Chapter One: No Shit, There I Was...

"No shit, there I was, about to go up the Tokyo Tower." I glanced across the room into the shadows where my host sat, but he waved a hand dismissively. He didn't object to the language I used, as long as it expressed the truth. I don't know why he wanted me to tell him the story; he knew a lot more about what had happened than I did. He knew a lot more about everything than I did.

"Go on," he growled gently. "I want to know how you perceived what happened."

"Yes, Lord," I whispered, then started again.

No shit, there I was, about to go up the Tokyo Tower. I'd won a trip to Japan in a contest I'd run across in Newtype magazine. All I had to do was send in an essay on my favorite Sailor Senshi. It had been a difficult decision, since I had to choose between Mercury or Uranus & Neptune. I'd finally settled on the couple, since I figured Mercury had more entries dedicated to her than I could ever hope to compete with.

I only had another ten or fifteen minutes to wait in the line for the elevator when people behind me started screaming and running. If I hadn't been leaning on my cane, I might have been able to get out of their way; but when you've got a knee that has all the flexibility of a rusted hinge, the best thing to do is brace yourself and hope you don't get crushed by the mob. And they were definitely a mob. I'd turned around so I'd have a better chance to brace myself, and saw why people were panicking.

Coming toward the tower was a battle like I'd seen on CNN a few times; the Sailor Senshi were battling one of those monsters that seemed to have a tropism for Tokyo. I realized I should have considered that before accepting the prize, but it's not the first time I'd gone on a trip without adequate preplanning.

It's one thing to watch excerpts from a fight on CNN; it's something else entirely to be right there in person, with weird energy blasts going off all over the place, pieces of buildings crashing to the ground, and panicking civilians getting flash-fried, crushed, or shredded. No doubt about it: I froze. Scared shitless, even. That's when it happened.

The monster got in a lucky shot, and knocked Sailor Uranus back a good hundred yards. She hit the base of the tower, about twenty feet from me, and fell to the ground. That shocked me out of my immobility. One of the three Senshi I'd most like to meet, and she could be dead before I ever got the chance. I stumped toward her and didn't like what I saw as I got closer. She was blowing pink froth with every breath, but was still trying to get to her feet and rejoin the battle.

She looked past me and opened her mouth to speak, but doubled over choking before she could get a word out. I turned to see what she'd seen, and knew I was dead. The other Senshi were still so caught up in the fight, they didn't even know Uranus was down, and the monster had turned three of its eyes and at least a half-dozen tentacles toward finishing the job it started.

I lost it. I knew no matter what I did, I was going to die, and they needed Uranus alive. As the tentacles moved in, I began working my cane. Between the little bit of SCA fighting and Escrima I'd tried before my knee forced me to give them up and the strange feelings, like half-formed memories, that had guided me, I'd worked up a stick fighting style that worked pretty good against muggers who thought a fat cripple was a good target. Unfortunately, it didn't work so good against a twenty-story-tall monster with more tentacles than I had hair.

The only bad thing about dying was the horrified look in Uranus' eyes when the tentacles tore me apart. I've lived with pain for so many years, the physical sensations weren't so bad...but I wished I'd been able to help her more.

"So that's it, Lord. The next thing I knew, I was here. It's nothing like what I expected." I looked around the gloom, wondering where the gates were, where the Nile was, and why Ienpw had come to meet me here, wherever here was.

"That's because I need you to go back," He said, stepping out of the shadows and looking at me with those penetrating brown eyes. His look told me all I needed to know; my heart wouldn't let me disappoint him by saying no, although He'd allow me to travel on if I did.

"Will you tell me why, Lord?" I knew I'd do it, and I knew he didn't have to say why, but I had to ask.

"For Haruka. While she's willing to kill when necessary, she's never been forced to watch a civilian die while trying to protect her. The guilt will kill her spirit, long before anything could kill her body." He looked sad, as if He knew what he was asking of me. Hell, what am I saying? Of course He knew what He was asking of me.

"Haruka? Is that her name?" Suddenly, I had...call it a brainfart, if you want. "Like, Ten'ou Haruka? The racer? That's wild. The only other racer I ever met was Gordy Johncock, back when I was...eight? Nine?"

"You were nine. He was still using the garage in Hastings, Michigan, when your father introduced you to him, as a not-so-subtle attempt to humiliate you into living your life his way."

"Yeah. I remember." I remember that one of the greatest disappointments in my life was not being able to dance on the bastard's grave when he finally had the good grace to die.

"He has met the Destroyer. You don't need to concern yourself with him any more. What is your other question?" He almost seemed to be smiling as he asked.

"So...do I get any special abilities, or powers, or anything like that? I mean, if I'm going to be around any of them for very long, I really don't want to be bait for the monster of the week. It'd also be kind of nice to be able to talk to them without having an interpreter around." OK, so I was still a little unsure about all this, but I could hope.

He laughed. It's kind of weird, hearing a human laugh come from a canine mouth, but he did. Then he laid a hand on my shoulder and licked my forehead.

"Fred belongs to another universe. You have the ability to be like him, if you take advantage of the opportunities that will come your way with the Senshi, but the only special abilities you need are those already within you. Trust your heart, and your faith. You do need to be able to talk with them, though. That much, we can give you without upsetting Ma'at." He looked into the shadows and nodded, and I decided that if I weren't already dead, I'd be fainting about now as I guessed what was about to happen.

A spot of light had appeared in the gloom when He nodded, and swiftly grew, revealing Djehuti. He walked around us, looking me up and down like a butcher inspecting a side of beef. Then Ienpw nodded, and I knew they were discussing me. No way was I going to embarrass my Lord, so I looked back into the ibis eyes of the God who was going to give me understanding of Japanese. His gaze swiftly shifted from calculating to amused approval, and He tapped my forehead with the tip of his beak.

"Just be sure you don't let your studies of our language lag," He warned before fading from sight.

"He is concerned, because the Senshi leader is special to him," my Lord said softly. "You'll do fine, as long as you remember to find who and what you are. Now it's time for you to go, my child."

"You did it, Sailor Moon!"

"But I haven't done anything yet!"

"He can't die. It's not right!"

"Let her heal you, my love. For me?"

My head felt light, like I'd been floating in an isolation tank for a few minutes. I opened my eyes, and grimaced at the brightness of the sun. Then I realized it only hurt; it wasn't blinding me the way it usually did. I groaned and raised a hand to my forehead to block out some of the sun.

"It's all right, Haruka. I'm not dead yet. Let her heal you, ok?" As soon as I let those words slip, there was dead silence all around. I looked up at the expressions of shock and suspicion in the women around me - well, all right, technically they looked like teenage girls, but the things they did entitled them to be considered women in my book - and groaned. "Shit. Me and my big mouth. Could you all forget I said that? Well, except the part about healing. I know a punctured lung when I see it."

That's when this black cat with a gold crescent moon on its forehead landed on my chest and glared into my face.

"Who are you and why are you here?" OK, so the cat talks. Why not? My eyes were coping a little better with the light, so I lowered my hand to a position where it could sniff it.

"My name's Bill, and I'm here because I won the "Name Your Favorite Senshi" contest in Newtype magazine. I'm on the ground like this because that monster was about to kill Sailor Uranus and I got stupid." I smiled when the cat didn't claw or bite me, and laughed softly. "Wish I could get stupid like that more often. Without the dying part, though. I'd rather save my next death for when it's scheduled."

Just then, Haruka let go with a choking cough that sounded like she'd tried to move and ripped up more of her lungs. Without thinking, I pushed to my feet and tried to move toward her. Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mars stepped in the way, while Sailor Moon, Sailor Saturn, and Sailor Mercury moved toward her. When I saw the situation, I sighed and looked down for my glasses and cane. Then I blinked and stared at the nearest visible sign. I could read it. Without my glasses. And my knee didn't hurt. In fact, I didn't hurt anywhere . I whooped with joy and yelled out a prayer of thanks, while spinning on my bad leg for the first time in over ten years.

Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter looked at me like I was insane. I can't really blame them. I'd been dead just a minute before, I knew the name of one of their teammates, and now I was whooping and dancing like a fool. I stopped and bowed to them with a silly grin.

"Sorry, ladies. It's just that I don't hurt for the first time in so long I'd forgotten what it felt like to not be in pain. It's better than being drunk or high or...well, it's better than almost anything I can imagine. I'm likely to be a little giddy for a while. What say we go somewhere I can explain myself without a lot of prying eyes and ears around?" I laughed and tripped over my cane, rolled back to my feet with it in my hands the way I'd learned during the year I'd studied Tae Kwon Do, and leaned on the cane like a drunken Fred Astaire.

Mars and Jupiter looked at each other, then at me, and seemed on the verge of saying something when Uranus pushed her way between them and stalked toward me with her sword leading the way. Now that I had a chance to look at her more clearly, it seemed pretty obvious she was Ten'ou Haruka. I'd been fascinated by the article on her in Motor Trend, even though they thought she was male. I guess my gaydar had picked up on something being different about her, even then.

"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" she growled. That was all it took. I've always been a sucker for women with voices like hers. Then again, I've always been a sucker for strong women in general. I swallowed and took a deep breath, before reaching out and gently pushing her sword aside.

"My name's Bill. I'm just a tourist from the US, who happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. I know your name because my God told me while I was dead." I stepped closer, well within reach of her sword if she decided to use it, and growled softly, "And it's not your fault. If I hadn't jumped in front of you, I wouldn't have died. You would have. And I couldn't allow that." I smiled and shrugged. "Besides, dying wasn't that bad. I at least got to stop hurting."

"But...but..." She looked as if her whole universe was turning inside out. I can't say I blame her. After all, civilians aren't supposed to throw themselves between the Senshi and their enemies. That's not how the world works. I looked around, then waved at Neptune.

"Sailor Neptune? Could you?" I gestured toward Haruka and stepped back. Sometimes the only cure for what ails you is the one you love. While Sailor Neptune moved to sooth her lover, I looked around at the other Senshi. One thing was certain: they were all gorgeous. Each one had her own unique beauty, from Mercury's pixielike cuteness to Pluto's refined elegance. Hell, even Tuxedo Kamen was gorgeous. I definitely would not have turned down a pass from him, any more than I'd have said no to any of the women. Not that that was likely, the way they were looking at me.

"He's right," Sailor Moon said, stepping away from Tuxedo Kamen and walking toward me. "I think we should go somewhere private to talk. Sailor Pluto?"

"No!" Everyone, including me, turned to stare when Haruka yelled. "We'll go to my place." She glared at me as if daring me to disagree. I smiled and bowed my head. No way was I going to argue with her. I owed her too much for the pain I'd put her through.

Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter were arguing with Sailor Moon. I recognized the look on Sailor Moon's face; she'd made her decision and no amount of arguing would change it. They seemed to realize it, too, because Sailor Mars suggested something to her, and she nodded. The Senshi moved around me and took each other's hands.

"Uh, do you think we could stop on the way and...."

"SAILOR TELEPORT!"

"...pick up some tea? Uh...never mind." The apartment looked like a guy's apartment. OK, it looked kind of like mine, except less cluttered and with car stuff instead of computer stuff. It also had the occasional feminine touch that mine lacked.

"I think I can find some tea," Sailor Neptune said with a gentle smile. "I must admit, it's strange to hear an American ask for tea."

"I'm a strange American. I'm kind of hooked on genmaicha and hojicha." The women looked surprised, and I shrugged, blushing. "Just lucky, I guess."

Neptune vanished through a door that I assumed led to the kitchen, while the other Senshi found places to sit, perch, or lean against. Tuxedo Kamen looked me over with a set to his jaw that told me he wasn't sure just what to make of me. I can't blame him; there I was, six feet tall, 300 pounds, long brown ponytail, a sweatshirt with Sidney Harris' "Then a Miracle Occurs" cartoon on it (now permanently ruined by my blood), my cane, and Victorian muttonchops that joined my moustache - that I'd never managed to get long enough to properly wax before the hairs dangling in my mouth when I ate or drank irritated me enough to trim it short. Not only was I acting weird, I looked weird, too.

"Why don't you tell us what you know about us?" Sailor Moon suggested, apparently noticing my lost expression as I looked at the Senshi.

"I don't like this, Sailor Moon. I don't trust him," the black cat complained. Another cat, white-furred, with a golden crescent on its forehead, and very obviously a tom, walked into the room and sat beside the black one, looking up at me with slitted eyes.

"I wouldn't trust me, either, fuzzybutt," I said, shrugging. "I don't blame you for being suspicious. But...does anyone have a computer around here? One with internet access?"

Sailor Mercury produced a notebook computer out of thin air - I made a mental note to ask her if she knew how she did that later - and looked at me expectantly through a blue visor that hung over her eyes from her tiara. Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus were snickering at the cat's obvious discomfiture at being called 'fuzzybutt'.

"Look up www.macmanusnet.net, ok? That's my site. It'll probably answer most of your questions. I'll do my best to clear up anything else you want to know." I hate talking about myself. Interesting is not the word you'd use to describe me or my life - at least until this happened.

Sailor Mercury tapped on her keyboard and waited. I knew she wouldn't have long to wait. The only graphics I have on my homepage are some buttons. Her wait was much shorter than I expected. Either that notebook's wireless connection was the equivalent of my fictional MacManusNet, or she had my page cached. Or both. Her eyes widened and she looked up at me with a faint gasp of surprise. Then she looked back down at the screen, as if she didn't believe what she was seeing. I couldn't imagine what was so surprising. My homepage was just a directory to my other pages - reprints of my KITA stories, some wild-assed comp sci papers I'd written that had convinced my professors I was either a mad scientist or just plain mad, and my otaku stuff. I'd put links to my essays on that page - both the one I'd sent in about Sailors Uranus and Neptune, and the one I'd written but decided not to send in, about Sailor Mercury. Remembering that, I groaned. She was probably going to think I was a hopeless otaku if she read it. And if she was half as smart as advertised, she'd have skimmed it before I could open my mouth to object.

"Luna, Artemis, look at this! This is Raven!" Sailor Mercury sounded as if she'd struck gold. I swallowed and blushed. I'm still not used to the idea of being a successful writer. Whenever I look at my stories, I see far too many ways I could improve them. The cats hopped up on the table and peered at Mercury's computer, then at me. The tom stalked across the table until he was staring at me from just a couple feet away.

"Tell me, how do you solve the problem of quantum tunneling in complex circuits?" OK, so both cats could talk. I could handle this.

"Practically, or ideally?" I thought a minute, then smiled. "Ideally, I'd make it work for me. Why consider it a limitation, if you can find a way to control it and use it in place of ordinary circuitry? In fact, if I could figure out how Sailor Mercury accesses other dimensions, I'd use the quantum effect in combination with multidimensional circuitry to make a system more compact and reliable." I shrugged. "That's ideally, though. Practically, thicker substrate, silver or gold instead of aluminum, and a lot of testing."

Another gasp came from Sailor Mercury, and she looked up from her computer with pink cheeks.

"You really think that?" she asked. Uh-oh. She'd found my essay. I suddenly found it a little difficult to breath and felt sweat beading on my forehead. Then the black cat looked up at me and sat bathing itself smugly.

"Uh...yeah?" I murmured uncertainly. It's kind of embarrassing to have the object of shameless adoration reading what you've written about her. She smiled, still blushing, and transformed. In her civilian identity she was, believe it or not, more desirable than Sailor Mercury. Oh, she had the same pixielike looks, but she seemed more human - more approachable. Not that I've ever been all that good with my approach.

"Hi. I'm Mizuno Ami," she said, standing to bow. I blinked and returned the bow without thinking. This was the woman I'd been exchanging email with for months about my weird computer design ideas? I stumbled back and bumped into Haruka, who'd transformed while I wasn't looking. She muttered something about another Usagi and caught me.

"Umm...sorry," I mumbled and turned my head to see who'd caught me. When I saw who it was, I blushed and tried to stand. She shook her head and guided me to a chair. I was just a little too boggled to resist - not that I would have, but she didn't have to deal with me trying to "help" her.

"You're Ami?" I blurted out. "I thought you were older. I mean...your email, it read like you were a grad student."

"That's OK," she answered with a blush. "I thought you were closer to my age. I'd never bothered to look at the rest of your site before...I've just never run into anyone your age who wasn't so caught up in being 'right' that they'd actually talk with me."

I blushed and bowed my head. She was right. Hell, even people younger than me were frequently too hidebound for my tastes. I have trouble relating to anyone who was older than the average college student because of it. The problem is, that meant people frequently thought I was just interested in picking up younger women, so I got treated like a dirty old man a lot.

"Haruka, you should see what he wrote about you and Sailor Neptune." Ami called. Now I knew I was in trouble. Haruka seemed like the kind of woman who didn't appreciate outsiders analyzing her emotions, and I'd waxed eloquent about how her relationship with Sailor Neptune, like that of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, demonstrated that the Sailor Senshi were not just fighting against evil; they were fighting for love.

I rested my forehead against my palms and waited for the explosion. Instead, I felt a hand rest on my shoulder and Sailor Neptune's voice gently asking, "Is that what you honestly believe?"

I nodded. I didn't think I could trust my voice right then. I raised my head, and looked into Haruka's eyes from across the table. I knew that look; I'd had it myself enough times. Only her stubbornness was keeping her from breaking into tears. I bit my lip and looked up toward Sailor Neptune, hoping she'd seen it, too. She looked down and nodded, then crooked a finger at Haruka and walked back into the kitchen. Haruka looked down at Ami's computer, then followed Neptune into the kitchen.

"Shit," I muttered. "I didn't want to do that. I owe her so much."

"You owe her?" Sailor Moon asked, slipping into a chair beside me while Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter tensed. It was obvious they believed it was their responsibility to protect her, and they took it seriously. The only other person in the room besides Ami who seemed calm was Sailor Pluto. I assumed she'd determined for herself I was no threat. I nodded to Sailor Moon.

"I saw the look on her face when I died. She's never had a civilian die trying to defend her before. It must have torn her apart to know she couldn't stop it." I sighed and looked down at the table. Somehow, I was crying as I imagined the pain she must have gone through. "I've got to do something to make up for hurting her like that."

"Be her friend," Sailor Moon said. "It's obvious you understand her relationship with Sailor Neptune, and..."

"Michiru," Sailor Neptune's voice said from behind me. "My name is Kaiou Michiru." The violinist? The one Motor Trend had said was...oh, that's right. They'd described her as Haruka's girlfriend; "his" inspiration.

I looked up, to see an approving nod from Sailor Pluto, and dismayed shock from Sailors Mars and Jupiter. They still didn't trust me. Michiru was...it's hard to describe just how beautiful she is without using a lot of cliched terms. Let's just say she's incredibly beautiful and leave it at that.

"Will she be ok?" I asked. Michiru handed me a tissue so I could wipe my face and blow my nose.

"Give her time. This is all new to her. For that matter, it's new to all of us. Innocent victims, we're used to. What you did...the only one who's ever done anything like that for one of us is much better able to do it." She looked over at Tuxedo Kamen with a thoughtful smile.

He walked over and laid his hands on Sailor Moon's shoulders. She looked up with the same look of devotion Michiru had given to Haruka before leading her into the kitchen. I sighed and felt my eyes tearing up again. Yes, true love does that to me.

"He also has a bond that gives him strength," I said, and felt myself blushing again. Great. Now they'd think I was one of those annoying Americans who threw out fortune-cookie quotes as if they meant something.

"Bill?" Ami's voice drew my attention; she was looking at her computer and blushing. "Do you really think I'm beautiful?"

"Yes." I took a deep breath. They were all beautiful, but..."Ami, do you know much about faeries?"

"No, should I?" She looked - and sounded - confused.

"It's not really necessary. I was just hoping for a way to offer a comparison. You see, you remind me a little bit of a pixie. I'm not sure exactly why; it's just an impression. You also have the same kind of beauty Belldandy has. If I were half my age...." I couldn't believe I'd just said that. I lowered my head to my hands and groaned. Now they'd all think I was a dirty old man.

"You'd be a year younger than Ami," came a voice from the direction Sailor Pluto was standing. "I'm not sure you'd really want that." She sounded amused.

"Thank you," Ami murmured, her voice barely reaching to my ears. I looked up, surprised, and saw tears in her eyes. She was...happy? Happy that a fat old fool had stupid fantasies about loving her? Now MY world was getting just a little unsteady. Someone as beautiful and smart and witty and delightful as her just had to have a boyfriend. Didn't she? I blinked as Pluto's words penetrated. That meant Ami was...twenty? Well, she had been sending her email from a university address, so I suppose I should have guessed.

Michiru leaned over and whispered to Sailor Moon, who looked at me with a calculating grin. I gulped and bit my lip. As much as I wanted the Senshi to think of me as a friend, the way Sailor Moon was looking at me was very disconcerting.

"Sailor Moon, don't. Not without asking him, first." Ami sounded worried. I looked from Sailor Moon to Ami and back again, then up at Michiru. She smiled and nodded.

"Don't what?" I looked at Sailor Moon and waited. Nervously, given what Ami had said. Haruka came out of the kitchen then and moved to stand with Michiru. No doubt about it: those two fit together like pieces of a puzzle. I started to suspect maybe I hadn't been so outrageous in my description of their relationship after all. I felt tears coming to my eyes again as I watched them stand together; tears of happiness at being able to see how much they love each other.

"Don't use this," Sailor Moon said, opening her brooch to expose a crystal that flashed like a flawless - and enormous - diamond, yet...something about it felt different; like an ankh I'd bought in Egypt, yet not quite the same. Different flavors is the only way I can describe it. "With this, I can make you Ami's age, if you want."

I sat back and exhaled in surprise. I wasn't the only one surprised; Mars and Jupiter had backed off, but were still watching me suspiciously. When Sailor Moon made her offer, they started, and looked as if they were about to object when Sailor Saturn spoke up.

"Like you did to me, Sailor Moon? Do you really want Ami to have to take care of him while he grows up again?" She sounded...not angry, so much as bitter. The look on Sailor Moon's face was heart-rending. I don't know what was behind it, but...

"I'll do it. If Ami wants me to." I glanced at Ami and blushed. What was going on in my mind? It was as if being dead had sliced away some of my inhibitions.

"It would give you more time to see if your ideas work. I'd like that. Especially if your ideas on cybernetics can be made to work." She looked down, blushing.

I reached across the table, barely far enough for my hand to rest next to her computer. If she took it, I was in. She looked up, then at my hand, then back up at my face. She lifted a hand and laid it atop mine. I couldn't hold back any more. I squeezed her hand as the tears flowed.

"Yes," I whispered. I knew Sailor Moon could hear me, and I was afraid to speak any louder; I knew my voice couldn't hold if I tried.

"He's coming around. Ami!"

I felt a pair of hands clutch mine, and squeezed - a lot harder than I used to be able to. A gasp startled me, and I opened my eyes, to see Ami's face hovering over mine, with tears in her eyes.

"Do you think...you could let up a little?" she whispered gently. I nodded and released her hands, letting her hold me, rather than the other way around. She smiled, kissed my forehead, and sat back.

I was laying on a sofa in Haruka's living room - it had barely been visible through the crowd of Senshi when I was at her table. I didn't remember how I'd gotten there, but with my size, I assumed it had to have been Jupiter who'd carried me.

"I'm sorry, Ami. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's all right. You didn't; not really." She smiled and looked around at the other women - and man - with us. Haruka and Michiru were watching from the bench of a piano across the room, with a cute black-haired girl just now sitting beside them. The Senshi were all gone, but...no, they weren't gone, they were transformed. The ditzy blonde with the ponytails had to be Sailor Moon, the man she was leaning against (he was still gorgeous) had to be Tuxedo Kamen.... I looked around at the others, seeing their heroic selves shining through their eyes. It was as if their life was so strong, they couldn't hide it simply by taking on mortal appearance.

**Somehow I get the feeling You woke something in me, Lord.**

**I didn't have to. As you suspect, your death removed some of your inhibitions, including your inhibition against trusting your heart.**

I took a deep breath and looked back at Ami, whispering softly as I digested what He had said.

"How did you convince them to trust me?"

"I didn't. You did." She smiled; a smile that I'd walk through fire to see again. "Even Luna and Artemis have decided you're not the threat they were afraid of."

"We were not afraid," the white cat said indignantly.

"We were merely concerned for the Princess," the black cat added.

"I don't think you have to worry," the blond with the ponytails laughed. "He has love in his heart."

I gently tugged my hands free of Ami's grasp and pushed myself up. Halfway up, I realized my body felt different. A lot different. For starters, my pants were threatening to fall off because they were way too big for me, and someone had gotten rid of my bloody shirt. I let myself fall back onto the sofa, blushing.

"Umm...does anyone have a rope I can borrow?"

"Rope? I'm sure I have some," Haruka said. "Why?"

"To keep my pants on. I'm not going to sit up as long as there's a risk of them falling off." Even Jupiter and Mars - or whatever their names were now -had to laugh at that.

"I'll get it, Papa," the black-haired girl said, bouncing to her feet and dashing from the room. I looked at Haruka; the question in my eyes must have been obvious, because she shrugged.

"It was easier on her when she was younger, if people thought she had a mother and father. And since everyone in the outside world thinks I'm male...." she let it drop at that.

I understood. Even in the States, they'd have trouble in a lot of places if they made their true relationship known. And Sailor Saturn really needed to be with others like her. It was the best solution I could think of. Haruka must have seen the understanding in my expression; she relaxed, obviously enough for me to see, at least. Michiru looked at me with a smile of thanks, triggering another blush as I realized just how important these women were to me.

"Since you can't go anywhere for a while, you're ours," Sailor Moon said with a playful grin. "I'm Tsukino Usagi, and this is my Prince, Chiba Mamoru."

"Actually, I'm Ami's, but thanks for the thought." I glanced at Ami, to see her turn a beautiful shade of pink. "At least, I'm Ami's, if she'll have me." That triggered a deeper blush and a squeak from the girl who'd captured my heart.

"I think that means yes," Sailor Venus said with a laugh. "I'm Aino Minako. If you'd heard how Ami talked about her online friend Raven, you wouldn't have any doubts." She grinned wickedly at Ami, who was trying to impersonate the Incredible Shrinking Woman.

"Let me guess...you take your job as a yenta seriously." I chuckled. "And didn't you used to be Sailor V?"

She blinked in surprise and nodded slowly, then asked, "What's a yenta?"

"Oh. Sorry, it's a Yiddish word. A matchmaker." Actually, there's a lot more to being a yenta than that, but that was a good enough explanation, since that's what I'd been intending.

All of the Senshi of the inner planets broke into laughter at that. From the looks they gave her, they'd all been victims of her matchmaking at one time or another. Well, all except for Usagi, but the relationship between her and Mamoru was just as strong as that between Michiru and Haruka.

"I'm Hino Rei," Sailor Mars said. "Thank you for helping us. You're a priest, aren't you?"

"I WISH," I said with a laugh. "I'm just a servant of Ienpw; I haven't even started training to be a priest. But you are a priestess. Of a fire god, right?"

"Hmm...you should be a priest. Yes, I'm a priestess, and the shrine I serve at is a fire shrine." She smiled, her face totally different from the hostility and suspicion she'd shown earlier. "I'd like to talk with you sometime, when Ami is studying or in class."

"Uh..." I didn't want to do anything to hurt Ami, and talking with another woman when she wasn't around seemed to me to be treading close to the edge.

"What's wrong, Rei? Afraid we'll be so wrapped up in technical talk that you won't be able to get a word in?" Ami sounded almost amused, as if her geekiness were a well-worn joke.

"As a matter of fact? Yes." Rei grinned and stuck her tongue out at Ami, drawing a laugh from Usagi.

"Hey! I'm the only one you're allowed to stick your tongue out at, Rei! Do you want me to start thinking you don't love me anymore?" Usagi grinned playfully at Rei. It was obvious they were very close. Hell, it was obvious all of them were very close.

Rei gave Usagi a raspberry, followed by a redeye. "There, Princess. Feel better now?"

Usagi threw a pillow at Rei, and the Inner Senshi quickly fell into a pretty wicked pillow fight. Mamoru managed to extract himself before he could be felled by a flying pillow, and crouched beside the sofa.

"Thank you for helping Haruka. We lost them both once before, and it nearly tore Usagi's heart out."

"Am I wrong, or wouldn't losing any of you tear her apart? She seems to me to be a very loving person, and each one of you is vitally important to her."

Mamoru looked at me with approval in his eyes and nodded. "You're right. Usagi is the most loving person I've ever known." I didn't push him for more; some things are meant to be private.

"Will this work?" the girl who was Sailor Saturn stood behind the sofa holding a length of rope in her hands. I nodded and held out a hand.

"I think that'll work just fine. Thank you. My name's Bill. What's yours?" I smiled as she dropped the rope in my hand and looked at me uncertainly.

"Hotaru. I'm Tomoe Hotaru." She glanced toward Haruka and Michiru, who nodded and smiled in unison. I smiled as I watched. I couldn't imagine better parents for her.

"Thank you, Hotaru. Now, if Mamoru would loan me his cape for a minute...." I chuckled as Mamoru stood, understanding what I wanted. Before he could transform, Haruka appeared beside the sofa, holding a blanket. I smiled up at her as I took it. "Thank you, Haruka."

I flipped the blanket open over myself and swapped the rope for my old belt, then cinched my pants down around my waist. I was definitely going to have to do some shopping; the gangsta look was not my preference by any stretch of the imagination.

"You have an unusually flexible mind," the woman who was Sailor Pluto said as she moved to stand beside Haruka and Hotaru. Michiru joined them as she was speaking. "Most people would still be coping with the idea of our presence."

"I'm a writer," I said, smiling as sat up and folded the blanket. "That helps. So does being dead. It's amazing how much that alters your perspective on things." I looked up and mentally kicked myself. Haruka may have been good at concealing her feelings, but they were as obvious to me as if she'd broken into tears.

"Haruka?" I reached up, then drew my hand back. Somehow, I didn't think she'd want anyone other than Michiru touching her right now. "I just wanted to say...thank you. If it hadn't happened, I'd never have been able to experience everything I'm experiencing right now, and...I wouldn't change anything. Well, except your getting hurt. I don't deal well with my friends being hurt."

Haruka fell back a half step, into Michiru's arms. It took her a minute to regain her composure enough to speak.

"We get hurt a lot. It's part of the price we pay for what we are."

"Well, then, I guess I need to stick around so I can help you, don't I?" I smiled warmly at her. Suddenly, I had an inspiration, and rose to my feet. Being able to move and stand without pain still made me feel giddy...when I started singing and discovered I had my singing voice back, I knew what I'd told her was more true than I had imagined as I said it.

I'm not Vision. For starters, I'm the wrong sex. But "Never the End" seemed like the perfect song for the situation. Sometime during the song, the pillow fight came to a stop as the participants sat and stared at me. I was so focussed on Haruka, I didn't notice until I'd stopped singing and wondered why the room was so quiet.

Ami wrapped her arms around my right arm and looked up at me with shining eyes. The moment seemed perfect as I bent down to meet her lips. She melted against me, and time seemed to stand still. When I finally drew back to take a breath, she rested her head on my chest with a quiet sigh. I held her close and looked over her head at the others, who were, for the most part, pretending to not watch us. I can't blame them, really; Ami didn't seem like the kind of girl who showed her inner self too often.

"You didn't tell us he was a singer, too," Minako complained and grinned as she batted the back of Ami's head.

"I didn't know," Ami murmured. "He never mentioned it."

"I haven't sung in public in...years. I made the mistake of smoking for a few years, and it messed up my voice, along with everything else it messed up. It's one of the things I've missed doing for a long time." I squeezed Ami gently and looked toward Haruka to see if she'd calmed any. I smiled when I saw how she and Michiru were looking at each other. Time for a little of my style of interference. "Ami? Would you mind helping me with a little shopping? I need to replace my entire wardrobe."

Mamoru's face looked as if he'd just been threatened with death by slow torture, as Usagi grabbed his arm and squealed happily. "Shopping! I know just the place! They're having some wonderful specials, and I know we can get you dressed up almost as nice as Mamoru there."

Ami smiled and nodded, then whispered up to me, "Usagi's a shopping addict. If she says she knows where there are good specials, you can be sure she does. All you have to do is keep up with her."

"If I'm with you, I can keep up with anything," I assured her. I kissed her gently and looked up toward Haruka and Michiru. Michiru had just glanced my way, and I quietly shook my head, then glanced toward what I assumed was their bedroom. She nodded and gently urged Haruka that way, while Usagi excitedly rounded up the rest of us - even Pluto and Hotaru - for the shopping expedition.

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Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, Sailor Senshi, and all terms, names, etc. associated with the series are copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha. I make no claim to them and this work of fanfiction should not be seen as making a claim.