Disclaimer- I do not own Bishoujo Senshi SailorMoon/Sailor Moon or any of its persons, places, things, plots, or ideas. Naoko Takeuchi, a bunch of people and corporations in Japan, and a bunch of people and corporations in America own it. The song in this story is copyright Mary Chapin Carpenter. I, in no way, shape or form, say I own either thing. Please don't sue me.

"Something is wrong with Luna." I whimpered to Mizuno Ami, one of my best friends. She pushed a strand of short blue hair from her matching eyes, and slowly took off her glasses. Her face was a mask, but I could tell she was concerned. I wasn't the only one that had noticed the change in Luna, my cat. Well, Luna wasn't just any cat. She was a walking, talking feline adviser from the Silver Millennium, from years ago. She was black as midnight, but with a bluish tinge, and garnet eyes that could scold or laugh like any humans. And she was my best friend. Oh sure, I loved all the other tons too, but Luna . . . I could tell Luna anything. And she was always there for me. But lately, she's been, off, somehow. And it worried me.
"I know, Usagi-chan. I've tried to ask her about it, but she won't hear of it. Has she told you anything?" I shook my head in denial.
"No, she hasn't. All I know is, it takes her twice as long to get up my stairs, she can't see the nose on her face, and she can barely move in the morning. I don't know what to do." I began to cry, something I hadn't done in a while. The last time I remembered crying was when I found my friends again after dying the last time. It was right after I healed Galaxia of Chaos inside her, and I met them all in the afterlife. We given another chance to live, and I'd never cried since. I suppose my tears were all used up in joy that last time. That was some four years ago, and I was now a pretty, fairly intelligent 20 year-old with my golden blond hair in its usual two-odango style, and my blue eyes as bright as ever. At that place in time, said eyes were brimming with unshed tears. Hino Rei, my best human senshi friend, came to pat me on the shoulder. Her long, midnight hair caught the bright December sunlight, and her violet eyes were worried.
"Don't worry, Usagi-chan. Whatever is wrong with her, I'm sure we'll fix it." But just then, Kino Makoto (yet another one of my senshi guardians, the one with the amber ponytail and emerald green eyes) came over from her seat on the park bench. She shook her head in puzzled sadness.
"I'm not so sure you guys. Artemis is going through whatever's wrong with Luna too. Mina-chan told me he can't hear right, he's always getting lost and confused, and he's as lethargic as Luna. Mina is taking care of him right now, before she meets us." Hearing that made my heart sink even more. Aino Minako, blond and blue-eyed like me, had her own talking kitty adviser, Artemis. Said cat was as white as Luna was black, and had blue eyes rivaling my own. But lately he too had been as if infected with some horrible disease. And it scared us all.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can make it right. Usagi-chan always comes though." Rei said with more conviction than I felt myself. And not to talk of pressure! But it was true, to some extent. I was always fixing things in the world. As SailorMoon, I was constantly fighting evil any time it arrived. But with my senshi by my side (Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako as Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus respectively) it was never too hard. Still, I was more frightened over this than most everything I felt as if I might not be able to fix things. And it wasn't a pleasant feeling.
"I hope you're right." I muttered as my pigtails drifted in a light breeze, prompting me to close me warm down parka about me. But even that didn't stop the chill from invading my heart. "I really do."
The next day (December 16, I remember) I woke to find Luna still asleep. That was odd, since she'd woken me each morning for four long years. Even after we moved out of my folks' house and into a modest apartment (near my boyfriend, Chiba Mamoru), she had been my external alarm clock. But this morning she still lay as still as death. I gasped and grew pale, expecting the worst. Only when I saw her tiny chest fall and rise did I let my breath out in a whoosh. I pushed away the warm, bunny print covers, and pulled her into my arms. She didn't stir, even as I began to smooth down her rough fur, neglected and untidy. Yet another reason for me to be upset, since Luna had always been such a fastidious cat before. I just help her close in my thin arms, feeling her heartbeat. So weak it was, and I knew something was terribly wrong. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she made a bit of mewing, and opened her dusky eyes. She turned to me, and gasped.
"Usagi-chan! You should be at school!" I smiled a sad, watery smile.
"It's Saturday, Luna. I only have a date with Mamoru-chan later." She relaxed on the information, and I felt her go limp. My eyes grew mistier, and I held her closer to me. I felt . . . I knew I needed to know what was wrong. Somehow, Luna sensed it too.
"Why, Usagi-chan? Why do I have to hurt you with what I know?" "You can't hurt me any more than your pain does, Luna-chan. Please tell me what's wrong. Why you've been so listless these past months, why you can't see, why every day is a trial for you." She sighed in her little kitty voice, always and forever that of a 16 year-old girl. The lilt was still there, but it was muted as she told me what she knew.
"I'm old, Usagi-chan. Artemis is too. We may not look it, or sound it, but we're not young anymore. With you, it's different. You were always human-like. And you were reborn so. But us . . . we were, and are, feline. And cats don't live so long. You don't know, since I never felt the need to tell you, but I was born four or so years before I found you. On August 20, actually. Just like Artemis. And now, added to it six years or being your mentor, being thrown around, and all that, I'm not feeling so well. And I'm going to die fairly soon. I just didn't want you to know." I gasped in fear, and held her closer o me, feeling now the life ebbing away.
"It can't be true, Luna! It can't be the end! You're my teacher, my mentor . . . my friend. You need to be with me. I can't rule Crystal Tokyo without you!" Luna sighed again, and turned her head as well as she could to look my straight in the eye. In her own orbs or waning light, I saw the fear and pain, and longing for life that she would not have.
"You'll be fine, Usagi-chan. You have your senshi-tachi, and your love. You'll be the best ruler the world has ever seen since your mother. And I'll always be with you." "But I need you. More than anyone. You've been my best friend longer than anyone. How will I go on without you?" My own eyes filled with tears that blurred my vision, and I saw a world without my friend, a world dimmed by pain and sorrow.
"You'll just have to use the other senshi-tachi more. Artemis and I weren't that helpful, you know." Luna smirked best she could, and I laughed a watery, sad little laugh.
"Yeah, feline fighters never were the best." Luna smiled in relief to see me a bit more my old self, but still winced in pain now and then.
"Don't worry, Usagi-chan. I love you, and I'll never leave you. Not really." I hugged her close once more, my tears dampening her fur. But, somehow, I felt a peace invade my soul. I would lose two of my best friends, yes. But they'd never truly go away. Not really. And I whispered a reply.
"I know, Luna. I know. And I'll never leave you."

Luna died August 20, exactly eleven years from her birth. That day, I woke, much as I had before, to find her still asleep, I thought. But when I touched her, her fur was cold, and her eyes were closed in eternal slumber (mercifully, I didn't have to see my comrade stare into eternity with a look as blank as a new snow). I huddled her close to me, and cried. Wails and screams there were none from me. My pain was too deep for anguished cries. But the tears fell unceasingly as I rocked Luna as if she were a newborn kitten. Only when the phone rang did I choke back what I could of my pain and pull the receiver to me, still holding my friend.
"Usagi . . . Usagi-chan. Artemis died. Last night. Mina-chan called. Come home." Rei's voice cut through, as deep with emotion as my own. But in her sound, I knew she had known early. Her psychic skill was stronger than before, and I could just tell she had felt our advisors' souls slip away in the darkest hours of the night. And I was relieved, as agonized as I was, to know neither one would have to wait for their other half. Luna and Artemis had gone on together, to live in another world without us, but not alone.
"I know, Rei-chan. I know." A few more mutual sympathies were exchange before I hung up to do my duty by my beloved departed. I picked up Luna's still body, and placed it reverently on my table, before going to shower and dress. As I did so, I thanked the Gods she was curled up in her natural state of sleep when she passed. It made her seem . . . less gone, than if she had been stretched out, or grimacing in pain. And what pain she had had was absent from her face. It truly did look as if she was sleeping. But still, I wept as the water cleansed my body, but not my spirit. And when, sometime later, I searched my rooms for my best blanket (to be her shroud), I looked to the rising sun (early as it was) and, I swear by all that is holy, I saw my two companions bound away to a place I could not go. And still I wept.

The day is August 20, 2200 A.D. I am now queen of the solar system. My husband is my reincarnated love, Chiba Mamoru (now known as King Endymion). Our daughter ChibiUsa, the royal princess, is 200 plus years old, but has the physical and mental appearance of a four year old (she grows slowly). In her chambers is a stray cat we found in one of the older parts of Crystal Tokyo, my home city and where my palace is situated. With the kitty are five kittens, newborns as they are. ChibiUsa calls me to her through the intercom as I'm musing in my study.
"Momma, come see the pretty kitties Daddy found for me!" I oblige, simply because I'm not doing anything else, and I'm trying (in vain, I know) to keep ChibiUsa from turning to her dark self, Black Lady, in the future. As I enter, on runs up to my feet. Its fur is a dark red; its eyes match its fur. As I approach, I see another is blue; a third is forest green. And the last two are hidden behind their mutt of a mother, her rainbow fur obscuring them as they feed. But soon they finish, and come to join their siblings. They are the oldest, it seems, and begin to ask in a lordly manner as the organize play as best they can. But my eyes blur, and I see little but the past, as I am dimly aware of ChibiUsa speaking to me. "I can't keep then, since Daddy says I can't have a cat if I have my rabbit and my birdie, ‚cause it might eat them, so I wanna give this red one to Auntie-Rei. The blue one is for Auntie-Ami, and the green one is Auntie-Makoto. But I dunno who to give the two to, since Auntie-Minako says she never wants another cat since her old one died." I bend down, and pick up the snow white, male kitten. His eyes burn into mine, blue as mine. My ruby lips curl into a smile, and crystalline tears trail a path down my cheek.
"I don't know, honey. I think Auntie-Minako would take this little boy." ChibiUsa smile, and takes him to cuddle. Then she looks at the little black one, who just screams with maturity.
"But what about Blackie? She's got no home either." I pick her up, and cradle her close. She purrs on contact. My eyes clear as I beam more broadly than I have in years.
"We'll take her. We can keep in her my chambers, and you can see her whenever you want." ChibiUsa squeals and bends to pet her. As she does so, she asks a question.
"What'll we name them?"
"Well, I'm not sure about the other three, but the white guy should be Artemis."
"But that's a girl's name!"
"I don't think he'll mind. And this one," I hold her to my face, and ruby eyes widen in recognition and love "this one will be Luna."

Notes-
1. This story takes place a few years after Galaxia in the anime, in Japanese but has some manga qualities.
2. I actually got the idea for this story from a fanart I saw on It was a picture of Princess Serenity crying and kissing Luna on her birthmark, who was also crying. The description was in German, so I don't know what it was really conveying, but it got me thinking. Realistically, Luna and Artemis wouldn't live for very long without magical intervention, and Usagi doesn't have the kind of power at first, right? So they'd have to die. But if they were reincarnated into the future, Serenity could give them speech again, as well as extended lifespan. It's just an idea, though.
3. I tried to make this as Japanese as possible, but I may have made some errors. Please don't be too harsh.
4. I can't stress it enough, please give CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.
5. I'd like to thank all the story authors who inspired me to write this. There are too many to name, so if you have any work at , chances are I've read it and I mean you.
6. The other cats were invented solely for this fanfiction. I might do a fanfiction starring them, but I wouldn't count on it.