All The Small Things in Life.
By Shadow Of Mars

Disclaimer:

As is true with about 99.99% of all other Fan Fictions, I do not own any of the Sailor Moon characters, series or anything else to do with it, neither do I own Chad Kroeger, Nickelback, Staind or any of their songs or James Bond (but I would like to be James Bond :D). However, Mark Davison, Sarah Langsdon, Jack Young, Peter Day and Shigeru 39 are my own creations. All events mentioned in this story (apart from the events of September 11th 2001) are entierly ficticious and any similarities are purely coincidental. Enjoy, and don't forget to rate it ^,~.

All other trademarks mentioned in this piece are copyright of their respective owners

Rated PG-13 for strong language and descriptions of a Suicide attempt.

Important:

I've decided to change the story a fair bit from its original plot since I found it too hard to create two separate storylines and intertwine them. I apologise to anyone looking forward to the "Sliding Doors" storyline, but it was just too difficult. However, the plot for the existing chapters remain exactly the same apart from a slight bit of editing in chapter 3.

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Author's note:

Yay! The infamous first fanfic! Before I get any die-hard SM fans screaming at me "Raye isn't 20, she's 14!", this is set a few years after the series, just as some of the gang are starting University. I will be using the American names for this story since I can never remember the Japanese names. As a bit of a scene setter for the existing characters, Amy is in Germany studying to become a doctor, Serena lives with Darien and Raye, Lita and Mina are preparing for their first year of University.

The story focusses on Raye as she has to make the agonizing decision between the two men that she loves. Who are the two guys? Who will she pick? Read on to find out.
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Chapter I: Deamons.

Exterior. Tokyo Intenational Airport, terminal 3 taxi rank - 17th September 2002, 9:40 am.

"Beautiful day..."
The sky was ocean blue and the sun shone with an almost blinding light. It was a warm September day, one which really made you wonder how magnificent nature was even in a city as vastly built-up as Tokyo.

Mark Davison had just flown to Tokyo from Heathrow airport, London, to start a new life in the bustling metropolis. He was fairly tall, with reasonably short-cut black hair. He had shrewd brown eyes with a skinny nose and was proudly sporting the royal-blue shirt of his favourite soccer team, Everton, which complimented his white trousers.

After loading his many bags into the back of the cab, he squeezed himself into the seat, looking for room to breathe amongst his luggage.

"Where to, mac?" Asked the taxi driver.
"Cherry Hill please. Anywhere near the Hikawa shrine." Mark spoke in broken Japanese. He had only been learning the language for three years and was very good, but not fluent. He had forgotten the name of the apartment block where he was going to stay, but had in his pocket a photo of a beautiful shrine which his apartment overlooked. Written on the back was "Apt. 211. - Cherry Hill. Opposite Hikawa shrine."

"So, where d'ya come from exactly?" Asked the driver politely.
"Oh, originally from Liverpool, but I moved down to Southampton about ten years ago." Replied Mark. "I've always had a love of Japan, so I decided to come here to make a living. I'm hoping to get degrees in Computer Science and Music at south Tokyo University."
"Tokyo U., eh? I've heard many modern composers today studied at Tokyo U." Said the driver with a sudden interest.
"Yeah." Mark answered with a smile on his face. "They've also got one of the world's most advanced computer suites, and are currently making a new, all-powerful programming language We might even be able to test it out!"
"Well good luck to you, then. All that computer jargon flies right over my head." Replied the driver. "Speaking of the Hikawa shrine, there's a young woman who lives there. Her name's Raye, and she's one helluva brilliant singer. She usually puts on a concert every autumn - I think it's in its sixth year this autumn. She was only 14 when she organised the first one, and it was absolutely amazing!"
Mark stared at the photo of the shrine while listening to the driver's story with great interest.
"It got a bit strange near the end though. You'll probably never believe me in a million years, but a giant fish attacked us all near the end of the concert."
Mark gave a slight snicker, trying to make sure the cabbie didn't hear.
"No, seriously. You ask anyone on Cherry Hill, they'll all say the same thing. It's just as well the Sailor Scouts sorted it out."

"The Sailor what?" Mark sounded slightly confused.
"The Sailor Scouts. Some teenage girls with some sort of magical powers. At that time there was only five, but over the next couple of years after that there were about fifteen of them. Not to mention that guy in the Tux. They're heroes in this part of the world. They've saved Tokyo so many times I've lost count. There's even a tribute to them on the official Tokyo govenrment website! Problem is, they disappeared about three years ago. Not a single trace of them has been found. Some say they all just flew off back to the moon."
"The moon?" Mark sounded even more confused before.
"Yeah, that's right. The leader of the lot calls herself Sailor Moon. My son has a big crush on her." The driver giggled slightly. "There's four more that I can remember off the top of my head. There's one that's got the power of water, calls herself Sailor Mercury, one that has the power of love that calls herself Sailor Venus, one who has the power of fire, calls herself Sailor Mars and one that has electric powers who calls herself Sailor Jupiter. I'm suprised you haven't even heard of Salor Venus before. I heard she took a trip to London once. Goddamn traffic..."

The cab grinded to a halt as it joined the back of a long traffic jam in the inner-city freeway. It was the morning rush hour, and it didn't seem like the traffic was going to clear anytime soon.

"Sorry mac, looks like we're gonna be here for a while. This is the only way to get to south Tokyo from the airport." Mark didn't look too unhappy.
"Where were we?" thought the cabbie out loud.
"The Sailor Scouts?" asked Mark.
"Ah yes, that's it. There's one that's also at the forefront of all Sailor Scout jokes -"
"Lemmie guess..." interupted Mark "Sailor Uranus?"
"Yeah, that's it." Chuckled the driver.

It would be a good hour before the taxi would reach the summit of Cherry Hill. During that time Mark asked the driver several questions about the area and the people. The driver had a fair knowledge of the area, and gave much advice to Mark. The taxi finally reached the summit and slowed to a halt outside the apartments. Mark glimpsed to his left to see the magnificent Hikawa shrine. However, something was slightly different than the temple in the picture; stood outside was a beautiful young woman, about the same age as Mark sweeping away the leaves from the front of the temple. The woman was tall with long black hair and a face that could not be described as anything less than bewitching. Mark was struck by the beauty of the woman and was under a spell.

"What's the damage please?" Asked Mark absent-mindedly.
"What damage?" Asked the puzzled driver.
Mark suddenly woke up from his brief spell and looked at the driver. "Oh, sorry. How much did the jouney cost please?"
"3200 Yen please." Mark handed the money over to the driver.
"By the way, that woman you were talking about earlier, is that over there to the left, the one with the long dark hair?"
"Raye Hino? Yeah, that's her over there. Pretty, isn't she? Her grandfather was a very good, kind-hearted man." Explained the driver with a sense of pride. "Whatever you do though though, just don't call her Rachel. That cheeses her off big-time"
"Cool." Mark got out of the cab and started unloading his suitcases onto the street.
"Thanks for the lift, mate." said Mark once he had unloaded all of his suitcases.
"Don't mention it. If you ever need any info about the area, call Cherry Hill taxis and ask for Shigeru 39." The driver handed Mark a small calling card before speeding off down the other side of Cherry Hill.

The air smelt of fresh of, unsuprisingly, cherries from the many cherry trees that lined the street. Mark looked behind him once again to catch a glimpse of Raye. She was still casually sweeping away the leaves which had begun to fall from the trees. Mark smiled to himself until Raye turned around. Upon seeing her look at him, Mark panicked and quickly turned towards the door, grabbed his suitcases and headed inside the apartment block.

Mark had found it a very challenging task to carry three very heavy suitcases up two flights of stairs. There were no lifts in the apartment block, so he was thankful that his apartment was not at the top floor of the seven-storey building. The hallway on the second floor was amazingly white. The marble floor glistened in the morning sunlight glaring in from the window behind him. The walls were also almost as white, bar the mahogany doors. Mark dragged his suitcases along the corridoor towards apartment 211 - down the other end of the corridoor. He was thankful that dragging the cases down the corridoor wasn't anywhere as tiring as carrying them up the stairs.

Mark knocked at the door. After a few seconds someone came to answer the door. A man about Mark's age opened the door with a security chain fixed. He didn't look Japanese, but Mark decided to speak in Japanese anyway. Mark felt slightly uneasy as he began speak.
"Hi. I'm here about the student accomodation for Tokyo University." The man smiled before closing the door to unbolt the chain.
"Ah, so you're the new lodger, eh?" Replied the man as he opened the door. "Mark Davison, isn't it?"
"Yeah, that's me." Mark felt slightly more comfortable now.
"C'mon in." The man stepped out of the way to allow Mark in. He was slightly shorter than Mark and of about the same build. He had fairly short, spiked dark hair and brown eyes. He resembled Fred Durst in the way he dressed, wearing Blue jeans, a white baggy shirt and white trainers. "Sarah, The new guy's here!" Much to Mark's suprise the man called in English. He spoke with a strong Brooklyn accent, leading Mark to believe that he was from New York.
"Cool. I'll be there in a moment Jack." Replied a woman's voice from what appeared to be the kitchen. She sounded Austrailan.
The man turned to Mark again. "The name's Jack Young." he said, still in English, as he went to shake Mark's hand.
"Pleased to meet you. Good to hear someone speaking English again." Replied Mark slightly wearily."You from New York or something?"
"Yeah. Brooklyn."
"Wow. That's not too far from Manhattain island, is it?" Mark wanted to ask what it felt like to be living in New York on 9/11, but thought it would be better not to ask so soon after the anniversary, just in case it upset him in any way.
"Yeah. It was just across the bridge from my home."

Sarah came out from the kitchen. She was slightly taller than Mark, with waist-long blonde hair tied into a pony-tail. She had fairly big blue eyes and a small nose. She was wearing a white vest top with "Oz, and damn proud of it!" printed in blue on the front, sky-blue jeans and white trainers. "Hi. You must be Mark!" she said as she went over and hugged him.
"Hi. You must be Sarah."
"I'm sure Jack's introduced me. I'm Sarah Langsdon." She had a smile on her face as wide as the grand canyon.
Jack cut in. "I'll show ya to your room and tell ya the rules of this place." Jack lead Mark away, helping him with his suitcases.

Ext. Hikawa Shrine. - Midday.

Raye had just finished sweeping the leaves. She went inside to the kitchen to make some tea. As she began to boil the water she realised that she had forgot to check her mail that morning. Checking the mail, apart from doing the occasional fire reading, was the highlight of her day. True she did sometimes go out with her friends, but ever since her grandfather died four years ago the full burden of the upkeeping of the temple was placed on her sholders, giving her less and less time. If it wasn't for a good samaritan priest at the temple at the foot of Cherry Hill, she wouldn't have been able to study Music, her only passion, at south Tokyo University.

She was quiet and timid; The complete opposite to her short-fused personality of four years ago. She was only a shadow of her former self, trapped in a life of lonelyness and very emotionally unstable. Little did she know back then how big an effect the death of her grandfather would affect her. Combined with the hatred of her negligent father who tried to take her away from her friends in Tokyo just days after her grandfather's death, at times she felt suicidal. She was seriously depressed and had tried to kill herself once before, only to be saved by Serena who decided to check in on her after an argument earlier. The only thing keeping her alive since was the love of her four best friends and how they would feel if she did kill herself. The only pride she had left in her was the fact she managed to avoid hitting the bottle, but even that battle wasn't over yet. She had one major fear invading the back of her mind - the fear that she had not hit absolute rock bottom yet. This was a very testing time for Raye.

She rarely got any meaningful mail; Most of the mail she recieved was just junk advertising some second-rate product. Sometimes she recieved mail addressed to her dear grandfather. Again, nearly all of this was junk sent by people who didn't care whether he was dead or not, but whenever Raye opened them she became overwhelmed in sadness. Just seeing the name of her grandfather on the envelopes nearly reduced her to tears. It seemed that in her world her grandfather was the only one that cared about her apart from her senshi friends. However, that afternoon she was about to be hit by a double-whammy.

She opened her mailbox and found several letters in it, much to her suprise. She had not had this much mail for a very long time. She carefully sifted her way through the small pile, separating the junk from the rest of the mail. As she got back inside she placed her mail at the table and walked back to the kitchen to throw the junk mail in the bin and pour her tea. A few moments later she returned with her tea, ready to read her larger-than-normal pile of mail. She started by opening the first blue envelope marked "Air Mail". Raye knew instantly it was from an old friend of hers, Amy, because of the German stamp in the top-right corner of the envelope. A small smile grew on her solumn face as she carefully opened the envelope. She pulled out the letter enclosed, as well as four photos. She unfolded the letter, her pain growing as she wondered how her genius friend was fairing so far away from home.

12th September 2002:

Dear Raye,
How are you and the girls? Is Cherry Hill still standing or has Serena demolished it yet ^,^? I have a VERY important thing to announce to you and the girls!

"I seriously hope this is interesting." Thought Raye. "I'll probably die of complete boredom if nothing good happens soon. Won't be too much of a loss..." She continued to read the letter.

Greg took me on a weekend break to Venice last weekend, and proposed to me! I was just so overwhelmed by it all that I couldn't say no! Please tell the girls ASAP! I've included four photos in the envelope of our visit.

Raye turned over the photos which had fallen onto the table. One showed a picture of Greg with his arm round Amy outside the Galleria dell'Accademia, one of Amy shopping in the city centre and two of Greg and Amy in a Gondola, sailing along the Grand Canal, in one of which they were kissing.
"Lucky you... My true love flew off to California last year and I've heard nothing from him since." Raye was one for holding grudges, and she was still sour with the only person even close to being her true love: Chad. Raye was not in the mood for reading the rest of the letter. Her heart had been broken so many times in the past that she tended to stay away from romance. Raye packed the letter and photos back into the envelope before writing "Show to the girls" on the back of the envelope.

She was left fairly shaken by the letter. She was very happy for Amy, yet reading that letter stirred so many of Raye's personal deamons and memories of broken hearts. However, this was nothing compared to the next letter she opened. The handwriting on the front seemed very familiar, yet she couldn't quite tell who it was from. Raye stood up to open the envelope, slowly removing the letter. She began to pace back and forth through the small room while beginning to read the letter. It wasn't long before she froze with a look of complete mortification on her face. With her mouth wide open, tears slowly rolling down her face, the letter dropped from her hand, floating onto the dark floor below.

"... Ch... Ch... Ch..." She was having extreme trouble getting her words out.

"... Chad."

The tears continued to roll slowly down her face as her wide-open, shocked mouth turned into a big smile.
"He's coming home... Oh my god... He's really coming back to Cherry Hill!"
Her happiness of the sweet memories, those long evenings in they spent together, the moment she first laid eyes on him and their first kiss, suddenly turned to anger as she started to remember what happened the year before. The sheer aggression that built inside her when Chad said goodbye. Waking up in hospital the next morning with her friend by her side after nearly ending her own life. Returning home to the wake of destruction she had caused that night. Apart from her friends, Chad was the only "family" she had left and it was a tremendous blow to her already fragile personality. Upon reading the letter Raye had unintentionally found herself in the middle of an emotional battle with herself.

The letter had landed face-up on the floor.

14th September 2002

Dear Raye,
Wow... how do I put this? It's been such a long time since I last saw you...

I know you've probably been extremely angry with me over the past year for leaving you on such short notice. I'd just like to say that I had to take a year out from life on Cherry Hill to chase the surf. I am extremely sorry for any pain or sadness I have caused to you. I just needed a little time on my own to figure out what to do with my life and us.

I have used this year to look inside myself and figure out what went wrong between us. The only thing I want in this world is to be with you for the rest of my life. I feel we can make a fresh start of it all and see where it leads this time.

If you do forgive me and want to try again, I'll be arriving at Terminal 2 of Tokyo airport on the 18th September at 2:40pm. I'll be on flight AA201. I've already found a place to live, an apartment I'm shaing with three other students. I've heard it's not too far from the temple. I won't be too sad if you decide not to take me back, it'll be no more than I deserve for doing what I did. If you can't make it to the airport, please call my cellphone ASAP.

I love you Raye.

Chad

It had been three hours since Mark first arrived at his new home. He had unpacked his three bulging suitcases and put his clothing away into his wardrobe. He was frustratingly trying to configure his mobile to work in his new country.

"Jack? How many mobile phone networks are there in Japan?" Jack was in the lounge reading a TV guide.
"Can't help you there, man. Ain't got a cellphone. Got any ideas Sarah?"
"I think there's 6 networks." answered Sarah from the bathroom. "I got mine working through trial and error."
"Dammit. Can't get the bloody thing to work." thought Mark, putting the phone down on his desk. "Jack? What kind of internet connetion have we got in this place?"
"Broadband." Mark breathed a sigh of relief. "It's 25,000 yen per month, which is split between the four of us, so it costs virtually nothing."

Mark had just realised what Jack had just said. The four of us. Jack was intreagued to know who this fourth lodger would be.
"Did you just say 'four of us'? Where's the fourth guy?" enquired Mark curiously.
"Some surf guy. Claims he's from this area. Says he's returning home after a year out. Calls himself Chad Kumada."
"Cool." Mark giggled to himself quietly as an image of Chad Kroeger from Nickelback came to his head.

Mark realised that he hadn't had a cup of tea since he had left Britain nearly thirty hours ago. "Anyone know if there's any teabags here?" asked Mark almost worryingly.
"Teabags? In Tokyo? Good luck t'ya. Me and Sarah only drink coffee, so we wouldn't know."
"I need tea damnit!" thought Mark, starting to get slight withdrawal. "I'll see if I can find some later. Anyone know where the nearest corner shop is?" asked Mark, unpacking his laptop from its carry case.
"Nearest grocery store?" replied Jack before a slight pause. "I think there's one not too far from here. Turn left when you go out of here, and it's down the third street on your left."
"Ta, thanks." Mark smiled while connecting his camera and mouse to the laptop. He personally dreaded the thought of drinking coffee in the morning instead of his usual cup of tea. "How do they do it?" he chuckled.

Raye had spent the previous hour trying to calm herself down after reading Chad's letter, but to little avail. She needed help. She needed her best friend to help her. She needed Serena.

Four years ago Raye and Serena were the most unlikely of friends. They were very close, although it was very often hard to tell. They were always arguing over very trivial things; Even the most insignificant discussions came very close to starting World War III. They truely were the odd couple.

However, it was Serena who first began to notice that something wasn't quite right in Raye's world. Raye had begun to let arguments go. Raye was becoming very absent-minded. Raye was becoming the very opposite of herself and all Serena could do was watch in great agony Raye descended from a very lively young woman to a sad and lonely young woman, living in fear.

Serena remembered so vividly that night when she was going to lose her friend forever. Walking into the temple to try and apologise about an argument about Darien earlier. Seeing pictures scattered throughout the hallway; the glass frames shattered, the upturned furniature scattered throughout the lounge and the smashed crockery on the kitchen floor. Her original fears that were the temple had been burgled and vandalised, but lurking in Raye's bedroom was the truth - a truth that was like a thousand daggers being plunged into her back. Raye was unconscious on the floor, an open bottle of pills in her lifeless left hand. Raye was killing herself.

At that very moment a million thoughts rushed through her head. Tears streaming from her eyes, she dialled an ambulance on her mobile phone as fast as her quaking fingers would let her. Those ten minutes of waiting for the ambulance would be ten of the most heart-wrenching, traumatising minutes of her life. Worse than seeing her four fellow Sailor Scouts suffer at the hands of queen Berryl. Worse than seeing Tuxedo Mask dying in her arms. Seeing her best friend reduced to this was THE most horrific thing she had ever seen in her life.

She was trying as hard as she could to try and bring her back around, all while in the middle of a crying fit. She kept saying things to Raye in the hope of getting a reply. She even tried to act her annoying self in the hope of an obnoxious back-comment. There was nothing. She was fading away. Serena checked Raye's pulse, wishing she had Amy's vast knowledge of first aid with her. Raye's pulse was very faint, piling on Serena's fear that she was going to die. It was then that her prayers were answered. She heard the flailing siren of the ambulance grow louder and louder.

All that happened after that was just a blur, a horrible dream. Serena waited in A and E, cup of coffee in hand, for news of Raye's situation. It was approaching midnight and she had contacted the other girls on their communicators. It wasn't long before she was joined by the company of her dearest friends and some of their boyfriends, all horrified by the events of that night. Serena could still remember almost word for word what was said by everyone on that horrific night.

End of Chapter 1