Hey guys! Next chapter is now up. I was having some trouble figuring out how to put up new chapters, but I think I understand now. Anyway, I decided to put Serena's explanation in one chapter, and put the rest of the scouts in another. Thank you to the people who are reading this, I'm glad that you haven't given up on me:)
Oh, people, I need help! I'm trying to find a place to download the subtitled Japenese Sailor Moon episodes, but i can't find any places:( If you know of any, please tell me. Thankz:)
Oh, and I keep forgeting to put in the disclaimer, so for this story, the one in the prologue applies everywhere.
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"Mom?" Amy said, looking into the kitchen.
"Good morning, sweetheart." Her mother said appearing behind her. Amy turned around and greeted her with what looked like a fake smile. She noticed that Amy's expression was a fairly surprised and worried one. Ms. Mizuno assumed though that Amy was just surprised to see her mother getting up so late. She figured that she should give an explanation. "You know, it's been awhile since I had Sunday off. It's kind of nice."
Amy seemed a little more relieved, but that worried look stayed on her face. Ms. Mizuno started to feel worried herself. She had seen Amy worried before, but usually she would be right now running out to see her friends. Or Amy would have already talked to her. She had been fine last night. Now, she looked almost like the fate of the world was on her shoulders. And why was she holding…the paper? "Amy, honey, what's the matter?"
Amy gathered up all the strength she had. 'Why should I be so scared now?' she thought. 'I have faced worse. I've looked death in the face many times; I have even died before. My mother is a very understanding woman, I'm sure that she will understand why I waited to tell her. Ohhh, I wish I had a guardian like Luna or Artemis.' "Mom, we need to talk. Can we sit down?"
Ms. Mizuno became very concerned. Amy voice contained so much fear that she herself became afraid just listening to Amy speak. She knew that what Amy was about to say was extremely important, and now, more then ever, she would probably need to be open-minded.
Amy led her mother to the kitchen table, and sat down. Her mother followed her and sat down at the seat on the opposite side of the table.
"Mom," Amy began. "To be perfectly honest, I never wanted to have to tell you this. Or if I did decide to, I would rather it have been of my own free will. But circumstances beyond my control have forced me to have to tell you. Please, don't be mad. I'll understand if you are upset about me not telling you sooner, but doing so would have put all of my friends and I in considerable danger, mush like we are in now." Amy paused, not sure if she wanted to continue. She looked up into her mother's eyes and saw that they were filled with worry. Amy realized that her mother wouldn't be mad at her, maybe even more worried, but not mad. "Mom, I am Sailor Mercury."
"Honey…what do you mean?" Surely her daughter was joking. The Sailor Scouts were just a myth, a story that people would tell.
Amy passed the newspaper article over to her mother. Ms. Mizuno began to read, and became more shocked then she had ever been in her whole life. She thought that she knew every thing about her daughter, something this important, Amy couldn't hide from her, could she? "Amy, is this…" Ms. Mizuno began, but she wasn't able to finish. What she saw before her shocked her to her very core.
While her mother was reading, Amy decided that she should prove to her mother what they were saying was true. She silently transformed, so that it could be a bit of a surprise. She saw how her mother looked, and recognized that expression quickly. It was the same look that she had on her face after she found out that she was Sailor Mercury. She decided that a bit of an introduction was in order. "I am Sailor Mercury, Solider of Wisdom and Ice! I vow to protect this world with all my power!"
"Amy," Ms. Mizuno began. "Are you…are you really…"
"Yes mom, I am."
"H-How?"
"Fate. I was predestined to be Sailor Mercury, so I am. I cannot turn my back on this, for I have seen what can happen if the scouts lose. We need all the strength we can get, so I don't dare ever desert the scouts. This is my duty, to protect this world." Her mother appeared to have relaxed a bit, so Amy felt a little bit calmer. "Mom, I *am* sorry that I had to keep this a secret from you, but I *do* hope that you can understand. I had to. Telling you would not only put you in danger, but the others as well."
"Amy, I…I…I have never been more proud of you then I am right now, as well as I am starting to understand a few things. Like why you didn't go to study in Germany."
"I couldn't." Amy said with a smile. "We were just starting a new battle with a new enemy, and leaving would have meant allowing the scouts to lose. In fact, by the time I decided not to go, the scouts had nearly lost. We need the powers from all of us to defeat the enemy, besides, without me, they would have no clue how to escape sometimes." Amy almost started laughing. She remembered what Raye had said after Amy decided not to leave – 'Amy, it's a good thing that you're back. Serena was actually expected to think and plan how to win the battles. If you hadn't come, I think that we would have been in that battle forever.'
"So, Amy, how do you help them in a way none of the others can?"
"Well, besides the fact that I control ice, which is a very powerful defense, I have this," Amy made her visor appear. "and this." Amy took out her mini computer. "Now, my visor allows me to see things that no one else can. I can see through buildings, and tell if a monster is disguising it's self as an object or person. I can also do some simple calculations, but not good ones. The harder ones are done on my mini computer. It'll hook up to my visor to allow me to use all that my visor is capable of. This computer, despite it's size, can do more then even the most powerful computer on Earth. I can do calculations that would take even the smartest mathematician weeks to do in only a few minutes at the most. This little computer is usually what decides whether we win on lose."
'So…where can I buy one of these computers?" Both Amy and her mother started laughing. Amy became completely relaxed. She had been worried that her mother would over-react, maybe even force her to leave the scouts. Or not believe her. It was nice to see that her mother could handle this, even though she hadn't been told everything. Amy decided then to detransform. It felt a bit weird being Sailor Mercury while in plan view of her mother anyway.
"So," her mother said, starting her long list of questions again. "How long have you been a scout? Do you really like being a scout? Have you ever been hurt? If so, how badly? What about the other girls? And what is it that you aren't telling me?" Ms. Mizuno didn't expect an answer from the last question, but she knew that she had to at least ask.
"Okay, I have been a scout since I was 14" 'actually longer' she thought. 'But I won't tell her about that.' "I really do enjoy being a scout, sometimes. But every now and then I wish that I was just a normal teenage girl. I have been hurt before, but I won't tell you how badly. I don't think that you could deal with that. The other girls have been hurt just as badly, and Serena has been hurt worse. And what I am not telling you is important, but I won't tell you until you need to find out. It would put Serena in way too much danger." Amy face was firm when she finished. She was defiantly not going to tell her mother about the past.
"Amy, please, I can handle it. I am a doctor. How…badly…have…you…been…hurt?" Her mother's face showed that she could take it, although secretly she was thinking 'it can't have been too bad, since Amy seems okay, and she's right in front of me."
"I…I…I have died. That's the worst that I have been hurt physically. Watching my friends die, or surrender themselves to protect us, hurts even more."
"But…But Amy, that isn't possible. You can't have died. You seem fine, and you are sitting right here, in front of me. If you were dead, you wouldn't be here."
"Mom, Serena has an extremely powerful crystal called the Empirium Silver Crystal. I think that it is responsible for keeping us from dieing forever. I think that the Silver Crystal, combined with Serena's powers, is what brings us back from the dead."
"How…how many…"
"3 times, I think, but I have been near dead a few times as well."
"And you said Serena has been hurt worse? Is that even possible?"
"She has died as many times as us, I think. Maybe more, maybe less. We all prefer to forget those memories. What has hurt her more is seeing us die, trying to protect her. Or seeing us, especially Tuxedo Mask and Rini, being hurt when there is nothing that she can do. I can't tell you why we have to protect her though, and if you are trying to guess, I can tell you that you will never figure out. Even us scouts didn't know until it happened. Serena isn't just Sailor Moon; she is someone else as well. And we must protect that person."
"Amy…"
"I love you too, Mom. And I promise that I will always do my best to be careful."
Amy moved over to wear her mother was sitting to give her a hug. When they broke apart, Ms. Mizuno decided to ask a question that she was dieing to ask. "Can we take a look at that super computer?"
Amy laughed a bit, and then reached into her space pocket to take it out. She flipped it open and began showing her mother all it could do. They were intently examining one of the programs when Amy's watch started beeping. She flipped open the cover to reveal Serena's face. Ms. Mizuno looked curiously at the watch, but decided to ask about it later. "Serena, what is it? What happened?"
"Everything's fine Ames. I just wanted to know if you had finished explaining?"
"Almost, just a second."
Amy had completely forgetting someone that she should tell, even though he already knew. She ran to her computer, and typed in a few simple words. All that the message read was 'They know.' She knew that he would understand. He would have seen this coming.
"Okay, done. Just had to tell someone else."
"Good then I'll get the other girls." Serena pressed the button on her communicator to get the others. "Are you guys all done explaining too?"
*****
Mina crept down the stairs to the kitchen with Artemis on her heals. She didn't totally want to face her parents, since she doubted that they would understand. At least she had Artemis to help her.
As she neared the kitchen, she heard the sound of people talking, except they weren't her parents. Mina and Artemis both tried to detect what the voices were saying. Then they heard the voice say "…how long the Sailor Scouts planned to keep this a secret". Both became more panicked then they already were, if that was even possible. Mina was holding the newspaper. 'So how else could they know? We don't have a T.V. in the kitchen' she thought 'only a…' Mina and Artemis both mouthed the same word, 'radio', to each other. Neither had planed on her parents finding out another way, and Mina planned on telling them herself. She hadn't wanted for her parents to find out from the media, but it looked like she didn't have a choice now. Mina took a deep breath, picked up Artemis, and stepped into the kitchen.
"Mina!" Both her parents exclaimed. Neither had figured on her being down so early on a Sunday, and, if what they were saying on the radio was true, then wouldn't she be in hiding?
"Minako," Mrs. Aino started. "Is it…is it true…what…what they are saying?"
Mina shuttered silently at being called Minako. It was her full name, but it was only now used when she was in big trouble, or when her parents wanted to know something. Mina gathered up her courage. 'If Serena can tell her parents about her past, her future, Darien and Rini, then I can tell my parents that I'm Sailor Venus. I wonder if they'll be able to take Artemis though?' "Yes," she responded, although it was easy to tell that she didn't want to. "I am Sailor Venus."
"No!" Her father said, jumping out of his chair. "That is impossible. You aren't a superhero, you are a boy-crazy teenage girl."
"Show them." Artemis whispered, loud enough only enough for Mina to here. He jumped out of her arms to give her room to transform, and nodded.
"Venus Crystal Power!"
Mr. and Mrs. Aino gasped as their daughter changed from being Mina to Sailor Venus. "I am Sailor Venus, Soldier of Everything Beautiful and Love!" Mina began. "With the power of Venus, I will stop the enemy from destroying our beautiful world and making it theirs!"
"Mina…" her mother began, "how long…how long…"
"Well, I was Sailor V before I was Sailor Venus. I became Sailor V when we were in England, and I was thirteen. It was when I found Artemis. He is the one that gave me the power to become a Sailor Scout…"
"Now *that* is *impossible*! Artemis is only a cat! A stray! He can't give you any powers!"
Artemis, like Luna, was trained to have self-control, but he was a bit, okay, a lot, more impulsive then Luna. And when he heard Mr. Aino call him a stray, he decided to voice his opinion.
"I am not *just* a cat and a stray," he began. Both Mr. and Mrs. Aino gasped. Mina giggled softly. Artemis was always teaching her to have more self-control, and yet he was the one who couldn't keep his big mouth shut. "I am a guardian and advisor. And I most certainly did give her her powers. Who else could? Luna is the only other guardian, and she is the one who gave the other scouts, except for the outers, their powers. I am one of the trainers of the scouts, and I have taught Mina nearly everything she knows. Just a cat, indeed!"
Mina was about to double over laughing, but one look at the fear on her parents faces made her straighten up and set her mouth in firm line. "When we were leaving for England, Artemis found out that the other scouts had met and joined up. All they needed was Venus to complete the inner scouts. We hadn't needed the Venus power before, so Artemis never gave it to me. Before he had given me the much less powerful Sailor V form. But he gave me the Venus power before I met the others. Since then 'Venus power' has become 'Venus Star Power', and now it's the extremely powerful 'Venus Crystal Power'. Of course, my powers are much stronger if combined with those of the other scouts, but that doesn't matter."
"Mina," her father said, much calmer then before. "How can you stand this? How do you deal with having a secret that you never told? Better yet, how did you manage to keep this a secret? You can't keep the fact that you fail a test a secret!"
"The only reason I can stand this is that I have Artemis to talk to, as well as the other scouts. And Artemis has given me enough lectures on keeping my scout life a secret, that's how I managed to keep it a secret. And after a while, it becomes natural, having a part of your life that you can't talk to others about. It isn't a game, our lives depends on this secret. And now that everyone knows…."
"Why didn't tell us before, Mina? We would have understood." Her mother asked.
"I couldn't. Telling you would have meant putting the scouts, especially Serena and Rini, Artemis, Luna, myself, and you in danger. It was just too big of a risk. Someone might have over heard, and it would be just like what is happening now. I don't think you could have understood, or at least been okay with it. Lucky, the fights are becoming rarer, and less difficult. Some of the battles, especially the final ones with that enemy, were so awful that I've tried to forget them. I could barely handle what had happened in that battle when it was over." Mina shuttered, remembering the battle with Galaxia. Both her parents gave each other a look, asking each other silently if they should ask her what had happened. Mrs. Aino looked over at Artemis, silently asking him if he thought they should ask her. Mrs. Aino could tell that Artemis and Mina shared an extremely strong bond, and if anyone knew whether she should be questioned on something or not, it would be him. But Artemis shook his head. It had been hard enough to get Mina to talk to him about it. He remembered her telling him how scared she was, seeing her friends die, dying herself, knowing that Serena, completely alone, would have to defeat Galaxia when no one else could. And since Serena was weakened, the Silver Crystal *would* kill her, and Mina couldn't help her. Finally, the fear that this time, they might have truly failed, and they wouldn't be given a second chance. He didn't want her to have to bring back those memories. Not yet.
"So, Mina," her father said. He saw how sad and scared Mina was becoming. She was obviously remembering a past battle that she didn't like, and despite his curiosity, he couldn't ask her. So he decided to just find out some more information about her being Sailor Venus. "What *exactly* are your powers? You said something about being the soldier of everything beautiful and love? What does that mean?"
For once, Mina was glad to be questioned. It allowed her to focus her mind on something and forget about Galaxia's battle. "Well, my powers differ with each new transformation. Like the rest, my attacks are energy, although the Love Chain is fairly close to a physical attack. My attacks are also mostly made of gold and Venus power. And," Mina faced her parents with a smile and flipped her hair back with one hand, "I am *technically* the Goddess of Love."
"Ohhh, puh-lease!" Artemis muttered under his breath
Mina bent down and picked Artemis up, squeezing him slightly, and made his face face hers. "Say something, *Arty*?"
"Oh, nothing." He replied, shuttering at the *awful* nickname Mina used.
Mr. and Mrs. Aino found themselves silently laughing at the scene in front of them. Mina turned to face them and smiled, then dropped Artemis, and detransformed from Sailor Venus to Mina. Then Mina ran over to wear her parents sat, and gave them both a hug. "I am *so* glad that you guys are okay with this." Her parents both returned the hug; they too were glad that they were okay with this, more or less.
Artemis watched this scene happily. He had heard Mina's silent panicking when they found out about having to tell her parents, and was glad that she was calmer now. Unfortunately, he knew that he would be soon experience the disadvantage of being a talking cat. Neither of Mina's parents wanted to ask Mina any questions that would make her upset, or force her to bring back painful memories. So instead they would ask the only other person that would know. Him. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'A guardian's work is never done.' "Well," Artemis said, speaking loudly enough so that Mina and her parents could here him. "I think that we should all take a look at that newspaper article, as well as see what they are saying about the scouts on the television and radio. We need to know *exactly* what everyone else does. We can't afford a slip and reveal something that we shouldn't. We all must be extremely careful."
"You're right Artemis. I'll watch the T.V. and see what it says." Mina turned towards her parents. "Could you two read the article and listen to the news?" Mina gave them one of her personal favorite looks, one that neither of her parents could say 'no' too.
"Mina, I'm coming with you!" Artemis yelled, running after Mina into the living room. "I'm going to make sure that you stick to the news. There are going to be no music video breaks!"
While her parents were in the kitchen, discussing what they had learned, and what they had heard on the radio and read in the paper, Mina was flipping to all the T.V. stations to see the Sailor Scout News. Oddly enough, it didn't surprise her one bit that almost all the regular shows were canceled. Almost all the channels now showed the news, featuring the Sailor Scouts. And it was extremely hard to watch all the channels, so Mina just went through and picked out her favorites and popped between them. Artemis thought she had picked those because they were the most informative, but, in truth, Mina had picked them because they had the best pictures of them, especially her. And because they had the cutest reporters.
She had been watching the news for a while when her watched beeped. It was quiet enough that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Aino heard it, but Mina and Artemis both did. Mina flipped open the cover to reveal Amy and Serena's faces.
"Hey girls," she said. "What's going on?"
"Are you guys all done explaining too?" Serena said.
Mina noticed that the other girls had also joined the conversation.
"I am already finished." Amy said.
"Ditto." Mina replied.
*****
"Grandpa?" Raye said quietly, opening the back door into the garden. She had seen him go out, and decided to follow him, since she might as well tell him now instead of waiting. Although, he might already know. He is the one who taught her to read fire, or at least to develop her talents. So it *is* possible that he saw her as Sailor Mars, and has just decided to let her tell him. 'That might be why he leaves me alone when I'm with my friends doing a fire reading.'
Raye spotted her grandpa sitting on a bench near the cherry tree. "Grandpa, we need to talk." Raye said, approaching him.
"I know." He responded. He knew what she would be talking about. He had seen it when she was a little girl. They were doing a fire reading, and he saw the image of her as Sailor Mars.
"You…you know? But how? Umm, how much do you know?" Raye was a little surprised, even though part of her expected this.
"I can see the fire too. I have known since you were young what your fate would be. I also knew that I wouldn't need to warn you, for you are a strong fighter and will be all right. But I haven't seen you as a Sailor Scout. So please, show me how you become one. Show me how you become Mars."
Raye smiled. She was glad that her explanation would be a lot easier then Amy, Mina, and Serena's. 'Actually, *everybody's* explanations are easier then Serena's.' Raye held her hand into the air. "Mars Crystal Power!" Raye let that familiar feeling of fire wash over her, and wear Raye once stood, now stood Super Sailor Mars. "I am Sailor Mars, Solider of Fire and Soul! In the name of Mars, I will destroy their evil plot!"
Raye's grandpa smiled. Raye looked so at peace in her Sailor form. And you could almost feel the power radiating from her. "Well, you are defiantly more power then I would have expected. You also appear different then the vision I first saw of you. Why is that?"
"Because this isn't my original form. Originally, my transformation was Mars Power. Later, I was given Mars Star Power. It was the same outfit, but I was ten times more powerful. This is my most recent transformation, even though I was given it a while ago. It's referred to as the 'Super' form. As you might have also guessed, my attacks all deal with fire. I would love to demonstrate, but I would rather not burn down the temple." Both of them laughed at this. Raye handed her grandpa the paper and detransformed. It still didn't feel normal to be transformed while in someone else's presence.
"Well," her grandpa began. "They certainly managed to get plenty of information on you girls, huh? I still have a hard time believing that your friend Serena is the leader. She doesn't seem like the…err…*leader* type."
Raye started laughing. She didn't believe that Serena was the leader type either when they first met. Although Serena had proven herself over the years, Raye still teased her about being to ditzy to be a leader. But both knew that Raye did that only because she wanted Serena to achieve her full potential, and the teasing made her work harder. Raye managed to control her laughing long enough to answer. "I didn't think that she was the leader-type when I became a scout. But she has proven herself."
"Well, I'm sure that she has. It seems that she has grown up quite a bit. Now, your battles, how tough have they been?"
"Why?" she didn't really *want* to tell him. Some of her battles she had been trying to forget. Especially the one with Galaxia. Dying is something that you usually don't want to remember.
"Because I want to know how badly you have been hurt. I need to know. Please, I can take it."
Raye thought about this for a moment. Telling him would mean not only bringing pack painful memories, but also having to tell him them. 'Tell him!' said a little voice inside of her. She knew that she should. So Raye started to sort though memories, trying to decide which to use. "Well, sometimes I loose consciousness, maybe cut up a bit. The worst though…"
"Raye, you can tell me."
"The worst would be dying, or actually, watching my friends die. My death has always been to protect the others, but to see my friends die, and I know I can't do anything. That hurts more then anything ever could…" tears had begun to gather in her eyes, but Raye forced herself not to cry. Now was not the time to act like a child.
"Raye, how many times have you died?" her grandpa had kept the same steady the entire time they were talking. That surprised Raye a bit, but she was thankful, for it made this easier.
"3 times. The first I can't talk about, you will found out one day, when it is needed. The second time was in our battle with Beryl, that evil witch. The third was in our battle with…our battle with Galaxia. That one was the worst. We all nearly lost for good. At least the second time Beryl was defeated before we all died. Serena, with our sprits help, defeated her once and for all. But with Galaxia, all the scouts except Serena were dead, both the inner and outer scouts. And Serena was already weakened so much, she was even dead for a short period of time, but was given a second chance. It is *still* a miracle that we won, and were all brought back from the dead."
"Yes, you girls are very fortunate. It is good to see that I need not worry about you too much. You are very strong and powerful," her grandpa came over to her and hugged her. "and I know that you can protect yourself better then anyone else can."
"Raye!" A voice called in the distance. Raye stood up and turned around. She saw Chad running towards her quickly. 'Oh man,' she thought. 'I didn't want to tell *him* yet! Ohhh, I knew that this was turning out to be too easy.'
"Raye!" Chad shouted again, now only 30 feet away…20 feet…10 feet. Now he was standing right next to her, looking deeply concerned. "Raye…Raye…Raye what's going on?"
"Chad," Raye began, a bit scared, mostly of what he would think. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her Grandpa moving towards the temple, that way Raye could do the explaining. She wasn't sure if she should thank him or call back. She took a deep breath, and gathered her thoughts to explain her being a Sailor Scout. "IwantedtotellyoubutIcouldn'titwouldhavebeentodangerousandIdidn'twantyoutogethurtI*am*sorry."Raye took a deep breath. She had said that as quickly as possible, hoping that it would be okay. One look in his face told Raye that he hadn't understood what she said at all. "Chad, I am *so, so, so* sorry. I should have told you sooner, but I couldn't. It would have been too dangerous, for you and me and the others. Do you understand?" Raye's pleading look made accept the apology in an instant. The truth was, he wasn't expecting an apology; he actually hadn't believed what the article had said. Chad had figured that it had all been a joke, but surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to picture her as Sailor Mars. Using fire as an attack – definitely Raye. One look in her eyes told him that she needed some comforting, obviously she was scared. He pulled her in for a hug, and they just stood there. He could almost feel the fear radiating off her. There seemed to be something else, he could see it in her eyes. Could it be…guilt?
Raye pulled away from him, after having stood there for nearly five minutes. "Chad…do you want to hear the whole story?" She asked the question in almost a whisper, but he heard it loud and clear. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her to the steps of the shrine and sat down.
"Okay," she said, sitting down next to him. "Well, I was the third scout to found by Luna, after Serena and Amy…" She told him everything about her scout life in this life. How she protected Serena (but she said it was only because she was her leader), about the battles she had fought, and all the other tidbits that she thought were relevant.
'Wow,' Chad thought to himself as Raye was finishing, 'I have the coolest girlfriend!' Noticing that Raye was done, he decided to ask something that he had wanted to ask. "So…can I see you transform?"
Raye just smiled, glad that he was being so understanding. She pulled out her transformation pen.
"Mars Crystal Power!" Raye let the fire wash over her for the second time today. "I am Sailor Mars, Solider of Fire and Soul!"
Chad looked speechless. He hadn't expected Raye to look so…hot, both figuratively and literally. The only word he could utter was "Wow."
Raye decided that there wasn't really anything left to discuss, so she detransformed. Her communicator started beeping which got her attention. Chad seemed to understand, even though Raye said nothing, and went inside. Raye headed over to her room to answer the call. She flipped open the watch, and saw Serena's face. She also noticed that all the rest of the girls had joined the conversation as well.
"Hey," Serena said, trying to be cheerful, but obviously scared to death. "Are you guys all done explaining too?"
"I am already finished." Amy said.
"Ditto." Mina replied.
"I'm done." Raye said.
*****
Lita sighed as she closed her communicator. All the other girls were going to tell their families the secret that everyone now knew. 'Where did we go wrong?' Lita thought to herself. 'We covered our tracks, didn't transform or detransform in front of people, and we didn't talk about being scouts in public. So HOW DID THEY FIND OUT?!" Lita leaned against the wall, contemplating this. She had never been so sad or angry before. They were all in danger now, especially Serena, since she was the leader. 'Darien must be worried sick. Darien!' Lita raced across the room to grab the phone. She had completely forgotten to call Darien. 'Please pick up.' She thought to herself.
"Hello?" she heard Darien say.
"Darien, hey. I'm just going to take a guess, you saw the paper, didn't you?" Lita said.
"Of course I saw the paper! And I saw the headline! And the pictures! I must have read that article a hundred times! What happened! How did they find out?!" It didn't take a genius to tell that Darien was panicking.
"Darien *calm down*! We don't know how they found out, but they did. Now we have to live with it. Trust me, none of us like it any better then you do. Especially not Serena. She's scared to death."
"How is she? Is she okay? What is she going to do about this? How's Rini?" Lita sensed that Darien became even more worried when he thought about Rini. 'But,' Lita reminded herself. 'Serena can take care of herself a lot better then Rini can. Rini is just a little girl.'
"As far as we can tell, aside from being scared to death, Serena is fine, and so is Rini. She is in the process of telling her parents *everything*. The other girls are telling their families too, but they are leaving out the Silver Millennium and the Moon Kingdom, and Crystal Tokyo. And we're leaving out the part about you, Darien, except for Serena. As I said, she's telling everything. So you might want to be careful around her father for a while." Both Lita and Darien shared a weak laugh. They had seen Serena's father around Darien on his good days. Now he knew that Serena and Darien's relationship was a lot more serious then he had thought.
"Okay," Darien said, trying to put aside his new fear of what Serena's father would do to him. "So what's our plan?"
"Well, you can't let anyone know about you being Tuxedo Mask. Of course, Serena's family probably knows, but no one else does. And we need to keep you a secret for as long as possible."
"Alright, I agree with that."
"Also, you need to stay away from Serena…"
"NO WAY!!! There is no way that I'm leaving her alone! She needs someone to tell her that everything will be fine! And she needs me now more then ever!"
"Darien, listen to me! Stop yelling, it won't help. Now, you have to stay away from her, at least for today. It's safer that way. We don't need you surrounded by reporters again, and you might let something slip. Don't tell me that you've forgotten about the time that Tuxedo Mask kissed Sailor Moon on TV."
"Hey. In all fairness, we didn't know that the camera was filming us. If we had known, we wouldn't have kissed!"
"Darien, everyone else saw the camera. And we tried to tell you. But both of you had totally forgotten that there was anyone else in existence."
"Well, it had been a tough fight. I was just glad that she was okay and hadn't been hurt."
"Still, they could ask you how you feel about their relationship, and you could let something slip. And it's not like you won't be able to talk to her. You can still talk on the phone. Just don't go to her house. In fact, I encourage you to call her, but wait until tomorrow."
"Alright, I guess I can wait until tomorrow. I do have a few things to take care of. Like calling Andrew. He's is my best friend, so maybe I should explain it."
"Right. And Darien, thanks for being this understanding. I would have expected you to freak out way more."
"Let's just say that I'm too shocked to freak out."
"Okay, and be careful what you say to Andrew. If you want, you can tell him that you're Tuxedo Mask, that's up to you. But the Silver Millennium and Crystal Tokyo…"
"Don't worry Lita. I won't tell him anything that could hurt Serena and Rini. One thing though, and I think that we had better find a way to solve this. What are we going to do if the reporters ask about Rini's parents? They don't exist here. What if they try to find them?"
Lita's face went pale. None of them had ever even considered that. They had always just said that she was Serena's cousin, and no one ever questioned it.
"Lita, it's okay. Listen, I'll think of something. I'll have a lot of free time today anyway. Don't worry. Just remember, worse comes to worse…" Darien paused at these words. He didn't want to say what he was going to say. He loved his little girl, and enjoyed her being here. But if it involved her survival… "we can … always send her home to the future."
Lita decided not to pursue the subject any further. She didn't want to make him anymore scared of what may happen to Serena and Rini. And she knew that Darien would think of a solution to the real-parents-exist-in-future problem.
"So," Darien said, changing the topic. "are you going to call Ken?"
"Ya, I guess I should. Ken and I are close enough that he should here the whole story from me."
"Okay, then I'll call Andrew. And tell Serena and Rini that they can call me anytime they want."
"I will. And Darien, be careful. Talk to you later."
"I'll be careful. Bye."
Lita hung up the phone and sat back in her chair. She wasn't looking forward to having to tell Ken that she had a secret this huge that she had never let him know. Especially when he thought that they both knew everything about each other.
'Come on Lita,' she thought to herself. 'you can do this! Amy is telling her mom, Raye is telling her grandpa and Chad, Mina is telling her parents, Serena is telling her family, so you can tell Ken. He'll understand.'
Lita slowly reached for the phone and dialed Ken's number. 'Be strong, Lita' she thought to herself.
"Hello?" the voice at the other end of the line said.
"Ken, hi. It's Lita. Please, don't hang up; I know you must be mad at me for not telling yo-" Lita was cut off half way through her 'I'm sorry' speech.
"Lita, Lita, calm down. I'm not mad. I well, kind of, knew that you were Sailor Jupiter."
"WHAT!?!?!?!?! HOW!?!?!"
"Well, I saw footage of a fight, and noticed that the way Sailor Jupiter moved was similar to how you move. The physical fighting was the same style that you used. So, I just started gathering information on Sailor Jupiter, and when you had to leave early, I would watch the news for information on a fight. I also noticed that you were very nervous and overly defensive whenever there were reports of a powerful enemy fighting the Scouts. The newspaper article proved it."
Lita was speechless. She had never, ever, ever expected Ken to have already figured out that she was Jupiter before she told him. And she hadn't expected him to be so…calm. In fact, she was so in shock that she barely even noticed that Ken had started talking again.
"Lita, are you still there?" Ken was becoming concerned.
"Huh? What? Oh, yes, I'm still here."
"Are you okay?" Ken could tell that Lita was scared, and he knew that she must be *really* scared. Because Lita never let her fear show otherwise.
"I'm okay. Just a little…nervous" 'I won't say scared' she thought to herself.
"Alright, and Lita,"
"Yes"
"Remember, I will *always* be hear for you. For ever and a day."
"Thank you, Ken. And I *will* come to you."
Lita sighed. She didn't want this conversation to end. She didn't want to face the crowds of screaming fans. The reporters, trying to get the best story. And the faces of the rest of the girls, as they have to face the fact that their carefully kept secret was now known.
"Lita, you need to do some damage control now, right?"
She sighed again. "Right."
"So, maybe…we should talk more later?"
"Ya," she said, rather slowly "I guess. I promise to call you as soon as I possibly can."
"And I promise to do my best to be home when you make that call."
Lita smiled. As long as she has Ken for support, everything will be okay. "I love you."
"I love you too, Lita."
"Bye" she whispered.
"Bye" he whispered back.
She hung up the phone and walked over to her kitchen counter. She had started to worry again. Without noticing, she put a pot of water onto boil. She didn't even realize that she had gotten out the teabags, put one in the cup, and poured the boiling water onto it. In fact, it was fifteen minutes, when she was sitting on a stool with a cup of tea in front of her, that she realized that she had made it. She had even put away the kettle. 'Great, now I can cook without thinking.' Lita thought sarcastically.
A beeping pulled her out of her thoughts. She reached towards her communicator and flipped open the top.
"Hey girls," she said. "What's going on?"
"Are you guys all done explaining too?" Serena said.
Lita noticed all the other inner scouts were there as well.
"I am already finished." Amy said.
"Ditto." Mina replied.
"I'm done." Raye said.
"Me too." Lita responded. "I talked to Darien. He is pretty scared, but he agreed to be careful about what he says. We can't let anyone know that he is Tuxedo Mask. I don't know about you guys, but I think that he should be kept secret for as long as possible."
"I agree." Amy answered.
The other girls agreed as well, and they all knew that this meant that Darien and Serena shouldn't see each other for a while. Even Serena had realized this, and it was easy to tell, because she sounded rather upset when she agreed.
"So," Mina said, deciding to lighten the situation. "How'd your parents take it, Serena?"
The other girls smiled. They had been waiting for this.
"Well, Daddy wasn't *too* happy about how Darien fit into it." The girls all laughed. "But I can look on the bright side, now Daddy won't kill Darien when he sees us on a date. He *really* doesn't want to see Rini upset again."
All the girls laughed, except Serena. She slightly chuckled, but it wasn't a real laugh. She had seen Rini's tears. It wasn't very calming.
"Okay," Lita said, deciding that time was precious and they should get down to business. "We need to do some damage control."
"Right." Raye said. "Serena, does Rini know if the Scouts were revealed like this?"
"She didn't know." Serena answered. "But we sent a letter to Serenity and Endymion, asking if this is what happened to them."
"Good plan, Meatball Head. It's about time you started using your brain." Raye said. She knew she needed to lighten the mood.
"Raye! Stop teasing me!" Serena tried to sound as angry as possible, but really she was glad. She needed something to laugh about right now.
"So, what should we do until we get a response?" asked Amy.
"Well," Luna said, her face appearing on the screen, "it isn't safe for any of you girls to be on your own. Serena and Rini are safe together, but you girls are alone. Especially you, Lita, and you, Amy. You two are alone most of the time, and therefore, are in more danger. So I think that maybe you should…" Luna paused. She decided to let the other girls, mostly Mina and Serena, figure out what she was trying to say. Amy was the first to respond.
"I get what you're trying to say Luna." Amy said. "The reporters can get at Lita and I easier because we are usually alone."
"Right." Said Luna. "So maybe you girls should pair up."
"I agree with Luna." Raye said. "in fact, even me and Mina aren't *exactly* safe. We may live with our families, but we aren't protected. The reporters could probably get through Chad, Grandpa, and Mina's parents easily. It's safer if we have another scout with us, that way each of us have a *bodyguard*."
"That's a good idea, Raye." Lita stated. "So who stays with who?"
"Well," Artemis said, speaking for Mina. "Mina can take someone. One of her parents are usually home, so you won't be alone. Raye, I think that you could probably take someone too, right?"
"Right," Raye said. "What about you Ames?"
"Well, I should stay with someone." She said. "My mom will be working this week, so I'll be alone a lot. And anyways, I would be staying with someone anyway. Mina and Raye are the safest to stay with, so naturally, Lita and I would be the ones to stay with someone else."
"Okay," Luna said, trying to hurry along the conversation. "Who wants to stay with whom?"
"Well, I live closer to Raye then Mina, so I should stay with her." Lita said.
"Perfect, can't wait for you to get here."
"Okay, then I'll stay with Mina." Said Amy. "We live pretty close anyhow, so it all works out."
"Fine with me." Mina said happily. She was looking forward to *finally* having someone around who was her own age. Her parents and Artemis were okay, but it wasn't the same. They didn't understand sixteen-year-old girls.
"Great," Serena said, taking over her communicator again. "You guys should go soon. But first, I need to ask you something. Did you guys talk about who the outer scouts are?"
All the girls said 'no'. They had all decided not to for the same reason. As long as the Outers were a secret, they should stay a secret.
"Alright," Serena said, taking over her communicator again. "You guys should go now. The crowds are probably going to be getting pretty bad soon, so you'll need to move fast. And I'll call you as soon as we get the letter. Okay."
"Okay." Mina said.
"Agreed." Amy responded.
"Fine with me." Said Lita.
"Just don't forget, Meatball head."
"Raye…" Serena started to say, but she stopped when she noticed that Raye had already left. The other girls had left as well, trying to avoid the argument. Serena sighed and closed her communicator.
Turning to Luna, she said, "it's impossible for me to have a normal life, isn't it?"
Luna nodded. She knew that this must be hard for Serena. She already had to deal with so much, but now she wouldn't even be able to pretend her life was normal.
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So, another whole chapter done! Woohoo! I can't wait to finish this story so that I can do the next one. It'll be much better. Thankz for reading this! Oh, and if anyone knows where I can download the Japenese sub-titled epsidoes, PLEASE tell me. I really want to see them. Thankz.
Oh, people, I need help! I'm trying to find a place to download the subtitled Japenese Sailor Moon episodes, but i can't find any places:( If you know of any, please tell me. Thankz:)
Oh, and I keep forgeting to put in the disclaimer, so for this story, the one in the prologue applies everywhere.
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"Mom?" Amy said, looking into the kitchen.
"Good morning, sweetheart." Her mother said appearing behind her. Amy turned around and greeted her with what looked like a fake smile. She noticed that Amy's expression was a fairly surprised and worried one. Ms. Mizuno assumed though that Amy was just surprised to see her mother getting up so late. She figured that she should give an explanation. "You know, it's been awhile since I had Sunday off. It's kind of nice."
Amy seemed a little more relieved, but that worried look stayed on her face. Ms. Mizuno started to feel worried herself. She had seen Amy worried before, but usually she would be right now running out to see her friends. Or Amy would have already talked to her. She had been fine last night. Now, she looked almost like the fate of the world was on her shoulders. And why was she holding…the paper? "Amy, honey, what's the matter?"
Amy gathered up all the strength she had. 'Why should I be so scared now?' she thought. 'I have faced worse. I've looked death in the face many times; I have even died before. My mother is a very understanding woman, I'm sure that she will understand why I waited to tell her. Ohhh, I wish I had a guardian like Luna or Artemis.' "Mom, we need to talk. Can we sit down?"
Ms. Mizuno became very concerned. Amy voice contained so much fear that she herself became afraid just listening to Amy speak. She knew that what Amy was about to say was extremely important, and now, more then ever, she would probably need to be open-minded.
Amy led her mother to the kitchen table, and sat down. Her mother followed her and sat down at the seat on the opposite side of the table.
"Mom," Amy began. "To be perfectly honest, I never wanted to have to tell you this. Or if I did decide to, I would rather it have been of my own free will. But circumstances beyond my control have forced me to have to tell you. Please, don't be mad. I'll understand if you are upset about me not telling you sooner, but doing so would have put all of my friends and I in considerable danger, mush like we are in now." Amy paused, not sure if she wanted to continue. She looked up into her mother's eyes and saw that they were filled with worry. Amy realized that her mother wouldn't be mad at her, maybe even more worried, but not mad. "Mom, I am Sailor Mercury."
"Honey…what do you mean?" Surely her daughter was joking. The Sailor Scouts were just a myth, a story that people would tell.
Amy passed the newspaper article over to her mother. Ms. Mizuno began to read, and became more shocked then she had ever been in her whole life. She thought that she knew every thing about her daughter, something this important, Amy couldn't hide from her, could she? "Amy, is this…" Ms. Mizuno began, but she wasn't able to finish. What she saw before her shocked her to her very core.
While her mother was reading, Amy decided that she should prove to her mother what they were saying was true. She silently transformed, so that it could be a bit of a surprise. She saw how her mother looked, and recognized that expression quickly. It was the same look that she had on her face after she found out that she was Sailor Mercury. She decided that a bit of an introduction was in order. "I am Sailor Mercury, Solider of Wisdom and Ice! I vow to protect this world with all my power!"
"Amy," Ms. Mizuno began. "Are you…are you really…"
"Yes mom, I am."
"H-How?"
"Fate. I was predestined to be Sailor Mercury, so I am. I cannot turn my back on this, for I have seen what can happen if the scouts lose. We need all the strength we can get, so I don't dare ever desert the scouts. This is my duty, to protect this world." Her mother appeared to have relaxed a bit, so Amy felt a little bit calmer. "Mom, I *am* sorry that I had to keep this a secret from you, but I *do* hope that you can understand. I had to. Telling you would not only put you in danger, but the others as well."
"Amy, I…I…I have never been more proud of you then I am right now, as well as I am starting to understand a few things. Like why you didn't go to study in Germany."
"I couldn't." Amy said with a smile. "We were just starting a new battle with a new enemy, and leaving would have meant allowing the scouts to lose. In fact, by the time I decided not to go, the scouts had nearly lost. We need the powers from all of us to defeat the enemy, besides, without me, they would have no clue how to escape sometimes." Amy almost started laughing. She remembered what Raye had said after Amy decided not to leave – 'Amy, it's a good thing that you're back. Serena was actually expected to think and plan how to win the battles. If you hadn't come, I think that we would have been in that battle forever.'
"So, Amy, how do you help them in a way none of the others can?"
"Well, besides the fact that I control ice, which is a very powerful defense, I have this," Amy made her visor appear. "and this." Amy took out her mini computer. "Now, my visor allows me to see things that no one else can. I can see through buildings, and tell if a monster is disguising it's self as an object or person. I can also do some simple calculations, but not good ones. The harder ones are done on my mini computer. It'll hook up to my visor to allow me to use all that my visor is capable of. This computer, despite it's size, can do more then even the most powerful computer on Earth. I can do calculations that would take even the smartest mathematician weeks to do in only a few minutes at the most. This little computer is usually what decides whether we win on lose."
'So…where can I buy one of these computers?" Both Amy and her mother started laughing. Amy became completely relaxed. She had been worried that her mother would over-react, maybe even force her to leave the scouts. Or not believe her. It was nice to see that her mother could handle this, even though she hadn't been told everything. Amy decided then to detransform. It felt a bit weird being Sailor Mercury while in plan view of her mother anyway.
"So," her mother said, starting her long list of questions again. "How long have you been a scout? Do you really like being a scout? Have you ever been hurt? If so, how badly? What about the other girls? And what is it that you aren't telling me?" Ms. Mizuno didn't expect an answer from the last question, but she knew that she had to at least ask.
"Okay, I have been a scout since I was 14" 'actually longer' she thought. 'But I won't tell her about that.' "I really do enjoy being a scout, sometimes. But every now and then I wish that I was just a normal teenage girl. I have been hurt before, but I won't tell you how badly. I don't think that you could deal with that. The other girls have been hurt just as badly, and Serena has been hurt worse. And what I am not telling you is important, but I won't tell you until you need to find out. It would put Serena in way too much danger." Amy face was firm when she finished. She was defiantly not going to tell her mother about the past.
"Amy, please, I can handle it. I am a doctor. How…badly…have…you…been…hurt?" Her mother's face showed that she could take it, although secretly she was thinking 'it can't have been too bad, since Amy seems okay, and she's right in front of me."
"I…I…I have died. That's the worst that I have been hurt physically. Watching my friends die, or surrender themselves to protect us, hurts even more."
"But…But Amy, that isn't possible. You can't have died. You seem fine, and you are sitting right here, in front of me. If you were dead, you wouldn't be here."
"Mom, Serena has an extremely powerful crystal called the Empirium Silver Crystal. I think that it is responsible for keeping us from dieing forever. I think that the Silver Crystal, combined with Serena's powers, is what brings us back from the dead."
"How…how many…"
"3 times, I think, but I have been near dead a few times as well."
"And you said Serena has been hurt worse? Is that even possible?"
"She has died as many times as us, I think. Maybe more, maybe less. We all prefer to forget those memories. What has hurt her more is seeing us die, trying to protect her. Or seeing us, especially Tuxedo Mask and Rini, being hurt when there is nothing that she can do. I can't tell you why we have to protect her though, and if you are trying to guess, I can tell you that you will never figure out. Even us scouts didn't know until it happened. Serena isn't just Sailor Moon; she is someone else as well. And we must protect that person."
"Amy…"
"I love you too, Mom. And I promise that I will always do my best to be careful."
Amy moved over to wear her mother was sitting to give her a hug. When they broke apart, Ms. Mizuno decided to ask a question that she was dieing to ask. "Can we take a look at that super computer?"
Amy laughed a bit, and then reached into her space pocket to take it out. She flipped it open and began showing her mother all it could do. They were intently examining one of the programs when Amy's watch started beeping. She flipped open the cover to reveal Serena's face. Ms. Mizuno looked curiously at the watch, but decided to ask about it later. "Serena, what is it? What happened?"
"Everything's fine Ames. I just wanted to know if you had finished explaining?"
"Almost, just a second."
Amy had completely forgetting someone that she should tell, even though he already knew. She ran to her computer, and typed in a few simple words. All that the message read was 'They know.' She knew that he would understand. He would have seen this coming.
"Okay, done. Just had to tell someone else."
"Good then I'll get the other girls." Serena pressed the button on her communicator to get the others. "Are you guys all done explaining too?"
*****
Mina crept down the stairs to the kitchen with Artemis on her heals. She didn't totally want to face her parents, since she doubted that they would understand. At least she had Artemis to help her.
As she neared the kitchen, she heard the sound of people talking, except they weren't her parents. Mina and Artemis both tried to detect what the voices were saying. Then they heard the voice say "…how long the Sailor Scouts planned to keep this a secret". Both became more panicked then they already were, if that was even possible. Mina was holding the newspaper. 'So how else could they know? We don't have a T.V. in the kitchen' she thought 'only a…' Mina and Artemis both mouthed the same word, 'radio', to each other. Neither had planed on her parents finding out another way, and Mina planned on telling them herself. She hadn't wanted for her parents to find out from the media, but it looked like she didn't have a choice now. Mina took a deep breath, picked up Artemis, and stepped into the kitchen.
"Mina!" Both her parents exclaimed. Neither had figured on her being down so early on a Sunday, and, if what they were saying on the radio was true, then wouldn't she be in hiding?
"Minako," Mrs. Aino started. "Is it…is it true…what…what they are saying?"
Mina shuttered silently at being called Minako. It was her full name, but it was only now used when she was in big trouble, or when her parents wanted to know something. Mina gathered up her courage. 'If Serena can tell her parents about her past, her future, Darien and Rini, then I can tell my parents that I'm Sailor Venus. I wonder if they'll be able to take Artemis though?' "Yes," she responded, although it was easy to tell that she didn't want to. "I am Sailor Venus."
"No!" Her father said, jumping out of his chair. "That is impossible. You aren't a superhero, you are a boy-crazy teenage girl."
"Show them." Artemis whispered, loud enough only enough for Mina to here. He jumped out of her arms to give her room to transform, and nodded.
"Venus Crystal Power!"
Mr. and Mrs. Aino gasped as their daughter changed from being Mina to Sailor Venus. "I am Sailor Venus, Soldier of Everything Beautiful and Love!" Mina began. "With the power of Venus, I will stop the enemy from destroying our beautiful world and making it theirs!"
"Mina…" her mother began, "how long…how long…"
"Well, I was Sailor V before I was Sailor Venus. I became Sailor V when we were in England, and I was thirteen. It was when I found Artemis. He is the one that gave me the power to become a Sailor Scout…"
"Now *that* is *impossible*! Artemis is only a cat! A stray! He can't give you any powers!"
Artemis, like Luna, was trained to have self-control, but he was a bit, okay, a lot, more impulsive then Luna. And when he heard Mr. Aino call him a stray, he decided to voice his opinion.
"I am not *just* a cat and a stray," he began. Both Mr. and Mrs. Aino gasped. Mina giggled softly. Artemis was always teaching her to have more self-control, and yet he was the one who couldn't keep his big mouth shut. "I am a guardian and advisor. And I most certainly did give her her powers. Who else could? Luna is the only other guardian, and she is the one who gave the other scouts, except for the outers, their powers. I am one of the trainers of the scouts, and I have taught Mina nearly everything she knows. Just a cat, indeed!"
Mina was about to double over laughing, but one look at the fear on her parents faces made her straighten up and set her mouth in firm line. "When we were leaving for England, Artemis found out that the other scouts had met and joined up. All they needed was Venus to complete the inner scouts. We hadn't needed the Venus power before, so Artemis never gave it to me. Before he had given me the much less powerful Sailor V form. But he gave me the Venus power before I met the others. Since then 'Venus power' has become 'Venus Star Power', and now it's the extremely powerful 'Venus Crystal Power'. Of course, my powers are much stronger if combined with those of the other scouts, but that doesn't matter."
"Mina," her father said, much calmer then before. "How can you stand this? How do you deal with having a secret that you never told? Better yet, how did you manage to keep this a secret? You can't keep the fact that you fail a test a secret!"
"The only reason I can stand this is that I have Artemis to talk to, as well as the other scouts. And Artemis has given me enough lectures on keeping my scout life a secret, that's how I managed to keep it a secret. And after a while, it becomes natural, having a part of your life that you can't talk to others about. It isn't a game, our lives depends on this secret. And now that everyone knows…."
"Why didn't tell us before, Mina? We would have understood." Her mother asked.
"I couldn't. Telling you would have meant putting the scouts, especially Serena and Rini, Artemis, Luna, myself, and you in danger. It was just too big of a risk. Someone might have over heard, and it would be just like what is happening now. I don't think you could have understood, or at least been okay with it. Lucky, the fights are becoming rarer, and less difficult. Some of the battles, especially the final ones with that enemy, were so awful that I've tried to forget them. I could barely handle what had happened in that battle when it was over." Mina shuttered, remembering the battle with Galaxia. Both her parents gave each other a look, asking each other silently if they should ask her what had happened. Mrs. Aino looked over at Artemis, silently asking him if he thought they should ask her. Mrs. Aino could tell that Artemis and Mina shared an extremely strong bond, and if anyone knew whether she should be questioned on something or not, it would be him. But Artemis shook his head. It had been hard enough to get Mina to talk to him about it. He remembered her telling him how scared she was, seeing her friends die, dying herself, knowing that Serena, completely alone, would have to defeat Galaxia when no one else could. And since Serena was weakened, the Silver Crystal *would* kill her, and Mina couldn't help her. Finally, the fear that this time, they might have truly failed, and they wouldn't be given a second chance. He didn't want her to have to bring back those memories. Not yet.
"So, Mina," her father said. He saw how sad and scared Mina was becoming. She was obviously remembering a past battle that she didn't like, and despite his curiosity, he couldn't ask her. So he decided to just find out some more information about her being Sailor Venus. "What *exactly* are your powers? You said something about being the soldier of everything beautiful and love? What does that mean?"
For once, Mina was glad to be questioned. It allowed her to focus her mind on something and forget about Galaxia's battle. "Well, my powers differ with each new transformation. Like the rest, my attacks are energy, although the Love Chain is fairly close to a physical attack. My attacks are also mostly made of gold and Venus power. And," Mina faced her parents with a smile and flipped her hair back with one hand, "I am *technically* the Goddess of Love."
"Ohhh, puh-lease!" Artemis muttered under his breath
Mina bent down and picked Artemis up, squeezing him slightly, and made his face face hers. "Say something, *Arty*?"
"Oh, nothing." He replied, shuttering at the *awful* nickname Mina used.
Mr. and Mrs. Aino found themselves silently laughing at the scene in front of them. Mina turned to face them and smiled, then dropped Artemis, and detransformed from Sailor Venus to Mina. Then Mina ran over to wear her parents sat, and gave them both a hug. "I am *so* glad that you guys are okay with this." Her parents both returned the hug; they too were glad that they were okay with this, more or less.
Artemis watched this scene happily. He had heard Mina's silent panicking when they found out about having to tell her parents, and was glad that she was calmer now. Unfortunately, he knew that he would be soon experience the disadvantage of being a talking cat. Neither of Mina's parents wanted to ask Mina any questions that would make her upset, or force her to bring back painful memories. So instead they would ask the only other person that would know. Him. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'A guardian's work is never done.' "Well," Artemis said, speaking loudly enough so that Mina and her parents could here him. "I think that we should all take a look at that newspaper article, as well as see what they are saying about the scouts on the television and radio. We need to know *exactly* what everyone else does. We can't afford a slip and reveal something that we shouldn't. We all must be extremely careful."
"You're right Artemis. I'll watch the T.V. and see what it says." Mina turned towards her parents. "Could you two read the article and listen to the news?" Mina gave them one of her personal favorite looks, one that neither of her parents could say 'no' too.
"Mina, I'm coming with you!" Artemis yelled, running after Mina into the living room. "I'm going to make sure that you stick to the news. There are going to be no music video breaks!"
While her parents were in the kitchen, discussing what they had learned, and what they had heard on the radio and read in the paper, Mina was flipping to all the T.V. stations to see the Sailor Scout News. Oddly enough, it didn't surprise her one bit that almost all the regular shows were canceled. Almost all the channels now showed the news, featuring the Sailor Scouts. And it was extremely hard to watch all the channels, so Mina just went through and picked out her favorites and popped between them. Artemis thought she had picked those because they were the most informative, but, in truth, Mina had picked them because they had the best pictures of them, especially her. And because they had the cutest reporters.
She had been watching the news for a while when her watched beeped. It was quiet enough that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Aino heard it, but Mina and Artemis both did. Mina flipped open the cover to reveal Amy and Serena's faces.
"Hey girls," she said. "What's going on?"
"Are you guys all done explaining too?" Serena said.
Mina noticed that the other girls had also joined the conversation.
"I am already finished." Amy said.
"Ditto." Mina replied.
*****
"Grandpa?" Raye said quietly, opening the back door into the garden. She had seen him go out, and decided to follow him, since she might as well tell him now instead of waiting. Although, he might already know. He is the one who taught her to read fire, or at least to develop her talents. So it *is* possible that he saw her as Sailor Mars, and has just decided to let her tell him. 'That might be why he leaves me alone when I'm with my friends doing a fire reading.'
Raye spotted her grandpa sitting on a bench near the cherry tree. "Grandpa, we need to talk." Raye said, approaching him.
"I know." He responded. He knew what she would be talking about. He had seen it when she was a little girl. They were doing a fire reading, and he saw the image of her as Sailor Mars.
"You…you know? But how? Umm, how much do you know?" Raye was a little surprised, even though part of her expected this.
"I can see the fire too. I have known since you were young what your fate would be. I also knew that I wouldn't need to warn you, for you are a strong fighter and will be all right. But I haven't seen you as a Sailor Scout. So please, show me how you become one. Show me how you become Mars."
Raye smiled. She was glad that her explanation would be a lot easier then Amy, Mina, and Serena's. 'Actually, *everybody's* explanations are easier then Serena's.' Raye held her hand into the air. "Mars Crystal Power!" Raye let that familiar feeling of fire wash over her, and wear Raye once stood, now stood Super Sailor Mars. "I am Sailor Mars, Solider of Fire and Soul! In the name of Mars, I will destroy their evil plot!"
Raye's grandpa smiled. Raye looked so at peace in her Sailor form. And you could almost feel the power radiating from her. "Well, you are defiantly more power then I would have expected. You also appear different then the vision I first saw of you. Why is that?"
"Because this isn't my original form. Originally, my transformation was Mars Power. Later, I was given Mars Star Power. It was the same outfit, but I was ten times more powerful. This is my most recent transformation, even though I was given it a while ago. It's referred to as the 'Super' form. As you might have also guessed, my attacks all deal with fire. I would love to demonstrate, but I would rather not burn down the temple." Both of them laughed at this. Raye handed her grandpa the paper and detransformed. It still didn't feel normal to be transformed while in someone else's presence.
"Well," her grandpa began. "They certainly managed to get plenty of information on you girls, huh? I still have a hard time believing that your friend Serena is the leader. She doesn't seem like the…err…*leader* type."
Raye started laughing. She didn't believe that Serena was the leader type either when they first met. Although Serena had proven herself over the years, Raye still teased her about being to ditzy to be a leader. But both knew that Raye did that only because she wanted Serena to achieve her full potential, and the teasing made her work harder. Raye managed to control her laughing long enough to answer. "I didn't think that she was the leader-type when I became a scout. But she has proven herself."
"Well, I'm sure that she has. It seems that she has grown up quite a bit. Now, your battles, how tough have they been?"
"Why?" she didn't really *want* to tell him. Some of her battles she had been trying to forget. Especially the one with Galaxia. Dying is something that you usually don't want to remember.
"Because I want to know how badly you have been hurt. I need to know. Please, I can take it."
Raye thought about this for a moment. Telling him would mean not only bringing pack painful memories, but also having to tell him them. 'Tell him!' said a little voice inside of her. She knew that she should. So Raye started to sort though memories, trying to decide which to use. "Well, sometimes I loose consciousness, maybe cut up a bit. The worst though…"
"Raye, you can tell me."
"The worst would be dying, or actually, watching my friends die. My death has always been to protect the others, but to see my friends die, and I know I can't do anything. That hurts more then anything ever could…" tears had begun to gather in her eyes, but Raye forced herself not to cry. Now was not the time to act like a child.
"Raye, how many times have you died?" her grandpa had kept the same steady the entire time they were talking. That surprised Raye a bit, but she was thankful, for it made this easier.
"3 times. The first I can't talk about, you will found out one day, when it is needed. The second time was in our battle with Beryl, that evil witch. The third was in our battle with…our battle with Galaxia. That one was the worst. We all nearly lost for good. At least the second time Beryl was defeated before we all died. Serena, with our sprits help, defeated her once and for all. But with Galaxia, all the scouts except Serena were dead, both the inner and outer scouts. And Serena was already weakened so much, she was even dead for a short period of time, but was given a second chance. It is *still* a miracle that we won, and were all brought back from the dead."
"Yes, you girls are very fortunate. It is good to see that I need not worry about you too much. You are very strong and powerful," her grandpa came over to her and hugged her. "and I know that you can protect yourself better then anyone else can."
"Raye!" A voice called in the distance. Raye stood up and turned around. She saw Chad running towards her quickly. 'Oh man,' she thought. 'I didn't want to tell *him* yet! Ohhh, I knew that this was turning out to be too easy.'
"Raye!" Chad shouted again, now only 30 feet away…20 feet…10 feet. Now he was standing right next to her, looking deeply concerned. "Raye…Raye…Raye what's going on?"
"Chad," Raye began, a bit scared, mostly of what he would think. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her Grandpa moving towards the temple, that way Raye could do the explaining. She wasn't sure if she should thank him or call back. She took a deep breath, and gathered her thoughts to explain her being a Sailor Scout. "IwantedtotellyoubutIcouldn'titwouldhavebeentodangerousandIdidn'twantyoutogethurtI*am*sorry."Raye took a deep breath. She had said that as quickly as possible, hoping that it would be okay. One look in his face told Raye that he hadn't understood what she said at all. "Chad, I am *so, so, so* sorry. I should have told you sooner, but I couldn't. It would have been too dangerous, for you and me and the others. Do you understand?" Raye's pleading look made accept the apology in an instant. The truth was, he wasn't expecting an apology; he actually hadn't believed what the article had said. Chad had figured that it had all been a joke, but surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to picture her as Sailor Mars. Using fire as an attack – definitely Raye. One look in her eyes told him that she needed some comforting, obviously she was scared. He pulled her in for a hug, and they just stood there. He could almost feel the fear radiating off her. There seemed to be something else, he could see it in her eyes. Could it be…guilt?
Raye pulled away from him, after having stood there for nearly five minutes. "Chad…do you want to hear the whole story?" She asked the question in almost a whisper, but he heard it loud and clear. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her to the steps of the shrine and sat down.
"Okay," she said, sitting down next to him. "Well, I was the third scout to found by Luna, after Serena and Amy…" She told him everything about her scout life in this life. How she protected Serena (but she said it was only because she was her leader), about the battles she had fought, and all the other tidbits that she thought were relevant.
'Wow,' Chad thought to himself as Raye was finishing, 'I have the coolest girlfriend!' Noticing that Raye was done, he decided to ask something that he had wanted to ask. "So…can I see you transform?"
Raye just smiled, glad that he was being so understanding. She pulled out her transformation pen.
"Mars Crystal Power!" Raye let the fire wash over her for the second time today. "I am Sailor Mars, Solider of Fire and Soul!"
Chad looked speechless. He hadn't expected Raye to look so…hot, both figuratively and literally. The only word he could utter was "Wow."
Raye decided that there wasn't really anything left to discuss, so she detransformed. Her communicator started beeping which got her attention. Chad seemed to understand, even though Raye said nothing, and went inside. Raye headed over to her room to answer the call. She flipped open the watch, and saw Serena's face. She also noticed that all the rest of the girls had joined the conversation as well.
"Hey," Serena said, trying to be cheerful, but obviously scared to death. "Are you guys all done explaining too?"
"I am already finished." Amy said.
"Ditto." Mina replied.
"I'm done." Raye said.
*****
Lita sighed as she closed her communicator. All the other girls were going to tell their families the secret that everyone now knew. 'Where did we go wrong?' Lita thought to herself. 'We covered our tracks, didn't transform or detransform in front of people, and we didn't talk about being scouts in public. So HOW DID THEY FIND OUT?!" Lita leaned against the wall, contemplating this. She had never been so sad or angry before. They were all in danger now, especially Serena, since she was the leader. 'Darien must be worried sick. Darien!' Lita raced across the room to grab the phone. She had completely forgotten to call Darien. 'Please pick up.' She thought to herself.
"Hello?" she heard Darien say.
"Darien, hey. I'm just going to take a guess, you saw the paper, didn't you?" Lita said.
"Of course I saw the paper! And I saw the headline! And the pictures! I must have read that article a hundred times! What happened! How did they find out?!" It didn't take a genius to tell that Darien was panicking.
"Darien *calm down*! We don't know how they found out, but they did. Now we have to live with it. Trust me, none of us like it any better then you do. Especially not Serena. She's scared to death."
"How is she? Is she okay? What is she going to do about this? How's Rini?" Lita sensed that Darien became even more worried when he thought about Rini. 'But,' Lita reminded herself. 'Serena can take care of herself a lot better then Rini can. Rini is just a little girl.'
"As far as we can tell, aside from being scared to death, Serena is fine, and so is Rini. She is in the process of telling her parents *everything*. The other girls are telling their families too, but they are leaving out the Silver Millennium and the Moon Kingdom, and Crystal Tokyo. And we're leaving out the part about you, Darien, except for Serena. As I said, she's telling everything. So you might want to be careful around her father for a while." Both Lita and Darien shared a weak laugh. They had seen Serena's father around Darien on his good days. Now he knew that Serena and Darien's relationship was a lot more serious then he had thought.
"Okay," Darien said, trying to put aside his new fear of what Serena's father would do to him. "So what's our plan?"
"Well, you can't let anyone know about you being Tuxedo Mask. Of course, Serena's family probably knows, but no one else does. And we need to keep you a secret for as long as possible."
"Alright, I agree with that."
"Also, you need to stay away from Serena…"
"NO WAY!!! There is no way that I'm leaving her alone! She needs someone to tell her that everything will be fine! And she needs me now more then ever!"
"Darien, listen to me! Stop yelling, it won't help. Now, you have to stay away from her, at least for today. It's safer that way. We don't need you surrounded by reporters again, and you might let something slip. Don't tell me that you've forgotten about the time that Tuxedo Mask kissed Sailor Moon on TV."
"Hey. In all fairness, we didn't know that the camera was filming us. If we had known, we wouldn't have kissed!"
"Darien, everyone else saw the camera. And we tried to tell you. But both of you had totally forgotten that there was anyone else in existence."
"Well, it had been a tough fight. I was just glad that she was okay and hadn't been hurt."
"Still, they could ask you how you feel about their relationship, and you could let something slip. And it's not like you won't be able to talk to her. You can still talk on the phone. Just don't go to her house. In fact, I encourage you to call her, but wait until tomorrow."
"Alright, I guess I can wait until tomorrow. I do have a few things to take care of. Like calling Andrew. He's is my best friend, so maybe I should explain it."
"Right. And Darien, thanks for being this understanding. I would have expected you to freak out way more."
"Let's just say that I'm too shocked to freak out."
"Okay, and be careful what you say to Andrew. If you want, you can tell him that you're Tuxedo Mask, that's up to you. But the Silver Millennium and Crystal Tokyo…"
"Don't worry Lita. I won't tell him anything that could hurt Serena and Rini. One thing though, and I think that we had better find a way to solve this. What are we going to do if the reporters ask about Rini's parents? They don't exist here. What if they try to find them?"
Lita's face went pale. None of them had ever even considered that. They had always just said that she was Serena's cousin, and no one ever questioned it.
"Lita, it's okay. Listen, I'll think of something. I'll have a lot of free time today anyway. Don't worry. Just remember, worse comes to worse…" Darien paused at these words. He didn't want to say what he was going to say. He loved his little girl, and enjoyed her being here. But if it involved her survival… "we can … always send her home to the future."
Lita decided not to pursue the subject any further. She didn't want to make him anymore scared of what may happen to Serena and Rini. And she knew that Darien would think of a solution to the real-parents-exist-in-future problem.
"So," Darien said, changing the topic. "are you going to call Ken?"
"Ya, I guess I should. Ken and I are close enough that he should here the whole story from me."
"Okay, then I'll call Andrew. And tell Serena and Rini that they can call me anytime they want."
"I will. And Darien, be careful. Talk to you later."
"I'll be careful. Bye."
Lita hung up the phone and sat back in her chair. She wasn't looking forward to having to tell Ken that she had a secret this huge that she had never let him know. Especially when he thought that they both knew everything about each other.
'Come on Lita,' she thought to herself. 'you can do this! Amy is telling her mom, Raye is telling her grandpa and Chad, Mina is telling her parents, Serena is telling her family, so you can tell Ken. He'll understand.'
Lita slowly reached for the phone and dialed Ken's number. 'Be strong, Lita' she thought to herself.
"Hello?" the voice at the other end of the line said.
"Ken, hi. It's Lita. Please, don't hang up; I know you must be mad at me for not telling yo-" Lita was cut off half way through her 'I'm sorry' speech.
"Lita, Lita, calm down. I'm not mad. I well, kind of, knew that you were Sailor Jupiter."
"WHAT!?!?!?!?! HOW!?!?!"
"Well, I saw footage of a fight, and noticed that the way Sailor Jupiter moved was similar to how you move. The physical fighting was the same style that you used. So, I just started gathering information on Sailor Jupiter, and when you had to leave early, I would watch the news for information on a fight. I also noticed that you were very nervous and overly defensive whenever there were reports of a powerful enemy fighting the Scouts. The newspaper article proved it."
Lita was speechless. She had never, ever, ever expected Ken to have already figured out that she was Jupiter before she told him. And she hadn't expected him to be so…calm. In fact, she was so in shock that she barely even noticed that Ken had started talking again.
"Lita, are you still there?" Ken was becoming concerned.
"Huh? What? Oh, yes, I'm still here."
"Are you okay?" Ken could tell that Lita was scared, and he knew that she must be *really* scared. Because Lita never let her fear show otherwise.
"I'm okay. Just a little…nervous" 'I won't say scared' she thought to herself.
"Alright, and Lita,"
"Yes"
"Remember, I will *always* be hear for you. For ever and a day."
"Thank you, Ken. And I *will* come to you."
Lita sighed. She didn't want this conversation to end. She didn't want to face the crowds of screaming fans. The reporters, trying to get the best story. And the faces of the rest of the girls, as they have to face the fact that their carefully kept secret was now known.
"Lita, you need to do some damage control now, right?"
She sighed again. "Right."
"So, maybe…we should talk more later?"
"Ya," she said, rather slowly "I guess. I promise to call you as soon as I possibly can."
"And I promise to do my best to be home when you make that call."
Lita smiled. As long as she has Ken for support, everything will be okay. "I love you."
"I love you too, Lita."
"Bye" she whispered.
"Bye" he whispered back.
She hung up the phone and walked over to her kitchen counter. She had started to worry again. Without noticing, she put a pot of water onto boil. She didn't even realize that she had gotten out the teabags, put one in the cup, and poured the boiling water onto it. In fact, it was fifteen minutes, when she was sitting on a stool with a cup of tea in front of her, that she realized that she had made it. She had even put away the kettle. 'Great, now I can cook without thinking.' Lita thought sarcastically.
A beeping pulled her out of her thoughts. She reached towards her communicator and flipped open the top.
"Hey girls," she said. "What's going on?"
"Are you guys all done explaining too?" Serena said.
Lita noticed all the other inner scouts were there as well.
"I am already finished." Amy said.
"Ditto." Mina replied.
"I'm done." Raye said.
"Me too." Lita responded. "I talked to Darien. He is pretty scared, but he agreed to be careful about what he says. We can't let anyone know that he is Tuxedo Mask. I don't know about you guys, but I think that he should be kept secret for as long as possible."
"I agree." Amy answered.
The other girls agreed as well, and they all knew that this meant that Darien and Serena shouldn't see each other for a while. Even Serena had realized this, and it was easy to tell, because she sounded rather upset when she agreed.
"So," Mina said, deciding to lighten the situation. "How'd your parents take it, Serena?"
The other girls smiled. They had been waiting for this.
"Well, Daddy wasn't *too* happy about how Darien fit into it." The girls all laughed. "But I can look on the bright side, now Daddy won't kill Darien when he sees us on a date. He *really* doesn't want to see Rini upset again."
All the girls laughed, except Serena. She slightly chuckled, but it wasn't a real laugh. She had seen Rini's tears. It wasn't very calming.
"Okay," Lita said, deciding that time was precious and they should get down to business. "We need to do some damage control."
"Right." Raye said. "Serena, does Rini know if the Scouts were revealed like this?"
"She didn't know." Serena answered. "But we sent a letter to Serenity and Endymion, asking if this is what happened to them."
"Good plan, Meatball Head. It's about time you started using your brain." Raye said. She knew she needed to lighten the mood.
"Raye! Stop teasing me!" Serena tried to sound as angry as possible, but really she was glad. She needed something to laugh about right now.
"So, what should we do until we get a response?" asked Amy.
"Well," Luna said, her face appearing on the screen, "it isn't safe for any of you girls to be on your own. Serena and Rini are safe together, but you girls are alone. Especially you, Lita, and you, Amy. You two are alone most of the time, and therefore, are in more danger. So I think that maybe you should…" Luna paused. She decided to let the other girls, mostly Mina and Serena, figure out what she was trying to say. Amy was the first to respond.
"I get what you're trying to say Luna." Amy said. "The reporters can get at Lita and I easier because we are usually alone."
"Right." Said Luna. "So maybe you girls should pair up."
"I agree with Luna." Raye said. "in fact, even me and Mina aren't *exactly* safe. We may live with our families, but we aren't protected. The reporters could probably get through Chad, Grandpa, and Mina's parents easily. It's safer if we have another scout with us, that way each of us have a *bodyguard*."
"That's a good idea, Raye." Lita stated. "So who stays with who?"
"Well," Artemis said, speaking for Mina. "Mina can take someone. One of her parents are usually home, so you won't be alone. Raye, I think that you could probably take someone too, right?"
"Right," Raye said. "What about you Ames?"
"Well, I should stay with someone." She said. "My mom will be working this week, so I'll be alone a lot. And anyways, I would be staying with someone anyway. Mina and Raye are the safest to stay with, so naturally, Lita and I would be the ones to stay with someone else."
"Okay," Luna said, trying to hurry along the conversation. "Who wants to stay with whom?"
"Well, I live closer to Raye then Mina, so I should stay with her." Lita said.
"Perfect, can't wait for you to get here."
"Okay, then I'll stay with Mina." Said Amy. "We live pretty close anyhow, so it all works out."
"Fine with me." Mina said happily. She was looking forward to *finally* having someone around who was her own age. Her parents and Artemis were okay, but it wasn't the same. They didn't understand sixteen-year-old girls.
"Great," Serena said, taking over her communicator again. "You guys should go soon. But first, I need to ask you something. Did you guys talk about who the outer scouts are?"
All the girls said 'no'. They had all decided not to for the same reason. As long as the Outers were a secret, they should stay a secret.
"Alright," Serena said, taking over her communicator again. "You guys should go now. The crowds are probably going to be getting pretty bad soon, so you'll need to move fast. And I'll call you as soon as we get the letter. Okay."
"Okay." Mina said.
"Agreed." Amy responded.
"Fine with me." Said Lita.
"Just don't forget, Meatball head."
"Raye…" Serena started to say, but she stopped when she noticed that Raye had already left. The other girls had left as well, trying to avoid the argument. Serena sighed and closed her communicator.
Turning to Luna, she said, "it's impossible for me to have a normal life, isn't it?"
Luna nodded. She knew that this must be hard for Serena. She already had to deal with so much, but now she wouldn't even be able to pretend her life was normal.
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So, another whole chapter done! Woohoo! I can't wait to finish this story so that I can do the next one. It'll be much better. Thankz for reading this! Oh, and if anyone knows where I can download the Japenese sub-titled epsidoes, PLEASE tell me. I really want to see them. Thankz.