Thanks to all my reviewers!

Kate

Black Aura-sama

Lin: Yes, Bor-kun is still alive, only he's stuck in Time. Can't go back to help the Fellowship. We'll get to that later….

Mi

Faia no Tenshi: What makes you think that Puu said that? (*evil grin*)

Mistress of Ice: Just wait, I'll get to that!

Makura Koneko: Thanks of the correction. I no good at spelling…hehe, kidding! And I said I was sorry for making it sound so mean! I really am!

All the rest of you bakas who don't review will be cursed one day…

Again, kidding…you flame me once, though, shame on me. Flame me twice, you get nasty e-mail when I find you're address.

Part 5: Strange Days

Strange days have found us…

--The Doors

The four ran. It was over rocks and woods, green grass and every once in a while, they had to stop to take a quick bite of lembas or for Aragon and Legolas to see if they could track the Urak-hai and orcs that held their friends captive.

After three days, Aragon heard the Urak-hai's steps, and also could see they were only a few hours behind them. Everyone's hearts raised a little, and then a little more when they found a small broach that the Halflings wore on their cloaks.

"We're closer, ne?" Elenaithil asked, and gaining a nod caused the group to run a little faster, Elenaithil staying between Legolas and Gimli, making sure the dwarf didn't fall too far behind.

*

Boromir sat up and saw that there were five young girls sitting at a table nearby, each drinking tea and each with an odd hairstyle. One had pink hair done up with flowers and in rings, while another had blue hair with small stalks that had balls on the end of them. Another had green hair that was done up to make a sort of hook shape, and the last had red hair done up to hang to one side. They all sat around another girl with pink hair that had cone-shaped buns and looked at him. She was the one who had spoke, he guessed. Nearby, sitting on the table, was a gray/lavender kitten with a small bell for a collar and a crescent moon-shape spot on her forehead.

"Who…where…"

"ParaPara thinks he hit his head too hard," the one with the blue hair said.

"Para, be quiet, you don't want to scare him," the red-haired girl said, then smiled at the man. "Hi! Don't mind Para, she's just a little…odd. I'm VesVes. That's JunJun," she pointed to the girl with green hair, who smiled at him and drank the rest of her tea in one gulp, "and she's CereCere. You've met ParaPara."

"You forgot us, VesVes," the pink-haired girl said, then smiled at him before standing up and walking over. "I'm Princess Lady Serenity, but everyone calls me Chibi-Usa. This is my cat, Diana."

The cat smiled at him, and Boromir began to wonder what place he came into.

"I…I'm Boromir, but…I was dead."

"ParaPara thinks she was right. He did hit his head." The rest of the girls sighed at the childish one, but Chibi-Usa quickly said, "I'm sure Puu revived him when she brought him here, but…well, maybe he knows where she is!"

"Who?"

JunJun sighed, "I guess that's a no."

*

"A red dawn," Legolas said as he looked to the sun as it came up. "Blood has been spilt this night."

*

"Pluto is really Sailorpluto, the guardian of Time, which is where we are." Chibi-Usa told Boromir this as he ate with the group. After the initial introductions and later getting used to the idea of there being odd girls here with oddly-colored hair, much like Elenaithil/Ami, Boromir had found out that Ami was, like the girls, a Senshi called Sailormercury.

"She was ParaPara's match," the childlike ParaPara, who was Sailorpallas, told Boromir, "She's a child of water too."

Diana now spoke up. Boromir's initial reaction to a cat talking was one of fear and wonder. Now he was used to the small kitten's speeches, which also helped to learn more of the situation. "You were the last one that Lady Pluto sent here, and Lady Mercury was the last one that Lady Pluto sent somewhere. Since then, no one can go anywhere but to the Doors of Time before they find them locked."

"We found Puu's staff near you," Chibi-Usa said, pointing to an ornate staff with a red gem on the top, "It can open the doors of Time."
Boromir slowly put this all together. "You want to help Ami…or at least get her back."

"Hai," the girls said, meaning 'yes'.

JunJun, Sailorjuno, spoke up, "The past is about to be altered, I fear."

VesVes, Sailorvesta, spoke next. "The time of the Great Freezing is closer then it should be, with this new evil coming."

"ParaPara knows this is bad, and she doesn't look into much of this stuff!"

CereCere, Sailorceres, spoke last, "We need to send someone to help Mercury-sama, but also that would direct her to the best route to come here."

Boromir thought, then stood. "No."

*

The quartet moved over to a hiding place as they watched a group of horsemen pass them. Aragon motioned and they all walked out as he yelled to the passing riders. "Riders of Rohan! What news from the Mark?"

With one staff raised, the group turned with the grace and dreadfulness of a pack of wolves having called out their quarry, and soon the four were surrounded by lances and arrows pointing towards them.

"And what business," a rider, probably the leader, came up to ask the group, "Does a ranger, a dwarf, an elf and a woman have with the Mark?"
Gimli spoke first. "Give me your name, horsemaster, and I shall give you mine."

"Toutou, aya! We should get you a muzzle," Elenaithil whispered as the man came off his horse and glared at Gimli.

"I would cut off your head, dwarf, if it were but a little higher off the ground."
Before either Elenaithil or Aragon knew it, Legolas' bow was drawn as he said, "You would die before your stroke fell!"

Elenaithil touched his arm to lower the arrow before saying, "And you, Shashu-san, would die afterwards and make us all grieve for you," she turned to the horsemaster, "But having more arrows pointed one way doesn't mean you should be rude, baka."

"Elenaithil," Aragon said, calming the girl who was glaring at the man. "I am Aragon, son of Arathon. This is Gimli, son of Gloin, and Legolas of the Woodland Realms."

"What of the girl?" someone asked.

"I am known for now as Elenaithil, and that is all you need to know," she said, glaring back at them. Despite her former attitude, Elenaithil had learned long ago that acting tough could come in handy.

"We are friends of King Theoden," Aragon finished. The rider looked slightly sad and replied to Aragon, "Theoden no longer recognizes friends. Not even his own kin." His helmet off, the rest of the riders relaxed their weapons. Aragon quickly asked about the Uraks.

"None were left alive. We burned their carcasses over there." The four looked to the smoke rising from nearby. Gimli's jaw dropped. "Dead?"

"Ie," Elenaithil said, "they cannot be. I would know if my Gu-tachi died."

Eomer called two horses for them, and left them alone. The group looked to the cloud of smoke, and got onto their horses, Legolas taking Gimli and Elenaithil riding with Aragon.

*

"Nani?" Chibi-Usa looked at the man. "Why not?"

Boromir now sat, and recounted what he had seen of Mercury and the Quest to destroy the One Ring.

"You see, she is important now. She must continue onward to help those she is with. Besides…" he paused, thinking as to if he should add this or not, then deciding to, "I think that Legolas is in love with her."

The group gawked at him. "Really?" Chibi-Usa asked.

"Probably, and she loves him, I'm thinking. The two sometimes stare at the other when no one is watching, then grow red for strange reasons. They must love each other."

The group was silent for a moment, thinking this over, before Chibi-Usa once more stood. "I won't let her leave Middle Earth. I just remembered the places you talked of. The Valar. The Undying Lands. I know where they are. Ami and Legolas cannot be together now, but later they can, if he is truly immortal as the Senshi and I know what I'm talking about. But we should send someone to find the group and help Ami-chan."

*

"It's one of their belts," Gimli said, pulling out a small, charred belt with the elfish design among the ruins of orc carcasses.

"Ie…"Ami said, tears filling her eyes as Legolas said a prayer in Sindarin and Aragon kicked a helmet and cried out. Ami stared at the belt, then shook her head and ran forward, only held back by Legolas' sudden grab. "Ie! Gu-tachi! Ie shin! Gu-tachi no Ami! IE!!!" Ami fell to crying against Legolas as the defeated Ranger looked down at the dry grass around them. He saw a small imprint, one of a Hobbit, and then the other. He spoke of them, following the sudden tracks he found of them running away, moving to cut their bonds, moving away, something following them, then, with the other three behind him and running with him, he faced Faragon forest.

*

The cat Diana sat up. "I will go! It is my duty to be an advisor to Small Lady and the others, and while Ami-sama is still a Senshi, I must protect and guide her as well!"

Boromir smiled at the little kitten. "You remind me of Frodo. I think you will work well, but…how do we know where she is sent?"

Chibi-Usa pointed to the staff, "You try it, Boromir. Maybe you can do it."

*

"Orc blood!" Gimli spat out the black liquid as the group slowly moved through the huge forest.

"These are strange tracks," Aragon said, kneeling next to huge tracks in the ground. Ami knelt and tilted her head. "One has the imprint of an orc in it, maybe that's why." Aragon gave her a look that told her now was not the time to be funny. Ami gave only a small smile in return.

"These trees are old," Legolas commented. "Very old. Full of memories…and hate…" the odd sound of trees seeming to move made the group jump up and look around, seeing most of the movement around Gimli and his raised ax.

"Gimli!" Aragon said, whispering really. "Lower your ax."

Gimli slowly lowered it, having the trees grow quiet. The group continued until Legolas saw something.

"The White Wizard approaches," he said to Aragon's question in Sindarin, and everyone slowly got ready, Ami touching her lyre and rod. The group turned, facing the glowing light of a wizard. The arrow of Legolas and ax of Gimli were hit aside, Aragon's sword seemed to catch fire, and Ami stopped suddenly, as if looking into a memory of something from long ago.

"You are looking for two Hobbits," the figure said, his voice familiar one moment, then another moment different, as if both were overlapping for a moment.

"Where are they?" Aragon yelled as they covered their eyes from the light, with the exception of Ami, who continued to look at the figure with her eyes wide.

"They passed this way, a day ago. They met someone they did not expect to meet. Does that comfort you?"

"Who are you?" Aragon yelled again, and this time the light disappeared as Ami yelled out, "Gandalf-sama!"

The man known as Gandalf stood, a new staff colored white and his robes and hair now white instead of the gray he used to have. The group bowed with the exception of Ami and Aragon, who said, "But you fell…"

"Through fire…and water…"Gandalf told them, "until on the highest peak of the lowest dungeon I battle him, and smote my enemy's ruin upon the mountain! Darkness took me…and I strayed out of thought and time, until every day seemed as long as a life-age of the Earth. But then, I felt life in my body again. I've been called back, until my task here is done."

"Gandalf," Aragon said, happy to see the wizard.

"Gandalf? Gandalf…yes, that was what they used to call me. Gandalf the Gray. I am Gandalf the White."

"Gomen," Ami said, moving forward, "but you have a piece of gray still left."

The 'piece of gray' turned and looked at Ami with huge eyes, a small bell ringing around her neck and then jumped onto her shoulder. Ami looked surprised as she looked at the cat, no more then a kitten, who now rested on her shoulder. "Diana! What are you doing here?"

"Gomen nasai, Mercury-sama…"

"You know Common, I'm sure! Please speak it, in case the others are curious." The kitten, who caused the rest except Gandalf to jump back slightly, nodded and sat up.

"I am Diana, the royal advisor-in-training for the Court of Crystal Tokyo, of which Mercury-sama..."

"Gomen for all the interruptions, but call me Elenaithil or Ami."

"Oh. Well, Elenaithil-sama is part of the court, and my owner, Small Lady, agreed that I should come here to help Elenaithil-sama and give her information as to what happened at home and the battle there."

"Nani?" Ami turned to face the cat and they both talked rapidly in their own language, ignoring the rest for a moment before both turned crimson and bowed slightly. "Gomen," they said together, both a little embarrassed. Gandalf laughed.

"You don't need to worry. Diana has been my friend on my travels, and met up with Merry and Pippin to learn a little more from you. She is very helpful. Now, we must go. Saruman's hold on Theoden and Rohan is growing too strong. We must stop it."

*

"She made it," Boromir told the group, "They are reunited with Gandalf, and make their way to the Golden Hall of Theoden-King. I hope that there is nothing bad lurking in the shadows of Grima's poison and Saruman's treachery to the poor king."