WAAAAHHHH! only one person commented last time! *sniff* well their suggestion got me thinking so it was worth it, but please! People! Talk to me! I'm so lonely... T-T

Anyway, here's the next chapter! I had part of it already set (the last part) and then wrote the last after the suggestion (still need some though) Yes, the Shitennou have more parts here than in other stories, and it's awesome. Hope you like it! ^^V


2 – Ghosts, Homework, and WHAT THE -?! Whoops

It was a very confused and frustrated Mamoru that entered his apartment late one evening. Tossing his school bag on the couch in deep thought, he almost didn't notice it passing through Nephrite on his way to the fridge. The Shitennou stopped their discussion, watching their master for a moment before any of them dared approach him.

Of course, it was Kunzite who had the courage to do so. "Master, is something the matter?"

"Maybe…" Taking a drink, Mamoru tried to put his thoughts into words, along with a half-baked plan. "Can any of you leave the apartment on your own?"

That took the soldier aback. "I do not believe so… At least not in the way you may be thinking." The younger man mentally cursed, looking away and trying to figure something else out. It only made the ghosts worry more. "Why would you need us to?"

"I think I have a stalker." Needing to explain himself, Mamoru put the glass down and ran a hand through his hair. "I've felt the same presence in the apartment building as this… girl I saw watching me in the library, for the past week. I think she moved into the building because she's after me."

Instantly his old guards stiffened, their usually calm and ease gone with the possibility of a threat. Already he was regretting mentioning it. The Shitennou were always kicking themselves for not being able to do anything to help him. Though their powers increased with his of late and could interact more often with their prince, they still couldn't do much to protect him or the Earth. And apparently they couldn't leave the apartment. Magical limits often gave people just enough to give people hope, but dash them before anything more could be done.

"It's nothing I can't handle," Mamoru tried to backpedal. "Seriously, it's just another stalker."

"Another stalker, Master?" He just had to say another. It was only the third one since junior high. Seriously it wasn't anything new or dangerous. Kunzite though decided to remind him of something rather painful for all of them. "Are you forgetting another stalker was responsible for the fall of the Silver Millennium and the loss of Elysian? The same one who brought destruction to this lifetime as well?"

The prince cringed, remembering the past so painful he did his best to block it out. Beryl. He treated her as another stalker too, a harmless fangirl. The seeress found out about he and Serenity, became obsessively jealous, and sided with Metallia who wanted him dead from the beginning. The rest, truly, was history.

"I'm being careful," he promised. "Why do you think Usako hasn't been around lately? Until I know where she stands, I'm not letting anyone be seen with me in this building.

"The problem is, I still haven't been approached by her." He couldn't be sure what was happening until after he was delivered an ultimatum or at least a sign of whether it was coincidence or his ego going wild.

"Do you honestly want her to?" Tanzanite stepped forward, glaring slightly – though not in a dangerous forbidding protective way like Kunzite. "Sire, women of this sort are dangerous and obsessive. It's likely she has some ulterior goal than just admiring you from afar."

"It's not like she's done anything else to be creepy." Though he felt eyes on him on occasion, it was always in a public place and never when he was doing anything personal. There were other eyes on him too that were becoming constant, but never were they threatening. "There haven't been letters or photos or anything missing here… You would be able to –"

"No," Kunzite confirmed, "no one's been in your apartment but you of late." The soldier looked to the others coming closer, thinking. "Do either of you have ideas on how to check on this girl?"

"It's not really nec–"

"Talk to Mars," Jadeite offered almost immediately. "She should be able to know the girl's true intentions within a few minutes."

"It'd be better to send the princess' advisers," Nephrite contrasted, removing himself from where the books were. "Mauns are able to slip into places easily, see things as they are, and gather evidence if there is a problem."

"Luna and Artemis aren't back yet," Mamoru automatically replied. It was something worrying their human 'owners' lately. They were supposed to be back from their space adventures months ago yet hadn't returned. What was taking them? "And I don't think Rei-chan would like to be used this way. Don't worry. I'll handle this."

"Somehow we're not comforted." Tanzanite folded his arms as he started to fade away. The rest were starting to as well indicating their time was up for being out of their gems. Still they all tried to do their duty, warning him to not handle this alone. "Remember you're not really alone Mamoru-sama. You do have allies, and with strange women like this, you need backup."

"Promise us you won't do anything rash." Kunzite's demand matched his glare. He was fading too, but if he could stay around through sheer willpower, he would at that moment. Mamoru could never ignore those looks.

Giving in, he nodded. "I'll be careful. I promise."

The white haired warrior halted his disappearance for a moment longer than the rest, making sure he believed him before disappearing entirely. Mamoru let out a long sigh, leaning against a counter. Somehow he was more exhausted now than when he came home from five hours of classes and another four studying. Slowly he looked up to where the crystal case was, his heart aching. "Not really alone huh? Tell me another one."


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Aino Minako sighed dismally as her friends tried to do their homework. Summer classes were ending soon, but that meant if they wanted to have any time for fun the next three weeks, they had to get their assignments done fast. Even Usagi was being a good student and studying like crazy to get it all done. The only one not focused, of course, was their soldier of love. "Such a shame to be stuck inside on a beautiful day."

"We wouldn't be so stuck if you would just focus on school and not chasing idols." Rei glared up from her dreaded report. The one horrible thing about going to a catholic school like hers was the required paper on a Christian subject. She was a Shinto priestess! Sure she learned a lot about it in the school, but she didn't care to remember anything from it after the usual tests. The research she had to do now grated on her nerves and made her hate her neglectent father even more. It made her very irritable. The weather didn't help much either.

"Who was it last week again, Minako-chan?" Ami wasn't working on her summer assignments; those were done a long time ago. Instead she was working through all the premed practice exams, doing four at a time. She still wasn't satisfied with the results. "A street performer?"

"He was pretty good," Makoto said in the blond's defense. Her papers were nearly identical to Minako and Usagi's, but there were less of them. She was a fairly decent student when the others weren't around to distract her so most of it was done. "Washington-san can do all these flips and tricks and he looks like he's fighting and dancing at the same time."

"I know right?" Chipper again, Minako started to rattle on all the benefits of such a person of skill. "And the way he dances? Along with the music and not because of it? It's as if he's part of it! So good and amazing and polite and… did you see how well we danced together? He's just –"

"Mina-chan ~" They all looked Usagi who was teary eyed as she checked her math problem for probably the fifth time. "I don't get it at all! Help me!"

This started a series of chuckles among the group, breaking away from their irritation or academic thoughts in favor of helping their beloved princess. She understood people really well, but math and languages and grammar were not her strong points. That, along with each of their needs for social interaction in general, is what brought them out of their individual homes and gather that afternoon to study and get work done. It felt like their last year of junior high all over again, except without Chibi-Usa or the cats or youma hanging around.

Except it was their last year in high school, and college entrance exams were right around the corner. Fun. Most of them had career paths already figured out: priestess, doctor, business owner (bakery and floral), and entertainer. That meant two of them were going for business management degrees, one for medical, and another looking at any classes that would help her in the future.

Usagi though wasn't going for any real degree at that moment, but needed to go to college to 1) satisfy her parents, 2) stay with her friends in their classes, 3) make Mamoru proud, and most importantly 4) be prepared to be queen of the Earth and Moon when the New Silver Millennium started. For her, college was an absolute necessity, and at that moment did not seem possible. Her grades were so dismal it almost didn't seem possible to pass even one part of the entrance exams. And they all wanted her to pass.

So it was time to study! Study study stu-

"What's going on?"

A patron of the café just had to say three words to get the attention of Minako again, getting her to look out the large glass windows. People were running as fast as they could down the street, some of them screaming and carrying their crying children. That usually meant only one thing. "Uh oh. Vacation's over."

"What are you –" Rei only had to look up to see what she was talking about and instantly her demeanor changed. The other senshi also looked up, realized what was happening, and looked at each other. Yep, the vacation was over.

"Let's go see who's invading this year." Minako put it as casually as possible, but each of their stomachs were twisting at the idea of the Earth being attacked, again. They scrambled out of their booth and towards the backdoor, nearly knocking over Una who was just coming in for her shift. Ami asked her to watch their stuff as they ran out of the building, not stopping until they were certain no one would see them. Within seconds lights blazed around them, exchanging their casual clothes for fukus and tiaras then leaping onto the rooftops to make it to the source of the trouble without being stopped by panicking people.

The heroes were on the way to save the world, again.


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Mamoru was running the second class ended. He had a bad feeling for the past fifteen minutes and knew the senshi were already on it, but he couldn't stand the idea of an attack on his planet, his people, and not knowing what was going on. He threw his books into his car then abandoned it for an alleyway where he could change into his white suit and teleport to where he sensed the most amount of trouble.

He landed a little less than gracefully on a rooftop near the center of Juuban district, eyes frantically looking for Sailor Moon and the other senshi. He spotted them quickly, each of them stunned and a little scraped up, but fine. There were no monsters in sight. Tuxedo Kamen ran to Sailor Moon's side, letting out a relieved breath when he could see her better. Stunned and confused was the only way to describe her at that exact moment, but she seemed physically fine. "Are you alright?"

Instantly she looked up to him, surprised by his approach. "Tuxedo Kamen-sama! What are you –"

"What the hell just happened?!" Venus' shout got the man's attention as he helped his love to her feet, making him wonder what happened even more than before. She was staring at some cracks in the pavement and a few damaged public goods in the area. Another piece of pavement was burnt and smoking with something in the center. How did you burn asphalt?

"That's what I want to know." Jupiter took some cautionary steps towards the smoldering mass, and with shaking hands, removed what appeared to be a charred broken bone. A human bone. Femur if he knew right. A femur for a grown man. Mercury's soft horror filled mumbling confirmed his suspicions.

Sailor Moon clung to Tuxedo Kamen for her life, shaking wildly. He held her close to comfort her, but his eyes went to Sailor Mars. She looked as horrified as the rest of them. "What happened?"

"I did not do this." That was the first thing she told him? Venus nodded in confirmation of her words as Mars added more. "None of us did."

"Then how –"

"That was the monster," she cut him off. "But something else got it while we were fighting it. It nearly…" She let out a long breath before looking straight at him. "This is going to take a while to explain, and we're not even sure what happened."

The man watched them in silence for a moment, holding the shaking woman in his arms close. Whatever happened scared them. It was going to take some time for them to calm down and explain, he knew this. Yet the sight of a burned human bone at the site of one of their battles left a foul taste in his mouth. He was going to get a good explanation, whether they liked it or not.


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For a few minutes he could forget about everything in the world. There was nothing but the music and the rhythm and endless motion. His flips and tricks came naturally, sending blood pumping through his body. It was a high nothing artificial could copy. And the cheers and whistles he got when he finished each dance gave him a second rush, knowing he did good.

Then a long whistle blew out and reality decided to hit him like a rock. "Crap."

As smoothly as he could, the dancer Washington bowed deeply to his patrons, a grin all across his face. "Thank you so much for watching my performance this day and contributing to my continued life. Now I must take my leave before I get arrested."

At the word 'arrested', several people looked around and spotted the one who blew the familiar whistle several yards away, charging at them. The boy quickly grabbed his iPod, speakers, new cash, and bag before turning and running as quickly as he could for the closest alleyway. The crowd would delay the officer for a few minutes and he needed that time to –

"Craaap!" Another officer was waiting in the alleyway, baton already out with a whistle in his lips. Without even thinking, the street performer ran straight at him before leaping to the side, off the building, and over him with a flip, barely dodging his grasp. He didn't stop running when he landed, taking advantage of the man's shock while he could. He did give a sassy salute back when he turned the corner, not able to help himself, but he did not stop running.

He weaved in and out of the main roads and sideways, making sure that if anyone was following him they would be lost rather quickly. For extra measure, he leapt onto a ladder and climbed up to the roofs of the shopping center to make his path even more difficult to follow. Stories of criminals who did this passed through his mind briefly, twisting his heart painfully for a moment as he ran from rooftop to rooftop.

Is that what he became? A criminal? "Oh Dad if you could see me now."

Tired of leaping around rooftops – much harder than Batman ever made it look – the teen decided to go down the next low roof he came across and drop into a walk away backroad. Running was great for a quick escape, but if he wanted to get away without anyone asking questions, a casual walk in the middle of a crowd was better. He was too far from that street corner now to be seen by those cops again, so there was probably a better choice than what he was doing right then.

The next low rooftop didn't have a ladder on the side he wanted, but it did have an awning on the ground level. Quickly he slid down the roof, grabbed the edge, and twisted around to swing to the ground below without injury.

That was, if no one was squatting to place recycling outside, exactly where he needed to land. 'Whoops.'


A/N: Having fun yet? So Mamoru was hoping to use the Shitennou to check out the 'stalker' and maybe find out if she was a threat. Clearly they can't. Everything has a limit, including how long they can be out of their stones. Must be very boring being a rock. Hence why they get out of them as often as they can and just talk. Fun times.

Summer homework is a common theme in anime and manga, along with studying for exams, so... *shrugs* the senshi aren't going to around as much as you may like in this one, but they are important, as is their going to graduate and college. Very important, and that's not just my plug for going to school. Their fight was dodged because honestly... I wasn't sure how to pull it off. I'll work on that next chapter, or at least something more to it. Clearly it was shocking for the senshi.

Then there's the last part where the street performer shows off his skills more and crashes into the main plotline. This is gonna be fun! If you have any theories about the kid, do share!

That's it from me for now. Until next time, COMMENT! Laters.