Neptune gasped for air, stumbling over to the boy, then made sure he was
alive.
He was fine... but what could she do now?
Hmmm... they were both going to be late now, but she had her enhanced speed
as Neptune... she decided she'd carry him to her school, detransform, and explain
that she'd found him lying on the ground and just had to help, didn't know what
school he went to... that's why she was late. Attacks from strange supernatural
beings weren't exactly uncommon in Tokyo, and well, as for heroes...
Neptune chuckled as she ran with the boy in her arms. The Inner Senshi were
awakened, and she knew they were fighting enemies out there. They'd become
the fascination of the local media, the saviors of the meek, the...
God, she really needed to get more sleep.
She found a place to detransform, then struggled a bit to carry the boy, his
bag, and hers at the same time. He seemed much heavier now that she was a
normal girl again.
A school official ran outside when he saw her. He came over and took the boy
from her. "What happened here?"
"I came across him on the way to school... he'd been attacked..."
"Thank you very much, young lady. You just might have saved his life."
She felt a cold feeling in her heart as she looked down at him...
I almost took his life... if the daimons can't be restored to a human when
we finish battling them...
"I-I suppose I did."
"Here, take this pass and go to class. A situation like this shouldn't be
counted as a tardy, hmm? We'll get him back to Mugen Gakuen right away."
Michiru slowly trudged towards the elevator. Why was she stuck fighting alone?
Who knew when Uranus would awaken, and the Inner Senshi... they were separate
from her... they had different obligations...
But what were hers exactly? Pluto was never very clear about them...
"Pluto... if you can hear me... Please..."
Pluto's image shimmered in front of her. "I'm sorry I can't appear directly
to you, but I cannot leave the Gate, not now."
"Why not?"
"There's--" her image rippled a bit, "a group trying to break through right
now... I must--" It disappeared, then reappeared. "I hope you don't have
anything important as your next class, because--" shimmer, "you'll have a
vision that will explain every--"
The image disappeared, and Pluto's voice with it.
The elevator made a "ting" sound at that moment, and Michiru slowly stepped
off into the hallway. She went to her classroom, gave her teacher the pass,
and took her seat. Some of her classmates looked at her with amusement.
"What happened to being _perfect_?" someone hissed.
"Ooo, little musician can't get to class on time..."
"Stayed up too late working on your CD, huh? Guess we're too good for y--"
"Shut the hell up," she said between clenched teeth.
"Oooooo..."
"Excuse me," the teacher called out loudly. "The discussion going on back there
needs to end, _now_." He then went back to his lecture.
Michiru sat back in his seat while he rattled off math, and closed her eyes.
She could feel herself slipping into a dream-like state, and welcomed it.
It was as if she was back on the Moon, the Silver Millennium. Everything
looked as it once did, the palace, the courtyard...
"Sailorneptune," a voice called out.
"I'm here," she said. She looked down at herself and noticed she was
wearing her fuku. "Who's there?"
A woman walked up, smiling gently at her. Neptune was amazed at her
appearance. Her eyes and hair were silvery in color, a gold crescent
moon was in the center of her forehead, and her hair was pulled into
two buns on either side of her head, with a long trail of hair spilling
from each. Her white gown was simple, but elegant; sleeveless, fitted
in places, with a bow of sorts in the front. She walked with a regal
bearing, and there was something about her...
She fell to one knee and lowered her face. "My Queen," she murmured,
filled with awe.
"Please... that was long ago. The time for formal titles has past."
"Queen Serenity... I..."
"Walk with me."
Neptune nodded and rose to her feet, unable to refuse her. This woman
was the ruler of the Silver Millennium, heir to the Moon Kingdom,
and...
"My Queen, what happened to the ginzuishou?"
Queen Serenity laughed a bit. "What a thing to ask! It's been so long,
and that's the first thing that comes to mind?"
Neptune felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I... my
mind seems at odds with itself sometimes, all these memories... I don't
quite know why I do things sometimes."
"That's all right... As for the ginzuishou, my daughter has it now."
"The princess was safely reborn?"
"Yes, and..." Queen Serenity smiled sadly. "My little Serenity is now
a Senshi, fighting alongside her old court."
Neptune's eyebrows raised in alarm. "But... the Inner Senshi were her
protectors! She is... she is one of them now?"
"Yes, she is Sailormoon now. The power of the ginzuishou is now in
her hands..."
"I never really understood the ginzuishou..."
"Well, there's not much known about it... it is hard to explain to
someone who hasn't used it. The ginzuishou gives you the power to do
so much good! To heal, to create, and it is made even more useful
when combined with special wands and staffs... but... it can be deadly,
if you try to do too much with it..."
Queen Serenity looked away from her, and stopped walking.
"My Queen... if... if it isn't too painful to tell... how did you die?"
"I used all my remaining energy when I sent everyone to the future. The
ginzuishou took too much out of me..."
Neptune gasped in shock. "Pluto... she never told me that..."
"Pluto is hard-pressed in her tasks, I'm afraid. She can't explain it
all herself..." She turned to face Neptune again. "Which is why you are
here with me. I need to explain what it _really_ means to be an Outer
Senshi... and what your mission is now."
"The Outer Senshi are comprised of you, obviously, Pluto, Uranus, and...
you'll discover that later. You three are the important ones for now.
During the Silver Millennium, the Inner Senshi were the guardians of my
daughter. They protected her from attack. The Outer Senshi guarded against
outside invasions, a much larger task. Because of this, you were given
stronger powers. You didn't interact with the Inner Senshi often; there
was no need. You weren't meant to; you had separate duties. I wish that
we'd thought to train you to work together, though...
"That's beside the point. You've been awakened now because you have
something important to do... something that will ultimately lead to the
destruction of Earth or its salvation.
"The Inner Senshi are busy fighting their own battle, but a new enemy is
quickly building its forces. You have fought some, yes? The 'daimons'...
these are the work of a group calling themselves the 'Deathbusters'. They
want to take this world for their own, for their master. To do this, they
need the power of an item known as the Holy Grail.
"The Holy Grail can be used for either good or evil. The power it can give
is almost unsurpassed. Both good and evil have a Messiah in this battle, a
Messiah of Light, and a Messiah of Dark. If the Messiah of Dark should gain
the power of the Holy Grail, we are doomed. We need to get the Holy Grail
and give it to the Messiah of Light.
"In order for us to have the Holy Grail, we must find the three Talismans.
These are sealed within people with pure hearts. Those with pure hearts
have a special crystal inside them, their 'heart crystal'. Three people
have heart crystals that contain Talismans. You must find these people and
retrieve the Talismans at all costs.
"The enemy is developing technology that can extract heart crystals. Be on
the watch, and be prepared to fight many daimons in order to gain access to
the heart crystals yourselves.
"You will know the Talismans when you see them. Do not be too frantic
worrying about when the Deathbusters will move to find them; your
partner will awaken before then. But be prepared."
Neptune trembled and had to lean on a column for support. "This... this
is our mission?"
"Yes."
"The fate of the world..." Neptune felt hot tears sting her eyes. All
this responsibility, the lives of everyone...
"I... I must warn you... if the heart crystal is away from a person's
body too long, they will die. Therefore, if someone's heart crystal
is a Talisman--"
"They will die." Neptune shut her eyes tight. "I understand..."
"Do you accept this mission?"
"I do." Not like I have a choice.
"Good luck... Michiru." Queen Serenity hugged her. "Good luck."
 
 
Michiru lifted her head from her desk when she heard the bell ring for the
end of class. Some kids gave her odd looks as they left. Her teacher called
her to his desk.
"Kaiou-san, in the future, please do not fall asleep in my class. I understand
you've had a rough morning, but... you're my best student, and you need to
set an example, all right?"
"Yes, sensei, it won't happen again," she said, bowing to him before leaving.
 
 
At lunch, she went over to sit by Elza as usual. Elza grinned widely at her.
"Hey, Michiru-chan! Hope you don't mind that I brought my sister today."
The girl next to her smiled and waved. She looked a lot like Elza, with the
same red hair and hazel eyes, but she was paler and wore her wavy hair long.
"Nice to meet you," Michiru said.
"Nice to meet you, too," Cindy said. "I can't believe we never met before."
"Well, that's Elza's fault," Michiru said, winking teasingly at Elza.
Elza chuckled a bit. "Hey, my family usually isn't around!"
"We are too," Cindy said, "you just aren't around when we're around."
"Oh, phooey..."
"You are both nuts," Michiru said with a smile.
"Yep," they said at the same time.
Michiru laughed and pulled her lunch out. It was nice to have another person
to talk to for once. Elza was her best friend, her only real friend, and she
was glad to have her, but sometimes she wanted to talk to more people than
just her. Elza usually sat alone as well; people were nervous around her due
to her growing fame. Now people were avoiding Michiru more than usual, as
well, what with her great success in music and her CD having just come out.
"I just got your CD," Cindy said, eyes twinkling. "It's really incredible. I
loved 'Windsong' the best."
"Really?" It was a song she'd composed about Haruka.
"Yeah, I _love_ your music... Elza's mentioned you before as being her friend,
but I hadn't gotten the chance to meet you... This is so cool! Anyways, I'll be
there for tomorrow's performance. I can't wait!... Hope I'm not acting too much
like a crazy fan," she said with a laugh.
"That hasn't happened yet," Michiru said.
A boy suddenly ran over to the table. "A-are you Kaiou Michiru?!"
Elza and Cindy giggled behind their hands, and Michiru said slowly, "Yes, why?"
He thrust a pen and paper out at her. "C-could I have your autograph?"
Michiru blinked several times, then took the pen and paper, asked his name,
and wrote a brief message.
"Oh, thank you so much!" he said, bowing deeply to her, then racing off again.
"You were saying, Michiru-chan?" Elza said, bursting out laughing.
"Ha ha, funny, Elza. So, Cindy... um, what else has Elza-chan said about me?"
"Michiru-chan!" Elza seemed shocked. "You think I'd talk bad about you behind
your back or something?"
"Of course not! I'm just wondering whether I need to inform her of certain things
or if you mentioned them."
"Er..."
Cindy cut in, "Well, she knows that I was good friends when I was younger with
someone you're interested in, so she mentioned that... She thought I might be
able to help... And I actually ran into this person on the way to school today
and exchanged phone numbers."
"Oh, wow, that would be great if you could... I mean, I'm still going to have
Elza-chan introduce us--"
"Me and my great people skills!" Elza said, sticking out her tongue and winking.
"Hush, silly. Later, though, if... this person acts stubborn, I could use some
help from a mutual friend."
"All right, that'll be fine with me," Cindy smiled widely. "So, you know a lot
about this person, right? How have things been lately?"
"I..." Michiru considered just what to say. "Things... have been very bad. Hard
times... Sunao-san had them move out into an apartment... Katai," Michiru spat
the name, "was a real jerk."
"Oh boy, was he ever!" Cindy agreed. "I remember going over to the house and him
telling me to leave, or not letting us play together... What an asshole! Well,
I'm glad they moved away from him. I would if I was stuck with him."
"Yeah..."
Kirei popped up behind them and shouted, "Boo!"
Elza and Cindy jumped a bit, not expecting someone to be there.
"Um, hi, onee-chan," Michiru said. Strange, she had known Kirei was there, and
that it was her, before she said anything. "What brings you over here?"
"You wanted to go to that race tonight, right?"
"Yes..."
"And you weren't sure about ticket availability?"
"... Yes..."
Kirei grinned shyly and handed her two papers. Michiru's eyes widened as she
took them from her. "Tickets for it?"
"I thought you would like them..."
"Thank you, onee-chan!" Michiru said, standing to hug her sister. Stepping
back, she asked, "Why two?"
"Cuz I'm going too," Kirei said with a wink. "Chance to catch up, and plus...
heh heh, there's this cute racer named Hayasa Erai..."
"Oh, an ulterior motive!" Michiru joked.
"Hey!... Well, Kanpeki said Murasaki-chan's friends with him... everyone calls
him Hayasa instead of Erai... I was thinking--"
"Oh brother... or should I say sister..."
"You're so _funny_, Michiru," Kirei teased. "Well, I gotta be going... the
silly clique thing, y'know? It really gets old, you're lucky to escape it..."
"Bye, Kirei."
"Bye, Michiru... and, uh, you two. I don't know you... oh well, bye all."
After Kirei had left, Elza commented, "I always thought your family was odd."
"Be quiet, Elza. At least she's trying to get along, unlike my parents, and
of course Suteki..."
"Good point."
"Well, I really need to eat--"
"Oh yeah! Food!" Cindy smacked her forehead. "C'mon, little miss track star,
need to keep your energy up."
Elza blew a raspberry at her, then they all began to eat.
 
 
At the end of the day, Haruka made sure she reminded Bofu that she wouldn't
be going to be at practice, then went straight to the race track. She could
feel her heart pounding with excitement. It was still early, and the race
wouldn't be for a few hours, but she wanted to be there anyways.
Engi waved and smiled to her as she walked into the garage. "Well, Haruka-
chan, you ready for tonight's debut?"
"You bet I am!" Haruka punched her fist into her palm. "I'm going to kick
some serious ass!"
"Don't get cocky," he warned. "Go out there aiming to do a great job, and
be happy if you do win, but don't be mad if you don't place first, ok?"
Haruka winked. "I'll be a bit disappointed, but hey, it's my first time."
"Can't win 'em all."
Haruka laughed and said, "Well, once I start making first place, I'll probably
expect to."
Engi chuckled a bit and said, "I know what that's like... I used to race, you
know. But I'm getting too old for this now. I'll let all the young guys-- and
girls-- have all the glory and fame."
"I didn't realize you'd raced!"
"How'd you think I know so much about cars and racing them?"
"Uh... er... I don't know. I never thought about that." Haruka scratched her
head, then looked around a bit. "Hey, where's everyone?"
"Some of them are getting off work still. Others, I don't know. Probably being
lazy, don't feel like showing up yet. I've seen several cars that could use some
last-minute tune-ups, but there's no one around yet. Too cocky." He shook his
head. "You should always show up really early. Good habit."
"How's my car?"
"Why don't you take a look at her yourself?" Engi led her to the sleek red car
she drove. "Unless there's been a change since yesterday, she's doing fine."
Haruka smiled. "Good. Man, I love this car!" She ran her hand along it, and
commented, "Once I get a good amount of money racing, enough to help pay for
school and things, I want to get my own car to drive around."
"The legal driving age is--"
"Yeah, yeah, so what if it's 18, I love driving and damnit, I'm going to drive!
Besides, I could get a motorcycle license pretty soon... I'll turn 16 in the
next school year..."
"Think you'd even want a motorcycle?"
"Why not? I'd like to try them sometime."
"Hmmm... that reminds me, you could try racing dirt bikes and things sometime."
"Let me enjoy F1 for now," she said, grinning, "but eventually I'll move on to
other things as well."
"Good! I'd hate to see you waste all your skill on one thing." Engi quickly
glanced over her car, then said, "Will your mother be coming to watch?"
"Yes, and my aunt, too, and maybe an old friend of mine."
"It'll be nice to have people you know be here."
"Yeah."
Someone rapped their knuckles against the door as they came in. Haruka looked
to see Hayasa there, an amused look on his face. "Pizza delivery," he called,
holding out a few boxes. "Thought we should have something to eat... Where
is everyone?"
"Not here."
"Always the comedian, Haruka," he said dryly. "Well, they'd better get here soon.
I didn't buy all these pizzas for no reason."
"Money out of your own pocket, Erai-kun?" Engi teased.
"Don't call me that! Yeah, I paid for it myself. Got the money, don't I?"
"I'll call you whatever I feel like, boy," Engi said, throwing a rag at him. "Now
come on, let's eat. The others can join in once they get here. Oh, and Haruka,"
he turned towards her, "go ahead and get your fire suit on. We don't need to
broadcast your gender to everyone. Some of the guys you'll race with are jerks
that will report you just as soon as look at you."
 
"Gotcha." Haruka went into a backroom and changed. She glanced at the clock and
sighed bitterly. Hurry up and be time! She wanted to race right that moment,
not wait. She didn't care that she still had to sit through the time trials,
either. Just being in her car, driving it on the track was enough.
She wobbled a bit on her feet and had to sit down. Damnit, a vision coming...
seemingly the same as always, and once it was over, she noticed someone was
knocking on the door.
"Haruka-chan, you all right in there?" Engi called.
"Fine."
"Ok, you're just taking longer than usual. Sure you're ok? Pre-race jitters
maybe?"
"I said I'm fine." What in the world... the vision was usually short, why
would it be longer? It seemed the same... Oh well.
She opened the door with a smile. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's eat!"
 
 
Michiru practically dragged Kirei by the arm to the race track. Kirei told
her they had all the time in the world, but Michiru insisted on getting there
at least half an hour early.
Michiru was excited to see they had front-row seats. Michiru looked around the
stadium to see who else might be there. Murasaki and Kanpeki were several seats
over, sitting with Sunao and Teinei. Kanpeki was coughing and fanning her face;
she hated exhaust fumes. Teinei noticed Michiru and waved, then nudged Sunao.
Sunao gave her a huge smiled, making Michiru quite glad. She had Sunao's approval
to pursue her daughter, and it thrilled Michiru to know that at least one of them
wouldn't have difficulties with their parents over the situation. Elza and Cindy
were a few more rows back from that, and two women were with them, one a red-head
and the other with black hair. Michiru assumed those were her parents; the red-
head must be their real mom.
"Eeeee! There's Hayasa-san, walking on the edge of the track! Ohhh, he's so
cute even from here! Ahhh! He's coming this way!"
"Calm down, Kir--"
"You know you'll just leap from your seat when Haruka walks out!" Kirei teased,
smiling at her. "Let me have my fun."
Hayasa walked over to the fence in front of where Murasaki sat. They talked a
bit, then Kanpeki pointed over to where the sisters sat. Hayasa smiled and
winked. Kirei squealed with excitement, then shrieked as he walked over.
"Your sister tells me you wanted to meet me?"
"Yes, yes, I did! Hi!"
"Hi there. What's your name?"
"Kirei! Kaiou Kirei!"
Hayasa took her hand and kissed it lightly. "A pleasure to meet you."
Michiru chuckled as Kirei swooned.
"Ah, Kanpeki's triplet. Nice to meet you... what brings _you_ here?" he asked