Libra pushed her hood back; it kept falling down over her eyes, 
rendering it difficult for her to see.  Unfortunately, the costume came 
with the job.  She took a moment to bind her long ash blonde hair back 
with a ribbon when it tried to take over where the hood had left off.  
Finally, she gazed down at the horoscope she had just worked out, trying 
to interpret it.

	Finishing that one, she cast a second one, then interpreted it.  
She took her bronze scales and placed each horoscope in one of the 
balances.  It swung back and forth for a while, then gradually balanced.  
She'd expected as much.  Both the Senshi and the Dark Kingdom were 
growing stronger, and apparently they were matching each other for 
growth despite the Dark Kingdom's losses.  

	The Zodiac, on the other hand, was not getting any stronger.  So 
far, half the Zodiac had tried and failed to beat the Senshi.  It would 
take an all out assault, she suspected.  But that would only leave the 
victor to be picked off by the Dark Kingdom.

	Her blue eyes glimmered in the dim light of the room as she 
studied the scales and thought.  The best solution seemed to be to play 
off the Senshi and the Dark Kingdom against each other, then pick off 
the victor herself.  But with such an even balance, that might take too 
long; most people prefer greatly to only attack when victory is certain.  

	The Sailors would have to be weakened in some way, their balances 
broken, to leave them vulnerable.  But not too vulnerable; ultimately 
the Sailors were only their enemies because they protected the Star 
Princess and tried to hoard her power, the power that rightfully 
belonged to the Zodiac.  Once they had that power, they could easily 
crush the Dark Kingdom.  The trick would be to not weaken them so much 
that the Dark Kingdom made off with the Star Princess.   

	Libra frowned.  Will I be able to right the balance in time if I 
tip it?  Her power included the disruption of balances and cooperation, 
but she never enjoyed using it in that manner.  But it seemed she had no 
choice.  And even though she wished she could weaken the Dark Kingdom as 
well, to reduce the danger of this, they were not easy to strike at, 
unlike the Senshi.

	She got out more paper and began to cast another horoscope, 
seeking guidance on what action could best disrupt this balance.  Once 
she interpreted the results, it made no sense to her.  But then, the 
workings of her power had often involved her in strange actions.  

	Rising from her seat and pulling her hood back up, she picked up 
her scales and set out to put her plan in motion.


                                   *****


Naru:     I'm tired of always running
          I've grown tired of the night
          I wish I had some cunning,
          Had some power, had some might.

     We see a collage of Naru running from monsters, grabbed by
monsters, trapped inside big moss balls by monsters, etc.

Sailors:  You don't need to keep on running.
          You don't need to fear the night.
          We can save you with our cunning,
          With our power, with our might.

     We see a collage of images of Usagi and the other Sailors saving
Naru and many other people from monster attacks.

Naru:     I don't want someone to save me;
          I'd just like to save myself
          I don't want to be a helpless doll
          That must sit upon the shelf.

     We see Naru sitting at her window, looking out on the starry night
sky of the city.  One by one, lines trace the constellations.

Pluto:    If you want to have the power
          You must reach into your heart
          Look inside to find your strength
          For that's where power starts

     We see Pluto holding out an eight-pointed star, which hovers just
above her hand.

                                   *****

Sailor Moon Z:

Series Concept by Jeff Hosmer and John Biles
Primary Writer this Episode: John Biles

Based on the Series Sailor Moon, copyrighted by a whole lot of people
who aren't us.

Episode 21
"Running Wild in Avalon.
 Which Road to Walk?"

                                   *****

 	Kensuke Mizuno parked his car; he was proud of his new sedan, even 
though it wasn't very flashy.  Simply put, it was new.  For the first 
time in his life, he'd actually bought a completely new car with his own 
money; oh, he and his now ex-wife had owned a new car, but she had 
basically paid for it.  And kept it when they had divorced.  

	It had taken a long time for him to build up his skill and 
reputation in the art world to where he stood now.  While not 
internationally renowned, he'd become fairly well known in Japan for his 
imaginative watercolors and fantasy prints.  Finally, he was making a 
decent living off it, and his parents no longer had an excuse to nag him 
to get a job, which he'd begun to think they would do until the day he 
died.

	He whistled a happy tune as he wandered across the parking lot, 
and gazed on Ami's school.  I'm impressed, he thought.  I'd heard good 
things about this place, but still...this must cost an arm and a leg.  
But I'm sure it's worth it.  

	A quick inquiry sent him on his way to Perry Hall, where his 
daughter was staying.  Students darted past him, all out of uniform, 
because class was out for the weekend.  He passed a young couple 
smooching on a bench and smiled a little.  Young love, he thought.  It 
burns so brightly, and you think it will last forever, even though the 
last time it only lasted two weeks.  

	He shook his head and lost himself in thoughts of fond high school 
memories.  This kept him busy right up to the front room of the dorm, 
where the dorm mother perched behind a counter.  "Hello, sir," she said.  
"Can I help you?"

	"I'm here to see Mizuno Ami, my daughter."

	The dorm mother blinked.  "She left a few minutes ago when her 
boyfriend came down and picked her up.  I think they were going to meet 
you at the parking lot."

	"..."

	"I can ring her room; maybe her roommate would be in and would 
know."  The dorm mother thought for a second.  "At least, I think that 
was her who went out.  I have so many girls, it's hard to keep track if 
they're good and don't cause trouble."

	He laughed.  "I'm very proud of my daughter."

	She nodded.  "You should be.  She's one of our best students.  Let 
me call her room."  She got on the phone.

	While it was ringing, there was a tap on his shoulder.  He spun 
the other direction, and to his surprise, he saw the couple from the 
park bench.  "There you are!" the girl said.

	He blinked, wondering whom she could have mistaken him for.  
Should I know her? he asked himself.  She wore a knee-length white skirt 
covered with various math equations, and had short blue hair, like his 
daughter's.  Black sunglasses hid her eyes; he wished he'd brought his 
own, as the sun was quite bright today.  She wore a white blouse with a 
blue vest over it; the top two buttons were undone, which might have 
been deliberate or an oversight from the kissing session on the bench. 
He remembered having once tucked his tie inside his shirt after one such
session in his high school days. 

	The boy with her looked vaguely familiar as well, not very tall, 
with short black hair and an honest face.  He was wearing dark slacks 
and a blue buttoned shirt, with the second button undone, though not the 
top one.  He looked very, very nervous.  

	"Is something wrong?" she asked.  She sounded worried now.

	The voice finally sank in.  My daughter, he thought.  I didn't 
recognize my own daughter.  Is she really growing up so fast?  "Ami?"

	She took off the sunglasses, and smiled faintly.  "I see my clever 
disguise fooled you."

	"I guess it's been a while since I last saw you," he said 
sheepishly.  "So you must be Urawa Ryo," he said to the boy.

	Ryo nodded.  "It's nice to finally meet you, Mizuno-san."

	"I've been running around to so many shows lately...Well, let's 
go, while we still have a day to spend together."  He turned to the dorm 
mother.  "Thank you for your help."

	"It's a pleasure to have met you," she said, then stared pointedly 
at Ami, making a buttoning gesture at the top of her own blouse.

	Ami stared, then looked down, and her eyes widened.  She quickly 
buttoned her shirt.  "I...uh..."

	Mr. Mizuno laughed.  "Let's go."  You never expect your children 
to grow up, but then they surprise you, he thought.  

                                   *****

	Minako ran into her room, threw herself flat, and rolled under her 
bed.  "If anyone comes looking for me, I ran away and became a nun," she 
announced.

	Himeko sighed.  "What stupid thing did you do this time?"  She 
welcomed a distraction from her own thoughts; if she didn't keep busy, 
she kept seeing the image of Hikaru...the ninja Hikaru of the other 
universe...dying.  

	"I...well...umm..."  Minako laughed nervously.

	There was a knock at the door.  Himeko asked, "What did you do?"  
Her voice was sharp; she wanted a distraction, but she was getting very 
aggravated with the frequency of Minako doing stupid things these days.

	"I sort of agreed to...well...I wasn't thinking about the fact 
that..."  Minako laughed nervously.

	The person knocked again.

	"If you tell me you agreed to date someone, I'm going to have to 
beat you up," Himeko said.  Her brain offered maiming suggestions, which 
she ignored.

	Minako was very silent.

	"What is WITH you these days?" Himeko demanded.  "Ever since we 
came back from the TORG universe, you've been acting like even more of a 
nutcase than you used to!"

	"At least I'm not moping all the time like you have been!"

	"I'm not moping!  Okay, maybe I'm moping a little, but you'd mope 
too if..."

	Dimly through the door, they heard, "Hey, Minako, you in there?"

	Himeko sighed.  "Answer the door, Minako."

	"No one down here but us dust bunnies."

	Hime-chan sighed and turned into Minako, then went to the door.  
"I changed my mind because..."

	The guy, who she dimly recognized as the rather handsome senior 
Takashi, swept her into his arms and kissed her.  For about a second, 
she simply kissed back as her brain spun.  Then she kneed him in the 
balls to get him to let go when an effort to pull back failed.  "I'm 
dating someone!" she shouted.  "And you could TRY saying Hello first, 
too!"

	"But you said he wouldn't mind..." Takashi said as he stumbled 
back, hunched over.  "I'll just go home now," he said weakly, staggering 
away.

	"Next time, ASK FIRST!" Himeko-Minako said, then slammed the door 
and changed back to normal. "Minako, this is getting ridiculous."

	Minako nodded.  "I know."

	"Then DO something about it!"

	"I don't know what to do!"

	"THEN FIND OUT!!!"

                                   *****

	"Yeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!"  Mr. Mizuno shouted as they roared 
down in the rollercoaster.  Ryo was screaming along with him, while Ami 
was using the suffering saint look he was sure she'd inherited 
genetically from her mother.  He kept trying to get her to enjoy 
rollercoasters, but it looked like that today wasn't the day that would 
happen.

	Once they finished on the ride and got off, Ryo said, "I'm 
hungry."

	"I'll be right back," Ami said.  "I need to go to the ladies' 
room."

	Mr. Mizuno frowned a little as he watched her go.  "I hope that 
didn't make her sick.  She threw up the first time I took her on one, 
and ever since then, it's been like pulling teeth to get her on one."

	"I love them," Ryo said.  "But Ami doesn't, so we usually stick to 
the Ferris Wheel, and other rides she does like."  He looked around the 
park.  "This is a really great amusement park."

	Mr. Mizuno nodded.  "Do you come here often?"

	"Ami and I had our first date here," Ryo said, gazing off at the 
Ferris Wheel.

	"So how long have you two been going out?" Mr. Mizuno asked, then 
sat down on a handy bench.

	Ryo sat down next to him.  "Well, we met in junior high, and went 
out a few times, but nothing came of it.  But we've been going out a 
couple of months now, ever since I came to Tsunami.  It's hard to find 
time to do stuff together what with all her homework and...everything"  
He started sounding nervous again.  

	Mr. Mizuno wondered if he was hiding something, or if was just the 
usual 'boyfriend meets the dad' jitters.  "Well, you're her first real 
boyfriend, I think.  Ami's always been sort of shy; I tried to get her 
to ask people out, but she always seemed to prefer studying."  He shook 
his head.  "I admire her dedication, but I couldn't do that."

	Ryo blinked in surprise.  "I really admire Ami-chan's dedication 
to her studies.  I try to study hard, but I'm not nearly as good a 
student as she is."

	"Well, I'm just glad to see she's finally letting herself have 
some fun."  He sighed.  "I think her mother forgot about the concept 
somewhere down the line.  But I shouldn't badmouth people who aren't 
here.  So what do you plan to do one day?"

	"I'm thinking about becoming a stockbroker," he said.  "I've 
always been good with money, and Dad's got friends in the business who 
can help me get a good start.  I've also thought about photography, 
which I greatly enjoy."  He took out his camera.  "Say cheese!"

	Mr. Mizuno struck a pose, smiling.  Ryo snapped the shot, but he 
had forgotten to turn the flash off.  "Sorry about that."

	Mr. Mizuno rubbed his eyes.  "Photography is a noble art.  
Business tends to suck your life dry and leave you no time for anything 
pleasant.  But then, I'm an artist, so I'm biased."

	"We went and saw some of your work last weekend.  I liked it," Ryo 
said.  "Although I couldn't quite figure out what that weird thing was 
in the picture where everyone turned to stone."

	"It's called a cockatrice.  I saw it in..."  He frowned and tried 
to remember what it was from.  "A game?  A book?  I can't quite 
remember, but it turns people to stone.  I modeled its face on a coach I 
had in high school who was really lousy."

	Ryo laughed.  "I hope he doesn't see it then."

	"He was just a really bad coach.  Most of our coaches were good, 
but..."  Mr. Mizuno shook his head.  "He drove me off the swim team, he 
was so awful."

	"You did high school swim team?" Ryo asked.

	"For two years," Mr. Mizuno said.  "And I taught Ami to swim too.  
Speaking of Ami, what's taking her so long?"

	Ryo shrugged.  "Who knows what women do in bathrooms that takes 
them so long?  If Minako was here, we might never see them again.  
She'll come out when she comes out; worrying won't make it faster."

	"Thank you, young kung fu master," Mr. Mizuno said, then laughed.  
"You're right.  I just..."

	The explosions started off to their right.  Mr. Mizuno leaped to 
his feet, reaching into his pocket and grabbing something he knew Ami 
and her mother would call him silly for carrying.  It was a charm from a 
shrine he'd visited, one for warding off magic.  

	He had become a more serious believer in such things after falling 
to an attack in the first wave of monster attacks two years ago.  He'd 
been at a theatre...he couldn't remember it very clearly, but he 
remembered enough to know that normal measures weren't sufficient.  He'd 
always hoped that magic was real, but he'd learned the hard way that not 
all of it was bright, shiny sunrises and elf-queens.  Of course, 
traditional elf-queens had often been rather nasty creatures.

	He prayed the charm would work as he watched the Sailor Senshi 
battle a swarm of animatronic animals now possessed by evil.  One of 
them caught his eye...she looked familiar.  "Can I borrow your camera?"

	"Hmm?  Sure," Ryo said, passing it to him.  "We'd better take 
cover, just in case."

	He activated the zoom feature to get a better look, and then his 
eyes widened.  The reason one of them was familiar was that she was his 
daughter!  

	He stared just a few seconds too long.  A bird broke out of the 
struggle and started flying right at him.  He turned and ran, as did 
Ryo, but the bird was too fast for them.

	Spinning on one foot, he bolted into the men's room; Ryo had 
apparently gotten the same idea.  The bird smacked into the door, its 
beak stuck through it.

	And then a voice spoke on the other side of the door, something 
about ochre illusions.  The bird froze up and was pulled out, and then 
there was a gentle knock.

	He opened the door a crack and saw his daughter, dressed as Sailor 
Mercury.  "Hello?" he asked.

	"Are you okay?" she asked.  "I saw the bird chase you in here."

	"Oh, we're fine," he said, and wondered if she expected him to 
recognize her or not.  For that matter, he wondered how he'd never 
recognized Mercury before...not that he'd seen the Senshi very many 
times.  

	"Good.  You'd better stay in here where it's safe until we finish 
them off."

	"Can you check the ladies' room?" Mr. Mizuno asked.  "My daughter 
went in and never came out, and I was starting to wonder if something 
bad happened, but well...I can't check."

	"I'll check for you, Mr. Mizuno," Sailor Mercury said.

	You slipped, he thought.  I never said my name.  "Thank you."

	And then she was gone.

	Ryo said, "Wow, that was Sailor Mercury!"  It was the most fake 
effort at surprise Mr. Mizuno had ever heard, but he played along.

	"We should have gotten a picture," Mr. Mizuno said.  He then 
remembered he was carrying Ryo's camera.  "Let's see if we can get one."

	"Shouldn't we wait..." Ryo began, but it was too late.

	Mr. Mizuno got three good photos of the end of the fight, and 
another one of the Senshi conferring afterwards.  I thought there were 
only five, he thought, but it looks like at least nine, and two guys as 
well.  If that's really her, he thought, she's been keeping this up for 
two years without me or her mother finding out.  Then again, maybe her 
mother does know and didn't tell me.  He frowned slightly, then 
dismissed the thought.  Miaka would never let her do something like 
this.

	The senshi looked about to scatter, and he went back to the bench 
and sat down.  "I'm starting to think Ami fell in," he said, laughing.

	"She probably heard the explosions and is waiting for it to be 
safe," Ryo said, sounding and looking rather guilty.

	A woman came out of the ladies' room, sticking her head out 
nervously.  "Is it over?"  She looked to be in her mid-thirties and was 
towing a small child along.

	"I think so.  I don't suppose you could ask around, and make sure 
my daughter hasn't gotten stuck or something?" Mr. Mizuno asked.  "She 
went in before the fighting started, and I'm starting to wonder what's 
going on.  If it's not too much trouble.  Her name is Ami."

	The woman nodded.  "I'll check."

	Mr. Mizuno glanced over at Ryo, who had settled down with a look 
of doom on his face.  "Is something wrong?"

	"I'm just worried because Ami is taking so long."

	The woman came back out.  "Very strange; there's no one named Ami 
in there."  

	Several other women came out now, heading off across the amusement 
park, and in the distance, the normal sounds of the park revived as the 
memory of the battle quickly faded.  

	Mr. Mizuno scratched his head.  "I wonder where she went, then."

	The woman shrugged.  "Good luck finding her.  Come on, Mai, let's 
go."  And then she left.

	"Maybe she fled out the back during the fighting?" Ryo suggested 
weakly.

	"I don't think there is a back door," Mr. Mizuno said.

	About a minute later, Ami came running out.  "I'm sorry to make 
you wait so long.  I hid from the sounds of all the fighting, and then I 
decided to freshen up my makeup a bit."  Her voice wavered just a bit, 
and he knew she was lying.  Ami had always been a horrible liar, just 
like her mother.  Their voices would shake, and they looked as guilty as 
a cat caught with the canary in his mouth.

	"Not a problem.  We had a fine show watching the Sailor Senshi 
fight all those animal robot things," Mr. Mizuno said.  "I was afraid 
I'd made you throw up again or something."

	She shook her head, came over, and looped one arm around his and 
the other around one of Ryo's arms.  "You didn't make me sick. Let's go 
ride the Ferris Wheel."  

                                   *****

	Hudson put down the controller.  "Why did I have to operate the 
lambs instead of the tiger?"

	"It was your destiny," Libra said.  She put down her controller, 
then leaned back against the wall of the van and took a sip of tea.  

	Libra, Hudson, Izuko, and several other Zodiac agents were all 
crammed into the back of a van parked at the amusement park, having just 
orchestrated an animatronic rampage.

	"My birds were rather sluggish," Izuko commented.  "And the visual 
sensors kept flickering in and out."

	"I'll let Capricorn know," Libra said.

	"So why exactly did we just send a bunch of fake animals on a 
rampage in a amusement park?" Blake, a short, black haired man, asked.

	"Everything is ruled by the stars," Libra replied.

	"Is that your answer to everything?" Hudson asked.

	"Izuko, get us out of here," Libra ordered Izuko.

	She nodded and scrambled into the driver's seat, pulling out.

	Libra turned to Hudson.  "We have cast a stone into the lake; now 
we must see if the ripples wash the blossom we desire to the shore."

	"Wouldn't it be easier to just get a net and grab the blossom 
directly?"

	"Hungry piranha live in the lake and keep chewing holes in the 
net."

	He looked thoughtful and chugged his now cold coffee, then made a 
face.  "That tasted pretty crappy," he said.  "So what does this blossom 
do?  And what does the park have to do with it?"

	Libra sighed.  "We're being sneaky."

	"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

	"I was being sneaky."

	"Oh."  Hudson shrugged.  "Can we stop somewhere to get more 
coffee?"

	"You should all be able to go home once we drop the van off," 
Libra said.  "You can get your coffee then."  And I will go and see what 
I have wrought.	

                                   *****

	"So, I'm flying over the forest and...aaaack!"  Derith was 
interrupted in telling Hotaru a story when Minako suddenly popped up 
from nowhere and started shaking him.

	"I've got to get a grip!  I can't stand this any longer!  I can't!  
I'm going to end up cheating on my boyfriend with Mamoru and become 
Chibi-Usa's mother or something!!!!"  Minako shouted.

	Derith tried to speak, but all he could do was babble incoherently 
as he tried unsuccessfully to pull loose.  Finally, Hotaru pulled Minako 
off him.  "You could start by not grabbing people," Derith said.

	"I have to get a grip, and I have to get it now!  Now!  Now!  
Can't you just mind whammy me or something?" Minako pleaded.

	"Well, I could try taking you to Avalon for a while, and let you 
run wild there and get it all out, but that means you'd miss out on 
school."

	"Piffle.  Like I care about school.  Not being a mental case is 
much more important. Like roses for water, you know."

	Derith and Hotaru glanced at each other, then Derith said, "Are 
you sure you can't wait until your next vacation period?"

	"I can't wait all the way to Christmas. I'll be pregnant and 
barefoot by then at this rate," Minako said, sitting down. "Aren't 
there, like, places where time goes wonky in Avalon?  A thousand years 
in a day and all that?"

	"Yes. There's also ones where it goes the other way.  And even 
someone with my experience may sometimes fail to tell the difference. 
It's rather risky."

	"I'm just losing it," Minako said.  "Desperate mimes call for 
desperate measurements, you know.  Either that, or I need a cure.  Being 
an elf has brought me nothing but trouble, and once I get hold of those 
idiots who turned me into one, I'll throttle them."

	"It's not all bad," Derith said defensively.

	"It is for me.  There's nothing good about being an elf that isn't 
outweighed by bigger aggravations. I have to hide my real appearance, I 
act like some sort of deranged whore half the time, and I keep 
attracting men I don't really want. I'm SICK of it."  She slumped in her 
chair.  "I don't care if I flunk out.  Because if I don't deal with 
this, I'll flunk out anyway."

	Given some of the things young elves did, he could believe that.  
"Alright, I'll try to find a good place to take you and your boyfriend 
so you can just run around and get it all out of your system."

	She leaped up and hugged him.  "Thank you!  How soon do we leave?"

	"Well, it'll probably take me a while to find somewhere stable 
enough.  But within a few weeks at most."

	Minako bounced around happily, then hugged Hotaru.  "Woo woo!" she 
shouted.  "Okay, give me a call when you know!"

	"I will," Derith said, then watched her bounce off.

	Hotaru said, "Are you sure there's no way to just make her human 
again?"

	"Not with my skills," he replied. "I couldn't make her an elf or 
unmake it."

	"I'd like to see Avalon," she hinted.

	"Alright.  Minako will need to take Steven with her anyway, so she 
can condition herself properly."

	Hotaru blinked. "Condition herself?"

	"Well, you see, it's like this.  Someone who has been turned into 
an elf starts losing control of their impulses.  Impulses you indulge 
during that time start turning into long term tendencies, and finally, 
into fairly stable traits once the period ends.  This tends to mean a 
certain amount of personality change, and sometimes fairly radical 
changes.  To some greater or lesser extent, many of their old 
inhibitions will be lost, for good and ill."

	Hotaru nodded. "So if you start eating strawberries a lot, you 
might become obsessed with eating them?"

	"Usually not quite that bad, but yes.  I've seen people saddle 
themselves with some weird wants as a result of this, though. Puberty 
for Elves is just messy, and when a human becomes an Elf...bamm, instant 
puberty."

	"So, if she takes her boyfriend along and sticks close to him and 
avoids other temptations, she'll come out of it with a stronger devotion 
to him?" Hotaru asked.

	"Exactly.  On the other hand, if she went to a mad orgy every 
night, she'd end up as a wild party animal."

	"So, about how long does this take to settle down?" Hotaru asked.

	"Weeks to months," Derith said.  "Differs by person.  Given how 
long Minako's been going through it, I don't think she has too much 
longer, and I'm sure I can find an area with faster time, but I just 
don't want to risk us ending up somewhere that makes us vanish for years 
of Earth time."

	Hotaru looked thoughtful, then said, "I know.  We could ask 
Setsuna or Hime-chan to help us find the right spot."

	He blinked. "I should have thought of that myself," he said.  "We 
can ask her when she gets home." 

                                   *****

	"So, then Umino finds out he had forgotten to take off the lens 
cap," Ryo said later, laughing.  "He just about died of embarrassment."

	They had headed to a fairly nice restaurant, and were having a 
quite tasty dinner, more elaborate than what Mr. Mizuno had grown used 
to most of the time, but he'd decided he wanted to splurge.  "I'd 
imagine.  I hope the photography teacher was understanding."

	"No, he reamed out Umino pretty well for making such a foolish 
mistake.  But he did let him do the assignment over.  But luckily, we're 
a club, so it's not like you can flunk out."  

	"Maybe next time you can show me some of your photos," Mr. Mizuno 
said.  "Oh, and let me know when you develop the roll you have right 
now.  I'd like to have a copy of the Sailor Mercury picture I took."

	"You got a picture of Sailor Mercury?" Ami asked nervously.

	"She came to our rescue," Mr. Mizuno said.  "I hadn't realized how 
short those skirts they wear are.  Your mother would probably have a 
heart attack if she saw you in one of them."  He smiled as innocently as 
he could manage.  "I'm sure Ryo thought she was hot, right, Ryo?"

	"Daddy!" Ami said, turning red.  "Don't say such things.  You know 
I'd..."  Then she really blushed, opened her mouth, shut it, then got 
up.  "I'll be back in just a second."  She ran off.

	He blinked.  "I'd better apologize when she gets back.  I didn't 
mean to embarrass her that much."

	"She's been..."  Ryo considered his words carefully.  "She has a 
friend who's been trying to get her to loosen up some, but the friend 
tends to...well, that's the sort of teasing she might have done.  Umm... 
I'm really not sure what I'm trying to say."

	They ate quietly for a little while, then Ami returned.  "Sorry 
about that," she said.  "Had to rush to the bathroom."

	Mr. Mizuno said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have teased you like 
that."

	"Oh, it's nothing you said, Daddy.  I was just...I just had to 
go."  Her voice wavered, and he felt concerned.  

	"Okay," he said.  "So how is school going?"

	"Really well," she said.  "It keeps me pretty busy, although I go 
to the chess club when I can."

	He nodded.  "Just don't study too hard, or you'll burn yourself 
out.  I know your mother doesn't agree, but that's because she's sworn a 
war against fun."

	"Mother is just dedicated," Ami replied.  "And we used to play 
chess all the time, so she does know how to have fun."

	"She got mad if I beat her.  But that didn't happen very often," 
her father said. "Do you play chess, Ryo?"

	"Sometimes.  Ami's a lot better."

	"So, do you make sure Ami has enough fun?"  Mr. Mizuno asked.

	"Oh, you know Ami, she's a regular party girl," Ryo said.  "I have 
to force her to study."

	"Ryo!"  Ami protested.  "I am not a party girl!"

	"Just teasing," he said.  "We play RPGs with some of our friends 
sometimes, go to the movies, and stuff."

	"No mad passionate sex on the roof?" Mr. Mizuno teased.

	They both turned red.  "No!" they both shouted.  

	I shouldn't do this, he thought.  But it's too much fun.  "Roof's 
too steep?"

	"Unlike Minako, Ami doesn't sneak me into her room at night," Ryo 
said finally.

	"Oh, so Minako sneaks you into her room at night instead?"  He 
couldn't help laughing.

	"That's Steven's job," Ryo said, laughing.

	"I've never snuck Ryo into my room at night!"  Ami protested.  "Or 
Minako's room or...Daddy!"

	"I'll stop this time.  Really.  So what are your teachers like?"

                                   *****

	Dr. Tomoe checked the rat.  Three hours after having had the 
purple slime smeared onto it, the rat was now completely free of its 
fungal infection.  He shook his head in wonder.  If only I knew how to 
duplicate this stuff, he thought.  He wondered again how exactly 
Alexandrite had been able to create a world so real, with so many 
wonders that still functioned once removed from it, like the medkit Ami 
had given him to examine.  

	Ami had retained the knowledge of how to use it, and some of how 
the various lifeforms were grown, but much of that required equipment he 
didn't have.  But he had kept on studying, trying to learn as much as he 
could before it all ran out or died.  

	They'd at least been able to figure out how to make the nutrient 
packs the various lifeforms required to keep them alive.  This could do 
so much good, he thought.  

	He heard Haruka coming moping down the stairs.  "Hello," he said.

	"How's your experiments coming along?" she asked.

	"Very fascinating. But frustrating because I lack the facilities 
to duplicate any of this."  He sat down in a chair and pointed to 
another one.  "So what's wrong?  You only come down here when you need 
to talk to someone who isn't Michiru."

	Haruka smiled wryly.  "Am I that predictable?"

	"Yes."

	Haruka sighed.  "You got anything good for getting rid of 
nightmares?"

	"Still having the bad dreams?" he asked.

	"You know about them?" she asked in surprise.

	"Screaming in the middle of the night three nights in a row tends 
to give the mystery away," he said.  "I don't know much about drug 
treatments for nightmares if there are any," he continued.  "I never 
really studied that.  Are you having trouble sleeping also?"

	"It's not the sleeping, it's what I remember when I wake up."  
Shuddering, Haruka brushed her hair aside as it tried to fall down over 
her eyes.  "And given that some of the others seem to have brought 
things back with them and all, I'm worried about, well..."

	"Whether we'll have to lock Michiru up at the next full moon?"

	Haruka nodded.  "I think we're both cured, or I'd be trying to 
drain you dry right now, but...When I think about how it felt to be...to 
be a vampire and..."  She shuddered again.

	"I understand," he said.

	"How can you possibly...oh," she said as it sank in.

	"I spent months being possessed," he said.  "I didn't think I'd 
ever feel clean again after that. I took baths three times a day.  And 
the nightmares...I didn't think they'd ever end."  His hands clenched.  
"And every time anything even slightly strange happened, I worried that 
they'd come back.  That I would hurt Hotaru.  That I would be a puppet 
again."

	"I know it'll be a long time before I can eat a steak rare 
comfortably," Haruka said.  "So what made the nightmares go away?"

	"Time."  His hands relaxed and he smiled a bit.  "Both literally 
and metaphorically.  The memories will fade, and you'll find rest.  You 
just have to tough it out."

	"Meta...oh."  Haruka grinned.  "Did it until you couldn't think 
straight?"

	He looked embarrassed.  "Umm, well, I wouldn't put it quite like 
that..."

	"We've both been too tense to do anything like that," Haruka said 
more seriously.  

	"Then do something fun.  You've got to prove to yourself you're 
not going to go on a rampage.  Maybe an amusement park or something."

	Haruka nodded.  "There's a good idea."

	"Or a nice long ride."

	"My nightmares drive faster 'n me, I think, but yeah."  She got 
up.  "Thanks for talking with me, Tomoe-san."

	"No problem," he said.  "I hope you feel better soon."

	"Me too.  Have fun with your slime molds or whatever those are."

	"I'll try."

                                   *****


	Dr. Mizuno Miaka stopped at the next bed.  "How are you doing 
today?" she asked the young hairless boy on the bed.  He was having to 
undergo chemotherapy, and as a result, he'd lost all his hair.  So had 
everyone else in this ward, the brood of children whom she watched over.  
She paused to look at the coloring book on the table near his bed.  
"Been enjoying your new book, Miki?"

	He nodded and smiled.  "Yes, thanks for getting it for me.  How'd 
you know I wanted this one?"

	"You talk about the Shining Rangers all the time," Miaka said.  
"So I was sure you'd like it."

	He nodded fervently.  "Yeah, it's great!  Take a look at this 
one!"  He paged through it until he came to a page of the five rangers 
posing heroically.  She was impressed by his ability to get crayons to 
match the colors as precisely as he had.  "See, here's the red ranger, 
with..."

	The boy rambled on, and she did her best to nod and smile, even 
though she couldn't follow half of what he was talking about.  Miki 
seemed to have his own degree in Ranger Studies, so far as she could 
tell.  

	He was still going on when the nurses came in to serve everyone 
dinner.  One of them pulled Dr. Mizuno aside.  "Don't you ever go home?" 
she asked.

	"They need me," Dr. Mizuno said, then yawned.  "Small children 
need attention and friendship, and there's no one else to give it to 
them.  Some of them aren't strong enough to play with each other, and 
their parents can't be here all the time, so I have to do my best."

	"Wipe yourself out, and you won't do them any good.  It's 
Saturday...go home and relax a little.  You're going to burn out at this 
rate."

	"I've been doing this for years.  I know my limits.  And I've only 
got two more to go tonight, anyway.  But I think getting food right now 
would be a good idea."

	"Good.  Go eat.  We'll take care of your babies for a little 
while."  Nurse Tanaka almost forced Dr. Mizuno out the door.

	Dr. Mizuno laughed a little, then headed off to get some food.

                                   *****

	Mr. Mizuno buried his face in his hands.  "One of these days, I 
will learn not to play Trivial Pursuit with you, Ami."

	Ryo shook his head.  "You can't say she didn't warn you."

	Ami patted his head.  "How about if we play again, and I'll try to 
pretend I'm Minako?"

	Ryo looked at the clock.  "Hmm, it's getting late."

	"I'd better take you home, then," Mr. Mizuno said.  "Are you going 
to stay here tonight, Ami, or are you going too?"

	"I think I'll stay here, since we're going to the art museum 
tomorrow morning anyway.  I'll need to go home after that and study, 
though."

	"Okay.  Come on, Ryo, I'll take you home," her father said, then 
looked over at Ami and smiled.  "Here, I'll turn around while you two 
kiss goodnight."

	Ami blushed slightly, and couldn't manage a very fervent kiss 
goodnight, which she could tell disappointed Ryo a little.  He seemed 
nervous enough himself, though.

	Once they were gone, she went upstairs and took a shower, then 
wandered around the apartment in her pajamas, lost in memories of past 
times she'd stayed at her father's.  The furniture had gotten nicer, she 
noticed, and now his paintings were everywhere, along with some prints 
she'd given him.

	She went into his studio room, and looked at the painting he was 
doing.  It showed a planet with a giant dragon curled round its equator, 
grasping its own tail in its mouth.  If you looked closely, some parts 
of the dragon had cities built on it.  The bottom half of the planet 
wasn't done yet.

	"That's Jormungandr," her father said, startling her.  "The world 
serpent of Norse mythology.  It's for a book cover."

	"He looks so real," she said.

	"That's my style.  I like to do very realistic pictures of very 
imaginary things.  Your boyfriend seems like a very nice fellow."

	She turned around and smiled.  "He is."

	"He's a very poor liar, but that's a good thing."

	Ami started to look a little nervous.  "He lied about something?"

	"Well, so did you, but you're an even worse liar.  He confessed 
after I put the screws to him, though."  He shook his head.  "So how 
long has this been going on, exactly?"

	"We...we've only done it a few times, I swear!" Ami said in a 
panic.  "I just...I love him, Daddy.  I love him very much, and we were 
careful to use protection after the first time!"

	The bottom fell out of Mr. Mizuno's brain as he realized what she 
was talking about, which was certainly not what he was thinking.  She 
had sex with him?  He couldn't believe it.  He had no delusions about 
teenage hormones, but he'd never thought his shy daughter would ever do 
such a thing.  He staggered back a step, trying to get his brain in 
order.  "You had sex with him????"

	Ami's eyes widened more.  "Umm...isn't that what you meant?" she 
asked weakly.

	"No, I was talking about you being Sailor Mercury!" he shouted, 
then tried to calm himself down.  "You...you...actually had sex with a 
boy."

	Ami winced.  "Daddy, I love him."

	And then, to her shock, his face lit up.  "That's great!  You're 
not going to end up friendless and alone like your mother!"  He sounded 
vaguely hysterical.

	"Daddy, Mother has friends!  And she isn't alone!"  There were few 
things that made Ami angrier than when her parents insulted each other.  
It brought back bad memories of the fighting before the divorce.  

	Her father tried to get a grip on himself.  "This day is just 
getting stranger and stranger.  So are you Sailor Mercury, or are you 
just having sex?"

	She sighed.  "Well, since Ryo already told you, yes.  I am Sailor 
Mercury, and I have been for nearly two years."

	"Actually, I lied about him telling me. I was just bluffing you," 
he said.

	"..."

	"Does your mother know about any of this?" he asked.

	"No," she said.  

	"You told your boyfriend, but you didn't tell us?" he asked in 
shock.

	"Ryo met me because of me being Sailor Mercury," Ami said, then 
sighed.  "Let's go sit down, and I'll tell you everything."

                                   *****

	Makoto listened to music and did homework in that order.  Stuck 
doing homework on a Saturday night, she thought.  That truly stinks.  At 
least I got to hang out with Clark for a while last night, she thought.

	She decided to take a break from math and wandered around her 
apartment looking for something to do.  Her eyes landed on her new 
sword, the 'Hackmaster'.  She'd been surprised it had stayed in 
existence when they returned from the TORG dream universe thing.  
Whatever exactly it had been.  

	I ought to give this to someone, she thought.  Given I've already 
got a magic staff.  But Clark already has a magic sword.  And most of 
the rest of us wouldn't know how to use it.  On the other hand...

	She picked it up, drew it, and swung it about, noticing again how 
it guided her hands.  This might be good to give to one of the guys, she 
thought.  Since it seems to know what it's doing, it could help them if 
they have to fight.  But which one?  

	She decided that watching some TV might bring her some 
inspiration.  Sheathing the sword, she plopped down on the couch.  There 
soon proved to be nothing on worth watching.  

	Don't want to do math, she thought.  Oh wait, I know, I could try 
reading one of the short stories from that book Ami recommended.  Might 
as well get that assignment out of the way now instead of later, since I 
already have the book.  

	After much digging about, she managed to turn up the collection of 
Sherlock Holmes stories.  They had a short story report due in a few 
weeks for English class; everyone was running around in a panic.  
Getting her dictionary and placing it where it would be handy, she 
settled down to read.

                                   *****

	"A good idea," Setsuna said.  "This would make an excellent 
training mission for Nonohara.  She needs something to snap her out of 
her funk."

	Hotaru sighed.  "I understand how she feels."

	"Alright.  Next weekend, I can take her out to Avalon, and we'll 
find a good place to take Minako to until she gets over her adjustment 
period," Derith said.

	"I'll tell Nonohara when I see her next," Setsuna replied.

                                   *****

	"Fortunately, Athena seems to have gone to take a nap," Ami 
concluded somewhat later.

	{I just had nothing useful to say,} Athena commented.

	"Or not."  Ami sighed.

	"I...uh..."  This was all rather overwhelming for Mr. Mizuno.  "I 
think I'm going to have to sleep on this and discuss it with you in the 
morning."

	She nodded and got up.  "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all this 
before, Daddy, but we just...This is something I have to do, and I 
didn't think either of you would approve.  And...it's hard for me to 
tell people about it.  It seems to be something about our disguise 
magic."

	He got up.  "Goodnight, Ami."  And then he staggered off to have 
strange dreams.

                                   *****

	Himeko leaned against Daichi as she sat on her bed.  "I just can't 
forget it," she said.

	"It wasn't real," he said.

	"It seemed real," she replied, shuddering.  "I just can't imagine 
I'd ever...do something like that."

	"You've killed monsters," he pointed out.

	"It's not the same," she replied.  "It just...I've had times I got 
so mad I thought I wanted to kill Hikaru, but..."  Himeko turned and 
stared off at her desk.  "I can feel part of my brain calculating how 
many different ways to get out of this room if I was attacked.  As I was 
trying to get through a crowd, I thought briefly about using tear gas.  
It's like...It's awful.  Just awful."

	"Well, Pluto said it would all fade with time, right?" Daichi 
asked.

	"I keep feeling like I should...I mean, Hikaru's not really dead, 
but..."

	"Sometimes you think too much," he said, then turned and kissed 
her.  Her eyes widened, and then she leaned into it, letting it wash 
away her memories for the moment.

	Minako, of course, chose this moment to walk in the door, point 
and shout, "Ahah, finally caught you two making out!"

	Beating Minako with a pillow also helped Hime-chan forget.

                                   *****

	Ami lay in bed and tried to think.  What's he going to do? she 
asked herself.  I should have told him about being Sailor Mercury a long 
time ago, but...  When she thought about it, she wasn't sure why.  
Makoto had told the others she hadn't been able to tell Maguson-sensei  
about being Sailor Jupiter at first...maybe it was some sort of spell?

	{An aspect of the disguise magic, I suspect,} Athena speculated.  
{But our father seems like a fairly reasonable fellow.  I'm sure he'll 
come to accept all this once he has a chance to adjust. I am glad that 
thine parents were not chained together as mine were; mine could not 
divorce, and so I'm sure they were fighting right up to the fall of 
Mars.}

	[Daddy is very sweet,] Ami replied.  [But I think Mother is going 
to be very angry.]

	{Yes, it would have been best to tell them before this.  And 
better if thou couldst only drop one rock on her head at a time.  But I 
suppose thou hast no choice.  It may be necessary to be firm with her.}

	[I can't just 'be firm' with my mother!  She's my mother!] Ami 
replied.

	{And thou art not a child any longer.  Many a woman of my time was 
married and living a new life away from home by your age.  She has to 
understand our duties.}

	[Mom is more stubborn than you think, Athena.]

	{It boots nothing to give up before the battle is fought.  If 
worse comes to worse, we may have to abandon thine normal life, but I 
pray it will not come to that.}

	[Easy for you to say.  I LIKE my normal life.]

	{So do I,} Athena said.  {I envy that you have had such a normal 
life, and that you so easily found the true love it took me a lifetime 
to find.}  Her voice was wistful as she spoke.  {And I do not think Ryo 
will betray you as Zoicite betrayed me.  He is not so skillful a lover 
as Zoicite was, but I'm sure with time, we can train him.  And when he 
smiles, it's so...}

	[He's MY boyfriend,] Ami thought sharply.

	{Our boyfriend.  After all, we are the same person, are we not?  
Hard as it is to believe for me at times.} 

	[So why are we so different?]

	{I think you exaggerate the difference.  But of course, our 
upbringings ran in different directions, and we had different 
opportunities.  My parents were too busy fighting to inspire me to 
anything except the desire to not be like them.  And I have had far more 
targets for love than thee, growing up in a series of courts full of 
bored, amorous nobles.  My mother only bore me because it was her duty 
to bear children.  Thine set you to a noble dream.  My only dream was to 
find the joy I had never had as a child.}  She sighed.  {Thine 
discipline drives me crazy at times, but sometimes I envy it.}

	[I have to admit I sometimes wish I could be as free with what I 
think as you are,] Ami said.

	{But Thou can be.  Thou are what thou makes of thineself, Ami.  
Thou couldst be as free as myself if you so desired.  Thou needst but 
stretch forth thine wings and fly.}

	[I could never act like you do,] Ami said, feeling, to her 
surprise, a little regret over that.  [I suppose you'd just go tell off 
Mother and run off with Ryo to join a cycle gang or something.]

	Athena laughed.  {I am free, but not stupid.  But it may come down 
to having to leave the nest.  It is frightening to fly free, but 
liberating.}  She grinned impishly.  {Don't make me push you out of the 
nest.}

	[I'm the one who will have to live with the consequences here, you 
know!]  

	{We both will.  Wherever thou goest, I go too.  I do not wish to 
see us suffer.  But I don't wish to be deterred from my duties to 
Princess Serenity if it comes down to a choice between her and your 
parents.}  Her voice slumped into gloom again.  {Not that I will have 
the choosing of it.}

	[I don't know what I'd choose,] Ami said.  [I couldn't just defy 
them, but...surely they'll be reasonable.]

	{Sadly, one can never count on reasonableness.}

	I know, Ami thought.  I know.  She thought about her parents 
fighting when she was little, then drove the memories from her head and 
finally found sleep. 

                                   *****

	Ami was nervous as she made breakfast the next morning, not sure 
what her father would do, although she did feel some relief when he came 
into the kitchen and smiled at her.  "Good morning, Ami," he said.

	She smiled back at him.  "Good morning, Daddy," she said, flipping 
the eggs on the frying pan.  "You still like scrambled eggs, right?"

	"With ketchup," he said, then smiled when she made a face.  "I 
can't help it, I like it like that," he said, then sat down at the 
table.  "Hey, the paper...I guess you went and got it?"

	She nodded.  "There's a story about art galleries in Tokyo in 
section B you ought to read.  They mention you."

	"They finally printed that?  That's great."

	Breakfast went by with small talk and no mention of last night.  
Ami was beginning to wonder if she'd dreamed it, when finally, her 
father said, "Did your mother ever give you...the talk about sex?"

	"It was three hours long with illustrations and a quiz 
afterwards," Ami said, only slightly joking.

	He nodded.  "I should have expected that."

	"Mother's had me on the pill since I started menstruating, just in 
case..."  Ami couldn't quite say it out loud.  "In case...well, you 
know."

	He winced.  "That.  Yes.  Did he...use protection?"

	"Not the first time.  We didn't think of it," Ami said, feeling 
embarrassment come to full bloom.  "But every time since then."

	"Has it been very many times?"  Mr. Mizuno tried to build up 
enough willpower to stop beating around the bush.

	"No, it's hard for us to get enough privacy," she said.  "Are you 
going to tell me to stop?"

	"I'm not going to order you, because I know I can't make you do 
it, and I can't really check up on you.  And I'm not going to tell you 
to break up with Ryo, because I think he's a good boy, and you're not 
doing anything I didn't do in high school.  But you know as well as I do 
that every time you have sex, you risk getting pregnant, and that would 
wreck your life.  You'd never be able to do medical school, or probably 
even college.  So what do you think would be the responsible thing to 
do?"  Ami had rarely seen him look so nervous as he did now, though he 
was trying to project calm reasonableness.

	Daddy is right, she thought.  It is a risk, if not a very big one.  
If I got pregnant...  She couldn't bear the thought of an abortion, but 
it would mean giving up her dreams.  And that sort of thing almost 
always led to an unhappy marriage.  But I can still be with Ryo, she 
thought.  I just have to control myself. I can do that, she thought.  
She was used to self-discipline.  "To stop doing it," she said.  Even 
though she didn't want to.  But it would be better for both of them.

	{Oh, yes, that'll be easy,} Athena said.  {You'll have more luck 
trying to empty the sea with a bucket.}

	He looked greatly relieved.  Her father had never been very good 
at disciplining her, although he rarely had to.  She had been the sort 
of child who would do something bad, then tell on herself.  "That's 
good.  Hopefully, that'll keep your mother from freaking out when I tell 
her."

	Ami winced.  "Do you have to?"

	"We may not be married, but there's things parents of a child 
don't hide from each other," he said.  "Either I can tell her, or you 
can.  And in fact, it would probably be better if you did."

	She nodded.  "I'll call her tomorrow; I think she has it off.  No, 
I'll go see her."

	He got up and started picking up his stuff to put it in the sink.  
"You should tell her about being Sailor Mercury, too."

	Ami began picking up her own stuff.  "Daddy, what do you think 
about that?"

	"I don't even know how to start thinking about that," he said, 
tossing the few remains of his breakfast into the garbage, then loading 
his plates into the dishwasher.  "It's all very overwhelming.  I think 
I'm going to have to talk to your mother about it."  He looked 
thoughtful.  "I don't suppose you have any scrubbing bubbles powers?"

	She laughed as she scraped her own plates clear of debris and 
loaded them.  "I could try, but I don't think it would be a good idea."

	As she began loading everything she'd used for cooking into the 
dishwasher, he said, "The thought of you going out into danger horrifies 
me.  You're my only child, and I couldn't bear to lose you.  But at the 
same time, I've been in one of these monster attacks myself, and..."  He 
shuddered.  "It has to be stopped.  So I don't know what to say.  And I 
don't think you'd stop if I asked, or even if I ordered you to."

	"I can't stop, Daddy," she said softly.  "It's my duty."

	"I know.  I know."  It didn't sound like he liked knowing that.  
"So what would you do if...your mother won't like this," he said.

	"This is more important than what mother likes," Ami said, 
surprised to hear herself say it, then went to get the frying pan.  "I 
can't give up being Sailor Mercury.  I have to do this."

	"I was afraid you'd say that," her father said.  He could see the 
train wreck coming.  Ami usually gave in to pressure, but once she dug 
in her heels, rare as that was, she was just as stubborn as her mother. 
He already knew what Miaka would say.  She'd want Ami to break up with 
Ryo because she 'didn't have time for such frivolous things' and she'd 
want Ami to drop being a Senshi because it was too dangerous and took up 
too much time.  

	I can probably get her to accept Ami's promise to not sleep with 
Ryo again, but still date him, Mr. Mizuno thought.  But getting her to 
bend on the Senshi thing...It'll take a miracle. 

                                   *****

	The next morning, namely on Monday, Dr. Mizuno had a leisurely 
breakfast, and pulled out a big mountain of unread correspondence.  She 
had today off, at her supervisor's insistence, and had decided to 
dedicate it to plowing through all the mail she had kept shoving in the 
'read later' pile.  I need to get in the habit of reading my own mail, 
she thought, since Ami isn't here to play secretary for me anymore.  
It's my responsibility, not hers.

	By the time breakfast was over, all the bills were plucked out and 
dealt with.  There were some eight notices from Ami's school.  Five of 
them dated weeks ago, but close to each other, a recent one, and two 
older ones she couldn't believe she hadn't read yet.  

	She mentally castigated herself for neglecting these.  She'd been 
in the habit of talking to Ami periodically about school, which caused 
her to mostly ignore letters like these, which always told her things 
Ami had told her first.  And since Ami never got in trouble, that had 
never been an issue.  Now that Ami wasn't living at home, this had 
become a bad habit she decided she had to break.

	The oldest one was simply a 'look at how cool we are, thanks for 
sending your daughter' letter.  The second one asked her to come to 
'parent's day', which had been months ago.  She felt a little 
embarrassed.  

	The first of the five which came close together, however, shocked 
her.  It was a report of disciplinary action for failing to wear the 
school uniform.  The second reported she'd flirted with a teacher.  The 
third involved a teacher finding her at a wild, off-campus party.  This 
threw Dr. Mizuno off her stride, as she wondered what the teacher had 
been doing there.  The fourth and fifth both involved classroom 
disruptions.  

	She was torn between disbelief and shock.  She couldn't believe 
Ami would do anything like that.  Maybe it's a clerical error, she 
thought.  It had to be.  Surely they would have called me at work or 
something.  This can't be true.  It can't be!

	She shuddered to think what the most recent one from a few days 
ago could be.  Slowly, as if it was a poisonous snake, she reached out 
and took it, then slowly opened it.  It informed her that Ami had been 
caught with a boy in her room after hours at her dorm.  Her eyes 
widened, but then she found some relief when the dorm mother went on to 
say it had just been a study session, and several other girls (and boys) 
had been present.  It was still a curfew violation, but the dorm mother 
reported that 'Ami is not up to the trouble she caused a few weeks ago; 
she seems to have returned to her normal behavior, thankfully.  She's a 
very sweet girl, but for a while, I was afraid she'd joined a girl gang 
or something'.  

	What sort of a school have I sent her to?  Dr. Mizuno asked 
herself.  It looked like a good school, but any place that could make 
Ami start doing things like this...

	There had to be something new...something that hadn't applied 
before.  It couldn't be the school.  And Ami seemed to have the same 
group of friends, as far as she knew.

	She looked at the final report.  There was something odd about how 
it was all phrased; she had the niggling feeling it held a clue.  There 
must be someone who had lead Ami into this trouble.  Her daughter would 
never do such things on her own.  The report didn't name any names, 
leaving her to stew in her own thoughts.  I think I had best call the 
school, she decided.

	"Principal's office, Tsunami High School, Yuriko Star speaking," 
the secretary said.

	"This is Dr. Mizuno Miaka, mother of Mizuno Ami.  I need to talk 
to whoever is in charge of discipline," she said.

	"Ahh, let me see if Yamamoto-san is available."

	A few minutes passed, and then she said, "I'm sorry, he's already 
talking to another parent.  Would you like to hold, or can I connect you 
to our counselor?"

	"The counselor will be fine," Dr. Mizuno said. 

	Music played a few seconds, and then a firm female voice answered, 
"Counselor Mei'ou.  How can I help you?"

	"Hi, I'm Dr. Mizuno.  I need to find out what happened with these 
disciplinary incidents of my daughter's."

	"Can you come down to my office?"

	"Yes," she said.  "I'll bring the letters."

	"Thank you."

*****

	Dr. Mizuno walked into the office and sat down.  "Hello, Counselor 
Mei'ou," she said.

	"Nice to finally meet you," Setsuna said.  "Ami has often told me 
about you and your work at the hospital."

	Dr. Mizuno smiled and let herself feel a little pride.  "It's hard 
work, but very rewarding."

	"I understand you're concerned about the disciplinary problems Ami 
had several weeks ago?"

	Dr. Mizuno nodded.  "I just can't imagine what could have driven 
her to do such things."

	"Sooner or later, under enough stress, anyone will snap for a 
time," Counselor Mei'ou said.  "Ami had finally reached the point of 
being overworked more than she could take, and so she started acting up.  
I was able to get her back on her feet after a few sessions, and things 
have been going much better now.  Of course, it would have helped if 
we'd been able to contact you."

	"My answering machine was broken around the same time as the main 
batch of these letters," Dr. Mizuno said.  "And I work so much, I didn't 
have time to fix it or get a new one for a while.  But most people just 
call me at work."

	"We only call at work for emergencies, not for simple disciplinary 
action.  Many workplaces frown on personal phone calls."

	Dr. Mizuno nodded.  "Do you think...this won't happen again, will 
it?"

	"I'm sure there won't be any further trouble," Counselor Mei'ou 
said smoothly.  "Would you like me to call Ami in now so you can talk to 
her?"

	"No, I'd rather not disrupt her studies.  I'll go see her after 
class is over.  I have today off."

	Counselor Mei'ou nodded.  "Would you like a tour of our campus?  I 
don't have any appointments for a while."

	Nodding, she said, "I'd like that."  She felt better, her fears 
relieved, although something kept nagging at her.  For the moment, she 
dismissed her worries.

                                   *****

	"Another night of dining hall food," Minako groaned.  "I'm going 
to die."

	Ami laughed.  "It's not that bad." 

	Class was out, and now they were on their way to dinner.

	To Ami's surprise, her mother rounded the corner of a building.  
"Hello, Ami," she said.

	"Oh, hi, Mother!" she said.  "I tried to call you earlier, but you 
weren't at work or at home."

	Dr. Mizuno nodded.  "Hello, Minako."

	"Hi, Dr. Mizuno!" Minako said.

	"Do you have time to have dinner with me, Ami?" Dr. Mizuno asked.

	"Sure," Ami said.

	Minako sighed.  "Well, off to the fault lines for me.  Have fun 
with your mom!  Bye, Dr. Mizuno!"  And then she ran off.

	"Just come with me," Dr. Mizuno said.

	Ami nodded.  "I'm glad you found me.  I, uh, needed to tell you 
about some stuff."

	She nodded.  "There's a lot for us to talk about."

                                   *****

Dr. Mizuno laid the letters out on the table.  "So what happened?" 
she asked.  

	Ami tried desperately to think of an answer that wouldn't require 
admitting to hearing her past life talking to her.  Her mother would 
never, in a million years, accept that.  "I stayed up too late studying 
too many nights in a row, and then I just...sort of lost it for a 
while."  She did her best to not start staring off into space the way 
she usually did when she was trying to lie.  "I just got frustrated, and 
I couldn't think straight, and..."

	Her mother looked disappointed.  "Ami, there's something you're 
not telling me.  You're as bad a liar as I am."

	"I got hit in the head and my personality changed."

	Her mother sighed, took a sip of coffee, then said, "Ami, please, 
I'm a doctor.  Do you really think I'm going to believe that?"  And then 
it suddenly clicked in her head.  I can't believe I didn't think of this 
before, she thought.  What was the number one cause of teenagers acting 
like idiots?  A member of the opposite sex.  Maybe he was a 'bad boy', 
and she'd been trying to attract him, or he'd lead her down that 
primrose path for a while, or maybe he'd done something cruel, and she'd 
freaked out for a while.  That had to be it.  "Ami, do you have a 
boyfriend you haven't told me about?"

	Ami blinked.  "Mother, I'm sure I told you about Ryo."

	The realization swept over Dr. Mizuno that Ami had mentioned a boy 
named Ryo before, although she didn't remember him being her boyfriend.  
"Is he responsible for this?" she asked.

	"No, it's not his fault at all.  He tried to keep me under control 
when I was freaking out," Ami protested, then wished the food would 
hurry up and arrive, so she'd have time to try to figure out how to 
handle this.  I'd half forgotten about everything Athena did with my 
body, Ami thought.  "I'd just gotten so pent up, it all exploded."

	"You never had any trouble before," her mother said.  "And I 
thought you were already spending too much time goofing off with your 
friends instead of studying."

	Ami frowned.  "The more pressure that builds up behind a dam, the 
worse it is when it finally breaks."

	"As I see here."  She frowned.  "This never happened when you were 
living at home."

	"It was your idea for me to live in the dorm," Ami replied, 
starting to get more irritated.  "Look, this was just an isolated 
incident!  It won't happen again."

	"Five incidents!"

	"But it's over now!"

	And then the waitress brought their food, and conversation faded, 
to be replaced by eating.  This gave them both some time to cool down.  
However, Ami's anger was replaced by intense nervousness, because she 
knew if she now confessed to sleeping with Ryo, or to being Sailor 
Mercury, her mother would simply freak.  But on the other hand, she'd 
promised to tell, and if she didn't, her father would have to, and that 
would be even worse.

	They ate in silence, which Ami's mother finally broke by saying, 
"Ami, there's still something you're not telling me.  Even if you did 
snap under the pressure, I just can't believe you'd suddenly start 
acting like this.  There has to be something else."

	"I can't explain it all here in public," Ami said.  "Let's go 
home, and I'll...I'll tell you everything."

	Her mother tensed.  "You weren't...trying drugs, were you?"

	"No!" Ami barked, then shrank in on herself when many people 
turned and stared.  "How can you think such a thing of me?" she asked, 
hurt by the idea her mother could even suggest such a thing.

	"This isn't like you!" her mother said with a hint of panic.  "I 
can't understand this!  Why?"  She stopped and took a deep breath.  
"You're right.  Let's go home and talk about this."

                                   *****

	The backyard of the Mizuno house filled with fog.  "I'd 
demonstrate some of my other powers, Mother, but I'd break something," 
Sailor Mercury said.

	Her mother tried to wave the fog out of her eyes.  "Okay, this is 
an interesting trick, but..."

	"It's not a trick.  It's magic!"

	"There's no such thing as magic!" her mother barked back.  "Only 
idiots and children believe in magic."

	"Only idiots don't believe in what they're seeing!"

	"It could be a fog machine."

	Sailor Mercury did a complete spin around.  "And where exactly in 
this outfit did I hide a fog machine???"  Of all the reactions she'd 
thought her mother might have, disbelief wasn't one of them.

	"You could have positioned it in the backyard before this, and 
used a remote control in that laptop of yours to set it off," her mother 
said.

	Sailor Mercury said, "And what would it take for me to prove to 
you that this isn't me going crazy?"

	"Show me something I couldn't do."

	"Right."  She took her mother's hand.  "Sailor Teleport!" She 
prayed her practice would pay off.

	A few seconds later, they stood on the observation deck of Tokyo 
Tower.

	Her mother paled, then looked over the edge.  "What...what did you 
just do?"

	"Magic."

	"There's no such thing," her mother said reflexively.

	Sailor Mercury took a deep breath.  "So what just happened?"

	"I...I don't know," she said, looking a little pale as she gazed 
down on the city.  "This can't be real."

	I wonder if having her talk to Hermes would help...no, she'd think 
it was just a special effect, Sailor Mercury thought.  "Mother, it's 
real.  I'm Sailor Mercury.  Magic is real."

	"Ahah, there you are!" a voice bellowed from the direction of the 
elevator bank.  A four-armed purple humanoid stood there, clad in a 
suitably altered dark kingdom uniform.  "Come looking for me, have you?  
Well, you should have brought your friends!  DIE!"  He gestured at her, 
and four purple knives of glowing energy erupted in her direction.

	Sailor Mercury grabbed her mother and dived to one side, then said 
to her mother, "Go round the deck and take cover."

	Her mother took off running while she began leaping about, trying 
to draw the purple warrior's fire.  "Who are you?" she asked.

	"Samsonite!" he shouted, then threw more purple knives, which 
missed.

	"Like the luggage?" Mercury asked.

	"Hey, I didn't get to CHOOSE my own name, OKAY???"  Then he formed 
four purple swords and rushed at her.  "I won't let you people screw it  
up this time!"

	"SHABON SPRAY!"  Half the deck filled with a mist, into which 
Mercury faded while the purple warrior ran about impotently.

	She began a scan for dark energy...there had to be some reason he 
was hanging around here, she thought.  She soon found it; he'd altered 
the viewing telescopes to drain a little bit of energy from everyone who 
used them and feed it to him.  She couldn't pick up any more youma or 
energy sinks.

	And now to deal with him, she thought.

	"Damn you!  Fight me like a man!" he bellowed.

	"Shine Aqua Illusion!" she shouted, but by sheer bad luck, he 
stumbled the right way for her to miss with it, and instead, the 
elevator bank got frozen.

	"Ami, where are you?  What's going on?" her mother shouted.

	And then the purple-skinned warrior took off towards her voice.  
Mercury chased after him, but he could run quickly when he knew where he 
was going.

	She chased him right out of the mist, to one of the sides of the 
observation platform, where he had grabbed her mother.  "Give up, or she 
gets it," the youma said, holding two of his swords to her flesh.

	Some mothers would have done the noble thing and told Mercury to 
take her chances.  Others would have begged to be saved.  Ami's mother, 
faced with the further shattering of her worldview, did the scream 
incoherently thing.

	I need to kill time while my computer finishes trying to find a 
weak point on him, Mercury thought.  "Okay, you win," she said, putting 
her computer on the ground, then put her hands over her head and watched 
the readout on her visor.

	"Slide it over to me," the youma said.  "I can't smash it while 
it's over there."

	He could just blast it, she thought.  She slowly bent over and 
picked it up, then walked as slowly as she thought she could get away 
with.  I should have called for backup, she thought, sparing a few 
seconds to mentally beat herself up.  

	{Make an ice knife and throat him,} Athena suggested.  {His hands 
are full, so he won't be able to block you.  Or alternately, you could 
grab Mother and teleport when he has to loosen his grip on her to try to 
take the computer.  Although we'll be too tired to do much fighting if 
you do that, but you could go for help.}

	Mercury blinked in surprise, as she'd assumed Athena was asleep 
again.  [I don't know how to make an ice knife.]

	{Best to go for the teleport,} she replied.

	"Hurry it up or she dies!" the youma barked, sounding just a 
little nervous.

	Mercury came forward, and held out the computer.  "Here, take it."

	The youma made two of his blades vanish and reached out for it, 
bringing a third one up to prepare to smash the computer, while 
clutching her mother tightly with the fourth hand, which held no blade.  

	She started to hand the computer to him, then brought it up to 
slam into his chin, catching him by surprise.  He lost his grip on her 
mother, and she latched onto her mother's wrist.  "SAILOR TELEPORT!"

	And then they were in the Tomoe backyard.  The back porch door 
opened and Tomoe-san stuck his head out.  "Is someone..."

	"Tomoe-san, this is my mother," Mercury said.

	She blinked.  "Hotaru's father?"

	"Yes, I am," he said, then glanced over at Mercury, wondering how 
much he could or should say.  "Please come in and have some tea."

	"Yes, tea, that would be good."  Dr. Mizuno sounded quite dazed.  
"There aren't any more four armed purple skinned hallucinations waiting 
for me inside, are there?"

	"No, it's perfectly safe if you like cats," Tomoe-san said.

	"We don't bite," one of them said from near Tomoe-san's feet.

	"Isis, you're not supposed to talk in front of strangers!" a young 
girl shouted from inside.

	Ami's mother decided to faint, in the hopes she'd wake up with the 
drugs out of her system.  Mercury caught her and sighed.  "Dad caught 
me, and I had to tell Mom and...there's a youma at Tokyo Tower.  Someone 
needs to deal with it."

	Haruka came out.  "I'll transform, and we can go squash it while 
Pops takes care of your mom.  Although you probably shouldn't have 
brought her here."

	"I wanted to go somewhere safe!"

	"We can lick up the spilt milk later," Go said, coming out.  "It's 
time to hunt."

	Mercury considered her energy reserves.  "If I do another 
teleport, I don't think I'll be in any shape to fight."

	"You should have just called us, then," Haruka said, getting out 
her transformation pen.  "I'll go get Michiru, then."

	Mercury nodded.  "I'd best stay with Mom, anyway."  She went 
inside and found her mother having tea with Setsuna and Tomoe-san and 
Hotaru. She detransformed, and sat down with them. 

	Hotaru poured her a cup of tea as Setsuna said, "The truth is that 
the awakening of Ami's past self caused her some trouble until she 
learned to deal with it."

	Dr. Mizuno nodded dumbly, having decided it was best to simply 
ride out the strange dream she'd been having.  "So her past life was a 
whore or something?"

	Ami's eyes widened, and Hotaru stumbled, spilling tea on herself 
as she went to put the pot down.  "Athena was not a whore!"

	{Now this is a reverse,} Athena said.  {You defending my 
reputation.}

	[OUR reputation.]

	"Athena was a little too interested in having fun, but she was the 
daughter of the King of Mars, not a whore," Setsuna said.

	"Uh huh," Dr. Mizuno said, drinking her tea on autopilot.  She 
turned to Ami.  "Does your father know about all this?"

	"Yes, he does," Ami said, then took a sip of tea.  "He winkled it 
out of me when I stayed at his house Saturday night.  I accidentally 
gave it away at the park, and then he tricked me into confirming it."

	"Why didn't he tell me?" Dr. Mizuno asked, feeling irritated.

	"He was going to call you today to talk to you about it, but we 
decided I ought to tell you myself first," Ami said.  "Are you okay, 
Mom?" she asked.  "He didn't hurt you before I got you away from him, 
did he?"

	She shook her head.  "I'm fine, but...I could have died!  So could 
you!  What are you thinking, getting involved in all of this?  You don't 
have time to go around being a...a monster cop!  You've got school, and 
you're not combat trained, and..."  She paused and took a deep breath.  
"Ami, have you ever been seriously hurt doing this?"

	This wouldn't be a good time to mention I've died, been crucified, 
and suffered various other disasters, Ami thought.  "Yes, I have.  But 
it's a risk I have to take."

	"It is not.  I couldn't bear to see you get hurt, Ami," her mother 
said.  "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to forbid this.  It's too 
dangerous if it's all real, and if it's not, you don't have time for 
this."  She stared at her cup of tea.  "I hope I'm dreaming this, but I 
fear I am not."

	"Mother, I can't give this up!  It's my destiny!"

	Her mother slammed her glass down.  "There is no such thing as 
destiny!  We make our own destiny!  Didn't I teach you that?  You can't 
rely on some imaginary cosmic force to make things right, and there's no 
one who sets out our lives' course but us."  She stared at her spilt 
tea.  "Sorry about that."

	"Mother, they NEED me," Ami said.  "My partner is counting on me.  
You saw that monster.  There's a lot more of them, and I have to help 
stop them."

	Her mother's eyes narrowed.  "You couldn't even stop that one!  I 
could have died!  What were you thinking trying to pull a stunt like you 
did?"

	"I was trying to save your life!"  Now Ami slammed her glass down 
and spilled hot tea on her hand.  "Oww!"

	"You can't even keep your tea under control and you want to fight 
monsters???"

	"Now, now, let's calm down," Tomoe-sensei said nervously.

	"Yes, let..." Setsuna began.

	"Shut up!"  Dr. Mizuno barked at her.  "You lied to me before, 
_counselor_.  How many other children have you roped into this... 
whatever exactly is going on?"

	 Setsuna's eyes narrowed.  "All of us were born to this task.  I 
have not 'roped' anyone into it."

	"Now I know why Ami's grades have dropped the last few years, all 
those times she was vague about what she'd been doing, hanging around 
with all those lazy, worthless girls, getting herself hurt..."  A 
thought struck her.  "Ami, is this the reason you gave up that chance to 
study abroad in Germany?"

Ami nodded.  "Yes, it is.  My friends needed me more than I needed 
to go to Germany."

"That sort of chance doesn't come every day!"  It was the last 
straw for Dr. Mizuno.  She couldn't let Ami's life be ruined by this 
madness.  She stood up.  "Ami, we're leaving.  I don't want you to be a 
part of this."

	"Mother, calm down.  You're not making any sense," Ami said, 
taking her hand.  "Please, this is really important!  I can't just..."

	"You can, and you will.  If you want to run off and get yourself 
killed once you're no longer my responsibility, then that's your 
business.  But I'm not letting my only child get tangled up in some sort 
of violent, superstitious mess like this!"  She took a deep breath, and 
visibly struggled to calm herself.  "Ami, we're leaving.  Now."

	Ami tried to figure out how to get through to her and failed.  She 
glanced over at Setsuna, who was struggling herself to remain calm.  

	Tomoe-san rose.  "I'll drive you two home so you don't have to 
take a bus."

	"A bus will be fine," Dr. Mizuno said.  "Thank you for the tea, 
come along, Ami, we're going."  She headed for the door.

	"I'll talk to you at school tomorrow," Setsuna said softly to Ami.  
"Best you go with her now."

	Ami nodded and ran after her mother.

                                   *****

	"Mother, I..." Ami tried again.

	"Do any of the other parents know about this...this...mess?" Dr. 
Mizuno demanded.

	They were in the kitchen by the phone, sitting at the table.

	"No," she said.

	"Well, that makes me feel a little better," she said.  "I'm going 
to take you back to school, and then I'm going to call all of them and 
see what can be done about this."

	Ami's eyes widened.  "Mother, you can't just do that!"

	"I can, and I will.  It's my duty to let them know.  It's a good 
thing I got everyone's numbers when you went to the beach."  She sighed.  
"I suppose you had some sort of group orgy there too."

	"MOTHER!"  Now Ami was getting mad.  "This isn't some sort of 
weird cult free love magic thing!  We were doing Sailor training!"

	"Uh huh."  She took the sheet of numbers off the refrigerator 
door, then sat down and began to call while Ami fumed.

	The first family answered quickly.  "Hi, this is the Tsukino 
house!" an ebullient female voice said.

	"Hello, Usagi. This is Ami's mother, Dr. Mizuno.  I need to talk 
to your parents," Dr. Mizuno said.

	"Is something wrong?" she asked.  "Ami's okay, isn't she?"

	"Ami is just fine," Dr. Mizuno said, her voice softening.  "Just 
let me talk to your parents."

	"Okay!"   

	"Please, Mother, Usagi's father is going to just....he'll lose 
it," Ami said, making her last ditch attempt.

	"She should have told him earlier then," Dr. Mizuno said.

	"Hello, this is Tsukino Kenji," Usagi's father said.

	"Ahh, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

	"No, not at all."

	Dr. Mizuno froze up before she could actually say anything about 
the sailors.  If I don't have any proof, they're going to think I've 
wigged out, she thought.  "Do you have time for me to come over tonight 
with Ami?  I need to tell you something, but I can't show you the proof 
over the phone."

	"I don't understand," he said.

	"I wish I didn't," she said, sighing.  

	"Well, if you need to come on over, okay," she said.

	"We'll be there in a little bit," she said.

	"Mother, are you planning to..."

	"Best I assemble everyone at once.  It'll be easier,"  Dr. Mizuno 
said, sighing.  "Even if it is late."

	Ami sighed.  "Mother, this will likely cause a riot."

	"Sometimes, you just have to cut out infected flesh," she said 
primly.

	{Do something!}

	[Do WHAT?]

	{I don't know.}

                                   *****

	The Tsukino living room was about to explode, what with the 
Mizunos, Mrs. Osaka, the Tsukinos, the Ainos, the Nonoharas, and a horde 
of their children all crammed into it.  When Grandpa finally arrived, 
Dr. Mizuno said, "I'm sorry to call you all this late at night, but I'm 
afraid all our children have been up to some stuff they haven't told us 
about."

	This triggered a load of whispers, and then Mr. Aino said, "You 
mean about them being the Sailor Senshi?"

	"..."  Dr. Mizuno stared blankly at him.

	Minako leaped up.  "Daddy, you knew?"

	"You talk in your sleep, dear, you keep leaving your 
transformation pen lying around, Sailor V came from England to Japan 
exactly when we did, and you're not very good at being sneaky," her 
mother said.  "You've talked on your communicator in the bedroom with 
the door open, your cat kept talking to you when we were going by in the 
hallway, and I saw you transforming in the bathroom, before climbing out 
the window while leaving the shower running three times."

	"..."

	"We've known for years," her father said.  "We had a running bet 
about whether you'd confess first or screw up and get caught.  Looks 
like I win."

	Many parents boggled in unison.

	Then Usagi stood up.  "This is my fault.  I'm sorry, everyone.  As 
leader of the Sailor Soldiers, this is my responsibility."  She looked 
far more serious than usual.  "We've lied to all of you because we 
didn't want our families dragged into all of this."

	"I'm sorry, Papa, Momma," she said.  "You see, we're all reborn 
magical warriors from the moon kingdom and..."

	"Is this some kind of joke?" Mr. Nonohara asked. 

	Himeko sighed.  "No, it isn't."  She pulled out her transformation 
pen.  "Pluto Planet POWER!"  And then she transformed.

	The others did as well, half-blinding everyone else.

	And then the cacophony of angry and confused parental shouting 
began.  Everyone was shouting at once, and their children wilted before 
the onslaught.  Ami watched the mounting anarchy, and tried to think of 
a way to calm the waters.

	Instead, Mrs. Tsukino rose.  "Stop shouting," she said.

	This didn't work; people just shouted over her.  

	She went into the kitchen, got a pan and a ladle, then banged them 
together.  "SILENCE!" she shouted.

	Everyone froze up, then she continued.  "I see no point in us 
fighting with our children as a group.  I suggest we all go home and 
discuss this with our kids separately, unless anyone has any more 
bombshells for the rest of us?"

	"I've already decided my daughter will not be part of 
this...this...any more.  If you chose to let your children continue to 
endanger themselves, please keep them away from my daughter."  Dr. 
Mizuno rose.  "Let's go, Ami."

	Sailor Mercury felt everyone's gaze on her, and tried to think of 
something to say.  "Mother, I can't quit being Sailor Mercury."

	"You can.  You will.  So long as I'm responsible for you, I'm not 
going to lose another child."  Her voice was tense.  "I've had to see 
too many children buried to want to lose my only daughter.  I'm not 
putting my trust in a rock to bring you back."

	Sailor Mercury winced, not wanting to defy her mother after that, 
but still feeling she couldn't just quit.  Not now.  And so she hung 
between irreconcilable demands.

	Then her mother simply took her by the arm and dragged her out.

	"Rei, let's go home and discuss this in private," Grandpa said.

	"But I'm living here right now," Mars replied.

	"Why don't you talk to her here, while we go to the kitchen?" 
Usagi's mother suggested.  "Everyone, thank you for coming, I have some 
cookies if you want to take a snack with you."

	In short order, Ikuko had everyone cleared out and retreated to 
the kitchen with Sailor Moon and her husband, who looked ready to 
explode.  "Usagi, can you turn back to normal, now?"

	"Eh?  Oh sure," she said, after taking several cookies.  Usagi sat 
down at the table and started stuffing her face.

	"Usagi, you LIED to us!" her father bellowed.

	"I never actually said that I WASN'T Sailor Moon," Usagi 
protested.

	Best not to mention what happened with Beryl, Usagi thought.  Not 
yet, anyway.  "Daddy, I never wanted to be Sailor Moon, but I can't help 
it.  If I don't do it, people will get hurt, people will die.  Beryl 
would have conquered everyone, the Black Moon Family would have enslaved 
everyone and destroyed the future, and Master Pharoah Ninety wanted to 
destroy all life on Earth.  It...It's my fate.  And..."  She tried to 
muster the courage to tell them she'd rule the Earth one day, but she 
didn't think they'd believe it.  "I've seen the future.  I have to fight 
to make it come true.  Even though I'd rather be normal Usagi."  

	Or would I? she asked herself.  This was her perfect chance to get 
out of this, but she realized she'd fight tooth and nail to keep being 
one of the Sailor Senshi, even if they ordered her to quit.  She 
couldn't just quit while the Zodiac were after Naru and the Dark Kingdom 
was back for another round.  "I have to do this.  The Dark Kingdom's 
come back, and the Zodiac is hunting Naru-chan. If we quit, they'll just 
kill us all, and we'll die anyway.  You can't protect me by making me 
stop."  I can't believe I'm doing this, she thought.

	"Umm, Usagi-chan, I'm afraid we don't know what any of those 
things you're talking about are," her father said.

	Usagi blinked, then said, "Oh, yeah, I guess you wouldn't."  She 
then gave them the abbreviated version of her adventures over the last 
two years, which took quite a while.

	When she was done, her father said, "Even if we decide to let you 
keep doing this, we're going to have to punish you for not telling us 
about this.  What if you'd died?  We never would have known!  Can't the 
police deal with this?  It's what they're for.  And the army."

	Usagi shook her head sadly.  "The police aren't enough.  You've 
been attacked by monsters, Dad.  Did the cops show up?  Were they any 
use in this?"

	He sighed.  "No."

	"I..."  She gulped.  "This is my destiny.  I am the Moon Princess.  
It's my duty to protect the Earth and fight for a better future.  I have 
the power and the responsibility too.  This is the most important thing 
I've ever done.  Maybe the only thing.  Please, don't take it away from 
me," she pleaded.  "I'll do anything to make up for not telling you.  
Just, please...I have to do this.  I'm their leader.  They're counting 
on me.  And...I need them."

	Her parents looked at each other, then Kenji said, "Your mother 
and I will talk about this, and tell you in the morning what we've 
decided, okay?"		

	She nodded.  "I'm really, really sorry."

	"You should be," he said, then sighed.  "And I'm sorry for barking 
at you.  You know I just want to protect you, don't you?"

	"I know, Daddy," she said, rising and yawning.  "I'm going to 
bed."

	Once she was gone, Usagi's mother said, "It's hard to believe our 
daughter is a monster fighter."

	Kenji smiled.  "And the leader.  And so...I've never seen her so 
serious about anything.  I mean, she's been doing this for two years, 
risking her life...she couldn't even remember to feed her pet fish when 
we bought her some.  But going on training trips and everything..."  He 
shook his head.  "Do you think there's some way...she could make a 
career out of this?  Because if she's actually found something she 
likes...  I mean, I don't want her to be hurt, but, well, you know what 
I mean."

	"Exactly," his wife said.  "Maybe we should approve it 
provisionally, and see how things go.  Watch them train and so on.  
She's gone this long and not gotten hurt, after all, and..."

	"And there are monsters out there," Kenji said, sighing.  "I 
remember one time when Shingo and Usagi and I went..."  He trailed off.  
"Now I now where she vanished off to during that.  At the laser tag 
place."

	They stood in silence for a while; neither of them wanted to let 
their daughter go out into danger.  But at the same time, they both felt 
a little proud of their daughter for actually doing something with her 
life.  

	Finally, Ikuko said.  "Even if we say yes, we still need to punish 
her for not telling us.  If she'd died, we might not have ever known 
what really happened."  She didn't like to think of that.

	He nodded.  "And I think the best punishment for lying to us would 
be to force her to have an obligatory two hours of studying every night, 
with one of us watching her, she doesn't do anything else, until she 
gets it done.  That'll make her regret her actions AND maybe get her 
grades up."

	"She'll try to get us to do her homework."

	He shrugged.  "She does that anyway."

	"True.  Well, it sounds reasonable to me."

	He yawned.  "I think Usagi has the right idea.  Bedtime."

                                   *****

	"I can't believe you never told me," Grandpa said to Rei.

	Rei stared at the floor.  "I would have, but..."

	"But you didn't."  His voice was very disapproving.

	"But I didn't.  Grandfather, this is my destiny."

	"That may well be, but it doesn't change the fact that you lied to 
me about this for years."

	"You never asked," Rei said instinctively.

	"I could have done a lot to help you do this better," he said.  
"Stepped up your training...instead, you've been running around behind 
my back and risking death without me even knowing."

	"I'm sorry," she said, still staring at the floor.

	"Sorry is nothing but words.  You've been running around, getting 
into danger without telling me!  You could have died!  Your parents 
would never forgive me for that!  Well, their souls wouldn't."

	"What do you want me to do, Grandpa?"

	"You're not doing any more monster fighting until I say you're 
ready," he said.  "And when you're not training, I'm going to give you 
extra chores.  And I will consult the sacred fire and see what guidance 
it gives me on whether or not you should be still doing this."

	Rei nodded.  "Alright."

	"And if you ever run around behind my back like this again, you 
WILL regret it."

	"I won't," she promised. 

	He nodded.  "Come and see me tomorrow after school, and we can go 
talk to the sacred fire together."

	"Alright," she said.  "I'll see you then."

	His face softened.  "You understand, don't you, Rei?"

	She nodded.  "I understand."

	"Good.  Now, tell me about this threat you're facing right now.  I 
want to understand what's going on."

	"Well, it all started back in the Silver Millenium..."

                                   *****

	Minako's dad asked, "Do they help you hear better?"

	Minako fingered her pointed ears, being relieved her father had 
avoided the Spock jokes she feared were coming.  "Yes, which mostly 
means it's harder to sleep because I can hear too much."

	"Good for hunting in the woods, I'd expect," her father said 
thoughtfully.

	Her mother returned from the kitchen with three cups of tea, 
handing one to everyone.  "Is it permanent?"

	"Pretty much," Minako said, sighing.  "I'm hoping to go to Avalon 
some time soon so I can finish adjusting to this.  Before I do anything 
stupid."  She took a sip of tea, then said, "I can't believe you're 
taking this so calmly!"

	"Oh, this nice Elven fellow came by and explained everything weeks 
ago," her mother said.  

	"Derith?" Minako asked.

	"Oh what was his name...Eien?  Yes, Eien," her father said, 
chugging his tea.  "We just assumed it was more magical weirdness."

	Minako stared blankly.

	"What we're really worried about is that your grades haven't been 
very good lately," her mother continued.  "Are you sure you can take 
this trip without missing any school?"

	"Hime-chan and Derith are going to find a good place for me to go 
to.  We'll be gone before you know I'm back!"  She paused.  "I mean..."

	Her father looked thoughtful.  "Are you going to need a passport?"

	"Umm...I don't know."

	Her mother asked, "Is it warm there this time of year?"

	"Umm...in parts..."

	"Well, you see, we haven't had a vacation in a while, and that 
nice Elf lord invited us to come visit him some time, so perhaps we 
could tag along.  I'm sure you could use a chaperone anyway," Minako's 
father said.

	"..."

	"Of course, we'll need to make sure we've had our shots, and see 
about getting our passports renewed.  And stock up on some cold iron in 
case of trouble.  A pity church bells are too big to carry, but..."  
Minako's father began.

	"Church bells?" Minako asked weakly.

	"Do they actually work?" her father asked.  "I did some research 
after we met the fellow, but the sources aren't very consistent."

	"I don't know.  No one mentioned anything about church bells.  I 
didn't exactly get a manual with these," she said, pointing to her ears.  
How can they take this so CALMLY?  I mean...I'm glad they're taking it 
well, but this is just...

	And then she thought about the time they were caught in a nasty 
earthquake and her father's first reaction was to make sure the iron was 
unplugged.  Her parents had always been pretty unflappable and 
whimsical.  Still, this did seem a bit much.

	"Too big to carry, anyway.  So when is this planned for?"

	"Maybe two weekends from now.  This weekend, they find the place, 
the next weekend, we go."

	"Good, good, I'll need to give advance notice at work."

	"I'll see about the passports," her mother said.  "Do they have a 
magically hidden consulate here somewhere?  I want to make sure I don't 
break any import regulations again."

	Minako laughed nervously.  "I'll ask Derith."

	"Good, good.  Ask him to come round, won't you?  And see if he has 
any of those 'learn Elvish quickly' tapes.  Assuming anyone's made some.  
It's always nice to be able to speak a little of the local language, 
although with this short of notice, we can't learn much."

	"I'll...uh...ask him."  Minako said.  

	"Good.  Now, about your grades," her father said.  "You've got to 
study harder."

	"I'll study harder," Minako said, relieved to change the subject.  
"I'll be the best student who ever studied a book ever!"

	"Just do your best, dear," her mother said.  "That's all we ask.  
I know it gets boring sometimes, but you'll be glad one day you did."

	"I can do better.  And I WILL!!!"  She leaped up on the coffee 
table.  "They'll call me the girl genius of Tsunami High by the time I'm 
done!"

	"That's good, Mina-chan," her mother said.  "But you're standing 
on the coffee cake."

	"The coffee-cake trampling genius!"  Minako paused.  "The getting 
off the table right now genius," she said weakly.

	"Better go clean your feet, dear," her mother said.  "And we need 
to get you back to school before it's too late at night."

	Minako ran off to clean her feet.  This went better than I thought 
it would, she thought.  

                                   *****

	Ami flopped down on her bed, feeling miserable.  Mother's lost it, 
she thought.  At least she didn't make me move back home, she thought.  
And she didn't tell me to dump Ryo.  Then she realized she'd never 
actually gotten around to telling her mother about the sex.  I'd better 
just wait a few days, she thought.  It would only make her go more 
berserk. 

	{Best not to wait too long,} Athena said.  {If she learns before 
thou tellst her, we'll be in even more trouble.}

	Ami smiled wryly for a moment.  [I never thought you would be the 
more responsible of us.]

	{I have drunk of the cup of parental wrath too many times to wish 
to do it again without need,}  Athena said.  {Your father will tell her 
soon if you do not.}

	[You're right.  I'll do it tomorrow.]

                                   *****

	"The Senshi's parents seem to be taking things poorly," Bauxite 
reported to Hematite.

	"Keep them under observation.  If this hampers their 
effectiveness, this may be a good time to strike."

	Bauxite nodded.  "Yes sir."

	"You may go."

	He left, leaving Hematite to sit and think.  Who should I push to 
test their defenses, he asked himself.  Amazonite would be easy to 
motivate, but also most likely to screw up, rendering the test useless.  
Unless some of the Senshi could be pinned down by her somewhere as a 
distraction for a better plan.  Perhaps Anthracite?  He was fairly 
competent, but his grudge against Endymion could make him as much of an 
idiot as Amazonite.  Alexandrite's recent death demonstrated how weak 
the desire for revenge makes you.  Magnetite had other duties.  The same 
for Sapphire.  Marcasite...he might be convinced to try a strike at 
Odysseus, who seemed to have some control over the same star power which 
obsessed Marcasite.  He might be suitable, and he lacked any self-
destructive obsessions.  Pyroxenite was dead, but some of his followers 
remained.  Yes, they might be suitable as well.  At least as fodder.

	Also, who could they afford to lose?  Amazonite was certainly 
expendible, as she was of little use in any case.  Anthracite as well.  
As for Marcasite, he could be a threat in the future to Hematite's own 
plans.  Hematite would cry no tears if Marcasite fell.  

	Hematite decided this deserved more thought.

                                   *****

	Dr. Mizuno walked into the ward, doing her best to hide her 
exhaustion. She'd been so tense, she'd been unable to sleep, but three 
of her patients needed to undergo their chemo treatments today, so she 
couldn't just take another day off.

	One of them, Taiki, had somehow gotten out of bed and was holding 
Kimiko's doll just out of her reach.  Kimiko had a broken leg to go with 
her other problems, thanks to a car wreck as her family had been 
bringing her to the hospital.  "Come and get it if you want it!"

	"What are you doing, young man?" she demanded.

	Taiki paled, threw the doll to Kimiko and ran back to his bed.  
"Don't hit me!  I'll be good."

	Dr. Mizuno blinked in surprise.  Do I look that scary today? she 
asked herself.  "I would never hit you, Taiki.  But you shouldn't steal 
Kimiko's dolly."  Maybe I took too harsh a tone, she thought.  I 
shouldn't take my anger out of them.  Calm, she told herself.  Be calm.  
They need gentleness, not wrath.

	"But...you looked...okay," he said weakly.  "I'll be good."

	"Good," she said, then went over to Kimiko.  "They've given you 
breakfast, right?"

	She nodded.  "Uh huh."

	"Good, good.  We're going to take you down for another 
chemotherapy session.  You feeling ready?"  She patted Kimiko on the 
head, and did her best to smile reassuringly.

	"Can I take Rumiko with me?" she asked.  Rumiko was her doll's 
name, a simple doll made by her mother for her.

	"Sure you can, Kimi-chan," Dr. Mizuno said, 'rumpling' Rumiko's 
'hair'.  "We all need a friend when it hurts."

	"You'll always be my friend, won't you?" Kimiko asked plaintively.

	"Of course I will,"  she said.  "Ready?"

	Kimiko nodded.  "Ready."

	"Okay, Nurse, Takamura, get me a stretcher," she said to the 
nurse, who nodded and got the one she'd already brought up in the 
hallway.  

	"Doctor Mizuno, Chichiri won't give me any candy!" a young boy 
with short black hair shouted.

	"Chichiri, be nice and let Hiroshi have a piece of your candy," 
she said.  Chichiri's parents had a lot of money, and tended to give him 
lots of small gifts during his stays here, which he then flaunted in 
front of the others.  She knew he had candy to spare.

	Chichiri pouted, then forked some of the candy over, as they were 
wheeling Kimiko out the door.

                                   *****

	A while later, they wheeled a now slumbering Kimiko back to the 
ward, and Dr. Mizuno checked her schedule for the day.  "Okay, let's see 
how Hiro...where's Hiroshi?"

	The nurse on duty said, "He choked on a piece of candy he didn't 
chew enough.  Luckily, one of the other kids noticed and screamed enough 
to get Kozue's attention, and she came in and got his throat clear.  But 
then he vomited up all over himself and her, so she took him to get him 
clean and get herself a new uniform."

	What was I THINKING, not making sure he'd be able to handle the 
candy, she thought.  He could have...  She brushed away the 
recrimination, saving them for later.  Maybe I had better just go home 
and...no, I can't just run out in the middle of the day.  I have to deal 
with this, she told herself.  "I'll go check on him before I deal 
with..."  She checked her clipboard again.  "The meeting I'm supposed to 
be at...when was this scheduled?"

	"Don't ask me, I wasn't invited," Nurse Takazumi said.  

	Dr. Mizuno finished getting Kimiko back into her bed, then took 
off.

                                   *****

	Do not flirt with anyone, Minako told herself.  No one.  A boy 
smiled at her.  His name was Touji, she thought.  And he had a cute 
butt.  But she wasn't going to flirt.  Nope.

	"So what is this poem about?" Clark asked Minako.

	"It's not about Touji's fine butt," Minako said solemnly.

	Touji grinned, and Minako turned red when she realized what she 
said.

	"This is true," Clark said.  He turned to the rest of the class.  
"Would anyone like to interpret this poem?"

	There was a great dearth of volunteers.

	He turned to Makoto.  "How about you, Miss Kino?"

	"Well, it was a rather difficult poem," she said.

	A lot of the other students nodded.

	"You can't fly if you never stretch your wings," he replied.

	"I believe the author was trying to use a metaphor for the agony 
in her life.  The waterfall wearing away at the rock was like the 
vicissitudes of life slowly grinding away at her soul," Makoto said.  
"She was losing herself and had to get away.  I think the fish leaping 
up the falls then represented this desire to escape to a higher plane of 
existence, away from the waterfall.  But the transition between 
metaphors was confusing and badly handled.  Tennyson did it better, 
really."  She paused.  "No, that wasn't Tennyson.  He wrote Idylls of 
the King, correct?"  She spoke without the slightest trace of a Japanese 
accent, Clark suddenly realized.

	"Umm, among other works," Clark said faintly.

	Everyone stared at Makoto, who didn't notice.

	"Maybe it was Blake.  No, not Blake.  Shelly?  Byron?  Maybe it 
was...no, Macauley was a historian, not a poet.  Well, now I can't 
remember what poem I was thinking of anyway.  Sorry."  Her voice had 
returned to normal.

	Clark nodded.  "Very good, Miss Kino."  He turned to another 
student.  "Mr. Takamari.  Would you like to comment?"

	"Fish can't really jump up cliffs, can they?"

	"Maybe they were flying fish," another student suggested.

	The discussion soon turned into a fishing class despite Clark's 
best efforts to get it back in line.

                                   *****

	Ami shifted uncomfortably in her chair.  "Only a few times, 
Mother," she said weakly.

	"I'm glad you were honest enough to tell me," Dr. Mizuno said, 
trying her best not to explode.  "But I'm NOT very happy about it."  

	Ami stared at the table.  "I know."

	"Ami, you'll never get into medical school and finish if it you 
get pregnant before it happens."

	"I know."

	"And no sex is safe enough to be sure.  Fairly safe, yes.  
Especially if you use multiple contraception methods."  Her eyes 
narrowed.  "Did you?"

	"After the first time," Ami said.

	"Have you had a pregnancy test yet?"

	"No."

	"Then we'll give you one.  After this."

	Ami nodded.

	"Pregnancy would wreck your life.  It's a risk you can't afford if 
you want to make something of yourself.  And that's leaving out all the 
moral reasons to wait for marriage."

	Ami nodded.  "I know."

	"If you knew, you wouldn't have done it."  She took a deep breath 
and counted to ten, letting the temptation to shout drain out through 
her feet.  "I know it's tempting, Ami.  You're at an age where it's very 
hard to control yourself, but if you don't build the habit of discipline 
now, medical school will eat you alive."

	"I kn..."

	She frowned.  "Stop saying that!  If you really knew this, you'd 
have NOT done it!  And, it'll wreck your reputation.  Men try to get 
women into bed, but once they do, they think the woman's a slut, even 
though they're usually far more slutty than most women.  Get a 
reputation like that, and you'll never find a good man for a husband."  
She sighed.  "Not that it guarantees you'll find a good one..."  She 
reined herself in again.  "Or that you'll be able to live with him if 
you do.  Your father is a good man, but we just weren't compatible."

	Ami nodded.  

	"But as long as you have a boyfriend, the temptation is going to 
be there.  You're going to have to break up with him, if you don't want 
to end up pregnant or worse, and have to give up your dreams."

	Ami felt her stomach knot.  "Mother, I love him. I want him to be 
part of my dreams."

	"Ami, do you really think you can go back to being celibate with 
him having done it once?" she asked.  "Because that's what it would 
take."

	"Yes," Ami said.  "I can do it," she said firmly.

	"Let me guess, your father suggested that."

	She nodded.

	Dr. Mizuno sighed.  "Do you really think you could hold back all 
the way through the rest of high school, four years of college, and all 
of medical school?  Or that he'd want to wait that long?  He's a young 
boy, and even the best of them have raging hormones at your age.  Have 
you talked to him about this?"

	Ami shook her head.  "No, I've been too busy and...I wanted to 
tell you before I made any final decision."

	Dr. Mizuno spent a little while trying to figure out how to make 
Ami understand.  "I'm increasingly coming to think it would be best if 
we simply transferred you to another school, so you could make a clean 
break with all of this mess.  That way, you couldn't be drawn back into 
it.  And I don't trust Tsunami's administration anymore, knowing that 
Mei'ou woman is part of it, using parents and students as pawns in 
whatever her little game is."

	"Mother, Mei'ou-san is NOT using us as pawns.  I was Sailor 
Mercury for over a year before I even met her!"

	"She's up to something. I don't trust her," Dr. Mizuno said.  
"She's using you for her own private monster war."

	"Mother, this concerns EVERYONE!" Ami said.

	"It will take me a while to arrange a transfer.  I'd get your 
father to do it, but he'd probably pick some art academy where no one 
learns anything useful."  She began scribbling possibilities on a 
notepad.

	"Don't I get any kind of say in this?" Ami demanded.

	"No, you don't.  You've demonstrated I can't trust your judgment 
or your honesty any more, and until you either show me that I can trust 
it, or you get the skills you need to support yourself, I'm going to 
have to run your life for you so you don't screw it up any further.  
You're going to break up with the boy, and you're going to get ready to 
go to a new school, if I can find one.  But in the meantime, you'd 
better keep up your grades at Tsunami.  It'll help you get into a better 
school.  It's a good thing you took all the best schools' exams 
already."  

	"I'm not a little girl any more!"

	"No, you're just old enough to make adult mistakes without having 
an adult's common sense," Dr. Mizuno said.  "The deadliest of all 
combinations.  Hmmm...best to send you to an all-girls school."

	Ami stood up.  "Mother, this isn't fair!  I haven't done anything 
wrong!"

	"You lied to me!  You lied to me repeatedly!  You could have died 
a thousand times, and I wouldn't have even known why!  And you seem 
determined to throw away everything you've been working for since you 
were six over a boy!  I'm not going to let you ruin your life and die!  
If you want to go overdose on heroin or choke on a piece of candy once 
you're not under my care any more, I can't stop you, but dammit, I am 
NOT going to just sit back and let my daughter ruin her life and die 
when I can do something to prevent it!  Your father's spoiled you, and I 
see I didn't pay enough attention. I trusted you, and you betrayed that 
trust.  I just want what's good for you!"  She banged her fist on the 
table.  "Oww, dammit."

	She closed her eyes.  Screaming does not grant authority, she told 
herself.  I don't want to make Ami scared of me, I want her to listen to 
reason.  "My decision is made.  I'd better take you back to the school, 
so you can get to bed at a reasonable hour."

	"Father wouldn't..." Ami began.

	"I'm your legal guardian," she said.  "And it's my duty.  You can 
go running to 'Daddy' to try to get out of this, but I'm NOT backing 
down.  And if he thinks otherwise, he can...forget about it."

	"Mother, I can't just throw away my life and start over."  Ami 
clenched the table, trying to figure out some way to get past her 
mother's stubbornness.  

	"Sometimes, we have to start over so we don't throw it away," her 
mother replied.

	The knot in her stomach finished twisting, and for a moment, she 
was afraid she was going to throw up.  "Mother, please, I just can't do 
this."

	"You can.  You will," her mother replied flatly.  And that was 
that for the moment.

                                   *****

	Kensuke turned around from a late night refrigerator raid, only to 
see his daughter standing in the kitchen.  He nearly dropped everything 
when he saw the tears running down her face.  "Ami, what's wrong?"

	"Mother...she..."  Ami began to sob incoherently and babble.

	"Ami, I can't understand anything you said," he said, putting a 
hand on her shoulder.

	She flung herself at him and began to cry onto his chest.

	He put down everything.  "Let's go sit down and talk, okay?" he 
said.

	She nodded.

	Once she had cried a while longer, she finally pulled herself 
together and explained everything.

	He sighed.  "Once your mother has time to calm down, I'm sure 
she'll be more reasonable."

	"You really think so?" Ami asked weakly.

	He pushed her hair out of her eyes.  "Of course...no, I can't lie 
to you.  Your mother never wants to back down.  Once she says something, 
she'll fight to the end to defend it.  Fortunately, she only says stupid 
things when she gets mad, and she usually doesn't get mad.  Although I 
was far too good at making her mad."  He sighed and shoved aside 
memories.  "I will talk to her, but I make you no promises. She's your 
legal guardian, and my rights are pretty limited.  I will tell you I'm 
not going to bother enforcing the no boyfriend thing, because that's 
just stupid.  But as to switching schools..."  He sighed.  "If she won't 
listen to me, the best I can do is to try to get you into one that won't 
be awful."

	"She doesn't want me to be Sailor Mercury either," Ami said 
weakly.  "But I have to.  They need me and I need them."

	"I know, honey," he said, hugging her sadly.  "But legally, she 
can tell you not to do that.  I think.  And if you defy her...well, you 
know how that goes."

	"Can't you tell her?" Ami pleaded.

	"I'll do my best.  But with your mother, my best was usually never 
enough."  He sighed.  "She's a good woman; I couldn't do what she does 
without going mad.  But once she makes up her mind, the Emperor himself 
couldn't move her."  He patted Ami's shoulder.  "Maybe you should ask 
your boyfriend if he has foreseen anything."  He laughed.  "I can hardly 
believe I actually said that.  I guess having an oracle on tap is kind 
of handy."

	Ami nodded, feeling a little heartened.  "I'll ask him tomorrow."

                                   *****

	"I can only foresee things I'm in the middle of, usually," Ryo 
said.  "But I haven't had any visions for a few days. I guess that means 
the future is unclear."

	"Well, do you think Daddy will convince Mother to change her 
mind?"

	"I don't know your mother well enough to guess," he said.  "But it 
doesn't sound like it."

	They were at breakfast in the dining hall, early, right after it 
opened and while most people were still getting up.

	"So what are we going to do?"  Ami asked, feeling desperate for 
some kind of reassurance.

	"Wait...I'm seeing something...oh dammit!" he said in frustration.

	"Did you see..."  Ami asked hesitantly.

	"I screwed up, and I'm gonna get a D on the math test.  But I 
studied so hard..."  He paused to stuff some more cereal in his mouth 
and chew away his frustration.

	She sagged.  "Ryo, we have to do something about this."

	He nodded.  "I couldn't stand to lose you, Ami," he said.  "And if 
your mother sends you to another school, I can still go try and see you 
on the weekends.  But I really don't see anything I can do about your 
mother."  He scratched his head.  "I could try talking to her, but I 
dunno if she'd listen."

	"You have to try," Ami said.  "If I push her more, she'll just 
explode."

	After another spoonful of cereal, he said, "I'll see if I can call 
her this evening and make an appeal."  A doomed appeal, he thought.  But 
it was better than doing nothing. I don't need a vision to know how this 
will go down, he thought.

                                   *****

	Ami sat at her desk and stared at page 200 of the English reader 
for the fortieth time.  Looking down at her translation, she saw she'd 
just translated the third paragraph a fifth time.  She tossed the book 
off her desk in frustration.  "I hate this," she announced.

	"Yeah, it's a lousy story, 'mi-chan," Noriko said.  "Oh, you mean 
waiting for your dad or 'yo-kun to call you?"

	"Exactly. I can't think, I can't study, I can't do ANYTHING," Ami 
said.

	"How about if you take a study break and play Senshi Combat with 
me, then?  It needs more field testing," Noriko suggested.  "Or you 
could read a nice book you've been putting off."

	"I guess a virtual fight might help," Ami said.

	Thirty fights later, her virtual avatar froze Tuxedo Kamen in a 
block of ice and threw him into the ocean.  "Sorry about that," Sailor 
Mercury said with a tinny voice that wasn't right at all.

	"Does she always apologize after every win?" Ami asked, now 
feeling a little more relaxed.

	"I stole the sound clip from...Chun Li?  I think so," Noriko said.  
"Don't ask me why she does it.  I just didn't have a good tag phrase for 
you."

	Ami began trying to think of one, as the phone rang.  She ran over 
to it.  "Hello?" she asked.

	"Well, I have good news and bad news," her father said.

	"What's the good news?" she asked first.

	"I convinced your mother not to transfer you until next year, 
because she'd already paid in advance for this year to get a discount 
and because it would disrupt your studies, since none of the other 
school's she looking at have exactly the same curriculum."

	Ami felt a wave of relief wash over her.  "That's great, Daddy."

	"But she wants you to move back home where she can keep an eye on 
you."

	Ami nodded.  "I'll miss being able to see everyone easily here, 
but I can handle that, I hope."

	"She still wants you to break up with Ryo, unfortunately.  And she 
doesn't want you to have anything to do with the other Sailor girls.  
About all I could get her to back down on was that one thing.  I'm 
sorry, Ami," he said.  "And no being Sailor Mercury, either.  She blamed 
me for you getting into that, when I brought it up.  As if I..."  There 
was silence for a few seconds.  "She's overreacting, but as long as 
you're living with your mother, I can't do much about it.  But you can 
see Ryo when you come visit me.  Just tell her you broke up with him. 
It's not like she can check up on you."

	Ami laughed faintly.  "I never thought I'd have one parent tell me 
to disobey the other."

	"It's just utterly ridiculous.  There's simply no reason at all 
for you to dump him.  I can see why you being Sailor Mercury seems too 
dangerous to her...I'm not comfortable with the idea of you risking your 
life either.  But I think she's overdoing it.  But if we tough it out a 
few weeks, hopefully, she'll calm down, and we can talk some sense into 
her."

	Ami nodded.  "I wish I could come live with you, Daddy."

	"Me too, honey, but your mom is your legal guardian, not me, and I 
can't afford to take it to court.  And I don't think the court would 
rule in my favor anyway. I'm sorry I mostly have bad news for you, 
dear."

	"Well, I can handle a few weeks of this," Ami said.  "At least, I 
hope I can.  But if the Sailors need me...I mean, I can't just defy 
Mother, but I can't just not go either."

	"I really don't know what to tell you, Ami.  You're just going to 
have to follow your heart."

	"Thanks, Daddy," she said.  "We'll just have to see what happens."  
She sighed.  "Talk to you later, Daddy."

	"See you, pumpkin."

	She hung up the phone, and it rang again.  "Hello?" she asked.

	"It's me, Ryo," he said.  "Your mother won't even talk to me."

	"Come on over," she said.  "We need to make plans."

	"Okay, on my way."

                                   *****

	Ami leaned against Ryo, drawing comfort from his presence and from 
the arm he'd put around her shoulders.  "I'm gonna miss being able to 
see you often, Ryo," she said.

	"I'm gonna miss seeing you too," he said.  "At least we'll be able 
to eat lunch together, though.  When do you have to move out?"  

	"Tomorrow evening.  I can't believe Mother is overreacting like 
this."

	"But she is."  He sighed.

	"Maybe...maybe we ought to skip school tomorrow and go on one last 
date," Ami said, hardly able to believe she'd said that.

	"We'd have to run from truant officers all day," he replied.  
"That wouldn't be much fun.  On the other hand...oh heck, let's do it."

	Noriko laughed.  "Dress up nicely, and everyone will assume you 
must be older."

	"We just have to make sure we make it back before Mother gets 
here," Ami said.

	"And that Yamamoto doesn't catch us sneaking off campus."

	"Sailor Teleport your way out!" Noriko replied.

	Ami laughed.  "That would be...oh heck, if we're skipping school, 
what does it matter?"

	"Right.  Bring a change of clothing and meet me behind the dorm, 
and we can teleport to my dad's house.  He'll be at work, and we can 
change there," Ryo said.  "Oh wait...problem."

	"Hmm?" Ami asked.

	"The school will notice we're missing and probably tell your 
mother.  If she knows we did this, she'll freak out even more."

	Ami frowned.  He was right.  There had to be some way out of 
it...but she couldn't think of one.  She sighed.  "I guess we won't do 
it, then."  Skipping school wasn't a good thing to do, she told herself.  
Mom's going to work me hard, I'd best get used to it, she thought.

	Ryo nodded.  "We just have to make the most we can of tonight."

	"Then let's go do something now," Ami said.  "It's not too...drat, 
it's already eleven!  Where did the night go?"

	"Down the tubes," Noriko said.  "I need to go to bed soon.  Not to 
be rude and kick Ryo out, but...I'm gonna be rude and kick him out.  
Sorry!"

	"I understand," Ryo said, getting up and kissing Ami on the cheek.  
"We'll work this out, somehow."

	"Somehow," Ami said.  "We have to."

                                   *****

	The junior Pluto turned to Derith.  "Well, I'm ready when you're 
ready."

	"Mount up," he said, pointing to Bob.  

	"I don't think she can handle my weight," Bob said, smiling a 
dragon smile.

	She climbed up into the saddle behind Derith.

	Hotaru said, "I still don't see why I can't go."

	"If you had time powers, I'd take you instead, but this saddle 
doesn't hold three people very easily.  You've got to make sure Minako 
doesn't do anything stupid," Derith said.  

	"Oh, that's probably impossible," Go said from the deck chair 
nearby.

	Hotaru sighed.  "Be careful."

	"Don't worry," the junior Pluto said.  "I can get us out of 
anything."  She sounded like she was trying to assure herself of that.

                                   *****

	Ami popped her transformation pen and computer out of subspace, 
just to stare at them for a few seconds and reassure herself they were 
still there if she needed them.  She'd stashed them there to keep her 
mother from confiscating them, then told her mother she'd 'given them 
back' to her Sailor friends.  She didn't like lying to her mother, but 
she feared they'd end up locked away somewhere when she needed them 
otherwise.

Sending them back to subspace, she then stared at her homework as 
she sat in her bedroom at home.  She'd been here for half an hour, doing 
the same problem over and over because she couldn't focus.  The problem 
was that she was bored out of her mind.  She'd had this problem her 
first few nights at home, but now, on Friday night, it was exceptionally 
bad.  Her mother was downstairs, watching CNN and actually catching up 
on the universe outside her hospital, but she was stuck here until she 
finished this chapter.

	But since she was already eight chapters ahead, and normally would 
have been out on a date with Ryo or doing Sailor Training, or anything 
else but studying on a Friday night, her brain refused to function.  
This shocked her; Ami could study under any condition, even on the bus, 
but now she just wasn't interested.

	She'd always studied ahead because school always went too slowly, 
and it meant she couldn't fall behind if she got sick, which usually 
happened once or twice a year.  Her love of learning drew her onwards to 
new knowledge; Ami enjoyed studying.  

	But now she felt cooped up where once she'd felt safe and 
sheltered, up in the room where she'd done so much studying.  It felt 
cramped, like the walls were closing in.  She got up and did some 
stretching exercises, and felt her tensions begin to drain away.  But at 
the same time, it made her aware that her back felt full of knots.

	There was a knock at the door.  "Come in," Ami said, continuing to 
pull her leg back.

	"Your back isn't bothering you again, is it?" her mother asked.

	"It's been a while," Ami said, "But yes, it is."

	"Well, I can fix that," Miaka said, coming over to the desk and 
putting down a glass of tea and some popcorn.  "Here's a snack for you, 
but first, let me give you a backrub."

	Ami lay down on the bed, and let her mother massage her, removing 
all her aches.  Her mother had done this hundreds of times in the past, 
and Ami always enjoyed it.  It was almost worth the pain, just for the 
massage.  She lay there silently, giving a small moan every once in a 
while.  

Her mother worked in silence, until finally, she said, "Better?"

	"Much better," Ami said.  Her whole body felt much more relaxed.  
Maybe too relaxed, as now she didn't want to get up off the bed.

	"Better not stay up too late," her mother said.  "I'm going to bed 
early; work's wiped me out."  She kissed Ami's head.  "Good night, 
dear."  

	And then she was gone.

	Ami couldn't quite understand it.  Her mother had been much calmer  
and more considerate since she'd moved back home, except for pretty much 
restricting Ami to physical exercise and studying as her two main 
activities; her mother had always emphasized staying in shape, which was 
one reason they had a big pool.  Her mother went swimming every morning 
before work.  

	Maybe I should go swim, Ami thought.  Then I can have my snack and 
get back to studying.  She nodded.  That's a good idea.

                                   *****

	Makoto could think of several more pleasurable ways to get her 
boyfriend sweaty on a Friday Night instead of sparring with him.  
Unfortunately, the need to hide their relationship precluded all of 
them.  

	Makoto pressed her attack, throwing everything she had into it; it 
was frustrating fighting with the staff; sometimes it would just feel 
totally natural. And other times, like now, she was struggling to 
remember how to use it at all.  She feinted left, then tried to bring 
the right end around for a blow to Clark's left shoulder. 

	And then Clark's blade came around and caught the staff from 
below,  knocking it right out of her hands.  "You've got to drill more 
with the basic forms before you try anything fancy," he said.

	"I can do those at home," she said, feeling a little irritated. 
"But I can't spar without a partner."

	"Which doesn't do any good if you're struggling with the basics," 
he fired back.  "You've got to learn to crawl before you can walk."

	"There's probably something more boring than doing staff forms, 
but I don't know what it is," Makoto said, then sighed and went and got 
the staff. "I'd rather be curled up with a nice book."  She paused. "Did 
I really say that?"

	"We all seem to have retained a few bits and pieces of our other 
selves," Clark said, sheathing his sword and leaning against the wall.  
She'd been pressing him hard, for though her skill was low, she was a 
lot stronger than him, and deflecting her blows had taken a lot out of 
him.  He wasn't going to admit this, though.  "I caught myself writing a 
sermon instead of preparing for the next day's teaching last night."  He 
sighed.  "Lost half my preparation time on it."

	She laughed.  "I wish I'd retained all of Maggie's knowledge.  I'd 
be making perfect grades.  She had a Mind of 12, and I probably only 
have about a six."  She sighed and sat down on the couch, which had been 
pushed over to one wall to make space for sparring.  "I just feel so 
stupid sometimes."

	He came over and sat down on the other end of the couch.  A 
thought struck him.  "You're not stupid at all, Makoto," he replied in 
English.  "You could have as good grades as Rei, if not Ami, if you'd 
just study more.  I was very impressed with your analysis of the poem 
the other day.  And your English has greatly improved."

	"It just sort of came to me," she said in English.  "I spent all 
of breakfast staring at that poem like it was some magic spell or 
something, and then suddenly, bam, I just understood it.  Maybe sleep 
deprivation helped or something."

	"Did you need to use a dictionary?"

	She blinked.  "Actually, no, now that I think about it.  And I 
just casually read it at breakfast like it was in..."  She frowned. 
"Maggie could have read that and understood it easily.  I'm not going to 
start hearing her voice in my head, am I?"

	"I don't think so," he replied.  "But some pieces of our other 
selves do seem to have remained behind. I don't know if they'll stay or 
if they'll fade."

	"Well, as long as I don't go mad, I wouldn't mind keeping what 
Maggie knew, because she knew a lot more than I do about some things.  
And I'd be guaranteed a good grade in English."  She grinned at Clark.  
"And wouldn't have to bribe you with kisses."

	"Well, we have been speaking in English the last few minutes," he 
said.  "So I think you'll be able to earn that grade without bribery."

	Her eyes widened. "I have?"  She blinked. "Oh wow, I have!"

	No accent either, he noted.  He smiled at her and switched back to 
Japanese.  "Ready to drill in some forms now?"

	"No, but I'll do it anyway," she said, getting up and smiling.  
"So, do you think I should dye my hair until this streak grows out?  Or 
keep it?"

	"I kind of like it," he said. "But I noticed Yamamoto looking at 
you rather intently the other day.  I don't think Tsunami has a hair dye 
policy, but I'm not sure about that."

	She nodded.  "Well, if you like it, I'll keep it.  Let's get going 
with the forms."

	This consumed the rest of the evening.

                                   *****

	Maybe this is Mother's way of apologizing for doing so much 
screaming earlier, Ami thought. She won't back down, but she is trying 
to not just rant.  She slowly did the backstroke under the moonlight.

	{A gilded cage is still a cage,} Athena said.  {If thou wishes 
anything in thine life beyond studying, thou willst have to break out of 
this.}

	[It's just for a little while until Mom will listen to reason.]

	{Dost thee really thinkst she'll listen to reason?  She's calm 
now, why dost thou not go to ask her?}

	Ami reached one end of the pool and turned, continuing to 
backstroke the other direction.  

	{As I thought.  And what of thine lover?  Dost thou not miss him?}

	[I miss him a lot!]  Ami's body ran on autopilot from long 
practice, while she argued with Athena, her legs slowly speeding up 
their kicks.  [But I can't see him until I get Mother to back down.]

	{Which will happen when hell freezes over.}

	[I can't afford to believe that!  She's already calmed down a 
lot.]

	{Because thou dost not defy her.  If thou didst, her claws would 
be unsheathed again.  The victor can well afford mercy to the 
vanquished, so long as the loser knows his place.}  Athena's voice was 
sharp, but then it softened.  {I miss him too.}

	[I'm going to go crazy if I don't get my...if I don't figure out 
how to focus on my studies,] Ami said.

	She pushed off the far end, and switched to the breaststroke, her 
body moving fluidly.  She'd mastered swimming long ago, and it soothed 
her.  Already, she felt better.  

	{Thou art so far ahead it's pointless to do more work and thou 
knowest it.  All work and no play makes people snap.  And thou hast not 
had any real play except for swimming all week.}

	[It's pathetic!  I've hardly been here a few days, and I already 
can't focus!]  Ami said.

	{That's because thou wast learning to not have to study all the 
time to keep from going mad with loneliness.  Thou didst not need slave 
away to forget that you spent most of your time alone when not in 
school.  But now, thou hast lost thy friends, thy purpose, and thy love.  
Well, not lost thy love, but a love from afar is thin food for the 
soul.}

	Ami felt the temptation to get out of the pool, wait for her 
mother to go to bed, then teleport to Ryo's room to see him.  She shook 
it off.  Too risky of discovery, especially since his roommate would 
probably be home.

	{Of course, if thou thinkest today is bad, tomorrow will be worse.  
No school means an entire day of studying thou dost not need.  No Sailor 
training with Haruka.  No gaming with your friends.  And even if a 
crisis arises, they cannot call on you.}

	[Shut up!  Just shut up!  I don't need you harping on everything 
I'm missing!]  Ami scowled and tried to blank out Athena as she pushed 
off the wall and went for another lap.

	Athena was silent the next fifteen laps, leaving Ami to stew in 
her own frustration.  The rest of the night didn't go much better.

                                   *****

	The next morning, Ami finished off another batch of translations.  
So much for that English reader, she thought, laying it aside and 
stacking the translations in the English folder.  They wouldn't actually 
be due for weeks, but it was easy to predict the assignments of her not 
very skillful or original English teacher.  

	It was almost time for lunch, and her mother was gone until around 
eight tonight.  For the first time since coming home, she could do 
anything she wanted without her mother checking up on her, as long as 
she got as much work done by the end of the day as her mother expected.  
She'd worked feverishly all morning to get that much work done.

	And then, as she ate lunch, it struck her that there really wasn't 
anything to do with her free time.  Not that didn't risk her mother 
finding out and require her to lie to her, if she didn't want to get 
punished for doing it.  I should go shopping for some fiction, Ami 
thought.  I'm sure Mother won't get mad at me if I find something nice 
to read in my spare time.  If I get to have any.

	She changed into her blue sundress, got her hat, and headed out to 
catch the bus and go down to the shopping district.

	Her favorite bookstore called itself 'The Library of Alexandria'. 
It was pretentious, but always had a lot of interesting old books.  She 
lost herself in browsing for an hour, and sipping the coffee that they 
had there.  I haven't been here in forever, s