Konnichiwa, mina-san! I hope you're all having a pleasant time reading my story. I've worked hard to get this chapter up, since it's nearly the school holidays, and I'm going away for a week, which means that I won't have access to the internet, which means that I won't be posting any new chapters in the first week of the school hols! But the good news is, it's a relaxing, do-nothing kind of holiday, which means that I should be able to write at least one or two chapters of my story during that time, and I'll post them the first opportunity I have once we get back. So, without further ado, here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: If I owned Sailor Moon, I wouldn't be living at home with my restrictive parents. I'd be living in a mansion by the sea, somewhere where it's nice and warm all year round. Plus, I wouldn't have to worry about homework... sigh... That'd be wonderful...

"Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep..." went Melina's alarm clock at 6:30. Melina reached across and pressed the sleep button, before rolling over in bed. Unfortunately, she rolled over onto Sunshine, who was awake and stretching herself.

"Melina... Melina! You could stand to lose a few kilos, you know. Melina!" complained Sunshine, before sighing and pulling herself, with difficulty, out from under Melina's sleeping form. Sunshine stared at her. I can't believe this lazy girl is the Princess of the Sun, thought Sunshine, before jumping off the bed and walking out the bedroom door. She returned moments later, balancing her water bowl on her head. She smiled and carefully jumped up onto the bed.

"Meliiinaaa... Time to wake up, Princess!" said Sunshine gleefully, before tipping the contents of the water bowl onto Melina's head. Melina sat up abruptly, blinking furiously and shaking the water out of her eyes.

"What the... Sunshine!!!! What did you do that for?!?" shouted Melina, noticing the empty water bowl on the bed beside a grinning Sunshine.

"It's time to get up, my Princess," replied Sunshine with a smile, before grabbing the blankets and pulling them to the floor. Melina frowned at her for a moment, before asking,

"Why are you calling me Princess?" Sunshine faltered, her grin fading. Whoops, she thought, I said a little too much.

"Sunshine? Please tell me. Why did you call me Princess?" Melina pressed. Sunshine sighed.

"Melina, it's a fairly long story, and we don't have time to discuss it now. I-I'm not really sure I should be telling you at all," said Sunshine, looking away.

"Awww, come on.... Please?" asked Melina, doing her best puppy dog eyes. Sunshine didn't notice; she was too busy watching another memory emerge in her mind...

"But Sunshine... I don't feel like Senshi training today... I've got a head cold, remember?" whined Amaterasu, tugging the silk bedclothes out of Sunshine's grasp and curling up beneath them again. Sunshine sighed.

"Princess, you know that your Senshi form is necessary to help you to break that spirit's hold on you, and return you to the lovely little girl that you used to be," said Sunshine sternly. Amaterasu peeked out from under the blankets with a gleeful twinkle in her icy blue eyes.

"So what you're saying is, I'm not a lovely little girl now?" asked Amaterasu cheekily, before bursting into a fit of giggles. Sunshine sighed again and left the room. She followed the golden halls of the Solar Palace to the Throne Room. She stopped at the closed doors and knocked, the doors swinging inwards almost immediately. Sunshine stood aside as two Lunarian cats – Luna and Artemis – emerged with happy smiles on their faces. Sunshine watched them go, before walking into the throne room. The tall red-haired man seated on the throne looked up as Sunshine entered the throne room, a smile spreading over his face.

"Solaris, I'm so glad to see you again. And you still look as beautiful as ever," he said, moving forward to greet Sunshine.

"As I said before, King Alexander, it's Sunshine. Solaris no longer exists, she has not existed since..." Sunshine trailed off.

"I know, since the Blessing Ceremony," finished King Alexander, his smile fading. "Speaking of which, how is Amaterasu doing?" Sunshine sighed.

"It's not very good news, I'm afraid, my king. She is still as stubborn as a fire donkey, and she has twice the temper when she's denied anything, not to mention the fact that she's still afraid of almost everything besides us," she said, looking up at the king.

"Well, hopefully the other Senshi of this Solar System can help us," said Alexander thoughtfully.

"I take it Queen Serenity agreed to let us join the Silver Alliance, then?" Sunshine asked, smiling. Alexander nodded.

"Shall I ask Queen Serenity if one of the other Senshi could come and help us with Amaterasu's training?" he asked. Sunshine smiled.

"It is up to you, my king," she said, before bowing and leaving the throne room.

Alexander... thought Sunshine tearfully. Melina looked at her warily.

"S-Sunshine? I-is everything OK?" asked Melina timidly. Sunshine was silent as she thought of her words to Amaterasu and Alexander. "... training is the only way for you to break that spirit's hold on you, and return you to the lovely little girl that you used to be..." "...It's Sunshine. Solaris no longer exists, she has not existed since..." "I know, since the Blessing Ceremony." What spirit was I talking about? And what was that Blessing Ceremony? What happened to my little Amaterasu? What happened to me?!? Sunshine thought. She felt a gentle tap on her shoulder, and turned to see two icy blue eyes, filled with concern, staring deep into hers. Sunshine reeled back at the similarity between this pair of eyes and those of Amaterasu. Shaking herself mentally, Sunshine grabbed her water bowl and jumped off the bed.

"You'd better hurry up and get ready for school, Melina, you don't want to be late," Sunshine called over her shoulder, walking out the door.

"I'm always late anyways!" said Melina, throwing her dressing gown on over her pyjamas.

"Morning, Princess! You're up early," said Mrs Pattini, smiling in surprise at her daughter. Melina cringed at the nickname.

"Please don't call me Princess anymore, Mum. It makes me feel weird," said Melina, putting a piece of toast into the toaster.

"Gee, I'm surprised you even know how to use that, Melina," Michael joked, pushing past her to get into the cereal cupboard for a box of Rainbow Rings. Melina and Sunshine both glared at him, then Melina pulled her toast out of the toaster and spread it with butter and caramel topping(the kind you put on ice cream). Mrs Pattini sighed.

"Melina, you really should have something a little healthier for breakfast," said Mrs Pattini, shaking her head.

"But Mum, it's my favourite!" whined Melina in the same tone Sunshine could remember Amaterasu using. Michael emerged from the fridge with the milk carton in his hand, when he tripped over Sunshine, who had mysteriously moved in his path. The milk carton flew out of his hands, headed straight for Melina, who shrieked and covered her head with her hands. Suddenly, thanks to a small flash of gold from Sunshine's mark, the milk carton bounced off the wall behind Melina and hit Michael on the head, exploding on impact and drenching the poor boy in milk. Melina took one look at Michael and burst out laughing, accidentally knocking the box of Rainbow Rings off the bench and covering Michael's black pyjamas in the sweet, sticky cereal. That just made Melina laugh even harder.

"Go upstairs and have a shower, Michael. I'll get this mess cleaned up," said Mrs Pattini, smothering a grin. Michael trudged out of the kitchen grumbling. Mrs Pattini and Melina looked at each other and burst into fresh laughter.

"Bye Mum, have a nice day!" called Melina, walking happily out the front door wearing a long white dress with gold embroidering around the neckline, her brooch pinned to the middle of the bow on the front. Sunshine sat on the doorstep watching her, wondering whether to follow, when someone grabbed her from behind.

"No, Sunshine, you can't go to school. You stay in Melina's room until she comes back, OK?" said Mrs Pattini cheerfully, carrying Sunshine upstairs to Melina's bedroom and shutting her inside. Sunshine flicked her tail in annoyance and jumped onto the window ledge to watch Melina get on the bus. She watched the bus drive off, and then when Mrs Pattini left five minutes later, Sunshine opened the window and ran down the street.

"Wow, Melina, you look great today," whispered David as Melina walked to her seat. Melina sat down and gave him her prettiest smile. And so the day began just like any other: announcements and then lessons. But no-one noticed Sunshine arrive at the school and position herself in the bushes outside the window, where she could watch over Melina.

***

What is going to happen today, I wonder... thought Sunshine, flicking carelessly at a leaf. I have a strong feeling that something bad is going to happen... Sunshine was suddenly struck by yet another memory, this time one of the Last Day, before the Dark Forces had attacked...

"Sunshine, how is Amaterasu's training going?" asked Queen Serenity, walking through the courtyard where Jupiter was training Amaterasu, if one could call it that. It seemed more that Amaterasu was giving Jupiter some target practice, rather than Jupiter training Amaterasu. The number of leaky fountains and burnt flowers grew as Jupiter continually threw lightning at Amaterasu, who was surprisingly fast on her feet by this point. Finally, Jupiter threw three bolts of lightning at Amaterasu, who was not fast enough to evade them all, and let out an ear-piercing scream as the lightning tore through her body. She collapsed to the ground, and Jupiter ran to her side, evidently worried. Amaterasu whimpered and crawled away from Jupiter, obviously expecting to be electrocuted again. Jupiter sighed.

"Look, Amaterasu, I'm sorry I hurt you, but this is training! You need to awaken your Senshi powers, and this is the only way to do that," Jupiter said, holding out her hand to help Amaterasu to her feet. The Sun Princess looked timidly at Jupiter, then took the older girl's hand. As soon as Amaterasu was on her feet, Sunshine noticed something that made her stomach go cold: Amaterasu's eyes had turned pitch black. A split second later, Jupiter was flying through the air, thrown with such unexpected force that she didn't have time to stop herself from hitting anything. If Mercury hadn't appeared at that crucial moment and caught Jupiter, the lightning Princess would have surely been hurt quite badly. Everyone present turned to Amaterasu, whose eyes were thankfully their icy blue again, and filled with shocked tears at what had just occurred.

"I-I'm sorry, Jupiter, I... I don't know what came over me... I'll just g-go..." stuttered Amaterasu, before running into the palace, bawling her eyes out.

"I don't know why I asked, to be honest..." said Queen Serenity, shaking her head. Sunshine could only stare at the spot where Amaterasu had stood, the horrifying image of the black-eyed girl burned into her vision. Serenity noticed the look on Sunshine's face. "Sunshine, are you alright?"

"D-did you see Amaterasu's eyes right before she threw Jupiter?" asked Sunshine worriedly. Serenity nodded.

"I didn't think that was normal," Serenity said, frowning. Sunshine glanced about her, her senses tingling. Something very bad's going to happen today, she thought. I can feel it. This could be the day. This could be the day that we've been afraid of all this time: the end. The end of peace. The end of the Silver Millennium. Oh, please, Eternity, Sunshine prayed, don't let this beautiful time end!

Oh, Eternity, why did you let us down? Sunshine asked silently. Why did you have to let that beautiful, glorious time come to such a horrific end? A loud ringing interrupted Sunshine's thoughts, and she looked up to see students flooding into the schoolyard. She looked carefully among the students, and spotted Melina walking hand in hand with a blonde boy, who, for some reason, looked strangely familiar. The two went and sat down on a bench underneath a tree. Sunshine waited until there was no one looking, then silently ran up into the tree branches above Melina and the boy.

"Oh, David, yesterday was such a weird day," said Melina, sighing and cuddling up to David.

"Yeah? Weird, how? What happened to make it so weird?" David asked, putting his arm around Melina. Sunshine hissed quietly at the closeness of this boy to her charge.

"Well, I-I'm not sure if I should say..." said Melina slowly.

"Come on, Mel, you know you can tell me anything," said David. Sunshine had heard enough. Just as Melina was opening her mouth to speak, Sunshine jumped out of the tree onto Melina's head.

"Aaaaah!!!! What is it?!? Is it a spider?!? Or a snake?!? Oh, David, please tell me it's not a snake!!!" screamed Melina.

"Relax, Mel, it's just your cat," said David, giggling. Melina reached up and pulled Sunshine off her head, staring into each other's eyes for a moment. Sunshine could see the icy blue eyes getting even icier as they stared at her.

"Sunshine, what are you doing here? You're supposed to wait at home," Melina scolded.

"Should you take her to the office? So they can call your parents to come and get her?" asked David, looking from Melina to Sunshine. Sunshine head turned, and David was shocked by the look that the cat was giving him: a look which clearly said, "Touch my girl and I'll claw your eyes out."

"No, she'll just wander around here for a while, then probably follow my bus home," said Melina, placing Sunshine on the ground. Sunshine looked up at Melina and David for a moment, then seeing that they were not going to go anywhere, wandered off to find some water. She was worn out after all those memories that kept pouncing on her. Melina watched Sunshine wander away, then said,

"David, I'll be back in a second. I'm just going to the toilet," Melina fibbed, turning to David and planting a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"I'll be waiting," David smiled. Melina nodded and walked away in the direction that Sunshine had gone, and found her drinking from a drink tap, which was being held on by a pretty blonde girl with a red bow perched on top of her head, her waist-length hair sparkling in the sunlight and half-hiding a white cat on her shoulder. Sunshine looked up as Melina approached.

"Sorry, i-is my cat bothering you? Melina asked, suddenly shy again in the prescence of an unfamiliar person. The blonde girl smiled.

"Not at all. I was just giving my cat a drink, and then yours came along looking thirsty, so I gave her a drink too," said the girl, nodding to the cat on her shoulder. The cat turned to examine Melina, who immediately noticed that he had a gold crescent moon shape on his forehead, in exactly the same place as Sunshine's sun shape.

"I'm Minako Aino, and this is Artemis. What's your name?" asked the girl, holding out her hand.

"Oh, I-I'm Melina. Th-this is Sunshine," stuttered Melina, shaking hands nervously.

"Nice to meet you, Melina. What year are you in?" Minako asked.

"S-seven. Wh-what about you?" Melina stuttered.

"Eight. You're in the year below me! You must be officially a teenager now, right?" Minako asked, smiling. Melina nodded shyly. "We'll have to go shopping together sometime, so we can get you lots of lovely new clothes!" Melina nodded again, then looked up as a piece of paper bearing a lot of numbers was thrush under her nose. "Call me sometime! We can go shopping, and grab a milkshake down at the arcade, and then we could play the Sailor V game! I'm pretty good at it, and I don't usually teach new players, but I can probably make an exception." Melina could only smile and accept the phone number. She was feeling a little overwhelmed by this talkative girl, but was grateful that she was trying to be friends.

"Hey, Melina! What'cha doin'?" asked David, walking over.

"Oh! Um, David, th-this is Minako, Minako Aino. M-Minako, this is m-my boyfriend David," said Melina, pointing from one to the other.

"Boyfriend, eh?" said Minako, causing both Melina and David to blush. "Good choice, Melina, he's cute," she whispered in Melina's ear. Melina smiled.

"Shall we go grab an ice cream from the canteen, Mel?" David asked. Melina turned her pockets inside out to indicate that she had no money, then did her puppy dog eyes again. David hurriedly added, "My treat, of course." Minako laughed.

"You know, you remind me a lot of my friend Usagi," she smiled.

"Usagi Tsukino?" Melina asked, turning with renewed curiosity.

"Yeah. Wait, you know her?" Minako asked.

"Yeah, I met her and another girl called Makoto yesterday," said Melina.

"Makoto Kino? Well I'll be. They told me so much about you! I'm glad to meet you," said Minako, smiling.

"Um, Mel? I don't mean to hurry you or anything, but the canteen doesn't stay open forever, and I won't be able to buy you that ice cream if it closes," said David.

"Well, I won't hold you up any longer. If you're anything like Usagi, you'll probably rip me to shreds if I get between you and your food," said Minako, before whispering in Melina's ear, "Yup. He's definitely a keeper." Melina smiled at Minako and took the hand that David was holding out for her, and together they ran off towards the canteen. Sunshine waited for a second before following, leaving Minako and Artemis at the drink tap.

"Minako, did you sense the strong aura coming off of that cat? It looks just like the one Luna described, except it's got a sun shape on its forehead," said Artemis, looking at Minako. Minako nodded.

"Yeah, and not only was that girl the same one that Usagi and Makoto know, she really does look a lot like that girl at the arcade," said Minako thoughtfully.

"We'd better tell Luna about this," Artemis observed.

"I think you're right, Artemis," Minako said.

"Mmmm, yummy. Fanks, David," said Melina through a mouthful of ice cream. David couldn't help but smile at the sticky mess forming around Melina's mouth.

"Here, I'll take that," said David, taking the ice cream wrapper out of Melina's hand. "I'll be right back," he called over his shoulder, before disappearing round a corner. Melina wiped her mouth and looked furtively around, before calling out:

"Sunshine. I know you're around here. Come here, I want to talk to you." Sunshine crept out of some bushes and sat beside Melina.

"Sunshine, I'm not very happy with you. Why did you have to follow me to school and listen in on my conversations?!?" Melina asked angrily. Sunshine sighed.

"Melina, as your guardian, it is my duty to stay by your side at all times, and make sure that nothing happens to you! That is the law of the Silver Alliance, and even though the Silver Alliance no longer exists, I am still faithful to it, and will therefore obey its law!" Sunshine said impatiently. Melina spun around, curious.

"Silver Alliance? What's that?" she asked. Sunshine stared at Melina for a moment before shaking her head.

"I can't tell you. Not yet, anyway. I'm sorry for upsetting you, Melina," Sunshine said, before jumping up into the tree and then onto the school roof, where she turned and sat watching Melina. I'm sorry, Melina, but I can't tell you anything about Amaterasu, even though I'm sure that you're her. I can't tell you what I don't know. I don't know what's happening to you, and I don't know what happened to her... Sunshine suddenly sat bolt upright as another memory pounced on her...

Author's notes: What will Sunshine remember this time? Trust me, it's exciting! Please, please, PLEASE review! I want to know what you think!