Sailor Moon is the property of Naoko Takeuchi. This fan fiction also contains references to song lyrics from The Phantom of the Opera, which is the property of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Please note that this fan fiction doesn't exactly follow the plotline of either Sailor Moon or The Phantom of the Opera. All changes are there for a reason. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Her Predictable Life


I'm here, with you, beside you,

To guard you and to guide you.


The masked man sat in the darkest corner of Tsukino Usagi's room and watched the blonde young girl sleep. Although his dark attire, a black tuxedo, top hat and cape were hard to decipher in the splendor of the night it was apparent that the man was transparent and therefore not of this world. The ghost watched and waited for any sign of danger, as he knew the young girl's deepest and most dangerous secrets. He had stood by her and guarded her for most of her life so he knew that she was the superhero Sailor Moon, the hero that fought for love and justice in the name of the moon. He also knew that this unfortunate job, her compliance to destiny, weighed heavily on her small shoulders. Many a night he had watched her sob herself to sleep following a difficult battle against evil. He wanted to ease her pain as much as possible; however, he convinced himself to remain unseen. The thought of becoming too close to her tore at his heart. In his mind his love could never be reciprocated. How could a ghost ever "be" with a mortal girl anyway? He'd had his chance with her long ago. It was safer for them both if he loved from a distance.

The spirit pushed aside the depressing thought and moved from the shadows to the side of Usagi's bed. Beautiful, was his initial thought as he gazed down at the 14 year old blonde bathed in the streaming moonlight. He smiled at how she pouted innocently in her sleep.

"Serenity," he murmured as he tucked a platinum blonde tendril of hair behind her ear.

"Endymion?" she mumbled, turning in her sleep towards him. "Is that you?"

The masked man froze at the words. Never in all the years that he had been with her had she ever uttered his name or even talked to him. He, on the other hand, had talked to her every night while she slept. His words had always warmed and calmed her and he had watched as she'd smiled at his stories of times long ago. Those signs had been the only indication that she could hear him, until now.

"Yes, my love," the spirit that was Endymion finally whispered, still stunned. "It's me, I'm here."

"Yes. You're always with me, aren't you."

It was a statement and not a question, which frightened Endymion as memories came flooding back - memories of death and heartache. No Serenity, I wasn't with you when I should have. I let you die. I should have been there with you THEN, the ghost's mind cried as he shed a single, silent tear. Don't worry, that won't ever happen again. I WON'T let it happen again. I'll always be here to protect you.

The spirit bent over the young girl and sealed his promise with a tender kiss on her forehead.


!

Usagi awoke with a start and then realized that her dreaded alarm had just disturbed her favourite dream, of masquerades and handsome men in tuxedos.

"OH NOOOOOOOOO! I don't wanna get up!"

The petite blonde unceremoniously pulled the covers up and over her head and attempted to fall back into her dream. It seemed to work as a muffled snoring sound could be heard from under the blankets. Meanwhile her black cat, which had been thrown off the bed, was slowly shaking its head trying to wake itself up.

!

"Oh my God! I'm gonna be late!"

The duvet flew across the room and Usagi was up, hair done and dressed in her school uniform in the blink of an eye. The uniform consisted of a blue pleated skirt, a white sailor blouse and a large red bow at the bust. Black shoes and a broach attached to the bow completed the outfit. Of course, she'd had much practice at getting ready quickly. Usagi was always late for school. As the young girl was about to run out of the room she noticed a lump struggling to free itself from under the pink duvet.

"Ooops, sorry Luna," Usagi apologized as she removed the duvet revealing a very disheveled and angry looking feline. Expecting to receive a good scratching for her trouble she closed her eyes and cringed, waiting. Nothing came. She hesitantly opened her eyes to discover Luna looking behind her with a shocked expression.

As absurd as it sounds to think of a cat with a shocked expression, Luna was special and not just an ordinary cat. The ability to talk being among many of her human-like traits. It had been Luna who had told Usagi about her fate to become Sailor Moon, about her quest to fight the evil entities from the Negaverse and to search for the Moon Princess, whom it was told, carried the mystical crystal of the Moon that could save them all.

Usagi followed the gaze of the awestruck cat to see a stunning red rose, with a black ribbon tied around it, lying on her pillow.

"Another one," Usagi stated, puzzled. She had no idea who gave her the roses that she found in her room. She'd received many of them over the years, each blossom surviving for weeks on end without any sign of deterioration. She'd asked her mother about it once but her mother had just felt her forehead and advised that she lie down. It became apparent to Usagi that only she and Luna could see the mystical flowers. The mysterious roses usually appeared on special occasions like her birthday, however today wasn't one of those days. "I wonder why…"

"USAGI!" her mother called from downstairs. "You're going to be late for school!"

"Damn," after scrambling around her room for her school bag, Usagi finally ran from the room, forgetting all about the rose.

"Thanks for making my lunch, Mum!" she cried as she made her way out the front door and only managing to trip over three times (Usagi being slightly clumsy), embarked on her usual mad dash to school.


I might just make it, Usagi thought as she came upon the street her school was on. As she hurried around the corner, without a care as to who might be walking there, she slammed into a brick wall and dropped like a sack of potatoes to the ground.

"Ooof," she moaned as she sat up and held her head in her hands. "Pain…"

"Geez, Odango Atama. You could at least watch where you're going if you're going to run around corners like a lunatic. I thought girls your age had more common sense than that. It must be those Odangos on your head," the comment followed by mock laughter.

The insult concerning her favourite hairstyle, two buns with ponytails streaming from them, always riled Usagi up. She glanced up at her "brick wall" with a disgusted look on her face leaving the tall, dark and handsome man with no doubt of her hatred toward him. The young man always managed to push Usagi's buttons, a fact that the fiery blonde resented. Of course, she'd always known that he was absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous with raven hair, long eye lashes and dark almost black eyes but she had encountered him enough times to know that his beauty was only skin deep.

"I'm sorry Mamoru, was that meant to be funny? Tell me when I'm meant to LAUGH," Usagi retaliated, rising to the bait. "And how many times have I told you NOT to call me Odango Atama? My name is Usagi! OO-SA-GHEE! Got that! Why do you always resort to name-calling in an argument? I thought boys YOUR age had more common sense than THAT."

So true. She's got you there pal.

"Hey, I'm not the one that does their hair in that ridiculous hair style. Only a nut would style their hair to match their name, little wabbit of the moony woony," the young man taunted in a baby's voice. His jeer at the English translation of her name achieved its desired effect.

Oh no, he DIDN'T just say that! Someone's in trouble…

"At least I'm not a Harry Potter wannabe! How much gel do you use to achieve your messy look, Mamoru? The expense must take a huge chunk out of your parents' annual salary." Happy with her comeback and with her nose stuck in the air, Usagi didn't notice Mamoru's demeanor change from one of playful taunts to that of anger.

"You're so immature Usagi," Mamoru sneered as he arrogantly walked off in the opposite direction, leaving the small blonde to fume quietly by herself.

"ME! I'm the immature one? Grrrrrrr!" Usagi ground out through clenched teeth. "You're… you… YOU egotistical, arrogant baka!"

The insults seemed to fall on deaf ears. Little did she know that Mamoru walked away with a pained expression on his face. Her comments about his parents having touched a nerve deep in his soul, or what seemed to be left of it. The truth was he couldn't even remember his parents. Mamoru had grown up in an orphanage after he and his parents were involved in a car accident, fatally killing the latter. Ever since the accident he had pushed everyone away, not bearing the thought of losing someone else close to him. He'd had to endure the loss of all his memories as well, a feeling that he never wanted to experience again. However, strange as it was, this didn't stop him from wanting to get closer to the beautiful girl he'd left muttering to herself at the corner of the street. Every time he saw the blonde beauty he felt compelled to provoke some reaction from her, good or bad. It had become almost a daily ritual as they seemed fated to 'collide' each day. It was becoming so predictable that he almost looked forward to it, not that he'd admit to like talking to Usagi.

!

The sound that Usagi hated most resounded through the air. It was the Juuban Middle School bell and Usagi was once again late, making her all the angrier at a certain dark haired baka.


"Detention again, Usagi?" asked Usagi's blonde friend Minako as Usagi sat with her four friends and fellow senshi at the arcade. It was the favourite after school haunt for the five girls.

It wasn't her fault. It was the Mamoru-bakas.

"Yeah, Odango Atama. I thought we all agreed to have our meeting at three thirty, not quarter past four?" Rei added. The raven-haired beauty had started to use the horrible nickname ever since she developed a crush on… you guessed it… Chiba Mamoru. The furious Usagi was just about to retaliate and even had her mouth open ready to belt out a retort when...

"Cut it out Rei," Ami warned. "We are here to talk about defeating you-know-what and how to find you-know-who, not to fight, ok?" You could always rely on Ami to get down to the real issue. Ami was extremely smart and always had her nose in a book. She was the confirmed brain of the group and the unofficial leader as she seemed to be the only one capable of organizing the rest of the senshi.

"Thanks Ami," Usagi mumbled half-heartedly, glad that an argument had been stopped but disappointed that they'd have to talk about Sailor issues. She could think of much better things to talk about, like the latest Sailor V video game.

"Well, REALLY Ami," contradicted Makoto, the tall witty brunette of the group. "Like I was saying before, there's nothing we CAN do about either of those. I mean, we still don't know what we're up against so all we can do is take one fight at a time. I mean, we've made it through okay so far, haven't we?"

"I agree," Minako added. "We're pretty much famous to the public now so when the princess wishes to reveal herself I guess she can come to US. I say we should just go with the flow for awhile."

"But -," Ami started.

"Does that mean I can go get ice-cream now!" Usagi interrupted, happy that the boring stuff was out of the way so quickly. Although she was meant to be the leader of the Sailor Senshi, she hated to be reminded of her double life. She didn't dare tell any of the other senshi that she secretly wished she was just an ordinary girl. As a result, she often used any excuse to change the subject, even if that meant pretending to be an ice-cream addict. Not that that was hard for her to do.

"Fine," Ami sighed, the blue haired girl clearly annoyed that the meeting hadn't gone completely as planned but too polite to say anything. "But don't forget that we have training tomorrow afternoon at Rei's temple. It's important we all be there, ok?"

After everyone mumbled their agreement, Makoto and Minako, aka Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus said their goodbyes, slid out of the booth and headed home, while Ami (Sailor Mercury) opened up one of her books to start studying and Rei (Sailor Mars) heading over to play Spyro the dragon on one of the game machines. All, it seemed, were quite happy to put off thoughts of the enemy, the Negaverse, for a little while longer and enjoy just being teenagers. Deep down even Ami was slightly relieved, for she was only one chapter ahead in geography instead of her usual two. The interruption gave her the perfect opportunity to 'catch up'.

Meanwhile, Usagi had already rushed to the counter to order her favourite sundae with her favourite arcade manager, Motoki. She'd had a crush on the 19 year old for a year now, which was another reason for her ice-cream 'addiction'. Usagi just adored his messy sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. He wasn't just cute and laid back but always kind to her, which is what set him apart from other guys that she knew, especially Mamoru. As a matter of fact, in Usagi's eyes, Motoki's only bad point was that he was best friends with Mamoru. She couldn't see how the two could have anything in common. Mamoru was so dark whereas Motoki was so light-hearted.

She was in deep conversation about favourite ice-cream flavours with her dream man when she heard a voice interrupt her. Not that she was at all surprised to find HIM here.

"Usagi."

"Yes, Satan?" Usagi replied, without turning around, knowing full well who it was standing behind her.

Motoki had to put a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud. He couldn't help but crack up when the passionate blonde girl and his derisive best friend were together. They were chalk and cheese and fire works flew every time. It was the best entertainment he ever saw in the arcade to say the least.

"Perhaps when you've finished drooling over my best friend, you could get out of my usual seat?" Mamoru quipped.

Usagi's face turned as red as a tomato. She wanted to just dissolve into the floor. Though she liked Motoki, she was way too shy to ever let him know the fact. Usagi took a quick glance at Motoki who was still trying hard not to laugh. Is he laughing at me? Usagi asked herself as tears started to well up in her eyes, humiliation overwhelming her.

Don't cry my love.

Motoki, one to avoid thorny situations and sensing an awkward moment, took a sudden interest in… cleaning… over at the other side of arcade… and with a quick "be back soon guys" he was gone, leaving Usagi and Mamoru alone together; a big mistake.

"You can't seriously think that Motoki would be interested in a little crybaby like you. You have no chance Odango. Did you even know that he has a girlfriend?" Mamoru continued, not noticing the evidence of Usagi's pain at his words roll down her cheeks.

You're going to pay for that one!

"A girlfriend?" she choked out. The humiliation that engulfed her tripled as realization hit. She had been practically throwing herself at Motoki for months. The only man that had shown any interest, or friendship towards her and he was taken. She felt like a foolish little school girl. Perhaps Mamoru was right, perhaps she was immature…

Wait. Could it be that she had been too busy with her Sailor Moon duties to notice that Motoki had a girlfriend? The thought made her resent her predestined plight even more, her desire to be a normal girl growing stronger. No, it's not because of Sailor Moon, Usagi realized with a sigh, it's only because of ME. He doesn't want ME. No one does… not even Mamoru. No, wait, what? Mamoru? Why would I even think of him? What is wrong with me?

"I guess he WOULDN'T want to be with a dumb, immature, idiotic crybaby like me…" the tears forming small streams down Usagi's soft, rosy cheeks. She turned her sad watery silver-blue eyes towards the brilliant deep hue of Mamoru's.

"Oh, come on Usagi, just because you got a 30 on your last exam doesn't mean you're idiotic-" Mamoru's lecture stopped abruptly as he saw the look of devastation on Usagi's face. His smirk died and his smugness evolved into a hollow feeling that engulfed his stomach. He just stared at her, stunned. Had he gone too far?

"You… you can be so cruel, Mamoru," Usagi whispered, just loud enough for Mamoru to hear. She quickly got up from 'his' seat and ran from the arcade, not even finishing her sundae or bothering to return Motoki's wave on her way out.

She didn't stop running until she arrived home to the safety of her room where she could hide from the world. She hated herself for being so immature and stupid and she loathed how she let Mamoru get to her so easily. But most of all, above everything, she despised the fact that she was Sailor Moon.

It was through blurry, tear-filled eyes that she looked to her bed and was reminded of the mysterious rose that she had received that morning. Its beautiful red petals drew her gaze and compelled her to pick it up and sample its scent.

"At least someone out there is thinking of me," Usagi whispered quietly to her self, smiling it seemed for the first time that day. The flower's fragrance somehow made her feel better as she let it caress her senses, smelling it over and over again. "Who are you? Are you an angel?" she asked the seemingly empty room.


You're safe:

No one will find you,

Your fears are far behind you.


The masked man watched the young girl slowly fall asleep clutching the rose that he had given her. He sang softly into her ear and even though he thought that she couldn't really hear him, his voice seemed to ease her troubled mind, lulling her into a peaceful sleep. It made him happy to think that his silver angel knew that someone cared for her during this time of sadness, the guardian taking her humiliation personally.

As he'd watched the scene between Usagi and Mamoru unfold from his position on the arcade bench top, he had wanted to pound Mamoru to a pulp. Did that boy have no soul? Couldn't he see the pain that he put Usagi in? Like any ghost, Endymion had the ability to move and touch objects just like any mortal, however, when he attempted to hold his hand over Mamoru's mouth and stop him from further humiliating his princess, his angel, an unusual thing always happened. Endymion's hand would fall straight through the man! It was a problem the spirit had never encountered before, even when concentrating as hard as he could. This puzzled Endymion and made him suspicious of the young man Usagi called Mamoru. He pondered the idea that all wasn't as it seemed with the young man.

Usagi's breathing evened, a sign that disrupted the masked man's thoughts, telling him that he could touch her without fear of waking the sleeping girl. He lovingly stroked her long silvery tresses. It seems to go on forever, he mused as he moved his other hand to entwine with hers, a feeling of longing stabbing at his soul.

"How I wish that I could let you see me. That you could look into my eyes as I do yours every day," the masked man thought out loud. He was surprised and exhilarated to feel Usagi's small hand softly squeeze his own translucent one. He was further shocked to hear her speak, again, for the second time in two days.

"Why don't you let me see you Endymion?" Usagi breathed.

The question tore at the ghost's heart, waging a war of thoughts between what he wanted and what he thought was the right thing to do. "I couldn't Serenity. Besides, Usagi wouldn't recognize me, would she?" the ghost whispered, nervous excitement flooded his transparent body in the hope of another reply. Could he just throw all caution to the wind? No, he couldn't do that to her, to both of them, but…

"Usagi would work it out in time. She is a smart girl," the young girl mumbled in her sleep. She smiled causing the ghost's heart to soar.

An idea formed in his mind. "Of course…" he murmured to no one in particular, wondering why he hadn't thought of it earlier. He placed a soft kiss on her sensual yet innocent pout and produced another stunning red rose, with a black bow, from within his cape and left it next to her on the pillow.

"Thank you Serenity…"


Please Read & Review

Any ideas on how I could spice up my writing would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Black Ribbon Rose