Chapter 4a-Middle School is Such a Drag
	"Kami-sama!" shrieked an angry miko, or at least one in training. Makoto and
Ami winced, covering their ears. "How in the name of all that burns do they
expect us to finish all this work? And I've got temple chores to do, too!" she
cried, fuming.
	The brunette and blue-haired girl exchanged glances. They had been
extraordinarily happy when Rei's grandfather had allowed her to switch from her
private, Catholic school (and do tell me, why are Shinto priestesses going to a
Catholic school, she'd asked) to Juuban Middle School.
Next year, however, they were going to Juuban Junior High, but Rei would stay
there. Calmly, Ami asked, "Rei-chan, what exactly do you have to do?"
	"I'll tell you what I have to do!! First, there's Math. I hate Math. Then,
there's English. That sucks, too. History. Science. Japanese. Kanji. Writing. A
bunch of other crap."
	Makoto just sighed and said, "Live with it, Rei-chan. You'd better stop moaning
and start, we had to go through it too. Ami-chan, I forgot what we learned in
Algebra today, do you know how to transfer the equation from point-slope to
slope-intercept?" Grumpily, the priestess plopped down in her chair once more
while her friend helped Makoto, murmuring softly at the problem and explaining.
	Outside, four animals snickered and tried not to laugh too loudly. Koori was
the first to stop and said, "I think now would be a good time to end our
hysterics...remember, we had to go through this in the Moon Kingdom. The
princesses are lucky they don't have fighting or magic classes anymore."
	Phobos and Deimos shuddered, cawing, "That was horrible. Princess Rei
complained every day too. Never, ever want to go through that again."
	"Ditto!" chirped Aoao. "Princess Lita was okay with it, she just hated not
having enough time to cook. Luna's managed to contact Artemis at Central
Control, and she told him she thinks the Moon Princess might not have landed in
Japan. He said it was impossible and told her to search harder."
	"Did she get angry?" asked the two crows.
	The crab rolled her eyes and said, "Of course, you remember Luna. Guys, is it
just me, or is something cold here? Very cold..."
	Aoao said, "Koori, that would be you. That's why you're named ice?"
	"No....." whispered Deimos.
	Phobos responded, "There's an evil coming!! It's dark.....very, very dark."
	"It's time to awaken the senshi."
	"Koori, we can't. Only Rei has revealed her ‘true' power. Lita's only got
static shocks so far, much as I regret it. What about Ami?"
	The crab shivered and replied, "Yes. She makes cold bath water turn warm. She's
not affected by cold water. And she can boil it at will, but she needs training.
You don't know how many times she's burned herself already, because she's only
resistant to cold water. Ice water."
	"What's coming? Came?"
	"Something......something dark. Something powerful. Greedy, hungry. It feels
parasitical to me. Possibly infecting one person, maybe more."
	"Another take-over-the-world plot? Is it Beryl?"
	"Feels stronger. No, Queen Selenity locked her away. This is something
different. Totally evil, like Metallia. Beryl was led astray, she wasn't
entirely bad to start with. Stupid, haughty, and snotty, I admit, but not evil.
It's time to awaken the senshi." Phobos and Deimos closed their eyes, and the
other two guardians caught a glimpse of how they had looked in their previous
life: two slight, redheaded girls with glimmering red eyes. Their intertwined
hands glowed, and the power stick of Mars fell to the ground. Aoao showed her
own self, looking like the crows, green where there was red. Koori was last, a
blue-haired and blue-eyed girl that looked slightly like Ami. The sticks of
Jupiter and Mercury joined them. "Artemis will awake Venus as Sailor V. She
can't return to Tokyo yet, says the Moon Cat. But he says he'll train her to go
after petty things like burglars and rapists. She's in London, Princess Mina."
	The lime green bird asked, "Which power phrase do they start with? I've
forgotten, Luna always knew the most."
	"Mercury Power."
	"Mars Power."
	"Jupiter Power." And the four guardians smiled at each other and recalled
bittersweet memories of the past.
~		*		~		*		~
	Mina Love stared at her cat for a minute before laughing her head of
hysterically. They had been talking in her room, she had said, "Artemis, I can't
believe it's been six years since I've left behind almost everything, now I've
become a star. Hard to believe there's been two Sailor V movies, right? I've
only got one more, and then I'm free. Very free."
	Artemis had then replied, "Yes, you've done very well in the acting session,
Mina. I want to tell you why I taught you how to fight, besides for the movie
job." She had turned to face him, a quizzical expression on her face. He had
taken a deep breath and said, "Aino Minako, you are the reincarnation of a
warrior born more than a thousand years ago."
	"Uh huh. Who might that be?"
	"Mina, listen to me. The Sailor V you have is real. She fights crime. And it's
time you do that, too."
	That was when she started laughing. "Okay, Artemis. I knew there was always
something strange about you."
	He mumbled, "Besides the fact that I can talk and only one other cat in this
time and space can?"
	"You want me to actually believe that Sailor V is REAL, and that I'm her and
off to fight crime in the streets of London?"
	The Moon Cat was getting annoyed and losing what patience he had. He back
flipped and came back with a transformation stick. "Try it, then."
	"What do I say?"
	"V Power," he said, grinning.
	"Okay......now, make sure no one's watching me, or they'll think I'm an idiot.
V Power!" A moment later, Mina stared at herself in her full-length mirror, then
ran and double-checked that the door was locked. Her outfit looked exactly like
the one in the movie, short skirt, red goggles, hair cut up in a gaudy red bow,
and totally frivolous sandals. "Artemis.....you better explain, right now."
	*sigh* "Once upon a time, there was a great kingdom on the Moon....and it was
the Moon Kingdom, of course. The planets were inhabited then, and you were the
Princess Mina of Venus, also senshi Venus and now Sailor V due
to....circumstances. Anyway, you were to protect the Moon Princess at all costs.
You met three other princesses, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter. The Moon Kingdom was
destroyed a witch named Beryl, but she was sealed away. Now, you're twelve, the
exact age for awakening. Do you want your memories?"
	"If it'll make me less confused and sure of the fact that you're not insane."
Artemis sighed heavily, knowing his short and concise summary hadn't done the
trick. He used his Mind Meld, shooting a golden beam from the crescent moon on
his forehead. Within seconds, the blond girl was unconscious and floating though
long, unawakened memories and dreams.
~		*		~		*		~
	"Ami-chan?"
	 The blue-haired girl turned around, previously and currently busy helping her
friends with Math. "Hai, Koori-chan?"
	"There's something we need to tell you all," said Aoao. "First, calling up your
memories would be good. Artemis said he was an idiot for not doing that first.
Makoto-chan, come here." Each guardian called to their respective charge, except
Phobos and Deimos. The symbol of Mercury appeared on Koori's shell once more,
Mars's sigil came into view on both Phobos and Deimos's wings, Aoao had the
emblem of Jupiter on her right wing as well.

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

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

Jupiter: Princess Lita of Jupiter had always been regarded as a tomboy, ever
since the age of three. She had romped and played with the boys at the palace,
especially her best friend Ken. Ken later became an officer in the Jovian army.
Her father ruled Jupiter by himself, her mother having died in an accident, she
had been told. She found out the truth much later. At age eleven, she had
traveled to the Moon, met two princesses and one queen, and became the senshi of
Jupiter, of storms and lightning. Two years later, two more senshi joined their
ranks. She had fought youma for another three years, fostering a fierce fighting
spirit, protectiveness, and a sense of justice. She had finally won a man's
heart when five princes from Earth had visited the Moon Kingdom, and she, in
turn, had fallen in love with General Nephrite. He had promised her he would
come back and propose, leaving her with a pair of delicate, rose earrings. She
wore them in her final battle, meeting her love-a deadly, spiritless servant.
She had encased them both in lightning, a suitable coffin for the senshi of
storms. And they had died, Lita hoping that Venus had survived to protect the
princess and the queen.
~		*		~		*		~
Venus: As a child, Mina had been considered the most beautiful girl in the
world, the reincarnated Aphrodite. Her parents had loved her dearly and were
quite protective. She met Ace, a soldier in her father's army. He had become
obsessed with her, and it was a relief to everyone when she was sent to the Moon
at age eleven, a little earlier than the Princess of Jupiter, for she was
slightly older. Mina had become Sailor Venus, the protector of love and light.
Alongside three other senshi, Beryl's underdogs were quickly and easily
vanquished, the Moon Princess was safe. And so was Venus's warm and loving
heart, until a stone general from Earth had broken it and mended it. General
Kunzite of Earth and Endymion's High General. He had asked her to marry him, and
she had accepted. The day after they became lovers, he left to protect Earth
from Metallia. And for the first time in his life, he failed and became a
servant of the Negaverse. This time, he was even more dangerous. His silence
didn't cover a frightened heart, it masked the true evil in the universe. She
had fought him and qualms, with the Sword of the Silver Crystal, which was her
birthright as the senshi of Venus. She had killed him, then he had murdered her
in turn. She had failed her princess, the queen, and her other senshi had fallen
before her, placing their hopes on their commander.
	Present day Aino Minako woke up, breathing hard with fear, sorrow, and anger.
She clutched an unhappy Artemis to her chest and cried her heart out. And he
blamed himself, although it had been inevitable. That night, Sailor V rose and
fought crime. Artemis saw one percent of her full potential and shivered, hoping
that whoever crossed her path had finished his affairs in this world.
~		*		~		*		~
	Mizuno Ami, Hino Rei, and Kino Makoto didn't bounce back as quickly as their
commander. Duty had always been important to the senshi of Venus, sometimes more
so than love. But that had been the problem-her duty was for love and to love.
Icy tears fell on a gleaming shell, the symbol of Mercury glowed and shot beam
that connected with the one on Koori's princess's forehead. Rei patted her crows
absentmindedly and tried to focus her mind as her grandfather had taught her.
One whole lifetime to swallow in ten minutes, it just wasn't fair. Makoto held
out her second finger to Aoao and remembered how it was in the past. She
remembered her home and bond with plants and animals. Ah, that cleared
everything up, why she had a green thumb and could cook without cookbooks-all
the recipes from the past were stored in her mind. There were all those damned
electric shocks, too. Ami went home, and the other two to their rooms to adapt
to the newest and biggest change in their lives, struck harder than Minako, even
though she was fighting crime, and they were not. She hadn't been given the
title of commander just because Venus had always held the position...
~		*		~		*		~
	A hooded, masked burglar dressed like a ninja spun around when a small hand had
landed on his shoulder with immense pressure. Thrown to the floor, he looked
into crystal blue eyes, eyes holding no warmth or hope. The protector of London,
she was called. Sailor V. And he had thought she didn't exist, a legend, a
rumor, a creation gone mad. "Hello. I know exactly who you are, you know that?
The police won't be pleased, no, since you're one of theirs. But they'll be here
any minute."
	"You bitch! What are you?"
	"I'm a crime fighter. That means against you, idiot. And I'm not a bitch, but
I'm absolutely positive that you're a bastard," the masked sailor said sweetly.
The criminal's eyes narrowed, he wasn't going down without a fight. As a
policeman, he had guns and training. He sneakily reached a hand around to the
gun in his back pocket when "Sailor V Kick" rang out, pounding into his ears. He
jerked as he felt the bones in his wrist break, the gun kicked across the room.
"That wasn't very smart of you, I've seen that move dozens of times. Got
anything else you want to try before you're off to jail? I could use the
training, you know, Artemis says so."
	"Who the hell is Artemis?"
	"My cat. He talks."
	"You're psycho."
	"No, look, here come the sirens. I'll leave everything to the gentlemen now."
When the police had arrested the burglar, he looked back at the jewelry store
he'd been in and glared murder at a feminine silhouette, which flashed the
characteristic "V is for Victory" sign and disappeared when the cars drove away,
satisfied that her job was done.
	Five minutes later, Mina Love of London was back, sitting on her bed, having
climbed through her bedroom window. "How did I do, Artemis?"
	"You could have cut the chitchat, but nice kicking for the gun. Is your ankle
swollen again?"
	She held back tears as she gently probed the ankle. "Artemis, I think I'm going
to need an ice pack. Darn that stupid son of a-"
	"No more cursing, you've got to watch that, too. I'll try and open the fridge
for you, stay here." She didn't ask how her cat was able to do that, but he
returned with the icy blue packet, which she pressed on her ankle. "You've done
pretty well, since you've only been fighting a year. I still think thirteen is
way too young," he said, grumbling.
	When the pain had resided, the swelling going down, Mina removed the ice pack
and asked, "Aren't there supposed to be three other senshi?"
	"They're in Japan, and you're supposed to join them. When this last movie is
down, you'll have had a successful career of four movies, then you've got to
quit and hightail it back. My...friend, another Lunar cat, has been having
trouble finding your Moon Princess. She also says there's a dark force that took
up residence there last year, but it's lying low."
	"What am I going to tell my parents?" Minako wailed.
	"You can leave that to me," growled Artemis, blue eyes glinting angrily at the
thought of his charge's present parents, such a change from her kind and loving
father and mother in the Silver Millennium, the King and Queen of Venus.
~		*		~		*		~
	"Mercury," said Koori patiently, "please try that again, you need to get a
perfect block. Mars? Fire again, please." Currently, Koori, Phobos, and Deimos
were working with Mars and Mercury while Jupiter and Aoao sat on the sidelines
and watched. They had found a secluded room large enough to work in, and Mercury
was trying to learn how to put up a shield of ice. The guardians had decided
that shielding had to come first, Rei had already maneuvered one into position
before.  After some quick manipulation and brush ups, she had perfected her
usage in it. Her two comrades, however, were a different story. Mercury had the
strongest defensive powers and currently no offensive ones, but her shield only
went up one out of the five times she tried. Jupiter didn't really have any
defensive powers, conjuring a block of lightning was trying for her, and she
never managed to make it solid-a shadow of the real thing formed and
half-heartedly blocked out attacks was all that appeared.
	Mars, having mastered her shield, was able to learn her first and least
powerful attack from Phobos and Deimos. While it was pretty easy for her to draw
the flame out of her fingers, she had bad aim so far, which meant for Mercury
extreme difficulty. She had to call the shield into existence and place it in
the direction of the fire, which came from the directions north, south, east,
west, northeast, northwest, and so on. "Fire Soul!"
	The blue senshi gulped, managed to get the shield up. Most unfortunately, it
was directly in front of Mercury, while the Fire Soul had ricocheted off the
walls (somehow) and come at her from the right. ‘I never wanted to die by fire,
much less in training,' she thought dismally. Suddenly, the ice shield swerved
sharply to the right and extinguished the fire, then disappeared. Smiling
gratefully before she succumbed to the unavoidable darkness, she collapsed on
the floor and detransformed.
	Her crab guardian scurried over and reassured the other conscious occupants of
the room, "She'll be fine, needs some rest. Strong shield and fright she got.
Jupiter and Mars, help me get her to the side. Then it's your turn again."
	The two senshi groaned and hoped that the two hour session would before over
soon, but only half and hour had passed. "Fire Soul...." said Mars dispiritedly.
The fire went straight towards Jupiter. Luckily for the unfortunate and
unprepared senshi that couldn't conjure her shield yet, it turned at the last
minute and narrowly missed the green senshi, scorching the pink bow at the back.
She glared threateningly at Mars, who winced and straightened from her
slightly-sagging position.
	Her crow guardians, extremely embarrassed, said, "Mars, try it again, please.
Do try to aim straight."
	Aoao smirked at them, then turned to her own charge and chirped, "Jupiter!
There was supposed to be a shield there, good aim or bad aim! Remember to focus
your mind! We could make you do this with your eyes closed, you know."
	Both senshi shuddered and shook their heads, getting ready to try the very
dangerous yet first level practice again. Mars's mind was filled with visions of
fire streaming all around the room, Jupiter had her eyes closed, concentrating,
but no shield came up. With her eyes closed, she had no way of telling if it was
up or not. They looked at each other, back at their guardians, and voiced
simultaneously, "No way."
~		*		~		*		~
	Some time later in the school week, Rei was trying not to fall asleep and
yawned widely, blinking sleepy purple eyes. She blushed and covered her mouth a
moment later, trying to focus. All the senshi training the four guardians were
pushing gave her: a headache, minor bruises, serious bruises, minor frostbite,
and many static shocks. All in all, she wasn't pleased, not one bit.  The
raven-haired girl yawned again and wished that Makoto and Ami were in her grade,
sighed, and tried to remember what the teacher was talking about. Sensei was
babbling on and on about something completely irrelevant to their topic of
animal biomes, excitedly and animatedly (waving his windmill-like arms around
while the students around him ducked) about the "big game" Juuban High School's
soccer team was going to play against Hokkaido, coming up this Saturday. Rei
exhaled deeply and disgustedly and thought about finishing her history homework,
decided against it, and promptly looked out the window. To her immense surprise,
Phobos was perched on a branch, peering in at her, and she cast a quick glance
at the still-talking sensei and shook her head slightly. Her charge flushed and
sat up straight, trying to pay attention. She looked down at her neat jumble of
notes, sighed, ripped out the notebook page (consequently forgetting the
important information on the other side), and started recopying the information
on the board. The crow watched her sharply for a few moments, nodded, and flew
off.
	Simultaneously, her brunette friend was devoutly praying (Rei and her
instructors would have been proud of her) for the dismissal bell. Had classes
always been this long, or was the Board of Administration just grabbing at
chances to make the new generations suffer? Their posterity already had enough
to do. Gazing blearily at the board, she thought about her schedule. Wake up,
eat, go to school, end school (between these two items, there was an eternity),
go home, training under temple instructors, more exercises under sadistic
guardians, eating dinner, finishing her homework, and falling into an exhausted
sleep. While she was thinking about how she could get through another tiring
day, sleep thin and disturbed by still-foggy dreams and memories of the past,
her foot fell asleep. Waking up with pins and needles plaguing her right foot,
she shifted and banged her knee in just the right place on the desk and jumped
when a loud bang was heard, echoing from the hollow inside the desk.
	"Mako-chan?" inquired the teacher mildly.
	"Um...gomen nasai, sensei." Giving her a an exasperated look, he went on to
explain how balancing equations was different than creating binary compounds to
a puzzled and clueless student. Sighing with slight relief, Makoto looked over
at Ami, who sat on the other side of the room. As usual, the quiet girl was
jotting down notes (she glanced down at her blank notebook), paying rapt
attention to the teacher's words. How in the world could Ami not fall asleep and
listen to the unutterably dull lectures? She winced and shifted-now her left
foot had fallen asleep.
~		*		~		*		~
	"Cut, cut! Mina, what in the world is WRONG with you today? Number one, you
look pale and tired. Didn't get enough sleep? And where did that large bruise on
your ankle come from? We didn't do any fight scenes yet, at least not today.
It's also been a week since we did an action scene, you're supposed to be
falling in love with Sukareru, here, remember? New co-star from Japan, too. Odd
how so much talent's been turning up from that island."
	‘I'll bet,' thought Mina grimly, trying not to look at the smirking Torit
Sukareru, who she obviously realized was General Ace of Venus, from the past.
While he might not be "awakened" yet, she was sure that he was falling for her.
For kami-sama's sake, she was only thirteen! He was two years older, aged
fifteen, and very proud of his looks. Grudgingly, she admitted that his curly
blond hair DID go well with dark, dark blue eyes. So dark that she sometimes
thought they were black and brushed it away as her imagination-no one had black
eyes, not even pupils were a true black. "Sorry, I didn't really get a good
sleep. My ankle? Um.....I sprained it slightly during gym."
	"Well, you're limping. Should we cancel for today?"
	She flashed him a large, nervous smile. If she came home early, her mom would
know something was up and get angry that she'd bailed on filming. "Oh no, I
think I can make it. Do you think we could do something else to replace the
fight scene planned for today?"
	"I guess so," said the director thoughtfully, running a tired hand across his
sweaty face. "Scripts! (His nickname for the writer of the movies for Sailor V)
I think we can do the scene where Sukareru kisses Sailor V in her schoolgirl
form, don't you think?" Scripts nodded emphatically and tossed the three workers
each a heavy script, and Mina and Sukareru were allowed some time to learn new
lines. "Some time" was twenty minutes, but that was "show biz" and "movie
magic." She sighed in annoyance, no matter how much she complained, Sukareru
didn't do the fake kissing that was supposed to look like it was real. He just
kissed her hard and very realistically, which disgusted her to no end. "Ready?"
	"Yes!" came the eager male voice, shooting a winning smile to his co-star.
	In turn, she winced and mumbled, "Yes....sure...of course, why wouldn't I be?"
‘I can think of a hundred reasons off the top of my head.'