A/N

Stop shipping Naru and Usagi, stop it right now. This is not Nasagi… er, Usaru… well, whatever that ship name would be this isn't it.

Anyway, now that that's out of my system, onward and upward and all that nonsense.

Disclaimer: I own Rabbit of the Moon. No Sailor Moon though.


With Naru's return to the waking world, I understood that nothing would be the same.

However, it took me a while to realize the implications of those words, and just how true they were. At first, I had been too wrapped up in her awakening to notice much else; every time I visited her, part of me expected to walk into that hospital room and see a comatose red head, because it was what I'd grow used to . Of course, that was never the case so whenever I did step foot into that room only to see her up and about, it was a blow to the stomach, leaving me a little breathless. Time after time I would sit there in that arm chair and quietly marvel at how full of life Naru was, and all I'd be able to think was, Wow. I hadn't ruined this girl's life.

And that often left me light headed.

No, nothing would be the same for her, but Naru was alive and well, she was going to finish her schooling and go on dates and have a chance at a full life. In my mind it was the most amazing sight, because subconsciously I'd always thought that if Naru ever woke, I'd never get to see it happen for myself; It was an event months and months away and by that time I'd have most likely fled the city. She was awake though, and it was the greatest thing that I could ever have hoped for because now I was able to see with my own two eyes that I hadn't caused this girl irreparable damage. My selfishness had not been the death of her.

It was a weight off my back, to be sure.

So for the first few days, I didn't notice the changes that I really, really should have, especially since I visited her every day, sometimes twice a day. Then again, with everything going on it was hardly fair to put the blame on myself; I'd forgotten how incredibly draining Naru could be, even more so than usual. I was tired most of the time, and so dumbstruck at her awakening that I did not notice it until nearly a week in; and by it I meant Naru.

Specifically, her startling recovery.

In the span of a single week, she went from bedridden with a diet of IV nutrients to being up and walking normally and eating solid foods. Scientifically speaking, this was very much Not Possible. After months of disuse, her muscles had begun the process of atrophy and she should have needed physical therapy or, at the very least, a helping hand getting to the bathroom. Naru's return to solid food by all means should've been a long, gradual process, starting with liquids and yet she skipped that step entirely. Obviously, the doctors were stumped by this and she was given the title of what they could only chalk up to as a medical miracle.

By the second week she was released from the hospital and due back to school the following Monday. The rapid increase of her health should have been a good thing, but frankly, I found it to be somewhat alarming. Unable to simply let it go, I had done a little digging and found that there were three victims of similar attacks before Naru, and not a single one had shown any sign of recovery or waking as of yet. Naru was the anomaly, and even more concerning was the fact that I wasn't the only one that had noticed enough to do some research.

Now picture this: A series of attacks happening all over Tokyo; citizens targeted, assaulted, and falling into comas, filling up the long term wards of the hospitals. Any witness to the attacks are rare, one in a hundred, and the media is rightfully stirred up over this. The citizens are frightened, and so they send out Tokyo's finest to solve the problem, only for the men in blue to start dropping like flies as well. It is a terrible and possibly the worst time to be an officer of the law, under pressure to find answers and show some results against a foe they have no chance of beating.

The policemen stupid enough to engage the supernatural are going into comas, the doctors don't have a clue as to how to fix their patients, and people are still falling victim. Then, suddenly and without warning one of the victims wakes from her coma; her recovery is unlike anything the doctors have ever seen, something they can only chalk up to as a medical miracle. Within two weeks, she goes from a patient in the long term ward to being released in full physical condition.

Tell me, in a city with scared citizens and little hope, who wouldn't want to hear a story like that?

Almost overnight, Naru became a literal media sensation.

Reporters crowded outside the hospital when she was released, and then proceeded to lurk around the school and her home, taking pictures and shouting words at her. It looked like all the newspapers in Tokyo wanted an exclusive from Naru, and if there was a craze big enough to attract what felt like all the journalists in Tokyo, then you better believe other reporters had also begun to spill in from different parts of the country for the chance to get an interview. Naru was a walking, breathing miracle, front page news and the limelight had her snapping back into her old self real quick; talking makeup and hairstyles and squealing with the other girls every time they saw her picture in the papers.

Naru stepped back into her life as if it were nothing.

I wasn't kidding when I said it was nice to see, because it definitely was; but I couldn't bring myself to enjoy the feeling for long. Not once could I recall the city taking such interest in the attacks or the victims, and I remained bothered by it. It did not dawn on me until then, how pivotal the presence of Sailor Moon was to these people in the war against the Dark Whatsit. After all, when I thought on it there was no denying that Sailor Moon was the reason people were able to go home after an attack, with only the vague inclination that the whole ordeal had been little more than a dream.

Sailor Moon was the only one that retained the power to heal, so without her there to do her magic, fix the victims right up and make everything okay again? Well, people had really begun to take notice of the growing war being fought right under their noses.

I was conflicted as to whether this was a good or bad thing.

With no Sailor Moon to path them up, the Sailor Scouts had to be more careful. That meant they didn't only have to use more caution against the enemy, but that they had to think smarter as well. Winning a fight was all well and good but if it came at your own expense than that was a problem because the thing about fighting was that it never ended. Sustaining an injury during one fight could mean having to stay out of the net, and therefore leaving your comrades to finish it on their own, so the Scouts couldn't afford to be reckless.

So yes, people were getting hurt, but at their expense the Sailor Scouts were learning to fight and stand on their own two feet.

Everything came at a price.

Most of the time, I simply tried not to think on it too much as the damage was done and my feelings on the matter wouldn't change it either way. In fact, I was doing an excellent job at ignoring things like risk versus reward, or Naru's insane recovery and the other things about her that didn't sit well with me.

For the most part she acted the same as always, perhaps a bit more high and mighty, but that was to be expected. It was when Naru talked to the police that I had been left with a slight chill. She had lied about what she remembered, and that was fair enough when you considered the whole supernatural factor to the story, but she had done it so convincingly that I nearly believed her myself. Even afterwards, I found myself doubting what I knew, and that was a scary feeling. I would have never guessed she had it in her, and I also wondered what else Naru had lied about, to the doctors and even to me. If she had lied about anything, how would I know the difference?

Everyone believed her, and she played it well.

I couldn't explain why exactly this alarmed me, unsettled me so much, but it did. I left it alone, unable to bring myself to think further on it; the last two weeks had been tiring for me and now that Naru was out of the hospital, I was finally regaining some energy and I wasn't about to waste it on things like her lying abilities; I reminded myself that everyone had a right to their own secrets. Besides, I had a plethora of other issues to consider, like how creepy the Sailor Scouts had become.

"What do you think, Naru-chan?" Venus asked. She held a bottle of nail polish in the air between the seven of us and eyed it seriously. "I mean, the pink is nice but I'm not sure if it's too subtle, you know?"

It was lunchtime, and I sat at my desk with the usual crowd surrounding me. Sadly, this had begun to include Venus and Mercury whenever the two forced themselves upon us. Well, I say us but in all truthfulness I was the only one that had an actual problem with them, no one else seemed to mind. Since Naru's return, the Sailor Scouts appeared even more interested in her and doubling their efforts had paid off; Venus and Mercury were now officially part of Naru's little clique. There was a word to describe this entire affair, and while horrific and uncomfortable would be accurate representations, they didn't quite get the point across.

The phrase, I believe, would be along the lines of beyond irritating.

Serenity's friends stuck to me like glue, so wherever I went during school hours they followed, and trailing them were the Sailor Scouts. For the life of me I could not seem to get away, and that was how I found myself surrounded. At the moment, the six of them were contemplating a handful of nail polish Venus had brought to school, the pile scattered on the conjoined desks as they talked the merits of each color. Yumiko considered the pale pink bottle in Venus' hand for a moment before saying, "I like it, but I guess it really a depends on what you want your nail polish to say about you."

"Classy, yet willing to have a good time." Venus stated. "Of course, the pink is classy, but it's more demure and refined than what I'm looking for." The other girls, save for Naru, nodded along in understanding, and Venus seemed a little miffed that the girl hadn't answered her earlier question. With a pointed look her way, Venus asked again. "What about you, Naru? What color do you think says fun with standards? I really can't decide."

Naru, in the middle of painting my own nails a wine red color, paused and looked up to meet Venus' gaze. There was a spark of annoyance in her eyes as she smiled sweetly and I braced myself as she replied. "Hm, it's funny, I really wouldn't have pegged you as the fun with standards type of girl. I, for one, think red is really the only answer to your dilemma, but Usagi-chan's already doing that color and to be honest it just isn't something everyone can pull off. Maybe yellow?"

The air was weighed down at our table, and we were all quiet for the span of a heartbeat under the faint barb of Naru's words. Without thinking, I broke the silence by saying, "Lavender."

The six of them turned to look at me. After a moment, Mercury spoke up. "Pardon?"

"Lavender." I echoed awkwardly. They continued to stare so I elaborated. "It's pretty, elegant but also fun because, uh, people don't really paint their nails that color often, you know? It makes you stand out without appearing over the top." I caught Venus' eyes for a second and gave a half shrug. "Purple used to be a sign of royalty in Europe a long time ago."

Naru appeared to think over my explanation. She nodded approvingly. "Yeah, you're totally right Usagi-chan, it's better than yellow. I vote lavender."

"Me too." Yumiko agreed. The other girls gave their positive opinion on the matter, and the Scouts shared a look. Venus picked out the bottle, shook it, and began painting the nails on her left hand. Naru went back to working on my own nails, and conversation picked back up. I tried not to fidget, still feeling a bit awkward from the near miss I'd managed to evade. I glanced around at everyone once and then turned my attention to the dark red drying on my nails, and definitely not the girl painting them.

In the wake of her new popularity status, Naru had become a bit of a queen bee, and her ego had skyrocketed as a byproduct.

She, like every other preteen in the world, was full of herself; only now there was quite a bit more of her. Naru knew I wasn't very fond of the Sailor Scouts, and her relationship with them was difficult to explain. They had proven somewhat loyal to Naru by sticking around, so most of the time they got along fine, but there were those few times she'd whip out a snarky response to put them in their place. This complicated things at school, because now that Naru was top girl everyone was watching and doing as she did. Some people gave the Scouts attitude, other were wary and ostracized them.

Of course, anyone that had the nerve to openly pick fun at them received a verbal smack down courtesy of Naru, so it was little wonder that some students did not want to risk her wrath. Venus and Mercury were a part of Naru's inner circle now, so only she was allowed to give them any shit, and in a distant sense I could somewhat understand this. The Sailor Scouts were her friends, so of course she was going to defend them, but that said, they were also new, friendly, and pretty which made them a possible threat to her reign; there was also the fact that they had sort of attached themselves to her in a way that, to anyone else, appeared out of the blue.

I had seen it coming, and even I found it a little over the top.

It wasn't that they were following her every step, or watching her every second of the day, but… there was still something odd about it, the way they devoted themselves to her. When they disagreed with something she said, they told her so, and during class time Mercury and Venus paid attention to their own studies so it wasn't as though they were completely obsessed with her, it was just another aspect of their relation that was difficult to explain.

It was the way Mercury was always helping Naru with school and homework, how Venus always somehow ended up walking her home and randomly bumped into her on the way to school. The scouts were concerned over her health, and wanted to know all these seemingly pointless facts about Naru's childhood and life, as though they were truly invested in it. With people like that, how could Naru not become friends with Venus and Mercury? Naru was never outright mean to them, it was more passive-aggressive and only came out when she was annoyed by something they did.

It was easy to see that despite how much she liked the attention, sometimes Naru felt a bit smothered, and so she reacted in the only way she knew how. In the end, Naru was just a kid that didn't comprehend the wrongness of her actions, so I couldn't exactly fault her for it. However, I loathed dealing with the three of them every day, which I was forced to since I couldn't seem to get rid of any of anyone. This was the kind of situation that needed to be dealt with very, very carefully. I did not want to risk dethroning Naru and accidentally end up in her place, so calling her out in public was not an option.

If I was being honest, I didn't even care to all that much.

Naru never crossed any lines, she didn't openly mock the unfortunate or anything like that so what did I care so long as I wasn't brought into her business? The only struggle I was having was finding a way to keep my distance from the Scouts and get Naru off my back. I just didn't want to deal with Naru or Sailor Scout drama, and I would have thought by now that at least Mercury would realize that Naru was not the droid they were looking for.

But no, the Sailor Scouts were persistent as ever and I was stuck in the crossfire.

"Hey, Ami-chan." Naru cooed, having finished up my nails. "We're still on for studying after school right? I really need help with the history work; I'm so behind. Oh, and math too."

Mercury smiled. "Yes, of course."

Yumiko groaned, palms pressed to her cheeks and the pile of bottles forgotten. "Man, I don't even want to think about math right now. You really are a life saver, Ami-chan."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I blew on my nails in an attempt to dry the polish faster; there was no way I'd be able to participate in class if they didn't dry in time, and Naru would kill me if I ruined them on account of something as inane as schoolwork. As Mercury blushed and waved off the compliment, I considered the color Naru had chosen. Red was something I could've pictured Serenity wearing, but certainly not this shade. Hers would be bright, far more eye catching then the wine red hue I sported, and the thought was morbidly amusing; we were both red, but the shades were so vastly different.

There was a pause in the conversation, brief enough that I nearly hadn't noticed it, probably wouldn't have if I hadn't been paying attention. I glanced up to see Mercury considering me curiously, and when our gazes collided she addressed me. "Will you be joining us this time, Usagi-san?"

I shook my head, caught off guard by the genuine tone. Over the past week both Scouts had made a real effort to befriend the other girls in Naru's group, and they had succeeded in doing so. It was different with me though, I had already stood my ground against them and the three of us knew I was simply being civil for the sake of school time peace. "I have my own tutoring every day after school."

"Aw, come on Usagi-chan!" Yumiko said. She leaned forward to catch my attention and gave me a pleading look. "Hang out with us today, this time we're actually studying and everything too, so it can't be that much different from your tutor."

"Yeah, what's up with that anyway?" Naru eyed me. "You're always going to tutoring these days, and I mean all the time."

I scoffed. "Yeah, and it's actually working so why would I stop going?"

"Just tutoring, huh?" Naru raised a brow, grinning. "Is that really all you're doing then?"

I watched Naru uneasily. "Yes."

She laughed. "Oh come on, we all know that's not true."

I stilled, trying not to grit my teeth.

This is what I had been afraid of. I didn't know Naru nearly as well as I had once thought, and it was possible she could know more than she was letting on. I silently prayed this wasn't the case though, because I kept my outside life separate for a reason. At school and at the Tsukino residence, I was still Serenity to some degree and it was something I would never fully break free from. There was no room for relaxing and good old fashioned fun in a place where I was weighed down by the expectations of Serenity.

But outside, at work or the dojo, I was free.

That could not change, because if those two worlds collided, if Naru or anyone else started popping up in my actual life? I would not be able to handle losing that safety net, those small safe havens; I would lose my god damn mind if I didn't have an escape from Serenity. I took a calming breath, and told myself to keep it together. "Is there something you'd like to say Naru?"

If she had any degree of intelligence, the answer would be no; if my world up in flames because of Naru, I was more than willing to take her down with me.

Naru had never been the sharpest tool in the shed though. Her expression was smug as she confronted me and spoke loud enough for our table to hear. "So you mean to tell me that you spend every day tutoring with that guy that picked you up from school a couple weeks ago? The older high school boy that Kuri and Yumiko described as a total hunk?"

What.

Kuri giggled, and everyone listened in interestedly but I caught the flush on Yumiko's face. She wouldn't quite meet my gaze either, instead fiddling with a strand of her own dark hair. I was too caught on the word hunk to think further on her reaction though, because really? This was about Matsuo? Even Venus and Mercury looked interested in guy talk, strangely enough. Venus added, "Yeah, even I have to admit that guy was a babe. Are you really dating him, Usagi-san?"

"Christ, no." Matsuo was handsome, but we were just really good friends; I had no romantic interest in him and the idea just didn't fit with my image of the guy. Technically, he was helping me with my homework so that was sort of like tutoring, right? "We're just friends, he's my tutor and I want to keep it that way. My grades are pretty decent, my parents aren't totally disappointed in me, and I'm not going to jeopardize that."

Plus, it'd be super weird.

"So he's single then?" Venus inquired. She was clearly eager for an answer, and having her undivided attention on me was rather unsettling, as it didn't happen very often and never for this long. I mentally weighed Matsuo's worth over Venus' probing stare and the other girls' keen hearing.

"He's is as far as I know." I shrugged, tossing my dear friend to the wolves.

Matsuo was just going to have to take one for the team if it got them all off my back. I mentally reminded myself to swear him to secrecy later on today; actually, maybe this had been a poor idea on my part. If any one of them started following him, they'd find more out about me than I was willing to share and that would be a problem.

"There's some girl he's interested in though." I blurted out.

"Oh." Venus deflated slightly before something occurred to her and she sprung back to attention. "What's his type though? I mean, maybe it isn't that serious with the other girl. Is it?"

Everyone was looking at me now.

"Er, well I don't know all the details." I faltered. "But type of girls… he likes the, er, athletic types; you know, the kind that can keep up with him. Matsuo is very into fitness and eating healthy and all that dreadful nonsense."

"Well, if he's into healthy or athletic girls then I guess that means he'll never be interested in our Usagi-chan." Naru teased me. "How will you ever go on?"

"I'm sure I'll find a way."

Venus was far too interested in Matsuo for my liking, and apparently she considered herself up to the task of seducing him. She flipped her pretty golden hair and gave a winning smile. "So he likes strong girls, huh? I think I can work with that."

Well, shit.


Just like that bygones were bygones, and Venus had decided I was her new best friend.

She would not shut up about him for the life of her, sending me notes during class and asking questions in the halls; she even initiated physical contact with me, the horror. At the end of the school day I managed to pry her off my arm and make a run for it. Let me be the first to tell you that running away from a trained soldier like Venus was no easy feat; for starters, her legs were longer than mine, and she was faster than me as well. My only saving grace was that she wasn't tall enough to spot my short figure in a crowd, and so I was able to slip away unnoticed.

I dashed down the street and ran like a madman to the dojo, wheezing along the way and silently vowing that I would take up running at some point; there wasn't much good in attempting to flee an enemy if they were faster than you. I weaved my way through people and around corners, nearly mowing down anyone stupid enough to keep standing in my way. A stitch had formed in my side when the dojo finally came into view, and I told myself I wasn't that much out of shape, it'd just been an exhausting few weeks.

First a couple flights of stairs, and now this; I was being taken down by a measly mile and a half.

I really wasn't cut out for this soldier of justice business.

Hell, I was probably doing the Sailor Scouts a favor by staying out of their way.

Red faced, I ripped open the front door to the dojo, and began sprinting in only to crash into Matsuo after three feet. He caught me by the shoulders as I bounced off him, saving me from a tumble onto the floor. With a laugh of surprise, he said, "Woah there, hotshot. What's the rush?"

"Matsuo," I wheezed, taking him by the shoulders and shaking slightly. "You absolute fool, you complete buffoon, what have you done?"

"Er, I'm not sure." He replied. "Maybe you should stop shaking me and tell me what I've done."

I let go of him, gesturing wildly as I spoke. "Oh, I'll tell you what you did alright, have no fear. You, my stupid friend, went to my school, and now they are all smitten with you and I am left fighting them off with a stick, a stick. Do you know how hard it is fighting off teenage girls with nothing but a stick? No, you don't know so I will tell you, it's nearly impossible. I slave every day trying to keep my school and home life separate from my actual life, and you come along and mess everything up with your damn face."

"Am I supposed to apologize for my face?"

"Yes."

"My sincerest apologies." Matsuo said somberly, though I caught his lips twitching upwards. "Now then, are you saying your friends thought I was hot?"

"Was that really all you got from my rant?"

"Hush now," He set a hand on my shoulder and began to guide the two of us further in. I was still huffing for air, but the stitch in my side had vanished as he continued. "As I was saying, these friends of yours; are any of them cute?"

"My god." I smacked his hand off my shoulder and pointed in his face. "No. We are not doing this, I am not going to play match maker with you. My schoolmates are off limits, no matter how attractive they are, you hear me? "

I had to make him see reason before Venus could get a chance to dig her claws into him, otherwise it would all be for naught. It had to be said, that girl was drop dead gorgeous; the planet Venus literally represented the goddess of love and beauty, and if Venus wasn't a sworn enemy I'd be able to freely admit that Matsuo stood no chance against her. However, it just so happened that she indeed was a sworn enemy, and that meant that I had to do everything within my power to stop this unholy union. Was it mostly for my own selfish sake?

Absolutely.

Matsuo could date anyone that wasn't a Sailor Scout though, as far as I was concerned.

He blew out a breath, hands on his hips. "No fair, Usagi-chan. I'd set you up with someone from my school if you asked me to, so why doesn't this work both ways?"

"Because," a sigh escaped me, "I don't want to mix the stuff."

"You aren't making any sense, as usual."

"Everyone at school thinks you're my tutor." I told him. "They think I spend every day going to tutoring, not learning aikido and working at a cosplay café. I lied to them all okay? I am in fact a liar and I know this might sound odd to you but I continue lying about it because you and Harumi and the fabler and the dojo are the only things that aren't suffocating me and I would like to keep it that way."

I might have been more free lately, and far less caring about playing the role of Serenity, but I was still wearing a mask to some degree. The Tsukino family, Naru, and pretty much the entire school would only ever see Serenity when they looked at me; how could you really be yourself around people who already expected a different version of you?

Matsuo's grin faded, and for once he was looking at me seriously. My throat was tight and I had to force the words out. "Can we just… can we just keep my schoolmates separate from everything else?"

Matsuo nodded, and I felt my shoulders relax. Neither of us said anything for a moment, and then he broke the silence by saying, "You could probably use a tutor anyway."

I laughed. "Oh, shut up."

We messed around and did a bit of homework until aikido began and Matsuo went to stand next to Hajime-sensei as his assistant while I sat with the other students in the circle formation we had become accustomed to doing. Hajime-sensei raved on about the importance of love and acceptance, and I did my best not to tune out. Then we practiced a couple new moves together as a class before breaking off in pairs to practice on partners. Our class had odd numbers, and as no one else was eager to join up with me Matsuo was more often than not my practicing partner.

I was enthusiastic today, because we had started learning our first flipping move earlier in the week and by now it would be time to test it out. As predicted, Hajime-sensei called for us to sit in circle formation once more after about thirty minutes into practice. We gathered around him and I was up like a shot when he called for volunteers. "Of course it's you." He muttered quietly, before raising his voice to address the other students. "Would anyone like to spar Tsukino-san?"

The answer appeared to be a firm no, as no one stood or raised their hand to the challenge. I was briefly reminded of Matsuo saying how the other students didn't like sparring with me, but I shook the thought off; it was hardly my fault that none of them liked getting hit or defeated, that was sort of the point of martial arts. I was doing them a favor, striking without holding back. Did they think an attacker would be courteous enough to wait until they were ready?

Honestly, it was silly.

Eventually, Hajime-sensei chose someone at random, and the two of us entered the circle. The fight was short, and disappointing; my opponent kept flinching and scurrying away from me like a frightened mouse, and despite my annoyance at the guy, I couldn't bring myself to throttle him as I might have liked. It just felt wrong, like taking a little kid's lunch money and beating him up. In the end, I simply stalked over and he stepped out of the ring in order to get away from me, making the match mine. When the lesson ended and people began to leave, Hajime-sensei called for me to stay back.

"I'm moving you to the next class." He informed me stoically. "It's the same time, only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You have exceeded the other students in this class, and I hope you use this chance to cultivate some consideration for your new peers, and perhaps think over the principles of aikido. That is all."

Hajime-sensei did not seem particularly pleased with moving me to the next class, and I wasn't sure what he meant by consideration for my peers; personally, I felt that I had been considering them well enough. If things kept on as they had been, odds were one of these people would find themselves the victim of a supernatural attack. Hopefully, when the time came they would have some common sense about themselves and realize that they were in danger. At the very least, I had tried.

Together, Matsuo and I left the dojo and began the walk to work at a sedate pace. We chatted about homework for a while, and I caught him giving me looks every now and then. I waited for him to say whatever it was that was on his mind, and about fifteen minutes later he finally broke. "You don't look very excited to be switching classes."

"Ah," I hummed. "I'm happy about it, I guess. Hajime-sensei certainly wasn't though, and he's the one that bumped me up. Weird, right?"

Matsuo ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe you should take this chance to try and get along better with the other students."

"What do you mean?"

"You know," He shrugged. "go a little bit easier on them."

"Easier? Why would I do that? I mean, this class will be more of a challenge anyway, won't it?" The opponents would be more difficult as well, since they'd been in the class longer and knew more moves than I did. Actually, I was sort of looking forward to that; I'd probably get my ass kicked, which would hurt, but at least it meant I could spar with stronger opponents and become more well versed in the art of aikido myself. Now that I was thinking it over, the idea really had me pumped. Sparring was a thrill, sometimes even fun, and the only person I ever sparred with was Matsuo, who went easy on me.

Soon I'd be the one going easy on him.

Matsuo ripped me from my fantasies. "It won't be too much of a challenge, not for you anyway. I just mean that you could learn to be on the offensive less, give the others a chance to make a comeback. It might make things more interesting."

I hadn't thought of that.

"Maybe you're right." I considered. I started to say more when Matsuo slowed, his attention on something across the street. I paused and stopped with him, following his gaze to two guys built like tanks. They looked seedy, and they were towering over another girl, giving attention that was clearly unwanted. Normally, my reaction to something like this would be to walk over and start screaming bloody murder; usually that was enough to get someone to back off.

Now though, with a few new moves up my sleeves and a rush of excitement at the thought of tougher opponents clouding my mind, I had a better idea. With a spring to my step I darted across the street in a move that nearly turned me into roadkill and walked right up to the trio. In the distance Matsuo had called out to me in alarm, but he was ignored in favor of sizing up the men. Perhaps it was because I hadn't had a good spar in ages thanks to Hajime-sensei's uncanny ability to keep me off the sparring floor, or maybe it was the knowledge that there were more horrific things going bump in the night.

Whatever the case was, no matter how much I looked at them, they just didn't care me.

I was not kidding when I said these men were huge; up close they had to be as big as Hajime-sensei, who towered over Matsuo on any given day and was a sky scraper compared to me. They looked like gym junkies, all thick muscle and tight workout clothes, with barely any neck. I should have been scared, or at the very least apprehensive about confronting anyone that looked as though they could break me in half like a toothpick. Here was the thing though; I was already living in a nightmare, where monsters were actual monsters and would hunt me down given the chance.

I didn't think I'd ever fear a human man again.

"Excuse me." I said, interrupting one of the guys. The three of them turned to look at me as I stepped in front of the girl, expression innocent and sweet. "I don't mean to intrude, or perhaps I did, because I couldn't help but notice that you two appeared to be bothering this nice young girl here."

The one I had interrupted squinted at me. With a menacing tone, he responded. "What's it to you, brat?"

"Oh, saving damsels in distress from filthy street rats is everyone's business really." I explained sagely. "If I were you, I'd leave before this gets any more embarrassing."

Offended, the one closest to me stepped forward, hand out as though to get into my face; whether it was to express an opinion or pick a fight, the world would never know because that single movement was all I needed. I took his wrist, twisted my torso and used his weight against him. The guy went over my shoulder, and in my haste to try the move out I nearly took the girl out with him. He did not land lightly by any means, but fortunately the man did happen to miss the girl by a few inches. Yikes, I really had to be more careful about that. When I turned back to the second guy, the girl was already on him. At that point Matsuo had made his way over and swooped in to the rescue.

"Wow," I grinned. "My hero."

He pinned the other man down effortlessly, all the while giving me a lecture. "What is wrong with you? Usagi! You do not go running up to strangers three times your size and pick a fight with them! Do you even have a brain? Because sometimes I swear-"

But I didn't get to hear the rest of it, because at that moment a whistle rang out and an officer was hauling ass our way. Matsuo cursed and sprang up, taking hold of my wrist; he yanked me away and somehow I ended up with my hand on the other girl's wrist and together the three of us were running for it. I had said it before and I would say it again; I was not in peak physical condition. I loathed running, but as the three of us stumbled our way down streets and around corners, something about the situation struck me as hilarious. A chuckle broke through me, slowly, growing into a full laugh and suddenly I just couldn't stop, and then the girl and Matsuo began laughing as well.

We had to look ridiculous, running mad, with laughter echoing in our wake.

It only made me laugh harder.


Eventually, we were forced to stop.

My face had gone red, I was out of breath from laughing, and I had a stitch in my side once more. We all slowed to a halt as my stamina died out, taking refuge in an alley to regain our strength. I was wiping tears out of my eyes when the girl spoke for the first time.

"That," She began. "Was the coolest thing I've ever seen. The way you took on those guys and straight up flipped the one? Insane."

"Well," I said in between breaths, leaning against the alley wall for support. "It looked like you needed a hand."

"Oh," She fidgeted a bit, and shrugged. "I'm pretty tough actually, but thanks anyway."

The girl smiled hesitantly at me, her expression a bit unsure, and I found myself smiling back. "Us girls have to stick together, don't we?"

The girl was oddly bashful, as though she was pleased yet not entirely sure how to react to this. I thought that was a bit strange, what else would I have done?

"Usagi-chan is pretty tough too, if you hadn't noticed." Matsuo interjected. He appeared to understand better than I did, and he added, "But I still wouldn't have left her to it alone. Girls can be strong and still deserve to be protected."

"Exactly." I agreed, though I wasn't sure where that train of thought had come from. The girl flushed prettily, and I took that moment to give her a closer look. Her school uniform was unfamiliar to me, and she was quite tall; if I had to guess, I'd say she was around Matsuo's age. Her brown hair was up in a ponytail, with a few strands that framed her face nicely, and she had big green eyes that seemed to soften the longer she looked at us.

There was something almost hopefully about her expression, and the words tumbled out of me without thought. "My god, aren't you cute?" The girl sputtered, and Matsuo coughed in a way that sounded suspiciously like a laugh; he watched us in amusement as the words caught up with me. I really had to think before I spoke. I turned to Matsuo. "Don't give me that look. She's cute and we both know it."

And the girl really was; something about her made me want to squish her cheeks together and coo. Matsuo grinned and examined the girl before agreeing, "Yeah, she's pretty cute."

The poor thing turned red.

I took pity on her, holding out my hand. "I'm Usagi, by the way and my friend here is Matsuo."

She looked at my hand for a second, and I raised a brow. She reached out and shook it firmly. "It's nice to meet you two, and really thanks for earlier. You're amazing, I've never seen a girl do that before, well, besides myself. It's nice to see girls standing up for themselves, you know? Oh! Sorry, I didn't introduce myself." She was still shaking my hand, clearly nervous, and I was stifling a grin. "My name is Kino Makoto, but you can just call me Makoto, if that's not too forward."

My good mood died with the smile, and my hand went limp in hers. Jupiter took the hint and finally let go, leaving my hand to fall at my side as I stared.

Holy shit.

"That's a pretty name." Matsuo voice sounded distant to my ears. "So what school do you go to, Makoto-chan?"

Jupiter blushed. "Well I, I just transferred schools actually. I start tomorrow at Juuban Municipal Junior High." A choking sound came from his throat, and she continued obliviously. "What about you two? What school do you guys go to?"

"…Usagi-chan goes to the same school, actually." Matsuo replied. "Speaking of that, we should probably be going if we're to get any tutoring in. It was nice to meet you, Makoto-chan… Maybe I'll see you around."

She looked disappointed, and fluttered her lashes. "Yeah, see you."

Matsuo towed me away, the two of us silent for completely different reasons. Shell shock was an accurate way to describe me for the next few hours, where I was walked to work, sat in a chair, and was made into a 1920's flapper girl. Harumi had to good grace to do his work on me in silence, before shooing me out onto the floor for my shift. That was where shell shock took a nasty turn for me, and I became a twitchy mess.

I broke four plates, a glass, and kept having to replace the silverware that dropped.

I just couldn't believe it.

No one in the world was this unfortunate, literally no one. How did these things keep happening to me, why was my luck so poor? I had shook her hand, had even liked her enough to instigate friendship, and she was Jupiter for the love of god. I found that a small part of myself was disappointed, and that only served to irritate me. She'd seemed so innocently normal, letting me grab her hand and following along as we ran away. Jupiter could have escaped into a different direction, better her chances of not being caught by splitting but instead she had stuck with us.

Laughing and throwing out compliments.

Jupiter hadn't been awakened yet, but if she was starting school then it was only a matter of time before that happened. I'd been way too friendly with her, and she had seen me throw a guy weighing three times more than I did. What a mess, and now I had to figure out a way to deal with yet another Sailor Scout at school, one that I had actually been nice to. Jupiter needed to look at me and see Tsukino-san, she needed to see Serenity, just like everyone else at school did, and not the actual me. I

I needed a plan of action.

At the end of my shift, I did my best to pull the pins from my hair and throw it up in a ponytail. Matsuo had finished earlier than me, so he was already changed and waiting on me to we could leave together as usual. I made a sad attempt to wipe most of the makeup off my face before calling it quits and snatching up my bag. It was dark as we left the café, and as usual the streets were quiet. Neither of us spoke for a while, both lost in our own thoughts. I was in the middle of scheming when something Matsuo said earlier caught up to me and I stopped dead.

He paused as well, turning to me in question. My expression was neutral and I stepped closer to him and asked, "What did you mean earlier when you said Maybe I'll see you around to Makoto-san?"

His cheeks tinted as he shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. "Just, you know, that maybe we'd bump into her again."

"Oh?" I monotoned. I nodded considerately, before a too big smile graced my face and Matsuo twitched nervously. I placed a hand on each of his shoulders and, before he had the chance to react, swiftly sent my foot into his shin hard enough to make my toe throb.

Matsuo said a very unladylike word and cradled his shin. "You have an unhealthy penchant for violence."

"No. Schoolmates."

He was really going to be the death of me.


At school the next day, it was time for a seating change.

This happened every month or three months or every term or something like that; the details were rather fuzzy on me as I hadn't been paying attention when our homeroom teacher had explained it to us. There were two reasons for this; firstly, because she had announced that we would have a new transfer student today and secondly, that was the moment Jupiter had walked into class.

"I swear to god, it's transfer students every freaking time I turn my head." I muttered, burying my head in my arms on the desk. Yumiko chuckled, and Jupiter was welcomed into our class. This was my halfhearted attempt to stave off the inevitable recognition from the girl. I didn't care to watch for the Scouts and their reactions to her, it just wasn't worth it in the long run. With my head down, our sensei had begun speaking about the traditional changing of seats, and I was so used to tuning her voice out that by now it was instinct. So yes, I knew very little about seat charts, but did it really matter?

The gist of it all was that we were changing seats, and that I would have to put my head up and face the music.

She had us pick a folded piece of paper from a jar to get a number. I chose mine sluggishly, knowing that the new placement would be crap no matter what; I already had a window seat, and it wasn't too close to Naru or any of the Scouts. There was no way I would be getting a better deal than that. I opened the scrap of paper, looked at the number and found its corresponding one on the chalk board; middle row, second to last desk towards the back. I turned, intending to go to my new seat and nearly collided with someone.

"Hi Usagi-chan!" Jupiter chirped. "I can't believe we're in the same class, isn't that crazy?"

I noted the bit of distance around the girl, the way our classmates pressed away from her as though she had a possible disease. It made me feel a little sorry for her, just not enough to befriend a Scout. "Hi Ju- Makoto. I don't mean to be rude but I'd like to put my stuff down on my desk."

"Oh, Right!" She laughed, stepping out of my path. "Sorry about that. I should get my own seat then, before there's nothing left."

"Yeah, probably." I gave her a half smile before turning tail to my new placement. I dropped my things onto the desk and plopped into the seat carelessly, watching everyone else mulling about. Jupiter plucked a number, glanced at the board, and then beamed over at me; my stomach dropped as she strolled over and sat down in the seat to my left. Then Naru was coming over, probably to chat, and I briefly found myself grateful for a distraction until she passed me entirely and took the seat behind me.

It was quite literally all downhill from there.

Mercury and Venus headed our way as well, the former's sights on Jupiter and the latter's on Naru. Mercury claimed the desk in front of mine and Venus went to the one at Naru's right. The Scouts took a few moments to settle themselves in, a few moments where I debated the possibility of this arrangement to be a sheer coincidence, before Venus chimed, "Wow, we're all together! Sounds like the start of a stellar term."

Mercury hummed in agreement. "It's a shame that Yumiko-chan is all the way in the front by herself though. Kuri-chan and Nana-chan were lucky enough to get seats close to each other."

"You're right." Naru said. I peered over my shoulder to see her stand up determinedly. As she strolled away she added, "This just won't do."

We all watched as she went up to a couple groups of people and inquired over their seating. A couple minutes later another girl whose name did not come to mind tapped Yumiko on the shoulder and said something the rest of us couldn't hear. Naru was back in her seat looking on in satisfaction as Yumiko gathered her things and headed back to us with a cheerful disposition. She sat down behind Jupiter, on Naru's left and happily began to unpack her things.

I turned in my seat to face Naru and raised a brow. "How'd you manage that?"

"Oh, you know." She waved a hand, voice casual. "I told Haruka-san I'd give her a fifty percent discount at my store if she switched seats."

"Can you even do that though?"

Naru leaned forward, elbows on the desk and grinned. "What my parents don't know can't hurt them."

Well, it was her neck to risk.

A thought occurred to me then, and I couldn't help but voice it. "You didn't just happen to accidentally get the seat behind me, did you?"

I had been the one to pick first, before Naru but after Yumiko; we were the only two that could possibly have gotten our seats by pure chance. Well, I thought as I eyed the brown haired girl to my left, Us and Jupiter, at the very least.

Jupiter being seated next to me was a coincidence, but it seemed to be the only one; Naru smirked, confirming my suspicions. She had finagled her way into the seat behind me, and, as was common knowledge, wherever Naru went the Sailor Scouts followed. No mere coincidence, but it also wasn't the universe trying to do me in so while this regrettable seating arrangement was mostly Naru's fault, I was willing to let it slide. The only real misfortune was the odd sort of friendship between Naru and myself, and the fact that Jupiter had found a place at my left by no remarkable feat.

"Anyway," Naru shifted to catch my eye. "You haven't introduced us to your new friend, Usagi-chan."

I made the mistake of looking at Jupiter and seeing her perk up, looking at me with that half hopeful puppy dog gaze. Oh, for fuck's sake.

"This is Makoto," I gestured to her. "I actually just met her yesterday. I was on my way to tutoring and bumped into her as she was leaving the library."

Jupiter gave me a wide eyed look, but Mercury saved the day. "It's nice to meet you, Makoto-san. My name's Mizuno Ami, I hope we'll get along."

"Well, with all the transfer students our class seems to get, I'm sure she'll fit right in." I paused, considering, and then added, "With any luck Makoto, someone else will come around in the next few weeks and take your place as the new kid."

Yumiko grinned. "Careful now, Usagi-chan. You'll blink and another one will come walking through the door."

"Yeah, right." I said.

But then the strangest thing happened.

There was a knock on the door and it was slid open to reveal one of the administrators. He beckoned for our sensei to come over, and they stepped out into the hall for a minute, speaking too quietly for anyone to hear. Then, our sensei stepped back into the room, and said the last thing any of us would have expected to hear. "Well, isn't this day just full of promise? Class, it appears we have another, surprising new addition to our ranks. Why don't you come in sweetie?" She motioned to the person in the hall. "Everyone, please welcome Miss Hino Rei to the class."

What fresh hell.

To my sheer disbelief, Mars stepped into the classroom, and she was sporting the school's uniform. I swiveled around to Venus, only to see an equally shocked expression on her face. Slowly, she tore her gaze from Mars and met my own; I gestured to mars in a manner one might consider violent and other than the small glimmer of apology in her eyes, she gave no reply. As Mars mentioned how glad she was to be here, I sensed Naru lean forward in her seat and whisper, "Wait, do you know that girl?"

"Yes." I replied through a clenched jaw. "Unfortunately."

And then Mars did the damnedest of things; She swaggered down the aisle as though she owned the place and gracefully seated herself in the desk right in front of Venus. The desk that just so happened to be directly at my right. Mars gave Venus a wink, making the girl let out a resigned sigh, before turning and meeting my gaze.

"Oh," She droned. "It's you. I really hope you aren't going to tell me I can't come to school now, you know, since it doesn't belong to just you anymore."

My smile was all teeth. "Sweetheart, try not to start anything you can't finish."

With a smug look and her chin held high, Mars turned to face the board. "Don't worry, I never start anything that I can't finish; after all, this isn't just your turf anymore, sweetheart."

It left a bad taste in my mouth, because she was right.

School might not have been a safe place, but it had been mine before the Scouts, and having to share it with them was becoming more and more difficult. Mars being here was a grave misfortune, because she was literally the last person I ever wanted to interact with on a daily basis. I could take the leader, the genius, and the shield just fine, but the line had to be drawn somewhere and I drew it at the psychic. I already had enough problems on my hands without having to add another to the list; the last thing I needed right now was Mars and her head bitch attitude. God only knew what she would be like with Naru, the mere thought was giving me a headache.

Between Mars, Naru, and myself it would be a miracle if no blood was spilled by the end of the day.

Because this was, without a doubt, war.


A/N

Yesterday, I was a broke, unproductive member of society with little down time on my hands and a near constant existential crisis floating about the recesses of my mind. Today, I am still all of those things, only now I've hit my twenty first birthday and can legally drink my sorrows away.

So cheers to that.

For my very special birthday, I'm giving you guys a chapter and I'd be beyond thrilled to receive some reviews as a birthday present if any of you feel like getting around to it. Anyway, with that said I hope everyone got a good surprise out of this chapter, because that's always an enjoyable reaction to see. Things are about to get heated for Usagi at school, and I am unbelievably excited for the next chapter! We're really going to start getting into the root of the Sailor Moon plot soon, so as always do bear with me here.

Thoughts? Questions?

Please Review!