Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners unless you don't recognize it, then it's mine.

Authors' Note: Characters will be out of character as this is an AU. Get over it. Usagi and her friends were never Senshi. Hiiro and his friends were never Gundam Pilots.

Serendipity

*****

She pushed the blade of the borrowed pocket knife back in and handed it to her companion. He looked down at the table.

"'Usagi and Hiiro – together forever?'" he read. "Why a question mark at the end?"

"Because you never know what could happen in your life. We could be walking home tonight, and one of us could get hit by a car! Then how would we ever get married to someone?"

"I'm never going to get married!"

She rolled her pretty blue eyes and laughed. "You're twenty years old – a lot can change."

"Like what?" he retorted as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Like the fact that when you meet the person you want to be with for the rest of your life, you'll want to get married!" she replied. At his snort, she smacked his arm. "I'm serious, you ass."

"Yeah, yeah. I just don't see how you can still believe in childhood fantasies of Fate and Destiny. That stuff's not really out there. Come back to reality, Usagi!"

"I am very much in reality, thank you!" Usagi said crossly. "I just find the notion of those childhood fantasies, as you so kindly put it, a bit . . . what's the word I'm looking for?"

"Stupid?"

"Romantic!" she replied as she threw the crust from her sandwich at him. He caught the crust after it hit his face and threw it right back. "Honestly, you'd think you didn't have a romantic bone in your body, Yui Hiiro!"

Mockingly, Hiiro looked himself over. "Nope. Don't see a bone named 'Romantic' anywhere."

They never did act their age when they were together. No wonder everyone thought they were still seventeen years old.

She huffed in frustration before squirting the remaining water from her water bottle in his face. Before he could get his bottle, she ran off. "It's in there some – ah! Hiiro!" she screamed as she got a face full of cold water.

"You asked for it!" Hiiro replied as he chased his friend down.

Usagi dropped her empty bottle and grabbed a tree branch before pulling herself up into the tree. When Hiiro was under her, she jumped onto his back, causing them both to fall over. "And I thought you always knew where I was hiding. Tsk, tsk, tsk, Hiiro. You're losing your touch."

"Get off me, Usagi," the muffled voice of Hiiro said.

"What was that?" she asked innocently.

He pulled his arms out from under her and pushed her over, pinning her. "I win."

Usagi faked a pout as he let her up. "You always win."

"You're a girl."

"That's got nothing to do with it, Yui, and you know it!" Usagi's fiery temper once again got the best of her.

"Chill, Kaki," he replied, using her nickname: Fire.

"Fine," she said after a while. "Anyway, back to what we were talking about. How about this . . . if you aren't married by the time you're twenty-five, look me up."

"Why?" he asked, perplexed.

"If I'm not married by then, I'll marry you."

Hiiro snorted, "Usagi, that's insane."

Usagi shrugged. "Fine, pass up a good deal. But you know who to call when you're lonely and twenty-five!" she said as she walked away waving. When she turned around, she didn't look back; he didn't follow.

~~

"Geoffrey?" her Japanese accent mixed into her British one resonated off the walls of her quiet apartment. She dropped her keys onto the table by the door and walked down the hallway to the living room. While unwrapping her scarf, she saw the box sitting on her dining table. "Geoff?" she tried again as she set her black, knee-length peacoat onto the table beside her scarf.

"What are you waiting for? Open the box," her Japanese accent overrunning her English one as read the note atop the box. She grinned as she took the lid off the large box, only to find another box inside. And another, and another, and another until she came to the last one . . . A small two-inch by two-inch box. Slowly, she lifted the top off the box and gasped. She put the box down as she lifted the velvet one out of it; she lifted the lid to reveal a small silver-banded ring with her birthstone, an emerald, in it. Putting one slim-fingered hand to her mouth, she looked at it.

"What do you say?" Geoff's familiar voice asked from the kitchen doorway.

"Yes . . ." she said in a whisper. Then took her hand away from her mouth to put the ring on, but it didn't quiet fit.

Geoff panicked. "Now, don't read too much into that –"

She interrupted him. "Don't worry, we'll get it sized."

He let out an involuntary sigh before walking up to her. She looked up into his brown eyes before kissing him. She knew he was afraid that she would have said that it wasn't meant to be because the ring wasn't the right size. He had good reason to, for she was a firm believer in Fate and Destiny.

~~

"I didn't think you had it in you, Hiiro," his friend said from the head of the table.

"Had what, Duo?" Hiiro asked his brown haired American friend with a grin.

"Had it in you to get married!" Duo replied. "No offense, buddy, but you're not the most romantic man in the world."

"Honestly, you'd think you didn't have a romantic bone in your body, Yui Hiiro!" his memory brought up the words from deep in his mind. Hiiro blinked, "well, I apparently do, Duo! Otherwise, I wouldn't be getting married."

Duo grinned, his wineglass still raised. "As I was saying, my buddy Hiiro is getting married. Definitely a cause for celebration. When I met him a few years back, all he could talk about was Suki. And now, they are going to be married."

"He's repeating himself," Suki said quietly into Hiiros ear.

"He usually does," Hiiro replied with a smile at his friends redundancy. After a few more times of hearing that he was getting married, Hiiro cleared his throat and stood up. "As Duo said – many, many times – I am getting married. To the most beautiful, wonderful girl that I could have ever hoped to meet." A few of his quests 'aww'd' and the remaining clapped.

Later that evening, Duo and Hiiro were walking in the park; the chill of the winter night air caused their breath to form in clouds before them. They found themselves sitting atop a picnic table.

"What's married life like, Duo?" Hiiro asked after some silence.

"At twenty-five?" Duo asked before continuing, "amazing."

"Really?"

"You're nervous, aren't you?"

Hiiro place a hand on the table and turned to his friend. "Shitless."

Duo chuckled. "It's natural."

Hiiro felt something under his hand. He lifted it to see what was there. Usagi and Hiiro – together forever? Memories took over his mind once again.

She pushed the blade of the borrowed pocket knife back in and handed it to her companion. He looked down at the table.

"'Usagi and Hiiro – together forever?'" he read. "Why a question mark at the end?"

"Because you never know what could happen in your life. We could be walking home tonight, and one of us could get hit by a car! Then how would we ever get married to someone?"

"I'm never going to get married!"

She rolled her pretty blue eyes and laughed. "You're twenty years old – a lot can change."

"Like what?" he retorted as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Like the fact that when you meet the person you want to be with for the rest of your life, you'll want to get married!" she replied. At his snort, she smacked his arm. "I'm serious, you ass."

Hiiro remembered the day she carved that into the table. That was the last day he had seen Usagi. Someone told him she had moved to Great Britain. He recalled something else.

" . . . How about this . . . if you aren't married by the time you're twenty-five, look me up."

"Why?" he asked, perplexed.

"If I'm not married by then, I'll marry you."

Hiiro sat up quickly. "Duo . . . I need your help."

Duo stared at him with confusion. "On what?"

"Finding someone. Look," he moved so Duo could see the carving.

"'Usagi and Hiiro – together forever?' . . . What's with the question mark?" Duo asked.

"She put it there because she said that you never know what was going to happen. Usagi said that one of us could get run over that very night, or never marry someone."

"Why on earth would you want to find some girl from your past?"

"Because she once made a deal with me. She said that if I wasn't married by the time I was twenty-five, to look her up."

"But you are getting married – and you are twenty-five."

Hiiro looked at his long-time friend. "She said that she would marry me if she wasn't married herself."

"What the hell has this got to do with anything?" cried Duo.

"I loved her, Duo, and I never told her. I let her walk out of my life five years ago," Hiiro said. "I have to find her again."

"No," Duo said strongly. "What you have to do, is get ready for your wedding – which is in two weeks, by the way."

"C'mon, Duo! Where's your sense of adventure? Suki is taking care of everything for the wedding – tuxedos included. Just do this one last thing with me. If we don't find her in two weeks, I'll marry Suki."

"No questions asked?"

"No questions asked," Hiiro agreed.

Duo shook his head and sighed. "I don't know why the hell I'm agreeing to this, but okay."

~~

Kate watched as her friend spun in a circle, arm and finger outstretched. When she stopped, she opened her eyes.

"That way," the twenty-five year old said with a smile.

"Usagi, you shouldn't leave everything to Fate," Kate said as they started walking south.

"Then how would you have any fun in your life?" Usagi asked.

"How is getting lost in London weekly fun?" Kate retorted. Once again, she had agreed to go walking with Usagi. She knew she shouldn't have. She knew she should have said, "no, let's go for a drive" but like that would've stopped Fate-girl.

"But look at all the things we discover!" Usagi said with a grin. "Two Italian sodas, please." She asked the vendor. He handed her the two bottles as she paid him.

Kate took the bottle that was held out to her and opened the top. "Honestly, I don't know why I put up with you."

Usagi linked her arm through Kates', "because you love me! I'm just that irresistible."

"You're just something, alright," Kate said with a laugh. "I'm just waiting for you to tell me that Geoff is the hero you've been waiting for to sweep you off your feet."

Usagi blinked. "Hiiro . . ."

"Eh?" Kate asked.

"Hiiro Yui – well, it would be said Yui Hiiro back home – he was an old friend. I once carved into a picnic table 'Usagi and Hiiro – together forever?'"

"Were you a couple?"

"Best friends," Usagi corrected. "I remember he asked me why I put a question mark at the end . . . and I told him that we didn't know if one of us would have something happen – a car accident is what I used – that night when we were walking home. I told him that we might not even get married!"

"You're losing me, Usagi."

"Nevermind, Kate," Usagi said instead of explaining.

A few days later found Usagi thinking on the couch.

"What's on your mind, love?" Geoff asked.

Usagi jumped slightly.

"Sorry, did I startle you?"

"Just a bit," Usagi said in a quiet voice. She curled her legs under her in a traditional Japanese fashion.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not going to go with you to the States," Usagi replied. He started to ask why, but she stopped him. "I need to go home. Just for a week or so. I'll be back in time to get the wedding ready."

"Promise?"

She nodded. "Promise."

After she had stood up and left the room, he noticed a piece of paper. He recognized it as the paper game children played. It was all written in Japanese – making what it said unknown to him. That must have been the way she made her decision to return home. He sighed before walking away from the paper.

Usagi finished doing her hair; she remembered when she had cut off the waist long locks for a more conventional look. It was the day before she left Japan. Now she styled it either in loose, wavy curls or flared out at the ends. She grabbed her coat and scarf and made her way to Kate's work.

Kate looked up as two plane tickets were placed into her line of vision. She read the destination: Tokyo, Japan. The brunette turned around with a large smile on her pretty face.

"Happy Birthday, in advance of course," Usagi said with a grin.

"Of course!" Kate said as she hugged her friend. She then took one of the tickets. "Wow . . . Japan. I've always wanted to visit there!"

"Well, you can't go to Japan without the proper escort. A true Japanese!"

"No doubt in my mind!" Kate and Usagi heard her co-workers shushing them and the pair started to laugh quietly.

"I've got to pack. We leave in three days . . . should that be enough time to get at least two weeks off?" Usagi asked.

Kate nodded. "I'll go request them right now. And they can't tell me no, I haven't taken a sick or lazy day in two years!"

"Darn straight," Usagi said with a determined face before dissolving into laughs.

"Welcome to my home, Kate: Tokyo!" Usagi announced as they stepped out of the airport. She held her friend back as a taxi pulled up and its doors opened automatically.

"Too bad they don't have those in London," Kate said with a smile.

After they were in, the cabby said in English, "where to?"

"Anywhere," Usagi replied with grin. "Take us to your favorite spot in the city."

"Lady, I need a destination," he demanded. "What hotel are you going to?"

"Usagi . . . you didn't!" Kate said suddenly.

Usagi tried not to look guilty.

Kate exited the cab quickly, gathering up her bags. "I can't believe you, Usagi! I'm going back to London right now."

Usagi grabbed her bags as well, apologized to the cabby and followed Kate. "Kate, I'm so sorry! I knew you wouldn't come if you knew that I hadn't made concrete plans."

"With good reason, Usagi! This is Tokyo, Japan! It may be your home, but it's not mine," Kate replied angrily.

"I just had to come back and find him."

"Him? Him who?" Kate asked, her anger quickly disappearing.

Usagi motioned for Kate to take a seat. "Remember how I was telling you about my old friend Hiiro?" Kate nodded and started a question – Usagi stopped her instead. "That's who I came to find."

"Why?"

"Why? Because when we were twenty and still acting like seventeen-year-olds, I made him a deal. I said that if he was not married by twenty-five to look me up and I would marry him. If I was married already, obviously."

"Usagi, you are getting married!" Kate replied.

"I know! I know!" Usagi replied. "Kate, I have to find him. I left him five years ago, never thinking that I would think about him again. Nevertheless hear from him – which I haven't! I'm supposed to be getting married in three weeks – but all I can think about is this guy I knew half a decade ago!"

Kate, a natural borne sucker for romance, smile with a few tears in her eyes.

"Do you forgive me?" Usagi asked.

"Of course I do, Usagi!" Kate replied. She stood up with her bags. "Now, lets get a hotel . . . please?"

Usagi smiled. "Sure. I know just the one."

~~

Author's Note: I would really, really like to hear your input on this story. I got the sudden burst of inspiration for it while thinking about my Hating Our Lives Partner-in-Crime and the movie Serendipity, which this story is loosely based upon.

I beg of you all, please, please tell me if you like this first part. If you do, I'll start working straight away on the next chapter – in fact, I think I might even if you don't like it. :)

~The Emz.