Usagi undid her odangos and readied
for bed. She stripped off her school clothes
and slipped into the pink rabbit pajamas
that she was accustomed to. Sitting at her
vanity, brushing her long blond hair, her
mind began to wander. She first thought of
Mamo-chan, as she often did. She sighed
deeply, and remembered how he had
kissed her the other day. Deep and
sensual, his lips pressing ever so delicately
against hers, with a passion so deep it
makes the roses jealous....

“Usagi!” a voice snapped her from her
sweet fantasies. “Usagi, are you just going
to sit there day dreaming or aren’t you
going to check up on the new senshi?”
Chibi-usa stood in the doorway, also
pajama clad.

Usagi turned around, red with anger.
“Chibi-usa! When will you stop walking in
on me like this all the time? Don’t you
know you’re being a little brat?” She
heaved out a deep breath and turned back
to her mirror, pouting and slumped over.

“Usagi,” a calmer, more rational voice
now said, “Chibi-usa isn’t wrong,” Luna
entered the room, paced a few steps and
hopped onto Usagi’s vanity. “You should
check up on the new Senshi, and you, as
the future Queen of Crystal Tokyo, should
be working up some sort of plan to combat
with this new evil!” The tone of the cat’s
voice changed from one of understanding
to despondancy.

Usagi blinked and then her face
contorted, “Why is everything always my
fault, or my responsibility?” Usagi stood,
using her brush as a pointer, aimed at
Luna. “Why does everyone always say ‘Oh
Moon Princess this’, ‘Neo-Queen that’, when
you know it doesn’t matter how many
times you bring up my past or my future, it
can’t change what kind of a person I am
now.” Her eyes teared, and she began to
whine, “You always complain about how
incompetent I am, and yet you always
throw big tasks in my face!” she threw
down the brush. “I’m not good at planning,
I’m not good at leading...I’m not even a
good Sailor Soldier!” she stormed out of the
room, leaving Luna and Chibi-usa
somewhat aghast.

“I think,” Luna said as she closed her
eyes, “That Usagi needs some time alone.
Small Lady, go to sleep now.” Chibi-usa
nodded, and wriggled into the bed she and
Usagi shared.

***

Mamoru sat on the couch of the front
room in his apartment, in the
Azuban/Juuban district building. The soft
pitter patter of rain on the window outside
was comforting, and he smiled as he
continued to watch the evening news on
the television.

On the screen, there was a reporter
talking to some government officials.
Mamoru leaned back on the couch, and
closed his eyes, now only listening to the
news. A deeper voice came through on the
broadcast, they had switched reporters to
get a story from a different location.

“Well Yuki, we don’t know as of yet
who killed these people, and local officials
are baffled as well. Forensic evidence
suggests these people were killed by
something not of this earth. No wounds
were found on the body, but..” The
reporter tamped his earpiece harder into his
ear, and strained to hear two lab-coat clad
men behind him, then he spoke.

“I’ve just overheard some scientists
saying that a blue fluid was found on the
floor of the house, now this might be
poison that killed the residents, but that’s
just a guess. It seems whoever committed
these murders did NOT have the intent of
robbery, as nothing was taken from the
home. We will continue to cover this
breaking story, as it progresses. Back to
you in the studio, Yuki.” Yuki went on to
thank the reporter for covering the story, but
Mamoru hardly noticed.
He flicked off the
TV, jumped up from the couch, nearly
impaled his calve on the coffee table as he
rushed to the door, threw his coat on, and
ran out of the apartment, slamming the door
behind him. Frantic, unpaced thoughts flew
through his mind. Could this be an
outbreak of the new evil Luna had been
talking of just earlier today? He rushed
down the halls, breathing heavily. He
closed his eyes while running, and reflected
on his thoughts. The next thing he knew,
he had been knocked to the ground.

He opened his eyes, and he saw that
he was at the front desk of the apartment
building. ‘I must have run into someone as
they came in,’ he thought. The world
around him was spinning, and a
kaleidoscope of pink bunnies stared at him
from his left.

“Usa-ko!” he staggered to his feet and
looked down at the bunnies. They were
only designs on fabric, pajamas that
adorned his beloved Usagi. Mamoru’s hand
extended to the ground, and Usagi grabbed
it, and together they pulled her from off the
ground. Water dripped from her odangos;
she was soaked.

“Mamo-chan...why are you running?”
She rubbed her head.

“Usagi, I’ll tell you later, but why are
you here? Now? It’s so late, does your
mother know you’re out? You’re so wet,
here take my jacket.” He took off his coat
and gently lay it on her shoulders. She
blushed.

“Oh Mamo-chan...I can’t believe you
worry about me so much,” she giggled, for
a moment forgetting her reason for trekking
all the way to Mamoru’s apartment.
Mamoru’s brows furrowed.

“Ok, Usagi, something has happened,
and we have to find out what caused it.”

“Mamoru, what?” A look of concern
brushed Usagi’s face, and she could see the
troubled look in his eyes. Her pain was
fading, as she felt needed by Mamoru.
Maybe she would tell him why she rushed
out to see him, later...

“On the news, just a minute ago,”
Mamoru started, “A murder, they said the
assailant wasn’t human, no marks on the
body, a weird fluid on the ground. Usagi,
this could be the evil we have to defeat. We
have to get a hold of some of that fluid, and
Ami can analyze it...we’ll know more about
what we’re facing.” stress was written on
his face, and he thought about what they
would do till they could get the fluid sample,
what if it struck next, they had no plan of
attack, their newest weapon was still weak,
etc, etc, etc.

Mamoru lowered his head, and his
hands clutched his face. A low moan
escaped his lips.

“Mamo-chan...” Usagi whispered, “It’ll
be ok, we’ll get the sample. Here, I’ll use
my com watch to alert the other Senshi of
the news,” with that, Mamoru and Usagi
started down the rainy streets of Azuban,
heading toward Juuban, Usagi desperately
whispering into her communcator watch...

***

“Fool that you are, I can’t believe you’d
let this happen!” the dark, caped figure
paced the floor in front of his elaborate
throne in an even darker room. Musk
seeped from the walls, a smell to loathe.

“To leave behind your own bodily
secretion, how lewd. Have you no respect
for your work?” The figure’s eyes glowed.
He stared at his minion for a long while.
“You know, the humans might be able to
identify you from it. Well, have you nothing
to say for yourself?”

“Massster.” the minion hissed, a wet,
slimey, and strained sort of sound.
“General Gelhaton...I did the job,” the lackey
held up a clouded orb, “I collected the
strands.” Hunched over, the creature
approached the throne. He handed over
the spherical object to the caped figure.

“It seems you’ve done that well
enough, Squi, but you still shall be punished
for your carelessness in aquiring the
strands.” Gelhaton produced a chain whip
from his cape, and held it menacingly in his
calloused hands.

“It’sss only fair, Massster.” Squi
hunched over even more than his body
already was naturally, and without a word
he stood still as the General administered
lashings. Viscous blue fluid oozed out of
every welt made by the whip, and when it
was over, the General dismissed him from
the room.

General Gelhaton sat down in his
throne, examining the orb. He sighed.

“We’ve gotten off to a rough start,” he
set the orb on a stand near his throne. He
looked up at the far wall. “Tell me again,”
he said, adjusting his position in the throne,
“Tell me again how many strands are
needed to completely reconstitute all of us?”

“Gelhaton, my calculations propose
that you will need one hundred complex
protein strands per person,” the tinny voice
of the wall informed him, “From one human
you can gain only 10 or less strands.” the
voice paused, and the image of a girl
flickered onto the wall exterior, “I have
found however, that each guardian of Earth
possesses a higher concentration of strands
of these proteins in their DNA. From all of
the guardians, you can acquire enough
proteins to transmute your entire army, with
more power than I originally calculated.”

“Guardians of Earth? You mean the
former moon guardians have been
awakened, even in this time period? And
now they protect this planet? I though they
only existed in Crystal Tokyo and on the
Moon during the Silver Millennium!”
Gelhaton threw his hands into the air from
rage.

“General,” the wall spoke, “It does not
matter that the Guardians are awake. You
can simply kill them and remove their
strands. Then there will be no Senshi, and
we will not take the pains to worry about
them when we dominate Crystal Tokyo, for
they will have already been negated.

However, before we can attack them,
you must get more strands from the
humans to gain strength. Then, you with
your army will easily overpower them, and
their strands will be yours!”

Gelhaton calmed down. “That’s
true...what’s that picture of you’re
displaying?”

“Oh this,” the voice perked up, “This is
Sailor Moon, in her civilian ID, Usagi
Tsukino. She is to be the future Queen of
Crystal Tokyo. We have to keep her alive in
order to rule Crystal Tokyo because without
her power and ginzuishu, there will be NO
Crystal Tokyo.”

“I understand. And then after we
come into power?” Gelhaton inquired.

The wall voice laughed eerily. “After
that, you can take her as your wife. Or
seize her strands. By that time, with her
many uses of the ginzuishu, her protein
strands will be fifty fold more powerful.”

The General chuckled. “So everything
falls into it’s place.”

“Indeed, it does,” the voice agreed.

***

“Hey nice place you have here,”
Alihstarr commented, looking around the
townhouse of Haruka and Michiru.

“Yeah, I try to keep it nice. Michiru
does most of the cleaning though,” Haruka
chuckled nervously, Michiru was still a
touchy subject.

“I see. Oh yeah, when is she coming
back?” Alihstarr crossed her arms, and
propped herself up against the wall.

“I don’t know. She’s over cooking
with Makoto. That’s what she called to say,
anyway. But she doesn’t matter.” Haruka
took a deep breath. “So are you hungry?”

“Yeah,” she stretched, “As a matter of
fact, I am pretty hungry. What do you
have?”

Haruka went to the kitchen. “Let me
check,” she said, as she rummaged
through the pantry, and then the fridge. She
blinked for a minute, and cocked her head,
flustered, to the side.

“What’s wrong?” Alihstarr inquired
after a moment passed and Haruka was still
silent. Alihstarr came to the other girl’s side,
and waved a hand in front of Haruka’s face.
“Come on, what’s for dinner?” she laughed,
and a slightly disconcerted smile crossed
Haruka’s lips.

“It seems,” Haruka licked her drying
lips, “That if dinner is going to be served, it
will have to be made.” She coughed, and
Alihstarr was still puzzled.

“Well of course it’ll have to be made,”
Alihstarr waved her hand in the air, starting
to speak, but was interrupted.

“I mean,” Haruka looked at Alihstarr,
“That it’ll have to be made from scratch.”

Alihstarr raised an eyebrow. “So?”
she crossed her arms, and shifted her
weight to one leg.

“Well, you see,” Haruka looked around
uncomfortably, “It’s just that...um...” she
trailed off, varying her gaze innocently.
Alihstarr’s eyes lit up, and she waggled her
index finger at Haruka.

“I know what it is,” she narrowed her
eyes, and suppressed giggles, “You can’t
cook, can you?” Alihstarr continued to prod
with an uncracking gaze.

Haruka rolled her eyes. She coughed,
and after she uttered a faint “Yeah, that’s it”,
to which Alihstarr unbridled her laughter.

“You could have told me, it’s not a
problem.” Alihstarr went to the pantry, “I
can cook fairly well, if you don’t mind.” She
grinned and resumed pawing through the
cupboards.

“No, not at all. I’d rather like it if you
would cook for me...what are you going to
make?” Haruka curiously approached
Alihstarr.

“I’m thinking Chicken Curry, since I
can see you have all the ingredients; I saw
some chicken in the freezer. What do you
think?” Alihstarr turned from the
refridgerator holding a piece of poultry and
some frozen vegetables.

Haruka nodded. “Curry sounds great.”
She motioned to Alihstarr the location of the
pots and pans, and walked over to the
other side of the counter, where she took a
seat, head in hands, watching Alihstarr
cook.

It was well into the frying of the curry
when the shrill beeping sounded from the
living room. Alihstarr raised her head in
alarm, and Haruka raised herself from the
counter stool to silence the noise.

She realized it was her com watch
when she entered the living room, and
immediately snapped it up from the coffee
table and flipped open the top.

“Everyone,” Usagi’s voice came in
over her fuzzy appearence in the com,
“There’s no time to explain,” from the way
Usagi’s head was bouncing in the screen of
the watch, Haruka guessed she was
running, and outside, as she noted the rain.
“Just everyone, as soon as you can, get to
the Juuban library, I know it’s not our usual
meeting place, but I will explain later,” she
looked distressed, and she handed off the
watch to someone else, Haruka saw. It
was Mamoru.

“This is extremely important, soldiers,
we must all meet at the designated location
immediately!” Mamoru seemed more
stressed than Usagi. “Time is of the
essence!”

The signal cut out, Usagi and
Mamoru’s message silenced. Haruka
hurried to the kitchen.

“Alihstarr, we’ve got to leave. Usagi
was on the com watch, all of the senshi
have to meet at the Juuban library. Come
on, it’s only three blocks from here, not
worth driving to, let’s run. Come on!”
Haruka grabbed Alihstarr’s arm and pulled
her gently from the kitchen.

“The curry! I have to take it off the
burner,” she tugged free of Haruka’s grasp
and removed the pan from the stove, and
started stirring it with a wooden spoon.

“Come on, the curry’s not important!”
Haruka hooked her arm around Alihstarr’s
waist, pulling her to the door.

“All I wanted was to cook you dinner,”
Alihstarr was still being pulled backward by
Haruka, “I’m sorry. It’s ruined.”

“I don’t care. Here put this on,”
Haruka released Alihstarr and handed her a
rain slicker. She took an umbrella, and
grabbed Alihstarr’s hand, opened the front
door, and pulled her into the rain.

The two girl’s feet pounded on the wet
cement of the ground, hearts perhaps
racing faster than feet. Haruka’s beat harder
still. Her hand continuing to hold Alihstarrs’,
a new feeling, more adrenaline, coursed
through her veins.

A verboten feeling somehow warmed
her.

Part 4 is coming soon!