Episode 1: Everlasting Moon Child

A brilliant sunset turned the sky blood red as a scorching dry wind whipped around Sailor Pisces and the evil empress Zodia. Clutching the Kiri-gatana close to her, Pisces stared into the empress’s flashing red eyes with her own deep blue ones. At least her stance was unrelenting. Pisces was shaking inside.
She was almost forty. She was too old for fighting. She had two children and a sick husband who needed taking care of. But still ... This was a battle she had to fight. Even if she hadn’t fought in over twenty years. Pisces reaffirmed her strength and took a few steps towards the empress.
“I will never stop fighting until the deaths of the others are avenged,” she said coolly. Aries ... Leo ... Scorpio ... Capricorn ... They could not have died in vain. Pisces wouldn’t allow it. She had waited twenty years for this moment.
“You are old, and out of practice,” Zodia sneered. “I should kill you right here ... But a powerful mind such as yours should not be put to waste. I shall find a good use for you.”
“A what?!?”
Pisces didn’t have time to protest. Zodia blasted her in the chest with a beam of white-hot light. Things were already beginning to change ...

Hoshio Toruno sat solemnly at his desk in the back room of his astrology shop. He unrolled a large piece of paper and began his forecast for the next day. The room, lit by only one candle and filled with odd mystical trinkets and charts, seemed to take on an unearthly quality. It was the same room where both his mother and father had done the same thing. That is, before his mother had disappeared and his father had died from a serious illness not too soon afterward.
Toruno carefully drew the circle and began to plot the positions. He noticed that the Moon would enter Cancer on the following day. Toruno smiled and brushed back a lock of his dark blonde hair. He knew someone who would think that this was really something.

Crystal Tokyo was crowded the next morning with students walking with anticipation- or dread- towards their new year at school. Three of these students, walking towards the giant glass monstrosity that was Sekai Mado Gakuen, were Hateshinai Tsukiko, Uchuuno Momoko, and Yureru Kaze. Both Tsukiko and Momoko were entering their second year, and Kaze was entering her third. Tsukiko was skipping a little ways ahead of the other two, not liking the fact that she was going back to school but happy because her friends were with her.
“Ne, ne, Tsuki-chan,” Momoko said, “Don’t get too far ahead of us!”
Tsukiko whirled around. Laughter sparkled in her silver eyes. “And what if I do?”
Kaze shrugged. “Well, I don’t know-”
“Let’s find out, shall we?” With that, Tsukiko took off running as fast as her long legs could carry her.
“Hey!!!”
Momoko was off like a shot. Kaze, whose legs were a little shorter than the other two, tried vainly to keep up, but couldn’t. Tsukiko and Momoko stood and waited for the school’s shortest third-year student to catch up to them. When she did, she was out of breath, and her eyes showed murder.
“If you-” Kaze gasped for breath- “if you ever- gasp- ever do that to me again, I’ll- gasp-I’ll ...”
This was when Kaze began to hiccup. Tsukiko and Momoko started laughing, and Momoko suddenly poked her in the belly, making a strange growl-like sound.
“Ack!!!” Kaze coughed, and then stopped hiccupping. The other two were on the ground, rolling around because Kaze’s predicament was far too hilarious to take standing up.
“Hey!” Kaze helped them up, and then waved a finger at them. “Is that any way to treat your senpai?!?” Now she was laughing as well.
“Gomen!” Tsukiko and Momoko both bowed, and the three carried on laughing the rest of the way to Sekai Mado.

As they got nearer to the Rokuban shopping district, Kaze and Momoko began to be on the lookout. They knew what was coming-
“Ne, minna-chan!”
Both Kaze and Momoko looked at their friend, who had lagged behind and was now, as usual, peering into the window of the astrology store.
“Can we go in there for a second and say hello to Toruno-oniisan??? Please?” Tsukiko began to jump up and down. “It’s the first day and I bet he’ll want to see me!”
“You mean that you want to see him,” Kaze said with a wry smile.
“Come on, Tsuki-chan, we’ve got to keep going.” Momoko huffed, and a piece of blond hair fluttered in the following breeze. “You don’t want to be late today!”
But it was too late. Toruno had already opened the door and greeted the girls with a warm smile. “Ah, Tsuki-chan!” He laughed. “When do you not come to visit me?”
“When I’m sick or out of town, but I try anyway!” Tsukiko skipped gleefully into the store, and the others followed, exasperated.
“Talk about a really bad crush,” Momoko muttered.
“It wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t have to drag us along,” Kaze replied just as secretly.
“So, what do the stars have to offer me today, Toruno-oniisan?” Tsukiko asked as Toruno went behind the counter. Tsukiko held onto the counter and stood on her tiptoes, waiting happily.
Toruno brought out a chart which he had made the night before. “Well,” he began, pointing out a prominently marked place, “the Moon enters Cancer today.”
“Yay!!!” Tsukiko jumped up and down again. Not only was she the Moon Child, but she was also a Cancer, and darn well proud of it. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” Toruno said, rolling the chart back up and putting it away, “that a large change in your lifestyle will be coming very soon. Emotions may run high at times, but things will turn out all right.”
“Oh, really?” Tsukiko glanced back at her friends. Kaze was standing around with her arms crossed, and Momoko was looking at her watch. “Well, I’ve got to go now! Please tell me more later!” She began to leave. “Ja ne,” she said as they went out of the door.
Toruno smiled and shook his head. Sometimes, words could not be used to describe Hateshinai Tsukiko.

Thankfully, Tsukiko and Momoko were in the same class. They would have gone crazy otherwise. However, they had to settle for sitting a row away from each other, due to the fact that Ushino Ichiro (the teacher) had taught- or tried to teach- the two when they were sitting close together, and it was impossible.
“Geez, why do we have to deal with dumb old Ushino-sensei again?” Tsukiko thought to herself, taking out her books. “He just had to move up a level when we did, didn’t he?” She started to take notes, and felt herself falling asleep, just like last year.
Something moving outside caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Tsukiko turned and looked out of the window. There, sitting on the window ledge on the fourteenth floor, was a cat. A gray-striped cat with a star on his forehead. He appeared to be about a year old, and was staring right at Tsukiko, his head cocked in curiosity. Tsukiko stared back at the cat in the exact same way for a few moments.
“Hateshinai-san!”
Tsukiko jumped, and looked around. Everyone in the classroom was staring at her.
“Are you here?” Ushino-sensei asked, staring down at her through his tiny spectacles.
Tsukiko laughed nervously. “Ano...hai,” she said, feeling the redness creep up her face. Once the roll call had resumed, Tsukiko looked back at the window. The cat was gone.
With a sigh, Tsukiko shrugged and went back to the drudgery that was Algebra.

The man walked quietly down the halls of the blue marble palace. His dark blue ponytail swished in his wake as he made his way to the ornate door and knocked.
“You may enter,” the deep voice of the Queen responded.
The man opened the door and bowed. “Queen Chrysobera, you called for me?”
Chrysobera nodded. She stood up, and her dark red hair- with one streak of golden blonde that seemed very out of place- tumbled almost to the floor. “Ganymede...It appears that the time has come. We must be prepared.”
Ganymede bowed deeply. “How shall I do my part, Your Majesty?”
Chrysobera took a sip of red wine from her crystal goblet. “We want you to find out who she will be. Whoever she is, stop her before anyone tells her.”
Ganymede looked up, surprised. “But how? Finding out the identity of a Sailor Senshi, especially one that hasn’t been awakened yet-”
“There is a way!” Chrysobera snarled. “We have developed one...” She lifted up her hand and a soft glowing red orb appeared in it. When the light faded, the orb turned out to be a ring.
“Wear this,” she said, handing it to Ganymede. “It is attuned to the energy of a Sailor Senshi. Any time one is nearby, you will know.”
Ganymede took the ring and bowed again. “I shall not fail you, Queen Chrysobera.”
“See to it that you don’t. We don’t want you to have any...shall we say...accidents.” Chrysobera grinned wickedly. “Now leave. We have important business to attend to.”
“Yes, my queen.” Ganymede bowed once more and left.

“But...but I really did see a cat!”
It was lunchtime, and the three girls were sitting on a bench, eating.
“On the fourteenth floor?” Kaze was incredulous. “I knew cats were good climbers, but not that good!”
“How come nobody else saw it? Something like that would have to have been noticed by someone else,” Momoko said through a mouthful of rice cake. “I think you were just seeing things.”
Tsukiko huffed and crossed her arms. “There was really a cat out there! And it looked like one of those special Mau cats, too! He had a star on his forehead!”
Kaze started to laugh. “What would an inhabitant of Mau want with someone on Earth?”
“No idea,” Tsukiko said. “All I know is that I-”
She dropped her spoon and stared into the bushes. Two green eyes stared back.
“There he is!”
Kaze and Momoko turned, just in time to see nothing at all. Tsukiko was pointing at the bush and blabbering.
“But...but...he was...just a second ago...he was...he was!”

After school, Tsukiko had to walk home by herself, since Kaze had cram school and Momoko had volleyball practice. Tsukiko usually detested being alone, but it wasn’t so bad. At least she could stay at Toruno’s store for as long as she wanted! This thought put a little bounce in her step as she walked closer to the shopping district.
“Excuse me, young lady.”
Tsukiko stopped. “Nani?” She looked around for the voice.
“Down here.”
She looked down. Standing at her feet was the cat which had haunted her visions all day.
“You?! You talk?!?...” Tsukiko stopped. “Oh, yeah. You must be from Mau, huh?”
The cat nodded. “And I have something very important to tell you.”
“Well, can it wait a little bit? I’m kind of in a hurry.” Tsukiko looked longingly in the direction of the astrology store.
“It’s very important,” the cat said, a little agitated. “We really must-”
He looked up, and Tsukiko was gone.
“Gomen ne! Talk to you later!” she exclaimed as she went on her way.
The cat sighed in exasperation. “Why is it always a teenage girl?” he asked nobody in particular as a big sweat drop rolled down his face. He then shook off his annoyance and started running after Tsukiko.

The tiny bell on the door rang, announcing Tsukiko’s entrance. The only other person in the store at the time was a strange-looking man with long blue hair in a ponytail. He had on a black trenchcoat and huge sunglasses.
“Hi!” Tsukiko sang, skipping towards the counter. Toruno finished writing something, looked up, and smiled.
“Good afternoon, Tsuki-chan. Have you come to actually buy anything today?” he asked playfully.
Tsukiko looked up, and then hummed a little. “Maybe if you’ve got something that’s less than 100 yen.”
Toruno shook his head. “Look around, see what you can find. I doubt it’ll be anything spectacular.”
“But I didn’t come here to buy anything! I came here to tell you about my first day of school, and-”
“And the cat that keeps following you around?”
Tsukiko stopped, mid-sentence. Toruno raised an eyebrow and waited for a reply.
“Um...yeah,” Tsukiko said. This wasn’t the first time Toruno had completed a sentence for her. In fact, it was the 76th time. She had kept count. That's how much she was in love.
“There he is.”
Tsukiko whirled around. There was the cat, holding something in his mouth.
“Hello there, neko-chan! What’s that you have there?” Tsukiko stooped down to pet him.
The cat dropped the object at Tsukiko’s feet. Tsukiko stared at it in awe.
It was a beautiful silver pen with a clear glass jewel at the top. Inscribed with elegance on the top of the jewel was the Cancer insignia. Tsukiko examined the pen with great care.
“Ah...It’s gorgeous!...I bet I can’t afford it though.” She put the pen back down.
“My name is Cosma, and I’m giving it to you,” the cat spoke in plain Japanese. “Take it.”
Tsukiko picked up the pen and looked through the glass at the top. “Wow, really?”
Both Cosma and Toruno nodded. At that moment, Tsukiko realized that it was almost 5, and her mother would chew her up and spit her out if she was home any later. She quickly bowed to the both of them. “Arigatou-gozaimasu!” With that, she hurried out. “See you tomorrow!”
Toruno and the cat watched her leave. The man with the ponytail didn’t seem to notice. After she was gone, Toruno turned to Cosma.
“Aha, so you’ve found her,” Toruno said. “Good job. But... is it really Tsuki-chan? I mean, she‘s intelligent, and would definitely take the challenge, but... isn’t she a bit too... flighty?”
Cosma shrugged his kitty shoulders. “Well, you remember your History class, right?”
“Right.”
“And what you learned about Sailormoon- before she was Sailormoon?”
“Uh huh... ”
Cosma winked knowingly. “At least we got someone who was smart.”
Toruno laughed. He rarely did so, which is why it was good that Tsukiko wasn’t there, because his laugh would have definitely made her keel over in a great big pile of swooning mush. He had that kind of laugh. “I suppose you’re right.” He looked at his watch. It was 5. Time to close.
He walked from behind the counter and approached the man with the blue hair. “Excuse me, sir... We’re closing now.”
The man put down the book he was examining, turned towards Toruno and Cosma, and grinned. He took off his sunglasses, showing a pair of deep blood-red eyes.
“Already?...Why would you want to close now? When my fun is about to begin?...You can‘t expect Ganymede to exit without a flourish!”
With that, he threw off his trenchcoat, revealing an elaborate costume complete with a cloak, a medieval-looking shirt, tight pants, and tall boots. Before Toruno could react to this, Ganymede extended his hand and grabbed him around the throat.
“I haven’t found a Sailor Senshi yet...” Ganymede grinned wickedly. “But you know of one. Isn’t that right?”
Toruno could barely speak, due to the fact that he was choking. All that escaped from his mouth were helpless gasps.
“If you don’t tell me...I suppose I’ll have to force it from you.” Ganymede squeezed even tighter. Toruno would not budge. He couldn’t tell. He couldn’t put Tsukiko in danger...
I guess it’s now or never, Cosma thought. He quickly crept out the back door and bounded away to Tsukiko’s house.

Reclining in her hammock, Tsukiko was listening to a Minty Fresh CD on her portable player. She looked up at the poster which hung on her ceiling. The bassist, Nomura Kenji, smiled back at her. Once, she had looked at it, and Kenji had winked. Really. But nobody believed her. Another thing nobody else (except for a select few) believed was that Tsukiko actually knew the words to Minty Fresh’s songs. Most of the other fans were just in it for the cute guys. But, Tsukiko was quick to add, how could you ignore lyrics like this?:

Before you came, I had 170 points to my I.Q.

But now I’ve lost them all, since I first met you.

Girl you’ve made me lose my mind, and believe me that ain’t all,

Now I’m only 5’10", I used to be 7 feet tall.

Ah, yes. Pure genius.
Tsukiko was so much into the song that she didn’t hear the tapping at her window. Well, actually, she did, but she attributed it to a scratch on her CD.
“Che,” she grumbled, stopping the music and taking her precious CD out to examine it. That was when she realized that the tapping was not stopping. And there was a strange silhouette on her wall. With an appendage that moved whenever the tapping ensued. Shaking a teeny bit, Tsukiko peeked over the CD jewel box. There, sitting on her ledge, was the same cat she had seen all day. He looked alarmed, and his tail twitched in agitation.
“Oh! Gomen ne, neko-chan!” Tsukiko opened the window. “Hi there!”
“Tsukiko-san...” The cat looked dead serious. “Where is your pen?”
“Right here,” Tsukiko said, pulling it out of her pocket. “I never parted with it. It’s so cool!” She hugged the pen. “And it’s mine! You can’t have it back!” She clutched even tighter.
“I haven’t come to take it back. But I do want you to follow me.”
“Huh?” Tsukiko cocked her head to one side. “Follow you? Why should I?”
“Because.” The cat sighed. “There’s something you have to do. Come on.” With that, he jumped out of the window. Unsure, a little scared, and wondering if her CD would be okay sitting out of its case, Tsukiko climbed out after him.

“What are we doing here?”
Tsukiko and Cosma were standing in the dead of night in the Rokuban shopping district, near the astrology store.
“Look inside the store,” Cosma said gravely. Tsukiko looked through the window. Standing in the middle of the store was a wicked-looking man with a long blue ponytail and a medieval-looking outfit. Toruno was collapsed on the floor, and a trail of white sparkling energy was streaming from his chest into the evil man’s hands.
“Toruno-oniisan!!!!” Tsukiko screamed.
“Shhh!!!” Cosma hissed.
But it was too late. The man looked up at Tsukiko and Cosma. He got a murderous glint in his eye.
“Run!”
Tsukiko skidded into the alley just as a giant ball of dark energy plowed through the window and dissolved soon afterwards. She curled up into a ball, trying to keep away from flying debris. It was then that she realized that Cosma wasn’t with her.
“Cosma?...” Tsukiko looked around, afraid that he had been hurt.
“I’m fine!” The reply came from above.
Tsukiko looked up. Cosma was sitting on her head.
“There’s a way you can help Toruno-san,” he continued, jumping down.
“There is?!?” Tsukiko jumped up. “Tell me!”
Cosma smiled with self-satisfaction. This was the moment he enjoyed most in training a Sailor Senshi. “Take that pen of yours and hold it in the air.”
“Okay...” Tsukiko held up the pen. “And now?...”
“Now...shout ‘Cancer Cosmic Power Make Up!’”
Tsukiko took a deep breath. “Yoshi!” (Everyone say it together!) “CANCER COSMIC POWER MAKE UP!!!”
A brilliant flash of silver and light blue exploded around Tsukiko as she began her transformation. Swirls of silver encircled her feet, waist, and torso. A cool, fresh wind blew it all away, and there she was, the pretty soldier SAILOR CANCER!
Tsukiko stood, shaking. “What...what happened?”
Cosma smiled again. “You’re a Sailor Senshi.”
“I am?!?” Tsukiko looked at everything- her gloves (short and trimmed in silver), her feet (which now had lovely brown sandals on them), the light blue ribbons extending from her back. “Well...” She was at a loss for words. “What...do I do now?”
“Go inside the store.”
Tsukiko remembered the great big explosion of bad energy, and shuddered. “Do I...have to?”
“You want to save Toruno-san, right?”
“That’s right...” A spark of determination ignited within Tsukiko’s silver eyes. “Right! I’m going in there!” She began to walk somewhat confidently to the store.
“Ganbatte,” Cosma called after her. “Once you’re in, I’ll follow. And remember: Don’t be afraid. This enemy feeds on fear.”
Tsukiko nodded. “Wakatta.”

Ganymede was about to finish off Toruno, but something clicked in his mind. He looked down at the ring which had been given to him by Chrysobera. It was now glowing brightly.
“Aha...” He grinned wickedly. “A Sailor Senshi is nearby...”
“And just WHO do you think you are?!?!?”
Ganymede turned around. Sure enough, there was one. She was dressed in a fuku of silver and light blue, and looked fit to kill.
“Me?...” Ganymede righted himself and smiled. “I am Ganymede, servant of Chrysobera. Don’t think you can put me off with any of your flashy tricks. My powers are greater than yours. However-” he yawned- “I shall give you a chance to introduce yourself. I like to know who I’m brutally defeating.”
The spunky little senshi grew even angrier. “Who am I? I’ll tell you who I am!” She began to make neat little movements to prove her points as she made them. “I am the defender of the world’s energy, the pretty silver soldier of ice, fighting for peace and justice- Sailor Cancer! On behalf of the constellations, I won’t be defeated by the likes of you!”
Ganymede laughed cynically. “Very impressive. And now that I’ve met you, it’s time to say goodbye.” With that, he gathered another huge concentration of dark energy and sent it hurling straight for Sailor Cancer. She, however, rolled out of the way and hopped back to her feet once the attack was gone.
“Ha! That was nothing!” Tsukiko huffed.
“Now! Shout ‘Freezing Catapult’!”
Tsukiko looked around. There was Cosma, in the doorway.
“Yoshi!”
Before she could, however, another concentration of energy hit Cosma. The cat tumbled and rolled over a few times, unconscious.
“Cosma!!!” Tsukiko whirled around and saw the sight. Suddenly, something shoved her down to the ground.
“What the-”
Yet another dark energy formation shot right over her head. Tsukiko cringed, and then stood back up. I’m not scared. I’m not scared, she kept telling herself. She took a deep breath, and then:
“FREEZING CATAPULT!!!”
Once this was shouted, a giant snowball went flying at Ganymede. Realizing that there was no way out of this and that they would be doing this all evening, Ganymede decided to humor the kid and hit her especially hard at a later time. He vanished before the snowball could hit him.
Tsukiko was shaking again. She looked at Toruno, then at Cosma, and left the store. She picked up the unconscious cat and carried him off.

When Toruno woke up, all he saw was a silver and light blue-clad girl, appearing as an angel, bathed in moonlight, disappearing from view.

Cosma awoke in Tsukiko’s room with a blanket over him, his injured paw wrapped in a bandage. He lifted his head sleepily and saw Tsukiko, slung in her hammock, snoring lightly. The pen was still in her hand, barely scraping the floor. Cosma smiled and went back to sleep. At least she’s somewhat intelligent, he thought. Somewhat.