Chapter Nine: Past, Present, and Future

There was quite a bit of an uproar after Ami made her announcement about the energy signature of the light that had emanated from Chibi-Usa during their encounter with the Shinshin Senshi. It was hardly surprising when the Mercurian had pronounced the energy to be the same as the Mabroroshi no Ginzuishou. The same Ginzuishou that was in the possession of their brainwashed best friend and princess, which was thus tainted by the darkness that currently inhabited her soul. They had all felt the difference in the crystal when they had encountered dark Serenity and by Ami-chan's words, the light that come from Chibi-Usa was the same as that very same crystal if it had been in its untainted state. There was just no possible or reasonably logical explanation for the Mercury computer's results. Or was there?

Several side glances were made at the pink-haired child; glances that revealed a little girl with a rather guilty expression on her face. Was the Ginzuishou that Serenity possessed perhaps a dud? Had Chibi-Usa, in fact, stolen it again as she had done before the final showdown with Crimson Rubeus? If so, then what about the crystal that Serenity had been using? A copy crystal made from the Black Crystal that was simply more powerful because it was Serenity using it? Usagi was powerful without the Ginzuishou, the crystal gave her a major power-up. But Chibi-Usa had been the one to come crying for help when Usagi had been fighting a Droid. There was no way she could have done that if Usagi hadn't transformed, which wasn't possible without the crstyal.

"Chibi-Usa…" Mamoru said slowly, not knowing exactly what he should ask. It was clear the child was hiding something, but he didn't know what it was. He didn't want to ask the wrong thing and upset her. Whatever the power was or if it was truly the Ginzuishou, it was clear that the other side hadn't liked it. Both times, their opponents had fled from them after Chibi-Usa had emitted the energy.

"I didn't take Usagi's crystal again," Chibi-Usa cried, clutching Luna-P in her arms and begging them with her eyes to believe her; the problem was that while her voice was sincere, there was guilt shining in her eyes. Where was the guilt coming from? "I swear I didn't!"

The child's toy, which they had long since realized was more then a toy, reacted to the child's pleas. How it was capable of such feats of comprehension, not to mention all of the other tricks it had pulled off, was a question that they had never been able to answer. Luna-P pulled itself free of Chibi-Usa's arm and bounced on its own a few times before freezing in the air. The antenna stood straight up and projected a holographic image above it of the moon while repeating over and over in a robotic voice, "To the Moon! Answers there!"

Looks were exchanged around the group again before Luna stated the obvious. "I guess that means we should go to the Moon find our answers. We leave tonight when the moon is full."

The feline glanced back at the child's toy, which had at once,to her outrage, been pointed out to have some resemblance to her (which she still could not see, or refused to see). Luna-P was still projecting an image of the Moon. The original place of her mistress's birth and where she was certain her lady's mother's spirit still resided. The others were still unaware, but Luna knew in her heart that Queen Serenity's spirit still haunted the ruins of the Moon Kingdom. It would be hard to face her withcout the Princess. Even harder still to tell the Queen that she had failed her duty to guard the Princess as she should.

'Forgive me, Your Majesty.'

It was one thing to say they were going to the Moon, it was quite another to actually accomplish. Usagi's mysterious disappearance had caused quite a stir in the city, even moreso with those who had known the blonde. Children were expected to check in frequently with their parents of guardians to reassure them that they were alive and hadn't vanished out of thin air. They had no way of knowing how long they would be away finding their answers (although obviously it would be in the terms of hours and not days) so a cover would have to be made to allow them to make the trip without worrying loved ones.

Or to be precise Rei, Ami, Minako and Chibi-Usa would need cover stories (particularly the little girl considering she was a 'niece' of the Tsukino household of the missing young lady). Makoto and Mamoru had no one family that would care if they went missing or not. The girls snuck looks at Makoto and Mamoru, the moment really hammering in what the two were missing in comparison to what they all had. And to understand how much more that Usagi would mean to those two on another level because of it.

They all managed to convince their respective loved ones that they were having a sleepover at Makoto's as a way to cheer themselves up from the worry and fear that Usagi's disappearance had caused. It was as close as the truth since they had been spending more time together and had crashing at Makoto's or sometimes even Mamoru's as they tried to figure out a way how to get back their fearless leader. Luna-P would be left connected to Makoto's phone-line to receive and handle any parental phone calls and ease their worries. It was a bit disconcerting to find out how well the damn toy could imitate their voices, let alone be able to answer in a way they themselves would have if it had actually been them speaking.

Once their cover story was in place, the group gathered in a clearing in the small forest near the Hikawa Shrine. The girls and Mamoru transformed into their alter egos as here was no way they had the power in their civilian forms to make the trip. Tuxedo Kamen and Chibi-Usa held hands, while using their free hands to hold the felines. The Senshi moved to stand around the four of them, equidistant at the four cardinal point before raising their arms, hands up palms facing the two Senshi in the cardinal points diagonal from her.

"Mercury Star Power!"

"Mars Star Power!"

"Jupiter Star Power!"

"Venus Star Power!"

"Sailor Teleport!"

A column of white light swallowed the group, momentarily blinding them before it faded away to reveal that they were no longer in the forest. However, the place they found themselves did not resemble the Moon, or at least not the Moon that the Senshi had visited when they made their one and only trip more then a year ago with Sailor Moon. Back then the Moon Kingdom had been in ruins, nothing more then rubble that could hardly be identified with the places that they could remember. The one place that had even a vague resemblance to the one in their past lives had been the Moon Palace, but it too had been reduced to nothing more then fragmented slabs of white marble and broken white ionic columns to indicate what had once stood on the land.

This time it was very different. They weren't standing in the fallen remains of what was, but in a grandiose room of white and gold and unbroken ionic columns. The walls and columns had to be at least twenty feet up high to a large dome ceiling that was painted with scenes that were vaguely familiar, a reminder of the fact that as much as they knew of their former incarnations, the Senshi's memories were still rather incomplete. Even Tuxedo Kamen, who had regained more memories than the young women, realized that his memories were also lacking as well. As for Chibi-Usa, she was entranced by everything she saw and there was much to see.

Hanging from the white marble wall were large banners, the largest and most predominant ones were in white trimmed with gold and displayed the House Crest of the White Moon: a gold crescent moon cradling the Mabroroshi no Ginzuishou in it's lotus flower form. The other banners, they realized, represented the planets. The Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen, after a few moments, were able to pick up their banners and with them a few more memories of the past came that hadn't been before.

"It wasn't like this the last time," Venus said, gazing up once more at the dome ceiling and the mural of the images that caused faint wisps of memories to come to mind. She took it all in and this time noted the large skylight in the dome that revealed the Earth glowing above them in the night sky. It was stunning to realize how much she really didn't remember of the past compared to what she thought she had.

Out of the Senshi, Venus had remembered the most after Sailor Moon due to her earlier awakening when the Dark Kingdom stirred again on Earth. Still she had always been aware that not all of her memories had returned, just the ones that had been the most relevant: who they had once been and why and their reason to fight now… well they hadn't really needed the latter. They had been reborn into new lives, but their souls, the core of who they were, had remained the same and none of them had been the type to run away from saving the plane they now called home when they had the power to fight. Even more important, after meeting Usagi, their Princess, there was nothing that could make them walk away from protecting their beloved lady.

So this room, while somewhat familiar to them on some level, was also unknown and it certainly hadn't been like this the last time the Senshi had been here.

"The last time you visited the Moon, the Silver Millennium had not been resurrected. When the Princess prayed and used the power of the holy stone, the Mabroroshi no Ginzuishou to defeat Beryl and Metallia she brought about its resurrection."

The group turned towards the sound of the voice and saw the ghostly figure of Queen Serenity seated upon one of the two thrones upon the dais at one end of the room, the Crescent Moon Wand gripped in one hand in its extended scepter form. The other throne that sat lower and was less elaborate but no less elegant or lovely was empty, as of course it would be. It was the Princess's throne. The Senshi curtsied as Tuxedo Kamen and the felines bowed (well in the case of the cats their heads and upper body lowered to the ground). Chibi-Usa, on the other hand, stared up at the ghostly Queen as she rose from her throne and approached them. Whether it was a conscious decision on her part, the child met the Queen halfway as she continued to gaze up at the older woman.

"You look my mommy," the child said.

Queen Serenity smiled down at the child and a transparent hand reached out to touch the little girl's cheek. "I should hope so, since your mommy is my daughter."

"WHAT!?"

"Oh dear, it seems that I," the Queen shot an amused glance at the cats, "if you will excuse the expression, let the cat out of the bag. Well there's no taking it back, but I think it best if I take you to the one who can safely answer the questions I know you all must have."

The Queen looked down at Chibi-Usa and a transparent hand reached out to cup the child's face. Though she realized that the lady was a ghost, Chibi-Usa still felt like she could feel warmth coming from the lady's hand. 'Not just any lady. My grandma."

"Follow me," Queen Serenity ordered, her hand dropping away from her grandchild and turning to point at the Crescent Moon Wand at the dais. A beam of light shot out of the wand and a portal opened up before them into a long hallway. They trailed behind her as she led them down the hallway that was lit only by candlelight and by a doorway at the other end, for there was no windows to allow in natural light.

Then finally reached the doorway and entered a circular-shaped room that was brightly lit from above by a crystal chandelier. Like the hallway, there was no window in the room yet there was faint breeze that made the crystals in the chandelier clink against each other and create an impromptu but haunting melody of chimes. At the other side of the room resided a large elaborate white double door that was braced by ionic marble columns. Each door had five panels depicting the phases of the moon. Standing next to the door and facing it was a bronze-tanned skin-toned woman with long green hair that was so dark that it seemed to border closer to black. The woman was dressed in sailor fuku of black and garnet red, a chain wrapped loosely around her waist like Venus's Love-Me Chain, with the main difference of being silver and having several small silver keys hanging from it, and held long staff that a large key. While the woman didn't appear to be no more then a handful of years older then the Senshi, there was something timeless about her; no ageless as she existed outside time itself.

"Puu," Chibi-Usa cried, running to the unknown Senshi.

The Senshi turned towards them and glanced down at the child. There was a moment of hesitation and then a smile graced her face. "Small Lady," the Senshi said dropping down to one knee so she could hug the child. "It is good to see you, sweetheart, although I was not meant to see you in this time so soon."

"Puu? What do you mean," the child questioned.

"I am Puu, Chibi-Usa, but I am not the Puu that you know in the thirtieth-century," the Senshi said.

"It would be best to start at the beginning, Pluto," Queen Serenity said. "I'm not sure what effects it would cause, but I've already admitted to the relationship between me and the child. I brought them all here since you are the only one who could safely explain things and not throw the time space continuum into a total mess."

"They were meant to know so it won't effect things too terribly much," Pluto replied, "however things are not occurring as they should. Let me start at the beginning. I am Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of the Gates of Time. In this century, I have not awakened completely as a Senshi as the rest of you have. However, because the Gates may never be left unprotected, a part of my conscious and power has separated from the body that I have reincarnated in this time to stand watch at the Gates."

"So you are saying that in a manner of speaking that like Queen Serenity, you are a spirit who stands guard while your civilian and mortal body continues through the motions of life in its unawakened state," Sailor Mercury said, her understanding of the situation, as usual, was spot on.

"That is correct, Mercury," Sailor Pluto answered. "There will be a time when my mortal flesh will awaken as all of you have, but that time is not now. Chibi-Usa comes from the future, the thirtieth-century to precise and in that time I have awakened completely and stand guard at the Gates in both body and soul. It is that 'me' that she knows of and who knows her. However, my role as the Guardian allows me to see the flow of time to although with some limitations, which is why I knew of Chibi-Usa even if I have yet to meet her in this time of my life."

"Queen Serenity said Chibi-Usa was her granddaughter," Jupiter recalled, remembering the shock of the statement and its implications that had been pushed back when they had followed the Queen and met this new ally. "That means…"

"Yes, what you are thinking is correct," responded Pluto. "Telling you this does not change the flow of time as it was meant for you to know, however there has been a great change in the space-time continuum due to the Princess being brainwashed and tainted by the Black Crystal. The natural order of things was that you would have all learned of the future and Chibi-Usa's true identity when you followed her through the flow of time of to the thirtieth-century. This issue with the Princess's current state changes things, however not to so much that it changes the knowledge you must know.

Sometime in the distant future a great disaster nearly destroyed the Earth and the rest of the universe, however the Princess was able to intervene and with the Mabroroshi no Ginzuishou saved our part of the universe. It was then that she officially took up her roles as Queen of the Moon and High Queen of the Silver Millennium as well as ascending to the throne as Earth's Queen. She is known as Neo-Queen Serenity and and she is mother of Chibi-Usa and wife of King Endymion."

The Senshi of Time paused and glanced at Tuxedo Kamen.

"King Endymion, as in your future self Chiba Mamoru. Chibi-Usa is your future daughter. Yours and Usagi's."

Though Tuxedo Kamen suspected the truth when Queen Serenity had claimed Chibi-Usa as kin, there had been so doubt thanks to the current situation and the fact that it was his actions that had driven the wedge between him and his love. To have the the truth confirmed and have the visible reminder of the future result of what his and Usagi's love had created and how that was possible made the masked man blush. He was no virgin, but being with Usagi made his past fade and nothing that had happened back then could compare to even the simplest pleasure of holding his lady's hand.

"Huh, what? Usagi is my mother! No way!" Chibi-Usa protested, as it had not occurred to her that the daughter that Queen Serenity had been referring to was Usagi. She had said that she was her mama's mama. No way, that was Usagi. She may have been the great and powerful warrior her daddy had told her about (and wow wasn't it cool that Tuxdeo Kamen was her daddy in the past), but how could clumsy Usagi be her beautiful and elegant mother?

"Chibi-Usa, you came to the past to obtain Sailor Moon's help and the Mabroroshi no Ginzuishou of this time," pointed out Pluto. "Sailor Moon possessed the Ginzuishou in this time and your mother had it in the future. How do you think your mother got it? Did you believe that Sailor Moon knew your mother and gave her Ginzuishou? Come now, you know better. Despite our enemies rabid desires to posses the crystal, only one of the White Moon bloodline could ever wield it successfully to it's full power. You know this. Think about it, little one. You have seen your mother in Usagi before."

Chibi-Usa frowned, feeling a headache coming on as her young mind tried to work. But she could deny Pluto's words. There had been moments when she was here in the past with Usagi that had reminded her of time spend with her mother. Like Usagi, her mother enjoyed reading manga. There had been times when Neo-Queen Serenity had been able to have some free time away from her duties as regent that she would indulge in her favorite pastimes; one of them had been curling up in bed with her daughter and reading manga that was age appropriate for Chibi-Usa to enjoy. The child had been well aware that the manga choice was for her and that her mama would have probably reading the ones that Aunt Lara or Aunt Bellaniece were known to read. But she had never doubted that her mother had ever resented spending her time reading manga with her child, nor that she hadn't enjoyed it.

She had similar memories in the past as well of spending rainy afternoons reading manga with Usagi. Usagi hadn't minded reading with Chibi-Usa or even being interrupted from her own manga to answer a question on a word that Chibi-Usa came across that unfamiliar to her. Just like her mama would do. And then there had been all those moments when she had been by Usagi's side (or Sailor Moon's side who was Usagi, but she hadn't known that all the time) when she had felt as safe as she had been with her mother.

"Usagi is the past self of my mama," Chibi-Usa slowly stated, although her tone was more questioning the verity of the statement then saying a fact. She gazed up at Queen Serenity and Sailor Pluto who both nodded.

All this time she had been looking in the past for a way to save her mother in her own time. She had thought that all it would take was to get her hands on the Ginzuishou in this time. Though she remembered the stories her papa had told her about Sailor Moon, she had been hesitant to ask the heroine from her bedtime stories to help her. Puu had said that it really wasn't a good thing for two identical from two different points of time to be in one place together for too long. It made thinks… well she couldn't remember exactly how Puu had explained, but Chibi-Usa was sure the general gist was it made things wonky. She hadn't known who Sailor Moon's future self was and she knew Sailor Moon would never come help without the others and there was no way the Sailor Senshi could come because she didn't think the thirtieth century could be saved fast enough before the wonkiness happened.

But she hadn't been able to get the Ginzuishou. Usagi could be ditzy at times, but she had been very good at protecting the crystal except for that one time when Chibi-Usa had been really sneaky just like… it was just like it had been with her mama. Because Usagi was her mama. And now her mama in the past needed help just like she did in the future. Except this time her mama wasn't sleeping encased on a crystal altar. The Black Moon had taken her mama had made her bad because Usagi had been hurting. Hurting because Mamo-chan, her papa in the past, had hurt her because of the dreams he had. Dreams that had started coming because of her. Because she had come to the past.

Pain filled her heart as her soul cried out in denial of the truth. Her eyes took on a watery sheen as they filled with tears at the hard truth of what had happened in her own time and here in the past. Everything that had gone wrong for her mama was her fault.

"It's my fault," she cried, hot tears pouring down her cheeks as her small body trembled from the wrenching sobs that wracked it. "The future…. now… it's all my fault! Everything bad that's happened is because of me! I'm a bad girl! I'm a bad daughter." The little girl dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around herself as she cried. "I'm sorry Mommy. I'm sorry!"

Tuxedo Kamen dropped down on one knee and gathered the little girl in his arms. His little girl, he thought with some amazement as he he held her close and rocked her as she sobbed into his shirt. He and Usagi would one day make this beautiful little girl; it certainly explained the attachment he felt for her and why her tears, like Usagi's, had the power to cut him off at his knees.

"Shhh…" he said, rubbing her back as her tears slowly subsided. "Chibi-Usa, we can't help if we don't know what's wrong. No matter how bad things may seem, there's always hope. Usagi… your mother faced the greatest power of the Dark Kingdom and she won."

"She did," the child asked in a hiccuping voice, her naturally crimson eyes even redder from all the tears she had shed.

"That's right, she did," Jupiter chimed in. "And she was all by herself."

"Well almost all," Mars corrected. "We were there in spirit."

"Why in spirit?"

"Because we were dead, sweetie," Venus answered. "The Dark Kingdom sent their most powerful youma, the Doom and Gloom sisters after us. And it took everything we had to defeat them."

"But we died to protect your mother," said Mercury. "Because she's very dear to us and because we believed that she could win. And that could save your papa, because he was brainwashed to be bad just like Black Moon's brainwashed Usagi now."

"And she freed me," Tuxdo Kamen continued, "and then she defeated Queen Beryl who had merged with Queen Metallia. She believed and she gave it her all and because she believed, the Senshi were able to transcend their deaths and be there for her in spirit to add their power to hers. I don't know what you think you've done that puts you at fault, Chibi-Usa, but we can fix this. You have to believe in that and to believe in us and most of all to believe in Usagi. We're going to get her back. I promise you that and we'll get your mama back in the future too."

Chibi-Usa stared up at the man who had be her daddy in truth in one day and saw the determination and strength in his eyes. She turned to look at the Senshi and the cats who all nodded encouragingly at her and then at Puu and the lady ghost who was her grandmother, Queen Serenity.

"Okay…"

The child looked down at the ground as she clung to Tuxdo Kamen and took a deep breath and looked up. It was time to come clean.

"Puu said, the one in my time, that time travel wasn't a good thing to do because it mess things up. But… I used Luna-P to scare Puu so I could steal a Time Key from the chain around her waist so I could come to the past. If I hadn't come to the past then Mamo-chan wouldn't have those dreams that made him break up with Usagi and… then the Black Moon couldn't have taken and brainwashed her to be evil…"

"Oh Chibi-Usa, you can't blame yourself for that," protested Venus. "There's no way of knowing if your arrival was directly responsible for the dreams. It could have been very well the Black Moon showing up that did it."

"That's right," Mercury added. "The Black Moon came to the past in hopes of contaminating Crystal Points. There arrival could have just an easily been the reason for those dreams as your arrival. In fact it's more likely it's them since it's their fault Usagi has been brainwashed."

"And Mamoru is a grown man. Regardless of what caused his dreams, he's responsible for his actions and the results they caused," said Jupiter. "We can only hope he's learned his lesson from this and not pull a stunt like this in the future."

A noise that sounded very much like a snort that had come Sailor Pluto's direction was heard with a muttered, "Doubtful, he still screws it up there too."

"So that takes care of the past," Mars said, glancing at the Senshi of a Time with a thoughtful expression on her face. As the Senshi of Prophecy, she had glimpses of possible futures to come which allowed her to take action against a negative one, but Mars realized as the Senshi of Time, it was quite possible that if Sailor Pluto wanted to, the Senshi knew everything that happened and had the headache of trying to decide how much to say or interfere with what had to happen to maintain time's balance. "Why do you blame yourself for what happened in your time?"

"None of the other kids in school believed I was Mama's daughter," the child began. "I was too little and I didn't have any power so they said there was just no way I could be the daughter of the Queen. I wanted to prove them wrong… I slipped into mama and papa's room where she kept the Ginzuishou when she didn't have it with her. I thought… I thought if I borrowed it for a little while I could prove that my mama was Neo-Queen Serenity…. but… but when I picked it up it started glowing and disappeared!"

Chibi-Usa glanced up at the others, fearful but ready to see the condemnation in their eyes for what she had done, but there was nothing that she could see. But it would come. She knew because she hadn't told them the worst part.

"I knew Mama would get mad. I lost the Ginzuishou so… I ran away from the Crystal Palace. I didn't want to see her mad at me and I know she'd be sad to for what I'd done. It was when I was outside the Palace that the Black Moon first attacked Crystal Tokyo. People were screaming and buildings were being blown apart and crumbling down. I was so scared and," the child's voice began to quiver as she started to cry once more, "that's when Mama came outside. She left the Palace to come find me and then the Black Moon hit her with the energy from the Black Crystal. She got hurt because of me. She came looking for me and she didn't have the Ginzuishou to protect her. I lost it and she came outside where it wasn't safe to find me. It's all my fault!"

Everyone except for Sailor Pluto and Queen Serenity was struck frozen by the child's words. Though there was some truth that the blame was on Chibi-Usa for trying to take the Ginzuishou without her mother's permission, she had no way of knowing what her actions would have done. And it certainly wasn't her fault that her mother had been outside on the day of the attack. The child hadn't known the Black Moon would show up and crash her happy existence. If not for them, it would have been another normal day except the issue of the missing Ginzuishou, but they were certain that without the Black Moon's presence there future selves would have resolved the issue quick enough.

And as for Sailor Pluto and the Queen… well they knew the truth of the matter as the Senshi of Time and as a Queen who was now a ghost and thus privy to all sorts of time secrets that she had been mostly denied in life. But a ghost couldn't impact the flow of time as easily as a living woman, so she knew the truth of the matter. Just as she was aware of how the course of time should have flowed, but for some reason the events that Pluto had told her of had not come to pass. It should have been this extraordinary grandchild of hers who would have been plied with lies and brainwashed, not her sweet daughter Serenity. Yet time had not gone as it should and now Pluto and she had to do what they could to ensure the future came to pass it should even though the current time was thrown in chaos by those huge change in events.

"You didn't lose the Ginzuishou, Chibi-Usa," Queen Serenity announced, causing the child to stop crying and glance up to gaze at her grandmother in surprise and wary hope. "You are a child of the White Moon and the one true heir to the Ginzuishou after your mother. When you picked up the crystal, it reacted to your desire to prove to the world that you were truly the daughter of the powerful lady who ruled it. As a child, the powers that you wield are dormant inside you until you are older and able to property being to wield it or… a catalyst happens to force it active. "

The Queen smiled down at the child of her child. Despite some differences in appearance that would change as the little girl grew older, Chibi-Usa was her mother's daughter in every way.

"That catalsyt is the Ginzuishou. You may have thought possessing the Ginzuishou would give you powers like your mother, but they were already there inside you sleeping and what you wanted more than the Ginzuishou was proof of those powers. The crystal merely reacted to your heart's pure wish and started the process to wake up your powers earlier then nature intended."

"But it disappeared, Grandma," the child protested.

"It did indeed, my pet," agreed the Queen. "The crystal disappeared into your body to being awakening your powers."

"In me?"

"Yes, in you. It's quite remarkable as your mother did the same thing in her past life and gave the High Court a scare when she came crying into the throne room that she had lost the Ginzuishou." Queen Serenity chuckled, able to laugh now with amusement of the past long ago, although at the time she had not found it quite so funny. Luckily it hadn't taken long to realize what her daughter had done and fix it."You never needed the Ginzuishou of the twentieth century for you had the one from your time all along. It's been inside of you all this time, protecting you and slowly awakening the power that you possess as my granddaughter… as your mother, Neo-Queen Serenity's daughter. Now close your eyes and think of the crystal, see it in your hands..."

Chibi-Usa quickly obeyed, letting her eyes fall shut as she thought of the Ginzuishou. It had been her in all this time? A part of her was skeptical, but if it was true… She thought hard about the crystal and then she began to feel warm feeling inside her chest that grew hot until finally she head a gasp. Her eyes flew open to see the Ginzuishou cupped in her hands.

"It really was in me! Look! The Mabroroshi no Ginzuishou!"

"You've done well, Chibi-Usa," Tuxedo Kamen praised her.

"Very well," agreed her grandmother, "and with the Mabroroshi no Ginzuishou you will be able to save your mother, both in this time and yours. The power of the crystal and your love for you mother will be able to help you bring her who she was. If you can do that, then you will be able to save your mother in your own time."

"Well that certainly explains why the Black Moon has run every time that light came from Chibi-Usa," Venus pointed out. "She must have been unconsciously wielding the power from the crystal and lessening the effects of whatever the Wise Man did to brainwash Usagi."

"Yes, and it probably had some effects upon the Shishin as well," Mercury theorized, pulling her Mercury mini-computer from her subspace pocket. If we can just pin down Usagi long enough for Chibi-Usa to use the Ginzuishou and combine our powers with it before they try to snatch her away to interrupt our efforts, we may be able to cleanse the dark energy from her and manage to get through to her."

"So we have a plan," Jupiter said, punching one hand into the palm of the other. "We work together to get Usagi back and then we kick the Black Moon's as- er heine." The Senshi of Jupiter shot a glance at the child who seemed oblivious to the slip of tongue. Chibi-Usa focus was on the crystal in her hands and the hope that she could right the wrongs she had done. The others may have believed that she wasn't guilty, but she still felt differently. She had to fix what her actions had done.

"Before you leave," Pluto said suddenly out of the blue, "I think it would be best if all of you regained your full memories of your past lives.:

"Pluto," Queen Serenity questioned, but the Senshi of Time merely shook her head.

Whatever her reasons, Sailor Pluto wouldn't say it front of the others. The Time Guardian closed her right hand into a fist and focused her attention on it until a sphere of light glowed around it and then faded away. She opened her hand and in it appeared to be five large black spheres (really the rather resembled marbles to be quite frank), each with the planetary symbols of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Jupiter etched into the sides of them in gold.

"Take the sphere that is yours and press it to your heart," Pluto instructed. When the five had taken their spheres and pressed them to their hearts as instructed, she knelt before the cats and pressed the palm of each hand against their furry chests, feeling the beat of the hearts. "It's best you remember to if you two remember as well."

The Time Senshi's hands began to glow once more at the same time as the spheres pressed to hearts of the five humans glowed as well. Heat entered the seven as memories of another time poured into their minds.

"I just hope this is the right decision…"

Though they had a plan on how to save Usagi and through her to save the four friends who were now the enemy Shishin, it was quite another thing to execute the plan when the ones involved didn't show up. It had been over a week since they had returned from the trip to the Moon, elated that they now had the power to save their Princess through Chibi-Usa and Ginzuishou of the future and perhaps a bit sadder and wiser with the full memories of the past. Sailor Pluto had a reason for giving them back their full memories, although she had refused to explain why however they all had a feeling that the spirit of the former Queen of the Silver Millennium learned it as soon as they had left.

Still whatever the reason, it was good to finally know everything. Or at least that was how Minako felt. She now felt complete whereas before there had always been an empty feeling somewhere in her heart. It made her wonder if her future self had ever obtained her full memories. She hoped so since she was sure she would have felt the same way about getting them as she did now.

In any case, despite the completion she felt with her memories, there was still an ache that they hadn't been able to save Usagi yet. Rationally she understood that they had to wait and that patience was a virtue that would eventually reward them, but emotionally Aino Minako was not a young woman who was very good with patience. She hated not being able to take action. She wanted her best friend and Princess back down! Irritated just thinking about it, she slammed her shoe locker shut after she tossed her indoor shoes in.

"Trying to damage school property, Minako-chan?" a male voice called in a teasing tone. "That's the beginning of delinquent behavior and gang life."

The blonde spun around toward the voice before her face lit up with recognition. "Saitou-senpai," she exclaimed in delight as she smiled up at the man. Saitou Akihiko was a former graduate of Shiba Koen Junior High School and a former crush hers (one of many if you listened to Artemis, which she didn't recommend; you couldn't trust a cat who got high off of catnip daily).They had crossed paths in her Sailor V days when she taking on the Dark Agency, a branch of the Dark Kingdom that had been working to gather up energy for Metalia through the use of idol world; they had quickly realized that method was too flashy and caused them to be discovered by her and Artemis too quickly to gather much energy (not that it hadn't stopped Jadeite to try it again in a manner of speaking).

In any case, seeing Saitou-senpai was a welcome distraction to her worries. It also occurred to her now, why she had developed a crush on Saitou-senpai on the first place was that he bore a striking resemblance to a certain Earth General from her past. She may have not remembered it at that time, as she did now, but a part of her had been drawn to her senpai because of the resemblance. And in a way he did have the same sort of noble demeanor as the general.

"What are you doing back here, senpai," she asked. "Are you here to see, Okamoto-sensei? Because I think she's still around. The cooking club is meeting today."

"No, actually that wasn't the reason why I came," Saitou-senpai replied, his face turning slightly red in embarrassment that the blonde was aware of his feelings towards his former teacher. Despite his tender feelings for the women, he knew they wouldn't be returned as she was older than him and he had heard through the grapevine that she was seeing someone. Okomoto-sensei was a dream, but he hoped one day he would find a lady like her. "Actually I just came by to show my cousin around. He's going to be subbing here for a while for one of the gym teachers. Teaching isn't his intended career goal, but with the economy down as it is, he has to find some kind of work until he can get in his field."

"You're totally right," Minako chirped, although in reality she had no idea if the economy was bad or not. She didn't really pay attention to that sort of thing and if the economy was bad, it hadn't affected her father's job. She was pretty sure that Ami would know or even Rei, because of who her father was.

"Yeah, anyways we were outside when I heard you slamming your locker. Rough day, blondie?"

"You have no clue."

"Well tomorrow's another day and-" Saitou-senpai broke off as as the door opened, letting in the blinding light of the afternoon and preventing Minako from getting a clear view of the man who was entering. "Oh there you are. I want you to meet my kouhai, Aino Minako. Minako-chan this is my cousin, Saitou Kyou."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Minako responded, bowing her head in respect as the man was her senpai's cousin and if he was subbing at her school, then he was, of course, older then her. She raised her head and then froze as the color drained away from her face.

"...Kunzite…?"

Final Thought from Chibi-Usa:

My… fault...

AUTHORS'S NOTE:

I am soooo sorry for the long wait. Seriously, I never intended for you guys to wait this long for a chapter. However life got in the way as usual, or to be precise, being a responsible adult. And then I was kinda stale-mated because my brain wouldn't work. I hope this chapter makes up for the wait and I will work harder at updating my stories more frequently. I'll try to focus on one or two at a time and get them finished off.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to review or favorited this story in some way. It is greatly appreciated and brought a smile to my day. =)

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Disclaimer: I do not claim any rights to Sailor Moon or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Takeuchi Naoko and anyone else she says has rights to it.