Burning Serenity: The Wayward Goddess
By Iset Black

Chapter 1: Cannibal

Usagi smoothed her skirt, her hands shaking with excitement was she looked out upon the vast terminal. Her blue eyes scanned the horizon, observing the throngs of people that gathered around ticketing booths and screens that displayed departure and arrival times. She bit her lip to contain her smile as she saw him. A distant figure approached her from the vast expanse of people, dodging suitcases and limbs as he went.

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she brought her hands to her mouth to stifle her squeals of excitement. With every one of his footsteps, her heart seemed to stop in her chest and her breathing seemed to cease. Unable to control her sheer joy at his return, Usagi leapt from the railing she had been leaning against and sprinted towards him. A wide smile spread across his lips as he dropped his bags and dove into her embrace. A wave of freesia and coconut engulfed him as he buried his face into her hair and held her close. He was back.

They stood like this for what seemed like an eternity, time stopping all together as the mass of people moved around them. Usagi clung to him for fear that he was a phantom, soon to disappear from her again. She buried her face into his shirt, the familiar clean scent of soap and earth filling her nostrils. She wanted nothing more than to hold him. Nothing else mattered. Nothing.

After what seemed like an eternity, she moved away from him. Usagi drew her gaze up to his, her face streaked with tears.

"Usa-ko." His voice was husky rasp as he spoke. He dipped his head down so that his lips could meet hers in a sweet embrace.

As his lips met hers, more tears began to stream down her slightly ashen cheeks.

"Mamoru..." She whispered as their kiss broke and she laced her fingers with his.

Standing silent, he brought their entwined hands to his lips and placed a kiss on her bony knuckles. Mamoru's eyes were drawn instantly to the ring that glinted on her left hand. The pink sapphire stone shined brightly under the harsh airport lighting, it's fire glittering intensely as Usagi moved her hand away. His violet gaze bore into her with an intensity she hand't ever witnessed. A shiver ran through her body as she took a step back from him, a giggle escaping her lips as she cast her eyes downward. Her cheeks flushed a deep rosy pink as she regarded him.

"You're home..." Was all she could muster as she drew her eyes up to meet his.

Mamoru stood silent and placed a gentle kiss upon her forehead. "For now, Usa-ko."

Deep in his pocket his phone buzzed almost non-stop. A coldness ran through Mamoru as he moved his hand to still the vibrating device. Unbeknownst to Usagi, the phone continued to hum in his pants pocket until he moved it to rest in his shoulder bag.

A gentle smile spread across Mamoru's lips as he drapped one arm over Usagi's shoulders and guided her towards the exit. "Are you hungry? How about dinner?" His smile betrayed nothing as he spoke, his voice gentle.

Usagi let out an excited breath at Mamoru's suggestion. Of course, she wanted to go to dinner. She hand't seen him in over nine months. After their battle with Galaxia and Chaos has come to a close, Mamoru had convinced Usagi traveling to the United States to study was important. And it had been. Mamoru has spent the better part of his younger years buried in books and study materials. He had graduated from one of Tokyo's most prestigious preparatory schools, Kaisei Academy. With his graduation came numerous offers of admission to some of Japan's most honored universities, along with invitations to study overseas as various universities in Europe and the United States. Of all the offers he had received, the only one that had even piqued his interest had been Harvard College.

As tearfully painful as it has been to watch him leave a second time, Usagi agreed with him. It was not only important for him, but also highly advantageous for their future together that he complete his studies abroad. Credentials from a highly respected institution such as Harvard would mean that Mamoru could get a high paying job and they could start their family sooner than later.

Usagi wrapped her arms around his chest, a bright smile spreading across her lips. "Only if we can go to Ise Sueyoshi." Her voice cracked slightly as she looked up at him. A feeling of dread pooled in the pit of her stomach as she watched him smile.

"Anything you want." His answer was short as he looked away from her, the phone hummed silently yet again. Mamoru looked straight ahead, ignoring the thrumming in his leather bag. He reached for his bag and took out his wallet, producing a crisp ten-thousand yen note.

With a smile, he handed the banknote to Usagi. "You look parched. Want something to get us something to drink?"

Usagi's eyes widened as she looked at the bill, her hand slowly reaching for it, unsure if it was real or not. Since when did Mamoru carry so much money? Usagi pushed the question out of her mind and gave a small smile as she grasped the note. "Ok. I will be right back." She nodded as she walked away from him, slight confusion overtaking her features.

Mamoru watched as Usagi retreated to a nearby food stall, a sigh of relief rushing out of him as he reached for his cell phone. He unlocked the mobile device to display twelve unread text messages and five missed calls.

Nora (12)
Unread Message: I'm here in Tokyo. Please call me. I miss you. I need you. Mamoru... please call me.

Mamoru looked at the text message and reread it three times, and then a fourth. A surge of desire welled from him as he poised his thumbs over screen to type a reply, only stopping as Usagi approached him with two coffees in tow. He darkened the phone and slipped it into his bag, his partial reply unsent.

Usagi said nothing and offered him one of the coffees, a thin smile on her lips as she took a sip of the piping hot beverage. She blew softly as the dark liquid and stood silent, a questioning look on her face.

"How about we eat in tonight? It's been a long day... and I just need to be with you."

Juuban Towers, 12B
4:10 PM

"Maybe we were never meant to be together! Maybe this is the Heavens telling us so!" Her voice cracked as she took another look at the vase of roses that sat forgotten on his coffee table. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks for what seemed the hundredth time that month. This was happening all too often; the crying, the arguments, the scornful looks and lack of trust.

Mamoru couldn't look at her, wouldn't look at her. Cell phone gripped firmly in his hand, he squeezed the mobile device until it left deep imprints in his palm, its plastic shell beginning to crack under the pressure. "It meant nothing! She meant nothing!"

Serena let out a shriek at his words, swung her fists at the vase, knocking it from the glass coffee table and into the wood flooring below. The vase, a Ming Dynasty replication, smashed into hundreds of tiny ceramic bits. Her breaths came hot and heavy as she continued to cry, whatever makeup she had worn that day pooling beneath her eyes, giving her a fierce look.

"I feel like I've been chained to you since the day I was born; the shackles of destiny tightly bind me to you! If I try to escape, the chains tear at my skin until I bleed, and then I bleed until nothing of me is left…" Her voice came in short sobs as she spoke to him, her fists balled at her sides. Still she continued to cry, her voice coming in choked rasps: "…nothing left at all. I've died for you more times than I'm willing to count, given you all that I am, my virtue, my heart, my soul. But still it means nothing…."

Mamoru, still unable to even take one look at her, shamefully bowed his head and unclenched the mobile phone. "So, what if I did sleep with her? You… had Seiya." His tone was somber, mortification flooding him once he finally processed what he had just said. Unable to speak, Mamoru simply stared at the text message that had been the catalyst to this whole argument. How a few simple words could change everything was amazing.

Usagi bit her lip as her body began to tremble, her heartbroken cries the only thing filling the silent void between them. "I never slept with him, never even kissed him." As much of a struggle it was to say those words, she felt like the weight of a thousand Moons had been lifted from her heart, like she was free.

Mamoru's eyes shot up from the phone and to her face, his violet-hued optics suddenly terror-stricken. Was it true? Had Usagi truly been faithful, even in all of her loneliness? "You – never?" Was all he could muster as he placed the cell phone onto the table next to him, took a few steps towards her. He took her face in his hands and stared into her shockingly blue eyes, as if to gage the honesty of her words.

At the age of twenty one, Usagi was well practiced in the ways of being able to read people, having had to find ways to hide her feelings from her fellow Senshi and guardians. And at this one moment in time, right there in Mamoru's small, slightly dingy apartment, Serena felt like she was a lying whore and he was the betrayed, faithful boyfriend. At no point in time before then as she ever felt as much rage as she did at the one moment in time, the moment she saw her beloved's true colors.

"Get your hands off me!" Her voice came in another shriek as she pushed him away, horrified at the thought of his hands upon her in any way. He'd been with another woman, had touched another woman, had wrapped his arms around another woman, had held another woman close to himself as they made love, had given himself to another woman.

Disgusting. Sickening. Filthy. Nauseating…! Serena's mind screamed as she took one last look at him, her golden brows drawn in anger and revulsion. "How dare you touch me!"

TBC