Pelagia Stenn found herself in the woods, waiting. She grew impatient. It was almost one. Where were they?

Akira reached the pier first. As Kerensa approached, she watched him pace the dock. She wondered if she was out of her mind. What would she say to him? She reached him, and he turned and looked at her, expressionless. Stenn saw them at this time and transformed. She advanced towards them swiftly.

"Akira-" Ren was cut off by Akira charging her and shoving her out of the way as a huge hideous serpent sprung at her. She gasped, then shouted "GRAVITY TRANSFORM POWER!" without thinking. The serpent shot something sticky out of its mouth, pinning Sailor Gravity to a nearby tree and knocking the breath out of her.

"Foolisssh ssschoolgirl!"

Ren struggled against her bounds but she couldn't move. Just then, a man wearing armor-like clothes carrying a sword appeared. He freed her with his sword as she gaped at him. She looked into his eyes, but before she could react he had disappeared. Where he had been, her newly transformed friends stood. She joined the line and faced the serpent.

"And jussst whooo are you?" It hissed.

"We are the Sailor Scouts! We stand for Justice-" began Ren.

"Truth!" Added Kariana.

"Happiness!" That was Anemone.

"Peace!" Interjected Ariana.

"And Love!" Finished Tessia. The serpent gave what resembled a laugh, if you can imagine what that would sound like. It circled the line of girls and then transformed itself into a creature with a snake-like head and tail, but human-like body that looked like it was of superior strength. Then it began to run towards Tess. The scouts had had enough.

"GRAVITY REPEL ATTACK!" Shouted Ren. A purple beam of light exploded from her hands and hit the monster, who began to float. Ren was stunned. Just then, Tess yelled, "EARTH BINDING ATTACK!" The monster was now not only floating, it had chains of an unbreakable rope securing its arms and legs.

"Shall we have some fun?" Anemone asked gleefully. Then she yelled, "WIND STORM ATTACK!" From nowhere, a heavy wind blew the creature across the lake. Tess high-fived Nem. The twins grinned at each other and asked Ren if she could bring it back to be finished off. Ren yelled, "GRAVITY ATTRACTION POWER!" And the monster was seen flying towards the five. The twins grinned at each other and simultaneously yelled, "NOVA LIGHTBEAM ATTACK!" And "DARKNESS DESTRUCTION POWER!" The white and black beams hit the serpent like creature at the same time and it screamed and exploded, showering small pieces of itself on the girls who grimaced and wiped it off. They stared at each stunned, then began shouting and jumping and grinning. "We've got to tell Hoshi!" Just then, a gold snake pendant landed a little ways away from the girl. Akira picked it up as he walked towards the girls. Ren was the only one who looked startled. Her mind flashed to the man in the armor... ~It couldn't be~ Now she needed to talk to him more than ever. She'd test him first.

"That was amazing. Did any of you see the man who saved me?" Ren asked. The girls all chorused no and asked what happened, but Akira remained silent. "Akira, didn't you see him? You were at the pier before me and when everything happened..." He just shook his head no. This baffled the girl. Akira held out his hand to show them the necklace.

"Anyone recognize this?"

"I do! It was Miss Stenn's! I remember seeing it during the assembly and thinking it was unusual. I saw her wearing it before. When I left your house the other day, I went to the playground and she surprised me. This... this thing that we destroyed, it was her, I'm sure of it." Ren looked down. She didn't want to think of when she'd been so upset.

When the group reached the Takeshis', they found the cats upstairs. They quickly recounted what had happened. The cats were both pleased and upset.

"It's wonderful that you found out some of your powers, but I don't like that they made a move. Apparently, PseudoDarien has learned of your existence. I just hope he waits to do anything else till we can meet with Serena and the girls."

"PseudoDarien?"

"He's who you're up against. The real Prince Darien was kidnapped, and an impostor has been acting in his place. While we've known for some time, we've been helpless to do anything but pretend we don't know. This "PD," as we refer to him, is evil and wants to destroy the Sailor Scouts," Eclipse was thoughtful, "Let me give you the background on the other Scouts and their history."

"Serena is Sailor Moon. She is the leader of all the Scouts, and technically, your superior. She doesn't know this yet. Together with her friends, Lita (Sailor Jupiter), Mina (Sailor Venus), Ami (Sailor Mercury), Rei (Sailor Mars) and Rini (Sailor Mini-Moon), they have fought and defeated several powerful enemies. Serena is NeoQueen Serenity. Her husband is Prince Darien, who is just Serena's boyfriend, Darien, here on Earth now. His other identity is Tuxedo Mask, who helps the Scouts. He was the one who was kidnapped. If anything should happen to Serena and Darien, a new Queen would have to have been chosen. I dare say that it is fated-" She stopped, "That is pure speculation on my part, and I only wanted to give you a little history. Please forgive any of my own, er, right-wing opinions." The five girls, Ryo, and Paul, who had just come in, hung on the cat's every word. Akira was lost in thought. He gave a pleading look to the cat, who nodded almost imperceptibly. Akira relaxed.

"Ren. You'd wanted to talk to me, that's why we were at the pier, remember? Would you want to go for a walk and, well, start our conversation?" he asked. She nodded and they left. Their friends watched them go.

"This should be interesting," said Anemone. "I wonder..." mused Diana. She looked questioningly at Eclipse, who nodded. Diana's eyes grew wide and Hoshi laughed. The humans just looked puzzled. "Wonder what?" asked Ariana.

"Uh, nothing. We can't tell you, yet," said Hoshi. "HMPH," said Kari.

As this was going on, Akira and Kerensa were walking silently down the street in the twilight. It would be dark soon.

"Akira. Well, I guess I should start. Why have you been avoiding me?" Ren asked him. She didn't want to confront any of her own feelings, so she decided to start by asking him about his first.

"I've been avoiding you because... well, I know you and your friends are here for a reason, as we, er, saw today. And I don't want to get in anyone's way." He wasn't lying, he just wasn't giving her the whole truth, and she knew it. She decided to lay down all her cards. What did she have to lose?

"Well I understand that, but you haven't been going out of your way to avoid my friends. Only me. What gives?" He looked down at her. ~uh oh. Busted. Moment of truth time. Or... I could tell her my secret. Then I wouldn't have to tell her the rest of it. Although I'm sure it will all come out eventually. The cats know. The cats know I know they know. Oh Lord, not that. I always confuse myself with that. Oh yeah, answer Ren!~ He sighed and opted to give up his secret first. But before he could say anything, she beat him to it. She turned to face him completely, her eyes bright.

"It's you! I know it! I recognized your eyes, that's why you disappeared so fast today. You're the one who saved me, aren't you? It explains why you said what you did that day in the kitchen, 'You don't know what's expected yet' You knew because you've done it already." ~Woah. How'd she figure that out? I thought I was too fast.~

"Yeah. I knew I couldn't hide it forever, but I didn't know if I could tell you."

"Is that why you haven't been talking to me?" she asked softly. ~Aw, shit. I can't do this anymore. I have to tell her the rest of it. She's smart, she'll put two and two together anyway.~ "Ren, maybe we'd better sit down or something. I have a lot to say..." And with that, they walked silently to the park and sat on the closest bench they could find.

"Ok. God, I don't know where to even start, what to say," he said as he ran a hand through his hair. ~God he looks good when he does that... You know what? I'm gonna stop berating myself for thinking like that. I can't help who I fall in like with... Am I lying to myself when I say like? I don't know...~ Ren thought.

"It's a good thing that cats explained what they did today, or I wouldn't be able to tell you this. You'd never understand. I'm assuming, of course, that you will now. Anemone has these dreams. She can see things in the future. She told me about them only for fear of going insane and swore me to secrecy. Well, anyway, she had one describing today's fight. She, by the way, doesn't know who the guy with the sword is, and I'd prefer if for now she didn't." She nodded, "Go on."

"I'm not sure if all her dreams are prophetic like that, but some are sure interesting. At any rate, shortly after she told me about her dreams, I had one. It was the only one I ever had, and I didn't tell anyone about it. The night before, Anemone and I had a deep conversation about hers, and I figured that whatever lets her have them wore off on me for a particular reason. Whatever power is behind her premonitions didn't want Nem to have this one. Because it involves me, it gave it to me." Ren was captivated and hung on his every word. "What was it? Or can't you tell me?" He had been looking at her the whole time he'd been speaking, and she'd not only been intently digesting what he was saying, she'd been thinking very hard about her feelings. In that short time, she'd come to the definite conclusion that there was something between them that she couldn't explain and wondered if he felt it too.

"The whole point is that this dream involves you, too." This surprised Ren beyond belief. "It DOES?" She paused and stood up. "Stop, please." She needed to know. Before they could continue, she needed to know how he felt. "Akira, before you say anything else, answer me this: how do-" she was cut off by Akira sweeping her into his arms and kissing her deeply.

"Does that answer your question?" he said softly. Ren was practically shaking. "So you feel it too?"

"Ren, that's what I'm getting at. Of course I feel it too. This isn't something we can control. My dream- it was of you and I together, standing over a dead Serena and Darien. Since I had this dream, I've been considering all the similarities between you and I and the two of them. It's not a coincidence, all these circumstances. You and I are the new Serena and Darien." Now Kerensa's mouth was hanging open. "Are you sure?" He nodded.

"I thought at first that it was only a dream. Then I started drawing these conclusions. I knew how I felt about you, and that I couldn't explain it. I watched the cats when we were together. They know. If you don't believe me, ask them. They know all that's going to happen. I don't know how, but they do. It's creepy. Talking cats that know the future." Akira smiled. By now, Ren was visibly shaking. Akira held her tighter. "Are you OK?"

"It's just... I mean, Hoshi said Kari and I are co-captains... I mean, if your dream's right, and Serena and Darien die, and we, we're 'chosen' as the new- OH MY GOD!- Are you really trying to tell me that I'm supposed to be the New NeoQueen Serenity? But she's, like, the supreme ruler of the universe, isn't she?"

"Er, something like that, yes." Ren gasped. Akira kissed her again. "Do you think I'd lie to you? Especially about something as important as this?" Ren shook her head no. She'd known, in her own way, for a while that whatever she felt for Akira wasn't normal. Wasn't something she had any power over. She'd just assumed, hey that's how crushes go, but deep down
Ren knew her feelings were more than that. He definitely proved it. Even if he'd said no words, Akira had shown her the depth of their emotions.

"I don't know what to say..." she murmured. "This is all so... unbelievable. And you're sure about... their deaths?"

"Well that's the only part I'm not sure of, actually," he smiled. "If you five are supposed to fight and defeat PD, then Serena and Darien shouldn't be harmed. I doubt if you fail in this mission that you'd be alive to stand over their dead bodies with me, you know?" This did make sense. "But I do know for sure our being together is real." She touched his cheek.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? Why did you avoid me? I thought..." Ren didn't finish.

"I was scared. I didn't know if I was right," he laughed softly, "Come on, I'm a guy! Love is a scary thing to begin with." Kerensa picked her head up swiftly and stared at him. He was smiling. She kissed him long and hard. When they finally broke away, Ren moved away from him, breathless.

"We'd better go home, it's dark out," Kerensa said. "Should we tell them anything?" Akira was thoughtful.

"We can tell them we're going out, at least," he grinned. Kerensa raised an eyebrow delicately. "Oh, are we?" she teased him. He gave a low growl and kissed her. "We'll if we aren't, we'll have a hard time explaining why we keep doing that. But anyway, the rest of it... talk to the cats if you want. In fact, please do. Let me know what they tell you." Holding hands, they walked back in silence, smiling. Their friends were waiting anxiously. They didn't want to know what had happened. Most probably, they'd gotten in a fight and killed each other. The whole group was quite surprised to see Ren walk in smiling, followed by a beaming Akira. They thought it was a prank. The two apparent enemies smiling after being alone together, come on!

"Uh, guys, if this is your idea of some sick joke, it's working. I'm scared!" said Nem. The others agreed. Ren and Akira laughed. "What?!"

"We thought you'd have killed each other by now, with how you've been acting lately. We thought you might've- you'll laugh at this- had crushes on each other, but we were way off on that one!" joked Ryo. Ren and Akira looked at each, shocked.

"They thought you liked me?!" gasped Ren in amazement. Akira shuddered. "What's wrong with them?" Ren's eyes flashed dangerously and she advanced towards Akira.
"*Phew* For a minute there I was really worried you didn't hate each other anymore," said Kari.

As she reached him, Akira grabbed Ren and held her in front of him, his hands resting comfortably around her waist. Ren just smiled up at him and glanced at her friends, whose eyes were as big as saucers.

"Ok, now I'm just confused. First they're acting like friends, then Ren looks like she's gonna kill Akira, and now they're... Well," said Tessia. The couple laughed.

"Should I tell them, or do you want to?" Ren asked. He said, "Well you know how good I am with words, allow me. Guys, we're going out." The cats had been milling about on the floor not really paying attention, but when Akira made this announcement they froze and looked up at them, then at each other, and then quickly left the room for a meeting. Meanwhile, the girls were hugging Ren and everyone was high-fiving Akira.

"Way to go, Akira! I honestly thought you hated her ever since you've been avoiding each other..." said Paul. Nem was almost disappointed. "I didn't get to hook you up! I wanted to do it myself. Akira, since when did you ever do anything yourself when it comes to people?!"

Akira grinned. "This is very different. You don't even know the half of it," he said seriously.