I feel like I didn't really introduce Akira and Haruko well enough, and I also want y'all to know their pasts, so here ya go. Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi and TOEI Animation.

Notes: Present time is 2015, don't forget.

This chapter is background info on Earth and Sun.

Onii-tan means Big Brother, in a babyish-cutesy kind of way.

~January 25, 1997~

~Hospital, Kyoto~

~Twins - a boy and a girl - are born to Ichirou and Ayame Taiyono. They name the firstborn, the boy, Yuki and the second-born, the girl, Haruko. They have an older brother named Hikaru, 4 years older.~

~March 24, 1997~

~Hospital, Tokyo~

~A baby girl is born to Yukio and Hanako Chiba. They name her Akira. She has an older brother named Mamoru, 4 years older~

~August 4, 1999~

~Tokyo, Age 2~

The father loses control of the vehicle, and it swerves off the cliff. The girl and her mother scream.

"Onii-tan!" the girl shrieks. The boy sitting next to her flings his body on her and hugs her tightly, covering her whole body with his.

Crash.

~Later~

~Hospital~

Akira sits on her bed, crying. She saw the rough condition her family was in. She didn't like seeing them that way.

"Chiba Akira-san?"

The girl looks up, ceasing her sobbing for a moment. "Yeah?" She sniffles.

The doctor kneels down in front of her cot in the ER. "Listen. Your parents, they... they're in a happy place. They're okay."

The girl's eyes light up. "Can I go see dem?!"

The doctor clears his throat, not wanting to upset the child. "No, no, you need to stay here."

She frowns. "What about Onii-tan?"

"He's asleep right now. You can't."

She frowns again. "Awh, man..." She flops back on her cot. "I'm bowed."

"Would you like me to read you a story?"

"Naw, shtoriezh awh fow babies. I not a baby."

The doctor laughs. "That's right, you're not a baby! What do you want to do?"

"I wanna hunt foh fings, wike widdle animaws and bugs."

"Where do you usually hunt for those things?"

The girl strokes her chin thoughtfully. "Well, usually dah pond and fowest by my house."

"Ah, let's see... Well, we don't have that, but there is an aquarium over there with some pretty fish!"

"Pwetty fish ah bowing! I wanna do shtuff!"

`This isn't a normal girl...` the doctor thinks. `This is a tomboy...! Ah, what am I gonna do?! Yuki-chan isn't like this!`"Ah, let's see..." He looks around.

"Doctor Yamamoto," a nurse calls to him. He stands and she whispers something into his ear and he looks at Akira sadly.

"Thank you, Tohru-kun." He kneels down again. "You're brother is awake, but-"

She jumps up out of bed and dances around. "Weally?! Wanna go see him! Onii-tan! Onii-tan!"

"No, no, Akira-chan, listen!"

"Huh? What?" She looks at him curiously.

"He doesn't remember anything."

"Whaddya mean he doesn't wemember?"

"He doesn't remember anything from before the accident."

"Wike, eberyfing?"

The doctor nods. "I'm sorry."

"He doesn't wemember Mama or Papa or me?"

The doctor nods again. "Sorry, kiddo."

Akira's eyes well up again. She starts crying again.

"Please don't cry, little girl!" an old man's voice says.

Akira looks up to see a smiling old man in front of her. "Who are you?"

"My name is Fujisaki Isao. You can call me Gramps. I can look after you, if you've nowhere else to go."

"Mama and Papa..."

"I talked to them," he lied, then added, "and your doctor, too," which was true.

"You didn't talk to Mama and Papa. They ah dead." Gramps laughs nervously. "Caught me there!"

"Dat's okay. I fought dey wah dead, anyway."

"You're not sad?"

"I am, but you asked me not to cry."

Gramps looks sad. "Oh... That's sweet of you, but you know, if you're going to live with me, you should say what you feel."

"Say what I feel?"

Gramps nods. "That's right. Let others know how you feel about things. If something someone says or does upsets you, tell them. Never be afraid to stand up and speak for yourself."

~That night~

I sit up in darkness. I get scared and begin to cry, but then I remember Gramps' words from before, "Please don't cry!" so I stop. I stand up and start walking, and before I know it, I'm running. But, strangely, my lungs aren't hurting. I'm not even breathing hard. I see a light and run towards it.

When I reach the light, there's a woman there, facing partly away from me. She's very pretty. She has long golden pigtails in odango buns, and wears a flowing white dress with these gold rings going across her chest down to her mid-back, with elegant, white wings. She wears a gold and red crown and has a yellow crescent moon tattoo on her forehead. She mutters something, but I can't hear what she says.

"Huh? What?" I say.

She faces me, and I can see in her urgent eyes that they are brilliant sky-blue in color. "Protect the Princess. Protect the Princess. Protect the Princess. Akira, you must protect the Princess..."

~August 21, 2001~

~Kyoto, Age 4~

"Haruko!"

"Yes, Mama?"

"It's time to go to school!" The mother applies her lipstick, and walks over to the door, proceeding to slip into her cherry-red pumps, and ties up her fiery waves into a bun.

"Coming!"

"Be a good girl, okay?" Ayame Taiyono says as she drops her daughter off.

"'Kay!"

The little girl named Haruko, age 4, runs up to the front door of the daycare, only to be pushed over by another little girl.

"Akira-chan! That's no fair!" Haruko sniffs as tears well up in her eyes.

"Aw, c'mon, Haru, I'm just messin' with ya! Get up, and quit cryin'!" The girl named Akira, also 4, laughs, and her nose scrunches up as she does in the cutest way.

"Don't be so mean, Akira!" another girl says. "Here, Haru-chan! I'll help you up!" She offers her hand and Haruko takes it.

"Thank you, Arisa-chan! 'Least someone's nice around here!"

"C'mon, girls, let's go in!" the teacher says.

"'Ka~y!"

Akira scoffs. "That dang Arisa. Gets on my nerves!" All Akira really wants is to be friends with Haruko, but horseplay is what Akira likes, and dolls are what Haruko likes. Truth be told, Akira wants to be friends with everybody, but boys and girls alike think she's weird. Haruko is the person she's closest too, though, because they grew up together. Haruko likes her okay, she thinks.

~2003~

~Kyoto, Age 6~

"YOU'RE SO ANNOYING WHEN YOU DO THIS! UGH, WHY DO YOU DO THIS EVERY TIME?!"

Haruko is curled up on her bed with her pillows and blankets covering her whole body, trying to block out the yelling. This is almost every night, it seems, but even so, the girl cries. She hates it when her parents fight.

"OH, SO NOW IT'S ALL MY FAULT! BECAUSE I'M THE PERPETRATOR! OKAY, THAT MAKES PERFECT AND COMPLETE SENSE!"

"IF YOU HADN'T GONE OUT TO THAT BAR WITH YOUR 'FRIENDS', THEN WE WOULD STILL HAVE A CAR TO DRIVE!"

"I WASN'T THE ONE DRIVING IT, SO IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT, I..."

Haruko's eyes slide shut, and she somehow drifts off to sleep.

When she wakes up in the morning, she goes out to find her mother lying on the couch. Usually, she finds her father reading the newspaper and sipping his coffee. She notices her mom sobbing silently.

"Mama?" she says quietly.

Her mother's eyes fly open, and the girl is surprised at the puffy-redness of them.

"Haruko?"

"Mama!" Haruko runs to her mother, who catches her and squeezes her. "Mama, where's Papa?"

Instead of answering, the mother breaks into heaving sobs. Even if she did try to answer, Haruko wouldn't have been able to tell what she said.

Two boys, the taller one holding a small child, walk out. "Mama?"

Haruko turns and puts her forefinger to her lip, then gestures for them to come over. They nod, understanding, and join her in comforting their mother.

~2008~

~Lunch, Age 11~

"Stupid, stupid! That girl is so stupid!" Arisa says. "Isn't she, Haru-chan?"

"Um, I don't really-"

"She totally is!" another girl says.

"Ugly, too!"

"Does she even have a sense of fashion?"

They all snicker and sneer, except for Haruko, who doesn't even know who they're talking about, but still thinks it's wrong.

"What's her name again?"

"It's um, Chiba something, I think."

Haruko stands, going unnoticed by the other girls. She looks down at her feet, clenching her fists.

"Chiba... Akira?" More snickers.

"That's enough!" Haruko shouts.

The whole classroom goes silent.

"H-Haru-chan?"

"You sure had me fooled, Arisa!"

"Sorry?"

"This whole time, I thought that Akira had been the one avoiding me. When, it was actually the other way around!" Haruko's voice cracks at the end. `Uh-oh,` she thinks. Everyone is looking at her, too, making it worse. "I can't let you make fun of my best friend like that! You tore apart our relationship!"

"Make a decision, Haru-chan. Are you gonna stick with me, and stay the coolest girl in the school? Or are you gonna go with you total loner of a friend and-"

SMACK!

"SHE'S ONLY A LONER BECAUSE YOU LEAVE HER OUT!" Haruko sprints out of the classroom, up the stairs, and to the roof, where Akira always eats.

The door swings open, and Akira looks up from her lunch to see Haruko standing there, breathing hard. She snorts. "What— didja sprint all the way from China?"

"No... the... class... room."

"Well, whaddya go and do that for?"

"To eat... with you."

"I ain't goin' nowhere, didn't hafta sprint."

Haruko tries to breathe normally, and takes a seat next to Akira on the ground.

"Well, where's your lunch?"

Haruko realizes she didn't grab her lunch before she left. "I forgot it… in the classroom."

"Ya wanna go get it?"

Haruko shakes her head. "I made a pretty cool exit. I wouldn't want to look stupid going back to get my lunch."

Akira nods. "I getcha. Well, want some? I'll give you this part."

"Thanks. And also..." Haruko swallows.

"Huh? What?"

"I'm sorry about treating you so badly. I wasn't... I didn't..." She sighs. "I didn't understand how much it hurt you. I didn't know I was hurting you. I'm sorry."

"That's okay. It's not your fault. It's that jerk Arisa's fault."

"I want to say she has a good heart, but... Well, I'm sure she does, but it's just buried way down deep."

Akira snorts. "Must be pretty deep, and small."

~2009~

~Dream, Age 12~

"Akira. Haruko. Listen to me. You have a very special job."

"Look, Haru, it's that blonde queen. I told you about.. Wait, is this real?"

"Yes and no," the Blonde Queen says, smiling. "This is a dream, but you're both really here."

"Are you real?"

"Yes, I'm real."

"How come you only visit in my dreams?"

"Because we exist in different times."

"Whaddya mean?"

"Anyway," the queen says, choosing to ignore the little girl's question, because, even if she explained, there would still be twenty more questions after that, and she's running out of time. "I have gifts for you two." She hands them each a brooch.

"Wow, it's so pretty!" Haruko exclaims.

"It's cute, I guess, but not my style," Akira says bluntly.

"Wait a minute, what did you mean by 'very special job' before?" Haruko asks.

"That has to do with these brooches. You are to become strong, quick fighters able to protect people. You are to wipe out evil."

"What, like cops?"

"No, Akira! Like ninjas!"

"Aw, cool! Ninjas!" Akira does a karate chop in the air. "Hi-yah! Uwah! Take that!" She kicks an invisible enemy, and then falls "dead."

Haruko and the queen laugh as she gets up, laughing, too.

"Sort of, yes," the queen answers. "Listen, with these you will become Sailor Soldiers."

"Sailor Soldiers? Sounds gay."

"Actually, it is a very special job."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yes."

"We're just doing what the cops do."

"In time, it will become much more than that. You will meet a girl who is the Princess I have been telling you to protect. That is the main reason why you need to build up your strength and things of that sort."

"And if we don't?"

"It's just something interesting for you to do with your time. If you don't want to, that's your choice. But, you will miss out a lot. This is a great opportunity for you to become strong enough to protect those you love. But, this is your destiny."

"I don't believe in that crap."

"C'mon, Akira, it'll be fun!" Haruko urges.

"Well, fine, whatever."

"Okay, Akira, to transform, you will say, 'Earth Celestial Power-'"

"EARTH CELESTIAL POWER?! BWA HA HA HA HA HA ARE YOU FRIGGIN KIDDING?! A HA HA HA HA HA! NEXT, AFTER THAT, LEMME GUESS, YOU WANT ME TO SAY SOMETHING STUPID LIKE, 'MAKE-UP!' RIGHT?! BWA HA- what the heck?!" Without realizing it, Akira had transformed. "What is this?!"

"That is your uniform. If you had let me finish, I would have told you that, yes, the next part of your transformation phrase is 'Make-up!' Thank you for paying such close attention."

"Anytime. But, wait, how do I get out of this?!"

"Just think the command to leave that form."

"Actually... I kinda like this suit. It's got edge." Taking a closer look at her uniform, Akira sees that the main piece is a white, sleeveless leotard with large holes in the sides. She's wearing a two-layer miniskirt, top layer royal blue, bottom layer grass green. She has a green bow on her chest and she's wearing a long, blue cape with two green stripes on the edges and green lining. She has blue knee-high boots with green trim and green wedges. She has long, fingerless gloves with green arm guards and blue and green rolls at the hem.

~April 1, 2013~

~First Day of High School, Age 16~

"Akira-ku~n!"

Akira turns arounds right before she's ambushed by Haruko, who hugs her tight. "Whoa!" Akira says, and stumbles. "What's up with you?"

Haruko giggles. "Nothing! How's your day?"

Akira raises an eyebrow. What was in her cereal this morning? "Well, it's six-am, so nothing's really happened yet except for you being a weirdo."

Haruko laughs. "I need to talk to you later!"

"What?"

"The cherry tree grove, after school! See ya later!" Haruko says, running ahead of her.

~After School~

Akira groans as she waits for Haruko by the trees. The girl asked her to be there after school, so where is she?

"A-Akira-kun!" Akira turns around to see Haruko standing by a tree. She looks nervous.

"Whatever you gotta say, just say it."

Haruko looks down at her feet. "Don't judge me, okay?"

Akira gives her a look. "Duh. Just spit it out, Haru."

Haruko takes a deep breath, and looks up at her. "I don't like men, Akira.

Akira blinks. "And?"

Haruko looks away. "That's all. See ya later." She spins on her foot and starts walking away.

Akira runs after her and grabs her arm, moving in front of her, and places her hands on her shoulders. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you're goin'? That's not all, is it?"

Haruko blushes. She looks like she wants to cry, and looks away.

"Hey! What's wrong? Can't be that bad, can it?"

"It's just— Akira, I—" She swallows and takes a deep breath. She looks up at her with a worried expression, her eyes brimming with tears. "I love you."

Well, that took Akira by surprise. She drops her hands, in total shock.

Haruko's tears spill onto her cheeks and she covers her eyes. "See, I knew it. You hate me now!"

She runs away, Akira still frozen as she processes what Haruko just said. "Love…" she mouths, and then it clicks in her brain. She can't just let Haruko go like that! "W-Wait!" she shouts, and scrambles after her.

Haruko stops abruptly and turns around, which Akira was definitely not expecting, causing her to knock into Haruko and then all of a sudden Akira is lying on top of Haruko with sakura petals fluttering all around them, dancing until they land softly on the warm Spring ground.

"Um… hi," Akira says awkwardly.

"Hi," Haruko replies, her face still red and tear-stained.

"Can I say something before you go assuming things?"

Akira can feel Haruko's heart pounding due to their proximity.

"Sure."

"I love you, too."

And so, under the shade of the blooming cherry trees, the two shared their first kiss, which would be treasured for ever.

Ja~n! :3 You're welcome c;