*there's no one in the room for a minute,
and then, poof! in pops Jadeite*
 All right, Ninx is still locked away.
In fact, she's sick now, and a sick and
mad Ninx is NOT someone who should be doing
these little notes before stories.  *uneasiness
on his face* Not that she thinks so.  But
anyways, I get to do them now, since
Zoi's in hiding and Nathan's in with her
and Kunz's trying to coax Zoi out and..
*sigh* Oh well.  Onto Disclaimers!
 A) No ownee Sailor Moonie.  Belongee to
    Others, big, powerful Others with 
    Negaverse youma carefully disguised  
    as Lawyers who like to use the power of
    "SUE!" on you...no creative infringement
    intended.
 B) Zach's illness, again, is up and down for
    plot REASONS which I will not reveal under
    pain of death.
 C) Ninx has no training in home schooling, nor
    teaching English to other people.  She just
    pretends to, and since this story came out
    of Ninx's world, we'd all be much obliged if
    you ignore her glaring errors.
 D) A little Japanese actually in "" here, but again,
    most is in the parallel tracks, ||.  Be kind,
    be merciful! She takes Spanish, and got a 
    royal dressing down by a Japanese taking friend
    this week.
 E) Ninx is sick, but she still wrote this.  That's 
    why the time frame is so condensed.
 F) Speaking of time frames, there is an official one,
    to be revealed in Ch. 4.
 Whew! *wipes brow* That's A LOT of disclaimers.  
Also, AUTHOR READS:
 Lianne, Amethist, Bunny Anyla (I spelled it right, I 
hope), Tim Nolan, the Great Pandora Waldron, and last,
but not least, Fushigi Kismet.  In fact, go read 
"Past Loves" RIGHT NOW.  
 *he looks up* That's what she said.  And it's good.
I suggest you read it.
 For all of you staying, onto it!

             THE FOUR LOVERS
                 INTERIM


              CHAPTER THREE
             BLOND REVELATION
 The four of them blankly stared at the blond 
that blankly stared back at them.  For a 
moment a spark seemed to flash in her eyes, 
then faded, like it'd never really been 
there.
 Jared ran his eyes over her form again, 
trying to remember where he'd seen her 
before.  He had no idea, yet this particular 
image...was so familiar.  <Could it be Kunz's 
blond?> he wondered; though the boys knew 
what they were, they still automatically 
distinguished themselves from that other, 
hidden part of them.  <No, no,> he quickly 
corrected.  <I feel...strangely connected to 
her somehow, indirectly...some wayhow odd!>
 He was so lost in his stare, in trying to 
make those enigmatic connections, that he 
didn't hear Mr. Niendor calling them until he 
barked at them in Japanese.
 "Gomen nasai," he murmured, walking up to 
the front of the class.  He could feel the 
others finally stir behind him, breaking the 
hold the stare had over them, and slowly pace 
behind him.  Still, he was the first to get 
there; it was almost as if his comrades were 
trying to overcome some unknown fear of her.
 "Jared Gold," he said thickly.  Up close, 
the details of her seemed to etch themselves 
on his mind.  Hair of golden blond, hung in a 
thick, high ponytail that still trailed most 
of the way down her back.  Sapphire blue 
eyes--well, perhaps a shade lighter--gazed 
blankly out of her cute little face.  The 
sailor type outfit of the Japanese student 
clung to her loosely, and he noticed the 
broach that hung on it, a strange, 
diamond-like jewel that twinkled at him 
within.  "Pretty cute" was his sum conclusion 
about her.
 <And OFF limits, Jared.>
 The force of the thought made his eyes 
widen, and lock suddenly with Serena's.  For 
the first time, he saw a great deal of PAIN 
moving around her expression, as if she 
wasn't sure how to channel...because she 
never had felt it.  He was automatically 
angry--though he wasn't sure why.
 He heard, but didn't really register, the 
other boys giving their names.  In fact, it 
wasn't until Mr. Niendor caught Serena's 
attention that the gaze was broken.  
 "These are my four best Japanese students 
out of any class," he said slowly in English.  
She seemed puzzled, but nodded anyway.
 "Her English skills are somewhat lacking 
right now," the woman said swiftly.  "She's 
also...jet lagging.  That's why I requested 
some of your best students to help tutor her 
until she's up to speed."
 "It also helps that she'll be living with 
Jared," Mr. Niendor added.
 <WHAT?!?!?> his mind shrieked.  He looked at 
the woman, and softly asked, "What?"
 She blinked, quizzically comical, and Mr. 
Niendor said quickly, "It's all been arranged 
with your mother, Jared.  Serena is going to 
stay at your house while she goes to school 
here."
 "Oh," Jared said.  "For how long?"
 "About three years."
 He swallowed suddenly.  He understood the 
choice of his home; his mom was a home school 
teacher, plus she was well-respected, plus 
she had quite a few languages under her belt.
They'd been her passion as a child, and she 
seemed to have a natural gift for them. 
 Kinda like him.
 "What does this mean for the four of us, 
though?" Kevin asked, his voice tuned to be 
not demanding, but not taking any BS, either.
 "Actually, boys, there are going to be very 
few changes.  When Serena's had enough 
tutoring to come to school, you four will 
leave class early in order to help her get 
from class to class.  You will also help Mrs. 
Gold to tutor her in English and high school 
basics.  Otherwise..." and he shrugged to 
indicate that whatever else there was would 
be up to them.
 The four boys glanced at each other, and 
shrugged themselves.  "This can't be too much 
trouble," Nathan chimed in, a small smile on 
his face.
 "Thank you," Serena suddenly said, voice 
soft and high, a touch of...well, Valley Girl 
accent in her voice.
 "Your welcome Serena," they replied in 
unison, with a short nod of the head.
 A radiant smile broke out onto Serena's 
face, and they smiled back.  <Perhaps,> Jade 
thought, <this is a GOOD thing.>

*       *       *       *
 <She's really, really, really quiet,> Jared 
thought, frowning to himself.  He and Serena, 
after a hectic (for him, at least) school 
day, had been dropped off by Nathan on his 
way home.  It wasn't unusual; Nate was a busy 
person.  Also, Serena needed to start 
learning her way around, or so his mother 
said.  He personally thought it was a but 
harsh for someone who was going to be around 
for the next coupla years.  <Mom just wants 
to get her acquainted...that's it...>
 Her stole a glance at her, and was surprised 
to find sadness in her face.  He would've 
understood homesickness, excitement, 
weariness...but not this sadness, or the pain 
he'd witnessed this morning.  <I wonder what 
her story is,> he thought to himself.
 |Are you all right?| he asked in careful 
Japanese.
 She jerked from whatever thoughts she was 
having, and a false smiled appeared on her 
face.  |Fine, fine,| she replied.
 |Serena...don't lie.|
 She seemed to jump, shocked, and he grinned 
to himself.  |What do you mean?| she asked.  
|I..|
 |I can read you, Serena.  It's a gift I have 
with people.  And you seem sad,| he replied 
matter-o'-factly.
 Her step faltered, and her head went down.  
|I am sad,| she whispered back.  |Shouldn't I 
be?|
 |Homesick, I guess.  Worn out, sure.  But 
you don't seem the type to be sad,| he said, 
his unspoken thought <You're never sad!> 
barely held back.  It unnerved him how much 
he felt himself melding, meshing with her--
they just CLICKED.  He thought her beautiful, 
but not...for him.
 <This is just crazy, Jade.  Just plain 
nuts.>
 She was quiet for a little bit, then asked, 
|Uh...so, I'm living at your house?|
 |Yep.  It'll be you, me, mom, and my 
thousand or so cats.|
 |Cats?| She almost flinched.  |You have 
cats?|  A short pause, and then quietly, |Any 
plain black, or plain white?|
 He smiled to himself.  |Nope.  I strongly 
dislike black cats for some reason, and the 
white ones are too hard to care for.  Most of 
them are some mixture of colors, and I don't 
think ANY of them are purebred.|
 |You don't have any brothers or sisters, 
Jared?|
 |None at all, Serena.|  <Well, I used to 
have none...> he thought.
 She sniffed a bit, then said, |I had a 
brother at home.  Really annoying.| She 
paused to sniff again, and he wondered if she 
had a runny nose or was fighting back tears.  
|I miss him.|
 He stopped and turned to face her, putting a 
hand on her shoulder.  She stopped as well, 
head down.  "Serena," he said softly, and she 
looked at him.  He opened his arms, and she 
rushed into them to give him a HUGE hug that 
nearly knocked him into the street.  He 
stumbled, regained his balance, and closed 
the circle.
 |I miss them all, so much! But I had to 
go...and leave my family,| she sobbed against 
him.  |Oh...|
 |Serena, if you want, I'll be your brother,| 
he whispered to her as she shook against him.
|We will be your family now, mom and me and 
my friends.|
 She pulled away abruptly, and looked at him 
with eyes that shone almost as fiercely as 
the gem in her broach.  |You will?| she 
asked, voice soft and believing.
 He smiled and nodded.  |Of course, Serena.|
 She smiled again, that radiant, wonderful 
smile, and suddenly before him flashed 
another picture, another person...but then it 
vanished, leaving only Serena once more.
 "You...okay?" she asked, her English musical 
in a stammering sort of way.
 "Yes," he replied.  "Ready?"
 She nodded, and they resumed their course 
towards home.  Already her mood seemed to 
have brightened, and with it came a sort of 
glow to her features, the kind that only came 
with true happiness.  
 Before he could ponder, she broke into his 
thoughts by saying, |You know what?|
 |What?|
 |I'm STARVING.|
 He grinned.  |I'm sure my mom has some food 
at home, just waiting for...|
 |Let's go then!| she squealed, and soon they 
were both running towards his home, grinning, 
smiling, as Serena's blond hair billowed in 
the breeze.

 |This is your room, Serena,| Jared said, 
gesturing to the fake oak door.  He had been 
trying to get over how much she'd eaten--
<this girl can REALLY pack it away!>--when 
his mother had noticed the sleep creeping 
into her face, and had asked <ordered> him to 
show her to her room.  The two of them had 
really hit it off, especially when Serena 
found out she could cook like a whirlwind and 
his mom found someone to appreciate her food.  
She always complained that Jared never ate 
enough; now, he hoped, she'd be satisfied 
with Serena and leave him alone.  
 |Thank you, Jared,| she said.  Looking 
around, she asked, |And where do you sleep?|
 He couldn't help the smile as he replied, 
|The other end of the house.|
 She giggled, and then said in a proper tone, 
|Well, I shall try not make your mom 
suspicious so that she moves you out to the 
garage.  It looks cold.|
 He nodded, then smiled.  |Well, I'd love to 
stay and chat, but I have to go study,| he 
replied, noticing the face she made at that.  
|Get used to it, Serena--you're over here to 
go to school.|
 |Doesn't mean I have to like it, Jade!| she 
grimaced.  
 He grinned.  |Go to bed, Serena,| he said, 
then turned and walked down the hallway 
towards his room.  He heard her open the 
door, and then a few moments later close it; 
satisfied, he raced through the house to get 
to his room.  Upon entering, he closed the 
door and locked it, then took a flying leap 
onto his bed, bouncing agilely to land on his 
feet on the other side.  
 <Well, that's ONE thing that's shown up,> he 
thought, falling back to land on the dark 
blue blanket and stare at the fresh white 
ceiling.  A sigh escaped his lips; with 
Serena here now, they wouldn't have as many 
chances to explore the MYSTERY surrounding 
them.  
 <It's no mystery, it's a puzzle,> he 
thought.  <All we need to do is fit the 
pieces together to get the picture right, 
even though we have no idea what the picture 
looks like because someone lost the box.>  He 
sighed.  
 Ever since that day at Nathan's when who 
they were had come totally to the surface, 
they'd been trying to get in contact with 
their powers.  They knew that they HAD them, 
but they just couldn't REACH them for some 
reason.  They'd been trying to figure it out 
even as they'd tried to reach for the 
untapped power within themselves.  It was 
incredibly frustrating for the four of them, 
especially since hard things like school and 
social graces had come so easily to them.  
Even Zachary, who really didn't care for 
anyone besides the company of his friends, 
was always civil.  They could get good 
grades, interact well with people, stand 
their ground if they had to--but they 
couldn't touch the power they'd been born to 
use.  
 <It's almost funny,> he thought.  <Here we 
are, successful high school students, and 
we're STILL complaining about something.>  He 
grinned to himself at the thought, then 
rolled over to check the clock.  Almost 4:00  
He had plenty of time to try to reach inside 
before he started his homework; after all, 
the guys weren't due until five.
 He closed his eyes.

 <This is a nice room,> Serena decided as she 
lay on her bed, the Luna Pen in her fingers.  
Her suitcase lay open in front of her, the 
things she'd packed neatly rummaged through.  
She had, for some reason, wanted to hold this 
piece of her past right then.
 <Well, actually, its probably the cat in my 
room,> she thought in a dry, sunny room.  A 
tiger striped cat with glowing green eyes had 
snuggled up to her, and she let her free hand 
stroke its fur.  It purred contentedly, and 
she felt that it would soon be asleep.
 <Luna never did this.>
 She sighed.  <You have to stop that, Serena.  
Your past is behind you; its dead to you.  
You have to move on.>
 She swallowed, feeling the tears rise in 
eyes, knowing that the hot drops would pour 
down her face in seconds.
 <NO, SERENA!> her mind ordered.
 <Huh?> 
 <You have to be strong, and move on with 
your life! You have a new family here! Four 
new brothers to talk with, and a new 
mother..> 
 She touched her broach, and sat up, 
disturbing the cat.  Instead of the yowl she 
was used to, it only tossed her a sharp look 
before padding over to another part of the 
bed to lay down.  She tossed the Luna Pen in 
her suitcase and shut it, pushing it towards 
the closet.  Her room was small, but not TOO 
small, and was a very happy harmony of colors 
that she liked a lot.  Her bed was soft, and 
her comforter fluffy and warm; she had ample 
storage space, and Mama Gold had already 
talked about going shopping.  The love that 
had radiated from the woman had surprised 
her, but then again, it hadn't.  Her own 
mother..
 "Mother," she whispered as she unhooked her 
broach.  She lay on the bed on her stomach, 
and fingered the broach carefully.  The 
Imperial Crystal shined at her from within, 
and she traced the ribbon design on the front 
of it.  "Mother," she whispered again.  "Are 
you there, Mother?"
 The crystal shimmered, and suddenly an image 
of a beautiful lady appeared, her hair in 
odangos and gossamer fairy wings coming out 
of her back. <I am with you always, my 
child.>
 "Oh Mother, why is it so hard?" she cried 
out softly, slumping on the broach.  
 <Hush, hush, my child,> the glowing crystal 
replied.  <Setsuna maybe having a fit now, 
but..>
 "Setsuna?"
 Queen Selenity chuckled.  <Don't worry about 
her now, my daughter.  Use your time here 
wisely, for you have uncovered a whole new 
world here.>
 "My time here?" she asked, looking up.  "But 
mother, I'm never going back!"  
 <Never say never, my child,> Selenity 
replied.  She smiled.  <You couldn't do this 
back home, could you, sweet Serenity?>
 "No Mother, I couldn't.  I just suddenly 
knew."
 <You are learning fast, my child.  Perhaps 
soon you will speak with the crystal itself.> 
The tiny woman grew serious.  <You must be 
careful, my child, for while the crystal's 
power seeks only to heal and not harm, you 
may not be ready for all it holds.  Proceed 
slowly, my daughter.  You are my only child,
my only daughter, and I do not wish you to 
join me for a long time.> She smiled.  <My 
love is with you always, Serenity.>
 "And mine with you, Mother," she replied 
softly.  The crystal began to glow once more, 
and then Queen Selenity vanished, and it 
returned to just a sparkle, a hint of its 
inner light.
 Serena started to clip it back onto her 
uniform, but stopped herself.  Instead, she 
set it aside, crawled under the covers, and 
cradled it in her hands as she fell asleep.

 Jared's eyes popped open.  <Almost,> he 
thought to himself, gritting his teeth.  
<Almost.>

*       *       *       *
 The boys had been tutoring Serena for almost 
two weeks when Zachary fell sick again.  Now 
Miss Maley was being totally rude about 
anyone coming to see them, and they all 
sheered away, despite Serena's protests.  
She'd somehow found something of a kindred 
spirit in Zachary, probably because they both 
liked to draw, and really wanted to go see 
how he was doing.  That was before Nate took 
her aside and explained what Miss Maley was 
like, leaving Serena to mutter something 
about "youma" and "dusting." 
 Kev's place had been chosen for the next 
tutoring session.  Serena had been moving 
along fairly fast with the double help, and 
most thought she'd be in school fairly soon.  
Of course, she'd have to take summer school 
to make up the credits she'd missed, but with 
their tutoring and her hungry mind, she would 
probably test out of freshman year classes.  
 Serena grinned whenever they talked about 
her progress.  They never would've suspected 
what kind of student she'd been back home.  
However, without the distractions of 
a)Youma, b)the Senshi, c)Reenie, and 
d)Darien...
 <He was never a distraction to YOU, Serena,> 
she reminded herself.  <Just you to him.>
 Nate was the last to stumble in just as they 
were drilling Serena on prepositions.  Jade's 
mom had given them a strict outline to follow 
with her, featuring a lot of structural 
grammar and pronunciation exercises.  He 
looked almost dishelved, but he was grinning 
wildly and happily. 
 |Hello everyone,| he said sweetly, sitting 
down.  Then, |Serena, what did you do to your 
hair?|
 She looked up, uneasily fingering one of the 
long streamers of hair that fell from her 
odangos.  She hadn't worn her hair like this 
since she'd left Japan, but seeing her clips 
last night...she'd figured, why not?  Jared 
and Kevin had both reacted the same way.  
"Like it?" she asked slowly.
 "Yes, I do," he replied as slowly.  "Nice 
'l', Serena." 
 She nodded thankfully, a soft blush on her 
face.  Most Japanese people had some trouble 
with pronouncing the letter "l"; he'd read 
about it during his research on the campaign 
against the Japanese during W.W.II.  They 
used to give any spy they caught long, "l" 
filled words in order to catch them on it.  
It had been one of the things they drilled 
Serena on slowly, and she was doing fine with 
it now.  In fact, the Valley Girl piece of 
her voice was starting to slowly replace her 
Japanese one.  
 They set to work, going over all the preps 
they knew.  Serena watched gleefully as the 
boys challenged each other to recall them, 
and they all laughed when Kevin bewilderedly 
tried to remember what came between "with" 
and "without." After the fun, they drilled 
Serena slowly on them and their grammatical 
usage, as the outline said to do.  
 Next came the review of synonyms and 
antonyms.  |Pick any word, and we'll 
explain,| Jared said.
 |Peace,| she replied softly, a glint in her 
eye.  Again, a picture seemed to flash in 
Jared's inner eye, but the details and 
memories would not work themselves out, so he 
ignored it.
 "The lady chooses 'peace,' men," he 
affirmed, pronouncing the word for her, then 
turning to the others.  "Is this in English 
or Japanese, Kevin?"
 "English."
 "Cool!" he said.  To Serena, he explained, 
"Antonyms, as you probably know, are words 
with the opposite meaning to the word you 
just picked.  We're going to name some for 
you." 
 She nodded, and they began to spin words 
around the circle.  She studied them all 
closely, how they shaped their lips, how the 
sounds came out, but another picture kept 
intruding on her mind.  It visited her often 
during these study sessions; it was one of 
four older men, looking somewhat like these 
guys she saw here, talking with each other.  
Smiling at her, laughing with her.  She 
sensed a protective emotion towards her in 
these memories, though she didn't know why.  
The pictures flashed in and out, but she 
couldn't make sense of what her mind was 
trying so hard to tell her.
 "All right, Serena, your turn," Kevin said, 
and slowly she repeated the antonyms of 
"peace" back to the three of them.  They 
nodded or corrected her softly until she got 
through the whole list.  
 "Now for synonyms," Jared said.  
 "These are words that mean about the same as 
your word, Serena," Nathan explained.  
"Understand?"
 She nodded.  
 "All right, I'll go first," he said.  
"Tranquillity."
 "Harmony," Kevin said.
 "Oh, take all the good ones," Jared groused.  
"I guess that leaves me with Serenity." 
 Serena's eyes widened, as did Jared's.  They 
both stood suddenly, and Jared repeated 
"Serenity," then |Serenity!|
 And between them, unseen, passed a current 
of red energy.
 And then their eyes widened more, and they 
began to hug each other crazily.
 "What's so big about Serenity?" Kevin asked 
Nate...yet suddenly a thought crept into his 
mind, and he slowly stood as well, and stared 
at her.  |Serenity?| he said haltingly, his 
voice unsure.
 She and Jared stopped hugging, and she 
looked over at him.  Their eyes locked, and 
something slipped to the surface of his mind 
as a current of grayish energy touched him...
 "Serenity!" he cried out, and picked her up 
in a fantastic hug, whirling her around.  She 
grinned widely when he set her down, and he 
grinned back happily.
 Nathan was totally confused.  "All right, 
what's the deal with this 'Serenity' thing?"
 A minute later he held her in a tight hug, 
smiling, eyes almost watering in happiness.  
"It's good to see you again, Princess," he 
said softly.
 "I..yes, it's good to see you as well," she 
replied.
 "How did we not remember...wait, your 
Highness, you're speaking in English!" he 
said.
 "No, no, we're not," she said.  "It's the 
common language of Sol."  She smiled.  "I can 
not believe I forgot you! And poor Zoicite!" 
 "We didn't remember you either, Princess," 
Jade said.  "In fact, we didn't really 
remember much of anything--just who we were 
and our oaths.  How odd." 
 "Does this mean we can use our powers now?" 
Nate asked.
 "Couldn't hurt to try," Kev said, and the 
three of them formed a line in the room, feet 
a shoulder length apart, arms behind their 
backs, heads down.  Serena watched them 
visibly tense for awhile...but nothing 
happened. 
 Finally, they relaxed.  "Not yet," Jared 
said.
 "Something's still blocking us," Kevin 
growled.
 "Calm down, Kev! We can't get everything all 
at once, and now that we've got the Princess 
back, it should be anytime now," Nathan 
admonished.  
 "You're right," Kevin said, and he nearly 
smiled.  
 "GROUP HUG!" Jared yelled suddenly, and 
Serena swiftly found herself squashed between 
the three men.  She started to giggle, and 
then laughed outright; the boys followed her, 
and by the time they separated the whole room 
was filled with laughter.  
 When it'd died down, and it was time to get 
back to work, Kevin looked her straight in 
the eye and asked softly, "Serena...when do I 
get to meet Minako again?"
---------------------------------------------
 *sweat drop on Jade's head* All right, 
that's how it ends! And Ninx is going to kill me if
I don't hide REALLY SOON, but I have to put 
up this preview first, or she'll kill me 
REALLY dead.
 CHAPTER FOUR: THE FINISHING TOUCH
What's wrong with Zach?  Will the boys ever
get their powers?  Will Kev's question be 
answered?  Why is Serena is the States?  
What's UP with the crystal thingee?  Stay
tuned, because I just might answer all these
Q's next time, on "FOUR LOVERS: INTERIM"