"Let me see if I understand this correctly," Osaka Midori said to the six young women and the cat. "Those children are refugees from the year 3020, and the twins are the future children of Naru and Sanjouin Masato, the tycoon who disappeared four years ago."

"Who is actually a reformed evil guy who is dead right now," Sailor Moon said brightly. "Ow! Luna!"

The small black cat removed her claws from Sailor Moon's leg. "Usagi, you really ought to be a bit more sensitive towards Naru's feelings. That was not very tactful."

Sailor Moon sighed. "You're right, Luna. I'm sorry, Naru-chan."

"It's okay, Usagi. It's not like you're telling me something I don't already know," Naru said quietly.

"And you girls are the famous and mysterious Sailor Senshi?" Midori continued.

Sailors Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus nodded. "The little blond boy is my future son with one of the other evil Lords we fought against four years ago," Sailor Venus said.

"And the other girl is the daughter of two other villains," Midori finished.

"Except they won't be villains in the future," Sailor Moon said.

Osaka Midori stared at the group sitting on the sofa in front of her. She had listened to the story of the Sailor Senshi's fight against the Dark Kingdom and of Naru and Nephrite's brief, ill-fated relationship. She had seen Naru's friend Usagi and her four friends magically transform into the Sailor Senshi right in front of her eyes, and heard Usagi's little black cat Luna talk. She had learned the story of the four children who had appeared out of nowhere. It seemed that the twins' strong resemblance to her daughter was neither an accident nor a product of her imagination.

It should be harder to believe the whole incredible story, Midori thought, wondering how she could be sitting here so calmly after everything she had seen and heard. "Well, this does explain a few things." Her voice was still rather hollow from surprise. She reached over and squeezed her daughter's hand, and Naru returned the squeeze. "Like Naru's depression four years ago. And why the Senshi - you - approached us when you wanted to stage that burglary, when you needed to make it look like you were quarrelling. And, well, it's as good an explanation for the children as anything I've been able to think of."

"I had a hard time believing it myself, when I first became Sailor Moon," Sailor Moon said.

Midori nodded. She couldn't think of any arguments or explanations that would counter the evidence of her own eyes and ears. "Well," she finally said, "at least you'll be marrying a rich man, Naru-chan. Sanjouin International is still in business even if Sanjouin-san isn't around right now."

"He must have left some youma in charge of operations," Sailor Mercury said, "and, of course, they would keep doing what he had ordered them to do until he tells them to stop, which he can't, of course."

"I don't care if he's rich," Naru said. "As long as he really does come back sometime."

Sailor Mars said, "He'd better be rich, after all the trouble we went through to convince the kids' school to bill him for the tuition after he returns from his 'extended business trip.'"

"Changing the memories of all the members of the board and the administration was extremely difficult," Luna added. "He had better come back, and come back as a rich man."

"But if he doesn't come back," Venus argued, "there won't be any Mitsu and Meiko, and the tuition bill will only be half as much."

"If Nephrite doesn't come back to life," Mars pointed out, "the other Lords probably won't either, and then there won't be any kids at all, and no tuition bill."

Midori stood up. Her head was starting to spin. "I think I could use a cup of tea now. Anyone else?" The girls all nodded, and Luna politely requested a saucer of milk. Midori went into the kitchen, wondering how the room could look so normal and familiar after the wild, bizarre, unbelievable things she had just learned about her daughter's life. I'll get used to it, she tried to assure herself. Somehow, the thought wasn't very convincing.

* * * * * * * *

"I tried to stop him," Keiji sobbed as Lady Ami washed and stitched his cuts.

"I know," she said soothingly. "Now hold still and let me get this fixed up." The floor was covered with the wounded from Zoisite and Kunzite's raid. Since Keiji was the youngest and the most badly hurt, the Senshi-physician was tending to him first. Keiji felt like he didn't deserve to be taken care of. He had failed.

Lady Ami began sewing up another deep gash on his right cheek. Keiji sucked in his breath and shut his eyes. Mizuno-san had dabbed a numbing liquid on his cuts before starting to stitch, but it still hurt when the needle went through.

His older brothers squeezed his hands. "You were awesome, Keiji-kun," Benjiro said. "I'm proud of you."

"Me too," Jomei said. "At least you tried. No one else even tried."

"But I didn't stop him," Keiji sniffled. "He got the Timestaff and now they're going to go back and go after the twins and Toshiro and Jasmine."

"And we all know you like Jasmine," Benjiro teased.

"Do not."

"Do too," Jomei said.

"Have you ever seen her notebook where she wrote 'Keiji and Jasmine Forever' in hearts all over the inside cover?" Benjiro added.

"Liar," Keiji said. He started to laugh, which pulled at the stitches in his face. The laughter turned to a wince. "Ami-san, do you think Jasmine's dads would really try to hurt her and the other kids?"

"I don't know, Keiji," Lady Ami said. "I know that under normal circumstances, they would never do anything that might possibly harm her, or any of the other Guardians' children. Or any children, for that matter. But I don't know what's been done to them. They may not be the same people at all, inside, any more."

This wasn't the reassurance Keiji had hoped for. "Same thing for my dad, right? Maybe, on the inside, he isn't really my dad anymore?"

"I don't know. I hope we'll be able, somehow, to drive away the evil, and heal them back to the way they used to be." She tied off the last stitches. "There now, you're done. Do try not to smile too much. And don't worry about your brother and sister and the others. Remember, they're with the Senshi of the past, and are well-protected. Nothing bad will happen to them."

Keiji wished he felt as certain as Lady Ami sounded.

* * * * * * * *

The children started school, not without some complaining from Toshiro and Meiko, but for the most part they went willingly. Jasmine actually seemed to enjoy it, and Naru quickly became convinced that she was right. It was better for the children to be in school than sitting around the apartment all day with nothing to do besides watch TV, play video games, think up mischief, and wait for something bad to happen. She was a little nervous about them being out of the direct supervision of the Senshi during the school day, but the school was small and well-run, and the students were carefully supervised. Two Senshi were always on guard duty nearby, and the children had strict instructions to meet whoever was on duty immediately after school.

One morning, a little more than two weeks after starting school, Meiko, Mitsu, and Toshiro were unusually excited about school that day. Naru ordered them for the third time to sit down and finish their breakfast. "What's the big deal today?"

"It's going to be awesome!" Toshiro said. "We're having a music assembly today, with real musicians who make real records and everything!"

"And one of the groups is Earthmover73!" Meiko said.

"Who?" Naru asked. The name sounded vaguely familiar.

"Well, they're not very famous yet," Mitsu informed her, "but they're huge in Crystal Tokyo! They've been around almost forever. And now we get to hear them before they're famous!"

"That doesn't sound very educational," Naru said doubtfully. She understood the children's excitement; she would have been excited, too, if her school day was going to be enlivened by something as out-of-the-ordinary as a performance by a rock band, even one she'd barely heard of. But as the twins' future mother, she wasn't sure she should approve of this sort of disruption of the educational process.

"They aren't the only ones performing," Jasmine said. "It's like a mini-festival. There'll also be classical, traditional, and jazz groups, It'll be fun. And educational."

"Plus it's for a whole hour at the end of the day, so we'll probably get to miss math class!" Meiko said.

"No you won't," Jasmine told him. "They're shortening the class periods, so you'll still have to go to math. It just won't be for as long."

"Rats." Meiko's face fell.

"I like math," Mitsu said. "If I'm going to be an astronomer like Papa, I have to know a lot of math."

"Well, you're weird," Meiko said. "Me and Toshiro are going to have a band just like Earthmover73!"

Mitsu pulled down her lower eyelid and stuck her tongue out at her brother, then said, "Hey, can I be in your band?"

"I'd say yes, but bands and astronomers both have to work nights. So I guess you can't."

"No fair!"

Meiko returned his sister's rude gesture, then Naru said, "Okay, you guys better get going. Remember, you're supposed to meet Rei and Makoto right after school."

The children hurried into the bathroom, to crowd around the sink and brush their teeth, then grabbed their satchels and rushed out the door, followed by Naru, who made sure they met up with Haruka and Michiru out on the front sidewalk. As she went back upstairs, Naru felt a little guilty at handing off her responsibilities to the other girls. She reminded herself of what Usagi had said, when she had mentioned this to her the week before. The children's safety was the concern of all the Senshi, and the Senshi were better equipped to protect the children in case of an attack from the future than Naru was. Plus, Usagi had pointed out, Naru was the one who was actually living with the kids, giving them their meals and making sure they did their homework and got ready for school on time and went to bed, so she wasn't exactly slacking.

Naru sat down to catch her breath before getting her own backpack and heading off to class. She had no idea what her future self might be going through, but she certainly hoped she was at least enjoying the break from the twins.

* * * * * * * *

Earthmover73 performed last on the program, as a reward for the students sitting still and listening politely during the other performances. As the reverberations of the final chords and the cheering died away, Jasmine stood up and made her way to the front rows of the small auditorium, where the younger children were seated. She waved to Meiko, Mitsu, and Toshiro. "Come on, you guys. Remember, we're supposed to meet Makoto-san and Rei-san right away!"

"Not yet," Meiko said. "I just want to watch them take down the equipment. Please?"

He was almost as cute as Keiji, especially when he looked at her with those big blue eyes, and Jasmine couldn't bring herself to say no to him. She missed Keiji. She always tried hard not to let herself think about how dangerous it might be in Crystal Tokyo. If anything bad happened to Keiji or to her dads, she didn't know what she would do.

Jasmine forced her mind away from these gloomy thoughts, and watched the band and the stage crew take down the speakers and other electronic equipment. Meiko and Toshiro whispered to each other, eagerly discussing how many speakers they would have, what brand, how large....

"Excuse me." All four children looked at the source of the low female voice. A slender, pretty woman was standing in the row in front of them, leaning against the back of a chair in the next row down. She wore a vivid purple leather suit with a very short skirt, and her short, spiky hair was dyed purple to match. "I understand you boys want to start a band when you grow up."

Meiko and Toshiro nodded, wide-eyed.

"I'm Akiko, Earthmover73's manager. Would you like to come backstage and meet the band?"

"Oh, wow!" both boys and Mitsu said at once.

Jasmine looked around the auditorium. It was empty, except for a few teachers talking in the back of the hall. "I don't know," she said. "We're supposed to meet someone right after school."

"It'll only take a minute," Akiko said, while Meiko, Mitsu, and Toshiro begged, "Please, Jasmine?"

"You can go outside and tell Rei-san and Makoto-san that we'll be there in a few minutes," Meiko said.

Jasmine chewed her lower lip. "No, I'd better stay with you three," she finally said. "Okay, Akiko-san," she said to the manager. "But we can really only stay for a few minutes."

"Good." The purple-haired woman gave them a broad smile. "Come with me."

The children followed Akiko through a door near the stage, then past the stage entrance and through a corridor leading to the backstage area, where scenery and props were stored and where the ropes and other controls for the curtains, scenery, and light and sound systems were located. The younger children were looking around, wide-eyed and fascinated, as was Jasmine. She'd never been backstage in an auditorium before. There was something intriguing, exciting, about it. Maybe she'd become an actress... No, even better, a stage technician, and get to work all the equipment.

"Cool," Toshiro said wonderingly as they trailed behind the manager.

"I thought you'd like it," Akiko said, but her voice was suddenly different, harsh and shrill. Jasmine's instincts told her to grab the younger kids and run, but she couldn't move. The agent turned around, revealing green skin, glowing orange eyes, and long, sharp teeth and fingernails.

All four children screamed at once. Raw fear overcame Jasmine's paralysis. "Run!" she yelled. She and the other three turned to run, and found their escape cut off by the members of Earthmover73. The band members were also transformed; their faces were blank except for the menacing red glow of their eyes. The guitarist let loose with a piercing, discordant riff that turned into a rope of red light that wound itself around the four children and pulled them to the floor.

"Let us go!" Jasmine yelled over the crying and struggling of the other three. The light-rope was a stinging sensation around her arms and legs, that sharpened and intensified when she tried to move.

The youma laughed. "If music can charm savage beasts, I thought it would have no problem with taming four helpless brats. We'll be going home now, to see your daddies and their new queen. Won't that be nice?"

"They aren't going anywhere with you!"

Jasmine's head snapped around at the loud challenge. Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter stood at the other end of the corridor, facing the youma. Jasmine had never been so glad to see anyone in her life.

Akiko laughed, and the lead guitarist struck another loud, strident chord just as Mars chanted several short words and flung a small, calligraphy-marked rectangle of paper at the youma. The rope of red light and sound entangled itself around the two Senshi, but didn't stop Sailor Mars's spell. The piece of paper adhered itself to the youma's face. The purple-haired creature screamed, then collapsed into a cloud of gray, glittering dust that drifted away up into the catwalk and rafters of the auditorium.

The magical ropes binding the children and the Senshi instantly dissolved, leaving a faint stinging sensation behind. Jasmine sat up to see the members of EarthMover73 blink and shake their heads and look around in confusion. "Whoa," the guitarist said, "what was that, dude?"

"I don't know, dude," replied the bass player. "Weird." Then they noticed the children on the floor, and rushed over to them. "Hey, like, are you kids okay?" the drummer asked.

Toshiro, overwhelmed, started to cry. "Your manager said we could come backstage and meet you, and then - and then -"

"Our manager?" the guitar player said. "Whoa, dude, like our manager never comes along on our gigs. Says our music gives him a headache."

"Yeah," added the drummer. "Some manager he is."

"You mean the purple-haired lady that turned into a monster wasn't your manager?" Meiko asked.

"No way, little guy," the guitarist said. "She's just some chick that was hanging around backstage. A groupie, like. I was going to ask her if -"

The bass player elbowed his bandmate in the ribs. "Watch it, dude. They're just kids."

"I hope everyone has learned a valuable lesson from this," said Sailor Mars's imperious voice. The band members looked up at the two Senshi, and their eyes went wide. "Hey, are you babes busy after this?" the guitar player asked.

"I'm not," Sailor Jupiter started to say, but Sailor Mars silenced her and the musicians with a glare. "Groupies can be very dangerous," she said to the band. She turned her attention to the children. "And always ask for credentials if you don't know if someone is who they claim to be. Never just take their word for it. Also, never go anywhere after school unless you ask us first. Understand?"

Jasmine, Meiko, Mitsu, and Toshiro nodded silently. Jasmine's relief was quickly being replaced by fear. The Senshi were all going to be angry, especially Usagi, whom Jasmine still couldn't help thinking of as Neo-Queen Serenity. Naru-oneesan was going to be mad, too. The four of them were certainly going to be punished, and they richly deserved it.

* * * * * * * *

"It was my fault, Rei-san, Makoto-san," Jasmine said as the Senshi were escorting the four children home. She, Mitsu, Meiko, and Toshiro were all clutching autographed CDs given them by Earthmover73, who had finally given up trying to hit on Sailor Mars when she told them she was dating Mick Jagger. Jasmine had the feeling there was a joke there, but she didn't get it. Sailor Jupiter, on the other hand, had a date with the bass player and had promised to bring a couple of her friends for the other two guys. "I should have been firm, and said we couldn't go backstage."

"Your instructions were to meet us immediately after school," Makoto said. "We didn't make that rule just to be mean. It's for your own safety. You have something the bad guys want. Don't you understand that?"

"Yes, Makoto-san," the children answered, chastened.

When they arrived at the apartment over the OSA*P shop, Naru and Usagi were waiting for them; Rei had called them on her communicator before the group left the school auditorium. Jasmine hung back, unable to meet Naru's eyes. Naru-oneesan had been so nice to her, and now she had let the younger kids get in trouble, when she should have been responsible for them. She had let Naru-oneesan down. Meiko, Mitsu, and Toshiro clustered around her, waiting for Usagi and Naru's wrath.

"I'm sure that Rei and Makoto already told you that you shouldn't have done that," Usagi said. When the children nodded, she continued. "So I'll just say one more thing. Do you want the bad guys to win?"

"No!" Jasmine, Mitsu, Meiko, and Toshiro all exclaimed together.

"Then you guys have to be more careful. We can't let them get those crystals you have inside you. Understand?"

"Yes, Usagi-san."

Satisfied, Usagi stepped aside so that Naru could have her turn. Naru looked at each of the four children. "Don't disobey me again. Do you understand me?"

They nodded, and Mitsu started to cry. Naru drew breath to say something else, then decided the children already felt bad enough. She opened her arms and gathered all four of them to her. They held onto her, all crying now, even Jasmine. "I was so scared," Naru said, nearly in tears herself. "When Rei told me about the youma, I was so scared.... They know where you are now, so you must be very, very careful. I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you."

"Naru-oneesan," Toshiro said, gulping down sobs, "do you think our dads sent that monster after us? The monster said she was going to take us to them."

"I don't know, Toshiro. I really don't know." Nephrite, she thought, feeling something cold inside her heart, if you were responsible for this, I don't know if I can ever forgive you.

* * * * * * * *