GW and SM, don't belong to me. They never have, and unless someone feels really generous, they never will....

Lies, Truths, & War

By: Dia-san

Chapter One

Juuban district, Tokyo, Japan: December 5th, 200X; 0200 hrs

It was a night like any other night. The moon had remained hidden behind clouds that obscured even the bright light of Venus, causing the night to be darker. Even the lights of the city had dimmed; it was the time of night when most normal people were safe at home, sleeping peacefully in their beds. Unfortunately, not everyone had the pleasure of being in bed, dreaming away the night.

Bunny lay dangling from her bedroom window, holding tightly onto the ledge with her left hand. She had used this exit many times in the past, the window having replaced the door years ago. Tonight was no different than any other. She had received the 'go' on her assignment at half past one. At a quarter to two, she had finished getting dressed and had gone over the stats of the mission on her hand held computer. At five minutes till two, she had checked the house and made sure everyone was sleeping. And, at two o'clock operation X009 began.

Taking one last look into her bedroom, Bunny let go of the ledge. Once her feet touched the ground she didn't waste any time and began to run out the yard and toward the street. She was about two blocks away from her house when she spotted a figure on the side of the road.

********

V stood silently by the curve, arms crossed over her chest. In her right hand she held a helmet identical to the one that rested atop her head, and a small black bag containing a single microchip worth at least ten million dollars. This lone chip was going to make tonight's mission all the more important, once installed into the Infel Tech (IT) main computer all they had to do was sit back and watch as each of the IT labs throughout Tokyo shut down.

V tossed the bag gently into the air and caught it in a firm grip.

Try and take over our government? I don't think so. Her eyes lit up with pure determination that was fast becoming a fixture in their blue depths.

Tentatively, she looked down at her watch, only to discover that it wasn't two yet. With a sigh, she leaned back against the motorcycle that was parked besides her.

Sitting daintily on the bike's handlebar was Artemis, his white tail switching back and forth. He was beginning to get bored of just sitting around waiting, then again, it was better to be early and have to wait than be late and have Bunny breathing down their backs for the rest of the night. They had learned this lesson the hard way.

He glanced down the road, his feline eyes catching movements that would be lost to humans. Surprisingly, the night proved to be rather calm. The only movement he could discern, besides that of the leaves being blown around by the wind, was that of Usagi running toward them at neck breaking speed; nothing strange in that.

Right on time as usual, Bunny. V thought as the numbers on her watch changed to '2:00'.

Bunny came to a stop in front of V, her silver eyes, freed from the confinement of her blue tinted contacts, imparted a silent greeting to her partner, while her lips turned upward to form a smile.

"You have the chip?" Bunny asked, almost as an afterthought.

"Here . . . take it with my blessings." V handed over the black bag to Bunny, happy that she no longer had to worry about loosing it. She had looked after that bag and its contents for over a week now, and was starting to get a bit edgy about it.

"Are we ready then?" Bunny inquired as she placed the bag inside her coat pocket.

"Affirmative," V responded while hopping onto the motorcycle. Reaching over, she plucked Artemis from his position atop the handle bar. "Sorry kitty," she said with a slight smile on her face, "but this is where you get off."

Artemis gave her a look that indicated he didn't specially like to be called 'kitty', before jumping out of her arms.

"Be careful you two," he said as he turned around and watched Bunny settle in behind V.

The two girls saluted him as V drove off at a speed that would have put Haruka to shame.

Outside Tokyo, Japan: December 5th, 200X; 0300 hrs

"Hurry up with those!" Commander Kuroi shouted the order to the group of men stationed around the various computer terminals throughout the room. He looked down at his watch, it was nearing three in the morning, and his patience had run out a good ten hours ago.

"I'm sorry Commander, but there's very little we can do. It's going to take us at least another hour to get back online with central, and then two more until our terminals are back up and running."

Kuroi slammed his right fist down on the nearest table wishing that it was the technician's face that now lay crumbled on the ground. Silently, he cursed every deity that he could think of. How was he supposed to run a clean operation when he was given imbeciles to work with? He needed trained professionals, people who knew how to take orders and get the job done. These technicians couldn't have been working for Infil Tech for more than a year, making them the greenest bunch of men that he had ever had the displeasure of working with.

It was going to take some sort of a miracle to get the computers back online before daybreak. Why they couldn't have kept their old Tech III terminals, he had no idea, and it wasn't his job to wonder. His job was to make sure the stations were up and running, no questions asked. But, the people assigned to him were making his life a living hell.

Things can't get any worse...

"Commander Kuroi!"

... Then again... Kuroi sighed as he turned around.

"What is it now Masaki?" he asked impatiently.

"Sir," Masaki said as he came to a halt. "We have run into some technicalities in Lab 3H." He paused, waiting to get a reaction from the Commander.

"Well, get on with it!" Kuroi shouted.

"Sir, um... we-well you-u se-ee," Masaki couldn't get the words out. Kuroi's glare was making him nervous and when he was nervous he had the tendency to stutter. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to calm himself and began his explanation once more. "We we're going over the inventory of the items that we're going to be shipping off to head quarters, and well . . . there are a couple of crates missing from stack 2-D." As if to prove the finding, he shoved the papers that he had been carrying in front of the Commander's face.

Kuroi grabbed the papers out of Masaki's trembling hands and let his eyes scroll down the various rows of data.

"Please explain to me," Kuroi's voice came out low and icy as he lifted his eyes from the papers he had clutched in his left hand, "how it's possible to misplace a pair of crates that size?"

"We're trying to figure that out sir. They were there this afternoon when we did the first count, but now, well-"

"Do you have any idea what those crates contain, Masaki?" Kuroi yelled out, cutting off whatever else Masaki was going to say. "The whole southern sector of the satellite is in them!" He grabbed the quivering man by the lapels of his shirt and lifted him off the ground so that the two of them were at eye level. "I don't care how long it takes you, I want those crates found. Do you understand?!"

Masaki was paralyzed with fear and hence could barely nod in response.

"I don't hear you Masaki!"

"Ye-yes sir..."

Kuroi was disgusted with the man he held in his hands. If there was one thing he hated more than anything else it was people showing fear. He let go of Masaki and watched as the man, not expecting to be released, fell down on his knees.

"I don't want to see you again Masaki, not until you have some good new for me. Got that?"

"Yes sir."

"Now, get out of my sight."

As soon as Masaki had obeyed that order, Kuroi once again turned to look at the technicians gathered in the room. Most of them had stopped to watch the interaction between the Commander and Masaki, and were quick to return to work as soon as Kuroi told Masaki to 'get out of his sight', other's had remained staring at the Commander and in turn were the recipients of his glare.

"What are you looking at? Get back to work!"

********

V took one last look at the building. The explosives were set to go off in twenty minutes. That should give Bunny more than enough time to collect the data that they had come for, install the disabling chip, and get out. She glanced over at the crates that she had connected a good portion of the explosives to. It hadn't been easy getting them out of the labs storage facility, it had taken the combined efforts of Bunny and herself to move them. She had to admit, this had been harder than originally planned; they hadn't counted on the crates being as big as they had turned out to be.

Sigh. There's nothing to be done about it now.

Now, to get everyone out of here…

She made her way to the back of the building and, seeing that there was no one in sight, kicked open the side entrance. She let her eyes roam over the lightly lit area, her eyes coming to a stop at the fire alarm.

Perfect... she smiled, as she lowered the lever with one gloved hand.

********

That better not be a spider crawling up my neck! Bunny prayed as she lay inside an air-vent, waiting for V to come up with a divergence that would get the technicians out of their labs. She was getting rather vexed, and the tickling sensation in her neck wasn't helping her disposition, it felt like hundreds of little legs pinching her.

She attempted to swipe her neck with the back of her hand, but found such movement to be next to impossible in the confining space she found herself in. With a sigh of resignation, she focused her attention once more on the room on the other side of the vent.

Bunny could see the main computer propped up in the center of the room. That computer was her ultimate goal.

Now if only V would hurry up.

If her calculations served her right, she had approximately twenty minutes to finish her assignment and hopefully get out alive.

Come on V...

The roaring alarms startled Bunny, causing her to bump her head on the side of the vent.

"Bit late there V-chan," she murmured, as she watched the people exit the room and lock the vault like door behind them.

As soon as she heard the lock click, she jumped out of the air vent. Once safely on the ground, her first act was to get whatever was resting on her neck off. With a single swipe of her hand she threw a clear yellow spider to the ground.

"Yuck!" shuddering, she watched the arachnid scamper away. With a shake of her head she turned around, her mind quickly moving on to other matters.

Okay, on to business.

Bunny approached one of the many computer terminals that had been left on.

Now, what have we got here?

She typed in various lines of code, trying to get access to their main terminal, unfortunately she wasn't having any luck breaking in, her code proving to be useless.

"Damn it! What's wrong with you?" she hit the monitor in frustration. The code should have worked perfectly. This was not the time to fall behind schedule. In a couple of minutes the area around the building would be history, and unfortunately she had to cross through there in order to get out of the base. If she wanted to stay alive then she was going to have to do revise her strategy.

She tugged at the end of her braid, a habit she had picked up that manifested itself whenever she was nervous or thinking. Looking around at the other computers her eyes landed on a pile of disks. She walked over to where they sat at the other end of the lab, and was quick to insert one into the nearest computer. Bunny's eyes widened as she scrolled down the screen. These were the blueprints for some sort of satellite. Shutting off the program she stored the disk, along with the three others that had been resting along-side it, inside her coat.

*Beep Beep Beep*

Bunny looked down at her watch, half her time had passed. Running over to the computer in the center of the room, she opened the side panel and took out the microchip she had brought with her from her jacket.

Let the fun begin.

********

Chaos.

It was the only word that could describe the scene unfolding throughout the base. There were guards shouting orders at one another, and lab technicians running around like chickens without heads.

No one was quite sure what had caused the fire alarms to go off in building 3-C. There was no fire in sight, yet the alarms had blared to life and nothing anyone did would shut them off. It got to the point where the people had to be evacuated from the building in order to get them away from the loud noise. Seconds after the last person exited, the building had exploded, sending large shards of material high into the air. This set off a chain reaction, and within minutes most of the buildings around the base where either on fire or bent on the ground, the explosions having leveled them off.

Commander Kuroi, stood in the middle of the chaos.

"Get as much out of that lab as you can!" he shouted to a passing by guard as he pointed to one of the few remaining standing structures.

*BAM* another bomb went off in the background.

"Hurry up!"

In all the fury that was transpiring, no one noticed the two figures that crept out of the base, their blond hair trailing behind them.

********

V crouched low, leaning against one of the few remaining buildings in the compound. The night's darkness all but rendered her invisible to the people who ran by near her, shouting at one another in terror. She watched to make sure that Bunny made it to the other side of the compound safely, before she herself took off after her. It was her job to set off the last of the explosives, and just to be on the safe side, she waited for Bunny to get out before pressing the trigger.

Wouldn't want to be the one to tell the Rabbit that her sister's dead. V dreaded that thought.

Although she had only met the Rabbit once, she knew better than to cross her. It was amazing, for two people to look so alike, yet act so differently. Okay, so they don't act that differently, but still...

In the past year that she had been working with Bunny, V had seen a side of her that she never knew existed. Just knowing that Usagi, was the 'Bunny', was enough to make her blood run cold. Everyone on the Tokyo police squad had heard of 'Bunny'. She was one of Control's top agents, Control, as in the top international intelligence agency in the world. The agents were usually at the top of their fields, and their actual identities known only by a selected few. Most of the agents worked alone, or with other members of Control, and to V's knowledge, she was the first non-Control personnel to be assigned to work with one of their agents.

She had yet to thank Natsuna, the chief of the Tokyo police force, for having volunteered her for the job. Actually, she had a great deal to thank Natsuna for, if it hadn't been for her, she would have never joined the police force. But, Natsuna had this infatuation with her, Sailor V, and her ability to fight crime. She had been very persistent that Sailor V become a member of her department, if just as a part time detective.

Needless to say, Natsuna had been more than overjoyed to be able to add V to her squad. That had been two years ago, when she was still 14, making her the youngest person to ever join the police force. A year later, when Control had personally asked Natsuna to select a member of her force to aid Bunny, Natsuna had immediately appointed V to the position. Her reasoning being that only the best could be assigned to this case, the 'best' being Sailor V.

It had come to a complete shock to V to discover that the 'Bunny' was non other than Usagi, her princess and fellow Senshi. A girl she had thought she knew like the back of her hand. Having found out about Usagi's true identity, and the way she was deceiving the Tsukinos into thinking that she had amnesia, had been hard for her. But, she soon came to accept the fact that the Usagi she had known was not the true girl. Bunny had replaced Usagi, and later on Bunny was replaced by Serenity, the true person behind it all.

Having to keep Usagi's identity a secret from the rest of the Senshi had proven to be rather simple. Minako didn't tell them about 'Bunny' and Usagi didn't tell them about 'V', a rudimentary trade off to say the least.

V was jarred out of her thoughts by the shouts of a soldier telling her to freeze.

"Get up slowly and put your hands where I can see them!"

Just great, this is the last thing I need right now. V thought as she complied with the soldier's orders. Taking one last look to where Bunny had been and finding the spot empty, V raised her arms high into the air and turned around to face her assailant who stood aiming a gun at her heart.

The guard stared in shock at the girl standing in front of him. When he'd come across her he had assumed she was a man, from the back it was hard to tell male from female. As it was, he was dumb struck. She was a striking figure, dressed completely in form fitting black clothing that left little to the imagination, with golden hair reaching well past her thighs. And, even though her face was covered by a mask; he had a feeling that it hid the face of an angel, an angel with deep blue eyes that at the moment were staring hard at him.

"Get a good look?" she asked playfully.

He had the decency to blush. He had been thrown off guard by her looks, but he had to remind himself that she was probably the cause of all the havoc.

"You're coming with me," he stated as he moved toward her.

She smiled at him, "I'd go anywhere with you," she purred, as he came to a stop in front of her.

He gulped, trying to get his breathing under control. Was she flirting with him?

"Hm," he cleared his throat. "Commander Kuroi will want to see you."

V pouted, but thrust her arms out in a submissive gesture. The soldier was at a loss for words. What was she doing?

"Well, aren't you going to cuff me or something?" her voice came out sweet and innocent.

He didn't carry around handcuffs, what did he look like, a policeman? He lowered his gun momentarily... which was all the opening V needed. With one swift kick, she sent the gun flying out of the man's hands, and with a single swing of her hand she brought him to ground.

She stared at the unconscious man. He was likely to remain like that for the next five minutes or so; applying pressure to the side of the neck always did the trick.

Well, I better get out of here now. She pressed the side button on her watch, and the numbers began to count down backward from three. Three minutes, that's all the time she had to get out before the final explosion took out half the base.

V ran as fast as her legs could carry her, past burning buildings and piles of rubble. A sudden bright flash in front of her made her stop in her tracks. The building next to her had exploded, but that's not what made her stop. It was the swirling mass of colored gas in front of the building that held her attention. It resembled a portal of some sort, and the urge to go near it and touch it was almost overwhelming. Lifting her hand, she began to approach the portal, she was about to reach out and touch it when her watch began to 'Beep' madly. This brought her out of the trance she had momentarily been in. Shaking her head, she turned to look at the building once more, only to discover that the portal was no longer there.

Her brows furrowed in confusion, had she imagined it? She would have liked to have remained there longer, but if she had to get out. Taking one last look at the building, she turned around once more and ran for all she was worth, barely making it past the walls of the base before the last of the explosives went off.

Juuban district, Tokyo, Japan: December 5, 200X, 0700 hrs

*rrriiiinnnnnngggggg!!!!*

Usagi grumbled from under the covers as she swung her hand to shut off her stupid alarm clock. Instead of hitting the off button, though, her arm nocked the clock off the night table and onto the floor. Cursing profoundly in seven differently languages, Usagi attempted to drown out the sound by covering her head with her pillow. But, it was no use. The sound penetrated the fluff.

Flinging the covers off of herself, she sat and reached down to the floor to retrieve the offensive clock.

She blinked a couple of times, just to make sure that sleep wasn't clouding her vision, but the numbers were still the same.

"Ah! Why didn't anyone wake me?!" She screamed while pushing herself off the bed. "Luna, how could you not-" Usagi stopped her tirade toward her cat when she noticed that Luna wasn't in the room.

Oops! Usagi brought a hand to the back of her neck, forgot I sent her to sleep over at Ami's.

Mumbling incoherently under her breath, she dashed into the bathroom; five minutes later she emerged from the shower, her hair wet and tangled. Not wasting any time in trying to get the knots out of her hair, she let it trail down her back while she got dressed. Once the task of putting on her clothes was through she moved over to her vanity table and unlocked the bottom drawer where a small metal box rested. Opening the box, she took out a small case containing her contacts. Opening it up, she took out the right contact. Placing it in her eye, she blinked a couple of times to try and get adjusted to the feel of it before repeating the process with the left eye.

Looking into the mirror, there stared back at her a girl with deep blue eyes, eyes that would remain that color until her next mission allowed her to take the colored lenses off. She would be the first to admit that having silver tinted eyes had its disadvantages; people would stare at her, and she would be fairly easy to identify, while a blue-eyed blond was a more common sight. Kenji, had actually been the one to suggest that she get contacts, saying that blue eyes would look nice on her.

She smiled at the memory. The Tsukinos had been great to her. She pitied having to deceive them, but there was no use dwelling on the inevitable. She needed a way to get to Japan and the Tsukinos had been the perfect cover up, what better way to go unnoticed than to posse as the daughter of a rather quiet couple? So, with a little bit of ingenuity she had faked amnesia and made the Tsukinos feel responsible for her welfare. Of course, it had come in handy that they'd already said she was their daughter, all she had to do after that was go with the flow, speaking in Japanese had greatly aided her cause. Too bad about her hair though- she was stuck with the blond locks.

Sticking her tongue out at her reflection, she put the case back into the box and locked the drawer behind her. It wouldn't do for Luna to find out about this, it was hard enough having to come up with excuses for her to go sleep at one of the other girls houses, much less explain why she wore contacts.

"That cat's too curious for her own good," Usagi murmured as she picked up her bag and raced down the stairs.

"Bye mom, bye dad!" she shouted to the couple sitting in the kitchen having breakfast.

"Tsukino Usagi, aren't you going to have anything to eat?" her 'mother's' tone of voice made her pause as she put on her shoes.

"Sorry mom, but I'm late for school!" She didn't wait to hear her mother's reply, grabbing her jacket she flung open the door and stepped out into the cold December air.

********

Minako was running as if the Hounds of Hell were on her trail.

She was late, and at the rate she was going, she was probably not going to make it to school on time. Damn her alarm for not being loud enough, she had slept right through it. The music being played on the radio had blended in so nicely with her dream. If it hadn't been for Artemis screeching in her ear to 'get up', she would more than likely still be laying in bed sound asleep.

Stifling a yawn she hurried her pace.

She hadn't gotten home until after five, meaning she had gotten less than two hours of sleep. Minako just thanked the gods that she was in such good shape, otherwise her muscles would be hurting a great deal more than they already were. Sometimes, she thought that being Usagi's partner took more out of her than being Sailor Venus; although it was a tough call.

Turning the corner, she noticed another figure running in the same direction as her on the other side of the road, blond hair trailing behind like a flag.

"Hey Usagi-chan!" waving, Minako crossed the road so that the two of them were now running neck and neck.

"Morning Mina-chan," Usagi turned her head and smiled at the girl next to her. "Alarm troubles?"

"Yeah," she mumbled. " Think we can make it before the bell rings?"

"Doubtfully, but there's no harm in trying." Usagi grabbed Minako's arm and increased their speed.

"Usagi!"

Crossroads High School: Tokyo, Japan: Dec 5th, 200X; 7:30 AM

Makoto glanced up at the clock in front of the classroom , and started counting down in her head.

ten... nine...eight...

There was no way those two were going to make it on time.

... seven... six... five...four... three... two... one-

"We're here!" Minako and Usagi shouted simultaneously as they raced through the door a mere second before the bell rang.

The teacher just nodded and signaled them to take their seats. Panting, both girls made their way to the back or the room and sat down, one on either side of Makoto.

"You guys sure cut it close today," she whispered to Minako, who in turn glared at her and plopped her head down on her desk.

Makoto turned to look at Usagi, wanting to ask her what was up with Minako, only to find her with her arms crossed on her desk and her head laying on top of them.

"It's going to be one of those days," she sighed, as she propped her head on top her hands.

Minako and Usagi, half listened and half slept, as the teacher began his lecture on the wonders of physics.

********

The morning had seemed never ending, it was as if every single teacher had conspired against the student body and decided to give tests of one sort or another. Thank god for their lunch break. Being outside, even in the cold, was better than spending another minute cooped up inside that school.

Leaning back against a tree, Usagi sat with her eyes closed. She was almost asleep, but she could still hear the sounds of her friends voices complaining about the day.

"I can't believe it, Haruna-sensei decided to give us a test without any warning," Makoto bellowed.

"It wasn't that bad Mako-chan," Ami tried soothing her friend. "You've been studying and I'm sure you passed."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ami-chan. But, I'm just not as optimistic as you."

Michiru placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "Ami's right Mako-chan. I've seen you studying really hard lately, I'm sure you did well on your physics test. Besides," she paused and looked around at the girls gathered around the tree, "you're not the only one who's had to take a test today, so we understand what you're going through."

Haruka nodded in agreement. She had a modern Japanese class to go to after lunch, and lucky her, the teacher was giving them a test on everything they had learned that past semester. If there was one subject she hated more than any other, it was modern Japanese; too bad she needed to take it in order to graduate this year.

"And we wanted to come back to school," Haruka mumbled as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"Come now, Ruka-chan,"Michiru said.

"Well, it's true. I could be at the racetrack right now. But you wanted us to finish high school."

"Don't you dare start that again Haruka, you agreed with me. I'm not holding you here against your will," Michiru glared at her partner.

"Hm," Haruka slumped her shoulders and let the subject drop.

Minako just sat listening to everyone. She would have like to add something to the conversation, but she was too tired to even talk. Propping her back against the tree, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but her mind kept wandering over to that tunnel she had seen. She still hadn't told Usagi about it, the two of them hadn't had any time to talk after their mission, the two of them weren't supposed to debrief each other until later on that night.

The bell, signaling the end of lunch rang. Haruka lent her hand to Michiru as she got up and then turned to help Minako off the ground.

"Come on Mina-chan, you yourself have test to go take."

With a loud groan, Minako held onto Haruka's hand as she let the girl pull her off the ground. She had almost forgotten about her math test, groan.

"Thanks for reminding me," she grumbled.

Haruka only laughed at the girl, put an arm around her shoulder, and steered her in the direction of her next class.

Ami watched Haruka leave the area with Michiru and Minako.

"Well," Makoto stood up and dusted her skirt off. "I'll see you later on in history class Ami-chan," she walked off, leaving Ami the task of waking-up Usagi.

"Come on Usagi-chan!" Ami, shook the sleeping girl awake. "We have an English quiz to go to."

"Oh fun," Usagi said sarcastically before covering her mouth to stifle a yawn. Standing up, she followed Ami inside the building.

********

Rei sat sipping a soda as she listened to Makoto recount how horrible her day had been, Usagi was off at the store across from were their bench, driving a poor sales clerk crazy.

The three of them had come to the mall to try and find Christmas presents, but so far the only one getting any shopping done seemed to be Usagi. She had five shopping bags filled to the rim and she showed no sign of slowing down on her purchasing. Rei and Makoto had given up trying to keep up with her. And, deciding that they were tired and thirsty, they had bought a couple of drinks and sat down on the nearest bench. It was hard to believe that the girl who showed no signs of stopping, was the same girl that only hours before had been falling asleep in class. Then again, this was Usagi.

"So how was your day Rei-chan?" Makoto asked the raven-haired priestess.

"Oh the usual," Rei sighed. "Right now I'm just glad that I don't go to your school."

"Kind of wish I went to yours," Makoto said before taking a sip of her soda.

"How much longer do you think she'll keep on shopping?" Rei pointed to the store Usagi was currently in.

"Her?" Makoto asked, as she turned around and stared at the store. She could see Usagi through the glass windows of the jewelry shop looking at a pair of sapphire earrings, "probably till her money runs out. She must have really saved her allowance, did you see how much she's buying?"

Rei laughed out loud. "I just don't see Usagi as the kind of person to save money. She's always at the arcade or at the mall. It's a wonder her parents haven't gone broke yet," she joked.

Makoto joined in Rei's laughter. She was turning around to face Rei again when she noticed a lone man leaning against a pole, his eyes fixed on the jewelry shop. What made her pause was the way the man seemed to be starring not at the jewels but at the girl talking to the clerk. Dressed completely in gray, he seemed to fade into the background, if it wasn't for his glare, Makoto would have never taken notice of him.

"Rei?" Makoto whispered hurriedly.

"Hm?"

"Look at that guy standing by that pole on my right. Is he staring at Usagi?"

Rei turned to look and froze. A vision of that man pointing at someone assaulted her, but just as quickly as the vision came it left her. Shaking her head, she followed the man's gaze into the shop.

********

Usagi stood holding a pair a earrings up to the light, examining the way the light bounced off the gems. They were beautiful earrings, and she was sure that Setsuna would love the red sapphires, they would match her eyes perfectly. Handing them back to the sales clerk, she nodded her head at him and handed him a credit card. So, Serenity Lenox wasn't really supposed to be in Japan at the moment, but hey, her credit card company wouldn't care. All they were interested in was that she pay up on time, and her sister would see to it that her bills were all paid for.

Of course, Ter is likely to cringe at how much I'm spending. Oh well, It's not like we can't afford it.

The sales clerk approached her again; this time he held a receipt in one hand and a bag with her purchase in the other. Signing the slip of paper, Usagi thanked the man for all his help and bid him farewell as she took her package from his hand. Bending down to collect the rest of her bags, she paused. Approximately fifteen meters from her, a man stood staring at her. From her position, she could see that he wore a small pin with the symbols 'IT' on the collar of his shirt. If she hadn't been a trained professional she would have probably missed seeing the pin, but as it was the pin seemed to be screaming at her.

"Shoot!" she cursed under her breath. They couldn't have found me. My cover is too good. Smiling brightly at the clerk, she made her way out the door.

"Hey minna!" Usagi shouted, her voice clear and unwavering. "I'm going to head over to that first jewelry shop we went into," not giving them time to respond she headed in the direction of the mall's entrance. Keep calm, and don't give away the knowledge that you know they're following you.

For his part, the man stayed close behind Usagi.

"He's following her," Rei stated, as she got up, a look of pure determination on her face. "Follow me, Mako-chan," she said, before moving in the direction Usagi had the man had gone in.

Makoto was close on Rei's heels, her hands balled up into fists. No one stalked Usagi and got away with it, not if she had anything to say about it.

The two of them came to a stop behind a couple of large palms. They had a clear view of the shop Usagi had gone into. However, the man was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?" Rei hissed.

Makoto turned to look at the surrounding area, her eyes searching for a gray suit.

"There," Makoto taped Rei on the shoulder and pointed to a palm a few feet from them. He was once again starring at Usagi. "Come on," she motioned with her head for Rei to follow her.

The man had no warning before someone grabbed him from behind and flung him against the wall. He stared in shock into a pair of deep green eyes that were screaming for his blood.

"All right buddy, who are you?" the girl asked in a menacingly low tone.

He remained silent, his lips shut tightly.

"I believe I asked you a question!" Makoto tightened her hold on him.

"I don't have to answer to you," the man spat.

"Oh, but you do," a new voice said. The man had been so focused on the girl holding him up that he hadn't noticed her companion standing behind her.

"You see, we don't like it when strangers start following around our friends," Rei hissed, "specially Usagi. So, spit it out, who are you?"

The man was beginning to get a bit frightened. He had never been in a situation like this... never been prepared to be in a situation like this. Here he was, a detective with over ten years of experience, cowering before two teenage girls.

The thought disgusted him.

"Look little girls, I don't know who you are or what you're talking about. So, why don't you let me go and we'll forget all about this?"

"Little-"

"Girls?" Makoto finished.

"Oh that does it. Stalking Usagi is bad enough, but insulting us? Mako-chan," Rei motioned to Makoto.

Without hesitation, Makoto removed her right arm from the man, only to bring a fist flying into his face. He fell to the ground, blood poring out of his nose.

Rei crouched down, so that she was at eye level with the man. "If we ever see you anywhere near our friend again, you wont be so lucky as to get away with just a broken nose, got that?"

The man nodded his head in understanding and watched as the two females left him. This was definitely going to put a hamper in his mission. He was almost certain that the girl he had been following was the 'Bunny', and these girls action may have proved his theory correct.

********

Outside of Tokyo, Japan: December 5th, 200X; 1600 hrs

"Minako, I really don't see the point of this," Artemis complained for the fifth time, but like the previous four, Minako just ignored him. "Why don't you just tell Usagi, and have her come with you?"

"Because I want to do this by myself," she hissed. "Have a little faith in my abilities, will you?"

"I never said you couldn't do it," he hissed back. "All I said was that it would have been better if you had told someone you were coming."

"I did tell someone," she replied. "I told you."

Artemis hung his head. It was no use… he wasn't going to be able to make her see things his ways. He had been arguing with her for the past half hour, attempting to get her to go back home. So far, all he'd managed to do was give himself a soar throat.

Giving up, he resigned himself to following the headstrong girl. However, after turning the corner he came to a sudden halt.

Until this point, they had been going around the perimeter of what used to be the base, the destruction of the night before hidden by the immense walls. But now, they had a clear view of the aftermath of the chaos.

The whole north sector of the base lay in complete ruins. All that was left of the buildings that had stood there was piles of rubbles and debris. Broken glass, and pieces of metal lay strewn throughout the ground. The majority of the east and west sectors had faired little better, most of the buildings having burned down; in some instances reduced to nothing but ashes. The only part of the base that had been left remotely intact was the south sector, the place where the main computer lay. It was a bit weird; one would think that the best way to get rid of an organization was to get rid of their main computer, but not in this case. That computer was linked to all the other Infil Tech computers throughout Tokyo, and by installing that microchip, well... they would be able to take down several birds with one stone, sort to speak.

Viewing the destruction didn't upset Minako, she just kept on walking, a feeling of achievement washing over her. She had done her job, and as a result her government would remain safe.

Artemis on the other hand was still trying to comprehend how two teenage girls could cause so much damage. He understood the reasoning behind it, had even accompanied them on several of their other missions, but that didn't lessen the feeling of awe that washed over him each time.

The two of them were free to walk around without fear of being discovered, the base lay completely deserted. But, just to be on the safe side, Minako had dressed up as V.

"So, where is it that you saw this portal?" Artemis asked as he ran up next to her.

"It was in the eastern sector," she said while glancing down at him. " we're almost there."

The two of them walked in silence from that point on. Every now and then Artemis would stop to stare at something on the ground.

"There it is," Minako pointed to a half burned building, her voice coming out rather breathless. "There's where I saw the portal."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to see, but it certainly wasn't the non descript building he stood facing. Getting closer, his feline senses endeavored to pick up anything unusual.

"Are you sure you saw a portal?" he asked doubtfully.

"Yes, I'm sure," Minako stepped up behind him.

"Are you positive it was in this building and not that one?" he asked, walking to the building across from them.

"I'm positive!"

Minako was beginning to get very annoyed at Artemis doubting her every word. She was on the verge yelling something out to the vexing feline when a bright flash caused her attention to waver.

Her portal had opened.

She walked toward the swirling mass of gas in a state of trance. Stepping on a burned piece of wood she stretched out her hand to touch the portal only to have her whole arm go right through it. She chuckled as a slight tingling sensation ran up her spine.

Artemis turned around to see what Minako found so amusing. His eyes widened at the sight of his charge barely balancing atop a wooden plank, her body half way through the portal.

"Minako!" he cried out.

Artemis' shout startled her out of the trance she had been in. Disoriented, she turned around to face the cat, her momentum thrown off. Loosing her balance she went tumbling backward into the portal.

"Artemis!"

He ran, trying to jump in after her, but it was too late. The portal closed, trapping Minako inside.

********

Juuban district, Tokyo, Japan: December 5th, 200X; 1615 hrs

Meioh Setsuna was having one of those days were everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Working as a nurse in Hotaru's school had its drawbacks, the main one being that there was always some kid in need of medical attention. It's not that she didn't enjoy working with kids; it's just that sometimes it got to be a little too much.

Sighing, she turned the car into the driveway of her three storied house. It was a beautiful house in the middle of a clearing, away from the noise of the city, that she shared with the three other outer scouts. She parked her car in front of the house and shut the engine off. Getting out of the car, she closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of the cold evening air.

"It'll start snowing any day now," Setsuna whispered as she closed the door of the car. Walking over to the house, she got out her keys and opened the front door; all the while thinking how glad she was that Michiru was picking Hotaru up from her swimming lesson today. She was too tired to do anything other than take a long hot bath, then go to bed and sleep.

She was setting her keys on the coffee table, when she felt a sudden dizziness overcome her. Something was pulling her body down and she couldn't do anything to stop it.

This feeling. . . she knew this feeling. Someone had crossed through the time stream.

Forcing herself up, she called out her transformation.

"Pluto Crystal Power Make Up!"

Within seconds, Sailor Pluto stood in place of Meioh Setsuna, a phantom wind blowing her green hair behind her. Summoning her staff, she held it high in the air and yelled out, "to the Gates of Time!"

Setsuna's eyes widened.

The gate was refusing her call.

********

L2 Colony: December 5th, AC 202

Minako opened her eyes warily and took a look at her surroundings. This was not the former IT base. She had a vague idea of what had happened to her, but thinking about it only increased the enormous headache she already had. Looking up at the sky, she noticed that the stars seemed brighter than usual, almost as if she were closer to them. And the air… There was a different feel to the air.

And look, there's a full Earth tonight.

She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and looked back up at the sky.

There was indeed a full Earth out there.

Chapter 1 finished (May 16, 2001)

Edited (May 24, 2001)

Re-edited (July 2, 2001)

No Reviews Necessary, Will Continue Regardless…

AEN:

Anyway, chapter one is complete, thanks to the help of my wonderful Beta readers: Ran-chan, Rose, and Flame. Danke Schön Leuten.

Now, I won't write much more, just want to remind everyone that my story is based on the SM MANGA NOT ANIME, and picks up at the end of SMS (before the wedding). Also, I make mention of Naoko Takeuchi's story 'Code Name: Sailor V', so I hope I haven't confused anyone. If you haven't read any of the manga, please don't stop reading, I just mention this because the characters act differently in the manga and I don't want anyone accusing me of having someone OOC. As for GW, this takes place 5 years after EW.

If anyone is interested in reading the SM manga and 'Code Name: Sailor V' please visit this web site, they have completely translated both works: http://www.nwlink.com/~kurozuki/manga.htm