Sailor Moon 1. Unexpected Hitchhikers

**_"Crystal Tokyo Interlude"  
_**  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon; it belongs to the talented Naoko Takeuchi-sensei.  
  
Once again, these brackets indicate thoughts or unspoken words, and the " " marks indicate speech.  
  
**Chapter 1 – "Unexpected hitchhikers"  
**  
It was a beautiful calm afternoon in Tokyo. The sakura trees were just beginning to blossom and patches of pink decorated the lawn of Juuban's central park. Chibi Usa sighed at the sight of these sweet but short lived flowers.  
  
Looking back at the group of girls walking just a few paces behind her, the princess of the 30th century suddenly felt a little sad. She had been so anxious to get back home that she had failed to realize that this might be her last time coming back to the past. This could be the last spring morning with everyone together, Chibi Usa reflected to herself. In the future most of the Outer Senshis will be stationed on their home planets, millions of miles away from Earth and Pluto will resume her post at the gate of time. The Inner senshis will still be around so will Usagi and Mamo- chan, but they'll all have changed by then as they create a second Silver Millennium on Earth.  
  
"Chibi Usa-chan...what's wrong?" Hotaru looked at Chibi Usa's face and was worried by the girl's gloomy expression. Chibi Usa smiled sadly as they approached the pier where she will begin her journey home.  
  
"I was just thinking..." Chibi Usa paused, "that everything is so different in the future. You, Haruka, and Michiru will be guarding your respective planets while Puu stays at the Time Gate. I might never see all of you together like this again."  
  
Unexpectedly Hotaru laughed. Chibi Usa cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at her friend. "So that's what will happen to us in the future, hmm, it sounds pretty boring." Hotaru said jokingly before turning to look at her friend with those incredibly perceptive violet eyes. "Chibi Usa-chan the past is something we have no power over. But we do have power over our future. If you keep your memories of this time close to your heart, no matter how many years go by those happy times we've all had together will never change."  
  
Chibi Usa slowly nodded. She had to admit, despite her fragile appearance, Hotaru was still ten times wiser than herself. "Yeah...but take care of yourself Hotaru-chan, especially at school. There are some real nasty jerks there and I don't want them anywhere near you"  
  
"Don't worry," Hotaru smiled "If anyone gives me trouble, I've got Momo-chan and all our other friends to look after me, besides I could always tell Haruka-papa." Hearing this Chibi Usa grinned and rolled her eyes. She actually felt a little sorry for the person who might upset the overly protective Haruka. The senshi of Uranus would bury you with her Earth Shaking attack and teach you a lesson while you're dazed or unconscious, half stuck in a fissure in the ground.  
  
The scenery before Chibi Usa's eyes changed as that amusing thought ended. The peaceful lake stretched out beyond the brown weathered pier, idly waiting for the princess to step forward. The chatter that had accompanied Chibi Usa since she said goodbye to Ikuko, Shingi, and Kenji suddenly died down. Slowly, Chibi Usa turned to her family and friends and smiled.  
  
"Well, this is it. I'll be going now." Chibi Usa said quietly  
  
Minako sighed and winked at the pink haired teen "You better remember to visit us Chibi Usa, it gets boring without you here"  
  
"Yeah, we'll be waiting for you; have a safe trip now kiddo." Makoto smiled warmly.  
  
"Say hi to your parents for us" Michiru nodded towards Chibi Usa with Haruka standing beside her.  
  
"Remember to keep up your school work" Ami remained  
  
"And make sure your mom doesn't eat too many candies; I get the feeling she still has that sweet tooth problem even after a thousand years." Rei said followed by an indignant growl from Usagi.  
  
Chibi Usa nodded and looked to Setsuna and Hotaru. The long haired woman smiled gently "I will see you in the future Small Lady"  
  
"Take care Chibi Usa-chan, we'll always be best friends forever." Hotaru and Chibi Usa shared a mutual nod of agreement.  
  
Even Artemis and Luna could not hold back as they looked at their future kitten with pride "Take care of the princess Diana, I know you'll do a good job" Luna said, her tiny mouth curved in a cat's smile.  
  
"Be a good kitten, we'll miss you!" Artemis said tearfully while Diana nodded, both amused and saddened by her parents' different approaches to a sound farewell.  
  
With a last long look at the people who have gone through so much with her, Chibi Usa pulled out her time key and walked to the tip of the pier. She concentrated on the words that will activate the key and raised it above her head.  
  
"Guardian of Time! Split the sky and open the Door of Time to me! I call your true name, the almighty god of time, the guardian of time's father, Chronos! Guide me, protect me, onward to the path of light!"  
  
As these words fell a cloud of pink mist manifested above Chibi Usa and Diana. A beam of heavenly light shone down and the two began to levitate. Just as they were about to disappear into the cloud a loud rustle from a nearby bush exploded into a flash of color as four figures charged into the beam of light that had pulled Chibi Usa up.  
  
"What the-?!" Chibi Usa's cry of surprise was cut short as she disappeared from sight. The next thing she knew she was back inside a hidden location in the crystal palace, right outside the closed Time Gate. But the problem wasn't where she was, it was the fact that she was buried the floor with the weight of four other people sitting on top of her.  
  
"Ow! Oh, whose idea was it to do this? Now my hair ribbon is all crinkled!" A pink haired girl wearing a yellow dress complained as she tried to sit up.  
  
"It was your stupid idea to charge in at the last minute Cere-Cere! Now get off of me!" A green haired girl screamed as she roughly shoved the other girl onto the ground so she could stand up. Cere-Cere gave the disgruntled green haired a sour look while rubbing her equally sour bum.  
  
"Are we there yet? This place is too dark and spooky" whined a blue haired girl  
  
"Don't know...it does look kind of bleak though." A red haired girl with matching red dress made a face as she stood up.  
  
Just then the Time Door opened and Pluto, alerted by the commotion, was amazed to find a strange congregation of people before her. "Small Lady was that you... what are you four doing here?!" Pluto said to the girls standing by the gate.  
  
Seeing the Senshi of Time, all of the strange girls froze in fright and everyone forgot about the royalty lying on the floor. Chibi Usa managed to push herself up, and although her back wasn't feeling its greatest, any strains or sores she might have had at the moment disappeared when she saw who the time traveling hitch-hikers were.  
  
"Hey! You guys are the Amazones Quartet!!"

-----------------------------------------

Minutes later in the private drawing room of the royal family, an unlikely group of four stood before the rulers of Crystal Tokyo as five senshis watched every breath they made. To say that the atmosphere was serious would be an understatement. For although only the royal family, their senshis, and the intruders were inside the room, the hallway outside was lined with soldiers ready for action at a moment's notice.  
  
Chibi Usa looked at her parents, her neck still felt a little odd from being at the bottom of a human dog pile. As things went the future Inner Senshis had rushed to the Time Gate after the notice of the intrusion, only to find four past known enemies and their princess on the floor to boot. Not taking any chances, they were about to attack when the Quartet told them they came in peace and wished to see the queen. Everyone had been reluctant to grant them an audience due to their history but when the queen learned about it, she didn't seem quite as worried as the rest and decided to speak with the Amazones Quartet. Now Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion were seated in the center of the grand room but their expression did not reflect the positive nature of the room they were in. A watchful and suspicious frown was on the king's face while the queen looked placidly but keenly towards the four Amazones standing at attention before them. The senshis behind the Quartet were even more alert, with each of the experienced woman practically glaring holes at the back of the Amazones' heads except for Pluto, who stood near her queen.  
  
The fair ruler was the first to break the long drawn silence that first began when they had entered the room. "Amazones Quartet..." she began slowly and gently "Do you know what this time and place is?"  
  
The four girls glanced at each other when they nodded in unison. Cere-Cere spoke up as the unofficial spokeswoman of the troupe "Yes your majesty. This is the 30th century and this city is Crystal Tokyo, we're in the palace right now"  
  
"And why have you come here? How is it that you know about this time and place?"  
  
"Well..." Cere-Cere looked nervously at her sisters "We were told to come here..."  
  
"By whom and to what end?" The king interjected quietly, but the edge in his voice was clear as daylight. "You once fought for Nephrenia, you were once our enemy. It would be in your favor I think, if you truthfully explain what your intentions are."  
  
"We know that sir, but we're not bad girls anymore!" Jun-Jun, the green haired one, spoke up passionately. "We were told by a voice, a voice in our dreams to come here. We mean no harm to you or anyone; we only want to see if what it said was true, honest!"  
  
At that the queen looked up sharply "A voice?" She looked at Pluto whose eyebrows drew together in thought.  
  
"Yes," Cere-Cere answered hesitantly "After Nephrenia was gone we didn't have much to do here on Earth so we returned to the place we lived before Nephrenia made us her goons. It was a few months ago I think when one night we all had a dream, the same dream in fact after we'd talked to each other about it. A strange but very gentle voice told us that our destiny was not here, but in the future on Earth. It said we are the protectors of the future, of Crystal Tokyo and its princess. It also told us the date and time when we'll be able to find her at the park and that if we go with her we will be able to fore fill our destiny..." Cere-Cere paused, clearly not sure how her audience will react to what she had to say.  
  
"As senshis of the 30th century."  
  
"Senshis?! That mean..." Mercury gasped and looked to the queen who spoke thoughtfully.  
  
"If what you say is true then that means..." she raised her head to look at her daughter approvingly "that you four are Small Lady's guardian senshis..."  
  
Hearing this Chibi Usa felt her heart skip and had to make a conscious effort to keep her mouth from hanging open. The Amazones Quartet? Senshis? Her guardian senshis?! Chibi Usa let this fact run several times over in her mind. She had always wanted a team of her own and finally they were standing before her. And to think, she had became Neo Sailor Moon for only a few months, now she even has her own team to support her! Chibi Usa felt like she could pass out from the exhilaration of knowing she was another huge step nearer to being Sailor Moon's equal. But from the looks of thing she shouldn't celebrate too soon. Even if she was completely ready to accept them, most of the others weren't. Besides, being their supposed leader was one thing, becoming their trusted friend was another.  
  
So does she really like these new "senshis", especially a group with a past like theirs? Chibi Usa reflected on this as the rest of the room absorbed the shocking news. She had met these girls outside of a fight before, when they were working at the community center. They had gotten along just fine before they figured out who each other were and at the time other than being fun and friendly the Quartet also struck her as being...well, cool. Yes, she liked them, but as her senshis...? Chibi Usa turned her eyes back to the four nervous teenagers standing before her. They were older than her, were not originally from Earth, and their relationship with a certain former mistress made the princess and the girls of the Quartet very different from each other.  
  
Or did it?  
  
Chibi Usa reflected. Both she and the Quartet had been the victim of evil, had one way or another become the unwitting puppet to satisfy someone's ego. After one thinks about it, these four girls don't seem all that different from Chibi Usa herself and they had even helped Sailor Moon by stealing the Golden Crystal out from under Nephrenia's nose, risking their own lives in the process.  
  
No, Chibi Usa concluded, they weren't all that different from her and she knew in her heart at that moment, that if they were willing to accept her, she would eagerly accept them as well.  
  
After the rushed whispering and sideways glances died down, the queen motioned for Cere-Cere to continue. The Amazones gave an uneasy nod, like a little girl standing in a room full of distrusting adults. "I know what I've said sounds really weird, but I swear it's the truth. Before that dream we've resumed our way of live on our home just like before we found Nephrenia's mirror, but all of us felt something was missing. Even though we got our dreams back our dream mirrors were empty; we didn't know what to do with our lives. It was after the Voice talked to us that we felt as if we were given a purpose. We had been doing nothing for so long it was like our dreams were rekindled and we felt full of energy once again."  
  
"Of course we all thought the dream sounds farfetched but none of us wanted to dismiss it and go back to a boring life, so we did to do as it says and see what will happen. We hid in the bushes in the park and to our surprise it was Sailor Moon and her team who showed up. But when we saw the princess use the key thingy we knew that this just might be true and so at the last minute we jumped in with her and here we are." She finished weakly.  
  
Palla-Palla looked to the royal family and said in an earnest voice "Palla- Palla is sorry if we made trouble here, but Neo Queen Serenity-sama must believe us! Palla-Palla, and Jun-Jun, and Cere-Cere, and Ves-Ves did bad things before but she's good now, and she hopes to be strong like the senshis that beat baddy queen Nephrenia!"  
  
King Endymion narrowed his eyes, his mind clearly torn between wanting to believe the girl's story and the inert suspicion that had grounded itself in him over so many battles. "We would like to believe you but...do you have any proof, any evidence that what you have just said is true?"  
  
At this the Quartet seemed to have remembered something and Cere-Cere nodded "I almost forgot! We each found one of these after we woke up after the dream but we're not sure what it's for." So saying she took out a pearly white handle with a transparent star on top. Inside the translucent star was yet a smaller star and each of the girls had one of a different color.  
  
"Is that a henshin stick?" Venus wondered.  
  
The queen didn't answer; instead she stood up and approached the four girls. She walked up to Cere-Cere and reached out to touch the object in the teen's hands. She clasped her palm over the transparent star with its little yellow star inside and closed her eyes. Everyone else looked anxiously on and when the queen reopened her eyes, a soft satisfied smile was beaming on her face.  
  
"I feel it, the power of a senshi radiates from you, yet this is an energy that is different from that of my own senshis." The queen mused to herself while everyone else looked puzzled at this new revelation. "Have you tried to use them yet?" She asked the girls as a whole. They each shook their heads. The queen smiled and gave them a small nod "Try them; let us see what will happen."  
  
"But what are we suppose to do? We've never tried to use them before." Ves- Ves stared at the crystalline object in her hand.  
  
The blonde queen looked patiently at her and said "You will know, just closes your eyes and concentrate on your henshin stick."  
  
"Um...okay..." the Quartet followed the queen's instructions and after a few seconds opened their eyes with a new sense of wonder before boldly raising their henshin sticks in a thundering cry.  
  
"Ceres Power Make Up!"  
  
"Vesta Power Make Up!"  
  
"Juno Power Make Up!"  
  
"Pallas Power Make Up!"  
  
For a brief moment the drawing room was flooded with a rainbow of red, yellow, green, and blue light. As everyone turned their eyes back to the Quartet and found that the four girls had turned into sailor senshis. Each wore a fuku with a bubble sleeve like that of Eternal Sailor Moon and Neo Sailor Moon. The golden tiara on their foreheads was adorned with a star which reflected their individual image color as does the star shaped broach on their chests.  
  
"I don't believe it; they are the Asteroid Senshis, the Sailor Quartet!" Luna suddenly cried out in amazement.  
  
Endymion turned to the queen's advisor, "You know about them Luna?"  
  
The black cat nodded "Yes, I remembered just now." The cat looked thoughtful and frowned "The truth is I've only read about them in a book in Queen Serenity's library on the moon palace, and as you know that was a very long time ago. I believe the book said that they are the last of the senshis in this system, and I remembered that fact just now because there was a short description of the Asteroid Senshis's appearance in that book. However that's all I remember so I don't know what set these four senshis apart from the others or what their powers are."  
  
The queen nodded in conformation "That is all right Luna, I am sure we will discover their abilities in due time." She smiled pleasantly at the girls and extended her hands to them "Now, as a fellow senshi I welcome you Sailor Quartet. It seems your decision to follow Small Lady was a wise one. Since you have accepted your duty, you will begin training as the princess' guardians after you have fully rested from your journey here. You are more than welcome to stay here in the Crystal Palace because from now on this palace will be your home."  
  
At this the Quartet's faces lightened and they each smiled their gratitude and knelt down before their queen.  
  
"We'll do our best!" they said in unison.  
  
The queen motioned towards Jupiter "Mako-chan, could you help these girls settle down." And the two women began talking about the living arrangements for the new additions to the senshi family.  
  
Chibi Usa watched as the Quartet detransformed, still radiating with excitement over what they had accomplished. The princess couldn't resist walking up to them and striking a conversation.  
  
"That was a really big surprise. I still can't believe it that you guys will be my senshis!"  
  
Cere-Cere smiled back "It was for us as well. And you've grown a lot since we last saw you hime-sama." Her smile suddenly faded as she looked regretfully at the pink royalty "And uh...we're sorry for what we did to you and Pegasus and all. I guess we don't really have an excuse for that.  
  
Jun-Jun nodded "Yeah, I hope you'll forgive us. At the time we thought it was harmless fun but we never meant to hurt anyone"  
  
"Palla-Palla is sorry she put the bridle on Pegasus. She knows hime-sama like that horsy a lot; hime-sama jumped into the fire to save him." The shortest of the Quartet whimpered as she apologized.  
  
Chibi Usa raised her hand gently patting Palla-Palla's head. "It's all right, I know you guys aren't evil, Nephrenia's magic blinded you so you didn't realize what you were doing was bad." Chibi Usa's clear ruby eyes showed clear empathy as she pacified the blue haired Amazones Quartet member. "I know how it feels to be used and I understand how you guys are feeling, so don't worry over that any more. Let's put the past behind us and be friends, what do you think?"  
  
At this Palla-Palla nodded vigorously and grinned "Yeah! Palla-Palla wants to be hime-sama's friend! What about you Jun-Jun, Cere-Cere, Ves-Ves?" she asked the other three girls as the blue balls attached to her hair bounced up and down happily.  
  
Ves-Ves smirked in that manner of hers and gave the princess a big nod. Jun- Jun and Cere-Cere nodded in turn. "We would be honored your majesty." Cere- Cere said with a grateful smile.  
  
Chibi Usa grinned positively and raised a finger "Ah! But as a friend the first thing we'll need to settle is how to address me. You guys don't have to call me princess all the time, Just Chibi Usa is fine!"  
  
"Very, if you put it that way, I'll just have to call you Chibi Usa...sama!" Cere-Cere said jokingly and caused the whole group began to giggle.  
  
After the laughter faded the Quartet waved an energetic farewell before being led away by an amiable Jupiter who didn't seem to mind the girls at all. Sailor Pluto walked up and smiled down at the princess and received a youthful grin from the girl. "You have quite a team there Small Lady, who'd have thought..." Pluto said half to herself and half to Chibi Usa.  
  
"I know, but they're so nice and funny too!" Chibi Usa smiled happily to herself "things are going great aren't they Puu? I mean, not only have I gotten a new crystal but four new friends and teammate as well!" she asked energetically  
  
At this Pluto's good cheer disappeared, only to be replaced with concern. "Yes, but please be careful Small Lady. For a while now I had a feeling that something unknown and abominable has been set into motion. I have already talked to your mother but she could detect anything abnormal" Pluto sighed wearily "I guess it could just be the over reactive instincts of a person who's seen too much in the world, but I hope it's just that and nothing more. However, please remember that it is your duty to protect this planet and coupled with the warning I received from the Voice, you mustn't let your guard down."  
  
Chibi Usa looked perplexed at the tall woman who gave her a serious nod of the head. What Pluto said sent a small chill down Chibi Usa's spine. The Senshi of Time was wise and rarely wrong. Her words of caution weighted down the light, carefree heart Chibi Usa had felt when chatting with the Quartet and a fissure of anxiety crept into the princess' mind.  
  
"Small Lady," Chibi Usa whirled around at the mention of her name and looked into her mother's blue eyes as her parents stood behind her. "We need to talk to you sweetie."  
  
At this Chibi Usa nodded slowly. She knew what the queen wanted to do and decided to push away the sinking feeling from Pluto's warning. Saying a solemn farewell to Pluto, she walked back into the room, closed the door behind her, and took her seat beside her parents then began to relate to them the events that had happened in the last few months.  
  
After her narrative ended, the queen cast a worried glance towards one of the large windows in the room. "Mama, are you okay?" Chibi Usa touched the queen's hand and the older woman smiled faintly.  
  
"I'm fine dear. We're glad you have come to your own as a senshi Small Lady, never before have I heard of a case where a sailor crystal evolved. I am very proud of you for what you did." Serenity patted her daughter's hand.  
  
"Thanks, but I'm sorry that in order to do so the people around me were put in harm's way. If my crystal hadn't evolved a lot of people wouldn't have gotten hurt" Chibi Usa said guiltily, remembering the damage she had done, especially to the person she loved.  
  
King Endymion wrapped his arm around his little girl's shoulders and said reassuringly "Don't bury yourself in guilt honey. We all understand that it wasn't something you wanted. I know it hurts to see the people you care about getting hurt but you were able to remove yourself from Wise Man's control, you did it. You remained strong that's why everything came out just fine in the end."  
  
"Yes, and I know you will grow stronger, especially with your new senshis at your side. You should put the past in the closet and look forward to a bright future." Neo Queen Serenity smiled benevolently.  
  
Chibi Usa smiled shyly at her parent's comforting words and whispered a grateful "Thank you" to them.  
  
"Things are going to be a bit chaotic around the palace with the Quartet moving in and you will need to return to your schooling here. But what worries me the most is what that Voice had told Pluto. If the evolution of your crystal was a precaution against a new evil then we should be on our guard. We still have no idea who the voice belongs to and if everything it says is true, which is why like Pluto said, I want you to be very careful Small Lady. To think, a force of evil like we have never seen before..." The queen seemed lost in her dark thoughts when she shook her head and rose from the silk upholstered couch she sat on, followed by her husband "Anyhow, it's been a long day for you, you should get some rest before dinner starts." She said to her daughter.  
  
Chibi Usa stood up as well when she suddenly realized she had forgotten to ask something very important. "Mama, Papa" the king and queen turned around, a curious look on their faces when they saw their daughter's face turn red. "Um...I was wondering if...if you two would let me go to Elysian sometimes soon...to...to..."  
  
Hearing this Neo Queen Serenity chuckled softly and smiled. "To see Helios?" she said with a twinkle in her eyes.  
  
Chibi Usa's head jerked up at the bluntness of her mother's question. She had tried to leave out as much of the things between Helios and herself as possible but in the end there was no escaping the all knowing mind of the queen. The princess only managed to nod slowly while the royal couple exchanged a knowing look.  
  
In a mood that could only be described as a cross between the reluctance from letting go and the joy to know her dearest daughter has fallen in love, the king answered Chibi Usa's question. "I am willing to let you visit Elysian; however..." the last part of the sentence instantly wiped the blooming glee off Chibi Usa's face "only after the Sailor Quartet has received and passed their basic training and they'll be able to go with you. I don't want you to go off to Elysian by yourself."  
  
Hearing this Chibi Usa responded with a deep frown "But how come, I'm old enough that I don't need baby-sitters!" she whined to the best of her inherent ability.  
  
Endymion sighed and looked sternly at his daughter while the queen watched the exchange with great amusement. "Small Lady, don't argue with me. As your father I will not leave you alone with a boy and no chaperons; even if he is Helios." Endymion added as an after thought.  
  
"But-but-!" Chibi Usa sputtered and was about to continue arguing when her mother stepped in diplomatically.  
  
"All right you two, stop bickering. Give the poor girl a chance dear." She said to her husband who gave her a stubborn poker face that she ignored. Turning to Chibi Usa, the queen winked "You may go to Elysian without an escort Small Lady, but I trust you will be discreet while you're there and take Diana with you, just in case something happens you won't be alone."  
  
"But I'm not alone there, I-!" the princess contended but a raised finger silenced her again.  
  
"I know, I know. You have to remember that I am also a woman and I know what it feels like to be in love." The blonde queen said with a blushful glance at Endymion "However, your father does have a point in letting you go after the Quartet finish their basic training. That way we'll have people to back you up in case of trouble."  
  
Unable to defeat her mother's reasoning, Chibi Usa gave a reluctant nod of her head. "All right then, but all this waiting is so aggravating!"  
  
"Good things come to those who wait, you must have patience Small Lady; it is an important component of being a future queen." The queen chided lightly.  
  
"I know..." Chibi Usa spouted then sighed and decided to let the matter go for now "I'll go take a nap now, and Diana's probably wondering where I am. Ring me down for dinner." She smiled as she walked out of the room "see you later Mama, Papa!"  
  
The couple watched as their daughter lightly jogged down the marble hallway, her pigtails flying behind her. The king gave a deep sigh and said to his queen "Are you sure just sending Diana with her will be enough?"  
  
Neo Queen Serenity playfully patted her husband on his chest "Don't worry about it Mamo-chan. Our little girl is growing up and we should give her a chance to spread her wings."  
  
"Mmm, but I still say that she's a little too young to be visiting boys out on dates. Ten more years seems good to me."  
  
"Mamo-chan!"  
  
"I was joking Usa-ko," The king laughed at his wife's indignant (and un- queenly) expression. A dark thought passed into the ruler's mind as he watched the pink haired disappear down the long corridor "But I wonder...will there be more challenges waiting for her? The whole ordeal with Wise Man and Bellona must have been terrible for her and Helios."  
  
Serenity took her beloved's hand and said plaintively "Who knows, but I suppose all lovers must go through some sort of trial and misfortune to reach happiness. Let us hope that they will find their strength and their happiness with each other, just like we have." She turned and looked at her husband lovingly.  
  
The king smiled and held his beautiful wife's hand tightly. "Yes, hope is something we can do..."

-----------------------------------------

Chibi Usa let out a long breath of air as she threw herself on her big four post bed. Diana, as it turned out, wasn't in the room but Chibi Usa was quite content to be by herself for a while. "Mmm the bed is so soft and comfy! Just like I remembered it!" she purred and enjoyed the bed's softness for a while longer, lying spread eagle out on top of the down feather stuffed sheets before finally pushing herself up with her arms and looked out the tall windows in her room.  
  
The scenery outside was just as she remembered it but so many things with regards to herself has changed since she last slept on this bed. For one thing she had her own senshis, and she also has a new crystal. But more however, she has someone special in her heart who loves her back.  
  
Reaching into the backpack that sat beside her on her bed, Chibi Usa pulled out the picture frame she had prepared to give Helios. She blushed as she looked at it, recalling the wonderful moment they shared in Elysian before she had to rejoin the senshis on Earth. Wrapping her slim arms around the frame Chibi Usa rested her head contently against the pillows propped up by the head board.  
  
"I wonder how he's doing..." Chibi Usa whispered to herself. For him it would've been more or less a thousand years since their last meeting and it still saddened her to know that Helios is forced to wait all that time for her. "I'll come as soon as I can Helios, please, wait just a little longer..." curling her legs up towards her chin, Chibi Usa held the present tightly to her and drifted off to a peaceful sleep with a hopeful heart.

A/N This is the first chapter to the sequel to "Return to the Past". This sequel came out a lot faster than I anticipated but I suppose that's a good thing (smile). An important change to be noted is that from now on the style of the story will be more akin to the manga than the anime; however the background of the story will still be based on the anime. Also, parts of Crystal Tokyo Interlude will be similar to the manga's Chibi Usa Picture Diary. This is more of an interesting little side story than a major story arc, but it's still important to the development of present (i.e. introducing the Sailor Quartet) and future plots (hint, hint). 


	2. Girl's Talk

**Chapter 2 – "Girls' Talk"**  
  
"Ghaw, what time is it?" Chibi Usa moaned sleepily as she felt the customary tug of Diana's teethes on her pajama sleeve. It was the day after her arrival home and Chibi Usa had a distinct desire not to part with her soft, cushiony bed.  
  
"It's almost eight O'clock Small Lady! You need to get up!" Diana said as best she could while continuing trying to pull her mistress up with her inadequate grip.  
  
"But Diana, I just came home yesterday, can't you let me sleep for another half-hour or something?" the princess groaned and pulled the bed sheet over her head.  
  
"Small Lady!" Diana meowed helplessly when a knock was heard from the door.  
  
"Mmm...who is it?" Chibi Usa asked from beneath her sheets.  
  
"It's us Chibi Usa-chan" Cere-Cere's voice answered when the door flew open and the rest of the Quartet rushed in.  
  
"Good morning Small Lady-sama!" Palla-Palla squealed delightfully as she landed on Chibi Usa's bed and almost landed on the princess' head.  
  
Chibi Usa threw the bed sheet off her head and looked dazedly at the four girls who have just entered the room "What the-?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep princes! But I couldn't stop them from crashing in here." Cere-Cere said with a disdainful look at her sisters.  
  
"It's all right Cere-Cere, I was suppose to get up by now anyways." Chibi Usa sweat dropped and smiled.  
  
"See, I told you she wouldn't mind." Jun-Jun smirked at her pink haired sister "Unlike you the princess isn't a stiff old hag."  
  
Cere-Cere crossed her arms and shouted "How dare of you to use such language in front of her majesty!" the leader of the Quartet retorted while Palla-Palla was playing and singing with Diana in the background. "We are senshis now, and because of that and the fact that we're living here in the palace, we have to be careful how we carry ourselves!"  
  
"Oh please!" Ves-Ves waved her hand dismissively as she sat at the end of the bed while Jun-Jun laid down on her stomach on the feathery soft bed "Like you were acting like a lady last night. You scurried around half the time checking out every nock and cranny of our room and the other half of the time you kept on driveling on and on about how cool the place was. And let's not forget, you were snoring after you finally fell asleep."  
  
Cere-Cere's face turned bright red as she screamed "You are so intolerable!" with that she turned around and made a determined face not to reach over and strangle her red haired sister.  
  
Seeing this family drama play out before her Chibi Usa couldn't help but snigger. Another light knock on the door distracted the girls from their bemusement and all heads turned to see Neo Queen Serenity chuckling as she walked in.  
  
"I see you girls are having a good time." The queen said good-humouredly  
  
The Amazones Quartet scrambled to get up and bowed to their queen "Good morning your majesty!" they said in unison.  
  
"Good morning to you as well Palla-Palla, Jun-Jun, Ves-Ves, and Cere-Cere." The queen greeted them each by name. Chibi Usa mean while, was trying to get out of bed and she looked at her mother with a head of messy hair.  
  
"Morning Mama" Chibi Usa smiled  
  
"Morning dear," she said as she looked around at the girls before her "Now, I came here to tell you I have arranged some basic classes for you to take here in the palace. Your teachers will be the older senshis. Your schedules will be handed to you after breakfast." Looking to her daughter now the queen continued "Small Lady, you will be joining them in class since you know more about the things they will learning from now. This will help to build up your teamwork and relationships with each other, but I dare say you have already started on that." The queen said with a grin.  
  
Chibi Usa nodded but whispered to her mother "Mama are you sure it'll be okay for the senshis to take time out and teach? What about the palace security?"  
  
Neo Queen Serenity grinned "Don't worry honey; the senshis are taking shifts between teaching and their regular duties. Besides, they all seemed pretty happy to get a break from their usual routine."  
  
"I guess you're right, a break from the usual would be a blessing. I'll see you later." Chibi Usa sighed softly.  
  
"Alright then, don't take too long. I'll see you in the dinning room." The queen leaned over and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek before she turned and left the room.  
  
After the queen departed, the Quartet let out a long breath of relief. "Phew! I thought the queen was coming in here to yell at us." Ves-Ves said honestly.  
  
"But Palla-Palla thinks Neo Queen Serenity-sama is very nice, she smiles a lot and even said 'good morning' to Palla-Palla." The blue-haired Amazones said as she held Diana in her arms.  
  
Chibi Usa sighed "That's my mother all right, she has the biggest and kindest heart in the whole wide world. It doesn't matter if you're a senshi or not, she'll treat you just as nicely as her closest friend. But you guys should've seen her when she was young, you'd never think she could be Sailor Moon. She's afraid of heights and a hoard of other things and a renowned cry baby."  
  
Cere-Cere said thoughtlessly "My, to think the queen was once a ditzy airhead...!" realizing what she had just said out loud Cere-Cere quickly clasped her hands over her mouth. Everyone laughed as Cere-Cere blushed hard, knowing she has just violated her own rule of proper behavior.  
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
(Etiquette with Sailor Jupiter)  
  
"All right girls, as residents of the crystal palace you will need to know some basic etiquette that are very important when foreign dignitaries and representatives are visiting." Jupiter said to her class. The brunette wasn't in her usual sailor fuku, instead she was wearing a graceful sap green dress and a white apron.  
  
The girls were seated before a long table covered by a pristine white tablecloth. In front of each student were a fine china plate, a fork, and some peas.  
  
"On most occasions you'll see these dignitaries during a formal state dinner so today we will begin with basic table manners. Any questions before we start?"  
  
Ves-Ves raised her hand and said uninterestedly, "Why do we have to learn how to use a stupid fork?"  
  
Jupiter winked at the dubious Amazones "Because even though it looks simple, using a fork can be very tricky and it's very different from using a chopstick. Now, I want each of you to try and eat the peas on your plate one at a time using only your fork and no cheating, meaning no craning your head forward for picking them up with your hand. Whoever finishes first will get a special treat from me."  
  
The girls looked at each other, and although they haven't gotten a taste of Sailor Jupiter's famous cooking, a reward is always good motivation. And so, they set their eyes on the bunch of pearl-like peas and began maneuvering the green pods with the fork.  
  
Chibi Usa, having done this countless times before, had no problem with using the three pointed silverware in her hand, and had the fewest peas on her plate. She patiently rolled the peas to the center of the plate first, then one by one, scooted them to the raised brim of the plate and waited for gravity to let the pea roll back onto the fork. Then with exquisite grace, she balanced the fork and slipped the pea into her mouth.  
  
Cere-Cere was also quite successful but every once in a while a pea would refuse to cooperate and roll off the end of her fork. "Darn It!" the pink haired girl would complain under her breath as she maneuvered the pea back in position.  
  
"Come on..." Ves-Ves muttered as she took several seconds to maneuver a pea onto her fork before it sat gingerly between two prongs and she happily popped it into her mouth and started on the next one.  
  
Palla-Palla at first looked a little confused and disgusted. As far as she was concerned it made no sense having to practice picking up icky green veggies using a fork. But nevertheless since everyone else was doing it, she tried it too and now her cute round face was covered with an intense frown as she persuaded a pea to site on her fork and swallowed the food with a grossed out look on her face.  
  
Jun-Jun was another story. Not one pea from her plate has been eaten and there were even a couple of spilt ones sitting outside her plate. She tried what everyone else was doing but was constantly unsuccessful in the end. So on her tenth try, with her frustrated green eyes locked onto the matching peas, Jun-Jun steeled her focus to try again. She maneuvered it in a zigzag until she rolled it to the raised brim and finally the pea rolled onto her fork. But as she picked it up and brought the fork near her mouth the pea would suddenly wobble precariously before slipping off and landing on the table. Trying it again only produced the same result with the pea rolling off the fork shortly after she got it on.  
  
Taking a quick glance at the others, Jun-Jun felt beads of sweat forming on her face as she watch the peas on everyone else's plates disappear steadily. I can't believe this, at this rate I'll loss for sure not to mention humiliated! Oh! Damn it, I am going to pick up this stupid pea and that's that!! With that steadfast resolve in mind, Jun-Jun glared down upon this one tiny pea in her plate, a fiery cloud of anger boiling behind her in the background.  
  
She tightened her grip around the silver fork and eyeing the pea like a Tomahawk cruse missile, she rammed her fork down on the plate and everyone heard a loud crack.  
  
After her hand stopped shaking, Jun-Jun saw she had just split the china plate in the middle and peas were bounced all over the table and a look of utter embarrassment was on the Amazones' face as she dropped her head in defeat.  
  
Unsurprisingly the princess won the little pea eating contest and received a bag of Jupiter's specially baked cookies as a reward. Jun-Jun apologized for the destruction of the fine china plate but Jupiter said kindly that it was okay and that with practice she'll learn soon enough. By the end of class and on their way to the second course of the say, Chibi Usa split the bag of cookies with the Amazones Quartet.  
  
"Here you go Jun-Jun" Chibi Usa said with a smile as she handed the girl two cookies. Still sore from the embarrassing display back in Etiquette class, the green haired girl reluctantly accepted the cookies.  
  
"Sorry about the plate...guess I don't have an ounce of grace in me..." Jun-Jun said crestfallenly.  
  
"Oh don't worry about it! When I was little I was just as bad if not worse. I even licked the tomatoe sauce off the plate during a formal dinner once." The princess laughed and blushed at her own misbehavior.  
  
Ves-Ves slapped Jun-Jun on her back and winked "Yeah, don't feel bad about it, just think, you've made our first Etiquette class a real moment to remember." She grinned sheepishly at her sister and added "Just remind me not to sit next to you during dinner!"  
  
Jun-Jun smiled and blew a raspberry at Ves-Ves which made everyone laugh as they walked into their second class of the day.

----------------------------------------  
  
(City Geography and sociology with Sailor Venus)  
  
Sailor Venus' class was less like a class room and more like an idol's walk-of-fame as Chibi Usa looked around the room they were in. Posters of famous celebrities from different eras shared the wall with each other and memorabilia crowded the table and shelves. Venus herself was dressed in a tour guide outfit complete with a cap, the décor around her fitted Venus like a glove as she began the class.  
  
"Welcome to my class everyone!" Venus shouted cheerfully. "Here I will teach you about Crystal Tokyo and its society so that you can become familiar with your new home. Today let's begin with the basic break down of Crystal Tokyo's many districts!"  
  
Chibi Usa sweat dropped at Venus' flamboyant display as she pulled a map down and produced a pen pointer from her breast pocket. The Quartet were actually quite impressed with the blonde senshi's displays and their attention were rightfully focused on their "teacher".  
  
Pointing to the center of the map with her metallic pointer, Venus explained "As you know the crystal palace is in the center of Crystal Tokyo and is the main focus of the entire city. That is why the area around the palace is called the central district and where the political atmosphere is the heaviest." Going in a circle around the rest of the map, Venus continued "the rest of Crystal Tokyo is divided into five zones with each zone having its own unique distinctions. My personal favorite is the shopping district in the yellow zone!" Venus sighed happily "It has the best stores and there are so many hot young actors and actresses there, it's just wonderful! Especially that three story Gucci story, it's totally the bomb!"  
  
At this Cere-Cere's face lit up and she clasped her hands together and said hopefully "Really? I love Gucci! It was such a tragedy that I couldn't go check out any of the stores in old Tokyo while I was here!"  
  
"Oh I understand!" Venus squealed and took Cere-Cere's hands "When I was young I couldn't go either because my mother wanted me to only study and have no fun! You know what," she gave the girl a teary look of compassion and a deep sniff "I will go with you tomorrow, I cannot stand to let this atrocity go unchecked and as the senshi of beauty, I will personally see to it that you have the most wonderful experience!"  
  
"Yes! Oh thank you so much Venus-sensei!" Cere-Cere was positively crying and her eyes were the size of saucers as the two kindred spirits wept in each other's arms.  
  
While this went on everyone else just looked at them with multiple sweat bead on their heads. Palla-Palla had an extremely perplexed look on her face while Jun-Jun looked like she was about to puck and Ves-Ves was trying not to laugh out loud. Chibi Usa just looked flabbergasted, the corner of her mouth twitching as the shopaholics celebrated their sorority. In the end they took the rest of the class time chattering between each other while the rest of class just gawked.

------------------------------------------  
  
(Basic Combat with Sailor Mars)  
  
After the idiosyncratic session with Sailor Venus, most of the girls were glad to move on after a quick break before it was time for the next class. First they were asked to change cloth and each now wore a simple sweat shirt and shorts. Instead of a classroom, the directions on the schedule told them to go to the senshi's private training room. Walking in all of the girls except for Chibi Usa, who's been in the room before, marveled at the scoop of the place. The room was the size of a stadium, but was completely barren and was painted stark white. Sailor Mars stood in the center, the only senshi they have seen thus far in her senshi fuku.  
  
"Good afternoon ladies." Mars nodded at the girls who slowly filed in and approached their mentor. "As senshis your duty is to protect, support, and defend the princess. This, although it might not look the part," she gestured with her hand "is a training room that is specifically designed to hone your skills to help you fulfilling that duty. Since today is your first day, I would like to personally test your skill level." The Martian senshi said that with a rather ironic tone.  
  
The girls nodded and grinned to each other. Reading their looks, the raven haired senshi produced a grin of her own. "However, I'm not going to just let you come up and fight me like a mob. You'll have to find me first." With that the image of Sailor Mars disappeared and the lights dimmed as the ground beneath them began to rumble.  
  
"What the-?!" Ves-Ves looked from side to side as the tremor grew. Suddenly the white floor right before their feet rose up block by block, forming obstacles and four crooked pathways as they elevated.  
  
Finally the place stopped shaking and Mar's voice, broadcast over a loudspeaker, answered the question foremost on their minds. "As you saw this is no ordinary training room. The floor in this room can be programmed to transform itself into an obstacle course. The equipments here can also generate holograms within the structure to create a realistic simulation. The image you just saw of me was in fact a hologram. I was and am now at the end of the course and the objective is to take out as many holograms as you can by striking them and be the first to reach the end of the course. Small Lady, I want you to go up to the control room and keep track of everyone's progress for me. Now on my mark, ready, get set, GO!!"  
  
"Come on, let's show her what we've got!" Jun-Jun rallied as the Quartet looked at each other and nodded confidently before splitting up. In the control room, Chibi Usa watched on the huge monitors as the Quartet dispersed. There were four colored dots and each color corresponded to the Amazones it tracked. As Chibi Usa watched the dots move over the thin hovering screen laying flat before her, the Quartet encountered their first barrage of holographic ghouls.  
  
Jun-Jun was quick to respond as she ducked the first charging hologram and when it came back around, spun around and did a roundabout, kicking the ghost-like hologram with her foot. The fake ghoul faded and vanished and Jun-Jun was able to move on. A few feet away from her Ves-Ves was doing just as well. Two ghouls came at her at the same time and the red Amazones jumped up and landed smoothly on top a tall protruding block. The two holograms drifted through each other, turned around and came back towards her, one before the other. Ves-Ves jumped off the block with one foot forward and took out one hologram then landing on a lower block, leaped forward and struck the slower hologram with her fist.  
  
Palla-Palla glanced around her and raced between a long white valley. Just then a hologram appeared in front of her and came zipping towards her. Caught off guard, Palla-Palla closed her eyes and raised her fist to hit the hologram. When she opened her eyes the hologram was gone but Palla-Palla whimpered when she saw her knuckles were red from having struck the wall in her blind assault. Having taken out a hologram with an easy swipe of her elbow, Cere-Cere looked around her. She could see the thin gap that was the end of the course and when she saw the coast was clear, she made a run for it. But as soon as she took her first step three holograms converged on her, trapping her. A kick took out one hologram and an elbow took out another. As she faced the last hologram, Cere-Cere grinned thinking she's almost done when a dozen holograms flooded around her out of nowhere.  
  
Waiting patiently at the end of the course, Mars looked up when Ves-Ves and Jun-Jun simultaneously stepped out from the maze and flashed a triumphant smile at each other. After a few minutes Palla-Palla came out, still rubbing her sore hand. Lastly was Cere-Cere, looking somewhat haggard.  
  
"What took you so long Cere-Cere?" Jun-Jun asked.  
  
Cere-Cere gave her a look but when she didn't see sarcasm on her sister's face, she confessed with a heavy sigh "I got surrounded by a pack of holograms. Just taking care of them took up a whole lot of time."  
  
Mars nodded "In battle you'll never know what or how many enemies you may come across. That's the first lesson of the day: as a senshi you got to be prepared for anything and everything."  
  
At that time Chibi Usa came down from the control room and greeted her senshis with a big smile "You guys did great! Especially you Ves-Ves and Jun-Jun! Congratulations!"  
  
Ves-Ves blushed and scratched her head bashfully "Eh, it was nothin' ha-ha" she laughed, receiving a sour look from Cere-Cere while Jun-Jun simple winked.  
  
"All right don't get all flustered now. Chibi Usa's right, overall you guys did do pretty well despite the differences in time. The more you practice the more you'll learn; that's what this class is for." Mar said honestly.  
  
"So does that mean that Palla-Palla can still be a good senshi even though she hit the wall?" the blue haired Amazones wondered.  
  
Jun-Jun nodded "Yup! Even though we just started, we're all going to be great senshis someday!"  
  
With that Palla-Palla smiled and the girls melted into a conversation with Mars as Chibi Usa thought to herself as she watched. The four Amazones were noisily but vigorously engaged in what they had to do and Chibi Usa had never seen a group of people, when their environment has changed so dramatically, has complied and adapted so quickly. Chibi Usa smiled softly life is going to be interesting with these four around...

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(Technology with Sailor Mercury)  
  
The last class of the day was with Sailor Mercury who has invited them to come to her lab in the basement of the crystal palace. The girls approached the laboratory with a respectful degree of caution since Chibi Usa warned them that it was rumored that some odd things happen behind the closed doors.  
  
Chibi Usa led the group and when they reached the end of the hall way and found the door with the many caution stickers, warning against radiation, corrosion, and any other number of hazards, the Amazones Quartet were having doubts if they should enter the place at all. The apprehension was even affecting Chibi Usa who had dismissed the rumors but decided to just press the call button and brave the unknown.  
  
"Come in! I'll be done in just a moment." Mercury's voice answered from an unseen speaker above the door, making everyone jump. When the door opened noiselessly, they were greatly surprised by the sight that welcomed them. The hallway they had walked down to get here was lit only by a few sparingly spaced lamps, but now the hallway exploded in light as the filtered white light spilled over them. Everyone blinked; some raised their hand to shield their eyes. But once their eyes adjusted what they saw was actually very uninteresting and disappointing.  
  
No monstrous machine or crackle of electricity greeted them, because the enigma behind the door was really a normal hallway. The white washed tunnel with a seemingly endless hallway that had many doors on both sides, each door marked with a label. Sailor Mercury, her elegant figure wrapped in a buttoned white lab coat walked out from one of these doors, closed it behind her and flashed a genius smile at the girls.  
  
"Sorry to keep you waiting, I had to finish making the buffer in the enzyme experiment I'm planning for later this evening. Follow me," she said and adjusted her glasses "I have something to show you."  
  
The girls looked at each other, not knowing what to expect. So they followed the blue senshi's directions and stuck to her as they went down the hall. Mercury stopped in front of a door labeled "Comp. Engineering" and opened the door by looking into a small hole on the door that scanned her retina and allowed her in with a metallic click.  
  
Inside this room was what looked like a development lab for electronics. On a large table in the middle of the room were many strange looking computers the Quartet have never seen before. There was only a floating glass monitor and a keyboard, no bulky CPU or drives were visible. Other smaller electronic equipment, from recognizable items such as what looked like a palm pilot to strange objects that the Quartet had no idea what they were used for littered the space between each computer. The walls of the room were covered by the same glass-like material that made up the computer screens and have been raised towards the ceiling, obviously unused. The Quartet assumed they were probably used to display and project images when lowered.  
  
Once she was in the center of the room, Mercury turned around and picked up some object on the table, holding them in her palm. "I am here to teach you the basic computer skills you will need to be able to perform your duties as a senshi in Crystal Tokyo. However, I would like to give each of you something first as a present." At that she opened her palm and the girls stretched their necks forward to examine what was in the senshi's hand. Sitting prettily in her palm were what looked like earrings. Each pair perfectly matched the earrings the five girls were already wearing and they looked nothing out of the ordinary as Mercury gestured for them to pick them up and put them on.  
  
"I didn't know you liked to make jewelry Mercury-sensei." Cere-Cere commented as she put on her new flower-shaped earrings.  
  
"These are no ordinary earrings Cere-Cere. They serve as a communication device between you five and also as a tracking device in case you ever get separated. To talk to each other, all you have to do is press the earring and speak the name or names of the individuals you wish to speak to. With these you can talk to each other no matter which part of the planet you are on and have been specially protected not to be affected by magnetic storms which would normally cause some electronics to malfunction. Now there is only one last thing left and it's this little gadget right here." Sailor Mercury picked up a small white device that was round and no thicker than a pancake. She flipped the device open and it turns out to be a small compact computer.  
  
"Small Lady, do you recognize this handy little device I'm holding?" Chibi Usa nodded and Mercury continued "This is a miniature hand held computer, much like the one I had. However this one has been greatly improved. It has the processing capability of a present day super computer, and can track your movements, project a holographic image, even hold all of the data in the Earth's database regarding History, Science, so on and so forth, just to name a few. I will be giving this to one of you," Mercury looked at the Quartet "however none of you are at a level where you are capable of using such an advanced device yet and so I wish to see which you four has the greatest potential to use it..." Just then the blue haired senshi noticed something strange. "Wait a second; there's should be four of you...how come now there's only three of you here?"  
  
Chibi Usa turned and sure enough, only three members of the Amazones Quartet were standing beside her. "Palla-Palla...where's Palla-Palla?"  
  
"I don't know; where did she run off to?" Jun-Jun admitted as she looked around the room.  
  
"Palla-Palla is right here!" The short girl's chirpy voice answered from somewhere. The girls walked away from the table they were standing by, went into an adjacent room and saw Palla-Palla seated before a computer that was sitting alone in the room.  
  
"What are you doing here and not listening to Mercury-sensei Palla-Palla?" Cere-Cere looked disapprovingly at her sister.  
  
"Palla-Palla saw this interesting picture," the girl with the blue balls hanging from her hair explained and pointed to the screen floating in front of her. "But the picture looks wrong so Palla-Palla fixed it." The youngest Amazones smiled proudly.  
  
Mercury gasped and her face turned pale "That's no picture! That's the 3-D simulation for the new palace auto-defense system that we've been working on for the last four years! I forgot to turn the simulation off when I left this morning!" she ran up to the computer and typed away on the keyboard before she shook her head "I can't undo the change, she's deleted the return option."  
  
Everyone felt the breath in their throat clog up in their mouth as they looked in unison to Palla-Palla who seemed confused "What is it? Did Palla-Palla do something wrong?"  
  
Ves-Ves slapped her hand over her face and dragged it down as the other Quartet member looked disapprovingly at their youngest.  
  
"That was years of work you've just ruined, genius." Ves-Ves said under her breath.  
  
Hearing this, Palla-Palla's round doll-like face turned into a sad sob "Palla-Palla didn't mean to, she just want to fix the mistakes on the picture!"  
  
"Picture?! That's no picture, that's a highly classified blue print for-" before Jun-Jun could finish Mercury's surprisingly calm voice silenced her.  
  
"Actually Palla-Palla's right; she did fix it."  
  
A unanimous "Huh?!" filled the room at Mercury's statement.  
  
"Well, upon closer examination that's precisely what Palla-Palla did." Mercury smiled at the girl in question who sniffed and gave the senshi a confused look. "There was a flaw in the design of the system we have been trying to adjust for the last few months but not even the best engineer in Crystal Tokyo has been able to come up with a solution." She pointed to the simulation running on the screen "But what Palla-Palla did, by deleting this and this section here, she has solved the problem with such simplicity that we never considered it. That was amazing." She sighed and looked to the girl with a new sense of respect.  
  
Palla-Palla smiled and blinked away the tear that had began to gather by the edge of her eyes "You're welcome" She said modestly while everyone else looked on in shock.  
  
"You've never had any formal training or operated such an advanced machine before, yet with a few taps of your fingers you solved a daunting problem. Because of that, I think I should give this to you now." Mercury reached into her lab coat pocket and took out the round computer which was now a pale blue color with an indigo colored star in the center.  
  
"Thank you Mercury-sensei! Can Palla-Palla play nice games on this?" Palla-Palla asked, causing everyone else to sweat drop.  
  
"Yes you can, but it will be very useful to you during your time as a senshi. So take good care of it." Mercury advised gently. Palla-Palla nodded and the two exchanged a smile, shared between two strangely like minded individual.  
  
Class picked up where Mercury left off and she began to give an introduction to the computers and other technologies used commonly in the 30th century. Finally when class ended, the Quartet bid their teacher farewell and began to fill out of the computer room.  
  
Chibi Usa went up to Mercury and tapped her on the shoulder. "What is it Small Lady?" the older woman asked.  
  
Chibi Usa glanced to make sure the Quartet were out of hearing range and whispered "Are you sure it's okay to give Palla-Palla the computer so soon? How do you know that what she did was not just by chance?"  
  
Mercury chuckled and shook her head "I'm surprised you'd ask. No, I don't know if what she did was chance or not, but I can tell that even though she may not look the part, Palla-Palla is a very intelligent girl." Chibi Usa raised an eyebrow at this remark and Mercury explained "Wisdom and intelligence isn't always measured by how many books you've read or what university you graduated from Small Lady. I can see a light in that girl's eyes as I explained things to her; she's watchful and willing to learn. I'm sure with the right education and training she will replace me as the Senshi of Wisdom one day."  
  
Chibi Usa nodded slowly  
  
Mercury patted the princess on the head "You should have faith in them, they are your senshis and you girls must rely and trust each other one hundred and ten percent if you are to work together. Get to know them, and then you will see the things you didn't see when you first met and you'll begin to learn to work as a team."  
  
That bit of friendly advice ringed in Chibi Usa's head for the rest of the evening. After emerging from her bath late that evening, the princess looked at her room as she dried her locks of pink bubble gum colored hair. "Being friends with them means nothing if you don't trust them." she said to herself as her eyes drifted to the picture collage by her bed. The frame held photos of everyone she has known in the 30th century, all her friends and family were there, smiling back at her from that moment of happiness which was frozen in the frame of a camera. The person she wants to give the picture to taught her just how important trust is; even when you've given up on that trust, the other person can still believe in you, unwaveringly.  
  
A thought occurred to Chibi Usa. She dropped the towel on her bed, and went to the door. But as she looked out into the dimly lit hallway she hesitated. Turning back she picked up the picture frame and finally left her bedroom. In a room a few corridors away from the princess' quarters, the Amazones Quartet lounged around on their beds in the large bedroom they shared together. The queen had offered them each a separate room, but the girls had preferred to stay together, since for as long as they could remember they had never slept separated from each other.  
  
Jun-Jun plopped down on her bed, her hands behind her head as she yawned tiredly "Man, we did so much work today, even more than when we worked for Zirconia."  
  
"Yeah, but at least we were doing honest work, not the dirty jobs ladled out by an old wrinkled squid." Ves-Ves replied as she sat down by the edge of her own bed.  
  
Palla-Palla looked up from where she sat on her bed, the little computer given to her earlier in her hand and a thick book on her lap "Palla-Palla likes Mercury-sensei, she gave Palla-Palla this nice new toy."  
  
"That's not a toy you silly, that's a piece of high-tech equipment for senshi use only. Be careful with it." Cere-Cere cautioned. Just then a light knock come from the door. The Quartet looked at each other curiously as Cere-Cere went to open the door.  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"It's me, may I come in?"  
  
Recognizing Chibi Usa's voice, Cere-Cere hurriedly opened the door and gave her a welcoming smile.  
  
"Please, come in Chibi Usa-chan." Chibi Usa smiled shyly as she side stepped inside the door and greeted the other Quartet members.  
  
"Small Lady-sama!" Palla-Palla cried happily, preferring to address the princess by her formal name as she rolled off her bed, a doll hanging in the crook of her arm. "Lookie at what Palla-Palla made on the computer!"  
  
Chibi Usa walked over to her bed and saw to her amazement a picture of Crystal Tokyo in full 3-D animation. "Wow, you did this today?" Chibi Usa looked at the blue haired girl who nodded.  
  
"Mercury-sensei told Palla-Palla about something she called 'computer language'. She gave Palla-Palla a book about it. The book had no pictures but sensei said it can let Palla-Palla draw cool pictures and do other wonderful things on the computer if she reads it. Palla-Palla really wants to play with new toy so she read the book, and since Palla-Palla really like the palace she decided to draw a picture of it first!"  
  
Chibi Usa smiled and looked approvingly at Palla-Palla "That's great, you really have a natural talent with these things Palla-Palla. We've all underestimated you."  
  
While the short Quartet beamed proudly, Ves-Ves approached the princess "Did you need to see us Princess, we thought you'd be in bed by now."  
  
"Nah, I'm actually quite a night owl, and besides" Chibi Usa put the picture frame in front of her "I was wondering if we could have a chat, you know, to get to know each other, if you guys aren't too tired that is." She added quickly.  
  
The Quartet's eyes lit up at this and each of them smiled "Having a chat would be great; it'd be like having a sleepover."  
  
"Woopy, sleepover!" Palla-Palla cheered, she grabbed Chibi Usa's hand and said "Princess can sleep on Palla-Palla's bed!"  
  
"Oh no, I can't do that! I'm the one who just dropped in; I'd be imposing on you."  
  
"But this is your house Chibi Usa," Jun-Jun argued "Technically we're the ones who are imposing."  
  
"Alright stop arguing." Ves-Ves interjected as she grabbed her pillow and blanket, then tossed them on the ground "I say we all sleep on the floor tonight, how's that?"  
  
The girls gave each other a look of agreement and each began to drag their bedding onto the floor. Chibi Usa went back to her room and brought her own pillow and blanket along. Soon the girls were seated in a circle on the floor. As Chibi Usa fluff up her pillow, Ves-Ves picked up the picture frame she had left sitting on her bed spread.  
  
"Wow, that's a lot of people. Hmm, she looks familiar." She asked inquisitively, pointing to a Chinese girl with a purple cloth covered hair bun.  
  
Chibi Usa smiled and took the frame from Ves-Ves' hands. The Quartet crowded in as she told them "That one there? Why she's Momo-chan, you've met."  
  
Recognition flashed over Ves-Ves' face as she took a closer look at the picture "Oh, yeah huh. How's she doing?"  
  
"Momo-chan's doing great, at least the last I saw of her anyway." Chibi Usa smiled sadly.  
  
"...sorry...I didn't mean to make you upset." Ves-Ves whispered as the mood sobered in the room.  
  
Palla-Palla crawled over and tugged the princess' sleeve, looking keenly at the teen's eyes "Palla-Palla know that Small Lady-sama misses her friends in the past from long, long ago, that's why she brought their pictures along. But Palla-Palla and Cere-Cere and Jun-Jun and Ves-Ves are here now. We're your friends, so you won't be lonely."  
  
Sniffing back tears, Chibi Usa nodded and blushed slightly "haha, thanks..."  
  
Jun-Jun ruffled the princess' loosened pink hair "Yeah, don't you worry. We're gonna be the best group of friends you'll have in this century and the next!"  
  
Cere-Cere clasped her hands together, her eyes closed cheerfully "Well now, I think we should officially begin the sleepover party! What do you guys think?"  
  
"YEAH!!"  
  
As Chibi Usa laughed with the Quartet, she figured to herself that trust is something build up over time, but she knows that process has already begun.  
  
A/N Hmm, not much to say except here's the second chapter. I know the description for the Inner Senshis might be a bit stereotypical and I apologize; I couldn't really make this chapter work without doing so. BTW if anyone sees anything wrong with what I've written, especially concerning computer, I'm sorry but I'm a computer baka. (sweat drop) Also, I'm traveling abroad right now so updating won't be easy since I'll be moving around a lot and a reliable and secure internet is hard to find.


	3. School Day Frenzies

A/N Due to a problem with the Quickedit program, I have to use italics to indicate thoughts now.

**Chapter 3 "School Day Frenzies"**

****

"Are you sure this looks alright?"

"Stop worrying Cere-Cere, your bow's where it should be, although not where it needs to be; inside your mouth." Ves-Ves growled impatiently

Inside a luxurious white limousine, the princess of Crystal Tokyo and her quartet of guardians were beginning their first day of school in this new millennium. Each girl was now dressed in the new uniform of the Juban Jr. High School, the same school attended by most of their predecessors. Although most of the uniform remained unchanged, the outfit has been touched up to reflect the posh name of the school due to its history as the school attended by the reigning queen and her court. The shirt has the same sailor collar but the yellow lines on the collar and sleeves had been replaced by gold threads. Even the main body of the shirt, with its rich pink bow, has two separate bands of gold running down the front. The normally long skirt has been shortened a fraction and the accordion-like folds of the skirt was now two toned blue, one lighter, one darker, that rippled as the wearer walked.

Chibi Usa looked out the polarized window of the limo and saw her classmates congregating for their day of education. Several boys stepped out of a vehicle before hers and the princess made note of the differences from their 21st century counterpart. The boy's uniform hasn't changed all that much in form but it was now white, with a hint of ivory rather than the traditional black, and like the girls, had a gold line one the end of each sleeve. The five golden buttons tying the shirt together were imprinted with the crest of the school which it did not have when the queen was still attending. With all the imperial appearance and history about it, it's little wonder that Juban Jr. High was now a private school but one which somehow (mostly through the influence of the queen), still managed to retain its public school openness.

The sleek hovercraft limo came to a smooth stop just outside the old iron gate of the school and Chibi Usa took a deep breath as the driver came around to open the door for them. During the whole trip while the Quartet had been chattering away, their liege had been uncharacteristically quiet and to some, even seemed grim and reluctant. "Here goes..." she said with a dark tone in her voice which mystified the Quartet. But before any of them could ask, the limo door opened and a cheer deafened the girls' ears. Hearing the noise, the Amazones Quartet popped their heads out from the car and to their amazement and the princess' expected exasperation saw that the path from the gate to the entrance of the school were lined with cheering girls and boys.

"Who-who are all these people?!" Jun-Jun swallowed as she took in the size of the crowd.

Chibi Usa sighed resignedly "The school's welcoming committee"

"You gatta be kidding me!" Ves-Ves sweat dropped as the girls step out of the car and received a hundred stares making her cringe uncomfortably.

"Welcome back!" one boy cried, his blushing face flushed and giddy.

"Princess-sama!" shouted a girl who gave Chibi Usa the uncanny familiarity Minako greeted her favorite celebrity when she was her age.

"May I shake hands with you your majesty?" asked another equally enthusiastic girl.

The group passed through the crowd as Chibi Usa smiled politely if some what unwillingly at her fellow students and glanced at the Quartet, wordlessly telling them to hold on just a little longer.

When they finally reached the door the crowd followed them in. Finally a few teachers appeared and began to disperse the crowd. As Cere-Cere watched a middle age teacher spoke loudly to the crowd "All right, break it up! This is a school, not a concert."

At his words the students glanced at each other then began to dissolve. The tall man with his neatly trimmed mustache smiled at the princess "Welcome back Chiba-san, I'm glad you've come back to us. We had hoped that by keeping the day of your return confidential we would avoid such a crowd but you are awfully popular." The teacher winked.

The pink pig tailed girl smiled and bowed respectfully "Yes, and thank you sir" thankful that the teacher decided to address her like a normal student.

The man nodded approvingly when his eyes fell upon the Quartet "You fours must be the new students her majesty said would be attending classes with Chiba-san. I've already looked over your files and everything is in order. You may begin class today as said."

Cere-Cere bowed "Thank you sensei." The other Amazones followed suit before the teacher bid them good bye and walked down the hall to his classroom.

With that done the girls headed toward the shoe rack to put on their standard white shoes. While there Cere-Cere said "I can't believe the amount of attention given to us. But it's not like this every school day is it? It makes me feel uneasy to be stared at all the time." she said seriously when she noticed girls at the end of the lockers talking and staring in their direction.

Chibi Usa shrugged and tucked her shoes in her locker. "No, it's no like this every morning, people will get over it soon enough."

"Why? Is it because you're the princess?" Jun-Jun asked

"Yup, people think it's cool to be near a member of the royal family." Chibi Usa said candidly

"Or maybe it's because they've all fallen in love with a beautiful young lady. I've seen the look on some of the guys on our way here and I'm pretty sure they're head over heels for you." Ves-Ves winked playfully.

Blushing, Chibi Usa waved off Ves-Ves's joke "That can't be," she said absolutely "Besides I don't want anyone else..."

At that moment Chibi Usa realized she had said something she shouldn't have said as the Quartet slowly converged on her, each with curious eyes looking down at her.

"'Don't want anyone else'? Does that mean you already have a boyfriend-" At this time Chibi Usa had no other choice but to put her hand over Cere-Cere's mouth.

Several people turned to look as Cere-Cere struggled comically while Chibi Usa kept one hand on her mouth and sweat drops collected on the back of her head "Ahhaha, it's a wonderful day isn't it? The sun's out and shinning!" she laughed unconvincingly until the onlookers decided that maybe wherever their princess has been for the past months, it might have affected her brain and it was better to look away and mind their own business.

Finally alone again, Chibi Usa let out a deep sigh and took her hand off Cere-Cere's face which was starting to turn blue.

"Sorry Cere-Cere, but please don't say these things out loud! The last thing I want is the tabloids and the paparazzi following me!"

Palla-Palla looked innocently and whispered "Why is Small Lady-sama so worried? And why would any one's papa want to follow you?"

Chibi Usa felt another sweat drop forming at Palla-Palla's misunderstanding but she smiled and shook her head. "It's complicated Palla-Palla, let's just say it's not something everyone will understand even if they did know about it."

"Oh..." Palla-Palla said quietly, not really understanding what Chibi Usa meant while her sisters seemed to have caught onto something and passed a thoughtful look between them.

Changing topics now, Chibi Usa glancing down at her watch and said "We should go to class; we have to get there early if we want to sit down before the bell rings. Our class is really close though, we'll get there in no time-" she began to turn around the blind corner of the locker when someone suddenly stepped out in front of her and the two collided.

"Oh...what happened?" Chibi Usa asked groggily as Cere-Cere helped her up.

Looking out with one opened red eye she could see the person who was partially responsible for the sore pain in her bum was a girl wearing round glasses which was sitting crookedly on her nose from the accident. Her beige colored hair was braided in a simple pig tail reach just past her shoulders.

The girl moaned but when she saw who she had collided with, a look of panic washed over her face as it turned pale. She scrambled up, bowed a full 90 degrees then began to apologize even before Chibi Usa had a chance to get up.

"I'm-I'm so sorry your majesty...uh...I-I'm very sorry...I must be going now, I'm sorry!" with that she turned and ran out the room, nearly creating another collision with two bystanders.

"Well that was rude, running off like that!" Cere-Cere said gruffly, her hands still on Chibi Usa's arms.

"It's alright; I can tell she apologized sincerely. I just hope I didn't scare her too badly. By the look on her face I thought she was going to have a heart attack." The princess brushed off her skirt and looked to the Quartet "I just hope this doesn't end up in the tabloid tomorrow. My mother will laugh her head off of she sees the lurid headline 'Royal Princess Knocked onto Her Bums in Locker Room Accident'."

The Quartet laughed and continued on their way, unaware that the panicking girl from a moment ago was now looking at them with calm, unnervingly silent eyes.

------------------------------------------

During their brisk walk to class, Ves-Ves decided to ask about the strange statement Chibi Usa gave before running into the girl with the glasses.

"I almost forgot, why did you say we have to get to class early if we want to sit down on time even though the classroom is only around the corner?" asked Ves-Ves

"That's because..." but before Chibi Usa could answer Ves-Ves, Jun-Jun opened the classroom door.

"WELCOME BACK PRINCESS-SAMA!!!"

A unanimous roar rattled Chibi Usa's brain when the door of her classroom opened. Winching from the noise, Chibi Usa sweat dropped to see a crowd with bouquets and out stretched hands. "There's another welcoming committee..." Chibi Usa finished. The heir to Crystal Tokyo smiled wearily as she accepted the flowers and handshakes. Even the Quartet was not spared this time. Word has gotten out that the four new students following the princess were the rumored new senshis. If anything the crowd was giving them more attention which was overwhelming for the Amazones.

While the whole class pushed and shoved, a particularly anxious boy was trying desperately to get close to the center of the crowd. His slicked back black hair and milk bottle glasses made one wonder if he was a direct descendent of Umino, Usagi's old schoolmate. He held a bouquet of beautiful red roses with a note sticking out on top as he jostled in the mass of humanity.

"Excuse me, Princess-sama! Oh, excuses me-" he struggled toward the center of the crowd but to no avail. He tried one more time, harder this time. But when it comes to pushing and shoving he was instead rippled back as the crowd knocked him unceremoniously out of the fold.

"Ah!" His head landed against the brim of a nearby desk and soon little birds were circling his head as the flowers he'd been holding lost a few of their bright petals in the crash.

"Is it just me or has no one heard the bell ring?" an angry steely voice cut through the noise of the crowd. Instantly the noise ceased. Chibi Usa turned in relief to see her homeroom teacher standing in the door way.

The female teacher, with her arms crossed across her chest and her straight blonde hair wrapped in a bun, flashing an authoritative look with her green eyes. "Apparently not, and I'm not surprised with the noise you were making."

"Yes Yamamoto-sensei" the crowd answered reluctantly.

"Good, now go to your seats. We have a lot to do today." Yamamoto said with the wickedly cheerful grin of a teacher before the boy with the thick glasses caught her eyes "Are you okay Ken Kinoshita? What are you doing sitting on the floor?"

The teacher asked as poor Ken rubbed his head, one hand clutching the slightly frayed roses he meekly answered back "Uh, nothing sensei, I-I'll be going to my seat now."

The teacher nodded and turned towards the podium. Ken glanced at Chibi Usa, smiling wistfully to herself in her seat before the four girls she came in with surrounded her desk and they began chattered happily with each other. All this time she never noticed him, Ken thought as he cheerlessly walked towards the back of the class where he sat.

Chibi Usa gave a relieved sigh as she climbed into her seat. She left the bouquets she has accepted on her desk and cringed when the pollen made her sneeze. _How does he do it?_ she thought to herself, remembering the time when a certain white haired boy was a member of her class and had a band of swooning fan girls following him. He had always managed to remain polite and affable, even when Chibi Usa herself was about to explode from the school girl's unending attention. The thought of him brought a smile to her face and a rush of warmth to her hands, strained and tired from the many handshakes.

"God, I haven't seen anyone so enthusiastic since Palla-Palla got her new visual interactive toys from Mizuno-sensei last Friday!" Jun-Jun said dramatically, rudely snapping Chibi Usa out of her daydreams.

"They'll get over it soon. By then you'll probably miss the commotion because life can get pretty boring here." Chibi Usa advised, smiling ruefully at the comical haggard expression worn by the green haired Amazones.

"Yeah well, I'd rather be bored than get mobbed everyday. It's not 8 O'clock yet and I'm already getting a headache!" said Ves-Ves, her elbows on the table and her face cupped in her hands.

"May I have the new students walk up to the front of the class please," the teacher's voice made the Quartet look up. Palla-Palla looked to Chibi Usa, her thin brows turned together.

"Did Palla-Palla do something wrong? Why does the lady need us to face everyone?"

Chibi Usa shook her head, and patted the short girl's arm reassuringly "Don't worry, she just wants you to tell the class a little about yourself. Once you walk up there just introduce yourselves, it's that simple."

"Really?"

"Of course!" Chibi Usa winked "I'll be here supporting you all the way!"

Palla-Palla nodded and turned away, following her sisters who were waiting for her.

Ms. Yamamoto smiled at her new students as they made their way to the podium.

"Please tell us your name, age and some of the things you like." She said to Cere-Cere who was standing first in line.

Cere-Cere bowed respectfully to the teacher then to the class. Once she raised her head, she cleared her throat and spoke in a clear attractive voice "My name is Cere-Cere, I'm 14 years old and I love shopping and flowers. My hobby is enjoying beautiful things and I hope to get to know each of you." She gave the class an smart wink, causing some of the boys to blush.

Ves-Ves rolled her eyes as her sister stepped back and she took the stage as next in line. "I'm Ves-Ves, and I'm also 14. I like video games, and having fun." Ves-Ves said briskly with a rather bored tone, forgoing the more lengthy type of introduction favored by her pink haired sister.

"I'm Jun-Jun, 14 years old and I like sports and hope to join some of the sports teams here at school." She said with the confident smile of a tomboy.

After Jun-Jun finished, Palla-Palla immediately rushed up and waved at everyone in the class with a wholehearted smile. "Hi everyone! Palla-Palla is 13 and a half and she likes to play with her toys!" at this rather odd way of introduction the class stared at her, some laughed silently while others glanced uncertainly at his or her neighbor. "Palla-Palla really hopes to be friends with everyone and she will work extra hard to do well!" the blue haired Amazones grinned and her doll-like face lit up.

The teacher chuckled and nodded approvingly "Very good girls! Everyone, please welcome your new classmates with a round of applause!" the four girls bowed in unison amidst the ovation of the class. Once the clapping died down Ms. Yamamoto turned to the Quartet and said "there are four empty seats at the back of the class you may take; the first lesson will be Pre-Algebra so please have your book ready."

The Quartet left the podium and took their seats while the class followed their every move. This made Chibi Usa feel a bit nervous. She didn't want the class to ostracize the Quartet because they're new or because they are her senshis. The one thing she really missed about the 21st century was that no one knew she was a senshi and her peers treated her without the bias of loyalty and senshi-hood. But here everyone knew who she was and how different she was from everyone else. Chibi Usa sighed; she was missing the past more and more by the minute. She just hoped the Quartet will adapt to their new surroundings without too much difficulty.

--------------------------------------------------

"That was fun wasn't it Small Lady-sama?" Palla-Palla asked cheerfully. It was now gym class and the girls were walking out from the girls locker-room towards the main gym where the class is to gather for their lesson. "Palla-Palla likes playing with clay, even though it gets all sticky and wet, Palla-Palla can make whatever she wants with it! Does Small Lady-sama like to play with clay too?"

Chibi Usa sweat dropped. Palla-Palla was referring to their last class, Arts and Crafts in which the teacher was introducing them to sculpturing with clay. Having never seen much less operate a clay crafting wheel before, Palla-Palla had stepped too hard on the paddle and had gotten clay splattered all over her, making it look like someone threw a chocolate cake on her face. But Palla-Palla's seemingly indomitable cheerfulness shone through and she laughed with the class while the other Quartet members looked away with sweat dropped hanging heavily on their heads. Once she got cleaned up Palla-Palla had become the adored little girl of the class and Chibi Usa was glad that at least one Amazones seemed to be doing well.

"Hey Chibi Usa, over here!" Ves-Ves called from across the school grounds.

"Coming!" Chibi Usa shouted back and with Palla-Palla ran across the concrete paved open-air walkway connecting the gym to the locker-room. The girls walked to the door of the gym to find the rest of class already there.

The gym teacher looked up and checked off his role call sheet, satisfied that everyone's present. "Today we'll be starting on a new unit. And that," he said as he pushed back the gym door to reveal uneven bars, balance beam, and a host of other equipment "would be gymnastics."

Instantly a wave of commotion went through the students.

"How come we have to learn gymnastics, that's for girls!" complained a bored looking boy.

"You may think gymnastics looks easy but it's a sport that demands great agility, balance, and grace." The teacher lectured "Today I'll allow you to try out each of the equipment but no horsing around; remember safety first, I don't want my students getting hurt." After that the teacher had an upper classman who had taken the course before to demonstrate the routines he wanted everyone to learn. After this he divided the class into groups that rotated from each piece of equipment to the next. The Quartet was split up into each of the groups and allowed to begin their rotation to the five stations.

While they stood in line waiting for their turn Ves-Ves began growing increasingly bored as she crouched on the ground waiting for her turn. _This is no fun, none of these kids even know what they're doing!_ as she thought this, the girl that had been on the uneven bars before her fell off with a squeal onto the mat below her after only hanging on for a few seconds. _As I was saying, amateurs._ Yawning and stretching out her limbs, the red haired Amazones suddenly got an idea. Demurring for a moment, Ves-Ves turned her eyes to the teacher and was heartened to see the instructor leave the gym when another gym teacher came in and asked for his help with something. She smirked as she approached the uneven bars once the coast was clear.

She shook her head when the upper classman offered to boost her up. Instead she took a few steps back and to the class' surprise, ran towards the bars. Ves-Ves grasped the lower bar and pulled herself up to a handstand much to everyone's amazement. Coming off from her handstand she swung around a full 360 degrees and surprised the class even more by letting go of the bar and catching the higher bar. Ves-Ves swung around again and around a few times, switched hands in midair before doing an upside down handstand, receiving a wave of awe from her classmates. Letting gravity take her back down, Ves-Ves swung another 360 and dismounted. A flood of applause and whistles swelled Ves-Ves with pride as she grinned to the crowd and bowed.

"You're not the only one who could do that!" Cere-Cere said grumpily. She walked out to the freestyle gymnastics mat and picked up a ribbon that had been dropped there by someone who left to watch her sister. Swing the ribbon in a graceful arc; everyone turned their attention to Cere-Cere who seemed to will the ribbon to flow like water around her, manipulating it with a flick of her wrist. Suddenly she threw the ribbon into the air behind her and everyone's eyes followed it as if hypnotized. Cere-Cere sprinted forward, did a summersault and when her hand touched the mat, she launched herself into the air and caught the ribbon in the middle of a summersault, with it whirling in a circle around her once she landed.

A new round of cheers went through the crowd but the four Amazones Quartet were far from finished. "Don't forget me!" This time it was Jun-Jun who stepped up. She walked to the far end of the vault horse and took a deep breath. Everyone then watched as she ran full speed towards the horse, her arms reaching towards the sky as she flipped forward then launched herself into the air and spun two circles before landing with a perfect 10.

Before the class could finish their applause for the third Amazones sister, Palla-Palla's chirpy voice bounced into their ears. "Oh, Palla-Palla can do it too, see!" She cried and leaped onto the end of the balance beam. Walking a few confident strides, Palla-Palla did a backward summersault then in a playful manner she run part of the length of the beam and did a forward flip, with her feet coming off the beam. She landed back on the beam effortlessly, turned 180 degrees on one foot before dismounting successfully with a back flip.

The applause roared as each of the Quartet took a bow. Chibi Usa laughed as she clapped with the class. The Amazones Quartet were the acrobats of the Dead Moon Circus and she had seen them strut their stuff before when they were preparing the adult ceremony. The carefree style and confidence with which they performed made the princess forget about the hectic morning she had gone through. And while Chibi Usa was cheering on the Quartet, Ken hung in the background, thinking furiously to himself.

_This is my chance; if those girls can do it then maybe I can do it too!_ He balanced his glasses and went up to the rings that hung the ceiling. Slowly everyone turned to watch him as he leaped a few times before finally getting his hands around the rings. With all his might Ken tried to pull himself up with his thin scrawny arms. Gritting his teeth, the students were shocked to see the class nerd slowly pulling himself up even though his arms were shaking like a leave.

_Almost there!_ Ken encouraged himself as his head grudgingly passed by his elbows. Just then a dot of pink distracted his concentration. The eyes behind those thick glasses lit up and he thought dreamily about how impressed the princess would be by his performance right now. Just then Ken's arm muscles decided they've had enough. And before Ken could react he lost his grip on the rings and fell with a lumbering thud onto the mat, drawing an uproar of laughter from the whole class. Flushed a deep shade of red, Ken kept his face laying flat on the mat, not wanting to risk seeing Chibi Usa laughing at his foolish and clumsy attempt. He was rescued from future embarrassment when the gym teacher broke through the crowd and helped Ken to his feet.

While Ken tried to straighten the slightly bent frame of his glasses the teacher looked disapprovingly at him and said in a severe chiding tone "By the grace of the Queen, were you trying to break your neck Kinoshita?!" the class silenced upon hearing the palpable anger in their teacher's voice. "I leave for a second and I come back to see you on the rings in danger of falling! If you had broken something the school could get sued! That's why I've told you, all of you, not to try anything fancy but there you were trying to do something you can't and shouldn't be doing! You are excused from class for today, go wait in the locker-room. This better not happen again or else I'll have to have a talk with your parents!"

Ken sulked away, his head hanging down. This was not the way he had wanted to be noticed. Behind him, Chibi Usa cast a pitying look at the four eyed boy. Feeling a hand slap her back, she turned to see Jun-Jun grinning at her.

"That was a great performance you guys gave Jun-Jun!" she said, but then gave the green haired girl a mildly worried look "But I think you guys should be careful. You could've gotten in trouble with the teacher." she darted a glance at the teacher who didn't seem to know about the Quartet's performance.

"Sorry, but I can't watch Ves-Ves showoff and take all the glory." She scratched her head, not looking at Chibi Usa.

"And that poor guy with the glasses, I hope he's okay..." Chibi Usa glanced at the door Ken left through. Sighing heavily, Chibi Usa turned her attention back to her guardians and saw how the other students smiled and showed support through positive gestures towards the Quartet members despite being instructed by the teacher to get back into their groups. _I guess that did help to improve their reputation; everyone seems to be warming up to them...that's good at least... _

"Well" Chibi Usa said reluctantly "please try not to do that again, I don't want the teacher catching up with you guys and I don't wanna see you guys getting punished for something avoidable." she whispered

Flashing a smile and a thumbs-up, Jun-Jun nodded "Done; now let's get back to class; don't want to miss part of our all important day of education." she said jokingly.

"Oh joy..." Chibi Usa groaned sarcastically.

---------------------------------------------

"Math homework, science homework, history homework, language homework, and English homework..." Cere-Cere grumbled, counting off each assignment with her hand "I won't be able to finish all of these in a week! How can I possibly finish it all by tomorrow?"

The school's last bell was towing in the background. The crisp clean air of Crystal Tokyo vibrated with the voices of friends laughing together and bidding farewell to each other. Chibi Usa walked at the center of her group, her shadow and the shadow of the Quartet gliding across the ground as they strolled out of the gated school yard.

"Palla-Palla doesn't like homework! She wants time to play with her toys!" Palla-Palla said honestly as the discussion regarding the day's homework continued.

Chibi Usa smiled as they walked towards the limo waiting for them at the school gate "Don't worry, we can form a study group and do our work together. It makes homework less boring and we can help each other."

As they spoke Ken, with his bouquet of roses watched them as they went. He had been berating himself ever since that embarrassing moment in gym class. This wasn't his first failure since he had made plenty of other attempts before, all of them before Chibi Usa went to the 21st century. However none of his plan had ever succeeded and sometimes they've even back fired. Once when he tried to put a carefully written confession of love in Chibi Usa's shoe locker had placed the letter in the wrong locker and had gotten beaten up by the recipient, who happened to be the leader of the school's rich boy gang. Another time he had memorized the lines from the balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet" and was planning to recite it to Chibi Usa when she came by the 2nd floor window on the day of her after school duty, but he instead got struck on the back of the head by the volleyball team who were practicing in the courtyard before she even noticed him. In all his attempts he has only received disappointment and often a sore head as a reward. Today was no different and what's worse, Ken had made himself look like a fool.

This was the last chance he had that day to correct his image. He could just imagine her bashful pink cheeks and her beautiful appreciating eyes when she learns that he has gone through so much for her. Ken thought he could hear the voice of little cherubs in his ear as he thought this; the thought absolutely made him feel light and happy.

"Huh? Ah! Wait-wait for me Princess-sama!" he shouted as he realized his day dreaming had allowed the girl of his dreams and her circle of friends to come to the door of their escort, just waiting to whisk her away out of his reach. Seeing this, Ken made a dramatic sprint for the car, the fastest he had ever ran in his life.

But he had forgotten about the side effect of running fast, and that was you don't tend to see what's coming at you from the side. In a burst of red rose petals a crash was heard. Several students watched as Ken lay dazed on the ground, another bunch of birdies circling his head. Slowly Ken straightened himself, his head swam and it felt like he was wearing a fish tank on his head. Finally his eyes focused enough for him to make out a girl with pink hair disappear inside a white car.

"NOOOOOoooooo!!!" Ken wailed inside as the people around him watched him intriguingly. His face, which was watching as the limo drove off, dipped towards the ground as a breeze of lonely air blew past him.

While Ken wallowed in misery he had forgotten about the person he had ran into, a girl wearing round glasses and sporting a plain pigtail. She got up awkwardly but wordlessly; picked up the bag she had dropped and walked away without even looking at who caused her to fall to the ground for the second time that day. Some students exchanged looks of worry and curiosity, and someone said that he saw her standing idly there by the school gate when she suddenly started walking but ran into Ken. She's probably in shock or else just the really quiet type, someone else explained; not many people would walk away from an accident like that. What no one noticed was that the eyes behind those round glasses were glassy and had been staring at the princess and the Amazones Quartet all along.

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The sun was beginning to set as Ken sulked home, his bouquet of once beautiful red roses now tattered, retaining only a few worn petals; the note blown away during the crash at school. The waning sun light even seemed to be mocking him. The blinding glare made his eyes hurt, adding to the already acidy sting in his teary eyes.

"Who am I kidding...a princess would never notice a guy like me...it's hopeless." Ken mumbled as he turned a corner "None of my plans had ever work out, it's like luck always work against me..." suddenly Ken stopped. This was the path he took everyday to get to school and go home. Unlike most of the students at his school who are children of the rich and famous, he came from a simple middle class family and has to walk rather than drive the hover vehicles commonly used by his peers. Both his parents are working in different parts of Japan in order to support him to go to school at Juuban Jr. High so he lived alone in Crystal Tokyo in a house his grandparents left for him. Despite having good grades and being relatively well off, the princess has been the light of his life ever since he first set eyes on her.

Now at the foot of a Shinto shrine, a shrine he has passed countless times before, Ken suddenly got the urge to change directions and turned onto the stone paved path. A sliver of hope rose in him Maybe buying a charm or something will help me change my luck Ken thought to himself. Dumping the crumbled roses in a trash bin which he had bought fresh this morning with nearly a week's worth of allowance, he went and purchased a slip of wish making paper and noted his wish. As he walked toward the shrine's sacred tree, a sudden gust of wind snatched the note from his hand.

"Oh no!" Ken cried as he franticly tried to catch the paper slip. But the wind tossed and turned it before finally letting it come to rest before an ancient building in the back of the shrine. Seeing this Ken sighed and said "There you are!" as he picked up the paper. But as he straightened his back he saw the dark wooden doors of the structure before him. An extremely worn ofuda charm was plastered over the door and from the degree of decay of the wood, Ken judge the place to be at least a few hundred years old. What attracted him though wasn't the building but rather the strange sensation he felt tingling his skin. The sensation made him feel a bit uneasy and he certainly didn't want one of the shrine's attendants yelling at him for trespassing.

Just as Ken decided it was time to finish his business here, a slight noise made him turn around. Ken looked around but saw no one around. But then he heard the noise again, like someone pushing lightly against a locked door. Ken gulped and looked to the old building just in time to see the door jerk. Nearly suffering a heart attack, Ken jumped, his teeth chattering from fright. As scared by the strangeness of the events before him, Ken had an intense curiosity. He reached out a shaking hand and tentatively touched the door which opened with a loud un-oiled creak. The smell of dust and centuries of undisturbed darkness flooded Ken's senses. Coughing from the dust, Ken managed to take a careful step into the unlit shrine.

"Is someone in here?" Ken asked apprehensively but no one answered him.

Still mystified by what he saw, Ken took a look around and saw through his thick glasses an old urn, sitting on the alter directly in front of him. The urn was sealed with two ofuda charms and bound with a cord of sacred rope made from rice stalk. From the amount of dust in the place it was apparent no body had been in there for ages.

Picking up the urn and examined it, Ken concluded "What's this thing for?"

"Shonen..." an eerie voice called out of nowhere.

"Eeekkk!!"

Ken panicked and in his panic dropped the urn he held, causing a cloud of gray smoke to raise from the shattered remains of the clay container. "Who-who's there?" Ken asked choppily.

The gruff voice answered back "You have an unfulfilled desire do you not Shonen?"

Ken blinked, now slumped and shivering on the ground "Huh?" he whispered weakly, still not able to find the source of the voice.

"I sense a deep desire within you, a desire to be someone great, someone people notice and admire. That is what you want is it not?"

"Y-yes, I-I want the princess to notice me...I just wish she would know I'm here. Then-then may be she'll like me..." Ken admitted hesitantly, not knowing who he was talking to.

"Ah, for the admiration of a princess then, yes, a real man must prove himself worthy in such a case. I am very much like you, Shonen. Very well then, I have decided, I shall lend you my skills and talent; let us fulfill our dreams together than!"

Outside a flock of birds suddenly took flight from their roost. A slight rumble could be heard coming from within the shrine before the doors a deep crisp voice said proudly "My time has come again! KaitouKun has been reborn!"

A/N Oi, this chapter was really hard to write for some reason. I'm traveling abroad again this year and it's never easy dragging your laptop along with you. The Quartet are acrobats so that's how they can pull off those moves I described. But as a person who doesn't do gymnastics I can only described them to the best of my abilities from watching the Olympics and the things I did in my junior high gymnastics unit. Anyways, hope you like this chapter and thanks for all the support you've given me through reviews and e-mails!


	4. Night of The Phantom Thief

**Chapter 4 "Night of the Phantom Thief"**

Cere-Cere suppressed a yawn as she stared listlessly at the English textbook on her desk. One of the things she will never get use to was sitting in one place and having a 50 year old teacher growling at her about the use of idioms in a language she has no use for. As she watched the teacher gave his lecture, her mind wondered, thinking about the pleasant things she had planned to do after school; the only thing keeping her sane in this impossibly dreary class.

"Hey have you hear, the Crystal Tokyo Jewelry Exhibit was broken into last night!"

Cere-Cere raised an interested eyebrow when she heard the whispered conversation between the two female students behind her.

"Yeah of course, it was on the homepage of every internet news agency this morning!" The girl's friend whispered back from across the isle. Cere-Cere's ears perked up as the topic grew more and more intriguing for her.

She continued after shooting a watchful glance at the babbling teacher, "The police had no idea who did it except that the culprit was dressed in a ninja-like outfit and called himself KaitouKun. They say when they tried to catch him he simply leaped into the air and vanished!"

Her excited friend hid her head behind her computer screen and nodded eagerly "And this isn't the first time either! Three days ago he somehow snuck past the night vision cameras, inferred detectors and got into the National History Museum and stole a priceless sword from the Edo era!"

"That sword alone must be worth a gazillion dollars! Wow, I wonder what kind of person could have the skill and the audacity to do something so shocking."

"Ahhumm!" the teacher coughed conspicuously and the two chattering girls snapped back to attention but their conversation had sparked a deep interest for Cere-Cere regarding the topic of their conversation.

Later that day, Chibi Usa and the Quartet walked out of their last class while Jun-Jun grumble about her history lesson. "I think my ear will still be ringing from that lecture after a week! Why does that teacher have to be so dramatic, making all the sound effects of airplanes and bombs when he talks about World War I?" the green haired Amazones complained; her hands resting against the back of her head.

"Yeah, lucky for us the report we have to do for History isn't due until next Tuesday." Ves-Ves sighed, swing the school bag she held in her right hand.

"Hmm, very interesting..." Cere-Cere responded.

Ves-Ves made a gagging noise and looked at her sister in amazement "What?! Don't tell me you think writing a history paper on the evolution of 20th century warfare is interesting!"

"Not that, this!" Cere-Cere waved a piece of printout she held in her hand "I printed it out during lunch; it's about that phantom thief who calls himself KaitouKun. It says here that yesterday he appeared out of nowhere on top the Crystal Tokyo Convention building and made away with nearly all of the jewels that were on display there for the grand opening of the Crystal Tokyo Jewelry Exhibit! The report says police received word of the crime 12 hours before the theft, apparently from a note signed by KaitouKun himself as was his habit. However the crime was pulled off perfectly despite the efforts of the Crystal Tokyo police department which were out in full force. Witnesses say they only managed to catch a glimpse of a male figure, dressed in a black costume as he disappeared into the night after the crime was committed."

"A real phantom thief then, that's something you don't hear about everyday." Chibi Usa remarked.

"Sounds awfully absurd to me, how can anyone appear then disappear into a building that's crawling with cops?" Jun-Jun looked skeptically at Cere-Cere.

"That's just why it's so romantic! A mysterious phantom thief that cruises the night sky of Crystal Tokyo! I could just imagine how he would look in person!" Cere-Cere sighed dreamily as she imagined a tall handsome ninja coming to steal her heart while Jun-Jun's eyes twitched at the expression on Cere-Cere's face.

Chibi Usa chuckled "I don't think you'll see much of him even if you did catch a glimps him Cere-Cere, considering he's all dressed in black and only comes out at night. Anyways, I need to go back to our homeroom; today's my turn for clean up duties."

"Clean up duties? But you're the princess, why would they make you do that?" Ves-Ves asked incredulously.

"Actually, I volunteered. I may be a princess but I'm also a junior high student just like everybody else and I don't want the special treatment." She explained as she walked away "Our plan for tonight is still up though, just tell the driver to pick me up by 4:30pm; I'll see you guys later!" so saying she waved the Quartet good bye and jogged down the hallway.

Cere-Cere watched Chibi Usa curiously then said half to herself, half to her sisters "I wonder...what kind of person the princess' boyfriend is like..."

"What makes you think she's got a boyfriend?" Ves-Ves inquired, deliberately dropping her voice lower as to not be over heard.

"Remember on our first day here, how she said she didn't want anyone else? I think that's a clear sign saying that she already has someone special and she wouldn't look at anyone else." Cere-Cere explained, curling the paper in her hand into a tub.

"But what if it's unrequited love? Did you think about that?" said Jun-Jun

"I'm sure! The look on her face when she said that is unquestionably the look of a girl who has found true love, I know it!" Cere-Cere said unequivocally

"So, that still doesn't answer much, like who he is or what he's like." Ves-Ves said to the point "Personally I think he's a guy who's a rebel, maybe even had a red Mohawk! That's cool!" She grinned toothily.

"Chibi Usa wouldn't fall for the rebel type, too wild. I think she would like the strong athletic type, like a basketball player or a football player." Jun-Jun nodded approvingly to herself.

Cere-Cere waved them off dismissively "No way, he must be the romantic type, a man who writes her love poems and follows her every word. That's the kind that the girl always falls for in romance novels."

Palla-Palla watched as her sisters contended for their own version of Chibi Usa's hubby. Although not too sure what they were arguing about, Palla-Palla had a vague idea about what a "boyfriend" is. She knows it's a boy that a girl really cares about, someone she wants to be with and would hate to see him leave. At that thought a brief memory bubbled up in Palla-Palla's mind and she turned to her sisters to voice her discovery.

"Palla-Palla thinks she knows what that person would be like..." she said eagerly, but none of her sisters were listening and her words fell on deaf ears. Palla-Palla spouted, turned away and sighed. Looking up at the pale blue sky, Palla-Palla thought about the farewell she had witnessed between two people in the now distant past.

"In fact Palla-Palla thinks she already knows who that person is...we've seen him before..." she said quietly to herself.

Chibi Usa put her school bag down on her desk and stretched her arms. It had been a long day but thankfully it was Friday and she got to have a break over the weekend. Looking to the blackboard (actually a screen that doesn't use chalk, only a special pen and eraser that allows the teacher to write and erase at will) she saw her name and another unfamiliar name written beside hers.

_Takako Ohashi...hmm, I've never heard of that name before. Must be someone I don't know_ _that's on duty with me today_ Chibi Usa thought to herself. She went to the cleaning closet and took out the broom as she got ready to sweep the floor. The classroom door slide open, Chibi Usa turned around and was surprised to find the girl who bumped into her on her first day back to school.

The girl with the round glasses looked surprised too, but as Chibi Usa noticed, her expression seemed to be tainted with a hint of fear and bewilderment. Hoping she hadn't scared the girl again, Chibi Usa gave her a pleasant smile "You must be Takako, I think we've met before."

"Uh yes, I'm sorry about what happened before your majesty..." Takako stammered unsurely, her eyes darting between the ground and Chibi Usa every few second.

"You don't have to call me 'princess' or 'your majesty', just Chibi Usa or Small Lady is fine." Chibi Usa put the broom against the teacher's podium and walked closer to Takako. "And you don't have to keep on apologizing about what happened before; it was an accident, pure and simple. We just couldn't see each other coming around a corner like that. I guess the school should install blind spot mirrors so that won't happen again." The pink haired girl joked while Takako only showed a weak smile.

"If you say so your-I mean Small Lady-san. I'll go and sweep the floor now." Takako walked away and took up the broom and began to sweep the floor. Chibi Usa watched silently as Takako worked, diligently sweeping the floor without saying another word. Seeing this, Chibi Usa was reminded of the power and influence of her status. No matter how hard she tried to feel normal in the 30th century, the people here will not let her forget her identity. They either flock around her or like Takako, stay detached and distant.

Signing deeply, Chibi Usa suddenly found the prospect of cleaning duties to be much more tiresome than she had originally thought. Then again, Takako was just shy and being so close to a member of the royal family would be slightly unnerving for anyone who doesn't live within the crystal palace.

Going back to the closet, Chibi Usa picked up the plastic water container used to water the plants and was about to leave to fill it when she heard Takako's thin voice speaking to her. "Um, Small Lady-san, I..." she stopped when Chibi Usa turned around, her courage suddenly failing her "...it's nothing, never mind..."

"Takako..." Chibi Usa looked at her classmate closely, but Takako turned and returned to her sweeping. Chibi Usa paused for a moment longer, thinking maybe the girl with the round glasses has something important to say but after a few moments Chibi Usa decided to let it pass and left to retrieve the water she needed.

Once Chibi Usa left, the broom in Takako's hand became stilled again. Takako took off her glasses and wiped them absentmindedly on her shirt. _Maybe I should tell her...but somehow I doubted she knows why either..._ rubbing her temple, Takako shook her head and sighed _Why is that recently I often find myself standing in a different place than I was few minutes earlier with no memories of how I got there? And why is it that each time I become aware of that, I always find myself near the princess?_ She put the glasses back on and frowned, _what is wrong with me?_

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In the crystal palace, Neo Queen Serenity sat before a computer screen as she held a video conference. Her thin blonde brows were lightly drawn together as the conversation drew on.

"...Yes, I see...in that case I think we should give it a try. I will tell them of your plan after Small Lady has returned from school...what was that? ...Oh, she is late because it is her turn for after school cleaning duty today...Haha," the queen laughed lightly "Yes, I know it sounds awfully strange but I wish for my child to experience the life of a normal teenager and that includes cleaning up her classroom...haha...very well...you're welcome Wada-san, good bye."

The computer screen dimmed and the conference ended. Raising a well manicured hand to her chin, the queen of Crystal Tokyo went into a deep reverie. After a few moments a soft meow drew the queen back into the room and she saw Diana standing by the door the queen had left partially open incase Luna needed to speak with her.

"Oh hello Diana, is Small Lady home already?"

The gray-pink cat nodded in an un-cat like manner, causing the bell on her collar to jingle "Yes your majesty, Small Lady-sama just came back. Actually she wanted me to inform you that she and the Quartet plan to go shopping this afternoon and will be staying out for dinner. She also promised me to take me to a sushi restaurant if I came to ask you..." Diana admitted guiltily.

The queen smiled and shook her head, leaving the desk she sat behind and came to stand beside Diana "I am sorry Diana, but something important has come up and I am afraid you and the girls will have to go some other time. Please go and tell them I need to see them here in my study in10 minutes."

Hearing this, Diana's still kittenish face sobered. She nodded and the queen watched her leave, the sound of her bell echoing down the hall as she went.

In less than 10 minute's time the five girls were assembled in Neo Queen Serenity's private study. The Quartet exchanged questioning looks between themselves and their princess, but no one knew the reason why the queen had so hastily summoned them.

"What's wrong Mama, did a new enemy appear or something?" Chibi Usa asked anxiously.

The queen shook her head as they sat in the couches in the middle of her room. "No honey, relax. However the problem I am about to tell you about is a treat to Crystal Tokyo's tranquility. I assume you have all heard of the phantom thief that has been on the loss of late?"

The girls nodded, still not to clear what that had to do with them. Serenity walked to the table and picked up a small piece of paper and held it out to Chibi Usa. On the paper was a short paragraph written in neat Japanese calligraphy. It said "By the moon light of the third day before the eve of the third month, I shall arrive upon the last hour, to take the egg of white flower." Chibi Usa drew her eyebrows together and looked at her mother "Is this what I think it is?"

"I get it; this is KaitouKun's notice of challenge to the police!" Cere-Cere squealed

"I wouldn't call it so much as a challenge rather than an announcement. I guess this is what they mean by 'honor amongst thieves'." Jun-Jun said "But what does it mean, 'egg of white flower' and arriving at 'the last hour'?"

Chibi Usa handed the note back to her mother and the queen continued "The police have already deciphered the meaning behind this note. The 'egg of white flower' is referring to a Russian Imperial Easter egg named "The White Lily". It was a present from Faberge to the princess Anastasia on her fifth birthday and is suppose to represent the princess' innocence and purity. It was lost during the Russian Revolution and resurfaced in 2009. Now it's a part of the traveling Faberge collection that's touring Japan right now." Looking at the note, Serenity frowned "'Arrive at the last hour' means midnight, and as for 'the third day before the eve of the third month'..."

Palla-Palla suddenly spoke up "That's today, today is the 28th of March." Everyone turned to look at Palla-Palla who smiled innocently.

"Today?!" Cere-Cere gasped, then quickly cover her mouth in the presence of the queen.

Neo Queen Serenity nodded "I spoke with the Crystal Tokyo police chief and after the two failed attempts by the police to stop KaitouKun, he has turned to us and asks for the senshis' help. I would have Minako and the others to try and assist them but I thought it would be better for you five to go instead. It would be a good first hand exercise for you as senshis."

"Alright, I finally get to kick some butt!" Ves-Ves cheered.

"Don't attack him unless you have to Ves-Ves, because if this KaitouKun is an ordinary human your powers would be overkill. Remember, you five are senshis but you are also defenders of peace and justice. Don't get carried away. Capture him and hand him over to the police; that is the goal of your mission."

Hours later, the new Arts and Humanities Museum building was crawling with police and reporters. Being a structure built during the reign of Neo Queen Serenity, it had some of the best security systems in the 30th century but so had the other buildings KaitouKun had successfully broken into. Police dogs, night-vision robots, and a whole myriad of other police equipment and tools were employed in trying to not only prevent the loss of property, but also (if not the more important of the two) to save face for the Crystal Tokyo police force.

Inside the elegantly dome shaped glass building, the Sailor Quartet and Neo Sailor Moon watched as policemen and women with tightly drawn faces wired up their camera and other such related items. Once in a while a passing officer would dart a look at the five strange senshis they have never seen before and Sailor Juno felt like she has become one of the objects on display here in the exhibit. She sighed, _at least this was better than getting mobbed by reporters who would probably kill to get a picture of the "mysterious new senshis"_, she reasoned.

Sailor Ceres and Sailor Pallas were another matter. Curiosity and wonder had been the main reason for Pallas' enthusiasm while Ceres was trilled that she might be able to meet the ultra mysterious KaitouKun in real life. Juno was just thankful she didn't bring an autograph board so she could brag about it later at school. Sailor Vesta was the only member of the Quartet that seemed detached about the hustle and bustle going on around her as she leaned casually against a nearby wall. If it wasn't for the "let's get this party started!" smirk on her face, one would think she actually didn't care much about their current mission.

Neo Sailor Moon glanced at the clock tower visible through the glass panels, and saw that there was only half an hour left before the minute hand strikes 12am. Having gotten to the museum hours ago, the senshis and herself had transformed once they got inside the museum, outside the prying eyes of the public. Now they waited for the police to finish up their own preparations as the group watched them scurried around the glass case containing the White Lily.

"Princess-sama?" Neo Sailor Moon turned around to see the person who addressed her and saw the police chief looking down at her. Chief Wada was in his mid fifties but from his size and the grim seriousness on his square face, the princess felt like she was staring an old lion in the eyes. Quickly she bowed and the chief bowed as well "We are ready; all of our security features are in place. Five minutes later the security system will be turned on; please be in your designated areas and be on stand by. We will immediately notify you when he arrives."

"Thank you sir, we will. And we will do our best." She smiled at him, trying to somehow lighten the police chief's mood. However, the man only gave her a solemn nod.

"Very well...Alright, we're heading out! Come on, hurry up!" he shouted to his subordinates and walked away.

Letting out a sigh, Neo Sailor Moon could hardly imagine a stern man like that asking her mother for help. But then again, Crystal Tokyo had been peaceful for quite a while now and although this was nothing compared to the invasion by Nemesis, it still rattled the people's nerves.

"Guys, the system goes up in five minutes. Let's get ready." Neo Sailor Moon shouted. As the Quartet complied, the princess took notice of the item they were protecting for the first time. She walked gingerly around the areas she had been told to avoid and glazed into the transparent container at the delicately crafted object.

"So this is the White Lily...it's so beautiful..." she admitted. The egg was no bigger than her palm and its shell was enameled with a reflective green glaze, the color of sweet young grass. Its surface was divided into eight sections by crisscrossing gold bands, each encrusted with tiny diamonds. On both front and back, curling lily leaves made from thin expertly crafted gold sheets reach out from the cross created by the gold bands to touch each side of the section. In the middle of the cross was a gold circle, forming a frame for the namesake of the egg. The graceful representation of a snow white Easter lily was crafted from a stone the princess could not name, but the stone flower, along with its long slender leaves, looked like the reflection of a lily flowing in a stream. Of course, this was what the egg would look like if it was closed, but for the purpose of display it was opened to reveal the other treasure of the priceless Faberge egg.

Despite being petite in size, inside the White Lily was the tiny statue of a young woman, standing with her hands folded at her waist. According to the explanation for the piece, the egg was also a music box, tuned to play a Russian folk song about an attractive young woman when one lightly pressed the statue. The finely crafted and meticulous made statue was in fact related to a secret wish the little princess had and Faberge worked that dream into his piece; a desire to be a beautiful and strong lady.

At this, Neo Sailor Moon smiled. How could she not smile, it seemed. Here was another princess who also wished to be a lady and despite the tragedy that befell her, that dream was immortalized in this wonderfully crafted birthday present that represented her young girlish innocence.

Just then a light buzzing sound alerted Neo Sailor Moon and pulled her back from her reflection. A nearly invisible cage of interweaving lasers formed around the display case as she moved away and the light in the exhibit dimmed.

"The security system is on now...let's be prepared." She said in a whispered voice to the Quartet. The Quartet gave her a nod as they now stood in a circle around the display case. Juno's eyes darted from left to right and right to left, always watching for any movement. Vesta could feel the beating of her adrenaline filled heart and her grin grew wider as she felt her blood carry that adrenaline to every part of her readied body. Ceres' giddiness had been replaced by a calm professionalism and Pallas did the same, her normally childish face now wore a concentrated look.

Neo Sailor Moon watched the clock tower outside, the pale moon light stealing into the exhibit as it slowly trekked across the night sky. Slowly, she counted down the seconds as the minute hand tilted closer and closer to the black Roman-numeral twelve on the contrasting white clock face.

_15...14...13...12...11...10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...0!_

The clock chimed as it announced the hour of midnight, forming a dull echo in the senshis' ears. A few more seconds passed but still no noise, no flash of movement.

"Hey are you sure he's coming at midnight?" Vesta asked doubtfully as she began to grow impatient.

"That's what he wrote, he couldn't possibly-"

Before Ceres could finish a patch of black moved before their eyes.

"He's here!" Juno cried as the senshis rushed to the wall where the movement came from. But once they got near the wall there was no one standing there at all, only a piece of black cloth laying on the floor. By the time they turned around the White Lily had already disappeared from its case and was now lying in the hand of a black clad figure, his matching shadow stretching far across the floor by the moon light.

"Damn it, he used a distraction!" Vesta cried as she charged him, throwing in a lightning fast punch but the thief dodged it just as quickly. She quickly turned around and threw a flying kick which KaitouKun avoided with a smooth back flip.

"Heeyaaa!" Juno, Ceres, and Pallas joined their sister. In the dim exhibit hall four shadows danced around each other, moving up and down, left and right. All in the frame of three to four seconds, KaitouKun dodged the onslaught brought on by the Sailor Quartet, flowing like a breath of air around the kicks and thrusts thrown at him. Suddenly he leaped into the air and out of the circle of senshis, heading down the hall. Seeing him escape, the Quartet ran after him as he half leaped and half dashed across the floor.

"Wait, not there!" Neo Sailor Moon warned as the Quartet ran across a laser line that was laying low on the floor, tripping the security system. Before they would react a cage of lasers formed around them.

"What the hell is this?!" Juno put her hand against the laser and instantly retracted it when she felt the fabric on her glove burn "Ow!"

Neo Sailor Moon watched as KaitouKun got further away and took chase after him as the Quartet yelled and shouted. _Sorry guys, but I'll come back for you later!_

Managing to avoid the other electrically set traps, Neo Sailor Moon reached the end of the exhibit and saw the door of the fire escape was opened and a flash of black disappeared up the stairway.

The harsh echo of her boots ringing against the concrete stairs panged against her eardrums as she raced to catch up. Turning sharply around the bend in the stairwell, Neo Sailor Moon caught another brief flash of a black scarf as it disappeared behind a door at the end of the fire escape. Taking a deep breath, she dashed towards the door and burst into the contrasting world of Crystal Tokyo during its hour of deep sleep. The diversely colored lights of the city rushed into her eyes and the blackness of night hid the phantom she had been chasing in its embrace. Neo Sailor Moon scowled while her breath tried to return to its normal pace. Through her crimson colored eyes there was no trace of the man she had been pursuing. Only the deluded noise of traffic and her own rushed breathing could be heard.

"I am impressed." A masculine voice said suddenly. Neo Sailor Moon turned around to take in her first glimpse of the elusive KaitouKun, and she had to say she was a bit...surprised.

The phantom thief that had slipped out the hands of Crystal Tokyo police and cleverly trapped the Sailor Quartet in a laser cage wore a black ninja outfit like one would see in the movies and had his arms folded confidently across his chest. Even from where she stood, Neo Sailor Moon could tell he wasn't very tall or muscular. There were only a few noticeable things about him, one being his yellow straw sandals and the other being a pair of milk bottle glasses that peeped out from behind his black veil.

_Huh?!_

Imaginary question marks popped over Neo Sailor Moon's confused head. The princess could never have anticipated that the person she had been chasing all this time was wearing a pair of glasses, much less a pair that looked so ridiculously out of character for a character like him. "You-you're KaitouKun?" Neo Sailor Moon asked in disbelief.

KaitouKun, for his part however, seemed to ignore the young lady's perplexities and went about answering her question in a leveled voice. "That I am, and you miss, must be the princess of this kingdom."

Surprised once again, Neo Sailor Moon nodded "Yes, that's common knowledge but that's what's not important right now! I am a Sailor Senshi and I've come to apprehend you. Surrender peacefully, the police have already surrounded this museum, and there's no place for you to go now." She said with the most confident voice she could muster.

However, KaitouKun only laughed, a thing that wouldn't seem so out of place if it weren't for the glasses. "Such harsh words from a refined young woman of good background, chasing criminals such as myself at the darkest hour of the night; this era really is strange. But none the less, I must say and I am honored to have earned your attention my beautiful lady."

Hearing this, the princess felt her face turn pink. She pushed her embarrassment aside and shouted back "I won't fall for your sweet talks, hand over the White Lily and turn your self in right now!" At this time the whirl of a helicopter began to ascend into Neo Sailor Moon's ears "You can't escape, the police are on their way here...!"

Before she could finish what she had to say, KaitouKun crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Neo Sailor Moon watched as the phantom thief took her hand and kissed it. KaitouKun look up into her eyes and although she couldn't see anything beyond those absurd glasses, Neo Sailor Moon felt something compelling emitting from this person who stands in close proximity to her.

"This is a custom I observed in my youth performed by a white man from a faraway nation. I understand it is a gesture of respect and affection towards ladies amongst westerners. I hope you are not offended by this unfamiliar gesture." Neo Sailor Moon only blinked speechlessly as her face blushed again. "As you requested, I shall return the White Lily, however, I never intended to keep it; it is a present from me to you my lady. I believe it is one of the few pieces in the world fit to match your beauty." At this KaikouKun took a step back and lightly tossed the White Lily to Neo Sailor Moon. Still extremely confused, she almost dropped the Faberge and caught it just before it crashed onto the ground.

"However, the other request you had of me I am afraid I cannot fulfill. My dream is yet to be accomplished and before then I cannot bring myself to fall into the hands of the law." At this time the helicopter surfaced behind the edge of the roof, its flood light illuminating the black outfit of the phantom thief, giving it a theatrical shine. "Until next time my lady, until then, farewell!" With that, he suddenly turned around and leaped over the ledge.

"Wait!" Neo Sailor Moon rushed after him but when she looked down she saw no trace of the mysterious burglar. "He disappeared..." the princess said to herself then looked down at the elaborate Easter egg she held in her hands. "Who is this guy...?" several minutes passed before she looked back up and suddenly remembered "Oh crud, I totally forgot about the Quartet!" she sweat dropped and hurriedly turned around to rescue her trapped comrades.

(back in the exhibit)

"Where is Small Lady-sama? Palla-Palla is getting sleepy..." Pallas said drowsily as she yawned and stretched.

"I think sleep isn't exactly the most important thing we should be worrying about right now, genius!" Juno growled as Pallas' outstretched elbow edged into her back "Ow! Hey, that hurts!"

Juno turned around to yell at Pallas but she accidentally stepped on Ceres' foot "Juno, watch where you put your foot!" she screamed, her thigh bumping into Vesta.

"Holy-! Will you be careful, my face almost got seared!" Vesta shouted, her nose now mere inches from the laser bars due to her sister's jostling.

However that only seemed to have the opposite effect as the girls blamed each other and the shouting and whining increased another fold.

Vesta sweat dropped and sighed as she watched the moon hanging in the night sky "Sailor Moon where are you, get me out of here!"

A/N Did you guys like it? I made up the whole thing with the White Lily; a phantom thief has to steal something cool right? Anyways, not much less to say except leave a review to tell me what you think (smile).


	5. The Princess and the Thief

**Chapter 5 "The Princess and the Thief"**

It was a normal Saturday in Crystal Tokyo. People drove along in their hover crafts, cruising lightly above the traffic that echoed the same hustle and bustle of the past millennium as the ever present pedestrians went about their own businesses. On one of the many wall-sized screens displayed on the sides of buildings were various news agencies, reporting the morning's headlines.

"Good morning Crystal Tokyo, I am Miho Domoto with the top stories of the day. First off is the dramatic encounter with the illusive KaitouKun last night at the Arts and Humanities Museum." The news anchor's attractive voice announced, attracting the attention of a few onlookers who looked up at the giant screen. "Police confirmed the report that the thief made contact with the sailor senshis, and although details have yet to be released, we do know that the object of the heist, the Russian Faberge egg the White Lily has been retrieved. However it seems the mysterious phantom thief escaped yet again after trapping the newly initiated Sailor Quartet in a trap that had been set up by the police." A picture of the Quartet being helped out of the laser trap was shown, drawing giggles and disappointed head shakes from the crowd "The police say that they will do everything they can to capture the enigmatic outlaw. Whether this will mean they will continue to ask for the aid of the Sailor Senshis should there be a future robbery is unknown."

Back in the palace, servants hurried down hallways and corridors, minding their own duties. However a heavy atmosphere was hanging over the normally cheerful crystal residence. The reason was apparent, the newly trained senshis' attempt to catch the phantom thief KaitouKun had failed and even though the princess was able to recover the Faberge egg, the Sailor Quartet felt they have been completely humiliated by their unplanned disaster.

The girls have sealed themselves up in Chibi Usa's room, sulking amongst themselves. Cere-Cere sighed heavily as she sat in a beautifully upholstered chair and leaved through the newest edition of a teen magazine and looked disinterestedly at the article regarding popular rumors and theories flying amongst teenagers regarding KaitouKun.

"What a shame, we got all worked up but I never got a good look at him." She lamented regretfully.

Jun-Jun look up from where she laid on the bed and gave her sister a dark look "Yeah, like totally embarrassing ourselves on our first mission isn't a real shame"

"Now the whole world thinks we're a bunch of useless wannabes who don't know what they're doing." Ves-Ves moaned as she sat listlessly in the chair beside Cere-Cere, her elbows on her knee and her face cupped in her hands.

Palla-Palla looked up from where she sat on the ground, apatheticly coloring a picture book and said "Palla-Palla didn't like catching phantom thief-san but Small Lady-sama did get the pretty egg back." She said optimistically.

"Yeah, but we still lost face in front of everyone, and when I say everyone, I mean every living person on this planet!" Jun-Jun sat up and fumingly chucked the pillow she had been leaning on against the headboard. "If Chibi Usa hadn't gotten the egg back things could even be worse for us, don't you think so Chibi Usa?"

When no reply came, Jun-Jun looked towards the girl in question and saw the princess lying flat on her back on the bed, her hands behind her head. Chibi Usa didn't reply right away. Instead, she sighed lightly and pushed herself up.

"Jun-Jun's right," Chibi Usa admitted, addressing the Quartet as a whole "but we've got to salvage our reputation because we have to let the people know we're not a bunch of 'useless wannabes'. We may be inexperienced as a team but we are senshis, no one can contest that."

However the speech didn't seem to have inspired any influx of confidence as the Quartet continued with their gloomy silence. Chibi Usa shook her head and was about to sulk with them when a knock came from the door. Uncurling herself from her cross legged position, Chibi Usa went and opened the door to find Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury standing outside.

"Hi guys" Mercury said tactfully, noting the heavy atmosphere hanging in the bedroom "Are you guys feeling okay?"

An unanimous moan answered her, making Mercury frown in worry.

Mars looked to Chibi Usa who was still standing by the door "Have you tried to talk to them?"

Chibi Usa sighed for the hundredth time since she woke up today and nodded "I just did and it didn't work; I think we all feel pretty bad to some degrees about this whole thing."

Mars patted her encouragingly on the shoulder "Don't worry, it'll all work out. At least this guy is only a thief, not like the evil overlords we use to..."

Chibi Usa waited for Mars to finish what she had to say but it never came. She turned to look at the older senshi and found her staring raptly at her left hand. "What is it Rei?"

The senshi of the rusty red planet blinked, as if pulling herself out of a trance when her dark brows drew together and she looked at Chibi Usa seriously "Small Lady, have you been to any sacred shrines or temples lately?"

Mystified by Mars' question, Chibi Usa shook her hand "Why do you ask?" By this time the Quartet had heard their conversation and congregated around Chibi Usa and Sailor Mars.

"I asked because I'm feeling strange vibrations from your left hand. Have you touched anything unusual with that hand?"

"Umm..." Chibi Usa was about to shake her head when she remembered something and blushed "sort of...not really...you see, when I was confronting KaitouKun yesterday when he suddenly kissed my left hand..."

"He did that?!" Cere-Cere echoed. Her face, along with Jun-Jun, Ves-Ves, and Sailor Mercury's all flushed while Mars stood by the door way, running this information over in her mind. "What did he look like? Was he cute?" Cere-Cere fired questions quicker than an automatic rifle as Chibi Usa put her hands up and smiled wearily as she faced the barrage. After a moment longer Mars spoke and Ves-Ves put her hand over Cere-Cere's mouth so they could hear her.

"That would explain why he's so elusive..." Mars looked directly at Chibi Usa, and the senshi of fire's gaze made the princess gulp before the information she imparted almost made her faint "I don't' think KaitouKun is human; I think he's a ghost."

"Eh?!" went Mars' chorus of bystanders

"Small Lady, did he say anything to you that you find peculiar or strange?" Mars asked, ignoring the amazed gawks from the Quartet.

Chibi Usa reflected then nodded slowly "Now that you brought it up, he did talk like he wasn't familiar with this era. Oh, he also said that he thought the idea of white foreigners kissing the hands of women which was a strange thing and hoped I wasn't offended. He also said his dream is yet to be fulfilled and he won't allow himself to be caught yet."

Nodding thoughtfully to herself, Mars let out a faint knowing smile "Good, that means my hunch was probably correct. He's unfamiliar with western customs which means he's probably from the Tokugawa era in mid 19th century when Japan reopened its doors to the West. Wandering spirits often drift the earth because they have some unfulfilled wish and his unaccomplished dream seems to fit that pattern. Since there has been no wandering spirits in Crystal Tokyo for years I'd say he might have escaped from a shrine in or near the city proper."

"That's great, but how are we going to catch a ghost?" Jun-Jun asked with a raised eyebrow "So what if we know he's from the Tokugawa period, how are we going to get him is the main problem."

Everyone went silent until Mercury suddenly spoke up "Actually I have an idea." She turned towards the Quartet and Chibi Usa "if it's because of an unfulfilled desire, if we can find out what that wish is then we'll know what his goal is and figure out something from that. And since Rei says he might be an escaped spirit from a shrine then there should be some records of him and we might find something useful."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's search the digital archives and see what we can find!" Ves-Ves was about to walk off towards the computer station when Mercury halted her.

"It's not that easy Ves-Ves. If what Rei said is true then his records, if they even exist, would be too old to have been dug up and detailed in the archives. I think you'll have to go through the temples records manually."

Ves-Ves stared at Mercury in disbelieve, her mouth hanging open for several seconds before she said blankly "You mean we have to got through all those centuries of files by hand?!"

Mercury nodded helplessly.

(A while later)

A cloud of antique dust rose as Mars dumped a tall stack of old manuscripts onto the largest table in the library. Chibi Usa and the Quartet coughed, waving their hands in front of their faces. Sailor Mars sighed and stretched her sore arms "That's all the preserved temple records in the old Tokyo era. Hopefully we'll be able to find something useful."

Ves-Ves looked at the pile of more than 200 books disdainfully, her lip twisted in an unwilling frown. "Hopefully..." she said before sitting down with the others as they began going through the material.

(A long while later...)

The grandfather clock ticked rhythmically, accompanied by the shuffling of thin, yellowed leaves of paper. A bored yawn punctuated the morgue-like silence of the room as the sound of turned pages continued.

"We've been here for nearly three hours and after seeing enough old dusty papers to fill a whale we still haven't found anything useful!" Ves-Ves complained as she slammed her volume of text onto the table, raising another miniature cloud of dust.

Palla-Palla, with eyes half open, moped as her hands listlessly held a book, her chin resting on the table's edge. "Whale...oh, Palla-Palla wants to eat Unadon...so hungry..." her stomach stressed that point with a loud growl that echoed in the library.

"Don't complain, finding out something about this thief is more important than..." at this point Cere-Cere's stomach also growled, making her blush before she finished her sentence "food..."

Chibi Usa shook her head and looked away from the volume she had been scanning through, leaned back and stretched her sore back. "I think we should take a break, we might miss something important if we're too tired to concentrate." A tired moaning consent was heard and everyone else began putting down what she was reading.

"I'm so tired...my eyes hurt!" Jun-Jun groaned and she slouched down in her seat. Even Mercury, who has been known to study none stop for hours, had strains under her eyes as she took off her glasses and sighed.

"Good idea, reading while you're tired decreases your level of concentration." She said in a weary tone.

A light knock came from the door, followed by Sailor Venus as she poked her head in and smiled brightly. "Are you guys taking a break?"

"Yeah, the girls are all pretty tired. But we've still got about 1/3 to go." Mars said

Venus stepped in and winked "Good, because we've brought some treats for you!"

So saying Sailor Jupiter stepped into view, a tray with seven little bowls in her hand. "I thought you guys would be hungry and it's almost time for lunch so I made you some of my special Unadon."

Hearing this, Palla-Palla rushed from her chair to Jupiter's side, her eyes sparkling when she saw the delicious warm steam come off the freshly prepared eel. "Oh, thank you so much Jupiter-san! Palla-Palla loves you so much!" she gave Jupiter a huge hug, to which Jupiter laughed and set the tray down on the table.

"You're welcome Palla-Palla-chan." She looked to the others "I made enough for all of you so go ahead and chow down!"

A round of cheers came from the Qaurtet as they each indulged in Jupiter's excellent cooking. Mars and Mercury smiled and joined picked up a bowl as well. Chibi Usa smiled faintly, but decided to finish the passage she had been looking at first when two words caught her attention

"Kaitou...?...!" quickly, she returned to the beginning of the page and reread it just to be sure before calling out to her companions "Hey guys, I've found something!"

"What is it?" Cere-Cere inquired as Palla-Palla struggled to have a look while eating at the same time.

"Listen to this 'It was a time of turmoil and chaos, and in that chaos was a man who wanted to be the king of shadows, the kaitou who moved like the wind. He has robbed many a noble family of their riches before succumbing to the hand of fate, suffering an illness from which he could not recover from. And so it was that he was discovered by the law and locked in the recesses of prison until Death took him before the gallows did. Yet Death took not his soul, for it was restless and unwilling to be reincarnated. Instead his ghost roamed the dark corners, seeking the weak-willed upon whom he could prey and do his biddings as if he were alive. It was not until some two decades later that the priest of our shrine, Sumeragi-sama, was able to seal his unsettled spirit away inside our shrine to which he will remain 'til the day he is able to relinquish his earthly pride and desires.'"

Chibi Usa looked to the cover of the book and said "The book is dated from the early Meiji era, so Rei's hunch was correct after all."

"And the reason why his soul is still around is because he wanted to be the king of thieves, which explains why he performed all those risky heists in Crystal Tokyo" Jun-Jun deduced.

"So now what do we do? We know this much about him-" before Mercury could finish, the door creaked open and Diana flashed into the room, her tiny lungs out of breath from running.

"Small Lady-sama, we have just received word that KaitouKun is going to perform another heist tonight, and-and the target is inside the crystal palace!"

Chibi Usa's eyes flew open "Inside the palace?!"

"Yes," Diana continued, jumping into her mistress's arms "and the queen has already asked the police to let you and the new senshis handle it."

"But-but..." Chibi Usa sputtered but was interrupted by Mars' thoughtful voice.

"Don't panic Small Lady, I have an idea...and I think it will catch our mystery man for sure..."

* * *

That night the moon was hidden behind a thick cloud that blocked out its white light. The crystal palace stood, watching the city in which it resides as the bright rainbow lights of the evening are turned on like a field of flowers blooming in unison. The many facets of the tall crystalline towers were diffracted a different color, from soft azure to bright yellow, creamy lime to velvet lavender and everything in between. From the center of the shimmering city, the peak of the palace reached into the dark, pointing eternally at the stars, covered now by the blanket of dark blue-gray clouds.

Inside the crystal palace, the royal gallery contained some of the most exquisite art works from all around the world, from old world masters to modern 30th century artists. Many were presents from private or public museum collections that had been presented to the queen in the early days of her reign. But the queen was no art critic so she decided instead of going through the laborious effort of organizing and displaying all the paintings and statuaries through out the palace, Usagi decided to simply build a museum inside the palace and opened it to the public.

A dark figure glided into the pristine marble hallway which was eerily pale compared to the new arrival. KaitouKun looked around, his glasses watching the spare light of a display lamp before sliding soundlessly into the nearest patch of shadow. The police had once again wasted their energy in trying to stop him, KaitouKun thought smugly to himself. There were plenty of shadows for him to hide in and the police uniform he used to gain access was also very helpful.

_I wonder if the princess will come today?_ He thought lightly to himself. _It's such a pity that such a lovely creature is doing something as abhorred as prancing around in pursuit of a highly skilled criminal._ Slipping into a corridor, KaitouKun smiled when he saw what he come for hanging on the wall at the end of the hallway. The medium sized painting was illuminated by soft lamps that hanged over the oil painting. The picture was, as its name implied, that of an angel. Done in a neo-classical style, the feminine figure of the winged emissary was so life like that one would have mistaken it for a photograph has it not been for the solemn umber colored background. Pale white robes reached all the way to its toes and its fair hands were outstretched towards the world as if the angel was beckoning to the viewer to join her.

Calmly he leaped around the intricate laser lines guarding the painting and within a matter of seconds was standing face to face with the angel. Deftly he removed the painting from its frame and rolled it up before tying a sturdy string around it and secured the item across his back. _An item housed in the most secure building in the world, and here it is in my hands..._KaitouKun thought pleasingly to him self.

"And just where do you think you're going with that painting might I ask?" A female voice suddenly called out. KaitouKun did not show his surprise outwardly, but was shocked inside when he saw Sailor Juno standing a few feet away from him, her arms crossed and a smug smirk on her face.

KaitouKun smiled from beneath his veil and answered "Out of here of course" so saying he dashed towards Juno who quickly stepped to the side to avoid a collision. But before he could make a clear get away Pallas and Ceres stepped out from the blind spots by the hallway entrance. KaitouKun flipped over them only to be intercepted by Vesta as she threw a series of punches before the thief found a loop hole and dashed down the hallway towards the nearest museum exit with the Quartet following closely on his tail.

Just then the phantom thief noticed that the window at the end of the hallway was open and knowing it would get him out of the palace faster than the usual exit, KaitouKun jumped through it despite the vertical drop down. Landing in a neat cat-like crouch, KaitouKun looked up to see the Quartet who was looking out the window at him. He waved to them and began to walk away a sharp sting went through his body and a circle of ofuda charms became visible as the moonlight undressed itself from the clouds.

At this time Neo Sailor Moon walked out from the shadow in front of him, a charm held between her index and middle finger. It turned out Sailor Mars' plan was to let the thief take the picture so his defenses would be down because of ego and then herd him to the ofuda circle the miko prepared before hand. "Evil spirit be gone!" Neo Sailor Moon threw the charm and it landed on the ground before the phantom thief, causing a great column of light to flood around him, followed by the howl of a soul being delivered to its rightful place in the afterlife.

Ken fell with a lumpy thud to the ground as Neo Sailor Moon ran next to him, propping him up in her arms. "Hey, you okay?" she asked the boy with the milk-bottle glasses as the hood slipped off his head, revealing his rather tumbled black hair. Somehow this person struck Neo Sailor Moon as being familiar, like someone she's seem many times but can't place her finger on it.

Little spirals rolled for a few seconds in Ken's eyes before he finally blinked and hazily looked around him. "Where am I? The last thing I remember was being at the shrine and breaking that urn..." when Ken looked up and saw who was sitting beside him he screamed and crawled away.

"Ahh! Princess-sama! I-I-!" Ken stuttered endlessly, not knowing what to say or how to react since the situation came upon him so suddenly and blushed a shade of red so deep that it made his face look like a Chinese lantern.

A bit surprised herself, the princess stood up and smiled awkwardly "There's nothing to be afraid about, uh..." She paused, realizing she doesn't know his name.

Ken realized this as well and he muttered almost inaudibly "I-I'm Ken, er Ken Kinoshita...I uh...I go to the same school as you, your majesty..."

The light bulb lit up in Neo Sailor Moon's head as she recalled the boy from gym class "Oh I remember now, you were that boy from gym class who fell off the rings that day." Ken nodded embarrassedly as she sat down beside him "But how is it that you became possessed by that ghost?" she inquired, causing Ken to blush even redder than before.

A midnight breeze blew across the palace, helping to cool Ken's burning cheeks as he hesitantly spoke about his inadvertent encounter with the ghost. "I was going home that day and I stopped by a shrine that I passed everyday to-to pray for a wish...but I accidentally broke an old urn that was in the back of the shrine and I heard a voice telling me it will help me grant my wish. After that I don't remember anything and I ended up here..."

Neo Sailor Moon nodded and said to herself "So it's just as Rei predicted..." She turned to Ken who adverted his eyes as she laughed "Sorry about the scare we must have put you through, finding yourself on top the crystal palace in the middle of the night probably isn't good for anybody's health. But now that the matter has been taken care of I think we should leave this place and get you some of Mako-chan's hot chocolate to warm you up. Let's go then, come on!" So saying she offered a hand to Ken who looked at it but instead of giving his hand to her, he reached for the painting that was slung behind his back and opened it.

He wrapped his hands gently around the canvas and whispered "...there is something I have to tell you Princess-sama..." Neo Sailor Moon looked at him inquisitively but remained silent.

Ken paused for a long time, trying to organize the words he had wanted to say for such a long time "I'm telling you this now because I could never get near enough to you before and after tonight, I probably won't have the courage to say anything anymore. I-I like you a lot!...To me you're the most wonderful person in the world, more beautiful than the angel in the painting even...and-um, even though this might not be a good time to ask but I have to know..." Ken felt his voice skip and gulped before he pushed the last and most important part of his confession out "...I wanted to know what you honestly feel about me..."

A white gloved hand touched Ken's hand, and when he looked up he saw Neo Sailor Moon smiling at him. "I think you're a great guy Kinoshita-kun. You may be shy but I can tell your feelings are true and anyone who is true to himself is someone I would want as a friend." Ken's hope rose at this but she closed her eyes and shook her head "However, I can't return your feelings because I..." the pink haired princess opened her eyes "I already have already found someone. I'm sorry if I've hurt your feelings but I think it's best to be honest if we're going to be friends and that is my honest answer to you."

"I see..." Ken nodded slowly and pulled his hand away from her. He scratched his head and said "It's strange but I don't actually feel that bad." Neo Sailor Moon smiled at him and accepted the picture that he handed over. Ken sighed "But I don't think I'll ever find a girl who would be interested in me, guess I just don't have the luck..." he said hopelessly, taking off his glasses and wiping them on the costume.

When he noticed the look of sheer shock and disbelief on Neo Sailor Moon Ken gulped nervously "What's wrong...?" What was wrong was the fact that Neo Sailor Moon had just met one of the handsomest boys she'd ever seen in her life! Behind the dorky glasses were two attractive pale blue eyes. Combined with his rather messy black hair and his slender frame there was no denying the fact that Ken was a "grade A" bishounen.

After a few moments Neo Sailor Moon snapped herself out of her trance to face a very confused Ken, who was still holding his glasses in one hand. "I think a change of cloth and a pair of contact lenses is all you will need Ken-kun..." she said with a Large sweat drop hanging over her head.

Ken only blinked a few times, oblivious and perplexed

"Small Lady-sama!" Pallas' voice called as the Quartet finally made their way down to the roof the two had been standing on. "Did you catch him? Did you catch phantom thief-san?"

"Well, sort of..." Neo Sailor Moon scratched her head and laughed "I used the ofuda charm Rei gave me and banished him and we did manage to rescue the host." She turned to Ken who blushed once more when he saw the Quartet. "And this is Ken Kinoshita, a new friend I've just made. Ken, these are my friends, Palla-Palla, Cere-Cere, Jun-Jun, and Ves-Ves."

Ceres raised an interested eyebrow and whispered to Neo Sailor Moon "I sure wouldn't mind being _his_ friend."

Neo Sailor Moon giggled and Ken smiled awkwardly as the girls laughed and helped him down since Ceres wouldn't let him put his glasses back on.

* * *

The late hour news stations were all struggling to cover the story of the attempted robbery in the crystal palace, knowing that this was going to be another top story. One of the people watching the news was Takako, who was sitting on the living room couch, wearing her plain light-blue pajamas. She sat with her glasses on, her back so straight that it didn't even touch the back of the couch. Behind the round glasses she wore, no light from the flat television monitor was reflected in her dull eyes.

"That princess is one tough cookie; gonna be a handful if you ask me." A male voice asked into the dim room

A light chuckle was heard coming from behind the couch where Takako sat. Two shadows emerged, "She does take after her mother, always wanting to reach out to other people." The second character complemented.

The first figure snorted, leaned forward slightly, allowing the pallor light from the television to illuminate his face for a few second as he ran a hand through spiky straw colored hair. "Only you would say something like that, nii-san." His thin, narrow face flashed a slightly crocked smile. "Anyways, so do we need this girl anymore? Have to say she doesn't look like the best candidate to keep tabs on the princess, albeit she's easier to control than some of the others." He remarked as he rocked back into the shadow of the room.

His companion shook his head once "Yes, we have seen enough for now. You may have a short break Dolus, but I'm afraid there will be more work to do soon." He said good-humoredly while Dolus replied with a piff.

"Yeah, yeah... come on, let's go. I wanna see if there's a ramen shop open somewhere around here, I'm hungry!" so saying he turned around and phased out of the room without a sound.

The other figure remained for a moment longer, looking down to Takako who was oblivious of their existence, her eyes still watery and glazed over. "Thank you for performing this important task for us Ohashi-san. You have been released; rest and forget about what had transpired," he said gently. So saying, Takako's eyes closed and she soon slumped across the couch into a deep sleep.

The figure turned back to the TV screen and saw a picture of Chibi Usa and her family that appeared on the corner of the screen. It was a picture of the princess in her formal gown, apparently taken during some past public ceremony she attended. The anchor was talking to an analyst regarding the role the royal family played in the KaitouKun incident.

"We shall meet one day soon Princess, and then we will see just how similar you are to your mother..." With that said, he walked away and disappeared.

A/N Waaahhhhhhhh!!! I can't believe how excruciating my life was while writing this chapter! I had no time to write and when I did I was so tired from college Chemistry that I had no energy to even put my finger on the space key! I'm not that familiar with Japanese history so I just randomly put KaitouKun's era in the late Tokugawa period to early Meiji. I wish I could make the history of KaitouKun more interesting but I have no time to do research! Grrr! By the way, I don't know if anyone had noticed but the person who sealed away KaitouKun is named Sumeragi, the same last name as Suburu Sumeragi who appeared in CLAMP's "X" and "Tokyo Babylon". I used his name because I couldn't find a fitting name for a good exorcist, so yeah... (Sweat drop). By the way, "nii-san" means big brother in Japanese, and I also changed the name of one of the characters from the original I had used to Dolus, and it's mainly due to the Greek mythological background tied in with that name. Hopefully I haven't royally confused anyone. (sweatdrop) Anyways, hopefully the next chapter will come out soon (cross finger) and let's hope I won't be so drained of energy that I crumble into a pile of dust in front of the computer. Ja ne!


	6. Empty Eden

**Chapter 6 "Empty Eden"**

Chibi Usa sighed in relief as she let herself drop with spread arms onto her comfy bed. Grinning at the pastel pink canopy, she breathed in the familiar and comforting scent of her room, her safe haven in Crystal Tokyo, much like her attic bedroom in the 20th century only much, much bigger. A full week had gone by since the incident in the crystal palace museum and the media frenzy was finally dying down. During that week's time Chibi Usa has helped Ken get a pair of prescription contact glasses and a new hair cut. Now he's not only a new man, but also more popular amongst the other students at school.

Opening her ruby colored eyes, the princess stared at the ceiling of her room. _It's so nice to finally be able to relax... _She thought to herself. Pushing herself up, Chibi Usa picked up one of the large pillows on her bed and wrapped her arm around it while she reached for the picture frame by her bedside. Smiling absently to herself, she didn't notice as the Amazones Quartet silently stuck their heads through her bedroom door.

Cere-Cere's eyebrows were pointed towards her forehead, the corner of her mouth curved thoughtfully. "Eh, don't you think it's strange that she's always looking at that picture like that? I mean, it's a picture of all her friends but the way she's smiling...it's too suspicious!"

Palla-Palla looked up from her hunched up position and asked "Suspicious? Palla-Palla thinks it's a nice picture, why is it suspicious?"

Jun-Jun raised her index finger and explained "Cere-Cere means to say that there is some hidden meaning behind that picture, it's more than it seems."

"Well, what's it hiding then? Chocolate? But it looks too thin to hide a bar of chocolate or any goodies for that matter." Palla-Palla asked innocently

Ves-Ves groaned and ran her hand down her face "No you _baka_! She means that it might be from her boyfriend or something!"

"Err, what are you guys doing here?" Chibi Usa's voice made the Quartet jump back into the hallways, causing them to collapse into a giant heap after they each let out a high pitched squeal.

After the Quartet untangled themselves, Chibi Usa let them into her room with her sitting on her bed while the four Amazones were spread out amongst the chairs and the floor. "So what were you guys doing with your head through my door and acting very suspicious?" Chibi Usa said with a raised eyebrow, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked warily towards her senshis.

"Oh, uh-nothing, just seeing if you had gone to bed that's all..." Cere-Cere said with raised hands, a conspicuous drop of sweat was hanging by the side of her face.

Chibi Usa looked unconvinced and Cere-Cere only laughed weakly, trying to put on a truthful face. Jun-Jun spouted, her eyes closed when she suddenly said "We were wondering what's the deal with that picture of yours."

Hearing this Chibi Usa began to blush "Huh...!"

"Jun-Jun!" Cere-Cere shot an angry look to her sister but then Ves-Ves spoke up.

"She's right, it's just the way you look at the picture seemed awfully suspicious to us. So what are you hiding?"

Chibi Usa gulped; now she was feeling like the one being interrogated. "Wha-?"

"Does it have something to do with a boyfriend?" Palla-Palla asked, causing the shade of pink on Chibi Usa's face to flush to a shade of deep red.

"I-well...!" Chibi Usa looked away and after a moment's hesitation, nodded slowly much to the delight of the Quartet.

"So what's he like?" Cere-Cere suddenly became animated again, and she rushed forwards and comically pushed Jun-Jun to the ground in her dash to get closer to Chibi Usa. "Is he the really handsome and soft spoken and-and rich and...!" At this point Jun-Jun straightened herself, shoving Cere-Cere back and posed her own question.

"He's tall and athletic right?" she grinned, her tanned face lit with a light shade of pink.

Ves-Ves nudged her sister aside and said confidently "You're both wrong, opposites attract, it has to be someone who's rebellious and cool!"

"What are you talking about? That's not romantic!" Cere-Cere shoved her face against Ves-Ves' as she tried to push her out of the way.

"No, I'm right and you're wrong!"

"Who are you kidding!"

"You're the one who's talking nonsense!"

Chibi Usa sweat dropped as the three older Quartet shouted and argued. She let out a deep sigh and dropped her head down in defeat.

"Small Lady-sama, the person you like is Helios-kun, isn't it?"

All the noise in the room suddenly came to a stop. The three Quartet members were frozen in the middle of their grappling and Chibi Usa was looking at the blue haired Amazones with wide eyes.

"What...?" asked Jun-Jun

Palla-Palla looked thoughtful, thinking that her sister was asking her to explain herself. "Well, after the senshis defeated Nephrenia-sama, Palla-Palla saw Small Lady-sama at the park. Helios-kun was there too, to say goodbye to everyone." She tilted her head to one side and turned her eyes towards Chibi Usa "Everyone says that a boyfriend is a boy a girl really likes, someone she wants to always be with. Small Lady-sama looked so sad when Helios-kun left so I thought..." at this point Palla-Palla trailed off once she finally realized that everyone was looking at her in astonishment.

"...did Palla-Palla do something wrong?" she whimpered

"No...you're right Palla-Palla." Chibi Usa unexpectedly smiled. She moved closer to the edge of the bed and started swinging her legs slightly, her eyes following her feet as they moved up and down. After a small sigh she said, "...I guess you could kind of say he's my boyfriend, but I haven't seen him since I came back from the 21st century but that's a long story. I was hoping to go see him immediately after I come home but with all that's happened I never got the chance..." finally she looked up and smiled "Still, I'm happy because..." she stopped moving her leg and looked to the frame sitting by her nightstand "when I see him I have something to give him..."

Smiling happily to herself, Chibi Usa became aware that the room was strangely silent. She looked towards Cere-Cere and saw a look of worry on her face.

"What's wrong?"

Jun-Jun sighed and gazed down at floor "It's nothing...I mean, we're happy for you but..."

"...if we were ever to see him and he finds out that the people who had caused him so much pain has become the senshi of a person very important to him...how will he react to us?" Ves-Ves finished solemnly.

Chibi Usa was stunned. She had never considered the matter of how she will introduce the Quartet to Helios should they ever meet. From her understanding the Quartet was not initially involved in the decimation of Elysian but it was widely known to all those involved with the Dead Moon Circus matter that the princess and her senshis had been on opposite sides at one time. Helios of course, would know as well, as he had been present during the many battled with the Amazones Quartet when they were still under Nephrenia's influence.

Just then Chibi Usa's thoughts were interrupted by a light knock on the door. She slipped off of bed and went to open the door to find her mother's sparkling blue eyes looking back at her, her father standing behind his angelic queen.

"Good evening everyone, I need to talk to Small Lady for a bit. Could you excuse us for a while please?" The queen said softly. The Quartet nodded one by one and proceeded to file out of the room, each bidding the royal couple good night as they passed them by.

Once the room was empty again, Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion walked into their daughter's room. The queen looked mysteriously at her daughter as she took a seat beside her on the bed.

"I take it the Quartet is doing well, they seem quite happy here." The queen said absently.

"Uh, yeah, they're doing well in school; everyone likes them a lot, especially after the whole KaitouKun thing." Chibi Usa said inattentively, her thoughts still a little heavy from the conversation she just had with the Quartet. She decided to drop the matter for now and said more cheerfully "I'm just glad everything's settled and I don't have to go around chasing a thief in the middle of the night, although I have to admit it was kind of fun in a way..."

Chibi Usa stopped when she noticed her mother giggling and a strange look in her father's eyes. "What is it...? What are you two hiding?" She said quickly, knowing that the combination of looks her parents were giving her meant they were trying to pull something.

The queen stopped her giggling and looked to her husband. King Endymion cleared his throat and said "It has been more than a month since you came back to us Small Lady. And since you had been so wrapped up with the Sailor Quartet, there had been no time for you to go. But now..." he looked at his wife and pronounced the unexpected words "I think it would be alright for you to visit Elysian."

Chibi Usa blinked for a few seconds before the thought registered and she sprang up from where she sat and clasped her father in a giant hug "Oh thank you! Thank you so much!" She pulled away and asked hopefully "Does that mean I can go tomorrow morning? Please!"

Unable to contain herself, the queen laughed and nodded "Yes, you may! In fact that's just what your father and I have planned to do. But you were a step ahead of us!"

Letting go of the king, the eager princess went to her mother, smiling with the radiance of a summer's day. "I'll get ready tonight and leave right after breakfast!" so saying she bounced away and took out the bunny/doggy backpack her mother had made for her as a farewell present in another life time.

"Remember to bring Diana with you Small Lady, and come back before the sunsets." However Chibi Usa didn't seem to have heard her, she was busy burying her head in her closet, trying to pick out something to wear.

The queen sighed with a small smile "She's just like you when you were her age." The king said with a playful wink. Neo Queen Serenity looked back to her husband and winked back "Yes, but now she won't be stealing my Mamo-chan any more." She took her husband's hand.

"I heard that!" Chibi Usa shouted and purred, wrapping her arms around her father's arm. The queen chuckled and shook her head at the sight. She hugged her daughter as Chibi Usa laughed with her parents.

A bright brilliant sun was hanging in the sky above Crystal Tokyo the next day. In the distance stacking clouds floated in from the sea. Chibi Usa gave her pigtail one last brush with the comb and looked at herself in the floor length mirror. She smiled blissfully to herself. Her pastel-orange colored long sleeve shirt and ruffled ivory colored skirt with tiny red flowers sown on the bottom gave her an innocent flare that coincided well with her rose-pink hair.

"Are you ready Small Lady-sama?" Diana asked, lying on her mistress' bed, twitching her furry tail in the air like the fuzzy plant that was named after her species.

Chibi Usa nodded, her pigtails bounced with the movement of her head. "Almost, go ahead and wait for me in the terrace Diana. I'll be done in just a few more seconds."

"Okie" Diana answered in a kittenish voice and hopped off the bed, her bell jingling all the way.

Once Diana was gone, Chibi Usa put the comb down on her dresser and went over to her nightstand. Picking up the precious picture frame in her hand she gently placed it in her backpack before looking out the window at the shinning sun.

"I'm coming..." she grinned, turned and left the room.

After a short walk through the palace Chibi Usa arrived at the terrace, which was just adjacent to the palace itself. Only the queen and king were there, along with Sailor Pluto since the senshi of time and space will be conducting the princess to her destination.

"Good morning Puu!" Chibi Usa ran to Pluto and the tall woman gave her a loving look and a nod.

"Remember to come back before dinner time," King Endymion reminded his daughter, who rolled her eyes like any teenage girl would at her father's nagging reminders "And don't go anywhere without Diana, you might get lost."

The queen gave her husband a rare purposeful look "It's not getting lost that you're worried about, honey."

The king coughed discreetly and said hurriedly "Anyhow, just...behave yourself..." He said finally after seriously considering his choice of words.

"I know Papa, don't worry about me." Chibi Usa winked at her father before Pluto stepped forward.

"Shall we be going now?" she said courteously

The princess gave a big nod and waved as she stepped away with Pluto to the far end of the terrace "Bye!" Her voice faded as Pluto raised her Garnet Orb wand and a column of cloud appeared, engulfed them, and faded into the wind.

By the time Chibi Usa opened her eyes she was standing beside the Time Gate, a pair of doors that allowed those who passed through them to reach any time and dimension one wished. Pluto lowered her staff and pointed it at the Gate. Slowly the doors creaked open, groaning as if from the millennia it has seen since its construction. A pale fog crept from the opened doorway, disallowing anyone to see anything beyond its giant frame.

"You know firmly where it is you wish to go Small Lady, and I do not doubt you will find it. However, always remain alert and make sure you keep the Time Key close to you at all times." Pluto cautioned as she always does when the princess has to use the Time Gate.

Chibi Usa nodded and walked towards the opened doors "I know Puu, see you later!"

"Bye Pluto-sama!" Diana shouted as she followed the princess into the misty entry way.

Pushing against the formless cloud, Chibi Usa gasped in amazement as she stepped into the Land of Dreams: Elysian. She had almost forgotten how incredibly amazing this place was since her last visit here, for she had been too emotionally preoccupied at the time to have noticed. Now the full scoop of Elysian was flooding her eyes like a deluge. She saw the tall majestic trees and the pristine woodland, where little animals popped their heads out from their burrows to gaze at the unfamiliar guests. In the distance the tops of crystalline trees could be seen. A sun, possibly even more brilliant than the one on the surface, was beaming as it looked down on the Land of Dreams.

"Wow..." Chibi Usa whispered in awe. _This place is amazing...it's like an Eden here..._ She walked around a little, hoping to find some recognizable landmark but found none. There were only trees, grass, and the sky around her with no sign of the central temple complex where the princess knew she was most likely to find Helios.

_The sky..._Chibi Usa looked up and after a few moments was able to make out faint points of light in the blue sky. It was early in the day and the aurora borealis were not to be found. However she quickly found the brightest star in the heavens and said to Diana "Come one, I know where to go now!"

So speaking she hurried toward the direction the star pointed, the direction her dream light illuminated. Jogging past a bush of junipers, passing by a soaring oak tree, and leaping across a tiny stream, Chibi Usa smiled broadly when she saw the white marble building surfacing in front of her.

Quickening her pace, she soon reached the outskirts of the temple where the tree line ends and a field of lush grass led up to the steps of the temple when she stopped in her tracks. _What am I going to say to him when I see him? _Chibi Usa suddenly realized _It's been so long since we last met...should I say how have you been doing? Or maybe just a simple hello would do, but..._

As Chibi Usa contemplated, she resumed her walk towards the temple, slowly now as she contemplated nervously to herself, her heart pounding madly, fearing that Helios might suddenly walk out and catch her by surprise. Chibi Usa looked up when she noticed the sun had disappeared and saw she was standing in the shadow of the main building which loomed over her in all its ancient glory.

Walking in further, Chibi Usa looked around but the hallways were empty and the only change was a slightly opened door perpendicular with the path Chibi Usa had walked down. "Helios?" Chibi Usa whispered and pushed open the door which was surprisingly noiseless as it opened. Inside, the room was dark since the candles were unlit and Chibi Usa couldn't see anything that stood out in the room to tell her about its function.

"Helios?" she repeated but still no answer so she tried louder "Helios, are you in here?" No answer; Chibi Usa sighed and walked across the room into a wide open air walkway and after a short stroll came upon another door, this one unlike the earlier one, was closed and much bigger and taller. Looking around, the princess could only see the door was connected to a wall that extended beyond her horizon on both sides. Not knowing what else to do and totally unfamiliar with the temple's planning, Chibi Usa decided to see where the door will lead her and pushed against the handles.

If she thought the Greco-styled temple was impressive, Chibi Usa was in awe at the structure that loomed up in front of her. The prayer tower of Elysian sat on a paved circle of white marble tiles, its six hug pillars reaching high into the sky. The pillars were arranged into a half circle at the top of the shorter tower base which was three floors tall. Thin vines were growing on the pillars and some draped across two separate columns as if the wind had connected them from one post to another.

Chibi Usa slowly made her way towards the tower, lingering at the bottom before she began the ascent. Diana followed her wordlessly; her whiskers twitched whenever a distant bird called. Having never seen this part of Elysian before, Chibi Usa could tell that this was a place that carried immense importance, and she approached it like a pilgrim carefully treading across a holy landmark. Her shoes barely made any noise against the polished marble steps and she wondered for the first time who had crafted this sanctified structure in the middle of paradise.

By the time she had reached the top of the tower and only one final flight of stair separated her from the platform where the pillars were grounded, Chibi Usa felt her heart suddenly thumping harder and harder. She grasped the front of her shirt and swallowed; mystified by this strange uneasiness that has grasped her heart, Chibi Usa reflected _I'm here to see Helios, I should be happy...but why am I so nervous...so scared?_ Shaking her head slightly as she took the last step before the flat platform was to become visible to her, Chibi Usa consoled herself. _I'm just being stupid. Once I see Helios on top of the platform and he finds out about this, even he will laugh at me...put on a happy face Chibi Usa, your prince is right around the corner! Surprise him!_

Taking a deep breath, Chibi Usa stepped up to the platform, closed her eyes and jumped onto the stage, shouting "I'm here!"

Only the echo of her own voice greeted Chibi Usa as she opened her eyes and saw not a living soul present before her. A sense of panic began to seize the princess as she rushed up the remaining steps and stood on the flat dais. "Helios!" she cupped her hand by her mouth and shouted. Again only an eerie echo followed and no sign of the young priest who presided over this sanctuary.

"Helios! Are you here?" she ran up to the altar, positioned in the center of the pillars, and tried once more without avail.

Undeterred, Chibi Usa tried again, louder this time. "HELIOS!" she screamed as loud as she could, hoping that he would hear her should he be in some distant part of Elysian.

"Please, save your voice..." responded a feminine voice instead. Chibi Usa drew in a sharp breath and Diana's tail flew up in an alarmed response.

"Who's there?" the heir to Crystal Tokyo demanded authoritatively, her stance defensive and readied.

The Voice seemed to drift closer as it became louder and clearer "I am a guardian, just like the boy you seek, Princess. However I have important information I need to partake to you. Helios, the priest of Elysian has been abducted from this land by the hands of his kinsmen..."

"WHAT! Wait, did you say by his kinsmen!" Disbelief was itched into the lines on Chibi Usa's face as her eyes opened wide.

"I am not surprised by your reaction for only myself and Queen Serenity knows about this. Not even Helios himself knows and belief me, he did not go with them willingly."

"But is he alright? Did they injure him!" Chibi Usa screamed, clutching her hands into fists "Where is he right now, I have to go and find him!"

No reply came at first, and then the Voice continued with a sigh "This matter is complicated and involves things beyond your comprehension right now. However, I will tell you that Helios is currently on the planet of Somnus where he will shortly be crowned the king of the island country of Rhodes."

"King!" both Chibi Usa and Diana gasped at the same time.

"Yes, Helios is the long lost heir to the Rhodian throne, which is why his kinsmen took him back, so that his country might be ruled by its rightful sovereign. But that is not why I have come to tell you all this..."

Chibi Usa stiffened and felt a dreading tingle in her spine.

"A force will arise which will challenge and try to bend his soul. As we speak it may have already began its caustic work. You must be there to preserve him from loosing his heart in the ensuing madness. If he does then his position as the priest of Elysian will be forfeited. Elysian must not loose its guardian, and its guardian must not be without Elysian or else..." at this point the Voice stopped and paused "...or else there will be severe consequences, one of them being that you will loose the person you love ..."

The princess was stunned speechless; her heart felt like someone had tightened a string around it, choking it.

"I know this must be very sudden for you to take in at once but I ask only that you guard his soul, Princess. Please protect him...I beg of you...before it is too late..." the Voice said softly, fading into the wind before it disappeared.

Chibi Usa remained speechless for a long time, her head spinning from the revelation. Helios was gone, on a distant planet called Somnus, and to be crowned a kingship he never knew about. But be it king or priest, earthling or alien she will not allow the person she loves to fall into whatever darkness the Voice was alluding to. She still had the picture to give to him and he still had to return her pendent to her. That was their promise, and she was going to do whatever it took to keep that promise between them.

"Small Lady-sama...?" Diana whimpered, her cat eyes searching for the crimson eyes that were hidden behind a veil of pink bangs.

Suddenly Chibi Usa turned around and quickly wiping her sleeve across her face, then said to Diana in a narrowly controlled voice "We need to go back right away Diana; I have to go and find Helios!"

Neo Queen Serenity looked into the cup of red tea she held in her hand. The transparent ocher colored liquid rippled slightly as her hand moved away from her lips. _So peaceful and calm..._the queen thought privately to herself. She lifted her noble head to look out the tall window and saw the clouds that had been building all day beginning to cover the city.

"It looks like it will be raining today..." she said absently to herself

"What was that dear?" King Endymion asked, looking up from the book he had been reading.

The queen smiled and shook her head "Nothing, just contemplating the weather."

"Hmm...it sure it peaceful, ever since she's been back..." the king said reflectively, closing the book and placing it on the table. "Our daughter is growing up more and more each day. She's also growing more and more like you each day as well." He grinned at his wife.

The queen grinned back but a wisp of worry suddenly entered her mind. _More and more like me...it's almost as if she's following in my very footsteps...like history is repeating itself..._

Just then the queen's thoughts were cut short when Chibi Usa came charging into the room, panting and out of breath.

Surprised, her parents snapped their heads around and asked in astonishment "Small Lady you're back so soon-"

"Helios is gone Mama, Papa! He has been abducted!" Chibi Usa cried

"What did you say!" The king said, bewildered and alarmed.

Neo Queen Serenity looked to Diana and began "Diana go and-"

"I got it!" the gray cat replied before the queen could finish and darted out the room to find the other senshis.

Even without looking, the royal couple knew how upset their daughter must be so they quickly ushered her down on a couch where Neo Queen Serenity wrapped her arm around Chibi Usa's shoulder and asked "What happened? How did you-"

Chibi Usa cut her mother short and blurted out "The Voice! She told me!"

The queen and king looked at each other when Sailor Pluto ran into the room, as out of breath as Chibi Usa, though more composed. "Small Lady!" the tall senshi knelt down beside the princess and looked at her worriedly. "What happened? You suddenly bolted out from the Time Gate and ran back to the palace. What's wrong?"

At this time the Sailor Senshis, the lunar cats, and the Quartet came running into the room, each of them looking considerably alarmed. "What's going on? I heard from Diana that Small Lady ran back from Elysian and that Helios has been kidnapped!"

Even after taking a couple of deep breaths, Chibi Usa found herself unable to find her voice. Frustrated and worried, tears began to pool at the edge of her eyes. King Endymion grasped her hands and held them tightly "It will be alright Small Lady. Helios will be fine. But you have to tell us, just what exactly did the Voice tell you?"

Chibi Usa took a moment longer to compose herself before she managed to force the tears from falling and recounted the things the Voice had transpired to her. By the end of her account the room was completely silent and Chibi Usa sat with her parents holding her, as if afraid their daughter might faint.

Finally Chibi Usa looked up and said softly but firmly "I will go find him and bring him back. That's what the Voice asked me to do, I have to protect him."

The king scowled "I can't believe this. All this happened and I felt nothing, either from Elysian or Helios himself..."

Chibi Usa shook her head and said determinedly "It's not your fault Papa, or anyone else's for that matter. What's important is that I have to find Helios."

Sailor Pluto shook her head "But we have no idea what Somnus is like. From what you've told us it seems like the country Helios is descended from is in political turmoil right now..."

"But I have to go Puu! You understand don't you?" Chibi Usa argued and Pluto nodded grudgingly.

"Pluto, is it possible to travel to a place you have never been to via the Time Gate?" The queen suddenly asked.

Slowly, Pluto nodded, leaning on her tall staff, she answered solemnly. "As long as one knows something about that place, be it a name or a picture, traveling there through the Time Gate is possible though more difficult than to a place one knows."

"Then it has been decided, Small Lady will go to Somnus, as soon as possible."

"But my queen..." Pluto began to protest but Neo Queen Serenity looked straight into the senshi's wine colored eyes with her own startling blue eyes.

"I understand your caution against this Pluto but Small Lady is hurting. The worst kind of suffering is being separated from someone you love and not knowing their condition. I know that feeling well, and as her mother it is not something I want my daughter to experience."

"We want to go as well, your majesty." Jun-Jun suddenly said. She walked away from her sisters and said sincerely "We are the Princess' senshis and our mission is to protect her. We have to go with her."

The queen smiled and nodded "I am glad to hear that. Thank you, all of you."

The Quartet nodded back in unison. King Endymion looked at his wife, his lips draw thin across his face "I think we should send someone else with them. The Quartet have been senshis for only a little while and have yet to master their powers completely. It would be wise to have an additional backup in case there is trouble."

"Yes, I agree." At this Neo Queen Serenity touched her chin thoughtfully "However the other senshis are required for the security of Crystal Tokyo, Pluto has to guard the Time Gate, and Haruka and Michiru are on duty on their own planets..."

"Which leaves Hotaru...I'm sure that Haruka and Michiru can handle the defense of the Outer system. And besides, it would be better if Chibi Usa went with someone she can really talk to." Luna suggested.

"It is agreed then. I will call for Hotaru right away. Sailor Quartet, please be ready to depart in two hours and meet Sailor Pluto by the Time Gate." The queen said and the Quartet nodded before leaving to prepare. Pluto nodded as well and gave the princess one last look before she turned and left.

Chibi Usa got up from the couch and touched her parents' hands "Thank you Mama, Papa. I'll be alright, don't worry."

The king nodded and smiled faintly "We trust you one hundred and ten percent. You are Sailor Moon now, do what you must"

"I know..." Chibi Usa closed her eyes for a second before taking a deep breath. "I'll go get ready now. I'll see you later."

With that the princess reluctantly let go of her parents' hands and walked away. Neo Queen Serenity took a step after her but was held back gently by her husband who shook his head.

The queen sighed "She's growing up so fast...but is she ready for this? Have I made the right decision in letting her go?"

"None of us can answer that right now. We'll just have to trust in her like we always have" replied the king.

Exactly two hours later a small crowd has gathered before the Time Gate. The Sailor Quartet, transformed and ready to go, stood waiting for Neo Sailor Moon to arrive. As the pink haired senshi made her way to join the group with her parents, she saw Sailor Pluto standing by the gate, her usually calm face worried and tense.

"Don't worry about me Puu. I've been through a lot worse than this." The Princess said, trying to lighten the guardian of time's mood.

Pluto closed her eyes and bowed her head "I'm sorry I can't help you Small Lady. Please be careful..."

"Nonsense! You're a big help to me! If you're not here then how am I going to get to Somnus?"

"Chibi Usa-chan is right, Setsuna-mama."

Everyone turned to see Sailor Saturn standing in the dark hallway with them, a small smile on her lips. "Hotaru-chan!" Chibi Usa raced over to her old friend and embraced her.

"You came!" she cried while Saturn nodded and comforted her friend by returning the hug.

"Of course I came. When I heard about what had happened to Helios-kun I left Saturn as fast as I can. I just arrived here via the inter-system portal." She looked to the queen and king and respectfully bowed her head "Your majesties" the royal couple returned her greeting with an acknowledging nod.

Neo Sailor Moon sniffed and released Saturn. Turning away from the princess, Saturn looked to the Time Gate when she saw the Quartet "Oh, I don't believe we've met before..."

"We're Small Lady-sama's senshis!" Pallas said proudly, smiling sweetly at the purple haired senshi "Palla-Palla is Sailor Pallas!"

Saturn looked a little confused when Ceres explained under her breath "Sorry, she meant to say her name is Palla-Palla and she's Sailor Pallas."

"Ah, I see..." Saturn chuckled softly "Well, glad to meet you Palla-Palla, I'm Hotaru Tomoe, also known as Sailor Saturn."

The Quartet quickly introduced themselves, and after the exchange was completed, Pluto motioned that it was time. She first walked to Neo Sailor Moon and handed her the Time Key, pressing the tiny object into the princess' palm. "Be careful Small Lady, and be safe."

Neo Sailor Moon nodded firmly, her gaze even. She turned around and said softly to her parents "I'll be going now, take care while I'm gone."

"You too honey, be strong and be careful." King Endymion whispered back, holding his wife tightly.

The queen gently preyed herself from her husband, leaned forwards and kissed her daughter on her forehead "Good luck..." was all she said.

Neo Sailor Moon nodded. She grinned and flashed a victory sign with her fingers.

Turning to the group, Pluto raised the Garnet Orb "Everyone, remember to concentrate on the word 'Somnus' while you are going through the Gate. If not you will get lost and loss your way in time and space."

Hearing this the Quartet gulped nervously while Neo Sailor Moon walked resolutely to the door of the Gate, a small bag hanging on her back which contained the picture frame she had carried from another time through this very gate. Slowly the groaning doors opened and Neo Sailor Moon stepped into the thick mist followed by Sailor Saturn and the Sailor Quartet. Her gaze steady, Neo Sailor Moon thought about the person she was coming to see as her body passed through the Gate.

_I'm coming Helios...wait for me!_

End of "Crystal Tokyo Interlude"

To Be Continued in "The Blue Rose Renaissance"

A/N Alright, I've written another fanfic! I'm so happy I'm done with this and I can now work on "The Blue Rose Renaissance"! As you may have noticed my Sailor Moon fan fictions have become serialized and I know I kind of go on and on, but I just have so many new ideas since "Return to The Past" and so much to write about that it's driving this into a series! So please have patience with me and my work!

Just a little clarification, the style of the fanfic will be akin to that of the manga from now on (as this one has been). Also just a note, the name Fames from the previous chapter was not actually based on a Roman god as some readers thought it might be. That was a coincidence. I was trying to find the Latin translation for some names I wanted to use and "fames" turned up on one of the searches. Although the personification of the character Fames is like that of the god Fames, he is actually not based on Roman mythology at all.


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