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Antecedent
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Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is most certainly not mine!

Usagi stared up at the sakura trees in wonder. This was her favorite time of the year. There was just something about the trees, filling the air with their sweet perfume, and their slightly pink petals made her smile as they rained down . She loved the parties her friends would throw, underneath the trees, staring up at the sky through the branches. They used to daydream about meeting the perfect boy, having the perfect marriage, taking their perfect children to play under the branches heavy with flowers.

Now she knew those dreams were those of a child. She had the perfect boyfriend, and one day would rule the perfect world, but she certainly wouldn't have the perfect child- if anything her daughter was a brat! But a loving one... That was the key. No matter what, Chibi-Usa had a pure heart, even when she was at her most outrageous.

Still.. she stared up at the sakura trees as the petals fell around her like pink snow. Usually she loved it, but today the wind was heavy, and the petals rained down upon her more thickly than usual. Another week, and the sakura blossoms would be past for the year.

The thought made her sad.

The other senshi knew that she got like this towards the end of the blossoming season, and all had tried to offer her advice. Ami had been the most practical. "They'll be back next year," she promised.

"Yes, but I'll miss them until then.... And the sakura never look the same year to year."

Minako had tried to tell her about the other beautiful flowers. "In summer, we can see the roses, and fall... well, they'll be the autumn stuff!" Minako had said, obviously not well aware of the season's passage.

"Yes, but the sakura trees are my favorite."

Makoto had tried to cheer her with talk of the new school year, for the coming and going of sakura blossoms marked the new year. "Just think, we're in our last year of high school!"

"And that thoughts suppose to cheer me up? Next year everyone goes their own way, and I'll NEVER see anyone again!!!"

Rei was the one who truly depressed her though, going into a long spiel the nuns at her school had taught her, about their being a season for everything. "There is a season of life, and a season of death, a season of..."

"Rei-chan... why can't every season be spring? When I'm Queen, that's the first thing I'm gonna do."

Mamoru, though, noticed his girlfriend's preoccupation with the trees as he came around a corner, holding out a very large lemonade he'd just bought for her. "Usako? Are you okay?"

She turned and smiled at him, the melancholy look seeming out of place on her face. "I was just mourning the sakura blossoms," she said quietly.

"You love them that much?"

"Something about them just makes me think of spring..." she said softly. A sudden gust of wind picked up her hair and whipped it around her face.
He smiled at her, amazed, as always, that this fey creature loved him. Without speaking he drew her into his arms and kissed her forehead, and studied her eyes. "You really like to eat, don't you Usako?" he asked suddenly.

She blinked, unable to follow where he was going with his train of thought. He gave her an impish smile before pointing at the trees again. "Do you know why the sakura blossoms are so beautiful?" he whispered into her ear.

Usagi shook her head. "Why?"

"Because... they're the heralds of something even more beautiful...."

She blinked at him, slightly wary as she remembered Makoto's speech. "You'd better not say school...."

Mamoru laughed and hugged her. "The reason sakura blossoms have to die is because they need to be replaced by something even better..." His wink was playful and loving. "Cherries."


END

It's what we call a fifteen-minute fic. And so WAFFy I feel kinda SICK.... but after Aishuu wrote "Corpse Tea," I needed to look at Sakura Trees in a better light....