AN: With each chapter that I write, the content gets longer and longer. I swear, it's unintentional, but I feel a little bad about updating the story without actual story content that moves toward an overhanging plot. I may even change the official synposis I wrote for this story since it may be quite a while til I actually reach the meat of anything.

Usagi thought the reception room at the hospital was absurdly crowded, but what surprised her most was that the people there did not just consist of families and sick patients. There were other people there who were loitering both on the sidewalk and within the building. When approaching the hospital, all three of them had been forced (or so they felt) into receiving individual handouts by various cloaked individuals. This made Usagi feel particularly awkward because she didn't feel that it was appropriate for any organization to be spreading their Dogma near the hospital, not when there was already enough tragedy and drama within its walls.

""More of 'The Hand' dribble," Naru stated with disgust. She threw her own flyer into the nearest trash bin after they entered the hospital and gave a small grouping in the far corner, each individual wearing a thick red robes, a sour face. "It makes me sick that they would waste paper to print whatever is they're trying to push. Usagi, just toss yours too. They're terrible people."

Usagi wanted to ask what she meant by that, but Umino, ever eager to please people with his knowledge on recent events, quickly supplied Usagi with the run-down: "The Hand is the latest New Age religion that has been around for the past twenty-one years! They've been loosely connected with 'The Helping Hand' orphanage located in Shiba Koen (part of the same district that Azabu is apart of), though neither organization has made an official declaration or denial. They-"

"Umino, we don't need to know anymore!" Naru cried and shoved her hand forcefully at Umino's mouth to shoosh him up.

Usagi examined the flyer's front. She had never seen such a sigil before; it consisted of a series of circles and writing in a language she didn't recognize. She stuffed it into the pocket of her blazer when she felt Naru wasn't looking, not particularly interested in the organization itself, but she felt no reason to toss it just yet aside from her friend's obvious disapproval.

Having just hung up the phone, the receptionist looked a little frumpled by the abundant workload. Her glasses hung a little askew from her nose and an assortment of pens were stuck behind each ear. "Yes?" she asked, "The sign in list is over here." She patted a clip board with a long list of individually penned names.

Naru leaned against the front desk. "Sakurada, Haruna. We spoke on the phone earlier..."

The conversation continued on for a little. Naru helped her mother part-time at the small jewelry store, Osa-P, that her family owned. She had learned a little about the business of conversing with adults. Usagi had yet to learn that talent and both she and Umino were content to let the more experienced friend do the talking.

The hospital itself was set in tasteful décor. Oak wood and beige panneled the wall and connected from side to side by an olive carpet and creamy linoleum. A dusty light flickered through the windows and set the lobby a-glow from the outside setting sun. If it had not been for 'The Hand' and their camping of outer sidewalk, the light would be solid and full, but for now it flickered could not compare with the florescents that lined the ceiling in vertical rows.

As Usagi inspected some of the drapery around these windows, she noticed another girl with a similar uniform approaching the lobby door. Usagi could recognize the logo on her blazer and knew immediately that the girl attended the same school. She was even the same age! But Usagi felt sure she had never met her before... No, Usagi would definitely recognized her if she knew her, because her hair was cut into a unique bob. She too seemed to be having problems with the outside flyer handlers, and as she got caught into a conversation with one of them, she had to repeatedly refuse to accept a hand-out several times until they allowed her to walk peacefully into the hospital

Umino suspected who Usagi was spying on (glasses have to count for something), and seized the opportunity to info-dumped on her again, doubly eager for approval now that Naru could not interfere with his courting. "Ahh! Miss Usagi has noticed Azubu-Juuban Junior High's number one student! Mizuno, Ami. Class five. The freak genius. That's what they've been calling her. She spends all of her extra time in cram school, and doesn't sleep at night, because—"

"She what?" Usagi asked, giving Umino a wide-eyed stare. She felt Umino was exaggerating again.

"Well, she doesn't sleep at night because she studies so much! Books. Books. Books. She is a proper student. Rumored IQ of above two-hundred... A vampire of knowledge, they call her." He watched Usagi to see if she was impressed yet.

"No way!" Usagi gasped, but she was more disbelieving about the study habits than she was of the IQ score. "No one could ever study that much. They wouldn't have time for anything else! What a scary thought... That's more scary than an everspreading, unstoppable virus!" Usagi began to laugh at herself, but immediately stopped as she felt the gaze of Ami Mizuno fall on her.

Usagi could not tell what the other student must have been thinking, but she gathered that it must have been a very disapproving thought. Unable to bear the thought of anyone having a disapproving thought of herself (at least anyone she hadn't met, yet!), she sought to immediately set it straight in the most obvious manner she could muster. She waved the other student over, "Heeeeey, we go to the same school! Are you here for a family member?"

Surprised by the question, Ami stopped proceeding into the foyer. She stood there and stared at the tops of Usagi's shoes before she answered in a small voice. "In a way. Excuse me." She continued to approach Naru's left.

Naru and the receptionist had just finished their conversation, which was very good because it appeared Ami needed her attention too. The higher classed student asked the woman behind the desk, "What floor is my mother...?"

"Earlier than usual, today...? She's on the fourth floor."

"Thank you."

"Ms. Sakurada is also on the fourth floor," Naru said aside to Usagi and Umino, and tried to herd both of her friends in the same direction as Ami so that they could catch the elevator together.

Usagi was already bounding ahead to try and catch up with the short-haired student. "Wait! Your mother is on the fourth floor? We can go together! It will make it easier, won't it? I didn't think we would find another student here—oh, Naru, have you met Miss Mizuno before?"

Ami fingered the button for the elevator and turned to regard the three with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty. Specifically Usagi. "I didn't know we've been introduced before, but if you need the fourth floor, I don't mind if you come along." Usagi found it peculiar, but slightly endearing that she didn't show too much expression in her face. It was mysterious! If Usagi had been in her shoes, she would have been glad for the company.

"Do you want us to take another elevator?" asked Naru, cautiously as she tried to spy the next unoccupied elevator within the lobby.

But when Ami assured Naro that she did not mind, Usagi quickly bubbled with, "Oh! We haven't been introduced, yet! But Umino here," she gestured the boy with glasses, "knows all about you and has already told me." At this, it seemed as if Umino became a pastey shade of white that warranted a concerned look from Naru. Usagi did not notice. "I mean, you're that really smart girl, aren't you? Of course you are! You act just how I would imagine someone that smart to act—come to think of it, I do know you! You're the one I hear about and who all of those teachers compare me to." There was a definite pout to the blonde's voice as she felt indignant toward all of the disappointed comments teachers had given her in the past. "'Usagi, why can't you act more responsible like my last student?' and 'Usagi, there is another student your same age who does nothing but study! Why can't you emulate her habits?'"

"I'm sorry if I've caused you trouble," Ami sympathized kindly, at first a little worried by Usagi's imitations but then faintly amused after she realized the blonde had only been acting playfully. "But we must hurry if we're going to the fourth floor. We mustn't keep the elevator." Her hand was already holding the door open for the three. She waited for them to enter the compartment first before letting the door shut behind herself.

Usagi chose the corner furthest from Umino and leant against the wall despite being perfectly aware how short the elevator trip should be. "Sooo... you're here for your Mama—"

"Miss Mizuno," Naru talked over Usagi loudly, protectively trying to steer the conversation in a safe direction. If there was one thing Naru prized with social interactions, it was tact. Again, probably one of those things she picked up from working part-time at Osa-P. "You must be several classes ahead of us. I haven't seen you very often, though I know you already by reputation." Naru smiled a little. "You're my superior by far. Umino and I really admire you—Umino has been a really big fan of your chess games. We watched a few that were recorded and put online."

Ami appeared to be very interested in the elevator panel, but Usagi could have sworn that a small hint of blush was crawling over the tip of her nose. "They were put online?" the short-haired student asked.

"Your strategy against Grandmaster Fido-B was fierce," Umino bursted, unable to contain himself. Naru nodded in agreement, though she was less interested in the chess part itself. "So touching! So moving! Especially how you defeated his signature four-knights strategy."

"He was a tough challenge." Ami began looking at the floor.

"Effortlessly," beamed Umino! Naru gave him a half-lidded look.

"Anyone can do it, if they simply study their own strategy well enough," Ami suggested. "Which room are you looking for? I'm well acquainted with this hospital. At the least, you wont't get lost."

Ami's apparent modesty was exactly what Umino wanted to hear. It completed his picture-perfect image of this ideal student. Nothing pleased him more than seeing his vision fall perfectly into place and so he commented in a wonderous voice. "And so humble! Miss Naru, wouldn't you say Miss Mizuno is the most perfect student in the world? The galaxy? Surely the she is. . ."

This was exactly what Ami did not want to hear. She became quiet altogether and appeared for all purposes unable to move or speak. Since Naru, while appearing paricularly upset did not try to correct Umino's grievous error, Usagi was the one who had to speak up. "Do you listen to the things you say out loud? You're creeping her out." Usagi offered Ami a happy smile. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Ignore him. He says things like that all the time."

Naru palmed her own face slowly and told Ami the room number in a muffled voice. "Your offer to help is appreciated but it's unnecessary. Shouldn't you be finding your mother?"

"I have time," Ami assured Naru once again and began to lead them into the corridor. The followed her through through a set of double-doors. Though most of the patients were located within their own room, a few of them could be seen entering and exiting the rooms with their appointed nurses. Usagi felt a little discomfoted by what she saw, because she could see nothing physically wrong with them, though something was very obviously off. It was the color of their skin. The engorged purple veins on the bottom of their eyelids. The way they seemed to teeter rather than walk, and perhaps the worst part, how very thin they each seemed.

Ami showed the three to Ms. Sakurada's room and told them that she would be outside.

The room itself was rather small and contained two occupants. Neither of the three friends knew who the other person was. All of the light seemed filtered from above and bathed the room in a hollow light that left a less than pleasant atmosphere. It was all so very industrial, and the plastic fern that was meant to bring life to the room appeared to do the opposite by mocking it. Ms. Sakurada looked up as they waltzed toward her and, seeing who they were, gave a small smile.

"This is a pleasant surprise," she said, pulling her covers back from her neck where she laid in the bed. "The doctor is supposed to be here any minute, but... I never expected such small visitors."

When she tried to sit up Naru firmly told her that she should remain laying down. "Ms. Sakurada... you don't look bad at all! You look the same as last year to me."

Usagi knew that Naru was lying. The truth was that their former teacher didn't look any better than any of the other patients here, except for maybe a brighter pair of eyes and a stylish taste in hair style. She tried asking while feeling particularly useless, "How are you?"

"I feel absolutely fine," Ms. Sakurada chirped , smoothing her hands over the sheets to feel out her body. "If only I didn't keep having these minor symptoms, I'd be fit to teach the class again this year." She looked back at Naru. "You didn't have to organize this trip, girls! I understand today is your first day... And you," she looked at Umino, "your clubs."

"It was Usagi's idea," Naru stated proudly.

Umino supported this with, "We wanted to come!"

"What symptoms are you having?" Usagi came closer to the bedside and placed her hands down on the bedspread. She had an urge to touch her old teacher's hand but an unbidden voice warned her that this would be crossing a social barrier—something Naru found inappropriate. She instead contented herself to be as near as possible without making actual contact.

"Oh, nothing for you to concern yourself with." The brunette gave the three of them a tired smile.

"It's not airborne," informed Umino. "Not passed through body fluids or by contact so far, as studies have showed! It's why visitors are allowed. It can't possibly be a true virus then, as doctors are calling it!" Nobody listened to him.

"How did you come down with it...?" Naru inquired as she began to pour a pitcher of water into a glass, both items located on a small convenience side table.

"I'm not rightfully sure, but it's very simple: I had a very long week, then I dozed off and I found myself in this condition! I was very lucky to be able to find a reputable substiute teacher in time to teach my poor children. I hope none will be left behind." Haruna Sakurada did not mean to look at Usagi as she said this, but the unfortunate fact was that Usagi felt she only said it for her benefit. "You are enjoying him, aren't you?"

Mixed answers, though the promdominant feeling was an emphatic no. Naru supported him while Usagi and Umino delved into immediate complaints. The tanglement of their voices caused Ms. Sakurada a headache and she had to usher them to be quiet once more as she dealed with the painful throb a vein on the side of her temple. "Please, please..." After she drank the glass of water that Naru offered her, she stated slowly, "Teachers are very important to a young student's life. Please trust me when I say that chose my substitute with care. And... hmm. There's my doctor, now."

An older women with a familiarly bobbed cut entered the room. She was firm to instruct the students that they needed to wait outside in the corridor. Ami Mizuno was still there, waiting and looking preoccupied with herself. Usagi had to greet her outloud to catch her attention. "You're still 't you going to go looking for your mom?"

"Oh... I just saw her." She did not, and would not further elaborate.

It had not been a terribly enlightening day. Usagi wanted to feel pleased with herself, but there were too many questions bubbling in her mind. During the summer break she had not cared for the 'virus' spread, but now that it touched somebody that she new personally, it ached on the back of her mind like a sore muscle that needed to be stretched. She imagined briefly what Naru would say if she voiced this opinion to her, and when the imaginary Naru told her that it was because she never used her brain the first place, she felt that it was probably a good time to go to sleep.

The day had been considerably improved by the hospital visit, Usagi relfected as she pulled up a pair of pink pajamas bottoms and loosened her hair from her signature pigtails. While the interaction with Ami Mizuno began ended at the hospital, Usagi felt particularly good about that meeting—more so, perhaps, than she felt about the visit with Ms. Sakurada. Standing by the initial decision that Ami was definitely a peculiar person, she knes there was ultimately something very wonderful beneath that. Some very interesting, cute person that she could be friends with. There was no hard evidence to prove Usagi's theory, but it was the most romantic thing Usagi could think of, and by the time she had began brushing her teeth, Usagi imagined a very tragic romance in Ami's recent past that left the short-haired girl with a decent explanation for the exact behavior she exhibited in the hospital.

It helped that Ami had hinted herself that she would be seeing more of Usagi's class. She had told the three friends cryptically before they left, "They say it's a small world and I have it on good word that we will be meeting again." She had refused to explain that, too, even when Usagi begged and welled up thick alligator tears at being denied.

After Usagi kissed her Mama and Papa goodnight (the earlier confrontation about lunch and breakfast were long forgotten), she returned to her room to find a small piece of jewelry left on top of her bed. Attached to a gold-plated chain was a star shaped locket constructed mostly from the same as the chain. She didn't recognize it as any piece she currently owned and immediately picked it up to examine it with both fingers and eyes.

Needless to say, she was very pleased.

"So pretty," she squealed, clasping the end around her neck so that the star part of the locket swung heavily over her breasts until stilling. "It's perfect for me! Look how precious it is... and how it shines! Oooh, Mama must have gotten it for me! Mama always knows what I like. Maybe it's to make up for putting me on that terrible diet this morning."

It struck her that someone was watching her. She did not know immediately who it was but she suspected it might have been her mother, or even her little brother trying to peep through the door. But the door was firmly shut. It was by chance that she looked out the window and spotted a pair of brick-red eyes looking at her. Friendly red eyes. Not the kind you see in horror films...and it was gone. The creature, whatever it had been, accidentally clipped the window with its hind paw as it jumped off the window to another nearby ledge.

Not really a big deal, in Usagi's opinion. Stray cats were very common in her district, and after she reassured herself of that—that the creature must have been a cat and not some other terrible, horrible thing that crept out of one of Shingo's TV shows—she felt more confident to continue exploring her new found gift.

She tried to open the locket later after she inspected how it looked against her neck in the mirror, but she couldn't pry the two halves apart. It made the pads of her thumbs sore to work the clasp and after it bent one of her fingernails, she decided to hold off opening its secrets until morning so that Papa could work it instead. So excited was she about the locket itself that she decided to continue wearing it as she slept.

In Usagi's dream the red star overpowered the sky and stained the landscape in a hepatic gloom. She felt the immediate area was familiar but it was not any part of Azubu she had seen before in the real world. Too many jagged rocks punctured the ground, and there were not enough buildings around. A severe lack of trees and overhanging structure in general made it difficult for her to find shelter. She desperately wanted to find that shelter, too. It was too hot and she could feel the sweat beading on her forehead, and her own clothes clung to her moist skin like... Ugh.

Her clothes...?

As Usagi stopped to wipe her face down with loose material from her sleeve, she was shocked to find that she wore the prettiest gown that she had ever laid eyes on. This worried and excited her—sure, it was beautiful, but where did it come from? It wasn't like she could ever afford anything like this! She hoped briefly that it was not a stolen garment and asked for forgiveness from the bunny on the moon if it was indeed an outfit warranted by sticky fingers... but she still twirled in her dress and delighted on how the fabric twisted and slipped against her ankles.

The necklace was still there too. She smiled in relief as she checked it between her fingers. It had stayed safe.

Thirst became another issue. The overt heat caused the back of her throat to constrict violently, and the moisture in her spit did not seem good enough to soothe the parched sensation. The more she became aware of it the more she tried to swallow, and the more she tensed her throat by swallowing, the more aware she became. It was a terrible loop and it did not stop after Usagi explored the terrain for what felt like hours. During that time Usagi found that she was possibly the only living life form, because as the world continued to materialize, the more obvious it became that plant life did not exist. She could not spot even a single weed or dried piece of grass.

When it became too much, the defeated Usagi found a relatively flat rock to sit on and plunged her face into her hands. She made tearless sobs (her body could not think to squeeze another bead of moisture out in fear of wasting it) and resorted to the necklace that she had felt relief over earlier. It opened easily beneath her experienced fingers and revealed two portraits. She recognized both of them, even if she could not recall their names.

One picture was of an older woman with long blonde hair and kind blue eyes. Her lips mouthed advice to Usagi, "Don't give up!" and she lifted her hands up in a welcoming expression as though she could hug the poor misplaced school student. The second picture was of an adult male nearing his middle years. His blue eyes were similarly kind, but his hair was jet black and impeccably styled. Unlike the other half of the locket, he was not giving advice, but he was shaking his head side to side. "Not yet."

Usagi tried to ask them a question, but when she opened her mouth to speak she she found she didn't have a voice. The texture of the world began to peel and the image from her eyes faded altogether. She felt her bed beneath her and knew that if she opened her eyes she would be back in her own bed and in her own pajamas. It did not take long for her to lose her stream of consciousness and truly drift off, both mind and body.

AN: What I feel worst about is the lack of Usagi x Mamoru content, but it's definitely something I don't want to rush. I hope people will want to stick around enough to read it when I finally get to it.