Perspectives II
Perspectives II

MarshAngel

I know that in Perspectives I and in this sequel to Perspectives, I have mixed and matched the Japanese and American versions as I saw fit. While I feel more comfortable using the American version of SM, there are places in which the Japanese version seems far more suitable. The Japanese surnames are far more comfortable for me, and some of the minor character names will be Japanese. I doubt there will be any confusion at all so I suggest just accepting the story at face value. The characters as we all know, all belong to Naoko Takeuchi , DIC and whatever company claims them. The story is obviously mine. An important thing to remember in this story is that the sequence of events is not linear. Th scenes are not necessarily in order. This does not affect the flow of the story in any way so don't worry too much about it. There is no time setting excepting the fact that it begins in the fall, between six months to two years after the original story.


Prologue




Serena stared out her office window without really seeing the scenery before her. What she saw in her mind however brought a smile to her lips. Somehow it was all coming together. She glanced down at the beautiful engagement ring on her finger and smiled.

Soon her friends would share the same happiness she and her sister Irene were feeling. Jay was already on his way to finding the love of his life, while Zach had his with him right at this very moment, Nicholas preferred not to be told where his love was at the moment, if it were destiny it would find him. He had never been more right.

She thought of Mina with a slight frown on her lips, but it would all work out wouldn't it? That thought brought the significantly more serious matter of their future to mind. Her mother couldn't have been more right when she said the future had changed.

She spent many hours these past few days with Darien and the mysterious senshi Sailor Pluto. Pluto had shown her many things, things that could have been but no longer would be. She was constantly reminded that the future was completely in her hands. There was no planned path of destiny for her or anyone else.

She suspected, better yet, she knew Setsuna was lying, but she supposed she had good reason so she had left it at that. The truth is Setsuna wasn't the only one who could see what could be. Of course there was no definite path for anyone, but there was always the most probable and no matter how many times she looked ahead, she always saw the same thing. One day soon life as she knew it would change for her and everyone she loved.


Chapter 1




Raye woke up slowly abandoning the world of dreams. She didn't remember her dreams but she had a faint feeling of something disturbing. She got out of bed slowly, her bare feet on the cold wooden floor. She winced a little, she liked the heat, but she had forgotten to close her windows last night when the temperatures had dropped steeply from the relatively warm fall day. She had been too toasty warm under her comforters to take note.

She walked over to the windows and closed them. She ran her fingers through her short black hair that was layered to just touching the nape of her neck, trying to loosen any unruly knots left over from sleep. She had cut it not long after leaving Tokyo. She hadn't wanted many reminders of who she had been. It brought back too many good memories she felt guilty for ruining. Those times were now long gone and terribly missed.

She went to the bathroom and the thoughts that had plagued her for the last few years followed her as she took a shower and got dressed. While drying her hair she realized just how much she'd changed in such a short time. She had truly succeeded in becoming someone else. After the death of her grandfather in her last year of high school, she had become her father's daughter, traveling with him to Washington D.C. They had resolved their differences on the surface, but as they rarely saw each other, there was little room for conflict. She was in college and he was as usual busy working on politics and business, as both matters tended to coincide.

She'd lost some of her fire, as the guilt she felt in her heart seemed to overshadow so many aspects of her life. As she looked in her mirror at her red silk nightgown and fashionably cut hair, she tried to recall some of the fire she had once had in her unusual violet eyes. There was a slight flicker and then it was gone. Maybe it was her imagination. When she looked in the mirror she didn't see the fire that had once been there, instead she saw guilt, unhappiness, and acute loneliness.

She knew in her heart that this was all somehow her fault, that she had somehow earned all this pain. If only she had kept her temper in check, a fiery one she rarely allowed anyone to glimpse anymore. Now all people could see was the cold façade she put on for the world. She was always reserved, always in control.

How she missed who she had been. More than that, she missed the people who had shaped such a great part of her life and more importantly she missed the one she had hurt.

Serena. 'Can she ever forgive me?' she asked herself. Yes, Serena would. She always did. The greater question was would she ever forgive herself. She didn't know the answer. She hadn't yet, maybe she never would.

She got dressed, in a red turtleneck sweater and black slacks. First she'd attend her morning classes and then she'd go to work. She was working for Jack Davis, a first time republican candidate for the Senate. It was a small job but it was a start. She one day hoped to be a campaign manager for a presidential candidate but at such a young age, that was still a long time away if at all.

She was studying hard in her political science major and she was one of the best in her class. She had to work hard and she pushed herself hard enough to rival Amy, well almost. With none of her friends close she buried herself in her schoolwork.

When she had first arrived in the United States she was painfully aware of the absence of her friends. Despite the fact that in her final year of high school they had all grown apart after Serena left, they had still been around that she could have talked to them had she chosen to do so. That was no longer true. She felt every mile of the distance between them. She had never been good at making friends, having always pushed people away with her temper and distant persona.

Serena had been one of her first and best friends. That day when Serena had first come barging into her life had been a turning point. With Serena came friends and someone who didn't shy away from her fiery temper or turn away as a result of the way she tended to distance herself from others. Instead Serena had bridged that distance.

Having Serena around had given her a feeling of purpose. She sometimes felt as though she was the one to take care of the ditzy blonde. She had tried to push her into responsibilities but maybe she had pushed too hard, too often, in the wrong direction, and the wrong way.

Despite the fact that the other sailor scouts had been mad at Serena that day, Raye felt completely responsible for Serena leaving. She had made the young blonde cry so many times when she had yelled at her. She had never meant to hurt her only to push her to be the leader she knew she was capable of. She had good intentions but as she knew, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

There were many days when she had wished she could go back and do it all over. If she knew then what she knew now she would have kept better control of her temper. She would have tried to be more understanding. Too many what ifs and it would forever be too late to fix what was already broken.

She glanced at her watch and realized it was time to leave. She left her apartment but before going down to the parking lot she picked up her mail. She sorted through them as she went down the steps; The phone bill, her credit card bill, an invitation to a birthday party she had no intention of attending, and a letter in handwriting she easily recognized as Mina's. She saved the letter for when she got into her car.

As she was about to look up, she tripped over a bucket that had been at the bottom of the steps. She prepared herself for the pain that would come when she hit the black and white tiled floor. Instead she landed in a pair of strong arms. She looked up into a pair of sunglasses-covered eyes and a handsome face. She was tempted to scowl but restrained herself.

"Thank you Mr. Hudson." She said politely and without a touch of emotion. She disliked this man who was her next door neighbor. To many women, that would seem ridiculous. He was tall, handsome, and had a career as a lawyer. To her however he was slick, egotistical, and annoying. He never stopped hitting on her. Right now he was grinning his flashing white teeth at her and he still held her waist in his large hands. She wriggled free. Oh how she disliked oily, ambulance chasing jerks.

"I've asked you many times to call me Mark, Raye," he said in his deep voice."

"I really have to go Mr. Hudson, I have a class to attend." He still blocked her path.

"When you're done would you like to come to a party with me? I guarantee a good time."

"No thank you Mr. Hudson. I'm busy."

"Oh come on. Nothing you could be doing could be so good that you'd give up a great party."

"And just who would be attending this party?"

"Just you, me, and a bottle of wine," he said in his most seductive tone. What he really sounded like was a salesman.

"No thank you. Please I have to go." He got out of her way, slightly miffed at her refusal.

"You're missing a good time," he yelled at her disappearing back.

"Jackass," Raye muttered under her breath. She glanced at her watch. Thanks to Mr. Ambulance chaser, she would barely have time to get to class with consideration to traffic and no time to read her letter. It would have to wait until after class. She sighed and got into her car driving off into the distance.

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