AN: So this is late again, but I'm really hitting some mental roadblocks where this story is concerned. I repeat, I HATE this arc. Also, I do realize this chapter kind of sucks.

Disclaimer: Wouldn't want to own this season even if I could. So ha.

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It probably shouldn't have surprised her much to be attacked soon thereafter.

Usagi had spent the day with Mamoru- it was a weekend, and she'd been able to persuade Ami that studying every minute without a break was doing more harm than good. She showed her the most recent practice as an example. The genius girl had reluctantly agreed.

So they were walking around town, enjoying each other's company. In the window of one shop, Usagi spotted a beautiful crystal rose, delicately done so that each petal and leaf was distinct. Mamoru bought it for her despite her protests.

Neither of them had any idea how the enemy had gotten a Daimon egg into it that fast.

The instant her hand brushed its surface, the dark power that poured from it made it quite clear that something was wrong. They had seen enough trouble with monsters to recognize one when they saw it.

"CENICIENTA!" the Daimon cried as it formed. It was almost like a gladiator of old, but made of the same bluish crystal as the rose, with a similar rose atop its helmet.

It reached for the blonde girl immediately, but even as it grabbed her and pushed her back against a storefront, the teen began flailing and kicking in an attempt to knock it away. Mamoru attempted to stop it, but he was thrown through a nearby fence.

Usagi gritted her teeth. "In that case… MOON COSMIC POWER, MAKE-!"

The Daimon knocked her broach away, saying something about how dangerous a girl she was as it pushed her back so that she was partially encased in glass, rendering her unable to move. Stepping back, the black star appeared across the biceps of one arm and tore into her.

"NO!" the heroine shrieked before her scream lost coherency, leaving only anguished wails behind.

When the crystal of her pure heart began to appear, the street was flooded with light, and that brilliance only increased when it was entirely free of her body. All watchers- the Daimon, Uranus, Neptune, and Tuxedo Kamen, who was waiting for his chance- thought that this had to be a Talisman.

The delicate gem began to float to Cenicienta, but it was interrupted when a red blur flashed across the monster's hand and embedded itself in the glass above the unconscious girl's head. The crystal immediately returned to its host as the glass shattered.

Tuxedo Kamen took this opportunity to launch several more roses, forming a column of power around the Daimon in order to give them a chance. As Usagi began to wake up, he grabbed her and leapt to the top of the building.

"You should become Sailor Moon," he told her.

One hand fluttered to the ribbon of her school uniform. "I can't. My broach…"

"There's no time for that then. We have to get out of here."

"But my henshin broach-"

"Usako, they're after you. We can worry about finding it again later. Right now I have to get you somewhere safe."

They looked back down the side of the building, and Usagi cringed when she saw that Kaorinite had found the precious object. Rather than linger, Tuxedo Kamen pulled her close and they leapt to the next building. He flinched when he realized they were being pursued by the Daimon, but he had to keep going.

At one roof, they went through a door into the building, hoping to lose the monster inside. When they reached the bottom level without trouble, they hoped they might have succeeded.

Then Cenicienta showed up again. As did Kaorinite. Tuxedo Kamen pushed Usagi behind him.

"When you get the chance, run."

"I can't leave you!"

The hero shook his head. "I'm not the one they're after. Run!"

"Oh!" Usagi realized, flipping open her communicator. "Luna! Luna, I need your help!"

Kaorinite growled when she heard that, and her hair abruptly lengthened and snapped out like a whip, taking the device from the blonde's wrist and dashing apart on the cement floor. The teen gasped.

Tuxedo Kamen leapt out and began dueling with Cenicienta. "Run, Usako!"

"No!"

"Run!"

Reluctantly, she obeyed him, dashing for the nearest exit, hoping Luna would be able to get the other Senshi to her in time for them to survive. Kaorinite cut her off, her broach in her hand.

"I'm sure you don't want to leave without this, do you, Sailor Moon?"

She and her protector gasped. With a greater effort, the masked hero managed to snap the sword that Cenicienta's arm had become and ran for his girlfriend.

"You're fighting me!" the Daimon cried. Without warning, shards of glass shot from her open mouth, striking the young man. It began to crystallize around him, trapping him.

"Tuxedo Kamen-sama!"

"Usako…"

Usagi ran to him and slumped against the figure, crying his name over and over as both the monster and the mysterious Kaorinite laughed.

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She knew Uranus and Neptune had to be nearby. She knew Kunzite and Zoisite, the two that might have been able to get to them in time, had work of their own and wouldn't be able to slip away for at least a few minutes. And she was trapped with the enemy.

Which was why it was a blessed relief when the Sailor Senshi appeared.

Still, Kaorinite only laughed. "Tsukino Usagi, Sailor Senshi, if you want Tuxedo Kamen back, come to the Tokyo Tower. There you'll find your deaths."

She, Cenicienta, and the glass-encased hero vanished, leaving them alone. Turning, the distraught blonde saw two shadowy figures disappearing up the exit ramp. Uranus and Neptune hadn't lifted a finger to help her.

"They think I'm it," she murmured as she watched them go.

Mars hissed. "Hyenas. Usagi, we have to get you out of harm's way."

"I can't abandon Tuxedo Kamen-sama."

"You can't go after them!" Jupiter exclaimed, aghast. "They'll kill you!"

"I can't abandon him! Mamo-chan… for me, Mamo-chan…" Usagi furiously brushed her tears away. "I have to go after him."

Mercury reached for her, attempting to murmur reassurances, but the blonde ran off before they could. They chased after her, crying her name.

As Usagi reached street level, a car pulled up in front of her. Haruka was in the driver's seat, Michiru at her side.

"Please! Please, Haruka-san, can you give me a ride?"

She raised one brow. "In a hurry?"

"Yes! Please?"

Haruka shrugged as Michiru swung the door open for her. "Hop in. Where to?"

"Tokyo Tower."

"So late at night?"

"Please!"

She nodded and swung sharply from the curb, pretending not to notice the Senshi as they reached the street. Usagi's speed even un-henshined was impressive.

A few moments passed in silence before the older blonde studied the younger in her rearview mirror. "It sometimes seems like the only way to keep going in this world is to sacrifice others."

Usagi froze. "What do you mean?"

Michiru answered for her. "Like someone being hurt while protecting you. It's the only way to survive. Whether it's a parent, or a friend, or a lover."

The girl stared at her lap, considering, as they passed through a tunnel. Glancing up, for a moment she would have sworn that Haruka had become Sailor Uranus, saying similar things about sacrifice. It passed as they went back into the open.

"I think that's wrong. Maybe sometimes that happens, if the person that's stepping on someone else doesn't care. But they should think about the one they're stepping on! I believe that if we all worked together, it wouldn't be necessary anymore!"

Haruka's lips twitched slightly. "Do you think so?"

"Yes."

They pulled in just before the entrance to Tokyo Tower. "Do you really think this is a good idea?" Michiru asked gently.

"I have to."

Usagi leapt from the car and raced for the door, leaving the older girls behind. Michiru sighed.

"What are you going to do, Haruka?"

The blonde's hands clenched to fists. "Odango Atama has to be our sacrifice. We have to have the Talismans if we want to get the Grail and save the world from the coming silence."

"But is that okay?"

"Every war has its victims."

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The security screens slammed down over the front of the building as soon as Usagi entered, but an elevator opened with a soft ding across the lobby. She swallowed, memories of the last time she had been trapped by enemies in an elevator rising up inside her. Unsettled, she did her best to ignore them. She would find a way to keep anyone she loved from dying.

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The Senshi weren't too far behind, but by the time they reached the building more than screens were blocking their entry.

"There's a powerful shield around it," Mars said as she stared up the tower. "Now what?"

"The stairs?" Mercury suggested.

Jupiter nodded. "Probably the best plan we have."

The girls turned to run for them, but Luna and Artemis stopped Venus even as Kunzite appeared with Nephrite. Zoisite's appearance came an instant later.

"Venus, only you can make sure everyone will be okay," Luna said anxiously.

The teen nodded. "What do I have to do?"

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Usagi flinched even as the doors to the elevator opened, seeing Tuxedo Kamen at once. "Tuxedo Kamen-sama!"

"If you don't cooperate, I'll shatter this glass figure," Kaorinite said. She was leaning against it like a piece of furniture.

"Do whatever you want to me! Just don't hurt Tuxedo Kamen-sama!"

The older woman nodded, unsurprised. "Cenicienta!"

The black star formed again and tore into Usagi's chest. Despite her lack of resistance, it was drawn out and unbelievably painful. Once the crystal was free, she crumpled against the elevator door, unconscious.

Kaorinite reached for it, but as before someone else intervened. Uranus and Neptune leapt into the fray and pulled back, crouching to either side of their friend. Uranus had the crystal in her hand.

Neptune got to her feet and faced Kaorinite and Cenicienta as Uranus examined the crystal. "Well?"

"What? This is… It isn't a Talisman!"

"What?" Kaorinite snapped. "Are you saying despite its brilliance, her pure heart isn't what I'm looking for?"

"I guess its brightness is an indicator of purity, not whether it's a Talisman or not," Neptune answered with a smile as her partner returned it to Usagi.

The red-haired woman growled. "Well, I'll still claim her life!" she shouted even as the blonde regained consciousness. "Say good-bye, Sailor Moon!"

The other two warriors flinched and looked at her. Usagi trembled.

"Stop right there!" Another voice shouted. "She is not Sailor Moon!"

The Moon Senshi- the real one- turned her head in the voice's direction, absolutely lost. There were four Senshi there, the three Shitennou behind them, but… she was Sailor Moon like Kaorinite thought. Then it hit her.

Minako-chan?

"I am the real Sailor Moon! How can you confuse me with anyone so clumsy and boring?"

"That's right!" the other three chimed in.

"How could someone like her be a Sailor Senshi?" Mars asked as Usagi bristled.

"She's not smart at all," Mercury added.

Kaorinite scowled mightily as Uranus and Neptune laughed. "Well, I guess that's it for us," Uranus said. The two leapt to the roof, leaving the Guardian Senshi to deal with the enemies.

"Cenicienta! Kill them all!" the woman commanded before following, tossing Usagi's henshin broach aside.

Luna hurried to Usagi's side, the device in her mouth. "Hurry up and henshin!"

She nodded. "MOON COSMIC POWER, MAKE-UP!"

And she went into her usual song and dance, though it was now heavily laced with comments about her being 'the original' Sailor Moon. Cenicienta gaped.

"Now, Sailor Moon!" Mars shouted.

"MOON SPIRAL HEART ATTACK!"

"You liar!" The attack struck. "LOVELY!"

The rose dropped to the ground as Tuxedo Kamen's prison shattered, freeing him. Sailor Moon raced over to him and held him close.

"Are you all right, Mamo-chan?"

"Usako…"

Finally, she straightened. "We have to go help them." She could hear a second battle raging overhead.

Jupiter sniffed. "Help them? Why? We should just do what they always do and leave."

"They saved me." The others paused. "They could have left me to die, but they didn't. We have to help them now."

Venus nodded. "Then we help them."

"Great. But first…" she put her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Venus, please ditch the disguise."

"Why? Is something wrong with it?" the other blonde asked, bewildered. "I borrowed the Luna Pen and everything."

Sailor Moon opened her mouth to say something, but let it snap shut again till a new thought occurred to her. "No need to let them know I am the real Sailor Moon, right? Kaorinite would be suspicious if there was suddenly two of me."

She was so relieved when Venus did what she asked.

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Meanwhile, Uranus and Neptune were having a hard time. Kaorinite was very strong.

"WORLD SHAKING!"

The attack, as charged as Uranus could make it, rushed the woman, but she leapt aside before it struck, taking large chunks of nearby railing with it.

That was the others' cue.

"Stop right there!"

The five Senshi jumped down around her while Tuxedo Kamen and the three Shitennou remained on the high ground. Kaorinite, rather than waste time on pleasantries, attacked immediately. They all dodged, and Sailor Moon pushed Uranus out of the way. She noticed the older girl's injury, one she had acquired before they had arrived.

"You're hurt!"

"It's nothing."

"It's not nothing," she said urgently. "You should leave. We can take care of this."

Uranus glanced at Neptune. "They're offering to sacrifice themselves for us. We should take them up on their offer."

Neptune helped her partner to her feet and they began to move away, but a flickering green force-field surrounded the area.

"No one is going to run away!" Kaorinite crowed, and she revealed two items in her hand- a crystal rose, identical to the first, and a mystery vial. "This is a Daimon growth fluid I've experimented with on my own." She broke it, and the fluid fell into the shoe. "Now I can have the same powers as Cenicienta."

The shoe became a sword. When she flourished it, a barrage of the glass shards that had entrapped Tuxedo Kamen shot forth. The warriors survived only because Kunzite and the other Shitennou used their own powers to deflect it away.

"BURNING MANDALA!"

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

The attacks failed instantly, having not even reached her.

"No way!" Venus cried.

"Attacking her like that won't accomplish anything," Mercury informed them. "She has a powerful shield around herself as well."

"Then perhaps a physical attack will prove more effectual." Kunzite drew his sword. "I will be your opponent now."

They closed, and it was very obvious that Kaorinite lacked any particular ability with a sword. More, Kunzite was paying attention for any sign of her using the secondary power of the sword and kept his energy boomerang in hand should it prove necessary.

For a moment, he drew back. "You are a leader of some sort within the energy association. I am honor bound to offer a chance to surrender and leave here peaceably."

Kaorinite snarled. "You make it sound like you can beat me."

His response was easy to see in the lift of one silvery brow. "I can certainly win this engagement, rest assured. Perhaps I might not prove capable of dispatching you, but neither are you powerful enough to prove a real risk to me."

"Not powerful enough?" she laughed. "I am one of the most powerful members of our organization. I am Magus."

"And I am a general that has seen battle in more than one life. I have seen evil's face, and I know its power. I assure you, you do not compare to the darkness I have seen."

They closed again, blades dancing around them. The others watched from the sidelines, unsure if they needed to interfere. Kunzite abruptly danced back.

"Use a Sailor Planet Attack!" he called before returning to the battle.

"He's in the way," Tuxedo Kamen said uncertainly.

"We can manage," his mate answered. "He knows how to get out of the way. MOON COSMIC POWER!"

"MARS STAR POWER!"

"MERCURY STAR POWER!"

"JUPITER STAR POWER!"

"VENUS STAR POWER!"

"SAILOR PLANET ATTACK!"

The general teleported from the energy's path as they launched it forward, leaving Kaorinite exposed. The force of their power slammed into her, and her shrieks made it exceedingly clear that her shield had not succeeded in deflecting in. In the dust that had arisen as a result, no one was quite sure of the outcome.

"Is she dead?" a now tapped out Sailor Moon asked her sisters. They could only shrug, exhausted as well.

"It takes… more than that… to beat me!"

"No!"

The four men came at her now, but she launched another of the glass barrages and save for Kunzite's excellent reflexes, all of them would have been frozen.

"What do we do?" Venus asked.

"WORLD SHAKING!"

Uranus' voice was a shock- in the midst of the fighting, the friends had almost forgotten the two Outer Senshi still remained. Kaorinite's attack had been fired at the same side, but Uranus' seemed to reverse its momentum. In an instant it was the Magus that was sealed in glass. The resulting explosion tore the chunk of ground from beneath her, and the crystalline prison plummeted below.

They all watched in silence, despite their inability to see her precise fate. It seemed obvious that no one would have survived the fall. When they turned, Uranus and Neptune were gone.

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"I'm sorry you didn't get to keep your present, Usako."

The blonde shook her head. "It's fine; your love is more than enough. Besides," she added with a tired laugh, "I'm better off without gifts that are going to try to kill me."

Mamoru nodded. "Still, today was supposed to be relaxing for you, and all that happened."

"Surprised?"

"Not at all."

"Me either."

"I'll get you something nicer," he promised.

"I don't think that's necessary," she answered, looking up at him. "Just give me one of your roses; it's a thousand times more precious."

He laughed and drew one from the air. Its perfect crimson petals were still wet with dew, and the thorns had been removed. Gently he tucked it into her hair, just against one of her buns.

"Like that?"

"It's perfect."

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A very handsome young man whistled as he walked, making his way for the Hikawa Shrine. He had golden hair and laughing blue eyes, and he looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old. His name was Miyamoto Jomei. Or Jadeite, if you saw it that way. He didn't.

His father was a prominent politician, and Jomei was just starting to move in those circles. He would have done so sooner, but he was informed that he had yet again vanished without a trace, not returning for a year. It was strange that he couldn't remember much; any other time he had run away was crystal clear.

No, he didn't like the path he was on. Politics held no appeal to him- he enjoyed being charming and found it easy to make people like him, but he had little interest in the endless layers of schemes. He had no desire to deal with others knowing that any of them would tear him apart of it was of some value. Still, the sun was shining, and he had been sent to visit a girl he was told was very beautiful.

Her father had told Jomei to pick her up for a function of some sort. He could never remember what and didn't care; as an intern he just did as he was told and let that be enough. It was clear anyway that both his parents and her father hoped they might be a match. He doubted it would happen, but he didn't object to a lovely lady's company.

Jomei didn't understand when the girl in question took one look at him and slammed a door in his face.

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AN: So everyone's accounted for, but what twists are still waiting to be revealed? Find out next time on HEARTBOUND! (Lol, thanks Machina ex Deus- had to use that) So as always, reviews are good. Till next time!