Until You Come Back to me Again

Chapter 1: Once Upon a Time

Rated PG-13

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is not mine. Sailor Moon and all the characters within the series belongs to Naoko Tacheuchi ... got to love that woman xD

Summery: (A/U) Usagi and Mamoru grew close, growing up together in the local orphanage, never wanting to each others side. But after Usagi gets into a life-altering accident and Mamoru is adopted, will the two reconnect after years of separation?

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Seven years had passed.

The years treated Mamoru well, many would argue. When the Chiba's adopted Mamoru, they brought him back to their home, which was located in Hiroshima, quite the distance away from Juuban. It was his first experience ever being on a bullet train, bringing him away from everything he had ever known. They lived in a penthouse on the top floor of a fancy apartment complex; the interior and the merchandise inside showing that this family was quite well off financially. When they first opened up the door to Mamoru's room, it had a queen sized bed with navy sheets, a down comforter, and multiple pillows (a luxury he had never seen before except on the television), a television set with a VCR/DVD combo set as well as a brand new Play Station system, a cherry wood desk in the corner with a brand new computer as well as textbooks, stacks of papers, writing utensils, and many other basic office supplies. In his room hung a school uniform to the Hiroshima Institute of Technology Junior High School, a prestigious school that if you continued through their senior year, would insure your chances of getting into college. Even though Mamoru was spoiled, he never took anything for granted. Living a life where luxury was to a minimum for so long kept his outlook on life positive, and to never take anything for granted. It had taken him a while to adjust to the living situations; calling the Chiba's "Mom" and "Dad" was difficult for months, but finally became native to his tongue as the years passed. He loved his parents and owed them so much, this he knew.

There wasn't a day where Mamoru didn't think of Usagi; where she was, how she was doing, if she was healthy, but most of all, if she remembered him. To this day he still wore the promise bracelet, the once vibrant colors now faded as it had never been removed from his wrist, not once. Throughout Junior High and even on to Senior High, he never looked at another woman in any other way than as a friend, for his heart was dedicated only to Usagi. And with every passing day, the desire to find her and spend the rest of his life with her only grew stronger.

Mamoru, now twenty years old, stood outside Tokyo University, textbooks in hand as he walked through the campus for his third year at this University. His promising grades and his ambition to practice medicine won him a scholarship, an accomplishment that he took pride in. Since Usagi's accident, he wanted to be able to help people in the same situation as her; he wanted to become a doctor. With time and his volunteer work he did at the local orphanage, his love for children encouraged him to become a pediatrician. Many were impressed with Mamoru's set goals, and he hoped that one day, Usagi would be proud of him as well.

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"Mamoru, over here!"a male voice rung over the bustling noises of the café. Mamoru looked up to see his friend, Ryo, waving him over to a table of five or six people, sitting around with burgers and pop.

"Hey Ryo, everyone," he nodded as he pulled up a seat. Sitting at the table was Ryo, Ryo's "girlfriend" Mika, Yuuichiro, Urawa, Miki, and Saria, friends that he met throughout years. Ryo, Yuuichiro, and Urawa were on the University's soccer team; actually, how he met them was by soccer. In his 3rd year of Senior High he was brushing up on his Physics when a soccer ball was kicked in his general direction. He looked up to see Ryo asking him to throw it back, then Mamoru glared back down to the ball. Ever since Usagi's accident he couldn't bring himself to play soccer, but as he stared at the round ball, the childhood love of the game coursed through his veins. He placed the book down, put his foot on the ball, then from the far distance, kicked the ball with all his might. The ball flew past Ryo, Urawa, and landed in the net behind Yuuichiro, their jaws dropping that the speed, velocity, and accuracy of that kick. They invited Mamoru to play a game with him, and even though he kept turning them down, the excitement finally won him over and he played the rest of the night with the guys. They were so impressed at Mamoru's soccer abilities that they asked him to join the HIT Varsity team and were thoroughly disappointed when he easily declined. When they asked why, he simply said his studies took priority, and left it at that.

"Mamoru, did you hear they have an opening on the team?" Yuuichiro laughed. "You should join!"

"Come on, Yuuichiro, you know every time we ask him we get the same answer. Doctor Chiba won't play with us!" he mock whined.

"Why doesn't he play?" asked Miki, the freshman college girl confused by his silene and lack of enthusiasm.

"Who knows," Ryo said as he leaned back, Saria wrapping her arms around his torso. "All I know is that he won't play with us except on very rare occasions, and I'm telling you, he's better than anyone I know."

"Just let it go, guys," a voice piped up above the small group, another person joining their table. His green eyes stared into the eyes of Ryo as he nodded and dropped the subject, then smiled over at Mamoru. Mamoru nodded, silently thanking the blonde haired friend as he took another sip of his coffee. "Mamoru has his reasons, so let him be."

"Yes, Sir Motoki, Mamoru's knight and shining armor, always saving Mamoru from our pestering" laughed Urawa before a pencil bounced off his head.

"Har har," Mamoru said as he finished his drink up, staring at his watch. "Anywho, time for my chemistry class, so I've got to run."

"Go on, Doctor Chiba, save lives, blow up labs, and flirt with your insanely hot professor!" laughed Yuuichiro.

"Oh you know it," Mamoru sarcastically replied, picking up his backpack and his cup of coffee, heading towards the door. Not two steps into his walk did he collide with someone, the hot liquid falling on his khakis, causing him to jump a mile. "HOT!" he cried as he tried to wipe the hot liquid off of his leg, looking around for something absorbent to wipe the drink with.

"I'm so sorry!" a girls voice cried out as she handed him napkins, "I'm so clumsy, I didn't mean to do this!" she said, her voice trembling with embarrassment as he looked up at her.

He was about to speak, but his voice got caught in his throat. His deep blue eyes came in contact with a beautiful set of cornflower blue eyes, followed by a cute little nose and rosy pink lips. Wisps of blonde hair fell in front of her face, which were falling out of... two buns... with locks of golden hair streaming down from them.

He knew that hair style. He knew those eyes.

It couldn't be her. It... couldn't be that simple.

"It's... it's okay," he managed to choke out, her eyes once filled with embarrassment now relaxing.

"I'm glad you're okay, and again, I'm very sorry," she said softly as she bowed down, then turned around and left.

He stuttered out a incoherent goodbye, his mouth slightly ajar with shock. He quickly stumbled to the door as he watched her, waving to three other girls who he assumed were her friends. Even as she walked away with the girls, he couldn't help but continue to watch her, his heart racing. "It couldn't be her, it can't be that simple," he tried telling himself. Repeating those words, he walked out of the coffee shop and headed to his class, ignoring the snickers his friends were making about him "finally noticing someone." As he opened the large oak door to his chemistry class, he could have sworn his eyes were playing tricks on him because sitting in the back row, second seat from the right, was the blonde haired blue eyed girl, looking beyond nervous as she strummed her fingers on her textbook.

"Someone is either playing a cruel trick on me, or else fate stepped in," Mamoru muttered under his breath as he walked to the back of the room, determined to find out who she was. He sat in the seat next to her, the sound of him dropping his books on his desk startling her. She looked over to him, her cheeks tinting pink as she recognized him.

"Uhm, hello again," she quietly spoke as she diverted her eyes away from him. "How are your, uhm, pants?"

"A bit damp, but slowly drying," he chuckled. He saw that she still was flustered by her accident, so he gently nudged her. "Don't worry about it, really," he said reassuringly, hoping she's ease up a bit.

"I'm really sorry about that," she said again, "At least let me make it up to you, I could buy you another drink to replace the one I spilled on you."

"Like I said, don't worry about it," he replied. "I won't hold it against you forever."

"That's always –- hey, what happened to don't worry about it?" she asked, surprised.

"I'm just teasing you," he laughed as he continued to play it cool. "So tell me, what's your name?"

"Oh, it's—"

"Well, I'm glad to see we have a full house in here this semester!" a voice pipped up, interrupting the introduction. "If you're schedule says Chemistry 101... then this is not your room. This is Chemistry 251 - Organic Chemistry. Let's start by taking attendance..."

The professor worked her way down her list, alphabetically calling out each one of her students names. When she called Mamoru's and he raised his hand, he hoped that the mystery girl would have recognized or would have reacted, but she continued to sit there as she waited for her name to be called. He slouched a bit; he was hoping that she would react to his name, then he would have known whether or not it was Usagi. All seemed lost until the professor got into the "T's" of the role, then the two words he was waiting to hear left the professors lips.

"Tsukino Usagi."

His eyes fixated themselves on her as he watched her raise her hand in response, then place it back down. It was her; he felt like jumping for joy, like screaming at the top of his lungs... his best friend, the love of his life was sitting not 5 feet away from him.

He concluded: fate had stepped in; the torture in his heart on where she might be was over.

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Class couldn't have gone any slower; Mamoru impatiently looked at his watch every thirty seconds, anticipating the moment where he would be able to question Usagi. He periodically looked over in her general direction, watching how dedicated and focused she was. He looked back down to his notes and sighed, he hadn't written a single piece of information let alone absorb what was being discussed. Rather, he was debating what he should ask her; be blunt and say "hey, remember me!" or play dumb and say "hey, you looked familiar at first but your name rang a bell?"

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw people grabbing their backpacks and exiting the classroom. He looked at the seat next to him and saw a vacant seat, causing him to snap quickly back into reality. He grabbed his books and quickly exited his seat, quickly leaving the classroom to try and locate her. He saw her standing outside the class room, looking around for someone. When he exited the room, she smiled and walked over to him, then handed him her notebook.

"I saw you weren't paying any attention, if you'd like you can copy my notes," she spoke with a smile on her face. Mamoru slowly reached out and grabbed the notebook, thrown off by not just her kindness but the fact that she was paying attention to him during the class. As he held the notebook in his hand, he took this as a sign to "try and get to know her," so he thought up a quick way to try and get her to accompany him with something.

"Thank you very much. If you want, we can go over to that bench over there and I can quickly copy them so you can have your notebook back," he swiftly said, hoping she would agree. He saw her look at her watch, then she nodded as she spoke; "I have another class in about an hour, so okay." The two of them walked over to the bench and sat down, where he took out his notebook and began copying the notes. As he was copying, he bantered in his head what he should ask her first; he had never been so nervous in his life, not for anything. Usually he was so collected and cool inside and out but today, he was surprised he didn't run screaming through the halls.

"Mamoru?" a voice interrupted his thinking. He looked over to her, which was immediatly followed up by another question. "That is your name, right? Mamoru?"

"Uh... yea. Chiba Mamoru," he replied, still hoping the name would help her recognize him.

"Okay, I'm glad I remembered something from that class!" she laughed as she folded her hands in her lap. "My name's Tsukino Usagi," she happily spoke as she playfully held her hand out, signifying a hand shake. He smiled, then accepted her hand and shook it. "I remember, it's the one thing I actually remember hearing in that entire session," he said. She laughed as she took her hand back, then placed it in her lap again.

"So, Mamoru, where are you from?" she asked, watching him copy her notes into his own book.

"Hiroshima," he replied, "but I'm originally from Juuban."

"Really?" she said, surprised, "that's where I grew up as well!"

"No kidding," he smiled, trying to downplay the situation. "Where in Juuban?"

"Actually, I lived in an orphanage until I was eleven, when I was adopted. Then I moved right here to Tokyo," she replied.

Mamoru paused in his writing; he blinked a few times as he took in the information... it was her. It was really her! That statement alone proved it! He felt like dancing, like crying, like grabbing her and hugging the life out of her His thoughts were interrupted when she asked: "Where in Juuban are you from?" He paused for quite a bit of time before he answered, knowing this would lead up to the answer of the question he had been wondering ever since he left.

"... Juuban Children's Orphanage," he replied as he stopped writing, then looked up at her.

"No way," she said. "You mean you are from the same place I am? When were you there?"

"From when I was three to about thirteen. I left there about seven years ago," he spoke, hoping inside he would remember her.

"I left there seven years ago as well; I was there for a long time. Why don't I remember you?"

His body went numb. He should have known, that accident was guaranteed memory loss, and no matter how much he hoped, he knew that the statistics were working against him. He felt his heart ache as he smiled a sad smile to her, then handed her the notebook.

"I wish I knew," he replied, then got up and began to walk away, leaving her confused at the bench.