Chapter 1 is below, following the obligatory disclaimer info. ^_^
This work, Among Friends, is Sailormoon fanfiction written between 1999 and 2002 by Taerir (me). Any characters present in the Sailormoon anime or manga series are the property of Naoko Takeuchi and their other respective owners. I make no claim to those characters, or to the Sailor Senshi concept.
Asami Ikeno, Taerir/Taerir Guardian, Kensaku Iwamoto, Arianrhod Knight, and Nami are all my own characters, and I do claim those. The names and appearances of Elina Aono, Sailor Ilia, Nuru Kazeno, and Sailor Isis (as appear in this fanfic) are all created by me. Their personalities were created partially by me, but a great deal of their character, as well as some plot material, was developed in cooperation with Pisces of Pisces' Sailormoon Satire and Andromeda of Andromeda's Galaxy. Individual contributions by them will be marked in the corresponding chapters.
The Gates concept and the associated worlds (specifically to this story, the worlds Taerir and Ilia, as well as Isis as it appears in this fanfic) are also my own. Please do not write about the characters or concept I have created, or duplicate any part of this story or plotline, without my written permission.
This fanfic was originally posted on my Sailormoon fanfiction site, Center Gate. If you'd like to visit, the URL is centergate.muted-words.net. To find my other sides, they are all linked to from my collective at www.muted-words.net.
Among Friends, Part 1
Mission
By Taerir
All Sailor Moon references are the property of their respective owners. Any concepts, characters, world names, plotlines, and so on not found in the Sailormoon television series or manga are the sole property of the author, Taerir, copyright 1999. No duplication is permitted without written permission from the author.
Born of the light, she dwelled in darkness.
Silently, her eyes pale embers in the shadowed home where she eked out her dreary existence, she contemplated that thought. She had been happy once; she had lived to find joy purely in living. Once, her life had been good.
That had been before she died the FIRST time. Before her father began to beat her, before he hurt her so badly that her soul left her body. But something had brought her back. And now, she wanted vengeance. She had died several times since the first, but she always came back. Rest was not hers to take. Revenge, however, was.
Narrowing her eyes, she vowed that this time, the world that had caused her so much pain would fall. Triumphant she would emerge, having vanquished her only enemy: life itself and those who had no cause to feel such grief as she herself had experienced. Stepping forward, she disappeared from her dark surroundings and reappeared on earth.
Black hair shining in the world which used to bring her so much joy, she pulled out her signature mirrored sunglasses and went to find her first victim.
A girl with chin-length, light red hair knelt by a window, looking down at the street below. Closing her eyes, she reached out with her other senses.
Impatient, she opened her eyes again and walked to the other side of her apartment. She had felt restless since her last battle-- the one that killed her. Since then, she had spent six months training in the otherworld without losing more than one day on earth. Now, her entire world had changed. She felt as if she hardly knew herself. No longer was the title of "Sailor Senshi" even hers.
One thing was for certain though; there was a new dark force out there, and it was strong. Already, it was gathering helpers for its cause.
It would meet the senshi when it was strong enough, and it would destroy them.
Asami sighed and made her way back to the window. She had not yet been able to get a hold of Usagi and the others, and to tell the truth, the existing senshi in the present would not be enough to defeat the new evil.
Asami had to start searching for her fellow Gate senshi. But she had no idea where to look. Sighing, she realized how blank her memory was of the Silver Millennium. She couldn't remember what the other Gate senshi looked like or even their names, transformed or not. In fact, the only thing she DID know was that she would have to find them, and fast.
Too bad finding them would be the easy part. Grabbing some money, Asami left her apartment and toward the park.