Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. Angel Raye owns all the OCs in the fanfiction.

Don't Look Back in Anger
By Silver Sailor Ganymede

It was a fine spring day as she stood there, outside, in the playground waiting for the final bell to ring. Indeed to this girl the final bell truly would be the final bell for her to ever hear in that place. The girl's name was Chino Miyaki and she was graduating from the sixth grade so she could start Junior High when April came.

Miyaki couldn't have been gladder that she was finally graduating from elementary school; it was the fresh start that she had been praying for, ever since the start of fourth grade. But it was her own fault, she told herself, sighing; she should never have picked on that girl in the first place, should she? But then again, how could a five-year-old from a disadvantaged background such as hers not have become insanely envious of someone like Hino Annika, someone who had everything: or at least everything that Miyaki herself didn't.

To be honest the reason she had done what she did, as they grew older was not so much envy as anger; that girl had everything and yet she would cry at nothing – it was the same reason that she taunted Mizuno Ariel as well. Annika had a caring family, lots of friends and just about every material thing a child could ever want. Miyaki, on the other hand, had a broken 'family'; a hopeless 'mother', a brother who had run away from home and ended up in prison for leading a life of crime, and a father who run off and never been seen since. As for friends and material possessions, though she badly needed them she had few; but of course, as she reminded herself, it was her own fault that no one liked her anymore.

"What are you doing, skulking around her like this?" a familiar voice asked. Miyaki spun around and saw Nozomi, her one-time friend, standing next to her. Miyaki didn't reply; she didn't know how to any more. Once she had tormented others for not having words to say what they felt, now she had none herself: such bitter irony.

"Cat got your tongue?" Nozomi said, half-tauntingly, just as Miyaki had done to her many times.

"What are you over her for anyway?" Miyaki said, her voice bitter-toned and little above a whisper; it had become that way since partway through fifth grade.

"To wish you luck," Nozomi replied. "You're going to need it, badly. You're going to Rintama Junior High, no?"

Miyaki nodded, sighing, thinking of the rough, downtown school her mother had forced her into; it was the only one they could afford the fees for that was in the local area.

"To be honest, with your exam scores I'm surprised that's the only place you got into: they're probably the highest ones for our year in that place," Nozomi said. "You'll need to be careful there; they'll eat you alive if you're not careful; just like you did to Hino Annika. You really need to apologise to that girl; do you know how badly your antics scarred her? I told her I was sorry in fourth grade, and I meant it."

Miyaki looked down at the floor, stung by the truth in Nozomi's remarks.

"Just watch your back when you get to Rintama; I won't always be there to watch it for you. And just remember, don't let there be any unmended mistakes made that haven't been fixed; you will only look back on them in anger and sadness."

With that Miyaki turned around to face Nozomi, wondering: did that mean that she was going there as well? Did that mean the she had forgiven her? But Nozomi was gone, and Miyaki knew that there was one thing she had to do.

She walked out from where she had been half-hiding and spotted Annika and the others. She walked over to them, mentally preparing herself for what she had to do.

"Oh, look what the cat dragged in," Ten'oh Faith's taunting voice came, but was quickly silenced as Kai'oh Hope elbowed her in the side.

"What are you doing here?" Aino Gloria asked, glaring at Miyaki with a look of pure hatred.

Miyaki just ignored them and turned to face Annika and Ariel.

"Hino-san, Mizuno-san… I… I'm… I'm," she swallowed and finally said it, "I'm sorry."

Annika looked astounded, as did Ariel, but it was Gloria who spoke.

"It's a bit late for that now," she spat. "Think of all the pain you caused them! If you're sorry for what you did, why did you do it in the first place?"

Miyaki shook her head; that girl would never understand. With that she began to walk away, but was surprised when she felt a hand upon her shoulder and turned around to see Annika behind her.

"I'm sorry for what Gloria said just now; she's been in a weird mood all day, Faith too."

Miyaki shook her head; "what your friend just said is true."

Annika sighed and smiled slightly at her one time tormentor. "Apology accepted; it took a lot of guts to finally admit what you just did."

With that the bell rang to signal the final bell. Annika smiled, "Good luck, Chino-san. Sayonara!" With that she ran off to join her friends again.

"Sayonara, Hino-san," Miyaki whispered, knowing that Annika couldn't hear her. She turned to look at the groups of children laughing and smiling, the turned on her heel and walked away.

As she left, Nozomi's words echoed through her mind again: don't look back in anger. And Miyaki didn't; in fact, she didn't look back at all.