One night, upon the steps of the Hikawa Shrine, Yuichiro Kumada's life changed forever. But what was his life before that fateful night…Anime Canon. Written for Yuichiro's 30th Anniversary.

Rated: T - Spiritual/Family - Words: 2,698 - Rei H./Raye/Sailor Mars, Yuuichirou K./Chad, Rei's Grandfather, OC


A/N: Thank you to Silver_Fairy for reading over this fic for me.

This story is set before episode 30 of the original 1992 Sailor Moon anime.

This fic is a gift for my friend SinJazz who also helped me develop some ideas for this story.


Despite his mane of shaggy brown hair, Yuichiro shivered amidst the cold night air.

Though it was far more bearable, its chilly bite cast his mind back to every woeful summer break he'd experienced in Switzerland.


Pushing the door to the study open, Yuichiro, skis in hand, found his father hunched over a paper laden desk.

"Hey Dad! Do you think you'll be able to come out to the slopes with me today?"

Yuichiro's father barely glanced up at him. "Sorry son, the business won't run itself you know."

"But…it's summer. Everyone is on vacation."

His father gave a tiny shake of his head and sighed in exasperation. "Only schools are on vacation, Yuichiro. Didn't they teach you that in elementary school?"

"...No…I just thought…when you and Mama finally came back to Japan you said we were going to spend the summer together."

"We have been," his father replied, not looking up from his paperwork. "We've been having lots of fun together."

"...Yeah…"

Leaving the study, Yuichiro padded over to his parents bedroom where a pale, beautiful woman with raven hair was sitting at a dresser, a phone to her ear.

"Mama, will you come to the slopes with me?" Yuichiro asked, his eyes wide and expectant as he approached the dresser and stared up at her.

"What?" His mother held a hand over the mouthpiece and looked left and right before finally lowering her gaze. "Oh, yes dear, later. When I'm not so busy." With the nonchalant reply, Yuichiro's mother withdrew her hand and resumed her conversation. "Yes, tell the chef that we would like gazpacho tonight."

Behind his thick fringe, the expectation in Yuichiro's eyes died. Trancelike, he departed the room, discarded his skis, and sat in front of the fireplace, a horrible cold, numbness having consumed his chest.

Two lonely hours later, Yuichiro lethargically flipped through the vast array of television channels. A movie about people lost in the snow. A programme about wrestling. An TV aerobics session. Another movie, this one following a hapless man in love with a woman who had a more glamorous suitor. His malaise was finally interrupted when he heard a ringing sound emanate from the hallway.

"Hello, this is Mister Kumada speaking," said his father.

"Hello! Is anybody there?"

"Yes. I said this is Mister Kumada speaking."

"For goodness sake, take me off the darn speaker phone."

"The speaker phone lets me continue working while we talk, father."

"If I'd known what a nuisance these contraptions would be, I'd never have gotten involved with them."

"You 'getting involved' built the business father."

"Don't be clever, boy."

"I presume you were calling about something important, father. Only I have a lot of work to do."

"You're darn right it's important," growled the speaker. "I just wanted to know if either of you plan on actually being parents this year."

"Dad, the business is-"

"I understand," the speaker said curtly, "I'm just not sure poor little Yuichiro will…"


Whilst rubbing his arms to warm up, Yuichiro spied the street beginning to incline up ahead.

He let out a groan from the bottom of his soul, but stopped when something came rumbling past him. It was a bus, and, to Yuichiro's eternal gratitude, it was pulling up at a nearby bus stop.

After quickly checking his pockets for coins, Yuichiro ran, half tripping to make it to the queue and waiting behind a grey haired man to get on board.

"Oh dear," the man whispered after taking out his wallet.

Yuichiro couldn't help but notice the anxious look upon the old man's face. Nor his bushy white moustache.


Yuichiro stared hopelessly at the open text book and seriously wondered if middle school mathematics would be his ultimate undoing. He was so lost that he initially didn't notice his bedroom door creaking open, nor the (somewhat diminutive) man stepping through it.

"Heya kiddo!" Yuichiro looked up, his gaze falling upon an old man with a bushy white moustache that, nevertheless, failed to conceal the warm smile upon his wrinkled face. "Thought you might like something to drink."

"Thanks Grandpa," said Yuichiro, grateful for the hot tea, despite how toasty the room already was.

"You almost finished that homework?" asked his grandfather.

Yuichiro shook his head. "I just can't figure this out." He pointed to an equation that read 'RxY = 55,566,688,833'.

"That doesn't look right to me at all," muttered his grandfather over his shoulder. "Not unless they reinvented mathematics at that fancy school of yours."

"Aw, man," groaned Yuichiro, "I'll have to start all over again."

"Now, now." cautioned his grandfather, "What have I always told you?"

"Hard work and perseverance," Yuichiro said lazily.

"That's right. When I was sixteen, setting out to find my destiny, those two things were all I had going for me."

Yuichiro rolled his eyes, though not unkindly. "I know, I know. And then you used them to build the family business."

"Well…" his grandfather pulled up a chair, "…it was a little more complicated than that. I didn't just set out on my own and start making electronics right away. I had to see a little of the world first. Try my hand at a few different odd jobs before figuring out where I really belonged. My first job, my boss worked me like a dog; and was a real practical joker too."

Yuichiro could tell his grandfather was going off into what was likely a very long series of stories. On the other hand, he was desperate to take a break from his homework. "Bet you wished you could've figured out what to do before you met that guy," he said, encouragingly.

To his surprise, his grandfather looked utterly taken aback. "Oh no. I wouldn't trade the years I spent with him for anything."

Yuichiro tilted his head, confused. "But you said he worked you like a dog."

"He did," confirmed his grandfather, "But that made me appreciate how good I'd had it with living with your great grandparents, even though they hadn't exactly been rolling in cash. Frankly, I wish your Dad had-" The old man cut himself off, giving a rather pronounced cough. "Anyway, that job, and all my odd jobs actually, helped me grow. They made me a better person. If not for them, I'd never have been able to build the business in the first place."

"So then how did you figure out what to do with your life? How'd you know where you belonged?"

"Well, one day on my travels I saw someone and all of a sudden felt this overwhelming heat all through my body. That was when I knew I was finally where I belonged."

"You…You saw some random person and felt hot?" Yuichiro said incredulously.

"Oh, believe me," a twinkle entered the old man's eye, "there was nothing random about your grandmother."


"Here sir, please allow me."

Yuichiro handed over the bus fare and was met with a grateful smile from the elderly gentleman.

"Thank you, young man."

Yuichiro smiled back and left the bus, waiting until it had driven off to make his way back up the hill.

As the incline steepened and his feet began to ache, he wondered, not for the first time, if he was making a huge mistake.

"What do you mean you're dropping out of school?"

His father's tone remained cold as ever, even though Yuichiro, for once, commanded his full attention.

Standing before the cold, blackened fireplace Yuichiro clenched his fists and marshalled his resolve. "I just don't think school is for me, Dad."

"What do you plan on doing then? Becoming a rock star?" His father said sarcastically.

"No. I just want to try…try getting a different kind of education."

"Yuichiro…dear," his mother began with stilted tenderness, "we have the money to provide you any kind of education you want."

"Mama, the kind of education I want is the kind Grandpa had. He struck out on his own when he was my age and it was the making of him. He made something of himself by himself, no one handed him anything."

"Yuichiro, your grandfather only did that because he had to." There was a forced note of diplomacy in his father's voice. "But it was not what he would have wanted for you."

Behind his thick fringe, Yuichiro's blue eyes burned. "How would you know Dad? You hardly spent any time with either of us."

For perhaps the first time in his life, Yuichiro saw a flicker of hurt, regret even, behind his father's cold features. It was a flicker that reflected on his mother's face too.

Tentatively, Yuichiro's father crossed the room, stood before the fireplace, and placed a hand gingerly on his child's shoulder.

"You're…you're right…son."

His mother soon joined them. "You do what you want, what you need to do." This time, the tenderness in his mother's voice, though slight, was nevertheless authentic.

Hugging his parents, Yuichiro spied through his thick fringe a photo of his smiling grandfather. And the black ribbons flanking the top corners of the picture.


Right now, what Yuichiro needed was something to eat and somewhere to sleep.

Though he'd set out over a week ago with good intentions he'd thus far found no steady work, nowhere to stay, and had quickly used up most of the money he'd bought with him.

He knew his parents would be only too happy to help him if he asked, but the prospect depressed him. It would be as if he was admitting defeat; and letting his grandfather down.

"…Perseverance…" he grunted as he pushed himself farther and farther up the hill.

Eventually however, he came to a panting stop at the foot of several stone steps. Glancing up, he observed a sign that read: 'Hikawa Shrine'.

Something stirred at the back of Yuichiro's mind. He confirmed the shrine was not closed just yet and then checked his pockets again. He didn't have much, but enough to spare nevertheless.

However, as he began to climb, he found his energy diminishing with each step he took. At last, he was forced to stop and take a seat. Then lay down on his rucksack. Then close his eyes. But only for…a…few…minu-…


"But Grandpa, why do we have to-" the eight year old boy was cut off as a yawn escaped him. "-go to the shrine so early?"

Behind his bushy moustache, his grandfather chuckled as they passed beneath the torii. "Because Yuichiro, if you want to succeed in life you've got to work hard. And if you're going to work hard you've got to get the day started early." He affectionately ruffled his grandson's short bushy hair.

"But we aren't working here."

"No, but it never hurts to get a little help from up above; especially on Mondays."

The boy looked up at the early morning sky that was still rather dark. "Help from the…The Moon?"

The boy's grandfather shook his head. "Nevermind," he sighed out.

Ten minutes later the white-haired man handed his grandson a small piece of paper. "Write down a prayer on this and then we'll tie it to that tree over there." He nodded towards a nearby tree, the branches of which were adorned with dozens of pieces of paper.

The boy thought for a moment and began to write on the paper, reflexively mouthing the words he was struggling to spell.

"Please let me spend summer with Grandpa this year"

When he finished he found his grandfather was looking at him with an odd expression. His wrinkled face seemed somehow…sad?

"Wh-what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Yuichiro. Absolutely nothing at all."

Yuichiro's grandfather gave his shoulder an affectionate squeeze as he guided him over to the tree. Grasping him about the waist, the old man lifted Yuichiro up, allowing the boy to affix his paper to the tree branch.

"What did you write down, Grandpa?" asked Yuichiro as they passed beneath the torii again, the morning at last growing warm.

"The same thing I've written down every time I've come here, my boy. For my grandson to meet a lady as lovely as his grandmother of course. And that he'll have the perseverance to win her over in the end."

Yuichiro's grandfather threw a wink at him, whilst Yuichiro himself stuck his tongue out in disgust.


"Are you okay? What in the world happened?"

Groggily, Yuichiro woke up.

"What the heck? Talk about noisy?" he said with a yawn and a stretch.

As he scratched his head, he heard a voice from behind him. "Who are you?!"

His vision clearing, Yuichiro turned around and looked through the torii and across the shrine grounds. And, as his fringe parted, his blue eyes went wide as he beheld a tiny confused old man on the ground who was being helped by…

Suddenly, the night's chill didn't bother Yuichiro. Indeed, he felt a warmth within his chest that swiftly built and built until he felt an indescribable heat consuming his very being. And in that moment, some part of Yuichiro knew he'd at last found where he belonged.


A/N: This story was surprisingly challenging to do and underwent several tweaks and revisions.

Originally I was going to show Yuichiro in the future having taken over Grandpa's shrine, but the more I thought about it, the more intriguing it became to explain how and why this rich kid wound up sleeping on the steps of the Hikawa Shrine and why he then decided to begin working there. Of course, he had the hots for Rei, but it always seemed like working at the shrine itself meant something to him, something more than him simply having feelings for Rei.

So I basically took everything significant about Yuichiro and reverse engineered this story from that. He'd have to have a major work ethic due to how much hard work the Hino family put him through. He'd need to have a sense of perseverance to keep hoping for him and Rei to make it. He'd need to have a certain respect or connection to the religion and he'd need a soft spot for grandpa for some reason.

On top of that, I tried to make him and Rei reflections of one another, whilst working in a little of Rei's manga canon (specifically her rich and powerful, yet cold father and a dead relative she cared about). At the same time I didn't want it to be a complete copy so Yuichiro has two living parents, one dead Grandpa and his parents and he doesn't have a totally cold relationship.

Finally, I tried (and maybe failed) to work in a motif of Yuichiro associating cold bad memories with his parents and warmth with nice memories with his Grandpa.

Hope you all enjoyed it.

Also, just to let you know I am involved in a discord called 'Moonlight Legends' which is dedicated to sharing all sorts of Sailor Moon fanworks, including other fanfics. If you would like to join so you can share your own work, get help with your current projects or just connect to other fan creators shoot me a PM and I'll send you an invite. All are welcome!