AN: Yes, I was depressed when I wrote this. Be kind or harsh, your choice.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or any of the other characters. Never have, never will. I don't own Mario either. All in all, I own the setting and plot, and that's it.
"You're a fool."
Those are the first words he said to me after I awoke. I had come back from the dead not long before, bringing him back with me, and all he could do was call me a fool? If anything, his next words were worse.
"I'm breaking up with you. There's another woman I like, and I can't go around saving you every other night. You expect me to stay with you after you prove yourself incompetent again and again? That's stupid. I hope the next youma gets you. Then you'll never bother me again."
That's seriously what he said. By accident, we had all met up in the Crown Arcade and started talking. Sure, we'd all wanted to know what happened to each other since being reborn, but I wasn't expecting that when Mamoru asked me to stay a few minutes when the others left. He hadn't said a word to me: just an exhausted nod of greeting and a hand on my arm, asking me to wait.
My response?
"Na- Nani? You're really serious, Mamo-chan? But… what about ChibiUsa? And… I mean, before Galaxia, you asked me to marry you! Are you seriously taking that back?"
That's right, the lovely Champion of Justice just stuttered and stood there, watching her world crumble. Guess that's my punishment for letting my guard down.
It's been nearly a month now, and I haven't seen hide or hair of the man since then. There's the usual rouge youma popping up every now and then, but he never shows at those, even if the rest of us do.
I still have the ring. Either he didn't want it back after me sullying it with my touch, or he still loves me. After all this… I want to believe he loves me, but… I've been through too much to not face the truth.
That's why I'm going to America tomorrow.
I've made arrangements to live with Naru and Umino, since they moved over there a few months after graduation. They're both attending the same college, but are renting an apartment outside campus.
The Senshi may not even realize I'm Naru's friend. We slowly drifted further and further apart as the Senshi business became more and more serious. But if no one ever remembers, all the better for me. If I never even see one of them for the rest of my life, it will still be one time too many.
I didn't realize it then, but they teased and taunted me that day more than they ever had. Those hurtful words had all but stopped after Dead Moon, but I was in oblivion mode that day. Acing an English Final had put me back in the ditzy mode I'd abandoned shortly after my super-heroine career started. Fool that I was, I was too busy being happy that we were all together to worry about anything.
Fool not to have seen the signs.
Ami stayed more inside that book of hers than she did when we first met. She only ever came out to laugh when someone mocked me. She'd never laughed at me before. Laughed at something I did, yes. But at me…
Rei mocked, teased, and taunted me more than she ever did, even when we were competing for Mamoru's affection. How could I not notice how her insults suddenly reappeared, even though we seemed to be the closest of friends?
Minako… That self-proclaimed "Goddess of Love" knew what he was going to do and refused to tell me! She'd been glancing between the two of us the entire time. I didn't think anything of it, baka that I am.
Makoto has been like a big sister to me since I met her, over five years ago now, but she stayed mostly within her own mind that day, only coming out once in a while to laugh when Rei made some comment.
Hotaru… Somehow I can't really blame her. Senshi of Destruction that she is, she may've known that a disaster would befall me shortly, but she wouldn't know what type until right before it happened. By that point, she was in the car and halfway across town with the other Outers. But, if she did figure it out, why did she never contact me after that day? I see her during the battles, but that silent girl is one of the first to disappear, and I can't get answers out of her if I can't catch her.
Haruka is almost a guy and could tell that Mamoru would do something important. That girl is more than half guy anyway, so she probably knew it was about me and was bad. And yet, I had no warning.
Michiru has the Aqua Mirror. She can see the future, and uses it regularly for that purpose. Surely she knew our future had somehow been thrown off.
Setsuna… Now if there's someone besides Mamoru who knew what would happen, it's her! That bitch can see the past, present, and future; guards the damn Gates of Time, and yet wouldn't give even a hint that the future had been so drastically changed! There's no way she couldn't know!
Tsukino Usagi read over the pages in her diary with a sigh. Maybe randomly opening the book and starting to read from boredom wasn't such a good thing… She'd been trying to forget that part of her life in Japan since boarding that plane a few months ago.
"Usagi-chan!" a voice called as the blonde heard the apartment's door slam shut. Quickly hiding the diary away again, the eighteen-year-old girl headed toward the kitchen, hiding once again behind a mask of happiness.
"Right here, Naru-chan!" she chirped back in her native Japanese. "What's going on?"
"Nothing much," the redhead sighed. "I have way too much homework and Umino won't be able to come home tonight. He and his lab partner need to finish a science project and need to pull an all-nighter. I will never know how he got so far behind."
"Maybe we've finally infected him," Usagi suggested. "Tell you what. I'll help you with that 'mountain of homework' and then we can go to the mall. I just got my paycheck and bonus. It's almost Christmas, and I still need to get gifts. Mom and Dad and Shingo will think I forgot about them if I don't send Christmas gifts. I'm saving half the check money, though," she warned.
"Okay," Naru giggled. "Glad to see that. I remember when you used to complain about being broke so often. You can help me, and then we'll go on that 'girls night out,' deal?"
"Of course," Usagi scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Now let's see that work of yours." She reached for Naru's bag.
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"All done," Naru sighed around six, leaning back in her chair.
"Yep," Usagi agreed, massaging her sore hand. She'd been writing near none-stop for the past hour. "But at least it's done."
"And correct," the redhead added. Her longtime friend made a face at her and she laughed.
"C'mon," the blonde begged, "Let's go already."
"Geez, impatient, are we?" Naru laughed. Usagi's mask must've slipped for just a moment, for the next thing she knew, her best friend had a hand on her shoulder and was gently asking something.
"What's wrong Usagi-chan? Was it something I said? I've never seen you this sad before."
"Oh, it's nothing," Usagi responded, trying to laugh it off. "I'm just tired. Stupid finals keep me up all night. I can't help worrying that I'll fail, like I did until the end of high school."
"School has never bothered you this much," Naru stated with finality. "What is it?"
So, with a sigh, Usagi explained that she'd been looking through her diary—a stupid thing to do, she said—and had come across her break up.
"Oh…" Naru exhaled. "You never mentioned it to me."
"Gomen," the Champion of Justice apologized. "But I didn't want to burden you."
"Burden me?" laughed Naru. "You've been burdening me since you got here, never really being yourself. Spill."
So Usagi explained how Chiba-baka had become her boyfriend sometime over the past four years, though neither were sure when it became official. The girl said that they'd become very close, and had no secrets. Then, completely out of the blue, he says he likes someone else, and in the same breath breaks up with her.
Naru gave a verbal whipping to the absent Chiba man, fuming even once her extensive vocabulary ran out.
"Let's get going," Usagi quickly suggested when she saw her friend working herself toward another explosion. "We can't afford to get stuck in traffic." That got Naru moving.
Unfortunately, the traffic was another matter. Six-thirty was middle of the three hour "rush hour" which stopped up all traffic. (C'mon people, I know you know what I'm talking about.) Thankfully, the mall was close enough that they got there within half an hour.
"Where d'ya wanna go first?" Naru asked her friend gingerly.
"I dunno," the doubtful girl replied looking around. "I'm not sure what exactly Shingo wants…"
"What about a new Sailor V game?" Naru questioned innocently.
Usagi winced and snapped out, "If I get one, I'll burn the thing as soon as I can lay hands on a match. V-babe's a bitch." Naru was surprised by the words, especially the last sentence.
"What about that new Mario game?" she suggested as a diversion.
"Okay," Usagi shrugged. So they went and got it.
When they were walking down the crowded hall, the Moon Princess noticed a hair-cutting place. "Hey!" she cried. "Let's go there! I've been meaning to get this thing cut for awhile!" Naru then found herself being dragged into the store and sitting in a chair, waiting while her best friend got most of her ankle-length hair cut off.
"Explain why you did this?" the redhead asked an hour later as they headed toward the food court, Usagi's hair now chin-length and framing her face.
"If I'm in a new country with a new life, I may as well have a new hairstyle," the blonde countered. "Besides, some kid's gonna get a long wig with that."
"A really long one," Naru added. "Where d'ya wanna get food from?"
Usagi surveyed the crowded food court and then began dragging her roommate to her choice.
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Chiba Mamoru found himself staring at staring at an old picture of the most beautiful woman in the world.
Tsukino Usagi.
Why'd he have to break up with her?
He'd still been in love; there hadn't been any other girl. So why did he have to go and speak as he had? Such stupidity should not be tolerated by the Prince of Earth, he thought dimly. Why had he done something so dumb?
"Kuso, Usako," he sighed after slamming his head against his wall yet again. Soon there would definitely be a dent there, next to his nightstand, at eye level. "Why did you have to vanish? You refuse to let me track you down and apologize."
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AN: That's it for this chapter. Ya want more, ya tell me. I see no point in posting any further chapters if I have no readers.