I was fifteen when the dreams started.

They were bizarre dreams at first; I dreamed I was flying up to the night's sky like I was riding a sled on a jet stream—yes, I know, weird analogy but it's the only way to describe it. I was suddenly rocketing to the moon, laughing with my head tossed back in awe. It was later that the other images began to flash through them. The other images were confusing and at times terrifying—I saw horrible monsters, soulless eyes, bloodied hands.

But I also saw such wondrous things. I saw kind faces, comforting arms, and even beloved people in my life yet to come. I saw him first there too.

The dreams lasted for the better part of two months before my parents sought out medical help—I was losing my good health and I was getting weaker. My frail body was so drained form my restless sleep. The dreams were tearing me apart.

That is where my story begins.

- -

"TSUKINO!"

"Wah," Usagi gasped, jumping so high in her seat that her legs slammed against the bottom of the desk. Her eyes watered as she rubbed her knees; she looked up as her teacher frowned down at her. "Ah...sorry, Sakurada-sensei." Other students looked back with puzzled expressions—the blonde often fell asleep in class but for the last week the amount of times she had done so had been getting ridiculous.

"Usagi-chan, I've had to wake you up three times this morning. Why can't you get enough sleep at home?"

"Ahh, Sakurada-sensei, I do get sleep. It's just not...very restful."

"Usagi-chan, stay after for detention—if you can't stay awake for class then you'll just have to after to make up for wasted time."

"Ah, Sakurada-sensei, I can't stay after! I have a doctor's appointment," Usagi wailed.

Sakurada-sensei blinked at her then frowned. "Usagi-chan, will this have anything to do with your unusual sleeping habits?"

"Eh...yes, Sakurada-sensei," she mumbled quietly. Sakurada-sensei shook her head but turned back to the board. Usagi lifted a brow and wondered whether or not she was off the hook. She waited for more than half the hour before decided that she was in the clear. She promptly grinned and went back to sleep.

Four hours later, after sleeping straight through next three hours, Usagi hefted herself up and staggered over to the door drunkenly after everyone else had left. She was halfway out the door when she heard a voice behind her call out her name.

"Tsukino."

Usagi blinked and stared back over her shoulder to her teacher. Sakurada-sensei had a pained look on her face as she spoke. "Usagi-chan, make sure to get better and catch up with your work."

Usagi smiled brightly despite her exhaustion and nodded. "Yes, Sensei," she said promptly and walked out the door.

It was a messy business getting down the stairs without falling on her face. She had to cling to the handrail as she eased herself down the steps, testing her weight on each foot before stepping completely down. She nearly cheered for joy when she saw the door leading outside. She hobbled her way out and as quickly as she could, "raced" out the door, through the courtyard, and nearly collapsed outside the school's gate.

Usagi rested against the frame of the gate as she sighed. "Sooo sleepy..." she murmured. She began to slide down the wall when she heard her father's voice. She blinked wearily as he raced over and began to pull her along to his car.

"C'mon, Usagi-chan, time to go for to doctor's office," he said, as he picked her up and helped her into the car. She sighed wearily and fell asleep, face smashed against the window making a funny sight for others who saw her looking so silly.

She could barely stay awake during the doctor's appointment and kept listing heavily to the side. She gave her doctor quite a problem as she could barely keep her eyes open long enough to finish his check up. "Now, Tsukino-chan," he began, "I heard you've been having some bizarre dreams and that they've been keeping you up at night so you can't get any sleep."

"Yes, Urawa-sensei," she murmured. (1)

"Can you tell me about these dreams?"

"Yes, Sensei," she muttered, leaning dangerously closer to the side. Her father grabbed her shoulders and gave her a shake to wake her up a bit more. "Ugh...papa..."

"Tsukino-chan," her doctor started again, tapping his pen against his palm.

"Yes, Sensei?"

"I want you to tell me about these dreams you been having."

"Oh, yes. It always starts with me...sleeping in my bed...and then..."

"And then...?" he prompted as she drifted off. She shook herself and tried to sit up.

"Then I'm suddenly out of bed and floating in this big room...I see three men...they're at this computer station or something...they're talking about testing "the waves" or something. I think they're looking for something cause one of them keeps asking for updates, then one of them says "yes" and next thing I know I'm flying on this...I don't know...satellite dish? I'm riding this thing on this laser or something and I'm heading towards outer space..."

"Anything else, Tsukino-chan?"

"...Ah-huh," she yawned.

"What is it then?"

"I see this doll..."

"A doll?" her doctor asked sharing a confused look with her father.

"It's weird. One minute I'm on the satellite dish or something, riding the laser, and then all of the sudden I'm in this room...and there's all these doll things floating around...They're weird dolls, too. They look like something off an anime or something but they're all so pretty and then...this really small floats over to me. It's got this white circle for a head and red button eyes with these black slits and it's all white and on it's dress is this yellow fringe and..." she rambled. "It says, "I've been waiting for you." and I start talking with it. But even then I don't know what's happening in the dream either."

"Tsukino-chan." Urawa-sensei interrupted, but she rambled on without hearing him.

"And then...there's these monsters everywhere. The little doll is in my hands and I keep running, but they're after me and the doll so I keep running. And then all of these...images...go by...and..." she stopped and landed heavily on the examination table backwards. Her father yelped and dove for his daughter as she began to slip off the table, calling for her.

"Usagi, wake up!"

"...let her sleep, Tsukino-san." her doctor spoke to relieve him. "She must be exhausted."

Kenji turned to Urawa-sensei and spoke, "Sensei, please, tell me what's wrong with my daughter!"

"I'm not quite sure...but I believe I know someone who will be able to help your daughter. I'll write you a prescription for some sedatives. It would best for her to stay home until next Monday. On Monday, I want you to come back. I will try to get in touch with my friend as see if he can come and visit her," he explained. He quickly scribbled a prescription and handed it to Kenji. "God's willing; I think he can help her."

"Thank you, Sensei," Kenji murmured, taking the prescription and slipping into his pocket as he picked his daughter up. "I'll take her home right now. Thank you for your time."

- -

Usagi was having the dream again. She had already drifted away from her bed once again and now the scene had changed. She watched in distracted fascination as the three men in pristine white lab coats checked the numerous computer screens, gauges, and tiny gadgets in the large computer council in front of them. Above the large curving council, a giant monitor screen displayed numerous graphs and streamed data. She watched as the blonde man at the right checked several gauges at once as he typed furiously. At his far left another man, a brunet, typed at a slower pace, casually glancing up to see the numerous screens once in awhile.

The last man stood a bit away from the other two reading long sheets of computer readouts, his gaze flickering back and forth between the two men before returning to the paper.

"Any...worth reporting...ite?"

"No...No changes..."

"Zoi...?"

"Nope...the same, Mamoru."

"Damn. ...when it changes," he said and then returned to the paper.

Several long moments passed before a loud beeping started up and a light began to flash wildly on the screen. The brunet turned to the flash and called to the men at his side. Now, their voices became clear and made sense.

"It's happening again, Chiba-sama," he called. The dark haired one walked over as the blond swiveled about in his chair to see them. He grinned and hooted as Mamoru stared over the brunet's shoulder.

"We've got 'em!" the blond cheered

"Put a tracer on the source, Nephlite," Mamoru decided at last. "Perhaps we'll catch them this time."

"Yes, sir," Nephlite answered. In his seat, the blond was grinning wildly and typing furiously at his keyboard.

"We've got 'em, we've got 'em, we've got 'em-"

"Zoisite, if you have that much energy, put it to good use," Mamoru sighed. Zoisite cackled and continued on, sans the chanting. A moment later Nephlite started to talk again.

"Chiba-sama, our tracer has pinpointed the source to Japan. Some where in one of the wards of Tokyo," Nephlite grinned. "Looks like we did get 'em, Zoisite."

"That's the best we've got from one of the tracers on this source in awhile," Mamoru murmured, a bit of a smirk tugging on his lips. Zoisite cheered loudly and spun in his chair before returning to the council.

"I told you that my new tracers could do it, hah!" he shouted loudly while the other two remained fixed on their work.

"Nephlite, any word on which specific ward?" Mamoru asked. Zoisite quickly quieted and turned to look hopefully at Nephlite.

"..." Nephlite stared at his computer aghast before grinning wildly. "Y-yes, sir; Azabu, sir!"

This sent Zoisite into a near conniption fit of happiness. "I knew my babies could do it, woo hoo!"

Mamoru looked up in shock before grinning. "Yes," he gasped excitedly

Suddenly, the room began to twist and warp, making Usagi frown. She had wanted to see what would happen to the three men and if they could find exactly what they were looking for. Inwardly, she almost wished they hadn't...something in her told that if they did find what the were looking for everything would change... However, she didn't have time to worry about that as suddenly she was zooming high through the air.

"Dammit!"

"We're losing the signal!"

"Try to keep that tracer so we can find..." the voices trailed off and died as she was suddenly flying again.

This, thought Usagi, is my favorite part! Her breath caught as she looked down. She saw the three men, Mamoru, Nephlite scurrying about, searching for something. Usagi shrugged but laughed in delight as she felt herself rocketing upward. She turned her gaze upward to see the stars—had she ever seen so many stars when she was awake?—and in the middle of the sky, a large perfect full moon hung heavily in the sky. Usagi laughed and lifted her arms up as if she could catch it.

Slowly, she stopped flying and was now floating. She started floating downward and she saw that she was in what looked like a college classroom with theater styled seating. Her feet tapped the floor and she looked about the room. It was a simple room, seating maybe twenty, five per row. However, the interesting part was the bizarre dolls hovering about the room.

The dolls were not like china dolls, or plastic figures. All of them with circular heads and bell skirts in somewhat bland colorings. They came in varying sizes and colors. There were eight dolls all together floating about. Three extras sat on the long desktop of the first row.

One was the largest of all the dolls assembled, standing a foot high. It was mainly yellow, accented in reds and oranges. It had black horizontal slits on its red eyes. It looked very curious as it was shining very brightly. "That's the Sun Doll. Its master lives on in it. It's not the one you're looking for.'

Next to it, a very sad looking doll sat on its side, a large crack running through it. It was once probably a very beautiful doll, with green as the main color and blues and browns for accents, but now a dim grey shadow muted the colors. "That is the Earth Doll. Its master has died too, but it will take no other. It broke as its master died."

Last of all on the farthest right, the smallest doll of all was standing proudly, arms pinned to the sides. It was pretty white doll with red circles for eyes and black slits. It was accented in yellow and stood about three inches high. "Hello, Usagi. I've been waiting for you."

"Who are you?"

"I am..."

Suddenly, the classroom setting fell away. The air around them took on a sickly green and purple color. In the thick mists, eyes gleamed out and dark whispers were heard. Usagi shuddered, terrified despite having the same dream for the last two months-the voices sounded like nothing she had ever heard before in her life. She reached out and took the small doll in her hands, turning and looking for the way out.

"Quick, we have to run, Usagi!"

"Alright," she squeaked and ran blindly, hoping that she wouldn't run into the monsters in the mists. She ran hard, looking every which way for the exit. "What are we going to do? Someone, help us!"

"No can help us, Usagi, you must-"

"USAGI-CHAN!"

"Ack," she yelped and jumped from bed. Usagi's mother, Ikuko, gasped and gathered her daughter up in her arms. "Mama," Usagi sobbed, still feeling the terror and despair from the dream. She broke down into hysterical tears and sobbed into her mother's shoulder.

"That dream again, Usagi-chan?" asked Ikuko softly. Usagi's single dream was becoming such a problem that it was now always referred to as that dream. For the last two months, Usagi was subjected to it nightly. Already after only taking her medication for fourth time since she had gotten it, her dreams had returned. Ikuko sighed and thanked the gods that Usagi's appointment would be later that day.

It took nearly ten minutes for Usagi to calm down. Whenever Usagi had had that dream, she would be unable to sleep again for the night. Only in the day could Usagi escape her dream so whenever she woke up, Ikuko would fix her daughter tea and something hot to eat. That Monday morning, Ikuko talked her daughter down the stairs and sat her in a chair as she cooked.

Nearly an hour later, Kenji came down and patted his daughter shoulder as he collected his coffee from his wife. "Ready to go, Usagi-chan?"

"Hmm?" Usagi murmured. Kenji sighed and drank his coffee.

"For your doctor's appointment. It's this morning at eight," he answered and watched as she became a bit more animated when she realized that if she didn't hurry, she'd be late. He smiled fondly as she tore up the stairs-only at such moments, did it appear that his old daughter was back. He then frowned and kept a close eye on her as she stumbled a bit up the stairs-Usagi had to be watched now to make sure she didn't hurt herself as she raced around in case she collapsed. He felt Ikuko's warm hand on his shoulder and sighed. "How's Shingo?"

"He's at his friend's house again," she murmured. After Usagi's nightly dreams, she awoke screaming and thrashing so, Shingo complained of never getting enough sleep himself. Either he now slept in one of the rooms where he couldn't hear his sister or he spent the night at a friend's house.

"Hopefully, Ikuko, this man Urawa-sensei knows will able to help Usagi."

"I hope so, dear."

---------------

It was a tricky business, helping Usagi into the doctor's office and then into an examination room waiting for the doctor. Finally, Urawa-sensei appeared and at his heels was a young man with curly strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. Usagi took a single look at him and smiled.

"It's you," she murmured, shocking Zoisite, Kenji, and Urawa-sensei before promptly fainting.

And that's all for the first chapter! We'll get to see more of what's really happening to Usagi in the next chapter! Later.

(1) Both doctors and teachers are referred to as 'sensei' in Japan.