A/N: Made it…late. Again. I don't recall Usagi addressing Seiya by any honorific but that might be just me. I've just used Seiya for here. I also don't recall Naru being in the final arc, so she's Naru-chan too. And remember students can change classrooms for electives.

IMPORTANT: NO MONTHLY UPDATES FOR OCTOBER

The time will be used to catch up on my weekly updates, get my backlog back up in time for the half of exams in November, and deal with my practical overload for what remains of the semester. Hopefully, I'll be all sorted out in time for November, but that depends on my exam timetable so it's possible updates may still be delayed.

The Night Sky

Chapter 3

Naru was surprised to peak into the classroom to find Usagi already seated in her seat. She was however not surprised to find the blonde tiredly slumped over the mahogany desk, a textbook propped up in pretense should the teacher walk in. Surprisingly, the ruse still worked on occasion, perhaps because they had moved from junior high school to senior high and thus their new teacher was not familiar in the least with the antics Sakurada Haruna knew all too well. Of course, the fact that Usagi had been rather more diligent as of late possibly attributed to the image working – many of their classmates, not all of whom had followed them from the junior high school they attended. Because school was no longer compulsory by the point, there were less senior high schools than junior, and some of the students had achieved scores admitting them into private institutions. Very few had, particularly when both Mizuno Ami and Umino Gurio – her cheeks went a little pink just thinking about him, which consequently made her wonder to his current absence – had chosen not to despite ranking first and (de facto) second respectively. And then there was the issue of being separated; her homeroom was across the hall.

But that was, at the current moment, less important than her best friend. A little guiltily, she was reminded of the fact that the two had not spoken beyond brief exchanges in quite a while; either she had been busy with Gurio or she had been unable to contact Usagi; it was normally her phone being busy, but on occasion she had called only for her mother or brother to answer the phone and claim she was "out with friends".

If she was painfully honest with herself, that bit stung. But it was understandable; she had been busy. But at least she'd put in the effort, she huffed thereafter. Surely Usagi's family passed along the messages.

And to just vanish from school like that yesterday? She'd been worried. But the phone had gone unanswered.

'Usagi-chan?' Naru's voice came out a little more clipped than she intended, but it served the purpose well enough.

Usagi lifted her head. 'Naru-chan…'

'Where'd you run off to yesterday?'

'Ahh…' The other turned her head slightly, and Naru mimicked the action.

'So you don't want to tell me, huh.'

'Naru-'

'It's okay.' A toe scuffed along the floor. 'I guess we're just not that close anymore.' She ignored the sob rising in her throat; it was something she wanted to deny. Up till the last year they'd done everything together, from flunking tests to stalking cute boys at the mall. But then they'd started to drift apart. 'You've got your new friends to go boyfriend hunting with…'

Usagi actually laughed at that, catching the other off guard. 'I've had a boyfriend for awhile,' she said, sounding almost jubilant. 'He left to study in America at the start of the year, and I saw him again yesterday after so long.' The head raised; blue eyes sparked in the morning light creeping through the windows. 'Naru-chan…you won't believe how much I missed him. It felt like something was just missing…'

Naru almost laughed herself; to think it had been so painfully simple. Usagi hadn't been ignoring her at all, she'd just been going through a relationship angst.

Something else clicked. 'Ah, so that's who you were writing all those letters to.'

Usagi nodded. 'I just had to keep writing, even though he couldn't reply.'

'Couldn't reply?' Somehow, Usagi's tone and her words weren't matching. 'Usagi-chan, are you sure this guy is good for you?'

'Of course he is.' Usagi closed her eyes. 'We're destined for each other, and we're in love.' A slight frown graced her face as she said the first part, but it quickly vanished into a shine of light that could only come from true love.

Or so Naru assumed, having never seen it for herself.

'Are you okay?'

'Sure.' The head fell to the desk again with a soft tap. 'I'm just tired.'

Naru cocked her head slightly. 'You look…different, somehow. I feel like I haven't gotten a close look at you all year.'

'Hmm…we haven't had any real "girl talk" since graduation.'

'I tried calling.' It came out slightly accusatory, but luckily Usagi didn't pick up on it.

'Ah, I might have been ringing Mamo-chan.'

'Mamo-chan? Your boyfriend?'

'Hai. I was missing his voice…'

Naru didn't really know what to think; to think she had gotten so out of touch with her own best friend.

'We're having some "girl time" together,' she stated firmly. 'My place after school?'

Usagi thought for a moment, then agreed. 'If I forgot I have something planned…'

Naru really did laugh that time. That was the old Usagi. 'I'll rush you straight back. Don't worry.'

Usagi raised her head again and grinned, relaxing back into her chair. Naru grinned too; she supposed she really had been worrying about nothing.

'By the way Usagi-chan,' she recalled suddenly, rushing extracting something from her bookbag. 'This was on your desk yesterday during our elective.'

Usagi took the rose, blinking at it before sniffing.

'Who's it from? Your boyfriend?'

The blonde shook her head. 'No. It's from Seiya. I can smell her perfume.'

Naru blinked. Usagi received a rose from a boy after already having a boyfriend. Granted, she'd noticed the attraction between the Light and Usagi; it had been quite a hot topic, but as far as she'd heard, Usagi had never shown any particular interest back.

She should know, being Usagi's partner in crime as they hunted cute boys at the mall in their early teens. There had been not one account of a starry eyed Usagi.

But the girl comment made it even weirder. Why was Seiya giving a rose to Usagi scented with another girl's perfume.

'Her?'

'The person precious to him,' Usagi tilted her head up with a smile. 'To them. The three Lights. It's a goodbye rose.'

'You've really grown,' was all Naru could say.

'I have?' The blonde closed her eyes. 'Maybe I can stop growing for now then.'

'Usagi-chan…' She really had grown. Matured. And most importantly changed. It made her feel small in comparison. Left behind. But she pulled on her strong face; the one she used when Usagi failed one more test than her.

It was bound to happen sometime after all. Usagi achieving something more quickly than her. The last time had been…

Quickly, she squashed the thought of Gurio's crush on her.

'Tell me all about you and wonder-Light this afternoon,' she said, wagging a finger at the other. 'And about your boyfriend too-'

'Usako-chan?'

She stiffened as Usagi's homeroom teacher arrival was announced.

'I believe your homeroom is across the hall.'

'Hai Sensei.'

Mamoru was soon roused from his newspaper by an insistent knocking on his door. For a moment, he was tempted to let the disturber tire themselves out; very few people knew he had returned, and all of them were either at school or in America.

Unless it was the landlord, wondering why his apartment was suddenly in use again after a long absence…

And it was with that thought he opened the door –

And stared at his best friend's face, a rather unhealthy mix of anger, relief and elation. He only got a quick view however before a fist obscured it, his ceiling quite happily following.

'Konnichiwa,' he managed finally.

Motoki frowned at him, before offering a hand. 'Where have you been Mamoru?'

Despite the absence of playfulness in the tone or an honorific – or indeed a nickname – the dirty blond didn't sound particularly mad.

'Honestly, you don't call for months, and Usagi-chan was in tears the last time I saw here too…which, now that I think about it, was a good month ago.' His voice trailed off somewhat worriedly; the normally vibrant blonde had looked rather sad and lonely the last time he had seen her. And somehow, it was far more disturbing seeing the quiet suffering under the smiling mask than the childish teen in tears.

'She was…crying?' Mamoru accepted the other's hand and got to his feet.

'Not crying per say –' the other began to explain, slipping his shoes off and entering the quaint apartment without waiting for an invitation; he'd done so on numerous occasions after all. 'She was definitely in a bad way; it seemed like you hadn't contacted her either.' The disapproval was clear in his tone.

'Moto-'

Motoki cut him off, quickly surveying the apartment. 'When did you get back anyway. Shouldn't you be in Chicago?'

'It…it's a long story.'

'I can see that. And I've got plenty of time.' He threw himself on the couch. 'Speaking of, why didn't you stop when I called you? You jogged right past me.'

The indignation was warmly familiar.

'I guess I was distracted,' Mamoru responded, a tad sheepishly. 'Things have been pretty crazy lately.'

'Yeah?' Motoki raised an eyebrow. 'Crazy in what way?'

Mamoru hesitated at that; he couldn't well explain all about Sailor Galaxia…could he? But then again, Motoki was his best friend, the guy he'd known since he'd been orphaned in that terrible car accident. Without the memories of his past and his family, Motoki had become the first friendly face within his life. He'd broken his leg at the time, and each day he'd hobble to his bed and simply talk. Even before a nurse had discovered him emerging from his coma, Motoki was there chatting away.

'You've got that look on your face,' Motoki commented. 'Like the truth's so hair-brained I won't believe it. Remember when you were having those dreams about a girl?'

He remembered. It was because of those that he discovered his identity as Tuxedo Kamen and met Sailor Moon…or Tsukino Usagi as her civilian identity was.

'This can't be much worse.'

'Oh, really?' Mamoru raised an eyebrow. He hadn't exactly told the whole story about that one.

'Any weirder than Usagi-chan being a princess in your dreams? Looking at how klutzy she used to be…but she sure has grown up.'

'It's…got to do with that.'

Motoki leaned back. 'Explain,' was all he said.

So Mamoru did. And hoped he didn't come off as a head-case. But perhaps he simply wasn't giving his friend enough credit, he mused to himself. It was just somewhat difficult to talk about such things with people other than the Sailor Senshi, Luna and Artemis…and Diana. Someone not so directly involved.

He found the term "normal" slipping into his mind, and to his surprise he wasn't immediately compelled to banish it. Because they weren't normal, in a sense. The Sailor Senshi. Him. Protectors of the Galaxy; young but old, having already fought a war that had gone on for eons.

That wasn't the life he'd imagined for himself for ten whole years.