AN: Hopefully things will pick up from here on out.

3

The next day was his wife's turn with the car and he, having volunteered, was going to drop Nijiko off at school. Since her school wasn't too far off, they walked together holding hands. Nijiko was humming some tune he's never heard before.

"Niko?" He glanced at her with a smile as they stood at the crosswalk, "What's that song?"

"Hm?" She looked up at him with amused purple eyes, "Oh! Usa taught it to me."

"Really?" Mamoru's brows rose, "It's a pretty song."

"Yup!" Nijiko rocks back and forth on her feet, then tugged her skirt down a little, "She said her Mama's friend taught it to her."

"Did she now?" He looked up and kept a firm hold on his daughter's hand as they began to cross, "Say, where does Chibiusa live?"

His daughter fell quiet for a while at that. With a look, he saw her eyes were trained on the sidewalk only, "I can't tell."

"Why not?" Something was setting off alarm bells in his head as they stopped in front of her school. He knelt down to her level. "Nijiko, look at me." When she reluctantly did so, he held her hands. "Why can't you tell me where Chibiusa live?"

"Because.." She looked off, worrying her lower lip, "I promised."

"Listen, Nij-" He began but the bell rang and the teachers were calling for the kids to hurry up. "Mama will pick you today, ok?" He kissed the top of her head and lets her go.

Mamoru couldn't help but wonder why it was so important to keep where Chibiusa lived a secret?

A few days rolled by and life in the Chiba household was quiet for the most part. Chibiusa didn't make another appearance at their home, Nijiko stayed in bed at night and for all tenses and purposes everything had fallen back into it's usual routine before.

Everything except the dreams that started to haunt Mamoru during the night. For the past week or two since meeting the pink haired girl, his dreams have taken on a strange clarity that woke him up in the middle of the night. Images of a place, vague in detail, but he had sensed that it was very beautiful. That there was someone waiting on him and yet he couldn't figure out who it was. Then there was a menacing darkness that threatened this beauty. He would always tell the person- woman?- that he would return and would then disappear into the darkness where he would then wake up in a cold sweat.

Now, he's taken to writing for the majority of the night about his dreams to give Raina some peace at night. He felt guilty for having also woken her up with his nightly vivid dreams. Especially since she's been under the weather lately, she still found it in her to console him and change the pillowcase when he went to shower.

Now, he sat in his chair, staring at the blinking cursor on his computer as he wondered what to write next. He had been adding and editing in details or erasing some for some time now but could never go beyond the moment he disappeared. the last line of the document bothered him, so he deleted it and tried again- when he heard something.

Frowning, he quietly got up and went to check in on Nijiko. Her room was on the second floor, a little ways down the hall from the Master's room and Raina's art room. Pushing the door open a little, he waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness to see if his daughter was in bed.

"Niko?" He flipped on the light, only to find the bed was truly as empty as it had been in the dark. Mamoru tried not to panic, moving to the masters' to see if perhaps she was in there with Raina.

But Raina was alone in the bed.

It took him only a few moments to realize where his daughter might be. "The garden."

He breathed out, annoyed for the most part, then headed out to the backyard to Nijiko's favorite spot.

"All right, Niko, you've had your fun- what?" The sight that greeted him was a perplexing one. Chibiusa, the pink haired girl that met them only a month or so ago, was holding his daughter's hand wearing a pink dress with a tiny kitten perched on her shoulder. "What is going on here?"

"Daddy?" Nijiko drew closer to her friend, "We.."

He shook his head, "Look, it's late for the both of you. Why don't we all go inside and go to bed? In the morning, Chibiusa, we'll call your parents who must be worried."

"But..We are going to Usa's house." Nijiko told him confused.

"In our backyard?" Mamoru knew that it's a trial to have your patience tested but it was becoming slightly thin by the girls' make-believe game. Trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it, he took Nijiko's free hand, "Come on, girls."

Neither girl moved, Chibiusa looked up and smiled, "It's here!"

"What's here?" Mamoru didn't like the sound of it, or the feeling he was getting, "We should- what is this?"

Before he could move, they were all bathed in bright light and began to float up into the air. "What's going on!"

"We're going to the moon." A new voice said- one he didn't recognize until the tiny gray kitten jumped from Chibiusa's shoulder to his chest inside the bubble of light. "To the Moon Kingdom."

This has to be a dream. Mamoru thought, staring at the kitten with wide ocean blue eyes. Has to be a dream! "You can talk?"

"Yes." the kitten chirped with a smile, "Sorry for the late introductions, but I am Diana, royal advisor to her majesty, Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom."

"Princess?" His head snapped towards Chibiusa, "You? "

Chibiusa smiled a little nervously, "Sorry for lying to you." She twisted her fingers into her dress.

Nijiko took her friend's hand frimly and looked towards her father, "Usa and me have been playing together since she came down by accident."

"Mama told me that Earth was full of pretty things and I wanted to see it..." Chibiusa trailed off, "I'm sorry for causing trouble but I really like being there and being with Nijiko.."

Mamoru wasn't sure how to process this all. At first he had thought Nijiko's friend had been imaginary, then the child turns out to be real and what's more- she's a moon princess with a talking cat?

He did what he could only do in that moment and that was laugh at how his life had turned out so absurdly strange.

This cannot..be real...

"My queen." The servant bows low before her, "Our plans must change, we have located the priest- however the prince is still unknown."

"I see." The Queen said, "Bring the priest to me. We will free ourselves from this prison soon using his powers. Then we will find the prince and take this moon."

"As you wish my Queen.."

With the servant gone, she looked through the darkness at the mirror of the world outside. Soon, she'll be free and Queen Serenity will pay for trying to stop her.

She'll pay for it all.

"Small Lady!"

"Small Lady, where are you?"

"Princess?"

"Diana? Small Lady?"

"They must be around here somewhere!" Luna sighed, her blue eyes turning to Princess Venus. "They couldn't have gotten far, could they?"

Venus shook her head, "I don't believe so, but just in case- I had Artemis check with Sailor Pluto. You know how Small Lady loves to visit her sometimes."

"I wish she wouldn't." Luna rubbed her arms, "Queen Serenity has forbidden anyone to go there. There must be a reason for it."

"If there is," Jupiter walked over to them, "we'll never know. Anyway, I checked her usual hiding spots but it seems they're not there."

Luna looked back towards the winged doors that lead to the throne room, "I hope we find them soon. You know how worried she gets when she hasn't seen Small Lady."

"I wish she wouldn't stress herself out so much." Venus followed her gaze, pink lips pursed for a moment in thought, "Ever since this place had awaken and others coming here, she's been stretching herself so thin trying to accommodate everyone."

"What with not having found Endymion either..." Jupiter trailed off.

"Everyone?" Mercury jogged up to them, "Have you had any luck?"

"No, not yet." Luna answered, "And with you?"

The blue haired woman shook her head, "None of the readings gave any indication that she may even be here."

"Well we could've told you that, Ami." Jupiter looked amused.

Exasperated, Mercury shook her head again, "No, I mean not on the moon."

"What?"

"Don't tell the queen." Luna blurted out, "We can't have her worried even more."

"I don't know, Luna." Artemis and Mars joined the group. "It's pretty hard to not be worried when the heir to the throne is missing." Artemis finished. "I take it we still haven't found her?"

"No. It's getting late too." Mars muttered, "Maybe-"

"Wait." Mercury turned, pressing her earring for the visor to appear. "According to the sensors, the teleportation port is active."

"Maybe it's the princess and Diana?" Venus took a step forward, "Honestly, she worries us so much like this- just like her mother used to."

Mars frowned a bit, placing a hand on Venus's arm. "But she and Diana aren't alone. I sense two more energies with them."

"Two more?" Venus stared at Mars for a while longer then nodded, "Very well, Jupiter and Mercury- you two are with me and Artemis. Luna, you and Mars go back to the queen and keep her occupied until we sort this out."

"Right. We'll be in touch via the communicators." Mars added with a nod as she and Luna went to the throne room.

Venus's group moved in uniform towards the teleportation ports. Anything could have happened to the princess and Venus, for one, did not want a repeat of her failure ever again.

Mamoru was, for the most part, speechless. He looked over at his daughter's face which showed nothing but pure wonderment and joy at this. Chibiusa looked pretty pleased with herself as she leaned over and said, "Didn't I tell you?"

"Hm, it's really pretty! Like in fairy-tales." Nijiko told her, though she frowned a little, "Do you think it's ok for us to visit? Won't they be mad?"

"No way!" Chibiusa told her, " I'm the princess and you're my best friend!"

"Ah-hem."

"After Diana, of course." She amended and pets her kitten advisor. "Besides, it'll be fun."

However, Mamoru highly doubted any of that. Especially when three women in sailor uniforms and one white haired guy were all staring at them with not so pleasant expressions.

"Girls, I don't believe 'fun' is the correct term here."