A/N: This story is a gift for k8jt17, FloraOne and Senchatunes, the latter of whom helped me finish this and my first ever fic with her beautiful Sailor Moon piano covers.

Many thanks to my beta UranusWind for lending their time to this fic. Check them out on tumblr and Ao3 under the same username!

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!

With a CRASH the bedroom door was flung open.

"HAPPY ANNIV- ewwwwwwwwwww!"

Gold light was bleeding through the drawn curtains, enabling him to see the dark outline of two people locked in an embrace. One of them could only be his mother, nobody else wore their hair in that bun-style. Nobody except him of course.

The scene that greeted Hikari was so disgusting he almost dropped the plastic tray of orange juice he was carrying. Granted, there wasn't much to spill as the cups were half empty from his klutzy journey from the kitchen.

With a yucky squelching sound, his parents broke the kiss and chuckled at him. "Hikari, you should be glad we still have the old magic," his mother teased, readjusting the strap of her silver silk nightgown.

"Yeah, ten years is a long time to not let your eye wander," his father smirked as he did up his tie, then opened the curtains fully.

"Especially around so much 'young talent'." His mother's mutter was accompanied by a smirk of her own and a cocked eyebrow. His father's smirk swiftly vanished.

Hikari felt confused. "Why would Papa be looking at people juggling or whatever?"

His father snorted. "I'll tell you when you're a proper grown up."

"Like when I'm six?"

"Heh. A bit older than that."

His father scooped up the wet cup of orange juice and chugged it down. "Thanks Chibi-Odango! We'll watch the game tonight when I get back from work." With a wink, his father flipped open his thick sunglasses and headed for the door. At the end of the hall, just before the front door, he waved over his shoulder. "See you later too, Big Odango."

His mother gave an exaggerated pout and shook her head before returning the wave. His father smirked one last time before affixing his shades and exiting their home.

"One of these days I'm going to get him back for that," his mother said with a huff.

She crossed the red carpeted room and knelt down for her own cup of juice. "Thanks, honey." She patted one of the black hair buns on top of his head. "I still can't believe you can do these all by yourself." She said after a sip of her drink. "Seems like only yesterday I was doing these for you."

"My teacher says I'm a fast learner," he giggled.

His mother let out a huff that made her blonde streams bounce a little. "No idea where you get that from."

"Maybe Uncle T.?"

His mother broke into giggles herself. "You aren't related to him silly."

"Oh… but then what about Uncle Shingo"

Usagi rolled her eyes. "Him you are related to, but you definitely don't get your smarts from him. Your annoying streak maybe, but not your smarts."

"He is smart though! He was able to make it to the final level of the new Lunar Marine! He showed me how to do it last time he babysat for me."

His mother sighed. "One of these days you'll do something constructive when he looks after you..." Hikari wanted to remind his mother of how much she sounded like Grandma Ikuko, but bit his tongue; which actually kinda hurt! "Guess I'll just have to hope for our next anniversary," she sighed.

Hikari cocked his head to the side. "Wait, is Uncle Shingo looking after me today?"

"Yes. I thought your father told you that?" Hikari shook his head. "Honestly," she complained. "Yeah, Uncle Shingo is going to babysit you today."

Hikari's face fell. "But I thought we were going to go to the zoo and amusement park to celebrate!?"

"We are. This weekend, but not tonight. Today is our actual anniversary so we're spending it together, just the two of us."

His shoulders slumped. "Can't I come too!?" He pleaded. "Please, please, please!"

His mother snorted. "The cry baby routine won't work on me, kiddo."

Hikari abruptly changed tactics. "What if I promise to do better on my next test!? I swear I won't get a score as bad as 60% this time."

For some reason his mother gagged on her drink and flushed red. She took a moment to clear her throat and seemed to collect herself. "Sorry, it's just for grown ups. Besides, you'll probably be bored where we're going." She gave him a consoling smile and squeezed his shoulders.

Unable to bring himself to upset his mother, Hikari, swallowing his disappointment, straightened up, and fixed his face into a look of determination. Or, in any case, tried his best to look like Papa whenever he had to visit sick kids in the hospital. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but indulge in his curiosity. "Where are you going?"

His mother had straightened up and moved towards the wardrobe. "We're going to this swanky place where your father and I had our first dance," she said, throwing some clothes onto the bed. "Hey, would you mind getting my special jewelry box out, please?"

His resolve faltering a little, Hikari considered refusing out of annoyance of being left behind tonight, but he figured it'd be too mean to ruin his parents' special day. "All right Mama. Where is it?"

"Bottom drawer of the cabinet honey."

"The one with Papa's roses on it?"

"That's the one."

Hikari ran over to the cabinet as fast as his little legs could carry him. He knew from TV that people always gave each other roses on special occasions like anniversaries, but he didn't remember a time when they didn't have a vase or two in the house. He'd never seen them in the garden though, Papa just always bought them home for Mama every so often.

Today however, on their anniversary, they seemed to stand out to him. Their delicate petals. Their hypnotic colour. Their sweet smell. He knew they were beautiful, but he couldn't puzzle out why Mama and Papa liked them so much? Maybe they meant something special?

"Mama! It's a total mess in here!"

"I, um… I was gonna clean it up tomorrow?" She offered guiltily. Hikari shot her a disbelieving look. Blanching, she turned around and leaned into the wardrobe, no doubt scouring for the exact right outfit for that evening. "Just rummage around a little. You'll find it." She called out from behind the wardrobe door.

Grumbling under his breath, Hikari thrust his small arms into the tangle of clothes and knickknacks, pulling out items at random. Eventually he unearthed the jewelry box and lifted it out of the drawer. He'd half turned away when something pink caught his eye. Had he not removed so much junk before, he might've missed it, but now it stood out quite clearly against the dark wood at the drawer's bottom.

He fished it out and looked at the cover. It was old, the colour having dulled, the once yellow stars having long since faded to white. There was a slight impression on the cover, obviously from where all the other junk must've been pressing down on it. Hikari traced the impression with his finger, wiping away some of the dust that'd accumulated on it. His curiosity returning, he opened the book and flipped through the pages.

It was filled with photographs!

A young blonde girl in a school uniform smiled out of the photos at him. He let out a tiny gasp upon spotting the hair buns on the girl's head. It was his mother! But she was different, a lot younger. And… and… she used to go to school!? His jaw dropped!

Thinking about it though… that did kind of make sense. She was so insistent on him going to school because she used to go to school too! His eyes narrowed as a gigantic thought hit him. What if… What if every adult used to go to school! What if Papa did too!?

He scanned the pages, looking for his father, or someone who at least looked a bit like his father. To his disappointment he found none. In fact, apart from a young Auntie Naru and Uncle Umino, he didn't recognize any of the people in these photos.

A girl with short blue hair and glasses smiled gently amidst a stack of books.

In front of a big fire, a pretty lady in a priestess outfit was shooting a piercing gaze at the camera.

A towering woman with a ponytail was casually carrying an equally huge sack of soil.

Within a karaoke booth stood a blonde girl with a red bow, blowing out a kiss with her microphone free hand.

A smug looking man, two women and a girl not much older than Hikari, posed elegantly for what seemed like a family portrait. The girl had short black hair and violet eyes. One of the women had dark skin and deep green hair. The other by contrast had hair that reminded Hikari of the ocean for some reason. The man though was blonde and wore his clothes a little loose, a cool swagger in his pose that didn't impress Hikari.

The following page contained photos of his mother with all of them.

His mother crying as glasses-girl pointed at a book, whilst the priestess rolled her eyes.

His mother and the other blonde lifted off the ground as the tall woman hugged them.

His mother blushing as the blonde man smirked at her, ocean-hair lady chuckling.

His mother half crying and waving goodbye to someone, a gesture repeated by the dark haired girl and the other lady from the family portrait. To Hikari's confusion they seemed to be looking upwards, as if the person they were bidding goodbye to was floating away.

"Hikari did you find… Oh…"

A little startled, Hikari looked over his shoulder. His mother was standing suddenly stiff, eyes wide and her hand halfway towards her mouth. He tilted his head in confusion as her bottom lip trembled for a moment.

"Wh-where did you get that?"

Mama's voice was strange. It was soft and quiet, but nothing like when she tucked him in or read him a story. He didn't like it, he decided.

"It was in the drawer," he said slowly pointing to the now empty patch of dark wood. "Who are all these people, Mama?"

His mother's lip trembled again but she clenched her raised hand and it seemed to stop. She gave him a small, indulgent smile then gently came over to kneel next to him.

"... These are… These are my friends..."

"But… I've never seen any of these people." Hikari said.

"They… um… they're not around anymore…." His mother's voice had grown lower.

"Did they move away?" Hikari asked.

To his confusion, his mother remained silent but blinked exactly once very slowly. Equally slowly, she shook her head to either side. "No. No they didn't move away…" Her eyes moved over to him, peering down at his face. He noticed a movement around her neck, like she had gulped. "My friends… They… They died."

Hikari's own throat felt strange now. "Like… Like Grandpa Kenji...?" He croaked out.

His mother lowered her eyes and closed them shut. "No, not exactly like Grandpa. They..." She opened her eyes again and looked up and off to the side, letting out a sigh. There was a kind of desperate look on her face that frightened Hikari. She shut her eyes tight again and breathed deep through her nostrils.

"There was… a very bad woman. A very bad woman called Galaxia and she…" His mother's fingers tensed, gripping a little into the carpet. "She took Mama's friends away from her."

"T-took them away?" Hikari breathed out. "And… And you couldn't get them back?"

His mother shook her head again. "I-I tried. I really did try, but…" Something about his mother reminded him of the kids at school. The small ones who cried whenever they tried, and failed, to kick the ball during break.

Hikari's unease intensified. He didn't like this. He didn't know why this book was making Mama like this but he wished he'd never ever found it. He wished he'd never found out about her old friends. Never found out about Galactica who could… could…

"Could that woman take my friends away too!?" He yelped out.

His mother whipped her head back to him. "No!" The sharpness in her voice made him recoil. A guilty look came over his mother's face and she extended her hand, stroking his cheek gently. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. But you don't have to worry. Mama stopped that horrible woman. She's never going to take away anyone's friends ever again."

The look in his mother's eyes was kind, reassuring, but with a little bit of fire too. Cautiously, Hikari spoke up again. "I'm sorry for opening the book. I didn't know I shouldn't have."

She moved her hand down, running her fingers through his ponytail. "No, no sweetie. It's fine, you didn't do anything wrong. It's… It's probably a good thing that Mama remembers all her friends…. Would… Would you like to know who they were?"

Tentatively, Hikari nodded his head. Lifting him up by the elbows, his mother hoisted him into her lap, the picture book laying open on the floor in front of them.

"See this girl with the glasses?" She tapped the photo of her crying. "Her name was Ami. She was super smart and helped Mama study so she could get into high school. And that's Rei, she could see the future and had a little bit of a temper sometimes." His mother's finger moved over to another photo. "This one is me with Mako and Mina."

"Mina looks a bit like you," said Hikari.

He could practically feel his mother smiling behind him. "Yeah, people were always saying that. Except she wanted to be an idol and I was happy just taking naps all day."

"So you were lazy back then too?"

"Hey! Watch it, buster!" She giggled, tickling his ribs, causing him to laugh too. "Now, Mako was anything but lazy. She loved to cook and look after plants, and she was super strong, too."

"Oh, so that's why she could lift you both up like that?"

"Yep! Tell you who else was pretty strong though…" She tapped the blonde man in the portrait of four. "Haruka. Toughest person I ever met. Suppose you have to be when you race cars."

"Whoa! You were friends with a race car driver?" His dislike of the blonde man lessened somewhat.

His mother nodded. "Oh yeah. And Michiru over there," she tapped the lady with ocean green hair, "she was famous for playing the violin. It was some of the most beautiful music in the whole world."

A pleasant warmth arose in Hikari as his mother rested her head on top of his.

"What about her?" He asked, pointing to the darker skinned woman.

"Ah, her name was Setsuna. She loved chemistry, but not as much as just going out and about and spending time with all of us."

"And her?"

"Her name was Hotaru. Isn't she pretty? For a long time she wasn't very well, but she got much better later."

Emboldened, Hikari turned over to the next set of pages where there were just two large photos, one on each page. One was a group shot of his mother and all her friends together. Except they were also accompanied by two other people. They were in the other picture too, appearing alongside his mother but nobody else.

"Wait, who're these two?" He asked, tapping them both out from the group shot.

His mother remained silent and he felt her grip tighten around him.

"... I… I think that's enough for today, Hikari. It's time for… for…"

He swivelled his head up to look at her. She however, was not looking at him. She was staring down at the picture on the right hand page. Hikari turned back to it himself.

Three people seemed to be in a park of some kind as there were green trees and a bright sky in the background. One was his mother, once again in her blue and white school uniform. She looked like she was in the middle of laughing.

It was an expression similar to that of the little girl in front of her. She too wore a uniform and seemed to be about the same age as the dark haired girl from the other photos. Her arms were raised as though she wanted to greet someone with a warm hug. The delight on her face was complimented by the bright bubblegum pink hair on her head. Something about the girl made Hikari's eyes narrow. She seemed… oddly familiar to him, even though he knew he'd never seen her before in his life. Maybe it was just the two hair buns on top of her head?

The third person in the photo wore an open orange shirt with a blue V-neck and had a far reserved smile on his face. Nevertheless, below his black hair, happiness twinkled out of his blue eyes. It was when Hikari's gaze lowered that he noticed something rather odd. His mother was leaning on the black haired man's shoulder and had her arms wrapped around his left. He had seen his grown up mother look like that before, but only with Papa. Something about the two of them unnerved him. As did the way his mother's fingers shook when she reached out and touched the photo.

He dared to look back up at her face. This time their eyes locked and he felt the urge to cry, a wave of sadness enveloping him. Except, it was strange because… the sadness was not his own. But then, his mother's look changed. Changed into the look he'd seen almost every day he could remember. The look he knew she reserved just for him.

"That's Chibi-Usa and Mamoru. They were... very special to me."

"So they were your best friends?"

She gave him a small, sad, smile. "... More than that."

Hikari didn't like the sound of that. At least not when it came to the man in the photo.

"I think you would have liked Chibi-Usa a lot," his mother said softly, her fingers tracing over the image of the little girl.

"... Mama… That man in the photo… Why are you… Why are you hugging him like that?"

His mother didn't move, sans her eyes drifting over to the photo and back again. "We… We were in love once." She said with a shrug.

Hikari suddenly felt ice cold. "But… But Papa?"

His mother let out a small, half gasp, half laugh. "I met Papa after Mamoru had… After Galaxia had taken Mamoru away from me."

This did not make Hikari feel better.

"Did you want to marry Mamoru?"

For some reason, his mother's left hand twitched.

"Once, yes. I thought I might marry him."

"Y-you mean Papa took Mamoru's place? If Galactica hadn't shown up you'd never have married him."

All at once, his mother's eyes darted up to the top of the cabinet and she briefly shivered, as if caught in rain.

But it didn't last. Half a second later, her body stilled and she returned her gaze upon him, gently shaking her head.

"Nobody can ever really know such things. When I met Papa, Mamoru would have been in America if not for Galaxia. So maybe I would've fallen in love with Papa anyway? Or maybe if they'd both been with me I'd have still chosen to marry Papa. But it doesn't really matter anyway." She smiled again, this time brightly and without a hint of sadness. "Papa and I have so much fun teasing each other, and goofing off and scarfing down candies and playing games and everything! And I know, no matter what, Papa will always try to protect me. He makes me happy. And… he gave me you."

Under his mother's loving gaze, Hikari felt a wave of warmth spread across his entire body. He leaned into the hug his mother wrapped him in.

"So… So you don't wish you married Mamoru instead?" He whispered into her ear.

"No, Hikari. No I don't," she whispered back.

She stood up, lifting him with her. Locking eyes with him, they rested their foreheads upon each other."You and Papa..."

Together, they faced the vase of roses in front of which was another picture. Hikari and his parents smiled out of it, his mother in sunflower yellow and his father in a sharp red suit, his black ponytail hanging over his shoulder, just like Hikari.

"... you're more than good enough for me."

A/N: Written for the 25th Anniversary of SeiUsa, specifically episode 194 which aired on 7th December 1996.

Hikari in Japanese means 'light'.

So I skewed anime canon with this, but tried to work in a little manga canon too. I know SeiUsa isn't as big of a deal (if at all) in the manga, but I figure I might as well try and tribute it. That is why I used the term 'Papa' because the term applied to Haruka in the manga too. I know it doesn't really jive with the manga canon at the end of the day but I did try to tip my hat to it all the same.

If I have offended anyone with this fic regarding issues of gender identity, pronouns, etc, I really am very sorry as it was not my intention. By all means, kindly let me know via a DM, comment, review, etc and I will try to do better going forwards and potentially even adjust the fic accordingly.