A chill danced its way down Sailor Moon's spine as the dark voice broke out in a malicious laughter.

"Nothing but a little girl…" he mused, his physique finally coming into view. He was a tall, built man with long wavy locks of hair and dark eyes to match his even darker smile. He was donning a blue uniform, lined with red piping. A red stud shone from his ear.

"Who are you?" Sailor Moon demanded, but her question was only met with more laughter and an amused smile.

"I am the North American command officer and second of the four kings, Nephrite."

"And that means…?" Sailor Moon asked, rolling her eyes at the man, who merely smiled in response.

"Jadeite had a string of bad luck, one which is about to continue unto you," Nephrite laughed. Eyes then narrowed, his whole demeanor changed as his voice raised, "I will make you pay for what happened to him!" he screamed before turning to the youma, "You! Get her!" The youma then leapt to its feet and charged after Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon began dodging a series of attacks from the youma, oblivious to the fact that Nephrite was now closing in on the innocent man who was earlier being attacked by the youma. Pulling a dark black crystal from his pocket he held it out in front of the man, who then began screaming in pain. Sailor Moon, realizing the man was in danger, grabbed her tiara and prepared to throw it at Nephrite. As her arm pulled back about to toss the tiara, the youma closed in and knocked her in the head with its forearm, flattening her onto the grass, the tiara thrown from her grasp.

Taka's teeth clenched as he watched a scene from below. A light was being pulled out of the innocent man's body by the black crystal in Nephrite's hands. As the light from the man dimmed, the form of an orange crystal could be seen.

Wait for it… Taka instructed himself, watching the crystal fully come to form. He fixed his position, perched on the branch waiting for the right moment to leap down and snatch the crystal.

"Fire Soul!" echoed through the park as a line of flames slid between Nephrite and the crystal, simultaneously blocking Taka from it as well.

A green blur streaked passed, and the crystal was gone.

Nephrite leapt through the flames and lunged at the senshi of Jupiter, brandishing a sword. Sailor Jupiter quickly tossed the crystal to Sailor Venus and clasped both her hands together on either side of the sword, stopping it a hair away from her own forehead.

Venus juggled the crystal before finally getting a hold of it, as Mercury and Mars went to the aide of Sailor Moon.

He's strong! thought Jupiter, barely holding the sword away from herself. The pressure in her arms was immense.

"You will pay!" Nephrite grunted, leaning his full weight onto the sword. Unwillingly, Jupiter let the sword slip a little, and a streak of blood began to run down between her eyes from where the sword was resting on her skull. I can't hold it much longer, she thought, squinting her eyes in pain.

"Venus Love-Me Chain!" called Venus as a golden chain shot out of her right arm and wrapped itself around Nephrite's sword. She then yanked on it just as Jupiter's arms finally gave way. The sword flew out of Nephrite's hands and embedded itself in the tree.

Meanwhile, Sailor Mercury helped Sailor Moon to her feet just as the youma was heading back around for a second time. A rose struck the ground in front of the youma causing it to stop dead in its tracks. A heart-eyed Sailor Moon confirmed Tuxedo Kamen's appearance.

The rose held the attention of the youma long enough for Sailor Mars to cry, "Burning Mandala!" sending forth a string of fireballs in the direction of the youma. Sailor Mercury and Sailor Moon both followed suit with "Shine Aqua Illusion!" and "Moon Tiara Action!" combining their attacks into a glowing waterfall of energy before smashing into the already scorched youma.

Defeated, the youma fell forward with a thump onto the ground before disintegrating.

Nephrite looked around in shock and anger, following his sword with his eyes as it landed in the tree. As he went to retrieve it, Jupiter couldn't let her sore arms prevent her from this perfect opportunity to attack. By crossing her arms across her chest and extending an antenna from her tiara, she thus called forth a power from the skies. "Supreme Thunder!" she cried, and a blast of electrical energy flew at Nephrite.

A light thump behind Nephrite alerted him to another presence, but his attention quickly turned to Jupiter's attack. Nephrite began to dodge the attack, but couldn't move. "What the!" he screamed, struggling as someone held his arms from behind. He was released half a second before the ball of lightning struck his body, lighting it up like a lamp for a second before he fell to his knees, panting.

"I'll be back for the crystal," he snarled as he wearily stood up. Not wanting to give them enough time to attack again, he created a portal and stumbled into it. Before the portal closed, however, Nephrite glanced back only to see Taka hiding behind the tree, smirking at him. Nephrite's eyes widened in shock before narrowing in anger, realizing what had just happened.

"Who's there?" called Jupiter, knowing someone had been behind Nephrite. When no one answered, she called to the other senshi, "There's someone else here!"

"Huh?"

"Someone was behind Nephrite when I attacked him, someone held him in place. I know I saw someone."

"Tuxedo Kamen just left," Mars suggested.

"It wasn't Tuxedo Kamen, I could see him over by the youma," Jupiter responded.

"Are you sure it wasn't shadows created by the light from the lightning of your attack?" Sailor Mercury questioned, looking around.

"I… don't know. Maybe," Sailor Jupiter bit her lip, unsure.

Just to check, Sailor Moon went over to look behind the tree. Taka leapt up and clung to a branch as quietly as he could, pulling his feet up as well. She walked entirely around the tree and shrugged to her companions, "I don't see anyone."

Taka sighed in relief as the Senshi left the park. He was about to get down when something began tickling his fingers. What the…? Taka pulled himself up just enough to see a big black spider crawling on his hand. Completely freaked, Taka pulled his hands away and shook them violently to remove the spider, not realizing he was now 6 feet in the air, holding onto nothing. He fell backwards onto the ground, landing head first on an aboveground root of the tree.

The next day…

Minako sat next to Rei, holding the orange crystal up to her eyes, peering through it as if to solve some great mystery within it. Relinquishing the crystal to Rei to examine, she asked, "So we now have 2 crystals. How many are there total?"

"There are seven," Ami replied, typing away at her mini-computer. "And I'm not sure what to do with them once we have them all, either."

"Aren't they supposed to show us who or where the moon princess is?" Usagi piped in, fiddling with the red crystal.

"Precisely," Luna chimed in as she leapt onto the table, accompanied by Artemis. "We need to gather the other five crystals before the Shitennou get a hold of them, no matter what."

"But what's so special about the moon princess?" Usagi asked, passing the red crystal to Makoto.

"She's the only one strong enough to use the ginzuishou! Just when I thought you'd paid attention, Usagi," Luna dropped her head in shame before continuing. "We need her and the ginzuishou to stop the Shitennou and whoever's controlling them."

"But we don't know where the ginzuishou is, either!"

"All the more reason you girls need to work harder to obtain the crystals so we can find both the moon princess and the ginzuishou." Artemis replied.

"And that includes you, too, Usagi," Luna added, scowling at the blonde.

"And that means no more drooling over Taka!" Rei taunted, having leaned in close to Usagi's ear. She then began making kissy-faces to further the insinuation.

"You're just jealous he asked me out yesterday!" Usagi teased, sticking out her tongue.

"He asked you out?" Minako, Makoto and Ami all said at the same time, gaping at Usagi.

"Well, sort of…"

"What happened? Where'd you go? Did he kiss you?" Minako persisted.

"We only went out to eat and to the park, and it wasn't a date either, we were just hanging out, and no he did not kiss me." Usagi paused before continuing, eyes narrowing a bit, "But it doesn't matter anyway, I'm mad at him. When I see him I'm going to-"

"What happened? Did he touch you, Usagi?" Makoto questioned, leaning in even close than Minako.

Waving her hands in front of her, Usagi backed "No, no, nothing like that!"

"Then what happened?" asked Ami, just as interested now.

"Remember the fight last night? We were at the park when it took place and he ran off to go see what happened and then I went after him because, well, I'm Sailor Moon. But after the fight I went back to where he left me to not look suspicious, but he never came back to get me! I had to walk home by myself in the dark!"

Minako and Makoto both sat back, pondering the situation. "Well," Makoto started, "maybe he went back before the battle ended and assumed you'd gone home? Or went to look for you elsewhere?"

"Or maybe the youma got him?" Minako added, a frightened look upon her face.

Realizing Taka could have gotten attacked before she'd arrived on the scene, Usagi started to feel guilty for being mad at him. "You're right," she said quietly, standing up, "He could've gotten attacked… and I didn't check up on him! He could be hurt or even worse…" she trailed off, dashing to the threshold, slipping on her shoes and running out of the shrine.

"Nice going, Minako-chan." Rei mumbled before standing up, "Well, we'd better go make sure he's OK, too."

The others all nodded in agreement.

… … …

Usagi's heart pounded in her chest at thought of what could have happened to Taka. She, Sailor Moon, champion of justice, defender of love, didn't even attempt to look for a possible victim. He could be injured or even worse and it would be all her fault for not making sure no one else was hurt. Legs beginning to tire, she shook her head and raced on to her destination, determined to find out where Taka lived and check up on him.

Arriving at the arcade entrance, she bent over, panting, trying to catch her breath before entering. Regaining composure, Usagi walked into the arcade, making a beeline straight for Motoki. "Motoki-onii-san," she beckoned, tapping his shoulder as he was serving food to a customer at a booth. She never noticed who the dark haired, green jacket clad man who sat at that same booth was.

"Oh, hi Usagi," he said, turning to meet her gaze. Noticing she was biting her lip and on the verge of tears, he bent lower to look her in the face, "What's wrong?"

"I need Taka's address," she sobbed.

Hearing Usagi sobbing and the mention of 'Taka,' Mamoru immediately looked up at the girl, a look of pure concern in his eyes. Immediately confused, Motoki questioned further, "Why?"

A single tear slipped down her face. Mamoru's grip tightened on his spoon, bending it in half at the thought of Taka doing something to make a girl cry, even if it was Usagi. I knew from the moment he walked in here he was bad news, Mamoru thought, anger boiling inside of him.

Motoki set the tray he was holding down onto Mamoru's table, grabbed Usagi's shoulders, "Did he do something to you?"

"No, no" she insisted immediately before sulking again, "it's something I think I did… I need to make sure he's ok."

"Oh," Motoki breathed, relieved. Mamoru was also relieved, taking notice of the damage he'd caused to the undeserving spoon.

Motoki released the grip he had on her shoulders, thinking for a moment. "Well, he looked OK to me. What could you have done?"

"You've seen him?" Usagi blurted, wiping her eyes.

"Yeah, I just saw him a few minutes ago, actually."

"Oh really? Did he say where he was going?" she chirped, relieved.

"Yeah, he went to take the trash out and clean out the alleyway. He works here, remember, Usagi?"

"Oh, so he's in back of the store, then? Can I go see him?"

Motoki hesitated for a moment. He was unsure if it was wise to let Usagi alone in an alley with Taka, but realized that Usagi cheered up a bit after realizing he was working. This lead him to reply, "Sure, but be careful. He's cleaning up a big mess—a cat or something tore up the garbage last night, so he's sweeping it all up."

"I don't mind. Thanks!" she smiled at him.

Mamoru furrowed his brow, worried about what someone like Taka could do to an unsuspecting Usagi in an alleyway. When Usagi headed towards the back door of the arcade, Motoki and Mamoru both had the same idea when they followed a few seconds later.

Taka was humming to himself, sweeping trash into a pile in the center of the alleyway. It looked like a whole litter of cats attacked the garbage, though, as trash everywhere. Taka didn't seem to mind the mess as he continued to hum and sweep. He was so into his own tune that he didn't even notice when Usagi opened the back door of the arcade, came out, and closed it behind her.

"Ahem," Usagi pretended to clear her throat. Taka, however, kept on humming.

"I said AHEM!" Usagi screamed, but to her disbelief, he still didn't notice. Frustrated, Usagi kicked her foot, not realizing that with so much trash around she'd kicked a can, which just happened to fly right up and smack Taka in the back of his head.

"What's the big idea Mot-?" he started, stopping only when he wheeled around only to see Usagi standing there with her hand over her mouth.

"S-Sorry..." she stuttered.

"What? Hang on," he said, setting aside his broom pulling a CD player from his pockets. Switching it off, he then pulled to very tiny earphones from his ears. "Sorry about that, what did you say?"

"I said I was sorry," she started, lowering her hands, "for the can… it was an accident."

"Oh, OK" he smiled. An awkward silence then ensued, neither sure of what to say next.

"Usagi,"

"Taka," they both started at once.

"You go first," Usagi prompted.

"Ladies first," Taka responded, making a gentleman's hand gesture and bowing slightly.

"OK, well, see," Usagi began, fumbling over her words, "you left last night and never came back and…"

"Oh, Yeah! That's right… You were in the park…" Taka interrupted, sounding surprised at his own words.

"You FORGOT?" Usagi screamed, balling her hands into fists as her face reddened by the second. "You forgot about me? You left me alone at the park, in the dark!" she continued.

Taka reached behind his head and chuckled slightly. "It wasn't exactly my fault, see…" he began, but Usagi wasn't listening. She had slowly made her way over to where Taka was standing, and was pulling her arm back. Before Taka realized what was happening, her hand coming right for his face, slapping him as hard as she could. He dropped his broom in surprise, and slowly raised his hand to cup his now sore cheek.

"I hate you!" she screamed, tears streaming down her delicate face. She then ran to the back door, flung it open, ran through the arcade, out the front door, and out of sight.

Mamoru and Motoki had backed away from the door just in time when Usagi had thrown it open and dashed though. They had heard the whole ordeal, and were both fuming. Sure, Usagi often runs from the arcade upset, but never like that. And when she did, it was because of Rei or Mamoru's teasing, not because of someone doing something like that to her.

Taka just stood in the alley holding his cheek, confused and hurt. What'd I do…?

But Taka's train of thought was immediately interrupted when he noticed the two gentlemen standing in the doorway, both with fists clutched at their sides, and four eyes staring at him in anger.

"Oh great," Taka mumbled to himself as he picked up his broom. Glancing up, he smiled to the men. "Can I help you fellows?" he asked nonchalantly.

Mamoru was the first to pass through the doorway and go straight up to Taka, much to the shock of Motoki. Taka was taller than Mamoru, but only by an inch at most. They glared at each other in silence for a moment before Mamoru asked, "Well?"

"Well what?" Taka responded, a cocky grin taunting Mamoru.

"Well what the hell is your problem?" Mamoru practically yelled, anger fuming. He had no idea why he was so mad, but he didn't care about the little details right now. All he knew was Usagi was crying, and she was crying because of him.

"I don't have a problem at all, actually." Taka smirked, leaning into Mamoru's glare. "Little 'Odango,' as you call her, misunderstood something. That's all… and I don't see how this is any of your business, anyway."

"It's my business because she's crying," Mamoru seethed.

"She's crying because she misunderstood! She was too busy slapping me to let me explain!"

"Well, you stay away from her from now on, got it?"

"Who made you her guardian? You're not her boyfriend, or family, so I don't see where you get any say in the matter."

"It doesn't matter what I am to her, you just stay away from my Odango!"

Motoki, who was just standing there watching, gaped at Mamoru.

"Your Odango, huh?" Taka questioned, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. He was loving every second of this… hoping, praying Mamoru would take a swing at him.

"Er…" Mamoru was speechless, dumbfounded at himself.

Motoki began to chuckle, and as contagious as Motoki's laugh was, Taka had no choice but to follow suit. Soon both men were full-blown laughing, clutching their stomachs, as Mamoru stood there motionless, his face growing redder by the second.

"I didn't mean it like that! What's so funny?" Mamoru finally demanded, having had enough.

"I was wondering when you were ever going to fess up," Motoki grinned, patting his friend on the back. "It's ok, Mamoru, we're not laughing at you… we're just laughing at your situation."

"Well, I'm laughing at both," Taka interjected, cocky grin sprouting out again.

Mamoru grumbled in response.

"So Taka," Motoki said, trying to change the subject off of Mamoru before he lost it, "why did you abandon her in the park? What was the misunderstanding?"

"Well," Taka started, scratching his head. How do I explain without revealing too much?

"Well?" Motoki and Mamoru both asked, closing in on the man.

"Well… we heard a noise, and I thought someone might have fallen, so I went to check it out. But then I saw this monster chasing this guy around a tree, so I was going to go and help him out, but…"

"But?" the two asked simultaneously.

"But… I fell… and hit my head. The next thing I knew it was 3 a.m. and Usagi had already gone home."

The two men just stood there for a moment, rethinking everything they'd just heard. After a moment, Motoki smiled, understanding. Mamoru, on the other hand, still glared at the man.

"What were you doing with Odango in the park at night?" Mamoru demanded, trying not to sound jealous but failing miserably at it.

"Watching fireworks," Taka responded, smirking at the man's expression. Mamoru was seething again, but for a new reason now, and Taka couldn't pass up an opportunity to make it worse. "This was, however, after I had treated her to a romantic dinner. We spent the whole evening together."

"I don't need to know the details of your love life!" Mamoru hollered, getting more and more frustrated. Is he telling the truth? Or is he just trying to piss me off? They were in the park together, though, and it was pretty late… Wait! What do I care who she's going out with? Damn it! Mamoru's mind was racing.

Motoki looked at Mamoru, then Taka, then back to Mamoru. He's jealous! He thought, realizing what Taka was playing at.

"Taka, why don't we discuss this later? I'm sure I have customers waiting in there and I'm sure you have… er… garbage waiting for you." Motoki grabbed Mamoru's arm and started to pull, "We'll talk to you later."

Mamoru freed his arm from Motoki, responding, "I'll be right in Motoki, you go on. I hear people complaining."

Motoki sighed and turned towards the door. "You've got 5 minutes or no free coffee for a week," he said before disappearing back into the arcade.

As soon as the door shut, Mamoru turned back to face Taka. He straightened his hands out in an attempt to calm down before asking, "Are you going to at least apologize to her?"

Taka was almost giddy having gotten Mamoru so upset. But, he still needed to put the cherry on top. "Of course! I'm going to have to apologize to Usagi in order to get her to go out on another date with me. Then again, she is really cute when she's mad… Speaking of cute, you know those short skirts she wea…"

Taka was cut off by a right hook to his jaw, throwing his whole body sideways, causing him to fall into the trash.

Mamoru stood above him, breathing hard. "Don't ever talk about her like that again."

"A: I was only joking. And B," Taka paused, rubbing his jaw a moment before quickly dropping down to one knee and placing both hands on the ground. He then twisted his entire body around, throwing the unbent leg forward and knocking Mamoru's feet out from under him. "I was just trying to get you to hit me."

Mamoru tried to catch himself but his hand slipped on an old bag of milkshake mix, so his whole body fell into the trash. But Mamoru didn't care; he had a something else on his mind at the moment: Kick Taka's ass.

"Now why would you want me to hit you so badly?" Mamoru questioned before jumping up with incredible flexibility and tackled the now standing Taka, grabbing his arm and trying to pull it behind his back.

"Because," Taka grunted, shoving his elbow into Mamoru's stomach, "Usagi deserves better than you."

Mamoru gasped, his grip slipping slightly. But it was just enough for Taka to pull his arm free and give Mamoru a hook to the jaw in turn, knocking him backwards a bit, but not down.

He's still standing! Taka thought, bewildered.

Mamoru licked the blood from his lips, looking up at Taka. "I know she deserves better," he said, using his sleeve to wipe the dripping blood from his chin, "but you certainly don't fall into that category."

And with that, Mamoru bent forward and rammed his shoulder into Taka's gut with incredible speed, knocking the wind out of him. Taka's eyes bulged, but he was determined not to lose. Grabbing Mamoru's pant leg, he pulled himself over and then under Mamoru. Pulling his legs forward, he then kicked Mamoru a good 3 feet into the air and then into the brick wall of the arcade. Mamoru then slid down onto his hands and knees, while Taka lay in the alley coughing.

"You're good," Taka wheezed, rolling onto his side.

"So I'm told," Mamoru replied, kneeling and rubbing the back of his head.

Still coughing, Taka slowly got to his feet and staggered across to the door to the arcade. Still clutching his side in pain, he wheezed, "But my job is more important than beating the daylights out of you, so I'm going to get something to eat and clean up this mess." He paused to cough some more before continuing, "And hopefully, you won't be out here when I get back."

And with that Taka wearily opened the arcade door and stumbled inside. As the door was closing, Mamoru shouted loud enough for Taka to hear, "It was a draw, and you know it!" And just as the door was about to click shut, Taka hollered back, "Yeah, but Usagi thinks you're gay!"

"Asshole," Mamoru grumbled as he stood, shook some trash out of his hair, and started his long, painful walk home.

… … …

End of Chapter 4

Eeee… this is my favorite chapter so far. I love fights! And two hot guys fighting over a Usagi! Heheh… I know, I'm evil. Well, Review, people! Tell me what's wrong with it! I can't make it any better if you don't!