Diana effortlessly climbed up the facade of the Tsukino house, up to Usagi's window.
"Come on!" she called from above. "You can do that too, right?"
Rei took a look at the house wall and decided to give it a try.
Soon after, she climbed up to the grey kitten... not as quick and graceful as her, but she did pretty well if you consider the fact that she only had been a cat for a few hours by now...
Diana slipped through the ajar window into the room. "Come on, we ask Small Lady if she has something for us."
Rei followed her. "Does this... 'Small Lady'... know about your unique abilities?"
"What? That I can talk?" Diana giggled. "Sure! I'm her advisor, after all!"
"I see..."
"Come, her room is this way!"
As Rei followed Diana through the dark house, Diana remembered something important: "Um, please do not talk when in the presence of the parents... They shouldn't know that Mom and I can talk. When they see you, just... meow or something."
"Why?" Rei asked. "I see no reason to lie to them... I don't even know them."
Diana grimaced. "I know, I know, but... could you do it anyway? I'll be in big trouble if Mom or Small Lady find out. Please?"
"Well..."
Diana gave her the puppy-dog-eyes... Well, make that the kitty-cat-eyes. "Pretty please?"
After several seconds, Rei nodded. "Understood. Meowing when in the presence of the parents..."
"Yay!" Diana cheered. "Um, I mean... thanks."
They reached the door of Chibiusa's room. As everyone else in the house (except for Usagi, who was on patrol with the other Senshi), Chibiusa was sleeping within her bed.
"Shouldn't we wait until she wakes up?" Rei asked.
Diana shook her head. "No! A friend is hungry! This is an emergency!"
She jumped up on the bed of Small Lady and shook her with her paws. But Chibiusa didn't respond... she only snored and rolled over, nearly burying Diana underneath.
Diana sighed. "Okay, if she's sleeping that deeply... there's only one way to wake her up!"
While Diana carefully climbed over Chibiusa's bed, Rei looked around the room. A strange, glimmering orb standing on the pink-haired girl's nightstand caught her interest.
Meanwhile, Diana had reached her princess' naked feet... and giggled maliciously. "She really hates that..." she snickered... and begin licking Chibiusa's bare feet.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, Small Lady snorted, which turned into giggling, which turned into laughter.
"Bwahahahah! Hahah... hah... huh? What's wrong?"
Diana grinned up at her. "You awake now?"
Chibiusa fumed. "DIANA! I thought I asked you not to do that anymore!"
"I'm terribly sorry," Diana said and bowed her head. "But my new friend is hungry and needs some food... could we go into the kitchen and you give us some?"
"Huh? What friend?"
Chibiusa climbed out of bed in her pajamas and looked down at the blue-furred cat.
"Are you the person called 'Small Lady'?" Rei asked.
Chibiusa gasped. "A... another mooncat? Diana, where... where did she come from?"
"I met her on the street," Diana said. "She told me she was hungry, so I brought her here."
Chibiusa was confused. "But... but I always thought Luna and Artemis were the only mooncats living in this time..."
Something alarming clicked within Rei's mind. But for now, she decided to ignore it and looked at Chibiusa.
Chibiusa looked back. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
"I am merely waiting for a response," Rei simply said.
Then Chibiusa realized what she meant. "Oh... oh yes, I guess some people call me 'Small Lady'... but please, call me Chibiusa, all my friends do that." She threw her advisor an angry glance. "Diana, I thought I told you not to tell me 'Small Lady' when we're in this time."
Diana grinned. "Um... sorry... um... the food?"
Chibiusa sighed. "All right, all right... C'mon, the kitchen is this way..."
----
Chibiusa placed a small dish with cat food in front of the strange cat.
Rei looked at it for a while, then looked back at Chibiusa and said: "Thank you!" Then she started eating.
Chibiusa leaned over to Diana and whispered: "This new friend of yours is pretty strange..."
"Yeah," Diana whispered back. "But she's actually very nice, I think."
After some time, Rei raised her head from her meal. "Please, explain to me: What do you mean when you said 'In this time'?"
Chibiusa thought about it. "Well, I guess I can tell you, you being a Mau and all... You know, I will actually be born much later from now on, far, far in the future, when Tokyo will become Crystal Tokyo." She smiled. "But Puu - Sailor Pluto, you know? - gave me this neat time key that allows me to go back in time to visit my Mom when she was a teenager. Actually, I'm a very good friend of my mother's younger self... Well, we prattle quite often, but I know it's just because Usagi is a little klutz and crybaby." She grinned. "My mom allowed me to visit her because she can teach me how to be a Senshi."
"What's a... Senshi?" Rei asked.
"Whaaat, you don't know what a Senshi is?" Chibiusa asked in bewilderment. "Well, um... A Senshi is a magical soldier that protects the earth and her princess from all the evil that threatens them."
"You said 'her'... does that mean there are only female Senshi?"
"Yeah, that's right!" Chibiusa nodded. Then she realized something. "Um, you're not one of the bad guys, right? I mean, you wouldn't use everything I told you against me, would you?"
"I see no benefit in doing so," Rei exclaimed.
"Huh, what a relief," Chibiusa said. "You know, we are always fighting all kinds of villains... and sometimes, they can be very tricky."
Suddenly, Rei realized something. "What you just told me can't be true," she said.
"Huh?" Chibiusa and Diana looked at each other and blinked. "What do you mean?"
"You said you come from the future, and claim that this city will turn into a 'Crystal Tokyo'... But even if I accept the fact that magic is real and time travel is possible, your statement cannot be true."
She looked directly into Chibiusa's eyes. "There won't be a 'Crystal Tokyo' in the future."
Chibiusa shook her head. "Why... why are you saying something like this...?" In her ears, it somehow sounded cruel...
"Because I'm from the future as well," Rei claimed. "And I know that nothing you told me can ever be reality..."
Chibiusa shivered. "Why? Why?"
Rei's gaze seemed to pierce her very soul.
"In the year 2000, a giant being called 'Adam' will appear in Antarctica. This creature's self-destruction will cause the 'Second Impact': Earth's climate will be severely affected, and several natural disasters will destroy many of the major cities of the world... and Tokyo will be mostly flooded."
"Stop it..." Chibiusa whispered and hid her face in her hands. "Stop it..."
"Even after Adam's self-destruction, other creatures like him, called 'Angels' will appear on Earth, attacking humanity."
A short pause...
"Several years after 2015, there probably won't be enough of Tokyo left to create your 'Crystal Tokyo'!"
"NO!" Chibiusa cried. "That's not true! I know it! They taught me at school: The Great Freeze will come, but afterwards, Tokyo will become Crystal Tokyo, and my Mom and Dad will be king and queen..."
"I am sorry if the truth hurts you... but I know that most people living in 2015 won't even know that your 'Senshi' ever existed."
"But... Senshi live much, much longer than other people... My Mom and Dad will still be there, and Ami and Minako and Rei and Makoto..."
"Not anymore!" Rei calmly stated. "Logically speaking, no human should be able to live for such a long time... and even if it were possible, there are no such reports of any Senshi in Tokyo-3... the only part of Tokyo that is still above the ocean level."
"Stop telling her all those horrible things," Diana suddenly shouted. "Don't you see how much you're hurting her? I thought you were a good friend!"
"I was just explaining to her that her version of the future can't possibly take place."
"And where's your proof?" Chibiusa sobbed. "Just because you say so doesn't mean it is correct... I am from Crystal Tokyo, as Diana is, and if Puu was here, she'd show you the truth. My Mom and her Senshi will make sure that Crystal Tokyo will become reality, just you wait!"
"What's all the racket in here?" another voice suddenly hissed. "You wanna wake up Usagi's parents and Shingo?"
"Mom!" Diana said.
The sleek, black-furred mooncat entered the kitchen. "Chibiusa-chan, what's wrong?" she asked. "Did you cry?"
Then her gaze fell on the third Mau in the room, and she gasped. "Who are you?"
"My name is Rei," the other cat replied. "It appears I am from the future..."
"From the future?" Luna said in astonishment. "How far in the future? After the founding of Crystal Tokyo? Or earlier?"
"Neither."
"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Luna asked in confusion.
Diana jumped down the table and walked towards her mother. "She said that Crystal Tokyo won't take place and some alien monster will cause natural disasters... she said there won't be enough left of Tokyo to form Crystal Tokyo."
"I was only telling her what I've seen with my own eyes," Rei stated.
"You lie!" Chibiusa cried.
'Wait a minute...' Luna thought. 'Could it be... that this Mau... comes from a different future than Chibiusa?'
She shook her head. "Oh boy..." she sighed.
"What's wrong, Mom?" Diana asked.
"I believe we're dealing with something that more than often gives Pluto a nasty headache: A paradox! We have visitors from two possible futures, yet only one future can be the real one..."
She moaned. "We have to contact Pluto... Crystal Tokyo's deletion from the timeline can turn out to be much more disastrous than the threat of the Dead Moon Circus..."
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(Posted Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:59)
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