Tsukino Usagi reflected, briefly, on the unfairness of life as she hopped from foot to foot waiting for the bus to stop. She was late, again, but this time wasn't her fault. She hadn't been required to stay after school or overslept. She hadn't even been to the arcade. Two buses had been late, and the line at the store had taken forever. And now Rei was going to yell at her.
She waved cheerfully at the bus driver as he stopped a meter early for her, and dashed out clutching her bag of cookies. They were the only things that might shield her from Rei's ire. As usual she wasn't paying attention to where she was going.
She had a moment, as she was tumbling backwards, to wonder why they had placed a telephone pole in the middle of the sidewalk. Before she could do more than gasp, a hand caught hers. A second hand found the small of her back, supporting her and preventing a jarring landing on her backside. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
He was gorgeous.
He was far more handsome than what's-his-name. His shoulders were wide, his waist narrow. His blue hair was just a little tousled, his ponytail hanging over one shoulder. His eyes were the cloudless summer sky. He was looking deep into her eyes. She knew it was love at first sight. After all she had felt the same way when she first saw that guy in the tuxedo, so this had to be the same. And her rescuer was not wearing a silly mask and top hat.
"Are you alright, Tsukino-san?" He lifted her to her feet. She realized that the position they were in must have looked odd. He had been holding her nearly horizontal as if they were dancing and he had dipped her, like they did in the movies. Usagi blushed as she remembered what usually happened at the end of those dips.
"I'm fine," she managed to babble out. The sound of a clock chiming brought her back to reality. "Ohmigod, I'm sooo late. Rei's gonna kill me. Where are my cookies? Oh no, I've…"
Her rescuer held out his hand, palm up, and Usagi stared as her bag of cookies fell into his palm. A quick glance up showed nothing but sky and she wondered where the bag had been all this time. The clock chimed again.
"Oh thank you, you saved me, I'm very sorry about running into you, excuse me, I have to run, I'm very late, Rei's gonna kill me…" She started to dash away but stopped. She turned and bowed to him. "Tsukino Usagi."
With a small grin, he bowed back. "Ryuzaki Kintaro. A pleasure to meet you, Princess."
Usagi was off and running after his name and didn't hear the last part, or she might have stopped to talk to him.
Five girls sat in the main room of the house at the Hikawa Shrine. Four of them were huddled together on one side of the table while the fifth sat and stared dreamily out the window, mumbling to herself. The things she was mumbling had the other girls worried.
"I'm not detecting any signs of magic or possession," Ami whispered. "There's nothing wrong with her that the Mercury Computer can detect."
They turned to look at Rei. The shrine maiden shook her head.
"I don't sense anything either. But I did a fire reading earlier. There are all sorts of weird things."
"Like what?" Makoto asked.
"Like two Chibi-Usa's; the one we know and one with different colored hair. And Mamoru was with some other woman. And three gems. Each one seems to be stuck in the hand of a different person."
"Two Chibi-Usa's? How can that be?" Minako naturally focused in the wrong direction.
"That's easy Minako-chan. Either Mamoru has another daughter, or Usagi does." Makoto nodded at her own logic.
"It's not that easy. For starters they look to be the same age," Rei explained. "And it could mean that Mamoru and Usagi don't have a daughter, but this other Chibbi-Usa is the daughter of Usagi and someone else."
The others looked stunned. They all knew that Mamoru and Usagi were destined to be together. They had traveled to the future and seen it. She couldn't possibly love some one else.
"Kintaro-sama," Usagi sighed lovingly.
The four girls stared at her. This was serious. A quick glance at each other and they moved into action. Ami, Makoto, and Minako pushed Rei toward the day dreaming princess.
"Hey! Why do I…"
"Because you're her best friend and spiritual advisor," Makoto whispered. "Would you rather Minako get involved?"
Rei had to agree with the last argument. Letting Minako handle this would turn a potential disaster into a full blown catastrophe. Minako didn't seem to agree, but Makoto whispered something in her ear that silenced her protests.
Rei decided to go about this in the normal fashion. "USAGI!" she yelled. From ten centimeters away. Usagi shrieked and fell on her back, clutching her chest and gasping for breath. Minako glanced at Ami and Makoto.
"Are you sure letting her handle this was a good idea?"
Rei ignored them in favor of yelling at Usagi.
"What is the matter with you? You've been all spacey and out of it since you got here."
Usagi stared blankly at Rei, wondering how her normal state of mind had bothered her friend.
"More than usual," Rei snapped. "And you haven't even touched the plate of cookies."
"I bought those for you, Rei. They're your favorite," Usagi whined.
"Don't change the subject. You haven't tried to steal all my new manga!"
"You hid them from me."
Rei's carefully controlled temper was quickly escaping.
"Who the heck is Kintaro?" She thundered.
To their surprise, Usagi reacted by jumping up and yelling right back.
"I saw him first and you can't have him!"
Rei blinked. Twice.
"What about Mamoru?" Minako asked.
"Who? Oh, him." Usagi waved dismissal. "You can have him. Or Rei. She dated him a few times."
"What about Chibi-Usa?" Ami was much softer. Usagi flinched.
"Well since Mamoru decided he's not interested in me any more, I hardly have a choice in the matter."
"What?" This was the first any of them had heard of this. Usagi suddenly fell into Rei's arms, sobbing out that Mamoru was leaving her again and he wanted to break up. Much of her story was incoherent, but the four girls heard enough to get them fuming. Anyone who hurt their Princess was in for a world of pain. They comforted Usagi and planned vengeance for the rest of the evening.
At a small hotel restaurant in Honolulu a man had a sudden sneezing fit.
"Are you OK?" a young lady asked as she offered a handkerchief.
He gratefully accepted. "I'm fine." He realized she was speaking Japanese.
"Houhoujii Yuri," she said as she held out her hand.
"Chiba Mamoru. A pleasure." He grasped her hand. "Please have a seat."
"I'm an engaged woman, Chiba-san," she said with a wink as she joined him.
"And I'm an engaged man, Houhoujii-san."
"Then won't it be amusing if we return to Tokyo and discover that our fiancés have met as well?"
Mamoru smiled. "The odds are against it."
"Oh certainly," Yuri agreed. "I probably have the same chance of meeting Tuxedo Mask here in Hawaii."
Mamoru blinked. "What makes you think Tuxedo Mask would leave Sailor Moon alone in Tokyo?"
She smirked. "Nothing at all, Chiba-san. But it has been known to happen."
Usagi was having a dream. Or, more precisely, a memory. She knew it was a memory because the Earth was visible through the windows of the ballroom. She was dancing with her Knight. The man she loved more than anything.
"Hime-san."
"Why so formal, my love?"
"Because, Hime-san, I must tell you that you cannot love me."
She stopped. The dance was disrupted by their sudden lack of movement. "What?"
"My heart belongs to another, Hime-san. And you are destined to love some one else."
"I don't care about destiny. I love you."
"No, Hime-san. You are infatuated with me. A schoolgirl crush, nothing more."
She started to cry, tears flowing silently down her cheeks. "But…"
He gently kissed her forehead. "No, Hime-san. Your heart lies elsewhere, as does mine. I must leave, but I will return when you inherit your throne. I will always be your Knight."
He turned and walked away. His two knight companions joined him as he reached the great doors. She dimly saw a woman waiting beyond the doors, but they swung closed before she could identify the one who had stolen her Knight.
Luna twitched in surprise when Usagi began stroking her back. Usually the girl wasn't up this early, and she was rarely gentle in her petting. A quick glance showed that Usagi was crying again.
"Luna? Who was my Knight?"
Luna flinched. "Endymion was…"
"No, I mean before him. The man with blue hair and eyes the color of the sea."
"Well there was the Sea Knight," Luna said hesitantly. "Endymion was technically the Earth Knight and there were two others as well. The Fire Knight and the Sky Knight. But they rarely visited your mother's court. Why do you mention them suddenly?"
"I met the Sea Knight. Ryuzaki Kintaro. He came back like he promised." Usagi drifted off to sleep again. Luna waited until her breathing was even and slow. Then she wiggled out of Usagi's grasp and hopped up on the desk.
A brief search revealed the communicator, which she dragged out the window. On the outside sill she punched in the code and waited. And waited. And waited.
"Artemis, wake up you lazy idiot!"
"Huh? Wha?"
"About time. We have a problem."
"Usagi forget to change the litter again?" Artemis didn't sound too happy. Luna let it pass.
"The Sea Knight is back. Usagi saw him and remembered."
The silence on the other end was telling.
"Oh shit."
"Exactly," Luna snapped. "We have to find out more. Check with the Outers today. I'll snoop around the school. She said his name is Ryuzaki Kintaro."
"Right. And Luna?"
"What?"
"Be careful OK? The Knights weren't exactly friendly to us back then."
"You too, Artemis. Luna out." She clicked off the communicator and dragged it back to Usagi's purse. This was not good.
Artemis turned to go back to sleep and found a pair of blue eyes staring at him.
"Uh… I can explain?"
Minako nodded. "Start by explaining who these Knights are. And why you're worried about them."
Artemis sighed. "The Magic Knights are powerful warriors and wizards. Endymion was one but he chose to submit to Serenity's rule. The other three didn't. Sea, Air, and Fire choose to remain separate from the moon Kingdom. Serenity didn't want such powerful people wandering around so she told them that they had to swear fealty or leave. They left, but they promised to come back."
"And what does Usagi have to do with this?"
"The Sea Knight was her guardian for awhile. She had a major crush on him. It really tore her up when he left. He told her that he loved someone else. We think somebody blocked her memories of him, because the next day she was fine."
"And now he's back? This could be bad, Artemis. Usagi thinks Mamoru has dumped her and she's obsessing over this guy named Kintaro. Personally I think Mamoru just stuck his foot in his mouth again and she misheard him. Ami and Rei think so too."
"Well warn them about this Kintaro. And if he is the Sea Knight, don't try to fight him. He's very powerful and he could call the others. Especially tell Makoto to leave him alone."
"Why Makoto?"
"She was rather uhm… rude to him back then. He promised to teach her some manners the next time he met her. He was holding his Sword when he said it."
Minako gulped. She didn't like the emphasis Artemis placed on the word Sword. And Makoto was known to be impulsive when it came to such things.
"I'll warn her. If you head out now, you can make it to the Outers' House before they leave for school. Maybe they can give you a ride back."
Artemis nodded and darted out the window. He vowed to himself to walk back no matter how much Haruka promised to drive safely.
Artemis was certain that he wasn't subject to the curiosity that plagued normal cats. But he couldn't have explained why he followed the brief glimpse of blue hair. Now he was beginning to regret having done so.
He pelted down an alley and ducked under a dumpster. Hopefully the man following him would be too fastidious to look under here. He flinched as the footsteps stopped.
"Hello. Artemis, isn't it?"
The dumpster began to roll away. Artemis didn't dare run.
"One would almost think you weren't happy to see me, Artemis. Has Sailor Pluto been spreading tales?" The blue haired man smiled down at him. Artemis wasn't sure how friendly that smile was meant to be.
"You are the Sea Knight." Artemis saw the blue gem in the back of the man's hand.
"Sea Knight?" For a moment the man was confused. "Oh you mean Selece. Yes, I am the Magic Knight Selece." He watched Artemis for a moment. "That bothers you for some reason. Why would a Moon Cat be afraid of the Magic Knights?"
Artemis regretted opening his mouth forever after that. "Because you're Evil. You killed the Princess. You broke Serenity's heart. You serve that witch, Ayame."
The man's face went suddenly blank. "Have a care, Moon Cat. I care little what you think of me, but if you ever insult Ayame-sempai again, I will take it out of your hide."
Artemis began to tremble. The man crouched down and stared at him.
"I have no idea who Serenity is, but you should probably warn your Sailor Moon to think carefully about this Crystal Tokyo she wants to set up. Utopias are rarely as idyllic as they sound in the stories. She may want to get an opinion from someone other than Pluto."
"Like you?" Artemis was really beginning to wonder when he had developed a death wish.
The man laughed. "I am majoring in political and military history. She could do worse than asking me for help in setting up a government. But there are a great many people out there who could offer advice. Most are prejudiced in some way or other, but their ideas aren't wrong simply because they think differently. Freedom of choice is the greatest thing man can have. Take that away and you become truly evil. Tell Sailor Moon to think about that."
He straightened and walked away. Artemis was surprised to see him wearing the Mugen-Gauken Academy uniform. This was really bad. If he found out about Sailor Saturn things would become worse. Artemis turned and dashed for Juban High School as fast as his legs could carry him.