Author's Notes:  And so the revisions continue.  For previous chapters,
C&C or anything else, you can always contact me at:

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Thanks for reading.  Apparently somewhere in my youth I adopted a really
bad spelling for Mamoru and Endymion (Mamouro and Endyminion,
respectively).  Those have been fixed in previous (on the web site) and
future chapters.  Thanks to the Eternal Lost Lurker for pointing it out.

Disclaimer goes here (Sailor Moon).


Arc 2: Chapter 2 (originally Part 13)
These Are Not The Senshi You Are Looking For


Since their return from the Misaki Shrine, the training sessions for the
younger Senshi had been broken up into two parts, physical and magical.
Elder Rei, now known widely as Hino Taika, did most of the physical
coaching though it only consisted of showing the younger Senshi a few of
the more basic martial arts skills like falling and blocking a punch.
Even something so simple proved to be a lot of work since only Makoto
and Rei had any kind of physical training at all.  As things progressed,
she hoped to show them some more advanced maneuvers.

The magical training fell upon Serenity.  For the most part, it was just
repeatedly summoning, shaping, or altering the Senshi's chosen element,
except in the case of Usagi.  The moon princess, though having some
small dominion over wind, had powers that weren't really elemental in
nature.  Sailor Moon was just a shell identity of Princess Serenity,
after all.

Some debate had been had over whether or not to do away with Sailor
Moon's Senshi identity entirely, but eventually it was decided that
allowing her to be know for who she was would only make her a bigger
target for attack.  While Serenity's powers were stronger, they were
also much more difficult to learn since they were composed of actual
magic.  The magic the elemental Senshi used was more focused, and
stronger, each in its individual way, but for all utility, pure magic
was much better.  However, without the shielding filter of the Silver
Crystal, even beginning the training could be deadly.

So it was decided to allow Usagi to continue as Sailor Moon and train
with the talismans and magical items that powered her attack and
defense.  Without those items, Sailor Moon wasn't very strong, but
compared to the others, they allowed a higher starting power threshold.
Learning real magics would be a lot easier after she had gained some
proficiency with the wind powers, a few minor cantrips, and the
talismans, anyway.

Right now, she was mostly performing little tricks like creating a
glowing mote of light or a shower of cherry blossoms, but it would
eventually progress into some of the higher magics like shielding and
enchanting.  First, though, she had to build up her ability to channel
and control her power since the danger of an overload was always
present.  That meant an endless repetition of simple spells.

The girls generally considered the physical part to be a pain while the
magical part was fun.  So, the athletic part of the session was always
toward the front where it could be gotten out of the way, and the more
fun parts toward the end to keep everyone from getting too worn out.

That's how Taika ended up eating a light dinner alone in the Crown.  Her
half of the night's festivities were over and she was free.
Unfortunately, the only people in this world that she really knew were
busy training, meaning she was flying solo.

She took another small bite out of her slice of lemon pie and sighed
deeply.  Somehow, being back here in this time and place wasn't as much
fun as she'd hoped it would be.  Sure, it was a lot better than where
she'd been a week ago, but that didn't change the fact that she was
alone.

Alone.  It had become the word that would sum up her life.  Yuuichirou
had been with her through her teenage years and then off and on again
for some centuries later until they married.  He had died shortly
afterward, and she'd felt alone ever since.  She had never really made
an effort to reintegrate socially, and society, for its part, had seemed
content to leave her alone.

Even here, where Yuuichirou and her grandfather both still lived, she
knew that she was still alone.  This Yuuichirou and this grandfather
belonged to the younger Rei, who was perhaps just Rei now that Taika had
taken up another name.  She couldn't deny her other self the opportunity
to mess up her life with the one man that had ever come to understand
her on her own.

And she had realized that even if she were selfish enough to try to take
this Yuuichirou as her own, it wouldn't work out.  She didn't want the
young, foolish Yuuichirou that had come to her grandfather's shrine all
those years before.  She wanted the older, understanding Yuuichirou that
he had grown into over the centuries.

Still, she felt a desperate need to connect with another human being, no
matter if it was only on a surface level.  Certainly, none of the
younger Senshi would fill the gap, and she had known the older too long
to find anything new from those relationships.  But who?  She hadn't
known many people in her youth, to begin with, and being a twin unstuck
in time didn't exactly make it wise to rekindle old friendships, in any
case.  She just needed someone mature to talk to, but with her current
physical age, achieving such would be difficult at best.  She needed
someone who would be able to appreciate the finer things in life or, at
least, not overly appreciate the juvenile things that her "peers"
reveled in.

Even if she had wanted to date someone from her junior high, there
wasn't much chance for that with Umino following her around like a lost
puppy.  Date.  Why had that word come up?  Taking another small bite of
her pie she contemplated it.  A date sounded like what she had been
thinking about all along, but it would be literally impossible to not
"rob the cradle" in this time.  In a pragmatic sort of way, even the
most elderly in this time fit that qualification.

In any case, Umino's attentions made most such relations impractical.
Umino himself was totally unsuitable for several reasons.  Primarily, no
matter how untrue in this time, she would always thing of Umino as
Naru's.  Another being the fact that he talked too much.  Taika, like so
many others, went for the tall, dark, and handsome look with a little
soft spoken and romantic thrown in.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"  A voice disturbed her from her
ruminations and she looked up to see a tall, blond man standing beside
her table.  A tiny voice in the back of her mind was doing a quick tally
and came up with tall and handsome.  Two out of three wasn't bad.

"No, you're welcome to join me if you wish."  She watched him intently,
waiting for his aura to gently pulse to the surface so she could get a
reading on his personality before she decided whether or not some
mischievous kami had decided to have a little fun at her expense.

"Thank you," he said, his voice smooth and cool.  "My name is Fujii
Ryota." He bowed to her slightly before taking the proffered seat with a
soft smile on his face.

She returned the bow without rising.  "Hino Taika."

He smiled and took her hand gently in his and brought it to his lips.
"It is truly a pleasure to meet you."

She blushed just a little at his western demeanor.  The blond hair
certainly indicated he was not a native, so small indiscretions could be
forgiven.  Particularly when, for her, a kiss on the hand had not been
considered forward in generations.  "You certainly do know how to make a
first impression."

"Madam, I wouldn't know what you mean," he said with a smile that
plainly said that he knew exactly what she was talking about.
Apparently, he was well used to taking advantage of his foreign
appearance.

"I'll bet you don't."

"Ms. Hino, if you don't mind me asking, what's a beautiful young woman
like you doing eating dinner all alone?"

"Oh, my friends are just busy tonight."  As she continued to watch, his
aura unfolded before her and she saw quite a few things.  First was a
trace of deception, which she quickly surmised to be an illusionary
glamour.  Second, his soul was dark, almost purely evil but encasing a
faint core of goodness that seemed almost part of another person.  Her
mouth tightened ever so slightly as she realized that, whatever this man
was, he wasn't going to be a potential suitor.  At least, not after he
tried whatever it was he was planning to try.

"Well, then, might I request the pleasure of your company for the
evening?"

"Well..." she trailed off.  She did her best to kept her features
neutral even through the shock of seeing his aura.  She had become quit
skilled with piercing illusions over the years and now did her best to
see through the glamour cloaking the newcomer's true form.  It wasn't
hard, actually.  He had apparently not wanted to go with a full disguise
spell, which would have been both draining and wasteful.  There was just
enough minor disguise magic to shift his features and skin tone a bit,
to make him a little less recognizable.  Not that most people on the
planet would have recognized General Jadeite of the Dark Kingdom, in any
case, but he had apparently wanted to play it safe.

Inwardly she sighed.  Of course, the only polite, older guy that would
approach her would have to be an evil minion of Queen Beryl. //Oh,
well,// she figured, //if he's buying, why not?  It's not like I have
anything to worry about from him.  I mean, I almost took him myself when
I was just a beginner.//

"I'd be delighted," she said, her smile only partially unreal.  Combat
was a poor replacement for companionship, but it was an exchange she was
intimately familiar with.

"Splendid!" he exclaimed.  She caught the slight predatory glint to his
smile but decided that a date was a date, even if your escort probably
planned to attempt to kill you later.  "How do you feel about the
opera?"

***

After practice, the rest of the Senshi and Serenity were happily eating
away at the late dinner that Makoto and Rei had thrown together for
them.  It was, as always, a very good meal and, mixed with the feeling
of accomplishment they shared from an evening of training, made for a
general atmosphere of good cheer.

They had finished and were in the process of cleaning up when Endymion
and Mamoru entered the shrine.

"Endy-chan!"  Serenity immediately tackled Endymion in a fierce hug.
The others had expected it but were always amazed that she could be so
dignified so long as neither food nor Endymion were in the room.  Her
ability to instantly tell Endymion and Mamoru apart was slightly less
amazing because of the distinct difference in the way the two carried
themselves.  Of course, it took most of them a few seconds to figure it
out, but, then again, none of them had spent a full millennium in close
proximity to either of them.

Endymion, for his part, just smiled and nuzzled his one time wife
affectionately.  "We were just wondering if you girls would like to have
a little fun tonight.  There's a new amusement park in town, Dream Land,
and we were hoping to get some company and go check it out.  We know
that you could use a break from training."

There was a round of agreement from the younger Senshi, but Serenity
looked up at him questioningly.  He nodded slightly and she smiled.
Tonight was going to be the Senshi's first battle since the trip to
Okayama.

Somehow, when there is an even number of people walking along together,
they always end up breaking apart into twos.  Serenity and Endymion, of
course, were together.  Mamoru and Usagi kept drifting toward each
other, almost as if they didn't realize it was happening.  Makoto and
Minako ended up clustered together were discussing boys.  However, as
often as not, there is a pair that ends up together by simple virtue of
not fitting in with another pair.  The other, more natural, pairings
left Ami and Rei to walk together in silence.

"So, Ami, what do you think about those two?" Rei finally asked, growing
sick of the quiet.

Ami glanced to the three pairs ahead and gave Rei a quizzical look.
"Which two do you mean?"

Rei gave her a playful grin.  "All of 'em.  Any of 'em.  I'm just
interested in having a conversation right now."  Ami returned her smile
at that point and the weight of the silence between them seemed to melt
away a bit.  "How about Makoto and Minako?"

"Well, Makoto and Minako seem to be a little overly occupied with boys.
The really should examine their priorities."

"Oh?" Rei asked, an eyebrow raising.  "And you have no interest in young
men, I take it?"

Ami blushed slightly.  "I don't have time for things like that.  I have
too much to do!" she exclaimed, a little more forcibly than she really
had to.

"Is that right?"  Rei sensed that she had struck a nerve but couldn't
stop herself from pushing forward a little more.  "When WILL you have
time for things like that?  When you're a doctor?"

Ami's face fell a little as she realized exactly how much time her
mother, the doctor, had to spend at the hospital.  Rei realized that
maybe she had gone little bit too far with what she had intended as
gentle ribbing.

"Well, why don't you have a boyfriend right now?  There has to be
someone you like."

"Hey," Ami decided to turn the tables a bit.  "Why don't YOU have a
boyfriend?  And why are you so interested in my love life all of a
sudden?"

"Well..." Rei trailed off, uncertain of her own motivations.  "I don't
have one because I go to an all girls school.  That makes it really hard
to meet people, you know.  And I'm just curious."

Ami frowned.  "Well, if I meet someone that I really like, I'll date
him, but I'm not going out of my way like those two."  She indicated
Makoto and Minako who were currently discussing the captain of the
soccer team in a manner that required a few hand gestures.

Rei looked back at the two couples wandering along behind them.
"Well... just remember that you're not alone in the lonely hearts club,
okay?" she offered Ami a sheepish smile.

Ami, in an uncommon flash of insight into human nature, realized that
the real objective of this conversation had been.  Rei had mentioned
knowing Mamoru before this all started, and the looks she gave him every
so often...  Rei apparently had a thing for Mamoru.  "Don't worry, Rei-
chan.  There are plenty of other guys out there."

"Yeah, I know.  It was just a crush."

"How long have you known him?  I mean, before all of this started."

"He studies plants, you know, and my school has a very nice
greenhouse...  I'd see him occasionally and think... but it's nothing.
He belongs with her now."

"Going to keep telling yourself that till you believe it?"

"I hope," but it was Rei's turn to frown.

***

Taika's night was actually going fairly well.  As long as she ignored
the almost visible evil that her date was radiating, he was quite
charming and well mannered.

They had gone to an after dinner performance of "The Phantom of the
Opera" at the Juuban area cultural center.  Jadeite offered to translate
for her, and she accepted, deciding that it would be more fun that way.
She had never been a linguist, in any case.

The show, even performed by amateurs, proved to be beautiful.  Rei
always had loved the opera, and this happened to be one of her
favorites.  Not that she would tell that to Jadeite, of course.

For his part, Jadeite seemed was convinced that this "Taika" really had
no clue to his true intentions.  He wasn't certainly if she was really
the one he had been seeking, but even if she was using a different name,
her picture was the same as the one given to him by his spies.  If it
proved that she wasn't really his target, then she might be able to lead
him to the right person.

Taika snuggled up against him a little more as the show reached a
particularly romantic piece and he decided on the conclusion to this
evening's festivities.

***

Serenity watched in interest as the younger Senshi wandered their
separate ways about the park  "Are you certain that this is a good idea?
The last time we were here, things got a little rough."

"Yes, they can handle it.  I've checked the police records and around
thirty people have disappeared her so far.  You came in later so maybe
they are not as prepared."

"I don't know, Endy-chan.  Let's make our way over to the candy house
and see who figures things out first."

"Will you give them a cookie?"

Serenity giggled.  "How about, I just make sure that no one gets hurt."
She paused for a moment.  "Make that no one on our side.  Tricking
people with food is something that I cannot forgive.  And in the name of
the Moon, I will see that they are punished."  Serenity actually did a
few of the hand motions while saying the last, almost unconsciously.

Endymion broke out into laughter, unable to contain himself any longer.
"You've not lost your flare for the dramatic, my dear."  He straightened
up slowly.  "Now, let's go see if our students have been paying
attention in class."

***

Taika and Jadeite left the theater much closer than they had entered it.
Taika was just content to be out with someone after such a long dry
spell.  Long as in centuries.  Even if she was fairly sure she would be
beating him to a pulp before the night was over.

Jadeite's mind was working furiously, as any man's would have been in
this situation.  His thoughts, however, were not on whether or not she
liked him and would agree to another date or a walk in the park.  Well,
he was thinking about a walk in the park, but that was for an entirely
different reason than most men.

Currently, he was trying to decide how to best confront this girl and
find out her true identity.  If she even knew, that is.

"My dear, would you care to take a walk in the park for some fresh air?
The moon is lovely tonight."

Taika smiled dreamily, ignoring that part of her mind which was already
tensing up for action.  "Of course."

Jadeite smiled back.  He was certain that the girl suspected nothing.

As they walked, Taika began to dread what was coming.  Her date was
getting a little anxious, which could only mean that he was planning on
making a battle of this sooner, rather than later.

She didn't really want to hurt him now that she'd had a couple of hours
in which to examine his soul.  As much evil as there was in him, there
was also core of goodness in him, but it was surrounded by what could
only be spells to keep it firmly sealed behind a torrent of darkness.

The spells, themselves, seemed ancient and powerful and she wasn't sure
that she could break them without extinguishing that little spark of
light trapped inside.

She was saved from further agonizing by the sound of a beeper going off.

Jadeite looked confused for a second and then realized what the sound
was coming from him.  His amusement park youma was apparently in trouble
and had hit the panic alarm.  Finding out the girl's identity would have
to wait, after all.  "Oh, I'm so sorry, but I must go.  Duty calls.
Perhaps we can do this again some time?"  He made to excuse himself.

Taika smiled in relief, though it was certainly a confusing situation.
"Certainly."

Jadeite bowed and hurried off to find out what was going wrong this
time.

Taika sat down on a nearby bench and silently cursed her luck. //Why is
it that all the nice guys are either taken or possessed?  Why?//

***

Serenity and Endymion were sitting on a similar bench near the candy
house in Dream Land.  Serenity was happily munching on some cotton candy
and watching the fighting between the Sailor Senshi and Muurido, the
Dream Princess youma, transpire on the inside of her visor.

"Remind me later to teach Usagi a true seeing spell.  I can't believe
that she fell for that stone snake illusion."

Endymion grunted an affirmative.  For his part, he was watching the
battle on his version of the visor, a pocket calculator style display.
"Mamoru's swordsmanship is really poor.  He hasn't been practicing much,
I see.  We're going to have to remedy that later."  He paused to watch a
particularly painful looking hit.  "I think he needs to forget about the
tuxedo and try the armor."

"Ami should have used her Shabon Spray as soon as they saw that the
enemy relied on a breath weapon.  I swear, these girls really don't
think some times."

"Dear," Endymion turned from his display to give her a steady look.
"They're just starting out.  And they're doing better than we ever did
at that point."

Serenity sighed.  "Yeah, you're right.  But that doesn't mean that
they're going to get off easy on the training."

The battle raged on well past the point where Serenity ran out of cotton
candy and was most of the way through the popcorn.  The Senshi
eventually staggered out of the ruins.  Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Mars, and
Sailor Jupiter had to be helped along by the others.

Tuxedo Kamen had taken a painful burn wound on his side and Serenity
decided that it was a perfect opportunity to teach Usagi some of the
most minor healing spells.  Mars and Jupiter would be okay as soon as
the effects of Muurido's gas attack wore off.

Then it was time to retire back to the shrine a couple of hours before
everyone had to go home.  It wasn't a very pleasant experience for the
younger Senshi as Usagi had set up a small projection device and was
giving a play-by-play account of what had been done wrong in the battle.

There was a lot of training to do, Serenity knew, and an unknown amount
of time in which to do it.

END

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