Name: Aino Minako
Age: 12
Grade: 7
Guardian: Artemis, Moon Cat

Name: Kino Makoto
Age: 12
Grade: 7
Guardian: Aoao, bird

Name: Hino Rei
Age: 11
Grade: 6
Guardian: Phobos and Deimos, crows

Name: Mizuno Ami
Age: 11
Grade: 7
Guardian: Koori, crab

Chapter 4a-Middle School is Such a Drag
"Kami-sama!" shrieked an angry miko, or at least one in training. Makoto and Ami winced, covering their ears. "How in the name of all that burns do they expect us to finish all this work? And I've got temple chores to do, too!" she cried, fuming.

The brunette and blue-haired girl exchanged glances. They had been extraordinarily happy when Rei's grandfather had allowed her to switch from her private, Catholic school (and do tell me, why are Shinto priestesses going to a Catholic school, she'd asked) to Juuban Middle School. Next year, however, they were going to Juuban Junior High, but Rei would stay there. Ami gently asked, "Rei-chan, exactly what do you have to do?"

"I'll tell you what I have to do!! First, there's Math. I hate Math. Then, there's English. That sucks, too. History. Science. Japanese. Kanji. Writing. A bunch of other crap."

"Rei-chan!" cried her friend, startled.

Makoto just sighed and said, "Live with it, Rei-chan. You'd better stop moaning and start, we had to go through it too. Ami-chan, I forgot what we learned in Algebra today, do you know how to transfer the equation from point-slope to slope-intercept?" Grumpily, the priestess plopped down in her chair once more while her friend helped Makoto, murmuring softly at the problem and explaining.

Outside, four animals snickered and tried not to laugh too loudly. Koori was the first to stop and said, "I think now would be a good time to end our hysterics...remember, we had to go through this in the Moon Kingdom. The princesses are lucky they don't have fighting or magic classes anymore."

Phobos and Deimos shuddered, cawing, "That was horrible. Princess Rei complained every day too. Never, ever want to go through that again."

"Ditto!" chirped Aoao. "Princess Lita was okay with it, she just hated not having enough time to cook. Luna's managed to contact Artemis at Central Control, thinks the Moon Princess might not have landed in Japan. He said it was impossible and told her to search harder."

"Did she get angry?" asked the two crows.

The crab rolled her eyes and said, "Of course, you remember Luna. Guys, something's cold here. Very cold."

Aoao said, "Koori, that would be you. That's why you're named ice?"

"No....." whispered Deimos.

Phobos responded, "There's an evil coming!! It's dark.....very, very dark."

"It's time to awaken the senshi."

"Koori, we can't. Only Rei has revealed her 'true' power. Lita's only got static shocks so far, much as I regret it. What about Ami?"

The crab shivered and replied, "Yes. She makes cold bath water turn warm. She's not affected by cold water. And she can boil it at will, she needs training. You don't know how many times she's burned herself already, she's only resistant to cold water. Ice water."

"What's coming? Came?"

"Something......something dark. Something powerful. Greedy, hungry. It feels parasitical to me. Possibly infecting one person."

"Another take-over-the-world plot? Is it Beryl?"

"Feels stronger. No, Queen Selenity locked her away. This is something different. Totally evil, like Metallia. Beryl was led astray. It's time to awaken the senshi." Phobos and Deimos closed their eyes, and the other two guardians saw their previous images: two slight, redheaded girls with red eyes. Joined at the arm, their hands glowed and the power stick of Mars fell to the ground. Aoao showed her own self, looking like the crows, green where there was red. Koori was last, a blue-haired and blue-eyed girl that looked slightly like Ami. The sticks of Jupiter and Mercury joined them. "Artemis will awake Venus as Sailor V. She can't return to Tokyo yet, says the Moon Cat. But he says he'll train her to go after petty things like burglars and rapists. She's in London, Princess Mina."

The lime green bird asked, "Which power phrase do they start with? I've forgotten, Luna always knew the most."

"Mercury Power."

"Mars Power."

"Jupiter Power." And the four guardians smiled at each other and recalled bittersweet memories of the past.
~ * ~ * ~
Mina Love stared at her cat for a minute before laughing her head of hysterically. They had been talking in her room, she had said, "Artemis, I can't believe it's been six years since I've left behind almost everything, now I've become a star. Hard to believe there's been two Sailor V movies, right? I've only got one more, then I'm free. Very free."

Artemis had then replied, "Yes, you've done very well in the acting session, Mina. I want to tell you why I taught you how to fight, besides for the movie job." She had turned to face him, a quizzical expression on her face. He had taken a deep breath and said, "Aino Minako, you are the reincarnation of a warrior born more than a thousand years ago."

"Uh huh. Who might that be?"

"Mina, listen to me. The Sailor V you have is real. She fights crime. And it's time you do that, too."

That was when she started laughing. "Okay, Artemis. I knew there was always something strange about you."

He mumbled, "Besides the fact that I can talk and only one other cat in this time and space can?"

"You want me to actually believe that Sailor V is REAL, and that I'm her and off to fight crime in the streets of London?"

The Moon Cat was getting annoyed and losing what patience he had. He back flipped and came back with a transformation stick. "Try it, then."

"What do I say?"

"V Power," he said, grinning.

"Okay......now, make sure no one's watching me, or they'll think I'm an idiot. V Power!" A moment later, Mina stared at herself in her full-length mirror, then ran and double-checked that the door was locked. Her outfit looked exactly like the one in the movie, short skirt, red goggles, hair cut up in a gaudy red bow, and totally frivolous sandals. "Artemis.....you better explain, right now."

*sigh* "Once upon a time, there was a great kingdom on the Moon....and it was the Moon Kingdom, of course. The planets were inhabited then, and you were the Princess Mina of Venus, also senshi Venus and now Sailor V due to....circumstances. Anyway, you were to protect the Moon Princess at all costs. You met three other princesses, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter. The Moon Kingdom was destroyed a witch named Beryl, but she was sealed away. Now, you're twelve, the exact age for awakening. Do you want your memories?"

"If it'll make me less confused and sure of the fact that you're not insane." Artemis sighed heavily, knowing his short and concise summary hadn't done the trick. He used his Mind Meld, shooting a golden beam from the crescent moon on his forehead. Within seconds, the blond girl was unconscious and floating though long, unawakened memories and dreams.
~ * ~ * ~
"Ami-chan?"

The blue-haired girl turned around, previously and currently busy helping her friends with Math. "Hai, Koori-chan?"

"There's something we need to tell you all," said Aoao. "First, calling up your memories would be good. Artemis said he was an idiot for not doing that first. Makoto-chan, come here." Each guardian called to their respective charge, except Phobos and Deimos. The symbol of Mercury appeared on Koori's shell once more, Mars's sigil came into view on both Phobos and Deimos's wings, Aoao had the emblem of Jupiter on her wing as well.

Mercury: Ami drifted through the mists, recalling a childhood that was isolated yet happy. Both her parents were like her mother now, spending as much time as they could with her. She grew up unspoiled and selfless, sent to the Moon at age twelve. She met Princess Serenity, her mother, and three other princesses. Then the Princess of Mercury became a senshi, of water and ice. She fought Beryl's growing army of youma for four years. At the age of sixteen, Prince Endymion of Earth visited the Moon. With him had come four generals, one which had fallen in love with her, and she with him. That led to complications with Ryo Urawa, a commander in the Mercurian army that had secretly loved his princess for almost his whole life. General Zoicite had returned to Earth, promising Ami that he would return. He never did, was brainwashed, and became a servant of Beryl and Metallia. She fought him on the last day of the Silver Millennium, and he killed her. But when he had bent down to check that she was fatally wounded, she had stabbed him. And so, the blood and heir to the Mercurian throne had died.

Mars: Rei saw her childhood, learning about religion and fire as one. Her mother was the sole ruler of Mars and hardly ever spent time with her. Nevertheless, a kind priest of Mars had taught her everything she knew. She was sent to the Moon on her twelfth birthday, became the senshi Mars, fire and passion, and fought alongside three other senshi against Beryl's youma. A visit from Earth came when she was sixteen, also. A flirtatious yet lovable general had stolen his way into her heart, General Jadeite. He had proposed to her, but she had never been able to come to a decision. He left to fight for Earth, she promised she would give him his answer when he came back. By the time Jade had returned, he was evil, cold, and a shell of his former self. He had remembered about proposing to her, though, and offered a place for her as his mistress in Beryl's dark realm. She had refused, they had fought, and she had killed him. With a Flame Sniper. Moments later, she joined him, holding his hand, as she painfully bled to death.

Jupiter: Princess Lita of Jupiter had always been regarded as a tomboy, ever since the age of three. She had romped and played with the boys at the palace, especially her best friend Ken. Ken later became a general in the Jovian army. Her father ruled Jupiter by himself, her mother having died giving birth to her. At age twelve, she had traveled to the Moon, met two princesses and one queen, and became the senshi of Jupiter, of storms and lightning. Two years later, two more senshi joined their ranks. She had fought youma for another three years, fostering a fierce fighting spirit, protectiveness, and a sense of justice. She had finally won a man's heart when five princes from Earth had visited the Moon Kingdom, and she had fallen in love with General Nephrite. He had promised her he would come back and propose, leaving her with delicate rose earrings. She wore them in her final battle, meeting her love-a deadly, spiritless servant. She had encased them both in lightning. And they had died, Lita hoping that Venus had survived to protect the princess and the queen.
~ * ~ * ~
Venus: As a child, Mina had been considered the most beautiful girl in the world, the reincarnated Aphrodite. Her parents had loved her dearly and were quite protective. She met Ace, a soldier in her father's army. He had become obsessed with her, and it was a relief to everyone when she was sent to the Moon at age thirteen, the same time as the Princess of Jupiter. Mina had become Sailor Venus, protector of love and light. Alongside three other senshi, Beryl's underdogs were vanquished, the Moon Princess was safe. And so was Venus's warm and loving heart, until a stone general from Earth had broken it and mended it. General Kunzite of Earth and Endymion's High General. He had asked her to marry him, and she had accepted. The day after they became lovers, he left to protect Earth from Metallia. And for the first time in his life, he failed and became a servant of the Negaverse. This time, he was even more dangerous. His silence didn't cover a frightened heart, it masked the true evil in the universe. She had fought him and qualms, with the Sword of the Silver Crystal, which was her birthright as the senshi of Venus. She had killed him, then he had murdered her in turn. She had failed her princess, the queen, and her other senshi had fallen before her.

Present day Aino Minako woke up, breathing hard with fear, sorrow, and anger. She clutched an unhappy Artemis to her chest and cried her heart out. And he blamed himself, although it had been inevitable. That night, Sailor V rose and fought crime. Artemis saw one percent of her full potential and shivered, hoping that whoever crossed her path had finished his affairs in this world.
~ * ~ * ~
Mizuno Ami, Hino Rei, and Kino Makoto didn't bounce back as quickly as their commander. Duty had always been important to the senshi of Venus, sometimes more so than love. But that had been the problem-her duty was for love and to love. Icy tears fell on a gleaming shell, the symbol of Mercury glowed and shot beam that connected with the one on Koori's princess's forehead. Rei patted her crows absentmindedly and tried to focus her mind as her grandfather had taught her. One whole lifetime to swallow in ten minutes, it just wasn't fair. Makoto held out her second finger to Aoao and remembered how it was in the past. She remembered her home and bond with plants and animals. Ah, that cleared everything up, why she had a green thumb and could cook without cookbooks-all the recipes from the past were stored in her mind. Ami went home, the other two to their rooms to adapt to the newest and biggest change in their lives, struck harder than Minako, even though she was fighting crime, and they were not.
~ * ~ * ~
A hooded, masked burglar dressed like a ninja spun around when a small hand had landed on his shoulder with immense pressure. Thrown to the floor, he looked into crystal blue eyes, eyes holding no warmth or light. The protector of London, she was called. Sailor V. And he had thought she didn't exist, a legend, a rumor, a creation gone mad. "Hello, young man. I know exactly who you are, you know that? The police won't be pleased, no, since you're on of their's. But they'll be here any minute."

"You bitch! What are you?"

"I'm a crime fighter. That means against you, idiot. And I'm not a bitch, but I'm absolutely positive that you're a bastard," the masked sailor said sweetly. The criminal's eyes narrowed, he wasn't going down without a fight. As a policeman, he had guns and training. He sneakily reached a hand around to the gun in his back pocket when "Sailor V Kick" rang out, pounding into his ears. He jerked as he felt the bones in his wrist break, the gun kicked across the room. "That wasn't very smart of you, I've seen that move dozens of times. Got anything else you want to try before you're off to jail? I could use the training, you know, Artemis says so."

"Who the hell is Artemis?"

"My cat. He talks."

"You're pyscho."

"No, look, here come the sirens. I'll leave everything to the gentlemen now." When the police had arrested the burglar, he looked back at the jewelry store he'd been in and glared murder at a feminine silhouette, which flashed the characteristic "V is for Victory" sign and disappeared when the cars drove away, satisfied that her job was done.

Five minutes later, Mina Love of London was back, sitting on her bed, having climbed through her bedroom window. "How did I do, Artemis?"

"You could have cut the chitchat, but nice kicking for the gun. Is your ankle swollen again?"

She held back tears as she gently probed the ankle. "Artemis, I think I'm going to need an ice pack. Darn that stupid son of a-"

"No more cursing, you've got to watch that, too. I'll try and open the fridge for you, stay here." She didn't ask how her cat was able to do that, but he returned with the icy packet, which she pressed on her ankle. "You've done pretty well, since you've only been fighting a year. I still think thirteen is way too young," he said, grumbling.

When the pain had resided, the swelling going down, Mina removed the ice pack and asked, "Aren't there supposed to be three other senshi?"

"They're in Japan, you're supposed to join them. When this last movie is down, you'll have had a successful career of four movies, then you've got to quit and hightail it back. My...friend, another Lunar cat, has been having trouble finding your Moon Princess, she always says there's a dark force that took up residence last year, but it's lying low."

"What am I going to tell my parents?" Minako wailed.

"You can leave that to me," growled Artemis, blue eyes glinting angrily at the thought of his charge's present parents, such a change from her kind and loving father and mother in the Silver Millennium, the King and Queen of Venus.
~ * ~ * ~
"Mercury," said Koori patiently, "please try that again, you need to get a perfect block. Mars? Fire again, please." Currently, Koori, Phobos, and Deimos were working with Mars and Mercury while Jupiter and Aoao sat on the sidelines and watched. They had found a secluded room large enough to work in, and Mercury was trying to learn how to put up a shield of ice. The guardians had decided that shielding had to come first, Rei had already maneuvered one into position before. After some quick manipulation and brush ups, she had perfected her usage in it. Her two comrades, however, were a different story. Mercury had the strongest defensive powers and currently no offensive ones, but her shield only went up one out of the five times she tried. Jupiter didn't really have any defensive powers, conjuring a block of lightning was trying for her, and she never managed to make it solid-a shadow of the real thing formed and half-heartedly blocked out attacks.

Mars, having mastered her shield, was able to learn her first and least powerful attack from Phobos and Deimos. While it was pretty easy for her to draw the flame out of her fingers, she had bad aim so far, which meant Mercury extreme difficulty. She had to call the shield into existence and place it in the direction of the fire, which came from the directions north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, and so on. "Fire Soul!"

The blue senshi gulped, managed to get the shield up. Most unfortunately, it was directly in front of Mercury, while the Fire Soul had ricocheted off the walls (somehow) and come at her from the right. 'I never wanted to die by fire, much less in training.' Suddenly, the ice shield swerved sharply to the right and extinguished the fire, then disappeared. Smiling gratefully before she succumbed to the unavoidable darkness, she collapsed on the floor and detransformed.

Her crab guardian scurried over and reassured, "She'll be fine, needs some rest. Strong shield and fright she got. Jupiter and Mars, help me get her to the side. Then it's your turn again." The two senshi groaned and hoped that the two hour session would before over soon, but only half and hour had passed. "Fire Soul...." said Mars dispiritedly. The fire went straight towards Jupiter. Luckily for the unfortunate and unprepared senshi that couldn't conjure her shield yet, it turned at the last minute and narrowly missed the green senshi, scorching the pink bow at the back. She glared threateningly at Mars, who winced and straightened up from her slightly-sagging position.

Phobos and Deimos, embarrassed, said, "Mars, try it again, please. Do try to aim straight."

Aoao smirked at them, then turned to her own charge and chirped, "Jupiter! There was supposed to be a shield there, good aim or bad aim! Remember to focus your mind! We could make you do this with your eyes closed, you know."

Both senshi shuddered and shook their heads, getting ready to try the very dangerous yet first level practice again. Mars's mind was filled with visions of fire streaming all around the room, Jupiter had her eyes closed, concentrating, but no shield came up. With her eyes closed, she had no way of telling if it was up or not. They looked at each other, back at their guardians, and voiced simultaneously, "No. Way."
~ * ~ * ~
Some time later in the school week, Rei was trying not to fall asleep and yawned widely, blinking sleepy purple eyes. She blushed and covered her mouth a moment later, trying to focus. All the senshi training the four guardians were pushing gave her: a headache, minor bruises, serious bruises, minor frostbite, and many static shocks. All in all, she wasn't pleased, not one bit. The raven-haired girl yawned again and wished that Makoto and Ami were in her grade, sighed, and tried to remember what the teacher was talking about. Sensei was babbling on and on about something completely irrelevant to their topic of animal biomes, excitedly and animatedly (waving his windmill-like arms around while students ducked) about the "big game" Juuban High School's soccer team was going to play against Hokkaido, coming up this Saturday. Rei sighed disgustedly and thought about finishing her history homework, decided against it, and promptly looked out the window. To her immense surprise, Phobos was perched on a branch, peering in at her, and she cast a quick glance at the still-talking sensei and shook her head slightly. Her charge flushed and sat up straight, trying to pay attention. She looked down at her neat jumble of notes, sighed, ripped out the notebook page (consequently forgetting the important information on the other side), and started recopying the information on the board. The crow watched her sharply for a few moments, nodded, and flew off.

Simultaneously, her brunette friend was devoutly praying, Rei and her instructors would have been proud of her, for the dismissal bell. Had classes always been this long, or were the Board of Administrators just grabbing at chances to make the new generations suffer? Their posterity already had enough to do. Gazing blearily at the board, she thought about her schedule. Wake up, eat, go to school, end school (between these two items, there was an eternity), go home, training under temple instructors, more exercises under sadistic guardians, eating dinner, finishing her homework, and falling into an exhausted sleep. While she was thinking about how she could get through another tiring day, sleep thin and disturbed by still-foggy dreams and memories of the past, her foot fell asleep. Waking up with pins and needles plaguing her right foot, she shifted and banged her knee in just the right place on the desk and jumped when a loud bang was heard, echoing from the hollow inside the desk.

"Miss Kino?" inquired the teacher mildly.

"Um...gomen nasai, sensei." Giving her a an exasperated look, he went on to explain how balancing equations was different than creating binary compounds to a puzzled and clueless student. Sighing with slight relief, Makoto looked over at Ami, who sat on the other side of the room. As usual, the quiet girl was jotting down notes (she glanced down at her blank notebook), paying rapt attention to the teacher's words. How in the world could Ami not fall asleep and listen to the unutterably dull lectures? She winced and shifted again, her left foot had fallen asleep.
~ * ~ * ~
"Cut, cut! Mina, what in the world is WRONG with you today? Number one, you look pale and tired. Didn't get enough sleep? And where did that large bruise on your ankle come from? We didn't do any fight scenes yet, at least not today. It's also been a week since we did an action scene, you're supposed to be falling in love with Sukareru, here, remember? New co-star from Japan, too. Odd how so much talent's been turning up from that island."

'I'll bet,' thought Mina grimly, trying not to look at the smirking Torit Sukareru, who she obviously realized was General Ace of Venus, from the past. While he might not be "awakened" yet, she was sure that he was falling for her. For kami-sama's sake, she was only thirteen! He was two years older, aged fifteen, and very proud of his looks. Grudgingly, she admitted that his curly blond hair DID go well with dark, dark blue eyes. So dark that she sometimes thought they were black and brushed it away as her imagination-no one had black eyes, not even pupils were a true black. "Sorry, I didn't really get a good sleep. My ankle? Um.....I sprained it slightly during gym."

"Well, you're limping. Should we cancel for today?"

She flashed him a large, nervous smile. If she came home early, her mom would know something was up and get angry that she'd bailed on filming. "Oh no, I think I can make it. Do you think we could do something else to replace the fight scene planned for today?"

"I guess so," said the director thoughtfully, running a tired hand across his sweaty face. "Scripts! (His nickname for the writer of the movies for Sailor V) I think we can do the scene where Sukareru kisses Sailor V in her schoolgirl form, don't you think?" Scripts nodded emphatically and tossed the three workers each a heavy script, and Mina and Sukareru were allowed some time to learn new lines. Like twenty minutes, but that was "show biz" and "movie magic." She sighed in annoyance, no matter how much she complained, Sukareru didn't do the "fake kissing" that was supposed to look like it was real. He just kissed her hard and very realistically, which disgusted her to no end. "Ready?"

"Yes!" came the eager male voice, shooting a winning smile to his co-star. "What about _you_, Mina-chan? Are you ready?"

In turn, she winced and mumbled, "Yes....sure...of course, why wouldn't I?" 'I can think of a hundred reasons off the top of my head.'
~ * ~ * ~

Paths of Thorns