Episode 1 - Changes

[Usagi Tsukino]

Usagi woke up in a cold sweat. The horrible dream she'd been having already fading, as she responded to what had awakened her. She knew she should be trying to remember her dreams, but Usa was being rather insistent right now.

One diaper change and feeding later, and Usa was back to sleep in her crib, leaving Usagi alone with her thoughts.

Which should have been ridiculously happy, what with her dream marriage to Darien, and now the birth of their daughter. And yet...

She kept having those disturbing dreams. Nothing she could even clearly remember, but a sense that something was wrong. That something was coming. Something.... twisted. But nothing she could clearly describe.

What she really needed to do was talk to someone, but with how well everything was going lately, she didn't want to spoil it. Still, it was better to be prepared in case a new enemy was coming, then be caught off guard.

With a final glance at Usa asleep in her crib, Usagi crawled back into her bed, to try and get a few more hours of sleep. In the morning, she'd take Usa for a walk, and go visit Raye. Perhaps she could give her some insight, or figure out what was wrong.

[Lita Kino]

A quiet sigh of relief escaped rose pink lips as one Lita Kino stepped out into the sunlight. The weather was balmy on this day, easing some of the last remnants of a knot of tension that had been present in her shoulders.

She had just finished her third of four years at a world-renowned patisserie college in France. Her dream was now mere steps away, and when she returned to Tokyo in the next few weeks for a brief respite she would begin scouting out a premesis of her own.

Tucking a box under on arm, she started down the steps.

Lita had to thank her princess for this, really. It had been Usagi that had finally convinced the Jovian senshi to go, that she didn't need all her protectors around her. At first it had been tough; the odd panic attack or worry weighing her down so heavily it was like she moved through lead, but gradually it had eased. Usagi had found it funny how the French language had begun to creep into her vocabulary every so often, cute even. She smiled at the thought.

Rounding the corner to the street that housed her favourite coffee shop in the whole town, she paused, realising that the tension hadn't completely eased after all. The smile became a small frown.

Her instincts weren't screaming at her, but something was . . . off, she decided. Not terribly so but . . . slightly off-kilter. And Lita's instincts, while not as sharp as Rei's intuition, were very good all the same; had saved her life more than once, and occassionally the life of a friend or prevented a problem.

Strange.

Perhaps a call home would be in order tonight.

[Raye Hino]

Rei sat awake on the floor of her bedroom, a opened suitcase laying beside her. Various trinkets and souvenirs laid scattered around the room, ranging from postcards to miniature figurines of the Eiffel Tower and multiple photographs. It was late in Tokyo and she still couldn't sleep. As much as she would like to say jet lag was the cause, the dark haired woman knew it wasn't true. Something was off. She didn't know what, and she didn't know why, but something just was.

Even when she was in New York City, these feelings seemed to plague her. She thought she was through with all this stuff. It was her first night back in Tokyo. She should have been happy to be home, after all she had be gone for majority of the past year. The last time she had even seen everyone was after the birth of her best friend's daughter, just before she had left for her world trip. Originally, she planned to stay longer but, these feelings kept drawing her back home again.

A small frown of frustration tugged at her lips. The fighting was supposed to be over. It was supposed to be over. That's what she kept telling herself. Her princess and prince were finally married with a healthy infant daughter. Crystal Tokyo was supposed to be coming next, wasn't? Everything was supposed to be at peace until then. However, Rei knew this wouldn't be the case. Fate could really be a bitch sometimes.