Little Lost Rabbit by Ikuko Part 4 G to PG Rei's narrative I still do not own Sailor Moon _________________________________________________ We wanted to do as better, But it came out as usual... Chernomyrdin, Russian Prime-Minister (no, I am not kiddin') The first shocks came at the same time Jupiter broke the door to the Princess quarters with her Thunder Clap. At first we even thought that it is just the building reverberates with the explosion. But then the palace shook again, and again. Moonquake. Earthquake is a terrible experience, but at least you can be sure that you are not likely to suffocate as a result. If the Dome will not hold, every mortal here will be dead in seconds, and Avatars will be rather uncomfortable too. Wave after wave, for over a minute. Princess unconscious, no one can use the Crystal to stop it. Girls scramble to their feet, close to her, to protect her if necessary from falling debris. I am too far, still too far. Hold on, damn you! I can hear Outers unite their powers to built a temporary force field in case if the Dome will crack. When aftershocks die out, it seems that years have past. Horror of immediate catastrophe slowly melts in the deadly silence. The Dome held and the danger had apparently passed. The palace built with the magic seems undamaged, but the landscape had changed dramatically. The majestic ridge that bordered sea of Serenity is no longer challenging the deep darkness of the sky. The horizon is leveled, craters are filled with the dust and the moon surface is featureless, pale and dull as far as one can see. Princess! Thank gods, she is alive, stupid Meatball Head. What did she do to herself now! I can not leave this baby for a minute without her getting in some kind of trouble. Mercury was already next to her, computer in hand, scanning for possible injuries. As minutes passed, her brow frowned deeper, and fingers on the small keyboard hesitated and stopped. I do not like it, I do not like it one little bit. I try reach to her with my spirit, but there is no answer. "I do not understand... She is just asleep" "Why would not she wake up? With all the racket during the quake, you would think even Usagi will not be able to sleep through that." "It is not the regular sleep... It looks like she is dormant." "What do you mean? Like hibernation? How did it happened to her?" "I have no readings that anything happened. It looks like she had always been this way." "Ami? Concentrate! May be she is a little brain dead, but at least her body was moving around. She was talking to us an hour ago, just before it happened." "I do not understand it" "How can we wake her up?" "According to this, she can wake up in if there is an extreme adrenaline rush, like in life-death situation" "Then give her a shot, for goodness sake!" "No, it will only last for a few minutes, and then she will return in the same state. I can not keep her on that adrenaline level all the time, it will kill her." "I have an idea!" If you do not have Usagi around, you can always count on Minako to come up with a hair-brained scheme "Let's call the lover-boy, his kisses work wonders on her. Remember that droid that sent her in the eternal sleep?" "Oh, Minako, this is such a nonsense" "I'll call him anyway! It is so romantic!" Venus rushes out of the room only to crash into the Prince himself who is coming through the door. I am not sure if he even noticed us in the room. He strode to her prostrate form and kneeled, gathering her in his arms. Um, I was holding her? OK, I suppose he has certain rights to be with his fiancée. Then again, he is not the only one who loves the silly excuse for a princess. He called her every tender name in the book, covering her face with gentle kisses. Yech. Sure, you are welcome. Do not mind me, I was just waiting for a bus here. "Hey, guys. It did not work! He kissed her and she is still asleep!" exclaimed Venus, and prince turned his tear-stained face to her. "It will not work. She is gone" I had a sickening feeling that he might be right. It has been an hour already and there is nothing we can do. The horror is gone from her features, and she lays here serene and unresponsive, with her love rocking her sorrowfully in his embrace. "Guys, there is something wrong with him too. May be he had hit his head during the quake. He mourns her like she died or something" I will not believe that. It is not true. I will never believe that she is gone. "She is all right, only asleep, see, she is breathing. You think we will not be able to wake her up?" "No, she will wake up soon." Endymion stood up, and carried the princess to the bed. He deposited her gently, and brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face. Then he turns to me. "Rei, you must be able to reach her dormant soul of the princess and bring it forth. But this is of little importance. Usagi is not here. I can not feel her, my link with her is not directed to this body. I must find her." He walked away, not even looking at the princess and collapsed in the chair. "The guy went bananas from all that excitement. I thought he loved her." "He does. This is not our first priority now. Rei, can you do what he said?" "I can try. You guys keep quiet, I will have some concentration to do." Meditation is good. Forget everything, forget the fear. Assume the familiar meditation pose in front of the body of the sleeping beauty, and begin the incantation. Empty your mind, concentrate on the only sunshine in this world, on the only person that ever mattered to you. The klutz, the crybaby, the most annoying child ever lived. Meatball head, where are you? Are you sulking again at me? Come on, do not be silly... Where are you?! In this mist of spiritual plane, I do not feel her. As much as I concentrate on the love and warmth that is Usagi, there is nothing. And she is not an easy to miss soul. Take it from me: normally you do not even want Usagi close to you when you meditate. For ESP to be around this dumb blond is like for musician to work with jackhammer. Sure, I am always cranky, you would be too on my place. This absurd girl radiates love with such blinding intensity that she blocks out all the other images. It is like stargazing in the broad daylight: you will see nothing but sunshine. No wonder she could never learn any empathic skills. You see, you gain something, you lose something. When you get so much power, you lose in sensitivity. And with the power the stupid Meatball head holds, boy, do you ever lose in it. But where is she? Wait, backtrack, what did Mamoru said? She is not here. I am looking for something that is not even here! Not Usagi, the princess! There is a signal, week, wispy. Cold, lonely, forlorn girl. She looks like Usagi, sort of. I mean, she looks exactly like her, but she does not smash through all your senses at once like the exuberant energy that Usagi usually delivers with a force of a nuclear explosion. My god, what did she do... Why did she leave me... NO!!! How could she! Damn you, do not do this to me! We are all lost. I am lost. This poor princess, she is lost too. At least, I can try to help the princess, for the stupid Spaghetti Brain's sake. "Princess?" "Who is here?" "It's me, princess" "Mars? Why are you here?" "I came for you. We need you, you must come back to us." "Mars, you do not understand, she left me, I am alone, all is for nothing!" "No, we will find her. She will return, but right now we need you, to bring her back" I hope I am not lying, I really do. What is for nothing? "Endymion, he will not want to see me" Poor girl, poor little princess "He loves you, you are a part of her" A very small part, but the princess is so upset, I will never be able to say it aloud. I cradle her, coaxing her slowly back, into consciousness. I will forgive you, my princess, for not being her, I will forgive you. 'It is not your fault', I whisper to her, 'it will be all right'. You are a good little princess, you are gentle and kind. At least you understand what you have lost. I will forgive you even if you may never become her. I have sworn my loyalty to the princess, and I will remain loyal. Suddenly, both our bodies arched against the bed, and sank back. Our eyes opened simultaneously, and my dark purple look in just as dark deep velvety blue. The very same eyes that swept over us the very first time Sailor Moon transformed to a princess in the anguish of the lost love. Eyes with no sparkle, no mischief, no curiosity, only loss and pain. "Thank you, Mars. I am back. Endymion?" "Yes, Serenity" "You know already, don't you?" "Yes, I felt it." "I failed her. Can you feel her now?" "Very weakly. She is everywhere. If she will go away, we had lost her for centuries. All is for nothing. Do you know why she did it?" "I am not sure. I have her memories up to the moment she left me, but the last minutes the surge of emotions was so strong, I will need time to sort it out. I know that she was ashamed of not being able to act as she thought she was supposed to, and afraid that Scouts will not forgive her for disowning them." "Hey, guys, slow down. Who had left?" "Usagi is no longer with me" "What?!" Venus is a little slow today "She wanted to free the princess. She thought that she did not behave as I would have, and disgraced me." "Was a bit. And this is bad because?..." Venus can be so dense sometimes. I am in no mood for all this. "Because you love her, Minako. You all do. There are other reasons, but for you, there is nothing more important." "Can you at least tell me why did she disowned us?" It is my turn to ask questions "She did it to save you, Rei." "Save me from what?" Just let me get her back, I will kill the little brat myself "From the power of Silver Crystal. There is a spell of protection about it, that will destroy anybody who would dare to harm the princess, and punish by death any of her subjects that betrays or insults the crown." "And how this concerns me?" "You were friends with Usagi, and as friends often do, you allowed certain familiarity with her. Crystal did not punish any of you then to protect the identity of the princess. Besides, your disrespect was not intentional, you did not know that she was the Princess." "Than what was the problem?" All this was definitely irritating me "The night when Crystal appeared in front of us, this was no longer a valid excuse. Usagi never expected you to change the way you treated her, but the Crystal did. When you, Rei, slapped her in the face, it begun to power up to destroy you for High Treason, according to the Lunar Law. I understand your reasons, you only wanted to help her, but it activated the Crystal defense. There was no way she could stop the execution, so instead Usagi disowned you all as her subjects. This way the law will be no longer a threat to you." "Why disown all of us? If it was my fault alone..." hot wave of pain rises from my heart to drown me under its weight. It was my fault. You do not have to tell me that. But why others? "Usagi understood that the same situation will repeat itself with the rest of you. And if it will happen when she was in her civilian form, Usagi was not sure that she will be able to save you fast enough." Sure, trust meatballs for brains to motivate anything "But why the outers? They where always respectful..." "At that time she was not aware of their existence. She just wished "all scouts", and Crystal obeyed." "Why did not she tell us?" Horror downed on me. What had she done! What had I done! "And what would you do if you knew?" Princess lifted her sad eyes to me. Why, is not it obvious? If she does need me, if she does not want me... Then I do not need myself either. "I... I would do my duty. The tradition of warriors says "when one can not live with honor..." Some honor, I can survive without any honor as long as she is all right. I can not live without the stupid meatball head! But it is still not too late. I have this nice long blade in my room... "Exactly. Do you think she saved you only to have you to commit a ceremonial suicide? Besides, she was sure you would never forgive her. Being warriors of the Moon court was important to you, and she thought that it was the only reason why you fight. But it is of no importance now. She wanted you all to live, and you will submit to her will. I am tired... Luna?" "Wait! Do you know why there was a Moon quake?" "Moon had lost it's rabbit... There was one like that when I was born, and Usagi was settled in me. Then, she and not I was dormant. I do not know the true nature of her yet, but mother thought her very important and her power great. Mother had promised that when she will awaken, our souls will merge and we will be whole. But she awakened when I was killed, and was reborn as a baby on the Earth." "Princess, may I ask you a question?" "Yes, Luna" Boy, she is different. Regal, refined... distant "If all this time you were part of Usagi soul, why did not she act like you before?" Luna, I thought better of you. "Well, I guess it was part of Queen's arrangements. I was at least two years older then Usagi is now when Moon Kingdom was destroyed. Usagi was born there as a baby, and it would not be right if a tiny girl will act as a young lady with all the training of a princess. So the princess part of our consciousness was supposed to remain inactive until Usagi will reach my age, unless there is an emergency like battle with Queen Beryl. Rei woke me a little earlier, but I think it does not matter much now." "I see now. Usagi was meant to become more princess-like with age. Good, I thought she was hopeless." Hopeless? I pity you, furball. "Do not say so! She was not trained as a warrior, like all the Scouts, and I did not support her as a princess most of the time. But now! She is gone, I am just an empty shell!" Not only you, Your Highness... There is a certain bitch from Mars who will have to live against her own will, when there is nothing left to live for. "You are still a princess!" Trust Luna to supply a dumb argument "Yes, but what does it matter now! She is gone, and with her the most of the power I had, we have little hope for the future now" "Power? I thought that her powers came from you!" "My powers! Oh, my powers are great indeed. But not greater than my Mother's. It took Metallia less then an hour to crash the Moon kingdom!" "It was you who defeated her in this life!" "Really? And why Mother could not do it?" "I... I do not know... Well, Scouts helped you!" "Oh, Luna, do you doubt that they did everything in their power to help my Mother?" "No. I am sure they did" Hell you are sure, furball "Then how had Princess won were her mother had lost? And how could she defeat others, much more powerful than Metallia? Without the great energy of life that came from Usagi, I am just another fine princess of the Moon dynasty" "You were the love of Endymion first" what do you know about love, cat "Yes, I remembered two loves. One, that united children of two royal families, happy, beautiful. Another, of a clumsy earth girl who was able to stand against not only Negaverse, but against rejection and humiliation from the ones she loved. My prince, Usagi had left me in the final act of sacrifice to her love for you." "But why?" you, conceited jerk. You are as guilty as I am! No, what am I saying... no one is as guilty as I... "She never knew that you could see beyond the surface of fine manners and trained sophistication." Princess's voice is quiet and listless "She never knew whom you really love. Poor child thought that your heart belongs to a doll in royal clothes only because Prince and Princess's love lasted for a millennium. Alas, most of that time none of us even existed." Tears run down her face, unchecked. "Usagi's love was only couple of years old, but it was years of trial and torturing insecurity. Our love was all joy, pride, and beautiful dreams. Earth girl's love was full of pain and suffering, and sacrificing herself in protecting the other, forgiving everything, even betrayal. I've got the royal blood and all the training the princess can get. But Usagi was so pure in her heart, so innocent and friendly. The fairy tale love story was pretty, but can not compare with the selfless and unconditional love of the school girl. All the affection and friendship that Usagi won... This is not fair. I will never take what rightfully belongs to her." Bullshit. That what it is, bullshit. Self-loathing is not something we need right now. I guess it is time to be tough cynical Rei: "Hmm. Poor Endymion. His girl has a bad case of split personality, and both halves reject him in favor of the other." I piped in "Come on, Rei. You will get us in more trouble with your big mouth than we are already. The real question is, how is the future affected by the loss of Usagi?" "Ask Pluto." "Umm, Pluto?" "Guys, you know very well, that I can not disclose the future. It is hanging on a thread right now. But I do not really have to tell you anything. You are smart enough to see the obvious. Chibi-Usa is a daughter of Usagi, you can tell that much from her exuberance alone." I sure can, after Pluto had mentioned it "You mean she will never be born in Crystal Tokyo?" "What Crystal Tokyo? Princess just told you she does not have any power of life in her! She will not be able to end the coming Great Freeze without Usagi" "Oops. I am convinced. Let's find that meatball head!" "How, with dogs?" "Sure, we have our very own pointer, specially trained. Mamoru, are you sure you still can not feel her?" I am still pretty mad at everybody, him and myself included. "I feel that something is changing. Her essence is no longer spread all over the space. It is like she had found another shelter, not here... I think she is back on the Earth..." "Another shelter? You mean another body? Can she do that?" "Only in the body of the child of Moon Royalty. No other can contain her. Mother told me so" "Great. Like in the bad soap opera. Now it is time to find a long-lost sister" "I do not have any sister, and never had. Moon queen always had only one daughter" "It does not make any sense. If you are the only survivor of the Moon dynasty, and Usagi can not be anywhere else, then where is she?" Ami and her logic, you oughtta love her. "I am not sure if I am the only one, my mother is gone, but it is not certain about her mother. Do you remember her, Endymion?" I had definitely missed something. Now, let me see. There might be a mother of the Queen Serenity, Princess grandmother somewhere on the Earth? And she can host Usagi? Hard to believe. But a thought of Usagi being her own grandma, or any grandma for that matter, is undeniably amusing. "She was the one who told me that I am the Moon Princess, when I was living on the Earth. She was the one who taught me the ways of magic." "She was the one who separated us" Uh ha, looks like Mamoru remembers the granny "Silly, she did not know that you were the one. When you sacrificed the offered immortality for your love and your own immortal essence was awakened, no one stopped you from coming to the Moon. She loved you as much as Mother did" We all were completely lost to the conversation at that point, but it was Venus to voice our confusion first: "Um, guys, do you mind filling us too on the matter?" "Sorry, Venus. You do not remember? When Mother hid me from the Negaverse on the Earth as a child? How kind old Taketori took care of me until the danger had passed?" Of course, Minako's face is totally blank. Well, at least not all of us are as ignorant. Even if I do not have all my memories back yet, the name of the old bamboo cutter rings a bell. I do not believe Minako did not know Taketori Monogatari! What do they teach in public schools these days! "You mean you are the princess from Taketori Monogatari?!" so can't I ask a stupid question too? Who else can be as gentle and beautiful... "Rei? Can you enlighten me too?" Oh, why not. "Sure, Minako. If you had paid attention on lessons of ancient literature, you would know that the oldest known manuscript is Taketori Monogatari of the beginning of 9th century... (Ikuko: pay attention, kids, Rei is telling the real thing. I did not invent it for the fic purpose. For some time I've been fascinated by the idea to find a real historical document that can be interpreted in favor of Silver Millennium story. Does not make much sense if the events as global would not be reflected in the literature, does it? So here is my catch. The time frame is approximately right (it was written more then 10 centuries ago). By the time when Genji Monogatari was created, it was already considered ancient, and for that sophisticated time not refined enough: Taketori was the lowly woodcutter, and the princess was found in the bamboo. I personally think it is a beautiful story, which in many ways affected the development of the future Japanese literature. I have a copy of the of Taketori Monogatari in English, retold by Helen Waddell (1969), and can lend it to the curious. I was not able to locate a decent English translation of the story. Of course, it can be argued that the coincidences that I found amusing are quite common in the Japanese poetic tradition. All I am asking is to remember that the story was written at the time BEFORE the tradition was established, and might very likely be in some way the origin of it. And, after all, I have seen people granting themselves poetic license on less ground than this ^_~. So, back to Rei's story) "The old bamboo cutter Taketori found in the shade of bamboo a little girl of unimaginable beauty. He adopted her, and since that day every time he cut a stem of the bamboo he found it filled with gold. Now rich Taketori rose the girl as a daughter, and her beauty shined like a full moon. Many wished for her hand in marriage, but Taketori selected only five suitors, the princes and the noblest lords of the land. She refused all of them, and when they persisted, gave them impossible tasks as a test to win her hand. She knew that four of the admirers were too cowardly, lazy or old to even try to be a hero. So she asked them to get magical things from far away lands or fight the dragons, sure that they will not put themselves at risk. But one was young and truly in love with her, so she pitied him and gave him a task, though impossible, but not dangerous." "I remember him... he was sweet and so shy..." Glad to remind you, my princess "Anyway, after a while, all suitors failed. Ironically, the young admirer who himegimi was trying to protect was deadly wounded in the accident in attempt to get her the thing she asked for. Before his death, they exchanged letters; the lady let him know how sorry she was; and the young man replied that he is ready to go to the land of dead if her pity will follow him. (Ikuko: After that incident, things are getting interesting for the real SM fan. Further in the brackets are my snickering remarks that are not part of Rei's story) Himegimi had a strange and unexplained in the story change of heart. Now she is objecting to not the marriage to a particular man, but to the marriage itself. She tells her father that she is of a "fairy folk" (other version "moon folk"} and marriage is not for her. A new figure appears on the scene: the Mikado himself. He heard about her beauty and wanted her in his palace, promising to knight old Taketori for that. When she refused, he offered to make her the Imperess. Surprised by her decline of that offer too, he finally went to see her. He sneaked in her house, and immediately fell in love with her beauty and gentleness. He tried to make her to go with him, but she disappeared from his embrace (do we call it 'teleported away' these days?). Mikado asked for her forgiveness, declared his respect and love for her, and begged her to return. She came back and told him that marriage is not for the "fairy folk". "But love is" said Mikado. He also promised never to attempt to see her again, if she will only agree to exchange letters with him. Since that day they wrote each other every day, and she seemed to be in love too. Mikado forgot all the pleasures but one: he was personally growing rare flowers that he attached to his letters (suppose they were roses, red to be specific). But that did not last long. The lady became very sad and spent her nights looking at the Moon, crying. Weeks later she told her father that she is the Princess of the Moon herself (sic!), and has to return to her people soon. She prayed for the permission to stay on the Earth longer, but it was not to be. Taketori, who, by the way, was knighted after all, sent the letter to Mikado. The Imperor called the huge army to prevent the Moon people from getting the princess. But at midnight the beautiful warriors appeared (Sailor Senshi?), and the imperial army was not able to fight them. Princess had got a "garment of feathers" (transformed in the snowfall of feathers? Feathered wings?), and flew away. But before leaving, she sent Mikado a farewell letter with the gift of immortality. He refused immortality if it meant eternity without her and ordered to burn it on the top of the highest mountain. The flame continued to burn forever, and since then the mountain was called Fuji-Yama, which means "eternal". It also means "no other" because the beauty of the princess will be never matched. That's about it. Yeah, sounds familiar." I have to catch my breath after talking for so long. Oh, joy of education! Minako has a goo-goo eyes and looks like she is going to cry "Oh, it is so romantic! Poor Mikado! Another victim of meatball head's fatal beauty! Wahhh! Why guys always have to fall for her! What happened to the poor Imperor?" Poor imperor, indeed. Is it just me or it sounds a little weird? Venus really should get her head together one of these days. "Why don't you ask him yourself?" Finally, she gets a hint "You mean... Mamoru... he is him... how?" "You knew he was of the royal blood, did not you?" "Yes, but... how? I thought he... Mikado was mortal?" "Um, at that time I thought I was." Mamoru is a little entertained out of his depression "but as soon as the gift of immortality was set alight, something happened to me. I was... I awoke as an avatar of the Earth, and could feel the power of the planet flowing through me. It was not the end, but the beginning. The very moment I burned the water of immortality in the crater of Fuji, when as a mortal I sacrificed the immortality for my love, I had prove myself worthy. Immortality was no longer my choice, but my destiny and curse. At that moment the spirit of Earth was bestowed upon me. The light of the Avatar awakening spread all over the planet, and alerted other immortals on it. The Gem brothers, first Jadeite and then others, found me to pledge loyalty to their host, and were the first to enter my court. As an Avatar of my planet I joined the Avatar Council, and sought the hand of princess Serenity in marriage." "And how the Serenity's grandmother fits in all this?" "She was on the Earth at that time, but I do not know why. Serenity let her mother on the Earth know about little Serenity. It took grandmother many years to reach Japan and find her granddaughter. Old queen sneaked in the house, using her perfect likeness with the me, unmarred by centuries spent on the Earth. She revealed to me that I was a Moon princess, destined to uphold the hope of love and Life, and explained that I should return to the moon one day. She begged me not repeat the mistakes of her grandmother by marrying the mortal. I still do not understand... How come that she was married? Queen of the moon never married, they gave an innocent birth to a single daughter... I was the only one who was allowed to marry..." "Why is that?" "I do not know, there was some prophecy so sacred that even I was not told all of it. Anyway, when I had left to the Moon, the old queen remained on the Earth, and I had never heard that she died. How could she, the only way an immortal queen of the Moon can ever die is to use the full energy of the Silver Crystall and get dissolved in it's power" "You think the old queen might still be alive and accept Usagi?" "It is hard to tell. Mother told me that only the innocent child of the royal blood could contain her. Mars, you know the matters of the soul better than anybody, do you thing it possible?" Honestly, on the last review of my certificates I did not see anything about personality translocation course. So, what was it you needed my expert opinion for? Ah, yes, the old queen and Usagi. Damn, I can not imagine anyone deserving Usagi, royalty or not. OK, here goes my opinion: "I do not think so. Life sorrows had destroyed the innocence of the queen, only centuries of penitence and asceticism can prepare the soul even as a temporary host for Usagi." As far as I know, it is true, sacred life can purify one's spirit. The question is if anybody was ever pure enough for my meatbalheaded angel. "Then it might be so. The last thing I heard about Serenity the Fifth was that she founded a shrine far from the capital, in the small village where old Taketori came from." Oh, that's a lot of valuable information "Princess, do you remember the name of the village?" "It was so long ago, and it was such a small place... It sounded something... Toko... no, Tokyo." Well, this is so much better, my princess, you sound JUST like Usagi "You mean THE Tokyo? Granted, it was not a capital a thousand years ago..." "Somehow I did not realize... My memories of that time are as vivid as ones I have of this time..." "Great, now we only have to check out several hundreds shrines in Tokyo and ask if they have a thousand years old priestess. How did you say she looked like?" "Same looks as mine, only fully grown, with light sage hair. Prince must go to the Earth and find her, and convince her to return. I think we all better go to the Earth, it is not safe to stay here. I believe it will be wise to keep this unfortunate affair secret from the Council." That's true, with all the paparazzi snooping around in the hope to get a royal scoop... On the Earth, in civilian forms, we can get some privacy and freedom to look for the lost rabbit. Cats and Outers can look after the palace business. "Yeah, right. First, lets decide what we will tell the Council?" "That's easy. The princess was so upset, she was taken ill. Leave her alone and feel ashamed of yourself" May be Venus is an airhead, but it just might work. Let them feel guilty too, snobby bastards. Some gratitude! May be Galaxia should not work so hard on restoring their worlds... In no time Neptune is charged with preparation of the official communiqué, and we all are ready to go packing. But there is something else that bothers me, something I can not quite put my finger at. Something about going home... Wait. Here it is: "Princess... May I ask you for a favor?" "Of course, Mars" same sweet princess, just like a thousand years ago, but a far cry from the sweetest silly thing in the world that we've lost "Can you detransform for me?" "Why? If you want me to..." she touches the locker, frowns, but there is no change in her appearance. Oops. I was afraid of that. Looks like others begin to comprehend the consequences of this too. She tries again, with the same result. Eventually, we figured that she can become Sailor Moon, but not Eternal. Upon reversing the transformation, she was princess and only princess. Now we were really stuck. As long as we remain on the Moon, we are fine, but if Usagi will not appear at school on Monday, we will have some explaining to do. Venus can fool teachers with the transformation pen, but I would not risk it with Mrs. Tsukino. Besides, you can not hold the disguise power around the clock. Even if the Princess herself will be using it, the disguise will surely fade at the worst possible moment, leaving Tsukino-papa to gawking at the deep décolleté and shining crescent moon on the forehead of his little girl. The situation was fast approaching the state that fits my definition of a deep shit. ____________________________________________________ End of part 4 Feedback is appreciated Only constructive criticism will be accepted. Ikuko.