Prologue

A cool breeze blew through the warm summer night, lightly rustling the leaves adorning the maple tree that stood proudly outside Tsukino Usagi's bedroom window. Inside, the young girl lay, gripping fiercely at her bed sheets. A thin layer of perspiration covered her forehead and chest as she whimpered softly, almost fearfully. The small black cat at the foot of her bed began to stir as her sleeping owner's legs and arms started to thrash forcefully. Then, just as suddenly as it began, the flailing stopped. Luna rose from her curled-up position and slowly padded her way to the head of Usagi's bed. She inspected the girl closely as to try and understand what had just happened. Upon seeing that Usagi had once again returned to a peaceful sleep, Luna turned to reoccupy her spot on the bed; but just as she was about to lie down Usagi flew into sitting position and let out a blood-curdling scream. Luna became terrified as she watched Usagi pant and sob uncontrollably. Then, without warning, Usagi jumped out of bed and frantically ran over to her mirror.

"Usagi-chan! What is it?" Luna cried.

Meanwhile, Usagi was furiously brushing her bangs out of her face. She then turned to Luna gasping, "Do you see it, Luna? Do you see it?"

Luna looked at her confusedly, "See what, Usagi?"

Usagi looked angrily at her cat then turned to flip on her bedroom light. She heatedly pointed at her forehead and almost screamed at Luna, "THIS!"

If possible, Luna looked even more confused, but then looked at Usagi irritably, "Usagi-chan, I don't see anything. Did you think you had a pimple or something?"

Usagi was suddenly taken aback. She whirled around to face her mirror, and a look of shock fell upon her face. Luna was right. There was nothing there. NOTHING! Usagi continued to stare at her reflection bemused, "But I could have sworn..." she trailed off.

All of a sudden, there was a loud knock at her bedroom door followed by, "Usagi! Are you alright?" It was her mother's voice.

Usagi opened the door and found her mother breathing heavily. Man, did she look worried. Usagi giggled nervously, "Um, heh, sorry, Mom. I just had a bad dream, I guess. Um, sorry?"

"Tsukino Usagi, if you ever scare your dear mother like that again, you'll be grounded for a month!" she yelled at her less than apologetic daughter. Her mother angrily turned and walked back to her own bedroom.

Once her parent's bedroom door had closed, Usagi closed hers as well. She momentarily leaned against the back of her door, then slowly walked back to her bed to sit down. Luna studied her closely before speaking.

"Usagi-chan, it was just nightmare. You'll be fine. You should go back to sleep, you've got school in the morning."

While Luna spoke, Usagi was staring blankly ahead. She felt so perplexed. "It all seemed so real..." she whispered to herself. But even more than confused, she felt incredibly sad, like her heart had been mercilessly broken. Then she felt frustrated because she wasn't sure why she felt this way. She can remember how the dream felt, but she had no clue as to what she had dreamt of! The longer Usagi sat there, the more tired she became, and she gently slid under her covers and fell into a deep sleep, free of heart-wrenching nightmares.