* * * *

The ringing of the bell cut through the silence of the day like a knife. Classes were finally over for the weekend and the students were anxious to get home. The front doors of Juuban Junior High opened like a dam and students flowed out in a tidal wave of arms and legs. Amongst the first students out were Tsukino Usagi and Osaka Naru. As usual, they were walking together and discussing one of their main and favorite topics: boys.

"Usagi-chan, that new guy Tetsuo is so dreamy!" Naru sighed as her short red hair breezed past her cheek.

Usagi nodded. "I agree, but the American boy is kawaii!" she finished as she flipped one long golden ponytail over her shoulder.

As they both walked along deep in discussion about the new guys, a small brown cat suddenly appeared and started to follow. The cat was slender and furry with a pair of the intense violet eyes that glittered in the sunlight with cat intelligence. Its brown fur bristled in the wind as it slowly trailed the two girls.

Whenever the girls stopped, the cat stopped also. It matched every move they made, like a hawk hunting it's prey. The sighing pair slowly made their way to the crosswalk. They stopped and waited calmly for the light to change. Their red bows flapped in the spring wind as they fought to keep their skits from billowing out.

Waving her bare arm in the air, Naru called, "Usagi-chan, I'll call you later!" She smiled and hurried across the intersection, almost skipping.

Usagi waved to Naru happily and headed down the street towards the arcade. She felt as if she deserved a game or two for getting a 70 on her English test. With a squeal of triumph, she shoved her test back in her bag. What Usagi didn't notice was the small brown cat that was still following her. When she approached the arcade, she noticed Minako standing by the door. Minako smiled when she saw Usagi approaching. She also saw the small brown cat that was closely following Usagi.

"Usagi-chan," Minako started warily, "there's something following you."

"Nani kore!" Usagi yelled and quickly spun around with her blue skirt flying wildly. She expected some large brute to be standing there, but it only was a small brownish cat. The cat sat on the concrete with a placid expression, if cats can have expressions, on its small face. Usagi blinked and slowly approached the cat. She bent over and stuck out one hand. The cat looked at her and began to sniff her hand. A few seconds later it began to meow loudly as if happy. In a sudden move, it leaped into Usagi's arms, wrapping its sleek body around her shoulders.

"Oh, it's a sweetie!" she giggled as the cat's whiskers tickled her. The cat stopped purring, turning it's violet gaze towards Minako. It then leaped into her arms.

Minako jumped as the cat landed in her arms. It stared at her with innocent eyes and softly purred, causing her to melt inside. "Aren't you kawaii!" she said, as she scratched under the cat's upturned chin. Seeming satisfied, the cat jumped to the ground and zipped around the corner. Minako snapped out of her dream like state and said, "Usagi-chan, did you notice that funny mark on the cat's forehead, like a sideways figure eight?"

Usagi nodded. "Now that you mentioned it, the cat did have that mark," she started. "I think it's called, oh I learned this in class," she gasped as she remembered. "Infinity, that's it! It sometimes represents the planet Earth!"

Minako blinked twice and stared at Usagi. The planet Earth? Could it be, is there another Senshi? Why in the form of a cat? She quickly dismissed this. It was only a cat and just because it had a funny mark like Luna and Artemis, they were ready to assume the cat was a Senshi. Paranoia, it ran like wildfire. Good thing she put this out fast.

"Oi, Usagi-chan! Let's go play some video games, I feel lucky today!" she said, grabbing Usagi by one long ponytail.

The two played video games for an hour. Usagi, as always, played until she had no more money left. She began to try and mooch off of Minako for some yen, but Minako refused. Reluctantly, Usagi bided her goodbye and headed off towards her home.

Still feeling the effects of her 70, she started to skip a bit and hum to herself. Ahead she noticed the cat again. It somehow seemed to be leading her home. She wondered if this cat was really following her. Deep in thought about the cat, she was totally unaware of the two dark figures in front. Sensing something was wrong, the cat darted forward and started hissing and mewling loudly.

"Eep, excuse me sir, I didn't see you!" Usagi said, nearly trembling.

"Hey kid, watch it, what do you want?" one figure gruffly responded.

Usagi, too scared now to do anything, did what came natural to her.

She ran.

She could hear the two men screaming for her to come back and the heavy footsteps that followed. Panting heavily, she ducked into a small alley and hid behind a garbage bin. She shivered as the fear ate away at her like a sore. The loud swearing of the men fussing about where she went reached her ears, forcing her to crouch closer to the bin. She wondered; should she turn into Sailor Moon? Should she call for help?

No, maybe they'll go away. She was near home. She could run the rest of the way.

It was deadly silent for a second or so until a loud wail reached her ears, it sounded as if the cat had ran into the men. She bit down on her fingers to keep from screaming. Usagi then heard one of the men say, "HEY! What the! What are you some kind of freak!!!??"

The next voice opened Usagi's eyes wide. "Senshi no Jinsei, Seera Aasu and how dare you chase innocent citizens! Life Force Drain!"

Once Usagi heard the name of Sailorearth, she raced back out onto the street only to see the men sprawled at the new Senshi's booted feet. Usagi gasped as she slowly looked up into a pair of brilliant, violet eyes.

Usagi continued to stare at the Senshi. The girl was small in height and stature. Her fuku was tan and lemon yellow. The boots and skirt were a soft tan color, while her bows were a electric yellow. Her choker was also the same yellow. One thing that caught Usagi's attention was the odangos, she had a pair of black odangos exactly like Usagi's. Usagi wondered, was this girl part of the Moon Kingdom, she had the odangos.

Sailorearth's voice cut into her thoughts. "Daijoubu? Tsukino Usagi?" she questioned, tossing back her long dark ponytails, which brushed past the tops of her boots.

"Daijoubu. ano...Arigato," Usagi said, as she shook her head, she felt she responded rather dumb like, still in shock that there was another Senshi.

 Sailorearth's eyes twinkled as she leaped into the air. The sun covered her until she was just a floating silhouette that hovered over the top of a building, slowly vanishing from sight. Usagi, still in shock, walked home, forgetting that she had to pick up Chibiusa.

* * * *

"Oh aren't you a beautiful cat, you kinda look like Luna!" Chibiusa said as she tickled the cat's chest. As usual, Usagi was late picking her up from school. She had to either wait here or wander off by herself, the latter she'd rather do than to sit here and be humiliated by the fact that her family forgot to pick her up from school. Chibiusa thought it was odd that the cat seemed to be waiting with her as if protecting her. Anyone who seemed to get too close to Chibiusa, the cat hissed a waved one paw. 

"You are so kawaii!" she said to the cat, which meowed in response.

She frowned and looked at the sky. "Where is that Usagi, I swear, sometimes she acts as if she's eight and I'm fourteen!" she puffed. Time was slowly passing, and other kid's parent had already picked them up.

Running up the street screaming Chibiusa's name was Usagi, her face was as red as a cherry. She had totally forgotten to pick her up from school. She nearly fell on her face when she saw the cat sitting on Chibiusa's lap. She paused for a second to take a deep breath, the normal color rushed back into her face. "Chibiusa-chan, Gomen ne, something happened to me on the way!" she frowned when Chibiusa turned her face up as usual in response to anything she says. "One question, where did that cat come from?" she pried.

"I don't think I should tell you, the cat is a whole lot nicer to me than you!" Chibiusa spat back, pulling one eyelid down and sticking her tongue out.

Usagi slowly growled at her. Suddenly an idea popped into her head. "Grab your friend and lets go, we're going to see Rei-chan." 

What Usagi had planned, was to take the cat over to Rei's place and see if Rei could figure out what was up with it. If anyone could figure out what was going on it was Rei. On the bus ride to Hikawa jinja, the cat seemed to get a little bit edgy. Usagi knew then that the cat had figured that it was in some trouble and it tried to escape. By the time they reached their stop, the cat had to be nearly stuffed into Usagi's bookbag.

"Daijoubu?" Chibiusa asked the cat as she softly petted its head. The cat was meowing loud like she was in pain. "Baka Usagi! You're hurting it! Big meanie!" she screamed. She promptly then stepped on Usagi's foot, taking the cat out of her bookbag. On the way up the stairs, Usagi resisted the urge to kick her in the butt. Near the door of the shrine, Ami and Makoto were sitting on the steps. They both rushed over to see the new friend Chibiusa had.

"Hey, wait a minute, I saw this cat yesterday!" Makoto cried.

"Me too, it was outside of my cram school meowing!" Ami added.

"That settles it, Minako-chan saw the cat also! I wonder if Rei-chan saw the cat as well," Usagi finished.

"Hai, Usagi-chan, I saw that neko a few days ago, I had to get her out of one of the trees, she was meowing so loud it was enough to wake the dead!" Rei said as she emerged from her house. "That wasn't the first time I seen that neko, I was at the store and outside was this neko, it walked back home with me and everything as if it was protecting me."

"You know that symbol on its forehead means the planet Earth," Ami said quietly, staring at the cat, which stared back and blinked. 

"I know!" Usagi said. "That's it cat it's over. Dare!" She grabbed the cat from Chibiusa and began to shake it hard. At that moment, Minako emerged over the top of the steps. She rushed over to Usagi and snatched the cat away.

"Usagi what is going on? You're going to kill this poor neko," Minako growled. She cuddled the cat and whispered in its ear. The cat seemed to calm down, that is, until she gripped it harder and yelled at it. "Dare! You little fur ball, who are you? Why are you here!?"

The cat meowed and meowed loudly until it finally screamed in human Speech, "Yamero, onegai. Itai, itai!" Minako screamed and dropped the cat. When the cat landed on the ground, it slowly began to transform into a human girl! Chibiusa screamed and hid behind Makoto's legs. Usagi nearly fainted, and Minako crumpled down on the ground in a heap. Before them was standing Sailorearth!

"That's her! That's the girl I saw earlier!" Usagi screamed, forgetting she almost fainted.

"Why were you following us around?" Ami asked in awe. Sailorearth's intense violet eyes glanced at the people around her.

"I had to be sure you were the Sailor Senshi I was in search for."

 "How did you turn into a cat?!" Chibiusa asked, still behind Makoto's legs.

Sailorearth winked at the small girl. "I used my ring of metamorphosis, like this!" She held her fist to the sky where the stone of her ring glittered. "Ring of Metamorphosis turn me into...hmmm Tsukino Usagi!" Her sailor fuku vanished and in its place appeared the same school uniform that Usagi was wearing. Her black odangos turned blond and she grew a few inched in her height. Her violet eyes darkened into a deep marine blue. She smiled and turned to the real Usagi, who was now standing with her jaw hanging open.

"Sugoi, I wish I could do that!!" Usagi felt as if she was looking in a mirror. The girl seemed to be an exact copy of her. The one thing that was different was the small infinity symbol on her forehead. The girl reached up and pressed one finger to the symbol and she turned back into Sailorearth.

Rei rushed forward to Sailorearth. "Now that you know who we are. Can you show us who you are?" She folded her arms and glared.

 "I was planning to do that, but now since you request it." Sailorearth closed her eyes and suddenly, before them stood a small girl with Black odangos, wearing a pink school fuku that consisted of a pink jacket, skirt and tie.

"Watashi no namae wa Takanera Moshi. I'm fourteen and in second year of Junior high." She shyly smiled, and bowed.

The End

Next Chapter: Chapter 2: The First Battle!

* * * *

*** Japanese Words Used in Chapter One ***

-chan -- this at the end of names, like Usagi-chan, means honorific.

Someone who is close to you like a best friend.

Arigato -- Thank you

Baka -- stupid

Daijoubu -- are you ok?

Dare -- who?

Itai -- it hurts

Kawaii -- cute

Nani Kore -- What is it!?

Neko -- cat

Onegai -- please

Oi -- hey!

Senshi -- Warrior/Soldier (NOT Scout!)

Senshi no jinsei -- warrior of life/life warrior

Sugoi -- weird

Watashi no namae wa -- My name is...

Yamero -- stop!

Hikawa Jinja -- Fire River Shrine; Rei's temple