A/N: I have gone back and edited a few things in the last two chapters to clarify the times in which the scenes are taking place. Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sailor Moon... sadly... I wish...

Chapter Two

"Oh, welcome, my dear! You know how very much I admire punctuality, and you are always on time."

Chibiusa stared blankly at the dark magenta eyes that were alight with uncontained delight. It was actually quite a disturbing sight.

"Erm… can I come in?" she asked, confused over the older woman's unusual glee.

"Oh, yes. Please do come in," Setsuna smiled, waving her hand toward the living area.

Chibiusa stepped into the house, Setsuna following closely behind. They settled into the tan-colored couch farthest from the front door. No picture frames hung from the plain white walls and besides the most necessary furniture, there was nothing very outstanding about the decorations. The one thing that stood out to Chibiusa, however, was the massive bookshelf covering the entire left wall of the living room. Chibiusa had happily spent numerous evenings going through the many books of practically every subject she could think of. Setsuna had books in her possession that were so rare, she was surprised she hadn't sold them to a world-renown university or museum for a large amount of money. She couldn't figure out where she could have obtained them from -- she just assumed she had inherited them or something -- but Chibiusa doubted Setsuna could have attained them by illegal means. She had a noble air about her, almost regal, and if Chibiusa had not been a witness to Setsuna's benevolent nature, she, too, would have had those silly misconceptions about her as others did.

It was the things she said sometimes, as if she was aware of more than she let on. There were even whispers among the neighbors that Setsuna was perhaps a witch or a soothsayer or something of that bizarre nature. Ayaka from three doors down even claimed to have seen strange-colored lights coming from Setsuna's front window and that two days later, Mr. Kipling-- who lived next door-- was fired from his position as the British literature professor at KO University. Chibiusa had laughed at this, finding no connection whatsoever with the stories (plus, she was sure Ayaka was on something most days). Setsuna was just a woman who lived alone in a small house with her countless books, designs, and who very rarely went out. What she needed was a boyfriend or some serious sex. Setsuna was actually a very beautiful woman and it surprised Chibiusa that she wasn't out snagging a good man on this Friday night instead of entertaining a fifteen-year-old. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember Setsuna ever leaving the house.

"So," Setsuna said, pouring some tea in an extra cup for her guest. "What is it you wanted to talk about? I was very worried after I received your call."

Chibiusa bit her lip, remembering how she had run from the school in the middle of her lunch period, not caring that she would be skipping the rest of her classes after the many stares she was receiving from across the cafeteria. It was then that her closest friend revealed what had been on the television the night before.

"I received some very unpleasant news," she replied monotonously.

"I see." Setsuna fiddled with the teapot handle. A frown formed on her pretty features. "You are referring to your father's engagement to the hotel heiress, correct? I admit, it was rather startling considering what you had told me about their brief courtship. And already at the next step, are they? Quite strange."

"That's what I think, too," Chibiusa said, sipping the sweet tea lightly. "I refuse to believe their relationship could have moved that fast. My dad is one of the smartest -- if not the smartest person, I know. I mean, he is the youngest administrator the hospital has ever had!"

Setsuna snorted at this and not too quietly, either, making Chibiusa's eyebrows rise suddenly in astonishment. Something was definitely off about Setsuna today.

"Trust me, Chibiusa," Setsuna giggled. "There is intelligence and then there is intelligence. The brightest man on this Earth could solve the greatest mysteries and still be a senseless fool, just how the most well-intentioned of people can cause a disaster."

"Oh Setsuna, I hope to be as smart as you one day."

"Don't be silly, my dear, you will no doubt go farther than I ever will. You were destined for great things, its written in the stars."

Chibiusa let out a harsh breath, making her bangs fly up wildly. "I'll believe that when I see it."

"Oh, you of very little faith! That is just your mood talking."

"Don't remind me." She flopped back onto the couch. "I just think it's a huge mistake."

"And you believe you know what is best for your father?"

"In this case I do! He shouldn't marry her!" she declared indignantly. Her cheeks were flushed a deep pink, even darker than her hair.

"Then who should he marry?" Setsuna asked quietly. Strangely, it almost sounded like a taunt, but Chibiusa was too angry to notice.

"My mom," she replied without thought. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise at what she had just said, but she brushed it away by telling herself mentally that it was the truth.

"You believe your parents should reconcile?"

Chibiusa sighed. She didn't actually really know how to explain how she felt, but she had always been certain that her parents were meant to be together. "Without a doubt; you don't know them how I do, Setsuna. My parents were married for two years, I hardly believe they gave it a chance."

"Hmm," Setsuna nodded thoughtfully.

"What?"

"Two years, you say. That is a considerably short amount of time." She picked at an imaginary piece of lint on her mauve skirt. "How long did they date before marrying? In some cases, a short dating period leads to an equally short marriage."

The young girl scratched her head sheepishly. "Er, it's funny that you should ask that…"

Setsuna began to tap her fingers annoyingly against the coffee table waiting for her response.

"You see," Chibiusa, continued, rubbing the back of her neck, "my parents didn't date for very long."

"A measurement using days, weeks, or months would be useful here."

"It was less than two months," she replied quickly. "My mom was a month pregnant when they married." She squeezed her eyes shut, afraid of what comment would come from such a revelation. Instead, as she gradually opened her eyes, she received only a calm stare in reply.

"So," Setsuna said slowly, "it was a marriage of obligation?"

"No! Argh!" Chibiusa yelled, pulling her pigtails in irritation. "It wasn't out of obligation! They got married because they loved each other, not because they had to. I knew you would think that! They did NOT get married because my mom got knocked up! They had known each other for years. It wasn't like they just met, had sex, got married and had me. It was years in the making. "

"Calm down, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that perhaps they rushed into matrimony." She poured herself more tea. "You said they knew each other for years?"

Chibiusa's lips spread into a smirk. "Yeah, apparently they had a huge crush on each other since high school. Aunt Rei said it was disgusting how hung they were over each other. Said the tension was almost unbearable."

"Aunt?"

"No, she isn't really my aunt, just a good friend of my mom's. I call my mom's closest friends 'aunt.'"

"High school." Setsuna shuddered. "But your mother is only in her mid-thirties and you're only fifteen. Why did they wait so long to finally date?"

"Well," Chibiusa replied, sitting more comfortably against the sofa. "Aunt Mina says -- and these are her words -- that in school they would ogle each other when they thought no one was looking but that besides undressing each other with their eyes, the farthest their relationship went was friendship."

"Your aunt has a way with words."

"She does. But then after graduating -- my dad was two grades ahead -- dad went to university in America for like five years. Aunt Mina says my mom tried to hide the fact that she was devastated, but that she moved on and even dated some other guys, nothing serious, of course. And then dad came back to intern over here and about a year later, they were married and I was here." She let out a low whistle for good measure. "Pretty boring story, now that I think about it."

"It's a little romantic, high school sweethearts marrying after a long absence from each other." Setsuna's eyes sparkled merrily.

Chibiusa frowned in slight fright. She pictured little imaginary hearts floating around Setsuna's head. "I suppose."

"Strange that they didn't embark on a relationship sooner."

"That's what Aunt Mina says."

"Hmm."

"Setsuna?"

"Yes?" she responded, seeming to get out of her brief trance.

"Why so interested in my parent's past?" Chibiusa found it very strange, for Setsuna hardly ever dug for so many details about Chibiusa's family or even personal life. Their conversations tended to lean toward the philosophical or even the intellectual.

She shrugged. "Strictly for your benefit. You feel very passionate over your wish for your parent's reconciliation and I figured a few facts about their past might help me in giving you a reasonable opinion about the matter."

"Oh." Chibiusa took a deep breath, she had almost forgotten about her father's pending nuptials. She wanted to scream. "It's just… sometimes I wish I could go back and do something. Warn them or something, it's why I ask my aunts about the old times. But that's wishful thinking, I suppose, and not to mention impossible."

"What is?"

"To go back in time."

"It is cliché to say, but anything is possible," Setsuna dictated matter-of-factly.

Chibiusa shook her head. "Not this."

"Hypothetically speaking, of course," Setsuna said slowly, as if trying out the words for the first time in her life. "If you could go back, would you?"

"Of course! Anything to keep this from happening!" Chibiusa felt a sudden surge of energy rush through her as she said this and she clenched the armrest to try and sit steady.

The way that Setsuna began to smile at her reaction made Chibiusa feel incredibly uneasy. She felt like an unarmed mouse treading on the dark territory of a clever cat that had not had a meal for days. Setsuna hastily placed her teacup back on the table before proceeding to stand up.

"Get up," she ordered. "I would like to show you something."

Blinking, Chibiusa stood up and followed Setsuna as she walked gracefully out of the room. Setsuna led her down her short corridor, past the restroom and her bedroom, to the last room at the back of the house. Chibiusa felt her stomach tense in anticipation -- she had never been allowed in the room. Setsuna was not one to censor or keep things off-limits, but this room had always remained locked (she knew this because she had tried to get into it before). She was startled out of her thoughts, letting her mouth hang open in awe as she watched Setsuna unlock the door with just a touch of her hand.

October 22, 1993

"Get off."

"Not until you say you're coming."

"Get off me right now."

"Please, Rei! It's my birthday and if you don't come this afternoon, the guys I invited won't go! Many are coming because they heard you'd be there! Like you know that guy Hideki. Did you know that he is totally in love with--"

"Get off me, Minako!" Rei screamed, shoving the pleading blonde off her lap onto the tiled floor. Snickers came from across the classroom from various amused students watching the scene between the two friends. It was a pretty common sight.

"Please, Rei," Minako begged, getting on her knees as if in prayer. She wrapped her arms around Rei's leg in desperation. "It would mean so much to me if you go. You're one of my best friends! Please do this for me! Do you know how many times a girl turns sixteen in her life?"

"I can guess," the annoyed girl replied dryly.

"Once," Minako said, oblivious to the many stares of others. She was still on the floor, her hair and school uniform in complete disarray. "You only turn sixteen once in your life. Of course, you don't care because you're still fifteen, but I have a reputation to keep up! Can you imagine what that Kaori and her trashy friends will say if Hideki and Masi and all their friends don't show up after I invited them?" She sniffled. "I'll be humiliated, Rei! And all because of you and your stupid temple chores! You know Grandpa Hino will let you off the hook! Ever since you transferred this year, he's been really understanding with school and your social life -- or lack of it."

Rei scowled at her declaration of her lack of a social life.

"So really," she continued, ignoring Rei's glare, "there isn't a reason for you to miss it."

Slam!

Minako, Rei and the rest of the students waiting in the room for class to begin jumped at the sudden sight of several textbooks crashing into the adjacent desk.

"That is it! I have had it and I am no longer taking it!" snarled Makoto as she aggressively sat in her seat. "Please forgive me for the words that I am about to say, but Ms. Yamagata is a grade-A bitch!"

Several gasps were heard across the room, students shocked to hear such a crude word coming from the brunette's mouth.

"I mean, what part of 'I can't fit it into my schedule' does she not understand?"

"She asked you to join the track team again, didn't she?" asked Rei who was trying to kick away Minako's arms.

Makoto rolled her eyes. "Ugh, yes. During Athletics practice this morning, she saw me come in first in the 200-meter dash and so of course, she starts freaking out about how much the team needs me and how Volleyball is a useless sport, blah, blah, blah. And she goes on about it in front of the ENTIRE team like if my coach isn't even there. What kind of sad, pathetic person does have to be to be in order to be so rude like that? And why in God's green Earth are you sitting on the floor, Minako?"

Immediately, Minako's mouth turned back into a pout and she pointed an accusing finger at the black-haired girl. "Tell Rei that she has to go to my party, Mako. Why does she have to be so mean?"

Makoto looked at Rei (who was mumbling incoherently) before her face brightened into a wide grin. "The party! I can't believe I forgot!" She clasped her hands excitedly, completely forgetting and abandoning her frustratingly foul mood. This happened often… "Oh! I even bought a new skirt. I totally need to come over to your house this afternoon to get ready and so you can help me with my hair. I was thinking about wearing it down. Should I wear it down?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely. I also think you should--"

"Oh, for the love of kami!" Rei interrupted, slamming her hands on the desk. "Can you please take this conversation to a place where people aren't trying to study? Class starts in ten minutes and I would like to prepare for this exam that I am sure you two have completely forgotten about."

The two vivacious girls wisely chose to stay silent. Minako had not moved from the floor.

"You don't have to be so grouchy, Rei," said Makoto. She asked her next question more calmly. "So who did you invite?"

Rei let out a defeated sigh and opened her textbook to the back to read over the glossary of terms.

"Oh, I think it will be better to say who I didn't invite," Minako explained happily, rising from the floor and sitting in the desk in front of Rei. She twisted her body to turn towards her friends. "I tried limiting the invites just to students in our grade and the upperclassmen, but I had to invite a few freshmen. You've seen the freshmen soccer team, they have tons of hot players!"

"Which upperclassmen did you invite? Did you invite Asanuma and his gang? Oh, he is so cute."

"Of course, I'm not brain-dead." Minako scowled when she heard Rei snort. "So that means Mamoru and his soccer mates and some of the hot nerds will be coming, too."

"Uh-oh," Rei drawled, keeping her eyes on her textbook. "Does Usagi know? You know she won't be too happy about that and I don't want to deal with her tonight."

"I thought you weren't going," Minako glared.

"Don't be ridiculous, Minako. I wouldn't miss your birthday party for the world. Honestly, what kind of friend do you think I am?"

"Oh, thank you, thank you, and thank you!" Minako squealed, jumping on Rei's lap again and gripping her in a tight hug. "I knew you being insufferable were all just an act."

"Let go," came the muffled plea.

"Oops. Sorry." She released Rei enough to allow her to breathe. "But yes, I did invite Mamoru and if Usagi doesn't like it, that is her problem. They need to get over it. We're in high school, for kami's sake, and to have them fighting like dogs and cats in front of everyone is both annoying and embarrassing."

"Amen," Makoto agreed. "Plus, if Mamoru comes, you know that Motoki will most likely tag along. There is going to be so many gorgeous men there tonight, I fear I may die from hotness overload."

The tardy bell rang, signaling the beginning of the first period class of the school day at Moto Azabu High School. At the other end of the school, a distinct screech and a loud thump was heard as a small, pig-tailed blonde girl sped her way into her classroom in a valiant effort not to be late. But like most other mornings, she failed miserably and she received another afternoon detention to her already detention-filled schedule.

As the instructor began shushing the students in order to begin class, a very serious thought occurred to Makoto that brought her great worry.

"I hope you didn't invite Umino, Minako."

A silent curse was her only response.

People had their secret obsessions, she supposed, and Setsuna was not one to be excluded from this group of eccentric people. When she had entered the room, Chibiusa had expected something exciting, like shelves and stacks of even more wonderful books that she was now allowed to peruse. Heck, she even half-expected -- in the deepest and darkest parts of her creative, but warped mind -- a room full of dead body parts. (She definitely should not have watched that movie about the cannibalistic serial killer, but classics are hard to ignore). Setsuna was tidy and was the last person she would think to have her house be a complete mess, so it was greatly unexpected to find that this much pondered over room was filled with stacks and stacks of… junk. She thanked whatever god listening to her thoughts, that her usual compulsion to organize things did not kick in at the sight of such chaos.

There were boxes overflowing with old and wrinkled paper, stacks of newspapers on the floor that reached to her waist, and about three-fourths of the walls were covered with photographs and even more newspaper clippings. As Chibiusa approached some of the blurry, black & white photographs tacked onto the walls, she saw that they mostly consisted of several figures dressed in what appeared to be a school uniform.

"Have you ever heard of the Sailor Senshi, Chibiusa?" Setsuna asked, taking one of the many articles on the piles into her dark hands. She ran a finger over the headline: HEROIC SAILOR-SUITED GIRLS SPOTTED AGAIN.

"Yes, I've heard the stories. I personally don't believe in such fairy tales of superheroes, though many of my friends claim their parents had actually seen them," she said absently, her attention drawn to one of the photographs nearby.

The picture she was currently entranced with was that of a young girl, no older than herself, in a blue pleated skirt jumping from one Tokyo office building to another. A brilliant red bow set on her chest attached with a small brooch that matched the gleaming tiara on her forehead. What stood out to her most, however, was not the monstrous figure that appeared to be chasing the pretty girl, but the strands of long, shiny, blonde hair that trailed behind her. Her heart began to race wildly within her chest.

"Have you ever heard the expression 'Write what you know,' Chibiusa?" Setsuna asked, placing the article back onto another wobbly stack and picking up another. "It's meaning is literal," she continued, noticing how the blue-eyed girl remained quietly focused upon the image. "So when you apply this statement to say fairy tales, it means that these seemingly impossible stories perhaps once had a genuine basis. Over the years, however, as they are passed from one generation to another, some of the facts get skewed and over time the tale changes completely. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Of course, she knew what it meant, but her mind was currently occupied by the various photographs of the same girl with the long, blonde pigtails that sprouted from two round balls on her head. She clapped a hand over her mouth. There was no denying it; the resemblance was alarming. The hair, the eyes, the body, the shape of her long legs… the golden brooch that lay innocently adorning her chest, the brooch she had seen attached to the one person she trusted more than anyone else. There was no way that what she was seeing was real. It was fake, photo-shopped, not real at all. A figment of her teasing imagination.

"But not all stories are fairy tales, Chibiusa," Setsuna whispered softly against her ear. A shiver ran up Chibiusa's spine.

Chibiusa's eyes wandered over the many photographs, many that had images of other girls dressed in similar colorful outfits, finally settling on a set of pictures near the window, which all contained a figure of a man dressed in a dark suit adorned with a long, black cape and top hat. For a moment, she could have sworn that her heart stopped and she got the sudden urge to be sick. "What the -- how…" The words would not come out.

"When you asked me why I was so interested in your parent's past, I lied to you. My interest, as you can see, is far more than you can imagine."

Setsuna's words entered deaf ears as thoughts of memories, secrets, and lies throughout Chibiusa's life ran through her head. The countless begs and pleas to her parents of their past only to be denied and the uneasiness in their voices when they would carefully omit details particularly came to mind. She didn't know how to react, if she should breathe, or if she should just stop thinking. She felt dizzy and she pressed her hand against the covered wall to try and regain her balance.

"Y-you," she barely choked out, "knew about this?"

"Yes, I did," Setsuna, replied flatly, no emotion tingeing her voice. "And if it were any other time, any other moment, any other person, I would ask that you forgive me for what I am about to do."

"What do you--?"

Chibiusa never got to finish her question, nor did she see the cluttered room in her life again. The last thing she saw was a bright, purple light that completely blinded her vision and the wave of dizziness from earlier became overwhelming, causing her eyes to squeeze shut in pain. Faintly, she heard a whisper in the distance, like a command, that came from a soothing voice… and then everything was black.

A/N: Hmm, I'm not sure if I am entirely pleased with this chapter. Please review. :)