided. Artemis, it's your turn," Myddin declared.

Artemis took center stage and took out a photo and handed it to Haruka. She glanced it over and then passed it over to the next person, and so on until it landed in Usagi's hand.

"People sleeping at the hospital?" Usagi asked, looking up from it.

"Yep, and take another look. What do they all have in common?" Artemis asked.

Usagi looked at the picture again.

"They're all women," she said.

"Bingo. This morning, a bunch of these victims were brought into the hospital, all in a strange, unexplained coma. They were all healthy, so the doctors are stumped. At the moment, we're going over what they all might have in common, but we haven't found anything just yet. Keep a sharp eye out. If we find anything, we'll let you know by the time schools ends tomorrow," he said.

Artemis took back the photo and stepped down from the front.

"Now, does anyone have anything else to add?" Myddin asked.

Silence, shrugs, and the shaking of heads was in his answer.

"Then the meeting is adjourned. Good luck, everyone," Myddin announced.

Everyone began to leave.

"Hey, Makoto, are you still spending the night tonight, or is your new assignment going to stop you?" Usagi said to the taller girl.

"Nah, it shouldn't be a problem," Makoto replied.

She turned to the stauncher tomboy.

"Hey, Haruka, wanna meet after school and get started on this coma business?" Makoto asked.

Haruka shrugged in response

"Sure, I'll be there."


"And this is how you make darts," Helen Lambert said to her class.

She quickly finished up the diagram on the chalkboard. She set down the chalk and turned around to face her class. She held back a withering sigh when she saw how bored all her students were.

"Courage, Helen, even if they don't value what you're saying, you still have a job to do. This is for them, not you," she reminded herself.

"Is something wrong, Ms Lambert?" one of her asked, taking notice of the momentary silence.

"Oh! Oh, it's nothing. Um, yes! We've just finished Chapter 8. If you will all flip to page 126, and we will begin Chapter 9: Interior Design," Helen said, snapping out of her reverie.

The students sluggishly did as they were told. Helen glanced up at the wall-mounted clock. Twenty minutes. Hey, she was actually five minutes ahead of schedule. She just might be able to give the students a proper demonstration of what she was expecting from their next project.

After class was over, Helen was the last to leave after her grumbling students.

"Can you believe she expects me to know how to repair a wood chair?!" some girl muttered to her friends.

"Well, if you can do it, yourself, it'll save on the money you'd have to spend on either a new one or carpenters to fix it," one of her friends replied.

Helen ignored them as they went their way, and she went hers' down the hall to the Teacher's Lounge. Her mind was partially somewhere, and if anyone had seen her dreamy, blushing look, they might have gotten curious and asked. When she was about halfway to the lounge, she was stopped by an all-too familiar voice.

"Hey, Helen!"

Helen stopped and looked to who had called her.

"Oh, Patricia!" Helen said happily to her coworker.

The two began walking together down the hall.

"I can see you're spacing out between classes again," Patricia said teasingly. "So what were you think about? Thinking about this Wednesday? About him?"

Helen's already red face turned redder still.

"Ah, no… I was thinking about…something else, though I guess they're kind of related," Helen murmured, embarrassedly.

"Oh, you're still thinking about your homemade wedding dress. You do have that done, right?" Patricia said, understandingly.

"Yeah…it's almost down. Now I just need trim and it'll be done. I'm just having trouble deciding between 2…or 3…or 6 choices," Helen answered.

"Didn't you already have the trim picked out?" Patricia asked.

"Well…yeah, but then I saw some alternatives that would also look nice," Helen said sheepishly.

"Well, girl, you have two days to get it done. I wouldn't stall," Patricia answered. "You can't put it off because you got torn between trim options. I'm sure it'll look beautiful no matter what you choose."

"I know…and, thanks," Helen answered quietly.

"You're welcome. Well, I hope you have a wonderful ceremony. I look forward to meeting this man that has you so head-over-heels at the reception," Patricia said, lightly elbowing Helen in the arm.

"M-Me, too," Helen answered shyly.

The two teachers turned the final corner on the way into the Teacher's Lounge, still chatting away. A man who happened to be walking down the hall accidentally bumped shoulders with Helen.

"Oh, excuse me!" the man said.

"It's no problem," Helen answered over her shoulder.

Helen and Patricia went back to talking and in the midst of it, they didn't notice what the man had done. While they entered the Teacher's Lounge, he exited the building out one of the many side exits. Outside, another man waited for him.

"It's done, Jadeite?" he asked.

"It's done. Don't you fret, Nephrite," Jadeite answered. "She didn't even notice. The curse will begin its work on her shortly. By Wednesday, her energies will be ripe and ready."

"And that perception cloud spell worked? It kept anyone from noticing you directly, Jadeite?" Nephrite asked.

"For the last time, yes. I told you, it works as long as I stay off to the side out of people's direct line of vision and do nothing to call attention to myself. Until I had to touch Helen, I was just something that nobody noticed in the corner of their eye," Jadeite answered crossly.

"Good. Now the waiting part begins," Nephrite said.

"Indeed. Come on. Let's get out of here. I doubt anyone is watching, but you never know where those Keepers will stick their noses," Jadeite said.

"Mm-hm. Now let's just hope that Zoicite is keeping himself busy," Nephrite said as the two teleported away.


"'My old diary is full of you. And my diary is now full of the past. I want to see you. I want to see you one more time. I want to tell you my true feelings.' This was sent to us by Haruna the Dreamer from Juubangai," the soft, soothing voice on the radio spoke.

"Yes! La-la! Mine was picked! Heehee!" Miss Haruna squealed.

She began dancing around her room both blissful and without grace as her love letter she sent in was read aloud by the jockey. Hers' out of what had to be hundreds, had been picked! She couldn't help but giggle, but then her moment was interrupted by loud pounding her bedroom door.

"Hey, sis, keep it quiet in there and go back to bed! We both have to work in the morning!" her older sister's voice shouted grumpily from the other side.

"Spoilsport," Haruna muttered.

She looked at the time. Just after midnight. She'd gotten so wrapped up with the radio that she'd forgotten how late it was. Haruna felt a yawn coming and covered her mouth to stifle it.

"Well, I guess Natsuna's right. I'll be turning in now that I know I've won that fabulous flower they promised to the lucky ones who got their letter read," she thought.

Haruna turned off her radio and flopped into bed. Finally, all was quiet in the apartment the Sakurada sisters shared.

"Well, she's quieted down, at least," Natsuna said, relieved.

She shuffled clumsily back to her own bedroom.

"Uuuuuugh, and on the night before I have to review Wakagi's complaints about Ishida with the Chief and Commissioner, too," the police Superintendent groaned.


"Haruna?!" Usagi gasped.

She blinked twice at the radio.

That's our teacher's name!" she cried.

"Buh! Huh…wha…ugh…" Makoto shot up in the futon next to Usagi's bed.

She looked around, blinking several times as her mind, freshly interrupted from its peaceful sleep, and tried to figure out where she was and why the trappings didn't look like her own room. And why she was on the floor.

"Oh, did I wake you up? Sorry," Usagi apologized, removing her earphones.

Makoto looked sleepily up at her, still processing the current situation. Usagi leaned over the side of her bed looking down at Makoto.

"Sorry again, I was listening to this new radio show that reads randomly selected love letters that get sent into them. See?"

"Love letters…what?"

Usagi placed the headphones into place over Makoto's ears.

"We're sharing everyone's love letters on this show tomorrow night, so please, keep sending them in. For those whose love letters are reads, we will send you a flower brooch that will make your love come true, and I promise that tonight's lucky ladies will have them by morning," the words entered Makoto's ears.

Her eyes shot open wide as she listened to the words.

"Yeah, I know, I want a flower brooch, too. It sounds like it's so pretty!" Usagi smiled.

"Wha-No! That's not it!" Makoto exclaimed, pulling the headset off.

She looked up at Usagi, intensely.

"You didn't recognize that voice?!" she asked.

"Um…should I have?" Usagi asked, utterly without a clue.

Makoto growled in frustration while her head slumped. It snapped back around to look Usagi straight in the eye.

"That was Zoicite's voice!" Makoto barely kept her voice down a whisper.

"It was?" Usagi replied, dumbly.

Her shoulders drooped.

"Oh, that's a shame," Usagi pouted.

"What radio show and station is this?" Makoto demanded.

"FN #10, and the show's Midnight Zero," Usagi replied.

Makoto held up the speakers of the headset up to an ear to listen a little more.

"I want your love to blossom. I'll be back tomorrow. This has been Z-Cite, goodnight, my lovies," Zoicite said in the smooth voice of a smarmy disc jockey.

Makoto stuck out her tongue at the sappiness of the broadcast.

"Z…Cite? He's not even trying to hide the fact that he's a distraction anymore. Man, who would even go in for this kind of thing?" she wondered.

"Hey, if you're done, I'd like those back. He might read another letter," Usagi said.

"One question answered," Makoto thought.

"The show just ended," she replied, handing the earphones back.

Then Makoto laid back and turned over into a comfortable position to go back to sleep.

"Aren't you going to tell Luna? She's just down the hall."

"Sleepy. Sleeping now. Talk with Luna tomorrow. Goodnight, Usagi."

"What was she doing listening to a late night radio show on a school night, anyway?" Makoto thought with conflicted feelings weighing somewhere between aggravation and relief. "Ugh, I hope she was the only one in our class listening to that nonsense and that it doesn't come up in conversation tomorrow."

Meanwhile, in other parts of town…

"So, romantic!" half the girls in their class gushed.


Tuesday morning, June 1st, 1992

"Hey, Honey, listen to this," Kenji said from the dinner table.

"What is it, Kenji?" Ikuko replied as she set the toast down in front of her husband.

As usual, he sat reading his newspaper before eating his breakfast.

"According to this, seven people were found sleeping by concerned love ones and coworkers when they didn't show up at work yesterday morning, and they haven't woken back up since. They're calling it The Mysterious Sleeping Illness," he summarized the article.

He lowered the paper and looked wistfully up in the general direction of the ceiling.

"I wouldn't mind getting that. I could catch up on some Z's," he said.

"Don't talk nonsense. You need to work hard and that promotion you want," Ikuko said chidingly.

"Yes, dear. I was just kidding," Kenji replied, knowing not to argue. "Besides, I'd miss your wonderful cooking if I went into a coma."

"You're such a flatterer, dear," Ikuko answered sweetly.

She looked over at the stairs leading to the second floor and sighed.

"Speaking of sleeping illnesses, I suppose it's time to try to get that girl up," Ikuko said wearily.

She turned and was about to go upstairs when her ears were suddenly filled with the sounds of heavy footsteps stomping down the stairs. Usagi and Makoto appeared at the base of the stairwell a moment later. Usagi was swaying back and forth in a state somewhere between awake and asleep.

"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino. Uh, something with a lot of caffeine for Usagi, please," Makoto requested, steadying her friend.

"Ugh….Mak-o-to, it's too early to be uuuuuppp…" Usagi whined. "Whhhy you drag me out of bed?!"

"A lot of caffeine," Makoto repeated, emphasizing the point.

Kenji looked at his watch.

"Hey, what do ya know? Mako got her up early," he said.

"Can we keep you?" Ikuko asked.

Makoto laughed.

"And spend the rest of my best years getting this one up? Thanks, but no thanks!"

The three of them shared another laugh while Usagi's foggy mind tried to figure out where the loud noises were coming from. A few minutes later, and after Usagi had had her fill of sugar-laced fuel, both teens were jogging down the sidewalk towards school.

"Geez, we're going to beat the Class Rep to school at this rate!" Usagi said sourly while looking at her watch.

"At least the teacher's not going to yell at you again, and this is not a good week to be getting on Miss Haruna's bad side. I heard she got stood up twice last week. You wanna end up in the hall holding three buckets?" Makoto scolded her.

"Yeah, yeah… Oh, hey, did you get a chance to talk to Luna before we left?" Usagi asked.

"No, she was already gone when I got up and she didn't answer her phone. That'll have to wait until after school," Makoto answered.

They made it in plenty of time. Usagi received a few surprised look from her classmates, who were stunned to see her there early two days in a row. Once it was time for class to begin, it oddly seemed like there was nothing for Makoto to worry about. All the students sat in their seats, murmuring amongst themselves about a certain element that was missing from the front of the room: the teacher. Ami stared curiously at Makoto, seated next to her.

"Makoto, why have you planted your face on the desk?" she asked.

"This is the last time I'm ever getting up early," Makoto's voice came through somewhat muffled.

Across the classroom, Usagi and Naru exchanged confused looks.

"I haven't seen Miss Haruna since we got here. Have you, Naru?" Usagi asked.

"No. Is she just not coming today?" Naru answered.

Usagi let out a pouty huff.

"Looks like Makoto dragged me out of bed for nothing," Usagi muttered.

"Did not!" Makoto hollered from her seat.

"It's not normal for Miss Haruna to be late," they heard Umino comment.

All eyes turned to the door as it slid open very slowly. Haruna dragged her feet into the room. Her arms hung at her sides limply and she barely kept hold of the texts she carried with her. Her gaze was unfocused and she shook her head fighting off sleep several times as she moved awkwardly towards the desk at the front. Her hair was slightly unkempt as opposed to the usual care she usually put into it.

She tripped and fell into her desk, almost knocking it over and her books and papers went flying everywhere! The entire classroom either gasped or winced as her upper body fell across the desk with a loud 'thud'. A few got up to and went over to help her.

"Miss Haruna?" Makoto said tentatively.

She walked up behind the exhausted educator and held her by the shoulders and helped stand her back up. Haruna looked over her student and tried to focus.

"Oh, uh…Miss Kino, thank you, and…oh!"

Umino and Ami set her books and papers down on the podium for her.

"Thank you two, too…" she said, leaning against the desk. "Now, uh, back to your seats, please. Let's get started."

"Miss Haruna, are you really in any shape to do this today?" Makoto asked, concerned.

"What you talkin' about Makino…" Haruna's words were becoming slurred.

"That's Makoto Kino, actually," Makoto corrected her.

"Tha's wha ah said," Haruna said, lightly clapping Makoto's shoulder a few times. "Back to yer seat now, Maiko."

Makoto reluctantly backed away, and went back to her desk. She kept watching her Homeroom teacher, looking her over for anything out of the ordinary… There! Adorning her usual red dress jacket was a purple flower. Her mind vaguely recalled Usagi shouting something about a 'Haruna' while listening to Zoicite's radio show last night.

"I wonder…" Makoto thought, considering the flower more.

Right now, everyone was just amazed that Haruna was managing to stand up straight now that she was behind her desk. She sluggishly pulled out a black booklet containing a list of her students. Haruna tried shaking the drowsiness that encumbered her again and then held the booklet up with trembling hands.

"Let's see…let's begin rollcall now," she said.

Then her head bowed forward and the booklet fell from her hands. She sunk forward onto the desk, but propped herself up with her elbows.

"Actually, you know what, today is will be self-study. Just study whatever you want. Today, I'm just…"

She paused in midsentence to yawn and stretch.

"So, so…sleepy…"

And thunk. The teacher had passed on out her desk. The students all stared at Miss Haruna, mystified, and then turned to each other, still no less bewildered. Usagi, Makoto, Ami, Naru, and Umino all rose from their seats slowly, eyes transfixed on their slumbering teacher. They all shared the same intent stare wrought from their knowledge that something was wrong with this picture.

"What's wrong with Miss Haruna?" one of the other students asked.

"How should I know?" came an unconcerned answer.

"I guess it's a lucky break for us."

"Could it be some kind of disease? I heard about this Sleeping Illness that's been going around! What if we catch it?!"

"Don't be stupid. It's probably just exhausting being a teacher."

"Yeah, I've heard that Miss Haruna has given up vacations so she can do extra work to help students. It might have just caught up with her today."

Most of the student body either began to gossiping or actually going over homework that needed double checking. Some just rested or left, while another ran off to get the nurse and another was off to the nearest phone to call in paramedics. The five in the know approached their teacher. They movements were slow and cautious as they gathered around the sleeping woman. Ami reached out and grabbed Haruna by the wrist, feeling for a pulse. She exhaled with relief when she felt the normal, rhythmic thumps of the heart.

"She's okay, for now. If nothing else, her heart rate feels normal," Ami said, softly.

"So what'll we do?" Usagi asked.

When she was close enough, Makoto grabbed Miss Haruna by the shoulder and gave her a good shaking. Aside from some inarticulate mumbling she did not respond.

"She's out cold!" Naru exclaimed.

"Yeah," Makoto breathed.

Carefully, Makoto lifted Haruna up from the desk and sat her down in the chair. She squatted down to get a closer look at that flower brooch. It had six, broad oval-shaped violet petals. In the center, the yellow nectar almost looked like little vines that were reaching out to ensnare something.

"Hey, I think that's the flower brooch you win at…Midnight Zero," Usagi said, realization setting in.

"Yeah," Makoto nodded without taking her eye off it.

She reached over and began removing the brooch from Miss Haruna.

"Let's just get this off her for now," Makoto said.

"Hey, what are you guys up to?" one of the other students asked.

"We're just making sure Miss Haruna's okay. This isn't exactly normal," Umino answered.

By then, Makoto had unpinned the flower from their teacher. She held it for a moment, turning it over in her hand, but before she could get a real good look at it she suddenly starting feeling fatigued. Makoto quickly set it down on the desk, not wanting to touch it any longer than she had to. When she stood again, she wobbled slightly, but steadied herself. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over. It was Ami giving her a concerned look.

"Makoto, are you alright?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just felt tired all of a sudden," Makoto answered.

Then she pointed at the brooch.

"And I think I know who the culprit is," she added.

Makoto backed up a step.

"You think that pretty little flower did this?" Naru asked.

"Maybe. We won't know for sure what's going on until someone has a look at it," Ami said.

Usagi glanced over at Umino, who leaned against the desk listening to their conversation. With him standing right there, they couldn't very well talk too openly. She had to think of something if they were going to make any headway.

"Come on, guys, let's call the police and get this thing looked at. Umino, you keep an eye of Miss Haruna," Usagi said, picking up the flower.

"Usagi! Don't!" Makoto warned.

"Oh, relax. I'm only going to hold onto it for a little while. It can't work any voodoo on me that…fast…" Usagi's eyes drooped and she yawned.

Before she could pass out, though, Makoto slapped the brooch out of her hand. It landed soundlessly on the floor not far away. Usagi still stumbled. Naru grabbed her by the shoulders to steady her until she found her footing again. It didn't take long for her to regain her bearings. She held her forehead while the last of the tired dizziness wore off. She looked around as she came back from the land of slumber.

"Okay, maybe not! Geez! I was holding that stupid flower for, what, a few seconds, and I almost passed out!" Usagi cried.

"How did Miss Haruna manage to make it here if it works that fast?" Umino asked.

"Guess teaching's tough," Makoto shrugged.

A few moments later, the school nurse and another teacher entered the room led by a male student.

"See? Miss Haruna just passed out before she could even begin today's lesson. Yuri ran off to call an ambulance," the boy explained.

"And we can't wake her up," Makoto added.

"Alright, let's just move her to the infirmary until the ETs arrive. If we can't get her awake by then, we'll have no choice but to let them take her," the nurse said.

They did just that. Miss Haruna was moved to a bed in the infirmary and a short while later the paramedics arrived. They were able to do nothing to rouse the comatose woman by then, and she was hauled off on a stretcher. The entire classroom watched from the windows. Usagi, Ami, and Makoto leaned against the windowsill looking down as the truck drove away.

"Alright, it should be fine to carry around now. I managed to find this," Naru said.

She came up next to Makoto, holding up a plastic baggie she'd stuffed the flower brooch into.

"Umino didn't see you smuggle that from the crime scene, did he?" Makoto asked.

"Nah, he thinks I gave it to the cops. Anyway, Usagi told me that this radio show and flower business is your investigation, so here you go."

Makoto accepted the evidence from her and pocketed it.

"So what's stopping us from taking care of Zoicite's little scheme now? Our…other plans aren't until tomorrow night," Usagi whispered.

"He won't even be at the radio station yet. That was at Midnight, and it won't even be noon for several hours," Makoto answered.

"Right…he'll still be wherever he and the other jerks hang out," Usagi muttered.

"Besides, we need to be sure," Ami said. "Makoto, you think you heard Zoicite's voice over the radio last night, but you're absolutely sure?"

"Yes," Makoto responded.

"I believe you. I'll examine the flower for you, but I'd like to make sure that Midnight Zero is, in fact, where Miss Haruna got it," Ami said.

"How do we do that?" Usagi asked.

"We send a love letter," Ami replied.

Usagi and Makoto's faces turned luminescent.

"A letter love…" Usagi started.

"…to be read…" Makoto continued.

"…Over the radio," they finished together.

"Absolutely!" Ami chimed.

Then she looked from one to the other.

"Is something the matter?" Ami asked, clearly not getting it.

Naru rolled her eyes at them.

"Oh, for crying out loud, I'll do it!" she proclaimed.

She grabbed Makoto by the arm and dragged her away towards her desk.

"Hey! Naru! What are you doing?" Makoto asked in confusion.

"I'm going to give you a love letter to send in. If Miss Haruna's letter was read last night and she got the brooch by this morning, then you should get it by tomorrow morning, too, if we can get yours' read," Naru explained.

Naru sat down at her desk and started writing. After about a minute, Makoto coughed uncomfortably, deciding to speak up.

"I don't think you can just start writing a love letter on the fly. Don't those take a lot of time and-?"

"It's done. Here ya go!" Naru chirped happily.

Makoto took the piece of paper, giving its author an odd look. She began to read its contents to see what she'd come up with.

"It's nice to believe in fate…" it started. Makoto's eyes scanned the page until she reached the bottom.

"Your True Love,

Makino"

She lowered the letter to give Naru an unamused look.

"Oh hardy har har," she said dryly.

Naru giggled and blew her a raspberry.

"Okay, the letter's actually pretty good. How did you read it so quickly?" Makoto asked.

"When you've spent as much time with other love struck girls as I have, you learn a few key phrases to save for later," Naru said and winked.

"Well, thanks! And…thanks for the penname. The thought of having anyone read something that private over the air is embarrassing enough, but having everyone know it's allegedly from me would be even worse," Makoto said, appreciatively.

The door to the classroom opened again and a woman who looked like she might have arrived straight out of a college stepped in carrying a large armload of texts and notes.

"Hello, I'm Ms Kanna, and I'll be your substitute for today…" she said breathlessly.


Natsuna Sakurada burst into the emergency room ward, followed by a worried nurse. Artemis entered the doorway behind them, but stayed where he was at the moment.

"Please, Superintendent, you can't just go in there without permission," she called frantically after her.

Sakurada ignored her and marched over to Haruna's bed where a doctor and some nurses were still examining her. She finally slowed her pace when she got a good view of her comatose sister. The doctor noticed and looked back at her.

"Sorry Miss, no visitors for this patient yet. Nurse Arisawa will take you back to the waiting room until we're finished here," he said, and nodded for Arisawa to do that.

"Please, Superintendent," Nurse Arisawa said, grabbing Natsuna's arm.

"Is she like the others in with the sleeping illness?" Natsuna asked, barely keeping her voice under control.

"So far, that is our diagnosis," the doctor answered. "But we still need to go over all her vitals to be sure. Now please, go with Nurse Airsawa. We'll let you know the minute we have a solid diagnosis."

Finally, Natsuna allowed herself to be led out of the emergency ward. Artemis stepped back out of the way as the Superintendent was and Nurse Arisawa went out into the hall.

"My sources on the street already have a chief suspect. Meet me outside," Artemis whispered in Sakurada's ear as she went by.

She pretended not to hear as Nurse Arisawa pointed her back to the waiting room.

A few minutes, on a bench just outside of the hospital, Superintendent Sakurada and Artemis sat down casually, looking to anyone passersby like two people in casual conversation.

"Ishida, what have you found?" she asked.

""Well, there is a linchpin that ties all the victims together," Artemis said.

From his jacket pocket he produced a photograph of the same flower Haruna had been wearing.

"All victims, except your sister, have been found with this brooch attached to their shirt or jacket when they were brought in. Now, with our resources tied up, we haven't quite had the time to properly examine them yet, but we can get guess what they've been laced with," he said.

He put the picture back into his jacket pocket.

"Busy with what?" Sakurada demanded.

Artemis let out a single, uncomfortable chuckle, but decided not to tell her that The Keepers were scrambling to cut off Councilor Hino's plans for the North Pole at the knees. Instead, he continued his report.

"We have examined the victims, and know what's wrong with them. They've had a big drain on their life energy, but thankfully not fatally. We've been removing those brooches as soon as we see they have them. Now, we have a little team of…specialists, coming in to treat the sleeping illness victims this afternoon. They will restore the victims' energy and your little sister will awaken by the end of this day."

"Who is the chief suspect?" Natsuna asked.

"Well, at the moment, he's going by the name Z Cite," Artemis answered.

"Who?"

"He' supposedly a new disc jockey over at FN#10 and running a show called Midnight Zero, but when I inquired about the show over at their office, the guard out front insisted that they have no such thing in their lineup," Artemis answered.

"What is this Midnight Zero show about?" Natsuna asked.

"Well, it airs at midnight, apparently, girls send in their love letters to get read live, and the winners get the flower brooch I just showed you."

"I see. Alright, give me that photo. With things as they are, that'll be enough to get a warrant to investigate the FN #10's studio!" Sakurada ordered.

Artemis shook his head.

"It's no good," he said.

"What? And why not?!"

"I asked if I could look around and ask questions. Since I was a cop the guard let me in, claiming that they have nothing to hide, and they don't. The show that's supposed to be airing at Midnight, and is as far as they know, is Light Favorites, which is supposed to be hosted by Sakura Kuchiki. There is no sign of this Z Cite person and no one's even heard of him over there."

"And you believe them?" Sakurada asked flatly.

"Yes, and this is the M.O. of the people responsible for all the strange incidents. While their operation is running smoothly, there will be no physical evidence for the police to find," Artemis said.

"I see. So I take it that you and Mina will be confronting this 'Z Cite'?"

"Nope, we're going to be relying on someone a little more armored."

"Those other girls, then?"

"Yep. Don't worry. In a few hours, Haruna and the other victims will recover, and tomorrow night, we'll put an end to Midnight Zero."

"Tomorrow night?! Why not tonight?"

"Timing is key. If they try it tonight, we won't get anywhere. Tomorrow will be a better time, because that's when something else is going down that this ties into."

"Inspector Ishida?"

"Yeah?"

"Who are you, really?"

Artemis laughed.

"You would never believe me even if I told you. I'm on your side, if that's what you want to know."

"Try me."

"I'm a cat from the moon, my name is Artemis, I'm over a thousand years old, and my family used to be servants to the Moon Kingdom's royal family."

Sakurada gave him a tired look.

"You know, I'd almost believe even that," she said.

Sakurada sighed.

"I'm going to go wait for the doctor to let me in to see my sister. Do what you have to."

She got up and went back inside. Artemis watched her go.

"Sorry, Superintendent, and thank you," he said.

He leaned back on the bench and tilted his head back until it rested on the top of the backrest. He looked up at the clouds and watched them float by. He was thankful that Sakurada was going to allow them to deal with this. If they busted Midnight Zero tonight, then Zoicite would have to do something a lot more drastic Wednesday night to keep their attention on him, and Artemis knew that Tokyo was no condition for another Triple Threat Friday.

He sighed as another thought entered his head. The curtain would be coming down on the whole great mystery of the world's secret protectors and its secret attackers sooner or later. That was inevitable at this point, and everyone else knew it, too. The only thing they could do now was make it happen as gently as possible to try to prevent a panic. Artemis grinned as his thoughts shifted again, this time to a light note. This Haruna Sakurada was Usagi, Makoto, and Ami's teacher. When the flower brooch turned up missing, he had a feeling he knew who figured out what it was doing to her and then relieved her of it. That also meant that Ami was going to use her computer to scan it and figure out its properties.

"Good girls," he thought.

He brought up his cell to his ear. On that note, he had some calls to make.

A/N: Okay, so my promise that this chapter would be more action packed didn't quite work out the way I wanted. But, I'm glad I didn't rush to it and gave the story time to breathe. I never seem to remember that Sailor Moon stories are usually in no hurry to get to the finish.