I do not own Sailor Moon. This story is mine...aww! Whatever, you get the picture! Happy Easter everybody! :)

Falling Stars


Usagi shot down the corridors of the shelter, her footsteps echoing like the beating of drum as she raced along, thoughts swirling in her mind. Her tresses were thrown messily into a ponytail that whipped with each pace she ran; the dimmed lights on the ceilings above caught the platinum streaks attractively. "HINO!! You are dead! What were you thinking?! You're going to get yourself killed!" Usagi shouted with a flicker in her eye as she flew up and down, back and forth between winding hallways.

Within another moment, another set of footsteps clattered behind her. "Usagi! Wait!" The blonde stopped for a moment--her hair still swinging and eyes blazing--as she spun around to face the speaker.

"Jerrid." Her voice was serious and cold, most of all furious. "I'm not really quite sure whether I should invite you to join me...or to hit you. How could you let her get out of here like that? She is injured...for Kami's sake she nearly died! The amount of blood she lost, the pain, and the depression she constantly battling--her arm is busted, her leg is bruised badly, and her entire body is on the edge of shutting down! You idiot!" The man cringed slightly at her tone and the merciless, hateful expression gracing her beautiful features.

"Your infidel sister knows better than this. You are 17 years old; your sister is no more mature and reasonable than you," Jerrid muttered. And as soon as his eyes shifted from her own, in a flash of movement, Usagi slammed her fist hard into his cheek. The act did not manage to register in the man's mind until he felt the full sharp effect of the blow. Jerrid staggered back and slumped to the floor, holding his cheek with a shocked and offended shimmer in his amber eyes.

"Don't ever insult either me or my sister again. I may not have been here long, but I have been here long enough to know that age neither decides courage nor strength of the soul and body. It is what is in your heart, and all that resides in Hinotama's is restoring peace and salvaging this world. I don't care how she got out, but I am personally holding you responsible. Oh, and don't bother getting up." Jerrid knew through experience that snapping back at a superior usually prompted more volitile responses. He, therefore, glared at the young woman--half furious at himself for letting a child berate him. Usagi's black clothes against her fair skin and blonde hair was like night against day. Her vengeful glare, however, was so full of anger and malice that Jerrid would never again mistake this girl for the seemingly innocent and naive young woman he once had. She truly was a dedicated fighter and Princess.

"Usagi, gomen nasai." But by the time he picked himself up from the floor, his words were already lost on the stale air as she continued on her long race to find her sister. 'Knocked on the floor twice in one day...and by two girls at that.'

*~*~*

Hinotama staggered through the dark back alley like a lost soul, muttering to herself incoherently. She could barely see, as a terrible and acidic fog clouded her vision; the world itself seemed to mirror the clarity of her mental state. To add to the equation, visibility was weak and probably no more than about 10 feet.

"Why am I here?" she asked herself aloud, freezing in her tracks. Suddenly, her facial expression melted from confusion to resolve, as if her persona had changed entirely in answering her own question. "I am here to find Myou. Oh, I would die just to be able to see my Kei-chan...he was so strong and fierce. But he would die for me and anyone he cared for. We were destined for one another...and my friends...we were meant to grow up and lead happy lives. Now we can't. You're all dead and gone." Her eyes seemed to glaze over with this statement and she trudged on once again, wandering down another alley.

A sudden chill managed to find its way up Hinotama's spine as she went along, and with a detached whimper the young woman wrapped her arms around herself. Her thin garments felt like paper against her icy skin and even still, she realized half-heartedly that the air was muggy and thick. Sweat beads gathered on her forehead, sliding down the sides of her face. She half-expected rain to pour down from the sky then, drawing up memories of a town she had visited during her childhood. Tristan was always overcast and foggy. This, however, was no such pleasant memory. The stench of decay was beginning to overpower Hinotama's usually honed and focused senses and the air was beginning to make her dizzy. It was a strange human trait how one could feel chilled to the bone and feverish simultaneously.

The young woman maintained a shred of rationality despite her hysterics and let out a deep grunt of resolve. Her determination, however, was met with a literal dead-end. Just seeing the flat, stationary, and quest-hindering wall of the cul-de-sac quashed her spirits entirely. Blunt tears poured from her eyes as she slumped down against the cold wall, but all Hinotama felt...was nothingness. Her fingers could not sense by touch the rough texture of the earth, nor could her skin of her cheeks register the falling of tears. Like a statue of a crumbled cause, she was numbed to the core--empty, alone, and forlorn. All she could think about was those she had lost...the desire to continue had fled her entirely. If only...if only Myou...

"You're all gone," the girl repeated, sobs now racking through her body as she hugged herself. The brazen and hardened exterior of a fierce warrior faded to reveal a broken, shadowed, and insecure young woman. "I will never be happy again, and still I cannot be selfish. I have to be strong, and fearless like I used to be. Use my gift to save what is left of this world and protect those left alive. But is all of this pain, anguish, and death really worth all of this trouble? Are these forty-some lives really worth dying for?" She stopped for a moment, shifting her arm to relieve the pressure against her sling.

"I hate you all. My life is saving and protecting you...but where is my happiness? Where is my happy ending and knight in shining armor? Where is my life? Where is the rest--the peace I've earned?" Hinotama screamed to the bloody skies above, her eyes bleeding angry tears. "Why did you have to die on me?!" Sobs began to crack her voice and soon rendered her speechless as she rocked to and fro, holding herself and crying. Her sorrowful screams rang out on the air and continued to ring in her mind in an endless spiral of sadness.

It was, however, a searing in her chest that caused her tears to cease. She could no longer cry, for the pain held her void of anything but its fierce and intent presence. She pressed a hand to her chest, gasping. The pressure faded as quickly as it had come and the young woman hadn't the strength to speak.

'My name is Hinotama, Princess Hinotama of the sun. My name means falling fire star of the sun...does that mean that I was destined to fall from greatness into misery and lose everything I had and loved? Does that mean that I am worth no more than a pitiful life and empty soul? What am I anymore? I am not the Princess the world had longed for...the darkness is here. They know I have fallen from power...and now they will feast on my soul.'

Hinotama herself knew then that her hysterics had gotten the best of her, and were working on their own to manipulate her actions. Sighing, she leaned back against the wall--eyes blank. She gazed out into the distance, staring at nothing in particular.

"Usagi...it is up to you now." The girl closed her eyes and felt as if death had wrapped its bony grip around her neck.

"I didn't know that our Princess was so weak," a soft, but playful voice echoed. This very voice drew the color back into Hinotama's face and slowly, she unwillingly lifted her eyes. Her gaze fell onto a lithe and thin form, dressed simply in a khaki skirt and a black tank top.

"Hikari?" Her voice was void of hope, further more doused with sorrow.

"Hinotama-hime, my dear friend...I am pleased you have not forgotten me." Hikari allowed a brief smile to tug at the corners of her pink lips as she bowed before her dear friend. As she stood erect once more, her wavy blonde-platinum hair settled attractively around her shoulders. Her eyes looked upon Hinotama with love and friendship in their vivid green hues.

"Forget you?" Hinotama couldn't bring herself to smile. "Hikari, you were my guardian and friend...I could never forget such a loyal person as you! I only wish you were here...just so I could have someone to talk to. But--you're dead." Hikari smiled at her friend and walked over to the slouched girl, and lifted her to her feet with a tug. For the first time, Hinotama noticed the golden aura that outlined Hikari's body.

Nodding, Hikari could only smile, "Yes. I am dead. But, we all love you, and we watch over you each day." Hinotama stopped for a moment, her eyes suddenly focused.

"We?" Hikari could only let out that sweet, cute laugh she'd always had.

"I didn't really think that you'd lost your marbles, Hino-chan, but perhaps I was mistaken!" This gained a slight smirk from Hinotama, and Hikari laughed again. "All of us! Your senshi, and Kei too! We're watching over you Princess!"

"From where? Is there really a heaven, a hell? I think I know because I am living in hell on Earth, and I can't get away from it! I feel so alone...so powerless. Kari, I let your sister die. Myou is dead and even still my heart tries to deny it. She was my last connection with the pasts we had...and she is gone too." Hikari suddenly rested a loving hand on her friend's shoulder, quieting Hinotama's sporadic statements.

"Myou was destined to fall to darkness, and fate intended her to become a tool used by the overlords. You remember that one evening she went out on patrol alone? Well, the fool was captured and the demons brought her back at their leader's bidding. Instead of killing her, one of the demons used her body as a transportation device to host a demonic being within her body, which would later inform them of your true hiding locations. That way, flushing you out and destroying you would be all the more easy!" Hikari paused, allowing the information to sink in.

"I knew something like this must have happened...Myou was better than that..." Hinotama sighed and allowed her gaze to fall to the cold ground.

"Myou was meant--

"I thought I was better than this," Hinotama interjected. "All I am is a weak, foolish princess. I pride myself on my fearlessness and my wit. Hikari, I have no will to be like that anymore...it hurts too much to breathe." A sudden sob racked through her body and a stream of tears burst from Hino's eyes. The girl cried deeply, from her mind to her soul--she cried until she could cry no more. And all the while her dear, lost friend Hikari wrapped protective arms around her Princess.

"You're not weak, and you're not alone. You are Princess Hinotama, and you and Tsukino Usagi will save us all. Don't ever forget that. We're here for you, even if you cannot see us. Now, listen to me! You will not give up like this...this is not the Taiyou Hinotama I know." The bright aura around the girl suddenly began to fade, and with frustration in her eyes, Hikari looked heavenward.

"You're leaving," Hinotama whispered plainly, glancing up. Hikari looked back at the girl on her knees, with tearstained cheeks.

"I could only come for a short time. Gomen, Princess..." her voice too began to fade, as did her body. Her semi-stylish clothes suddenly changed to that of a pure white gown that swished around her ankles with a halter-neck. Blonde hair flying wildly, and green eyes bright with hope, Hikari smiled at her Princess. "I came here to give you this, Hino-chan." A medium sized crystal of shimmering orange materialized in her hands. The most appealing attribute of the crystal, though, was the spectrum of colors swirling around inside the sphere.

Hinotama stood up, and took it from Hikari's hands, her tears drying now. Hino's eyes were still red-rimmed, but a small smile managed to play across her lips. The dry wind rustled her hair as it blew through, weaving through the bandages of her sling, and tangling around her black outfit. "My Sunfire Crystal?"

"Not just the legendary Sunfire Crystal alone, Princess...but as you look inside, you see an entire spectrum of colors. Each color represents one of us, the Senshi you lost so long ago. We vowed to always watch over and protect you. Take this Princess, and fight those demons with all of our powers combined. Even if we cannot be there with you, our spirits are held within this crystal. Battle with all your might, Hinotama, fight with your sister to save this world...and we'll be there right beside you. Our powers are there to aid you...good luck Princess. We all love you..." Hikari said finally as her voice and image faded into the night, the ever-loving smile on her face.

"Hikari, thank you. All of you.... thank you," the brunette looked down at the crystal cradled carefully in her palms as she spoke. With a determined and renewed feeling in her soul, and a bright and hopeful light in her heart and mind, Hinotama left the darkness to find her sister. Soon it would end...and Hinotama would make sure of that.


Revised as of 6-13-2002.

Please Review! ^_^