New Earth: Part 1
By Tisha
Time: One year after the birth of Crystal Tokyo


	"But, Mom, Kita gets to go. That's not fair. I never get to do anything."

	Rei finished pulling her daughter's hair into a braid and they met eyes in the mirror. "I've told 
you before. You can go when you're twelve. Kita is only going because Kado is letting her. She's going 
to have to be with him the whole night. That wouldn't be much fun, would it?"

	Michiko sighed, getting up from her chair. She hugged her mother and headed for her 
bedroom. "Have fun without me."

	Rei smiled and shook her head. 

	"Just wait until she hits puberty."

	Rei turned to the voice and found Makoto in the doorway. "You know, I think one is plenty. 
What got into Minako anyway?" Rei replied

	"Well, she seems very happy. And I'm quite content with two."

	"Are they going tonight?"

	"Naomi's going with Takara. Kioshi was with Jifu earlier, so I think he is going. He's into the 
liking girls stage now. I just heard him say how 'cute' Aiko is."

	Rei smiled, heading out of her bedroom suite and down the hallway with Makoto. "How's he 
handling his sister being a senshi? Minako said that Aiko and Takeo are extremely jealous of Takara."

	Makoto shrugged her shoulders. "He doesn't seem to pay any attention. Aiko's probably 
jealous because she's so close with Chibi-Usa."

	They reached the grand ballroom, which was extravagantly decorated for the annual ball. 
Violin music filled the room and Rei looked to see Michiru playing on the stage. She spotted Takara and 
Naomi near the stage. Chibi-Usa was standing near the throne that Usagi was supposed to be sitting 
in. But, as usual, she seemed to be insisting on standing up and talking to people instead. Rei and 
Makoto parted, each heading to converse with the people.

•••••••••••••••••••


	"Hey, who was that cute guy you were dancing with?" Naomi asked her friend as soon as she 
returned to her side.

	Takara sat down, taking off one of her heeled shoes and rubbing her foot. "I don't know. Some 
guy my mom wanted me to dance with. He was really boring. But my feet are killing me. After all that 
training we did yesterday, dancing was not something I needed."

	Naomi nodded in understanding. She also ached from the intense workouts they were given 
practically every day. At first, being the new Sailor Jupiter had sounded great, but now she wasn't so 
sure she was up to it. She felt really sorry for Kita and Michiko, though. They were so young the 
training had to be pretty hard on them.

	A clock chimed in the ballroom and Takara looked at Naomi with surprise. "It's midnight 
already? That sure went by fast. Now I need to go home and rest my feet."

	Naomi smiled, giving her friend a quick hug before they parted and went in separate 
directions, each to their own suites in the palace.

•••••••••••••••••••

	Rei returned to her suite, trying to be quiet as to not wake Michiko from the next room. She 
was startled to see Michiko in the living room though, reading a book. "Michi, what are you doing up?"

	Michiko looked at her mother, setting the book beside her on the couch. "Kita said that even 
Takeo was there. He's nine, Mom."

	Rei sighed, setting her handbag on a table. "Yes, and he was with his father the entire night. 
He looked more bored than anything else."

	Michiko stood up. "Maybe if I actually had a father I could go too."

	Rei swallowed the anger rising inside of her. "Do *not* say that as if it's my fault."

	"It *is* your fault! Can't you see that?"

	Rei tried to fight the tears that sprang to her eyes as she covered her mouth with her hand. 
Michiko saw her mother's reaction and started to apologize. "Mom, I'm sorry."

	"Go to bed." Her voice came out raspy and a tear spilled over the rim of her eye, but she 
quickly wiped it away.

	"Mom..."

	"NOW!" Michiko picked up her book and returned to her room as Rei sat on the couch where 
her daughter had been, thinking about what she had said. She tried to fight the memories, the ones 
that always came, but was unable to.

< < < < < < <

	Minako opened the front door and pulled it back when she saw Rei. "Come in, is something 
wrong?"

	Rei turned to her. "Actually, yeah."

	Minako led her friend to a room without anyone in it and they sat down. "What's wrong?"

	"I just figured, out of everyone, you'd understand the most."

	"What do you mean? Tell me what's wrong."

	Rei bit her lip and looked at her friend. "I'm pregnant."

	Minako's eyes widened. "Wow. Well at least in your case the father's not some jerk who's 
married. Have you told Yuuichirou?" Rei shook her head and Minako took her hand. "You love him Rei, 
you always have. And he loves you. Tell him."

	Rei shook her head again. "I...I broke up with him. I don't know why, I was just so scared. And I 
thought that maybe he'd only marry me because he had to and not because he wanted to."

	"Rei-chan, trust me. Get him back. You two should be together. I *know* that he loves you. I'm 
sure he's wanted to marry you since before you ever admitted that you loved him. It's not going to help 
anything to raise a baby all by yourself. Especially when you could have had a father for it."

	Rei bit her lip and looked at her friend. "Maybe you're right. You should know better than I do. 
Thanks Minako."

	She went home and called anyone she could think of to track him down, but couldn't. She just 
had to hope he'd call, or she'd run into him somewhere. But the next day Usagi called her. "Are you 
watching the news? Put it on channel two, quickly!" Rei did as she was asked and gasped as she saw a 
huge pile of wreckage. But she was able to identify one car distinctly. It was Yuuichirou's. She turned up 
the volume to listen to the reporter.

	"Witness reports show that it was one young man who was speeding that caused the accident. 
The only survivors currently are two women and three children. All are in critical condition..." The 
woman's voice faded from Rei's hearing, as did Usagi's on the phone line. All she heard were the 
reporter's words, repeated over and over again.

>>>>>>>

•••••••••••••••••••

	Ami opened the door and peeked her head through. Kita was sound asleep so she slipped in 
quietly and kissed her cheek before leaving. She did the same with the next room but found Kado 
awake. "Go to bed. It's past twelve."

	"I know, I know, I will. You know I'm too old to be tucked in anymore. I'm fourteen and a half."

	Ami smiled at the fact that he added the half. "You guys came back early?"

	He nodded. "Kita was getting on my nerves."

	"You be nice to your sister, okay? She's got a lot going on right now. It's not easy." Kado 
nodded reluctantly and got into bed. Ami almost resisted kissing him, but did it anyway. Kado just 
wiped at the spot and grumbled. Ami only smiled as she left the room, turning the lights out as she did. 
She found Urawa already asleep in bed. Kissing his cheek just as she had with the kids, she crawled 
under the covers.

•••••••••••••••••••

	"Minako, what are you doing up? I saw you leave a while ago." Shiro was just coming in the 
door at nearly one. He had sent Takeo home a while ago but he had found an old friend and talked 
some more.

	Minako smiled at him sleepily. "Takara's not home yet."

	Shiro frowned and sat next to her. "I didn't see her out there. In fact I think I saw her and 
Naomi leave right as it ended."

	"I've thought about calling Makoto to check if Naomi was home, but I don't want to wake her." 
She sighed heavily. "Why must they ever grow up?"

	Shiro shrugged and put an arm around his wife. "That's the way things go. I can't believe that 
our little Aiko is already sixteen. But Takara's an adult. Think about it. You had a one-year-old daughter 
when you were her age. Usagi was married by her age. I met you when you were only a year older 
than she is."

	"I know. I guess it just seems different when you're the one waiting up."

	Shiro kissed his wife's head.  Somehow, to Shiro, Takara was a really special daughter. They 
had told her about her biological father when she was thirteen, but she never stopped calling Shiro 
'dad'. And somehow that made the word seem so much greater. His thoughts were interrupted when 
Takara came through the door.

	"Mom, dad, you guys don't need to wait up for me. I'm a big girl."

	They both stood up. Minako went over to her. "Where were you? You could have at least 
called, or told your dad where you were going before leaving the ball."

	"I know, I'm sorry. I ran into that Kin guy you made me dance with and we started talking. He's 
actually not quite as boring as I thought he was." Takara flashed a beaming smile, which made her look 
beautiful, and headed to her room.

	Minako looked at her husband and collapsed playfully into his arms. He picked her up, one 
hand under her knees and the other behind her back. Minako smiled up at him. "Why must our 
daughters fall in love? Ever?"

•••••••••••••••••••

	"Usako, what are you doing?" Usagi turned to her husband, who sounded extremely tired. He 
sat next to her and she immediately curled herself into his arms. 

	"Did I wake you? I'm sorry. I just couldn't sleep so I decided to look at these." She indicated the 
photo albums spread open on the table. She smiled and picked one up, "Remember that?" She 
pointed to a picture of the two of them at an amusement park. Usagi was holding two-year-old Chibi-
Usa, who proudly displayed a stuffed cow.

	Mamoru smiled at the picture. "Chibi-Usa was so happy to have that cow." He shook his head 
in memory as he looked over the other pictures on the page. "Usako, what's wrong? It's two in the 
morning and we just had a very hectic ball. How can you not sleep?"

	Usagi sighed as she flipped through the pages. Looking over photographs of her small family, 
some with her friends as well. She stopped on one of her and Chibi-Usa that they had taken 
professionally when Chibi-Usa was thirteen. "I've been having dreams. About Chibi-Usa. I'm just afraid 
she'll get hurt."

	Mamoru sighed, taking the photo album from her hands. "Usako, you managed it for all of 
those years. And you were only fourteen. I was always afraid of this day too; I thought she'd be 
terribly young, like Michiko and Kita. We should be thankful she's already sixteen. She's very capable 
of taking care of herself."

	"I know all that. But it doesn't help the fact that my only child is going to be constantly in harm's 
way. I know that she'll probably be fine but I can't stop worrying. And I just wish the dreams would 
stop."

	"I'm sure they will. As soon as the five of them are ready and win a fight or two we'll know that 
they are going to be fine. Plus, Luna, Artemis, and Diana will be with them." After Diana was born and 
started looking after Chibi-Usa, Luna had decided to be guardian to Kita. Artemis was guardian to 
Takara, since he had lived with her and Minako for a very long time.

	Usagi nodded and started to stand up. "I know, you're right. Let's get to sleep."

•••••••••••••••••••

	"Serenity, who's teaching us today?" Michiko asked. Each of the old senshi had been taking 
turns teaching the new ones random things that they had learned over the years.

	Usagi looked at her and then around the area questioningly. "Your mother. Where is she?"

	Michiko bit her lip. "Well, she wasn't up yet when I left but I don't really think that she's 
coming."

	Usagi frowned and looked concerned. "Why not? Is she okay?" Michiko responded by 
shrugging and saying, "It's my fault. I said something stupid last night."

	Usagi was going to further question her but Michiko was looking as if she wasn't interested in 
saying any more so she decided against it. She saw Takara nearby and turned to ask her, "Takara, can 
you run and see if your mom can take over for today?"

	Takara nodded and started heading to the palace and Usagi turned back to Michiko. "I'm going 
to go check on her." She waited for Michiko's nod before she started heading indoors. She saw Rei 
about halfway to her room heading in the opposite direction so she stopped her. Rei looked at her 
impatiently.

	"I'm late to teach the session, I really need to go."

	"It's okay. Minako is going to take over for you. Are you all right?"

	Rei sighed in frustration and looked Usagi in the eyes. "Why wouldn't I be?"

	"Because Michiko said so. And your eyes are puffy. Rei, you don't cry very often, so when you 
do it's got to be something that's pretty important. Let's go in here." She gestured toward the 
conference room, which was currently empty. The conference room was very large with intricately 
carved wooden walls and floors. There was a very long dining table along the room with at least thirty 
chairs that were lined in red velvet. Usagi and Rei sat in two of the chairs and Usagi looked at Rei and 
waited for her friend to speak. But when she didn't Usagi asked her gently, "Why were you crying?"

	Rei looked at her and half smirked. "There's only one reason I ever cry, Usagi-chan."

	Usagi had figured as much so she took her friend's hand and put her index finger under the 
other woman's chin, forcing her to look her in the eyes. "Stop blaming yourself. Destiny plays out the 
way that it's meant to."

	Rei shook her head. "I was starting to believe that. But now even Michiko blames me for it. I 
couldn't sleep last night. I always think why couldn't I just be happy about something for once and not 
go and do something stupid. Why have I never been able to face my emotions before?"

	Usagi smiled and squeezed Rei's hand. "Because that's just who you are. But you are good 
about it now. Michiko was really good for you. You two are so close I'm sometimes jealous. She treats 
you as a friend, not a parent. You should just be thankful that you have her, instead of fretting about 
the circumstances when you lost her father."

	Rei nodded. She had heard their lectures and cheering-up talks a hundred times. When she 
had been pregnant the mixture of hormones and Yuuichirou's death had caused her to cry constantly. 
They would always be cheering her up or trying to get her mind from him. She had finally stopped 
feeling sad after Michiko was born. She would always see him in her and remember that he had given 
her a beautiful daughter. She had finally stopped looking at the fact that he had died right after she 
broke up with him. 

	But somehow, the thought was always stuck in the back of her head. The news report, 
newspaper article, the funeral, they were all memorized in her head and would play over at the most 
unexpected moments. She just found that she had to try and ignore them to be strong in front of 
Michiko. Her daughter really was everything to her and she made sure that she protected her the best 
she could. She could not stand the thought of losing her daughter as well. She was the only family she 
had left.

To be continued...