To Give Warning Chapter 10 Brave New World, a sailor moon fanfic

To Give Warning

By Douglas Helm and "Tuxedo" Will Wolfshohl

This story and our other Sailor Moon stories reside at our Shoujo Fiction dot com website.

Chapter 10 "Brave New World"

Sunday, May 15, 1994
Azuba-Juuban District, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Federal Republic of Japan

Kino Hana left her place at the kitchen counter and stuck her head into the hall when she heard the front door opening. "Hey you two!" she said by way of greeting as her two daughters (Chiyo and Makoto) entered the house. "How was the shopping trip?"

"My feet hurt!" her youngest daughter complained. The petite eleven year old pulled her shoes off, dropped them to the floor, and then made a beeline towards her mother. "We must've looked in every store in Tokyo."

"Not quite," Makoto interjected as she sat Chiyo's shoes neatly on the mat beside hers and her parents in the entry hall. "We kept out of Shinjuku just like you said, Mom." She followed her sister down the hall and hugged her mother for a moment. "We met up with Ami and Rei and then we went trawling to see if we could nab any bargains."

"And did you `nab´ any, Makoto?" she asked her eldest while wrapping a comforting arm around her youngest who was leaning heavily against her. "That reminds me... Where's your big purchase, Chiyo?" 'Might as well see the expensive new toy she talked us into.'

The exhausted preteen made a face, dug in her pocket, and came up with her wallet. She opened it with one hand and took out the stack of ¥1000 bills that her father had given her that morning. "Here, Mom."

"Nani? After all that fuss you put up, you DIDN'T buy that CD player?"

Chiyo gave her sister an indignant look and then simply shook her head before explaining, "I wanna earn the money myself, Mama. Maybe by the time I have enough, it'll be cheaper. I don't really need it right now. I only bought the replacement Mariah Carey CD." 'I just hope I'll have someplace to play it.' She pulled it out of a bag to show her mother the shrink-wrapped item. Deciding to change the subject, she asked, "When's supper?"

"In an hour or so, Chiyo," Hana indicated. 'I'm so proud of you.' Chiyo gave her one more hug and then the girl wandered back down the hall and headed upstairs to her bedroom. "Is she all right, Makoto?"

"Yeah, Mom," Makoto assured her, "We did do a lot of store trawling today. I suppose she's not quite ready yet for the big leagues." She giggled.

"Not that I'm complaining but I thought Chiyo's heart was set on a new CD player," her mother commented as she pocketed the money that Chiyo had given her.

The tall teen sighed and ran the fingers of her right hand through her hair. "I think Chiyo gets that WANTING something and NEEDING it are different, Mom. If she earns the money herself, it'll mean more to her." 'I'm kinda proud of my imouto.' Makoto shrugged. "Ami was moaning today that her dad wouldn't buy her a Jumbo Draw ticket but Rei said that she wouldn't want the money from a lottery."

"I don't know, Makoto... There's quite a chunk of change to be won in the Dream Jumbo Draw," Hana mused. She and her husband had purchased ten tickets for the quarterly national drawing.

"That's what I was thinking too, Mom. It would go a long way around here," Makoto agreed while moving into the kitchen proper. She retrieved a glass from the cupboard and turned back to her mother. "Minako and Chiyo said so too but then Rei said she would rather earn the money since it'd mean more to her." The teen filled the glass with water while thinking, 'That's so strange. Rei always wanted to be famous but would she want to be famous and poor?'

"And what did your friend Minako say to that?" her mother asked as she came over to lean against the counter beside Makoto. While she liked the perky ribbon-wearing blonde and believed she was generally a good girl, she was sometimes annoyed with the fickle teen's influence on her daughters, especially on Chiyo.

The brunette chuckled. "Minako said that she wouldn't care where money came from as long as she got to spend it on cool stuff." She took a sip of water. "I think Rei's just opposed to lotteries on principle."

Hana nodded. 'Why am I not surprised?' She allowed the matter to rest. "Is your homework done, Makoto?"

"Hai," the teen answered.

There was something in her daughter's tone that made the forty-something woman think Makoto wasn't being completely sincere because she prodded, "Makoto...?"

"I'm done, Mom! You can check it if you wanna," Makoto protested, taking another pull from her glass of water. "It's just... I'm trying to find something out but every time I show up at the library, Minako and the others think I'm meeting a boy or I'm sick or I've been kidnapped by aliens." She made a face. The teen had to suppress a laugh. 'It actually did happen!' She was not going to tell her mother that however.

"What are you trying to find out? Maybe I can help."

"Well..." the teen began, paused, and then hedged, "The Emperor's birthday... for history class."

Hana blinked. "Uh... You mean Hirohito?"

'Hirohito, not Akihito?' "Um, yeah..." Makoto agreed. Like most Japanese, she knew very well when Emperor Akihito's birthday was celebrated (December 23) being a national holiday but it would be a way to answer her mother without raising suspicion.

"That's a hard one, Makoto." She tapped her lips. "I was never a big history buff. Your grandmother would know if she were still alive, Kami-sama rest her soul. I remember the date he died though."

"Oh?" Makoto asked, raising the glass to drain the rest of its contents.

"December 26, 1947."

Makoto (startled by this date) choked and spewed water out her nose. "What?" she squeaked as she groped for a paper towel to mop up her mess. Crouching a little, she cleaned her face.

"I remember because your grandfathers argued over it at our engagement dinner," her mother explained. "Dad thought he should have given into the Americans' demands sooner. Maybe they wouldn't have executed him. Your other grandfather thought he should have kept fighting longer and died with honor. The way they were going at it your dad and I thought they were going to cancel our marriage over it."

Makoto only half-heard what her mother was saying. She was still trying to grapple with the date. 'Kami-sama! Emperor Shōwa died when I was a kid, not 1947!' She still remembered the huge state funeral they held for him five years ago. If the war had continued on well into 1946, then that was a significant difference. Was Emperor Akihito even alive in this universe?

"Makoto?"

"Oh gomen, Mom... Thanks for telling me. That will help with my assignment." She smiled and set her empty glass in the sink. "Do you want some help with dinner?"

"Sure, Makoto. Would you please go check on Chiyo first though?" 'Makoto's really turned her life around in the last few days.'

"Hai... She's probably just catching a catnap." With that, the teenager left the kitchen and headed for the stairs but her mind was whirling.

# # # # #

Later that night, Makoto was sitting next to her dresser in her pajamas brushing out her long brown hair. Normally, she found this task to be tedious but tonight, she didn't even notice as her hands automatically worked out the various tats and tangles. 'I just thought there were minor differences in the girls...' She had to snort at that thought. 'Well, if having a completely new family is a minor difference... But I didn't think the changes went that far back.'

Once she had a solid date as a foundation, Makoto had found it easier to glean some of the information she needed to determine how skewed the timeline was relative to hers. Still, she was no Ami when it came to research. While her school's history texts did a good job of painting the broad picture, she was missing a lot of the nuance and fine details. Moreover, her spotty memory of that period from her Japanese history classes didn't help matters.

'Something during the War changed and it ended later,' Makoto thought unconsciously frowning as she worked a tangle out. 'It didn't end until around October 1946...' This was a contradiction. Every Japanese school child knew the War ended in 1945 immediately after the atom bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial was a popular school field trip destination.

In this new timeline though, those attacks did not happen. Instead, she had discovered that a simultaneous invasion of Hokkaido by the Russians and Kyushu by the Americans occurred in March 1946. It was called "Operation Downfall". Both sides steadily advanced over the ensuing months. The atom bomb was never used on Japan ensuring a protracted and bloody conflict on two fronts. Multitudes of people died of starvation and disease as well as the incessant bombing (using conventional weapons) who hadn't before. Eventually, Japan was left with no other choice but to capitulate or be utterly destroyed like its Nazi counterpart. 'Because of his steadfast refusal to bend for so long, they put Emperor Shōwa on trial. He was convicted and executed for war crimes along with most of his surviving Supreme War Council.' Things had rippled out from there. The Emperor's untimely death; the complete elimination of the Imperial Class. 'What did I do to cause all that?'

What Makoto was struggling more with though were the more near present events. The fact that following the War, Japan had been divided by the occupying Allied Forces into something resembling East and West Germany before the fall of the Iron Curtain with the Communists on the one side and non-Communists on the other. In this alternate world however, the Iron Curtain never fell and the Soviet Union was still alive and well in 1994. Both Germany and Japan were divided nations and the Cold War raged on between the two superpowers.

She had discovered that Tokyo Prefecture (where she lived) was part of South Japan or more properly, the Federal Republic of Japan (as she learned the South was called). While she knew she wouldn't want to live under the tyranny of the communist Democratic People's Republic of Japan in the North, the teen wasn't sure she liked its alternative in the South either. She supposed this universe's Kino Makoto didn't think anything unusual of a divided Japan. She had been born into it. But she wasn't that Kino Makoto.

"If I was Usagi, I'd want to go tearing off into space-time and fix things," Makoto remarked while staring at her closed bedroom door. "I don't have a Time Key, and even if I did..." Could she give up her loving family and go back to living alone?

She stopped talking to herself and turned to face her bedroom window when she thought she heard something. After listening carefully, she realized that there was indeed a tapping at her window.

Puzzled, Makoto got up and headed around her bed to the window. She paused just before it wondering if Luna and/or Artemis had come to talk. She doubted that Chibi-Usa would be paying her another visit after what happened. The brunette with her hair still down glanced down to make sure she wouldn't be giving anyone a show and pulled aside the curtain.

It took the fifteen year old a moment to realize what she was seeing. There sitting on a branch of the tree outside of her second floor bedroom window was Sailor Mercury. It took even longer moment for her to react. Reaching out, she unlocked and levered the window open. "Mercury?" she asked as her blue-haired friend dropped into the room and detransformed into Mizuno Ami. "What are...?" She stopped. There was a prominent bruise around Ami's left eye.

"Can I campout here tonight, Mako-chan?" Ami asked while turning to close her friend's bedroom window.

"What? Why? Who hit you?"

"I can't go home like this," Ami told her busty pajama-clad friend, "If I do and Dad sees this mess, he's going to get all bent out of shape."

"Ami-chan, who hit you?" Makoto demanded. 'Whoever it is is toast.' She reached out and took her friend's right upper arm. Turning her, the teen looked at Ami seriously. "Was it some boy?"

"Of course not," Ami huffed, tugging free of Makoto and going to sit on her bed. 'I'm not you.' "Look, Makoto, you know the drill. It's the same old story."

"Meaning?" Makoto prodded, crossing her arms and glaring at her blue-haired friend.

"I go visit Mom. She drinks a little more sake than normal and we end up getting into a fight." The shorthaired teen lifted her hand up and touched the bruise gingerly. "Tonight was just a little more heated than normal. Don't worry, Mako-chan. By tomorrow, I'll be good as new." Her Sailor Senshi constitution would ensure that.

Once again, the time traveling teen's world was jolted. She wasn't sure what her other self would have done and frankly she didn't care. She didn't like that Makoto very much. "Come on, Ami. I'll get you some ice and ask Mom and Dad if it's okay for you can campout here. Then we'll..."

"Are you nuts?" the blue-haired fifteen year old hissed. "Mako-chan, if your mom finds out, she'll tell Dad and then things will spiral out of control." 'She should know that.'

"But your mom hit you!" Makoto pointed out stubbornly. It was difficult to believe that the mild-mannered doctor she knew would do such a malicious thing.

"Makoto, can I crash here or not?"

The brunette took in a deep breath and explained, "Ami, I wanna help you... but I'm not going behind my parents' backs." 'Maybe Mom can call CPS or something... Get Mizuno-sensei some help.'

"MERCURY STAR POWER, MAKE-UP!" Sailor Mercury stood then and moved towards the window. "Chiyo's right, Kino-san, you've changed... and I'm not sure it's for the better!" Mercury growled as she reopened the window. Makoto opened her mouth to retort but wasn't sure what to say. That hesitation gave the smaller teen the chance she needed to leap out the window and disappear into the night.

# # # # #

Monday, May 16, 1994
Azuba-Juuban District, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Federal Republic of Japan

Makoto slept poorly that night. She was both angry and frustrated. Angry at Ami for being so unreasonable, yet frustrated because she didn't know if she could truly do anything for her normally introverted friend. As the eastern sky began to lighten with the first tendrils of dawn, the teenager reached over and shut her alarm clock off so it wouldn't ring in an hour. Sighing, she got out of bed. Then after quickly freshening up, she quietly got dressed in her school uniform.

When she went downstairs she was surprised to find her father was already awake and dressed. "Dad?"

He gave a start, looked up from his newspaper, and smiled. "I have to go into work early, Makoto. We're short of staff today and I promised I'd help setup and take care of some other stuff."

"And I was gonna make breakfast," his teenage daughter pouted.

He chuckled. "It's a good thing I already ate then!" Seeing the scowl from his daughter, her father amended, "If I ate your meals regularly, I'd weigh more than a sumo wrestler!" He winked. While his daughter was nowhere near the cook of his wife's caliber, he didn't want to disillusion her. He then finished off his coffee, got up, and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "Have a good day at school, Makoto." He turned and left.

Once her father was gone, the ponytailed teen put an apron over her uniform and got down to work. Almost without exception, Kino Makoto worked off tension by cooking and today was no exception. She began with her and Chiyo's lunches putting all of her concentration into their preparation.

Even as she worked, Ami's enraged face and the various facts she'd found out about last night flitted around the edges of her mind. By the time both bento boxes were complete and properly wrapped, the tall brunette felt much better. She knew taking her typical approach to Ami's "troubles" wouldn't work and while she was starting to feel concern at the shift in the timeline, she couldn't fathom how it was related to her short trip to the past. There must be another explanation.

'I need to talk to Sailor Pluto...' Makoto frowned slightly as she put the bento boxes aside and started breakfast preparations for her family. 'But how am I going to contact her? The only times I've seen her, at least when she wasn't trying to kill Hotaru, was via Luna-P.' That made her frown a little bit more. 'Does this universe's Chibi-Usa even have Luna-P? And if not, how do I get a hold of her without the other girls finding out?'

She wondered for just a moment what the other Outer Senshi were doing. 'Sailor Uranus and Neptune seem to be pretty tight with Sailor Pluto. I bet they know how to get a hold of her. I wish I knew who they really were.' Another problem was that Sailors Uranus and Neptune seldom lingered long enough at a scene for her to talk to them. In addition, their attitude toward the Inner Senshi was less than congenial. A suddenly horrible thought flashed through her mind. 'Does Uranus work for the DPRJ?' She mentally snorted, 'Wonderful, something else to worry about.' Firmly pushing those thoughts aside, she turned back to preparing breakfast.

Makoto had just finished setting the table when her sister, still dressed in pajamas and slippers, appeared from the hallway. She looked fuzzy-headed and sleep rumpled. "Ohayo!" Makoto greeted her cheerfully.

"'Nee-chan..." Chiyo began as she blinked a few times and stared at the table laden with breakfast, "Are we having company?"

"'Course not! Now sit down, Chiyo-chan, and eat before it gets cold."

Chiyo complied but gingerly picked up the napkin. "Napkins? What is this, Onee-chan? A five-star restaurant?"

"It looks like it," her mother interjected as she came to stand beside the table. "Goodness Makoto. I think you went a little overboard."

Makoto grinned sheepishly. "Not to worry, Mom. I can always give the leftovers to Usagi. That girl has a black hole for a stomach." She completely missed the look that was passed between Chiyo and her mother.

"So what's the occasion?" her mother wondered as she sat down at the table.

"More like what do you want, 'Nee-chan?" Chiyo commented suspiciously, which earned her a glare from both of her relations.

"Nothing... I was feeling stressed out and thought I'd do some cooking!"

Hana examined the table, regarded her apron-clad daughter, and declared, "Well, I think your papa and I should look into getting a bigger 'fridge by exam time if this is how you intend to handle stress in the future." Chiyo giggled.

"You be nice, Imouto," Makoto warned her little sister, "Or the Three O'clock Fairy won't bring you anything good to eat."

# # # # #

"Oh that looks yummy, Mako-chan? You're so lucky. Which hunk bought that for you?" 'He must've bought it from that new gourmet shop.'

The tall brunette turned her attention away from her bento box and regarded the questioner. It was a redhead who reminded Makoto strongly of teenage Miss Haruna (her last homeroom teacher). 'I wonder what Haruna-sensei is like in this universe?' Shaking the stray thought aside, she smiled.

"I bet it was Jun-kun." 'He must've spent ¥1500.'

"Oh please... Kino-sempai dumped him two months ago. It has to be Kuemon-sempai since he just broke up with that fluffhead Daishi Mio."

"Help yourselves, minna. I've made too much," she interjected and smiled a little sheepishly. 'I'm used to making these things for Usagi. I got so wound up in the prep that I forgot that I don't go to school with the "human eating machine" anymore.' That vaguely pained the teen.

"Are you serious, girlfriend? You made it?"

"Hai," Makoto indicated. "I needed a way to de-stress a bit."

"Why were you stressed?" Minako wondered. "Your parents didn't ground you again, ne?"

"Nope," Makoto said while shaking her head. She started eating her lunch again. "Just... stuff." She waved vaguely in the air.

"Ne, Minako-chan, I heard there's gonna be cosplay karaoke this weekend. Interested?"

"Hmmm... Any costume restrictions?" Minako asked in bright-eyed anticipation. When the inquirer shook her head, the blonde grinned. "Sure. Wanna come, Mako-chan?"

"Oh come on, Aino-sempai. Kino-sempai will have a new boyfriend for sure by next weekend."

"Not likely," Makoto snorted. "I meant the new boyfriend bit." The sudden silence made the teenager look up and around. "What?"

"Jeez, Mako-chan, you're taking the breakup with Toya-kun awful hard," the redhead commented. "Regretting it?"

"Regret breaking up with that big jerk?" the brunette demanded. "Please... I'd rather date Artemis!" There was another shocked silence from the gaggle of girls around them and then they started talking again. Makoto shook her head and went back to eating her lunch.

After lunch during her math class, Makoto struggled to keep awake. 'I shouldn't have eaten so much; I'm getting sleepy.' She gave a silent moan when the teacher asked her to come up to the blackboard and solve a problem. Once the problem was complete, she went back to her desk. 'I wonder if I can get a quiet word with Luna? She seems to think I went on a mission for Sailor Pluto.'

# # # # #

They were walking home after school that afternoon when Hino Usagi stopped, took a deep breath, and counted to ten as Chibi-Usa voiced her magisterial displeasure. "Onee-sama, I can't believe you didn't back me up with Aki back there!" her future daughter whined. "You could've told Aki my bedtime was ten. It wouldn't've hurt anything." 'I was so embarrassed.' Not to mention, it might make her seem less special to her clique of friends.

"That would have been a lie," the golden-haired priestess lectured while shifting her schoolbag to her other hand. "Shinto teaches us the virtues of natural simplicity and honesty." She regarded the decidedly grumpy-looking youngster. Chibi-Usa's hair reflected the late afternoon sun making it appear even redder than normal. 'I can't believe she called Daddy and begged him for concert tickets.' "Serenity, you know I don't like lying."

"Yeah, but Onee-sama, now Aki might think I was fibbing about Ojii-sama getting tickets for me too!" the eight year old complained. "I have a reputation to maintain you know."

"You've been listening to Rei and Minako too much, Serenity-chan," Usagi surmised. "And I don't understand why you like Kaioh-san's music anyway." The elegant sixteen year old violinist and her handsome accompanist had become popular recently especially amongst teenage girls. She glanced curiously at the third-grader. "And I know you can't have a crush on Ten'ou-san like Makoto, Minako, and Rei do." 'At least, I hope not.'

"I'm a princess," Chibi-Usa sniffed. "My betrothal is set already." Usagi gaped at her in disbelief. Before the pigtailed teen could say anything, the younger girl continued, "'Sides, who says I can't have `refined tastes´?" She underlined this statement with another imperious sniff.

Usagi sighed and rubbed her forehead as they came to a stop at a traffic signal. 'Regardless, if I didn't think the idea was ridiculous, I'd think Serenity knows them from someplace... or some other time.' She smiled faintly at the implication as they crossed the street. 'Michiru and Sailor Neptune are nothing alike.' Then a bizarre thought hit her. 'If Michiru is Sailor Neptune, then that means Haruka is Sailor Uranus.' To even think the antagonistic (but definitely female) Sailor Uranus and the handsome young Ten'ou Haruka were one in the same. 'Preposterous!'

Eliminating those two still left a myriad of possibilities for who these two new Sailor Senshi really were. They seemed to have a different agenda than she and the Inner Senshi did. Nevertheless, the pigtailed blonde knew that pressing her future daughter for answers about the aggressive Sailor Uranus and aloof Sailor Neptune would be fruitless.

Once across the street, Chibi-Usa asked, "Onee-sama, I don't get why you're being such a youma about this. Ojii-sama said he'd be happy to pay..."

At that point, Usagi lost her temper. "Young lady, I don't want to hear another word about the concert or I'll spank you! You will call Daddy when you get home and tell him to forget about those tickets." This declaration was so out of character for the easygoing teen that the eight year old stopped dead in her tracks and simply stared at her future mother in shock. Usagi sighed. "Gomen, Serenity-chan. Come on. We're really late getting home Ojii-san will be worried."

Chibi-Usa hesitated but then started walking again. "You really hate taking money from your dad, ne Onee-sama?"

"Serenity... It's not just that... I'd like to go too... But I'd likely spend most of the time feeling majorly guilty that the other girls couldn't go too."

"Ojii-sama said he'd get a ticket for Aki-chan," Chibi-Usa pointed out hopefully. "Maybe he'd scarf some for Rei-'nee and the others too if we asked him real nice."

'Maybe...' "Listen, Serenity-chan, where is this concert?" When Chibi-Usa told her, she said, "I don't think Ojii-san would like you going out to a different prefecture so late on a school night." 'I doubt Rei or Makoto's parents would allow them either.'

"Transportation can be taken care of," the little girl quipped then winked. It sounded like something she'd heard before.

Usagi suddenly felt very old. 'Do all mothers have these types of problems?' The pigtailed teen didn't have any answers by the time they finally arrived at the private quarters of the Hikawa Shrine.

"You're really late, Usagi-chan," Makoto declared as the two Usagis came into the main room. "We were about to send out a search party for you two."

"I'm very sorry. Gomen," Usagi apologized and bowed. "Serenity was tardy getting to the gates."

"Boy, Serenity-chan, you look like a freight train hit you," Chiyo observed to the strawberry-blond-haired child. "What's up?"

"Onee-sama won't let me go to Kaioh Michiru's concert," she pouted.

"Oh wow!" Minako gushed with her big blue eyes wide as the other teens around the table looked up at Chibi-Usa. "I hadn't heard about a new one. When is it, Serenity-chan?"

"On a school night over in Yokohama... and it starts at 8:00 PM," the petite blonde announced, sitting down and bringing out her homework.

"I'd give anything to go," Minako moaned.

"Me too," Ami seconded. "No way Dad could afford tickets and Mom..." She made a face. Rei and Makoto exchanged a knowing look.

"I'd like to go too, 'though I'm more interested in the technical aspects," Rei admitted. "But I couldn't afford the tickets on my allowance and my 'rents wouldn't cough up the money." 'Even if they'd allow me out past my curfew.' She then laughed a little. "'Though with my luck, Daddy will be sent there to take pictures for work and get to go for free."

"I still think I should..." Chibi-Usa stopped and gaped. "Ami-chan, what happened to your eye?"

Usagi, who'd been routing in her schoolbag jerked around to regard Ami's face. There was a fading bruise.

"I got into a fight," Ami fibbed softly. "I decided to walk home from Mom's since it was late and..." She shrugged. "It's not so bad and will be gone soon." She turned to Chiyo, declaring the subject closed, "Chi-chan, are you done those conjugation problems yet?"

"Almost, Ami-'neechan," Chiyo prodded.

"Speaking of homework," Usagi interjected. "Ami, can you check over some math problems for me? I think I have them right but..." She shrugged. The blue-haired teen nodded and held her hand out. "Thanks!"

# # # # #

After the meeting, Rei held Makoto back as they were going down the stairs. "Makoto, what did you say to Ami last night?" At the ponytailed brunette's questioning look, she continued, "She came over to my place spitting mad."

"So she spent the night at your place?" Rei nodded. Makoto let out a breath. "I was just surprised really, Rei-chan. And not telling your parents that one of your friends wants to sleep over, especially when I just got out of being grounded... seemed like a really bad idea."

"So what did you say to her?" Rei wondered.

"I told her that we should tell my mom that her mom hit her," Makoto replied quietly.

"You did what?"

"'Nee-chan, hurrying up!" Chiyo called from the bottom of the stairs, "Mama's making takoyaki! [octopus dumplings]"

"Oh yummy!" Rei declared with a grin. "I wanna come over to your place for supper!"

"Come on over, Rei-'neechan" Chiyo invited. "I bet Mama makes us lots."

# # # # #

Luna was sitting atop the retaining wall in front of the Hikawa Shrine. She had been gazing at the night sky but turned her head at an odd noise. With her yellow eyes, the feline watched as a police car made its way up the hill and over its crest. A noise behind her made her head swivel and a moment later, Artemis appeared.

"Luna," the white lunar cat said by way of greeting, "What did you want to talk about?" He hopped up on to the wall beside her.

"Makoto," Luna said, turning her attention back to the road far below, "Has... Has Minako said anything to you, Artemis?"

"You mean about how Makoto's been taken over by a pod person?"

"Pod person?" the black cat questioned.

Her opposite number sighed. "Minako likes watching television and the more dramatic it is the better."

"Oh, well yes. I've gotten comments from the others that Makoto isn't the same since her breakup with Toya."

Artemis eased himself down so he was lying on the warm stone. "Chiyo's mentioned it to Minako as well, Luna," he confirmed. "From what I can tell though, it's a change for the better." 'If only Minako would follow suit,' he silently hoped.

"Yes," Luna agreed, "I just wonder..."

"Wonder?" He turned his head and looked up at the black cat.

"I'm just thinking, Artemis, that whatever the mission was that Sailor Pluto had her on caused the change, not her breakup with Toya."

Artemis was silent for several seconds. "Did you say a mission for Pluto, Luna?"

She made a soft huffing noise and then remarked, "I don't have any proof per se except some very odd facts."

"Such as?"

"Well for one thing, Artemis, I don't believe that Makoto would suddenly want to borrow Serenity's Time Key for jewelry for a date. Nor do I believe Serenity would be so irresponsible to hand out such a powerful and potentially dangerous magical item to just anyone. You know how protective she is of it and the future. I'd be willing to bet Pluto ordered her to give it to Makoto."

"And?"

"And Sailor Pluto asked me to go meet up with Makoto last week at the park in the middle of the night. She was quite vague about why."

The white lunar cat's tail swished as he wondered, "Do you think Pluto tried to strike at Hotaru in the past without Usagi finding out? I mean since Usagi foiled the Outer Senshi's attempt?"

"Hmmm... no," the black lunar cat disagreed while shaking her head. "Firstly, Makoto might be flighty and boy-crazy but you and I know she's also completely loyal to the Moon Princess. Secondly, Pluto is the Guardian of Time. I have my suspicions about why the Outers are going after Hotaru but I don't have any proof."

"What suspicions, Luna?"

"Well, if I'm right, Artemis, then Hotaru is Sailor Saturn." Artemis gaped at her. "I know, I know... I don't say I'm right but it's the only logical thing I can come up with."

"You have an illogical reason?" Artemis asked, a trace of amusement in his tone.

Luna scowled. "I always wondered if Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus were allied with the Dark Kingdom Generals." Artemis jerked upright and he stared at her. "I know and I don't have any proof, but their actions against the Inner Senshi make me wonder. I mean they are looking for specific Heart Crystals and they don't seem to care how they get them."

"Well, that's certainly something I haven't considered, Luna. However, there is something we can do." When his companion gave him a puzzled look, he continued, "Let's go ask Makoto. I'm sure she'll tell us about her mission." Luna was doubtful but agreed it couldn't hurt.

# # # # #

Kino Makoto stifled a yawn, dropped her pencil, and then sat back and stretched. She winced as some joints popped back into place. "Umm, what time is it?" she wondered aloud. She turned her head and made a face when she spotted the time. "Ugh, I've been sitting in one place for three hours. No wonder I'm stiff." Gingerly, she pushed back from her desk in her bedroom and stood up, wincing slightly. "Time for some tea and then bed." She turned towards the door only to do a complete one-eighty and face her window.

'Ami?' she wondered at the noise and pulled her curtains aside. "Luna? Artemis?" she asked even as she opened the window, "What's up?"

"We wanted to talk, Mako-chan," Luna said, hopping into the room and making her way over to the bed. She hopped onto it and turned. "We wanted to ask you a couple of things."

"About?" Makoto inquired, returning to her desk and swinging her chair around.

"Makoto, we wanted to know if you could tell us about your trip for Sailor Pluto," Artemis piped in, earning a glare from his feline companion.

"Trip?" the teenager asked feigning innocence until she remembered Luna was there that night. "N-Not really. You know how Pluto is about time."

"Yes," Luna stated with a frown. "I'd like to know though if she asked you to go back in time and eliminate Tomoe Hotaru."

"WHAT?" the brunette jerked as if she'd been hit.

"Makoto?" came the voice of her mother. "Are you all right?"

"Gomen Mom," the brunette called, "Just surprised by the answer on my homework." Her mother chuckled softly and walked away. "Explain," she growled when she was sure her mother was out of earshot.

The black lunar cat sighed but did so as requested. "I'm not saying you did, Mako-chan, but I'm worried."

The brunette teen relaxed a little and shook her head. "No, Luna, I wouldn't do that. Not only would it be wrong but if Sailor Pluto is that desperate, then she can do her own dirty work."

"Can you give us a hit?"

"No, Artemis, I can't," the teenager said firmly. "Listen, I need to talk with Pluto. Do either of you know how to get in contact with her?"

"The only way I know about is Luna-P," Luna admitted with a sour tone. She disliked Chibi-Usa's floating cat toy. "Is it urgent?"

"Not an emergency but I just... I wanna make sure of something."

"We'll think of something, Mako-chan," Artemis offered. Luna nodded. "I guess we were worried too because... well, you've changed."

Makoto sighed. "I know, Artemis, but maybe it's because I didn't like the person I was."

End of Chapter 10

Coming next in Chapter 11 "A Priestess' Concerns"