7 Years Waiting For You

Disclaimer: I am not the great Naoko Takeuchi, I merely admire her work from afar with my little stories. Neither am I any of the talented artists who brought the anime to life.

Summary: The senshi have been fighting together since they discovered their mutual Sailor Senshi abilities when they were only 15 years old. Mamoru has been in college in America since he was 18 and therefore completely missed the whole Sailor Senshi thing. This story begins when they are 22 and 26 respectively and guess who has finally come home to Tokyo.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 4 – A Gentleman's Lady

Usagi walked back into her apartment three hours after she had left. She was happy to see that Minako had taken her cake and gone home. She did not have the patience to deal with the love senshi's over done sympathies and reassurances that fairy tales came true.

"Usagi?" asked Makoto. She had just come out of the living room and was looking at her friend with an apologetic smile on her face. "Are you okay?" she inquired, crossing her hand across her chest signally that she was seriously concerned for her friend despite being dressed in sponge bob pyjamas.

"Yeah, I think so," Usagi replied.

"Good," Makoto said before adding, "Rei's here." And with that the fiery priestess came out of the living room to join them. She too was clad in pyjamas. Pyjama parties between the three of them were quite common, as Rei spent a lot of time visiting them in order to get away from the shrine. After her grandfather's death she found it too full of painful memories. She would escape to the girl's apartment in an attempt to escape those memories... or to escape Jadeite after a particularly bad blow-out. Usagi momentarily wondered which it was this time.

"I'm sorry Usagi," said Rei, and Usagi immediately realized that Rei was there for neither of those reasons. She had come because of her. "Minako's a bit of a flake." she added. Makoto had called Rei and told her what had happened; she was worried an errant princess in distress might do something stupid. Rei had told Makoto to merely leave Usagi alone until she decided to come home.

"It's okay, I'm fine now," asserted Usagi, not up to discussing everything, especially since she had agreed to join Mamoru for dinner the next day and she did not feel like defending her actions to her senshi. But she was glad that Rei was there, she couldn't really talk about how she felt to Makoto. How could she complain about having to wait, to someone who wished she had someone to wait for?

"You're lying," stated Rei calmly, her tone devoid of any anger or accusation. "It's not hard for me to tell you're worried about something."

"I'm going to go out with Mamoru," Usagi admitted. She could never hide things from Rei, no matter how hard she tried. The easiest thing would be to just admit it now.

"Good for you," said Rei, surprising all of them. But unlike Minako and Makoto, Rei had never reminded Usagi that her prince would come for her when she flirted with other boys. She had never aided Usagi's romanticized idea of Endymion at late night sleep-overs with the girls. She loved Jadeite but she loved her friends just as fiercely. And the two years they had spent looking for Jade had made Rei sceptical, and she often wondered if they were all deluding themselves if they thought Endymion would just one day run into them, introduce himself as their king and he and Usagi would fall madly in love. Heck if Endymion didn't remember anything of the moon kingdom he could be married with children by now. And if he did remember the moon kingdom and those long ago days, then he should 

of found them. What kind of man, what kind of king, wouldn't search for those he loved? And who could say that Beryl hadn't just killed him. The shittennou said she would never do that, that she had loved him. But Rei knew that there was nothing a woman scorned might not do.

"Really?" asked Usagi, surprised by Rei's comment. She knew Rei saw things slightly different from the others but there was a strong group loyalty to Endymion despite his absence.

"Of course. You're our princess Usagi and we want you to be happy. And if the boys don't like it than that's their problem." Rei smiled to herself, she would make sure to give Jadeite a piece of her mind later if he tried to ruin things for Usagi.

"Thanks Rei."

"No problem. But right now I think we have to have a good old fashioned pow-wow in the living room with lots of ice cream, because I want the scoop on Kal."

The three friends spent the night chatting, watching old movies and eating copious amounts of junk food before finally falling asleep sometime around 2 a.m. Rei got up early the next morning to head back to the shrine. She would never admit it but she missed Jade and wanted to get back before he woke up. Makoto did not wake up until 9 a.m when she jumped up quickly to get ready for work so she would be there by 10:30 to prepare for the lunch rush. She also needed time to beg one of the other chefs to switch shifts with her so she could be free that evening to help Kal move into his new apartment.

Several hours later Usagi yawned lazily, opening her eyes to find herself alone in the living room surrounded by a pile of candy wrappers. She wandered into her bedroom and pulled out the wigs she had been working on the day before. She didn't have any bookings until 3, and she was confident Malara could handle the walk in clients by herself until then. Usagi carefully pulled the hair through the mesh netting to prepare her luxurious 'Sailor Moon' wigs. She wondered to herself how much money she could have netted for the two she had made with her very one locks if people had known they were made from genuine Sailor Moon hair. Usagi's mind drifted as she worked and she noticed with a surprise that she wasn't uneasy about her date with Mamoru. In fact if she didn't know better she would say she was even excited. Her mind drifted to him and she wondered what he was doing right now?

Mamoru smiled at the small child playing with the Sailor Moon doll in the waiting room. "Do you believe in Sailor Moon mister?" asked the child and Mamoru found he answered 'yes' despite himself. He had spent years denying her existence. Well, not Sailor Moon's existence exactly, more like an event that had happened to him many years before.

It must have been at least six years ago now, six years in which he had convinced himself it was just another one of his dreams. Only he hadn't been asleep. He had seen a woman begging her friends to help her, a beautiful woman with angelic wings, and he could tell by her eyes that this was the same princess who haunted his dreams. She was asking for help to defeat an enemy. And as if that illusion hadn't been odd enough he had found himself suddenly wearing a tuxedo, top hat, mask and holding unto a rose feeling as if all the energy he could muster was flowing out of him towards her.

He had tried especially hard to block out incident and regard it as nothing more than a stressed out student's hallucination. But when he had seen a picture of Eternal Sailor Moon four years later the long repressed memory surfaced with a vengeance. Could his dream woman actually be real? That was the question that had haunted him so intensely it had forced his return to Tokyo. But now he was here and it was not Sailor Moon that he found himself drawn to but Usagi. Usagi who had the picture of the woman of his dreams in her shop window. Usagi who did Sailor Moon hairstyles. Was he attracted to her simply because she reminded him of her? Or was it possible that she was... Mamoru shoved the idea out of his head. He would see what happened on their date tonight. He still needed to get through five more hours of his shift that had begun at 7 a.m. that morning.



Luckily for Mamoru the next five hours went relatively smoothly and he was able to leave the hospital almost on time. As he changed out of his scrubs and pulled on his dark black sweater he silently hoped he did not smell too badly of hospital. He would have liked to go home and shower but he was to meet Usagi at her shop at 6:30 p.m. sharp. That and he didn't officially have a place until that night. Plus he had the feeling that if he was even a minute late she might think better of their date. She was so timid, but it made sense for her to be careful if she was... No, he would bury that thought, even if their chemistry did mimic how he felt in his dreams.

"Usagi?" said Mamoru as he walked into her beauty shop to find the petite blond busy finishing up a manicure. She mouthed to him that she would be with him in 10 minutes and he took a seat, feeling out of place in the very feminine building. Fortunately Usagi finished up quickly and after a few awkward greetings they were on their way to the restaurant. The restaurant they had decided on was just a few blocks away, and as it was a sunny day outside so they made the mistake of deciding to walk instead of taking the bus.

"I had a fun time yesterday," Usagi admitted, trying to think of anything to talk about as they walked side by side along the sidewalk. The previous evening when they had just walked around the city as friends of a friend things had been so easy. But now Usagi felt so shy and tense she was unsure how to act around Mamoru. She had never felt so tongue tied before in her life, and the fact that the narrow sidewalk made them periodically bump into each other when another person passed by didn't help.

"Me too," replied Mamoru, suffering from the same affliction as Usagi with the added problem that he was trying to compare her to his dreams. He was too nervous to look straight into her eyes to confirm that they still looked as similar to his dream woman as they had seemed yesterday evening. Her hair was definitely shorter, and slightly permed though. But her eyes wouldn't lie would they?

The silence settled over both of them as they continued to steal glances at each other, both quickly looking away before the other could catch them doing it. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this dating thing," Mamoru admitted sheepishly.

"Me neither," agree Usagi, looking up into Mamoru's eyes. If she just looked into those eyes long enough... but instead of following her impulse she quickly looked down at her feet. She couldn't let him see the invitation in her eyes. She felt that if he did see, and he went ahead and kissed her then she would completely give up waiting for her destiny.

"That surprises me," Mamoru stated, wishing she would look up at him like that again. "I'd assume you would have lots of offers for dates on a Saturday night."

"I had a few offers," stated Usagi, though the few had been closer to dozens, "But I never really wanted to date anyone."

"How come?" asked Mamoru, hoping Usagi would reveal more about herself. Certainly if she was Sailor Moon it would explain why her friends were so protective of her and why she would be cautious of people. Mamoru hoped that was her secret, because if she was Sailor Moon then he felt like he held some claim on the elusive girl. That and he did not like the idea that someone might have hurt Usagi to make her so timid.

"None of them were the right guy," Usagi replied and then immediately blushed when she realized Mamoru might assume he was the right guy.

"You're right to wait for the treasure you deserve," replied Mamoru, surprised to see Usagi look up at him suddenly. But her eyes were no longer those of a woman falling for him, but one who looked guilty and torn, and slightly annoyed with him. Mamoru hoped she didn't think he had a big enough ego to consider himself a treasure. But underneath it all Mamoru noticed there was pain in her eyes. Pain that he hated to see. Without thinking about it he took her hand and squeezed it. It felt as if she 

was going to shake his hand off at first, but she relented. The two continued to the restaurant silently, simply walking and holding hands. Mamoru wondered if they would remain silent all the way to the restaurant when he looked up to see a group of guys pointing at him.

"Look," declared Jadeite, pointing at the couple. Rei had told him about their date and he had summoned the rest of the shittennou to 'rescue' Usagi from the predicament. "And she's holding his hand!" declared Jade in a scandalized voice.

"That whore!" mocked Zoisite.

"Hey, that's more than he gets from Rei," added Kunzite sarcastically to Zoisite.

"Ha ha you guys," replied Jadeite, "But this is no time for jokes." While Kunzite and Zoisite did not like seeing Usagi with another man they both felt deep down she would remain loyal to Endymion. She just needed a good shove in the right direction sometimes. It was only Jadeite who really considered the possibility that Usagi could actually fall in love with someone else. This was most likely due to the fact that on several occasions Rei had told him that in no certain terms was he to rely on their past life to keep her, and that the shittenou and senshi were more likely tied together by being the only people in Tokyo with superpowers than by some age old romance that the blossom had long ago fell off.

"Who was joking?" asked Zoisite, smiling at his friend. But Jadeite did not respond. He and Kunzite had already quickened their paces toward Usagi and Mamoru to put mission 'stop date' into effect.

"Usagi, fancy meeting you here," greeted Jadeite carelessly, and Usagi found herself quickly removing her hand from Mamoru's.

"Yeah, fancy that," she replied, glaring at Jadeite, hoping for once he would just back off.

"And what are you doing here?" asked Kunzite sternly. He always felt that the best strategy was to shame Usagi out of the date. It was a strategy that had worked many times in the past. Well, in the not so distant past. Thousands of years ago when he had tried the same strategy on Endymion after he first got tangled up with the Moon Princess it hadn't gone so well. Though that could be attributed to the fact that Kunzite's arguments lost all credibility after Endymion found him making out with the pixyish Venusian.

"I'm going on a date," she replied curtly. She was about to reclaim Mamoru's hand, but then thought better of it. He had nice hands, and a physician needed the use of them.

"And you think you can date her why?" Zoisite asked Mamoru. While Kunzite played the shame game, he preferred the overprotective older brother routine.

"Because she said I could," replied Mamoru nonchalantly.

"But did we give you permission?" added Jadeite, walking up to Mamoru and staring him in the face menacingly. As far as anyone knew, he didn't have a strategy.

"I think she's old enough to make her own decisions," replied Mamoru calmly.

"Yeah, but she's still my little sister," said Zoisite, crossing his arms across his chest and glaring at Mamoru threateningly.

"A lot of girls are somebody's little sister," he replied.



The three men shot each other glances. They must be off their game; no guy had ever stood up to them as calmly as this Mamoru guy. They were the legendary shittenou, guardians of the royal heir of Earth, nobody stood up to them like that.

"Now gentlemen, if you don't mind we'll be on our way," said Mamoru, taking the shocked Usagi's hand as he led her past the group of guys.

That's when Jadeite decided to step their routine up an act. "So, do you often pick up pretty girls?" he asked. Mamoru merely ignored his comment and continued walking. However Jadeite continued with his harassment as well, "Because we all love Usagi, but she's not the most intellectual type. So I'm figuring a smart guy like you, with a girl like Usagi, there's only one thing you want."

"To protect her from creeps who pose as her friends but do nothing but embarrass her?" retorted Mamoru, turning to Jadeite angrily. The beautiful blonde had winced at Jadeite's words and Mamoru couldn't let that go, even if he knew they were just trying to goad him into a fight.

"Protect her? From us? You have got to be kidding me!" scoffed Zoisite. Though he did look at Jadeite angrily. They all knew Usagi was sensitive about her less than stellar academics and often bemoaned how she could ever be a fitting queen. It was low of Jadeite to use that against her.

Mamoru was about to respond but instead Kunzite cut in, "What makes you think we're not protecting you from her? Trust me; any relationship with her is doomed."

"He's got a point!" chimed in Zoisite. Mamoru's curiosity couldn't help but be piqued by their words. What could the beautiful Usagi possibly do to him? Was this proof that she was as powerful as he thought she was?

"Yeah, trust me buddy, our pr..." but in that moment Jadeite caught himself from declaring Usagi their princess. You could never be too careful. But in the heat of the moment there was only one word that came to his head that could stifle his mistake, "Our prostitute would eat you for dinner."

Kunzite and Zoisite looked at Jadeite with a mix of shame and pride. To call Usagi such a thing was deplorable, and yet it was the perfect way to get rid of would-be suitors. Jadeite sensed this too and continued his charade. "So if you don't have the pimp price you better be on your way. Nobody gets a free ride." He certainly wouldn't be when Rei found out about this.

Mamoru looked at Jadeite in confusion. It couldn't possibly be the truth, could it? He barely noticed that he had let go of Usagi's hand while his head rushed to put evidence into place. Their determination to keep her single, they way Motoki had claimed to be her boyfriend, Usagi saying she sort of had someone. The pain in her eyes, her timidity. It made so much more sense than his crazy dreams and wishes his logical mind pointed out.

"Is it true?" he asked, turning to the beautiful woman beside him. 'Just deny it' he thought savagely in his head. It may have made sense, but he also knew it was completely ridiculous too.

Usagi starred back at Mamoru. How could he ask her that? A few moments before she had been willing to take a chance with him, to throw away Endymion. How silly that seemed now, to risk her one and only for a guy who could believe she was a prostitute. 'Baka' her mind screamed at him. "Yes, it's true," she whispered spitefully, tears forming in her eyes. "So you better leave," she warned him, glaring fully into his eyes.

The glare pierced Mamoru and suddenly he had the desire to fight against her request. He wanted to tell her he'd save her from anything, to tell her he would take care of her, to tell her she was a stupid girl. To tell her that when she looked at him like that he knew without a doubt she was the woman in his dreams. But for some reason he just walked away.



End Chapter 4

Stay Tuned For Chapter 5 – Reconnaissance Fair