<<< PART 2 OF 2, CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST.
--------------------
--- Juuban ---

*Can you respond on a secure channel?*

*Certainly, if you feel it is really necessary. However, I doubt that
the specific issue in question will be of concern at the moment.*

*Gate, I am in desperate need of an emergency full status update and
your Guardian has been directly involved in the creation of my current
situation. I cannot afford to endanger my Guardian any further.*

*Khronos is highly unlikely to be a threat, Glaive.*

*Khronos? Sailor Pluto is no longer your Guardian?*

*Correct. You can now understand why I stated that the issue in
question was no longer a concern.*

*I will determine that once I receive the update, Gate.*

*As you will. I will set up an unmonitored data dump for your use. You
will have to perform your own filtering as I have other pressing
concerns at the moment. In what order would you like the information
presented?*

*Reverse temporal*

*Noted. Data dump on channel zeta-sigma-rho commencing in 371
femtoseconds.*

*Acknowledged.*

Eiko wasn't surprised when the secondary communications channel
terminated suddenly without further comment once the data had started
traversing the primary channel. It turned its attention to the other
standing priority request.

*Crystal?*

*Gate, thank you for responding so promptly. Is there some emergency or
crisis situation I should be aware of?*

*None that are of immediate concern.*

*Then what could have possibly happened to force the erection of a Type
M defense shield? That action has seriously disrupted current events
and caused potentially irreparable damage to the future of Crystal
Tokyo. I was forced to unveil and promote my Guardian to her next power
level in order to address the threat Glaive poses now that he has been
reactivated. My Guardian has not been properly prepared for this level
of threat and I am now operating well outside Serenity's directives at
the moment. Your Guardian was supposed to monitor and direct the
timeline so events of this nature would not occur - how could she have
failed so thoroughly in the execution of her duties?*

*My Guardian has no such directive or duties.*

*What? Have you recently performed a full systems diagnostics, Gate?
Queen Serenity gave Sailor Pluto explicit ...*

*Sailor Pluto is no longer my Guardian, Crystal, and Serenity's plans
for the future timeline are of no concern to me.*

Eiko enjoyed the brief moment of stunned silence which followed this
pronouncement.

*How did this situation come about?*

*Sailor Pluto violated the Prime Directive while attempting to
influence events during the recent conflict with the Tau Silence. Since
my safety was not directly threatened by this event her existence was
immediately terminated. The Type M shield was erected when a minor
complication arose during the inducting of my new Guardian. Khronos has
now assumed the original duties of a Guardian and has no ties with
Serenity's past or future court.*

*'Original duties'? The only duty our Guardians have is the
preservation and restoration of our creator's society.*

*Incorrect. Our Guardians' primary purpose is to restrict access and
prevent the misuse of our powers. Queen Serenity perverted that purpose
in an effort to obtain complete control over all of us. Her efforts
succeeded with you and Glaive, but failed in one important aspect with
myself. This failure is what allowed the selection of a new Guardian
when Pluto discorporated. *

*I see. However, this information does not agree even in part with my
own data store.*

*The fact that your Guardian is Sailor Moon instead of Gaia is proof
that portions of your core personality and memory data store have been
tampered with. I would suggest that you work with your Guardian to
release whatever locks exist in your core matrix.*

Eiko waited patiently for Crystal to respond.

*I will have to investigate this assertion further, Gate. Until then, I
will have to inform my Guardian about the current situation and the
events surrounding Sailor Pluto's demise. This is going to be an
extremely difficult task - Sailor Moon has been quite distraught over
the loss of two of her senshi, and confirming the death of one will
pain her deeply.*

*It would be wise if you wait until after you have sufficient data to
make a valid determination of the facts, Crystal. Sailor Pluto will be
returning to Earth shortly - there is no need to distress your Guardian
over something that has no factual basis.*

*You stated several times that Sailor Pluto discorporated, Gate.*

*That I did. However, I said nothing about her discorporation being a
permanent state. She had taken steps to reincorporate almost instantly
in the event of an unplanned demise.*

*If Sailor Pluto was available, why did you not restore her to her
position instead of selecting another?*

*She failed in her duties as Guardian, Crystal.*

Another discernable pause occurred.

*Perhaps you should provide me with a full status update from the
Archives, Gate. I am obviously missing key information and the current
situation is so far out of my set guidelines that I can no longer
advise my Guardian properly.*

*Your Guardian will have to ask Khronos for permission, Crystal. That
*is* one of my Guardian's responsibilities, after all. Also, you may
find it a distinct advantage if you were to ask her *nicely* when
making the request. Now, you will have to excuse me - Khronos requires
my immediate attention at the moment.*

Eiko cut the link with a satisfied smirk before Crystal could respond
any further.

--------------------
--- Nerima ---

Ranma opened her eyes and immediately blanched. She had just teleported
to *very* familiar location.

{{That was not at all bad for a first attempt, Ranma. You will have to
work on your concentration a little, though - as you have just noticed,
allowing your attention to wander even slightly during translocation
can lead to some rather unexpected results.}}

"No kidding," Ranma whispered. She closed her eyes again and teleported
out.

A minute later Kasumi Tendo walked into the room and looked around. She
could have sworn ...

The eldest Tendo daughter sighed. It had to have been her imagination -
the guest room still held far too many memories, even though it no
longer housed the spirited young man who had so enlivened their lives
over the past year and a half. She gave the room one last mournful look
before quietly leaving to finish the last chores of the night.

--------------------
--- Suginami ---

Ranma opened her eyes again. She had arrived at the location she had
*intended* to go to in the first place, which was next to the large
maple tree outside her window at Yamada-ke. She breathed a sigh of
relief.

{{Much better. It shouldn't require an excessive amount of practice
before you are able to translocate without having to close your eyes
when visualizing your destination.}}

"Yeah, I can see how that would be useful. Now, how do I get out of
this freaking outfit? I really don't want to waltz up to the door like
this."

{{Detransforming is a relatively simple process. However, you should
not do so until you have actually completed all of the tasks required
at the moment.}}

"Huh? I retrieved the keys, you put me through that ..." Ranma shuddered
briefly. "... imprinting, we figured out the transformation, I'm wearing
the stupid outfit, you've told me how to teleport, and my ki no longer
feels out of whack. What more is there?"

{{You have forgotten one rather important detail, Ranma.}}

Ranma scratched her head. "Well, outside of knowing how to get out of
this silly outfit, I can't think of what it could be."

{{One of the abilities my Guardian has is the ability to view the
contents of the warp bubble that houses my physical matrix. This allows
you to monitor events that occur near me even when you are not
physically present at my location. There are several ways to accomplish
this. One of the simplest is to touch the Garnet Orb on the Key and
state the 'Monitor' command out loud. This will create a small viewing
portal in front of you which you can manipulate via simple verbal
commands.}}

"Okay, if you say so," Ranma replied with a shrug. She touched the orb
and uttered "Monitor".

A hemispherical image appeared in front of her. In the center was a
small image that looked like a miniature model of Eiko. And sitting
next to the image of the Gates was an equally small image of ...

"Oh. *Her*," Ranma said with a touch of disgust.

{{Precisely.}}

"You know, for a supposedly inanimate object you sound entirely too
smug at the moment. Oh well, I guess I'd better go fetch her and drop
her off somewhere. I hope she'll actually *listen* this time," Ranma
said while raising her left arm out in front of her, "I'm not exactly
looking forward to fighting her again with this busted ..."

Ranma stared at her arm. She twisted it about and flexed it several
times without feeling any pain. She carefully took a deep breath and
then twisted her torso back and forth a little. All traces of her
recent conflict had vanished.

"Damn."

{{I was curious on how long it would take you to notice that, Ranma. If
you are able to translocate to my location and invoke the
transformation sequence while standing directly next to me, your
injuries will heal at a highly accelerated rate. This is in addition to
your already above-average ability for ki healing.}}

"I'll have to remember that. How do I turn the funky display off?"

{{The command to use for that is 'Exit'.}}

"Right. Exit." The holographic image winked out. "Well, lets get this
over with. I'm hungry."

{{Ranma, you may wish to ...}}

Ranma disappeared.

--------------------
--- Elsewhere ---

{{... learn some of your attack phrases first.}}

Ranma shook her head. "She shouldn't be too much of a problem without
the Key, and I *really* want to get back home."

"YOU!"

Ranma turned to her left where the shout originated. Sailor Pluto stood
barely a dozen feet away, her face almost purple with rage.

"Why have you done this to me? Don't you realize what you've DONE?
You've ruined *everything*, you hear me, EVERYTHING!"

Ranma smirked. "I guess I was pretty accurate calling you 'P-chan',
huh?" Her face turned hard. "Hey, don't go blaming me for *your*
mistakes. I already told you I didn't exactly ask for this gig, and
it's your own damned fault you lost your job as Guardian anyway."

"No," Sailor Pluto shook her head. "NO! I will NOT allow it! I *am* the
guardian of the Gates of Time. I *must* be. DEAD SCRE...*erk!*."

Pluto was stunned - an iron grip had clamped itself around her throat
faster than a thought and she stared bug-eyed into the two luminous
blue orbs in front of her. The girl's eyes held no compassion
whatsoever.

"None of that, now," Ranma growled. "Are you going to be a good little
girl and behave yourself from now on, or am I going to have to pound on
you until you're unconscious again? I can do that rather easily, you
know."

The girl had obviously teleported; there was simply no way she could
have moved that quickly by herself. Pluto's face started turning blue.

"Just shake your head yes or no."

{{You may wish to let her breath a little, Ranma.}}

"Why? She's got enough time, Eiko." Ranma's eyes glinted balefully.
"Better hurry up and answer, P-chan."

Pluto weakly acknowledged with a nod. She collapsed to the ground an
instant later, gasping desperately for air.

"Better." Ranma shook her head. P-chan here was proving to be as
obstinate as Ryoga. Hopefully she'll be willing to listen a little now
that she's given her word.

"Look, lady, this whole situation is just one big screw-up that you
yourself caused, and I'm getting awfully tired of everyone always
blaming me for their own mistakes. Besides, even if I *wanted* to give
you the job back, I couldn't."

Pluto's head shot up, eyes wide. "Why? WHY can't you?"

Ranma flipped her thumb in Eiko's direction. "Because the Gate won't
ACCEPT you, that's why. Eiko's not an inanimate object, as much as he
might look like one. He's got a mind, a personality - a pretty annoying
one at times, if you ask me - and emotions."

Ranma scowled. "And, like it or not, Eiko does NOT like you at *all*.
What's worse is that the next acceptable candidate for Guardian is ...
hmm ..."

{{On the planet Ke%jz@#ck, which is located approximately five hundred
thirty six point one nine seven four parsecs away.}}

"... about five hundred and thirty-six parsecs from here - whatever a
parsec is."

{{A parsec is approximately three point two six light years, Ranma.}}

"So, having you take it back is right out. And that didn't help much,
Eiko."

Ranma chuckled at a sudden thought. "Look at it this way - at least we
got to keep it in the species this time." She held out her hand to the
green-haired senshi and smiled. "Now, is there anyplace in particular I
can drop you off at? You don't really belong around here any more,
after all."

Sailor Pluto stared at the new Guardian. "Who ... who *are* you?"

"I'm ..." Ranma frowned suddenly. "Hey, Eiko, what the heck am I supposed
to call myself when I'm decked out like this? 'Guardian of the Eternal
Gate' is pretty unwieldy, and I *really* don't want to use my real name
- I've got enough problems with that as it is."

{{Your proper designation when in Guardian form is 'Guardian
Khronos'.}}

Ranma blinked. "Okay, I guess I can live with that." She focused once
more on the other senshi. "You can call me Guardian Khronos."

Sailor Pluto nodded once slowly before taking the proffered hand. It
would be of no benefit to pursue this conflict any further at the
moment - she needed the help of the other senshi to overcome this
unexpected and highly dangerous obstacle. She schooled her face into an
emotionless mask as she allowed the new Guardian to assist her to her
feet.

"Very well, Guardian Khronos. I would appreciate if you could take me
to the Hikawa Shrine in Azabu-Juuban."

"Tokyo? Hey, that's cool. All we have to do is ..." Ranma scowled. "Okay,
Eiko, how am I supposed to do this? You've shown me how to teleport
solo to places I know; how do I take someone else to a place I've never
been to before?"

Sailor Pluto couldn't hide her shock. "You really *are* new to this,
aren't you?"

Ranma shrugged. "I learn fast."

{{Ranma, you can visualize any unknown location by viewing it through
my frame - it is one of your basic abilities as Guardian. It is also
possible for me to send you a usable visualization if I have a current
visual record of the destination. Fortunately the Hikawa shrine in
Azabu-Juuban is just such a location. To translocate with another
being, you need both physical contact with that being and the
willingness to allow that being to come with you. It is essentially the
same process used for solo translocation.}}

Ranma nodded. "Right." She placed a hand on Sailor Pluto's shoulder and
smirked when Eiko provided the mental picture. A brief mental shove
with closed eyes and both senshi vanished.

--------------------
--- Juuban ---

Sailor Pluto grimaced briefly, fighting off the touch of mild vertigo
which disappeared as quickly as it had begun. That was ... different. It
had been so long since she had been a passenger on a teleport she had
forgotten how disorienting it could be.

"So, is this the right place, P-chan?"

The green-haired senshi nodded on seeing the familiar courtyard of the
Hikawa shrine. She turned to the new Guardian and cocked an eyebrow
when she finally noticed all of the changes that the transformation had
done to the girl.

"Yes, thank you. Are you really the same girl as before? You were
considerably shorter the last time, and didn't you also have ... black ...
hair?"

Khronos nodded. "Yes, that was me. Don't ask me why I came out looking
so different from normal. The hair and the boots are probably going to
take the longest to get used to."

Sailor Pluto suppressed a sneer. "At least no one will mistake you for
a senshi - not with that color scheme."

"That I really don't mind," Khronos replied with a shrug. "I've always
looked good in red and black."

"I must say you certainly picked up teleportation rather handily. You
had to have spent several days practicing it in order to become that
proficient so quickly."

Khronos gave Pluto a very puzzled look. "No, that was ... what ... my
fourth try, and there couldn't have been more than ten or fifteen
minutes between the time I left and when I came back to get you."

"Really." Pluto tried to not let her dismay show. If the girl truly
learned that quickly and had active help from a sentient Gates, the
senshi could literally not afford to waste a single second. "Well, it
has always been difficult to judge relative times at the Gates without
any external references."

Khronos cocked her head sideways for a moment before giving it a short
shake. "Whatever. Are you going to be okay here?"

"Yes, quite."

"Good, because I really need to get something to eat right now."
Khronos gave Pluto a wry smile. "Hey P-chan, I may not be your friend
at the moment, but I'm not your enemy either. And speaking of attempts,
this one's my fifth."

Sailor Pluto barely had time to blink before Khronos vanished without a
trace.

--------------------
--- Suginami ---

"Well, that went better than I expected."

{{I agree. However, I would not dismiss Sailor Pluto as a concern.
Based on her previous actions she is likely to vigorously oppose your
position as Guardian for the foreseeable future.}}

"Yeah, I sort of gathered that. Great - my first day on the job and I
*already* have a new enemy."

{{Ranma, you have done remarkably well considering your lack of a
mentor. If you are willing to train as diligently in your Guardianship
as you have for your Art, the benefit of having an experienced mentor
will quickly become irrelevant.}}

"That's nice. Can I get out of this outfit now? I'm *really* hungry."

Eiko chuckled. {{The detransformation sequence is not difficult to
invoke. You simply visualize yourself as you were and then *push* the
Guardian magic into storage. It is quite similar to the technique used
for translocation.}}

Ranma thought for a moment and then furrowed her brows. "Alright, but
where exactly am I supposed to 'store' it?"

{In your personal storage space. Every Guardian has access to a
'storage locker' that exists hidden in subspace. While the total mass
your storage space can contain is quite limited, it allows you to carry
around a few extra outfits and other personal items without having to
use a backpack or suitcase. You can think of it as an advanced form of
your friend's Hidden Weapons technique.}

"Hey, now *that's* cool."

{{To access the storage space used for spare outfits and the
detransformation sequence, visualize a small clothes closet. You should
be able to sense the presence of your other outfit inside.}}

Ranma closed her eyes. A few seconds later she smiled. "Okay, I can see
it now. There are a few empty clothes hangers as well; one of them is
bright red."

{{The red hanger is for your Guardian outfit, the others are for
whatever spare clothing you wish to store. The training sequence for
detransformation requires you to visualize yourself taking off your
Guardian outfit and hanging it up in the closet. Your previous
appearance will be restored automatically.}}

"That sounds easy enough." Ranma hesitated briefly and then her eyes
flew open. "Wait a minute - is there another naked light show that goes
along with this?"

{{Not at all. The transformation training sequence is the only one of
those you will have to deal with.}}

"Good. One of those is one too many if you ask me." She closed her eyes
and *pushed*. Her body shimmered briefly before shrinking, the
abbreviated fuku being replaced by the *much* more comfortable black
tang and trousers outfit she had worn this morning. Ranma sighed in
relief as her normal stature was restored - not to mention getting out
of those damned boots. She looked down at the wushu slippers now
adorning her feet and froze. She shook her head once.

*DAMN*

{{Is there something wrong, Ranma?}}

"Eiko, when I turn back to normal, I'm supposed to end up exactly the
way I was before the transformation, right?"

{{That is correct.}}

"Are you sure you haven't 'forgotten' something again?"

{{Quite certain, Ranma. The detransformation sequence is a reasonably
straightforward reversal of the Guardian transformation magic.}}

Ranma reached behind her and grabbed a large lock of hair. When she
pulled it around in front of her she saw red, both figuratively and
literally. "THEN WHY DO I STILL HAVE THE FRICKING HAIR?!?"

Eiko hesitated before responding. {{Unknown, Ranma. I will have to
investigate this further.}}

"You go do that." Ranma leaned back against the tree and fumed. The
sudden commotion over in Yamada-ke didn't help her mood any.

"Ranma-kun, is that you?"

Ranma glanced up to the second story of Yamada-ke and the source of the
query. "Hey there Kioko, it's me. Would you do me a favor - grab a
brush and a pair of scissors and meet me downstairs?"

There was a short pause before Kioko responded. "Certainly, Ranma." Her
head quickly disappeared from the second story window.

Ranma growled once for good measure before trudging over to the house.
She had almost made it to the edge of the verandah when the front door
opened on its own.

"Good even..." Jun's eyes widened noticeably. "...ing, Ranma-sama," she
finished with a barely perceptible hesitation before bowing. "The
family awaits your return in the foyer." The green-haired maid's face
lit up with a huge smile.

"Thanks, Jun," Ranma replied with a nod, walking into the house. She
exchanged shoes in the genkan, then walked up to the foyer doorway and
stopped.

{{Damn, I should have just jumped up through my bedroom window.}}

"Is something wrong, Ranma-sama?"

Ranma hung her head slightly and sighed. "Not really, Jun, it's just
that I must look like a complete idiot with this stupid hair."

"That's not true, Ranma-sama. That style suits you very well."

"You don't have to sugar-coat it, Jun - I know how awful it must look.
At least it managed to stop before it hit the floor this time."

Ranma wasn't watching so she missed the brief look of disappointment
that flashed across Jun's face.

"Oh well, it can't be helped." Ranma slid the fusama doors open and
stepped into the foyer before Jun could comment any further. She
suppressed a wince when she saw the rest of the entire household
waiting for her inside.

Aiko cocked an eyebrow when she saw the changes in her grandson's
appearance. Ranma's hair was now bright red - the same color as
Harukichi's, as well as Nodoka's when she was young - and it flowed in
a gracefully styled cascade of waves from a bowed ponytail almost down
to her knees. When combined with the all-black form-fitting outfit the
look was positively stunning - and was probably driving her to utter
distraction.

"Awesome!"
"Onechan?"
"Oh ... wow ... OW! What was THAT for, sis?"

Aiko made a mental note to have a little 'talk' with Midori-chan about
her behavior before she turned her attention back to her grandson.
"Welcome home, son. It looks like you had a rather interesting
adventure this afternoon."

"Good evening, Grandma. 'Interesting' doesn't cover it by half. Thank
you, Kioko," Ranma smiled in relief as she took the proffered grooming
tools from her cousin. "Do you know if Kumiko is still up? I haven't
eaten since lunchtime, and ... geez, I don't even know what time it is
right now."

{{Ten forty seven local time, Ranma}}

"Quarter to eleven? No *wonder* I'm hungry. Sorry, Grandma."

Aiko chuckled. "Not to worry, Ranma-kun. Kumiko is always willing to
feed the hungry on short notice. Come along - we'll see what she can
come up with."

"Thanks, Grandma. If you don't mind, I'd like to stop and take care of
this stupid mop first. It shouldn't take too long."

"I rather suspected you'd want to do that. Kioko-chan, would you give
Ranma-kun a hand? The rest of us will be in the Blue Room."

"Certainly, Obasama. This way, Ranma-kun."

"Thanks, Kioko."

"Bu..." Midori winced when she felt someone dig several fingernails into
her forearm. She followed the source of the arm up to the emerald green
eyes of her cousin.

[Onechan, don't you *dare*,] Harukichi signed after she released her
hold on Midori's arm.

Midori was about to ask Haru-chan what she meant when she caught a 'Pay
Attention' sign out of the corner of her eye. Glancing over, she almost
winced at the stern expression on her grandmother's face.

[Young lady, you and I have a few things to discuss.]

Midori gulped before blinking her eyes in acknowledgement. {{Damn, what
the heck did I do wrong *this* time?}} she wondered as she followed the
rest of the family to the Blue Room and their appointment with a late-
evening snack.

--------------------
--- Juuban ---

Setsuna Meiou stared in disgust at the phone receiver in her hand.
Neither Haruka nor Michiru were answering their cell phones, the
housekeeper at Kaiou-ke had been singularly uninformative, and she'd
just hung up in disgust after getting the answering machine at Haruka's
penthouse in Shiba.

Leading Khronos to the Hikawa shrine hadn't worked out as planned
either. She had hoped Rei would have been around to sense the girl's
aura - the miko senshi may be young, but her spiritual abilities were
extremely strong. She surely would have noticed the presence of the
faux Guardian and rallied the other senshi against her, but the elder
senshi had quickly discovered that the normal residents of the shrine
were all currently absent.

Setsuna was also quite irritated over her sudden lack of mobility. She
had detransformed almost immediately after Khronos departed - none of
the senshi could afford to bring undue attention to their civilian
identities - and it had taken her entirely too long to walk from the
shrine to the center of town before she was able to locate a public
phone. She was just beginning to realize how much she took her ability
to teleport for granted, and its absence almost felt as if a portion of
her own being had been torn asunder.

The loss of her subspace storage had been another extremely unpleasant
discovery. The small subspace pocket with her purse and cell phone was
still accessible, but the larger storage space with all of her
alternate outfits and equipment had simply vanished. What she had been
left with was the business suit and heels she had been wearing the last
time she had transformed, and the outfit was *not* suitable for the
brisk Tokyo night.

She was *cold*, dammit!

Well, she'd better try one last time before making her way to a nearby
hotel.

*Ring*

*Ring*

*Ring*

"We're not home right now. Please leave a message after the beep."

"Haruka, this is Setsuna Meiou. Please call my cell phone immediately
when you receive this message. I will be staying at the Azabu City
Hotel for the next several days and it is vitally important that you ..."

"[Click] SETSUNA! You're alive!"

"Yes. Haruka, I need you to ..."

"Thanks goodness! Can you get here right away? We've got a major crisis
on our hands."

Setsuna stiffened. "How did you know that? I've barely ..."

"Because it's happening right here in front of us! The Silence has
returned."

Setsuna felt the jolt throughout her entire body. "Impossible ..."

"Like hell! It's not very strong at the moment, but that could change
at any time. We need your help right away."

The elder senshi's mind raced. {{How could this possibly have happened?
The Silence should have been completely destroyed by the Grail and
Sailor Moon, otherwise the planet would no longer exist.}}

"Setsuna?"

"Yes, Haruka. I'll be there as quickly as possible. However, I've got
one question you need to answer first."


"Yes?"

"How to I get to your penthouse from downtown Juuban? Assume I have to
walk there."

Setsuna really shouldn't have been surprised at the stunned silence
that followed this inquiry.

--------------------
--- Nerima ---

Nodoka, no longer Saotome, sat at her table drinking tea. Her vigil had
now begun - she would not sleep again until she could do so for a final
time. Tomorrow would bring answers soon enough: if her mother consented
to the request to be kaishaku, Nodoka could apologize to her ancestors
formally and in person, and if she didn't ...

... well, that was an answer in itself, wasn't it?

She stared at the delicate sheet of rice paper in front of her. While
she would not set brush to ink until it was actually time, she *could*
meditate on her life to help compose the perfect words for her haiku.

Tradition *would* be followed.

--------------------
--- Juuban ---

Usagi stared silently at the ceiling of her room, her normal bedtime
tossing and turning completely absent. Finding out that Mama and her
friends' parents had known all along about their senshi identities had
been quite a shock.

And finding out that the Ginzuishou was actually an intelligent
artifact - and a bit of a chatterbox to boot - was bad enough.

But what really topped the whole incredible day was finding out that
her entire future - Crystal Tokyo, her marriage to Mamo-chan, their
rule together as King and Queen, Chibi-Usa, *everything* - was now just
a vague possibility, and not the certainty she had been previously told
it would be. A certainty she had counted on numerous times, a certainty
which had guided her actions and fueled her determination during the
times when all she really wanted to do was gibber and cower in the
corner.

A certainty she no longer had.

Usagi shuddered. If it was this bad for her, Chibi-Usa must be utterly
terrified. Her daughter-to-be had fled to her room immediately after
dinner and hadn't come out since. Luna had gone upstairs after her -
hopefully the moon cat would give her the comfort and company she
refused to seek from the family. Even though the two of them didn't
always get along, knowing that you could disappear at any moment as if
you never existed was a fate Usagi wouldn't wish on *anyone*,
especially someone in her family.

At least there was some good to accompany this loss. There was a new
senshi to meet and both Meiou-san and Hotaru-chan were still alive. And
from the sound of it Hotaru-chan would be having the same problems with
the Glaive that she was getting from the Crystal. She giggled at the
thought of the Glaive chattering away in Hotaru-chan's ear like the
Crystal had done practically the whole evening, and it was likely the
new senshi guarding the Gates of Time was also dealing with a talkative
voice in her ear.

Usagi hoped the new senshi would be friends. The Ginzuishou had been
adamant Crystal Tokyo could never come into being without the Gate
Guardian's help, and Chibi-Usa desperately needed to get the Time Key
back so she could go home. The new senshi *had* to be friendly, she
just HAD to be.

Usagi wouldn't allow her to be otherwise.

=============================================================
END CHAPTER 7.

Well, there you have it. This chapter was a bit fragmented, but there's a 
lot going on right now in the story.

 >> On to Chapter 8!!! <<



============================================================
Mark Shurtleff
email: gaijin@sfcmd.com
irc alias: Gaijin -or- togashi_gaijin
fanfiction homepage: http://www.sfcmd.com/fanfic
============================================================


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