Sailor Moon Revealed

Prologue

                Hino Amuro waved cheerfully to his granddaughter as she walked down the long series of steps that fronted the Hikawa shrine, heading for the nearby bus stop. Once she was out of sight, he let the cheerful grin drop from his face and headed back into the shrine. With Rei gone, he was alone, at least for the next few hours, his erstwhile apprentice, Yuuichiro off visiting family for at least the next week and business being slow, as it usually was this time of year. The summer heat seemed to put people off visiting a shrine whose central feature was a sacred fire, even if very few people actually visited the fire. Still, he wasn't about to complain, as this meant that he would be free to work on a private project at least until Rei got home. His granddaughter's presence would put a most effective damper on his research.

                He gave Rei a moment or two, just in case she had forgotten something, but he heard the bus pull in and then pull out again, so he headed back inside with a sense of safety. He headed to his room and pulled back the tatami mats that covered the floor, revealing a carefully concealed panel. If you didn't know what to look for, the floor seemed to be one piece, worn smooth by generations of feet walking over it and restless sleepers tossing and turning above it. The thin line that showed the outline of the panel was barely visible to the naked eye and it was only by chance that Amuro had discovered when he had been but an apprentice at the shrine. One difficulty in using the space beneath the panel as a hiding place for things you'd rather leave undiscovered was that, in order for it to be well concealed, the panel was set flush to the floor and there was no obvious way of lifting it. Actually there was no way at all of lifting it that wouldn't in some way damage the floor, unless of course one was possessed of certain less than common talents.

                Amuro, like most of the Hino's before him was possessed of psychic talents, just like his granddaughter, though unfortunately it had skipped a generation with his son. That made Rei's great strength even more gratifying, as if what ever kami granted the Hino's that power was making up for the lapse. Of course, even when the powers didn't skip a generation, they manifested differently from person to person, even in the same generation. Rei's power lay more in the manipulation of the spiritual plane. Her ofuda were quite powerful and her fire readings had nearly a one hundred percent accuracy rate and most of the inaccuracies could be put down to misinterpretations of the visions. Amuro's powers, nowhere near as great as Rei's, lay in the manipulation of the physical plane. He had decent telekinetic powers, though it normally took a great deal of focus or moments of extreme stress for him to use them to their full potential, and he also had some small skill in healing, one of the reasons he was still so fit at his age.

                It was his telekinetic abilities that meant that he could lift the panel in the floor and since it wasn't that heavy, it wasn't all that hard to lift it just far enough so that he could grasp it with his fingers. He cleared his mind as his own grandfather had taught him and focused on the hidden panel. It took several moments, but at last if shifted from its position and lifted up enough that Amuro was able to get the tips of his fingers underneath and lift it up and put it to one side with conventional muscle power. It had been much harder the first time he had tried it, partly because he didn't have as good a grasp on his powers back then as he did now and partly because the panel itself had been stuck. Now, with the dirt cleaned out from around the edges the panel moved much more freely.

                Once he had put the panel down, close to the hole, in case he had to close it back up in a hurry and pulled out his research materials. Most of it was clippings from the various papers published in Juuban, some of the earlier ones from respected publications, but most of the more recent ones from the Juuban Questioner, a notorious tabloid magazine. Bad as its reputation was though, it was just about the only publication still running articles on the topic he was researching, the Sailor Senshi. Along with the news articles, he also pulled out several sketches made by Juuban Police Department's best sketch artist, the images being put together with the help of eyewitnesses, one name featuring prominently among them being Osaka Naru. The reason the sketches were necessary was that it appeared to be impossible to get a good picture of the Senshi, even if they were standing still. No one was quite certain why that was, but it had made Amuro's research just that much harder and it was only because he had a few friends in the police force who owed him a favour or two that he was able to get his hands on the sketches.

                Amuro had had suspicions about his granddaughter's change in behaviour almost from the beginning. As much as he loved her, the kami knew that Rei had her faults, including a temper and a tongue that could be used to sharpen a katana, and that made it difficult for her to make friends and keep them. Yet Usagi and Ami, then Makoto and Minako had stuck by her side, through thick and thin. This in itself wasn't that suspicious, but there was more to it. The unexplained absences, the secretive behaviour, the way that often all conversation in the room stopped the instant his presence was realised. The strange cats with the crescent moon scars on their foreheads. Also on more than one occasion, Rei had said that she was heading to one of her friend's houses, only not only was she not there when he rang to check, her friend was out as well. That probably wasn't that odd, happening on one occasion, but it had happened more than once. He had kept quite though and added it to his growing pile of suspicions. Now the suspicions were beginning to bear fruit and if all went well, he would soon have his answer.

                Carefully he spread the accumulated material out over the floor of his room and opened an old leather bound book in his lap. In this book he had distilled down all the important information that he had gleaned from the articles and it was also where he kept the police sketches. He had mulled over this information for several months and while he was sure that he was right, that was only a gut feeling and he didn't have enough proof to act on his suspicions. But now he had one piece of evidence that could prove his suspicions once and for all. It had cost him nearly every favour he could call in with his police contacts to get it, and strictly speaking, it wasn't entirely legal for him to have it. But he wasn't about to let that stop him. From the back of the book he extracted a plain, white, envelope and carefully removed the sole object from within.

                The ofuda had shown signs of wear and was a little singed around the edges, but that wasn't enough to obscure the characters written on the front. Nor was the physical state truly important. What was important was that it had once been used by the Senshi known as Sailor Mars and if Amuro was right it would prove that the Senshi of Flame and War was none other than his own granddaughter. Carefully laying the used ofuda in front of him, he pulled an unused one that he had swiped from Rei's store right after he had received the used one from the police evidence locker. He placed the new slip of paper side by side with its used counterpart and looked at the closely. The designs on the front were identical, but there were only so many ways to make an ofuda, no matter how good the maker was. The characters looked like that had been painted with the same hand as well, but that meant very little. So did the ofuda that he made, since he was the one who had taught Rei how to make them and it was only obvious that their styles would appear very similar. But one thing that could not be duplicated was the spirit that was essential for the making the ofuda work and that was something that was unique, even with identical twins. If he couldn't tell if the used ofuda had belonged to Rei or not, he could resort to the sacred fire, though that would destroy both ofuda and it was a last resort.

                Carefully Amuro extended one hand over each of the ofuda and willed himself into a trancelike, meditative state. This wasn't his strongest skill, but he wasn't completely incompetent either. Once he was fully relaxed, he reached out with his psychic senses and looked carefully at the auras of both ofuda. The new one was bright and crisp, with a sense of crackling flame and great heat and was Rei's for certain. The other was harder to tell. Time and use had made the original aura fade to but a pale shadow of its former strength and that was overlain by the foul, noxious aura of whatever evil that it had been used on. But slowly Amuro was able to reach past that foulness and touch the original aura and though it was weaker, there was still that sense of crackling flames and great heat. His eyes flew open and the meditative state slipped from his grasp as the full realisation hit him. He was right. He was right and Rei was Sailor Mars. That left almost no doubt that her friends were the other Senshi. Usagi had to be Sailor Moon; there couldn't be two blondes in Japan with that same hairstyle. Similarly, Makoto's height and strength meant that she had to be Sailor Jupiter, which left Minako as Sailor Venus and Ami as Sailor Mercury. He wasn't quite so certain about identities of those referred to the Outer Senshi, but he had a few suspicions on that score as well.

                As he tried to grasp the full implications of what he had just discovered, he gazed over the room. All his painstaking research now meant very little. The ofuda was all the proof he needed and there was no way that Rei would be able to wiggle out of it. Still, he gathered it all up and replaced it carefully in its hidey hole. While he had no need of it, it could be used to convince the parents of the other girls. Then it struck him like the proverbial thunderbolt from the heavens. The other parents also deserved to know about what their daughters were doing. So did his son he supposed, but he was Rei's full time guardian, so that wasn't that important. What was important was that the other families had no idea what those girls were getting up to and they deserved to know.

                He was about to dash off and grab the phone, before stopping and deciding on a plan of attack. Usagi's mother was a full time housewife, as was Minako's, so it should present very little difficulty in contacting them. Makoto, as far as he knew, lived alone and had never mentioned any form a guardian, so that was probably a moot point. He also knew that Ami's parents were divorced and that Ami hadn't seen her father for several years, so it would do no good to ring him. Her mother was a doctor though and frequently worked unusual hours. Getting hold of her could prove difficult and he didn't want to alert Ami to his suspicions. Then he remembered Ami mentioning her working at Tokyo General. He would try there first, and if it turned out she wasn't at work he could always try at her home later. Best to pass it off as a medical question though, just to be one the safe side. He gave that another few moments thought and then headed off to the phone. This could prove to be a very interesting few days.

End Prologue.

Author's Notes:

This fic is inspired mainly by Mark Shutleff's 'Relatively Absent'. One scene has Ikuko (Usagi's mother) walking in just as Usagi transforms back to her normal self from Sailor Moon and then Luna barging in and talking, not realising that Ikuko is present. This started me thinking about how the Senshi's parents would react if they ever found out their daughters are the Sailor Senshi and thus this fic is born. It will also be mostly with the Inner Senshi, though the Outer Senshi will make appearances. The reason is basically that the Inners give more material to work with; where as with the Outers it's a moot point to Setsuna and Professor Tomoe's mind is so swiss-cheesed that he probably wouldn't even remember if you told him, leaving only Harkua and Michiru, where as the Inners the only moot issue is Makoto who is an orphan with no known guardian. If you want to place it in the timeline, this is after Stars, but before the Inner Senshi have finished high school.

Comments and valid criticisms are welcome, though please note the spelling is Australian English which generally (but not always) follows the conventions of British English. Flames will be saved for winter, because I feel the cold and can always do with something to warm me up.