World Shaking: Chapter 4

     Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Sailor Moon or anything 
that comprises it. This is a non-profit story written solely for my own 
enjoyment and that of anyone who wishes to read it. The story and 
original characters are mine. Please don't use them without permission.
     
***

                             World Shaking

               - A Sailor Moon Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -


    Chapter 4: Monsters in the Grass!
               When Hiding is No Longer Enough.
    
    
    Makoto crept out into the hallway of Rei's home, intent on tracking 
down her errant girlfriend. It wasn't her shrine to be sneaking around 
in, of course, but Rei *had* left quite a while ago, and only to grab 
some sodas for them both. It had been a long day for Makoto, one that 
required her to juggle work all morning and lectures all afternoon, and 
she had been looking forward to a chance to unwind, knowing that she 
didn't have to return home tomorrow if she didn't want to. 
    
    Not that she and Rei were sleeping together constantly. They weren't 
even 'just sleeping' together all that much, which was why Makoto had 
been looking forward to it. After their initial flurry of interest - on 
both sides - they had calmed down and were now getting back to the task 
of being *in love* instead of infatuated, frustrated lovers. There was 
a lot they still didn't talk about where their relationship was 
concerned - Things that maybe should have been talked about months ago. 
But they were still young, Makoto realised that all too clearly, and 
they were both finding out how to deal with this relationship as they 
went along.
    
    And tonight wouldn't be the night to talk. Rei had apparently 
forgotten that her grandfather had intended to have guests over, and 
only found out when Usagi's parents had shown up on the doorstep of the 
shrine after dinner.
    
    Makoto had never known that Grandpa Hino met with *all* the Senshi's 
parents so regularly. Not frequently, but regularly. Even Rei hadn't 
known until recently, but then she hadn't thought to tell Makoto even 
after she *had* found out. Yes, that whole 'communication' thing could 
do with a little work.
    
    And now, just as Makoto had feared, Rei had found herself caught by 
their friends' parents and drawn in. It was bad enough that Makoto did 
not really know how to relate to the other girls' parents, but for as 
much time as she spent there she was still technically a guest at the 
shrine.  She couldn't just butt into their social event to steal her 
girlfriend back. 
    
    And Minako and Usagi's parents still didn't know about the whole 
*girlfriend* thing either. Well, she supposed they *knew*, but going in 
there and announcing it? As friends she wouldn't have hesitated to drag 
Rei away, or join in, but now... She didn't want to make it obvious 
that she and Rei were 'together'. It wasn't like she would go and kiss 
her in front of them or anything, but still... it would be awkward.
    
    Not that she had much choice. The second that she looked into the 
main living room of the shrine Grandpa Hino spotted her, and of course 
he couldn't help but wave her inside as obviously as he could. "Ah, 
Makoto-chan! Come and share some tea! I'm sorry we have stolen Rei-chan 
from you, but my boys and girls haven't seen her for so long! I'm sure 
they have much to catch up on with you as well!"
    
    Nice, Gramps, Makoto thought, sighing in defeat and padding inside. 
Very subtle.
    
    The Tsukinos and Ainos she had met before, if briefly, and Mizuno 
Katsura had almost become an aunt to her in recent years. She had got 
the feeling that the Ainos didn't like her much the few time she had 
met them back in school - she was a rebel, and a bad influence on 
Minako - but she had never expected to see Setsuna sitting around the 
table with them.
    
    "S-Setsuna-san? You're here too?"
    
    Setsuna set down her cup and nodded, guileless and innocent. "Why 
would I not be? I do rather enjoy these meets. Come and sit down."
    
    And, to Makoto's horror, she shifted over so that Makoto could share 
the same corner that Rei sat at, next to her Grandfather. Okay, that's 
not a problem, Makoto repeated in her head. Of course I'd want to sit 
next to my friend. Who left me waiting in her room and put me in this 
position. Oh, Rei, we are going to have words.
    
    "We were just grilling Rei-chan on how her studies were going," 
Tsukino Genji said as Makoto was poured a cup of tea. "Usagi doesn't 
keep us informed in the way she used to, I'm afraid."
    
    Almost opposites of the Ainos, Makoto liked Usagi's family and they 
clearly liked her. They shared the same, crafty humour that Usagi had 
been 'blessed' with, to varying degrees, and yet were all as nice a 
group of people as you could hope to meet. Unless you were related to 
them, according to Usagi, but then she and her brother had always 
driven each other mad. Even so, if Katsura was the understanding, 
generous Aunt that Makoto had never had, then the Tsukinos were the 
parents that she might have liked to have, if anyone had ever adopted 
her after her parents had died. 
    
    Of course, no one ever had, leading to its own share of difficulties, 
but Makoto liked to think that if Ikuko and Genji Tsukino had ever 
wanted to adopt, they might have picked her. Not that she wanted Usagi 
as a sister. She loved the girl like only the closest friend could, but 
that would have been a bit much.
    
    "So how *has* your girlfriend been doing, Makoto-chan? Is she 
telling us fibs?"  
    
    Makoto almost spat out her tea in shock. Okay, a whole family of 
Tsukinos would be *way* too much. 
    
    She hoped she hadn't turned as red as it felt, and found herself 
unable to look at anything but her cup as she tried to rationalise what 
Genji had just asked her. 
    
    "Genji! Really, look what you've done to her!" Ikuko chided, 
smacking her husband's arm. "You shouldn't talk about such things! I-I 
mean, not like that at least!"
    
    Oh God, now was *that* ever awkward. Genji was as flippant about her 
relationship as he could be, and despite correcting herself his wife 
sounded like she didn't even want to consider the L word. It least not 
in public, in front of the lesbians in question. 
    
    Not that either of them was lesbian, by the textbook definition. 
They had both dated boys, after all. They just... like each other 
better.
    
    Except it had always gone wrong with the boys, somehow. And always 
so quickly.
    
    She was startled out of her worrying introspection when she realised 
Genji was talking to her again.
    
    "I'm sorry, Makoto-chan. I suppose we weren't meant to know? I 
wasn't quite sure how you broach the subject these days."
    
    And to her surprise he did seem genuinely sorry. Well, he should be, 
after making her blush like that! She was surprised her hair hadn't 
caught fire!
    
    "Don't worry, Makoto-chan," Katsura reassured her from across the 
table. "It is not something that needs to be said."
    
    "And I wouldn't gossip about my own Haruka-chan and Michiru-chan if 
it were a problem," Setsuna said. "Right, Ikuko-san?"
    
    Setsuna was putting Ikuko on the spot on purpose, Makoto could tell, 
but evidently Usagi's mother was used to it by now. "Of course not, 
Setsuna-san. They are successful girls, and I am sure you will be, 
Makoto-chan. Rei-chan."
    
    What surprised Makoto was how casually they all spoke to one another 
with the obvious exception of the Ainos. What she remembered of 
Yokozuki and Kikon Aino was a willingness to speak their minds, 
especially from Minako's father. They avoided confrontations, but made 
their opinions knows by one means or another.
    
    Now however they said very little, only speaking when directly 
engaged in conversation by one of the others. Instead, they seemed 
cautious, and studious of the others around the table, even of herself 
and Rei. Had there been some sort of disagreement between them and the 
others perhaps? Normally they would have been very eager to emphasise 
their daughter's newfound success. When the subject came up they 
weren't quite *modest*, but it was a close thing. Weird.
    
    But that was none of her business. More important to her was the 
fact that, while the subject of her and Rei was not brought up again, 
Setsuna *did* let on how Haruka and Michiru were doing, especially with 
Michiru's work having received fair praise from the press. She left out 
everything to do with Ami, of course, and Katsura only mentioned the 
ambitious medical side of her daughter's living arrangements, but there 
was no awkwardness surrounding Haruka and Michiru's relationship.
    
    That was oddly comforting, even though she wasn't quite comfortable 
having Minako and Usagi's parents know that ... probably know... she 
was doing... those kinds of thing... with a girl. Because she wanted to.
    
    What would they say about her - and about *Rei* - when they 
*weren't* there?
    
    Eventually Rei patted her on the shoulder, and got to her feet. 
"Come on, Mako-chan. Maybe I've embarrassed you enough for the night."
    
    Yes, Rei had answered questions about how Makoto was doing these 
days, just as Makoto had haltingly answered them about Rei. They 
weren't treating Rei or her as 'my daughter's friends' any more. They 
had become 'that nice young woman we used to know as a child'. 'Who we 
consider a friend of our own now'.
    
    Yeah, that was *weird*.  
    
    And as soon as they were out of earshot. "Rei! I can't believe you 
left me in your room!"
    
    "I couldn't help it!" Rei whispered back, just as weirded out. "They 
ambushed me! I couldn't just refuse! I'm supposed to play hostess 
here!"
    
    Makoto growled, which made Rei giggle a little - clearly less 
concerned about the whole thing than Makoto - but Makoto was eager to 
forget the whole embarrassing episode. Not that it had been all bad, 
but the embarrassing bits had been mortifying!
    
    "Mako? Seriously, you're not mad, are you?"
    
    Makoto realised she *had* been thinking about it again, and quickly 
stopped. Rei actually looked concerned. "Uh, what? Yes, I'm mad. But 
*maybe* I'll forgive you this time."
    
    She smirked for her girlfriend's benefit. The sooner forgiven, the 
sooner forgotten, after all. "Why don't you find that CD you were 
telling me about? I need to get some of this 'today' out of my head."

***
    
    Performing on stage six nights a week, non-stop for three months, 
sounded mad when Minako explained it to her parents or her friends. In 
truth she only worked about four or five hours a day, including makeup 
and costume before and after, so it was hardly a high-intensity job all 
day long. 
    
    Except Minako *had* been tiring far more easily than she had 
expected. The work *was* demanding, even for less athletic roles than 
hers. She was tiring of the same lines and the same routine, even after 
only eight weeks. The applause from the crowd was a wonderful 
compensation - and she had to face it, the pay was good incentive too - 
but the glamour was now wearing off.
    
    It didn't help that, with the play running in the early evening, it 
left her out of the social loop. She would still go out with Usagi or 
Rei and Makoto at times, but for all their good intentions she would 
still be in bed during the mornings, and even Usagi had college to go 
too more often than not. It actually left her feeling a little lonely. 
    
    Lonely and tired were never a happy combination for Minako.
    
    But at the same time she could now see what people meant when they 
said that a theatre was like a family. She now knew more about most of 
them than she *ever* needed to, and they all supported each other 
through the hard times or squabbled over petty differences like Usagi 
and Shingo used to do on an almost daily basis. Hikari was *so* 
particular about her cosmetics that she and Ichiro the make-up man now 
waged a war of silence whenever they had to share a room, and even 
though he was long married Yuuta now actually flirted with her Ono-
sempai with knee-weakening skill! They had even thrown Minako a small 
surprise birthday party the week before!
    
    And Minako had lost count of how often Ono Marya had helped her out 
now. She had felt guilty at first, riding the limousine home in 
exhausted bliss after Marya had first invited her to dine together. It 
was a *very* nice limo! Now, though, she felt far less tense in the 
business magnate's presence. Marya had gone out of her way to be 
approachable to several of her players, and Minako felt fortunate that 
she had been the first to receive such preferential treatment. She was 
even allowed to call her 'Sempai'. 
    
    Her inner schoolgirl felt faint at the idea, but it was not without 
reason. There was so much she could learn from her employer, both on 
and off the stage, so to refer to her as a respected senior should only 
be natural. Of course, really Minako just loved the idea of calling 
someone like Ono Marya her sempai. It was absurd, but so awesome! She 
just worried that she might start taking Marya's hospitable offers for 
granted, because some nights she *had* asked to have the limo deliver 
her home, just because she was so exhausted.
    
    At least she was not the only one showing the strain. Everyone 
showed signs of the same fatigue, and even Yuuta said in all his years 
of acting this seemed to be among the most demanding roles he had ever 
played, though he had no idea why. He joked that he must have been 
getting old at last.
    
    As they were clearing away that night, Minako once again found her 
Sempai congratulating them all, and slowly making her way to her side 
of the dressing tent.
    
    "Minako-san," Marya said, a small but genuine smile on her face. 
"Moving, as always."
    
    She looked around, noting that many of the others actors were 
already leaving.
    
    "I plan on having late supper with Kashimura-san on Saturday night, 
after our performance, and I wonder if you would care to accompany us." 
    
    Minako's eyes widened. Marya was having dinner with Yuuta? Now 
*there* was a story!
    
    "Oh, I wouldn't want to intrude, Ono-sempai."
    
    "You would not be," Marya went on with humour in her voice. "I feel 
he might behave himself better if he was not left alone with me!"
    
    Minako giggled openly. She was just as bad as Yuuta! "Sure! I'd like 
that, Ono-sempai! I'll keep him in line!"
    
    And to Minako's surprise, Marya seemed genuinely moved that she had 
accepted. "Thank you, Minako-san."
    
    What was that all about? Ono Marya, looking humbled over something 
so trivial. Idly Minako wondered why Marya would always have food 
served at the park, rather than go out to eat when she hosted. But then, 
she supposed, if you could afford such good chefs... 
    
    Family could be so strange sometimes, but that was no bad thing.
    
***
    
    Ami sat on her bed, her eyes wandering to the door of her en-suite 
bathroom from behind her spectacles. She was trying to read her project 
notes, but she had gone over them twice now and her remarkable 
attention span had finally given up, deciding that it had better things 
to do. Her Mercury computer likewise sat idle on the bed, waiting to be 
fed data on a subject who had been in the bathroom for an hour. 
    
    Ami had been collecting data about Haruka's pregnancy using her 
Senshi computer since the university had green lighted her extra-credit 
project. Supposedly she was carrying out her research at the university 
labs, and a few privately owned institutions that didn't really exist, 
but in truth most of it happened in that room, using her own technology. 
She didn't like the deception, but it greatly reduced the amount of 
time she had to spend scanning and analysing her girlfriend under 
vastly inferior equipment.
    
    Ami and Haruka did still make appearances at the university campus, 
and Setsuna had 'acquired' the 'proof' from the independent, fictional 
research groups involved. There were lots of inverted commas involved, 
but performing those studies the conventional way might well have taken 
more time that their child was willing to stay put inside her mother. 
Not to mention the funding and purpose built equipment required. 
    
    No, as long as no-one spent too much time digging the minor 
discrepancies in her story would never come to light. Small research 
bodies appeared and disappeared all the time, and Ami spent more than 
enough time on campus, and had been seen there with Haruka often enough 
to validate that side of the paper trail as well.
    
    Until recently. Over the last few weeks Haruka had become more 
withdrawn and taciturn, and Ami had been willing to postpone her 
studies because of that. It was understandable enough. Haruka was a 
woman who liked to be in control of herself, and so the constant 
battering she was receiving from her hormones had been even more 
unwelcome than for some. She had traded in her grumbling and her 
morning sickness for annoyed reticence and overly tender breasts now, 
but few besides Haruka herself could have claimed it was an improvement 
for her. 
    
    Nothing had been done about the letter from Haruka's adopted sister, 
and Ami suspected that was when her brooding had begun. It did not seem 
too serious, no more so than her short-tempered streak had been, but 
Ami was now certain it stemmed from more than just discomfort and 
simple mood swings.
    
    The room had been quiet for some time now, so Ami left her notes and 
glasses on the bed to stand by the door. "Haruka? Are you alright?"
    
    "... I'm... fine." 
    
    She didn't sound fine, but then she hadn't done for the last week. 
But Ami could not put off her work any more than she already had done.
    
    "It'll only take a few minutes. Then we can talk, okay?"
    
    Talk about what, she didn't know. She just hoped that her lover was 
only worried about going under the scanner again, though why that might 
be was another mystery. Nothing had seemed wrong in any of her past 
tests or scans. Did Haruka know something that she didn't?
    
    "Haruka?"
    
    Perhaps Haruka heard the faint tremor of worry that had crept into 
Ami's voice, or was just determined that she could not hide in there 
forever. Either way, she finally opened the door, completely naked. 
    
    It was rare for Ami to see Haruka naked unless they were feeling 
exceptionally amorous, and she blushed out of reflex, but despite her 
reaction she was more confused than anything else. Early on Haruka had 
insisted that she remained clothed during the examinations, or as 
clothed as possible, even though Ami had never implied anything to the 
contrary. It had seemed odd, but Ami knew that her appearance meant a 
lot to Haruka. Whether in a suit or a bikini it didn't matter, as long 
as it was how she had *chosen* to look. Michiru had once told Ami that 
Haruka was more conscious about her self image than she let on, and 
perhaps that was why, but casual nudity or even just being caught 
unawares while dressing or in her underwear put her on edge.
    
    Haruka despised the tradition of the Japanese public bath.
    
    And she did not look happy now, either. Ami forced back her blush as 
concern took over from confusion, and she took Haruka's hands in her 
own. "Haruka? What's wrong?"
    
    Haruka failed to meet her gaze, but the annoyed frustration she had 
seen so often that week flared in her eyes. "You can't tell?"
    
    It was a painful accusation, but Ami shook her head. She *couldn't* 
tell, and it upset her that she had missed something so obviously 
important to the woman she loved. Until she *did* see it, for the first 
time, and realised why Haruka was naked.
    
    Ami could almost feel herself beginning to glow in ecstasy. "Oh my 
God," she gasped. She let her had fall to Haruka's abdomen, to rest on 
the small rise that sat below her lover's navel. A bump, almost the 
diameter of a grapefruit, sitting at the base of Haruka's otherwise 
still trim stomach, where their child lay. "You... you were *hiding* 
it?"
    
    Ami looked up into Haruka's now watering eyes, and the young woman's 
voice hitched. "It..."
    
    Ami didn't know whether Haruka was going to cry out of happiness or 
terror, so she tried to choose for the both of them. "It's our baby!" 
she whispered. Ami could barely believe it herself. The rise of skin 
beneath her fingers, and the wall of Haruka's womb, was all that 
separated her from *her* child! "Our baby, Haruka."
    
    And to her distress, Haruka began to sob. "I'm sorry! I... I knew it 
would matter to you, but..." 
    
    "Shh, it's okay. Why are you apologising? We're going to have a 
baby!" It had still seemed strange and surreal, but there was all the 
proof Ami would ever need.
    
    But Haruka clearly didn't see it that way. She looked almost 
hysterical. "And I can't do anything about it! Y-you couldn't even see 
it a week ago! I don't... I don't want people t-to see that!"
    
    That admission shocked Ami more than she could hide, and as soon as 
her wide eyes betrayed her Haruka's expression crumpled again. "No! Ami, 
I didn't mean it. Please, I didn't!"
    
    She gripped Ami's hands as tightly as she could, but rest of her 
sagged in the doorway and collapsed as if all the energy had been 
drained out of her. She just sat propped up against the door frame, 
hiding her stomach behind her crossed legs and sobbing incoherently.
    
    And Ami didn't know what to do. Of all the things she thought Haruka 
might have had trouble with during her pregnancy, this had not been one 
of them. Unable to hide her 'condition', was she now afraid to have a 
child after all? Even after Makoto had been so confrontational on her 
behalf over such things, did Haruka herself see it as an affliction? Or 
was she just scared that her body was no longer solely her own?
    
    Ami dearly hoped that it was the latter, and nothing more.
    
    After that moment of hesitation Ami knelt down next to her, and 
pulled Haruka's hands into her lap. "You don't want them to see the 
bump? You're worried they can tell?"
    
    "I'm not ready," Haruka cried. "It's just... sitting there. On me. 
That's not right! It's not supposed to look like that!"
    
    "Haruka," Ami chastised as gently as she could, "you must have seen 
women who are only just showing, like you. The baby starts off small, 
you know. It's only six centimetres long, right here." She laid a 
finger on the small rise in Haruka's abdomen. "It wouldn't show as 
prominently if you had been putting on weight like your doctor and I 
have been telling you. Your tummy is too trim."
    
    A brief laugh burst through Haruka's sobs. "Ha, I guess that's what 
I get for focusing on track at school."
    
    "Yes. And not eating more at dinner. Now, we can find you some 
baggier clothes if you want. You're too used to showing off that you're 
in good shape, even in men's shirts."
    
    "It doesn't matter any more," Haruka lamented, fresh tears coming to 
her eyes. "That *bloody* reporter."
    
    Ami frowned. "He's been harassing you?"
    
    Haruka would not nod to admit it, but the venom that suddenly 
flooded her face was more than enough. "Last month, at the show, he was 
going on about how they should be able to see it soon. I hadn't seen 
him since, and I didn't even see he was there until after he caught 
me."
    
    "What? When?"
    
    Haruka sighed and shifted away, suddenly self-conscious again. "... 
It doesn't matter. It'll be in his f-fucking magazine soon enough 
anyway."
    
    And, in contrast to what she had said before, she pulled her hand 
away and wrapped them around her stomach. "It's supposed to be mine." 
She must have realised how contradictory that sounded, and shook her 
head. "God, I... I don't know what I want. What the hell kind of mother 
am I?"
    
    "One who cares too much what other people think." Ami shifted closer 
to her again, closing the gap that Haruka had opened. "And one who will 
be *wonderful* at it."
    
    "I'm sorry, Ami. I just... keep freaking out. It just looks so weird, 
stinging out there. And the press... what are they going to say? I'm 
still Tenou Haruka, damn it!"
    
    Ami looked at her levelly. "Then prove it to them. It's okay to be 
scared as long as they don't see it, right? That's what you tell 
Hotaru-chan and me. You don't have to let them see that you're pregnant 
if you don't want to," at least for now, she didn't say, "but you don't 
have anything to apologise for. You're a woman and you're going to have 
our child, that's *normal*!"
    
    Then she blinked at her own oversight, and had to clear her throat. 
"Well, having a child is normal. My part is not quite as normal in this 
case."
    
    But Haruka still seemed to need to reassure her. "Ami, it's not that 
I don't want it. I... I do! You don't know how much I do. I'm just a 
mess at the moment. I was scared, and then I thought you'd... be 
disappointed."
    
    "Why?"
    
    "Because I... I didn't show you. Because I was scared."
    
    And it *was* a little disappointing. Just a little. But then, 
"*You're* the one having the baby, Haruka. And you're the one who has 
to put up with all the press, and the public, and with Michiru-chan and 
I, and all the changes going on inside you. That's a lot to have to 
handle, isn't it?"
    
    Haruka seemed to appreciate the words, and shrugged. "Maybe. But I 
thought I'd be able to handle it better. I don't fall apart like this!"
    
    "It doesn't matter if you do, as long as you let me help you through 
it. And Michiru-chan might want to help too, you know. She loves you 
dearly."
    
    "Michiru-chan, eh?"
    
    Ami nodded, smiling. "Yes. I think I'm getting to know her better, 
and she's not so different from us. She has her own... cute foibles. 
Like Usagi-chan and Mako-chan."
    
    She got to her feet, and then pulled to get Haruka up. "I think we 
should show her, don't you?"
    
    Haruka looked down, suddenly wary. "Yeah. But-"
    
    Ami cut her off. "But?"
    
    Haruka paused, as if she was going to say something, but changed her 
mind. "Can I put a robe on first? And my knickers."
    
    "Of course. Then we can run my tests, yes?"
    
    Haruka gave her a 'you study too much' look, which Ami was sure she 
had learned from Usagi. But at least she seemed amused enough with it. 
"Yes, Mizuno-sensei."

***
    
    It had been a while since Petz had been out, and she had forgotten 
how the moonlight flattered her. She was not the most vain of her 
sisters by any stretch of the imagination, but she couldn't help 
sneaking a narcissistic glace into the windows of the other cars in The 
Moonlight Garden's car park. It was rare that she indulged in such 
conceit now that she was human - Calveras was much more of a peacock 
than she - but she was dimly aware that it helped bolster her lacking 
personal self-confidence. 
    
    What did she need to care what others thought when she was as 
beautiful as she knew herself to be?
    
    Not that she did not try to change. She wanted to be liked by others, 
and wanted to be loved for who she was, now more so than ever. With the 
arrival of Aretsuki into their lives she had realised that she wanted a 
family of her own, and children to care for. Now if only she could 
break her old habits, and older fears, and trust herself with a man.
    
    Until recently she had worried that her sisters had been right. That 
she had been too afraid to embrace a human life, and too incompetent to 
change. Now, with the disguised youma living and working alongside her, 
she knew that she and her sisters had been wrong. 
    
    Petz had come a very long way from the worried, cautious and 
uncomfortable start that those youma were working through.
    
    Tyranya was an uncomfortable reflection of Petz herself. A strong 
willed, capable creature, convinced in her evil cause until the bitter 
end. Tyranya had led her sisters into a futile battle, losing one in 
the process, and had been forced to surrender for the sake of her 
remaining sisters' lives. Petz had *fought* her reformed siblings, and 
stabbed Calveras in the back in order to punish all of her 'traitorous' 
sisters together.
    
    Tyranya might not have been related to any of her sisters by blood, 
but the principle remained the same. Sailor Moon had broken them, 
accepted them and forgiven them for all their faults, and as the heads 
of their families it was left to Petz and Tyranya to shoulder the 
unwanted burden of responsibility and shame for their actions.
    
    But unlike Petz, Tyranya did not continue to try and wear the facade 
of seniority. Her disguise was simple and unassuming; a human who 
looked like any other. Well manicured, unpainted nails were her only 
concession to a kempt appearance - and her thick locks of silver hair, 
looking platinum blonde in human guise, remained as untidy as her un-
ironed red shirt and khaki-green slacks.
    
    Petz had tried to convince her that there was more to life now than 
worry and regret, but Tyranya was as stubborn now as Petz had been then. 
They were fools, the pair of them.
    
    Like Koan, Berthier and Calveras had done, Tyranya's sisters were 
coping better with their new lives. Aretsuki remained cheerful and 
upbeat in her youth, disguised as a foreign student, forever on one 
holiday or another. It also meant that her skills at disguise did not 
need to be up to the standards of her sisters, and she could afford 
some inconsistency if she were to pass herself off as many different 
children.
    
    And with her and Tyranya, Maxill had also moved into the cosmetics 
store. Like Koan, the first to be reformed also seemed to be the first 
to make the most of their newfound humanity. Looking like an Afro-
Japanese Maxill bore a striking similarity to her youma form. Her head 
was shaved, her eyebrows plucked, and on a dark night she could have 
been mistaken for the featureless, raven-skinned youma who had been 
captured by Sailors Venus and Jupiter several months before. 
    
    But even the other youma seemed surprised how well Maxill had 
integrated into human society. She had taken up sports in her time 
outside the shop, spent far too much time with her inane human friends 
playing softball or shopping, and she had been the first of the youma 
to suggest dating a human, though apparently her choice of disguise did 
not make that as easy as it was for Berthier or Calveras. She was happy, 
and Petz was glad for that. She also wore a lot of yellow and pink, 
which Petz was not glad about in the least! The woman had *no* fashion 
sense *at all*. Green was and would *always* be the new black.
    
    Shivis and Kaizi stood somewhere in between. Both lived outside the 
shop, and despite their own misgivings had integrated themselves into 
human society. Or back into human society, in Kaizi's case. She had 
enjoyed her past role as trainer at the gymnasium, and she had taken on 
another face in order to do so again. Not at the same gym, that would 
have been tempting providence, but at an executive sports complex in 
central Tokyo, catering to those who still found the time to keep in 
shape despite their busy schedules. 
    
    She still looked the part of the bodybuilder, but had made more of 
an effort to blend in and look like a native. As such she looked much 
shorter as a human, now 'merely' very tall for a Japanese, and had made 
sure to cultivate a charismatic face to offset her unusual physique. 
    
    Shivis had followed a similar route. She remained slender, but her 
disguise was one of unassuming mousiness. Her orange plumage was hidden 
as hair of the same bold shade, but she wore a pair of fake glasses to 
help give her an academic look. She had revealed her cunning streak in 
slipping into the Tokyo medical staff as a phlebotomist, attending 
blood drives to siphon off minute amounts of energy as she drained her 
donors of their blood. It was only a trickle, and never missed after in 
the light headedness of a blood donation, but it helped keep the youma 
fed. 
    
    They all still had to eat, after all. Human food could only do so 
much for them, and at least Shivis was willing to share the fruits of 
her labour. Tyranya had not yet been brave enough to try and feed 
herself, and neither Kaizi and Maxill had yet tried to do more than 
drink a little then and there from their customers. One casual touch, a 
quick overlap of hands or an adjustment of someone's posture, was all 
it took.
    
    Petz and Koan had at least been helping Aretsuki get use to the idea 
of feeding at the shop. One simple bump in the doorway and the girl 
could quietly take enough energy to last her for days, leaving no-one 
the wiser. 
    
    At least they didn't need to *bite* their 'victims', as Tyranya 
still called them, in order to drain what they needed. Or worse yet, 
handle their heart crystals directly! That would have been difficult to 
explain away. As much as they might *want* to gorge on energy, to suck 
out even a third of a human life, they didn't need to. No human needs 
to eat prime steak every day either, when rice and pickled vegetables 
will suffice.
    
    Draining people dry? That was energy gathering on a vast scale. The 
kind used to hatch and mature scores of youma faster for a new invasion. 
Or breach the walls between dimensions. Or to bypass the Gates of Time 
entirely and achieve forbidden time travel.
    
    Petz smiled at her own morbidity and shook her head. If there was 
ever a time for regrets, this certainly was not it. Tonight, for the 
first time, all nine of them were out - together - and *enjoying* 
themselves. Even Tyranya had a smile on her face. Not a smile of 
acceptance or thanks, or one to mask her bouts of melancholy, but one 
of soft, genuine contentment. 
    
    And the park? Well, it might have been made just for them. It was 
busy, but there were no oppressive crowds to channel them this way or 
that, and they could wander as they so pleased. Koan and Berthier chose 
to stay behind early on and watch Minako's play, and naturally Aretsuki 
wanted to join them, and convinced most of her sisters to join them. 
There would be other opportunities to see it, Petz was sure, but the 
draw to see one of their friends on stage was strong. In fact it was 
almost the entire reason Koan had come, and after closing their shop 
they had little time to get to the park and wander before the curtain 
rose.
    
    Petz wanted to see the park though, and especially while the play 
had tied up many of the park's attendees. She was not one for crowds at 
the best of times, they tended to bring out the worst in her, and so 
she chose to explore during that quieter moment. It seemed more 
intimate to enjoy a garden if it did not belong to the thronging crowd.
    
    And to her surprise Calveras chose to join her. 
    
    The two of them had always been rivals, more so than with their 
other sisters at least. Calveras still insisted on teasing and 
belittling her even to this day, usually in flagrant denial of her own 
faults. There were those few times, however, when Calveras was willing 
to step back and be a decent human being. Petz had never expected this 
to be one of those times though. 
    
    "Why didn't you stay to watch the show?" Petz finally asked as the 
pair of them entered the ornamental areas. "You and Minako-san always 
have so much in common."
    
    Calveras threw back her head and laughed. "Oh, please, I have 
nothing in common with that child. I am far more sophisticated, *far* 
better with the men..."
    
    "And *far* less successful." Petz couldn't help herself. Old habits 
died hard, and habits as well ingrained as theirs tended to put Petz 
and Calveras in *their* places instead.
    
    "Yes, well, we can't all be superstars," Calveras admitted. It was a 
quiet, resigned admission, but it still came through gritted teeth. 
None of them liked to admit their failings, and Calveras was a master 
of diverting attention away from hers.
    
    "I am jealous as well," Petz admitted, now that her sister was so 
much less likely to turn it into a barb. "Not of Minako-san, of 
course."
    
    "Of Usagi-chan, maybe? Or perhaps Michiru-san? Maybe there is 
something you'd like to tell me, Petz?"
    
    That was a faster recovery than had been expected, and she gave her 
younger sister a brief glare. "I do imagine what I might have been able 
to accomplish with Usagi-chan's skill, and power. A little clumsiness 
is a small price to pay for the loyalty she inspires. Magic powerful 
enough to back up her resolve is no small matter either, given her 
capacity for it."
    
    "That is so very like you, Petz. Both romantic and practical, and 
always to excess in both cases." Calveras stretched, and gave a yawn. 
"This place is relaxing, I must admit. I am ready to curl up under a 
tree and nap!"
    
    Petz had to admit that the park was having a similar effect on her.
    
    They were interrupted by a young couple passing on the path, both 
wearing black, who stopped to stare in a way that suddenly made Petz 
feel very self conscious.
    
    "Hey, what are you looking at?" Calveras said, suddenly defensive. 
"Is my mascara smudged?"
    
    "Naw, lady, those are some wicked tattoos," the young man said with 
a heavy accent. "Are they, like, permanent? Kinda risky, eh?"
    
    "Yeah, really cool," his girl agreed. "Uh, the Moon Witches, right? 
From, what, five-six years ago? You get arrested for 'em or anything?"
    
    "Yah, I heard some of those sketchy cosplayer weirdos got booked for 
that kinda stuff after Tokyo got whipped by that gold chick. But just 
that?" The black clad young man pointed to his own forehead. "I guess 
that's cool enough to let go, huh?"
    
    Petz and Calveras turned to look at each other. There, in the middle 
of their foreheads, were their Black Moon Clan sigils - an upside down 
crescent moon, its points aimed towards the ground, coloured pure black. 
The one Sailor Moon had cleansed them of when they had accepted her 
chance to embrace a human life. 
    
    "Yes," Petz lied, knowing she was going pale. "These are... nothing. 
Just a little statement. About life."
    
    "Yah, awesome. Gotta make a statement, or what's the point, yah? 
Stay cool, ladies. Later."
    
    Petz and Calveras turned back to stare at each other as the black-
clad pair left. "Sister, your crest is showing."
    
    "S-so is yours, big sister. What... What's going on? We're human now, 
aren't we?"
    
    Then, back down the path towards the entrance, they heard the 
screaming start.
    
***
    
    The play had been going well, Minako thought. Right up until the 
second half when four youma erupted from the audience, sending people 
running in every direction. She and her co-stars stared in shock before 
they too bolted. 
    
    She couldn't have thought of a better show stopper herself.  
    
    The problem was that she knew these youma very well, and they 
couldn't have come here just to make a fuss! Could they? If they had 
Minako was going to be *really* pissed at them! But while people fled 
Minako took in the scene, and if anything the youma looked just as 
worried as the humans around them, if not more so. They did not leap to 
attack, or snag frightened people that fled past. Tyranya's own scream 
might have inspired terror, but there was nothing behind it but panic!
    
    So why the hell had they dropped their disguises? 
    
    Minako didn't have time to worry about that though. After the whole 
student disappearance thing the last thing the park needed was more 
headlines scaring people away. And not only did Minako know it, but 
from the other side of the stage Marya clearly did as well. She must 
have had a will of iron not to have fled with everyone else, but she 
stared in disbelief at what was happening in front of her. Had she 
noticed the 'monsters'' odd behaviour as well?
    
    Whatever the case, Minako had to help. Koan and Berthier were trying 
to talk to the now openly identifiable youma, and that would only make 
it look stranger to anyone actually watching. Or taping it.
    
    She ran into the backstage tent and grabbed her handbag, ignoring 
the shouts from her stage family when she vanished again. She had her 
communicator and her transformation pen, and those were what mattered 
most right now. 
    
***
    
    Her companions arrived one by one over the following twenty minutes, 
but Venus had the situation under control before even the first of them 
made it to the park. 
    
    The other two Black Moon sisters had arrived just as Sailor Venus 
leapt into action. It was risky having those women around when she had 
a plan both to get the youma out of their mess *and* hopefully save the 
park some face. She barrelled into Tyranya, obviously the least lucid 
of the four youma right now, and pinned her to the ground.
    
    "Easy," she said, just loud enough for the other three to hear her. 
"Pretend to struggle. Now what the hell are you doing?!"
    
    "I don't know!" Tyranya gasped, the wind knocked out of her, and 
still on the edge of panic. "This isn't our fault! Please, Sailor Venus, 
you *must* believe me!" 
    
    "It's true," Shivis said, having immediately understood what Venus 
had in mind and making a feeble show of trying to pull her off Tyranya. 
"I did not even realise it, but our disguises were taking more and more 
effort to maintain. I just could not conceal myself any longer."
    
    Venus nodded and leap away to apparent 'safety'. She turned to Koan 
and Berthier as they called their arriving sisters over. "Ladies, you 
should run! We will take care of this!"
    
    All four of the Black Moon sisters watched in shock as she pressed 
her fingers together and shot out a shaft of energy at Maxill, with a 
cry of "Crescent Beam!"
    
    The shot went wide, but then Maxill had dodged away from an attack 
that had never been meant to hit her. "How is this going to get us out 
of here?" Maxill hissed, trying not to let the onlookers around the 
edge of the picnic ground hear. 
    
    The blast had made the crowd even more cautious though, and after 
that few were brave enough to remain watching even from a distance. 
Getting caught in the crossfire of a Sailor Senshi battle proved more 
and more dangerous any time the results were shown on the evening news 
or Senshi Special documentaries. 
    
    "Easy," Venus replied, hooking a Love-Me Chain around her so they 
could keep up the pretence while still able to talk. "If any of them 
have a video camera, or even a phone, they're going to recognise you 
from last time if they haven't already. We need to make them think you 
are just more of the same kind of youma, and 'kill' you while no-one is 
looking. Uh, where's Kaizi-san? Is she here too?"
    
    Maxill nodded as she pretended to struggle against the chain. It 
actually hurt, but what could she do? "She said she'd see you 
afterwards. She, uh, isn't big on plays and things."
    
    "I'll have to teach her sometime then." Venus looked around to see 
the Black Moon sisters still looking on pensively, and trying to cover 
the new markings on their foreheads. Okay, if they weren't going to 
play along, Sailor Venus was going to make use of them.
    
    "Kick me away," she whispered to Maxill, and the black, malleable 
youma did as she was told. Minako let her chain fade away and staggered 
back, before leaping over to the four cosmetics addicts.
    
    "Hey, run already. You're supposed to be bystanders, not youma 
sympathisers!"
    
    "But what about us?" Calveras asked anxiously. "I mean, our family 
mark has come back!"
    
    "No idea," Venus replied, "but we'll worry about that later. Go and 
find Kaizi and get her to run. And tell her to stay out of sight if she 
can't disguise herself either. We'll meet, uh," she stumbled over her 
thoughts, trying to come up with a meeting place where they wouldn't be 
seen, "on top of Tokyo Tower! No, wait, that's stupid. Your shop. I'll 
get the youma there somehow."
    
    They all nodded and the four sisters ran off to find Kaizi, all 
trying to hide their marks with their hair or makeup from their 
compacts.
    
    That left Sailor Venus with four youma pretending to stalk up to her, 
and needing to get out of the park and away from the onlookers as soon 
as possible. Oh, how easy would it be to steal the show before the 
others arrive, she thought. But that would be too easy. This needed to 
look real.
    
    She let off another Crescent beam, just as Sailor Mars arrived 
looking very confused. 
    
    Okay, two of us fighting them off would be believable, Venus though 
with a smile. Let's get this show started.
    
    Of course, she still had to tell them what to do without giving the 
game away to the onlookers, a speechless Ono Marya included. Not so 
easy.

***
    
    Despite the difficulty she did manage to succeed, with great style 
Minako thought, and the Sailor Senshi's fight with these 'new' youma 
would surely make the news the next day.
    
    It was very late when those who had been able to make it to the 
fight finally snuck back into the centre of Tokyo in civilian guise. 
For the Senshi and the Black Moon sisters it had been easy, but 
smuggling five not inconspicuous youma back into the sisters' van at 
the park entrance had been more of a trial than the mock fight that had 
preceded it. Getting them into the shop at the other end had been 
child's play in comparison.
    
    Of the Senshi, only four others had been able to make it to the park, 
so it was Usagi, Rei, Ami, Hotaru and Minako who accepted Koan's 
hospitality in her shared flat above the shop. Petz, Calveras and 
Berthier were in the flat above that, helping to console the youma. 
Usagi had done all she could on the journey back, but even now there 
was an air of anger and dejection among the newcomers. 
    
    "Makoto must have been caught up at school," Rei said as she 
accepted the cup of tea that Koan offered. "They've been pretty hard on 
getting her to make up her grade this time, while she can."
    
    "It's alright, Rei-san." Koan sat down with her own cup, her usual 
enthusiasm subdued by the night's turn of events. "It's, ah, flattering 
that so many of you came to our rescue."
    
    Usagi beamed at her.  "Why? We do it for everyone else. Why not our 
friends?"
    
    Koan blushed, and shared in Usagi's smile. "Friends. Yes, I would 
have liked to think that you might run to us if we ever needed you 
again. Now I know for certain. I'm only sorry that it was us causing 
you more problems."
    
    "Rubbish," Minako replied, her eyes far harder than Usagi's. "It's 
someone *else* that did this to you. They're the ones making work for 
us."
    
    Ami asked the question that had been on everyone's mind for the last 
hour. "But who?"
    
    No one had an answer to that. Instead Usagi's phone chimed to break 
the worried silence. "Ah, that's Mamo-chan and Luna. Can we let them 
in?"
    
    Koan nodded and set her cup aside, before leading Usagi back 
downstairs.
    
    It gave Hotaru the chance to voice a worry that she had dared not 
around anyone but her fellow soldiers. "Is it someone at the park?"
    
    All eyes turned to Minako, who returned their gazes with defiance.
    
    "What? No, it can't be. I'm sure it's a coincidence."
    
    "Minako-chan," Rei urged, "is there *anyone* there who might be 
suspicious. It would only take one person..."
    
    "No! I... I don't know! I haven't met *everyone* who's ever worked 
there, okay? But I can't imagine anyone I *do* know being a youma in 
disguise. I mean, besides the ones we know."
    
    "Not that it'll stop you investigating, will it Mina?"
    
    Minako looked around in surprise to see Artemis and Luna in the 
doorway, being followed by Usagi, Mamoru and Koan.
    
    And Artemis had got it in one. He knew her far too well, even after 
everything that she had experienced in Seiji.
    
    "That's your, 'I'm going to get to the bottom of this even if it 
kills me, and I won't tell anyone so they don't worry' voice," he added. 
"Minako-chan incongruity number 24."
    
    Minako frowned at him. "You're numbering me now?"
    
    She was met by a smirk from her pet/advisor. 
    
    "But yeah. We'll find out what happened. I promise. Even if I have 
to stake out my own job."
    
    And to Minako's surprise, Luna actually looked... proud of her?
    
    "Just remember, you have a lot of friends backing you up," Luna said, 
sitting down beside Usagi and Mamoru as Usagi filled her fiance in on 
the situation. 
    
    Minako nodded, suitably lectured for the moment, so Luna turned to 
the others. "But I guess from all the blue faces that we don't really 
know anything yet?"
    
    The Senshi's heads all shook in turn. "Not yet," Ami replied for 
them. "I even did a quick scan of the area, but I couldn't find 
anything out of the ordinary. Either is it well hidden enough not to 
show anything on my computer, or the source of the energy drain had 
already left when I got there."
    
    "But it *was* an energy drain?" Mamoru asked. "Were there any humans 
who needed help?"
    
    "No," Ami replied. "That is the strangest part. Their energy levels 
were no lower than you would expect after a long day's work, at last. 
If they *had* been drained, it was not any notable amount that was 
taken."
    
    Mamoru thought on that. "How much do our youma take when they feed?"
    
    Ami hesitated. "Again, not much, but enough to show a trace of the 
process when I monitor it, or scan them shortly afterwards."
    
    "But the principle is the same, I think," came another new voice 
from the doorway. Shivis. Beside her stood Maxill, Tyranya and Petz.
    
    "The drain was minute," she said, stroking at the plumage on her arm 
in discomfort. "I couldn't tell it was happening, but it was a 
sustained effect. And it must have been targeted on us youma, or if not 
us then over the entire park, since Kaizi also lost her disguise even 
though she was not at the play."
    
    "And we lost our 'humanity'," Petz said darkly. She held up her hand 
and to everyone's surprise, with little more than a twitch of her 
fingers, a crackle of black lightning reached out between her 
fingertips. "How exactly did you 'make us human', Sailor Moon?"
    
    Usagi stared in shock. She had no idea *what* so say. "I... I don't 
know. It just... works. It healed everyone who got turned into youma, 
even back when we were fighting the Dark Kingdom."
    
    "But it couldn't 'heal' us," Maxill said, simply making the 
observation. "You said so yourself. We have always been youma."
    
    "But they *are* human," Usagi replied, at a loss to explain it 
herself. "You were, weren't you? Before you came back in time?"
    
    "Yes," Petz answered. "That was why we took on our powers. It was 
for vanity, and for strength."
    
    "Then perhaps whatever process gave you your power changed you in a 
more fundamental way than a youma transforming a person." Ami opened up 
her little super computer again, and began to brows what information 
she had on the subject, in case anything caught her eye. "It takes 
months for a person to 'mature' into a full youma, correct?"
    
    "Yes," Tyranya said. "A new child can take anything from seven 
months to two years to mature again, mentally. They... slowly lose 
their garish physical connections to their human life's psyche during 
that time."
    
    Petz frowned at herself, and lowered her head. "We had been baptized 
under Wiseman for longer than that. Much longer."
      
    "When you tried to change them back," Shivis said, again hesitantly, 
but obviously wanting to help, "I think your silver crystal did all 
that it could to do so," she told Usagi. "But perhaps it could not 
change them fully, and so used its positive energy to suppress Petz' 
and Koan's power, and has kept them suppressed until now. They would 
have essentially become human again, but in fact had a strong thread of 
energy as a container of sorts for their supernatural natures."
    
    Ami cottoned on to what Shivis had in mind. "And if what happened 
tonight was stealing life energy specifically, especially a certain 
spectrum of energy, it might have drained only from that most 
concentrated source - the energy keeping your powers contained."
    
    Shivis nodded. "Our magical disguises also act as an energy 
'barrier' of sorts. Energy focuses outside our bodies, to create the 
magical disguise. That would be the first energy to be stripped away by 
anything trying to drain us. At least without physical contact."
    
    "But to drain energy *without* contact..." Tyranya stumbled over her 
words. "That requires technology, and a lot of energy to even begin the 
process in the first place. I can't imagine that any other youma 
managed to escape from the Dark Kingdom now, but if they have... And if 
it is the Tyrants that have managed it..."
    
    "Don't worry," Mamoru said in reassurance. "Whatever the case, we'll 
make sure this stops. And soon."
    
    "It is what our girls are trained for," Luna added, confident in her 
charges.
    
    That was not Usagi's highest priority now though. She got to her 
feet, her face strong, but with regret echoing in her eyes. "I'm sorry 
if I misled you," she said, looking to Koan and Petz. "I can change you 
back again. You're still my friends, no matter how human you are."
    
    Koan smiled at her, genuinely grateful, "Thank you, Usagi-chan."
    
    But Petz shook her head, and shocked Koan by placing her hand on her 
sister's shoulder. "No. Maybe it's better this way. We're not human any 
more, and maybe we haven't been since Wiseman took Rubeus... But if 
this is the way it is, I want to be human because it's what I *choose* 
to be. Not because it's all I have left. "
    
    She looked up to Usagi. "Please, let us think first. If you can 
trust us with this power."
    
    She held out her hand and let her black lightning crackle across her 
palm again.
    
    "If I was ever really human then I shouldn't need magic to pretend 
to be one now. And if not..." she gave Usagi a scared smile, "then I 
hope you will be strong enough to end my charade properly."
    
    Usagi was horrified at what Petz was asking. "I won't kill you!" she 
exclaimed, but Petz shook her head.
    
    "I hope you don't have to, but I've wondered for these last six 
years; Am I really a better person than when I first tried to end your 
lives? I would like the chance to prove to myself that I am."
    
    And maybe, she thought as she waited nervously for Usagi's answer, 
maybe I can be more help to everyone like this. 
    
    Usagi looked pensive for a moment, but she didn't look away before 
her expression softened and she smiled. "Of course," she said, with 
complete honesty. "You are. You'd changed when you first asked to be 
human again. I trust you."

***
    
    "Do you really have to stare?" Haruka asked, sitting up against the 
padded headboard of their bed. Michiru lay in her lap, playing with 
Haruka's fingers, but though she tried not to her idle, wandering gaze 
kept drifting to Haruka's stomach and at last she had been caught. 
Michiru knew better, but she couldn't help herself.
    
    "I'm sorry," she whispered, bringing Haruka's hand to her lips and 
placing a kiss on her knuckles as an apology. "But you're just too 
tempting not to look at."
    
    Haruka had taken to wearing a shirt to bed in her futile attempts to 
conceal her showing bump, and now she had been found out Michiru pulled 
the garment away properly. "You are such a lovely fool."
    
    Haruka grew a small, wry smile. "I know. And stop undressing me."
    
    Haruka's smile was mirrored by the impish quirk that appeared on 
Michiru's lips. "A shirt and boxer shorts doesn't count a 'dressed'. 
Not even for you." She sighed, and reached up to Haruka's cheek. "Don't 
worry about this afternoon. I couldn't be there either."
    
    "This is the *worst* time to have more trouble coming our way."
    
    Michiru knew better than to disagree. "Maybe so, but we're all going 
to have to make our sacrifices. Most of us have to skip work or school 
to fight evil. At least your excuse is unselfish." She placed a hand 
over the small bump on Haruka's belly. "We can't have you open to 
attack. Even Luna and Artemis get targeted when things go bad. Or they 
leap out into the line of fire."
    
    She gave her petulant girlfriend a meaningful smirk. "And you *know* 
you would as well."
    
    "Eh, well... You know how I'm such a lovely fool like that."
    
    Yes, Michiru really did still love her. Madly. Even after everything 
they had been through. "Yes, that you are."
    
    She sighed, and settled herself back into Haruka's lap. "When are 
you going to stop wearing that to bed?"
    
    Haruka looked down at the shirt that was now buttoned only over her 
chest. "Soon. Maybe."
    
    "You *know* how pretty you are. And it's your fault I haven't been 
able to stop giggling whenever I remember you coming in to show me 
yesterday. That just wasn't fair, making me broody like that so 
suddenly."
    
    "I know. I like it when you get excited."
    
    "Don't keep the shirt too long then. I *am* going to fawn over you 
whenever I can."
    
    Haruka sighed and nodded, letting her fingers intertwine with 
Michiru's again. "As long as it's you, I can handle that."
    
    That was acceptable. "Don't worry," Michiru said reassuringly. 
"You'll feel better soon. I know you will."
    
    "Thanks."
    
    They sat there together for a while, just enjoying each others 
presence until the faint sound of the front door reached their ears.
    
    "That's our girls," Michiru said. "We should say hello before they 
think we've gone to bed already."
    
    Haruka looked around them. "Haven't we?"
    
    Michiru couldn't help but smile. "I'll get your robe, but at least 
take off the shirt first."

***
    
    As expected, the new Sailor Senshi fight at The Midnight Garden made 
the national headlines the next day. Wild speculation and prophesizing 
were in abundance, from tales of inter-dimensional vengeance against 
the Senshi to the coming of a new apocalypse for Tokyo which would 
rival the devastation Galaxia left in her wake.
    
    The part Ami liked, however, was the note of how easily the 'new' 
youma had been driven from the park and defeated. Even with all the 
doomsayers in the papers, confidence in the Sailor Senshi's ability to 
defend Japan seemed to be at an all time high after this last incident. 
    
    That was nice. There were always calls on talk shows and special 
reports for the Senshi to do more - to become full time heroes and 
police the country themselves - but rarely did people seem to genuinely 
appreciate what they *did* do until a crisis hit. And even then, there 
were all of the things they *should* have done, and the few unfortunate 
victims who *should* have been saved. To hear people saying that they 
felt safe simply because the Senshi were out there somewhere... It was 
a welcome lift to the spirits.
    
    People might have felt like that more often if the Senshi did give 
interviews, and make some public statements on television. It might 
have given them more confidence to have people like Minako or Usagi 
addressing their concerns, but that was a dangerous road to take. They 
were only ten people, and all the magic in the world was not enough 
sometimes. If they started taking responsibility so openly then they 
would be blamed for incidents that *no-one* could have prevented, not 
even Sailor Moon. It was better to remain anonymous, doing what they 
could when they were needed, no matter what people said.
    
    Even interviews like Minako and Uranus' after they had returned from 
Seiji had come with their share of backlash. Scientific communities 
around the world were up in arms about the alternative dimension theory, 
and all racing to be the first ones to prove or disprove it, with 
technology that could not hope to do either. It had been bad enough 
when they had been arguing over how the Senshi's 'magic' worked.
    
    Yes, staying out of the public eye was for the best, and with that 
thought Ami marched into the offices of the AKB publishing company.
    
    AKB were not a big publisher, responsible for putting out a half 
dozen or so gossip and home living magazines. They were not high-brow 
journalism, but they were popular amongst women with little time or 
inclination to read anything more demanding. 
    
    AKB were also the employers of one Karasuro Jin, and it was his 
little cubicle office that Ami was ushered to when she reached the 
third floor.
    
    "Mizuno-san, please, take a seat," Jin offered, smiling like a 
perfect host as she stood from his desk. "Can I offer you coffee?"
    
    "I'm fine," Ami said, taking the offered seat.
    
    "So what brings you to my humble den?" Jin, asked, thinking nothing 
more of the coffee pot in the hallway. "It has been months since we 
last met properly. I trust Tenoh-san and Kaioh-san are well?"
    
    It was an innocent enough question to most, but then he was a gossip 
journalist and Ami had made sure to keep her guard up. "I am not here 
to give an interview, Karasuro-san. I am here because of this."
    
    She laid the latest issue of the magazine in question on the desk. 
The cover was of Haruka and Michiru walking hand in had around a 
clothing store, obviously not yet aware of their cameraman.
    
    "A lovely picture, I thought," Jin said as he looked down. "And as 
far as public interest stories go theirs makes for a nice change of 
pace, doesn't it?"
    
    Privately Ami had to admit that it did. It was far less invasive and 
speculative than she had feared, and the majority of the pictures 
around the article were acceptable enough. There was, however, the 
picture focused on Haruka's stomach as she had reached to the upper 
shelves for a larger size of jean, and there were several of the pair's 
more public indiscretions as well. Not that they would have minded 
being seen with their arms around each other at the time, or caught 
pecking a cheek, but being caught on photo made it seem far less... 
casual.
    
    "I understand that you are fond of covering homosexual issues, 
Karasuro-san," Ami said, obviously evading the question, "and that is 
commendable enough. However, pregnancy can be stressful enough without 
being stalked by paparazzi. For Haruka-san's sake, and her child's, I 
would like you not to use these methods for the duration of her 
pregnancy."
    
    Jin sighed, and sat back in his chair. "Mizuno-san, Tenoh-san is a 
celebrity. She is more than used to the public eye, and if she won't 
come out for them then they will pry. That's how things go. She is not 
shy about the camera."
    
    "Perhaps not," Ami conceded, "but a lot is changing for her during 
this time and this additional stress is affecting her health. I have 
looked into your past work, Karasuro-san, and I wouldn't be here 
banging my head against a wall if I thought you did not care. You don't 
usually resort to hidden cameras and stalking. Why now, when it is 
obviously affecting her?"
    
    Jin remained expressionless, but there was something in his eyes 
that seemed to be assessing whether she was being truthful, or just 
whining to have her friend left alone. "Tenoh-san is obstinate, Mizuno-
san. She always has been. This issue could make her and Kaioh-san 
important again for the gay community, who have been too reliant on one 
shot pop stars and overplayed TV drama recently. They can't just choose 
to have a child and then hide away for months like this. Haruka-san is 
seen maybe once a week, if that? That's not like her."
    
    "Then you do not know her as well as you think, Karasuro-san," Ami 
replied, uncharacteristically blunt. "She deserves her privacy, and 
unless you want to drive her further away from the camera, you should 
give her that privacy. To say nothing of her health when she is too 
worried about being followed or photographed to think straight, let 
alone take proper care of herself."
    
    "That sounds like something people might want to hear about as well, 
Mizuno-san."
    
    Ami stopped short, realising she might just have given him more 
ammunition with which to hunt up a story.
    
    "How about she actually gives me an interview about it sometime?"
    
    Ami didn't know whether that was a way out for them both or just for 
her, but she did not take the bait whole. "That's not my place to say. 
And I would not ask her quite yet," she added, giving him a dry smile. 
"She is not very happy with you at the moment."
    
    Jin nodded, not looking entirely satisfied, but having been given 
food for thought at least. He nodded, and rose to his feet. "Alright. 
I'll do that. And incidentally," he pulled a card from his pocket, "we 
had someone contact us a little while back. Some school kid who was 
after something. I was going to look into it, it sounded like a decent 
scoop, but you might want to pass it on to Tenoh-san before we have 
that interview. That's also my card, if she happens to change her mind 
about me in the mean time."
    
    Ami took the business card and flipped it over to see some hand 
written notes on the back, a few web addresses, and a name:
    
    Tenoh Maki.

***
    
    Rei was very glad to have wrangled the day off that Saturday. Her 
own schooling and part-time work were both less intensive than Makoto's 
were these days but, combined with a poorly timed late night running 
around greater Tokyo as Sailor Mars, the week had wiped her out. 
    
    Today she could afford to put off what remained of the weeks 
homework and she made the effort to dress in her red and white robes 
for the morning. She certainly hadn't intended to do anything requiring 
more effort than sweeping the front of the shrine, so that was what she 
did. The late autumnal leaves weren't going to clear themselves up, and 
letting her do it at her own lazy pace was as much sloth as her 
grandfather would let her get away with. He was a lenient landlord, 
often so laid back that he might have been asleep, but he did expect 
*some* work to be done on occasion. 
    
    Especially since she had planned to spend the afternoon crashing out 
with Makoto at her apartment, and that signalled the end of the day's 
work for both of them.
    
    While the shrine was often more convenient for them as a group, Rei 
knew that the extra trip was more than her girlfriend needed right then. 
Makoto was willing to go there, and both Rei and her grandfather were 
happy to host, but Makoto did spend a fair amount of time bussing her 
way to and from the shrine these days and it wasn't the shortest of 
trips from her flat.
    
    As such Rei had been welcomed in with open arms when she arrived ten 
minutes late - her hair just wouldn't behave after her morning's 
sweeping! - and she was glad to see that Makoto seemed willing to relax 
rather than spending what time she'd had after work tidying for her 
arrival.
    
    "What? I can't just have you walking in when there's stuff 
everywhere," was Makoto's usual excuse, but it was feeble considering 
the usual state of Rei's room at the shrine whenever Makoto stayed over, 
and Rei told her as much.
    
    "Well, that's because you're a slob," Makoto joked in return. "I'll 
house train you yet!"
    
    It wasn't a day for worrying about the fight, or Makoto's college 
work, or for rushing about town with the boundless energy of their high 
school years. Instead, curling up on Makoto's comfortable couch was all 
that really seemed worthwhile, so they did just that, sitting at 
opposite ends, with a hot drink in their hands and Makoto's toes 
sitting on top of Rei's.
    
    "I've been thinking," Makoto said after they'd exhausted the meagre 
offerings of daytime television. "Do you think I might be like Haruka-
kun?"
    
    "Huh? Mako, you're *nothing* like Haruka-san. Except how handsomely 
tall you both are." After all, Rei thought, what about the two *was* 
alike? Makoto revelled in the womanly arts while Haruka actively 
abstained from them, or at least gave that impression. Makoto was 
earnest and outgoing and Haruka's charm was in being mysterious and 
elusive. With Makoto you saw who she really was, even when she was 
trying to suppress her instincts. When Haruka was flirting you saw what 
you *wanted* to see, which was all that she intended to showed you.
    
    To Rei's surprise it didn't seem to be what Makoto wanted to hear. 
Of course, Makoto was very fond of Haruka, but hadn't she already lost 
the desire to emulate her? 
    
    "Handsomely tall?" Though not altogether satisfied Makoto still 
smiled. "Is that what you're calling it?"
    
    Rei 'hmmm'ed, growing a smile of her own. "How about 'stunningly' 
then? 'Gorgeously'?"
    
    "Now you're just making fun." 
    
    "Don't complain when I'm flirting with you. It doesn't happen often, 
you know." Rei leaned her head into the back of the couch, looking at 
Makoto at an angle. "What part of you is like Haruka-san then?"
    
    Makoto looked down at her empty mug. "I don't mean a part of me. 
Just... I've been wondering, maybe I am a lesbian after all?"
    
    Rei blinked and sat up straight again. "Eh? Mako-chan, I hate to 
break it to you, but we've been dating for the last five months. Unless 
you've been thinking about your old sempai when we've slept together, 
and God I *really* didn't want that idea in my head and if it's true 
I'm *so* going to kill you."
    
    Thankfully Makoto giggled. "Of course not!" Now it was her who 
rested her head against the sofa back, wondering quietly. "But that's 
what I was thinking about. You know, my sempai, and... guys in general. 
What if I was gay all along, and I just didn't know it? I mean, maybe 
they could tell, or maybe I was doing something so they *wouldn't* 
stick around. Subconsciously, I mean."
    
    Rei was sceptical. "You really think so? You were pretty ferocious 
when you had a guy in your sights, you know."
    
    "I don't know. I mean, I thought they were handsome, but it's not 
like I don't know which girls are pretty either." She gave Rei a 
meaningful look, and Rei blushed. "So maybe I was going after the 
handsome guys because I thought that was what it's like to like a guy?"
    
    "And you felt that with the girls too?"
    
    It was a flaw in Makoto's logic, and as soon as Rei had said it 
Makoto knew she was right. "Uh, no, I guess not. But I didn't feel like 
that about you either, and you're the only one who's ever made me feel 
like *this*. You're the only one I've ever been really in *love* with, 
I think."
    
    Rei could only blush, her heart fluttering as Makoto spoke.
    
    "I just don't know why I was crushing on them. Or why they never 
even wanted to date me properly, instead of staying around just so I'd 
have sex with them. I thought that might be the answer, if I was really 
girl-only like Haruka-kun is, and I've just been fooling myself all 
this time."
    
    Rei didn't have an answer. She'd tried looking for one herself, back 
when she'd still been scared of the idea of intimacy with Makoto, and 
she had not found a satisfactory answer for herself. "Mako, maybe 
you're thinking too hard about it. I know I still find guys attractive, 
and if I wasn't," she stumbled over her tongue a little, "if I wasn't 
in love with you I'd still be dating them. The only other girls I've 
ever liked were, A; involved already and *not* gay, or b; someone I 
only got along with when we were both blind drunk."
    
    She shifted over on the sofa so she was sitting next to Makoto 
instead of toe to toe. "And if Michiru-san can't help me work it out 
then maybe it's not as simple as people say."
    
    "You asked her?"
    
    Rei nodded. "Yup. She always knew she was into women. I knew it was 
possible that I could like girls after a while, but I never expected to 
find one I could actually try dating. Or would want to. And here you 
were all along. Weird, huh?"
    
    That seemed to be enough of an answer for Makoto. Maybe it wasn't 
something she was ever going to understand, and maybe that didn't 
matter. Despite the problems in her past, it had worked out better than 
she could have hoped for. "Weird?" she asked with a kiss. "I'd say 
fortunate."

***
    
    Saturday evening for Minako was less relaxed, even less so than her 
evenings usually were. She had spent at least an extra hour getting 
ready for the performance because of the dinner she would once again 
attend with her boss, and this time with the most senior of her co-
stars as well. It might not have taken so long to get ready had she not 
been bubbling down the phone to Usagi about it all the while.
    
    Her anticipation was not all happiness and light though. She needed 
to find out what the hell had happened at the park the night before, 
and why their friends - *all* of their extra-dimensional ones, in fact 
- had be the victims of the kind of tactics that they would have been 
*perpetrating* had they still been working for the forces of evil.
    
    Not that Minako saw evil as being quite so clear cut these days, but 
dammit, it was the principle of the thing that mattered!
    
    However, behind the scenes of the show there seemed little to learn. 
Everyone was still on edge about the 'youma attack', and even Minako's 
carefully prodding about anything strange that the youma might have 
been there for came up blank. After all, none of her co-stars had 
worked at the park much longer than she had. What was there to know?
    
    Realistically Minako needed to be investigating the engineers, 
planners and caretakers; the ones behind the scenes who had access to 
the whole park, day or night. There was plenty of opportunity there to 
set up traps, magical barriers or to do whatever they did while 
patrolling to pick up litter or check the lights.
    
    But on the up side the scare the night before had not put the public 
off this time. If anything people came specifically to see if there was 
any remnant of the Senshi's fight, and the play was as well attended as 
ever. It was also nice to hear her friends beam about having seen 
Sailor Venus take on four youma single handed, at least until the 
super-heroine's companions had turned up to help. That was a cool ego 
boost.
    
    After the show they said their goodbyes for the weekend, and 
commiserated with Minako that she hadn't seen Sailor Venus's valiant 
stand (how cool is that!?) However, instead of making their own ways to 
their car and scooter Yuuta and Minako waited for Marya's re-appearance.
    
    It was quite something, they had said quietly between themselves, 
but Marya did not need her costume to have the presence of a star. The 
business woman who emerged had lost none of the mystery or charisma of 
the pale, caped narrator of their haunting drama. Kashimura Yuuta had 
spent decades honing his stage presence and acting skill, but Ono Marya 
might as well have been born with the first, and gifted with the second 
from her parents. Minako had to wonder, then, whether her employer was 
always playing a part, or whether it was a challenge to suppress her 
natural bearing on the stage.
    
    "I do apologise, but dinner tonight will be delayed a little," Marya 
said, once they had returned to the living quarters within the haunted 
manor. The park would still be open for many hours yet, but the one 
problem with these late shows, they all agreed, was that the earliest 
they could eat was 8.30pm, and that was at one of the park's food 
stands or the restaurant. It was not a short trip back home for some of 
them, even just into Tokyo proper.
    
    Strangely she paused in the main office waiting room, bringing 
Minako and Yuuta to a sudden stop. "The truth is, these dinners of ours 
are not purely social, or just recompense for the hassle you have both 
undergone since this park's opening. There is another project that I 
have had in mind for some time, and now that I have come to know you, I 
was hoping the two of you could help head it for me."
    
    Then, from Marya's own office, a pale girl emerged. She wore black 
from head to toe, and was made up as if she had been a vampire from 
their play, though without the press-on fangs Dracul or Vampiru wore. 
Was she a new actor? Nothing had been announced about anyone having to 
be replaced. More likely she was a new ghost for the haunted house 
itself, but Minako couldn't shake the feeling she recognised her. 
    
    She looked over to Yuuta, and he seemed even more surprised. "Is... 
Isn't that..."
    
    "I'd like you to join her," Marya went on, as if Yuuta hadn't said 
anything. It was now that Minako noticed, Marya's poise had changed. 
Gone was the tight, professional edge in her voice, and with it the 
distance there had seemed to be between her imposing self and Minako. 
    
    "I'd like you to join us," that strange, serene voice whispered. "As 
family, my friends."
    
    Minako didn't get a chance to think about what Marya meant. Her 
warrior's instinct - that little part of Sailor Venus that let her know 
she was needed - told her that they were not alone. While Marya had 
spoken someone had slipped behind them, and even now was bearing down 
on her.
    
    Had the circumstances been different she might have had a chance to 
act, but Marya's secretary, Kasahara-san, had reflexes that belied his 
large frame. Before she could move he pressed something into her back, 
and with the click of a button Minako's body arched and her mind went 
blank, the stun gun having done its job.
    
    Unlike Yuuta she hadn't had time to recognise the new, pale girl as 
the one from all the police photos before Kasahara Kizugi had rendered 
her unconsciousness.
    
***

To Be Continued...

***
    
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