1/24/04 Alright, before you threaten to kill me, I tried to make everybody's name different, first and last.  So:  Heero=Hiiro; Quatre=Cat; Trowa=Triton; and the girls have gone to the American names. Ok? Duo and Wufei are staying the same because, frankly, its hard to come up with a substitute.

From Then, To Now, Til Later

Arc 2: The years before Crystal Tokyo

Chapter 1 (aka 10): Two Thousand Years later

Two thousand years had passed since the great battle on the Moon, and only in legend was it recalled. People's memories fade, and with time, so do even the greatest of walls wear away. The Negaverse was rising again.

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FOURTEEN YEARS BEFORE

On a clear, balmy night in mid-June, a golden haired baby girl was born to a young couple, barely wed a year. Right after her birth, a luminescent beam of moonlight struck her forehead, revealing the faint outline of a golden crescent moon, upturned. It faded away as quickly as it had appeared. The baby's eyes opened blue and squinty. Fathomless wisdom and sorrow darkened them. Then they changed, closing once again, locking away all knowledge of past lives and pain. The couple named the young girl Serena Bunny Tsukino.

She was the last of the original scions of the Moon Kingdom and the Silver Millennium to be born, except for one. Saturn would not appear on this earth for another three years.

"And so it begins once more…" The shadow in the window sighed to herself, leaning lightly on her staff. She then turned and disappeared.

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THE PRESENT

"Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…" A loud feminine voice wailed hysterically. "I'm going to be late again. Mother, why didn't you wake me up?" A petite blonde whirlwind dashed through the kitchen grabbing her lunch and stuffing her face with breakfast at the same time before racing to the door, shucking her house shoes for her school ones.

"Oh, Serena," Ikuko sighed and shook her head, causing her purple hair to fall in resigned waves. "When will you ever grow up?"

"She never will, Mom." A twelve-year old¹ boy grinned up at her. "See ya later, I'm off as well."

"Have a nice day, Shingo." Ikuko waved good-bye and wondered how she had ended up with two such drastically different kids.

She looked down at the street and the receding dust cloud and sighed once more, before turning to go back inside. "At least they eat alike."

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"Come on, Wufei!" Raye shouted at her two-year older 'brother'. "I'm going to be late!"

"Be quiet, woman." The skinny black haired teenager demanded. "I'm still deciding what to wear."

"Wufei, we go to a school that requires uniforms. You don't have much choice." Raye pointed out in a logical and frustrated manner.

"Right." The ebony-eyed teen that walked out wore much the same thing that Raye herself did, only in pants, not a fuku.

"FINALLY!" Raye sighed, grabbing Wufei by the elbow and propelling him down the steps of the temple. "Bye, Grampa! See ya after school!" She shouted over her shoulder to the wizened raisin of a man running around the rooftops doing flips.

"Good-bye, Sensei." Wufei called as well.

"Be bad, children!" The crazy old man called back.

Raye groaned and shook her head, not slowing her breakneck pace.

Wufei laughed.

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"Hey, Amy!" A lilting voice called to a blue-haired young teen that had just stepped out of the door of an apartment complex.

The girl's head turned to see who had called her name. Aqua eyes scanned the street until they alit upon a young man in black jeans and white shirt, leather jacket and backpack tossed lazily over his shoulder, and with his medium length hair clubbed into a short ponytail. Her eyes sparkled and she greeted the sixteen-year old. "Hey, Duo! Haven't seen you lately!"

"No kidding. It wouldn't be because we aren't next-door neighbors; because we are…of course it might be because you never take your nose out of your books…" The mischievous brunette mused and then looked at his friend again. "Want a ride to school?"

Ami considered for a few minutes. If she didn't take the offered ride, her friend would not be offended, but she would have to suffer a long bus ride. At least if Duo took her, she didn't have to worry about being late, only her neck.

She looked up again.

"Do DO Do do, do Do DO, DO dodo do do do doo do do." Duo was humming the Jeopardy theme. The humming stopped. "So, what's your answer, sweetheart?" He asked in a falsetto Bogart impression.

"Okay," she laughed. "Just promise that I'll arrive in one piece."

"I'll do better than that," Duo replied, sweeping an arm in a bow to indicate both direction and that she should precede him. "I'll get you there in one piece and alive!"

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At the same moment, across two continents, similar expressions of disbelief crossed the faces of two different people.

"YOU did WHAT?!" The beautiful young Japanese superstar currently living in London screamed.

"Why didn't you inform me of this earlier!?" the heir to an ancient noble European family currently spending time in Japan shouted.

The parents of both, at exactly the same time as if the conversation had been synchronized, repeated. "We have arranged a marriage for you. Your future spouse is a good person, and we feel that it is for the best."

The two teens, one blonde, blue-eyed and fourteen years old, and the other a seventeen-year old brunette with green eyes muttered under their breaths in unison: "Yeah, the best for you."

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A tall dark man with no fashion sense whatsoever walked down the bustling streets of the city. He was contemplating how to earn enough money to study abroad in America.

A blonde bullet raced around the corner, knocking him down.

"HEY YOU," he shouted, shaking his fist at the faster than light object rapidly fading into the distance. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING! PEOPLE LIKE YOU SHOULD BE SHOT!"

To his surprise, the person, who turned out to be a blonde girl with the funniest hair, dashed back, stuck her tongue out at him, and dashed away.

"Bitch," The man called Darien snarled, ignoring the fact that she seemed familiar.

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A platinum blond haired, cerulean eyed teenager stood in front of a gated entrance. He tossed the single leather bag that he carried over a shoulder height brick wall, and proceeded to jump it with little problem. Picking up his bag, he then walked up to the front door. He knocked.

When a purple haired lady with a pile of clothing in her arms answered the door, the sight that met her was a teenager wearing khaki pants and a cream-colored shirt. He smiled hesitantly and greeted the woman. "Hi, Aunt Ikuko!"

Ikuko shrieked, dropping her clean laundry. "CAT! What are you doing here!? Never mind that," she interrupted herself. "Come in, come in! You must be hungry!"

Like a mother hen, she hustled Cat down the hall to the kitchen, setting a large plate of food in front of him.

Cat smiled. "Actually, Aunt, I was wondering if I could stay here for a while. I have some things I need to do in the area and the commute from the city would kill me."

Ikuko smiled as well. "Of course you can. But you have to go to school. You can share Shingo's room."

Cat sat back in his chair and began to eat. "Thanks."

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"Class, we have a new student joining us. Please accompany me in making him feel welcome." The teacher announced with a nasal twang. The door slid open, shadowing the new student's face. "Please come in and tell everyone your name."

The new student strode to the center of the front of the classroom. His walk had purpose to it, but no urgency. "My name is Hiiro deBello²."

Three pairs of eyes landed on the slim figure. One set belonged to a quiet, reflective green-eyed European. The second belonged to a mischievous young man with indigo eyes.  The third belonged to a black-haired Chinese teen with a strong sense of right and wrong.

The same thought echoed through their heads. I know this guy.

"You may sit down in the empty seat three rows up, Hiiro. I hope that you find life here enjoyable."

Hiiro walked to his seat.

Class had begun.

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"Lita, Lita, Lita…what am I going to do with you?" A petite brunette with rosy cheeks shook her head back and forth in despair. "That was the third school you've been kicked out of. You promised you'd be good."

"I know, mother." A 5'10" chestnut-haired, green-eyed teenager replied. She knew better than to give excuses to her mother, but the kids at that school had refused to accept her. They called her names and made fun of her for her record. Even those people that had wanted to be her friends at first left when they heard about the other schools she had left and how she had been kicked out for being violent. She tried, but…

"Lita, are you listening to me?" Her mother demanded.

"Yes, mother. I shall try harder at the next school." Lita replied woodenly.

"I hope that you do. It's your last chance."

The car pulled up in front of Lita's new school. Lita stepped out.

"Good luck, dear. BE GOOD, and stay out of fights!"

Lita entered her new school. It was after all, a bright new day.

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I have no idea how old Shingo really is. I didn't want to put Yui. All of the other Gundam pilots will have different last names as well. (It means (appx.) of war, about war, for those of you who wish to know why I came up with that.)

So all of the main characters have been introduced. HURRAH!!! Some of them are awkward, I know, but I'm trying to come up with something different than my plot for one of my other stories, and that takes me a little time…after all who wants to read the same story in two different areas?

Any questions? Comments? Review! and I'll do my best to answer by e-mail or at the top of my next chapter.

Ciao, bambini (as one of my friends would say)

AH