Part III

Kakyuu sat with her Starlights around her. The book appeared to be old and looked somewhat like an encyclopedia. It was hard covered and bound with a golden boarder. The dust lay heavy and thick upon the top of its pages. She slid her fingers in between the pages near the beginning of the book and opened it up to reveal a picture of a battle scene. The Starlights said nothing as Kakyuu began her story.

"What you saw down below the city are the catacombs. I'll tell you how they came to be there because without this knowledge you will have no idea the forces that we must now face." Kakyuu took a breath in summoning all of her being and began to speak again.

"A man by the name of Isai had four daughters. Each of his daughters controlled the four hemispheres of Kinkomu, Kita in the North, Seinan in the South, Hou in the East and Manishi in the West. He was admired as a genius among the people of Kinkomu and some would even have said that he was a legend in his own time. It was no surprise that the people of Kinkomu elected him King.

Under the rule of Isai Kinkomu prospered and peace flourished. The Kinkomians, in general, rejected the feudal, collectivist past and focused, instead, on individualism, inquiry and diversity. As always, a great time of peace cannot be perfect and will be brought down.

People began to distrust the King because of his knowledge of such a wide variety of things. This group of people accused him and his daughters of witchcraft. There were many attempts at assassination but none succeeded. Isai was too well protected and penetrating his guards was near impossible. The group soon realized that the only way to Isai was through his daughters.

The attacks on the King subsided and left him in peace. The King however was unaware that the small group that had been harassing him had dispersed to the four corners of the globe. To the four different hemispheres. Within one night the four daughters, Kita, Seinan, Hou, and Manishi, were massacred in a gory blood bath."

Kakyuu saw her senshi's gasp and cringe at the story that she had just told them but knew that she had to go on. "As you can imagine, when the King learned of this he was driven insane. He wanted nothing more than to see the people that were responsible for his daughter's deaths brought down. He began to make irrational decisions and commands and eventually he was taken from power and institutionalized. Insane, that's how they described him.

While in the institution he mapped out and planned his strategy to regain control of the planet. Some say that he began to practice the black arts. He may have been, no one really knows, but that would explain a lot about what would happen in his future." As Kakyuu told the Isai's story she flipped through the pages of the old book in her hands. Each new page revealed pictures of the horrible scenes that she was describing and below each was a caption explaining the story.

"Isai became consumed by a dark force and was not longer himself. He broke out of the institution and summoned his dark army. The people of Kinkomu cowered under his aggressive presence. There seemed to be no one to protect them from these dark forces and Isai's powers.

The Lunar army had been allies of the Kinkomians. My mother led our troops into battle but we weren't strong enough. We had to call for help.

The Dark Army began besieging the walled Kinkomian city of Cata, our city, in the spring. The situations appeared nearly hopeless. While they tightened the noose around Cata, the entrenched Dark Army was, in turn being systematically squeezed by a Lunar relief force commanded by the beautiful Queen Serenity. She had powerful planetary senshi that made all of the difference in the battle.

Two years of warfare on the sandy beaches and plains near the city had decimated their numbers, as had the ravages of disease and starvation. Stubbornly clinging to their siege works, sandwiched between the walls of hate and despair, the Dark Army was in dire need of both reinforcements and quality leadership.

Queen Serenity's powers had been nearly drained during the long battle. The planet's only hope rested on her young daughter Serenity. The moon princess was against the war and refused to fight. The Lunar forces wavered as their internal struggle waged on. Only when the dark army killed Queen Serenity did her daughter fight back. Serenity's powers were extraordinary. It didn't take long to reduce the Dark Army to dust while Serenity sealed away their souls.

With the remainder of her powers Serenity brought her mother and planetary senshi back to life. She told my mother that she would give her daughter, me, the power to create stars so that Kinkomu would have senshi of its own. With that power I created you three. My Starlights." Kakyuu smiled at them, as they finally knew the truth of their existence.

There was no movement in the room as the four sat quietly. Why hadn't Kakyuu told them about this before? Would it really have made a difference? All at once the silence was broken by Maker's question. "The Catacombs below the city, they hold the bones and ashes of the perished soldiers of that war?"

Kakyuu nodded. "Their bodies and souls are trapped within the soil of this planet. We built our city on top of their graves to symbolize our rise above them in triumph. We never dreamed that those forces would awaken one day."

"But you said that you knew this day would come and that the war is going to begin soon, how can that be if the force hasn't awoken?" Healer asked, all of this wasn't really making sense to her and she wanted answers.

"After the city was built, Queen Serenity warned us of the dangers once it was too late. She said that the souls were sealed, and that the seal may be broken one day. If that seal was to break the Kinkomian people could call upon the Lunar army and the planetary senshi for aid." Kakyuu sighed as she closed the book. "Shortly after this battle the Silver Millennium, which housed the Lunar army, Queen Serenity and the planetary senshi were destroyed."

"How long do we have until the forces awaken again?" Maker asked as she tried to conjure up a plan in her head. This was not light news to swallow but they couldn't just sit here and let this take over.

"What you felt in the catacombs below is just a small amount of their powers. I suspect that it won't be long until it surges with all of its former power and force." Kakyuu hung her head and looked at the ground. "We can't stop it." She said in almost a whisper.

"What do you mean we can't stop it? There has to be a way to stop it. We should call on the Earth senshi for help. We can use every bit of force that we can get right now." Maker stood. She couldn't believe that their princess had lost hope.

"We don't need them to fight our battles, we'll do it ourselves!" Healer stood up face to face with Maker. Her pride had gotten the best of her and was not about to call on outsiders for help.

"You heard what the princess said, even before the Kinkomians had to call on the Silver Millennium for help and assistance. Why should this time be any different?" Maker crossed her arms in front of herself trying to regain her signature cool composure.

Fighter stood coming between Healer and Maker. "Healer is right. We don't need the Earth senshi's help in this. The Kinkomians never had Starlights before and I believe that we can make all of the difference."

Kakyuu, Healer and Maker stood there astonished at what had just crossed Fighter's lips. She was giving up a chance to fight beside Sailor Moon? Without any further conversation Fighter turned and exited the room leaving a very stunned and surprised group of friends behind.





"So when are you leaving for America?" The car ride had been quiet until Usagi felt the need to break the silence. She hadn't even so much as glanced at him since they had gotten into the vehicle.

Mamoru didn't answer at first and continued to concentrate on the road ahead of them. Usagi knew this wasn't a good sign. "In two days." He said while he down shifted to take the turn ahead.

He was leaving in two days and this is the first that she had heard about this? How could he have kept this to himself this entire time? Maybe he thought that she would try to keep him here. 'He was going to leave with or without my consent.' "Really?" She almost choked on the word.





The solitude of her room once again comforted her. She knew she was being selfish by not wanting to call the Earth senshi for help and she knew that she would have to face questions why from her three companions, but for now she was left alone with her thoughts.

Since they had returned home from Earth Fighter had been trying so hard to suppress any external emotions showing that she still loved Usagi. She didn't want anyone to worry about her, besides, she had to heal this mental wound that plagued her.

The thought of Usagi alone was enough to make her heart ache. If she was to come here to Kinkomu all of those suppressed emotions and feelings that Fighter had pushed down would come flooding back to her all at once. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle this.

"Why was I doomed to be alone?" She asked softly of the ceiling as if it could give her the answers that she so desperately sought. She knew that she couldn't sit here and think about the things that she couldn't have but more importantly she had to concentrate on the things that she stood to loose. Her friends. her life. her planet.

Maybe she should just swallow this and let the others call the Earth senshi? No, she couldn't face her. Besides, Serenity wouldn't have given the Starlights their powers if she planned on having to return one day. 'I wish she was here. This is as much her problem as it is ours.' Fighter's thoughts continued to drift and she didn't notice that some one else had entered the room.

"I think we can take this on by ourselves. I agree with you Fighter." Healer crossed the room to sit on Fighter's bed that she was laying on.

Fighter looked at her with the confusion still dancing in her eyes. "I don't need you bothering me right now. Please leave me alone." Fighter turned her gaze away from her again.

"I know you're thinking about her." Healer looked down to her empty hands that were clasped to one another. "We all know how hard you have been working at trying to keep your thoughts away from her. I just want to tell you that I understand."

"You don't know anything about what is going on with me. How can you understand?" Fighter's tone was cold. "Now please, leave me be."

Healer stood up and looked as though she was on the verge of tears. "Why don't you talk to us about it? If you don't think we understand, why don't you make us? Why can't you just tell us?" Healer cried out as though the frustration had become all too much at the time.

Fighter immediately sat up on her bed and looked Healer in the eyes. "Tell you about it?" The words were hard and you could sense the anger rising in her voice. "Alright I'll tell you about it." Fighter got to her feet and walked until she was about a foot away from Healer almost in her face.

"Fighter."

"No, you wanted to hear about it!" She yelled. "I had to leave behind the most precious thing in my life. Some one that I can't live without but the same time could never live with either. When we got home you all told me to forget about her. How the hell did you expect me to do that at the drop of a hat?" Healer could feel her breath on her face as she shouted the words. Healer began to cry but didn't move. "I did it, I put on a little act for you to make you think that I was forgetting her, to make you happy. Did that make you happy? No! You kept hounding me and bringing back these painful thoughts to stalk me." Fighter backed away a bit and saw the tears on Healer's face and she began to speak again in a softer tone. "My memories are all that I have left, please don't take them away from me."

"Fighter." Healer began once again until she heard the door to Fighter's room open again this time to let in Maker. "I'm sorry." She said in a whisper.

Maker's eyes wandered from Fighter's face to Healer's and knew that a confrontation had gone on. She knew that these two couldn't keep up this wall between them forever and now it had finally come crumbling down in one moment.

Fighter walked strongly passed her two allies leaving them alone in her room as she once again went off to find a quiet area.





The house was dark and very quiet. Her parents were away and Shingo was staying with her grandparents. She was all alone, again. She took off her shoes and began to walk up the flight of stairs which led to her room. "Usagi?" She heard a voice call from the top of the stairs. She had been watching each step as she put her foot on it and hadn't noticed the black cat sitting on the landing.

"Hello Luna." Usagi answered in a melancholy tone.

Luna watched as Usagi walked by her without even giving her the usual pet that she had become accustomed to. "How was your dinner with Mamoru?" Luna asked as she followed Usagi into her room.

Usagi flopped down on the bed and looked out her window at the moon that had now risen. "Fine."

The cat looked at the girl with doubt in her eyes. Nothing was ever just fine. Whenever she would come home from a date with Mamoru that is all Luna would hear about for the rest of the night. "Rei called while you were out and said that she would like you to call her when you get in."

Tilting her head up Usagi looked at the cat. "How did you answer the phone? Don't you think people will find us weird if they find out that we have a talking cat?"

This was more like the answer and conversation that Luna expected to hear from Usagi. She sighed and shook her head. "No, I didn't answer the phone." She held up her paws. "Does it look like I grew thumbs? Rei called on the communicator that you carelessly left behind."

Usagi caught the stern look that Luna had shot her. "So what if I left it behind? It's not like there's going to be any battles between now and Crystal Tokyo. What's the point?"

It was dark in the room, Usagi had never bothered to turn the light on as she entered. The only light that illuminated the room was the soft moonlight. Luna began to lecture Usagi on how she should take more responsibility in senshi business and that's when Usagi tuned her out drifting to her our state of consciousness.

He was leaving her again, after he promised not to. Maybe it was for the best. If he were gone perhaps she would have the chance to fall in love with him all over again when he got back. She was tired of this routine and needed something new. 'Distance makes the heart grow fonder, ne?' She thought to herself as her vision drifted to the night sky.

There seemed to be endless possibilities just waiting for her out there if only she could climb out of this cage that held her captive. 'This time it will be different, this time when Mamoru comes back we won't have fallen out of love, we will fall back into it.' A smile appeared on her face as she thought about the love that she would regain.

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