AN: AND AQUARIUS IS BACK AND I MIGHT BE MORE EXCITED ABOUT IT THAN YOU (Probably definitely am the most excited to continue this). More Silver Millennium! More family drama! More media being buttheads! More Senshi lore! AND BEST OF ALL MORE SENSHI! 3 3 3 Okay. I've had my moment. Lets get on with this.

AN for my SMH readers: Yes, I WILL absolutely be working on SMH 2 as well. In fact you should have chapter 10 by next weekend. But I have been very stressed lately, in no small part due to the President-Elect-who-shall-not-be-named, and thus I needed to get started on Aquarius. Aquarius is the project that makes me the happiest and lowers my stress levels. SMH is the project that is the most fun for all the technical challenges it presents. I'm hoping that by alternating between both, I will keep myself in a good mood, which will benefit the quality of writing in both.

Disclaimer: I have never owned Sailor Moon, I never will unless the universe decides to let me have a very very good day and impress Naoko a whole hell of a lot. So I make no money on this. And I never will. I just write it cause its good for my soul. I dream of a day it can be a manga or an anime or fan art, but just writing it is so incredibly satisfying by itself.

Last time in Age of Aquarius Act 61: The Senshi defeated the enemy's major offensive against the Earth, sending it and its sunspots into retreat and putting permanent protection over their homes in Juuban. But the enemy still lies in wait, its sunspots growing strong again within the cores of Sol's many still-dead worlds. Even as they celebrate, the Senshi must plan for the next offensive. Meanwhile, between the rhetoric of the Ainos' and the damage wrought during their battle with the sunspot army, the Senshi may find they have even more problems at home…

The Anti-Sailor Initiative

"Clean up continues in Azu-Juuban this morning. Behind me you can see they've begun assessing the reconstruction needs of the TV tower. Temporary infrastructure has been put in place to meet some service needs, though we're hearing that full service is not projected to be restored until a few months from now. And some experts speculate that, given the devastating damage to businesses and residences, reconstruction of the tower may take a backseat..."

"You're sure you want to watch that?" Souichi Tomoe asked his daughter as he packed her school lunch.

Hotaru nodded, lips pursed, sitting closer to the TV than he preferred, but he knew by now reminding her to move back was a futile effort. He watched the image behind the newscaster shift to a still image of the sunspots the senshi had defeated mere days ago.

"Even more concerning is that we're unsure exactly what kinds of dark forces caused this invasion, though this picture taken the night of the battle points to one unsettling possibility…"

Across the city on the east side of ruined Azu Juuban, Minako scowled as she plopped down onto the couch next to Haruka. "Unsettling, meaning completely off base?"

"Shhh," Michiru told her. She was sitting on the other side of the couch, and Setsuna was leaning over the back, all of them were listening intently to the news.

"Here you see the shadows reduced to crystal form. You'll recall Sailor Moon has a crystal much like this. Now here…you see these crystals reforming and creating whole humanoid figures. Though clearly not human – an important distinction. See here: this one has horns! Four eyes. Decidedly alien if not demonic in origin. And they… if we zoom in here… yes. They have a symbol on their foreheads very similar to Moon's and Venus'."

Rei sipped her tea, eyes on the small television set.

Her grandfather came in and settled down at the table beside her. "What nonsense are they babbling about now?"

"We've called in a researcher who's studied the Senshi extensively to give us his perspective of this – Akimoto-sensei."

"Thank you Okayasu-san. Yes, well a couple things to be noted here are that the presence of a crystal and the forehead symbol suggest that these are the same species as the Sailor Senshi – you'll recall we've seen something like this before when the likes of Sailors Aluminium Siren and Iron Mouse also invaded and caused massive damage while searching for our senshi.

"So now what we must consider is that our senshi may be fugitives from whatever forces past and present have hunted them. We can point to several instances where they defeated real threats to Earth – but if this is now their home as well it should only be expected that they would care for it.

"No, what concerns me is that these enemies, unlike the last Sailors who came here hunting ours, either give much less consideration to collateral damage or do not care how much of the planet they hurt in the process."

"Now wait just a minute, Akimoto, if you're saying that senshi are not from our world, could they have possessed ordinary, human girls?"

"Which idiot has posed that as a possibility?"

"Well there's evidence…"

"Considering the recent transformation of the Moon and the planet Venus, which are local to us, I am going to hazard a guess that it is a bit more complicated than that."

"But it is a possibility."

"I am not endorsing it."

"Well it is a theory endorsed by the parents of two of the Sailor Senshi: Mr. and Mrs. Aino and Senator Hino all agree that their daughters are markedly different after years of transforming into their senshi counterparts. Senator Hino touched on that last night when he stood at this very site in order to introduce a new initiative, which addresses what he calls a long-neglected issue of public safety…"

"The Senshi Accountability Initiative…"Ikuko and Kenji Tsukino watched the news as it transitioned to discussing Senator Hino's bizarre and reactionary step: footage rolled of his speech to a surprisingly large crowd in the heart of Juuban – in the same place where so many civilians had been personally saved by the Senshi days ago.

More specifically, the Tsukinos were focused on their daughter, who'd noticed Luna watching the news report on her way down the stairs for work and had promptly forgotten her morning shift.

Usagi was sitting on the sofa now, with Luna on her shoulder, perhaps speaking to her even as news castors, commentators, and politicians weighed in on the battle, the recovery, and Senator Hino's reaction. Usagi had her hands laced together in front of her mouth, and Ikuko's heart twinged as she watched her move one hand up to wipe her eyes.

"In related news: we have updates on the five crystalline structures around Azu-Juuban that the senshi erected during their battle," the news castor said. "They were used to create the shield that ended it. But – as the Senshi Accountability Initiative has stated on its website – their very creation is cause for concern. They appear to have been grown right out of the ground, out of the cement floors of buildings even. And while their shield may keep danger out, there is concern that such a shield could also physically isolate Azu-Juuban from the rest of Tokyo, the world even. Hino himself speculates that they may be using this enemy's appearance to justify laying the groundwork for much larger crystal infrastructure."

And then Senator Hino himself appeared on the screen, with another clip from last night's speech.

"I didn't vote for him," Kenji Tsukino muttered to his wife.

"What's to stop Sailor Moon, for instance," Mr. Hino was saying, "from declaring Tokyo its own protectorate if even our defence forces cannot penetrate the shield? I maintain that if we don't reign the Senshi in now – whether they are simply girls with magic or beings from beyond our world matters not – if we do not reign them in, we may see an end to our fragile democratic structures. We have seen the rise of totalitarian rule here and throughout the world before. I tell you we must stand up now – while there is still time. We cannot allow their enemies or their magic to dictate our lives. We must stand up for our laws, our city, our rights."

"Our rights!" someone in the crowd echoed back.

It started a chant.

"Our city! Our rights!"

"Our city! Our rights!"

"Morning!" Chibiusa announced as she bounded down the stairs. Before Ikuko had blinked, Usagi'd snatched the remote off the coffee table and turned the TV to the Food Network.

"Usagi!" Chibiusa gasped as she came into the living room. "Don't you have work?"

Usagi looked down at her communicator and checked the time. "I – uh," she bowed her head, shaking it. "Of course I do, Chibiusa. I must have gotten distracted." She laughed too loudly. "Oh – I'm gonna have to apologize to Mako-chan again." She stood and smiled at Chibiusa.

It was a startlingly good smile, in Ikuko's opinion. How many times have you put on a brave face like this for me, and I've never known the difference?

Usagi hugged Chibiusa and ruffled her hair. "Thanks for reminding me," She told her. "I'm gonna go – or else Mako-chan might decide the bakery needs to give out detentions too."

Chibiusa giggled and hugged Usagi. "Have a good day."

"I will – and don't you be late to school," Usagi nagged (forgetting that Juuban's classes had been cancelled for building repairs, and that Chibiusa had never been anything less than ten minutes early in her life).

And she picked up her purse from where she'd dropped it on the floor upon seeing the TV, and strode out of the living room, Luna following. As she passed into the kitchen, Ikuko moved to hug her, and then Kenji as well.

"Don't you dare let all that go to your head," Ikuko told her.

"I'm not," Usagi promised, ducking out of the hug. "I do have to go though." She looked over her shoulder at them as she walked quickly to the front door and threw it open. "See you later," she called. The door slammed shut, Luna just managing to slip through it after Usagi.

Ikuko shook her head and looked over at Chibiusa. She'd picked up the remote and turned the TV to the news channel Usagi had just tried to keep her from seeing.

"Should she be watching that?" Kenji worried as Chibiusa sat down on the floor and drew her knees up to her chest.

Ikuko sighed. "She'd just learn about it at school anyways." She shook her head as another clip of Senator Hino's speech began playing. "What is wrong with people?"

~AgeofAquarius~

Usagi Tsukino felt eyes on her the entirety of her commute to Makoto's bakery, even more of them that the first days after her identity had been revealed. She kept her eyes on her blue shoes, the toes of which were dirty from how often she scuffed them against each other. She kept her eyes on her feet the entirety of the bus ride, which was a half hour longer today as it was detouring around several damaged streets. All the while, she twisted her engagement ring on her finger too. It was all in an effort to distract herself and to keep her head down, rather than draw attention to the crescent mark that had been prominently displayed on her forehead ever since she'd gotten her memories back during her visit to the moon.

She thought back to that day, when the green eyes had appeared on the Crystal Obelisk and some ancient voice – perhaps the Moon's for it had certainly not been her mother's – had spoken to her, as the crown of Neo Queen Serenity had appeared in her hands.

"Let this be your coronation…"

Luna sat silently on her shoulder until they'd gotten off the bus, and once they were alone on the sidewalk, she spoke up. "I agree with your mother," Luna told Usagi, who was still looking at her shoes. "All that stuff that they're spouting is reactionary nonsense."

Usagi sighed. "I understand why everyone's scared though," she said. "No other enemy's ever been so noticeable…"

"That they remember," Luna muttered.

"And I want to tell them it's not some ploy to take over the city." Usagi made a face. "Not that planning to be Queen of Earth is going to go over very well instead."

"And that's still a few years out," Luna reminded her. "Plenty of time for all this panic to blow over." She settled herself more comfortably on Usagi's shoulder. "The news and the politicians don't know what they're talking about."

Usagi nodded, though Luna could see no other sign that she agreed.

The bus had let them off at the bottom of a hill. Normally, upon reaching the top, Usagi would sprint the rest of the way to the bakery, by that point sure Makoto would be very upset if she was late.

Today though, already running an hour behind, Usagi paused at the top and turned back towards Juuban. Luna stared with her: at the ruins of the many skyscrapers, which had been whole at sunset thursday. Their broken glass and steel shells glared back at them under the bright morning sun. A haze still lingered across the whole neighbourhood from the last fires, which had been put out early yesterday.

Hikawa shrine was visible from here too – the trees that surrounded it had been thinned considerably in the battle. Through one of the wider gaps, the crystal point was clearly visible: shining the same, vivid pink as the blooming cherry blossoms.

"What did your people think of Mau?"

"Hmm?" Luna asked, sitting up so she could look at Usagi's face.

"Your sailor."

She wore a pensive face. One Luna was seeing more and more now that her concerns were more complex than her ability to pass her exams. In it she was proud to see the beginnings of a Queen, even as she was startled to see less and less of the girl Usagi'd once been.

"You said she was one of your heroes," Usagi prompted.

"She was – the greatest of them," Luna said.

"But some people must not have liked her… after all, Tin Nyanko killed her."

"She was possessed by Chaos," Luna defended, her hackles up.

"But how did Chaos reach her?" Usagi persisted. "Unless she disliked Sailor Mau before."

"No!" Luna protested. "Everyone liked Mau. The oracles, the professors, the maintenance workers – goodness even the Cat Nip Syndicate thought well of her." She settled herself back on Usagi's shoulder with a huff. "Enough of this – you're late for work."

Usagi hummed and turned away from Juuban, and as they recommenced their walk, a memory came to Luna: of the last communication she'd had with her Grand-Sire before the Moon Kingdom's fall.

Is it really true you have eight now? Ha! Well maybe there is something to Coone's theory then. They're all wondering it you know: why're we the only world around Ceti with a Senshi? And where's our crystal? I should think Mau wouldn't have needed your Moon Queen's help so often if she had one. I can't help thinking Coone has a point cause Sailor Mau never has an answer."

Luna heard something clack against the ground and looked down, watching Usagi kick a large pebble down the sidewalk. She sighed. "I suppose Tin Nyanko might have harboured negative feelings for Mau – but she is an outlier, Usagi." She looked up towards her. "And our people might very well be being affected by the sunspots still hiding in the Earth – you know that."

Usagi looked down at her, frowning. "I do… but everyone we've ever met who was turned dark, there was always some negative feeling that had consumed them before."

"I think you are severely underestimating how much the sunspots influence is affecting their reactions," Luna muttered.

"I'm not," Usagi insisted. "Darkness only gets to people if it has a way in…" She kicked the pebble again. "Are we doing that?" she asked. "Are we creating our own enemies?"

"She was actually defeated yesterday you know. And she came back – that's got to be her twelfth life now – when you and I only have nine. How's Sailor Mau get that many, Luna?"

She hadn't had an answer for him then… for any of his questions. As much as Mau had been a hero, Luna recalled, they had known very little about her, even less than they had known about Sol's senshi…

"Mau was a young world when Artemis and I elected to serve," Luna confided as they walked. "Perhaps the people there changed as the millennium passed." She rubbed her face against Usagi's. "But Sailor Mau was a hero. I saw that with my own eyes many times… Just as I see it in you everyday."

Usagi smiled, reaching up and scratching Luna behind the ears.

"Don't doubt your cause," Luna told her.

"I'm not," Usagi said, turning down the street the bakery was on. "But people are afraid… and they've every right to be." She looked down at Luna again. "How can I lead them if they don't trust me?"

"I don't know how," Luna said. "But –" She trailed off as Usagi stiffened. There was a sound at the end of the street – a camera flash.

Usagi reacted faster than she did, diving into the doorway of the closest building. The door was locked, but it provided some cover as she pressed them both against the wood. Usagi and Luna both peeked down the street towards the bakery. It was surrounded by reporters. And…

"Is that a police officer?" Usagi wondered. "Hang on." She rummaged around in her purse and whipped out the disguise pen Michiru had returned to her yesterday. In seconds, she was striding down the street in a policewoman's uniform, Luna leapt off her shoulder when the cameras turned towards them.

"Officer!" one reporter said, shoving a camera and microphone in her face. "Is this going to be handled as a criminal act?"

"Er…" Usagi's eyes flicked to the bakery, whose curtains were shut tight, though the sign on the door said open in flowery calligraphy. "I don't think I can say without more evidence." She shook her head and batted the camera away. "Now: let me through." She barged past the reporters and towards the policeman pacing in front of the shop door. "I'm here to speak with him," she said and everyone including Luna stood and watched her approach the police officer, who was grumbling and rubbing his right hand.

"Good morning!" Usagi said to him. "Are you hurt?"

"Damn right I'm hurt," he cursed. The hair on his head and arms was standing on end. "Door's booby-trapped." He frowned at her. "You forget your bike?"

"Um…" Usagi laughed. "Funny story – it ah… well it's in for repairs."

He gave a long suffered sigh. "I hear yah – couple of ours are straight up buried. Got cars with holes through the damn engines. And these senshi are calling their battle a victory." He nodded towards the bakery. "One who runs this shop certainly getting a little defensive about it. Got a report this morning she had an altercation with a customer. Came to ask some questions, and the damn door electrocuted me."

Usagi frowned. "Well – it's not my department… but I can't let you keep going without getting your hand looked at… You never know what's in that lightning."

He looked at his hand with renewed alarm. "It is feeling numb." He flexed his fingers experimentally. "I'm meant to do an interview."

"I'll do it," Usagi said.

He clapped her on the shoulder. "You be careful of the door." He checked his injured hand again. "My Precinct's the 22nd. Fax the report… oh damn our fax machine's fried." He grumbled. "Just have someone run it over later."

"I will – you'd better make sure you don't have nerve damage."

"Damn right," he said, "Good luck." And he turned away, shouldering his way past the small crowd of reporters and over to his car.

She waited until he had driven off and then approached the bakery door – the open sign still prominent in the window. She could see the sparks laced across the door handle.

"If you use the communicator, the camera-men will see," Luna said.

"I know that," Usagi hissed and her hand hesitated over the brass door handle. "This better not ruin my hair, Mako-chan," she muttered and then grasped hold of it.

Luna yelped as sparks raced up Usagi's arm and through her claws and Usagi gritted her teeth. The door wasn't locked, but it felt way worse than the time she'd stuck her finger in the outlet when she was five. She turned the handle all the way around as quickly as she could and threw her shoulder against the door.

It swung open, and she stumbled into the bakery. Luna yowled and Usagi ducked as a hand rushed past her, slamming the door shut before the reporters could get in. She shrank back against the doorframe as something was thrust into her face.

A steaming hot pie.

"I swear I didn't punch him!" Makoto said hastily, her head bowed as she held the fresh pie out to Usagi. "Here! Just take this. Don't arrest me!"

"How hard did you hit him?" Usagi asked.

"Not that hard!" Makoto said and then her face paled to the same shade as the flour smattered across her pink shirt and black apron. "I-I mean." She sighed and her shoulders slumped. "D-don't you like pie?"

"I mean I do…" Usagi said. "But Mako-chan…"

Makoto looked up, eyebrows raised at the use of her informal name. "Uh?"

"It's me." Usagi laughed, pulling the pink disguise pen out of her uniform pocket.

Makoto turned red. "I – I knew that." She looked at the pie, and then at Usagi, and frowned. "Hang on – you're an hour late. This is your fault!"

"My fault!"

"Yeah – if you'd been here you'd have punched him, and I would have tried to stop you, and I wouldn't be in trouble."

"Well…" Usagi cleared her throat. "You're only in trouble if someone files a report… and I don't know how to do that." She paused. "Buuuut…. You might be in trouble for electrifying the door."

"I didn't…" Makoto blustered, and then looked at the door handle. It was still sparking. "Oh…" she ran her hand through her hair, creating sparks as she did. "I might have… panicked a little."

"That's understandable," Luna said, hopping off Usagi's shoulder and checking her fur. The electricity had made all of it stand on end. She set about grooming it flat again. "What happened?"

Makoto sighed, walking over to the counter and setting the pie down. She leaned back against it. "Well the day started normal. They finished up fixing the windows and I made breakfast for all the guys who put the new ones in… I sent Nephrite out to get more stuff since… it's been kinda hard to go out and do anything myselfsince the battle." She frowned. "Oh crap and he's got to find a way past all the cameras out there now."

"When did you punch someone?" Usagi asked.

"Like… I dunno. Ten minutes ago. This guy came in and started accusing me of being an alien trying to take over his city. I told him he was a nut job, and he said we all ought to be held responsible for our actions – funny our actions were to save his stupid ass. And I told him he should talk to the news if he wanted to spew nonsense and see how much they cared. Cause I didn't do anything wrong."

"Why did you punch him?"

"I didn't!" She slapped a hand over her face. "I was pushing him out the door and I went to shove him. Cause he wasn't budging. He was the one who turned around and tried to come back in and walked into my hand." She looked at her palm. "I might have broken his nose." She looked out towards the windows. "He left… then a couple minutes ago the police car shows up and the cameras. I swear their pals or something."

"It's more likely that the reporters have police scanners." Luna said, hopping up onto the counter and addressing Makoto. "In any case, if that's what happened you don't have anything to worry about."

"I don't?"

"No," Luna said, glancing up towards the corner of the shop. "The security camera we installed should suffice."

"I have cameras?" Makoto exclaimed, glancing all around. Usagi did as well, though she couldn't see any.

Luna was smirking. "You didn't think Artemis and I were going to let you invest in a shop without proper security." Her crescent mark glowed. In the two front corners of the shop, squares of the wallpaper faded, revealing sleek black cameras hidden underneath. "We'll forward the video to police. And pay the man's medical bills if we have to, but I don't think you'll have to bribe your way out of a court appearance over this one."

"Where do you have the money to pay bills like that?" Usagi asked, raising her eyebrows at Luna.

Luna shrugged one shoulder. "Artemis and I have made a few smart investments over the years."

"Well that's nice," Makoto crossed her arms, staring towards the windows. The shadows of the reporters still milling about outside were visible through the floral print curtains. "They seem more excited than usual today." She said. "Not like the guy who came in but… I've gotten a lot of other strange looks."

Luna and Usagi looked at each other. "Makoto… have you seen the news yet?"

"No," she frowned. "Left too early today… and Rei refused to watch it last night. I think her dad had a speech." She looked down at Luna. "Why?"

Luna sighed. "It seems the high noticeability of our new enemy has garnered some back lash for us."

Some, Usagi thought, glancing down at her phone, three days and still no cell signal. It was 7:45 now. It was still dinnertime yesterday in Boston, Massachusetts. I wonder what Mamo-chan's heard about all this?

~AgeofAquarius~

"I'm sorry, your call cannot be connected at this time," the computerized voice said. Mamoru sighed and tossed his cell phone on the couch. This was the eighth time in three days he had tried to call Usagi, but it seemed cellular service was still down for much of Tokyo. He directed his attention back to the news, where the "disaster," that had struck Tokyo was still a prominent story. On the U.S. channels it had evolved from news of a terrorist attack, to an earthquake and now, as footage from Japan finally made its way to U.S. media, a senshi battle. The news here, though, was far more preoccupied with what a senshi was (and even whether this confirmed the existence of aliens) to be bothered much with the local reaction to the battle. All he could garner was that it had caused political tension. He frowned when he saw Senator Hino's picture in the corner.

"Tune in to World News at 11 for the actions Japan's government is proposing in the wake of the disaster…" the newscaster said, and Mamoru sat back on the couch as it went to commercial for the seventh time in an hour. He coughed and scowled as he fished his handkerchief from his pocket. He'd been feeling worse the past few days.

The commercials were still advertising trivial and useless things when the front door of his apartment opened. Jadeite strode in, balancing two closed cardboard boxes and one open one in his hand. His other still held half a pizza slice from the top box.

"Pizza!" he hollered through a mouth full of food.

"Give me those!" Kunzite said, storming, shirtless, out of he and Zoicite's room and snatching all three boxes. He rolled his eyes. "Would you get some self-control?"

"I did," Jadeite said. "This time I only ate half of one." He belched.

Kunzite wrinkled his nose. "You had better manners as Metalia's –"

"Shh!" Mamoru said, reaching for the remote and turning up the volume on the TV. The news was back and it had turned its attention to the Japanese public at last.

"These senshi seem to be a feature of daily life in Tokyo," the foreign correspondent was saying. "Though opinions of them are decidedly more negative than some say they've been in the past. I spoke to one mother here, who says just last week there was an attack on her son's school because these enemies were looking for members of the senshi. She said it's outrageous that they would endanger children by disguising themselves as students… though she does acknowledge that attacks of this scale have been much rarer in the past… but hers seems to be the prevailing opinion from a lot of people you talk to here. That these… superheroes, if you want to call them that, are putting the public in danger, especially as it seems whatever attacked Tokyo two days ago came here for them and them alone."

"Was the reaction like this when Galaxia was hunting them?" Zoicite asked, already dressed in his blue night-dress and slippers. He leaned in the doorway of he and Kunzite's room.

"I don't think so," Mamoru said. "Usagi's never said anything." He frowned.

"In local news – chaos erupted at the statehouse today when protesters and police clashed. There are reports of pepper spray being deployed on the crowd. Eleven have been arrested, and while the protest's organizers maintain it was a peaceful event, eye-witnesses also claim to have seen one man arguing with a police officer before throwing a punch. We do not know at this time whether this was the start of the violence or a reaction to the pepper spray."

"Emotions are running high here too…" Mamoru worried. "I wonder if the sunspots in the Earth are –" but his thought was cut off when he coughed again, hacking with his handkerchief pressed to his mouth as all three of his knights stood stiffly nearby.

"You're getting worse," Kunzite observed.

"It's fine," Mamoru said, quickly stowing his handkerchief in his pocket. "I've had worse." He pressed his hand into his lavender shirt and rubbed his chest. "It's nothing we should worry about… we already know the cause."

"The sunspots," Jadeite muttered, tossing his pizza crust towards the trash and beginning to pace between the front door and their small kitchenette.

"If they're affecting the people…" Zoicite mused, his eyes towards the floor. "And you." He looked up at Kunzite and then Mamoru. "I thought Luna and Artemis said we'd see some respite for a while."

"We were supposed to," Mamoru said.

"But if their forces have been heavily damaged," Kunzite considered, setting the pizza boxes on the coffee table and sitting down on the side of the armchair across from Mamoru "Whatever generates those sunspots will want to produce more as fast as they can… and get them to us as fast as possible."

"Then why not increase their production on Mars or Mercury," Mamoru wondered. "When we'll notice them here more quickly."

"It knows the senshi can defeat them as well…" Zoicite said. "Perhaps it wants to do as much damage to Earth as it can."

"But…" Mamoru coughed again, whipping out his handkerchief. All three of his knights flinched. He stowed it away quickly once more.

"But why?" Jadeite muttered, still pacing.

Zoicite shook his head as he walked into the living room, and sat in the seat of Kunzite's armchair. He looked up at him.

The white haired knight ran a hand through his hair. "I think," he said. "There's only one person who might know."

Mamoru nodded and leaned forward on the couch. He held his right hand out over the coffee table and the still steaming pizzas as Jadeite, Zoicite, and Kunzite gathered close.

With a flash, the golden crystal appeared above his palm. He'd gotten better and better at conjuring it since learning of its existence. He furrowed his brows.

Light shown from the slowly spinning crystal up towards the ceiling, and a white and blue robed figure appeared there, on one knee, with his head bowed.

"My King," Helios greeted.

"When will I get you to call me Mamoru, Helios?"

"Perhaps when I retire," Elysion's high priest smiled as he looked upon the King. "I do wish we had more opportunities to speak to each other concerning less pressing matters." He studied Mamoru. "How is your cough?"

"Fine," Mamoru said.

"Getting worse," Kunzite interrupted. "He's downplaying its severity."

"I have had worse." Mamoru shook his head. "But I am concerned that it indicates the sunspots in Earth's core are becoming more active."

Helios frowned. "They are hard for me to observe... I can only feel that the Earth is in pain, as you can, and it has been in more pain the past few days."

"Are they stealing its power, then?"

"That would be something you would know better than I," Helios said. "Have your powers been weakening?"

"No, only my health."

"Hmm..." The priest stared upwards. "I've been considering several theories for how they may be using the Earth. Luna and Artemis tell me they've seen sunspots from the other planets as well."

"All of them display some power similar to the senshi's," Mamoru said.

"Then it is possible..." Helios mused. "Star seeds are created within planets. If, as we've learned, they are pieces of Sailor Crystals... they may need the planets unique environment to help them strengthen or maintain their powers when they are... split." All of them grimaced.

"Then they have their own power," Jadeite said. "Do they simply mimic the planets abilities...?"

"That is what I am praying is true," Helios told them. "As it means the senshi and you, my King, will be unaffected."

"But they do damage the planets," Mamoru said. "Hence why I am sick."

Helios nodded. "I believe exposure to the amount of darkness I can feel from these sunspots could certainly weaken a planet over time, especially if whatever controls that darkness was actively trying to damage its host world."

"Is that why Mamoru's getting worse then?" Kunzite asked. "Our enemy's decided using Earth simply to generate its sunspots is not a good enough use."

"Or perhaps we are seeing the effect on Earth earlier than in the other planets," Helios said. "Or the effect may simply be easier to detect after all, Endymion," he nodded to Mamoru. "Has a connection to his planet that none of the other senshi can claim."

"Other?" Mamoru said, looking around to see if the knights had heard the same. "Helios... I'm not a senshi."

"Forgive me, My King," Helios said, bowing his head. "You are the closest equivalent the Earth has." He looked up at them. " I expect you'll begin to see some signs of the dark activity in the core appearing on the surface."

"We need to see them more clearly," Kunzite decided.

"Mercury's detection program depends on the satellites. It can't reach all the way to the core..." Zoicite mused. He looked at Jadeite. "How's your own gadget coming along?"

Jadeite scowled. "No one knows how to make Mage-minerals or metals anymore. So having to craft them all myself is taking longer than expected." He snapped his fingers several times as he paced, generating sparks. "I might be able to make something small with what I have now."

"We need anything the two of you can craft," Kunzite said. "If the King is sick we haven't any time to waste perfecting things."

"I'd never endanger Endymion!" Jadeite snapped.

Mamoru cleared his throat, his free hand raised palm out. "I am fine," he told his knights. "It's the people I'm worried about." He directed his attention to Helios. "We're starting to see increases in violence here, and the tension between the senshi and the public is building in Tokyo."

"Hmmm…" Helios' frown deepened. He looked skywards for a few moments and sighed. "I am afraid that may be creating a feedback loop," Helios said. He wrung his hands several times. "If the darkness is affecting people's emotions, the people's emotions, in turn, affect the soul of the Earth."

"Which would increase the effect the sunspots darkness has," Zoicite worried. "We need to find someway of ousting them."

Mamoru looked down towards his feet as Jadeite and Kunzite began tossing about ideas.

"We think the ones that attack with rose petals and thorns come from the Earth," Usagi had told him weeks ago.

But my power doesn't manifest anything like that, Mamoru thought. And it took Moon and Venus obtaining their full senshi abilities to force the sunspots out of their worlds.

But Earth doesn't have a senshi... only me.

"My King?" Helios whispered, too low for his knights to hear.

Mamoru looked up at him, into the golden crystal's light. "Can I call on you later tonight?" he asked. "Alone?"

Helios frowned but nodded. "You may call on me whenever you have a need to, My King."

~AgeofAquarius~

"The chores were done extra well today," Rei's grandfather mused as he knelt beside her in the fire room. "The kitchen floor has not shined so well since your lovely friend Makoto first moved in."

She merely nodded, glaring hard at the orange and red fire.

"You have always performed your duties to perfection," he said. "Though today I detect a certain amount of... frustration being taken out on the extra clean surfaces."

"I'm fine," Rei whispered.

"The broken bristles on the broom say otherwise."

Rei closed her eyes. She wished he would leave. She had not been able to concentrate on the fire all day. And Mina had already nagged her twice that she could feel her emotions halfway across Juuban.

"I'm coming over," she'd insisted several times today, using the communicator since she still had a bit of trouble speaking to Rei psychically of her own accord.

"I want to be alone!" Rei'd told her each time.

Which had earned her only a day of respite. She was sure Mina'd appear tonight whether Rei told her to leave or not. Any other day, she'd have been touched by her concern. Today though she was concentrating too hard on other things.

Her grandfather reached out and put his hand on her arm. "You are upset," he observed. "Because of your father."

The fire turned bright red and shot up towards the ceiling, sending sparks flying.

"I don't care what he's blustering about!" she muttered.

"Do you know, when you are upset, there is fire in your eyes?" he wondered. "And in your heart. It is expressed in every action you take."

She turned towards him, her expression was (at first) a glare and then, as she met his cool and even gaze, it softened. Her shoulders slumped. The large fire burning beside them shrunk until it burned below the level of the stone hearth.

"I don't care if he thinks I'm an alien," she whispered. "Or about whatever his… Accountability Initiative is." She clenched her fists. "I just don't understand why people are listening to him."

Her grandfather covered her tense fists with his warm, wizened hands. "Your father's a charismatic man… and his senses are as sharp as yours in different ways. He has a knack for connecting with people, for getting them to listen to him." He smiled at her. "The tension that has sprung up in the wake of your victory will fade with time."

But Rei shook her head. "I don't think so." She glanced back at the fire. "I can at least feel that much."

"Did this keep you from concentrating today?" he asked.

She shook her head. "It's other things." She bit her lip. "When he took me out to dinner," she confided at last, having kept it between herself and Mina for nearly a month. "He tried to get me to agree that he would be a voice for the senshi in the government."

"And you refused, because that is far too much power to give a man whom we would both rather not have any power over you."

She nodded and looked up at him. "But they he threatened you." She told her Grandfather. "He said… if I didn't do as he asked, he would have you declared mentally unfit… and he'd put into elderly care."

"Lock me up away from all the lovely ladies, you mean?"

"Grandpa!" she exclaimed as he chuckled. "It's not funny!"

"Oh Rei, do be less serious." Her grandfather laughed, and then his expression sobered. He squeezed her hands. "Trust me. You do not need to worry about your father's role in my life. Even if he could convince the community that my sanity had dwindled with age, for him to do anything about it, he would need the ability to claim power of attorney, and I have ensured that is not within his capabilities."

"What do you mean!" she exclaimed. "He's your son; of course he can!"

"As I said." Her grandfather smiled and stood. "I have taken care of it." He rubbed his bald head and looked up to the left, thinking aloud: "though perhaps… given his blustering, it's time I made that fact a little more public."

"What fact?" she blustered.

"Save it for when your Tweeter-thing is up and running for everyone again," her grandfather said, waving a dismissive hand as he turned and walked away. When he reached the doorway to the main house he turned back to her. "Be finished with this in an hour," he said, waving a nagging finger. "Because I am making cookies. And it is your job to eat them."

She was smiling when he shut the door, and shook her head, turning back to the fire. She took a deep breath.

She felt calmer now, at least. She was at last able to center herself, and empty her thoughts.

It had been two days since her last encounter with their enemy, and since she had reached the senshi trapped within one of the sunspots.

She stared into the warm flames in the hearth, and at last began to meditate on the events of two days prior.

Sailor Sirius, she thought. What happened to you?

~AgeofAquarius~

ANTI-SAILOR FEELINGS ON RISE. GOVERNMENT SPLIT.

Tuesday, April 29th

Today, when the emergency session of the government convened, Senator Hino's Senshi Accountability Initiative was formally put before the legislature. While the body widely approved of some measures mentioned in the plan: such as putting formal regulations over, as the Initiative states, the Senshi's "rampant vigilante-ism," there were serious splits amongst all represented parties over other parts of the plan. Among the most debated points were: how the plan will be enforced, whether the senshi are endangering Tokyo, and whether the shield they have build around Juuban poses a risk to national security. But the point which surely weighs most prominently on the public's mind was brought up by one of Senator Hino's long-time critic's, Yoshida Tadatsugu, who asked whether it was correct for the Initiative to consider the senshi extra-terrestrials, and whether or not the initiative or subsequent legislation would be a violation of their human rights.

We caught up with Yoshida after the session ended. And he had this to say: "We simply do not have enough evidence to call these heroes – as I believe many still consider them – extra-terrestrials, nor do we have evidence to suggest they are knowingly putting the population of this country or this planet at risk. It would be an egregious abuse of power to make that determination without further research. The destruction in Juuban and in other cities in Japan and around the world that has resulted from this new threat is devastating and worrisome, but I refuse to back any measure until the Senator can put real research behind his assertions. Certainly not when, by doing so, we might cripple the best defence this planet has."

Yoshida's opinion, which seems at this point to be held by at least a plurality of the legislature, does not seem to hold with a plurality of the public. Indeed, at the time of this publication, internet and cellular service have been restored for the majority of Juuban and the surrounding districts, and the hashtag #ETevidence has been trending throughout the day, with users sharing links and pictures which they say more than support Senator Hino's claims.

The senshi could not be reached for comment.

four days after the battle, full cellular service finally came back online, and Luna pushed back the senshi's meeting by an hour when Usagi was, at last, able to contact Mamoru in America.

Ami, Rei, and Makoto caught her on her way into the arcade, and grinned when they saw the spring in her step and the smile on her face as she twirled down the street, polka-dotted skirt standing out against the grey buildings, while Luna and Chibiusa walked at a more sedate pace behind her.

"You know Harvard has a summer break beginning in a few weeks," Ami observed as Usagi ran into Rei and Makoto and linked arms with them, making all of them laugh. "Perhaps he can get an internship at a hospital here for the season."

Usagi grinned. "You think so!" she shrieked, making Rei and Makoto wince despite the smiles on their faces. "He didn't say anything." She gasped. "Maybe he wants it to be a surprise!"

"Or maybe he was trying to spare us you talking non-stop about it all month," Rei teased as Luna and Chibiusa walked up to the arcade doors. They slid open.

"Do you think Hotaru will be here?" Chibiusa asked Luna for the third time since leaving home.

"I wasn't able to contact her," Luna said. "I believe her communicator is still missing."

"Can't you get her a new one?" Chibiusa whined.

"Why don't you just text her."

"I did," she pouted. "But Mugen has school today, and I think one of the teachers took her phone."

"Shouldn't you have school today?" Ami asked.

"Not until they fix the roof," Chibiusa said. "A sunspot sorta –" she was interrupted by the sound of something clattering against the floor. All five senshi and Luna stiffened and whipped around towards the sound.

"Um." Motoki had just come down the stairs from the Crown café. The shake he'd been drinking had slipped from his hand, and was currently pooling into a strawberry-pink puddle near the arcade counter.

"Hi Motoki!" Usagi beamed. "Guess what! Mamo-chan might be able to come back for the summer."

"Uhh." Motoki shook his head. "That's great."

"What's wrong?" Chibiusa blurted out.

"Nothing!" Motoki squeaked. "Sorry I just…" he rubbed the back of his neck. "I um, are you really aliens?" he asked. "Sorry… that sounds rude. I just… everyone's saying it…"

All the senshi looked at each other. Usagi's grin fell from her face.

"Haven't been asked that since I got kicked out of my second middle school for flipping two punks over my head," Makoto said coolly. "Never thought I'd hear it from you."

Motoki looked down at his shoes. "I didn't mean…" he shook his head and looked up at them. "It's just… they say the new enemy's got powers like yours… and you made a dome over the whole district!" he exclaimed. "And… Mina has wings." He wrung his hands together. "I'm sorry – There was a giant water cyclone outside my apartment four days ago and you," he gestured to Ami. "Froze it in its tracks. It's still frozen there." He gulped. "I'm sorry… I just… I like all of you. I'm just confused. Everyone's confused."

Chibiusa stepped forwards about to speak, but Luna leapt from her shoulder, standing in front of her and shaking her head. It wouldn't do for her to let anyone, even Motoki, think she might be a senshi too.

Luna looked at the older senshi then: Rei staring towards the windows and Makoto, her arms crossed, frowning at Motoki, and Ami, holding onto Usagi's arm while the blond stared at her shoes. Her eyes looked glassy.

Luna turned back to Motoki, who hadn't paid much attention to her. She cleared her throat, startling him. "There's only one alien here," she said, staring sternly at him. "They're as human as you are." And she turned around, butting her head against Chibiusa's ankles until the girl moved. The cat led all of them towards the Sailor V game, which slid aside as Luna approached. Luna perched on top of it as the five senshi walked down into the command center. Once they'd gone, she turned to look at Motoki.

He stared at her wide-eyed for a few moments. Then he straightened up, nodded his head, and set about getting back to work.

Satisfied, Luna bounded down the stairs into the command center, the Sailor V game slid back into place as she descended.

Nearly all of them were there when Luna reached the bottom of the stairs: Rei'd gone straight to Mina, whose still-startling yellow wings were poised and tense, just like her arms, which were braced on the console with the blue sleeves of her shirt rolled to the elbows. Mina was watching the center-most screen on the computer. Data streamed across it as Artemis tapped his paws across one of the keyboards; accessing all the information they needed today. Ami stood across the console from them, still in the dress shirt and grey suit she'd worn to her morning lecture. She had her glasses on as she tapped in data of her own.

Makoto and Chibiusa both leaned against opposite columns close to the door. Makoto had her arms crossed and so did Chibiusa, trying to mimic her stance.

And Usagi'd gone to the couch where Michiru and Haruka, in matching black and white clothes, were sitting. She was sitting as close to Michiru as she could, squinting into the Aqua mirror. All three of them were smiling. Luna shook her head. At least we've had some happy news this week. Besides Mamoru, Michiru's news was the only topic that had been able to brighten Usagi's mood since Friday's battle – news that Luna had made Usagi repeat four times before she'd believed it herself.

"Oh come on, Luna!" Usagi'd whined when she'd broken the news. "She's pregnant! That's amazing. Be excited!"

I am excited, Luna thought as she leapt up onto the console of the Lunar computer, setting about getting the last two monitors running. It's as wonderful as it is surprising. She berated herself once more for permitting them all to travel to their home-worlds two months ago without giving them a thorough understanding of the things the planets magical points were capable of. Though really, Luna mused. It didn't occur to me any of you would manage to do such... consequential magic by accident.

"Hotaru! Pu!" Chibiusa gasped. Luna turned around. Pluto and Hotaru had just stepped out of the Time Doors. Luna smiled as Chibiusa hugged Hotaru and then Setsuna once she'd de-transformed. She stayed clinging to Setsuna's arm on one side and Hotaru's on the other.

"Alright," Artemis announced. "No one had any trouble making it here?"

"Define trouble," Michiru muttered.

"Anyone need to talk about what's going on in the news?" Mina asked, looking at all of them.

"Later," Makoto nodded. "What have we got?"

Artemis nodded, turning back to the keyboard and hitting one of the keys with his paw.

The data on the center-most screen faded away, an orange crystal appearing in its place.

"This is a model of the sailor crystal Mars and Venus were able to make contact with at the end of the battle." Artemis said. "As we know, all of the crystals whose pieces were all together at the end of the battle were able to re-form, and Venus saw their original forms.

"Before that snake thing sucked them all out of existence," Mina said. She leaned into Rei as her girlfriend put her arm around Mina's waist.

"Correct," Artemis continued. "We don't, unfortunately have clear footage of what happened then."

"But we do have some cell-phone videos, and pictures," Ami continued. "Using those, I was able to create a model of what happened, and generate a theory for what caused all the crystals to vanish."

Artemis hit the keyboard and zooming in on the model of Sirius' crystal as, on the screens to the left, Ami pulled up three zoomed in videos that appeared from their quality to have come from cell phone cameras.

"Do you guys have your own satellite or something?" Haruka wondered. "Cell service was down for three days. How did you track down and hack all of these?"

"Most of the service outages occurred after the end of the battle when a few of the fires damaged the cell towers," Ami said. "So while yes… I did use our satellite to access the internet, it wasn't hard to track these down."

"What do you mean?" Usagi asked. "Did you google it?"

Ami flushed and nodded. "#senshibattle was trending just after midnight that night."

Mina snorted. "Alright then." She left Rei and walked along the console to be closer to the left-most screens. "What's Twitter have for us then."

"Watch closely." Ami said, hitting one of the keys.

The videos and the simulation began playing at a slow pace.

"I selected Sirius' crystal because theirs reformed first," Ami said. "By a few seconds actually."

"I didn't notice," Mina murmured. Though she could see in the videos themselves the figures who appeared around the other sailor crystals only began to emerge once the light from Sirius' had developed a humanoid shape. "Sirius was the one you spoke to," Mina said, looking back towards Rei who still leaned against the right side of the console. "Could that… mean something?"

Rei frowned. "Maybe… I met them before they became a sunspot," she said. "While I was… meditating." She noticed Usagi's frown and looked away, up at the screens. She had not yet told the Queen exactly how far she had explored her connection to their new enemy. And given how it had attacked her via that very connection during battle, she was sure Usagi would be less than approving of the effort.

I'll tell her when I learn something useful, Rei decided. After all if it were her, it's not like she wouldn't try to do the same thing.

"Anyways… I learned their name while I meditated, and then in battle, that was how I stopped their sunspot," She recalled and thought for a moment. "Maybe because of that, Sirius was already trying to reform… and they did so quicker."

"Or maybe they can speak to the others who are trapped," Chibiusa suggested. "Maybe they told them how to reform." She looked up at Setsuna. "That could be true right… and… and that way they wouldn't be all alone."

Setsuna smiled fondly at her and stroked her hair. "Perhaps that is true." She directed her attention back to Luna, Ami, and Artemis. "Were you able to determine how they were removed from our dimension?"

"Is that what happened?" Mina murmured.

"As a matter of fact yes," Artemis said, turning towards Luna. "We almost didn't catch it but,"

"But Luna noticed something in the frame-by frame that I didn't," Ami said, a slight blush on her face. She'd searched for two whole days and not noticed.

"Now be fair," Luna chuckled. "Considering quality of most of this footage it was a lucky thing. But," she tapped her paw on one key and the simulation started to shift, the background of the monitor turned from black to light blue. "Thank goodness the shield was still up, or we wouldn't have caught it at all against the night sky.

They didn't notice it on any of the videos, but on the simulation it was made quite clear. Haruka, Michiru, and Usagi all got to their feet and Makoto pushed away from the stone column as a dot of black appeared just behind the sailor crystal.

"We noticed one frame in one bit of footage where Sirius' crystal appeared to have a shadow behind it before the darkness appeared in the crystal's core." Luna said. "And from that we determined that the darkness breached our dimension, but not via the crystals…" they shivered as the shadow on the screen expanded and stretched out, merging with Sirius' crystal and dousing the glowing orange power in the center. On the videos Mina watched, the silhouette of the sailor flickered, and those of the others did too just a second later.

"So we really did remove all the negative energy from their crystals." Mina realized.

"And that thing reached through and took them back," Rei continued, fists clenched.

"If all it had to do to take them back was touch them," Haruka said. "Why didn't it attempt to take Venus and Usagi as well – look they're barely three feet away."

"I'm fairly confident it can't see us clearly from where it is," Setsuna pointed out. "It may not have known they were so close by… And it also certainly takes a lot of energy to tear through a dimension like it seems to be." She nodded at the screen. "I suspect it only returned for its sunspots because they are its main fighting force."

"And why's it use them to fight anyway?" Makoto demanded, fists shaking. "Why not face us head-on?"

"The sun hurts it," Rei said, and stiffened as soon as she'd spoken. Every eye in the room focused intently on her. She cleared her throat. "Ah… when it first captured me… when it attacked my mind. I got a look at it's own." She rubbed her temples, trying to recall how she had known this. "When Venus gained Aphrodite's powers and attacked it – it was hurt because her power was like starlight…and then the direct sunlight burnt it too."

"That's why it used the asteroid as a shield," Haruka said.

"And yet it somehow captured all of these Sailors," Michiru murmured. "And, as we can all gather from our visions, hurt their star systems as well. How?"
"Whatever the explanation is," Setsuna said, "I think there's something we can't overlook here." She nodded to Mercury and the two cats. "If it reached through the dimension and took those sailor crystals, another reason it could take them, and not Venus or Usagi, who were close by, could be that it is connected to the sailors it has captured."

"No!" Usagi gasped, her hands coming up over her mouth.

For a moment the only sound in the room was the echo of her exclamation, then the slap of Venus tennis shoes across the tile floor as she walked quickly back to Rei's side.

Rei was not looking at any of them, maintaining a defensive pose as she focused on the computer monitors. She still remained stock still even after Mina reached her and wrapped her arm tightly around her waist.

They waited, Usagi even took a few steps towards Rei, but stopped in the middle of the room when the priestess spoke at last.

"I don't think my connection to it is of the same strength," Rei said. "After all, I didn't turn into a sunspot when it reached out to me mid-battle." She turned and gave Usagi a reassuring smile. "And you could bring me back."

"Which is also important," Setsuna said, all eyes in the room turning to her once again. She was still thinking it seemed, her head tilted slightly as she stared towards the super computer. She's probably looking at something else, Chibiusa thought, for her gaze seemed to stare far into the distance, the same way she'd so often seen her stare towards another time or place. Chibiusa tugged on the lavender sleeve of her blazer. "Pu..."

"I am thinking," Setsuna said, looking down at Chibiusa, "That if we could somehow break the connection between those Sailor crystals and our enemy… as Sailor Moon did briefly when she rescued Rei…" She looked around the room. "Then we could hold on to the crystal shards of those sunspots we defeat. If we could find a way to keep them without the enemy reclaiming them, that is…"

Then they could deprive their enemy of its army, the realization dawned on all of them at once.

"Then we need to work out how," Haruka decided. "Before it makes more sunspots to send our way." She nodded to Ami. "Any idea how long that will be."

"Unfortunately no," Ami frowned, pushing her glasses up her nose as she leaned over the computer and typed something in. "But we can confirm that the number of sunspots in the Earth's core increased after our battle." The numbers on the monitor resembled only gibberish to most of those gathered, though Ami highlighted several that seemed to be important. "I had the computer track the number of sunspots who appeared with rose and thorn attacks during the battle and based on that," she turned away from the computer. "The sunspots which may have been generated in the Earth was 53 – twice the number we saw with fire attacks. Further: those sunspots that attacked with rose petals had more power than the others."

Quiet settled over the room again. Several, like Usagi, stared towards the computer. Others, like Setsuna, scanned rapidly across the numbers on the monitors. And some, like Makoto, closed their eyes as they processed Ami's words.

Artemis broke the silence. "Helios also mentioned to us that he's seen the activity from the sunspots in the core increase to higher than it was before your battle."

"Mamoru mentioned," Usagi added and sighed. "He has a cough."

"We won't let anything happen to him," Mina assured her and all of her friends nodded in agreement.

"I wonder," Michiru said, looking up from the Aqua Mirror. "If the sunspots in the Earth are acting up… and it is affecting the Prince, then it may be affecting the people too."

"How do you mean?" Hotaru asked.

"Simply that," Michiru explained, "negative energy might be influencing people's moods or actions… or certain initiatives."

"I wish," Rei muttered. "No this Anti-senshi legislation is just my father."

"And it's proven surprisingly popular," Michiru continued. "I have a feeling the current tension we're all experiencing could be the sunspots affecting the populace."

"So they don't hate us!" Chibiusa exclaimed.

"I knew there was something fishy about all that," Mina said.

"Well we gotta find a way to get them out of the Earth then!" Makoto declared. "Cause I am not having anymore incidents with –"

"I don't know," Usagi whispered, though her voice rang clearly across the room. All of them turned towards Usagi, who was staring at her open palms, head bowed so that her hair nearly brushed the floor. "Should we really be so quick to blame everything people are feeling on the enemy?"

"It would fit," Ami argued. "There really can't be any other reason the news has been trending so… hostile towards us." She crossed her arms. "In fact I did several analyses of that two weeks ago…and I could run another, but I couldn't determine any reason."

"And all the talk's been escalating the past few days," Haruka said. "I'm guessing the sunspots have some kind of role."

"But not all of one," Usagi looked up. "People are still afraid…and confused…" her mouth turned up in a wry smile. "And they're not wrong about the crystal points… we preparing to take over Tokyo."

"Save Tokyo!" Chibiusa interrupted. "It was definitely save."

"Even so," Usagi said, crossing her arms. She met the eyes of each of her scouts. "Maybe it isn't that the sunspots are making people more scared and angry… maybe it's their feelings causing the negative energy to get stronger."

"But then how do we fight it!" Chibiusa shot back. "How do we get everyone to believe us?"

They'd been asking themselves the very same question since Senator Hino had announced his initiative. And they all looked down, for none of them yet had an answer.

Nor did they by the time Ami's alarm went off. She had a lecture in an hour.

"Let's sleep on it," Mina decided, fishing the keys to Michiru's Porsche out of her pocket, and mourning the recent destruction of her Ferrari as she did. The Porsche wasn't even a cool color. She twirled the keys. "Anyone need a ride?"

~AgeofAquarius~

It turned out that all four of the other inner senshi found an excuse to accompany Mina in the car, as much to avoid the increasingly awkward encounters with strangers on the public transport as to have a little while for being normal friends.

It was a twenty-minute drive between the arcade and their first stop: the Tokyo University campus, and they enjoyed every moment of it. Mina and Makoto goading the packed car into singing along to the songs the radio – including the one that had been playing repeatedly for three months, and which Rei absolutely despised. They sang it through three choruses before Mina lost the battle she and Rei were having over the radio and the station abruptly changed to classical.

"Of course this would be one of Michiru's saved stations," Mina muttered she glanced balefully over at Rei. "Come on… can't we,"

"Play one song," Rei said. "And then you can change it to something that isn't playing the musical equivalent of finger-painting."

"Hey!" Mina stuck her tongue out. "There's nothing wrong with finger-painting."

"Don't your songs end up on that pop station?" Makoto said, leaning between the front seats so she could watch Mina's face. The blond turned red and wrinkled her nose, and her fingers twitched on the wheel.

The whole car chuckled.

"Rei: three," Rei said, making an invisible tally mark in the air. "Minako: one."

"Minako: two!" Mina contested.

"What are you judging?" Ami asked.

"Just seeing who can leave the other one without a good come-back most often," Rei said. "And I thought of mine within five seconds earlier, I was just interrupted by Gramps." She smirked. "Minako: one."

Mina pouted.

"What's the winner get?" Usagi asked.

"Bragging rights," Rei said, turning around so she could give the three of them in the back a sly look. "Besides, it's more about what the loser has to do," she looked towards the driver's side. "Isn't that right, Mina."

Mina made a choked sound. Makoto glanced into the rear view mirror and grinned. "She's redder than her bow!" She laughed along with Ami when Usagi leaned over the front seat to pester Rei and Mina to tell her already. A back and forth which entailed Rei refusing to say a word and Mina's face turning an increasingly prominent red…

Until: "But I told you about how Mamo-chan –"

"CHANGING THE SUBJECT!" Mina declared, shifting gears rather abruptly as she made a turn. She glanced in the mirror. "Ami!" she decided. "You haven't talked about your boyfriend in weeks. Spill."

"Um," Ami froze, combing back her hair. "I wouldn't call him that," she said. "He's… a classmate whom I've gone on a few dates with, but there's not really anything serious…" She made a face. "Or I suppose… given everything that's been going on that's been far more important, I've just… put off deciding if I want it to be serious."

"Well you never know how long this peace and quiet is gonna last," Mina said. "You should figure it out." She looked over at Rei. "Relationships definitely make the tough days better."

Rei, who had closed her eyes and relaxed back in her seat smirked and cracked one eye open. "Still Minako: one."

"Damnit," Mina muttered concentrating back on the road and on Ami, whose feelings she realized, had just been overwhelmed by a surge of stress.

"I mean, It's not as if I'm letting something great go," she was saying. "I see him in class, and we study together… Daichi's brilliant in many respects, but I'm just too busy to really notice if…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Makoto said, clapping Ami on the shoulder. "Thought you only got this stressed about exams."

"Yes well I'm finding that dating is much worse than exams," Ami confessed. "At least then, you have time already set aside in the day to take them and you have all sorts of books and classes to teach you how to be good at them."

Mina frowned. "Brains, if it's that much work, you don't need to date anyone."

"But I want to," Ami protested. "I want it to be fun." She sighed. "I want to get to know him better, but I spend all of my time on things that we really do need to get done." She looked out the car window. "I'm hoping he could help me with some of the computer work I have to do in that regard. He's already helped me immensely with repairing the Mercury hard-drive."

The four others traded confused glances and Mina watched Ami in her rear-view mirror.

Usagi leaned around Makoto: "You mean that hunk of metal you brought back from Mercury?"

"I thought only the palm top was broken," Rei said.

"That is," Ami confirmed, rubbing her forehead. "And I'm still trying to figure out how to repair that… but it was because of the hard-drive," she said. "When I went to investigate what had survived on it, it infected the palm-top with a virus."

The other four in the car gasped. "How's a millennium old piece of space junk have a virus on it!" Makoto exclaimed.

"Well it's a fairly advanced machine," Ami said, crossing her arms and looking around the car trying to reassure them. "I should have expected my planet would try to protect whatever was on it. After all," she chuckled. "Technically I suppose I did steal it."

"And how's Daichi able to help with that?"

"Well he accidentally wound up with a copy of the hard-drive's data," Ami blushed, recalling how their flash-drives had gotten switched. "Which is entirely my fault, but it turned out to be a good thing: He was able to bypass the computer virus."

Murmurs of appreciation filled the car as the others raised their eyebrows.

"He did something you couldn't do?" Usagi said.

"I would have solved it eventually," Ami insisted. "In any case, I am hoping with that hard-drive I can start looking for records of the last time this enemy appeared, and," she nodded to Usagi "translate those journals you brought back from the Moon."

"You really think those could be useful?" Usagi whispered.

"I think it's worth a shot," Ami said. "If we could get back even a fraction of what The Moon Kingdom must have known about…our enemies, our magic… everything, then we might learn how the senshi stopped this thing the last time."

And maybe, Ami thought as the others considered her ideas. If I can access the hard-drive, I'll get closer to accessing my past-life's memories too.

"Well," Makoto said, nudging Ami with her elbow. "If you and Daichi can do it, we're all gonna owe you big time." She gave Ami an understanding look. "But if you can't figure it out, don't stress about it." She bent forwards and surprised all of them by pulling her hammer out of her large purse. She pumped it high in the air and made Usagi squeak as sparks raced out of it and into the roof of the Porsche. "We can fight this thing without a computer."

"Oi!" Mina said, distracted by the sparks on the ceiling. "Don't melt Michiru's car. I will not survive if I so much as scratch it."

"Do you take that hammer everywhere?" Usagi asked Makoto.

"Of course I do!" Makoto defended, putting it in her lap as if it weren't made of pure, heavy, metal. She ran her thumb across the name, Thorunn Friggasdötter, engraved across the middle. "If you had hammer that said you were Thor, you'd take it everywhere too." She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. "Bet if it fit in her bag, Mina'd have that sword with her right now."

But rather than react to the teasing, Mina whole-heartedly agreed. "I would," Mina said, nodding emphatically. "Aphrodite never left it behind anywhere… not having it is like walking around without an arm."

The car was quiet for a few moments as they turned down Ami's street.

"Do you think Daichi's been listening to all the talk about the Accountability Initiative?" Ami asked. "I mean… if Motoki is doubting us,"

"Then Motoki will get over it," Mina said, pulling up next to Ami's building. "And Daichi's known you as Mercury for months now and hasn't jumped ship." She parked the car and turned around in her seat. "So stop inventing more things to worry about – leave some of it for the rest of us."

"We do have to find someway of countering Senator Hino's rhetoric though," Ami said as she slipped out of the back door.

"We will," Mina assured her. She looked at the other occupants of the Porsche. "Right guys?"

All of them nodded. "Even if I have to accompany him to dinner again," Rei said.

"Oh, hey, let's not go that far." Mina said, and leaned out the window to look at Ami. "There – thirty minutes to spare." She gave Ami a knowing look. "You're not going to spend it all bend over a computer."

"Oh no, no, no." Ami shook her head, smiling. "I'm getting lunch."

"Get some ice-cream while you're at it," Mina said. "You're working harder than any of the rest of us. We get worried about you."

"It's just like high school," Ami assured them. "I'm managing."

"Well don't forget to call us!" Usagi said, sticking her head out of the skylight. "Just because we can't do your homework doesn't mean we can't help other ways." She smiled. "Mako and I can bring you cookies!"

"That's okay," Ami chuckled. "I appreciate the thought." She checked her watch. "I have to go."

"Have fun in class," Usagi called, still waving as Mina put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb.

"Bun-head!" Rei snapped. "Buckle up."

"Don't forget to text us!" Makoto said, leaning out the window. "We are missing updates on Daichi."

"Too true," Mina said, waving as the car began to roll forwards. "See you later!"

"Sure!" Ami said, waving until the small, white car had disappeared from the top of the street.

She sighed once it had disappeared and lowered her hand. Her watch said there were now 24 minutes for her to get lunch. And her favorite sandwich shop was all the way across campus.

Ami sighed. I suppose I'll skip the ice cream then, she thought as she hustled up to her apartment to collect her books.

She wasn't looking where she was going as she left her building, obsessively checking her watch. Perhaps I should settle for whatever pre-made sandwich is on offer today, she thought glumly, when a hand on her shoulder startled her.

"Sorry!" Daichi laughed, taking his hand away and running it across his close-cropped hair. "You didn't respond when I called you." He held out a brown bag to her. "Here, I got you this."

Ami took it and looked inside. She gaped as she took a sandwich out. "This is my favorite."

"I figured since you eat it all the time," Daichi teased, falling into step with her as she once again began to move towards their class. "Sorry I couldn't meet up the past few days – I wasn't avoiding you, I was just desperately trying to boost the Internet. The temporary services they've had in place can't even download a research paper."

"Sorry," Ami said, looking down. "We should have paid more attention to the cell towers."

"What really?" Daichi scoffed. "From the looks of things you had more important stuff to do, like fight an alien invasion." He raised both hands in a shrug. "Wish the news consulted intelligent people like us, they'd know that too."

Ami chuckled. "Us as in everyone on campus?" She'd certainly seen more than a few suspicious looks from her peers and professors since the battle.

"Oh no – they can code and memorize with the best of them sure," he said. "But they're nitwits. No I mean you and me," He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Geniuses gotta stick together."

Ami chuckled. "That's true…" She glanced up at him. "Would you have time to give back that flash-drive today?" she asked.

"You mean… this one." Daichi whipped the small, blue gadget out of his pocket. "Completely virus-free by the way."

"You're kidding!" Ami said, reaching out for it with her sandwich-free hand and then jumping for it when Daichi lifted it over his hand. She surprised him with how quickly she was able to snatch it.

"Well, not completely free," Daichi sighed. "But I did my best – neutralized more like – which is better than you were able to do – but you have a lot more on your plate than me!" he rushed to say when she frowned. "Sometimes you need help."

"Well I'm grateful," Ami said, leading them down one of the less crowded campus streets so she would not have to see as many overtly suspicious looks.

When they reached the steps of their building, and Daichi took them two at a time on his longer legs. "And… I do get to keep helping with whatever this is, right?" he asked. "Cause… I couldn't read the languages – but the data that thing crunches… you know what ever's on that flash-drive fixed my coding project in seconds. I was fascinated." He laughed. "I'd almost believe you were an alien."

"Well this does come from another planet," Ami said, "But I promise, for all intents and purposes I'm as human as they come."

"Sure about that?" Daichi teased as he held open the lecture hall door for her. "Cause no one's ever beaten me on exams so much; your brain's gotta be off the charts."

Ami shook her head and laughed, tucking the flash-drive into her pocket. I hope he's right, Ami thought. I wonder if I was smarter in my past life… what if I can't use this to solve anything. Then she sighed and tried to dismiss the thought. "One worry at a time," she coached herself

"Sorry?" Daichi asked as he opened the door to their auditorium.

"Nothing," she assured him, peering down the crowded aisles. "Come on – there's space in the third row."

~AgeofAquarius~

Protest Art Found On Crystal Structure

Wednesday, April 30th

Flowers left around the base of the Crystaline structure the senshi erected on the site of Bob Floy's ice cream parlor were vandalised today, and graffiti left on the crystal in a clear protest against the senshi's most recent conflict. "Support S.A.I." was painted in large letters on the structure, likely in reference to the Sailor Accountability Initiative.

The flowers that were disrupted were placed by some Juuban citizens as a way to thank the senshi. And the group who left them says they are already planning to replace them.

"Sailor Moon kept my house from burning down," one woman, Osaka Mayumi explained. "And I know that family. I see how much press they have to deal with now, so all of us thought we'd just leave them a quiet reminder they're appreciated – we put flowers on the other crystal pillars too."

But some who live close to the Bob Floy ice-cream parlor expressed other views.

"Sailor Moon also lives in their neighbourhood – of course she'd save her own house," one man who asked not to be named said. "Down here: we had Sailor Uranus tearing up the street one cyclone after the other it was nuts. There's a tree in my roof." Bob-Floy's business itself speaks the destruction left in the senshi's wake: the back wall of the freezer is now completely melted, and were it not for the tile floor it'd be hard to tell where the building stood.

"I dunno who's graffitied the crystals or what not," the local man said. "But I like it. Let's not pretend we should be throwing flowers at them in thanks. After all, they're the reason this enemy's here at all aren't they?" Asked whether they supported the Sailor Accountability Initiative, the neighbors of Bob Floy all nodded an emphatic yes. And we asked those who left the flowers too.

"They don't know what they're talking about," Osaka said. "But, oh I'll be honest, if it's only about accountability I don't see anything wrong with it. These senshi are my Naru's age, and she's not the most responsible." Asked what she thought of the senshi bringing enemies to Earth, Osaka appeared startled. "Who's saying that… is that true?"

Osaka is of a minority in Tokyo right now, we went around the city yesterday polling commuters. 14% (like Osaka) had never heard the senshi might be attracting our attackers, while 23% thought the idea was completely or mostly false.

But that left 63% of those on Juuban's streets who considered it mostly or completely true that our senshi are the cause of our supernatural troubles.

Brawl Breaks Out Near Senshi's Home

Wednesday, April 30th

Police were called to Hikawa Shrine this morning after worshippers from the temple got into an argument with several people waiting at the nearby bus stop. Their argument escalated quickly into an exchange of punches as passersby and then Sailor Mars (in her civilian form) appeared to separate the four individuals involved in the fight.

It is unclear at this time who turned the argument to physical violence. The two senshi who reside in Hikawa Shrine, Mars and Jupiter, could not be reached for comment.

Hotaru kicked her heels against the legs of her chair while she waited outside her father's office, scowling as he talked to the boy inside.

"I'm sorry," Kara Aino mumbled again, curled up in the hard-plastic chair next to hers.

"Stop saying that," Hotaru said. "You didn't do anything."

"I know… but I shouldn't have said what I did," Kara sighed. "I think it just egged them on."

"Then why'd you say anything at all?" Hotaru snapped.

Kara was cut off form replying by the office door clicking open. The boy who'd been teasing Hotaru in study hour shuffled out with his hands in his pockets. He glared at them, an effect ruined by his puffy left eye. "Aino," he said. "He want's to see you next."

Kara slipped out of her seat. "I'll set him straight," she assured Hotaru as she ducked past the boy and into the Principal's office.

"Can I see your eye?" Hotaru asked, standing up.

But the boy stepped away from her. "Why?" he snapped. "Want to see what a good job you did?"

"I over-reacted," Hotaru said. "And I apologize. Something you haven't done yet!" She took a breath. "It looks swollen. I can heal it."

"Swollen? What gave it away? Fact that half my face is purple?" His face was not quite so bad yet. Only the area around his left eye was purple. Though his face was swollen red across his cheek and part of his forehead too.

"I just want to heal it," Hotaru said, reaching out for him.

"No!" He said, stepping away again. "I don't want your freaky powers anywhere near me."

"They're not freaky," Hotaru snapped.

"You think?" He snorted and shook his head. "You know, I kind of trust Kara, maybe you're not a Sailor Scout. But at least they're sorta cool," he walked backwards down the hall, she could see his fists clenched in his pockets as if he were afraid to turn his back to her. "No one knows what the hell you are!" he called once he reached the door to the stairwell, darting through them and down to his classes.

I'd tell you exactly who I was if I was allowed to! Hotaru fumed. Then at least you wouldn't talk about them in front of me.

She was still standing stiffly in the middle of the hallway when Kara emerged from the office.

"He says to wait a few minutes," Kara said. "Then he'll call you." She smiled. "He says I'm not in trouble."

"Of course not," Hotaru muttered. "You didn't punch anyone in the face."

"Well… he won't be mad. He knows why." Kara said.

Hotaru's eyes widened. "I told you not to tell him why!"

"I didn't say why exactly," Kara said, frowning. "But…why can't I tell him?"

"Cause… you can't." Hotaru said.

Kara rolled her eyes. "It won't be too bad." She looked up at the camera in the corner of the hallway. "Sorry… I'm supposed to go back to class."

"Go," Hotaru said, waving a dismissive hand.

"I'll stop by yours and get your homework for you!" Kara promised, before turning and running down the hall.

Hotaru waved her off as she too disappeared down the stairs and looked into the office. The shades were drawn, but that didn't stop the flash of lavender light from shining through. She gulped. When it faded, she could see three adults sitting down in the office chairs, and the door most definitely didn't stop her from noticing their distinctive energy signatures, especially Mama Michiru's, which was so much stranger now than the others.

Her father…and all three of her mothers… no doubt talking about her.

I'm so screwed, she thought, shuffling over to the door and pressing her ear to it. They were talking softly. She strained to hear.

"What have we told you about eavesdropping?" Michiru thought to her. "We aren't talking about anything bad. Go wait in the chair."

Hotaru scowled. "Fine," she muttered, shuffling over to the chair and plopping down into it.

The office door clicked open a few minutes later, and Papa Haruka leaned outside, smiling at her. "Come on in," she told Hotaru.

Hotaru stood up and crossed her arms, stepping warily into the office.

They were all there… Her father was watching her with his sad eyes while he twirled his pen between his fingers, and Mama Setsuna had her "let's talk about it," smile, and Mama Michiru...

Mama Michiru didn't look mad. Her eyes were soft as she watched Hotaru walk up to the desk. As she gestured to the empty seat between she and Mama Setsuna, she maintained a stare that made Hotaru want to replay her actions in study hour in her head detail by detail and figure out what she was going to do differently next time because Mama was definitely going to ask.

I'm really really screwed, Hotaru sulked as she sank down into the middle chair across from her father's desk.

"Well," her father said. "Young Mr. Kato, according to the nurse does not have a broken cheekbone, though we are still a little concerned he might have a concussion."

"I didn't hit him that hard," Hotaru muttered.

"And I believe you, and I've ascertained from talking to Miss. Aino that your reaction was more than provoked." He laced his hands together under his chin. "Mr. Kato did not remember exactly what he said that made you punch him, and Miss. Aino, I suspect, either didn't hear or elected not to tell me. She did say, however, that he was ridiculing your powers."

Hotaru nodded, keeping her eyes on her lap.

"What did he say, Sweet Pea?" Papa Haruka asked, now standing behind Hotaru's chair.

Hotaru shrugged. "It wasn't anything new," she said, wishing more than ever that her temper and her telekinesis hadn't crunched her desk into a ball this morning.

It hadn't been her fault they'd been talking about the Accountability Initiative.

"I heard they can get arrested if it goes through," Kato had been saying to his friends.

"For what?"

"Does it matter – do you hear what they're saying? They're crystal people from outer space, and their own kind's come back to get 'em. We'd only be doing them a favour."

"How do you arrest them – they've got powers!"

"Well how am I supposed to know? I'm not the police. But I bet they're gonna. And when they do we can send them back to space – do you think those aliens coming to take them back will reward us?"

"But I thought they were humans."

"Oh keep up would you, Sato. Course they're not. They just…"

"I thought you said the teasing had stopped?" Mama Michiru asked her.

"It did!" Hotaru said, "Mostly…"

"Holy shit, Tomoe? What did you do?"

"That's her desk… she just… crunched it up."

And Kato had gotten in her face. "Are you a senshi too?"

And Kara had butted in. "No!" she'd rushed to Hotaru's desk with her math textbook still in hand. "She's definitely not. She just… she got her powers from the senshi."

"When ever my telekinesis acts up people get frightened." Hotaru explained to her parents. "That's why they tease."

"And thanks to Miss. Aino we now have an explanation we can use for that," Mr. Tomoe said. "I'm more than happy to stick to it."

"What!" Hotaru jerked her head up, gaping. "No!"

Her father sighed and removed his glasses. "I know, it isn't ideal…" He wiped the lenses and put them back on his face. "But if your powers continue acting up, we'd have had to think of something."

"She… uh." Kara had floundered. "Well she got them when that enemy possessed the old school. The Senshi gave her powers so she could fight back!"

For a moment it had seemed like a good idea. Hotaru'd nodded along with Kara's assertion. "That's why I'm not sick anymore," she'd tried to convince her classmates. "The senshi saved my life."

"Seriously?" Kato had not been convinced. "So they can infect people too?" Her classmates had gasped, and any hope of a positive outcome had gone down the drain.

"It is going to be for the best," Mama Setsuna agreed. "Your classmates will stop wondering where you get your powers, and you, in turn, will see less taunting for it." she'd shaken her head. "For the punch though…"

"I'd rather she be known for her right hook than her mystery powers," Papa Haruka stood up for her. "And you didn't even scrape your knuckles."

Michiru cleared her throat.

"Not…that…hitting is okay."

"I know," Hotaru muttered.

"They don't infect people with powers!" Hotaru'd protested.

"Well isn't that why Kara's got that symbol on her wrist now?" Kato'd said. "I bet it is! Venus was trying to turn you into a senshi wasn't she?"

"No!" Kara'd said, turning her wrist so the Venus symbol was pressed against her book. "That's not true!"

"That you know!" Kato'd shot back. "I bet that's why they kicked your sister out – cause she was turning you into a freak too."

"Leave Kara alone," Hotaru'd told him, standing up from her desk and stepping in front of the younger girl. "The symbol's just a tattoo."

"Yeah right," someone'd snickered. "If that's a tattoo, then you really got held back three years."

"I was sick," Hotaru'd reiterated for the umpteenth time, thankful none of them had gone to Juuban Elementary. "My growth was stunted, and I stayed out of school until I was better."

"And the senshi infected you with freaky powers." Kato'd sneered. "You know seeing as Kara's parents kicked her sister out, I think you'd better watch your back." He'd stepped closer to her. "Or be lucky you're the Principal's only kid."

"Knock it off," she'd warned him.

"At least Kara's parents have a replacem –"

"He just called me a freak too many times," Hotaru said. "So Ipunched him. And I shouldn't have." She looked up at all of them. "I'm sorry."

Mama Michiru raised her eyebrow and glanced around at the others. Then she sighed. "Alright," she said.

Her father nodded. "I want you to know," he said. "That in any other situation I would have you write a letter of apology to Mr. Kato, bring the three of you in for detention counselling, and have that be the end of things." He gave her a kind look. "However, given that you are my daughter, and thus I rely on you to be a model of behaviour at school."

Hotaru sighed.

"Your punishment does need to be harsher if I want Mr. Kato's parents to be assured I am not guilty of favouritism."

"So suspension," Hotaru stated, shoulders slumping.

"Yes," her father said. And she looked up when Mama Setsuna and Mama Michiru put a hand on her shoulders. "Through Friday." He cleared his throat. "I'm aware that I am not the best voice to help you cope with the particularly negative spin the news has taken since last week… and so I think so long as we take necessary precautions," he looked at her over the top of his glasses. "And you do all of your classwork."

"She will," Setsuna assured him.

"Then you will serve your suspension at your… at your mothers' house."

Hotaru stared at him. He'd never called them that before. "I'm… being rewarded… for punching someone."

"No," Michiru clarified. "You are still being punished. You're not allowed to have Chibiusa or Kara over, and there will be absolutely no TV and no bike rides."

"Mhmm," Haruka nodded though she looked disappointed. "That'd make people ask questions."

"But…but I can stay with you…for three days?"

"And the weekend," Mr. Tomoe smiled. "Provided you do not get caught outside with the press."

"Why?" Hotaru asked, standing up from her chair.

Souichi Tomoe stood as well, walking out from behind his desk. "Because your classmates aren't going to stop spreading rumors about the Senshi, Hotaru, and I think you'd do better to spend the week with other people who understand the affects of these rumors far better than I do." He smiled. "It is our hope that the next time Mr. Kato or one of his friends begins to taunt you, you'll feel secure enough not to knock him on the ground."

"Unless he tries it first," Haruka interjected.

Hotaru moved away from her chair and around the office to her father, hugging him tightly. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Don't thank me yet," her father murmured when she pulled away. "You'll still have to come to a counselling session with Mr. Kato on Monday."

"Fine," Hotaru looked back at her three moms. "Does my suspension start right now?"

"Well there are two hours left of the day," Mr. Tomoe said.

"But it's only Algebra!" Hotaru said. "And History…"

"We'll have her do extra homework," Setsuna assured him.

Mr. Tomoe'd rolled his eyes. "Alright." And Hotaru then had to try incredibly hard not to grin when Papa Haruka put her arm around her shoulders and Mama Setsuna transformed and summoned the time doors to take them home.

"I'll stop by for her homework at dinner time," Sailor Pluto promised Mr. Tomoe as Hotaru ran ahead through the doors. "Thank you."

He shook his head. "It's what's best for her." He'd leaned against his desk. "How do you all plan to get on top of these press stories?"

"We were working on it," Setsuna said. "Right now, actually."

She let the doors close on the office then, as Hotaru exchanged a wave with her father. The sands swirled only once before the doors opened again, onto the bright living room of the penthouse. Hotaru ran out ahead of all of them.

"We're doing a bang up job of making this a punishment," Haruka muttered.

"She hasn't spent more than a night here in ages," Michiru smiled. "I don't think it was ever going to feel like a punishment."

"Did you know this was going to happen today?" Hotaru called from the kitchen, appearing through the window of the breakfast bar. She was holding a handful of cookies. "You did, didn't you! These are fresh!" She bit one and wrinkled her nose, glaring at the cookie "Why does it have ginger in it?"

"Not my call, kid," Haruka said. "Ask Michi."

"They have ginger because they're not for you," Michiru explained. "I baked them because ginger is something that reliably goes down well and I've been craving it in sweets all week." She walked into the kitchen herself and lifted a plate off the top of the microwave. "That said, yes we did know this was going to happen, and since I didn't want to be unfair – these are yours."

Hotaru grinned as she took them from Michiru. The chocolate chips were still melty. "Thanks, wait," She frowned up at Michiru. "Why did you say 'goes down well' are you sick?"

Michiru giggled. "I thought we went over this Friday…"

Hotaru's eyes widened. "Oh…yeah… that."

"That," Michiru said as she smirked and absently rested one hand over her stomach.

"At least Kara's parents have a replacement."

Hotaru looked at the plate of cookies. "These are great," she said. "Can I take them to my room and do my homework?"

"Did I hear that right?" Haruka asked. She and Setsuna were leaning through the breakfast bar window. "The first thing you want to do now that you're home is your homework."

"Uh… yeah!" Hotaru insisted. "Cause I want to be responsible."

"Your father won't have your homework for the week ready until 19:00," Setsuna said.

"No… but I already have my homework from my morning classes," Hotaru said, adjusting her backpack. "I can get that done now."

Her parents exchanged glances, and shrugs. "Alright," Setsuna said. "Try not to eat all of them before dinner."

"I won't!" Hotaru promised, walking into the hallway.

"And dinner will be at 18:30," Setsuna said. "Mina will be here, but that's it."

"Mina?" Hotaru wondered for a moment. And then realized. "She lives here now."

"Well it is the best place to get some peace and quiet," Haruka said. "Which Mina needs more than the rest of us, I bet."

"But otherwise it'll just be us," Michiru assured her, "And you'll get the chance to talk about everything going on in the news."

Hotaru bit her lip. "Okay." She turned down the hall towards her room. "See you later."

"She's acting a little strange," Haruka noted once they'd heard Hotaru's door slam. Setsuna and Michiru nodded in agreement.

"Maybe she's just having a bad day," Michiru said. "I feel like she and Chibiusa will have to deal with more fall out from this than us."

"Cause now they're constantly hearing everyone talk about it and having to watch their backs," Haruka said.

"We need to get our voice back into the media," Setsuna said, "Try to quell the tension."

"How?" Michiru wondered. "The anchors and the journalists would just skew our words to fit their story… there's no one unbiased."

Setsuna's eyes widened. "Not unbiased no…" she considered it… it might be enough. They could wait until the city was not so high strung from the battle and release it in the Sunday papers…. "But maybe bias is good. If they're biased enough to tell our side of things." She whipped out her phone.

Setsuna: My Queen, I think your father will be able to help us with our media problem.

Neo Queen Serenity: Setsunaaaaaaa XD you know you don't have to call me that.

Neo Queen Serenity: Wait…How?

Ikuko Tsukino heard her daughter's phone ping and then Usagi cheer. She turned around, pleased to see a hopeful smile on her face as she leaned against the kitchen counter. "Good news?" she asked, closing the oven and dusting her hands off on her apron.

"The best news!" Usagi looked up at her. "Setsuna figured out how to get the media to tell our side!"

"That's wonderful!" Ikuko said. "How?"

"We can have Dad write the story."

The Tsukino matriarch beamed. "And then it would be printed in the newspaper that originally broke the story – honey that's excellent!" She moved to get the plates down from the cabinet. "You know I've been telling him he should pitch a story telling your side of things. He is an editor after all. But he keeps saying 'only if Usagi asks. He's being too polite about treading on any…"

She nearly dropped the plates as the front door slammed. Kenji Tsukino stormed in, jerking his tie loose from his collar and setting down his briefcase. He stood in the kitchen, closed his eyes, and sighed.

"Dad?" Usagi frowned.

"I did it," he said. "The paper's executives are going to regret this."

"Dear…" Ikuko said, setting down the plates and turning around. She crossed her arms. "You're home early…"

"I am." He nodded, smiling. In the living room the TV turned off and Chibiusa and Shingo came to the doorway. "And – I know I might be regretting it next week when the bills come in. But honestly, Honey, I feel great about it now."

"Great about what?" Shingo asked.

"Son – I told them exactly what happens when you push a man to far. I tell you they've been pressuring me to interview my own daughter for weeks – all for a story." He opened his eyes and grinned. "So I told them if they wanted to focus on this and not on all the other noteworthy news stories around this city, they could find themselves a new lackie!" He looked at all of them, still grinning. "I quit."

They all gaped at him. Usagi glanced nervously at her mother.

Ikuko narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me?"

"I quit!" Kenji repeated merrily. "They've been pressuring me to do a senshi interview for weeks – and I wasn't having it – so I quit."

"No!" Ikuko whispered in a voice that made the children shiver. "No. Absolutely not."

"Uh," Kenji gulped. "Now Honey, come on."

"You mean to tell me," Ikuko said. "That you've had the chance to tell their side of the story for weeks, and you've been turning it down."

"No!" Kenji said. "They've wanted me to write the paper's side, not Usagi's – I put my foot down." And he stamped his foot on the kitchen floor for emphasis.

Ikuko shook her head. "No, I don't believe this. You are a senior editor." She said, heels clacking as she walked up to her husband, standing nose to nose with him. "Did it ever occur to you to press them to publish the story you wanted to write?"

"Er…"

"Because you absolutely could have," Ikuko told him, fixing his hair. "You are an amazing writer – which you know, because you are the youngest senior editor at any of the major papers."

"I only work hard!" Kenji said. "I also work ethically."

"And that's what you're going to do now." She grabbed his tie, tightened it back up to his collar and straightened his coat. "You are going to march yourself back to work. And you are going to tell them "yes." You will write a story about the senshi. You will write as many stories as they want. In fact you will write them a whole book, because you will more than have the interview material to do so."

"But…it's Usagi's and her friends."

"And that's what they've decided they want – a writer they trust to tell precisely everything that all the rumors are getting wrong." She reached down, grabbed his briefcase and pressed it back into his hand. "And who better than you?"

"Um."

"Exactly."

"But…" Kenji stuttered. "But I've just quit."

"Then you'd better demand your job back hadn't you – before you even get to the office. Here." She snatched his phone from his pocket and scanned through the contacts list. It was already ringing when she put it in his hand. "Go on, you have work to do."

"I…" Kenji said as she coerced him out the door. They saw his eyes widen as someone on the other end picked up the phone. "Yes! Hello. I've just spoken to my wife. I mean I'll do the story! I mean… yes, I would like to keep my job. Yes… I'm coming in to discuss that now. G-goodbye."

He lowered the phone as the paper's executive hung up. He was standing in the doorway now. And Ikuko was smiling at him.

"All set?" she asked him

"I think so…" he said.

"I knew you could do it, sweetie." She leaned up and kissed him, pushing him further out the front door in the process. "Now, I don't want to see you in this house again until dinner, when you tell us all about your next interview." And before Kenji could respond, she shut the front door.

"And that," she nodded to Usagi, "Is how you handle men."

She looked at Shingo and Chibiusa. "I heard the TV on. I'm sure you saw Juuban's re-opening the middle school tomorrow. Have you finished your homework yet?"

"No!" They confessed together immediately. "We're almost done," Shingo said, grabbing Chibiusa's hand and pulling her back into the living room.

"I haven't done anything yet!" Shingo said as they reached the living room where the pencil case lay unopened on the coffee table atop their textbooks. "Here," He said, shoving it at Chibiusa. "Are there any highlighters in there?" he asked, grabbing the top most textbook and shuffling through it. Science. Did he have science homework to do?

"There's one left," Chibiusa was saying. "Lemme – ahh!" Shingo jumped as the pencil case slammed into the coffee table, pencils and erasers and the high lighter spilling out of the open box.

He looked up at Chibiusa and his eyes widened. "Your hands!"

Chibiusa crossed her arms. "They're sweaty, shut up."

"No they're like…see through."

"No they're not," Chibiusa said, holding them out to him. "See."

He blinked. And he grabbed her right hand just to be sure. "But… but."

"Uncle Shingo," Chibiusa rolled her eyes. "You're seeing things."

He gaped at her. "But…"

"It just slipped," Chibiusa said, staring at him with hard amber eyes. "Got it?"

Shingo nodded. "Um…"

"Got it!"

He looked her up and down and stared at her hands, which were fists in her lap. But still solid. "Maybe I was seeing things," he muttered.

"Exactly," Chibiusa nodded and grabbed her math practice book off the table. "Pass me the purple one," she said, pointing to one of the pencils near his side of the table.

Shingo did, and watched her for ten minutes, his eyes tracking her steady hand as she solved every problem on the page. "Chibiusa…"

"Don't tell Usagi," she whispered. "I'm fine."

~Á Suivre~