Whew! It has been a long week, but we are back with another chapter.

I promise the action and more plot are coming soon, just working on a few details!

As always, I don't own anything and R&R!

SLAM! THUD!

Haruka grinned evilly between pants as the raven-haired alien slowly picked himself up off the blue matted floor of the sparring room. They were on the matted side, thankfully, because Seiya was afraid of what might happen if he tried to fight the slightly intimidating Outer senshi on the concrete floor on the other side of the room.

The entire room was a large expanse that was only accessible through a hidden panel behind the fitness room. Minako had proudly showed them how to enter by rubbing a pattern into a panel just inches off the floor. Ami had been the genius behind the technology, which seemed to surprise none of them. The room had an impressive lighting system, which allowed one to change the time of day. The wall opposite of the one Seiya had been thrown into had panels that could be opened which contained several different styles of weapons. Knives, daggers, katana's, swords, maces, and even archery equipment were all available for use, though Minako said they were for individual practice and not for sparring with. The Light's had been very impressed with how seriously the senshi seemed to be keeping up their skills during the time of peace. Seiya had made an off hand comment about wanting to try out the room for himself when Haruka had sprung upon his offer.

"Okay, I think I'm done going easy on you. Though I do hate to have to hit a girl." Seiya was gasping and his back was throbbing in pain from where Haruka had thrown him into the wall. The little spar had started 'friendly' enough, but had escalated quickly between the two of them.

Haruka growled and settled herself into a battle stance, just waiting for him to charge. "I fight more like a man than you do."

"We'll see about that!" Yelled Seiya as he ran toward the Outer Senshi. Haruka caught the fist that Seiya had aiming for her face, but the blonde missed the other fist that came flying into her stomach. With a whoosh of air, Haruka grunted and dropped to the ground.

"Surrender!" Shouted Seiya, but the leader of the Outers wasn't finished fighting yet. Like a flash she spun around and kicked her foot out, knocking the surprised Star to his bottom. She stood up quickly and her Space Sword materialized in her hand. She aimed it at Seiya's chest. She smiled triumphantly.

"Surrender?"

"You cheated!"

Haruka shrugged, "Surrender or not? I have no problem inflicting physical wounds with this."

Seiya dropped his head and gritted his teeth. On the other side of the glass, Minako stood with a smile by the door, waiting her turn. Yaten was watching with disdain and Michiru was chuckling lightly.

They heard Seiya murmur a nearly silent yes. Yaten's eyes opened wide and Michiru stopped chuckling. All three of them looked intently at the two senshi.

Haruka seemed to be thinking over something very hard. Then, to everyone's immense surprise the sword disappeared and she was offering her outstretched hand to help the fallen Star to his feet. The two of them came out of the room.

Michiru ran to her lover and gave her a big hug. "Ruka, I'm so proud of you!"

Haruka blushed, "Michi-chan.." but the aqua- haired senshi cut off her sentence with a quick peck on the lips. "More where that came from later tonight."

Haruka's blush deepened. She turned quickly to Minako.

"You ready?"

"Yes, and I promise to last longer than your last opponent."

"Do you want to do the usual three rounds?"

"Of course," said Minako with a smile.

Seiya and Yaten looked over at them curiously, "Three rounds?"

"Yeah," said Minako, turning to smile at them, "Each round is two minutes long. Michiru or Ami usually time them for us. The first round we do hand to hand combat. The second round, we fight using our respective weapons: Haruka with her Space Sword and myself with either the Holy Blade or my Wink Chain Sword. The last round we fight in Senshi form and use our attack against each other."

"We don't hit each other with our attacks at 100 percent, usually only at 50 or 60. But we are working on building up our pain tolerance to get to that level." Haruka beamed proudly at the smaller blonde. "This kiddo works hard to maintain her position as the leader of the Inners."

Minako smiled back, "I have done very well under your training."

"Shall we?"

"Yes."

Yaten watched slightly apprehensively as they walked into the room.

Minako took a fighting stance Michiru flipped a switch near the door that threw up a timer on the far wall of the room. Both of the blonde's looked toward it with a smile and then looked back at each other.

"Fighters….. FIGHT!"

Michiru's voice came over the sound system and the countdown from 120 started.

Minako and Haruka slowly circled each other. After a full circle, Haruka ran toward Minako, hands locked into fist, but Minako deftly knocked her hands away and spun to kick Haruka in the chest. Haruka had jumped back and missed some of the attack, but not all. As Minako began to pull her foot back the taller blonde grabbed it and gave it hard tug. Minako slid forward, but planted one hand on the ground as she brought her other foot up to connect painfully with the side of Haruka's head. The Outer Senshi leader involuntarily released the smaller blondes' leg and staggered back for a second before resizing up her opponent.

Minako didn't miss a beat and switched to offense. She sprang forward in an attempt to tackle Haruka to the ground, but Haruka had regained herself. In a swift instant, she sidestepped and cleanly knocked Minako on her back with her outstretched arm. Minako quickly rolled as Haruka's fist smashed into the ground where her head had laid just milliseconds before. They both stood up and began circling once more.

The clock on the wall showed 60 seconds remained. Yaten and Seiya watched amazed as the two senshi continued to dance around one another; landing hits where they could and deflecting and dodging as well as they could. The two seemed well matched in the hand-to-hand combat and no clear winner was easily discernible.

When at last the timer sounded both smiled and shook hands. They then turned away from each other and materialized their weapons. Haruka's Space Sword was short and jeweled. The Holy Sword of the Moon was long with an intricate jewel near the handle, but that wasn't the only weapon the appeared on the Senshi of Venus. Her Wink Chain appeared encircling her hips, glittering gold and dangerous. Michiru reset the timer and leaned down toward the microphone.

"Round 2.. Fight!"

Both Senshi spun around and there was a clang and a flash as their weapons met.

"Wait, they are fighting without armor?!" Yaten yelped.

"Oh yes, they only hit each other with the flat of their swords."

"But what if-?"

"They are both skilled with their weapons. They have never even nicked each other. Bruises, yes," Michiru chuckled, "Lots of bruises, but never any blood in this round."

"This round?!"

"You don't become Leader of either Senshi group without hard work. In the first round, sometimes they punch or kick a little hard." They watched as Haruka threw Minako backwards to the ground as the taller blonde won a clash of swords.

"In the last round, sometimes they get a little caught up and forget to lessen the attack strength. Though, Haruka is a little guiltier of that at times than Minako. Especially when she feels like she is losing."

The timer sounded and both Senshi were breathing heavily. Haruka had clearly more expertly handled the round, but Minako's ability was not to be snubbed. The Senshi of Love had held her own and more than once had given the Senshi of Wind a run for her money.

"Venus Crystal Power! Make Up!"

"Uranus Crystal Power! Make Up!"

Michiru didn't bother to turn back towards the room. Once again, she started the timer and said, "Go!"

"Venus Love Me Chain Encircle!"

Yaten and Seiya stared dumbfounded as Minako quickly took the upper hand in the last round. Haruka had managed to dodge the chain and fire off an attack from her Space Sword, but she was almost immediately knocked backwards by Minako's Rolling Heart Vibration. When she at last got to her knees, Minako was there to shoot her down again with her Crescent Beam Smash.

"Minako may not be the better swordsman, but she is certainly faster and, don't tell Haruka I said this, stronger when it comes to using her Senshi abilities." Michiru said smiling at the two Stars who were watching the battle intently.

"How often do they do this." Asked Seiya curiously.

"About 3 or 4 times a week. We don't live far, and whenever they are bored and feel like blowing off steam they come down here. Occasionally the other senshi fight down here, Mars and myself are often suckered in for a round or two. But those two have become so strong by training with each other, it's not really a fair fight."

"Why do they train so much if you guys are at peace?"

Michiru answered slowly, as if carefully choosing her words, "We know the powers of the Silver Crystal attract a wide variety of enemies. We know one day the Galaxy Cauldron will give birth once again to Chaos." Yaten and Seiya looked at each other nervously, remembering the reason that they had even come to Earth. Had the Galaxy Cauldron really been so quick to release Chaos back onto the Universe? They quickly looked back at the aqua haired senshi, who pretended she hadn't noticed the sudden change in the alien's auras. "The Inner Senshi and Pluto have already fought a aspect of him in the 30th Century."

"WHAT?!"

Yaten looked annoyed and confused, "How is that even possible?"

"Well, long story short, there was an incident and they had to go to the future to help it all get put right."

"There is certainly more to this group of Senshi than previously thought," said Seiya with a smile.

"Yes," Michiru said smiling as she watched Sailor Venus throw her lover into a wall once again. "But I know personally Minako trains extra hard because after Usagi and Mamoru marry, and Usagi ascends the throne as Neo Queen Serenity, Usagi will no longer be able to transform into Sailor Moon. Those powers will be lost."

"Whoa, whoa, what? No Sailor Moon?" Now Seiya it was Seiya's turn to be confused.

"In their former life, there was no Sailor Moon. Even now we can only guess as to why such a transformation came into existence. But Usagi's future self has already informed us that that will be lost. So Minako trains so that she will be able to protect her fully when the time comes." They looked back at the two senshi. Haruka looked physically exhausted and Minako herself seemed to be wearing out. The timer was close to the end of the countdown, so they were trying to give it all they had in the last seconds of the final round.

"Don't worry, we have already met the future Senshi of the Moon. Though in the future she is called Sailor Chibi Moon." She smiled, mischievously enjoying the confusion she was causing.

"I give up," Said Yaten angrily.

Seiya seemed like he was slowly piecing something together, "Sailor Moon's future daughter?"

Michiru looked appraisingly at the Raven-haired man, "Yes. Neo Queen Serenity's child with King Endymion, or in Alien Senshi terms, Usagi and Mamoru's kid."

The timer sounded. The three of them turned to see Minako and Haruka end their transformations and fall to the floor in exhaustion.

"You were definitely using 80% attacks, Haruka," They heard Minako yell from the ground.

"Yeah, well, it didn't seem to help me much now did it?" Came the somewhat cross response.

Giggling Minako got to her feet and walked over to help her friend up. "You definitely had me beat in the weapons department again." They joined hands and Haruka slowly rose. They walked together back to the entrance so that they could rejoin the other senshi.

"This is always the longest six minutes of my day," grumbled Haruka.

"Would you like me to spar against Seiya, so you can feel better about yourself?" Asked Minako sweetly.

"No, I would rather watch you fight someone who would actually kick your ass."

In the booth, Michiru and Yaten doubled over in laughter as Seiya yelled indignantly at the Outer Senshi.

Voila!

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