Serena opened her eyes as she slowly came out of her trance. She turned her head and saw that she was lying in her new room. The information from Ginzuishou had entered her mind at a more leisurely pace this time-it was dark outside, so a few hours at least had passed.
She nearly jumped as she heard a soft snore. Ron was sitting in a chair he'd pulled up to the side of the bed. His head had fallen back, his arms were folded across his chest, and he was sound asleep. The digital clock on the bed stand next to him told her it was after midnight. She knew Ron had to work the early shift tomorrow, so she got out of bed and gently shook him. He awoke with a start.
"Wha...?" He nearly fell out of the chair.
"Ron, it's after midnight. I'm fine, but you should go to bed."
Ron blinked blearily a few more times, until his surroundings began to make sense to him. "Serena! Are you all right? Have you remembered anything?"
"I haven't remembered anything important. I'm fine, I'll tell you about it tomorrow, but you volunteered to work early tomorrow, remember?"
"Oh, yeah. I really ought to go to bed. You're sure you're okay, Serena?"
She smiled. He was so nice! "I'm sure. You'll get home early tomorrow afternoon-we'll have the rest of the day to talk. I promise."
"Hmmm...okay, then. Good night." He shuffled off to his room.
Serena sat down on her bed and clung tightly to the big stuffed bunny Ron had bought her when she'd gotten out of the hospital. She loved bunnies, for some reason. She resolved to stay up and think her way through what she'd found out from Ginzuishou. Tomorrow was Saturday, so she could sleep in.
*****
The doorbell rang. Raye looked up in annoyance. Father was out at one of his abysmally boring diplomatic parties. She was still young enough so that the older people cooed over how much she'd grown, and the younger men thought she looked old enough that they could make idiots out of themselves over her. It was definitely an awkward situation. And since she and Father didn't get along anyway, she just refused to go to the functions he got invited to. It was also late enough that all the help had gone home. So she had to get up and answer the door. She put her homework down and walked down the long corridor to the front door. Before she opened it, she looked through the peephole, and saw the back of someone's head. Whoever it was had blue-black hair that reminded her of Ami, but this person's hair went past her shoulders. Ami had always kept her hair short...Raye turned the deadbolt and jerked open the door.
"Yes?" she demanded.
"Rei-chan! I guessed right! It's really you!" The person threw her arms around Raye's shoulders and hugged her tight. Raye recognized the voice, as well as the familiar Japanese.
"A-Ami! Ami-chan! What are you doing in the U.S.? How did you find me here?" Ami stepped back.
"I've changed my name to Amy-I've been living here for about a year and a half now. And I really want to talk to you about how I found you."
"You'd never have found her without me, Amy. At least give credit where it is due." Luna's sparkling eyes belied the caustic tone of her voice.
"Luna!" Raye scooped her up eagerly. "Luna! How did you get here? Why aren't you with the Tsukinos?"
"You couldn't really expect me to stay with people that I'd never be able to talk to, could you? I've been living with Amy for quite a while, now."
"Gomen, I never thought of you, when Usagi-" Everyone stood silent for a moment, then Ami spoke up to break the awkward silence.
"Rei-chan, is this really your house? I mean. . .it's a mansion!"
Raye nodded. "The Japanese Embassy pays for it. My father is the top assistant to the Japanese Ambassador. Dad's position is relatively permanent, while the Ambassadors come and go with each election."
"I knew your father was a politician, but I never expected..." Ami craned her neck to take in the high ceilings and staircases in the foyer. Raye's eyes darkened with memory as she went back to the first time she ever saw this house. She'd thought it was magnificent too, but that hadn't made up for her misery...
*****
"Rei, why are you avoiding Ami?" Her grandfather wouldn't let her avoid this conversation. She'd been avoiding it for a week, but Grandpa had gotten her into a corner, and was forcing the issue. She'd been avoiding a lot of things, recently. "None of your little friends come over anymore, and you've been immersed completely in school and the shrine. I don't mind you getting involved in the shrine because you love it Rei, but I feel that you're here because you're running from something else, and not because you're happy to be here."
Rei's grandfather might be frivolous about some things, but he could be terribly perceptive when he wanted to be. She sighed. He'd get it out of her eventually. She might as well just tell him. "I-it's because Usagi's" <dead!> "disappeared, Grandpa. I don't want to see Ami or Minako anymore because-they remind me too much of her. At first I thought that is was just temporary, but after that one night when gang members attacked the shrine, I just can't stand the thought of seeing them anymore-at least until the pain has lessened a bit." <I just don't want to talk about what's happened to Mako-or what may happen to us. Usagi's death is a cancer that's killing all of us, and I don't want to watch the others be eaten up by it. I don't want them to see how it's eating me, either.> She hunched her shoulders in the loose sleeves of her robe, waiting for her grandfather's response.
"I know that this has been especially hard on you Rei. You haven't been the same since your friend disappeared. But life is about losing people, Rei. I lost your grandmother, and your mother. I still grieve for both of them, Rei, but I'm still alive-I'm still making new friends, new acquaintances, and I'm still losing them. You've got to come out of this shell, granddaughter." He took her hand and looked intently into her eyes. "I don't like seeing you do this to yourself, Rei. You're shutting everyone out, including Yuuichiro and I."
Rei didn't want to hear anymore. Her grandfather didn't understand what Usagi had meant to her. He couldn't understand, because she couldn't tell him everything. She tore herself away from his sympathetic eyes and helping hand. "You don't understand! You don't understand me, and you don't understand Usagi! And you never will!" Her tirade ended in a forlorn shriek as she ran through the shrine grounds, to a remote part of the garden. She climbed up into a blossoming cherry tree, ignoring the scratches she got on her legs and the tears she ripped in her clothes as she climbed. Finally, securely hidden in the pink blossoms, with their mesmerizing scent tingling in her nostrils, Rei sat down on a thick limb, and wept.
*****
Rei looked up at the sky through the soft blossoms of the cherry tree. "Ah! Look at the time! The sun's about ready to set! I have to get supper ready!" She scrambled down out of the tree and dashed to the house. She hurriedly changed into something more suitable for cooking, and splashed cold water on her face in an attempt to get rid of her red eyes and the tear streaks running down her face. She then went to the kitchen, and stood there, surprised. She'd expected to find Grandpa impatiently beginning dinner, or Yuuichiro making a small disaster area of the kitchen in an attempt to turn out something edible. Instead, everything was silent. She'd better go find them, wherever they were. First she checked Grandpa's room, but he wasn't there. As she passed Yuuichiro's room she saw that he'd left a note on the door. He was out eating with some friends, and wouldn't be back until late. So, now she just had to find Grandpa.
She walked through the house, but didn't find a sign of him anywhere. She was starting to get really annoyed. He already knew she was in a bad mood, so why was he playing hide and seek like this? She was fuming fifteen minutes later when she'd walked through the grounds, calling for him, and didn't receive a response. Where was he?
Finally she walked into the shrine. Maybe he was meditating, and lost track of the time. She opened the door, and finally saw him, kneeling on the floor with his head to the ground.
"There you are!" she exclaimed angrily. He didn't turn around or respond at all. "Couldn't you hear me? I was calling for you. I'm going to start supper now. Are you coming?" Still nothing. Finally, all her patience gone, she stomped up to him. "WELL?" He answered her with silence. She knelt by his side with a disgusted snort. "I don't really think the game of yours is very funny, Grandpa. You sure have a strange sense of humor sometimes." She reached over and pulled him upright. Something fell out of one of his hands. She glanced at it-a picture of her mom and grandma together, when her mom was about her age. She felt bad. "I'm sorry I yelled at you Grandpa." She chuckled softly, more out of embarrassment than good humor. I haven't been very easy to live with lately, have I?" When he didn't say anything, she looked at him. His face was very pale, and his eyes were closed. "Grandpa? Is something wrong?" She reached out and touched his face. It was cold and stiff.
<NO!>
"Noooooooooooooo! Grandpa!" She desperately shook his limp body. "Grandpa! You can't leave me too!"
<NO! USAGI! GRANDFATHER! NO!>
*****
By the time Yuuichiro got back to the shrine she had stopped crying. She just stared off into space and answered any questions the police asked her with monosyllables. Grandpa was dead. Now what? Who would run the shrine? She was too young to keep it up. Where would she go? Whoever took over here wouldn't be able to let her stay. Her eyes widened. She'd have to go live with her father. She barely knew him, just received presents and cards on her birthday. He was much too involved with his career in politics to bother with his young daughter after his wife died.
"Rei? Rei, what's going on? Why are there police cars here? Rei? Rei!"
That voice sounded familiar. Rei blinked and looked up. "Yuuichiro. You were gone?" She thought for a second. "That's right, you went out with some friends..."
He knelt in front of her, and shook her. "Snap out of it, Rei, tell me what's going on!"
"I-I was looking for Grandpa before I cooked dinner, and I couldn't find him. I-I thought he was playing-playing one his tricks on me, and I got angry, and then I found him in the shrine. He was dead!" The dam suddenly broke loose again. "HE WAS DEAD!" She threw her arms around his chest and hugged him as close to her as she could, and sobbed. "He's dead, Yuuichiro! What's going to happen next?"
*****
"Miss? Miss? We need to contact somebody to take care of you. Do you have any relatives?" Rei was still sobbing against Yuuichiro, so he answered for her.
"She has a father, he's some sort of politician. I don't know how you could get ahold of him though. I'll ask Rei when she calms down a little."
"And who might you be sir?"
Rei finally noticed the police officer. "He works here at the shrine. He helps Grandpa run-helped Grandpa run it." She sniffled softly, regaining control.
"Rei, he needs to get ahold of your father."
"Oh. I-I know where Grandpa kept his address. Just-just a second." She got up and walked back toward the house. The officer followed, but Yuuichiro stayed behind, accosted by another officer that pulled him aside for questions. "Why are you doing that? You don't need to ask him any questions. Grandpa wasn't murdered or anything."
"No, miss, it appears natural, but there's no harm in asking questions, is there?"
"No, I guess not. My father won't be able to make it here tonight. Can I stay here overnight, please?"
"I don't see why not, miss."
Good. At least they wouldn't force her to leave quite yet. She got her father's phone number out of her grandfather's desk and handed it to the officer. "Are you going to be leaving soon? I'm very tired now."
"What? Oh, yes, we'll be out of here any minute now. You should get some rest, miss. Thank you for the information." He looked a little out of his depth, and fidgeted a little. "I'm very sorry for your loss."
Rei did nothing but nod. What was there left to say?
*****
She almost slept until noon. Every time she opened her eyes, memory crashed over her, and made her want to go back to sleep, made her want to put off facing the day a little while longer. Finally she decided she had to get up, she couldn't find reasonable excuses to stay in bed anymore. She got up and began to fix her breakfast. Yuuichiro came into the kitchen. He must have heard her rattling around. He sat down at the table.
"How're you doing, Rei?"
For a second she considered not answering. <It's not his fault all this has happened to me. He's my last friend in the world. Don't alienate him too, baka!>
"I'm-I'm going to be okay. I don't think it's all sunk in yet." She turned to him. "Have you eaten yet? I can get you something..."
He waved her off with a smile. "I ate hours ago. I guess we deal with things differently. I got up early, and started doing chores. By now I'm making up some damn silly chores to keep myself busy. This is the first time I've been up and working before you, Rei." He attempted a jocular attitude, but it fell flat.
Rei brought her bowl to the table and sat down on the floor across from Yuuichiro. "If the police got ahold of my father he'll be here as soon as he can to pick me up. I want to go out and do something before he gets here."
"I guess he really cares about you, then, huh?"
"No, but he takes his duty very seriously. That's all I am to him, a responsibility. A burden."
"Awww, he can't be that bad, Rei."
Rei didn't respond. She decided she didn't want to eat after all. Her breakfast was too tasteless. She pushed the bowl away from her. "Well, I'm definitely not like Usagi. She would've been eating like a -" Rei stopped. Even when Usagi was dead she wanted to pick a fight with her. She dropped her face into her hands. What was wrong with her? Why was it so hard for her to be forthrightly kind? Why did she have to poke and prod at those she loved? <Grandpa! Usagi! If only I'd been kinder, I wouldn't feel so horrible right now...gomen...> But that wasn't enough. And it was too late, anyway.
"I'll be back before long, Yuuichiro." She ran out of the room before he could see her cry again.
*****
Rei slowly strolled up to Ami's house. Now she was sorry she'd put Ami off for so long. She needed to talk. With a sigh she straightened her shoulders and knocked on the door. She'd already tried to get ahold of Minako, but the lady at her house said they'd moved. Rei already knew Mako was unfindable by now, so her last chance was Ami.
A stranger answered her door too. "Yes?" Rei took a surprised step back.
"Did the Mizunos move out?" She was almost resigned to the fact that they had. It seemed she really was completely alone now.
"Yes, I'm afraid so, young lady. Can I help you?"
"Um, do you know where they moved?"
"I believe they moved to the United States."
"Nani? Oh, she must have won a scholarship to go to school there..." Rei thought for a second. There was no one for her to talk to. She might as well go back to the shrine and wait for her father. "Arigato..." she mumbled as she turned to go.
*****
When Rei saw the official looking black car in front of the shrine, she knew her father had already arrived. With a resigned sigh she walked in.
"Rei! What possessed you to run around Tokyo by yourself! You should know better!"
"I'm fine, Father. I walk to school every day, and nothing's ever happened."
"Your grandfather informed me of the attack on the shrine a couple of months ago. This area just isn't safe."
Rei stayed silent. She wanted to avoid a fight right now. Instead she silently turned her back and walked into her room. Her father followed. "I hope living at the shrine hasn't corrupted you too much. You know how I feel about the backward beliefs these shrines stand for. Your grandfather was influenced by them."
"Father, please don't. He just died last night. Do you really have to start this now?"
"I just want you to understand that I won't stand for any silliness like meditating and talk about demons or spirits. Magic doesn't exist, and I don't want you spouting any of your grandfather's nonsense around me or my associates." Rei saw that he was working himself up. There was no avoiding a nasty scene. Rei hoped Yuuichiro got out before he had to hear any of this. "I work with important people, and I don't want you to reflect badly on me. I have to uphold certain standards."
That was it. "You have to uphold certain standards? You have to uphold certain standards!! You didn't have any to uphold when Mother died. You just wanted to get rid of me. Grandpa loved me, he took me in and raised me, while you were too busy avoiding anything that reminded you of Mother to even remember I existed!"
"I sent your grandfather money, and presents on your birthdays-"
"Oh, yes!" Rei threw her hands angrily into the air. She knew yelling at Father wouldn't solve anything, but she wasn't going to hear one word against Grandpa out of him. That was just going too far. "Money! Money is so much more important than attention or love. I don't want you to say anything against Grandpa's beliefs, Father, because he took on a responsibility that wasn't his-me-while you were only too happy to get rid of me. I've seen more to support what Grandpa's taught me than you will ever believe or understand. I won't offend your 'friends' with talk of Grandpa's or my beliefs, but if I ever hear another word from you against Grandpa or what he taught me, I swear, I'll start holding public seances right in the living room!"
"I can see I should never have let such a misguided, senile old man raise you, Rei. This shrine has had too much of an influence on you. When I get my hands on it, I'm going to see that nobody replaces your grandfather, and that this place is torn down! Do you hear me? And you will never speak to me in that manner again! Now, get in the car. I'll have some of my servants come to gather you things and close this place down." Her father's face was actually red with anger. Rei looked at him, and with a wordless cry ran out of the room, sobbing.
Straight into Yuuichiro.
"Oh!" Rei pulled herself up off the floor, and reached to give Yuuichiro a helping hand up. "Gomen nasai. I...I...I have to leave now." She tried not to cry. She hated it when she lost control like this. Especially where someone else could see her.
"Rei, it's all right." She looked up at his face, and saw with surprise that it was flushed.
"Yuuichiro, what's wrong?"
"I'm angry. I'm angry at how your father treats you, and at how he talks about your grandfather. I want to help you. I think I can do something about what he said about the shrine, Rei."
Rei didn't want to think about that. "Yes?"
"I'll talk to my father, you know he's rich. I'm sure I can get him to support this place, and then I'll take care of it."
She grabbed the front of his shirt with desperate hands. "You promise? You won't let Father tear it down?"
He usually looked rather silly, Rei thought, but with that determined glint in his eye..."I can't promise, Rei, but I will do everything within my power to make sure nothing bad happens to this shrine. Then maybe, someday, you can come back."
Rei couldn't say anything. The last of her defenses were torn down by all the trauma she'd experienced in the last two days. Her eyes overran with tears, and with a sad whimper she gave Yuuichiro a tight hug of thanks, and buried her face in his chest as she cried. Yuuichiro was at a loss. Usually Rei was so tough and abrasive, he'd never seen her soul raw and exposed like this. He hesitantly put an arm around her, and let her sob out her anguish.
"What the hell is THIS!" Rei's father bellowed angrily as he saw what was happening. "Who are you? Rei, why are you hugging the-the help, for gods' sake?"
Rei lifted her head and turned to face him. "So now you invoke the gods? Hypocrite! Yuuichiro is not the help. He is a friend. And I was saying good-bye." She turned to Yuuichiro. "Sayonara, Yuuichiro...and...arigato." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and strode to her father's waiting car, head held stubbornly high in the air, even though she felt that the black vehicle she was entering was a hearse, taking her dead heart to its grave, while the rest of her was forced to live on-alone.
*****
She and her father didn't speak at all during the drive to the airport. "Why are we here?" she finally asked.
He didn't look at her, but he did answer. "I live in the United States now, I'm and assistant to our Ambassador to America. I've already registered you in a very selective private school there. Oh, by the way, I decided R-E-I was much too Oriental looking, so I changed the spelling of your name to R-A-Y-E. I wanted you to fit in better."
Rei didn't answer. Why bother? She was too tired. She silently boarded the plane, and blankly gazed out the window.
*****
Raye forced herself to be cheerful. "So, how did you find me?"
"I have to ask you a question first. About two weeks ago, did you have a vision of Usagi?"
"Nani?! How'd you know that!" Raye knew her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. Ami smiled.
"Luna and I experienced the same thing, the same day. When I found that out, I got suspicious, and it turns out something big has happened, but I don't know what. And I also found out where five different people had fainting spells just like we did. The first location I investigated turned out to be where Minako was when she fainted."
"Where's Minako now?"
"I don't know. She was Sailor V when she fainted in a road intersection. She was arrested by the police, but escaped. I don't know where she lives. We found out that the second closest location was your school, but I couldn't stake out the school because of my own classes, so I had to get Luna to try."
The black cat spoke up. "And it was difficult too. How many students are there in your school?"
Raye smiled. "A lot. I'm so glad to see you, Ami. I mean, Amy. It's been a long time. I'll be more than glad to help you find the other three people. I hope we can find Makoto and Minako. Who would the third person be, though."
Amy looked up. "I don't know, but it could be-Usagi."
Raye stared at her, shocked speechless.
*****
Serena smiled. She'd finally sorted everything out. Ginzuishou showed her that Queen Serenity had put her and all her court into time capsules, so they could be brought a millennium into the future. Her mother must have placed her here, now, and given her Ginzuishou with her last gasp of strength. It would be hard to live a normal life when she didn't have a past family or friends here to remember, but amnesia was a good way for her mother to give her a chance at it. She couldn't very well tell everybody she was a princess from a magical kingdom, sent to Earth to live in exile after it was destroyed. Now she had to find the other princesses, and try to help them. If they'd been left without memory as she had, they would be as confused as she was until she'd held Ginzuishou. <Thank you, Mother, for sending me here. I'm well taken care of. Ron is so nice, and once I convince him that I'll never remember who I am, I can go on with the rest of my life-the life you saved, Mother.>
Now all she had to do was find Endymion. With that thought she pulled the covers up, hugged her stuffed bunny close to her, and went to sleep.