Chapter 4: Revelations

Thank you all for the reviews and sticking by me!

So I learned something new today: Apparently Takeuchi-san once said that persons of Moon linage can only have one child and that child must be a girl. I didn't know that Oh well, I'm sticking with my characters! Besides, Kousagi is technically sorta-kinda cannon…in a way. Haha.

Anyhoo, thank you all! Enjoy!

The teenagers watched as their mothers retreated back into the house.

"Maybe you should carry her, Shi-can," Moriko teased as soon as her mother was out of earshot.

"Like a bride!" Sachiko added excitedly. Moriko laughed and playfully ruffled the younger girls' hair. The younger girl was so much fun to influence.

"You're so immature," Kohaku said with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh, shut up, Kohaku-baka. You're no fun," Kumiko said. Kohaku ignored her and went into the house. Kumiko turned to Sarah. "Sure you'll be alright? Would you like me to ask Isamu if he'll help, too?"

"I think we'll be okay," Sarah assured her.

Kumiko looked at Takeshi. "Okay, hoist her up!"

Takeshi fastened his arm around Sarah's waist and he began to move her towards the steps. Isamu and Kumiko followed closely behind, both ready to assist if needed. Sachiko was tempted to follow her sister but chose to stay behind with Moriko and Daichi, who were still enjoying a laugh at their brother's expense. The trip down was slow, Sarah mainly hopping on her foot. Every once in a while, Sarah threatened to topple over, but Takeshi was strong, and Isamu was quick. Kumiko, on the other hand, flipped out in two languages, going back and fourth between the two whenever she feared Sarah would fall.

"How do I tell him thank you?" Sarah asked when they finally reached the bottom of the steps. Everyone looked relieved that they got to the bottom relatively without injury.

"I'm sure a kiss on the cheek would do the trick," Kumiko replied with a wink.

"Kumiko!" Sarah shrieked. She turned bright red and clumsily untangled herself from Takeshi's grasp. She laughed nervously when he gave her a strange look, before resting against the wall to ease the pain on her leg. Again, she used the excuse of checking on her bandages to keep from looking at him.

"What did you tell her, Kumiko-chan?" Takeshi asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kumiko replied innocently.

Isamu rolled his eyes at the younger girl. "Kumiko don't tease you're new friend. She'll not want to come around you if you keep doing that."

"She knows it's all in good fun," Kumiko replied. "Right Sarah? You know I'm only teasing you. Oh, and it's 'domo arigato'. That's what to say to tell Takeshi-san 'thank you'."

"Domo arigato, Takeshi-san," Sarah said, lifting her eyes up to meet his only briefly.

"Do itamashite, Sarah-chan," Takeshi replied warmly. He looked to Kumiko. "Do you want us to wait down here with her? I think your mother wants to leave."

He didn't need a response, however, because it was then that a cab pulled up. Amara opened the door and rushed to where Sarah was resting. She immediately went to examine her daughter's wound.

"Mom, I'm fine," Sarah insisted.

"Oh really? Let's see you walk," Amara challenged as she straightened. Sarah looked away in defeat. "That's what I thought. C'mon, I'll help you into the car."

"The ladies here gave me the number of some doctors to call," Sarah said, showing her mother the piece of paper Minako had given her.

Amara glanced down at the paper and almost groaned to see the two names. She should have known. She wouldn't be surprised if the two were the families personal physicians. Amara pretended like she didn't notice, though, and then she helped her daughter into the cab. Once she was sure Sarah was secure in the car, Amara turned to address the teens standing by, waiting.

"Thank you for taking car of my daughter," Amara said to them in Japanese.

"It's the least we could do after I ran her over," Kumiko replied in American.

Amara chuckled at the teenager. "American, huh?"

Kumiko shook her head. "Worldly parents." She walked closer to the cab and leaned over so that she could see Sarah. "Promise you'll stop by soon? We're here all the time, so if you only see Kohaku-baka, hide until you see one of us."

"Promise," Sarah replied, laughing a bit.

"Stop by?" Amara asked.

"My mom will want to know how she's healing," Kumiko replied.

Amara observed the blonde warily. There was no way she was Rei's daughter. The blue eyes and blonde hair would never have been produced by the raven-haired girl and her brunette husband. Amara then looked over at the two boys. One had light brown hair and brown eyes, cute but nothing particularly special. The second had black hair and brown eyes. Also handsome, but once again, nothing too out of the ordinary. However, as Amara thanked them again for helping her daughter, she couldn't help thinking that she knew the two boys. Perhaps not? They looked like most of the young men in the Juuban district, nothing unusual about them at all. There could be no harm in Sarah returning to visit them, she supposed.

It wasn't until the cab began to drive away that it hit Amara.

Rei and Makoto's boys. Of course! The two had already been toddlers by the time Amara had run away. Amara relaxed into the seat as she thought about the last she had seen the two boys.

It was shortly after Minako's wedding. Amara chuckled quietly to herself as she thought about that. Who would have ever guessed that Minako-chan would get married last? Or, for that matter, who would have ever guessed that Rei-chan would get married first? But Rei's grandfather's cancer had greatly pushed along the relationship of Rei and Yuuichirou, sorrow bringing them closer together then they ever thought. It was her grandfather's dying wish to see them happy together, so shortly after Rei's nineteenth birthday, the two were wed. Rei had expressed concerns to Usagi about feeling guilty about being married before her, but both Usagi and Mamoru insisted that Rei's grandfather was more important then some "stupid tradition that didn't even apply in today's world," as Usagi had so eloquently put it. Baby Isamu came shy of a year after the wedding, and Grandpa Hino was still alive. And while everyone thought that maybe, just maybe he'd pull through, he died three months after Kohaku's birth. Rei and Yuuichirou were at least grateful that he got to see his grandchildren before his death, which they both knew made him happy.

Makoto was the next to get married, as Amara recalled. She could still remember the day that Makoto came into the Crown, flustered and dreamy-eyed, and not at all referring to an old boyfriend. When she was seventeen, she was running late for her bakery class, and in true Usagi fashion, she ran over a guy named Taro. The two ended up talking (Makoto never made it to class that day) and it wasn't too long before they became an item. They remained steady for two years, after which Taro proposed. Like Rei, Makoto had felt bad for getting married before Usagi and Mamoru. But once more, Usagi assured her that it was alright. Mamoru was training hard in school and the two had agreed not to get married until he was sure that he could balance school and his marriage to Usagi (as well as the birth of Chibi-Usa, which they knew would be happening shortly after their marriage). Makoto was married a few months after Rei, and then announced her own pregnancy. Her son Daichi was brought into the world four months after Isamu.

It was two years until there was another wedding, and what a sight it was. This time, it was the wedding celebration of the future king and queen, Mamoru and Usagi. Mamoru had graduated at the top of his class and was welcomed into the arms of the medical community with offers left and right. With money secure (and Kenji Tsukino's gun put away), the two were set to be married. Amara remembered the affair with great affection. It was the happiest time for all of the senshi, and they were on the excited Usagi's beck and call day and night, all of them only too happy to oblige to her requests (after all, she had already proven herself a worthy maid-of-honor to both Rei and Makoto, so it was only fair for especially those two to pay her back). Their wedding was a lavish affair, truly fit for the future king and queen of the universe, and lived up to all of Usagi's childhood dreams. Amara could even remember seeing the spirit of Queen Serenity present at the ceremony, the senshi having used their powers for the day to bring the queen into the present so that she could finally witness the wedding of her daughter.

A few months after Usagi's wedding, Ami was married. She ran into Ryo Urawa shortly after her high school graduation and the two began a pen pal friendship. On the year anniversary of their run-in, Ryo surprised Ami by showing up at her dorm room door. From then on, the two remained in a steady relationship. The two had originally planned on keeping their relationship on a strictly "boyfriend/girlfriend" status until they were both done with school, but they caught the "wedding bug" and the two enjoyed a beautiful ceremony, complete with pregnant bridesmaids.

Minako was the last to get married. After high school graduation, she was presented with the opportunity to go to Hollywood to be in a film. She was upset to leave her friends, but they all insisted that she should follow her dreams. When she arrived, she was relieved to find a young man who was from Tokyo on the set. It was love at first sight for the Venus Senshi, and the two were quickly an item. After two movies together, they headed back to Japan for a wedding, taking place a few months after Ami's. Minako brought her daughter into the world a few short months later, and was not at all ashamed. Minako did not stay in Japan for very long, though. Amara read from afar about Minako's shocking return to films shortly after the birth of her first child, Kumiko, and how husband and wife continued doing films even after the birth of a second and third child, both sons. It wasn't until Minako's last daughter was born that she returned to Japan. While her husband worked locally, Minako became an ideal stay-at-home mom. Amara could remember reading an article in a Japanese magazine that featured pictures of Minako's home, yard, and children. It pained her to have to learn of these things through the media, but it was a way for her to stay connected.

"I don't think we'll be needing a doctor," Amara assured her daughter when they arrived home. Sarah had just gotten out of the shower, having decided to wash off the sweat and blood that had dried on her skin. She stood in the living room in her bathrobe so that her mother could observe the naked wound.

"Sure?" Sarah asked, twisting so she could better see the scrap. The skin was bright pink and the scar was sure to be a long one. She marveled at how she had managed to cause herself so much damage. She must have been running faster then she thought. How was it that Kumiko was relatively unharmed? Was the blonde really that strong?

"I've had worse wounds then this when I was a kid," Amara said. She winced briefly as she thought about the many injuries inflicted upon her in her senshi days. "But we should probably keep it wrapped to prevent infection. I'll call down to the front desk about some gauze."

Sarah nodded and went into her room to get dressed. When she was making her way back to her room, a thought struck her. 'No, no it couldn't be,' Sarah argued with herself. Still, the thought was nagging at her. 'I'll wait until she's left,' Sarah decided. She went into the living room and settled on the couch. The living room was spacious and fancy enough, but it still felt cold to Sarah. She began to think of ways to make it more personalized. After all, if she was going to be living there for a wihle, she might as well turn it into a livable space.

"Hungry, Sarah?" Amara asked.

"I am!" Sarah replied. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until just then. Briefly, she wondered when the last time she ate was. Could have been the night before?

"I'll call and have something sent up with the gauze. But I should probably stock the fridge with food. We can't afford to eat out every night," Amara mused as she looked around the kitchen. They had brought some nonperishable foods with them, but nothing to make a substantial meal of. Amara momentarily shook her head at her lack of positive parenting skills as of late. "What do you want to eat?"

"Cheeseburger, please!" Sarah chirped happily. She got up from the couch and made her way into her bedroom to grab some pictures to decorate the living room with while they waited. She grabbed pictures of her and her friends, her and her mother, and even those of her cats. As she began placing them around the room, she could feel it become more like her home. She even moved one of the cat beds into the living room so that her babies could feel more at home as well. When she was done, she stuck her head into the kitchen to see what her mother was doing.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm just making a grocery list. Anything specific you want me to get you?" Amara asked.

"You know what I crave," Sarah replied. She opened cabinets, looking at the cans they had brought. She spied two boxes of macaroni and frowned. Had they only brought that much?

"Well, I'll get you some of those foods, but I also want to encourage you to try some genuine Japanese cuisine. After all, you wanted to get more in touch with your heritage, and you are 100% Japanese," Amara said.

Sarah chewed the inside of her cheek in thought before speaking again. "So is my father from around this area?"

Amara's pencil only paused a moment before she continued to write the list. "He is."

Sarah knew that that was the only answer she would get. She knew better then to push her luck. Obviously the subject of her father was a hard one on her mother, and she had known her entire life that the circumstances of her birth weren't exactly ideal. But that was all. She didn't know why they weren't ideal, or even what features she got from him, if any. She hated Father's Day because it always reminded her of what she didn't have. Still, she knew she shouldn't press her mother for details. She trusted that one day, she'd get her answers.

"How much longer?" Sarah asked after a moment. She had hopped onto the counter and been advising her mother on what else to add to the list. Her rumbling stomach was becoming annoying.

"Shouldn't be too long," Amara assured her.

Sarah nodded and carefully made her way back to her bedroom to tend to the cats. They immediately harassed her for some food, to which she complied. While they ate, she hopped on to her computer to check her usual websites and briefly drop comments on the profiles of her friends at home to let them know how she was doing. She was mostly done with a message to Melissa about her accident earlier that day when she remembered what she wanted to do later that evening.

"Mom?" She called out. When her mother responded, she continued. "When are you going out?"

"After we eat," Amara replied.

Sarah gave a sigh of relief. She didn't want to do what she needed to do while her mother was still home. "Okay," she replied after she realized that she hadn't said anything for a while.

"Food's here, baby," Amara called a few minutes later. Amara tipped the young boy and proceeded to set up the food on the kitchen table. By the time things were set, Sarah had hobbled her way into the room. "Let me see that leg." Sarah sat on the couch while Amara expertly wrapped her leg. When she was sure it was snug enough, she clipped it into place. "How is it feeling?"

"It's felt better. Do you mind going shopping alone? I don't think I should go very far just yet," Sarah said. She wasn't lying entirely. After all, her leg did hurt and she was annoyed that she had to hobble most places to avoid causing a stinging sensation up her leg.

"That's fine," Amara replied. "But are you sure you're alright with being here alone?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I'm fourteen, Mom. Besides, if anyone tries to rob me, I'll just transform and kick their ass."

"That's my girl. Although, do you know how to transform yet?" Amara asked curiously. She didn't hear her daughter attempting any transformations while they were at home the same way she had done after discovering her own powers.

That stopped Sarah. "Don't I just have to be in the moment?"

Amara chuckled. "You need to know how to transform at the drop of the hat, Sar. You need to be able to identity a threat and then be able to keep your head clear enough to transform."

"I didn't think that much would go into it," Sarah confessed quietly.

"I wonder what your transformation phrase even is," Amara wondered aloud. She then shrugged. "Chances are you won't need it. That youma in America seemed to be a fluke. I doubt there are any here." Amara felt the lie on her tongue, but ignored it. It was best not to worry Sarah about that type of stuff. No one ever should, she decided.

"I don't see how a gross monster can be considered a fluke anywhere," Sarah argued.

"You'd be surprised," Amara replied. She recalled the brief times in her past when she had encountered one-time threats. They were always a challenge, but usually were followed by prolonged times of peace. Although Amara did admit feeling nervous that the threat had taken place in America; what were youma doing there? This caused her to wonder how many youma threats occurred that never went reported. After all, what news story would cover something as ridiculous sounding as a monster attacking innocent citizens?

"Maybe I should learn, then. You know, just to be safe," Sarah said.

The idea did sound appealing. But Amara didn't know her daughter's transformation phrase or her senshi name, and Sarah didn't seem to know either. Also, Sarah hadn't presented her mother with a henshin stick, only the sword. Amara wondered if perhaps the sword was supposed to be used in her daughter's transformation process, but when she recalled the story she had been told, she realized that the sword had shown up later. Maybe Sarah's senshi powers had been a fluke? This worried Amara more then she cared to admit. Sure, she had felt proud of Sarah in the past watching her excel in her racing and other exploits, but she had never felt prouder then she had seeing her daughter in senshi wear.

But maybe it really was a fluke. From what she knew about the future, there was no need for any of the senshi to reproduce. Chibi-Usa had her Asteroid Senshi as her guardians, and thus a new generation of senshi would be rendered useless. And yet here they all were in the present, each of them a mother. Would their children not exist in the future? That sent a pained feeling through Amara's chest. How could her beautiful, wonderful daughter not exist in the future? And then Amara remembered the circumstances of Sarah's birth and paled. That would never happen again unless someone was really an idiot. How could Sarah happen in the future? Were the children of the senshi merely here as something for them to do while they awaited the freeze? Amara made a mental note to contact Setsuna and get as much information out of her as she could.

"Mom?" Sarah asked. She had taken her mother's silence as cue to eat, but she had been distracted when she noticed emotions running rampant across her features. "Mom, what are you thinking about?"

Amara shook her head then offered Sarah a less-then reassuring smile. "Nothing, Sarah. Eat up, okay?"

When they were both done with their meal, Amara made sure Sarah could find the English subtitles on the TV and headed out to complete her tasks.

The instant Sarah heard the door close, she ran into her mother's room. Careful not to disturb much, Sarah rummaged through her mother's things until she came across the object of her desire: the scrapbook. Her heart began to race as she carefully carried the book back into the living room. Trusting that her mother would not come into the room like some after-school-special type of moment where a kid has to hide an object hurriedly in an obvious manner, Sarah settled back on the couch. Sarah lifted the cover and began to look through the photos, her heart speeding up rapidly as she took the images into account.

"I knew it," Sarah muttered as she looked at one image in particular. It was a group image of five teenaged girls, three of which Sarah instantly knew she had met the adult-versions of today: Rei, Makoto, and Minako. The mothers of the girls she had just made (sort of) friends with today were her mothers past friends. Suddenly she felt strange, almost tingly in a way, and she knew that somehow, she was always meant to know these girls. That if her mother hadn't left, these girls would have been her friends all along. And maybe she wouldn't have had to knock Kumiko down to get to know her.

Sarah looked through the other pictures, taking in the images of the other girls with renewed interest. Hotaru looked different then she did in these pictures, although she remembered her mother mentioning something about her being reborn more then once and wondered if that had happened any time recently. There was a picture with Hotaru and the pink-haired girl, Chibi-Usa as Sarah recalled, which made Sarah wonder when she would have the fortune of meeting the family who would one day rule the universe. Sarah giggled a bit at that thought. How strange to think that she may get the chance to meet a future queen of the universe, not to mention a past princess of the universe whom her mother had served.

"Should I tell Kumiko that I know?" Sarah asked Comet as he sauntered into the room. The cat merely cocked his head off to the side before hopping onto the couch next to her. "Well, I guess that conversation would go pretty strangely, huh? 'Hi there Kumiko, remember me, the girl who knocked you down? Anyway, turns out our moms were something of bffs when they were kids. I know, right, totally weird? But way cool, huh? Where is everyone else?'" Sarah snorted. "That would go smoothly." She scratched her cat lovingly behind his ear and looked through the pictures some more. "I should probably leave Mom to that stuff, huh? Wouldn't want to blow her cover or anything."

It was then that Stella decided to make herself known, meowing demandingly for either food or attention, or both. Sarah put the pictures away carefully before tending to her demanding cats. As she was stroking their silky fur, she wondered when the next time was that she would even get to see any of the girls. She doubted her mother would let her wander around anymore considering she ran someone over already. Maybe she could convince her to head to the shrine? No, that wouldn't do. Her strange conversation with her mother on the phone earlier now made more sense: her mother was avoiding her past.

"Why is Mom being so cowardly? She's never been like this before," Sarah asked the cats. "What could she have possibly done in the past?" She pondered that for a while, imagining all sorts of different scenario's that would lead one to want to avoid ones past. She ruled out a bad break-up with Michiru instantly, after having seen her reaction to running into the woman the night before. Perhaps it was a senshi-related fight? That was possible. Maybe they got into some sort of battle strategy fight and her mother was just as stubborn as to the way things should go that she left. While that did sound plausible, Sarah instantly found flaws in it. Her mother would never be that set in her way about something that she would leave behind those she loved, and she obviously loved her senshi friends a great deal. What then? Why did she leave?

"Sarah, come help me with the bags!" Amara called out, interrupting Sarah's thought process.

-End of chapter!

I know, kind of awkward, but I couldn't think of a way to end it gracefully. Sorry for my delay in updating. I'm sure we're all starting to stress, especially with Christmas spending right around the corner and finals being all demanding and stuffs! I will try to update sooner next time, promise! But only if I get reviews. I need to know there are people still out there! Haha. Thanks all!

-Serenity