Makoto and Ami were talking to Craig and waiting for Cleo. Justin and Rei were having their own conversation. Cleo came down wearing a pair of tight jeans and a pink top with a white bunny on it that showed her stomach. She went up to Justin who put his hand around her waist. Craig not missing this interaction frowned.
"We are going to the diner. Will be back in a few hours!" Cleo said as they all stood up and walked out of the door. Justin looked back at Craig as he held Cleo's hand, and knew that the two were going to get a lecture when they did get back. The senshi used the time to get to know Makoto better. She felt right at ease with the group of girls. Cleo was starring out of the window while the girls talked around her. She still was thinking about the battles, the enemy and also the new powers that had been unlocked in her. She let out a sigh. This did not go unnoticed by Justin, who reached out and touched her hand. A tear fell down her cheek; she wiped it away before turning to him and smiled.
"Penny for your thoughts?" he said.
"Then you may need a lot of pennies." she said as she looked at her scouts, talking to each other and laughing. "What if we can not handle the evil, I mean our future, the solar system..." she said as she played with her shake by stirring it with the straw. Justin took her hand and she turned to look at him again.
"No matter what happens, we will fight this together and will win!" he said. She smiled and nodded, knowing that he was right. He draped his arm around her and she leaned into him as she joined in the conversations.
"We need to find a place to talk about our next step." she finally said, as the time flew by and it was starting to turn dark. The senshi looked at her and nodded. "Then it is agreed, we meet tomorrow afternoon at the den. I am sure that Craig has to be at a conference or something for the next few days. We could turn this into a sleepover, not as if school is starting soon" Cleo said, Makoto nodded in agreement.
"I have to take his classes while he is gone, and keep an eye on you he said about you stunt on the beam a few weeks ago!" Cleo rolled her eyes.
"Right, well, see you all tomorrow then." Rei said as she stood up "I have to do some fire reading before resting, I want to see what I can find out for us." She waived and left. Ami sighed.
"I am going too, will look on the computer Shadow gave me and see what I can find." She waived as well and left. Makoto looked at the two sitting there.
"Being the new one in the group, I feel useless." she said to them, Cleo moved closer to Makoto and put her arm around her.
"Never think that you are useless. We all play an important role in this, there are no little roles so please, come tomorrow. We will have pizza!" she said. Makoto laughed and hugged Cleo, waived at Justin and left. Justin picked up the tab and then both of them left. Justin put his arm around Cleo and pulled her close.
"Well, time to go and face your brother!" he said, she nodded, leaning in to his side.
They walked along the beach, enjoying the sound of the waves as it hit the sand. The sea breeze blew away any thoughts that Cleo had, allowing her, in a way, to relax from the worries that she was about to face now as her new role. Justin held onto her, also thinking about things that had just happened. Just as they approached the driveway, Cleo stopped.
"What's wrong?" Justin asked as he noticed that she was no long at his side.
"My brother, I mean what is he going to say?" she asked
"He will be fine. Don't worry. You have gone through a lot in the last few days and also with your parents, I am sure that he will be happy for us." Justin explained as he walked back towards her. He reached out his hand and she took it, leading them back into the house.
Craig was waiting in the kitchen for the two of them to return. They walked in and sat down at the table where he was waiting for them.
"Bro, I know, this was… something that we did not expect, but please, don't be mad at me." Cleo said to break the ice. Craig looked up at his sister and went to hug her.
"Cleo, this is the first time in a very long time that I have seen you happy." He said as he stroked her hair. "And Justin knows that if he hurts you, he will have me to answer to!" he said as he looked at the person in question. Justin nodded, and with this acknowledgment, he went back to sitting down.
"Now, as you know I am away for a few days so please try and keep out of trouble!" he said, looking at his sister who rolled her eyes. "And try not to train too much, take it easy. You have been sick for a few days and therefore not used to it." He said, she nodded again and stood up, leaving the two boys alone.
She shut her door and fell down onto her bed and sighed. Shadow jumped up and she turned to face the cat.
"Tell me what you know about the black nebula kingdom." Cleo asked, the cat looked at her strangely.
"I am sorry, but I don't know anything about them. I am sure that Ami can find something on her computer that I have given her." The cat said as he sat down. "How are you?" he asked. Cleo sighed again and stood up, walking to the balcony to watch the stars in the night sky shine. The stars shining through the darkness, lighting the way for any traveler who is lost.
"I don't understand why everything is happening so fast. I mean… I don't even know what I mean anymore Shadow. How am I, are we all supposed to handle this?" she said, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks.
"Believe in yourself, in the senshi and also the Silver Solider, then everything will just fall into place." The cat said as he stood next to Cleo. She let out a loud sigh and wiped her eyes. She looked down at the cat and smiled.
"You're right Shadow, I have to believe in everyone." she said as she sat down on the chair and fell asleep on the balcony.
Justin went into Cleo's room, and saw the balcony door open. He went out and saw her asleep on the chair. He smiled down at her as he picked her up and laid her on her bed and then covering her with the blanket. She let out a small moan as she snuggled down into the warmness of her bed. Justin kissed her head and left her to sleep. He went out, turned off the lights in her room and closed the door and made his way to his room. He had training in the morning, and school was due to start in a week's time. He went into his bathroom and washed his face. It had been a very long day and all he wanted to do was to curl up on his bed. He touched his forehead where the golden moon crescent had not appeared so long ago. He knew that now things were going to be different since he remembered who he was and his purpose in this world. He lay down in his bed and closed his eyes, allowing his memories to enter his dreams to help him figure things out.
Cleo sighed as she stood on the balance beam and closed her eyes. She heard the voices of the class going on around her, she could use the hall whenever she wanted, and the gym equipment was always there for her. She took in a deep breath as she performed her new dismount that she had created. Just as she was about to do her third flip, she felt slightly dizzy and lost her focus, her hand slipped as she gasped as she saw the floor approaching and shut her eyes, however was caught by someone.
"Baka!" was the scream she heard coming from a voice in the distance. "If Craig was here he would kill you! Trying something new after being sick and not training!" the voice said as it got closer. "Justin was lucky to be paying attention to you in case something like last time happened." and Cleo dared herself to finally open her eyes, noticing that she was in Justin's arms and that Makoto was the person who was yelling at her. She allowed Justin to help her stand up as Makoto came up to her and stared at her.
"Mats and I would have been fine!" she said in a low voice.
"You were upside down Cleo, if you landed on your head, you could have had concussion, regardless if it was on the mat or not." Makoto said as she held onto her shoulders. She pulled Cleo into a hug and then looked back at her class. "Also, in front of children, not a wise move!" she said as she let go and allowed Justin to check her out.
"No more training for you, four hours is enough for one day." he said as he took her away from the equipment and sat her on the floor next to her stuff. She grabbed her towel and wiped her face and took a drink from her flask.
"Yeah, I know. I should shower and get something to eat." she said, Justin sighed and took her hand before she left.
"I need you to look after yourself, I know after being sick you don't have much of an appetite, without you our future can not happen and if I lose you, I don't know what I would do..." he said, Cleo looked down at him and smiled. "Look, have a shower, and we meet downstairs in 20 minutes, let's do something together, just the two of us." he said, Cleo nodded as she grabbed her bag and went to her room to get ready to go out on her first date with Justin.
Cleo was going through her wardrobe, finding what to wear and also thinking how to do her hair. She decided on a red short skirt and a blue top. She put her hair up like she had it when she transformed and put on a set of earrings and her necklace and communicator. She walked down stairs and saw Justin in the living room waiting for her on the sofa. When he heard her footsteps, he turned and looked at her and smiled.
"Wow, you look amazing!" he said as he walked up to her and took her hand. He had a pair of tight jeans on and a white t-shirt and a pair of trainers. "If I may?" he asked as he held out his hand for her. Cleo laughed; she had never been treated so nicely before as she accepted his hand and he led her outside to the woods of the grounds. Just before the woods started, there was a blanket with a basket. She looked up at him and smiled.
"I prepared all of this while waiting for you to finish training. You know, you work too much!" he said as they sat down on the blanket.
"Well, I have to if I want to be able to win the next competition." she said as he reached into the basket and pulled out a silver rose and handed it to her. She blushed as she took the rose from his grasp and he went back into the basket and got out some food and something to drink. She took some food and also a can of coke that was there and began eating and drinking. She lay back onto the blanket and looked up in the sky. It was a clear day with a few clouds around. She smiled, it was perfect. Justin lay on his side, holding his head up with his arm and looked at her.
"Thought I would never have a chance at something normal after the last few days." she said as she looked at him and mirrored the way he was laying. He reached over and touched her cheek.
"Somehow I wish it could be more..." Justin said, Cleo reached over and touched his mouth with her finger, silencing him.
"It is more than enough, and more than I deserve since you always save me..." she said, Justin kissed her, stopping her from continuing her sentence. Cleo closed her eyes as she allowed Justin to deepen the kiss, putting his arm around her head so that they were closer. She let out a little moan as she moved so that they were both sitting up, giving her the chance to pull him closer and wrap her arms around him.
After a minute or so, they pulled away; the need for air was getting to them. Justin looked into her eyes and smiled; she blushed and leaned into him as he wrapped his arms protectively around her.
"If only this moment can be frozen and we could stay here for all of time, I would be happy." she said, she let out a sigh, knowing that soon the other senshi will be coming and that they would be meeting up. "Justin, do you think..." he stopped her again.
"Cleo, don't think at the moment, just enjoy everything that we have here and we can think about our responsibilities later princess." he said. She nodded as she relaxed in his arms and just pushed away all thoughts that she could.
Her bracelet beeped, she looked up at Justin as she saw the stone turned to a red color, meaning that it was from Rei. She pressed the stone and heard her voice coming out of it.
"You are late!" she said, Cleo looked at her watch and realized the time.
"I'm sorry, we are on our way!" she said as she pushed the stone again stopping the call. She stood up as Justin packed away the remainders of the food and drink and folded the blanket. He picked everything up and put his spare arm around Cleo as they walked back to the house.
Cleo walked into the den and saw all of the senshi waiting for her. She sat down on one of the bean bags that surrounded the floor in this room and smiled at everyone. Ami had brought her computer and also a book, which, she assumed was for studying. Rei was looking focused, and yet Cleo could tell that she was worried about something. Makoto was sitting looking around since she had never been in this room. It was a room for her and her friends when she wanted somewhere to go and talk, study, whatever. She looked at the door as Justin walked in, followed by Shadow.
"Right, this is gonna sound crazy but... we are still one sailor senshi short, and hoping that she revels herself to us soon. Besides that, I have nothing. None of my memories say anything about the black nebula kingdom..." Cleo said as she sighed and looked at her feet. "The good news is that Craig has left me money for pizza, so we can order it before we start to get more serious than that!" she said as she smiled and let out a laugh, everyone else let out a sigh and hung their heads, no one expecting this attitude from Cleo, meaning something was bothering her. She stood up and went outside to get the phone and pizza menu leaving Justin and the rest of the senshi to talk.
"Something is wrong with her, something is bothering her..." Ami said as she looked at the other people in the room. They all nodded.
"I thought that we had already taken care of everything a few days ago?" Rei asked, Ami and Makoto sighed.
"This is something different, something is scaring her and I am not sure what it is. Could you not hear the fear in her voice so slightly, and the fact that she is the one thinking more about food than any of us has to be a sign." Ami said, Rei nodded, knowing that she was right.
"I am sure she will tell us when the time is right." Justin said, somehow trying to defend her. He knew what she was going through, at least could have a rough guess. "Think about everything that has happened to her in the last few weeks, could it not be that the stress of everything has finally gotten to her. She is trying to be strong, for all of us." he said, the girls looked at him.
Cleo sighed as she listened to the conversation in the den. She knew they all had good intentions; however she was not sure that she wanted to be who she was. She put down the phone and the menu and went outside towards the lake that was out of their grounds. She sighed as she sat down and started skimming stones. She looked up into the sky, which was now beginning to change color and then at her locket.
"Please, I wish that someone could tell me what I am supposed to do?" she asked the question to the locket. Nothing happened, she expected nothing to happen.
"Excuse me, may I join you?" she heard a girl say. From her accent she knew that she was not from around here and she looked up and smiled at the girl. Cleo nodded and the girl sat down next to her, her cat, an orange cat came up and sat on her lap. The cat meowed at its owner.
"Oh, I am sorry. Please, my name is Minako; I just transferred here from Australia. This is my cat, Sunspot." she said, the cat went to Cleo and meowed at her. Cleo strokes the cat and looked at the girl.
"My name is Cleo. I live in that place you see behind us. If I may, what are you doing out here?" she asked.
"Sunspot decided that she wanted to explore, so I went out with her so that we would be together." Minako said. Cleo nodded and looked at Sunspot and saw... no! She thought to herself.
"Your cat has a moon shaped crescent on her forehead, kinda like my cat, Shadow." Cleo said in passing as she stroked Sunspot's crescent. The cat meowed at Cleo and then went to its owners lap. Just then, Cleo's mobile rang, she was unaware that she was carrying it. She looked at the caller ID and then turned to see Justin standing at the gates of the grounds. She waved at him and hit the reject button.
"I am sorry, I have to go, I forgot about my friends. Maybe we will see each other at school?" Cleo asked, the girl nodded as Cleo stood up and walked away.
"That girl, her aura was comforting." Sunspot said to Minako, she nodded. "And the comment about another Luna cat, it must be her." the cat continued, again Minako nodded. She stood up and began to walk home.
"I guess we will find out soon enough." Minako said, as they continued walking away from Cleo's house.
"You okay?" Justin asked as Cleo came up to him and the two walked back inside to the sailor senshi.
"I'm fine, nothing is wrong." she said as she walked a bit ahead of him and into the den, picking up the phone and the pizza menu as she went. Justin stopped at the kitchen and sighed, he knew that this was going to be harder than it looked, but he had to, for her sake. He grabbed several bottles of fizzy drinks and went back into the den to see that the girls were picking a film while waiting for pizza. Once the pizza had come and everyone was full, the conversation changed.
"I am not sure how to say this, so I am just going to come out and say it. The black nebula kingdom is a group of people who, when fighting in the past, Queen Zara gave them the option to be cleansed; however those that chose not to fled Earth. After eons of being in hiding, they have finally come to take what they think is theirs... also to revive their old ruler, who was killed in the great battle for peace." Ami said as she looked up from the computer. "What they want from us here on Earth, I am not sure, but I fear that these attacks are just the beginning, something a lot bigger is heading our way." she continued, Rei nodded in agreement.
"My fire reading basically said the same thing, they are after something from the people here, but still the cloud of mystery hangs on this one, since so far we have been able to stop them from doing what they want to do. The cloud of secrets now hangs over them, meaning that they are going to be careful about how they do things from now on." she said. Cleo sighed.
"What about the prince?" she asked. Ami and Rei shrugged.
"All I can tell is that he did not die from your attack, he was just hurt and now rests." Rei said to them. The girls all sat in silence as if processing the new information.
"So we play the waiting game?" Makoto asked. Everyone looked at Shadow who was still thinking this through.
"There is nothing we can do but wait." he said, everyone sighed. Not knowing what was going to happen was something that they all feared. "We need to find the last sailor senshi quickly." he said. Cleo smiled.
"I think that she has already found us. Let us wait until she revels herself to us." she said as she remembered the girl by the lake. Everyone looked at her confused. Signaling that the meeting was over, they put on some DVDs since this was planned as a slumber party as well, even Justin stayed in the room to keep an eye on them all. Once the girls were changed and in their sleeping bags and comfortable, Cleo snuggled up to Justin and closed her eyes and gave into the nightmares that she knew awaited her.
The prince approached the mirror and looked at the person waiting in it.
"My prince, you have seen the sailor senshi?"
"Hai, my queen."
"What is our next step?"
"They seem to always appear when there is a monster nearby; I think that it is time that we played it safe, stealing the energy from people in one place. It is my plan that the monster assume human form until the time has come to revel itself."
"With the energy, we can use this to revive our world and our queen and finally take back what is ours... I approve, but remember, fail and it will cost you your life!"
The prince gasped briefly before bowing "Hai, my queen." he said as she disappeared away from the mirror. The prince laughed as he looked in the other mirror in his palace to see the picture of Sailor Stardust.
"In the end, princess, you will be mine, just as it was supposed to be." he reached out and touched the face of her on the mirror and then vanished.
The room was dark as the prince arrived. He knew that this place would be a perfect place to steal the energy of the people.
"Foolish humans, trying to keep in shape. What a waste of energy." he said as he looked around, his face in the reflection of the water. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue ball. He smiled as he dropped the ball into the water, it fizzled as it entered and he knew that this would be the perfect place to take away people's energy. Out of the water, a monster appeared.
"Take their energy, but make them want to come back, so don't take it all at once!" the prince said.
"Splish splash." the monster said as it changed into a lifeguard. With that, the prince vanished, laughing as his plan went into motion.
First day of school had started; Cleo was going in with Justin, hand in hand. They did not care that people looked at her, nor what they were more than likely whispering about her behind her back. She allowed Justin to wrap his arm around her as they went to her locker.
"Cleo, hi." she heard a voice say as she opened her locker. Cleo turned to see Minako standing there waving at her and smiling. Cleo smiled back as the girl walked over to them.
"Minako, hiya, would you like me to show you around? I have free period first and have already done all of my homework." she said as the girl looked at her. She smiled and nodded. "Oh, introductions, Justin, this is Minako, I met her at the lake near my house, remember?" she said, Justin nodded and extended his hand to the girl.
"Nice to meet you, yes, I remember, she had an orange cat with her right?" he said. Minako took his hand and shook it.
"You could see Sunspot from that distance?" Minako said surprised.
"I have very good eye sight." he said as he shrugged.
"Well, the peep squeak returned. Shame really!" Cleo rolled her eyes as she heard Libby approaching. Libby saw Justin and her eyes glistened. "Justin, what are you doing hanging around with such lower beings?" she asked.
"You shouldn't say things like that to people Libby." he said as he put his arm around Cleo, making her blush. The glisten in her eyes faded immediately upon seeing this.
"So, you and Cleo..." she said, everyone knew that Libby had a thing for Justin, he was new, and amazingly handsome and well built thanks to his training, of course she wanted him. "Fine, one day you will come to your senses and want to be with me though." she said as she pushed her hair back and walked away. Cleo let out a sigh of relieve as the bell rang. Justin kissed her on the cheek.
"Don't let her get to you, remember you are so much better than her." he whispered in her ear, she nodded. "See you both at lunch time!" he said as he went off to class.
"What was that about?" Minako asked.
"Head cheerleader with an attitude problem. Her problem is I made the squad at such a young age and also that I skipped a grade and she is just jealous." Cleo said as she put her books in her locker. "Come on!" she said to Minako and smiled "let's get you a locker near mine, I know that there are a few free and I shall show you around!" she said. Minako smiled, knowing that she had found a friend in Cleo. They went to the office and got Minako the stuff she needed. She was in the same grade as Cleo, meaning that she was a year older than her. All of the sailor senshi were older than her; either by a year or two, this made her wonder why she was the one to lead them... She showed Minako around, since she also had the same timetable as Cleo, meaning that they both would spend a lot of time together, and for this Cleo was happy. She never had a friend in high school, all of her "normal" friends were jealous since she was smart and the other older girls in her class hated her for this fact and also that she was younger than them. They walked into the gym were Craig was giving his lesson to his class. They sat on the benches as Cleo explained some stuff to her.
"This is the sports hall of our school. There are several clubs to try out for if you are interested. I am part of the cheer squad, but I also have training at home. That's the head coach, Craig, he's my brother, but everyone here just calls him coach, so don't worry about it." she said as Craig turned to look at her. He went up to the girls while the rest of his class continued.
"Cleo, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"Free period coach. This is Minako; she just transferred here from Australia. I am showing her around and stuff." she said as she introduced the new girl. Craig smiled and shook her hand, she had a strong grip.
"Sorry, I do karate and sometimes forget my own strength." she said as he noticed the grip on his hand, she blushed.
"Come by to our house after school, you can continue your lessons in my classes if you wish. Got to go, some of us have to teach!" he said to Cleo. "What about your homework?"
"All done bro. See you after school, or are you joining us for lunch today?" she asked as they stood up.
"Can't, teacher meeting. See you after school." he said to her as they walked away.
The lessons with Minako made things feel better for Cleo, she now had a friend in her year who liked her for who she was and nothing else. She could see that Minako was settling well in the school. Finally lunch came around; Justin was already waiting for them outside their classroom.
"How did you get here so fast?" Minako said.
"Never underestimate how fast this guy moves, really it's scary sometimes!" Cleo said as Justin looked at her. She looked at Minako and the both of them laughed as they walked away, with Justin behind them wondering what they were laughing about.
"We should go to the mall after school. Craig's karate class is late in the evening, and I am sure he would like to see your skill before putting you in the class, so we can then go back to my place later." Cleo said as the three of them sat down to lunch. Minako smiled.
"Sure, sounds great!" she said as she looked at her food, she sighed. She didn't make herself anything to eat, and the food from the cafeteria was not one of the best. Cleo looked at the so-called "healthy" option that she had.
"Here, I made too much as always. Take some of mine. Nothing in this school is eatable unless from a machine or the bread and fruit." Cleo said as she pushed her lunch towards Minako. The girl looked up and smiled, never knowing that anyone could be so kind to her.
"Arigato." she said as she started to eat some of the salad and the conversation continued.
The energy that the monster had stolen was growing, making the prince happy. He knew now was the time for the monster to revel himself and take the last pieces of energy from the people. Meanwhile, Rei was fire reading, she had been doing this more frequently in case someone attacked. She saw an image of the swimming pool come into the flames and she gasped. The monster had finally appeared.