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Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, the Sailor Senshi, and all terms associated with the series are copyrighted and owned by Naoko Takeughi, their creator. The new Star Senshi, villains, and all other characters not known to the original Sailor Moon series are characters of my own creation and is under Kohaku Fujin’s copyright.Chapter 1: De-aima su (Encounter)
By: Kohaku Fujin
A few days later (and quite a few centuries earlier)...
"I’m so late!" Usagi wailed as she stumbled out her front door, waving goodbye to her mother and shoving a piece of toast into her gaping mouth. Licking off the last traces of toast crumbs from her fingers she ran down the street towards her school. Dodging other people, she skidded around a corner and slammed straight into someone’s back. Both girls tumbled forward, but by some unknown force the other girl didn’t hit the pavement, save but one knee while Usagi went face first to the hard ground. The girl stood up and brushed off the grit from her scraped knee. Turning, she lended a hand down to Usagi to help her up. Usagi, childish as ever, was wailing loudly about her bruised body and did not see the hand in front of her face.
"That couldn’t have hurt that bad," the girl replied in amusement. Usagi quickly stopped her piteous wailing and grabbed the girls proffered hand that she now saw. The girl pulled Usagi up swiftly and just as quickly let go of Usagi’s loose grip. Usagi stared at the girl, still sniffling. The girl was a few inches taller than she, perhaps around 5’6". She had emerald green eyes with tiny silver flecks surrounding the outer edges. Her golden blonde hair was pulled back in an intricate braid, but a few wisps had managed to escape their confinement to frame a rather pretty face. She had on a polite smile, but had one delicate eyebrow arched in silent query. Usagi realized she was staring at her and blushed deeply.
"I apologize. I should have watched where I was going," Usagi sputtered in embarrassment.
"It’s alright. I should have heard you coming, but I seem to be hopelessly lost. Are you heading towards Jubaan High?" Usagi couldn’t understand why the girl should have heard her coming, but she did happen to acknowledge the fact that the girl was wearing the same outfit as her. She had on a white sailor blouse with a huge red bow; a knee-length pleated navy blue skirt, white knee-high socks and black slip-on shoes that completed the outfit for Jubaan High’s dress code. The only difference was Usagi’s folded down socks that she wore like every other girl in the school.
"Yes, I am. Oh no," Usagi wailed, realizing that she was going to be even later. "We’re gonna be major late. Come on!" Usagi yelled, already running towards the sound of the distant school bell. The girl stared after Usagi for a few seconds with a bemused expression painted on her face before she took off after her. Catching up, she kept a firm pace with Usagi’s desperate struggles to run without tripping.
"My name is Usagi Tskunio," Usagi puffed out as they hit the school’s front grounds, just remembering to introduce herself.
"My name is Allannah... Allannah Kimeeno," Allannah gasped as they reached the front doors and swung them open. Running in opposite directions they headed for separate rooms without neither a goodbye nor a backward glance.
Allannah stared idly out the bay window while the teacher droned on about the importance of the environment’s latitude of collapsibility. She knew this tedious stuff already, but she needed to be on the school’s campus to locate the original Sailor Senshi and to do that without causing suspicion she needed to enroll in the school. She had gone through advanced calculus and physical education without having to strain a muscle or miniscule thought. She didn’t think she could take much more of this boredom. Thinking back, she had arrived a few days earlier at around midnight in what was known as Tenth Hill Park. Using the small amount of information Dayimond had sent with her and the Queen’s abundance of blurred memories, she had secured herself a small apartment near her arrival point. Obtaining proper clothing had been harder that she thought it would have been. She knew nothing of this century’s tastes and styles and had had to rely on what appealed to her own eye, hoping that it would blend in. Allannah did not fool herself into thinking her mission could be completed within the week. Just finding the original Sailor Senshi would not do. Their powers would not add up to the power Shadow Mace controlled, at least not for a few years when Queen Serenity actually took her throne. She would have to find Queen Serenity and protect her herself. Knowing this, she had purchased an abundant amount of food supplies and paid for the apartments first few months of rent. She had registered herself over the phone to Jubaan High, which had proved to be easy since they were only into their first week of the school’s first quarter. Arriving on a Friday night had helped her immensely, giving her a chance to wander the streets to orientate herself in her surroundings. This century’s land was completely different from her home; nothing looked the same to her.
There were no attacks over the weekend, which seemed odd to Allannah since she knew Shadow Mace never wasted time; his attacks were always swift and immediate. Perhaps her Queen had sent her to the past a few days before his arrival to give her a chance to locate Queen Serenity... or rather Princess Serenity. The teacher’s ruler rapping on the blackboard cut her musings short. Realizing she was missing out on the homework assignment for the night she quickly pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and strained to keep proper attention for the last detailed directions.
The lunch bell rang and Allannah wearily gathered her books and followed the other chatting students outside to the lunch area. Realizing she had no lunch of her own with her, did not make her irritable mood any better than it already was. Oh how she wished a monster would show up right then and there just to give her some excitement. Heading for a shaded tree, she sat down and proceeded to start her search for the Sailor Senshi. It was not long before her search was interrupted by a high-pitched mewl.
"Allannah, Usagi cried accusingly, startling the young girl. "I didn’t realize you were new or I would have helped you find the office." Usagi plopped down beside her.
"How did you know I was new?" Allannah asked.
"Huh? Oh. There’s a report out on you already, but there’s not much information on it because you haven’t talked to anyone all day." Usagi stated imperiously as if all the schools had much the same system and that Allannah should be well aware of this fact. Allannah blinked at Usagi in bewilderment.
"Report?" Allannah was definitely confused now.
"Yeah. Whenever a new student shows up at Jubaan High, our school nerd, Umino, gets all the past and present dirt on them."
"Oh." Allannah sounded slightly flustered as she brushed back a wisp of her blonde hair. Usagi scanned the crowd, pointing out Umino when she spotted him near his girlfriend, Naru. Allannah decided it would be in her best interest to stay clear of him. She didn’t need anyone nosing around herself or her business and she couldn’t afford for anyone to find out that her story wasn’t legit. She had always been straightforward when it had come to the Queen’s missions and had never had to lie to anyone about her identity. It was making her quite uncomfortable to have to create a whole strategy founded on untruths and besides the fact that this approach was totally foreign to her. Perhaps she could use this character to her gain. If he could identify the princess for her without her having to give him some background information on her and not specifically give him any clues to what she wanted out of the princess... she pondered this new idea. Shaking her head, she knew this was a mistake. This little human male could not possibly know the princess... that was for sure.
"Ami, Mako," Usagi yelled excitedly, waving her thin arms wildly. Allannah noticed two girls depart from the stream of students and head towards Usagi and her. One girl was extremely tall for a female, with auburn brown hair tied up in a ponytail, not quite aligned perfectly. She had forest green eyes; pink rose earrings, and was wearing a dull brown school uniform. It was quite obvious that the normal school uniform would not fit her tall frame. The other girl walking beside her was quite a bit shorter, more near Usagi’s height. She had short blue hair cut in a boyish style, and had deep blue eyes with a serious manner about them. Her reading glasses were rather large for her face but they seemed to fit well and she was wearing the standard uniform. Allannah inhaled a quick gasp before it cleared her throat, turning back to give Usagi a real long look this time. Sure enough, Usagi had long blonde hair pulled up into two round odangos. She had royal sky blue eyes with a warm, trusting look to their depth. Allannah almost smacked herself for her stupidity and blindness. Here were three of the original Sailor Senshi, practically within arm’s reach and she hadn’t even noticed.
"Allannah I would like you to meet two of my closest friends, Ami and Mako. Ami, Mako, I would like you to meet my new friend Allannah."
Usagi introduced with a bright smile upon her pink lips. Allannah gave a polite nod and a whispered hello to the girls as her brain ticked away. She had been so preoccupied earlier that day that when Usagi had run her down she hadn’t even paid attention to her name or her looks as she had introduced herself. Now that three of the original Sailor Senshi had miraculously placed themselves in front of her, it made her job easier. She would have to do a better job though of staying alert in the future, what if Shadow Mace had appeared? She might be dead right now, her mission gone uncompleted.
"Allannah?" Usagi asked nervously.
"Huh?" Allannah snapped out of her self-scolding to realize she had been staring at Mako the entire time. She dropped her eyes to her lap and pinkend slightly. "I... I do apologize. You look vaguely familiar to me. Forgive me, it’s impolite to stare. Please, join us." Mako smiled and made a waving motion with her hand as if to excuse the whole uncomfortable scene. She sat down in front of Allannah and proceeded to unpack her lunch. Ami sat down beside Usagi and pulled forth an English text from her bag, she opened to a marked page and began to silently read, her lunch already consumed. Usagi nearly drooled as her eyes caught Mako’s exposed lunch, forgetting her own pink wrapped food. Allannah inhaled the delicious scent of Mako’s curried rice, oatmeal muffins and other unidentifiable aromatic delicacies, her stomach growled ominously. All three girls looked at Allannah in surprise.
"Where’s your lunch?" All three said simultaneously.
"I... I forgot to pack it this morning. I was so worried about my first day here." Ami put her nose back into her book, while Mako and Usagi both grinned at her.
"That’s easily fixed. Have some of mine, I always make more than enough for two since Usagi usually forgets hers. But I see that she has hers today so you can share mine." Mako graciously offered. Usagi pouted at the thought of not eating some of Mako’s home cooking but she smiled and nodded.
"Thank you Mako," Allannah smiled as she accepted the proffered muffin. The next few minutes were spent in silence while the small group polished off their packed lunches.
Leaning back, fully sated, Allannah closed her eyes until they were just tiny slits and watched the three girls in silent observation. How to approach the subject of herself being from another time and if they were the original Sailor Senshi she was searching for? It was quite possible that these girls were in fact the wrong ones and she was just jumping to conclusions. It would be a huge mistake to just blurt out the truth, whether they were the ones she was looking for or not. There could be many females at this school that fit the vague descriptions her Queen had given her. She needed to see them transform. But how? If she was around when Shadow Mace attacked them she would have her answer soon enough, but that would be risky, putting the Senshi and the princess (if she were present) in immediate danger. She could attack them herself, but she didn’t think that would be a great way of introducing herself, it would make them suspicious and leery of her in the end. She could feel no high power surge coming from anyone of the girls, but that didn’t matter since in her regular human form she didn’t have a significant power level emitting from herself either. Only in a highly agitated state would she be able to perceive any power fluctuations in the girls, whether it be fury or grief. She could not wait for either of these to occur, she would just have to find a way to manipulate the girls into transforming. The schools annoying bell once again interrupted her distressing thoughts. Pushing herself up from her shaded spot she dusted off her backside, but did not leave the girls, hoping for a clue to their real nature.
"Usagi don’t forget to meet us in the park this time, okay?" Ami finally spoke up, her nose now out of her textbook.
Usagi nodded her head gravely, rolling her eyes. Turning to Allannah, her eyes glimmered with a new idea. "Why don’t you join us, Allannah. That way we can get to know each other better," Usagi asked with a hopeful smile.
"Sure. I would love to spend some time with you guys. I’ll meet you there, I’d like to go home and change first," Allannah returned, thrilled with her good fortune. It would be much easier to hang around with them, then trying to follow them without being detected. All four girls grinned and walked their separate ways back to their classes, all with different ideas about how the end of the day would be.
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