SMAG

Chapter 5 - Meet My Little Friend

A week later, April pulled Megami down the path in the park. She smiled. She was feeling healthy again. Her hair was in two long braids. She was wearing jeans and a short-sleeved pink blouse. Megami still looked a bit down. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she only dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

"There's someone I want you to meet," April said as they came to a bench with a guy sitting on it. He was dressed casually in slacks and a polo shirt. From behind you could see his short black hair glinting in the sun. "He just joined our school and I've been showing him around."

Meg pulled on her arm. "I don't think I'm up to meeting new people..."

"Come on, be polite." She pulled Meg in front of the bench. "Megami this's Yasuda Lei, Lei this's Morino Megami."

Meg gasped. The boy looked like a younger version of Nephrite, no wonder April had practically dragged her here to see him. Her hands flew to her blushing face. Lei stood up.

"Nice to meet you, Megami," He said as he pulled her hands from her face.

April slipped away. She walked down the path with a smile. All of a sudden arms went around her waist and lifted her off the ground. She squealed and kicked her legs. Ryo pressed a kiss into her hair.

"That was a nice thing you did for Meg," He said as he put her down.

"So you've figured out my plan," April smiled.

"Bah, you're always predictable, little one."

She lifted a brow. "Yeah-huh." She reached out and tugged on the end of a lock of his long blonde hair. He was wearing tight black jeans with an open blue button up shirt. "You suck at lieing."

"Would you prefer I be a seasoned con-artist?" He took a hold of both her braids and used them as reigns to pull her towards him.

"Nah, I'd just go find a real one."

"And maybe I'll go find someone a bit taller. I'm starting to get a crick in my neck from bending down to kiss you." He made a face of mock pain and held his neck.

April pulled him over to a bench. She stood on it and was able to look him straight in the face. "I'll start carrying a stepladder with me, too." She joked.

He pressed her to him and kissed her. "I have a race today, my motorcycle on a small track on the outskirts of town with a friend from college. Come and be my cheerleader, like usual."

She looked at him sternly. "Should you really be doing that?"

"It's fun... and it's legal."

"Well... okay, so I can be close by in case you hurt yourself."

"What? You won't cheer for me?"

She crossed her arm and lifted her nose in the air. "No."

"Come on..." He picked her up off the bench and set her on the ground with a kiss. "Lets get going, little one." He lead her towards his car.

~*~*~

They arrived at the track outside of town after he bought them some lunch. They went to the back to unload his motorcycle from the rig. April sat against the back of the rig pouting. She looked around and wondered who he would be racing against. The guy must be late...hey maybe he wouldn't show up so Ryo wouldn't have to race.

"Hey, there's my friend now," Ryo said looking past her.

Darn. She turned and looked, then gasped. His opponent was a girl! There were two girls standing there but it was easy to see which one would be racing. She had shortish brown hair and slanted green eyes. She wore the classic racing outfit. The other girl was dressed too nicely to race on a motorcycle. She had curly black hair that hung past her shoulders with pretty violet eyes.

"Hey, 'ruka, Michi, this's my girlfriend that I told you about, Tsukino April," Ryo came up beside her. He leaned towards April. "And these are my friends, Tenou Haruka and Kaiou Michiru. I'll be racing Haruka...see, she brought her own cheerleader. So you gotta cheer for me to make it even."

April ignored him and gave Michiru a smile. She just nodded to Haruka, she wasn't happy with the one helping her boyfriend hurt himself.

"Oh, you're right, she's very pretty," Michiru smiled back. "He talks about you a lot."

"After about two hours it gets very annoying," Haruka added teasingly.

April blushed.

"Oh, leave her alone," Ryo put an arm around her waist and lead her around the car to the track they would be racing on.

He sat her down with Michiru and then went back for his bike with Haruka. They both wheeled their bikes onto the track. Michiru turned to April.

"I didn't mean to embarrass you back there, but one of the things he says about you is how beautiful he thinks you are and what a pretty smile you have," She said. "And I was just slightly shocked to see how true it was, you know how some girls are less pretty than loved ones can make them seem... you know... beauty is in the eye of the beholder sums it up. But you really are as pretty as he made you out to be." Michiru looked down. "Just listen to me babble... I'm so nervous. I get like this every time Haruka races... and this's more dangerous than a regular stock car... oh, now I'm probably scaring you..."

April looked at the girl beside her. She obviously wasn't the only one unhappy with the racing today. "Yeah, that was what the little comment about cheering was for. I told him I wouldn't cheer for him if he's doing something stupid... maybe I'll give a small cheer if he wins..."

The two girls exchanged a small smile as the race began.

~*~*~

Afterwards, Ryo pulled his goggles off his dirty face and grinned victoriously at April. Haruka walked towards him to shake his hand. Michiru and April had already been standing, cheering on their riders. They ran onto the track. Ryo took off his helmet and shook out his long hair. He caught April in his arms.

"I thought you weren't going to cheer me on," He smiled through the dirt that left an outline of the goggles around his eyes.

"I was cheering for Haruka," She sticked out her tongue at him and then smiled. "You needed some of my good luck to win."

Haruka was near them. "That's right, it was shear luck you won, Sazaki."

"You're just a sore loser, Tenou." Ryo replied. "Rematch sometime?"

Haruka nodded with a smile. "May the loser treat everyone to pizza?" She put her arm around Michiru.

Ryo looked down at April. "Want pizza, little one?"

"Sure," she said.

He handed her the helmet and goggles to hold while he picked up his motorcycle and Haruka did the same. He wheeled it back to the car and onto the rig. He secured his bike before taking the helmet and goggles back. He stored them in the back seat before helping April in. He closed the door and walked to his side. He followed Haruka's car to the pizza place.

They were going inside as April hears a familiar meow from around the side of the pizza place. Now that Ryo knew she was Sailor Moon, he also knew about Luna. She looked up. He had heard it, too. He nodded to her and she followed the sound into the alley while he made an excuse for her. (Ha! You probably thought I forgot about the cat...actually I did, sorry she wasn't in last chapter....hehe)

"Luna?" April peered into the darkness. She looked down as something furry brushed her ankle. She knelt down. "What's up? You've been kinda avoiding me since you found out that Ryo knew..."

"Yeah, well, it was bound to happen sometime. At least that takes a weight off your mind and heart," Luna said. She saw the look April gave her. "I'm not without compassion."

"Sorry. Now, why're you here?"

"I got a tip that the Negaverse has already sent in the next general to replace Nephrite...looks like they didn't investigate too hard. They were probably glad to see him go after his failures and his affair with Megami. By the way, that was a nice thing you did...you would have made Queen Serenity proud."

"Who's Queen Serenity?" April asks.

"Oh, I haven't gotten around to restoring your memories of the Moon Kingdom, have I?"

"Moon Kingdom?"

"Hai, now hold still. This won't hurt. I'm going to use the Luna Mind Meld to restore your memories."

A beam of energy shot out of the crescent moon on the cat's head and connected with April's forehead. There was a flash and April was sitting against the wall stunned. Luna crawled up into her lap.

"Are you okay? I know it's sometimes a bit much all at once."

"Yeah...boy...I was a princess? That's so cool. And that Sailor Saturn that I met briefly was there, one of my friends. Hmmm and there were three others that were my friends...and Serenity was my mother. Ryo was there briefly, too. I vaguely remember someone else that was close to me..." April looked puzzled.

"You'll get it back eventually. Anyways, be on the lookout, I feel deep energy near by. It may be some more of the other senshi, so keep an eye out for them, too."

"Will do."

"Good luck," Luna lept from her lap and scurried off down the alley.

April got up and brushed herself off. She walked into the restaurant and found the others. She scooted in next to Ryo and he threw his arm around her casually. She smiled at him and then looked down at the menu.

~*~*~

After lunch, they decided to go for a walk through town. Haruka and Michiru went with them. Ryo drew April close and put his arm around her as they walked. Beside them, Michiru and Haruka were unabashedly walking with their hands linked. She felt her sixth sense tingle and looked around. She spotted Hotaru down the street and waved to her. The young girl smiled and hurried their way.

"Hey! Great to see you again," April smiled.

"Same here," Hotaru responded.

Ryo had pulled her close again. She looked up at him, he could sense something, too. She knew by the look in his eyes. "Hotaru, this is my boyfriend, Sazaki Ryo." She motioned to the others who were watching interestedly. "These are his friends, Michiru and Haruka. I'm sorry, I forgot your last names."

"That's okay," Michiru beamed. "Nice to meet you, Hotaru."

Hotaru looked at the two women, and the two women looked back. They seemed to be having that same "moment" April and Hotaru had felt when they met. Ryo was holding her with tense arms, he felt the exchange and it made him nervous. That was because he could not feel what the girls all felt. They felt as if they were meeting a long lost family member though they had never met before. That was why, unlike Ryo, they were not afraid of this feeling.

"Would you like to join us, Hotaru?" April asked which got her a look from Ryo. He was confused and she would have to explain it later. She squeezed his hand in a silent message.

"Sure, but I won't be intruding?" Hotaru glanced at Ryo.

"Of course not, he spends enough time with me." April gave a cheeky little grin and Ryo swatted her backside in retaliation.

They continued to walk down the street a bit more, chatting away as they go. They went on for a bit when they heard screams. Without paying attention, April dashed off around the corner to see what was going on. The others followed her, just as eagerly. There was a youma in the street that looked to be half-robotic. It easily picked up cars and threw them at people. Then wires shot out to lasso the victims so that it could start draining energy. April was about to continue forward when Ryo gripped her arm. The others were looking at her in concern.

"Haruka, go get people to stay away from this place," Ryo told his friend. "Hotaru, is it? Go call 911 quickly. I'll try and get some of those people out of there."

"WHAT?!" April's eyes nearly popped out of her head as the others ran off.

He rolled his eyes. "I was trying to get them away so we could transform, my silly little one!."

"I knew that..." She fibbed as she headed into the shadows of the alley. She grabbed her locket. "Moon Prism Power!" She transformed and then rushed out after the youma without waiting for Ryo, she knew he would be there soon enough. He was probably going to do as he said first, anyways, and get some of the victims out of there while she distracted it.

"Stop right there!" Sailor Moon began her usual speech. "I am the pretty sailor suuuuuuu!" She was cut short as a wire shot out towards her.

The wire grabbed the arm she had been pointing at the monster with. It tugged at her and she fell forward. It then started dragging her further into the street as she screamed and kicked.

"World Shaking!" A ball of energy hit the monster and it released all it's victims. People fell to the ground unconscious. Sailor Moon turned her head to see where the attack came from. She saw two senshi standing together some distance down the street. She looked to the side and spotted Sailor Saturn there, too. She slowly made her way to her feet.

"Saturn, you returned," Sailor Moon said as the monster behind her gained its composure.

Sailor Saturn nodded as she held her glaive out in front of her towards the monster.

Sailor Moon turned back to the monster and took a hold of her tiara. She spun it on her finger before letting it fly at the monster. It screamed in pain as the tiara made contact. Then, Sailor Saturn sprung forward and made the final blow with her glaive. It imploded and disappeared.

The senshi all looked at each other. One of the two new senshi nodded towards a rooftop of a building across the street. The others nodded and jumped into the air. They landed and became still as they studied each other.

"I have already met you, Sailor Saturn," Sailor Moon spoke first before turning the two new girls. "So who are you?"

"I am Sailor Neptune and my partner, Sailor Uranus," The one with wavy black hair said.

"We know who you are, Sailor Moon," Sailor Uranus said. "We've been keeping an eye on you, princess."

"So you already know about the moon princess stuff?" Sailor Moon blinked at them.

All three nod.

"Can I find out who you really are?" She asked slowly.

They all looked at each other and finally nodded to each other. "Sure." They powered down, even Sailor Moon did. She gasped and stumbled back.

"You two? And Hotaru?" April's hand fluttered to her chest. She took a breath. "Well...that would explain the strange vibes we felt between us when we met."

There was a small mew off to the side and April turned. It was Luna. She walked over and lifted the cat into her arms. She introduced the new senshi to her feline guardian. Then suddenly Gemini Knight jumped onto the roof and she started.

"Why'd you run off?" He asked before noticing the others. "Uh...I mean..."

"It's okay, Ryo," April said. "It turns out they were the other senshi that joined the battle down there." She turned back to her new friends. "And as you've just guessed, Ryo is Gemini Knight, my other guardian."

"Ah, so that's the strong bond I felt between you two," Michiru smiled at them in her pretty way. April blushed and glanced at Gemini Knight.

"We better get going," Haruka said and they all took off.