Rose of the Moon

Author's Note: Alright, the use of computers will be here, but only the scouts and anyone related to the Sailor Moon plotline will have access to them, think of them as magical items. In a way they are. Yes, I am giving the senshi their control room much like they had in the manga. I might show Belle at least one more time before I have her fully awaken as Sailor Venus, I'm thinking she might discover Artemis utilizing a secret control center hidden deep in the Beast's palace unknown even to him.

Part 3: Genius the Veil

Act 8

The full moon shone bright in it's place above the Earth. A clearer, crisper night was rare and Luna knew it. She relished being out in the night, as all cats do. But she wasn't simply out to enjoy the night. She had a destination. The bookshop. From the moment she had set foot in this small town, she had known that she would need to get things ready. Things were going to start happening and if she didn't find them soon, all would be lost. This bookshop had the been the perfect place to set up base, very few people really entered.

She peered in, making sure that Tony really was not anywhere about. She knew from experience that Tony often liked to stay in the shop until late at night, even if it was only stocking new books onto the shelves Satisfied that the place was empty, she crept in moving quickly towards the backroom. She smelled and scratched at the various places on the wooden floor until she found what she wanted. She looked up to the thatch roof. Her crescent moon birthmark glowed and a glass skylight appeared in the roof, giving her a direct view of the full moon. Concentrating, she closed her eyes. A beam of light shot down from the moon and reflected off the birthmark and onto the wooden floor. In a shimmer of light, the floorboards vanished and a staircase appeared. She descended the staircase and came to a door with a security lock complete with hand and voice recognition. She jumped up onto some boxes she had placed under the lock for that purpose. With precision she pressed a series of numbers.

"Identify."

"Luna." she spoke loud and clear, placing her paw on the scanning device.

The door automatically opened into a high-tech computer room. Luna hopped onto the base of one of the many computers that lined the walls. She knew that computers had not yet been rediscovered by the humans since they were forced to start over again after the war of a thousand years ago, but thanks to moon magic, she was able to relocate an old computer system from the former kingdom to this secret chamber. Again, she began pressing a series of numbers which caused the computer to boot on and she sighed.

"What have you to report Luna?" a computerized voice asked her.

"It's this Bunny girl. She's not at all like I hoped she would be. She's so absorbed in how she looks and what she wants and that oaf who calls himself Town Hero, Gaston I think his name is. I've tried talking to her since that first night, but she doesn't seem to want anything to do with me or our mission."

("Why do I have to be a soldier of justice anyway? Why are these Dark Kingdom creeps MY responsibility. I saved my sisters and destroyed that first monster but don't expect me to do it again. I'll just break my nails.")

"I just don't know what to do with her."

"You must continue to train her Luna. She doesn't have a choice. If she doesn't fight, then everything we know will be destroyed. On to new business. I may have located the next soldier." A mug-shot of a cute, honey-haired girl graced the screen. Tortoise-shell glasses accented her butterscotch eyes. "Her name is Molly Frotte, she is the niece of the owner of the bookstore. She will arrive tomorrow morning to live with her cousin and help in taking care of the store."

"Is she at least intelligent? Please tell me I'll have some intelligent conversation." Luna begged. "I can't stand all of this bubbly-perky-idiocy."

The computer-voice laughed at her. "Yes, Luna. In fact, she is a graduate of the Sorbonne University. One of her professors will be accompanying her to give a lecture to those who wish to hear in two days."

Luna sighed with relief. "Gods bless girls with brains."

**********

"Tell me of your new plan for collecting energy Jadeite." Queen Beryl ordered her minion as he kneeled before her.

"My servant Garoben is currently disguised as a professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris. She has slowly been siphoning her students of their energy. And in two days she will be in the small town of Montlune where she will collect the energy of the small minded inhabitants and turn them into our slaves." Jadeite replied.

Queen Beryl nodded. "Very well, you may continue with your plan. But I warn you Jadeite. Don't fail me again or I shall have to get angry with you."

**********

"Awwww, Luna, why do I have to go to the bookstore? I wanna go with my sisters and…" Bunny protested as Luna forced her to follow her. In her hand she carried a fairly long list.

"And what, waste your time ogling that pig of a man? No. You may not want to be a Sailor Soldier, but I'm afraid you have no choice. When the world is saved, then and only then can you be as flaky as want. But for now, you will train. Not only your body but your mind as well. I refuse to spend another moment with a complete imbecile whose only care is whether or not her hair looks alright." Luna said. "Besides, you were the one who said that you wished you could be as good as that Belle was, right? And Belle reads. So, if you want to be good enough to catch that pig's eye, you have to beat Belle, that means you have to start reading."

Bunny grumbled but conceded. She did want to be good enough for Gaston and that meant showing him that she was better than Belle any day. So, if that meant reading, then into the bookstore. "Hello…" she called out timidly.

Tony's yellow hair peeked out from under the front counter. "Good afternoon Bunny. Didn't expect to see you come in." he stood up and looked at her with his one of a kind smile. "Hey there, Luna. I see you two are getting on just fine. Can I help you?"

"Um yeah…" Bunny handed him the list. "I need these books here please."

Tony's eyes went wide. "Wow, this is some list. I never thought of you as a reader type, guess I was wrong."

"No, really I'm not. But Gaston is so hung up on that Belle girl, I have to do something to show him that I'm just as good as she is."

Tony nodded with understanding. "These are difficult titles though. They could prove a little overwhelming. Hey, I know. My cousin just arrived from Paris. She's a graduate of Sorbonne and until she can decide what to do next, she's going to help care for the store. She could help you with these."

Bunny tried shaking her head in reply but Tony was already calling out through the store. "Molly, can you come here for a moment?"

The girl that came out of the backroom was a demure, lithe-bodied young thing with cropped honey hair. Bunny couldn't help but think how pretty this girl was, for so obviously being a book reader. Why were book reading girls so much prettier than they should be? It wasn't right.

Molly took off her glasses and pulled a cloth out of her pocket. "Yes, Tony?"

"Wanted you to meet someone, another girl about your age. Molly, this is Bunny, one of the local girls. Bunny, this is my cousin Molly Flotte."

Molly replaced her glasses and looked down. "It's really nice to meet you."

Bunny gave her a polite smile. "Yeah, it's nice to meet you too."

"Molly," Tony handed her Bunny's list. "can you get these books from the back for me?"

Molly took the list and quietly went back to find the books.

"I'm glad she'll have someone to talk to here in town." Tony told Bunny. "I had wanted to introduce her to Belle, I thought they would get along splendidly, but she hasn't come in yet today."

Bunny fought the urge to roll her eyes. Tony was really the only one who liked Belle for her reading. It wasn't right for women to read. Women were supposed to focus all their time on looking pretty and finding a man and learning to cook and clean and sew. Women didn't read. "Well, I hope she'll like it here."

Molly came back out with the thick books. "These are some really good ones. I think you'll really like them, I sure did. Especially Moliere."

"I hope I like them. To be honest, I'm not really much of a reader myself." Bunny confessed, although why it was any of this new girl's business she couldn't say. For some reason, she felt the essence of a friend coming from her.

"Really." Molly smiled knowingly, understandingly.

"Yeah. But there's this man I really want, but he's got his mind fixed on this other girl who is a lot like you. She reads a lot and is extremely beautiful."

"So you want to try and show him that you're also these things." Molly stroked the cover of one of the many books. "If you want, I could read these with you and help you understand them. That way you'll not only have read them but be able to show that you know what you read."

For a moment Bunny hesitated. To be seen with a brain like this Molly, this book reading girl, it would be scandalous in the eyes of her sisters and other friends. But on the other hand she found that she wanted to get to know her and be her friend. It must be hard to be new to a village like this without anyone you can call friend.

"I'd like that. Thank you."

Luna grinned inwardly. Things were going quite well.

AN: End of Act 8, Act 1 of Part 3. I love the song Koi no Senshi Ja Irarenai and Drive Me the Mercury from the musicals, so I thought Genius the Veil was the perfect title for Part 3.