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"Fubuki!" Her mother cried from the bottom of the stairs, her voice teeming with impatience. "Fubuki, come on!It's time to go to church."

Fubuki scowled as she slipped on her huge black trench coat. She adjusted the collar--trimmed with bright golden arrows--into place as she tromped into her disgustingly sparkling, bacteria-free hallway. She stood at the top of the stairs, looking defiantly down at her mother.

"Fubuki! You know better than to wear that thing to church. Besides, if it means so much to you, you should keep it in good condition."

"Dad gave it to me because he knew I liked to wear it,"Fubuki replied in vexation, "So I'm going to wear it."

"It's close to summer, Fubuki! You have no excuse."

"I'm going to wear it. And if you'd rather I didn't take it to church, feel free to go without me."

Her mother, who wore a conservative gray dress, looked toward her warningly. But Fubuki knew she had already won this battle.

"Fine. Wear your father's coat to church. Maybe his spirit will forgive you for all of your sins," she hissed in an insulting tone as she opened the front door and motioned for Fubuki to follow. "Though I'm sure wherever he is, he's more worried about his own."

Fubuki narrowed her eyes and spat on her mother's expensive carpet. Her mother glared warningly back.

"Come on, Fubuki. Or I'll tell your nana to forget about making you dinner."

"I can make dinner better myself, anyway," Fubuki snapped.

"I'll make sure to mention locking the kitchen, too."

Fubuki sneered and walked down the long staircase, glaring at her mother as she passed her and heading toward their limousine. Fubuki hated going to church--in part because that was the time of the week she was forced to endure her mother, who, for almost as long as Fubuki could remember, was obsessed with redeeming their sins every Sunday at the Church of Serenity.

Fubuki got in the car and looked at the floor. She tried to remember something good that had happened, so she could pretend that she wasn't with her mother and that she wasn't going to church. Dammit all.

She couldn't remember anything.

Shinpi-teki na unmei motsu noni
Tsuki ni michibikarete doko ni tadoritsuku to mada kangaete iruYasashige na lullaby kiite kako wo sukoshi dake omou
Machigai mo hiai mo ippai dakedo anata ga iru kara
Koukai-shinai

Pink-iro no tsuki no shita ni iru kedo
Motto tsuyoi nagusame ga iru no
Tatoe ayamachi dake shitemo
I love you tte itte ne

Though I hold a mysterious destiny,
I'm still wondering to where I will struggle on, being led by the moon

Listening to a gentle lullaby, I think just a little of the past
It's full of mistakes and sorrow, but since
You are here, I won't regret it

Though I'm under the pink moon,
I need an even stronger comfort
Even if I make only mistakes,
Say, "I love you," okay?

Moon Senshi: Unmei no Kodomo

Episode Three:

"The Purification"

Seisui couldn't help but scowl as she walked down the sidewalk toward school. Last week had been a wonderful reminder as to just how much and why she hated Sailor Moon. If only they hadn't been so outnumbered..."BOO!"

Seisui jumped and turned around. Tokimo waved cheerfully to her, holding up her purple backpack and swinging it back and forth.

"Tokimo! Stop that already!" Kouken's frustrated voice shouted as the bag squirmed and disfigured from his vain struggle to escape.

"Oh...hello," Seisui said timidly, smiling at Tokimo. "I thought you might be Usako. But...isn't it a bad idea to be hanging out around me? Aren't we pretending that you hate me?"

Tokimo grinned. "That's okay," She reassured Seisui,"Usako's almost a mile behind us--I should know, I sprinted ahead of her. She won't catch up to us until we're in class."

"Well... if you're sure..." Seisui replied uneasily. Trusting the information of Tokimo, she surmised, had the potential to be deadly.

"Of course I'm sure! I'm never wrong!" She grinned. Kouken laughed, meriting more violent swinging on the part of Tokimo.

"Was there something you wanted...?" Seisui asked Tokimo, who was putting the purple backpack on and ignoring Kouken's complaints of mistreatment.

"To talk to you? I barely know you, Seisui, but we're going to be working together an awful lot. Plus, you seem cool. Unlike Yamiko..." she said icily.

"Uhh... right," Seisui replied.

"Anyway, Seisui... I'll go over to your house after you're finished doing whatever with Usako, and we can hang out. I mean, just because you're pretending to like Usako doesn't mean that we can't hang out. Or maybe you can come to my house. I have a basement full of comic books, video games and cool movies--plus my dad just bought a ping-pong table!"

"Are you sure you want me to come over to you house? I mean... I know we're both senshi, but that doesn't mean we have to be friends or anything."

Tokimo looked a little disappointed. "We're not friends? You don't wanna come over?"

Seisui looked unhappy and shook her head violently. "I'm really sorry! That's not what I meant! I just...well, I wouldn't think you'd want me to come over...it wouldn't exactly make you look good if people knew you were hanging out with me, and a lot of people say I can get on their nerves sometimes..."

"No way! If anyone gets on my nerves, it'll be Yamiko, not you. You're cool, Seisui. And I wouldn't let what other losers think keep me from hanging out with someone cool." Tokimo patted Seisui encouragingly on the back. "So now that we've settled that, let's figure out our plans for later today."

"Don't we have more important things to talk about than hanging out after school?" Kouken asked, annoyed.

"Hey, I know!" Tokimo shouted enthusiastically. "We could play ping-pong, and use Kouken as the ball!"

Seisui smiled weakly. "Wouldn't he make a better racket?"She suggested quietly. Tokimo snickered in amusement as a low growl could be heard from Tokimo's backpack. "Sorry, Kouken..."Seisui apologized quickly, "I was kidding."

"Jeez, you say sorry too much, Seisui."

"Tokimo! Shut up!" Kouken hissed. "We need to think of a new plan. First off, there's still more Moon Senshi hanging around. I really need to find them, because at this rate, we'll never win."

"Maybe we should purposely stop finding them, so they'll stop turning on us," Tokimo suggested.

"Be quiet, Tokimo. While I'm doing that, though... Seisui, you need to think of another plan. Your last one was good, but not perfect. We need to get Usako somewhere completely isolated and alone."

"Regrettably, that will be very, very difficult," Seisui replied. "Usako and Hiroshi stick to each other like glue...and the Sailor Quartet consider looking after Pinkmoon their sacred duty. Sadly, they fulfill that duty very effectively, and they'll be even more on guard now that we've already cornered Usako once. At this point, it's unlikely that they'll have the sense of security I would require them to have for them to feel that Usako would be safe if Iseparated them from her--at least for any considerable length of time."

"There must be something, though..." Kouken asked hopefully. Seisui shook her head.

"I don't know where Usako will be or what she will be doing at any given moment," Seisui explained, "so it's hard for me to make up a plan. I'll just have to play along and see what I can do. If I think of something, I'll contact you on the communicator."

Kouken sighed. "I suppose you're right...Well, Tokimo, we better get going." Tokimo nodded enthusiastically. Seisui tried to hide her disappointment with a weak smile; Tokimo, of course, could see right through her. Tokimo smiled and waved good-bye to Seisui.

"Don't worry; I'll meet you at your house, Seisui. Try to put up with Bunny Girl for now."

It wasn't long after Tokimo had left Seisui that Kouken started squirming and kicking Tokimo violently from where he rested in her backpack. Sighing, Tokimo opened up the purple drawstring top and looked inside."I don't have any cucumbers in my lunch, okay? Stop trying to steal them!" she said in frustration.

"No, it's not that... although that is disappointing,"Kouken mused. "But I want you to look up ahead of you. Who do you see?"

Tokimo glanced in front of her; there were several groups of girls ahead, including a girl with strangely bleached hair. There was a boy walking next to her with spiky brown hair; they seemed deep in conversation.

"I see a couple of people who really need to see ahairdresser," Tokimo replied.

Kouken peeked out of the top of the purple backpack; he immediately noticed the people who Tokimo had mentioned. He dropped his head back down into the dark and stuffy bag.

"That girl is a Sailor Senshi. I need to talk to her."

Tokimo looked at her backpack, then back towards the strange looking girl; a distinctly unexcited expression crossed her face. She very, very sincerely hoped that this girl wouldn't turn out to be like Yamiko and Mr. Grumpy Dump; anyway, there was only one way to find out. Tokimo ran up to the strange looking girl and tapped her on the shoulder.

The girl broke off her conversation with the young man and turned to look toward Tokimo, raising her dark brown eyebrows in surprise.

"Who are you?" She asked caustically. Tokimo frowned and cursed her bad luck.

"My name is Tokimo Joshi," she answered as cheerfully as possible. "Mind if I have a word alone with you for a second?"

The girl looked toward the boy, and the boy looked at Tokimo.

"Why, is this something about me? Or are you picking a fight with Fubuki?"

Well, now Tokimo knew the girl's name, at least.

"No... neither, actually. There's something I need to tell her about, and it's kinda...personal," Tokimo explained hastily."It's nothing bad."

"There's nothing you can tell me that you can't tell Jirou."Fubuki said defiantly. "He's the only one I trust, but I trust him completely."

Tokimo shrugged and pulled Kouken out of her drawstring backpack.

Fubuki looked critically at Kouken. "What exactly is this all about, and why are you showing me this weasel?"

A low growling noise escaped from Kouken's snout, and he bared his teeth slightly.

"Uh, Fubuki, maybe you shouldn't--" Tokimo began nervously.

"I am not a weasel!" Kouken interrupted indignantly. "I am a ferret, thank you very much! Not a hot dog, and not a weasel! A weasel is an entirely different, if related, kind of mammal!"

Fubuki backed up slightly, her eyes widening in surprise. Jirou shook his head. "Man, I didn't think I had any fuzz this morning..."

"Kouken, why don't you explain the situation to them?"Tokimo suggested. Kouken hissed and shook his head; then he dove back into Tokimo's backpack and came back out with an intricate brooch of black and green. Accompanying the brooch was a matching communicator.

"Fubuki, you're a Sailor Senshi. A Moon Senshi, to be precise." Kouken informed her matter-of-factly.

"Jirou, I don't think it's fuzz. Unless we're having shared hallucinations..." Fubuki said dazedly.

"I have to admit, this is a pretty funky spin, if we are."

"No no no no no!" Tokimo said violently, shaking her head. "No drugs! This is real! You really are a Sailor Senshi. Here, take it." Tokimo grabbed the shiny locket and the communicator from Kouken, grabbed Fubuki's hand and placed the locket and communicator firmly into it. "If you don't believe me, just try transforming."

Fubuki stuffed the communicator inside of her pocket; then she paused and held the locket up to the sun.

"Are you seeing this too, Jirou?" Fubuki asked him, holding it in front of him. Jirou smirked.

"I never thought you, of all people, would ever be seen in agirlie sailor uniform. Not outside of school, anyway."

"My thoughts exactly," Fubuki replied in annoyance. Then she threw the locket up into the air. Tokimo watched it spin in midair a couple moments before Fubuki caught it again and stuffed it in her black leather bag. Then she looked back at Tokimo and Kouken.

"It's real nice of you all to give me this, but I'm not interested in becoming a Sailor Senshi. If I change my mind, though, I'll make sure to give you a call." She smirked.

"You're not being given a choice," Kouken said firmly."Sailor Pinkmoon needs to die, or this planet will fill with turmoil."

"What did you say?" Jirou asked in surprise. "Did Ihear you right?"

"You did. We have to kill Sailor Pinkmoon so Queen Diana won't be reincarnated," Kouken replied.

Fubuki paused, raising an incredulous eyebrow. "What the hell are you going on about?" She finally asked.

Kouken sighed and proceeded to explain the whole story. By the time he actually finished and added in the existence of two other Moon Senshi, they were inside of the school and walking with Fubuki toward her class.

"So basically you're telling me that I should put on that ridiculous costume and kill the princess so history won't be repeated or whatever."

Tokimo nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, that's exactly what we're telling you!"

Fubuki rolled her eyes and looked toward Jirou for a second opinion. He just shrugged.

"I've gotta go to class, Buki. If I miss another day, I have to repeat. Anyway, it's none of my business if you want to join her and 'accept your destiny' or whatever. Have fun." Jirou waved casually and walked into the nearest classroom. Both Fubuki and Tokimo watched him leave; then Tokimo turned back to Fubuki.

"Anyway, Seisui is going undercover for us, so if she gets Usako cornered, she'll call us to the scene and we can finish this once and for all!" Tokimo grinned. Fubuki looked doubtfully at Tokimo and Kouken.

"I'm not particularly thrilled about the prospect of being aSailor Senshi. Especially not as far as clothing is concerned."

Tokimo looked at Fubuki's uniform; she wore her skirt as short as they issued it, and Tokimo thought Fubuki might have even shortened it a little herself--though she could hardly imagine Fubuki being good with a pair of scissors and a needle. The sleeves were also gone, a modification Tokimo was pretty sure wasn't allowed even in their school's liberal dress-code policy. Even under the Queen's'anything-goes' reign, some things didn't fly in a public school.

"It's not so far off from what you're wearing right now, and it's probably in much darker colors!" Tokimo said cheerfully, attempting to remedy Fubuki's dislike. Fubuki sighed.

"I only wear this because I have to. Anyway, your motives are pretty good, and I do have a some issues with the queen...but I'm not really sure I want to get my ass in jail just yet."

"It's not like anyone will know who you are," Kouken assured her. "No one will see you well enough to be able to tell. Besides, picking you out of all the teenage girls in Tokyo is like finding a needle in a haystack."

Tokimo grinned proudly. "I'm an exception, though! I knew Usako was Sailor Pinkmoon the moment I saw her!"

"If what you say is true, and she goes to our school, don't you think she'd catch on? I mean...Tokimo seems pretty loud and obnoxious to me. How could you miss her?" Fubuki asked cynically.

Tokimo made a nasty face at Fubuki. In her mind, it was pretty clear who the obnoxious one was.

"If Usako can't even figure out that Seisui is Sailor Titan, I don't think you even have to consider that she'd think you were aSailor Senshi," Kouken assured her.

"If you say so. Anyway... I'm not sure I want to join you, but I guess I could think about it. Like I said, I have somewhat of abeef with the Queen."

"There is no thinking--"

Tokimo shoved Kouken's head back into the bag and tied the top very, very tightly.

"Thanks, Fubuki. I'll let you know if we need your help."

"Oh yeah, one more thing," Fubuki added.

"Hm?"

"How do I know which Sailor Senshi I am? I mean, aren't you supposed to tell me?" Fubuki asked.

"Oh, don't worry. You'll figure it out, one way or another."Tokimo said cheerfully.

"One way or another? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"Fubuki asked in annoyance. Tokimo, however, just shrugged and walked off. Her class was about to start.

Usako walked glumly down the crystal sidewalk, lost in her thoughts as her four friends quarreled about something inane. Hiroshi was looking up at her worriedly, but so far he hadn't worked up the courage to ask her what was wrong. Maybe he already knew. The words of Sailor Titan still echoed in her mind; her anger at the queen, her utter belief in people's right to say even the most offensive things...and then, the horrible way Seisui had cried over the fate of her father. As if Purification were like being hung. More than anything, that hovered in her mind. Usako feared that, despite whatever Seisui said on the outside, she harbored ill will toward her mother. After all...Serenity was the one that purified her father.But no. Being purified wasn't a bad thing! Usako didn't even know why Seisui was ashamed of that. It wasn't like only criminals had been purified...

"Look, Usako. Seisui's up ahead. She looks pretty lonely,"Hiroshi observed. He smiled weakly at her, a strangely soothing form of condolence. Usako, somewhat encouraged, nodded and ran up ahead.

"Where's she going?" Fuyuko asked. "Are we going to be late?"

"Actually, Fuyuko... if you four don't hurry up, you probably will be late," Hiroshi lied.

Fuyuko and the other three girls glanced at each other in alarm and rushed past Usako in a panic. Usako, meanwhile, was catching up to Seisui and panting slightly from the effort.

"Where's Hiroshi?" Seisui asked in mild surprise. Maybe her opportunity was going to come quicker than she thought.

"Oh, he's right behind me. I don't know what the girls were doing, but Hiroshi'll catch up soon enough."

"Oh, okay," Seisui said cheerfully, masking her disappointment.

"Seisui..." Usako trailed off.

Seisui paused for a moment; Usako had obviously been thinking about what she said last night. Probably a good idea, Seisui thought in annoyance; though she was surprised anyone in the royal family actually bothered to think about what they were doing. In any case, it didn't look like Usako was about to finish her sentence anytime soon, so Seisui supposed she would have to prompt her. "What is it, Usako?" She asked quietly.

"Last week, before that Senshi showed up...you were talking about councilor Han'i. And from the way you were talking... it sounded like Neo Queen Serenity had killed him. But that isn't right...she only purified him. If anything, he was lucky. Now, he doesn't feel any unnecessary anger or enmity...your father is ahappier man now."

Seisui restrained herself from transforming and killing Usako right there and then. It was probably a lucky thing that Hiroshi came up to Usako at that moment; otherwise, her self-restraint might not have been strong enough.

"Is something wrong?" Hiroshi asked, looking toward Seisui. Seisui shook her head as a grave expression crossed her face.

"Tell me...Usako," Seisui said darkly. Usako looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"What is it?" she asked, inclining her head toward Seisui.

"Have you ever hated anyone?" she asked quietly.

"Well..." Usako paused, searching her thoughts for someone she had truly hated. Yes...there were times when she had hated. She had even hated her mother, once upon a time...memories of becoming Black Lady still sometimes lingered in her mind. There was the hatred with which she regarded the Death Phantom, who had sent her mother into a deep and seemingly endless slumber. And there were the times when she even hated herself, when she wished only to be alady like her mother, and when she envied her mother because of that."I suppose you could say I have hated someone before," she said a little guiltily.

"Tell me...what would have happened, Usako, if all of those times, you had no hatred? What would you be like today?" Seisui asked.

Usako stopped, a look of confusion spreading across her face. Hiroshi looked at her, at a loss for what to say or how to console her; Seisui, on the other hand, walked two more steps ahead and stopped, her back turned away from Usako.

"Well?" Seisui asked. "Well, what would have happened?" She was having trouble hiding the bitterness from her voice. It hovered momentarily in her voice, and quickly hovered out; Seisui was fighting off tears.

"I...I don't know." Usako admitted. Seisui shook her head and let a couple tears fall down her cheek, which she promptly wiped away.

Usako had the sinking feeling that something really horrible had happened--that her mother had done something she might come to regret for the rest of her life. But her mother had told her that purification was something that was good, something that was helpful, and in her heart, Usako wanted to believe that. Her conflicting feelings were tearing her apart--but ultimately, her loyalty to the royal household told her that she had to change Seisui's mind.

"Seisui, I think there's something that you should know,"Usako said decisively. Even if it was a huge risk to tell Seisui, if they were going to be true friends, Usako had to trust her completely. Hiroshi looked toward Usako in surprise.

"Usako... you can't be thinking of--"

"Seisui, I'm the Crown Princess--Usagi Lady Serenity. I...I want you to come with me after school. I want you to come to the Crystal Palace, okay? I don't know if you ever came when your father was councilor...but...I think you should see what the royal house is really like. I think you have the wrong idea about the royal family."

Seisui paused again. This, she did not expect. Should she take up Usako's offer? The chances of getting Usako alone in her own house were next to nothing, but there was a small hope of it happening. Even if it did happen, there was no way she could get Tokimo or whoever else Tokimo had found to come in and help her.

And then there was the Queen. If she could get away from Usako long enough to find the Queen...

"U-Usako?" Seisui asked shyly.

"Yes?" she answered.

"I'd be glad to go with you to Crystal Palace." Seisui turned around and smiled sincerely, grateful for the invitation.

"Hey...Usagi."Usagi--or Neo Queen Serenity, as she was usually known--was happily brushing her hair in front of her elaborate, marble vanity and admiring the new music box Mamoru had given her on his last trip to Germany. Even as the golden brush ran through her elegant white hair, the lonely melody of "Greensleeves" drifted out of her door. She looked up from her new gift and into the mirror, recognizing Minako's head peering nervously around the edge of her door.

"Yes, Mina?" she asked cheerfully. Usually when Minako came around to her room, it was either to exclaim about how wonderful her new boyfriend was or to denounce the one she had recently broken up with. 1,034 boyfriends was pretty impressive for anyone, but Usagi supposed that was only natural for the Senshi of Venus.

"There's something I need to talk to you about," she said, walking inside of Usagi's room and closing the door behind her.

"What did he do this time?" Usagi asked. She had to admit--she loved hearing the dirt about Minako's latest flame.

"Huh?" Minako paused, looking perplexed. "Oh...no, it's not my boyfriend. We're getting along just fine," she told Usagi, holding up a hand and waving it casually to dismiss the topic."No, this is about a weird rumor I've been hearing on the streets."

Usagi turned the chair in front of her vanity around and inclined her head forward in curiosity. "A weird rumor?"

"Yeah. About Chibi-Usa."

Usagi leaned forward in fearful suspense.

"About Chibi-Usa? Things are getting along all right with her and Helios, right? Public school isn't too difficult, is it? I knew it was a bad idea to send her to Public School--"

"Not exactly, Usagi," Minako interrupted. "I've been hearing murmurs in the Goban district about...well, about a new group of Sailor Senshi. Rebel Sailor Senshi...almost like the Black Moon Family, you know? They're fighting against Sailor Pinkmoon."

Usagi looked shocked.

"No...No way. That can't be right...I mean, those are just rumors, right? If something like that were to happen, Chibi-Usa would tell us. She knows she couldn't handle something that huge on her own."

Minako nodded and looked relieved. "Yeah...that's what Ithought, too. I just thought you should know. I mean...maybe you should counter the rumors, or something. If people keep spreading weird tales like that, it'll give you a heart attack."

"What?!" Usagi retorted, an annoyed look crossing her face. "I'm not that sensitive. It will not--"

"Anyway, I gotta go Usagi. You know, guys to meet, dates to fulfill...bye bye!" Minako said hastily as she walked out of Usagi's room and slammed the door behind her. Usagi turned back toward her vanity, a frustrated look still clearly visible on her face.

"Grrr. I'm not that sensitive," she said bitterly, continuing to brush her hair and regaining her composure. "Not enough get a heart attack, at least! After all, I am the queen of Crystal Tokyo. I've become responsible enough to handle these sorts of situations."

When Tokimo walked into her English class, her eyes met an unpleasant sight. From where she was standing, Yamiko was right in front of her, hunched over another sketchbook and obviously brooding over something. If Yamiko hadn't been in such a hurry to go against the rest of the Moon Senshi, Tokimo might have tried to cheer her up. But then, Yamiko never said anything nice about her efforts anyway.Tokimo made sure to give her a dirty look when she walked past her desk; Yamiko looked flustered as she glanced up at Tokimo. Tokimo's look of indignation didn't really surprise her--Tokimo had an awfully convenient way of categorizing things arbitrarily into good or bad as it suited her.

Even if she knew that Tokimo was wrong, however, Yamiko wasn't sure what was right. After all...Lady Serenity and Helios, innocent as they were, were going to give rise to a reign of terror. The only solution that sacrificed no one's life--at least, the only one she could see--was to convince Usako that she absolutely must not have children. She would just have to convince her somehow--during lunch, she decided. Yamiko really, really didn't want to go up to someone and say something like that out of the blue...but she couldn't do nothing, and her choices were limited. At least if she did it today, she could get this over with as quickly as humanly possible.

Well, Yamiko thought, at least it was a nice day. The sunny school yard looked very inviting to everyone nearby; Usako and her friends were seated in their usual spot. Yamiko could feel her reluctant legs frozen in place as she experimented with the idea of telling Usako while she was transformed, or better yet, doing nothing at all. Maybe the best solution was just staying out of this. But then...the Crimson Eagle did seem intent on the idea of working together. Not that Yamiko really cared about what he thought or anything...but it did seem kind of rude to just run off on him. And purely for practicality's sake, Yamiko didn't want to make any more enemies.So she forced her her legs to move over to where Usako was situated--however, to Yamiko's surprise, sitting amongst Usako's cluster was none other than Seisui. Yamiko stood in front of them for a second, her eyes wide in shock and dismay. What was she doing here, of all people? Had Seisui turned on Tokimo, too? No...that wasn't possible. Not after how fervently she had denounced Sailor Moon in their last fight. Yamiko opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.

"Is something wrong, miss?" Natsuko asked courteously.

Hiroshi looked over toward Seisui. "Isn't that the girl that was with Tokimo the other day...Yamiko, was it?"

Seisui nodded gravely. Hiroshi looked at Yamiko; he paused for asecond and then turned back toward Seisui. "Was she harassing you, too? Not to jump to conclusions, but...she was with Tokimo."

Seisui flushed intensely. She glanced up at Yamiko, who was looking at her suspiciously--then she turned away. She hadn't forseen this outcome of her deception; Yamiko probably surmised that she was trying to trick Sailor Pinkmoon, and if she could get Usako and Hiroshi to believe her, she had the potential to ruin Seisui's plot entirely.

"Errr...she's..." Seisui stuttered. She had to chose her words carefully; Lying in this situation could be a very, very bad thing. If she did lie, it would only prove Yamiko's worst suppositions as well as potentially giving Yamiko an opening to prove Seisui's deception. On the other hand, if she did lie and say that Yamiko was a villain--which wasn't entirely untrue, in Seisui's opinion--it would encourage Usako and Hiroshi to distrust any information that Yamiko gave them to make Seisui look like a liar. Hiroshi looked up at Yamiko with an accusatory expression; Usako stood up and walked towards her.

"Is there something you wanted...Yamiko, is it?" she asked warily.

"Well..." Yamiko became flustered; she continued to stare down at Seisui. What was she up to, anyway? Was she so desperate to kill Sailor Pinkmoon that she was willing to resort to trickery? Yamiko really was better off without Seisui and Tokimo, if these were the kind of tactics they used.

"Well...?" Usako repeated.

"There was...something...I was going to say. I..."Yamiko turned away and looked toward the ground. "Maybe...some other time. You look busy."

"Come to pick up your slave, is that it, Yamiko?" Akiko asked Yamiko in an accusatory tone. "Too late. Seisui's not coming back to you losers."

"I didn't do anything to Seisui." Yamiko replied, her voice quavering.

"That's not what she told us," Helios replied, skeptical. Yamiko looked angrily down at Seisui; Seisui blushed more and put her head down, intensely self-conscious. It didn't matter what Yamiko thought--what she was doing was right. Anyone who disagreed would only have to meet her father.

"Oh?" Yamiko asked. "What did Seisui tell you, anyway?"

"That you and Tokimo treated her like garbage just because of her father. Just because he did wrong things, you know, it doesn't mean that Seisui does, too!" Usako replied.

Yamiko looked at Seisui, who obscured her eyes by holding her hand in front of her face like a shield or visor. What had Seisui told them? "Her father?" Yamiko asked in confusion.

"Yeah, you know..." Usako snapped, "Councilor Han'i? Or is your memory selective?"

Yamiko backed up. Seisui's father...so that was the reason Seisui hated Sailor Moon...

"There may be reasons you aren't aware of, Yamiko... Because you never hear about them."

"Such as...?" Yamiko raised an eyebrow.

"The King and Queen... punish those who oppose them."

"Seisui...your father was..." Yamiko began.

Seisui brushed her hand away from her forehead; her eyes were watery, and it looked like a tear was on the verge of trickling down her cheek. "Yamiko, please...I don't need this right now,"she said; her voice was wavering, and she sounded unhappy and tired. She looked up at Yamiko; Yamiko could tell by looking at her that she did not want Yamiko to press this issue.

Yamiko paused for a moment, looked down at Seisui's emotion-torn face, and turned around to eat her lunch in the other corner of the yard.

Yamiko was beginning to realize that even if Tokimo's motives were simple, Seisui's, clearly, were not; it may have been a grave mistake on Yamiko's part to underestimate the strength of Seisui's convictions. Yamiko pulled out her bottle of anti-depressants and shoved a couple of pills in her mouth. She was intensely weary of this whole affair.

"What was that all about?" Haruko asked. Usako's face was still fixed in anger."What does it look like it was about?" Natsuko replied in annoyance. "Yamiko was one of Seisui's old 'friends.' You know...the ones that used her."

"I realize that," Haruko began, "but I was surprised that--"

"Shut up, you two," Akiko whispered, jabbing Natsuko in the ribs and looking toward Seisui. She had stopped eating the lunch Usako was sharing with her; she looked quiet and subdued. Obviously, a talk about Seisui's inner workings would have to wait until they got back home.

"You okay, Seisui?" Hiroshi asked timidly. Seisui wiped away the tears beading in her eyes and breathed deeply for a moment before continuing.

"Yeah," Seisui replied, taking another deep breath before continuing. "I'm fine. Me and Yamiko just...well, we got into a fight before I started hanging out with you two." Seisui couldn't help noticing the irony that she was more or less telling Usako the truth.

"What kind of a fight?" Usako asked.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Seisui replied tersely.

"Maybe later," Hiroshi amended, noticing that Seisui was beginning to lose her composure again. "We'll talk about it when we get to the Palace, okay?"

Haruko, Natsuko, Fuyuko and Akiko all abruptly turned toward Usako in alarm.

"You're bringing her to the palace?" Akiko said sharply.

Fuyuko grinned in excitement. "This is gonna be fun! I bet Seisui's never been in a castle before!"

"Sure she has," Haruko corrected.

The other three Asteroids looked at Haruko in confusion. "What do you mean?" Natsuko asked.

"You heard what Usako said. If Seisui's dad was Councilor Han'i, she probably has been in the castle before."

"Now that you mention it..." Natsuko reflected, remembering Usako's outburst at Yamiko.

"You're bringing her to the castle?" Akiko said angrily, looking at Usako. "What are you thinking, Princess? She's acomplete stranger!"

"No she isn't," Haruko responded scathingly. "She's a Han'i. And we know aaaallllll about the Han'i family, right?"

"Haruko!" Usako shouted, shocked at her friend's cruelty. "Are you all the same as Yamiko? Are you going to judge Seisui on her father's sins?"

Hiroshi looked accusingly toward them. "Usako is right. Seisui isn't a stranger--she's a friend of Usako's, and that means she's a friend of the entire Royal Family. Besides...Usako is your leader. You should trust her judgment."

Seisui frowned. Thankfully, her presence was being ignored, which meant she could cry freely. She knew that what the Asteroid Senshi thought hardly mattered--if anything, their ridicule was acompliment--but their derision still stung her. She cursed her sensitivity.

The Asteroids were dissuaded from continuing their argument against Usako by what had, apparently, a turned into a test of loyalty--something Seisui was sure that the four girls were not eager to fail. After all, the Royal Family had proved itself of being incapable of taking criticism in the past.

Maybe they were afraid that if they continued to voice their dissent, they would be purified, Seisui thought dryly as she wiped away her tears.

Fubuki walked nonchalantly into the lunch yard, looking down at her communicator half interestedly. Well, it made a pretty handy watch, if nothing else. Jirou was supposed to meet her here right after the lunch bell, but knowing Jirou, he'd be at least 10 minutes late. After all, he liked to kill plenty of time talking to his guy friends."Hey, Buki," Tokimo said cheerfully. "Want to eat lunch together?"

"My name's Fubuki," she replied irritably, "And right now, I'm waiting for someone."

"Jirou, right? Well, you can eat with me while you're waiting." Tokimo suggested. Fubuki looked skeptically down at her; the purple bunnies on her lunch box were not a good sign of an interesting conversation partner, but she supposed it was a little better than sitting here alone.

"Okay, whatever," she agreed apathetically. Tokimo sat down at a nearby picnic table and pulled out her simple lunch of sandwiches and pickled plums in rice balls. Fubuki, on the other hand, opened a plain metal lunch box to reveal an elaborate meal of sushi, fried shrimp, rice balls with tuna, and fruit.

"Wow!" Tokimo exclaimed in admiration. "That's amazing! Your mom's a great cook!"

Fubuki laughed bitterly.

"My mother couldn't tell a steak from a chicken breast,"she corrected her. "My nana cooked this meal."

"You have a nanny?" Tokimo responded in surprise, taking a bite out of one of her rice balls.

"Yeah," Fubuki replied bitterly, "unfortunately, Ido. My mother keeps her around, you know...maybe she figures I need amaternal figure, but she's too god-damned lazy to do it herself."

Tokimo raised an eyebrow. "If she doesn't take care of you, what does she do all day?" she asked in curiosity.

"Supposedly, she works. She's some big office exec, although I suspect that all she does is sit around and look important seventeen hours a day, six days a week."

Tokimo coughed up some of her rice.

"Seventeen hours! That's insane! My dad only works six!"

"Maybe, but all the better for me," Fubuki said with asigh. "I hate that bitch."

Tokimo looked nervously toward Fubuki. Normally, Tokimo's curiosity would have gotten the best of her tact...but this time she didn't want to know.

"Look, there's Jirou," Fubuki observed as Jirou walked into the lunch yard. "I've gotta lose this playground. See you around, Tokimo. I hope all this Senshi stuff is keeping you thoroughly entertained." With that, Fubuki picked up her schoolbag and left, putting her hand in Jirou's as they walked off campus and down the street. Tokimo watched them go with mild interest.

Then Tokimo turned to observe Usako, Seisui and her posse; you never knew when the skills of Tokimo Joshi, mastah spy, might be necessary. Things seemed pretty peaceful at the moment; Seisui was blending in quite nicely.

Until Yamiko showed up, of course. That was when things got interesting. Tokimo couldn't hear the conversation, but by the time Yamiko left, Seisui was in tears. That was all Tokimo needed to know.

However fast it took anti-depressants to kick in, Yamiko thought, it wasn't fast enough. Seisui's face was still lingering in her mind, and Tokimo's disdainful expression from earlier that day didn't make her feel any better. Lost in her own thoughts, she nearly jumped amile high when a small, strong hand wrapped itself tightly around her shoulder. Yamiko turned her head around in alarm and could feel her knees getting weak. It was Tokimo; but she didn't look like any Tokimo Yamiko had ever seen. From the expression on her face, Yamiko almost felt in fear of her life, or, at least, in fear of her consciousness. Yamiko tried to pull away from Tokimo's powerful grip; but the same ability Tokimo had to keep her from running away previously was just as effective now.

"I need to talk to you for a second," Tokimo said angrily, turning the rest of Yamiko's body around violently and clamping her hands squarely on each of her two shoulders. Yamiko shrank downwards slightly; an easy thing to do, considering Tokimo's short height.

"What did you do to Seisui?" Tokimo said in an accusatory tone. "What did you do to make her cry?"

"I didn't do anything!" Yamiko retorted. "I wasn't even there to talk to her."

"Then why were you there, huh? Seems like things would work out awfully convenient for you if Sailor Pinkmoon knew the truth about Seisui."

"What do you think I get out of all of this, anyway? Just because I don't want to brutally murder the princess doesn't make me some kind of a traitor!"

"Seems like you're making excuses to me. You don't want to brutally murder the princess, yeah. You just want to brutally murder everyone else when her daughter goes psycho," Tokimo replied in an insulting tone.

"You people are all nuts! Has it ever occurred to you that the Princess could just not have a kid? Is that so hard for your small brain to comprehend, Tokimo?"

Tokimo paused anxiously.

"Don't get all self-assured, Yamiko," Kouken responded from Tokimo's purple bag. "I doubt that would work. Knowing Usako, she'd probably believe that she could raise the evil out of her."

"Well, what if she could?" Yamiko replied defensively.

"Oh, right. I'm sure that if Chaos were reincarnated in your womb, you could just find the good in it and bring it out, right?"Kouken retorted sarcastically.

"Chaos and Diana are completely different!" Yamiko snapped in response.

"They're both evil, and they're both going to kill us all--that's close enough for me," Tokimo replied. "And anyway, you're changing the subject. Why did you make Seisui cry?"

"I didn't make Seisui cry. She cried on her own. How am Isupposed to know what sets Seisui off? It seems like everything does, anyway. Last night, she would start crying at every other sentence!And then she was crying when we met during lunch. Is there ever atime Seisui isn't crying?"

Tokimo took an hand off Yamiko's shoulder in order to punch her squarely in the stomach. Yamiko recoiled in pain, gagging slightly from the impact; before she had the time to recover and dash off, Tokimo replaced her other hand on Yamiko's shoulder.

"You may not be crying all the time, but your mopey attitude is a million times worse than Seisui's! Seisui may cry easily, but at least /she's /a nice person!"

The anti-depressants wouldn't have helped now, anyway. Yamiko was completely unable to keep tears from flowing down her face. "Let go of me!" she hissed.

"Not until you tell me what you did!" Tokimo snapped.

"You never told me Seisui's father was Councilor Han'i!"Yamiko told Tokimo.

"So? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, Usako apparently thought I knew. Considering that she seemed to think it was why I supposedly hated Seisui! Which isn't even true!" Yamiko explained irritably. Tokimo's grip loosened and Yamiko pulled herself free. She immediately grabbed her black handkerchief from her uniform pocket and wiped away her tears in embarrassment. "Or, at least, it wasn't true until last night!"

Yamiko turned away and ran off before Tokimo had a chance to respond. She didn't care if there was another half-hour before lunch ended; she wanted to get out of the lunch yard as soon as humanly possible.

"Hey, Jirou," Fubuki asked him as they walked down the street, "What took you so long, anyway?""Just talking to the guys."

"About what?" She asked. "Something more interesting than me?"

"Something more interesting than you? I didn't know that was possible, Fubuki," Jirou replied somewhat sarcastically.

"Serenity. I'm your girlfriend, right? Is there some reason why I can't be seen around your guy friends?"

"Fubuki...trust me, you don't wanna hang out with those assholes," Jirou smirked. "You may not be smooth around the edges, but those guys are practically yazuka."

"Serenity," Fubuki responded indignantly. "I'm not afraid of any fuckin' yazuka."

"Yeah, well, let's just say that they haven't learned to keep their hands to themselves. You don't wanna hang with that horse shit."

"If they're horse shit, why do you want to hang around them?"Fubuki snapped.

Jirou just shrugged and swung his bag over his shoulder. "They sell good fuzz."

"Did you buy anything to eat?" Fubuki asked curiously.

"Heh. You know my family... getting lunch money is an event."

"Well, you can have what's left of my lunch. It's not like eating it gives me any pleasure," Fubuki said, handing him her lunch box. Jirou immediately pushed it back toward her.

"I don't like your mom any more than you do. Less, even. So Idon't want your food."

"My mom didn't make it."

"Who cares? It came out of your mom's fridge."

"Just because my mom's a bitch doesn't mean her refrigerator's contaminated," Fubuki spat.

"As far as I'm concerned it is. Everything your mother and her stupid exec job buys is like poison to me."

"So now I'm eating poison?" Fubuki asked defensively.

"Serenity! Whatever happened to hating your mother? You were saying all sorts of just lovely things about her just a minute ago, and now you're defending her. Why do you do that?"

"I'm just saying, I don't eat poison!" Fubuki snapped."This has nothing to do with my mother."

"Yeah, whatever," Jirou responded in annoyance, pulling out a cigarette pack and lighting one. He inhaled the smoke gratefully. Fubuki pulled out her pair of headphones and began listening to her newest static CD; the screaming strains of the chorus shrieked over the repetitive techno back-beat.

"Serenity, I stop talking to my friends for you, and you immediately put on your headphones."

"I thought you told me to shut up," she said morosely.

"I just wanted you to shut up about your mother."

"It's not like there's anything else to talk about in this shiny dump," Fubuki muttered.

"Going off on the queen again? I'm surprised you aren't more excited about all this senshi BS. After all, they're trying to get rid of Serenity, right?"

"I just don't want to wear the outfit, is all," Fubuki said with a sigh, stopping to lean against the wall. "I'd be happy to get rid of the queen."

"You know, just because some religious wackos start up some crazy church--"

"I know it wasn't Serenity that started up the church, Jirou. I'm not that stupid. But when I think of why the church exists, it pisses me off. Some ho comes in with a dress and a gem and she's the holy ruler of us all. What the fuck is up with that? The texts say that The Black Moon Family were agents of evil, corrupt because they thought long life and total happiness were sins. Well, I don't know if they're sins, but I think some death and despair would do all the spinny people around here some good."

"Complete happiness? Since when is anyone around here happy?"Jirou asked disdainfully.

"Well, the texts are old. Who knows? They just make me memorize them in Sunday school. Most people do seem like they're pretty happy. Not all people, though, I guess. That Seisui kid Tokimo mentioned... she didn't seem too happy, either."

"Hmph. Some kid and her demoted father...makes no difference to me. Looks like your texts are just full of bull shit...big surprise there. C'mon..." Jirou began, dropping his cigarette and stomping it out with his foot. "Give some of your lunch. The thought of food is starting to get to me."

Fubuki paused for a moment, slightly annoyed at Jirou's hypocrisy. Grimacing, she shoved her metal lunch box roughly into his chest, where Jirou grabbed it moments before it fell to the ground.

"What the fuck?" He asked in annoyance. Fubuki just shrugged and smirked slightly. She didn't have to explain herself.

Yamiko decided that the best place to avoid Tokimo would be the library; which, thankfully, did not include a Manga section. The place was more or less empty, given that it was lunchtime; Yamiko walked apathetically toward the cooking section and took out adessert cookbook. She sat down at one of the large, six-chair tables situated around the library and read about how to make various different types of English pudding until she felt herself getting drowsy.Asteria could feel a cold wind. The upside-down spires of her ebony castle dripped blood from where they hung in the sky...She could hear the screams of her mother coming from the castle. She couldn't get inside--she couldn't reach the door. She turned around and looked out toward the dark forest, and Sayoko walked toward her, shaking her head sadly.

"Yamiko...it's mom and dad--the--the train...it..."

Asteria turned around and became Yamiko, and she could see atrain racing by...the squeal of track--sparks flew...A bomb...a bomb...

Yamiko awoke with a start; there was a hand firmly planted on her shoulder. It couldn't be Tokimo, could it? Yamiko turned around, nervous, and sighed in relief when she saw Erik's looming figure above her.

"Hey... you okay?" He asked. "Have you had lunch yet? Break's over in 15 minutes."

"Yeah..." Yamiko said. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a really weird dream."

"Oh?" Erik said, sitting down next to her. "You look pale. Nightmare, eh?"

"Yeah..." Yamiko said uneasily. "But it seems silly now that I've woken up. You know... it's scary when you're there, but when you tell someone about it, it just seems funny," she lied.

Erik raised his left eyebrow skeptically. "Doesn't look like it seems funny to you," He observed.

Yamiko forced a smile. "I guess I'm still half in the dream,"she half-heartedly explained, picking up the dessert book and closing it.

"Maybe something that happened beforehand...?" he asked. Yamiko jumped; his precision was a bit eerie.

"What makes you think that?" Yamiko replied somewhat irritably.

"I saw you walking to the library. You looked upset, all red in the face."

"I just had an embarrassing moment."

"Oh?" Erik asked.

"Yeah." Yamiko responded tersely.

"You know, if someone's harassing you, I can help you deal with them."

"You're a teacher, not a policeman. I can take care of myself."

"Just because I'm a teacher doesn't mean I'm cold-hearted,"Erik explained. "You can't expect me to be entirely apathetic if someone is bullying you. Anyway, if you want to deal with your own problems by yourself, I can respect that. But don't expect me to help you the next time you want to bail out of class, if you're so dead-set on my not getting involved."

With that, he unceremoniously got up and walked away. There was something funny about that guy, Yamiko thought in annoyance. And she wasn't sure if it was something good or something bad. Anyway, she wasn't planning on finding out. She had had enough company for avery, very long time.

Yamiko placed her book back in the section where she found it and walked sluggishly to her next class, contemplating the meaning of her peculiar dream.

"Dad..." she murmured to herself as tears flowed freely down her face. "Mom..."

"Isn't it exciting?" Fuyuko exclaimed. "We're bringing Seisui to the Crystal Palace!""Yeah," Akiko added sarcastically, "real exciting. I'm just thrilled."

Usako, who was leading the group back home, turned around and looked depreciatingly toward Akiko; her crimson eyes narrowed somewhat eerily. Akiko winced slightly and took the cue to shut up.

"Since we're out of school, Seisui, I'll introduce you to the last member of our team," Usako said cheerfully, holding up her trademark bunny adorned bag. Seisui looked toward her, somewhat perplexed.

"In there...?" she asked skeptically.

Usako nodded; a small gray cat poked its head out of the bag, her fur slightly frazzled from sitting inside of it all day. Seisui suddenly felt foolish as she saw the tell-tale crescent moon symbol on the cat's head and realized who it must be.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Han'i," the cat said politely.

"Diana, is it?" Seisui said a bit nervously as Diana nodded her head. "Er--a pleasure to meet you, as well, Miss Diana."

"You don't have to be so polite to Diana," Natsuko told Seisui, "She doesn't deserve it, anyway."

"Natsuko!" Hiroshi scolded as Diana blushed."Honestly..!"

"Well, no one calls her 'Miss Diana,' anyway. You can just call her Diana, Seisui," Natsuko explained. "And I was just joking, Hiroshi. You get way too uptight about etiquette."

"But still, Natsuk--"

"It's quite all right, Mr. Hiroshi," Diana said apologetically, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Diana is fine."

Seisui looked toward Usako; she seemed incredulous. "Yeah, Iknow it's kinda strange to have a cat talking to you," Usako said, responding to Seisui's look, "but you'll get used to it."

It wasn't the talking cat that Seisui could hardly believe. It was Diana's exacting dedication to politeness in her speech.

"When we get to the palace, I'll show you around," Usako explained, "At least to all the important places. After that you can have dinner with us and we can talk about...what we agreed to talk about."

"So what did you agree to talk about?" Haruko interjected. Hiroshi glanced toward Haruko warningly; maybe he could understand the Sailor Quartet's misgivings about Seisui, but their openly rude behavior...!

Usako continued to make various kinds of small and irrelevant conversation with Seisui, which Seisui tried to answer with shy enthusiasm. By the time they reached the Crystal Palace, Seisui was incredibly thankful; she hated talking to anyone extensively, especially someone she didn't know.

The Crystal Palace was even more impressive up close than when it loomed warningly in the distance. The tall crystal obelisks twinkled in the sunlight; whether their sparkle was inviting or threatening, Seisui thought, was up to personal interpretation. People moving around inside the castle could be made out as vague, shifting blurs; the facets inside of the palace made it impossible to see anything more of what was inside than that. There was a broad, paved road of crystal concrete which lead up to the front of the Palace. What puzzled Seisui, though, was the fact that there was apparently no door to get inside.

"Uhh... Usako?" Seisui asked somewhat nervously.

"Yeah?" she responded.

"How do we get in?"

"The door appears when we get close," Haruko explained.

"Really?" Seisui replied, trying to sound impressed."Does it appear for just anyone? It seems like it would be awfully easy to get in that way..."

"No. Only members of the royal family," Haruko replied, sighing in exasperation.

"How does it know who's a member of the royal family?"Seisui continued. If she had to make an escape or call for help, knowing how to get in and out was a very large plus.

"The door knows who has or used to have a Sailor Crystal,"Usako explained, joining in on Haruko's explanation. "That means that only Sailor Senshi, Endyminion, Helios and Neo Queen Serenity can get in or out. It's actually kind of a pain, because we have to keep letting servants in or out any time they leave or come back...a lot of them have the keys to the windows near the ground floor, though, and they often crawl out that way if we're busy. I guess they get sick of running to get us every time."

"The door disappears inside as well as outside?" Seisui asked with interest. Usako nodded and approached the palace; two huge, ornately carved double doors appeared and swung open as she approached. The group walked casually inside of the palace, which was far more impressive than Seisui's father could ever have dared to describe. The huge foyer branched off in several directions--there were hallways branching out on every side except for the side they had entered on. The hallways extended out in a circle around the base of the palace floor; the widest of these hallways lay directly in front of them. The only break in the many halls were two huge stairways that lead up from the foyer to countless layers of balconies; the balconies themselves were entrance ways to many more halls. Seisui stared in wonder, impressed and simultaneously bitter; what would Usako, the pretty princess of a huge palace, think of living in Seisui's pathetic hovel? Usako acted as if Seisui understood little; yet Usako herself was so mind-numbingly ignorant of how the poor fared in her own city.

Usako smiled courteously toward Seisui. "I hope you like my house okay," she said a bit sheepishly. "I think maybe it's a little too elaborate."

"Yeah..." Seisui said dully, "I can see why you might think that."

"Anyway, there's no way we'd have time to show you the whole place, but I'll show you the first floor, anyway."

"Is your room on the first floor...?" Seisui asked Usako.

"No, my room is on the top floor. All of the Senshi have rooms on the top floor."

"Neo Queen Serenity, too?"

"No," Haruko interjected, "her room is somewhere else."

"Really?" Seisui asked, forcing herself to sound only mildly curious. "Where's that...?"

Usako opened her mouth to say something, but Akiko jabbed her in the ribs. Hiroshi looked angrily toward Akiko.

"Somewhere else," Haruko repeated, returning Hiroshi's glare. "But we're not here to see the queen anyway, right?Besides, we'll see her at supper, won't we?"

Usako straightened up and looked toward Haruko angrily. "Seisui won't--"

"We'll have to get to know Seisui real well--right, Usako?"Natsuko said warningly. "You can show her more of the palace then."

If Seisui wasn't outrageously shy and nervous, she could have said something really nasty.

"Look, why don't you four get a head start on our homework? I probably won't have time, and there's no sense in all of us failing our homework, right...?" Usako suggested.

"But your highness--" Haruko began.

"Girls, please...Seisui has had enough bad experiences with the royal family. I don't think she needs you four adding to a lot of already bad memories. Please...take Usako's advice." Hiroshi glanced meaningfully at the Asteroids as he voiced his request. The four girls paused for a moment; then they exchanged uneasy glances between each other and left, talking amongst each other nervously as they made their way up the first flight of stairs.

"Please excuse them, Seisui," Hiroshi said apologetically.

"It's okay," Seisui replied, smiling weakly, "I'm used to it."

"I wish I had known about all of this sooner, Seisui...maybe we could have found a better outcome for your father."

Seisui paused for a moment. "Err... It's okay. Too late to think about it now, anyway."

Usako showed Seisui around the first floor quite extensively, which included a huge library, several offices, kitchens, and living rooms. There was also a strange, empty room with several tall tables scattered evenly on the floor. Seisui asked Usako what the room was for, but Usako only shook her head nervously and moved on. Eventually, they made their way to a set of huge double doors at the end of the wide center hallway. Usako hesitated and turned toward Seisui.

"This is the Control Room," She explained. "It's ahuge computer, it has a lot of really important and top secret data in it. I'm sorry...I can't let you see it. It's not that I don't trust you...My dad doesn't even like it when I go in there."

"Your own father doesn't trust you to keep the things in this room a secret?" Seisui said, her voice mildly surprised. In reality, her mother had already told her Endymion was over-cautious; something she had heard, no doubt, from her father long ago.

"Well..." Usako hesitated and looked a bit uneasy.

"No, Seisui...but Endymion has to keep a certain image to the councilors and ambassadors who visit, and if he lets his daughter roam around somewhere like this, it will make a bad impression. Even though Endymion knows Usako would keep the things in here a secret, the people who visit the palace might mistakenly think that her father is trusting her with too much responsibility, considering that she's 'only' a teenaged girl."

"Isn't she over 900?" Seisui asked, trying to sound unsure.

"Both Usako and I exceed that age," Helios affirmed."But many people judge too readily on outside appearances...I'm sure you can relate."

Seisui frowned and looked a bit uneasy.

"Hiroshi!" Usako scolded. "You made Seisui feel uncomfortable."

Hiroshi blushed and inclined his head toward Seisui. "I didn't mean--"

"It's okay," Seisui interrupted, trying to hide her annoyance. "I know what you meant. You didn't mean any harm."

Usako stood there for a moment, looking pensively at Seisui's face. Hiroshi turned and looked up at an elaborate crystal clock on the wall; its hand was approaching six o'clock.

"Look, Usako," Hiroshi observed, "it's almost six. We better head to the dining hall, right?"

"Shouldn't we change first...?" Usako asked.

"Seisui came here in her school clothes," Hiroshi explained, "I think it would make her feel awkward if we dressed up while she was still dressed so casually."

"That's all right. It doesn't matter what I look like,"Seisui assured him.

"Don't worry about it, Seisui," Usako replied. "If it doesn't matter what you look like, it certainly shouldn't matter what we look like."

"If you're certain..." Seisui said nervously. Hiroshi nodded affirmatively toward her and then turned to Usako; she looked more than a little worried. Hiroshi couldn't blame her; after all, who knew what would happen when they introduced Seisui to the rest of the royal family?

"Come on, Usako..." Hiroshi said soothingly. He took her hand and smiled at her; Usako tried stubbornly to repress her own smile but failed miserably. Hiroshi lead Usako down the hall by the hand and motioned for Seisui to follow.

Well...now Seisui would finally meet the queen.

Supper, Seisui realized, was not something that anyone in the Crystal Palace cared to miss. The entire royal family was assembled. At the head of the table sat Neo Queen Serenity; King Endymion was quietly seated at its foot. Along each side of the table were the princesses of every planet--minus Pluto--and the four Asteroids. It was impossible, Seisui noted, to miss the irritated expressions on the Asteroid's faces. There were two empty seats next to the Queen; Usako walked past them and toward one of the many maids, who were bustling about and rushing to arrange all the food-laden silver trays on the elaborately chiseled marble table. The maid turned toward Usako in surprise; she looked toward Seisui, her expression dumbfounded."Can you pull a chair up for my friend here, please...?"Usako asked politely. The maid, still slack-jawed, responded by obediently pulling a chair toward the table. Usako then seated herself, followed by Hiroshi; Hiroshi motioned for Seisui to sit next to him. Pulling the chair out from the table, Seisui noticed that the chair seemed to be made of a substance that resembled fine porcelain; though the sheer impracticality of porcelain chairs seemed to rule out the possibility of anything more than a resemblance. Of course, the world was being run by Neo Queen Serenity...anything that lacked common sense could probably be attributed to the queen. Seisui sat delicately down in her chair.

After several minutes, during which the Queen sat very impatiently, all of the food was ready. Neo Queen Serenity immediately reached toward the nearest dish with great enthusiasm; however, she was very suddenly interrupted by a sharp glance from Endymion.

"Before we start eating," he began in a formal manner,"Perhaps Lady Serenity should introduce her friend."

Seisui blushed self-consciously.

"This is Seisui," Usako explained, "Seisui Han'i. She's a new friend that I met at school."

The Royal Family collectively paused for a moment, trying to recall why the name was so familiar; it slowly dawned on each of their faces, and they looked toward Usako in shock.

"Usagi Small Lady Serenity!" Haruka exclaimed in dismay."Do you know who this girl /is/?"

"My...this is an interesting turn of events," Michiru said, looking more lost and unsure than anything else.

"Perhaps Chibi-Usa-chan is unaware of this girl's heritage,"Hotaru suggested. Makoto sneered at Seisui and held up a fist.

"If you're trying to trick Chibi-Usa, Han'i, I'll--"

"Everyone, settle down!" Endymion interjected. The Sailor Senshi collectively shut up and looked alternately at the King and Queen for guidance. The Queen looked visibly upset but said nothing. "Now... Chibi-Usa..."

"My name isn't Chibi-Usa," Usako interjected. "My name is either Usako, or Lady Serenity. I'm not a baby anymore. You know that, Daddy."

Endymion sighed and nodded. The other Senshi looked a little surprised; strange, since from Usako's reaction, Seisui guessed that the subject was not a new one.

"Very well...Lady Serenity. Tell me...what is the meaning of bringing a member of the Han'i family into the Palace?"

"Just because Seisui's father did something wrong, doesn't mean that Seisui is also at fault!" Usako began defensively."I'm surprised everyone doesn't understand that. If we are representing the people of this planet, we must act with understanding and compassion!"

"I can understand your wanting to forgive his daughter, Lady, but bringing her in the palace like this is dangerous!" Haruka objected, turning toward Usako.

Seisui picked up the juice glass in front of her plate and began to finger it nervously. Whenever she was upset, keeping her hands busy always served to relax and distract her.

"Councilor Han'i left scars in this household, Usako,"Michiru told her. "Bringing his daughter here was an invitation for strife."

"I agree with Usako," Ami objected, smiling weakly at Usako. "It's unfair to judge Seisui because of her father."

"Be that as it may, we don't know if we can trust her yet!"Makoto interjected. "Usako should have gotten to know her better outside of the Palace first. It can't have been more than a week--at most--since they've met!"

"What harm can she possibly do?" Minako asked in annoyance. "She's just a normal girl."

Seisui resisted the urge to smile.

"There are other ways to cause harm than with the power of the Sailor Crystal..." Rei reminded them. "Blackmail, for example."

"This girl couldn't be a day older than 14! What does she know about those kind of things?" Minako exclaimed.

"These things are learned from parent to child," Michiru explained. "She could have learned such trickery from her father. He was a skilled politician..."

"That is not possible," Hotaru dissented quietly."Councilor Han'i was purified while Seisui was still very young--if my memory serves me."

Seisui dropped the glass she had been fingering squarely down on her plate; the impact was not enough to shatter it, but it did cause a large 'THUNK' to resound through the dining hall.

All eyes were on Seisui; she shrunk down nervously in her chair. Hiroshi looked warningly toward the other Senshi, and his glare lingered especially long on the Sailor Quartet, who, thankfully, had declined to comment during the argument.

"Regardless, Seisui Han'i is currently our guest,"Endymion reminded them, breaking the deadly silence. "We will discuss this further some other time." Then he turned toward his wife, who was noticeably upset but had said nothing during the fight.

The food was served and dinner was eaten--but to compound Seisui's unease, nothing was said during the duration of the meal. And every time she looked up from her plate, someone was looking either distrustfully or sympathetically toward her.

"I'm sorry, Seisui," Usako apologized they walked down along hallway toward one of the palace's many small sitting rooms. "I thought they might be upset, but I didn't think they would go so far as...well...it must have been very humiliating.""It's okay," Seisui said, looking down at the granite floor and feeling very, very subdued. "I'm used to it."

"To be used to something as horrid as being ridiculed by most of Royal Family is indeed something," Hiroshi said sympathetically. "You must have been through some trying times, Seisui."

Seisui didn't respond.

"Here we are," Usako said, trying to sound cheerful as she motioned toward a small door of the same porcelain material as Seisui's chair. She opened the door and walked inside, motioning for Seisui and Hiroshi to follow; the room was small and comfortable, and paled in comparison to many of the grand living rooms and halls of the palace. There were three small couches, all perfectly matching, with a marble coffee table in the center. On top of the table was asilver tray with a pot of what Seisui guessed was hot chocolate, judging from the inclusion of a small silver bowl of marshmallows. Accompanying the cocoa were four small dishes of rice pudding.

"Please sit down, Seisui. We'll get this whole mess over with and never speak of it again, okay?" Usako said encouragingly. Seisui sat down on one of the four couches; the one farthest from Usako. Hiroshi picked up one of the bowls of rice pudding and offered it to Seisui, who politely nibbled on it despite disliking the texture of the dessert. Usako grabbed her own and scarfed it down before Hiroshi had even finished pouring all of the hot cocoa.

"I was thinking, Seisui," Usako began, "I don't think your father could be promoted back to councilor, no matter what. But he is on a register that keeps him from getting an important or high paying job--"

"You mean he's blacklisted," Seisui corrected.

"Well..." Usako looked a bit taken aback. "That's not exactly the same..."

Seisui shook her head. "I spoke out of turn. Please...continue."

"So...I thought maybe I could convince my mother to give him a public apology, and we could take him off the register. That way, your father could get a higher salary."

Seisui paused for a moment; Hiroshi handed her a cup of hot chocolate. Seisui gingerly took it from him and stared dazedly into the murky liquid. Usako sipped on her own quietly, waiting for Seisui to say something.

"Don't bother," Seisui replied quietly.

"Why not?" Hiroshi asked. "It could really help you, Seisui. Your father might be able to regain some respect, and people might not pick on you so often. Plus, you'd be in a much better financial situation."

"Can you unpurify him?" Seisui asked, looking up from her hot chocolate as her face filled with desperation. What was she saying? She knew that there was no such thing as 'unpurifying.' Once you're purified...

"Seisui...once we purify someone, they're purified forever."Usako said apologetically. "But that's not a bad thing, right?Purification isn't a punishment. It..." Usako stuttered, reminded of Seisui's words earlier that day.

"Tell me...what would have happened, Usako, if all of those times, you had no hatred? What would you be like today?"

"If it isn't a punishment, Usako, then why is it done to criminals?" Seisui asked.

"It isn't just done to criminals," Hiroshi explained."We mostly do it to criminals now because they're the ones who need it the most. But there were times when other people were purified as well."

This piqued Seisui's curiosity. "Like who...?" she asked.

"Well..." Hiroshi began, pausing for a moment. "A long time ago...after the age of the Death Phantom, Queen Serenity was afraid that there could be other evil forces lurking among the mortals. So she gathered the Sailor Senshi and all of her energy, and purified everyone on the entire earth--so that the evil would not return."

"She /what/?" Seisui gasped in shock. "Is that... Is that /true/?"

"Y-Yes..." Hiroshi replied somewhat uneasily. "She thought about doing it more than once, actually. Several decades later, right before the age of the Black Moon Family...the crime rate had gone up severely then. It was during the time that she considered it that the Black Moon Family left... they were against purification."

"But I thought the Black Moon family was against the Queen because they thought immortal life was blasphemy. They thought that the Silver Crystal was a sin against god..." Seisui told Hiroshi, remembering her many books on Neo Silver Millennium history."Was that untrue...?"

"No," Hiroshi responded. "They also believed that. But Purification was one of the things they opposed. After all, it was one of the factors that lead to the new age of prosperity after the exile of the criminal Death Phantom."

"Why isn't any of this in the textbooks?" Seisui asked in a tone she decided might have been a little too demanding.

"It was in the textbooks," Usako explained, "But they chopped it out. Mom was against it, too... she didn't see anything to be ashamed of. But Dad...he said he thought it over along time and decided that people--especially in the western countries--would misunderstand what purification was and think that it was brainwashing. The only documents that still have any semblance of a record of the Great Purification are some of the religious texts that were created around Neo Queen Serenity."

"Is that what you call it...?" Seisui asked, her voice full of pain and dismay. "The Great Purification...?"

"Y-yes...that's right...Seisui..." Usako trailed off; her voice was full of uncertainty. "Seisui, there's nothing wrong with being Purified..."

"Usako..." Seisui began, tears trailing down her cheeks."I can see why you would think that purification is right. You've been raised to believe that. But...if you lived with someone...who was like--like /that--/I don't know if you can ever understand, but--" Seisui broke off into a sob, unable to regain her composure. "If you lived with someone who had been brainwashed like that--and believe me, that's what it is--then you could never, ever think that there was nothing wrong with it! Never!"Seisui put down her hot chocolate and stood up, turning toward Usako."I--I better go...I...I'll see you later!" Seisui blurted, running out of the sitting room.

"Seisui, wait a second...!" Hiroshi began as Seisui ran off.

"Helios...what are we going to do? I really do believe she's a nice person...she means well, but she doesn't understand..."Usako told Hiroshi, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "She never smiles...she reminds me of Hotaru. I want to make her understand."

"I believe in you, Usako." Hiroshi said, hugging Usako tightly.

"Thanks..." Usako replied.

"Now c'mon..." He smiled, putting his arm around her in encouragement. "Seisui probably won't be able to get out of the castle without our help. We better go find her. I don't think she'll want to talk anymore today, though...but we can at least get her home and give her some encouraging words, right?"

"Yeah," Usako replied, smiling half-heartedly. "Let's go."

Seisui ran out of the parlor room and immediately headed for the main entryway. If everyone else's rooms where on the top floor, Neo Queen Serenity's would undoubtedly be nearby. Whether Haruko was telling the truth or not when she said the Queen's room was"somewhere else" had yet to be seen. So, using what Usako had told her as a guide, Seisui dashed up four sets of stairs; while the pathway to go higher up the staircase was lit, the halls on either side didn't appear to get much use, as they were neither lit nor, Seisui observed, dust free. Seisui ran into one of these hallways and opened the nearest door; it was a large, ornate bathroom with ceramic tiles. Perfect."Titan prism power, make up!" Seisui shouted as a swirl of black water transformed her into Sailor Titan. Stepping out of the bathroom, she smirked bitterly to herself.

"I'll kill you, Serenity...or die trying." With this, she continued running up the stairs. The maids, thankfully, must have been busy picking up after supper and cleaning up the surrounding area; the upper stories were devoid of people. The only trick was getting to the Queen's room without being spotted by another Senshi.

The top story seemed pretty quiet at the moment; although the lights were on and Sailor Titan could hear people stirring within the rooms. Sailor Titan quickly glanced on either side of her; on the right side, the end of the hall could visibly be seen. There, she saw a large pink door with a moon emblazoned on it, which Sailor Titan presumed was most likely Usako's room. On either side of the right hall were more rooms that she presumed to be those of the outers and asteriods. The left side of the hall went down further; the rooms of the Queen's four Sailor Guardians were on either side. At the end of the hallway was a smaller, crystal door which resembled any number of other doors in the palace.

Sailor Titan smirked. Was this the hardest it was going to be? She looked on either side of her to make sure no one was coming; then she dashed to the end of the hall and opened the crystal door as quietly as possible, shutting it behind her. On the inside of the door was ashort staircase, which led to another short hall and then a huge, elaborate door of clear crystal. This was it, Sailor Titan thought nervously. This was the end of all of this.

Sailor Titan walked up the stairway and looked at the door. Her heart was pounding furiously; she did not know what would come of all of this, but she remembered the grave look on her fathers face as he left for court...

"When I return, Seisui, I will be your father no longer. Remember me as I am... not as what I will become."

Sailor Titan struggled to hold back tears as disappointment filled her. She couldn't save her father. Now he was only a shadow of his former self, and he would be stuck that way for all eternity. Her hatred for Queen Serenity fueled her will, and Seisui swung open the door in her fury. Surprisingly, the door hardly made a sound.

She was sitting there, all alone. Her back was turned to Sailor Titan; she was holding a box that gently tinkled the tune of"greensleeves" into the otherwise silent air around her.

There was no point in wasting time. Titan looked around the room for something to attack her with; a blade through the back of her neck would mean a swifter and quicker death than using something loud and noisy like an attack. To Sailor Titan's left, a huge stone broad sword hung ominously on the wall; The Sacred Sword that protected the princess over a thousand years ago. Sailor Titan smiled as she quietly approached the blade; an end both ironic and fitting.

Sailor Titan pulled the blade from it's place on the wall, causing a soft "shik" to sound in the room. Sailor Titan cursed as the sound aroused the Queen's attention and she turned away from the music box in surprise.

"Is that you, Mamo--"

The Queen gasped in shock as Sailor Titan held the Sacred Blade in front of her, smiling bitterly.

"The soldier of retribution has arrived," Sailor Titan announced righteously. "For the sake of Titan, I will spill your blood."

"W-Who are you?" Serenity stuttered, leaning against her dressing table in fear and knocking her music box to the ground. Sailor Titan approached her slowly, holding the Holy Sword outward.

"I am Sailor Titan, representing the moon Titan of this Solar System."

"Titan... you mean... Sailor Saturn's castle...?"

"The name is taken from my moon," Sailor Titan replied matter-of-factly.

"Senshi.. of the Moons... but... I was the only Sailor Moon!"

"There was time before you, Queen Serenity," Sailor Titan smirked. "And there will be time after you, as well."

"You can't be a real Sailor Senshi," Queen Serenity murmured. "You are an impostor, dressed like a senshi of this solar system! The senshi of this solar system are dedicated to serving the holy crown!"

"The only holy crown I serve is my own; Titan, the moon with the sea of darkness and the soil of blood."

"Soil of blood... are you an agent of Chaos...?"

"I am a Sailor Senshi of a moon, just as you once were, Queen Serenity. I have come to end your life, which has profaned and erased so many others." Sailor Titan lunged toward the Queen, the Holy Sword pointing strait at the Queen's neck. Serenity moved abruptly to the right; Sailor Titan's momentum as she ran forward kept her from changing her course, and the Sacred Sword smashed into the mirror on her dressing table and straight through the other side of its thick marble frame. Sailor Titan turned her face away to keep the many shards of reflective glass from piercing her face; however, she refused to let go of the Sacred Sword, even though the glass had made several cuts along her skinny arms.

Looking down at the floor, Sailor Titan could see the music box that the Queen had knocked aside. At first, her eyes passed by the meaningless object; but the writing on the inside of the golden music box cover caught her attention. Emblazoned in bold black lettering were the words "vonDarkmoor;" A name which Sailor Titan recognized but could not place.

Sailor Titan could feel two hands wrapping themselves tightly around her own; she turned back toward the mirror and saw Serenity, holding Sailor Titan's hands firmly on the Sacred Sword's hilt. Sailor Titan struggled to free her hands, but Titan had little in the way of strength, and the Queen, while still not strong, easily outmatched her.

"Tell me... 'Sailor Titan'... for what purpose do you wish to kill me?"

"Vengeance!" Sailor Titan hissed. "You have ruled poorly and selfishly. You have brainwashed people into loving you instead of proving your worth through your actions! You are despicable!"

"Poor creature," Neo Queen Serenity said sadly. "You're been blinded by hatred and suffering. You create a Sailor Senshi and seek justice using their name as proof of your worthiness... I will see to it that your suffering is lifted."

"NO!" Sailor Titan screamed. "DON'T PURIFY ME!"Sailor Titan struggled desperately to escape, but the Queen's grip managed to hold her; the Holy Sword almost seemed to respond to the Queen, holding her hands onto it's hilt as if they were bonded by some kind of inexorable seal.

"Be at peace, poor child..." Neo Queen Serenity said soothingly, lifting one of her hands and placing it gently on Sailor Titan's head. Sailor Titan tried to take the chance to move pull her hands away from the Sacred Sword, but they were stuck... it was horrifying...

"BLACK STREAM DEATH!" Sailor Titan cried in desperation. Without her arms free, she did not expect the attack to work; but fierce, snake like creatures with wolf like jaws extended outward from between her fingers and bit savagely into the Queen's hand. Serenity pulled her remaining hand away; Titan found, to her relief, that she was able to pull her hands away from the sword. Serenity's other hand was still resting on her head; Sailor Titan pulled it away and glared fiercely into the Queen's blue eyes. Sailor Titan could hear footsteps behind her; the door to the Queen's room swung wide open, and Sailor Titan could see Sailor Uranus entering the room.

"Who's there!" She shouted urgently, looking toward the queen. "Who is this? What did they do to you!" She hissed in anger.

Sailor Titan backed away a couple of steps.

"Is she a senshi...?" Sailor Jupiter asked in bewilderment.

"No way..." Sailor Venus murmured in shock. "It's... the Rebel Sailor Senshi..."

Sailor Titan knew that there was no way in hell she was going to beat down eight Sailor Senshi and the King. Her only hope was to throw them off, punch through and make a run for the front door.

"Black stream death!" Sailor Titan cried as more of the demonic, snake-like creatures launched themselves at the Sailor Senshi. They seemed taken aback by her attack, and thankfully, were caught off-guard. The snakes wrapped themselves around the soldiers and began to bite at their flesh; Sailor Titan started to leave, but paused for a moment to pick up the golden music box. Then she made adash for the door. It was only a matter of time before the attack wore off and the rest of the senshi were right behind her.

She rushed down the small hallway and the short stairs, through the hall and onto the great staircase; she could hear the running footsteps of the Sailor Senshi behind her, though they still seemed far away. They staircase seemed to go on mindlessly, and she could hear the Senshi catching up to her... please, Sailor Titan thought as she gasped for breath, let me get out of here... get me out of here...

"Remember me as I am... not as what I will become."

Sailor Titan began to feel dizzy as she thought of meeting her father's fate... her father's dull, meaninglessly happy expression appeared in her mind. Everything that meant anything to her would disappear...Tokimo...the kindness she had shown her would mean nothing. Was it too late? Was her family doomed forever? The taunts of her peers echoed painfully through her mind. The horrible, false accusations of slander...

The stairway ended just as Sailor Titan was getting ready to give up; the huge double doors appeared before her. She was going to get out. Approaching the doors, Sailor Titan glanced quickly behind her; thank god, the Sailor Senshi were still several yards away and were only just leaving the staircase.

The door flung open. Sailor Titan paused for a moment as she looked behind her; all of the Sailor Senshi had stopped dead in their tracks and were staring at Sailor Titan in complete and total shock. Sailor Titan didn't waste any time gaping back; she clutched the music box tightly and dashed out of the door, filled with dread as she realized this was an incident she would come to very strongly regret.

"...The door." Sailor Mars murmured."She went through the door." Sailor Venus said, adumbfounded expression crossing her face.

"No way!" Sailor Uranus shouted. "No way that's areal Sailor Senshi!"

"Isn't the attack proof enough? She had senshi powers! It would be obvious that she's a senshi." Sailor Jupiter retorted.

"She could have been an agent of Chaos." Sailor Neptune informed her. "Chaos's vessels often use such attacks."

"It would seem that would be the most logical explanation,"Sailor Mercury said uneasily, "Yet, if that were so, how could she run through the front door like that? Only those will Sailor Crystals can enter and leave the Crystal Palace!"

There was an uneasy pause as the Sailor Senshi debated this in their minds.

"Maybe she's stolen the star seed of another senshi, like Galaxia and the Sailor Anima Mates," Sailor Mars suggested."That would explain her powers."

"But who did she steal the star seed from? And where did she find Chaos? We don't even know what Sailor Senshi she is--or supposedly is." Sailor Venus responded in frustration. "Besides, Galaxia's agents wore the sailor crystals on their gauntlets."

"Before our arrival, this Senshi was conversing with the Queen," Sailor Saturn informed them. "Perhaps she knows the name of her mother star."

"I will talk to her." Endyminion told them. "It's late, and staying up until two o'clock discussing this serves no purpose. The rest of you should go to bed."

"Yes, your majesty." Sailor Saturn replied. The other Sailor Senshi looked at each other uneasily.

"What about Chibi-Usa and her... er... visitor...?"Sailor Venus timidly asked him.

"Don't worry. Chibi-Usa can take care of that much on her own. Please... Excuse me." Endyminion requested as he turned around and headed back up the long, spiral staircase alone, his lavender cloak flowing behind him. The Sailor Senshi stood and watched him leave; then slowly, they too headed back up the staircase, until only Sailor Uranus and Neptune remained.

"Michiru...?" Sailor Uranus asked uneasily, watching the others leave.

"Yes...?" She responded, leaning slightly on Uranus's shoulder.

"Is it just a coincidence--"

"Let us leave such questions for tomorrow, Haruka."Michiru interrupted. "Small Lady will see great hardship soon enough; let us not rush to bring it upon her."

"You're right..." Haruka replied uneasily, taking Michiru's hand and heading up the stairs.

Sailor Titan gasped, breathing in the air around her gratefully as she reverted to Seisui. She pulled out her communicator and contacted Tokimo. She could have taken the bus home, but she didn't want to go home alone; she needed companionship right now."Hiya!" Tokimo said cheerfully as she appeared on the screen. "Is it time to kick ass yet?"

A few tears fell down Seisui's cheek as she realized how happy she was to hear Tokimo's inane voice and equally inane comments.

"Huh? What's wrong, Seisui?" Tokimo asked, her voice simultaneously concerned and confused.

"I'm fine. I'm just glad to be alive and myself." She responded, wiping away her tears.

"Did that little pink brat try to kill you?" Tokimo asked, anger evident in her voice. "I'll beat her up, Tokimo-style!"

"No... I almost got purified, though... by the Queen.. I was so terrified..."

Tokimo blinked in confused.

"Huh? Purified? The Queen? Just what were you doing, huh, huh?" Tokimo asked.

"It's a long story... can you get me a ride? I'm in front of the Crystal Palace."

"The Crystal Palace!" Tokimo exclaimed. "What were you doing there?"

"Also a long story."

"Well... okay." Tokimo replied. "My mom can give you a ride. See you soon, then!" Tokimo said cheerfully, waving as the communicator bleeped out.

Tokimo nibbled absentmindedly on a raspberry strudel as Seisui explained her experiences in the Crystal Palace to Tokimo. Seisui was surprised how easily she was able to retell the somewhat traumatic events that had occurred there; but it was hard to be depressed in Tokimo's room, where decor was completely and meticulously centered around purple bunnies. And if the purple bunnies didn't dispel any personal anguish, Tokimo almost certainly would; she had even set up a cute little table with a pile of very, very unhealthy pastries and tea. As the girls discussed their problems, they sat on top of two fluffy purple bunny-print pillows."But there's one thing I don't get..." Tokimo began as Seisui completed her story. "What is Purification?"

"Purification?" Seisui paused for a moment; the topic still made her uneasy.

"Yeah. You said that Usako didn't understand why it upset you that your dad got purified. And then there was that whole bit about"The Great Purification"... I didn't get that, either."Tokimo explained. "So whazzit mean?"

"All Sailor Senshi have two different influences,"Kouken interjected, noticing Seisui's uncomfortable expression. "One that is physical, and one that is abstract. Sailor Moon's physical element is light, but her abstract is Purity and Sanctity."

"Soooo...?" Tokimo prompted Kouken.

"So, Sailor Moon's crystal can be used on people to Purify them. When people are purified, all of their hatred and unhappiness is removed."

"But that's good, right...?" Tokimo asked in confusion.

"No, it's not." Seisui interrupted. "It sounds really pretty when you say it, but in reality it does horrible things to a person. It's almost like brainwashing. Removing someone's unhappiness doesn't just mean that they aren't unhappy. It means that everything they ever hated, anyone that ever hurt them... those feelings of dislike are removed, stripped, raped of them. A whole half of their personality is completely missing!"

"So what you're saying is that if I get purified, I'll think roast pork is the best stuff around?" Tokimo said in distaste.

"Not the best stuff around, just good, like everything else."Seisui amended.

"Huh?" Tokimo asked in confusion.

"Negative and Positive emotions act almost like a gradient,"Kouken explained. "Together, they blend together and make a sort of barometer, with some things being more negative to a person and some things being more positive; so if you hated roast pork, it would be a negative feeling and thus more negative than positive. If you absolutely loved, say, strawberry pie, though, that would be apositive emotion and thus would be more positive than negative. But if you just take away one side of a gradient, it only leaves one color. So you would like all things equally; you would love all of them."

"I think I kinda get it." Tokimo replied, still looking a bit confused.

"If Sailor Moon purified you, Tokimo, you wouldn't want to fight Sailor Pinkmoon and you wouldn't want to hurt Diana, even. They would mean as much to you as your parents mean to you. You would love every one and all of them." Seisui explained.

Tokimo paused, an expression of disgust crossing her face. "I would love Diana as much as my own /Parents/?"She responded.

Seisui nodded gravely.

"Sailor Moon did that to your Dad! Then that means--"

"My father no longer believes what Queen Serenity was doing is bad. He no longer loves me as his daughter. He loves me just because I exist."

"Then...what is the Great Purification...?" Tokimo asked warily.

"An entire generation of people--everyone on the planet--whose hatred was wiped out; wiped clean like a chalkboard."Seisui replied angrily.

"That's...horrible..a whole generation...and she did that to your own father, too...and now you mean no more to him that that little pink brat...Seisui..." Tokimo looked up at Seisui, who was sniffling and wiping away tears.

"Don't worry about it, Tokimo." Seisui said weakly.

Tokimo slammed her fist on the table angrily and looked toward Seisui, her face filled with determination.

"I'll find a way to bring your father back." Tokimo vowed. "I promise, Seisui. No matter what!"

Seisui smiled and wiped away the last of her tears; Tokimo's words filled her with encouragement.

"That's right," Seisui replied hopefully. "No matter what."

EPISODE THREE: FIN

NEXT EPISODEUsako: Seisui's disappearance and Sailor Titan's coincide. I am faced with the possibly of future betrayal; but I cannot believe it--Seisui is my friend! But how can I convince anyone but my dearest Helios? Even the Sailor Quartet is against me. My mother is reluctant to side with me after my decision to fight in secret. How can anyone blame me for wanting my independence...!

Seisui: Suspicions about my identity begin to surface in the Royal Palace. There is no proof of Sailor Titan's identity, but rumors reach the outside and accusations soon fly amongst the public...

Tokimo: The reappearance of "the Han'i" as the distrusted friend of Usako brings back old memories and conflicts. Even though Usako defends her as a friend, the words of the greatest authority are heeded and Seisui is seen as a threat by her peers. Seisui... how could people treat you so thoughtlessly?

Yamiko: Conflicts caused by ignorance are no concern of mine. I cannot and will not get involved with this fight. But I must warn Usako...if she does not know the truth and accept what must be done, only more ill can come to her and this planet. But all forms of love, past, future, present--romantic, parental and friendship--are blind to the conflicts around them.

Seisui: The world is against me. Tokimo...what should Ido...?

Next time, on MOON SENSHI: UNMEI NO KODOMO--

"Denial"

Evil returns to those who create it.