(Okay, I sent this out to the list a couple days ago, right when whatever
went wrong did.  Here it is again.)

To Review:

    	After the defeat of Queen Beryl and the destruction of the
Negaverse, Serena Tsukino and the resurrected Sailor Scouts were
permitted to rest for seven years, their memories of their time together
banished from their minds.  Serena eventually found her way into a career
as a cartoonist, until she was finally forced into a confrontation with a
new breed of youma, prompting Luna to awaken her memories.

    	Serena waffled over whether or not to bring back the memories of
her dearest friends, unsure whether or not they needed to have them
restored.  She finally sought out Raye Hino (now become an actress) to
see how her life had gone ... and discovering just how much she missed
her, gave her back her memories.  Just in time, too, for it was soon
revealed that Raye's agent was a youma.  They defeated him, but did not
discover that the youma was part of a mysterious organization ...

    	... until after Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars were forced to hunt
down Mina Aino, who had turned to crime and was impersonating Sailor
Moon.  The organization also hunted Mina, but Moon and Mars were enough to
defeat them.  Mina's memories were restored as well ... but it was
discovered that Artemis had already attempted to restore part of her
memories ... only to be rudely interrupted.  In the process of this
adventure, Serena learned that their adversaries were well aware of her
identity.

    	This prompted her to leave Japan, to track down the other two
Scouts and rescue them from their tormentors.  In Germany, she found an 
embittered Amy Mizuno, who had suffered the loss of a child due to a 
vampire's evil, and become a special agent for Interpol, obsessed with 
discovering the truth behind the supernatural events that she saw all 
around her.  Serena aided her in overcoming her personal demons, and Amy 
promised to come to Japan to lend what aid she could in the battle to 
come.

    	Coming to America, Serena found a number of things to divert her
from her quest ... while in Japan, Raye and Mina were separately forced
to confront *their* personal demons.  Unfortunately, just as they did so, 
they were kidnapped by agents of the organization ... which had also 
hatched a dark plan to capture Amy and Lita when they came to Japan.

    	And what of Lita Kino, you ask?

    	Well ...

                              Serena and Luna:
                     The New Adventures of Sailor Moon
                                Episode 106
                              "Truth and Lies"



    	Lita hummed placidly as she dressed the okonomiyaki on the
griddle, covering it with tasty yakisoba noodles.  She was only a
comparative novice at the art -- in either of its aspects -- but her
sensei had been so impressed by her combination of skill and business
savvy that Lita had been her immediate choice to open up this, the first
North American franchise of Ucchans.

    	Which was failing rapidly.

    	Lita opened her eyes, and sighed.  It wasn't anything that she
was doing or failing to do, and who could have predicted that the
American market for okonomiyaki was so small?  Sensei's business advisor
seemed perplexed by this.  According to her, the Americans were almost
slavish in their mindless devotion to any and all things Japanese.  "Look
at how much more they spend on subtitled animation than on English-dubbed
versions!"

    	Lita was of the opinion that sensei's business advisor was a nut
with an exaggerated idea of her own cleverness.  But such were the
struggles of life.

    	There was a sudden jingling at the door, and Lita looked up from
the grill, smiling and saying, "Hello, welcome to Ucchans --" She
blinked, and smiled apologetically.  "I'm sorry, for health reasons, we
can't let you bring your cat in here."

    	"Ack," said the blonde Asian girl with the unusual hairstyle and
the cat on her shoulder, who was staring at her with a horrified
expression.  Actually, the "expression" on the cat's face was almost as
horrified ... the cat's eyes seemed strangely aware.

    	"Oh ... <do you not speak English well?>" Lita asked
sympathetically in Japanese.  She had had an awful time picking it up
herself.

    	"<Ack>," the girl said in Japanese, fiddling with the bag that
she was carrying.

    	"<Is something wrong?  Do you need help?>" Lita continued.  The
girl -- no, she had the looks of a young woman -- the young woman finally 
produced a strange lipstick-shaped device.

    	She opened the lid, pointed it at Lita, and said "<REMEMBER.>"

    	And Lita did.

    	Furious at how they kept preying on her weaknesses.  Turning to
give them a piece of her ... and then learning just how easily she had
been tricked.  Laughing through the pain at their stupidity in using her
own powers against her ... and calling out, in agony -- "SUPREME
THUNDER!".  And the glory of the explosion gave way to the anguish of her
final moments.  Hearing her pleading with her, and trying desperately to
smile and say "Please, princess ... cheer up."  And then the sudden
rustling, and flight ... and then once more to stand beside her and give
her all.  And then reborn, never knowing.

    	Until now.

    	Lita gasped as she surfaced from the sea of memories that Serena
-- that was the flabbergasted girl's name -- had somehow untapped.  And
then she looked down to see the burnt okonomiyaki.

    	"Aggghh!" she cried.

    	"Lita!" Serena shouted.

    	"It's not your fault, Serena ... well, it *is*, but it's no big
deal.  I was just practicing some of the techniques ..."

    	"Lita!"

    	"What?" Lita asked, cleaning her hands and turning back to look
at Serena, who was still staring at her with a horrified expression.
"What's wrong?"

    	"Lita!  You're pregnant!"

    	Lita looked down at her swollen belly.  "Gee.  So I am."

    	"H-h-how did *this* HAPPEN?" Serena gasped.

    	Lita blinked.  "Well ... there was this guy, you see, and --"

    	Serena slowly dropped to her knees, and collapsed.  Lita gasped,
and moved as quickly as she could around the grill to help her out.

    	"Forgive her," Luna -- the cat -- said weakly as she looked up at
the enormous woman.  "It's been a very long two weeks ..."

                                 *   *   *

    	It had been a long pair of days since Mina had been kidnapped.

    	After "they", whoever they were, had snatched her off the street, 
she'd been dosed with chloroform, and came to in a darkened cell.  She had 
determined its dimensions fairly quickly -- a square room, about five feet 
or so on a side, with a ceiling that was taller than Mina could reach -- 
and come to the conclusion that there was no way out.

    	Her transformation pen was where it belonged.  That much, she had 
discovered within seconds of her recovery.  When she didn't need it, the 
pen was stored in a small "pocket" that seemed to follow her around.  As 
far as Mina knew, there was no way that it could be stolen from her.

    	Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working.

    	She had tried, repeatedly, to call forth the golden light that
would turn her into Sailor V or (in her last, desperate attempt) Sailor
Venus.  Nothing had happened.

    	Five times in the last two days, a tray with a tasteless mush and
a glass of water had been pushed into the cell through an opening that
Mina only heard, rather than saw.  (She had determined fairly early on
that the door was made of solid steel, which would probably have stood up
to her Venus Crescent Beam if she'd had access to it.)

    	Initially, she had been wary of eating the mush, but her hunger
had overcome her every time, and she finally gobbled it down, cursing her 
body's needs as she did and hoping that it wasn't poisoned.

    	Her other major need was more easily met -- there was a small
basin of some sort in the corner of the cell which flushed whenever she
used it.  The water level was, however, far too low to allow her the
option of drowning herself.

    	Mina had to compliment the designers of this jail cell on their 
ingenuity ...

    	She heard the opening slam open, then shut again.  Mina did a
quick examination of her fairly reliable mental clock, and frowned to
realize that whatever had been delivered into her room was far too early
to be breakfast.  She was going to keep well away from it until she knew
for certain what --

    	"Mina?" came a weak, masculine voice.

    	Mina revised her plan at once, dashing forward to gather the
small body in her arms and let out a horrified cry of "ARTEMIS?"

                                 *   *   *

	Raye was furious.

	She had been fuming at herself in the dark cell for quite some
time -- she could not have said how long.  The fact that she needed to
keep up her strength had forced her to eat whatever food was shoved into
the small room.

	Every few moments, she clutched her pen, and muttered "Mars
Power!"  Nothing occurred.

	Finally, the sliding hatch in the door came open and didn't
immediately close after something was closed.

	Raye instantly dashed towards the hatch.

	"I advise you against that."  The voice was male, strangely
familiar but unrecognizable.

	Raye ignored it, and grabbed the edges of the hatch, in order to
determine whether or not she could pull herself through it.

	The electrical shock flung her back against the rear wall of the
cell, and left her hands in agony.

	"I warned you ..."

	"LET ME OUT OF HERE YOU BASTARD SON OF A MOTHERLESS GOAT!" Raye
howled.  "I'M GONNA TEAR YOUR ARMS OUT AND SHOVE THEM --"

	"Ms. Hino!  Please!  I ... I realize that this captivity is not to
your liking, but ... it will not last much longer."

	"What do you mean you miserable fascist asshole?" Raye hissed.

	"Only what I've said ... it will all end very shortly."

	Raye was silent for a moment, trying to hear the man's breathing,
get a sense of just where he was.  She couldn't quite ...  "Have you
captured Sailor Moon?  If not, she's going to rescue me ... bet on it,"
Raye baited.

	"We ... we have not yet apprehended Serena Tsukino, no."

	<They do know.  Dumb move, letting me know that,> Raye thought.

	"But I doubt that she will come to your rescue ..."

	"Oh yeah?  Guess you don't know her very well!  She klutzes out a
lot, and she can be a twit sometimes, but she ALWAYS comes through."

	There was a long pause.  "You truly care about her, don't you?"
came a strangely soft voice.

	"No shit, jerk."

	"Hold on to that caring, Raye Hino.  It may be the only thing that
can save both of you."

	Raye heard the sound of footsteps walking away.  "Who are you?"
she called.

	"I am a friend," the voice answered.

	The hatch slammed shut.

                                 *   *   *

	Mina could smell and feel how damp his fur was, and she flinched
as her finger unwittingly touched a long cut on his side.  "Oh, Artemis,
what have they done to you?" she whispered, cradling him.

	"Nothing ... nothing ..." Artemis gasped.

	"What do you mean, nothing?"  Mina burst.

	"... nothing that I didn't deserve," Artemis groaned and then let
out a long, racking cough.  He was silent for a moment afterwards.
"Nothing that traitors don't deserve."

	"Traitors?  Artemis, what are you talking about?"

	"I've betrayed you, Mina.  I've betrayed you and Lita and Raye and
Amy and even Serena," the cat mumbled miserably.

	"Artemis!"

	"The leader of this group of youmas -- `the Mastermind', they call
him -- personally attended to my interrogation.  I -- I told them what
they wanted to know, and ..."

	Mina felt her jaw go completely slack.  "Are you saying that they
... they *tortured* you to find out about us?  Artemis?"

	The white cat was silent.

	"Oh my God, Artemis ..."  Mina swallowed.  "What did they want to
know?"

	"They ... they wanted to know if you were a Sailor Scout.  And
then they showed me pictures of other girls, and asked if they were Sailor
Scouts ... they made me identify you, and Lita, and the others ..."

	"It's all right, Artemis," she lied smoothly.  "Serena ... Serena
told me that she knew that they already knew."  The lies were flowing *so*
easily.  "So it doesn't matter."  <That one's the truth -- I hope,> she
told herself, and swallowed.  "So ... so what now?"

	"I don't know, Mina ... they said that if I didn't give them what
they wanted, after they ... were done with me, they'd start on you ... but
I did, so --"  Whatever else the cat might have said, it was choked off in
a sudden burst of coughing.  Mina clutched him tightly.

	When Artemis' breathing was at last normal, he finally asked, "Do
you forgive me?"

	"For talking, of course I --"

	"No.  No, for doing a terrible job of letting loose your
memories."

	Mina closed her eyes.  "I ..." she said softly.

	This was something that she couldn't lie about.

	"Artemis -- why didn't you come back to finish the job?"

	Artemis shifted in her grasp.  "I ... when I healed up from being
kicked like that, your family had just moved to your new apartment, and I
didn't know where you'd gotten to.  By the time that I found where you
were living ... you'd left home, and I learned just how much I'd failed
from listening to your parents.  If Luna had helped me, I might have been
able, but ..."  The cat trailed off, not quite able to keep bitterness out
of his tone.

	"You should have TOLD her," Mina said.

	"Yes, I should," Artemis admitted.  "But ... she was so damned
superior!  And even if I had, she would have insisted that we fix the
damage that I did by resetting the blocks completely, instead of
dissolving them.  And I didn't want to do that.

	"I missed you too much."

	"Oh, Artemis," she whispered, cradling him even closer.  "I
forgive you all of it ..."

	Artemis began to cough again, suddenly, and finally wheezed,
"Thank you."

	"... on one condition!" Mina said sharply.  Softly, she continued,
"You have to forgive Luna."

	Artemis was silent.  "I'll try."

	"Good ... the two of you have been friends too lonnnnnn ..." Mina
trailed off in a yawn.  "Boy, I'm tired ..."

	"Rest, Mina," Artemis said gently.  "I'll keep watch for both of
us."

	Mina nodded, too tired to realize that Artemis probably couldn't
see her in the pitch black darkness.  "Y'do that ... anyway, we should be
outta here soon's Serena finds the others, and they come for us ... she'll
make everything all right, just wait and see ..."

	As Mina descended into unconsciousness, the last words she heard
were, "She won't have to, Mina.  I will.  I promise."

	Then there was nothing but the darkness of sleep.

                                 *   *   *

    	Serena slowly woke up, and looked up at Lita, who was kneeling
beside her with an anxious expression.  Serena quickly checked her
stomach, and was relieved to see that Lita was definitely not pregnant.
"Oh wow," she said, "what a strange dream."  She looked around and
realized that she was in a schoolyard somewhere ... 

    	"There, there, Usako," Lita said in a strangely seductive voice.  
"Everything will be all right."

    	Serena blinked.  <Usako?  Nobody calls me -->

    	"MAKO!" she heard Raye's voice cry out in anger.  "WHAT ARE YOU
DOING TO USAKO?!"

    	Lita stood up suddenly, and Serena was startled to realize that
she was wearing a version of the school uniform that she'd worn in their
days together at Jyuban Junior High.  Her face was clenched in an
expression of hate.  "Reiko," she sneered, and reached up to the shoulder
of her uniform jacket.  There was a shredding noise and ...

    	Serena woke up again.

    	Again, Lita was kneeling beside her with an anxious expression,
but she was very definitely pregnant.  Serena was lying on a couch in
what she guessed was one of the back rooms of the restaurant ... it was a 
nice-looking comfortable place.

    	"Serena?" Lita prodded.  "Are you okay?"

    	<Isn't that supposed to be my line?> Serena wondered for a brief 
moment.  "Yeah ... but, Lita ..."

    	"I'm pregnant," Lita interrupted.  She smiled gently at Serena.  
"Isn't that what you were about to say?"

    	Serena blushed.  Lita laughed quietly.  "It's the same old story, 
Serena:   girl meets boy who looks like her old boyfriend; girl pursues 
boy; girl gets boy; and after a few nights of *great* ... uh, anyway, he 
left, and I haven't heard from him since."

    	Lita stood up, her hands across her belly.  "I should have used 
protection ... but I didn't, and neither did he, and now I have to deal 
with this.  But I'm okay ... business isn't so bad that I'm worried about 
another mouth to feed ..."

    	Serena eased herself into a seating position.  "Has Luna told you 
about the situation in Japan?"

    	Lita nodded once.  "The youma are back, huh?  It's weird ... I
wonder why they haven't come to America ...."

    	Serena thought of some of the weirder things that she'd seen in
that other American city, and decided not to comment on them.  "Well,
they have been spreading ... we know that much."

    	"How so?"

    	Slowly and hesitantly, Serena told Lita about what had happened
to Amy.  Lita grew pale towards the end, and sat down in one of the 
comfortable chairs.  Serena stopped at what she'd thought was the end -- 
Amy's destruction of the vampire -- and elected not to tell Lita about
the implications of her ex-husband's comments.  <That's for Amy to
explain ... when she's ready.>

    	"Oh, God, Amy ..." Lita muttered.  "And you think that that thing
was a youma?"

    	"It has to have been, Lita!  It knew about the Sailor Scouts!
What else could it have been?"  Serena bowed her head.  "I'm sorry, it's
just that all this stuff has me really scared ..."

    	"Serena, it's okay," Lita said forcefully.  "Nobody's going to
hurt you while I'm around!"

    	"But that's just *it*, Lita!" Serena interjected, tears beginning
to pool in her eyes.  "It's not me that I'm worried about!  You, Amy,
Mina, Raye ... you all gave your lives for me once.  How can I ask
something like that of you *again*?  E-e-especially now that you're ..."

    	And then she was bawling like a child once more.  Lita held her 
gently, rocking her back and forth.

    	"Baka ne," Lita murmured.  "Don't you realize that it's because
you would never ask something like that of us ... it's because of that
that we'd do it?"

    	"But --"

    	"Now listen to me, Serena Tsukino," she broke in.  "I don't want
my child to grow up in a world full of monsters.  If that means that I
have to fight for her, then I can.  Because I know that you'll be there, 
giving it everything that you have."

	Serena let out a long, shuddering sigh, and nodded.  "But, Lita,
you're ... I woke you up, and now you aren't going to be able to do
anything."

	"Says who?  I'm just going to have to be extra careful, that's
all.  Just recently, my sensei came to give me lessons on how to keep
practicing the Art right up until the ninth month ... I'm pretty sure
that I can apply that to this situation."  Lita frowned suddenly.
"Although there *is* the problem of what I'm going to do about this
restaurant."

	Just then, the phone rang.  Lita got up to answer it.  "Hello --
Sensei?  How are you?"  Pause.  "Oh, wow."  Pause.  "You're *kidding*.  He
married *her*?  But ... yeah ... yeah, I can see how you might want to get
away after that."  Pause.  "Actually ... even more than help.  Um,
something's come up back home that I have to go and deal with."  Pause.
"No, no, nothing involving *him*.  A few old friends."  She smiled at
Serena.  

	"So ... yeah, actually, that could work."  Pause.  "*Seriously*?
Me?  THERE?"  Pause.  "Hell, yes I'll do it!"  She grinned widely.  "After
all, your waitress is one of the very few guys I know who doesn't look
like my old ..."  Lita broke off into laughter.

	"Okay!  Um, when do you wanna -- TOMORROW?"  Lita listened,
stunned.  "Geez ... this is hurting you more than you're telling me, isn't
it?"  Pause.  "You wanna talk about it when you get here?"

	"My plane to Japan doesn't leave for a few days," Serena
whispered.  Lita flashed a quick grin at her.

	"Definitely.  Definitely not a problem.  Yeah, I'll come to pick
you up tomorrow.  Hai, sensei ... bye!"

	Lita hung up the phone, and smiled sadly to herself.  "And I
thought my love life was rough ..."

	Suddenly, Serena was seized by a wave of doubt.  "Lita ... isn't
it a little convenient that this is happening?"

	"Whaddaya mean?" Lita asked, blinking.

	"Your sensei just happens to have problems and comes to take your
place, just as I find you again.  That's a little ... strange."

	Lita thought for a moment, and then shook her head.  "No ... no,
not really.  I'd been talking to her not too long ago ... and the problems
that she's been having with her guy have been brewing a long time ... and
I think that I said something about wanting to see Japan again before
Makoto," she paused to rub her belly, "is born."

	"Makoto?"

	"It was my father's name," she said softly.

	"It's a great name," Serena said quickly.  "Can I --"

	Lita reached out, took Serena's hand, and held it to her stomach.

	Serena closed her eyes as she felt the baby's heartbeat, and it
beat in time with her own.

	For a few moments, there in that back room, Serena Tsukino
understood everything -- how all things in the world fit together in a
beautiful crystalline order.  And how it all made sense, if one simply
took a moment to consider it.  And how easily it could be shattered, for
she saw how fragile it was at the same time.

	In the days of struggle that were to come, she would remind
herself of that moment, and listening to the sound of her heartbeat, she
would forget that she was supposed to be terrified of what was happening,
and remember only that she was the defender of love and justice.
	
	And that was the truth.

                                 *   *   *

	"Well."

	"Your agents intercepted Mizuno at the airport, Master.  Her
partner has reported her disappearance to the police, however."

	"I am unconcerned with the police."

	"Yes, Master.  Our American agents report that Tsukino has
contacted Kino, who is making preparations to return to Japan with her."

	The Mastermind smiled at his ally.  "It's all going to plan, isn't
it, Artemis?"

	"Yep," said the white cat that lounged on the Mastermind's desk.
"Everything is working like crystal clockwork."

	"An interesting expression, eh, Lackey?"

	"... Yes, Master," said the Lackey.

                               To Be Continued

Author's Notes

	No excuses can be or will be made for the unbelievable lateness of
this chapter.  I'm sorry to everyone who's been waiting since Christmas to
see what was going to happen next.

	Hopefully, the next part will be done for the end of June.

	(Before anyone asks:  The Project A-Ko homage is based on the fact
that, when I first saw Sailor Moon on YTV, I thought, "Huh, Project A-Ko."
I *knew* about A-ko, even though I hadn't seen it.)

	Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi and brought to North
America by DiC.  This story, while incorporating elements of a film held
under copyright by others, is copyright 1997 of Chris Davies.

	Nobody Sue Me Okay?

Chris Davies, Advocate for Darkness, Part-Time Champion of Light.
"I am not a very nice person anymore." - Rand al'Thor, "Crown of Swords"
http://www.ualberta.ca/~cdavies/hmpage.html