Naru's Girl: The Origin This is the concept I floated for an alternative line quite some time ago. usa_serenity has taken the concept and run with it, and integrated it into the Dream series starting with the presence of the Grey Lady . . .

The divergence began when Artemis awakened from coldsleep. Luna's capsule had failed, and she wass long dead. Artemis could only identify Minako, but did not know she was the Princess of Venus in her former life. Minako fought as "The Sailor Warrior" instead of "Sailor V."

The early battle with the Dark Kingdom developed differently. Kaitou Ace survived and changed sides. With his help, Minako was able to infiltrate the Dark Kingdom and help Kaitou start an insurrection. Jadeite and Zoisite were killed trying to suppress it, but Minako and Artemis were also killed.

Kaitou survived and continued leading resistance to Beryl's rule. Kunzite was charged with keeping the resistance under control until something more permanent could be done, but Nephrite was sent to Earth to gather energy and to search for the ginzuishou. It was a decision neither Kunzite nor Nephrite agreed with, despite their differences, but Beryl could still command them.

Without any senshi to fight, Nephrite had a safer task, although not an easier one. His powers were weaker since he could not draw very much on the energy reserves. He realized early on that he was not powerful enough to stand up to mortal weapons, so he took care not to attract the attention of the authorities.

He also had constant interference from Beryl, who was becoming obsessed with finding the ginzuishou. Eventually he created a crystal to search for it, but it lead him to Naru instead of Usagi--Naru had a much greater magical aura than Usagi, especially an Usagi who hadn't been "awakened" to her heritage.

Nephrite had to be careful; the creation of his crystal had drained his power reserves to almost nothing, and police were getting interested in him--his identity as "Sanjouin Masato" was breaking down. But fortunately he had charmed Naru so effectively she was willing to do anything for him, including help him hide out in a condemned building.

But more time with Naru meant more time for her magic to work on him. When he finally recovered his power, instead of draining Naru completely and disposing of her, he returned to the Dark Kingdom and killed Beryl. Without Beryl, Metallia was not able to channel her powers; her presence dissipated, and the Dark Kingdom dimension collapsed, scattering survivors across many worldlines.

The other senshi never awakened. Ann and Ail came, and their attacks killed Naru and Makoto. But the Doom Tree died, and Ann and Ail died with it. As the Founder suspected, Tau System as well as Nemesis were creations of Crystal Tokyo, so those enemies never appeared. Neither did the Dead Moon Circus--Nephelenia seems to have been from Crystal Tokyo's future as well as its past.

Mamoru never really met Usagi, though he saw here occasionally at the Crown center when he was visiting Motoki. He didn't meet Ami until they were together at her mother's clinic in Africa, and they married eventually.

Without the distraction of senshi business, Rei turned her considerable energies to getting Kaidou, her father's protoge. Not surprisingly, she succeeded. She also made an enemy of the Matsudaira clan, and Kaidou's career did not go well. Rei studied law, but it seems clear she will never be admitted to the (highly restrictive) bar of Japan. She is thinking of emigrating, with or without Kaidou.

Without cape-boy, and without Naru, Usagi eventually noticed that Umino was a really sweet guy. After a very unhappy encounter with Hasakawa Toshiro, Usagi married Umino. Their oldest child is really Hasakawa's. Umino never met Suuri Kurume and he didn't go to college. He didn't become super-rich, but he established a prosperous computer consulting firm in Japan.

Naru is gone, but she left a living legacy: Himiko, the child of Nephrite.

[Note: "Kaitou" and "Kaidou" are quite different people, although I mixed up the names in the original version of this writeup. Both are characters created by Takeuchi Naoko herself. Kaitou Ace is from the Sailor V Manga series and Kaidou is from the "Casablancas" story that appeared in one of the Sailor Moon mangas (and also in a very good fanfic by Masked Maiden.)]