[Like a Memory]

As the early morning rush began that day, the sun debated whether it should show itself from behind the rainy clouds. After a few moments of pondering, it decided to shed the robe of clouds and make the first day back from the weekend a pleasant one. The streets and sidewalks of city began to be a sea of cars and heads that bobbed up and down.

On her way to school, a teenage girl with the most peculiar blonde hair was deep in thought. Tuskino Usagi had made a goal of it to be on time for school. The previous week she had slept in two days, fell down the stairs of her house another day, and was just too tired to make it to school on the next. She had managed to make it early on one day, but only with the help of her friends. But this wasn't what was on Usagi's mind this morning.

After the help her friends gave her to make it to school on time, Usagi had wanted to pay them back that weekend; but they were all busy! The weekend ended up with Usagi watching tv alone. She couldn't believe the lack of her entertainment that her life now had. You see, Usagi was the pretty soldier Sailormoon. Her friends were her faithful guardians the Sailor Senshi, and even though they were all rushing around with their lives, Usagi knew deep down that they kept an eye on her.

But there was a deeper hole in Usagi's heart. She missed her true love, Chiba Mamoru. After previously failing to make it to America to study because of the attack by Chaos, he decided to try again. Even though they kept in contact, as Usagi emailed him everyday, she still couldn't wait until he came back to visit: which wouldn't be for two months around December.

Being lost in her thoughts, it took Usagi a moment to register what happened at that moment. A sharp, but familiar pain, ran through her body as she fell to the ground. Rubbing her forhead and blinking a few times, Usagi then looked up to see a girl spring to her feet.

"I'm sorry," The girl appologized as she held out her hand, but Usagi sat there for a moment staring up at the girl. Something was clicking through her mind that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Finally taking the girl's hand, Usagi rose to her feet.

"No no.. It was my fault, I was daydreaming.." Usagi smiled warmly at the girl.
"Well, we're both at fault then," the girl added calmly as she scratched the back of her head, "I was reading my music and not...." Her violet eyes suddenly widened in fear as she spun around on her heels. Pieces of paper where flying through the air like little airplanes on kamikaze missions to hit the ground. The girl grabbed frantically for the paper that was still floating in the air, and Usagi joined in. After a few minutes of collecting the music, they were finally all in order.

"Thanks for your help. I would be in such deep trouble if I only handed in half a score of crumpled music," the girl let out a small giggle as she continued to fiddle with the pages.
"No problem," Usagi replied as she handed the girl the rest of the music. Finally getting a chance to look at the girl better, the first thing Usagi noticed was that she was wearing a uniform from the somewhat prestigious fine arts school, Shimhada. Her hair, a bright reddish orange, was trimmed just below her shoulders, with bangs that framed her face. Accenting her violet eyes were a pair of gold rimmed glasses.
Hearing a sudden 'beepbeep' noise, Usagi's and the girl's attentions were drawn to the girls watch.
"Well, I gotta run! Thanks again!" The girl smiled once again before running off in the opposite direction of which Usagi wanted to go. Once the girl had left her line of sight, Usagi turned back towards the direction of her school.
Usagi sighed as she dashed off, 'It's going to be a long day...'



"We're getting close..." A deep, masculine voice said out into the darkness, "I can feel her presence in my bones..".
The owner of the voice, a man with midnight black hair and equally dark clothing stood up from where he had previously been seated. Raising his right arm, with his palm facing upwards, he closed his eyes and took a steady breath. Slowly, a soft white glow surrounded his hand, then rose to create a small sphere. Colours began filling the sphere: blues, greens, browns and more white.
"Hmph...it figures you'd choose Terra. You were always so loyal to them.." The man smirked as the miniglobe spun in his hand. A small yellow light started to flicker over one of the continents on the globe, and the man opened his eyes, which stopped the globe spinning.
"I knew it..."



"What's the matter Usagi? You're normally so chipper to be here... today you seem, elsewhere?" A tall blonde man stood behind the counter of a game centre as Usagi leaned on it. His statement would be true, and Usagi would have be asking him for tokens for the game centre's machines, but today she just needed someone to talk to.
"Just feeling lonely Motoki..." Usagi sighed as adjusted the way her elbows rested on the counter.
"You miss Mamoru, don't you?" He asked as he handed out some tokens to a short, blonde haired teenager.
"Of course..." Usagi sighed as she stood up and faced the rest of the game centre. Usagi watched the blonde hair girl because she was wearing a school uniform from the fine arts school, just as the girl from this morning.
"Okay, I got tokens Karei! Let's race!" The blonde girl said happily as she sat next to her friend, who was in fact the girl from before. Usagi listened as the racing game started.
"I won't let you beat me this time Yasa!" The redhead, who was named Karei, exclaimed with a look of determination on her face.

Turning back to Motoki, Usagi asked, "Who are those two girls?"
Motoki, a little surprised at the question, gave a little laugh. "They're from the fine arts acadamy. Here almost everyday.. haven't you noticed them before?"
Turning back to look at the girls, Usagi shook her head, no. Heading towards them, Usagi stood behind the redhead.
"Hi," Usagi said to the two. Turning around, the girl had a questioning expression on her face until she realised who it was.
"Oh, hello again!" She smiled to Usagi.
"Muahahaha.. I finally passed you!" The blonde hair girl laughed, her voiced filled with michevousness. Quickly spinning back to the game, Karei went back to concentrating on the game.
"No! Not again!" Pressing the accelerator down to the floor, she turned the steering wheel to try to catch up to the other girl's car. The words 'Game Over' blinked across the screen.
"And the champ wins again!" Exclaimed the blonde hair girl as a big smile filled her face.
"Yeah, but I was so close that time!" Came back the redhead. The two girls laughed together at their own inside joke.
"Er, sorry about making you lose the game..." Usagi said appologetically as she fished out some spare tokens from her pockets.
"Oh, it's okay... I probably would have lost anyway..." The girl said as a giggle remained in her voice, "Yasashii has the uncanny ability to beat me at racing games.. Oh, I'm Raikou Karei by the way." The girl smiled as she held out her hand to Usagi.
Shaking it, Usagi smiled to the redhead. "I'm Tsukino Usagi. I'll race you guys..I'll probably lose, but hey, it'll be fun!" She said as she finally pulled out extra tokens.
Hearing the 'beepbeep' of Karei's watch singnalling the hour, the blonde girl, Yasashii, jumped up. "I'd love to beat Karei again, but I gotta run! Nice meeting you Usagi.." And with that, Yasashii left the game centre with her backpack and a small black case in hand.
"I hope you're not as evil as Yasa when it comes to racing," Karei smiled as she slipped another token into the machine.



"After all these years, I'm finally going to see you again.." The dark haired man smirked yet again as he sat on a jetblack marble throne. For about a minute he sat in deep thought, tapping his nails on the armrest.
"Topaz, come forth!" He broke the silence by yelling into the dark void before him. After a few seconds of waiting, a slight orange glow started to fill the floor infront of him. It grew in instensity and slowly took the shape of a woman. The glow died down, and infront of him stood a woman with bright orange hair and an orange uniform. She bowed low and then rised as she asked "You called for me, Prince Ionite?"
Sitting up in his chair, he raised out his arm and formed the globe once more. There, the blinking light returned, in the same place.
A smirk crossed Topaz' mouth. "So this is where she chose to hide?" A snicker escaped Topaz' lips, "This should be really easy to find her, on a planet such as Terra."
"I wouldn't underestimate the Terrains that much.." Ionite sneered at here, "..or have your forgotten the past?"
Topaz grumbled to herself. She hated it when she made herself look bad infront of the Prince.
"Find the aura and bring her to me..." Ionite said, ignoring the grumbling from Topaz. Bowing quickly, Topaz turned the other way to transport herself elseway. The orange surrounded Topaz, but before she was gone, Ionite called out.
"Oh, and Topaz... make sure she's still alive."



Karei streched her arms as she left the game centre. She giggled at the fact that Usagi had been right when she'd said that she was bad at video games. Adjusting here bag over her shoulder, Karei turned in the direction back to her house.
"Hey Karei, wait up!" Came Usagi's voice as she ran to catch up. "Would you like to go to the mall or something?"
Karei smiled to Usagi and pondered if she had anything important that needed to be done first. She was happy to make a new friend.
"Sure! The mall sounds fun!" Karei exclaimed, "As long as we can grab a bite to eat as well. I'm starving!"
Usagi nodded as her stomac growled. She hadn't eaten since...since...3!
"Hey, how about that little place across the street?" Usagi asked as she pointed to a large building with colourfull canopies on the outside. One of them said 'The Little Saucer'.
"Sure, looks good." Karei replied as whipped her walet out of her backpack.
The girls quickly made their way across the street and entered 'The Little Saucer'. The logo on the door was a little kitten in a teacup that was tipping over on a saucer.
They took a seat by a window, and a waitress came to give them menues. "Would either of you like some coffee?" she asked to them.
Karei shook her head no, and Usagi said "Not for me thanks."
The waitress left, leaving the two to look over the menu.

"It all sounds so tasty!" Usagi commented as her eyes went wide over the pictures.
The waitress came and took the girls orders, or rather, stood there stairing at Usagi while she tried to decide. After the waitress had left, Usagi turned back to Karei.
"So what exactly do you do at your school?" Usagi asked, as if Karei was some alien.
"Um... learn? What else do you do at school?" Karei said as her voice filled with laughter. "You mean what's my art major, right?"
From this point Usagi was completely lost, she didn't know what Karei meant by major.
"I chose music... I love it so much... I hope to be in a world famous orchestra someday.." Karei said with starry eyes.
"Music! Whose's your favorite singer??" Usagi sprung up when she heard this. "My favorite is..."
But Karei wasn't paying 100% of her attention to Usagi anymore. A girl with brilliant orange hair had just come in wearing a black collared shirt, orange tie and a black skirt. She was carrying a briefcase, but didn't look much like a business woman. There was some familiarity Karei seemed to recognize, but she just couldn't put her finger on where she had seen this woman before.
"Yoohoo, Earth to Karei, are you there?" Karei snapped back to reality when Usagi's voice came through her thoughts.



Topaz enterted the small cafe, with a look of distaste on her face. Peering around the cafe, she couldn't figure out why the Aura would spend time here, let alone on Terra. She'd managed to track the Aura to this place, and she was around a table in the front of the cafe. Topaz walked over behind the Aura and smirked.



"Sorry about that Usagi, just lost in my thoughts... " Karei said with a half laugh, "I tend to do that now and then.."
Usagi shrugged. "That's okay, I have a tendancy to space out too!" Karei smiled at that comforting thought.
A scream that could nearly bust some eardrums cried out from the table behind Karei.
The girls turned to see the orange haired business woman with her hand around the back of the waitress' neck!
"I know who you are!" The woman smirked. The waitress started crying.
"Please don't hurt me!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out some yen. "Here... t-take my tips, but p-please don't hurt me!"
Topaz mocked the waitress with a laugh. "I was told not to kill you. I was told nothing about hurting you!"
And with that Topaz threw the waitress through the glass windows.

Karei and Usagi ducked under their table.
"Oh my gosh!" Karei cried to Usagi as they brushed the glass off them.
"Karei, get to a safe place, okay?" Usagi said as she peered out from the table to see the orange haired girl leap through the now open window to where the waitress was in the street.
"What the heck is going on?" Karei asked with wide eyes.
"Just do it!" Usagi said as the crawled out from the table and ran out of the restaurant.
Karei waited until she heard most of the other customers leave in a panic. Karei went to grab her bag, but noticed something fall out of it. It grabbed her attention through the air of panic, and calmed her. What had fallen out was the most bizarre, yet beautiful, piece of jewlery that Karei had ever seen. It was a golden brooch, with a half moon carved on one side. Karei inspected it further, to see that it was a moon, but it had a circle going around it that seemed to have a planet on that.
The bizarre part was that the brooch was giving off a yellow light. It was just mezmering to Karei. She reached her hand out and touched the surface. But at the moment she did that a yellow flashed filled her eyes, and a sharp pain crossed through Karei's mind. She put her free hand against the side of her head and squeezed her eyes shut as a memories of a past life returned to her mind. The yellow light creeped up her hand until her entire body was glowing.



Topaz sneered. She was now wearing a bright orange uniform and was stepping closer to the Aura. The waitress was crying her eyes out as she tried to crawl away.
Topaz grabbed the girl by the hair and pulled her up. "This is for all the pain..." she said to the girl's face.
"Stop right there!"
Topaz turned around furiously at the voice.
"For love and justice, I am the pretty senshi Sailormoon! In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
In front of Topaz stood a female warrior, Sailormoon. She had long blond hair done up in pigtails and blue eyes. She was wearing armour that looked like a sailor's outfit, and had snow white wings upon her back.
"Let the girl go," Sailormoon commanded as she called forth a white staff.
"Says you... FIRE!" Topaz yelled as a stream of fire flew out towards Sailormoon, but she easily dodged the small attack.
Getting even more furious, Topaz dropped the girl and pushed both of her hands out towards Sailormoon.
"BLAZE OF THE FLAME!" This time the attack was much stronger, but Sailormoon countered it with white light that shot from her staff.
"Dammit!" Topaz screamed. Her attacks had never been dismissed so easily before.

"Sonic Lightning!" Another female voice called out. A small shock of lightning slammed against Topaz' side, which she hadn't seen coming, and made her fall over. As she got up she grumbled.
"I'm outnumbered this time... but next time..." Before she finished, Topaz disspaeared in her orange glow.

Sailormoon lowered her staff, and turned to the waitress who was lying on the ground. The woman who had fired the lightning was now crouched nexted to the girl. She was a wearing a senshi fuku, that had yellow bows and red trim. Along the bottom of the skirt was a white stripe.
The girl stood up and turned to Sailormoon.

"Who are you?" Sailormoon asked, hoping that the new senshi would not be an enemy.
"..I don't even know..." The girl replied. She then turned around and dashed away leaving Sailormoon standing over the waitress.



Karei opened her bedroom door and dropped her bag to the ground. She quietly closed the door behind her and sunk to her knees. She still had so many questions to ask. So many memories had returned to her that day, but there was still many pieces missing.
Pulling the brooch from her pocket, she ran her fingers over the surface of it.
Closing her eyes she took in a deep breath. She couldn't explain it, but Karei felt like a piece of her life had just been filled in.



[Astral Specter]
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