The Palace drew nearer as the night waned. No one else disturbed Naru as she walked through the maze of dark, empty streets, making her way to the Palace. She assumed that Mumeishi had been notified that his associates on the outside had Naru, but he might not know yet about the accident and her escape. And her disappearance from the Institute probably hadn't been noticed yet. But that wouldn't last more than a few hours. She pushed herself as fast as she could on her battered feet and exhausted legs, the bones she had broken months before aching. Every once in a while she had to stop just to catch her breath, even though she wasn't running. Though the night was cool, she was sweating heavily inside her fleece pants and hooded top.

Finally, as dawn dimmed the stars overhead, she reached the vast park surrounding the Palace. A handful of early risers were going through a series of exercises on the lush green lawn. Naru walked past, trying to be as casual as if she was only out for an early morning walk or jog. A few people nodded their heads in greeting to her and she nodded back.

Two guards in dark blue uniforms, somewhat like the one Nephrite had been wearing, stood at the doors of the Palace. Again Naru wondered how Sailor Moon's former enemy had come to hold a position in the Palace. Especially when Sailor Moon's best friend was shut away in a mental asylum. Had Nephrite's "evil society" somehow risen again and taken over Sailor Moon, transforming her into their servant? It didn't seem likely--Nephrite had definitely turned away from the Dark Kingdom at the end, and anyway, the pristine beauty and relentless cheerfulness of Crystal Tokyo just didn't seem like the Dark Kingdom's style. Naru pushed her doubts and fears away. She had to keep believing that Serenity knew what she was doing, and that she meant well.

If Serenity had succeeded in making Crystal Tokyo into the kind of city she wanted it to be, Naru thought, there would be no need for guards. Apparently she still hadn't managed to eliminate all the crime and undesirable behavior. As Naru's encounter with Mumeishi's associates, who were almost certainly gangsters, proved. Having walked all this way in her stocking feet, her legs almost too sore and tired to hold her up, Naru was limping by the time she drew close to the guards. She decided not to try to conceal her limp. It might make her look less threatening; it might even cause the guards to take pity on her. As she came close to the guards, they saw her and a new alertness entered their posture and manner. "Who are you?" one of them asked.

"Please, I need to see Neo-Queen Serenity-sama," Naru said.

The guards glanced at each other and shared a shake of the head. "Not going to happen, miss," one of them said. "Especially if you won't tell us who you are and why you're running around Crystal Tokyo before dawn in your stocking feet."

She sighed; she should have known it wouldn't have been as easy as just asking. "My name is Umino Naru. I'm a friend of the Queen's. I was kidnapped during the night. I have an important message for the Queen."

Another look passed between the guards, this one skeptical and amused. "Nice try," the other guard said. "Neo-Queen Serenity-sama hasn't quite taken care of all the undesirable elements in the city, but there haven't been any reports of kidnappings since the Awakening."

"But I was kidnapped. There's something going on that she needs to know about. Please, at least just tell her I'm here, and let me wait somewhere safe. There might be more of them coming after me. Please." The sun was rising; the bell for early breakfast at the Institute would ring soon. And surely Mumeishi would have found out by now that she had escaped from his henchmen. The search for her could begin any time now.

The guards put their heads together to speak with each other. "Think we should let the Queen know, just in case?" she heard one of them say, but she couldn't make out the rest of it. The guards faced her again. "Give us the message and we'll see that it's sent up to the Queen."

"No! I have to tell her myself. And the people who kidnapped me are still after me! Please, if you won't let me talk to the Queen, at least let me see Nephrite."

Yet another look, this one surprised, passed between the guards. "Not many people know that name," the same guard said. "How do you know it?"

"I told you, I'm a friend of the Queen's. We've been friends since we were little. Please, listen to me. I wouldn't be standing here in my stocking feet when I'm tired and hungry and I've been running all night if it wasn't important." The words nearly dissolved into sobs; she caught herself just in time.

The guards nodded to each other. "Okay. Hold on." The one who had been doing all the talking took a small radio out of his pocket. "Send someone down from Security. I'll explain when he gets here. I'll take responsibility."

Naru waited, the guards never taking their eyes from her. What did they think she was going to do, run away? Jump them? Even if she had wanted to, she wasn't physically capable of either, in the state she was in. She kept a nervous watch, looking from side to side for anyone coming after her. After a few minutes, two more uniformed people, a man and a woman, arrived at the doors. "She says she was kidnapped, and has an important message for the Queen," the first guard said to them. "She also claims to be an old friend of the Queen's. She wants to see Lord Nephrite and deliver her message to him, and also wants protection from the people that are after her."

The woman nodded. "We've got a place where we can hold her until Lord Nephrite agrees to see her. If he agrees."

Naru didn't resist as the two new guards patted her down then took her by the arms and led her towards a low, plain-looking building on the side of the Palace. They walked in silence until they entered a small office in the building. A tired-looking man sat at a desk, shuffling through papers. "Here's the person they were calling about from the front entrance," the female guard said to him. "She has a message for Lord Nephrite to give to the Queen."

The man nodded, then looked at Naru. "What is it? You can tell me, and I'll see that it's passed along to the right people."

"No!" In her frustration, Naru wanted to bang her head against the wall or throw something. "I'm sorry. No." If she told this man, he probably wouldn't believe her. He would listen, and say whatever he thought he needed to say to appease her, and then send her away and the message would never get delivered. "It has to be Lord Nephrite or Neo-Queen Serenity. It's an important warning--I can't trust anyone else with this." They could be anywhere, she wanted to say, they could be coming after me right now. But she stopped herself. Sounding crazy and paranoid wouldn't help her case.

The supervisor eyed her, no doubt taking in her uncombed hair and dirty track suit, and sighed. "All right. I'll see what I can do about getting you in to see Lord Nephrite. I don't work under him, but I can get a request over to someone who is in his chain of command. Your name?"

Naru opened her mouth to give him her married name, then changed her mind. "Osaka Naru. He'll know the name, and he'll want to see me." She tried to sound more certain than she felt.

"Osaka Naru," the man repeated as he wrote her name on a piece of paper. He added a little more to the message, then summoned an assistant sitting at a smaller desk. "Take this up to Lord Nephrite's people." The assistant nodded and left the office.

"Thank you," Naru said.

A silence hung over the group for a moment. "Well," the supervisor said. "I suppose you haven't got somewhere to go until we're able to contact you with Lord Nephrite's response?"

"No. I was kidnapped on my way over here. I got away, but there might still be people after me. I was hoping I could wait here."

"Go ahead and put her in the holding cell," the supervisor said to the two guards who were still holding onto Naru's arms. "Actually, it's never been used before," he said to Naru. "Don't worry, we aren't locking you up, it's just a safe place to keep you out of the way until we know what to do with you."

The holding cell was a small room, about a quarter of the size of her room at the Institute. The door was made of metal bars, and the window was covered with bars. There was a narrow bed with a thin sleeping mat on it, and a partitioned-off toilet. Naru sat down on the bed and the guards closed the door. Naru held her breath, waiting to see if they would lock her in, but they didn't.

Soon after, the shift changed. New guards came in, including a new supervisor. The one who had been there explained the situation to his replacement, who nodded understanding as he took the seat at the desk. An aide brought in some pastries and tea for the supervisor. Naru's stomach rumbled loudly, and she felt herself blush. "I think our guest is hungry," the supervisor said to the aide. "Bring her something."

"Yes, sir," the aide said, and left. They all worked very smoothly and efficiently together, which seemed odd for a force that had been in existence for less than half a year. Naru wondered if they had all been purified too, to get rid of any tendency to be uncooperative or disobedient, or if maybe these men and women had been part of the police force or national defense force before the Awakening. Or both.

The aide returned with her breakfast. Naru had thought that the food in the Independent Living section of the Institute was a huge improvement over what she had been given in the Protective Custody unit, but now it felt like she had forgotten what real food was supposed to taste like. The hot, soft, sweet buns and the tea seemed like the most delicious things she had ever tasted. She ate, and waited, and fought back a growing nervousness. What if one of Nephrite's underlings got the request and denied it? Or set it aside and forgot about it? Or it took them too long to get around to reading it? Her absence from the Institute must have been noticed by now. If the guard supervisor found out that she had escaped from the mental institution, she would never get to see Nephrite and deliver her warning. She would be captured and taken back to the Institute. Naru wasn't going to fool herself that once she was back in there they would let her go on as though nothing had happened. She would be locked back in the protective custody unit for sure.

Please hurry, please hurry, please hurry, she silently prayed. Every minute that she sat there, waiting for a response to her request, was a minute that she came closer to being put back in the Institute.