"Fubuki!" Her mother cried from the bottom of the stairs, her voice teeming with impatience. "Fubuki, come on! It's time to go to church."

Fubuki scowled as she slipped on her huge black trench coat. She adjusted the collar--trimmed with bright golden arrows--into place as she tromped into her disgustingly sparkling, bacteria-free hallway. She stood at the top of the stairs, looking defiantly down at her mother.

"Fubuki! You know better than to wear that thing to church. Besides, if it means so much to you, you should keep it in good condition."

"Dad gave it to me because he knew I liked to wear it," Fubuki replied in vexation, "So I'm going to wear it."

"It's close to summer, Fubuki! You have no excuse."

"I'm going to wear it. And if you'd rather I didn't take it to church, feel free to go without me."

Her mother, who wore a conservative gray dress, looked toward her warningly. But Fubuki knew she had already won this battle.

"Fine. Wear your father's coat to church. Maybe his spirit will forgive you for all of your sins," she hissed in an insulting tone as she opened the front door and motioned for Fubuki to follow. "Though I'm sure wherever he is, he's more worried about his own."

Fubuki narrowed her eyes and spat on her mother's expensive carpet. Her mother glared warningly back.

"Come on, Fubuki. Or I'll tell your nana to forget about making you dinner."

"I can make dinner better myself, anyway," Fubuki snapped.

"I'll make sure to mention locking the kitchen, too."

Fubuki sneered and walked down the long staircase, glaring at her mother as she passed her and heading toward their limousine. Fubuki hated going to church--in part because that was the time of the week she was forced to endure her mother, who, for almost as long as Fubuki could remember, was obsessed with redeeming their sins every Sunday at the Church of Serenity.

Fubuki got in the car and looked at the floor. She tried to remember something good that had happened, so she could pretend that she wasn't with her mother and that she wasn't going to church. Dammit all.

She couldn't remember anything.

Shinpi-teki na unmei motsu noni
Tsuki ni michibikarete doko ni tadoritsuku to mada kangaete iru

Yasashige na lullaby kiite kako wo sukoshi dake omou
Machigai mo hiai mo ippai dakedo anata ga iru kara
Koukai-shinai

Pink-iro no tsuki no shita ni iru kedo
Motto tsuyoi nagusame ga iru no
Tatoe ayamachi dake shitemo
I love you tte itte ne

Though I hold a mysterious destiny,
I'm still wondering to where I will struggle on, being led by the moon

Listening to a gentle lullaby, I think just a little of the past
It's full of mistakes and sorrow, but since
You are here, I won't regret it

Though I'm under the pink moon,
I need an even stronger comfort
Even if I make only mistakes,
Say, "I love you," okay?

Moon Senshi: Unmei no Kodomo

Episode Three:

"The Purification"

Seisui couldn't help but scowl as she walked down the sidewalk toward school. Last week had been a wonderful reminder as to just how much and why she hated Sailor Moon. If only they hadn't been so outnumbered....

"BOO!"

Seisui jumped and turned around. Tokimo waved cheerfully to her, holding up her purple backpack and swinging it back and forth.

"Tokimo! Stop that already!" Kouken's frustrated voice shouted as the bag squirmed and disfigured from his vain struggle to escape.

"Oh...hello," Seisui said timidly, smiling at Tokimo. "I thought you might be Usako. But...isn't it a bad idea to be hanging out around me? Aren't we pretending that you hate me?"

Tokimo grinned. "That's okay," She reassured Seisui, "Usako's almost a mile behind us--I should know, I sprinted ahead of her. She won't catch up to us until we're in class."

"Well... if you're sure..." Seisui replied uneasily. Trusting the information of Tokimo, she surmised, had the potential to be deadly.

"Of course I'm sure! I'm never wrong!" She grinned. Kouken laughed, meriting more violent swinging on the part of Tokimo.

"Was there something you wanted...?" Seisui asked Tokimo, who was putting the purple backpack on and ignoring Kouken's complaints of mistreatment.

"To talk to you? I barely know you, Seisui, but we're going to be working together an awful lot. Plus, you seem cool. Unlike Yamiko..." she said icily.

"Uhh... right," Seisui replied.

"Anyway, Seisui... I'll go over to your house after you're finished doing whatever with Usako, and we can hang out. I mean, just because you're pretending to like Usako doesn't mean that we can't hang out. Or maybe you can come to my house. I have a basement full of comic books, video games and cool movies--plus my dad just bought a ping-pong table!"

"Are you sure you want me to come over to you house? I mean... I know we're both senshi, but that doesn't mean we have to be friends or anything."

Tokimo looked a little disappointed. "We're not friends? You don't wanna come over?"

Seisui looked unhappy and shook her head violently. "I'm really sorry! That's not what I meant! I just...well, I wouldn't think you'd want me to come over...it wouldn't exactly make you look good if people knew you were hanging out with me, and a lot of people say I can get on their nerves sometimes..."

"No way! If anyone gets on my nerves, it'll be Yamiko, not you. You're cool, Seisui. And I wouldn't let what other losers think keep me from hanging out with someone cool." Tokimo patted Seisui encouragingly on the back. "So now that we've settled that, let's figure out our plans for later today."

"Don't we have more important things to talk about than hanging out after school?" Kouken asked, annoyed.

"Hey, I know!" Tokimo shouted enthusiastically. "We could play ping-pong, and use Kouken as the ball!"

Seisui smiled weakly. "Wouldn't he make a better racket?" She suggested quietly. Tokimo snickered in amusement as a low growl could be heard from Tokimo's backpack. "Sorry, Kouken..." Seisui apologized quickly, "I was kidding."

"Jeez, you say sorry too much, Seisui."

"Tokimo! Shut up!" Kouken hissed. "We need to think of a new plan. First off, there's still more Moon Senshi hanging around. I really need to find them, because at this rate, we'll never win."

"Maybe we should purposely stop finding them, so they'll stop turning on us," Tokimo suggested.

"Be quiet, Tokimo. While I'm doing that, though... Seisui, you need to think of another plan. Your last one was good, but not perfect. We need to get Usako somewhere completely isolated and alone."

"Regrettably, that will be very, very difficult," Seisui replied. "Usako and Hiroshi stick to each other like glue...and the Sailor Quartet consider looking after Pinkmoon their sacred duty. Sadly, they fulfill that duty very effectively, and they'll be even more on guard now that we've already cornered Usako once. At this point, it's unlikely that they'll have the sense of security I would require them to have for them to feel that Usako would be safe if I separated them from her--at least for any considerable length of time."

"There must be something, though..." Kouken asked hopefully. Seisui shook her head.

"I don't know where Usako will be or what she will be doing at any given moment," Seisui explained, "so it's hard for me to make up a plan. I'll just have to play along and see what I can do. If I think of something, I'll contact you on the communicator."

Kouken sighed. "I suppose you're right....Well, Tokimo, we better get going." Tokimo nodded enthusiastically. Seisui tried to hide her disappointment with a weak smile; Tokimo, of course, could see right through her. Tokimo smiled and waved good-bye to Seisui.

"Don't worry; I'll meet you at your house, Seisui. Try to put up with Bunny Girl for now."

It wasn't long after Tokimo had left Seisui that Kouken started squirming and kicking Tokimo violently from where he rested in her backpack. Sighing, Tokimo opened up the purple drawstring top and looked inside.

"I don't have any cucumbers in my lunch, okay? Stop trying to steal them!" she said in frustration.

"No, it's not that... although that is disappointing," Kouken mused. "But I want you to look up ahead of you. Who do you see?"

Tokimo glanced in front of her; there were several groups of girls ahead, including a girl with strangely bleached hair. There was a boy walking next to her with spiky brown hair; they seemed deep in conversation.

"I see a couple of people who really need to see a hairdresser," Tokimo replied.

Kouken peeked out of the top of the purple backpack; he immediately noticed the people who Tokimo had mentioned. He dropped his head back down into the dark and stuffy bag.

"That girl is a Sailor Senshi. I need to talk to her."

Tokimo looked at her backpack, then back towards the strange looking girl; a distinctly unexcited expression crossed her face. She very, very sincerely hoped that this girl wouldn't turn out to be like Yamiko and Mr. Grumpy Dump; anyway, there was only one way to find out. Tokimo ran up to the strange looking girl and tapped her on the shoulder.

The girl broke off her conversation with the young man and turned to look toward Tokimo, raising her dark brown eyebrows in surprise.

"Who are you?" She asked caustically. Tokimo frowned and cursed her bad luck.

"My name is Tokimo Joshi," she answered as cheerfully as possible. "Mind if I have a word alone with you for a second?"

The girl looked toward the boy, and the boy looked at Tokimo.

"Why, is this something about me? Or are you picking a fight with Fubuki?"

Well, now Tokimo knew the girl's name, at least.

"No... neither, actually. There's something I need to tell her about, and it's kinda...personal," Tokimo explained hastily. "It's nothing bad."

"There's nothing you can tell me that you can't tell Jirou." Fubuki said defiantly. "He's the only one I trust, but I trust him completely."

Tokimo shrugged and pulled Kouken out of her drawstring backpack.

Fubuki looked critically at Kouken. "What exactly is this all about, and why are you showing me this weasel?"

A low growling noise escaped from Kouken's snout, and he bared his teeth slightly.

"Uh, Fubuki, maybe you shouldn't--" Tokimo began nervously.

"I am not a weasel!" Kouken interrupted indignantly. "I am a ferret, thank you very much! Not a hot dog, and not a weasel! A weasel is an entirely different, if related, kind of mammal!"

Fubuki backed up slightly, her eyes widening in surprise. Jirou shook his head. "Man, I didn't think I had any fuzz this morning..."

"Kouken, why don't you explain the situation to them?" Tokimo suggested. Kouken hissed and shook his head; then he dove back into Tokimo's backpack and came back out with an intricate brooch of black and green. Accompanying the brooch was a matching communicator.

"Fubuki, you're a Sailor Senshi. A Moon Senshi, to be precise." Kouken informed her matter-of-factly.

"Jirou, I don't think it's fuzz. Unless we're having shared hallucinations..." Fubuki said dazedly.

"I have to admit, this is a pretty funky spin, if we are."

"No no no no no!" Tokimo said violently, shaking her head. "No drugs! This is real! You really are a Sailor Senshi. Here, take it." Tokimo grabbed the shiny locket and the communicator from Kouken, grabbed Fubuki's hand and placed the locket and communicator firmly into it. "If you don't believe me, just try transforming."

Fubuki stuffed the communicator inside of her pocket; then she paused and held the locket up to the sun.

"Are you seeing this too, Jirou?" Fubuki asked him, holding it in front of him. Jirou smirked.

"I never thought you, of all people, would ever be seen in a girlie sailor uniform. Not outside of school, anyway."

"My thoughts exactly," Fubuki replied in annoyance. Then she threw the locket up into the air. Tokimo watched it spin in midair a couple moments before Fubuki caught it again and stuffed it in her black leather bag. Then she looked back at Tokimo and Kouken.

"It's real nice of you all to give me this, but I'm not interested in becoming a Sailor Senshi. If I change my mind, though, I'll make sure to give you a call." She smirked.

"You're not being given a choice," Kouken said firmly. "Sailor Pinkmoon needs to die, or this planet will fill with turmoil."

"What did you say?" Jirou asked in surprise. "Did I hear you right?"

"You did. We have to kill Sailor Pinkmoon so Queen Diana won't be reincarnated," Kouken replied.

Fubuki paused, raising an incredulous eyebrow. "What the hell are you going on about?" She finally asked.

Kouken sighed and proceeded to explain the whole story. By the time he actually finished and added in the existence of two other Moon Senshi, they were inside of the school and walking with Fubuki toward her class.

"So basically you're telling me that I should put on that ridiculous costume and kill the princess so history won't be repeated or whatever."

Tokimo nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, that's exactly what we're telling you!"

Fubuki rolled her eyes and looked toward Jirou for a second opinion. He just shrugged.

"I've gotta go to class, Buki. If I miss another day, I have to repeat. Anyway, it's none of my business if you want to join her and 'accept your destiny' or whatever. Have fun." Jirou waved casually and walked into the nearest classroom. Both Fubuki and Tokimo watched him leave; then Tokimo turned back to Fubuki.

"Anyway, Seisui is going undercover for us, so if she gets Usako cornered, she'll call us to the scene and we can finish this once and for all!" Tokimo grinned. Fubuki looked doubtfully at Tokimo and Kouken.

"I'm not particularly thrilled about the prospect of being a Sailor Senshi. Especially not as far as clothing is concerned."

Tokimo looked at Fubuki's uniform; she wore her skirt as short as they issued it, and Tokimo thought Fubuki might have even shortened it a little herself--though she could hardly imagine Fubuki being good with a pair of scissors and a needle. The sleeves were also gone, a modification Tokimo was pretty sure wasn't allowed even in their school's liberal dress-code policy. Even under the Queen's 'anything-goes' reign, some things didn't fly in a public school.

"It's not so far off from what you're wearing right now, and it's probably in much darker colors!" Tokimo said cheerfully, attempting to remedy Fubuki's dislike. Fubuki sighed.

"I only wear this because I have to. Anyway, your motives are pretty good, and I do have a some issues with the queen...but I'm not really sure I want to get my ass in jail just yet."

"It's not like anyone will know who you are," Kouken assured her. "No one will see you well enough to be able to tell. Besides, picking you out of all the teenage girls in Tokyo is like finding a needle in a haystack."

Tokimo grinned proudly. "I'm an exception, though! I knew Usako was Sailor Pinkmoon the moment I saw her!"

"If what you say is true, and she goes to our school, don't you think she'd catch on? I mean...Tokimo seems pretty loud and obnoxious to me. How could you miss her?" Fubuki asked cynically.

Tokimo made a nasty face at Fubuki. In her mind, it was pretty clear who the obnoxious one was.

"If Usako can't even figure out that Seisui is Sailor Titan, I don't think you even have to consider that she'd think you were a Sailor Senshi," Kouken assured her.

"If you say so. Anyway... I'm not sure I want to join you, but I guess I could think about it. Like I said, I have somewhat of a beef with the Queen."

"There is no thinking--"

Tokimo shoved Kouken's head back into the bag and tied the top very, very tightly.

"Thanks, Fubuki. I'll let you know if we need your help."

"Oh yeah, one more thing," Fubuki added.

"Hm?"

"How do I know which Sailor Senshi I am? I mean, aren't you supposed to tell me?" Fubuki asked.

"Oh, don't worry. You'll figure it out, one way or another." Tokimo said cheerfully.

"One way or another? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Fubuki asked in annoyance. Tokimo, however, just shrugged and walked off. Her class was about to start.

Usako walked glumly down the crystal sidewalk, lost in her thoughts as her four friends quarreled about something inane. Hiroshi was looking up at her worriedly, but so far he hadn't worked up the courage to ask her what was wrong. Maybe he already knew. The words of Sailor Titan still echoed in her mind; her anger at the queen, her utter belief in people's right to say even the most offensive things...and then, the horrible way Seisui had cried over the fate of her father. As if Purification were like being hung. More than anything, that hovered in her mind. Usako feared that, despite whatever Seisui said on the outside, she harbored ill will toward her mother. After all...Serenity was the one that purified her father.

But no. Being purified wasn't a bad thing! Usako didn't even know why Seisui was ashamed of that. It wasn't like only criminals had been purified....

"Look, Usako. Seisui's up ahead. She looks pretty lonely," Hiroshi observed. He smiled weakly at her, a strangely soothing form of condolence. Usako, somewhat encouraged, nodded and ran up ahead.

"Where's she going?" Fuyuko asked. "Are we going to be late?"

"Actually, Fuyuko... if you four don't hurry up, you probably will be late," Hiroshi lied.

Fuyuko and the other three girls glanced at each other in alarm and rushed past Usako in a panic. Usako, meanwhile, was catching up to Seisui and panting slightly from the effort.

"Where's Hiroshi?" Seisui asked in mild surprise. Maybe her opportunity was going to come quicker than she thought.

"Oh, he's right behind me. I don't know what the girls were doing, but Hiroshi'll catch up soon enough."

"Oh, okay," Seisui said cheerfully, masking her disappointment.

"Seisui..." Usako trailed off.

Seisui paused for a moment; Usako had obviously been thinking about what she said last night. Probably a good idea, Seisui thought in annoyance; though she was surprised anyone in the royal family actually bothered to think about what they were doing. In any case, it didn't look like Usako was about to finish her sentence anytime soon, so Seisui supposed she would have to prompt her. "What is it, Usako?" She asked quietly.

"Last week, before that Senshi showed up...you were talking about councilor Han'i. And from the way you were talking... it sounded like Neo Queen Serenity had killed him. But that isn't right...she only purified him. If anything, he was lucky. Now, he doesn't feel any unnecessary anger or enmity...your father is a happier man now."

Seisui restrained herself from transforming and killing Usako right there and then. It was probably a lucky thing that Hiroshi came up to Usako at that moment; otherwise, her self-restraint might not have been strong enough.

"Is something wrong?" Hiroshi asked, looking toward Seisui. Seisui shook her head as a grave expression crossed her face.

"Tell me...Usako," Seisui said darkly. Usako looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"What is it?" she asked, inclining her head toward Seisui.

"Have you ever hated anyone?" she asked quietly.

"Well...." Usako paused, searching her thoughts for someone she had truly hated. Yes...there were times when she had hated. She had even hated her mother, once upon a time...memories of becoming Black Lady still sometimes lingered in her mind. There was the hatred with which she regarded the Death Phantom, who had sent her mother into a deep and seemingly endless slumber. And there were the times when she even hated herself, when she wished only to be a lady like her mother, and when she envied her mother because of that. "I suppose you could say I have hated someone before," she said a little guiltily.

"Tell me...what would have happened, Usako, if all of those times, you had no hatred? What would you be like today?" Seisui asked.

Usako stopped, a look of confusion spreading across her face. Hiroshi looked at her, at a loss for what to say or how to console her; Seisui, on the other hand, walked two more steps ahead and stopped, her back turned away from Usako.

"Well?" Seisui asked. "Well, what would have happened?" She was having trouble hiding the bitterness from her voice. It hovered momentarily in her voice, and quickly hovered out; Seisui was fighting off tears.

"I...I don't know." Usako admitted. Seisui shook her head and let a couple tears fall down her cheek, which she promptly wiped away.

Usako had the sinking feeling that something really horrible had happened--that her mother had done something she might come to regret for the rest of her life. But her mother had told her that purification was something that was good, something that was helpful, and in her heart, Usako wanted to believe that. Her conflicting feelings were tearing her apart--but ultimately, her loyalty to the royal household told her that she had to change Seisui's mind.

"Seisui, I think there's something that you should know," Usako said decisively. Even if it was a huge risk to tell Seisui, if they were going to be true friends, Usako had to trust her completely. Hiroshi looked toward Usako in surprise.

"Usako... you can't be thinking of--"

"Seisui, I'm the Crown Princess--Usagi Lady Serenity. I...I want you to come with me after school. I want you to come to the Crystal Palace, okay? I don't know if you ever came when your father was councilor...but...I think you should see what the royal house is really like. I think you have the wrong idea about the royal family."

Seisui paused again. This, she did not expect. Should she take up Usako's offer? The chances of getting Usako alone in her own house were next to nothing, but there was a small hope of it happening. Even if it did happen, there was no way she could get Tokimo or whoever else Tokimo had found to come in and help her.

And then there was the Queen. If she could get away from Usako long enough to find the Queen...

"U-Usako?" Seisui asked shyly.

"Yes?" she answered.

"I'd be glad to go with you to Crystal Palace." Seisui turned around and smiled sincerely, grateful for the invitation.

"Hey...Usagi."

Usagi--or Neo Queen Serenity, as she was usually known--was happily brushing her hair in front of her elaborate, marble vanity and admiring the new music box Mamoru had given her on his last trip to Germany. Even as the golden brush ran through her elegant white hair, the lonely melody of "Greensleeves" drifted out of her door. She looked up from her new gift and into the mirror, recognizing Minako's head peering nervously around the edge of her door.

"Yes, Mina?" she asked cheerfully. Usually when Minako came around to her room, it was either to exclaim about how wonderful her new boyfriend was or to denounce the one she had recently broken up with. 1,034 boyfriends was pretty impressive for anyone, but Usagi supposed that was only natural for the Senshi of Venus.

"There's something I need to talk to you about," she said, walking inside of Usagi's room and closing the door behind her.

"What did he do this time?" Usagi asked. She had to admit--she loved hearing the dirt about Minako's latest flame.

"Huh?" Minako paused, looking perplexed. "Oh...no, it's not my boyfriend. We're getting along just fine," she told Usagi, holding up a hand and waving it casually to dismiss the topic. "No, this is about a weird rumor I've been hearing on the streets."

Usagi turned the chair in front of her vanity around and inclined her head forward in curiosity. "A weird rumor?"

"Yeah. About Chibi-Usa."

Usagi leaned forward in fearful suspense.

"About Chibi-Usa? Things are getting along all right with her and Helios, right? Public school isn't too difficult, is it? I knew it was a bad idea to send her to Public School--"

"Not exactly, Usagi," Minako interrupted. "I've been hearing murmurs in the Goban district about...well, about a new group of Sailor Senshi. Rebel Sailor Senshi...almost like the Black Moon Family, you know? They're fighting against Sailor Pinkmoon."

Usagi looked shocked.

"No...No way. That can't be right...I mean, those are just rumors, right? If something like that were to happen, Chibi-Usa would tell us. She knows she couldn't handle something that huge on her own."

Minako nodded and looked relieved. "Yeah...that's what I thought, too. I just thought you should know. I mean...maybe you should counter the rumors, or something. If people keep spreading weird tales like that, it'll give you a heart attack."

"What?!" Usagi retorted, an annoyed look crossing her face. "I'm not that sensitive. It will not--"

"Anyway, I gotta go Usagi. You know, guys to meet, dates to fulfill...bye bye!" Minako said hastily as she walked out of Usagi's room and slammed the door behind her. Usagi turned back toward her vanity, a frustrated look still clearly visible on her face.

"Grrr. I'm not that sensitive," she said bitterly, continuing to brush her hair and regaining her composure. "Not enough get a heart attack, at least! After all, I am the queen of Crystal Tokyo. I've become responsible enough to handle these sorts of situations."

When Tokimo walked into her English class, her eyes met an unpleasant sight. From where she was standing, Yamiko was right in front of her, hunched over another sketchbook and obviously brooding over something. If Yamiko hadn't been in such a hurry to go against the rest of the Moon Senshi, Tokimo might have tried to cheer her up. But then, Yamiko never said anything nice about her efforts anyway.

Tokimo made sure to give her a dirty look when she walked past her desk; Yamiko looked flustered as she glanced up at Tokimo. Tokimo's look of indignation didn't really surprise her--Tokimo had an awfully convenient way of categorizing things arbitrarily into good or bad as it suited her.

Even if she knew that Tokimo was wrong, however, Yamiko wasn't sure what was right. After all...Lady Serenity and Helios, innocent as they were, were going to give rise to a reign of terror. The only solution that sacrificed no one's life--at least, the only one she could see--was to convince Usako that she absolutely must not have children. She would just have to convince her somehow--during lunch, she decided. Yamiko really, really didn't want to go up to someone and say something like that out of the blue...but she couldn't do nothing, and her choices were limited. At least if she did it today, she could get this over with as quickly as humanly possible.

Well, Yamiko thought, at least it was a nice day. The sunny school yard looked very inviting to everyone nearby; Usako and her friends were seated in their usual spot. Yamiko could feel her reluctant legs frozen in place as she experimented with the idea of telling Usako while she was transformed, or better yet, doing nothing at all. Maybe the best solution was just staying out of this. But then...the Crimson Eagle did seem intent on the idea of working together. Not that Yamiko really cared about what he thought or anything...but it did seem kind of rude to just run off on him. And purely for practicality's sake, Yamiko didn't want to make any more enemies.

So she forced her her legs to move over to where Usako was situated--however, to Yamiko's surprise, sitting amongst Usako's cluster was none other than Seisui. Yamiko stood in front of them for a second, her eyes wide in shock and dismay. What was she doing here, of all people? Had Seisui turned on Tokimo, too? No...that wasn't possible. Not after how fervently she had denounced Sailor Moon in their last fight. Yamiko opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.

"Is something wrong, miss?" Natsuko asked courteously.

Hiroshi looked over toward Seisui. "Isn't that the girl that was with Tokimo the other day...Yamiko, was it?"

Seisui nodded gravely. Hiroshi looked at Yamiko; he paused for a second and then turned back toward Seisui. "Was she harassing you, too? Not to jump to conclusions, but...she was with Tokimo."

Seisui flushed intensely. She glanced up at Yamiko, who was looking at her suspiciously--then she turned away. She hadn't forseen this outcome of her deception; Yamiko probably surmised that she was trying to trick Sailor Pinkmoon, and if she could get Usako and Hiroshi to believe her, she had the potential to ruin Seisui's plot entirely.

"Errr...she's..." Seisui stuttered. She had to chose her words carefully; Lying in this situation could be a very, very bad thing. If she did lie, it would only prove Yamiko's worst suppositions as well as potentially giving Yamiko an opening to prove Seisui's deception. On the other hand, if she did lie and say that Yamiko was a villain--which wasn't entirely untrue, in Seisui's opinion--it would encourage Usako and Hiroshi to distrust any information that Yamiko gave them to make Seisui look like a liar. Hiroshi looked up at Yamiko with an accusatory expression; Usako stood up and walked towards her.

"Is there something you wanted...Yamiko, is it?" she asked warily.

"Well..." Yamiko became flustered; she continued to stare down at Seisui. What was she up to, anyway? Was she so desperate to kill Sailor Pinkmoon that she was willing to resort to trickery? Yamiko really was better off without Seisui and Tokimo, if these were the kind of tactics they used.

"Well...?" Usako repeated.

"There was...something...I was going to say. I..." Yamiko turned away and looked toward the ground. "Maybe...some other time. You look busy."

"Come to pick up your slave, is that it, Yamiko?" Akiko asked Yamiko in an accusatory tone. "Too late. Seisui's not coming back to you losers."

"I didn't do anything to Seisui." Yamiko replied, her voice quavering.

"That's not what she told us," Helios replied, skeptical. Yamiko looked angrily down at Seisui; Seisui blushed more and put her head down, intensely self-conscious. It didn't matter what Yamiko thought--what she was doing was right. Anyone who disagreed would only have to meet her father.

"Oh?" Yamiko asked. "What did Seisui tell you, anyway?"

"That you and Tokimo treated her like garbage just because of her father. Just because he did wrong things, you know, it doesn't mean that Seisui does, too!" Usako replied.

Yamiko looked at Seisui, who obscured her eyes by holding her hand in front of her face like a shield or visor. What had Seisui told them? "Her father?" Yamiko asked in confusion.

"Yeah, you know..." Usako snapped, "Councilor Han'i? Or is your memory selective?"

Yamiko backed up. Seisui's father...so that was the reason Seisui hated Sailor Moon...

"There may be reasons you aren't aware of, Yamiko... Because you never hear about them."

"Such as...?" Yamiko raised an eyebrow.

"The King and Queen... punish those who oppose them."

"Seisui...your father was..." Yamiko began.

Seisui brushed her hand away from her forehead; her eyes were watery, and it looked like a tear was on the verge of trickling down her cheek. "Yamiko, please...I don't need this right now," she said; her voice was wavering, and she sounded unhappy and tired. She looked up at Yamiko; Yamiko could tell by looking at her that she did not want Yamiko to press this issue.

Yamiko paused for a moment, looked down at Seisui's emotion-torn face, and turned around to eat her lunch in the other corner of the yard.

Yamiko was beginning to realize that even if Tokimo's motives were simple, Seisui's, clearly, were not; it may have been a grave mistake on Yamiko's part to underestimate the strength of Seisui's convictions. Yamiko pulled out her bottle of anti-depressants and shoved a couple of pills in her mouth. She was intensely weary of this whole affair.

"What was that all about?" Haruko asked. Usako's face was still fixed in anger.

"What does it look like it was about?" Natsuko replied in annoyance. "Yamiko was one of Seisui's old 'friends.' You know...the ones that used her."

"I realize that," Haruko began, "but I was surprised that--"

"Shut up, you two," Akiko whispered, jabbing Natsuko in the ribs and looking toward Seisui. She had stopped eating the lunch Usako was sharing with her; she looked quiet and subdued. Obviously, a talk about Seisui's inner workings would have to wait until they got back home.

"You okay, Seisui?" Hiroshi asked timidly. Seisui wiped away the tears beading in her eyes and breathed deeply for a moment before continuing.

"Yeah," Seisui replied, taking another deep breath before continuing. "I'm fine. Me and Yamiko just...well, we got into a fight before I started hanging out with you two." Seisui couldn't help noticing the irony that she was more or less telling Usako the truth.

"What kind of a fight?" Usako asked.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Seisui replied tersely.

"Maybe later," Hiroshi amended, noticing that Seisui was beginning to lose her composure again. "We'll talk about it when we get to the Palace, okay?"

Haruko, Natsuko, Fuyuko and Akiko all abruptly turned toward Usako in alarm.

"You're bringing her to the palace?" Akiko said sharply.

Fuyuko grinned in excitement. "This is gonna be fun! I bet Seisui's never been in a castle before!"

"Sure she has," Haruko corrected.

The other three Asteroids looked at Haruko in confusion. "What do you mean?" Natsuko asked.

"You heard what Usako said. If Seisui's dad was Councilor Han'i, she probably has been in the castle before."

"Now that you mention it..." Natsuko reflected, remembering Usako's outburst at Yamiko.

"You're bringing her to the castle?" Akiko said angrily, looking at Usako. "What are you thinking, Princess? She's a complete stranger!"

"No she isn't," Haruko responded scathingly. "She's a Han'i. And we know aaaallllll about the Han'i family, right?"

"Haruko!" Usako shouted, shocked at her friend's cruelty. "Are you all the same as Yamiko? Are you going to judge Seisui on her father's sins?"

Hiroshi looked accusingly toward them. "Usako is right. Seisui isn't a stranger--she's a friend of Usako's, and that means she's a friend of the entire Royal Family. Besides...Usako is your leader. You should trust her judgment."

Seisui frowned. Thankfully, her presence was being ignored, which meant she could cry freely. She knew that what the Asteroid Senshi thought hardly mattered--if anything, their ridicule was a compliment--but their derision still stung her. She cursed her sensitivity.

The Asteroids were dissuaded from continuing their argument against Usako by what had, apparently, a turned into a test of loyalty--something Seisui was sure that the four girls were not eager to fail. After all, the Royal Family had proved itself of being incapable of taking criticism in the past.

Maybe they were afraid that if they continued to voice their dissent, they would be purified, Seisui thought dryly as she wiped away her tears.

Fubuki walked nonchalantly into the lunch yard, looking down at her communicator half interestedly. Well, it made a pretty handy watch, if nothing else. Jirou was supposed to meet her here right after the lunch bell, but knowing Jirou, he'd be at least 10 minutes late. After all, he liked to kill plenty of time talking to his guy friends.

"Hey, Buki," Tokimo said cheerfully. "Want to eat lunch together?"

"My name's Fubuki," she replied irritably, "And right now, I'm waiting for someone."

"Jirou, right? Well, you can eat with me while you're waiting." Tokimo suggested. Fubuki looked skeptically down at her; the purple bunnies on her lunch box were not a good sign of an interesting conversation partner, but she supposed it was a little better than sitting here alone.

"Okay, whatever," she agreed apathetically. Tokimo sat down at a nearby picnic table and pulled out her simple lunch of sandwiches and pickled plums in rice balls. Fubuki, on the other hand, opened a plain metal lunch box to reveal an elaborate meal of sushi, fried shrimp, rice balls with tuna, and fruit.

"Wow!" Tokimo exclaimed in admiration. "That's amazing! Your mom's a great cook!"

Fubuki laughed bitterly.

"My mother couldn't tell a steak from a chicken breast," she corrected her. "My nana cooked this meal."

"You have a nanny?" Tokimo responded in surprise, taking a bite out of one of her rice balls.

"Yeah," Fubuki replied bitterly, "unfortunately, I do. My mother keeps her around, you know...maybe she figures I need a maternal figure, but she's too god-damned lazy to do it herself."

Tokimo raised an eyebrow. "If she doesn't take care of you, what does she do all day?" she asked in curiosity.

"Supposedly, she works. She's some big office exec, although I suspect that all she does is sit around and look important seventeen hours a day, six days a week."

Tokimo coughed up some of her rice.

"Seventeen hours! That's insane! My dad only works six!"

"Maybe, but all the better for me," Fubuki said with a sigh. "I hate that bitch."

Tokimo looked nervously toward Fubuki. Normally, Tokimo's curiosity would have gotten the best of her tact...but this time she didn't want to know.

"Look, there's Jirou," Fubuki observed as Jirou walked into the lunch yard. "I've gotta lose this playground. See you around, Tokimo. I hope all this Senshi stuff is keeping you thoroughly entertained." With that, Fubuki picked up her schoolbag and left, putting her hand in Jirou's as they walked off campus and down the street. Tokimo watched them go with mild interest.

Then Tokimo turned to observe Usako, Seisui and her posse; you never knew when the skills of Tokimo Joshi, mastah spy, might be necessary. Things seemed pretty peaceful at the moment; Seisui was blending in quite nicely.

Until Yamiko showed up, of course. That was when things got interesting. Tokimo couldn't hear the conversation, but by the time Yamiko left, Seisui was in tears. That was all Tokimo needed to know.

However fast it took anti-depressants to kick in, Yamiko thought, it wasn't fast enough. Seisui's face was still lingering in her mind, and Tokimo's disdainful expression from earlier that day didn't make her feel any better. Lost in her own thoughts, she nearly jumped a mile high when a small, strong hand wrapped itself tightly around her shoulder. Yamiko turned her head around in alarm and could feel her knees getting weak. It was Tokimo; but she didn't look like any Tokimo Yamiko had ever seen. From the expression on her face, Yamiko almost felt in fear of her life, or, at least, in fear of her consciousness. Yamiko tried to pull away from Tokimo's powerful grip; but the same ability Tokimo had to keep her from running away previously was just as effective now.

"I need to talk to you for a second," Tokimo said angrily, turning the rest of Yamiko's body around violently and clamping her hands squarely on each of her two shoulders. Yamiko shrank downwards slightly; an easy thing to do, considering Tokimo's short height.

"What did you do to Seisui?" Tokimo said in an accusatory tone. "What did you do to make her cry?"

"I didn't do anything!" Yamiko retorted. "I wasn't even there to talk to her."

"Then why were you there, huh? Seems like things would work out awfully convenient for you if Sailor Pinkmoon knew the truth about Seisui."

"What do you think I get out of all of this, anyway? Just because I don't want to brutally murder the princess doesn't make me some kind of a traitor!"

"Seems like you're making excuses to me. You don't want to brutally murder the princess, yeah. You just want to brutally murder everyone else when her daughter goes psycho," Tokimo replied in an insulting tone.

"You people are all nuts! Has it ever occurred to you that the Princess could just not have a kid? Is that so hard for your small brain to comprehend, Tokimo?"

Tokimo paused anxiously.

"Don't get all self-assured, Yamiko," Kouken responded from Tokimo's purple bag. "I doubt that would work. Knowing Usako, she'd probably believe that she could raise the evil out of her."

"Well, what if she could?" Yamiko replied defensively.

"Oh, right. I'm sure that if Chaos were reincarnated in your womb, you could just find the good in it and bring it out, right?" Kouken retorted sarcastically.

"Chaos and Diana are completely different!" Yamiko snapped in response.

"They're both evil, and they're both going to kill us all--that's close enough for me," Tokimo replied. "And anyway, you're changing the subject. Why did you make Seisui cry?"

"I didn't make Seisui cry. She cried on her own. How am I supposed to know what sets Seisui off? It seems like everything does, anyway. Last night, she would start crying at every other sentence! And then she was crying when we met during lunch. Is there ever a time Seisui isn't crying?"

Tokimo took an hand off Yamiko's shoulder in order to punch her squarely in the stomach. Yamiko recoiled in pain, gagging slightly from the impact; before she had the time to recover and dash off, Tokimo replaced her other hand on Yamiko's shoulder.

"You may not be crying all the time, but your mopey attitude is a million times worse than Seisui's! Seisui may cry easily, but at least she's a nice person!"

The anti-depressants wouldn't have helped now, anyway. Yamiko was completely unable to keep tears from flowing down her face. "Let go of me!" she hissed.

"Not until you tell me what you did!" Tokimo snapped.

"You never told me Seisui's father was Councilor Han'i!" Yamiko told Tokimo.

"So? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, Usako apparently thought I knew. Considering that she seemed to think it was why I supposedly hated Seisui! Which isn't even true!" Yamiko explained irritably. Tokimo's grip loosened and Yamiko pulled herself free. She immediately grabbed her black handkerchief from her uniform pocket and wiped away her tears in embarrassment. "Or, at least, it wasn't true until last night!"

Yamiko turned away and ran off before Tokimo had a chance to respond. She didn't care if there was another half-hour before lunch ended; she wanted to get out of the lunch yard as soon as humanly possible.

"Hey, Jirou," Fubuki asked him as they walked down the street, "What took you so long, anyway?"

"Just talking to the guys."

"About what?" She asked. "Something more interesting than me?"

"Something more interesting than you? I didn't know that was possible, Fubuki," Jirou replied somewhat sarcastically.

"Serenity. I'm your girlfriend, right? Is there some reason why I can't be seen around your guy friends?"

"Fubuki...trust me, you don't wanna hang out with those assholes," Jirou smirked. "You may not be smooth around the edges, but those guys are practically yazuka."

"Serenity," Fubuki responded indignantly. "I'm not afraid of any fuckin' yazuka."

"Yeah, well, let's just say that they haven't learned to keep their hands to themselves. You don't wanna hang with that horse shit."

"If they're horse shit, why do you want to hang around them?" Fubuki snapped.

Jirou just shrugged and swung his bag over his shoulder. "They sell good fuzz."

"Did you buy anything to eat?" Fubuki asked curiously.

"Heh. You know my family... getting lunch money is an event."

"Well, you can have what's left of my lunch. It's not like eating it gives me any pleasure," Fubuki said, handing him her lunch box. Jirou immediately pushed it back toward her.

"I don't like your mom any more than you do. Less, even. So I don't want your food."

"My mom didn't make it."

"Who cares? It came out of your mom's fridge."

"Just because my mom's a bitch doesn't mean her refrigerator's contaminated," Fubuki spat.

"As far as I'm concerned it is. Everything your mother and her stupid exec job buys is like poison to me."

"So now I'm eating poison?" Fubuki asked defensively.

"Serenity! Whatever happened to hating your mother? You were saying all sorts of just lovely things about her just a minute ago, and now you're defending her. Why do you do that?"

"I'm just saying, I don't eat poison!" Fubuki snapped. "This has nothing to do with my mother."

"Yeah, whatever," Jirou responded in annoyance, pulling out a cigarette pack and lighting one. He inhaled the smoke gratefully. Fubuki pulled out her pair of headphones and began listening to her newest static CD; the screaming strains of the chorus shrieked over the repetitive techno back-beat.

"Serenity, I stop talking to my friends for you, and you immediately put on your headphones."

"I thought you told me to shut up," she said morosely.

"I just wanted you to shut up about your mother."

"It's not like there's anything else to talk about in this shiny dump," Fubuki muttered.

"Going off on the queen again? I'm surprised you aren't more excited about all this senshi BS. After all, they're trying to get rid of Serenity, right?"

"I just don't want to wear the outfit, is all," Fubuki said with a sigh, stopping to lean against the wall. "I'd be happy to get rid of the queen."

"You know, just because some religious wackos start up some crazy church--"

"I know it wasn't Serenity that started up the church, Jirou. I'm not that stupid. But when I think of why the church exists, it pisses me off. Some ho comes in with a dress and a gem and she's the holy ruler of us all. What the fuck is up with that? The texts say that The Black Moon Family were agents of evil, corrupt because they thought long life and total happiness were sins. Well, I don't know if they're sins, but I think some death and despair would do all the spinny people around here some good."

"Complete happiness? Since when is anyone around here happy?" Jirou asked disdainfully.

"Well, the texts are old. Who knows? They just make me memorize them in Sunday school. Most people do seem like they're pretty happy. Not all people, though, I guess. That Seisui kid Tokimo mentioned... she didn't seem too happy, either."

"Hmph. Some kid and her demoted father...makes no difference to me. Looks like your texts are just full of bull shit...big surprise there. C'mon..." Jirou began, dropping his cigarette and stomping it out with his foot. "Give some of your lunch. The thought of food is starting to get to me."

Fubuki paused for a moment, slightly annoyed at Jirou's hypocrisy. Grimacing, she shoved her metal lunch box roughly into his chest, where Jirou grabbed it moments before it fell to the ground.

"What the fuck?" He asked in annoyance. Fubuki just shrugged and smirked slightly. She didn't have to explain herself.

Yamiko decided that the best place to avoid Tokimo would be the library; which, thankfully, did not include a Manga section. The place was more or less empty, given that it was lunchtime; Yamiko walked apathetically toward the cooking section and took out a dessert cookbook. She sat down at one of the large, six-chair tables situated around the library and read about how to make various different types of English pudding until she felt herself getting drowsy.

Asteria could feel a cold wind. The upside-down spires of her ebony castle dripped blood from where they hung in the sky...She could hear the screams of her mother coming from the castle. She couldn't get inside--she couldn't reach the door. She turned around and looked out toward the dark forest, and Sayoko walked toward her, shaking her head sadly.

"Yamiko...it's mom and dad--the--the train...it..."

Asteria turned around and became Yamiko, and she could see a train racing by...the squeal of track--sparks flew...A bomb...a bomb...

Yamiko awoke with a start; there was a hand firmly planted on her shoulder. It couldn't be Tokimo, could it? Yamiko turned around, nervous, and sighed in relief when she saw Erik's looming figure above her.

"Hey... you okay?" He asked. "Have you had lunch yet? Break's over in 15 minutes."

"Yeah..." Yamiko said. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a really weird dream."

"Oh?" Erik said, sitting down next to her. "You look pale. Nightmare, eh?"

"Yeah..." Yamiko said uneasily. "But it seems silly now that I've woken up. You know... it's scary when you're there, but when you tell someone about it, it just seems funny," she lied.

Erik raised his left eyebrow skeptically. "Doesn't look like it seems funny to you," He observed.

Yamiko forced a smile. "I guess I'm still half in the dream," she half-heartedly explained, picking up the dessert book and closing it.

"Maybe something that happened beforehand...?" he asked. Yamiko jumped; his precision was a bit eerie.

"What makes you think that?" Yamiko replied somewhat irritably.

"I saw you walking to the library. You looked upset, all red in the face."

"I just had an embarrassing moment."

"Oh?" Erik asked.

"Yeah." Yamiko responded tersely.

"You know, if someone's harassing you, I can help you deal with them."

"You're a teacher, not a policeman. I can take care of myself."

"Just because I'm a teacher doesn't mean I'm cold-hearted," Erik explained. "You can't expect me to be entirely apathetic if someone is bullying you. Anyway, if you want to deal with your own problems by yourself, I can respect that. But don't expect me to help you the next time you want to bail out of class, if you're so dead-set on my not getting involved."

With that, he unceremoniously got up and walked away. There was something funny about that guy, Yamiko thought in annoyance. And she wasn't sure if it was something good or something bad. Anyway, she wasn't planning on finding out. She had had enough company for a very, very long time.

Yamiko placed her book back in the section where she found it and walked sluggishly to her next class, contemplating the meaning of her peculiar dream.

"Dad..." she murmured to herself as tears flowed freely down her face. "Mom..."

To Part B