Luna rolled into a tight little ball to escape them, but even that wasn't enough to save her. With her ears protected, the playful kittens instead decided to go after her tail instead, ferociously tugging and biting on it. Artemis saw the strain on her face and rushed over to help. "Diana, Serena!" Artemis chided the two kittens. More gently he said to them, "Don't play so rough." The kittens looked at each other and seemed to come to an unspoken agreement. Moving as one, they pounced on the very surprised Artemis instead! Usagi, Minako and Natsuna sat on the couch nearby and watched the goings on with a great deal of amusement. "So, Usagi," Minako leaned back on the couch and asked her curiously, "how are things going with Rei?" Usagi blushed a bit. "We haven't gone any further than just kissing," Usagi admitted to the two shyly. Both Minako and Natsuna looked at her in a great deal of surprise. Minako seemed speechless, and it took Natsuna a moment to kind her voice. "But I thought," Natsuna started, only to trail off uncomfortably. "I mean, you're cuddling all the time!" she said, a bit disappointed. "I think she's a bit too much of a gentleman," a blushing Usagi said with a little laugh. "And I just don't know how to get the point across to her any clearer!" She flopped back on the couch dramatically, and both women chuckled. A recovered Minako laughed softly. "I'm sorry I can't be more help," Minako said to her cheerfully, "but I was the hunted, not the huntress in our romance." She then smiled fondly at the blushing Natsuna, who grinned back at her. Luna got up from where she was lying and walked, just a bit unsteadily, towards them. "Hey, Luna," Usagi said, smiling at the newly slimmed down black cat, "want to provide me with any romantic advice?" "Sorry," the little black cat said, shaking her head sadly, "I don't think I've ever been in love before." She looked up at them intensely, and they sweatdropped under her gaze. "I'm going out for a walk, OK?" Luna asked, a little desperately. Usagi was about to protest it was too soon for her to be going out, but she saw the pleading in Luna's eyes, and felt a bit guilty. It was Usagi's fault for bringing Luna here when the cat was in heat, after all. "Be careful, please?" she asked instead. The cat nodded, relieved, and quickly made her way up the hallway and out the cat door. Artemis watched her go, wearing a sad expression that quickly became a pained one as Serena chomped down on his tail. It came from the depths of space, the cold dark regions far beyond the light and warmth of the solar system's yellow sun. It curved around the moon and flared a moment as it caught the sunlight, and a figure on it's surface stirred. She stood there and looked out over the Earth with an expression of pure, endless want that was etched on her beautiful, frozen features. A want that was once denied, but now, at long last, it would be fulfilled. "I was driven from this world once," she said harshly, "a bright silver light forced me away and it made me travel far from the path I wished to go." She smiled to herself coldly, "But now I have returned here, at last, and I will make this world mine!" She completely disappeared, only to suddenly reappear in the air high above the Earth's North Pole. Her chill breath whooshed outward, and the air's moisture condensed into female forms, five beautiful snow women. "Go forth, my snow dancers," the ice queen said to them softly, "and freeze this world to it's core! Make it eternally, perfectly beautiful, preserve it so that I may add it to my collection!" She laughed coldly. Each of the snow dancers made a soft, musical sound of their agreement before flying off, twisting and turning delicately in the air as they brought a wave of icy cold in their wake! Luna paced down the sidewalk, letting the crisp winter air revive her! She luxuriated in finally being left alone, something she hadn't felt in the long months of her pregnancy. She walked for nearly half an hour, until she staggered a bit. 'I guess I haven't fully recovered from giving birth yet,' Luna thought shakily. She began to make her way back to Minako's apartment. Luna reached a crosswalk, and sat down on the sidewalk to wait for the lights to change. 'I'm so tired,' she thought shakily, her vision a bit blurred. The light changed, she got up and started across. She tripped, fell, and found to her horror she couldn't get up. She saw the lights change, struggled to pull herself up to her paws, then a car screeched around the corner. Before it could hit her, Luna felt strong arms grab her, and they both rolled clear of danger. The car's driver rolled down his window and yelled "Baka!" at them before driving off with a squeal of tires. Luna gazed up, saw a worried looking sandy hared figure looking down at her, then the world faded to black. Luna's eyes gradually opened, and she struggled to rise from the warmth of the soft mattress she lay on. Her entire body felt hot, despite a cool, damp cloth lying on her brow. The sandy-hared figure smiled down at Luna, soothing her with a gentle, caring touch. "Take it easy, you still have a fever," he gently assured her. The boy then took the cloth, carried it to a nearby basin where he soaked it in ice water and then he applied it to Luna's brow, gently brushing the beads of sweat away. Luna relaxed a bit, and the adrenalin that revived her faded as she slipped back into sleep. Luna's head felt much clearer when she woke up again. In fact, she felt great, much better than she had before! She rose, only to freeze at what she saw. The sandy-hared boy slept in the chair beside the bed, slumped a bit uncomfortably there. 'He stayed here all night,' Luna thought, surprised, 'to take care of me.' The memory of her nearly being run over flashed back, and she blushed a bit as she looked at her hero. As Luna lay there, she gazed curiously around the room; the apartment walls covered with many beautiful paintings and photographs of sports events. The young man was in most of them, holding as trophy of some kind up into the air. In one of the photos she could see a name on the jacket, it looked like "Tenoh". In others, he stood by a green haired woman, and Luna felt an odd stab of an unfamiliar emotion when she saw that. A bit of movement and Luna turned back to see the sandy hared figure looking down at her, a soft smile on his boyish face. "Looks like your feeling better," he said softly. Getting up from the chair and stretching, Luna saw something that seemed amiss. 'Breasts,' Luna thought, surprised, and realized that her rescuer wasn't a very cute young man, but instead an unusually handsome woman. She turned, walked from the room and Luna could hear the sound of a can opener operating, then scraping noises, finally the woman walked back in carrying two trays. "Hope you like tuna," the woman said cheerfully, setting a tray on the floor. She helped Luna down from the bed then sat down beside the cat to eat a bowl of cereal. "I wonder what your name is, pretty kitty?" she said thoughtfully. "Lu..." Luna started, and then snapped her mouth shut. 'I can't let her know I can talk,' Luna thought desperately. The woman stopped to look at Luna oddly a moment, then she reached over to gently pet her. "Hmm," she said thoughtfully, "Blackie? How about Sable?" Luna didn't respond, and the young woman looked at Luna, trying to think of some other possibilities. She reached over and stirred the fur around Luna's crescent shaped mark, "Crescent?" Luna looked up at her expectantly, and the woman asked, "Are you Luna?" "Meow!" Luna said happily. She rubbed herself against the woman's leg, who smiled down at her gently, petting her softly. "My name's Haruka Tenoh," Haruka said down at her cheerfully, "it's very nice to meet you." She added thoughtfully, "Your owner gave you a nice name, Luna. He or she's probably very sophisticated." Luna sweatdropped at the instant mental image of Usagi laughing like a maniac over her mangas, tripping over her own two feet, and generally looking like a idiot. 'Not likely,' Luna thought to herself ruefully. Luna and Haruka each finished their own meals, and then Haruka gently picked Luna up into her strong arms and cheerfully showed her around the apartment. "The paintings are Michiru's," she said, "and this is our room. Setsuna has the one just across the hall." Haruka suddenly grinned and laughed a bit, "With everybody gone, I must be feeling lonesome to be talking to a cat!" Luna looked up at her, "Meow", and Haruka smiled down at her, scratching behind the ears and eliciting a marathon of purring. "You know, I could almost believe you understand every word I say," Haruka said thoughtfully, and Luna tried her best to look innocent. Makoto frowned fiercely over at Usagi, as she, Ami, Rei, Minako, Natsuna and Usagi all gathered for an emergency meeting in front of Natsuna and Minako's apartment building, "So Luna hasn't been back for over a day?" Usagi shook her head no, mournfully. Ami frowned a bit, "It could be she may have been too weak still, from the childbirth. Or..." she stopped to gave Usagi a thoughtful look, "did you say something to her, Usagi? Something that upset her, maybe?" Makoto's eyes widened, "Ami, do you think Luna ran away?" She turned quickly to Usagi. "Did you say something mean to her?" she asked Usagi forcefully. "I didn't say anything mean to her!" Usagi answered. "She's the one usually saying mean things to me, like 'Baka!' or 'Lazy!' or 'Dummy!' guys! If anybody was going to run away, it'd be me!" she protested tearfully. Rei stepped forward to moderate things, and said soothingly to Usagi "I'm sure Luna didn't run away." Turning to the others, she said, "Let's split up, and start to search." Minako and Natsuna, Makoto and Ami, and Rei and Usagi each peeled off in a different direction to try to find their friend. Rei smiled over at Usagi, and took her hand comfortingly. "Don't worry, Usagi," Rei said, "I'm sure we'll find Luna." "Thanks, Rei," Usagi answered, tears glimmering in her eyes.
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