Note beforehand (please read and don't skip):
This chapter is a bit long, which is good, I expect, but a good chunk of it will be some background. Often when reading cross-overs, I like authors to fill in as many holes as possible (such as what happened to him and why did she go there, and why did they break up) with more than a dismissive sentence that some (but not all) authors tend to give. That said, I expect to do the same for my (few) readers, not only just for them but for myself also. So this chapter will have some development, but also some background, so that I can reintroduce characters later in the story without confusion. Also, for those wonderers out there, I can, hopefully answer some questions. Mamoru will, however remain a secret, as I am still not quite sure how I want him to play into the story. No hints, however I will say that I am not a basher.
Important: I'm not quite sure how many scouts I want in this series. Don't get me wrong, I love the scouts and find each unique and important. The fact is, there's too many of them. They make a full story by themselves, therefore making it hard to use them in a crossover (which is already a combination of two stories!). Too many characters are too much for my brain to handle. Kudos to Naoko Takeuchi (sp?).
Also, (I know this is getting ridiculously long, but please bear with me, you might find it a bit interesting,) I am borrowing a bit of plot/character stuff from the SM Live action series. You'll see it most with Minako, a bit with Rei, and I'm still considering with Luna.
Bravo for reading! My thanks if you did. On to the story.
BEGIN:
Sakura sat on her bed with a grave look on her face. Tomoyo sat on the carpet instead, preferring a back rest to a softer seat. She sipped her tea slowly and slightly turned her head back to peer over the rim of the tea cup at Sakura. Kero had just explained to both of them the potential threat he saw in their new transfer student Usagi.
"Did you feel it?" Kero said, shaking his head. "It was so strong. I know she was trying to hide it, but if you can feel her power, then we might have a chance."
"I felt a bit of power from her," Sakura admitted, "But, it can't be, no one is stronger than Clow. And a talking cat, that seems a little-"
Sakura stopped herself. A talking cat was no more ridiculous than a talking animal (even if he was secretly a mighty guardian). But these things that she was hearing, it seemed so unreal. Long before, Kero had told her there was more magic in the world than just the Clow cards. However, despite that warning, the only magic Sakura had ever encountered had all revolved around the Clow cards, or her own Sakura cards.
Speaking of the Sakura cards…
Although, Sakura hadn't had the chance to tell Kero yet, the Cards had been a little bit different since Usagi had left, that being an understatement. The ones under the power of the moon had changed color, from their Sakura Card pink, to a mysterious silver color. Additionally, the backs of the cards had changed, from Sakura's star symbol, to a shining white crystal that almost looked like a rose the way it was opened up. Faintly, in back of the crystal-rose, there was a pale crescent moon that didn't even show unless the light shined directly on it. Sakura took a deep breathe and held up the Cards, pink in on hand, silver in the other, fanning them out to display the difference.
Tomoyo gasped and Kero looked down, shaking his head. Ther was a long pause before he spoke.
"She changed them."
Usagi walked home alone. During her stay at the Kinmoto house, Luna had snuck out of the house to check up on the apartment (and Hotaru, but we'll get into that later). Usagi had moved out of her house when she had reached high school. Her parents had worried at first, but because it seemed that these days, Usagi was getting more and more serious, they relented and let her move out. What could they do? Usagi was growing up, and it seemed like most of her friends lived on their own. As parents, their jobs had gotten lighter and lighter, her friends being the ones to take care of her, it always seemed. It was a bit saddening, but they still had Shingo and Usagi had to grow up sometime.
Usagi had changed. Once upon a time, her only friend had been Molly (sorry, forgot her Japanese name ;;). Once upon a time, she had been a complete failure in school. But then again, once upon a time, she had also bee a princess on the moon. The fact was; Usagi had changed. She had made more and more friends (all scouts, granted, but they were good friends). With a bit of help from Ami and the rest of them, she was able to pull her grades up and get her act together. And now, she was even living on her own, even taking care of Hotaru, while the outers did their various famous things. She lived off of phone calls from Minako, food from Makoto, self-assuring visits from Rei, and pleasant letter from Ami.
Usagi's beloved Inners…
Minako had become a star, rising towards fame, launching both a singing and modeling career. She had been in a few magazines over the year, and had just released her cd, entitled "Romance", after reaching top ten with her single release "C'est la Vie." She was currently in Tokyo, trying to break into acting also, to become an all-around idol. Her spark in photographs and in person, seemed to be rocket her to ever growing success, not to mention " hot boys galore" to get an exact quote from her lips. Artemis was going crazy.
Makoto had begun to work in a bakery after school, bringing Usagi treats all the time. While Makoto was grateful for the unusually high salary she received as a part timer at the bakery, in reality, the bakery probably needed her more than she needed it. Makoto, probably would have a higher salary, if she fulfilled her dream of owning her own bakery. However, still being in high school, Makoto wanted a proper education that was expected of all the scouts by Setsuna (and Makoto looked up to the outers as almost replacement parents, or perhaps older siblings). She was in the process of arranging transfer to Usagi's new high school, but her councilor seemed to think that, because of her past reasons for transferring, she shouldn't switch school mid-year, as Usagi had.
Rei was still going to the rich-girl private school she had gone to all her life and yearned to get away from it. Her separation from Usagi seemed unfair, given that all the other scouts had been able to attend school with her at some point. Then, she had her priestess duties, which ate up much of her free time. A lot of it was boys, who came to the temple to flirt with the beautiful mysterious princess. Rei, however, wasn't quite a boy –crazy girl, not like Minako. She wasn't quite a phone person either, and so, missing her friend, she resorted to as many visits to Usagi's house as possible, which, as an added bonus, got her away from her ever prying grandfather, who seemed to get more annoying as more and more boys visited the temple instead of girls.
Ami had gone to study in Germany, of all places, on a student-exchange program. Of course, with a little bit of scouts power and a bit of her own genuine genius ability to learn basically everything, she'd become perfectly fluent in German in a matter of a week. There, although she had refused to skip grades (when she returned, she wanted to be able to be in the same class as Usagi again), she studied branching fields of advanced math and science. It just so happened that the Outers were there too, because Haruka had entered a big league racing competition. She had dragged with her Michiru, of course, while Setsuna followed because of the scientific possibilities of working with some brilliant German minds.
Usagi's thoughts stopped their reflection upon how things had changed.
Luna, although in her human form, was curled up in a very cat-like position on the couch. Her soft breathing told Usagi she was asleep, and Usagi made very sure to be quiet. Despite her efforts, she had to let out a small scream when she flipped on the lights in her room, only to find an intelligent boy waiting for her, sitting on her bed with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.
END
Wow, I really like cliffies, and commentary too apparently. Not to be a greedy beggar, but I really love reviews. –hint, hint- Also, any ideas you guys have would be wonderful to have. They really do mean a lot because I don't write so much for the fun of writing but for the fun of seeing how things can be made to fit together so perfectly well sometimes. (I'd actually like it better if I could give people my ideas and have them write it for me, I am more of a reader than a writer, but writing is kind of good practice for school, so oh well.) Haha, I babble a lot. Sorry, maybe I'm super hyper because it's SUMMER! Okay, bye.
