**RE-UPLOADED & REVISED**

This is my promised reedit of this story. I hope this makes the early chapters more readable, if that is not the case please inform me. I will also be adding and correcting any issues with the chapters, nothing major, (this first chapter has the most added to it in fact) but I will make them more detailed in order to put them on par with how I am writing now. Because I believe I am writing far better now than when I initially started this.

One final note is that I will leave my comments from the beginning intact, so ignore my rambles if you have already read them before. So here is Chapter one revisited…

AN: 07-02-10 It's been pointed out that for some reason this site is removing my scene divisions, this is a reedit to correct that...hopefully :)

Hi all, this my very first attempt at writing a fanfic, so I hope it will at least turn out descent. This will be a sailor moon shoujo-ai/yuri story (that means girl-girl relationships and if you don't like it don't read it that simple) with the following pairs Rei/Usagi, Ami/Makato, and Haruka/Michiru. I don't know if there will be others yet. The main focus of this story will be on Rei and Usagi (they are my fav couple that never happened). This story will take place after SuperS when a new enemy surfaces. Finally I will make this violent, but it has its purpose and it will not be meaningless violence. Also, if anyone is wondering I honestly don't know how long this will be and how it will all turn out save for a few things.

Disclaimer – Oh and just to state the obvious I defiantly don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters, but this story plot is mine and in the name of the moon I will punish any of you would use it without the author's(my) consent. (JK ^_^ about the punishing) This will hold true for the entire story.

So on with the story…

Chapter 1 – Only the Beginning

A certain raven haired girl could be seen silently escaping a modestly large shrine, that she called her home. She'd taken to going on walks in the dead of the night. It started out as a means to clear her thoughts, but now it seemed more than anything it had become a habit. There hadn't been much activity, of the youma variety for several weeks, and consequently the time she spent with her friends became chat sessions though one of their group still tried give an educational spin to their meetings. For her part, the raven haired girl would periodically suggest they use their free time as training sessions in order to keep the skills well honed. Her suggestion was usually turned down, but during their meeting earlier that day…

"I don't think that'd be a bad idea. I'd like to work off some of the rust from not having a real battle in so long." One of blonde haired girls chimed in.

"Really Minako?" The raven haired girl asked.

She shrugged her shoulders in response, "Sure, why not?"

"Minna?"

"I'm up for it." Makoto said raising her head from the paper in front of her.

"Great. Ami? Usagi?"

"I guess I'm already out-numbered, so there's no use voting against it." The blue haired girl said, closing the book her hands.

"Thanks Ami." Rei said, now turning her attention to the girl just to her left. "Usagi?..." She paused and looked at the said girl strangely; she was way too focused on the textbook in her hands. She waved her hand between the book and the girl's gaze, "Hey! Are you even listening?"

The blond haired girl's head shot up and stared at the girl whose hand had just interrupted her reading, "What? I was reading…I mean…"

Rei tilted her head to the side slightly, "You were what?"

"Studying." She answered quickly.

"I'm sure you were studying…" Rei let her voice trail off at the end as she quickly swiped the book she held.

"Hey! It was just starting to get good!" Usagi protested, raising a few eyebrows in the group. Usagi couldn't seriously be talking about a text book, could she? The question was answered momentarily as Rei pulled out a manga from where the math book that was opened.

"You said you were studying Usagi." Ami said, sounding disappointed.

Usagi lowered her head apologetically, "I'm sorry. I just can't look at a math book for that long, it gives me a headache."

"See, Ami this will be the perfect opportunity to pound some better studying habits into Odango." Rei said mischievously.

"Why are you always so mean to me, Rei?" Usagi cried out.

Rei sighed and kicked a small pebble down the sidewalk. She loved messing with Usagi and despite appearances to those outside their circle of friends; she cared for the blonde deeply. Their arguments had become a part of their relationship before she even realized it. They were also something she solely shared with the other girl and consequently she'd continue their little spats. She remembered at one point one of their friends, she could remember who anymore, had made an off-handed comment that she and Usagi fought like a married couple. The raven haired girl couldn't help but laughed darkly at that thought. It was only a joke, only it wasn't very funny, at least to Rei. Such a simple comment brought to the surface feelings she'd rather remained buried within her.

She paused for a moment and kicked the same pebble as hard as she could. She watched the small rock skip down the concrete until she couldn't see it any more. She wanted a release, if that meant she had to kick some youma butt to achieve that, she didn't have a problem with that, in fact she welcomed it. She knew she could go all out against a youma and not break any laws. She hoped beating down a youma would calm her spirit, something she couldn't say had happened for several weeks. She almost wished she could chalk her restlessness up to some sinister force, but she could honestly say she didn't feel the presence of a new enemy; it would be easier to accept than reality. She knew the reality even if she didn't want to admit it…her feelings for the Moon Princess had only grown stronger since Mamoru left.

Sailor Moon and Mars were paired off, similarly Mercury and Jupiter sparred together, while Venus sat this round out. The other three girls that could have made their group even, therefore no one would have to sit out, were not present. They usually only attended senshi meetings, not 'study sessions'. Although they, Haruka and Michiru in particular, would have likely come if they were contacted, Setsuna was a little iffy. Her presence usually coincided with the imminent doom of the planet.

Venus took a healthy drink from the water bottle beside her and observed the girls from her position. Jupiter wasn't putting much effort in to her attacks, but Mercury seemed to be trying a little more, but in such a match the blue haired girl was outmatched. She was best when she could analyze a situation and derive what course of action was required to achieve victory. She wasn't a slouch in hand to hand fighting, but she was far from being on the same level as Jupiter. It was an unfair match-up, but as far as Venus could tell Jupiter was solely trying to improve the other girl, not further herself which was perfectly fine as far she was concerned. And then there was Mars and Moon…

Moon blinked as a gloved fist stopped just short of her face. After a moment the hand dropped and it's owner sighed audibly, "Come on, Usagi…you're going to have to get better at hand to hand combat."

"I'm not doing that bad." She denied and looked over to her fellow blonde. "Right Minako?"

The sitting girl looked at Usagi for a little while before responding, "Well…your reaction time is a bit slow. If Rei were fighting you seriously, she could have seriously hurt you a few times by now." She said and stood up. "What if you're stuck in a situation where you don't have access to your Kaleidoscope and we're all cut off from you for some reason? You'd need to rely on your own skills to protect yourself." Venus said as she walked over to Mars and Moon. "You've definitely improved since I first met you, but you still have room for improvement. All of us should continue to improve ourselves. There's no telling what dangers may lay ahead for us, we need to be prepared." She put her hand of Moon's shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"See, I told you so." Mars said with her hand on her hip.

"Venus said I'm improving!"

"And she also said you need to improve even more." Mars countered.

Venus smiled at her two friends for a moment before focusing on the darker haired of the two. "Come at me as you did Sailor Moon." She directed. Mars nodded her head and did as she was instructed.

Venus spun on her back foot and avoided the punch. She quickly followed up with an attempted chop to the back of Mars' neck, but she was blocked by the raven haired girl's free arm. "Nice." Venus whispered to Mars. The blond senshi looked over to Moon, "Even when you attack you have to be ready to defend at a moments notice if your opponent counters your attack." Both girls separated and the senshi of love took a step back, "Now I want you to do the same thing I just did, Usagi"

The same scene was repeated as before and all seemed to be going well. Moon avoided the punch, but before any congratulations could be thrown her way it happened. The Moon Princess lost her balance before she could further follow Venus' example and fell to the ground, landing on her rear.

Mars stood over the pouting girl, trying to suppress her laughter, but the sight of was almost too much. Finally taking pity on the girl, "Jeez, Usagi you're such a klutz." Mars remarked and offered her hand.

'I have no intention of ever allowing Usagi to be in such a pinch.' She told herself. Realistically though she realized it was impossible to expect that she would always be at her side every time any danger threatened the girl, so she knew Usagi's current shortcomings in physical combat needed to be addressed. She also knew that despite her convictions, they always seemed to be encountering stronger and stronger enemies and that meant if she wished to have any hope of protecting her Princess she needed to get stronger. Even though it was nearly a month since the Nehellenia was sealed away, she still remembered the fight with her and how ridiculously powerless she was before her and she didn't want to ever feel like that again.

Rei paused and looked around for a moment, she was already a couple miles away from her and had yet to encounter anything. 'Maybe I should just head back…' She thought and turned around, but didn't take another step. At the edge of her hearing she heard something that sounded like screaming. When she heard it again she was positive it was screaming. Without a second thought, she ran in the direction the sound was coming from. It wasn't necessarily a youma, but from the sound of the screaming, someone was definitely in trouble and while helping girls from would be attackers in the dead of night wasn't in her job description as Sailor Mars, she couldn't just ignore it either, she wasn't heartless.

She reached a corner and stopped, finally being able to make out the words being spoken. She listened carefully and tried to determine if she needed to transform.

"Stop! What are you?"

"You look tasty human…"

"Someone help me!"

That was more than enough of an answer for her as she pulled out her henshin stick…

"Mars Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Mars jumped around the corner and quickly accessed the situation; the youma didn't appear to have harmed the girl, outside of scaring her. "Hey youma! Why don't you play with me instead?" She watched the creature change his attention to her before saying…

"I was wondering when you'd show, senshi. I thought I'd have to have fun with that human there. "

She frowned at the way the creature addressed her, but she could question him on that after she did something. The senshi of fire looked at the woman on the ground, "Now would be a good time for you to get out of here." She watched the shocked woman scramble to her feet and run off as fast as her feet would take her. Again she could bring her attention to the youma, "What the hell are you? Something left behind by the Dead Moon?"

"I don't know any Dead Moon." He replied.

The senshi of flames gauged what he just said and as far as she could tell, he was telling the truth. "So what are you?"

"There's no need to for me to answer that because you be dead in a few minutes anyway."

Mars smiled at the cockiness the creature displayed, "Big words, you better hope you can back them up."

"Oh…I can…" He said and charged forward.

She raised her hands and blocked the punch he threw, but she could tell immediately something was off. Even though she stopped his attack, she could feel herself being pushed back. "Crap" Mars stated as she was just knocked backwards by the deceptively strong youma. 'Maybe it would have been a good idea to call the other senshi to help.' She thought. Simply looking at the youma, he didn't appear to be much of a threat, but he seemed to be stronger than she anticipated.

"You can't defeat me by yourself!" declared the yellow almost child sized youma.

"Again you shoot your mouth off." Mars said and stood up, dusting herself off in the process. "I'm more than enough to handle you!" she said and created a circle of fire in front her chest.

"Burning Mandala!"

The circle before her quickly became several rings that bolted straight at the youma. He quickly dodged left and right and finally jumped high into the air to avoid the last ring of fire. The youma smiled triumphantly, having thwarted her attack with relative ease. His smile was wiped off his face when he saw a leg heading straight for his head; the roundhouse kick collided with him as soon as he landed on the ground. The force of the kick sent the youma flying, right into a near by light post.

"Not so cocky laying there on the ground are you?" Mars mocked. Her statement was quickly answered by a feral cry from the youma as he stood up. She was a little unnerved by the creature's cry and took a step back, instinctively. Before she make another move the youma was upon her, he seemed to be moving far quicker than before. She was caught by a quick punch to her stomach that knocked the wind out of her and causing her to hunch over. Before she had a chance to recover, the punch was followed up by a hard elbow to the back of her neck that propelled her to the ground. As soon as Mars hit the ground, the youma relentlessly kicked in her side until a sickening cracking sound could be heard on the fifth kick, which let Mars know she got some broken ribs from that blow. The assault stopped for briefly and allowed Mars to get up into an almost sitting position.

The youma then leaned down to Mars' ear and spoke, "If you are this easy; I can't wait to meet friends, senshi of fire." The youma then swiftly kicked Mars on the side of her head sending her hard into the concrete. The collision into the rough surface formed a gash on that side of her head, just above her temple.

The youma began taking a few steps away from the downed senshi only to have gloved hand grab onto his leg. "You will not harm any of my friends as long as there is strength in my body!"

"Oh, good I'm glad that you still have some fight left in you, I thought it was over already." The youma replied.

"Don't take me lightly! I'm not done with you yet!" Mars yelled as she got back to her feet, spitting blood on the ground along the way. Once in a standing position again, she wiped the side of her mouth with her hand to clean away any remaining blood. Quickly Mars reentered her fighting stance.

"I didn't realize you were so eager to die!" the youma exclaimed.

He began charging Sailor Mars as he finished the last word of his comment, but this time she knew of his speed and would not be surprised. As he approached her, she charged up an attack that she knew would not fail her and that even with this youma speed he won't be able to avoid at such close range. A part of her mind said, 'don't do it you'll be caught in the blast too', but she ignored it and instead focus on the thought, 'if this will keep this monster away from my friends, especially a certain odango atama princess then it would be worth any harm that may come to herself in the process.'

Once the youma was mere feet away she drew her hands back mentally forming a bow and arrow of fire and called out, "Mars flame sniper!" The youma's eyes widened with shock and then became small slits full of anger once it realized there was no avoiding this attack.

The youma fruitlessly rose its' hands to try and block it, but there was no way of blocking this flaming arrow it had too much power behind it. The arrow pierced its chest slowly and when the head of the arrow was fully inside of the monster it exploded in huge flash of fire that blew the youma apart in a mess of black blood and youma parts. The force of the blast affected Mars as well, even though she protected her face with her arms, it didn't do much for the rest of herself as she was sent through the wall of a near by building and her arms pretty badly burnt to protect her face from the blast.

'Well, on the plus side at least I'm still alive' Mars thought, 'but I think I've felt better.' Mars continued her thoughts. At that time she undid her transformation and returned to her normal self, Hino Rei. "Ugh…" Rei groaned loudly when she tried to get up, only to clutch her side and grimace in pain and it was then that she remembered it was very likely that she had some broken ribs.

'I guess I could try to contact someone, but its 2:30 in the morning, would anyone be awake to answer me? I have to try though, I don't think I would get far in my condition without any help.' she thought. Before she even had the opportunity to do anything, she was brought out of her thoughts when she heard two people talking to each other outside the building she was in. She struggled and bit down on her lower lip so she wouldn't be able to even whimper in pain incase they were youma that were out there talking, she in no condition for another fight right now.

When she was satisfied with her new hiding place where she would be able to look outside, but whoever was out there would not be able to see her. She decided to listen and take a look at who would be at the scene of where she had just battle a youma this early in the morning, people didn't usually go out so early unless they were out to cause trouble. So Rei turned and looked outside only to be taken aback by what she saw. And it was then that she realized this battle was only the beginning.

End Ch. 1

R&R if you want to, I would just like to know the opinions of people, but do try to be kind this is my first fanfic. Thank you to any one who took the time to read this I hope it wasn't a waste of time : P. Any way till next time.