Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
The Second Story

AN: When you need to have a cryptic conversation, Sailor Pluto is fucking boss.

Tokyo, Late Summer, Present Day

There was power there now, they could all feel it. Rei's fingers felt awkward as she held the pen with the star cap and Mars symbol emblazoned upon the top. It was like coming home, almost, the fire burned within her very soul. She could sense it, feel it pulsating through her as she stood, eyes hard – staring off into space. Her eyes saw everything and yet they saw nothing.

"I won't transform," Rei said angrily, shoving the pen into her purse and gathering her things. "Not until I know more about this threat." She would not have her peace disturbed, not when she was so close to achieving so many things that she could have hardly dreamed of just weeks before.

"Mars…" Minako said, her hand clenched into a fist around her own pen.

"Rei-chan," Usagi said. Rei looked away, staring at the floor.

Rei slung her purse over her shoulder and scowled, "I am going to meditate." She announced. "We know next to nothing about the new foe, and these new potential allies. It seems smart to try and get some answers from the fire, if I can."

They couldn't argue with her when she spoke like that. And no one protested when she stormed up the stairs. Rei knew that Minako would follow later – and that they would be able to discuss things at length then. She just couldn't bring herself to face it – not until she knew more.

x

The evening's storms had cleared and Tsukino Usagi was walking home alone. When Rei had left the Crown on her own, she had finally understood the weight of what was happening and desperately hoped that Rei could find some answers in the fire.

She raised her hand to touch her lips, exhaling quietly as she did so. Who was she… she thought, closing her eyes in shame. That person, whoever they were, had taken something from her that she could not every well get back. A kiss stolen, in ancient Lunarian lore (that she knew absolutely nothing about, thank you), was as good as a kiss given freely. It allowed a suitor to claim a share of one's affections and attentions. Tsukino Usagi closely guarded her lips for this reason and this reason alone. She could not let anyone other than Mamoru have them, for he could not share and she would never ask him to.

Once, when they had been much younger, she'd let Ami kiss her in a fit of school-girl passion. It had been so awkward that they never spoke of it after it had happened, but she knew that in doing it, she had allowed Ami what she had wanted without having to break her best friend's heart. Ami had Nephrite now, and they were close.

The sound of footsteps jolted Usagi from her reverie, and she looked up. A tall figure approached her, traveling down the well-walked sidewalk. Usagi raised her hand and squinted into the setting sun, marveling at the woman's dark skin and beautiful physique. It was odd to see one so dark here in Tokyo, but the woman was obviously not African, just deeply tan.

As their paths crossed, Usagi gave a half bow out of politeness, and moved to continue on, but something stopped her. From deep within her consciousness, a voice cried out for her to stop and to confront the woman.

"You wished to speak to me," the woman said quietly, her accent as the other Senshi that Usagi had met had been – deeply English and unfamiliar with the monotone of spoken Japanese. There was something else there too, an accent that Usagi shook her head at. There was no way she was hearing that, not now – not in this time.

Still, her lips moved of their own accord, hard and angry. The Princess, she groaned mentally. "Why is it that you have been reborn?"

The woman turned to her then, dark eyes shining with an emotion that Usagi could not place, "We have a mission, the same as you, princess."

"You have blatant disregard for the people of this city, of my home." Usagi stepped forward, the woman was a good head taller than her, but she felt as though she had the upper hand in this conversation. "I want you to stop."

"We cannot stop, highness." The woman retorted, "Not until we find them."

"You already have them-" Usagi was confused. She knew that Rei had said that the other Senshi were looking for 'talismen' but it would not make any sense for them to look if they already had them.

"That is a secret I cannot reveal without ruining the timeline." The woman looked apologetic. "Forgive my intrusion? I promise that they won't get in your way again." She bowed low and Usagi shook her head, not wanting to accept that answer.

"We do not wish to fight against you, but if you will blatantly disregard human life, we must." Her words were steely and her mood had turned black. "This is Endymion's planet; I will not have it threatened."

"This is not by choice, highness." The woman raised her hand and a staff fell into vision. "I swear on my talisman – the Garnet Orb – that I will not take unnecessary life."

"And the others?" Usagi demanded, "Where is your fourth member?"

Fourth member? Usagi's brow furrowed. If there was a Senshi for all the planets… perhaps Neptune or Saturn?

"Do not speak of her, she will not be needed."

Usagi folded her arms, "I would hope not. I cannot remake the planet on a whim, Setsuna."

"Princess," The woman smiled, and a pair of doors appeared behind her.

The Gates of Time, the princess' subconscious whispered to Usagi, where the time guardian resides.

"I never expected you to."