[:::Part I:::]
It was a brisk fall day. The sidewalks were crowded with pedestrians. It seemed near impossible to penetrate them and weave in and out to your destination. You seemed to get caught up in the husle and busle of things and get swept away with the flowing crowd. A red ribbon could be seen making it's way towards her. It seemed to be bobbing up and down to look over the crowd's heads to look for some one. "Usagi!" Its owner called out. "USAGI!!"
The smaller blond turned around her pig-tails flowed freely around her body. She was a beautiful young lady, and would have had any guy looking at her if she didn't have a mouth full of food. With a muffled cry she tried desperately to call out her friend's name with no success. Pieces of food flew all around and slowly she began to gain control over her mouth. She waved at her friend for she could do nothing else.
"Usagi, where have you been? And what happened to Mamoru?" Minako asked as she looked around them. They were standing by a street vendor selling odangos.
Usagi finished swallowing her hurried meal. "He said that he had something to take care of and went home. So I guess it's just me and you now what do you want to do?" The two girls began walking and of course they weren't paying attention to what they were doing and walked right into the side of a parked bus. "Hey do you think it's a sign?" Usagi said pointing to the bus.
"No, we walk into everything, but it is a good idea. Lets go see how Rei is doing, I haven't seen much of her in the past week, her grandfather has been at spiritual revival and she is managing the shrine by herself." Minako explained. The girls got on the bus and headed for the temple.
It had been three months since the battle with Galaxia. There was actually peace on Earth for a while. There had been no reason to transform and fight. The girls however did still transform to practice just in case. Usagi could no longer transform into Sailor Moon since her transformational broach was destroyed in the last battle. She figured that this was the perfect time for her alone time with Mamoru.
When the girls got to the temple they noticed Rei sweeping and Yuuchiro pretending to be busy as he watched her. "She knows he likes her, I don't see why she doesn't just give him a chance." Minako leaned over and whispered to Usagi.
"I heard that she has already given him a chance. I'm assuming that's why we haven't seen too much of her lately. Between him and managing the temple, she has her hands full."
"What! Rei has a boyfriend?" She was trying to keep her voice down. "When did this happen? I would have made him cut his hair first!" Minako stuck her finger in her mouth to fake puking.
"She tells Mamoru everything, sometimes I think that he's her best friend instead of me." With that Usagi's voice dropped a bit. She looked away from Minako and to Rei. The girls came out from their secluded positions and waved to their friend.
"What's up Rei?" Minako asked. She was going to find out whether this whole situation with Yuuchiro was true or not. She knew that Rei had a bad streak of jealousy in her bones and that was the perfect way to find out what she needed to know. "Yuuchiro, you look quite handsome today." Minako went to him and touched his arm.
"Thank you." He smiled, he didn't know that he was part of her trap.
Minako smiled at herself and so did Usagi. By now she had caught on to her plan and was quite amused. "What are you doing tonight? Do you maybe want to come over to my house?"
"Stop it Minako!" Rei snapped. "I know what you're doing and its not going to work, I'm not hiding my relationship with Yuuchiro. I know that Mamoru probably already told you two anyway." She threw her hair over her shoulder and closed her eyes. "I'm too mature to play your childish games."
Minako was mad that her plan hadn't worked the way she wanted it to. She had gotten the information that she needed but didn't have any fun doing it. "Fine."
"So Rei what are you doing? Minako and I were looking for some one to hang out with." Usagi changed the subject.
"I'm sorry, I can't hang out right now. When I finish this I have to go inside and take care of the bills, plus we have a meeting tonight. Give me a call some other time." She smiled. She wasn't trying to avoid them, she really didn't have the time lately. She felt as though she was neglecting them. Although they both had other friends she knew that it hurt Usagi's feelings that she couldn't spend more time with her.
"It's OK, we'll get together some other time. May I use your wash room before we leave?" Usagi started doing the pee pee dance.
"Sure, you know where it is." Rei laughed at her gesture.
When Usagi was out of ear shot Rei whispered to Minako. "Please keep her company, something is wrong, she hasn't said anything, but I know."
"What's wrong, everything is going perfect?" Minako was confused.
"I've been talking with Mamoru on the phone a lot lately, purely for advice purposes. I needed help with the finances of the temple. Anyway, he has mentioned to me on numerous occasions that she doesn't act the same way as she used to around him." Rei kept an eye out for Usagi to be returning. "He says that she'll just stare off sometimes like he isn't even there. Or she will be extremely happy one minute and then the next she gets depressed. He doesn't know what it could be, he said that he wanted to ask her but they don't communicate as they used to."
"What do you think it is?" Minako questioned. Rei usually had pretty good insight about these things. "Do you think she's sick?"
"I have an idea what it could be but I don't want to say anything about it until I'm sure. But for now, please just be there for her, if not for anything but to fill my place." Rei cautioned her friend.
"Of course." They noticed Usagi returning from the wash room and put on smiles. "Ready to go Usagi?"
"Yeah. Lets go. Bye Rei, I'll call you." Usagi smiled and waved as they left.
"So can the sailor senshi become sailor senshi if they do not remember who they are?" A man with black hair asked. He was a tall man and appeared to be very powerful.
His companion that was standing directly across from the man answered. "Good point, so what do you plan on doing?" The man was a bit younger than his companion with white hair, both seemed to be of equal status. They were dressed in out fits similar to Yuuchiro's robes.
"If we go to Earth, where the most powerful senshi are, and probe the public's mind, we can see who has a memory of being a sailor senshi. Once we find that memory we will take it. Therefore eliminating a senshi in the process. With them out of the way we can rule by bringing Chaos back to power." The dark hair man said. He had a sinister grin across his face as he made his hand into a fist in front of him.
"Bronze, come forth." The white hair man called. "Your plan is brilliant my brother, I will send bronze to Earth to start looking at the public's subconscious." Bronze appeared before them wearing a monk's robe. No part of her face could be seen only shadows.
"Go to Earth, look into the memories of the people there and seek out the sailor senshi. When you find the memory of being a senshi take that and only that. We won't have time to mess with anything else. That will be sufficient. Now go." The dark haired man waved his arm and dismissed Bronze.
Minako now had a growing concern for her friend. She hadn't noticed her acting strange until Rei pointed it out to her. ~What is wrong with her?~ she wondered to herself. They were sitting in Crown downing some chocolate cake and tea. "Usagi, are you going to come to the training meeting tonight?" Minako knew it was a stupid question since she didn't come anymore, but still she felt she should ask incase she was feeling left out.
"No. There's no point in me being there. Mamoru said that he would take me out instead." Usagi's mood dropped and brought Minako down with her.
"What's wrong? You don't want to go out with Mamoru?" She questioned lightly.
"Minako," Usagi started still looking down at her half eaten cake. "I don't feel as close to Rei as I used to. Lately I haven't been seeing her as much and when I do she is always preoccupied with something else. I know she doesn't mean to do it, but she does. I get depressed somewhat when I think of how I couldn't fight with you guys if I needed to. I know that I used to wish for a normal life, but now." she looked up from her cake and directed her attention to the window next to her. Minako could see the reflection of Usagi's face in the glass. "Now it just seems so boring. The only time that I really have fun or feel like I used to is when I'm with you. You are my best friend Minako." She had turned to look straight at Minako.
"I'm glad I could be there for you. Is there anything you need? I know how it feels to be alone, you can come to me anytime." Minako took her friend's hand over the table and looked into her eyes. Usagi nodded that she understood and said no more.
"Well enough of this depressed mood! I'll blow off the meeting tonight and you and I can have some girl time together." Minako winked at her.
Usagi's face immediately brightened and they hurried and finished their cake.
The mountains around them were colored brightly with the fall foliage. An ocean of red, gold and yellow spread wide to decorate the landscape. No one around her seemed to notice. ~How can they just keep walking by and not stop to take in this beauty?~ The woman thought to herself as she passed people on the street. ~You don't deserve this planet, you don't appreciate it.~ The woman stopped and sat down on a bench nearby. ~I have no idea where to start looking for those stupid senshi. I know they are around this area, this is where they have always appeared.~
As the woman sat thinking to herself she noticed one of the many passersby stopped and gazed at the beautiful landscape she had been admiring only moments ago. The woman stood up and walked up to this person. "Beautiful isn't it?" The woman said to the girl admiring the scenery.
"Yes, it's breath taking." The girl replied not taking her eyes off of what she had been looking at.
~She must be a sailor senshi, they must love this Earth and therefore would admire it so.~ The woman pulled her hand down in front of her face as though she was unzippering an invisible cloth. The woman then appeared in a monk's robe. "Let me know what you remember." The robed woman said as she put her hands to the side of the girl's face and pulled her in for a kiss.
During this kiss she could read the girl's thoughts and memories. While searching through the confusion she saw nothing about the sailor senshi. The woman released her hold and dropped the girl unconscious on the ground.
Minako and Usagi were just coming down the street when they saw this. "Minako you have to transform." Usagi cried as she ran up to the fallen girl. Minako did as she was told; she transformed in a secluded area and returned to help her friend.
"What did you do to her?!" Usagi cried while holding the girl's head off the ground. "You won't get away with this!"
"She is fine, it just takes a lot of energy out of some one to have their mind read." The woman laughed. Venus feeling that there was no time for her cheesy introduction blasted the woman with her 'Love and Beauty Shock'. The woman's head spun around when her hood was blasted back.
Her skin was the color of bronze. "So, I see the sailor senshi do show up around here. I'll be back for you another time." She said as she pulled her hood back up over her head and faded away.
"Is she alright?" Venus ran to Usagi's side.
"I think so, it's a good thing that Sailor Moon didn't need to heal her." Usagi looked at the girl's face. "That woman said that she was reading her mind. What would she be looking for I wonder?"
"I don't know but when she saw me it seemed that she had been looking for the senshi. I wonder who she is?" Minako wondered as she helped Usagi up. They laid the girl on the bench nearby and decided that it would be a good thing to tell everyone else what had happened to them so they headed towards the senshi meeting.
"Hey guys look." Mercury pointed out. "Its Minako with Usagi, she finally decided to come." Everyone had felt bad about Moon not being able to be with them when they trained and were all surprised to see Usagi here.
Jupiter, Mercury and Mars ran up to the two approaching girls. Usagi smiled and accepted the hugs from her friends. "What's going on? What changed your mind?" Rei asked.
Minako and Usagi explained what happened to them earlier. The other girls sat and listened patiently. During their story Mamoru had walked up to the group. "You weren't at your house so I came here to look for you, I was worried about you Usako." He said in a caring tone kissing her on her forehead. He had heard what they were talking about.
"So what do you guys think?" Minako asked.
"I don't know but we were really lucky that Sailor Moon wasn't needed." Mamoru explained. "I don't know when you're in trouble any more, I used to get a premonition in my head when you transformed but now that you can't I have no idea when you need me."
"It's alright, Venus was there, she saved the day." Usagi smiled at Minako.
It was a brisk fall day. The sidewalks were crowded with pedestrians. It seemed near impossible to penetrate them and weave in and out to your destination. You seemed to get caught up in the husle and busle of things and get swept away with the flowing crowd. A red ribbon could be seen making it's way towards her. It seemed to be bobbing up and down to look over the crowd's heads to look for some one. "Usagi!" Its owner called out. "USAGI!!"
The smaller blond turned around her pig-tails flowed freely around her body. She was a beautiful young lady, and would have had any guy looking at her if she didn't have a mouth full of food. With a muffled cry she tried desperately to call out her friend's name with no success. Pieces of food flew all around and slowly she began to gain control over her mouth. She waved at her friend for she could do nothing else.
"Usagi, where have you been? And what happened to Mamoru?" Minako asked as she looked around them. They were standing by a street vendor selling odangos.
Usagi finished swallowing her hurried meal. "He said that he had something to take care of and went home. So I guess it's just me and you now what do you want to do?" The two girls began walking and of course they weren't paying attention to what they were doing and walked right into the side of a parked bus. "Hey do you think it's a sign?" Usagi said pointing to the bus.
"No, we walk into everything, but it is a good idea. Lets go see how Rei is doing, I haven't seen much of her in the past week, her grandfather has been at spiritual revival and she is managing the shrine by herself." Minako explained. The girls got on the bus and headed for the temple.
It had been three months since the battle with Galaxia. There was actually peace on Earth for a while. There had been no reason to transform and fight. The girls however did still transform to practice just in case. Usagi could no longer transform into Sailor Moon since her transformational broach was destroyed in the last battle. She figured that this was the perfect time for her alone time with Mamoru.
When the girls got to the temple they noticed Rei sweeping and Yuuchiro pretending to be busy as he watched her. "She knows he likes her, I don't see why she doesn't just give him a chance." Minako leaned over and whispered to Usagi.
"I heard that she has already given him a chance. I'm assuming that's why we haven't seen too much of her lately. Between him and managing the temple, she has her hands full."
"What! Rei has a boyfriend?" She was trying to keep her voice down. "When did this happen? I would have made him cut his hair first!" Minako stuck her finger in her mouth to fake puking.
"She tells Mamoru everything, sometimes I think that he's her best friend instead of me." With that Usagi's voice dropped a bit. She looked away from Minako and to Rei. The girls came out from their secluded positions and waved to their friend.
"What's up Rei?" Minako asked. She was going to find out whether this whole situation with Yuuchiro was true or not. She knew that Rei had a bad streak of jealousy in her bones and that was the perfect way to find out what she needed to know. "Yuuchiro, you look quite handsome today." Minako went to him and touched his arm.
"Thank you." He smiled, he didn't know that he was part of her trap.
Minako smiled at herself and so did Usagi. By now she had caught on to her plan and was quite amused. "What are you doing tonight? Do you maybe want to come over to my house?"
"Stop it Minako!" Rei snapped. "I know what you're doing and its not going to work, I'm not hiding my relationship with Yuuchiro. I know that Mamoru probably already told you two anyway." She threw her hair over her shoulder and closed her eyes. "I'm too mature to play your childish games."
Minako was mad that her plan hadn't worked the way she wanted it to. She had gotten the information that she needed but didn't have any fun doing it. "Fine."
"So Rei what are you doing? Minako and I were looking for some one to hang out with." Usagi changed the subject.
"I'm sorry, I can't hang out right now. When I finish this I have to go inside and take care of the bills, plus we have a meeting tonight. Give me a call some other time." She smiled. She wasn't trying to avoid them, she really didn't have the time lately. She felt as though she was neglecting them. Although they both had other friends she knew that it hurt Usagi's feelings that she couldn't spend more time with her.
"It's OK, we'll get together some other time. May I use your wash room before we leave?" Usagi started doing the pee pee dance.
"Sure, you know where it is." Rei laughed at her gesture.
When Usagi was out of ear shot Rei whispered to Minako. "Please keep her company, something is wrong, she hasn't said anything, but I know."
"What's wrong, everything is going perfect?" Minako was confused.
"I've been talking with Mamoru on the phone a lot lately, purely for advice purposes. I needed help with the finances of the temple. Anyway, he has mentioned to me on numerous occasions that she doesn't act the same way as she used to around him." Rei kept an eye out for Usagi to be returning. "He says that she'll just stare off sometimes like he isn't even there. Or she will be extremely happy one minute and then the next she gets depressed. He doesn't know what it could be, he said that he wanted to ask her but they don't communicate as they used to."
"What do you think it is?" Minako questioned. Rei usually had pretty good insight about these things. "Do you think she's sick?"
"I have an idea what it could be but I don't want to say anything about it until I'm sure. But for now, please just be there for her, if not for anything but to fill my place." Rei cautioned her friend.
"Of course." They noticed Usagi returning from the wash room and put on smiles. "Ready to go Usagi?"
"Yeah. Lets go. Bye Rei, I'll call you." Usagi smiled and waved as they left.
"So can the sailor senshi become sailor senshi if they do not remember who they are?" A man with black hair asked. He was a tall man and appeared to be very powerful.
His companion that was standing directly across from the man answered. "Good point, so what do you plan on doing?" The man was a bit younger than his companion with white hair, both seemed to be of equal status. They were dressed in out fits similar to Yuuchiro's robes.
"If we go to Earth, where the most powerful senshi are, and probe the public's mind, we can see who has a memory of being a sailor senshi. Once we find that memory we will take it. Therefore eliminating a senshi in the process. With them out of the way we can rule by bringing Chaos back to power." The dark hair man said. He had a sinister grin across his face as he made his hand into a fist in front of him.
"Bronze, come forth." The white hair man called. "Your plan is brilliant my brother, I will send bronze to Earth to start looking at the public's subconscious." Bronze appeared before them wearing a monk's robe. No part of her face could be seen only shadows.
"Go to Earth, look into the memories of the people there and seek out the sailor senshi. When you find the memory of being a senshi take that and only that. We won't have time to mess with anything else. That will be sufficient. Now go." The dark haired man waved his arm and dismissed Bronze.
Minako now had a growing concern for her friend. She hadn't noticed her acting strange until Rei pointed it out to her. ~What is wrong with her?~ she wondered to herself. They were sitting in Crown downing some chocolate cake and tea. "Usagi, are you going to come to the training meeting tonight?" Minako knew it was a stupid question since she didn't come anymore, but still she felt she should ask incase she was feeling left out.
"No. There's no point in me being there. Mamoru said that he would take me out instead." Usagi's mood dropped and brought Minako down with her.
"What's wrong? You don't want to go out with Mamoru?" She questioned lightly.
"Minako," Usagi started still looking down at her half eaten cake. "I don't feel as close to Rei as I used to. Lately I haven't been seeing her as much and when I do she is always preoccupied with something else. I know she doesn't mean to do it, but she does. I get depressed somewhat when I think of how I couldn't fight with you guys if I needed to. I know that I used to wish for a normal life, but now." she looked up from her cake and directed her attention to the window next to her. Minako could see the reflection of Usagi's face in the glass. "Now it just seems so boring. The only time that I really have fun or feel like I used to is when I'm with you. You are my best friend Minako." She had turned to look straight at Minako.
"I'm glad I could be there for you. Is there anything you need? I know how it feels to be alone, you can come to me anytime." Minako took her friend's hand over the table and looked into her eyes. Usagi nodded that she understood and said no more.
"Well enough of this depressed mood! I'll blow off the meeting tonight and you and I can have some girl time together." Minako winked at her.
Usagi's face immediately brightened and they hurried and finished their cake.
The mountains around them were colored brightly with the fall foliage. An ocean of red, gold and yellow spread wide to decorate the landscape. No one around her seemed to notice. ~How can they just keep walking by and not stop to take in this beauty?~ The woman thought to herself as she passed people on the street. ~You don't deserve this planet, you don't appreciate it.~ The woman stopped and sat down on a bench nearby. ~I have no idea where to start looking for those stupid senshi. I know they are around this area, this is where they have always appeared.~
As the woman sat thinking to herself she noticed one of the many passersby stopped and gazed at the beautiful landscape she had been admiring only moments ago. The woman stood up and walked up to this person. "Beautiful isn't it?" The woman said to the girl admiring the scenery.
"Yes, it's breath taking." The girl replied not taking her eyes off of what she had been looking at.
~She must be a sailor senshi, they must love this Earth and therefore would admire it so.~ The woman pulled her hand down in front of her face as though she was unzippering an invisible cloth. The woman then appeared in a monk's robe. "Let me know what you remember." The robed woman said as she put her hands to the side of the girl's face and pulled her in for a kiss.
During this kiss she could read the girl's thoughts and memories. While searching through the confusion she saw nothing about the sailor senshi. The woman released her hold and dropped the girl unconscious on the ground.
Minako and Usagi were just coming down the street when they saw this. "Minako you have to transform." Usagi cried as she ran up to the fallen girl. Minako did as she was told; she transformed in a secluded area and returned to help her friend.
"What did you do to her?!" Usagi cried while holding the girl's head off the ground. "You won't get away with this!"
"She is fine, it just takes a lot of energy out of some one to have their mind read." The woman laughed. Venus feeling that there was no time for her cheesy introduction blasted the woman with her 'Love and Beauty Shock'. The woman's head spun around when her hood was blasted back.
Her skin was the color of bronze. "So, I see the sailor senshi do show up around here. I'll be back for you another time." She said as she pulled her hood back up over her head and faded away.
"Is she alright?" Venus ran to Usagi's side.
"I think so, it's a good thing that Sailor Moon didn't need to heal her." Usagi looked at the girl's face. "That woman said that she was reading her mind. What would she be looking for I wonder?"
"I don't know but when she saw me it seemed that she had been looking for the senshi. I wonder who she is?" Minako wondered as she helped Usagi up. They laid the girl on the bench nearby and decided that it would be a good thing to tell everyone else what had happened to them so they headed towards the senshi meeting.
"Hey guys look." Mercury pointed out. "Its Minako with Usagi, she finally decided to come." Everyone had felt bad about Moon not being able to be with them when they trained and were all surprised to see Usagi here.
Jupiter, Mercury and Mars ran up to the two approaching girls. Usagi smiled and accepted the hugs from her friends. "What's going on? What changed your mind?" Rei asked.
Minako and Usagi explained what happened to them earlier. The other girls sat and listened patiently. During their story Mamoru had walked up to the group. "You weren't at your house so I came here to look for you, I was worried about you Usako." He said in a caring tone kissing her on her forehead. He had heard what they were talking about.
"So what do you guys think?" Minako asked.
"I don't know but we were really lucky that Sailor Moon wasn't needed." Mamoru explained. "I don't know when you're in trouble any more, I used to get a premonition in my head when you transformed but now that you can't I have no idea when you need me."
"It's alright, Venus was there, she saved the day." Usagi smiled at Minako.
