Serenity was happy to hear Makoto would accompany her later. “Thank you, are you free this afternoon, I have to meet with my advisor soon and then have an appointment with Ami-chan, but then I have a few hours after that. Tonight I have a Lamaze class, and thankfully Endymion is coming, Minako had been coming with me, but she thought the whole thing was funny and wasn’t very much help.” She said as she burst into giggles. “Though I may be the one laughing tonight, this will be the first class Endymion has gone to with me and I just hope I don’t get too embarrassed.”

Serenity thanked Makoto for her time and bid her farewell after setting up a time to meet and head into town to shop.

Serenity made her way to her governing quarters, where she was greeted warmly by her advisor. Serenity apologized for her prolonged absence, but the advisor said it was okay. They worked away for a couple hours and made progress making changes to the markets and how things are set up. Serenity set up a few meetings for some families who may need some extra support to meet with her and Endymion so they can work out a solution that helps everyone. They set up a meeting to add on to the library and the school and would be doing a book drive to get more books for the library but to also circulate out some older books to the kids of the community.

After their meeting Serenity thanked her advisor for his time and made her way to go see Ami. Little did she know how vengeful her advisor truly felt about her and how he would be setting her up for downfall and how he had been planning something for some time and now had the prime opportunity to strike.


Serenity walked slowly to her friends office, when she arrived she knocked lightly on the door, she didn’t want to intrude if Ami had been busy with another patient. She waited patiently on the other side of the door for her friend to answer, though she had to take off her shoes, her feet were radiating in pain and taking off her shoes helped that pain, but it didn’t help as much as Serenity would have liked it to of.

Ami was on her lunch hour, which was usually the only break she took during her workday.  She was eating her normal couple sandwiches for lunch, while looking over some notes she had made to help her be prepared for a future meeting (one that was still a few days away).

Ami had just finished her first sandwich, and was about to start on her second, when she thought she heard a light knocking on her office door.  Getting up, she opened that door to find Neo-Queen Serenity!  Ami was so surprised to be visited by the Queen now that she forgot all about the fact that her next appointment was to do an OB/GYN check-up on the Queen's pregnancy, as well as forgot how this Queen likes to be addressed.  So she bowed pretty deeply to the Queen while saying "Your Majesty!  What brings you here?  I was just having lunch, but I could put it aside to see you now."

Meanwhile, her mobile phone beeped that it had gotten another text message, but Ami didn't hear it, due to what she was saying to the Queen at the time.

After the Queen left, Makoto pulled out her phone to see who left her a message. Surprised to see that it was from Michiru, she read through the message with great curiosity. Makoto frowned as she read what Michiru was requesting. If there was an issue, Makoto would think it would be best that the Queen. Michiru must have had a reason. Makoto planned on asking what this reason was.

I am able meet.

Makoto hit send and went back to her plants.

Serenity stood outside of Ami’s door, and when Ami asked her what brought her, Serenity realized she must have been wrong about her appointment. Ami had been quite surprised by her arrival, but Serenity was sure her appointment was today. She was also a bit taken aback by Ami addressing her as majesty, she had never asked her closest friends to call her that, she preferred they were causal with her and called her Serenity. Enough people called her queen or majesty and she just wanted to be Serenity right now, someone who was having a baby.


She spoke with a soft voice, “Oh I must have written something down wrong, I thought I had an appointment to see you today, but I must have written it down for the wrong day. I seem to be so forgetful these days,” she said as she lightly punched her forehead. I do hope I didn’t disturb you” She said as she fidgeted with her dress wondering how she could have gotten something so wrong. She also pondered what she might do until her afternoon out with Jupiter.

When the Queen said she thought she had an appointment with her today, it jogged Ami's memory just enough that she became unsure whether or not she had an appointment to see the Queen later today.  Her cheeks became slightly pink with embarrassment as she told the Queen apologetically "Now that you mention it, I'm not sure.  Would you mind waiting here while I check?  It'll just be a sec."  Her cheeks became a little darker pink as Ami realized she had just made a request of the Queen, who must have a busy scheddule.  So she hastily added "I'm sorry for making you wait like this."  Then Ami waited for the Queen's answer, as she slowly started blushing a darker and darker shade.

Serenity smiled at Ami as she spoke softly, “its okay, I don’t have anywhere to be for another couple hours.” Serenity smiled as Ami walked off to check on whether the appointment had been for today or if she had completely spaced out and written the day down incorrectly.

Serenity couldn’t bare standing anymore though, she slid down the wall and sat down, taking her shoes off and stretching her legs out. Her feet felt a tiny bit better, but were still sending radiating beams of pain up her legs and into her back.


Serenity rested her hear against the wall and closed her eyes to try and focus on something else to get her mind off of the pain.

When the Queen told her it was okay, Ami went back into her office to check her schedule for today, making sure to leave her front door ajar.  She went straight to the tablet where she kept her schedule.  After checking it, she saw that she did have an appointment to do a check-up on the Queen's pregnancy - at 1:00PM today, right after her lunch break.  By now, her cheeks were beet-red with embarrassment.

Ami then went straight back to the front door of her office.  Once she was back out in the hall, her cheeks still beet-red with embarrassment, Ami turned towards where the Queen was now and told her in a very apologetic tone "I'm so very sorry, Neo-Queen Serenity, for forgetting about our appointment today.  It's right after my lunch break.  I was in the middle of eating my lunch when you first knocked on my door.  So if you really don't have anywhere else to be for another couple hours, why don't you come in my office and make yourself more comfortable in the patient 'bed' I use to check up on patients lying flat on their backs, like for ultrasounds?  I'd bet it's more comfortable than the hallway floor."

OOC :

Serenity smiled up at Ami, “gomenen Ami-chan, I guess for once I was early to something. I am sorry to interrupt your lunch, but if you don’t mind I think I will take you up on that offer,” Serenity said softly before standing up.

As Serenity stood she placed her hand on her lower back and suppressed the sigh she wanted to release, surely there was a solution available to her to help feel less pain in her feet and her back.


Serenity walked into Ami’s office and was led to a small bed to rest on while Ami finished her lunch. Serenity laid down and felt a bit better but was suddenly feeling sleepy, to try and fight off the sleep she thought of what kinds of clothes she would want to buy when she would go shopping with Mako-chan.

When Neo-Queen Serenity said "I guess for once I was early to something," Ami chuckled "Am I starting to rub off on you?"  Ami dismissed any need for NQS to apologize, instead telling her "Sure, go ahead," in response to her taking Ami up on the offer to wait where patients are examined.  Once NQS was settled on that examining bed, Ami went back to where she had been eating lunch, and proceeded to eat her second sandwich (of two).

Once Ami was done with her lunch, at 1:00PM, Ami went back to where NQS was and proceeded to start the examination.  The conversation between them on what Ami wanted to ask NQS and the advice she had for the Queen went routinely.

Soon it was time for Ami to check on Chibi-Usa (in fetus form) visually, by doing the ultrasound.  She found nothing wrong with NQS's to-be-daughter.  Then came the part of the ultrasound that is fun for most pregnant patients, where Ami, as the doctor, points out various features of the little one to the patient (NQS) on the ultrasound screen.  When Ami saw the little one kicking, she teased NQS with a friendly smile "Chibi-Usa already knows how to bug you, ne?"

OOC :

Serenity was beaming with happiness as Ami conducted the ultrasound. It was such a calming process for Serenity especially since Ami informed her everything was going according to plan and Chibiusa was developing as she was supposed to be.

When Ami asked if Chibiusa knew how to bug her already, Serenity smiled though there was some truth to Ami-chan’s words. Chibiusa wasn’t even here yet and she was already causing her mother grief. 

“Actually she does, its not her fault of course, but I am going to be glad when she is born, I don’t know that I can take 3 more months of back and foot pain, but I am going to talk to the instructor at Lamaze class and see if they have any advice on how to cope with the pain in my back and my feet.” She finished with a smile as she sat up and thanked Ami for all her help.

Michiru sipped her tea as she waited at Ukai Chikutei for the girls to arrive. She had requested a private room and they were able to accommodate her. She knew this meeting was not going to be easy. The girls were fiercely loyal to the Queen but she wanted to make sure they understood the gravity of the situation. Michiru had resolved to make sure they understood. Her mind flashed back to when this fist met. She and Haruka were admittedly frustrated with them. They felt as though they were not willing to necessary risks. In time they were able to find common ground. She hoped that they have moved past their old battles and hoped that they would hear her out. Michiru heard a familiar voice. She looked up to see Makoto being escorted the room.

"Hello, Makoto." Michiru nodded.

After another typically-busy day of research and meetings, Ami went to the location Michiru had proposed for their meeting without the Queen.  Yes, Ami was tired, but she had learned how to continue on plugging away at problems when she was tired during her couple years as an active senshi.

Ami (like Makoto) found it easy to get to the restaurant Michiru had proposed, even though she had never been there before, because of the blue-haired woman's great sense of direction and the great computer tools she had at her disposal.  Ami was looking forward to finding out Michiru's reason(s) for calling this meeting, as well as hoping to find out why the multi-talented, aqua-haired woman had insisted on not telling the Queen.  Ami was, in part, a realist though, so even though she hoped this meeting was about good news (like a surprise baby shower for the Queen), she was expecting it most likely to be about the opposite - something negative that they had to keep from hurting the Queen.  The part that really baffled Ami, though, was Michiru's insistence on not telling the Queen.  She believed that if there was some threat to the Queen (like the threats they had faced back when they were active senshi), that the Queen should be informed of it, so they could more easily get her (the Queen's) cooperation in placing/positioning her in such a way as to avoid her being near the threat.  In fact, Ami planned to pay close attention to what Michiru would say during this meeting and to not leave it until she had found out the reason(s) for this insistence from Michiru.  Ami was even prepared and willing to ask Michiru point-blank, if need be, about Michiru's reason(s) for this.

Once Ami had entered the front door of Ukei Chikutei, she asked the employee who greeted her to take her to the part of the restaurant where Michiru Kaioh was seated.  Ami was somewhat surprised when she was escorted to a private room.  This location only furthered her belief that this meeting was about some threat to the Queen, one that they would have to be active in their senshi roles again to keep from hurting the Queen.  So once she had entered this room and seen the two women already there, Ami greeted them in the serious tone that she expected (most of) this meeting to be conducted under "Hello, Mako-chan, Michiru-san."

Rei had been meditating all morning. She went back to her room for a shower when she saw the messages from Michiru. She sensed an urgency behind them and did not like it at all that the queen was to be left out of this ordeal, but if Michiru insisted, then for now, Rei would listen. She took a quick shower and changed clothes before heading to the tea house.

Rei was shown to a private room, which only stirred her emotions further, what was going on? Rei hadn't sensed anything with the flames lately. She hoped this meeting was not about a threat to the Queen or King. Things had been so quiet for awhile, Rei wasnt sure what she would do if a battle was necessary.

Rei greeted the others with a smile before taking her seat.

Minako had been practicing for her upcoming concert tour when her mobile phone had beeped in such a way as to indicate a new text message had just arrived.  Minako had excused herself to check this message at the first convenient opportunity.  Upon reading Michiru's text message, Minako had been shocked at Michiru's insistence on not telling the Queen.  In fact, as leader of the inner guardian senshi, Minako might very well have disobeyed this part of Michiru's text message by informing the Queen had their relationship to the outer senshi been like it was when they were fighting the Death Busters.  But Minako had realized they were all now adults, and Minako had recognized that the outer senshi had become more trustworthy since then, so Minako had obeyed Michiru's message in full - for now.  Minako wanted to give the aqua-haired senshi woman a chance to explain her reasoning for not telling the Queen before she (Minako) disobeyed that part of it.  So Minako had just replied that she could meet anytime in a text message back to Michiru.

Anyway, Minako was now having a different problem, now that it was time to meet.  She was having a hard time finding the teahouse where Michiru had said the meeting would be located at.  But she didn't give up, and thus eventually found it - a few minutes after the meeting was supposed to start.  So Minako arrived at the private room in Ukei Chikutei a few minutes late.  Upon arrival there, Minako apologized to everyone for being late and just sat down after saying nothing more, silently waiting for word from Michiru why she had insisted on disobeying Minako's tight loyalty to the Queen.

Haruka was delayed and had rushed to the restaurant. She had spoken briefly to Michiru earlier about the situation. While she was worried about the Queen and this unknown threat, she also shared her concern that one the girls, while their hearts would be in the right place, will run to the Queen and cause further damage. When she arrived she saw that she was the last to arrive. She greeted the group and settled down next to Michiru.

and Minako Aino

Both Ami and Minako were surprised by Michiru's first statement.  Both of them realized it explained why Michiru had insisted on such secrecy with the Queen (which they were both looking for from this meeting) - in part.  But at that point, both wondered why the King had made such a request.

Ami was not very surprised when Michiru then mentioned about the oncoming darkness.  It fit the tone of how she had expected this meeting to go.  But she was surprised, and probably also a little disturbed, when Michiru mentioned that Setsuna was unable to find the source of this darkness - or when it would hit the Queen.  Ami was also a little surprised by the fact that this darkness would be able to zero in on the Queen and directly affect her so easily.  She wished there was something she could do to help protect the Queen from this darkness; but even by the end of Michiru's mini-speech, she could not figure out a way that wouldn't also make the Queen suspicious.  About the only thing Ami could think of that would be an appropriate response was to glumly say "I guess we couldn't reasonably expect to keep all darkness away forever."


Minako, however, was shocked - and completely floored - by Michiru's mention of the oncoming darkness.  So much so, that it took a while for the blonde guardian to process everything Michiru said.  Because of this, she was unable to come up with any appropriate response by the end of Michiru's mini-speech.

Makoto listened with growing frustration as Michiru explained or did not explain what was going on. What bothered her is that they were not told. They were the Queen's closet friends and Makoto felt that they should been informed. She could not fathom why the King would want to keep them and the Queen in the dark. They worked better as a team.

"Why were we not told? Why should we keep this from the Queen? If there is something wrong then she should know!"







"The King wished it." She replied sharply. "You may ask himself what is motivations where. I will not defy an order whether it comes from the King or Queen."

Rei listened to Michiru and felt her anger rising. Why was the king asking them to keep this from Serenity? Why hadn't he come to her, she would be more than happy to do a flame reading. If Serenity were in danger she should know it. Rei wasn't going to let this one go easy.

The raven haired maiden slammed her fist on the table, you really expect us to listen this easily. You expect to come here with your nice tea and ask us to not say anything to Serenity. Do you really think its best to keep her in the dark about this, whatever this is. How do you think she's going to feel when she finds out everyone knows about this threat except her. What if this threat shows up and she is blind sided. What could Endymion possibly be thinking keeping her in the dark, he is supposed to be her husband. He is supposed to look out for her and to me it looks like hes throwing her under the bus." 

Rei rose to leave, "I don't know about the rest of you," she said pointing to Ami, Makoto, and Minako as she walked towards the door, "but I am going to do a flame reading and if I sense anything, I am going to the queen, she deserves to know about something that might affect her or crystal Tokyo."

Michiru stood up and glared at Rei. She knew would take the news the hardest, given her ability.

"Do you really presume, after every thing we have been through, fought for that any one of us, the King. would not have the Queen's best interests in mind? The King has his own reasons of, you would ignore his wishes as well? He is still your, our King." Michiru snarled.

"Michiru." Harkua stood and gently grabbed Michriu's arm but she pushed her away.

"And what if you come to same conclusion as Setsuna and I did?" Michiru raved "You are not the only one who can sense the future, or can see that something is wrong. Would still disregard what your friends, allies have seen? What good what it do, given her current condition, to go to her with incomplete information? It would do more harm than good to worry her needlessly. If you go to her about a possible threat and you know she will want to be involved, putting herself at risk. There is a child to think about! We can not allow any harm to come to her or her child. Yes we can protect her but we can't be there 24/7 and past history shows, we can't always prevent disasters from happening. There is too much at stake! There is something wrong Rei and the only way to protect the Queen is to stay silent!"

Michiru stared down Rei. If she did not convince her to silent about the matter things could get worse.

Just as Minako had wrapped her head around everything Michiru had said in her mini-speech, she noticed that alll hell broke loose among the assembled senshi girls.  As leader of the inner guardian senshi, she could not stand to see them fracturing apart like this.  So she stood up and looked at Rei in frustration "Wait!  Before you go, Rei-chan, remember that we all work better as a team.  So let's all stay together for now and discuss this like the rational adults that we are, instead of going off and doing rash things that we'll later regret."

Minako then turned to Michiru and asked, a little frustration still apparent on her face "First offf, why is Setsuna-san not here?  She has left her position at the Gates of Time before, when she has believed that helping us directly is more important.  For example, when we were fighting the Death Busters.  Why could she not do so now, for this important meeting?  We could use all the information we could get about this oncoming darkness."

Minako subsequently turned back to Rei "Now Rei-chan, you may go home once we finish this meeting and do a fire-reading of your own if you want.  I see no potential harm coming from that.  But before you go to the Queen at all, I order you, as the leader of us four, to meet with Setsuna-san and Endymion-sama to discuss the results from your fire-reading and why they want to keep this information from the Queen.  If you can't get them together at the same time, that is okay; you may meet with them separately - as long as you meet with both of them before going to the Queen."

Finally, Minako turned to Makoto "And I didn't forget about you.  Again, in the interest of acting on rational behavior instead of rash impulses, I order you to meet with the same two people as Rei-chan before you make any final decision to go to the Queen, if you ever do."

Michiru turned to Minako, she was a bit more calm but still could not keep the frustration about of her voice.

"Setsuna feels that her place is at the Time Gate." Michiru said icily. "Given the uncertainty, her duty is to keep watch. She will return when it is time."

Michiru sat back down. She will not be dragged any further into a debate.







Makoto was fuming. If there was a danger they need to stop it immediately. Still she deferred to Minako.

"I still do not like this." Makoto grumbled as she sat down folding her arms.

She caught Michiru and Haruka staring at her look that clearly said that they thought she was being childish. Makoto cheeks turned pink as she looked away.

Rei was frustrated at how the others were reacting, the only one who agreed with her right now was Makoto. Rei could if she tried understand where the others were coming from, but right now she was thinking about Serenity and how she was completely in the dark about this situation. If she knew, yes she would try whatever tactics she could to save everyone, that was in her nature. Yes she had a child now to think about, but Rei hated that she was being forced to keep something from her Queen and friend. She knew if the Queen knew of the danger, surely there would be a way to keep her and Chibiusa safe.

Rei simply rolled her eyes and said, "yeah yeah, whatever, if anything comes up I will talk to Endymion, but he better be prepared to tell me why he feels the need to hide something from his wife." She stormed out of the tea house back to the palace of Crytal Tokyo where she went to her temple to meditate before doing the flame reading.
*******


Serenity's check up had gone quite well. She left her appointment with a smile as she held on to her ultra sound picture. She wanted to go right away and show Endymion how much their daughter had grown and soon she would be with them, but she remembered him saying he had a busy afternoon and she didn't want to be a bother to him. She had wanted to talk with Ami about how she felt like she had been putting more stress on Endymion because she had been neglecting her duties, but Ami had left the appointment in a hurry to go to an emergency meeting.

Serenity hoped she would be able to talk to Makoto about the issue, it was beginning to eat her up inside. She was doing her best, but lately she just felt exhausted and when she wasn't tired she felt guilty for neglecting her duties which is why she was now forcing herself to put her people first, they were most important after all. Serenity walked down the hall, dragging her aching feet as she walked towards the gardens to go for an afternoon stroll before she went back to her advising room to review some paperwork.

and Minako Aino

Minako could have been disappointed when Rei left the room before the end of this meeting, only mentioning that she might meet with King Endymion (not also Pluto, like Minako had wanted).  But Minako knew how Rei could be hot-headed sometimes, so she was actually glad Rei hadn't reacted worse than she had.  So when Haruka requested that everybody sit down, Minako willingly complied while looking relieved because things hadn't gone worse.  As she sat down, Minako also muttered "I hope she cools off before acting," about Rei, but Minako did not say anything else yet.

Meanwhile, Ami just continued to sit in her seat, wondering how a group of senshi that had worked together so well to defeat several former enemies in the past could be this bad at the same thing now.  The main reason she hadn't participated in any of that arguing was because she had no desire to.  She just figured King Endymion and Pluto must have their own reasons for requesting what they had.  And having seen no evidence to sugggest otherwise, Ami just assumed they were good reasons.