Previous Chapter

Life is good, Tenshi thought, closing her eyes. Especially when the sun is shining, school is over for the day, and you're walking around with the boy you like...

"Hey Tenshi," the boy said to her, "If any one of the characters from Dragonball went up against Sailormoon, who do you think would win?"

And that is the boy I like. Tenshi opened her eyes. The two of them were about to part to walk home their own ways, but of course they at least walked down to the school gates together.

"Nari, how on earth am I supposed to know that?" Tenshi asked.

"I just wanted your opinion," Nari half-shrugged.

"Well, we all know the answer to that," Tenshi replied.

"And that is?"

"Well Sailormoon, of course!" Tenshi said. "Can you actually envision any one of those manly men winning against The Messiah?"

"Um, yeah..."

"What?!? You're out of your mind!"

"Well there's one person here who's out of their mind, but it's not me!" Nari snapped back.

"Hmph." was Tenshi's only reply.

For a moment they walked in silence. Suddenly, screams were heard, originating from the other side of the school campus. Tenshi turned suddenly. "What on earth?" A crowd of people were running away from the other side of the school, and major property damage was following them.

"This doesn't look good at all..." Nari commented.

"Pssst!" Something hissed at Tenshi from the ground. Looking down, she saw her cat, Estelle.

"Huh? Estelle? What are you doing here??" Tenshi demanded. Estelle ran off a bit, and then seemed to be making motions to Tenshi for her to follow.

"You know, your cat strikes me as acting awfully weird..." Nari remarked.

"You be quiet!" Tenshi followed Estelle at top speed, leaving Nari to watch the scene of massive property damage continue.

The cause of it, he saw, was a large, rather gooey looking, monster-blob- thing. Most of the people outside the school had cleared out, and that goodness thay had because it was tossing projectiles everywhere and making a wreck out of everything that moved. As Nari watched, it found another moving thing: a small kitten. It moved surprisingly fast for it's size, and in the blink of an eye it had moved to the kitten and had it trapped against the wall. The monster raised an "arm" and was getting ready to send the poor kitten to the big kitty litter box in the sky. Nari discovered that we was acting on instinct as he ran, dove for the kitten, and snatched it out of the way of the monster's attack. For a few seconds, he felt a burning sensation on his forehead, but he decided it was nothing and in a few seconds it passed. The few brave people watching from outside the school gates clapped and Nari turned beet red in embarrassment.

The monster was momentarily displeased at losing it's prey, but then it saw Nari, another moving thing to kill! It turned and prepared to cause a couple more injuries. Nari held the young cat out in front of him at arm's length.

"Great," he looked at it. "I save you and I get my butt kicked."

The kitten did something Nari wasn't expecting then. "Well then, thank you for saving me."

Nari dropped the kitten out of surprise, and it ran off. Just then the monster shot at Nari, who scrunched his eyes shut and welcomed fate. There was a sudden explosion, and Nari, upon not feeling himself blasted way way out into oblivion, opened his eyes. Standing not too far off was a Sailor Senshi he'd seen on the news once or twice.

"How dare you attack innocent people at the end of the school day!" She shouted at the monster. "People need to go home and rest, not get any of this from you! I won't forgive you! The soldier of music, I am Sailor Constellation, and in the name of the stars' connections, I shall punish you!" Having finished her soliloquy, she got down to business. "Celestial Musical Strike!"

She attacked the monster, and it screeched before disappearing completely. Cheers could be heard from the people outside the school. Constellation turned and did a quick pose for them before jumping to the top of the school building and disappearing. Nari watched the spot where Constellation had disappeared and shook his head."Some days are far too weird..."

-Meanwhile-

"It strikes me as being unusual that there would be an attack right after school," the girl remarked. She and two others had been watching the fight from a tree overlooking the school.

"It certainly is. But now we have what we needed to know confirmed," another girl said. She tossed a section of red hair over her shoulder.

"So Nari IS in the state we thought he was," the boy with them commented. "It must be because Hoshi is here..."

"He may be here," the redhead said, "But we're going to make sure Nari stays in his present condition. We can't have any more Celestial Senshi running around."

The other two nodded in agreement.

-And while that was happening-

"You saw what I saw, right?" Tenshi asked Estelle. They were both going to Nari's house, on the excuse that Tenshi wanted to say hi.

"I certainly did," Estelle replied.

"And who would've thought Nari would be the one!" Tenshi thought back to the fight just after school. As Nari had dived to save the kitten something had shone on his forehead. A bright green Mercury sign.

"I think that cat he saved was Hoshi himself, so we'll only need to help calm Nari down and fill him in other details that Hoshi doesn't have," Estelle said.

"All right." After a bit they came up to Nari's house. Tenshi walked up path to the door, noting the lawn that seemed to beg for mowing. She rang the doorbell, and before long Nari answered the door.

"Oh hi Tenshi," Nari said. "Um I was wondering something really interesting happened after you left with your cat..."

"I was there," she said. "I saw it."

"Oh. And then I came home and there was this cat that I saved was waiting around on my doorstep and when I got inside, it started to talk to me, and please tell me I haven't lost my marbles..."

"How many times to do I have to tell you, you haven't lost your marbles!" The cat said, rubbing against Nari's legs and looking like it was having a lot of fun getting cat hair on him.

Nari panicked, started to run, and tripped on the cat instead. "YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN??" he yelled.

"I think I can explain..." Tenshi said, stepping inside.

-A little bit later-

"So," Tenshi said. "What are you going to do to poor Nari now? We've told him about my job as a Senshi, convinced him that you guys are talking, now what?"

"Poor Nari, my foot..." Estelle muttered.

Hoshi knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing, and the little star on his forehead glowed. Again the Mercury sign with the lightning shone on Nari's forehead, momentarily, and then in front of Nari an amulet and a communication device (which looked suspiciously like an ordinary pager) appeared.

Nari, however hadn't been paying attention, and he was muttering, "Talking cats, weird memories, Sailor Constellation is really Tenshi---Tenshi, of all the people!---what next?" He looked up and saw the amulet and his eyes widened. "What is that?" he asked.

"This is your amulet, Nari," Hoshi said. "And a communication device as well, you might need to buzz Tenshi sometime because of C-Senshi business."

Tenshi held hers up and did a ridiculous Vanna White impression, showing off her own light purple communication device.

"That's nice," Nari said quickly.

"But there's more! If the occasion at which you find the need to use the amulet arises--"

"In ENGLISH, Hoshi..." said Tenshi, dryly.

"But---well...OK...if you get into trouble with the Neo-Negaverse or something hold it and shout or yell or yelp or scream or hoot or---"

"CUT TO THE CHASE!!!" Tenshi shouted. Nari and Estelle developed sweat drops.

"---or hoot, 'Second Mercury, Make Up! On doing this, you will be transformed into a warrior for justice and...you'll have to work with Tenshi to defeat the bad guy."

"I have to transform just like one of the Sailor Senshi?! And I have to work with Tenshi??"

"Is there something wrong with that?" Tenshi asked in an icy tone.

"Ahhh...no, nothing at all...really, do I have to transform like the Sailor Senshi?"

"That bothers you?" Estelle asks.

"The Sailor Senshi were---are---girls. I'm a boy," Nari said bluntly. "And this isn't going to be a Sailor Starlights thing, is it?"

Tenshi fell out of her chair at the thought of Nari as a girl.

Estelle gave her a look. "Noo...it isn't that kind of thing...Nari, the transformation with the amulet is drastically different from Tenshi's transformation."

"Yeah, well drastic or not, Tenshi can NOT see my---"

"NARI!" Hoshi yelled.

Tenshi fell out of her chair again. "Excuse me..." she said.

"Hmmm..." Nari said, examining the amulet closely. It was green, with the sign of Mercury on the front surrounded by electricity. When he happened to turn the amulet a bit, the lightning appeared to be playing around the Mercury sign. Nari's curiosity at what transforming was like was mounting, and in a moment he was holding up the amulet.

"Second Mercury, Make---" Just then there someone else entered Nari's house.

"Nari! I'm home!"

Tenshi barely had time to ask Nari who it was. Nari has just shoved the amulet and the communication device into his pocket quickly when the person had shown up in the living room, where Estelle, Tenshi, Hoshi, and Nari were.

"Oh, hi, Rowen," Nari said.

"Hello Nari...and Tenshi," Rowen said, saying Tenshi's name almost coldly.

"Oh, um Hi Rowen, I was just stopping here to...say hi...because there was this big monster thing at school today," Tenshi's voice died under Rowen's stare. That creepy look again, Tenshi thought, his eyes are so weird and cold...

"I think my family and I would rather not have you come here anymore," Rowen said, his voice still icy. "If you don't mind, could you leave...right now?" Although Rowen's words said he was suggesting, his tone of voice was an order.

"What? Rowen, you can't just throw her out!" Nari started to protest.

"That's all right, Nari, I, um, had to get going anyway," Tenshi said, glancing nervously between Rowen and Nari. She picked up her backpack and walked to the front door, Estelle and Nari following, Hoshi already on Nari's shoulder.

"Maybe you can come again tomorrow?" Nari said, awkwardly.

"We'll see each other at school I guess..." Tenshi said. "Well... bye!" she turned and ran down Nari's front walk and then to her house.

As Nari watched her go, he became aware that Rowen was watching him. "You can't do stuff like that, Rowen," Nari said. "Tenshi wasn't doing anything wrong, and you just threw her out like that!"

"I can, Nari, and I just did."

"But..." Nari gave a little sigh. "It was nice having her over," he muttered.

"Tenshi..." Estelle said hesitantly.

"What?"

"About Rowen..."

"What ABOUT Rowen??" Tenshi yelled. "Him and his freeze-a-nuclear-meltdown- at-50-paces LOOK! How DARE he just throw me out!" She let herself rant and rave for another forty seconds while Estelle "listened" patiently.

Finally after Tenshi had calmed down, Estelle started again. "I think it would be best for you to avoid Rowen if at all possible," she said. "He looks like bad news...I wouldn't wonder if he was from the Negaverse."

"Ohhhhh whatEVER made you say THAT?" Tenshi snapped sarcastically. "He's such a half-witted, idiotic, acerebral, half-witted---"

"You already said half-witted," Estelle told her matter-of factly.

"I'M NOT FINISHED YET!" Tenshi bellowed. They came upon the part of the walk home that passed through a busier part of the town. "---half-witted JERK!"

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Tenshi heard a voice coming from behind her back, "You should know better than to say such awful things about people...especially my friends."

"Go away, AKIRA," Tenshi said scornfully, without turning around.

"No, I don't think I will, not until I hear an aplogy for Rowen," Akira said coolly.

"Why should I??" Tenshi demanded.

"Because I don't think you want Rowen to know what you just said," Akira replied.

"Wha---" Tenshi thought of Rowen's Look again. "Don't you think you're laying it on a bit thick?"

"Nah...and by the way, it's thickLY, not thick, you need to work on your grammar."

"OOooooohhhhhhh!" Tenshi yelled, steaming. "I've had enough of this!! If Rowen's Look is coming, LET IT COOOOOOMMMME!"

Tenshi ran down the sidewalk in complete hysterics, Estelle following. Tenshi stopped as soon as she was around a corner and out of Akira's sight. "First Rowen and now Akira! They're trying to make me lose my mind!" Tenshi yelled.

Estelle said, "Well either way we should stay away fro---"

"WHO's driving you crazy?"

"Huh?" Tenshi glanced around and noticed Niomi and Tama up ahead on the sidewalk.

"Oh...hi Niomi, hi Tama..."

"Hi Tenshi!!!" Niomi said excitedly.

"How come you guys are here? Are you shopping or something?" Tenshi asked.

"Well, we WERE walking home," Tama said, "But Niomi spotted this bookstore here..."

"But I thought...Niomi I thought you hated reading!"

"I do!" Niomi said, pulling a face at the thought of books. "But they have one of those cafes!" Niomi whispered.

Tama sighed. "Oh, so that's why she's so interested..." Tenshi said. She looked up at the sign that showed off the name of the store to passerby. Margins...she thought, Oh yeah, that bookstore chain that has all the cafes...

"Anyway, who did you say was driving you crazy?" Tama asked again.

"Well...it's kind of a long story, wanna talk it over here?" Tenshi suggested.

"YES!" Niomi shouted.

"Niomi you don't have any cash!" Tama said. "How're you going to buy anything?"

"Five-fingered discount?" Tenshi inquired, a dangerous look on her face.

"Nope!" Niomi yanked 10 $1 bills out of her pocket.

"Where'd you get all that?" Tama demanded.

"Saved it, how else?"

"I don't know..."

"Well then let's go in!" Tenshi and Tama were pulled into the store by [AIN: the phenomenon known as the] Niomi [Vacuum! Hee hee hee]. Niomi made a beeline for the cafe, while Tama headed for a section of books on astronomy. Tenshi started to look for a section with books on music, and Estelle started looking around the bookstore, apparently unnonoticed by the other people there. A few minutes later, Estelle was at the back of bookstore and wandering around, looking for a book or two on pets to get Tenshi to be nicer, when she noticed an especially large section with no sign on top of the bookshelves there to mark it. And a lot of people were hanging around there, too. All of them looked amazingly absorbed in their reading, so Estelle became interested in what they were reading about. She leapt up onto a shelf and took a look at the titles. Every title had the words "Neo-Negaverse" in them. Estelle dashed back to Tenshi. She had plunked herself down in one of those nice chairs that bookstores have to sit in while you browse and was blissfully reading. She leaped onto Tenshi's head.

Tenshi jumped about a foot in the air, "Hey! What was that for?"

"There's something seriously wrong with this bookstore!"

"What, there's no books? Oh no wait I'm reading one..."

"Just follow me!" Estelle jumped down to the floor.

"But I don't wanna! I wanna keep reading!"

"It's nice to see that you're reading, but this is IMPORTANT!"

"Fine, fine..." Tenshi muttered. She got up and followed Estelle to the back of the bookstore where there were no signs on the bookshelves.

"Now, look at the titles of these books," Estelle instructed. Tenshi took a look.

"They all have 'Neo-Negaverse' in them! What's going on here??"

"I don't know but I think this might be Celestial Business!"

"Oh that again...fine, fine," Tenshi said. She started making for the bathrooms to call Nari and to transform. On the way she happened to bump into Tama. She was with Niomi and there were both reading and looking very interested in their books---really, really, really, really interested.

Tama almost dropped her book, with "Neo-Negaverse" also on the cover, from being startled by Tenshi. "Hey, watch where you're going, Tenshi!" Tama snapped.

"Yeah, it's really annyoing when people crash into you when you're reading!" Niomi said.

"Oh..." Tenshi stuttered. "Um...sorry...I wasn't watching, where I was going..." She edged away from them and then ran to the bathrooms.

"Tenshi, where are you going?" Estelle asked.

"To the bathrooms," she said matter-of-factly. "I hafta transform, don't I? And I have to call Nari..."

"Oh! Right..." Estelle said.

-In the bathrooms-

Tenshi went into one of the stalls and locked the door. She took out her communicator and pressed a button and a view of Nari showed up. "Hey this is cool, I never used this before did I?" Tenshi wondered aloud. "Hey, Nari! Come in Nari, this is Tenshi!" Tenshi heard his voice very clearly coming from the communicator.

"Huh what? Oh Hi Tenshi, what's up?"

"A lot..I'm at that Margins bookstore, and it's really weird...see, there's this whole section of books involving the Neo-Dark Kingdom."

"What??"

"Well...yeah...I need you to come over and give me a hand..."

"Oh no!" Nari's shoulders sagged. "You mean I gotta transform?"

"No, but do you really want me to do this all on my own???"

"Noooo...look I'll just come. OK?"

"Fine. Bye!" Tenshi's voice could be heard coming from Nari's communicator.

He turned his off, too. "Hoo boy..." Nari said.

"What is it?" Hoshi asked.

"Tenshi needs help with some thing at the Margins bookstore...I gotta go help her."

"Well, then why aren't you going now?!"

"Do I really have to?"

"YES!" Hoshi bellowed.

"Oh, fine..." Nari opened his window of his first-floor bedroom and hopped outside, Hoshi following.

"Why are we going out the window?" Hoshi wondered aloud.

"It's so Rowen doesn't see me."

"Oh, alright."

"OK, to Margins!" Nari said. Back in Nari's room, Rowen stood at the doorway, watching Nari leave with his cold blue eyes.

-At Margins-

People in the Neo-Dark Kingdom section were dropping on the floor like flies after a spraying of insecticide, due to the lack of energy [AIN: did you know I had to go ask my mom, "What's that stuff you spray that kills the buggies?" before I wrote that?]. And the culprit? A large youma standing on top of a bookshelf, beaming evilly [AIN: Sorry but none of MY monsters are trained to GRIN evilly].

It won't be long before I've harvested enough enerfy to make Beryl happy, Cirrus thought, watching the scene and close to laughing maniacally. And if Sailor Constellation shows up soon, all the easier to kill her... Invisible energy floated up to leave their owners, Niomi and Tama among them, that dropped to the floor upon its departure. And suddenly, shattering the process, there was a voice that sounded a lot like it was trying to sound enraged about something it was not.

"HEY YOU!" Sailor Constellation yelled at the monster from atop another bookshelf. As it turned, she said, "You've given books a bad name and I won't forgive you! I carry the protection of the stars' connections and I am the soldier of music! Sailor Constellation! In the name of the stars, I'll punish you!!"

"Tenshi, actually defending books! What a miracle!" Estelle chuckled as she stood on a shelf just below and behind Constellation.

"You'll punish me, huh?" The monster remarked. "We'll see about that!" It sent a blast of dark energy at her."I'm Literaria and I'LL punish YOU!" [AIN: Literaria? I'm afraid you heard me right]

Constellation lost her balance and fell off the bookshelf, another bookshelf breaking her fall as she crashed into it. "Ow...that hurt!" Constellation said, pulling herself up.

Literaria had kept it's advantage of being on top of a bookshelf, and started ripping pages out of a book, which were thrown at Constellation.

"What?? Why'd it throw---" She was cut short when she saw one of the pages' edges meet with a book that was lying on the floor. It cut right through the book. "Aaaacck! Evil paper!" She ran around dodging the book papers as they wrere thrown at her, and luckily all of them landed in walls or on the floor and not on the people that were lying unconscious on the floor. Meanwhile... Sailor Earth and two other adolescents ran up to the back door of Margins.

"Wow..." the other girl, in a Sailor Senshi outfit, said. "You were right, I think I can feel the evil here too..."

"Ooooooh, we're so proud of you," Sailor Earth said sarcastically. "I could feel that if I was 16 miles away!"

"Well, well, oh whatever," the other girl said.

The boy, who was wearing armor a lot like Endymion's, turned the doorknob to see if it was open. "It's locked," he said.

"Well, let's open it then!" the so-far-unnamed girl said. She kicked it down and it fell to the floor inside with a loud crack.

The boy stood there, looking as if he was in shock, but Sailor Earth said, "You know, you didn't have to do that..."

"Why not? There was no other way in..."

Earth held up a key. "This is the key to that door you just knocked down."

"Huh?"

"I rest my case..." Sailor Earth and the other two ran in.

- Inside-

Sailor Constellation was having minor diffculties defeating Literaria...as a matter of fact, she was in deep trouble. "AHHHHHH!" she screamed as a barrage of book papers flew at her. They only grazed their mark, but they still left multiple scratches and cuts behind. Constellation's Sailor fuku was cut in several places, and the long bow in back had been reduced to shreds, like the one in front. "OK...I'm fed up with this!!" She attacked. "Celestial Musical..." She was cut off abruptly by a shout not too far away.

"Hold it Constellation!"

"Now what?!? How many times do I have to be interrupted today?!" she demanded, turning around. She looked ready to start holding her staff like a baseball bat and slamming it into a bookcase. She saw standing around the bookstore, three Senshi, and she only recognized one: Sailor Earth. She was standing on a bookshelf behind the monster but facing Constellation.

"I think that it's perfectly obvious what we want you to do. Don't attack the monster!"

"Well how else am I going to get rid of it?!?"

"You won't!"

"Wanna bet? Celestial Musical Str---" Constellation was cut off even more sharply this time as a wall of fire slammed into her, causing first- and second- degree burns. She fell to the floor unconscious.

"Now..." Sailor Earth said. still atop her bookshelf. She jumped down, kicking Literaria flat on it's face. The boy sent more fire at the monster from an amulet not unlike Nari's, making the monster significantly weaker.

"I guess you're going to start interrogating it, huh?" the so far unknown girl commented.

"What a very astute observation Sailor Rainbow," Sailor Earth said sarcastically. She drew her sword out of her subspace pocket and pointed it at Literaria's neck. "Now listen very carefully, Dark trash," Sailor Earth said in a smooth and very dangerous-sounding tone. "We want to know what you know about the Star Diamond Crystal."

"Going to tell us or what?" Sailor Rainbow said when it hesitated. Sailor Earth pressed the sword to the monster's neck just enough to cause bright, bright green drops of blood to fall from it's neck. Literaria, which had almost been a trance of fear, leapt at the armored boy who was with Sailor Earth and Rainbow and slammed him into the floor. "Rainbow Ballet!" Sailor Rainbow used a black and pink wand with silver ribbons that swirled above her head. A mysterious pink energy came from them and was absorbed by the monster. [AIN: ::Sailor Rainbow hits author over the head with her wand:: ENOUGH WITH THE JAPANESE-TYPE DESCRIPTION! I'M SO SICK OF "MYSTERIOUS!"] This took a lot out of the monster, throwing it into a corner where it was at a complete disadvantage.

Sailor Earth leapt into the air, changed her sword to it's staff form in midair, then landed right in front of the monster. The end of her staff began to glow with energy as Earth got ready to attack. "You've got one more chance to tell us and die quickly," she said.

Literaria babbled frantically, "I really don't know, I don't know SQUAT! REALLY!" Sailor Earth simply moved the glowing end of the staff closer to the monster's forehead. "OK, um, Queen Beryl's looking for it and..."

"And tell me something I don't know."

"AAH....ACK! And...it's supposed to be the most pristine music of soul, in somebody's soul, I don't know who!"

"This reminds of something that happened to the Planet Senshi a few years back..." Rainbow commented.

Earth ignored her and asked, "Then why is Neo Queen Beryl trying to get people's energy?"

"I DON'T KN---oh!"

"Tell me!"

"AHHH! I REALLY DON'T KNOW!!!"

"Fine then..." Sailor Earth muttered. "Earth Star Magic!" She unleshed a burst of energy at Literaria. It was destroyed.

"I guess we're done," the armored boy. "Yeah," Sailor Earth said.

"Well then let's get out of here!!" Sailor Rainbow said. With that, the three of them deserted the place, leaving Sailor Constellation, still unconscious; Nari, transformed; and Hoshi watching them leave.

"The most pristine music of the soul, huh?" Nari said to himself. "This is just the most fascinating job I've ever had..."

"This is the ONLY job you've ever done and there's no telling if you'll finish it!" Hoshi remarked. Hoshi ended up being placed on top of a very tall bookshelf from which he couldn't jump down. At this point, Constellation came up beside Nari and looked up at Hoshi.

"That's a convenient place for him...oh, that reminds me!" she lifted up her arm and smacked Nari upside the head before he could answer.

"OW! What was that for?" Nari yelled.

"THAT just now, was for not showing up when I was getting my butt kicked across the bookstore..." Constellation tossed a book at him while he hid behind a bookshelf. "And THAT was for not interrupting them so that I'd at least have some revenge on them!!!!"

"But---but..."

Constellation ran after him with an unabridged encyclopedia in hand, "I'M NOT FINISHED YET!"

Nari poked his head out from behind a knocked-over chair and came very close to getting that encyclopedia in his face. "Well maybe you were having your FAINTING SPELL," Nari barked, "But I found out all about what the Dark Kingdom is after and those other Senshi! You know, Sailor Rainbow and that boy?"

"You mean the Senshi that were with Sailor Earth?" Constellation lowered her dictionary.

Nari left his cowering place completely. "I think that's who they were."

"Well then, Nari, good work!!" Sailor Constellation said. Nari developed a large sweat drop on his head.

"HEY!!!" Hoshi yelled from his bookshelf perch. "CAN SOMEONE HELP ME GET DOWN ALREADY?!?"

"Do you have a loudspeaker embedded in your throat or something?" Constellation remarked as she climbed up a bookshelf to let Hoshi climb on her shoulder. In this way she climbed down and Hoshi jumped off when she reached the floor.

"So," Nari started. "What are we going to do about all of these people? They're going to need help."

"Well...their energy probably returned to them, so we can just make a dramatic exit."

"I don't think I want to know what dramatic exit is..."

"Well...um..." Tenshi seemed to be looking around at the upper walls of the trashed bookstore. "There!" She pointed to a large, relatively high-up window that had been broken during the fight. "We can just jump up there and be silhouettes that disappear when thay all start coming to!!"

Nari developed a large sweat drop. "You're kidding right?"

"That what Sailor V and Sailor Moon do when they have to leave! OK?" she didn't give Nari a chance to answer, because she had already jumped up to the window. Nari followed with no complaint except for a sigh as several people began to stir. These people included Niomi and Tama.

"What happened..." Tama wondered, as she picked herself up. She happened to look up and saw two silhouettes in the window, one with a long cape that blew in the wind and another wearing what looked like a Sailor fuku. Meanwhile, Nari and Tenshi jumped down to the alleayway below, exchanging smiles.

-Tenshi's house, later on-

"I'm home!" Tenshi yelled as she slammed the door of her house. Her mother came rushing downstairs.

"Where were you, Tenshi-chan? Your father and I were so worried about you!"

Tenshi looked at her watch. "Oh...wow...it's after 7?"

"Of course it is! Where were you?? And what are those burn marks?!?" Tenshi developed a sweatdrop.

"Um...I can't really answer eaither of those questions, Mom..."

"Well," her mother frowned at her. "I'm not going to ground you, because of those burns---" Tenshi breathed a sigh of relief "---but really, where did those come from?"

"I guess it must have been one of those youma attacks that have been happening lately around town...um, well, I gotta go change out of my uniform, see ya!" With that Tenshi ran up the stairs to her room.

Mrs. Hoshino watched after her frowning. 'It's so strange, how Tenshi has changed these days. Something's happening that I don't know about...but what?'

Next Chapter